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MICH-ELLANY
A moment of silence with the TV
BOOKS
The slow, painful restoration
of a city of treasures
INTERVIEW
Gerald Linderman
Prof. worries that students will
forget the lessons of America's wars
History Prof. Gerald F. Linderman teaches what may be one of the
University's most popular courses, "Twentieth Century American Wars
as Social and Personal Experience." A Yale graduate with post-graduate
degrees from Northwestern, Linderman, 52, worked for the Foreign
Service in Africa and India. The Wisconsin native came to the University
in 1969 and has since written two books. "All of my work is focused on
the ways in which we as a society fight our wars as those ways reflect
our values and our social assumptions," he says, quietly, carefully. He
was interviewed by Daily staffer Susanne Skubik.
Daily: Your class on American wars is very crowded. Students sit in the
aisles and demand more sections. Why is it so popular?
Linderman: Well, I think that's a difficult question and perhaps it's one
better asked of those in the class than of me. I do enjoy immensely the
oppurtunity to teach here, and perhaps something of that feeling makes
its way through what I say. When a talk works, and when the students
participate with you to help make it work, it's extraordinarily satisfying,
as satisfying or more satisfying than anything else that I do. It might be
too that the topic is a rather important one, both because students wonder
whether they'll be compelled to participate in war and because war
permits you to teach veryfundamental matters. I think that's one of the
reasons that that course is so attractive to me-it permits you to teach
power and love; it permits you to teach force and persuasion, collective
and individual experience.
D: That's important stuff, sure. Is the class getting more popular?
L: Well, it was getting out of hand, so that I could scarcely see those
who sat in the last rows. And it was at that point that I decided to break
the course in two, and to teach first in the early morning and then again
in the early afternoon. I think it's working out better, at least that it's no
longer so large that I have to worry about the size inhibiting student
participation.
D: How do you characterize today's student attittudes and how do they
compare to those of earlier generations?
L: Student attitudes are today are very different from those that prevailed
when I arrived. In 1969 and 1970, a significant number of students
involved themselves in anti-Vietnam War protests and the Black Action
Movement strike and the drive to establish a student-affiliated bookstore,
and so on. And the atmosphere was one in which, for example, that
stretch limousine filled with sorority pledges that I saw on campus
several weeks ago would have been wildly out of place.
Some of that -agitation entered into the classroom, so student
challenged you as they do not today. They compelled you to defend what
you said. They required you to explain yourself at points that you simply
wanted passed on. It was sometimes tense, but it was often very
Continued on Page 11
THANKSGIVING. A TIME for
families to come together, to share.
Isn't that why we go home in the
first place? To share that closeness
with our families? I remember a
special moment I shared with my
Dad last year. We both looked at
the turkey, and we didn't need to
say a word. Later I struggled to put
that feeling into words: "Dad,
doesn't the turkey look good?" He
just nodded his head. That is
Thanksgiving. But it is something
more.
Thanksgiving is reflection...
Dad: "Remember last year's
turkey?"
Me: "Yup."
Thanksgiving is a time to look
around us and be thankful for
everything we have. Many families
have a moment of silence before
they eat their meal, a communal
moment of reflection. We decided
that every year we'd have our
moment of reflection in front of the
television. During an important
play of the football game we all
become very quiet. Turns out that
we have two or three moments of
silence. And why not? We have a
lot to be thankful for. Last year
my uncle got a new TV with the
"zoom" feature. It gives you a
perspective you just can't get with
OFF THE WALL
I need a date. Good-looking male
senior.
(replies)
ARE YOU ONE? OR ARE YOU
LOOKING FOR ONE?
It doesn't matter-it is a stupid
statement. It is a ridiculous way to
try to get a date. Please save this
desk for mind-bending statements,
not stupid ones.
-Angell Hall
I am a male virgin looking for a
female virgin. I live in MoJo -
PLEASE FIND ME!!
(in reply)
I AM A MALE VIRGIN THAT HAS
GIVEN UP. THE WORLD IS A
REALLY SHITTY PLACE.
-Graduate Library
Why did I come? This class is so
depressing, it is too sad for words. I
do want to cry. Can we leave now
Mom? I feel like I'm at the dentist.
Oh no, don't do that please-
-Angell Hall
LIVE EVERY DAY AS IF IT IS
YOUR LAST
ONE DAY YOU WILL BE RIGHT
-Angell Hall
Dandelions don't tell no lies
Dandelions will make you wise
-Graduate Library
MIKE
FISCH
an ordinary TV.
Last Thanksgiving my Dad gave
a short speech before the meal.
Something about how important it
was for us to realize that there were
people who, even as our turkey was
being cut, had nothing to eat. And
what a turkey it was. The stuffing
was a little bit dry, but with a lot
of gravy it was okay.
*@"
I didn't go to the Michigan-Iowa
game, but on my way home from
the library that day I saw a family
that had definitely been there. The
father had on a Wolverine beanie,
and the mother was wearing maize
and blue plaid polyester slacks.
"Who won the Michigan game?"
I asked. There were about five
seconds of silence before the mother
finally said to her husband, "Honey,
I think he's kidding." The father
started telling me about the game-
winning field goal, but the mother
cut him off as if he was just being
gullible: "C'mon, Dick, he's got a
Michigan sweatshirt on."
I explained that I really was not
at the game, that I was studying for
a midterm, but she still wasn't
fully convinced. As the father told
me the final score shejust shook
her head. It just didn't seem
possible.
Each of the children in my
family has a Bar Mitzvah book
with his name engraved on it;
inside are pictures of his Bar
Mitvah that the family can cherish
year after year. It's sort of like a
wedding book, but instead it
documents your Bar Mitzvah, your
shining moment. The strange
thing about my Bar Mitzvah book
is that it has no pictures of me in
it. There are pictures of the floral
arrangement at the temple, a potato
pancake, the bartenders and a group
shot of the people who served the
hors d'oeuvres. My brother
Steven's book has a picture of him
on almost every page, which
doesn't really bother me because the
photographer at my Bar Mitzvah
probably didn't know which of us
was the Bar Mitzvah Boy. My
Mom says the photographer was
my uncle, but I only see him once
a year-on Thanksgiving.
Venice
By Peter Lauritzen, with
photographs by Jorge Winski and
Mayotte Magnus.
Adler and Adler, $29.95
Disasterous flood water swirled
through the beautiful canals of
Venice in 1966 and 1967, flooding
the piazzos and stripping frescos
from the walls of residences on the
lagoon. The threat that this aqua
alta brought to the city's historic
art and architectural treasures drew
international attention. For the first
time in centuries, the world became
concerned with the long-needed
resoration and reconstruction of
Venice. Foreign committees began
working on raising funds for
preservation, but scattered and
disorganized, they were ineffectual.
Eventually their attempts were
joined into a single effort
spearheaded by the United Nation's
Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO).
UNESCO brought the project to
the attention of the Italian
authorities, mobilizing the rescue
mission.
UNESCO's role was passive.
They catalogued the damage, listing
hundreds of paintings, sculptures,
Preserved
frescoes, palaces, churches,
convents and schools in need of
restoration, and in 1969 published
its "Rapporto su Venezia." This
was the beginning of the restoration
by the Venice in Peril Fund.
"Venice Preserved" is a record of
the reconstruction funded by the
Venice in Peril Fund during the last
two decades. The 200 photographs,
100 in color, together with
Lauritzen's narrative list, show in
great detail the buildings restored by
the Fund and those awaiting
restoration. Most of the
photographs are beautiful,
especially the color ones, covering
a wide range of architectural
periods. There are some shots of
"local color" that look like space
fillers, and the absence of a city
.map is a major shortcoming with
the book. Getting a feel for the
geography of Venice is difficult.
Architecture andsmuseum fans
will be interested in the detailed
descriptions of the restoration
process. The various techniques
devised in Venice to clean oil and
petroleum from stonework, to
preserve statues from pollution
from the nearby factories and to
clean candle soot from frescoes are
all described.
As a history of Venice,
including the recent times, "Venice
Preserved" is a good reference to
have. It gives travelers an idea of
what the citizens themselves live
with, and how they cope with the
lack of housing, a bureaucratic
government, and the difficulty in
obtaining building permits to make
repairs or install plumbing.
Tourism, Venice's main
industry, has faltered due to fears of
terrorism, straining already shakey
municipal finances. This summer
the Venetian government, for the
first time, has decided to advertise
their city to tourists.
"Venice Preserved" is not a book
for everyone. The lengthy
explanations of cleaning processes
are for professionals, although they
can be understood by lay persons.
Architects and historians will get
the most out of it, but travelers to
Venice would also learn a great deal
about the city from this volume. At
first glance, "Venice Preserved"
looks like the kind of book you
might find on your neighbor's
coffee table, but a closer reading
will prove that the preservation of
Venice is a long and compex story.
It's been written about clearly and
succinctly in this book, and it's
worth a look.
-Rebecca Cox
Sc
Don 't
You not
time t
-Yearbo
Four more days
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PRINT FROM THE PAST
April 8, 1969: Ann Arbor Councilman Nick Kazarinoff (left) laughs it up
with Mayor Bob Harris at an election party. Both were victorious.
THE DAILY ALMANAC
Buy one
Whopper
sandwich,
get another
of Stadium Blvd.
m
Eisenhower
Briarwood
* Mal ,
lg Victors Way
I4
15 years ago-October 30,
1971: Tens of thousands of
spectators fell silent during the
halftime of the Michigan-Indiana
football game as an anti-war
observance was conducted, in
conjunction with that year's
homecoming theme: "Bring all the
troops home now. Let's have a real
homecoming this year." Anti-war
veterans released 100 black
balloons, each representing 15,000
Asian and American war deaths.
The observance was in sharp
contrast to the preceeding portion of
the halftime show, which featured
selections from Lawrence Welk and
"Jesus Christ Superstar."
University officials agreed to
permit the anti-war program in the
stadium after a petition signed by
1,500 people-including two-thirds
of the football team-was presented
to the administration.
The other Venice: Factories pollute the city's canals and contaminate the air, damaging art and architecture.
PAGE 10 WEEKEND/OCTOBER 31, 1986
WEEKEND/OCTOBER 31, 1986