deep greens and blues
The seasoi
n of the wit
ch
THEY CAME TO US that first day, telling stories with serious
looks in their wild, glassy eyes.
Maybe it happens in the middle of every summer, heading
heavy through August, dead beat and bored, tired of summertime
s t r e t c h e d out dried out - very strange. Very
strange indeed.
Time for the crazies - must be the season of the witch.
EVERY DAY around noon, the phone used to ring and
the same old guy would huff and puff at us. "Do you realize,
sir," he used to begin, and he'd go on talking about something
different each time, such as "the younger generation is leading
us to galloping ruin," or armament conferences in Europe, elec-
tions in Alabama, anything. He'd finish indignantly with, "Why
don't you write an editorial about that? Why don't you?" And
he'd hang up.
We missed that old guy when he tapered off in June; figured
the heat must have driven him away. We began to get as dry
as the summer and by late July we were downright bored.
Then all of a sudden, we got a rush. "You've got to help
us," said an earnest voice at the other end of the line. "Our
friend has been kidnapped by the Children of God."
We told them we were a newspaper, not a detective agency,
as they insisted that a Jesus-group in Detroit, acting as a
front for a kidnap outfit, had a hold on their friend.
"IT WAS DURING the street fair," the voice explained. "He
went off with them then. We went to Detroit and he said he
didn't want to leave - but they were surrounding him."
We were arranging to talk to them again later when a tall,
curly-haired student apprached us. He'd been around before,
stretching himself out on the desks and talking about systems
analysis.
"I'm going to look outside and see if the police are waiting
for me," he said in a matter-of-fact way.
We met X soon after that. He was short and nervous, and
so intense that he gathered a crowd of us around him. The
FBI persecuted its informers, he said, attempting to pressure
them into continued faithful informing.
EVERYWHERE HE WENT, X told us, they planned ahead
of him - he would hear people talking about him as he crossed
the Diag, murmuring about him at adjacent tables when he
went out to dinner, laughing at him, digging up dirt from his
past.
Later that evening, a group of angry radicals marched into
the building and methodically took pictures of us all. But we
hardly noticed - we were still busy thing about a letter to the
editor, submitted earlier in the day by a former mayoral candi-
date.
"Why did we get into Vietnam?" the letter-writer asked,
repeating a conversation he had pursued, with some success ap-
parently, in Biff's restaurant.
"IT STARTS WITH SALOME'S dance, of all things. Every-
one presumably remembers the Biblical account, of how she did
a dance which so pleased her father, King Herod, that he told her
he'd give her anything she'd ask for. She wanted the head of
John the Baptist on a platter. So he gave her the wish.
"Why did she wish that - you're asking, probably. I feel
very sure that the Herod family were descendants of the head-
hunters, quite a few of whom were mentioned or photographed
in The Daily Jan. or Feb. last.
"The Herods were actually Jewish people, and many influen-
tial persons in Washington, D.C., are Jewish descended, so our
entry into Vietnam's side may have been a wish of those
persons to help out. A very natural attitude, of course,
"HOW DID THE HERODS happen to come here, you may
ask. The Negroes were not the only persons pressed into slavery.
Without a doubt many slaves were obtained from Asia, too. Some
enterprising reporter-researcher might decide to ask the question
very directly of the Washington D.C. people who are pushing
the Vietnam war so vigorously.
"I shall say this in a very straight-forward fashion - I
believe it is the real truth. You surely are entitled to your
opinion, whatever it is. Can you suggest any alternative? Pro-
bably not."
We felt ourselves falling, slowly at first, then plunging,
plummeting, full speed ahead in a swan dive off the deep end.
The phone rang - it was the curly-hared student. "I got home
safely," he told us. "Just wanted you to know."
WE DIDN'T LAUGH at him; we hadn't laughed at any of
them that first day of discovery, that day we began to suspect
it was all coming unhinged.
Although little has happened since then to confirm our
suspicions - a few phone calls now and then ,an unexplainable
letter or two - we still don't laugh. You can never laugh in this
haunting, perpetual season of the witch - next time, it may
be you.
It may be you the FBI chooses to persecute; it may be your
friend who is swooped up by the Children of God. It may be you
the police choose to follow,
Very strange indeed.
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.
Friday, August 6, 1971 News Phone: 764-0552
NIGHT EDITOR: ANITA CRONE
f'
sex information
Chemi
'cal spermicides
(EDITOR'S NOTE: This regular
question -and-answerecolumneon
matters of sexual coneern is being
published in co-operation with
Counseting Services, a division of
the Office of Student Serviees.
Questions may be sent to Box
25, The Daily, 420 Maynard, or
phoned into 16-GUIDE, the Coun-
seling Services' regular 24 - hour
counseling and referral service.)
By ROBERT KOOP
Q. You said in your column on
the diaphragm that it was not ef-
fective unless it was used with a
vaginal spermicide. Are the sper-
micides effective all by them-
selves? Is it better to use a cream
or a jelly or foam?
- A. Well, yes. They are effective
when used by themselves, but not
very. The failure rate for brand
name spermicides is between 15
and 25 per hundred woman years.
This is better than the failure rate
for the rhythm method (slightly)
and better than the rate for coitus
interruptus (a little) but not as
good as the rates for the dia-
phragm (with jelly or cream), the
condom, the IUD or the Pill.
The foams are the most effective
of the three types. Some women
will use jellies or creams because
of an allergic reaction to foam or
a personal preference for them, so
let me talk a little about the dif-
ferences between the various types
of spermicides and let you figure
it out for yourself.
There is one time when foam is
not as effective as either jellies
or creams-which is when you're
using a diaphragm. The foaming
action tends to move the dia-
phragm out of place.
People have been trying to
work out an effective vaginal
spermicide ever since they figured
out where babies camve from.
Egyptians were told to try honey
and acacia tips for this purpose
more than 3500 years ago.
As you may have guessed, this
didn't work very well, and nei-
their did any of the other ones
that were suggested up until so-
called modern times.
Anyway, after 3500 years of
messing around, somebody finally
came up with some stuff that
worked, and here's how it does:
Most currently available chemical
contraceptives rely for their ef-
fectiveness on both a chemical
and a mechanical action.
That is, they contain a chemical
that kills sperm mixed with a base
(cream, jelly or foam) that forms
a physical barrier to sperm get-
ting to where they want to go.
There are also suppositories
which work mostly by chemical
action alone-but these are not as
effective and not significantly
easier to use, so there's really no
reason to mess with them at all.
Let's take the other ones one at
a time:
1. FOAMS: These are the most
effective of the chemical contra-
ceptives. The foaming action
makes it more likely that the pre-
paration will spread itself 'out to
cover the cervix-which is what
you want to keep those sperm away
from.
2. JELLIES: are chemicals in a
water - soluble base which (re-
markably enough) has a jelly-like
consistency. It liquifies at a lower
temperature than creams so it may
be better for couples who feel the
need for extra lubrication,
3. CREAMS: are chemical pre-
pared in a stearate soap which
supposedly adheres to vaginal tis-
sues better than jellies. In fact,
there's almost no difference in re-
liability or cost between creams
and jellies - most manufacturers
make cream and jelly equivalents
and the creams are slightly more
popular across the board.
Here's how they all work: With
your first purchase of foam, ' jelly
or cream you get an applicator
which is essentially just a special
purpose syringe. The spermicide
is forced into the syringe which is
then placed as far back in the va-
gina as possible. Pressing the
plunger deposits the spermicide
at the back of the vagina and over
the cervix.
Here are the rules you have to
follow to make them work right:
1. They must be inserted not
more than 30 minutes before inter-
course.
2. Two applicators full will be
more effective than one -more
than that and you start getting into
the realm of overkill.
3. If more than a half hour has
elapsed, if the woman has gotten
up from bed or urinated, another
insertion of spermicide is required.
4. Leaking can be controlled by
pressing a tissue or clean towel 4
against the vaginal opening. None
of the major brands will perma-
nently stain sheets or clothing,
though.
5. It is not necessary to douche,
but if you do, you must wait until
at least six hours has passed after,
intercourse.cNot allntheasperm
cells will come in contact with
the spermicide right away. Douch-
ing will not remove all the sperm
from the vagina, but it will re-
move most of the spermicide.
After intercourse, you can get up
or go to the bathroom without ef-
fecting the action of the spermi-V
cide.
6. You must insert a fresh ap-
plication before each act of inter-
course.
If you insist on using only a
chemical contraceptive (and that's
certainly better than nothing) your
should use foam. Cream and jelly
are best for use with a diaphragm.
Foam is also great when used
in conjunction with condoms. The
failure rate of the condom and
foam together is comparable to the
failure rate of the Pill (this has
not been clinically documented)
and, unless you have an allergic
reaction to the preparation you're
using, the side effects are nil.
The main advantage of the
chemical methods is that all the
chemicals are available without
prescription and are openly dish.
played in drug stores and even in
places like K-Mart. They're pretty
cheap to use (ten to thirtyncents
per act of intercourse) and ni-
body looks at you twice or asks you
any questions when you buy them.
Emko and Delfen are the bran
names of the two most widel~
used, effective foams, by the way,
and a starter kit (applicator and
enough foam for about twenty
applications) will cost you about
$2.50 or $3.00. All these prepara-
tions are available at the Health
Service Pharmacy.