American lust
... and this was
the 4th of July
TUSTIN lay back in bed, half asleep.
'' Independence Day, The Fourth of July.
The birthday of our country. Or whatever.
He could hear fireworks exploding in the
distance and every few moments the
room would light up in a burst of orange
and red. His mind turned back - when
he was little he used to look out his win-
dow, late when he was supposed to be in
bed, and watch the lights flashing over
tops of trees.
And in the tangle of rapid impressions
that always filled his mind right before
he fell asleep, he travelled on a stray
streamer to Cape Kennedy, Fla.
Cape Kennedy, Fla.? But why not -
what better place to spend the Fourth?
There was no need for fireworks displeys
there-at Cape tennedy, they had the real
thing.
THE REAL THING. The tall and slnder
projectile tearing away from steel towers;
UNITED STATES tattooed proudly into
its smooth white side, the Mariner Mon-
ster about to churn through 247 miles of
nothing in its arching trajectory to no-
where.
And the people who gave you Marines
9 now bring you . . . a new piece of
Apollo Power, ready to muscle its way
to the moon with three American men
on board.
There it was, the Apollo 15 spacecraft--
tall and white, pointed and powerful. Two *
technicians rested at the base of the
spacecraft; machinery locked into place
to raise the erection from the workstand to
the transporter.
"It's a beautiful thing," one technician
marvelled. "It should be a source of
pride to every American."'
"Looks like a big prick to me," said the
other.
SYMBOL of America - Amerika, Amer-
ikkka - the powerful Apollo 15. The will
to explore, but more than explore, the will
to conquer and control.
Justin Thyme watched as fire works ex-
ploded like a cannon into a hundred vi-
sions. He saw a silver cylinder farting fire
and streaming headlong into space, Apol-
lo 15, subtly satisfying the fetishes of
America.
Ripping like a howitzer out of hell, the
last fireworks splashed across the sky.
They lasted for a full five minutes, one $
after the other ejaculating colors like a
rainbow. And then it was over.
This was America, Justin thought. And
this was the Fourth of July.
'LL
-Photos by NASA
ISKELETfONS tN TfHE CLOSET 4
Ir -"WNw AAWAW2- IV I - .
1,. , '. A A WON Vie, Al
"How many years have you been a junkie?"
420 Maynard Street, Ann Arbor, Mich.
Edited and managed by students at the
University of Michigan
Editorials printed in The Michigan Daily express the individual
opinions of the author. This must be noted in all reprints.
Saturday, July 3, 1971 News Phone: 764-0552
NIGHT EDITOR: JONATHAN MILLER
U NIVERSITY hospital supervis-
ors have taken the first step
toward gaining union representa-
tion by the Teamsters Union. Sup-
ervisors Michael Frederick and
Jerry Mains have collected the
signatures of over 50 per cent of
the 17 service unit supervisors, re-
questing an election to determine
whether they shall affiliate with
the Teamsters.
The move apparently caught the
hospital administration off guard.
Frederick says the hospital will
fight his efforts by arguing before
the Michigan Employment Rela-
tions Commission that all super-
visors throughout the campus
should be included in the bar-
gaining unit.
That would presumably make it
much more difficult to gain the
requisite support for unioniza-
tion. Frederick maintains that the
nature of service unit supervision
differentiates it sufficiently from
other areas to warrant a separate
unit.
ALTHOUGH the University Ac-
tivities Center is waiting for
absolute confirmation before let-
ting the word out, it now appears
about 85 per cent certain that the
Grateful Dead will do a concert
here in November, probably the
22nd
EACH summer a fairly large
number of students, many of
them politically active to some de-
gree, manage to land what they
laughingly refer to as "ripoff"
jobs with the University. One such
former student described his job
as "converting oxygen into carbon
dioxide."
The prize, however, certainly
must go to Gary Rothberger, long-
time activist in student politics
here, who works for the now non-
existent Legal Self Defense office.
He does absolutely nothing, and
draws a full-time salary for not
doing it.
FORMER Acting Vice President
Student Affairs Barbara New-
ell, who is starting as one of three
provosts at the University of
Pittsburgh in October, is going on
a three-week safari with her nine-
year old daughter. Happy hunting,
B'wana Barbara.
PETER DENTON, long a famil-
iar radical figure in Ann Ar-
bor, has just returned from a
two-month hiking and mountain-
climbing expedition out West. Evi-
dently the wide open spaces have
gotten a hold of him, since he is
now talking about building a geo-
desic dome somewhere in Oregon
and retiring there to write about
dialectics.
"NOBODY over at Sanford Se-
curity will speak to me any-
more," laments former State Po-
lice Director Frederick Davids,
now director of safety for the Uni-
versity.
Davids has been shunned by the
security service's top management,
The Daily has learned, because
they are justifiably fearful that
he intends to recommend termi-
nation of the University's $600,000
a year contract with Sanford. Da-
vids reportedly has found San-
ford's service "inefficient, lazy,
and badly-trained."
A SOURCE close to city police
recently informed The Daily
that a "high-ranking" member of
the University's security staff ap-
plied for a copy of Ann Arbor Po-
lice radio communications code.
But he was refused a copy of
the cryptic numerology used by
patrolmen to communicate with
police headquarters. Skeletons is
sorry to see a man with such ob-
viously good intentions and ex-
cellent credentials deprived of the
knowledge necessary to differen-
tiate between a 601 (black male)
and 603 (white male).
If race is not important, then
99's tarson) or 71's (stolen vehicle)
concern him; or even the 54
(shooting) or 545 (barking dog)
or 225 (suspicious person).
For the benefit of this official,
The Daily will provide him with a
free copy of the code if he drops
by our office at 420 Maynard.
s
4.