Sunday, September 28, 19 75 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Five PROFI LE A feminis glassblower: Alone professional! fraterni in exclusive ty By TIM CLARK A S ONE OF the two women in the country employed as scientific glass- blowers, Judy Powell of Ann Arbor's Quality Glass Apparatus has to admit .the position gets kind of lonely some- times. "It would be nice," she says, "to talk to a woman about my profession- but I guess I just can't." She's resigned to the fact that she be- longs to a very select professional fra- ternity, but she isn't fooled into thinking that she's trapped by many things. Powell, a feminist and a thorough-going professional, has a quiet kind of pioneer- ing spirit and lots of plans. Although she has worked for over two years now as a scientific glassblower, Judy is still considered an apprentice at her craft. "I have lots to learn," she says. "It would take four to six years to learn enough to go out and set up a shop of my own." ,)N A TYPICAL day, Judy first cleans up the shop and then plans the day's activities. "I see if anything must be done in a rush, and then I spend most of the morning blowing glass." She works at a bench with a natural gas torch mounted on it. The torch can be adjusted to the proper temperature for different types of glass. Most of the work is done with hollow glass tubing, which is heated in the flame until it becomes pliable. Powell loves her work. "I like working with my hands and getting the personal satisfaction that comes from creativity. The best part of the job is the creative thrill of being able to look at a piece of equipment and say, 'I made that'." JUDY DIDN'T become a glassblower right away. After graduating from Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina, with a degree in chemistry, she worked for the Georgia State Crime Lab for two years. Her duties included drug identification and blood alcohol analysis. She remembers the job as a completely frustrating experience. "I felt I had no control over my own life," she recalls. "I was subject to testify in court in any case that I had done lab work on. That could be at any time and anywhere in the state. I began to feel like a puppet on a string. It was difficult to do something ws simple as schedule a vacation," she remembers. So Judy quit that job and came to Ann Arbor "for adventure." "I knew I want- ed to work as a glassblower, so I looked in the Yellow Pages to fid out where the local glassblowing firms were and started knocking on doors,' she recalls. Her schedule at Quality Glass is a fairly flexible one, leaving; enough time for Powell to be active in feminist con- cerns in Ann Arbor. She works a regular shift at the Women's Crisis Center, a place where women who 'bave problems or just want to talk to axiother woman can call or drop in. "T ENJOY ALL the time I spend with these women," Judy says. "My fem- inist activities are most, important to me. I'm thinking of going back to school with the idea of one dqy becoming a counselor." She also thinks she can help advise other women now, with a strange but workable blending of her feminist con- cerns and her glassblowirl. Judy advises anyone considering a career in scientific glassblowing to take shop classes, math and science. "Learn about chemistry, the lab procedures, and the equipment," she says. Since there are no schools for glass- blowers, the young glassblower must find a job with an experienced glass- blower who is willing to teach an ap- prentice. A tra see wo ge ma. lar ma pie dex pai the con wit the ca] Although scientific glassblowing has ditionally been a man's field, Judy es no physical barriers that prevent men from entering the field. "Women nerally have smaller hands, which akes it more difficult to work with rger pieces of glass-but we have achines for w o r k i n g with larger N GLASSBLOWING, strength is not as important as coordination. It's xterity, yes, but only to a certain int. After that it's simply practice." "There's no reason why a woman with e aptitude and interest shouldn't be- re a glassblower," the feminist said th a wave of her hand, "I hate all ese stupid generalizations about physi- l dexterity." Tim Clark is a Stanford Uni- versity graduate currently ivorking as an Ann Arbor taxi driver,. Have a flair for artistic writing? If you are interest- ed in reviewijig poetry. and music or writing feature stories a b o u t the drama dance, film arts: Contact Arts SE d i t o r. c/o The Michigan Daily. Hoffa: Awaiting news that never came Daily Photo by KEN FINK -_ i (Continued from Page 3) from the beginning: he did not ! as the despairing, vigil-keeping died, friends said, "of a brok- during a conversation with like or trust Chuckie O'Brien, wife of a man who would never en heart." She had been un- Jane, I saw cameras and the beer bellied man who de- return home. aware of her son's disappear- mikes directed at a young long scribed himself as Hoffa's fos- Friday, Jimmy P. gave his ance, but bis regular visits to haired man. Panicking, I fig- ter son. Hoffa had earlier de- I last press conference at the her had abwuptly stopped with-' ured I'd missed a major lead. manded that O'Brien immedi- r house. He told reporters the con- out explanaion. I hurried over to catch up, but ately take a polygraph test. stant questioning had placed "She was very, very close to no one seemed able to tell me That day O'Brien has said he l too great a strain on the fami- her son ani she called for him what the witness had said. would - after the federal grand ly. They could call him at the every day,' said Murray Cho- He walked deliberately over jury investigation into Hoffa's office, he said. dak, law patrtner of the younger to the van, and I followed. But disappearance. When I asked { The network gear was pack- Hoffa. He said the Hoffa fami- when I stepped inside the door, Jimmy P. if that would be sat- ed up, and the van rolled away. ly didn't thell Hoffa's mother a camera man stopped me isfactory, he replied, "That's The Free Press, AP, and News that her san was missing be-# cold: "Hey, .,girl, get out of ridiculous, I demand that he reporters drove down Allendale cause "they were hoping against there." The van, where I'd take a polygraph test now and : for the last time. hope that he (Hoffa) would been urged to drink and play not later." . A D SO ON SUNDAY, with show." cards on other nights, was sud- At that point ,the television no cameramen to record Mrs. Hoffa had been a pa- denly off limits. men and other reporters put the event and no reporters to tient at the Middlebelt Nursing Jane wasn't too concerned, down their drinks and came ov- scrawl down quotes, Hoffa's Centre, Lixenia for 2% years.1 since she figured the witness er to check out the day's second wife collapsed at 'her home and And last week Hoffa's son was a fake. I approached the private conversation with Hof- was rushed to Northwest Grace told reporters for the first time house and asked to speak to an fa. Hoffa backed off and said he Hospital in Detroit. he believes his father to be FBI man. A well built, all- had nothing more to say. Kap- Hoffa's son told the Free dead. "I dvn't think we'll ever around athletic type with short lan begged for a press confer- Press by phone that his mother see him again," he said. hair stepped to the gate. He ence, "We don't have anything had collapsed "from the strain THEY (;OULD HAVE told told me he knew nothing about for tonight, can't' you come out and stress. She is exhausted him th Eit. any eyewitness to the abduc- and talk to us?" physically and emotionally." -- tion, and I guessed that I had I Hoffa looked resigned and Her doctor, George Mogill, beg- Daily Executive Editor Sara been beautifully had. said he'd come out and speak ged reporters not to try to see . At that point, I was suddenly briefly. At about 8:30 he came her at the hospital. Rimer spenf last summer as an tired of all the shop talk, the to the fence and repeated the ON AUG. 28, HOFFA's moth- intern reporter for the Detroit drinking, and this latest stunt O'Brien quote under the hot er, Viola Riddle Hoffa, 85, Free Press. - something new to pass the lights. It was one of three time - repelled me from the quotes in Thursday's story pack. I told the cameraman headed, "Many tips, But Still Because of the effects of the new CRISP' registration svs- what I thought and walked off No Hoffa." Thursday's story itlyhe Pitioned for by 16000UM steitentsmanner or to sit alone at the edge of was downplayed for the first been assessed a $1.50 fee for PIRGIM on. your tuition bill. Hoffa's driveway, where a time on page three with no by- For those students who do not wish to 'qupport the Qroup, group of tall pine trees created line. The word was out - oth- PIRGIM announces: a good breeze. er things are happening in De-I When Jimmy P. pulled up in troit. Both the newspapers and PIRG IM FIE his Lincoln at about 7 p.m., I the networks began to realize was positioned to open the door the stakeout's days were num- if I'd wanted. bered. R F N "THE WOMEN'S MOVEMENT IN AMERICA.. WHERE ARE WE? WHERE ARE WE GOING?" BETTY FRIEDAN BET'C rkED A iNI DECGRADS: To attend Commence- ment, you must order a cap and gown, by Nov.14 at university cellar. THE FIRST IN A SERIES OF SPEAKERS IN HONOR OF INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S YEAR Tuesday, September 30, 1975 Hill Auditorium Ann Arbor-8:00 p.m. TICKETS $2.00-On sale UAC box office, Michigan Union Lobby and 1 0-8 on day of speech Sponsored by UM-IMY --- - - --- - - -- rA(9V Concert Co-op Presents j INTRODUCED myself with my heart beating embar- rassingly fast and gave him a line about "those television peo- ple and their dumb stunts." It was the right approach, since the Hoffas were clearly not pleased with the ostentatious van. The slow talking, polite Hoffa was also tired of being questioned by men all day long. "You're the best looking re- porter they've sent out here," he said and smiled. There were only three reporters who rotat- ed shifts, and no doubt he said that to all of us. Hoffa made one thing clear 'TEURSDAY, JOSEPHINE broke her routine walk and stopped the journalists' carous- ing cold. Three men had pulled up in a car in the late after- noon and unloaded a four foot high religious staue onto the front lawn near the house. Jo- sephine's walk took a different turn, and she knelt in front of the statue instead of continu- ing across the lawn. While she prayed, the camera t crews filmed and commented, "That's it, she's" giving up." For perhaps the first time on the stakeout, reporters began to view the woman as a widow, A. AVAILABLE Mon., Sept. 29-Fri., Oct. 3 Student Accounts Office 2nd Floor, SAB 8:30-12:00, 1:00-4:30 B. SIMPLY 1. Take your I.D. 'to SAB. 2. Fill out form brief at SAB. 3. 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