4

Opinion
rp _ A__n 001T-AA.OR~mn~~

r

Page 8,
The Michigan Daily
Vol. XCI, No. 17-S
Ninety Years of Editorial Freedom
Edited and managed by students
at the University of Michigan

Friday, May 29, 1981

The Micniganu iy

--r , ..

Symbolic at best
THERE SEEMS precious little to recommend
in a proposed City Council ordinance
requiring halfway house prisoners and parolees
living in Ann Arbor to register with the city.
The proposal states any city-dwelling
prisoner or parolee "shall. . . provide the city
administrator with his or her name, date of bir-
th, driver's license, and social security number,
address and telephone number of residence,
duration of expected stay in the city, and
criminal record."
Quite a list. Extensive though it is, there
seems considerable doubt-even among its ad-
vocates-as to just what the proposed ordinan-
ce would accomplish. (In response to the
Daily's inquiries regarding its intended use,
Ann Arbor's City Attorney replied, "Darned if I
know.")-
The ordinance was hastily conceived
following the city's emotional rejection last
February of a proposed state halfway house for
prisoners; its creation seems to smack as much
of political point-scoring as of any sincere
desire to make Ann Arbor a safer place to live.
Registration of prisoners would merely
overlap a concurrent state list that names all
halfway house residents; moreover,
registration of parolees raises profound Con-
stitutional questions regarding the violation of
the right to due process, privacy and equal
protection under the law.
The seriousness of such trangressions would
more than outweigh the possible virtues in what
seems largely a symbolic gesture at combating
crime. No other city in America possesses such
an ordinance; there is no compelling reason
why Ann Arbor should initiate a new trend.
ANPTAKING OVER THE BUILDING sOUL1U GIVE US
EXTRA OFFICE SPACE"
_ K
- -i -": L.Ec ;

Vocatio
By Anne Sharp
BOSTON - Forget lions,
rhinos, and panthers, all you
would-be African headhunters;
the most dangerous game in this
earth, as any starving young
student will tell you, is that wily
and elusive black-and-white
beast, the W-4 form.
Like any other sane individual,
I hate job-hunting as much as I do
punching a damn time clock.
Nevertheless, a girl must eat; so,
every day, armed with my trusty
resume, I've een combing the
steaming jungles of Greater
Boston in search of that fearsome
animal, employment.
Every day, dressed in a white
linen suit that I found in the dro--
off bag of a nearby adassa
Thrift Store, I board the inbound
trolley and plot my strategy. I'd
start with the closest subway
stop, I figured initially, check out
all the opportunities in the area,
then proceed to the next stop and
repeat the process.
Kenmore wasn't hiring, but
took my applications;
Auditorium told me to come back
in a few weeks; Copley said no,
flatly; Arlington promised to call
back on Monday; Park Street
sent me to to Government Center.
By the tinie I hit Lechmere, I
figured, someone would have to
hire me; that or at least the MBTA
would name me Commuter of the
Year.
ONE SUNNY afternoon I found
myself walking down Boylston
Street in Harvard Square, when a
little sign in a basement
storefront caught my eye: THE
VOCATIONAL WORKSHOP. I
walked in, on a whim; an elegan-
tly surnished little room it was,
filled.with blue canvas director's
chairs, racks of magazines -
Fortune,rMoney, Self - and a
green chalkboard scrawled over
with astonishing messages.
Can you love where money is at
risk?" asked the oard.
"Whatever you do, or dream, you
cane Begin it!" "'Baldness has
genius, power and magic in
it'-Goethe." "Our Intention is to
Guide you to becoming: The best
there is! Not a mediocre someone
else - Master of your own
Destiny and Life Process!"
A slender little man, balding,
with wiry grey hair and unstable-
looking gold metal glasses was
crumpled in a chair against the
wall, asleep. I walked 'about
politely, until he woke, some
minutes later. "What can I do for
you?" he asked immediately.
"I guess," I said, "I'm looking
for a vocation."
"WELL," HE replied in a
slight Harvard lisp, "we are not a
job referral service. We are here,
however, to help people orient
themselves towards the job
market. So - have a seat. What
is your background and life
history?"

)ning in Boston
"Well," I began, "I just should definitely check some of
finished four years studying these out."
English and communications at Outside, heading for the sub-
the University of Michigan -" way, I read through the pam-
"Not many jobs for English phlets. Initial training session,
majors," he interrupted. $20; other workshops, $25, $35.
"Well, one of my friends who These people are making a mint,
was in the same program I was I realized, coaxing sulky Harvard
works at MIT now, and another's preppies into the job market, and
writing for the Boston here I am, scrambling fruitlessly
Phoenix-" in and out of restaurants and
"Not much money in that." He bookstores, in search of the
snatched a few pamphlets from a minimum wage. Now why
nearby rack, and gave them to couldn't I figure out a scam like
me. "We can help you play up that? I'm young, bright,
your talents, though, go over your educated-
resume with you - resumes are "Witty, charming, and you

4

4

4

4

THE GREAT Boston job hunt goes on.

a lie, though, all lies. You have to
confront your propsective em-
ployer face to face, in order to tell
them what you're really about.
"JUST TAKE A look at this
literature, see what the
Vocational Workshop has to of-
fer. We have an open house every
Wednesday night, sort of a pep
rally for new people in the
program, and training sessions -
resume-writing, interviewing
techniques, role-playing.
"People are afraid to do what
they love, because they're afraid
that they'll lose pleasure in it if
they're doing it for work. We help
people get over that, too. You

have the prettiest set of ankles
this side of the Eastern
seaboard," my roommate Oliver
concluded. "But seriously, pet,
you've got to get out there and
support me - I'm a man with ex-
pensive tastes, you know. I'm
tired of drinking Rolling Rock
and staying home every night.
Get a job, woman."
Happy hunting, kids.
Displaced Dailyite Anne
Sharp promises the reading
public a Polaroid's view of her
vampish profile come next
Friday.

0

I

LETTERS TO THE DAILY:
For better or worse?

To the Daily:
What will the economic
changes which have: been
proposed by French President-
elect, Francois Mitterand,
mean?
Will they mean that the
manual-mental working majority
of France will receive labor time
vouchers equated to social labor,
which will enable each person
and that person, only, to convert
the vouchers into goods and ser-
vices which represent the same
quantity of social labor?
Will French workers and a
national industrial congress elec-
ted by them determine what will
be produced and how to most ef-
ficiently and effectively-meet the

needs of the French People? Or
will that decision be made by a
bunch of bureaucrats-as in
Russia - Or by a coalition of
capitalists elevated to gover-
nment posts - as in America?
If the wages system prevails in
France and if the political state
runs industry, Mitterand's elec-
tion will have failed to serve the
est interests of the French
people. The misrepresentation
and failure will have further
discredited and blemished the
word Socialism, which both
capitalists and Russian
bureaucrats have already altered
beyond recognition.
-Ralph Muncy
May 18

4

4