r
Page 2-Sunday, October 30, 1977-The e Michigan Daily
The Michigan Daily-Suzy, Oct
RAJIRLINGS/ mike norton
city
of trees
L ET ME UNBURDEN myself of a
weighty secret. I can't wait to get
out of this town.
Since I'd already spent three years of
my college career at less prestigious
(hence less expensive) institutions
before I got here, I've only lived in Ann
Arbor for a year and a half. But let me
tell you-it's been a year and a half too
long.
It isn't the scenery, God knows-this
is one of the few good-looking cities in
Michigan. And it isn't the cops or the
streets or even the weather. No, no, and
it isn't any of the other things that
usually make a place unbearable to me.
It's something a lot worse this time.
There is a woman who walks into the
Daily's offices once in a great while to
make a long-distance call to Fairbanks
or to type qdfhedgruedhsjethdlyoepqx-
nvbc on the typewriters when she feels
like it. There are dozens, perhaps hun-
dreds, like her in Ann Arbor, Their
minds seem to have dried up and blown
away; they beg spare change on the
street corners and sit in on esoteric lec-
turers at the MLB. They are the by-
products of this town-they are its in-
tellectual garbage.
They arrived here years ago, much
the same way you or I did-bright-eyed
refugees from Southfied or Grand
Haven, convinced that in a few short
years they would begin to approach-
wisdom. Instead, they found madness.
What is a university? What is a
university community? God help me,
when I got here I had visions of dark
evenings in quiet coffeehouses-a few
intense friend§ and I huddled together
over the vision of a new world. The fun-
ction of a university, in- case nobody's
ever told you-(and I doubt they
have)-is to broaden the mind. To
make us, not wiser, but more aware
that we lack wisdom.
ISDOM, HOWEVER, can be pur-
chased easily in Ann Arbor. If
one has the price. On this corner stands
the committed Marxist (be he Maoist,
Trotskyite, or plain old commie); on
that bench, the most recently-arrived
guru of radical-lesbian-cosmic-vegetar-
ianism. On those steps, a howling Jesus
freak; down that hallway, a diabolist or
two. All the finest ingredients. And
mixed together, they give Ann Arbor
the carnival atmosphere that is perhaps
its greatest asset.
They are symptomatic, however, of
a yearning we all have when we arrive
here-a yearning for transcendence, for
transformation. We dream we are
caterpillars preparing to become but-
terflies. We can almost feel the weight
of those jeweled wings arching over our
backs as we walk these streets for the
first time. But are we ever transfor-
med? Are we? And, if so, into what?
There are lessons to be learned in Ann
Arbor, to be sure. One learns to settle
for mediocrity from oneself and others;
one learns the cut-throat tricks in-
volved in slithering through the Univer-
sity minefield without getting blown up;
one learns the value of a quick and
wordy answer which may or may not
contain a grain of truth.
O NE LEARNS to trade away honest
ignorance for dishonest certainty;
silence for verbal static; emotion for
ritual and slogan; innocence for power.
In short, we all learn the same tired
lessons the world has drummed into us
since childhood. And only rarely does
one of us inadvertantly discover that
the lessons aren't always true-that we
have dishonored ourselves un-
necessarily.
There are many who never deserved
anything better-maybe half the people
who enter this University every year,
maybe more., People for whom
dishonor is often an honor. But for the
others, when they finally understand
what has been done to them in this quiet
place of butchery, for them death would
have been better. That is why you see
people with broken minds shuffling
down the sidewalk in wintertime; that
is why the wind sings so hard a song in
the branches.
I can't take it much longer. I don't
mind having my money ripped off by
every landlord, restauranteur and
educator in town. But I hate that smell
of slaughter; I hate -the sight of those
Diag mutants feeding on our blighted
innocence. There are people who live
their lives out here; I will take myself
off, instead, to some place of honest
bigotry.
sundy l migmzin e
6EfIEIOSTdEC PUZZLE
BY
STEPHEN J.
POZSGAI
Copyright 1977
INSTRUCTIONS
Guess the words defined at the
left and write them in over
their numbered dashes. Then,
transfer each letter to the cor-
responding numbered square
in the grid above., The letters
printed in the upper-right-hand
corners of the squares indi-
cate from what clue-word a
particular square's letter
comes from. The grid, when
filled in, should read as a
quotation from a published
work. The darkened squares
are the spaces between words.
Some words may carry over
to the next line. Meanwhile,
the first letter of each guessed
word at the left, reading down,
forms an acrostic, giving the-
author's name and the title of
the work from which the quote
is extracted. As words and
phrases begin to form in the
grid, you can work back and
forth from clues to grid until
the puzzle is complete.
A. Recounted
B. Steep too long
C. Paraphrase
D. One who causes bewilderment
E. Collection of selected writings
19 174' 25 66 184 111 127 193
5 11 30 92 114 123 138 32
641l102 109 8595
20 46 53 86 100 70 141 171 179
52130150 1 10 67 84 99120
N. Raked; broadsided
0. Assented mutely
P. Free verse poet who depicts ideas
and emotions vividly or
graphically
0. Omnipresence
17 105 108 118 54 125 158 161 180
42 103 77 106 197 29
21 162 175 121 71 137 38
44 124s145 89178153 31 7
(Continued from Page 10)
glass of the booth door. (That was to be
one of the only two times Michael Ray
would see his father angry. The other
occurred when Michael Ray and Rod
were going at it in the house.) He waved
his wife out of the car to confer for a
moment. The two of them stood,
illuminated by the glare of the moth-
infested headlights, talking quietly. Af-
ter several minutes, they climbed back
into the car, Mrs. Smith crunching a
pack of cookies.
"Well, y'all wanted a longer vacation
and I guess you got it," he said to
whoever was still awake. "They
declared a state of emergency in South
Bend. They're burnin' the whole damn
southside down and we can't even get ta
see your grandpa. We goin' ta visit your
Aunt Winnie in Chicago."
* * * -
WELL, I'LL be damned."
"Here, give me a rock, I'll
brick that muthafucka."
"He's got a whole lotta nerve!"
The basketball game stopped cold as
everyone searched frantically for
anything remotely resembling a
missile. Meanwhile, the object of their
anger calmly squatted some twenty
yards away, smack-dab in the middle of
the alley, at the height of the afternoon..
When it rained, water would collect in
several large depressions, usually right
in the middle of the alley. Their an-
tagonist was enjoying a leisurely drink.
Everyone stayed their distance as
rocks, then bricks, bounced harmlessly
away. He seemed to not even take
notice. Michael Ray hurled a five-
pound cement block the entire distance
but it fell laughably errant. After
finishing his drink, the huge, grey rat
skittered back inside the McNares'
garage. It was spring, 1968.
As usual, when the streetlights slowly
glowered to their full brilliance,
Michael Ray and all four of his brothers
and sisters had been conditioned to
head home, or else face a verbal whup-
pin' from Momma. Carol Burnett was
going througkThrf y.tb)e 24-inch
w.
u
A
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th
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be
he
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an
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re
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black and white console. Rod and ct
Michael Ray were in the dining room d
engaged in a fierce table hockey game. d
They were getting ready for the neigh- as
borhood "Stanley Cup" playoffs. lo
Delores was in the kitchen helping hr th
mother string several pounds of fresh w
green beans. Janice and Pam were in a
the bedroom playing with Barbie and s
Ken, their moveable dolls. Two R
parakeets jingled a row of tiny bells as ti
they sang hours away. Peppy,the over- h
stuffed golden mutt, lay sleeping in a y
corner of the living room. No one paid a
any attention to the blaring TV set. H
"Hey momma, what's to eat? w
"Don't you worry 'bout it. Whatever I c
fix you gone eat. Unless you wanna tr
come fix your own dinner." F
"I just was wonderin' . . . and he
scores," Ray yelled, imitating Bud
Lynch, the Red Wings announcer who
sounded as if he'd suffered a hernia
whenever any team scored a goal.
"Aw, you shook the table, Ray."
"Naw, naw, it's good, brother. 3 to 2."
Mike Smith walked into the front
door. He had on his baseball cap, and
his heavy, navy cotton jacket. His navy
workpants were tucked inside his knee-
high rubber boots. He still smelled fain-
tly of the rendering house.
"Well hello, how're y'all doin?"
"Hi, daddy. What you got?" the boys
sang together as they rushed to help
carry the load of packages their father
had with him.
"Don't worry 'bout what's in em, just
help me get 'em inside. Your ma
home?" _
"Yeah.. .Momma! !" Ray yelled at
the top of his lungs.
Mrs. Smith walked into the living
room, wiping her hands on a dishcloth.
Seeing her husband, she gave a peck on
his cheek. She didn't have to reach very
far. Although she was a tiny woman,
about 5'2", her mate stood no higher
than 5'8". (It always would amaze
people as the Smith family piled out of
its traveling circus-the station
wagon-that all five children would
tower over the two parents. The
y~unggs~ g horst at tenyears old
as as tall as her mother.) She reached
p and whispered something in his ear.
big grin replaced the countenance of
ored exhaustion.
"Ray.. you and your brother, take
ose packages into the kitchen for your
comma."
He then went into their bedroom with
s wife and clicked the door shut
hind them. After about five minutes'
estood beside the hockey game, which
ad resumed as fiercely as it had ended,'
Ld watched his sons' hands fly from
nob to knob, trying to keep the over-
zed puck from entering the goal. he
ad the names they had written on the
Aes of the metal players. Howe, Lin-
ay, Abel, Croyier, Bergman. The two
Sys paid no attention to their father
ktil his slow, soft, measured voice
oke their silence.
"We're movin'."
The game halted-immediately, just as
owe had lined up a sizzling slap shot
om the right side.
"What!"
"We're movin' . . . probably next
tek."
For two years, Ray had ridden the
irthwest section of the city on Sun-
ays, with his parents,.as they searched
ainly for a house to fit their needs and
come. He had gotten so used to that
ct, that he had really forgotten that
s parents were looking for a new
ome. A new location in which to raise
eir brood. Everything upto this jun-
ure had been a possibility. Now, a
efinite time had been set for their
eparture. But they couldn't be as glad
they should have been. The two boys
oked at each other and then back at
e board. The "Stanley Cup" playoffs
ere just starting. What could they do
bout that? Baseball season was in full
wing now and both Rod and Michael
ay were integral parts of their respec-
ve teams. All the joy and happiness he
ad expected to feel upon hearing that.
vs, the two of them were going to have
bedroom, was nowhere to be found.
e did not even think of the fact that he
as to no longer have to sleep on a
ouch. All he could bnvislon was the
ack championship meet to be held at
ord Park two weeks later.
Sunday maga
"Where is it'
asked as one. 1
marvel at the
ween her two
them alike anc
if she had twin
ference was ti
momma's ligh
dark-skinned a
t"Out by Sev
by there tomor
look at it. It'll b
own bedroom.
The two b
whether to jur
tinue to hang
what their fut
half-heartedly
their father plc
easy chair a
minutes of t
asleep.
The Model
Cavanagh's pr
government, v
blessing, was
cities it deem
receiving the 1
undoubtedly sl
provided.
A city work
of Glendale a
structed a rec
commemorati
federally assi
early in '68, ti
son received]
property was
'federal goveri
the block wou
place would Ix
dwellings. The
have first prioj
the low-cost h
receive federa
tgages.
The original
landmark m
from around
Highland Par
Fords's revolu
closed in '43.
Susan Ad
Elaine Fletch
es
Co-editor'
er To
Associate ditors
Jay L
m0'
R. Kiss; smudge
F. Coolindifference: lack of-
concern 34 65 72 101 112 122 166 168 188 193 81
G. Failed to understand-
140 163 27 189 55 73,
H. Flowing freely; prosperous-
56 49 82 87 104 113 146 152
. Repetitious 2 14 24 45 165 61 88 75 182
J. Sexually unrestrained; lewd
22 28 40 50 94 96 115 131 135 148
K: Personwith an exaggerated '- -
sense of self-importance 12 116 18 35 48 107 43
L. Strikeoutogain
9 33 51 62 74 83 132
3 169 157 187 196 39
79 139 159 63 195 .68
S. Succeedto; acquire; occupy
T. One who receives erotic
gratification from
self-admiration
59 93 97 117 136 149 167 173 177 185
Answer to Last Week's Puzzle
"Our mission was not to win ter-
U. Elderly woman of stately dignity.----- ---rain or seize positions, but simply
13 15 64 190 126 147 181
to kill: to kill Communists and to
v. Romantic hero of Marm'onkill as many of them as possible-.-.
(1 808) by Sir Wlter--- ------------------ - - klofpsie
Scott 23 69 154 160 186 191 57 9 110 Victory was a high body-count, de-
W.Heovily dependent ina close'- _- _ _ -_ _--feat a low kill-ratio, war a matter of
relationship. 78 155 16 36 47 58 128 144 183 arithmetic . . . "If it's dead and
x. Indulge in mawkish - - - - - Vietnamese, it's VC" was a rule of
sentimentality 26 80 91 133 176 37 198 ,,
thumb.
Y. Cancer and Capricorn - ~
4 143 156 8 76 164 172 - Philip Caputo A Rumor of War
Cover drawing of Smith fa
from City of Trees by Nava
Whoto credits for pages 6 and 7-1967 photos of Rog
Vidmer and Bruce Kahn courtesy of Michiganensian. F
Rapoport courtesy of Roger Rapoport, and recent phot
courtesy of Claudia Buckholts. Photo above headline fro
Sketch on page 11 by Nava Atlas
Robben Fleming and Harlan Ha
Tales of two presidents
Next Week in the Magazin
ical novel (1534