..- 1 -I S.. I I R .. . k L 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 r~f de ST Y,$ f AMPUS TOGS 111 South U. off ust off East U. w° 1ut aw :y in CA 10 spt zi t ~f u l''.. str Mir VA ° . Cal pre r4 _rr Not iltusirated Frontier Jacket 14.95 Homesteader Pants 6.95 ~ Slim Skirt 5.95 Tom Boy Skirt 5.95 Y maty ny 59 . POLISH COTTON SUIT 15.95 - + * - w - w - T CE 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