MICH=ELLANY Don't let fash-ismget you down MAIN STREET -4 INTERVIEW Vivian Shapiro University president' s wife stays 'in touch' with students as a professor Vivian Shapiro,wife of University President Harold Shapiro, is a part- time associate professor in the School of Social Work. She received her degree from Michigan in 1969 and currently teaches two courses on working with children. Shapiro spoke in her South University home with Daily staffer Martha Sevetson. Daily: First, tell me something about yourself. Shapiro: Well, I am a mother of four daughters between the ages of 21 and 26, and I have one grandchild who is two and a half. I have been married to Harold Shapiro for 30 years. D: How did you first meet Harold Shapiro? S: We met in high school, at a party. I was in high school, he was in college. We went to McGill University together; we grew up in Montreal. D: Were you graduate students together? S: No, he went to Princeton, and I went back to school here in Michigan some years later. I guess I would characterize myself as having a traditional marriage: when he went to college and graduate school I took care of the children. They grew up and went to college, and I got my degree in 1969. I worked for the Department of Psychology in research for about ten years in a special project on infant mental health, and then our project ended about six years ago. We published a series of articles, and finally a book. I don't have a ph.D., and I was very fortunate to get involved in working in interdisciplinary research. D: How did you become interested in social work? S: I was always interested in the welfare of children, ever since I was growing up. It's possible that, growing up in my day, I really saw that as a career that was appropriate and possible for a woman. However, I was always very interested in the field. When I was a teenager I used to work in a neighborhood clinic with children. D: What courses do you teach at the University? S: I teach two classes. I teach Advanced Interpersonal Practice With Children, which is a methods class, and I teach another class in Interpersonal Practice with individuals, which is a practice methods class. I also work with the Bush program. The Bush Foundation sponsors these programs at Yale, Harvard and UCLA. The idea of the program is to fund opportunities for graduate students to do interdisciplinary work in the field of child welfare. This particular group does work on the translation of research into public policy. D: You said you had four daughters, what are they doing now? S: They're very interesting - they're all doing something different. The oldest is married and has a baby, and she works as an administrative assistant at Sisters of Mercy College. My next daughter is a doctor. See INTERVIEW, Page 25 THIS IS YOUR FIRST and final warning. As this is the "Special Fashion Issue" of Weekend Magazine, I have been prevailed upon to write a column about fashion, and I have a fake leopard- skin bedspread. You see where I'm coming from? Right now I'm wearing clothes that make me feel good. I've got my Levi's. They've got a zipper. I've got a ratty olive-green 100% alpaca sweater (says so on the label) which buttons like Mr. Rogers's, and it only cost me two bucks. I've got these jammin' boots, black and square-toed, with little burgundy stripey things, and even more zippers. My socks are both blue, but I don't make any claim to further similarity. In short, I'm dressed for failure. But it's not my fault. In the late '60s and early '70s, my embryonic fashion sense was assaulted by paisley, dayglo, go-go, floral prints and other things that whispered one word to me, and that word was, "YIP - YIP - barooogah - WHOOP- WHOOP-WHOOP!" It's taken me years to recognize a simple fact. Just because Cary Grant looks terrific in an outfit OFF THE WALL I "love" U of M. These have been the "best" years of my "life." I'm afraid the "real world" is going to be a big "letdown." No one "out there" "cares" about "asking" the big "questions" in "life." They're just "trying" to keep up with "the Jonses." -Graduate Library Don't you hate when pseudo- intellectuals try and sound impressive with flowery language and abstract ideas that mean nothing? Just say your point! Don't try to impress the prof. - he's smarter than that. (in reply) I don't think you are con- ceptualizing the spirit with which such intercourse is being presented. -Mason Hall doesn't mean that I too will look good if I attempt the same look. Cary Grant was a beautiful man. He beautified his garments. I'm not entirely gruesome, but I'm no Cary Grant, so when it comes time for me to make "a fashion statement" that statement usually boils down to, "Okay, fantastic-looking people, there's a lot more of us out here than there are of you, and we don't work as hard as you do to look as nice as you do, and what's more, we have more fun than you do, a- ha-ha-ha-ha!" The philosophy can be summed up in a phrase from, ironically, an old Cary Grant movie: "If you can't be chic, be odd." But I really get pig-biting mad when odd becomes chic. Good- looking people have an obligation to stay conservative... to use those classic lines and traditional colors which have made them look disgustingly fabulous since time immemorial. When I see a fashion designer come out with a new rubber jacket, or the co-opting of paisley by the fashion-conscious, I get honked off. Young Adonises and Venuses should be required to stay in navy blue, grey, pink, and beige. I think it's time for America to honor those who have made a commitment to fashions that Cary Grant wouldn't wear. In the interests of undermining the bulk of what has been termed progress in the fashion world, I herewith present MR. LOGIE'S 10 BEST-DRESSED LIST OF ALL TIME: Bette Midler - Here's a woman who wore a mermaid costume and rode around in a wheelchair. Her appreciation for the absurd is admirable. KISS (1974-1979) - Leather, chains, clown make-up. Everyone at my junior high school, whether they liked the music or no, thought KISS looked cool, and after all these years, and a good look at what Gene Simmons really looks like, I'm inclined to agree. See LOGIE, Page 25 PRINT FROM THE PAST f DAILY FILE PHOTO Fashion a la the School of Nursing's food preparation class, 1959. THE DAILY ALMANAC 0 Dox Dox Orthodox -Graduate Library INNER PEACE THROUGH SEL- ECTIVE APATHY -TIM THOMAS -Graduate Library 20 years ago - March 19, 1967: "Beach wear is getting briefer every summer," noted the cutline under a picture of a bikini- clad model. Her suit, conservative to the point of being tacky by today's standards, was covered with a screaming paisley pattern, typical of the generally obnoxious motifs featured in the Daily's spring fashion issue of 1967. New swim gear wasn't the only shocker. On women's trends, one writer observed, "Time has proved wrong those surveyors of the fashion scene who saw the 'Great Pants Takeover' as just another phase. Or rather Mademoiselle, Seventeen, Glamour and every other fashion Bible have decided that the American woman is going to shed her historic garb for variations on the same theme - pants." The '60s were so radical. L. EN 0 0 6LJ PAGE 24 WEEKEND/MARCH 20, 1987