V V V V V V V w w w w w v w w w -my _W MICHELLANY BOOKS Bidding a fond farewell Rosemary Reuther Feminist theologian, striving for church reforms, is not afraid to confront the central questions of modern Christianity and society In my four years at the Daily, almost everything has changed. In December of 1983, the Daily cost fifteen cents - as much as The Detroit News. It came out Tuesday through Sunday. We wrote our stories on typewriters. As reigning Daily dinosaur, I occasionally tire my co-workers with stories about people they never had the chance to know. I lord my knowledge of past times over them. I feel a special sense of authority when I talk about the way the Daily does things, or should do things. And sometimes, I think about the fine people I have known who are out in a world which is supposedly more real than the one in which I live, and I wish they would return to the desks which still seem to belong to them. I am fond of this paper, and sometimes I pretend that I will always work here, beside the friends I have -made, with the editorial freedom, and autonomy which I have come to cherish. But the paper keeps changing. Most Dailyites only spend a year or two on the paper. I am well into my second generation of friends. I have seen many of my co-workers travel on to bigger and better things, and some have travelled on to smaller and worse things. The paper is no longer the paper I naively walked into, and I am changing too. There is, however, one person at the Daily, whose experience at and dedication to the paper far outstrip my own. I consider him my oldest Daily buddy. And he is, to a great degree, responsible for some of the better things about this paper. Production manager Lucius Doyle has been at the Daily five times as long as I have, working in the composing room. He is a constant. I have watched disillusioned ex- Dailyites return to the editorial offices which had been their stomping grounds. Unable to adjust to the refurbishments, and the notion that someone else is doing the job that they once did, they retreat downstairs, to see Lucius. Anyone who stays at the Daily long enough to accept editorial responsibility eventually runs into Lucius. And the first encounter is never pleasant. Lucius wields a mean Ex-acto knife, used to remove our all-too-frequent foul-ups from the paper. When the composing room becomes crowded, Lucius' control over the blade deteriorates, not that anyone's ever been injured. This serves to instantaneously separate conversationists, who quickly head back upstairs, from proof-readers. When I became Weekend editor, Lucius scared me. Older Dailyites told me that I had to send my copy down completely mistake-free, or else face his awe-inspiring wrath. I did my best, and I remember my quandry when I decided that one of my mistakes was so embarassing that we simply had to correct it.u "Lucius," I croaked, the typesetters didn't screw up, but I did, pretty badly ...do you think we can fix this word up? It'll read completely wrong if we don't." Lucius eyed me with what appeared to be contempt he reserved for garden pests. "Well," he said with a groan, "what do we need here?" Lucius fixed it, and saved my butt. Over time, it became clear to me See LOGIE, Page 15 Disposable Clea & Zeus Divorce spent A novel by Emily Prager suckers V Coninterest Vintage Contemporaries televisii $6.95/paperback Real fares m A Visit From The Divorc Footbinder reason Short stories by Emily Prager writing Vintage Contemporaries the vic $6.95/paperback betwee Let us begin by saying that if probabl this were a perfect world, and we had the stor all the money we could ever want to link. H spend, and all the time we could ever unawar want for reading, books like these faith the would not be a problem. In th Books like these are, in fact, century fairly innocuous, "these books" about t being by Emily Prager. They are flash, marketed with that Yuppie appeal, betwee ooh aah that hard romantic life in the disables city stuff, with new wave covers binding suggesting Tama Janowitz or Brett again, Easton Ellis. sized f They read fast. You don't have to marry v think about them. In fact, there is so isn't s little that actually sticks, that two manag days later, you wonder "What was it occasio I was reading about? Why was it I literatw $6.95 a piece for these s, when it would be more ing (and cheaper) to watch on, and I hate television?" ly, A Visit to the Footbinder uch better than Clea & Zeus e, and that's for the simple that both the plots and the are more interesting. The ries concern themselves with ious circle of oppression n the sexes. Prager would y never say that herself about ies, but it is the connecting [er narrator's voices are e of the unconscious leaps of at they are making. he title story, it is thirteenth China, and the narrator is to get her feet bound. In a she makes the connection en upper-class beauty and ment: she might die from the g, she'll never be able to run and yet without tiny lotus- feet, she won't be able to within her class. Of course, it o cut and dried, and Prager es to throw in a dash of wit nally. While this isn't great re, it is diversion. yuppie books Clea & Zeus Divorce is not diversion. The plot involves two performers who turn their divorce into a live two hour prime time special. Clea believes that the bomb is going to hit Manhattan in the last five minutes of the show. And she knew this when she bought the air time. While this might be an interesting topic in 'the hands of, say, Mike Rubin, Prager does not make this work. She gives many details about her characters, heavens knows they are all exotic and handsome, but they are wooden. Dead on the page. It's fiction, and there's nothing there to suggest that these persons ever lived or ever could live. So what if the bomb falls? You can't destroy what isn't there. -V.J. Beauchamp WEEKEND MAGAZINE Fridays in The Daily 763-0379 wuw III , .i, i '{ kink Copies, Binding, P 540 E. Liberty 761-4539 NON-STOP C Kinko's is open 241 anytime for fast sere quality, and low, lo U I ON SALE! INTERVIEW Rosemary Radford Reuther is a professor of theology at Garret Evans Seminary at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. She has written or edited over 25 books, and written over 500 articles. One of the most influential women theologians, Reuther's influence extends well beyond the Catholic church. She has written on topics ranging from anti-semitism, to the connections between the women's movement and the ecological movement, to homosexual rights. She spoke recently on campus and talked to WEEKEND Editor Alan Paul Daily: Are you a sister? Ruether: 'No, why should I be a sister? I am not a nun. There are a large number of Roman Catholics who are not nuns. D: Your main area of interest has been... R: My main training is that of a historical theologian, which means I"m a historian in Christian ideas and I teach widely in that area, across church history, historical theology, and ethics. And I write and talk about various kinds of ethical issues in Christian thought, one of those being the status of women, another being racism, peace...that sort of things. D:Do you support reforms within the Catholic church which would allow women to become priests? R: Of course I support the ordination of women. However, I think one has to fo more than just ordain women. One has to ask about how the whole structure of clericalism is set up in relation to the laity. In other words, one needs more a sense of clerical community, rather than just including a few women in the clergy. D: Are you optimistic about... R: I don't do optimism or pessimism. I do oughts. (laughs) It's really irrelevant whether it's going to be or not be. It ought to be. One has to make that case.- D: Yes, but you've made the decision to remain in the Catholic church whereas many have become Episcopalians for instance. R: Yes, but that's irrelevant. You can make a case for this church, for what it ought to be. It has nothing to do with optimism or pessimism anymore than "we shouldn't blow up the world with the atom bomb." We try but you don't operate on the basis of predictability and then give it up if it's not predictable. D: Did the recent visit of the Pope have a large influence?, R: No. It had very little influence. D: Do you think it was most;y ceremonial? R: He wanted it to be something more than that but he wasn't talking to the American people and therefore he was not making contIEt. See INTERVIEW, Page 15S I OFF THE WALL The neurotic builds castles in the sky. The psychotic lies in them. The psychiatrist collects the rent. -Graduate Library No one snowflake in an avalanche feels responsible -Angell Hall Aud. B If you choose not to decide you still make a choice -Angell Hall Aud. B God is love love is blind Ray Charles is blind Ray Charles is God A very bad syllogism (in reply) JIMI HENDRIX IS GOD, STEVIE RAY VAUGHN IS JESUS IN TRAINING -Angell Hall Aud. B The Daily's crossword puzzle is the best part of Comm. 401 -Angell Hall Aud. B SKETCH AD . VZINN ARE YOUI SORR*NED OY bUs 3% you XEbtv2AC SV4T ~f 49W sNOU4 ANDb H LILL SAND'4O0A fm swfts of A's 1 A1%1MA r ' j \ rl , y i \ I _, Y/ / \ k_. . '' /; --° y j ,! !i ) " . 1 ! AJid y in mU~aI cmtro,*, I~c' poVwfr 1f y fIVAN gKRAL, MAMz yil~li -fvrceV in I )0 #f o {Mt O-f4 at EASTERN UXr, TUNy The *c OP F . hedcc f J PAPA POX P4kL\POX RZCORP~I A 1*" Dfy m'k4.t1 (, < ; ; ' +;>:_" A N N A R 6 R 523 E. Liberty " 994-8031 9 Mon.- 1 -Sat. 10-9 Now carrying largest CD selection in town. For classical music visit SKR PAGE 14 WEEKEND/DECEMBER 4 1987 WEEKEND/DECEMBER 4, 1987