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4.
Page Eight
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Sundov. April 28. 1957
Sunday, April 28, 1957
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
THE MICHIGAN ., DA.LY Di iuu Ar i n 2R 1 ,
Sunday, April 28, 1957 THE MICHIGAN DAILY
BEST
ONE
ON
CAMPUS
Wisdom
Teeth &
Their
Ren
During Pledgeship, Chi Chi Chi Builds Unity and Security
OUR REPORTER SUBMITS TO A MASOCHISTIC ENT]
By RICHARD TAUB
Daily Staff Writer
W HAT MAKES a good fraterni-
ty? This is an intriguing ques-
tion, one people seldom trouble to
examine.
There are some for whom "fra-
ternity" and "good" are equated,
others for whom "fraternity" and
"evil" are synonymous. The form-
er position is presented most often
and eloquently by interfraternity
councils, national affiliated or-
ganizations, schools with fraterni-
ties, and old grads, for whom -v-
erything about college looks gold-
en when seen through the misty
haze of time.
The latter o sitin ism f ftp-
fraternity carefully, in its many
aspects, then weigh the good and
evil, both of which are present.
For the purpose of this story, a
close examination will be made of
a fraternity which is not located
on this campus.
HI CHI CHI, we'll call it, is a
'freal fraternity." It is ack-
nowledged to be one of the best
houses on campus by everyone
who knows anything about such
organizations. This is a particu-
larly great feat, because the
school at which it's located is a
fraternity campus.
It has 50 Greek organizations as
compared with 42 at the Univer-
By ROBERT S. BALL JR.
Daily Staff Writer
VOLUNTARILY allowing four
wisdom teeth to be pulled by
the University dental school is, at
best, a masochistic enterprise.
The most attractive considera-
hung by the Jawbone. This re-
quired some incising. A sort of
supervising dental surgeon was
looking over my dentist's shoulder.
The incident which occurred at
this point should have scared me
right out of she chair..
I- -
r--------- -
XIIU UUU! IJU6L u ""Isn "'10 Lsity, w ith m em bership averaging
espoused by people who didn't 100 per house, consistently
maktroubled about bigotry, anti-so more than this campus.
cias, ndothrsworie abutthe C hi Chi Chi has more men in
ials, and others orrie aoutr-activities than any other fratern-
ity ity, and fraternities run most of
Perhapsthe best way to make a the activities. The members, any
value judgment is to examine a coed wili tell you, are all "perfect
gentlemen" and a "nice bunch of
boys."
I They're always in the top three
fraternities scholastically, in ath-
letics and are always rated highly
by the dean.
Perhaps the best description of
Chi Chi Chi is one mind, one soul,
one heart and about 100 bodies.
Visitors to the house will immedi-
ately have their suit-cases "whisk-
ed away" by some pledge who must
have crawled out of the wood-
work. He is immediately beset by
a group of smiling, handshaking
individuals, all eager to help in
whatever way they can.
After establishing the guests in
a room, some eager pledge will be
certain to draw a diagram for his
visitors so they might find their
beds (the members sleep dorm
style).
tion is the absurdly low price - I heard this through my fog,
$1 for a straight pull, and $2.50 uttered with some vehemence:
or more for an impacted tooth. My "No, no! Never do it that way!"
home dentist would have asked The small pressures on my gum
$75 for extracting two teeth. stopped.
Another consideration: I could "Like this?" Renewed pressures.
look forward to an audience, I Yes, but I'd do it like this."
thought. Not that the "operation" A rustling of bodies, followed .by
was conducted in an amphithea- more pressures.
ter. (It was a little crowded with I smiled. I doubt if anyone
six doctors looking over a den- I recognized it as such: My mouth
tist's chair, but I get ahead of my was wide open, with a chock in-
story.) suring the opening.
Distractions were several: fear At another point, a chisel was
of having my skin broken, fear of applied, and the shock was trans-
possible pain and some concern mitted out of the novocained area,
about aftereffects coupled with into almost-pain.
the dentist's statement that only There were some grinding
novocaine would be used noises.
"It's out." My mouth hung open
indible.(tlchceo
B ESIDES, a friend of the family I dibelief. (Still chocked, of
I. course.)
had once had her wisdom teethc
pulled, and somebodymade the "SMILED" AGAIN. Nomally I
wrong move and broke her jaw - "MLD GI.Nral
bone. I couldn't get this out of my utter a low cheer under these
mind. conditions, but here I would have
And another friend who had strangled. I just had to express
had his pulled said food tended my feelings, I guess. I brought my
to collect and decay in the empty iright hand up, last three fingers
sockets. extended, thumb and forefinger in
I knew even my best friends an "O, a well-known success sign.
wouldn't tell me. My eyes were still closed, and my
Maybe the first distraction~ -- -- - - --
should be detailed:
I once offered, in a rash moment
of charity, to give a pint of blood
to the Red Cross. I made the ap-
pointment about 24 hours in ad-
vance. For those hours, my skin
"tightened" defensively, as if
drawing itself together for the-
thrust of the needle.
I wasn't prepared for the first
one, when the doctor pricked my:
t
t
i
t
t
Is
After a fow minutes , Ibey asked
me if I wanted the o 1 i one out.
I groaned--in assent, this time.
I probably shrugged my shoulders, C
too; I was getting used to this by
hiow. r
O THERE WERE a couple of a
novocaine shots, and I closed
my eyes again. There were a few
twisting pressures, some grinding t
noises, and again my mouth hung'
hand lightly touched the instru-
ment table. . . . "Look out, thatx
table's sterilized!" My haid wasI
batted down.1
I was crushed, and my moutht
hung open in dismay. (Chocked,
obviously.)
But the chock was removed, and
a roll of gauze was inserted with
instructions ts clamp down on itr
to stop bleeling.t
I groaned-in relief naturally.
I groaned-in relief i aturally. Inoises, and again my mouth hunj
/.
i? , '
RC
the
it
j
I
THE FIRST THING a visitor
must notice, aside from the
cheerful hospitality of the organi-
zation, is the lack of comfortable
furniture in the room. There are
desks, bureaus, closets, bookcases,
but no soft chairs or couches. To
relax, the fraternity member must
go either upstairs to the dorm
where everybody sleeps, or down-
stairs to the living room or li-
brary.
The visitor's first meal is quite
an unusual one. About five times
during the dinner, the president,
who sits on a specially designed
throne-like wooden chair, rings a
silver bell. Instantly the house
bursts "spontaneously" into song
-lustily voicing praise to Chi Chi
Chi.
THE BASIS for this unity seems
to lie in the pledge period. Un-
like this campus, pledges live in
the house, and the actives prac-
tice something proudly called
"personal servitude."
One active proudly explained,
". . if at two in the morning I
want a spaghetti dinner from a
certain restaurant downtown, I'll
wake the pledge and send him for
it."
A pledge must do pretty much
anything he is told. On amcold
night (in fraternity dorms all the
windows are kept open) pledges
had to give up their blankets to
fraternity guests.
An active's call of "Pledge, do
push-ups" means the pledge is on
the floor until the Chi Chi is
satisfied.
Pledges aren't permitted to go
out during . the week. There are
enforced, strictly enforced, study
hours every 'night from, 6:30 to
10:30, when absolute quiet is re-
quired.
They aren't permitted in cer-
tain restaurants and of course
must behave in a manner which
will bring honor to Chi Chi..
THE ACTIVE-pledge :distinction
is carried to meals a~s pledges
eat at a special table. The pledge
master sits at the head of the
table, and watches the boys to
make sure they behave, or some-
thing like that.
SeFRATERYITY, pge.
COTTON CORD SUITS. . . .
DACRON & COTTON, Wash & Wear
. . .
finger for the blood test; I fainted
dead away. They still took half a
pint, as a sort of consolation.
Back to the narrative: C
The X-rays had been taken, j
probably with some difficulty; I j
imagine I have more lead and
silver in my mouth than calcium.
In fact, two unbroken clear areas
run down the tops of my teeth,
according to the X-rays.
16.95 & 24.95
. . . . 34.95
THEY planned to remove the!
four teeth in groups of two,
separated by a month and spring
vacation.
They would take out both on a
side in each operation. I didn't
realize the wisdom in this until
later: I would favor the recently-
extracted side when I chewed for
a few weeks.
I reported for the first appoint-
ment slightly nervous. My stom-
ach was empty. In fact, my entire
alimentary tract was empty. I
was half an hour late, but that
was an honest misunderstanding.
I was ushered into a chair. I
waited for another ten minutes,
ears straining for friendly, agon-
izing screams. I heard none.
The nurse explained that it was
quite all right that I had come
late-the extractor was late too.
He came in, and five or six more
drooled in during the show. I
don't remember what he looked
like -wore glasses, I think.
THE SHOW STARTED. The
doctor (I later established his
level of education as post-gradu-
ate, which implied some amount
of professional practice) swabbed
a corner of my mouth, .and I
closed my eyes as he reached for
the needle.
One or two more shots, while
he asked me how desensitized I
was. I was cautious, and made him
probe the tongue before I was
ready.
The rest of the operation (these
things are done by the Dental
Surgery Department) was.con-
ducted and observed through 'a
sort of self-applied anesthetic fog
on my part.
T e IRST TOOT was im-
pacted - its crown was Over-,
1t
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ST
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AMPUS TOGS
111 South U. off
ust off East U. w°
1ut
aw
:y in
CA
10
spt
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str
Mir
VA
° . Cal
pre
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Not iltusirated
Frontier Jacket 14.95
Homesteader Pants 6.95
~ Slim Skirt 5.95
Tom Boy Skirt 5.95
Y maty ny 59
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POLISH COTTON SUIT
15.95
- + *
- w - w -
T
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RE
1107 South University Ave.
STORE HOURS- 9:00 A.M. TO 5:30 P.M.
Boat Neck Blouse 3.95
and Cummerbelt 1.95
As seen in Glamour and Seventeen
1 i