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In a circle of friends
in a circle of soundl
all our voices will blend
when we touch common ground
- Paul Winter Consortium,
"Common Ground"
It was 1971 when Annette
Martin, a theater professor at
Eastern Michigan University,
was told that women could not
direct. It was also in 1971 that
Meeting on Common Ground
Martin set out to prove her critics
wrong, and Common Ground
Theatre Ensemble was born.
The ensemble's first venture,
which stemmed from a
discussion among troupe
members during a brainstorming
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session, focused
on the day-to-
day occurrences
in women's
lives and
featured af
Mousketeer-
style song titled
"On the Rag,"
written by
ensemble-
member Elise
Bryant. While
Bryant says the
performers'
mothers were
less than
impressed with
the show, it was
well-received
by the general
public and Common Ground has
been producing theater with a
pulse on real people's lives ever
since. The show was a career-
booster for Martin as well, and
she was welcomed back to
Eastern's theater department with
open arms.
Bryant then became Common
Ground's artistic director and, in
filling this position, maintained
the groups' unique approach to
theater, utilizing the stage and the
streets as paths toward social
change. Not only does the
ensemble stage dramatic works
with political relevance, it is also
the parent company which
spawned Barrier-Free Theatre
(now Diversibility Theatre), a
troupe comprised of wheelchair-
users, and Workers' Lives/
Workers' Stories, a theater group
that allows labor union members
to perform and address working-
world issues. The core members
of Workers' Lives/Workers'
Stories travel to conferences and
other work environments to
perform their pieces.
J
Recently Natasna naym
Common an African gos
Ground, in the Common G
collaboration Celebration of
with
University
Health
Services, took to the streets of.
Ann Arbor to stage a community
awareness rally for December's
World Wins Day which featured
songs and poetry readings.
Another move toward social
change was sparked last summer
when Bryant met up with
University graduate student
Natasha Raymond at a women of
color poetry reading sponsored by
Common Ground. According to
Raymond, the two began talking
after the reading and discovered
they shared many similar interests
and goals.
"We had these incredible jam
sessions," Raymond said. "We
started talking about how we
wanted to have peace in the world
and how could we have it and we
just really jammed." As a result of
lo
r
p
these
collaborations,
Raymond
joined the
theater
troupe's
.,, student
affiliate, U-M
Friends of
Common
Ground
Theatre, and
the groups'
next move for
change was
launched.
In the Name
of Love: A
Multi-cultural
Celebration of
OSE JUAREZ/Weekend Peacemakers is,
nd rehearses according to
el song for Raymond, a
ound conglomeration
eacemakers of many past
Common
Ground events.
The troupe has
drawn on its past connections
with groups like Health Services
to produce a two-day event
consisting of a multi-media
performance Friday and Saturday
at 8 p.m. in Mendelssohn Theatre
and workshops all day Saturday in
the Michigan League..
"We're bringing in conservative
elements and liberal elements.
We're building on the foundation
we've been building up all
along," Raymond explained.
Groups such as sAPAc, The
Interfaith Council for Peace and
Justice, and UCAR will hold teach-
ins during the day addressing a
wide range of topics including
Third World women, Nicaragua,
and racism and war propaganda.
There will also be a large canvas
on which anyone can paint his or
her vision of peace.
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Wait List
Anxiety
Syndrome
Remember your senior year in
high school when you were
getting literature from every
college on Earth, from Princeton
to Nashville Auto-Diesel College?
Remember all the interesting
facts they gave you, like the ratio
of men to women, or the ratio of
students to faculty? Most of us
were much more concerned with
the former statistic than the latter.
Don't ask me what made me pass
up Central Michigan University,
where the female-male ratio is
8:1, for this university, where it's
more like 2:3, but it sure wasn't
the faculty-student ratio.
Anyone who's not securely
registered in a class is bound to
suffer from something called
Type wL (wait-list) Anxiety
Syndrome. This disease initially
manifests itself in professors who
get a wait-list that's three times
the size of the maximum size of
the class. Knowing that everyone
on that list is going to be a "senior
concentrator" who "needs that
class to graduate" causes even the
most liberal faculty member to
cringe in fear and, not knowing
were to turn, blame the university
for not hiring enough TAs.
The anxiety is passed, as is
proper, to the students. Professors
have a variety of ingenious
methods for scaring off students
in vain attempts at bringing
classes down to a manageable
size. In one course, the professor
effort they put into getting a job,
getting good grades, analyzing
whether or not Rumeal is playing
his best ball, ragging on people,
and thinking they can save the
world; and put it into to having a
good time I think we'd notice a
marked improvement.
I had this epiphantic realization
last weekend when I traveled to
the University of Wisconsin in
Madison. Michigan and Wisconsin
are strikingly similar in many
ways.
They're big state schools that
draw a similar mix of students. We
Piave similar problems with racism,
politics. Another
political science
professor lays it right on
the line: don't take this
class if you're trying to
get into law school. If
that won't scare two-
thirds of the political
science concentrators
on this campus away,
nothing will.
A certain English
professor, known to his
friends as "Napalm
Bill," first complained
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"this class is intended for serious
students of international politics"
and that anyone who is not should
drop the class. Two weeks later,
he gives you a map quiz that most
seventh-graders I know could
pass, although few of them are
serious students of international
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that the class size was five times
what it should be, making it
impossible to check whether you
had done the daily written
assignments. After the usual
horror stories about how hard the
class was, you were afraid not to
drop the class, for fear that
enough other people would,
making the daily inspection
practical. A brilliant bit of
psychological warfare on Napalm
Bill's part, one that almost
worked.
tuition, trends, hang-ups, and
views. Walk down State Street at
either school and you pass similar
stores, they even have their own
Discount Records, Wazoo Records
and Cat's Meow.
Our schools are different in one
major way: we study more, they
seem to have more fun. Now, I've
been more than willing to sacrifice
some fun for a Michigan diploma,
but no mas. We got into Michigan
over Wisconsin presumedly
because we could solve problems
better, so instead of turning our
attention to econ problem sets,
why not better manage our time so
This overcrowding problem
peaks with the senior seminars
where, as one professor put it,
"you sit around a table with ten or
fifteen of your colleagues and
enjoy an intellectual exchange
afforded so rarely to
undergraduates at the University
of Michigan." Actually, you sit in
a huge classroom in East
Engineering with fifty or sixty of
your colleagues and
have a class much
like any other 400-
level class. One of
the more
controversial profs
around here tried to
get his seminar down
to manageable size
by forcing all the
prospective students
to follow him on a
chase from East
Engin to the North
Campus bus,
through G.G. Brown and EECS, to
collapse exhausted somewhere in
the Dow building. Presumably,
the requirements for the class
included athletic prowess (much
as Rhodes Scholars must
demonstrate) and problem solving
ability, which you proved by
finding your way home and back
to class again the following week.
The university is doing what it
can to alleviate the problem. You
get helpful hints about the wait-
we can go out and still maintain
those sparkling GPAS.
Wisconsin is.in Wisconsin,
while Michigan is in Michigan.
This truism has more profound
implications than those that meet
the eye. Since its inception
Wisconsinites have held tight to
the idea that all activities merit
having a beer.
Go to their Union, instead of
students sitting at dimly lit tables
in a smoky pit eating greasy
burgers, students sit in a tavern
like atmosphere with books open
and beers at their side. Outside
the Union is a huge lake were the
list right in the course guide now.
For instance, wL:1 means only
those with a genuine interest in
doing yard work at the professor's
house will be given overrides.
wL:2 means be prepared for
swimsuit, evening gown, and
talent competitions at the first
class meeting. And wL:3 means
cash only.
Of course, if the university
weren't trying to set a record by
doubling the number of students
admitted every year, this
wouldn't be a problem. But I
guess we need the extra tuition
money. Not that I know where it
goes, except that it's obviously
not to hire more TAs and faculty
to deal with the increasing class
sizes. Perhaps if profs and TAs
were stricter about how many
people they'll let into a class, this
problem would solve itself. After
all, if every class were kept down
to its ideal size, many of us would
have no classes at all. I guess we'd
have to pass the time watching
soaps at Duderstadt's house. And
hanging out at regents meetings.
And getting full tuition refunds.
And explaining to our alumni
parents why we weren't in class
that day.
I wonder if they have this
problem at Nashville Auto-Diesel
College?
T _ i 4 4 1 -- - 4 - -
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February 23 tenants' issues issue, and we would like to find out what you think
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The following categories will be especially helpful in tallying results:
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sunsets are spectacular. The
closest body of water to our
campus is the toxic Huron River.
Again this doesn't necessarily
mean you have to drink beer to
have fun, you have to look under
the surface. By thinking that every
occasion is a reason to have beer
available, they in fact are saying
that every situation has the
potential to be fun.
My logic may be skewed, but
the simple fact remains that
everywhere around you at
Madison is having fun. It's like a
big polka party... and when was
the last time you saw a dour and
ma
Ari
Litt
abo
see
wo
thi:
del
ozc
doi
forg
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say
hav
12
WEEKEND February 2, 1990