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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Monday, November 11, 1968
Veteran's day lament
oLnoM
Veteran's Day 1968.
Fifty years ago World War I, the war to end all wars, ended.
Twenty-five years ago, World War II was raging.
And since then, there have been Korea and Vietnam and the Middle East war and Biafra and Greek juntas and smatterings of South American revolts.
Civilization is categorized by the names of battles. History students wait impatiently between the pages of their texts to find a war to keep the years and centuries straight in their memories.
Long before the 20th century, there was the Spanish American War and the Civil War and the Revolutionary war and a wealth of names of battles of far away places and far away countries.
Man has advanced, learned to carve cities out of wilderness, learned to ferret out the secrets of fire and electricity and how to fly.
But man has been most efficient, most imaginative at learning how to kill his fellow man.
Today a click of a switch could mark the end of man. And the weapons man has devised to kill would topple the heritage of tools he has discovered to enrich life.
Scientists now endeavor to find the secrets of creating life.
But we have developed the "overkill" and Russia or the United States stack weapons one upon another in case the necessity arises to obliterate the world twice or three times over.
Man has learned to "overkill." Can't he ever learn to "underkill," to live in peace?
Could Veteran's Day ever become a day to honor memories of soldiers from past wars, not those of the present-or future?
Alison Steimel
Editorial Editor
Letter to the editor
In defense of Watkins Hospital
To the Editor:
Each time I reread the letter printed on November 7th and written by Julie Boutross the more infuriated I become.
The letter was written, in part, concerning the condition of Watkins Memorial Hospital, the services available, and the competence of the doctors employed there. It seems quite obvious to me that Miss Boutross has neither looked very deeply into the matter nor has she ever had experience in a hospital situation.
There is not a doctor at Watkins Hospital that would allow a bonifide emergency to sit in a crowded hall for two hours. Whether or not a case is an emergency is up to the discretion of the nurses and doctors and since they have been trained to recognize them we should respect their judgment.
Doctor Raymond Schwegler, director of the hospital, has said that they have the best equipment and staff they can get their hands on. If Miss Boutrouss would like to see an improved Student Health Service why doesn't she write letters to try and get more funds appropriated for the hospital?
As to the lines of students in the hall waiting to see the doctors, Miss Boutross could help there by talking to her fellow students. Many of the students in the hall are looking for an
acceptable excuse for missing an exam. If these "sick" people were eliminated the waiting time would be reduced considerably.
She points out that many diagnoses made by Watkins doctors are wrong. I agree that it is possible to make an occasional error but medicine is still a field in which much is not known. Honestly think that Miss Boutross is greatly exaggerating the point, especially concerning the "pregnant" girl with the ulcer.
Much criticism has been directed at the Student Health Service and most of this criticism is undeserved. The doctors and staff do their best to provide inexpensive medical service to the students at KU, much of the time without thanks. If criticism is offered that will increase the efficiency of the hospital then I'm sure it will be welcomed by the staff but let's quit criticizing without investigating.
Dennis L. Frobish
Topeka Sophomore
Kanan Telephone Numbers
Newsroom—UN 4-3464 Business Office—UN 4-4358
A student newspaper serving the University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas.
Published at the University of Kansas daily during the academic year except holidays and examination periods. Mail subscription rates: $6 a semester, $10 a year. Second class postage paid. All publications are professionally sponsored and advertised offered to all students without regard to color, creed or national origin. Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the University of Kansas or the State Board of Regents.
Executive Staff
Executive Staff
News Adviser George Richardson
Advertising Adviser Mel Adams
Managing Editor Monte Mace
Business Manager Jack Haney
Assistant Managing Editors, Pat Crawford, Charla Jenkins, Alan T. Jones,
Steve Morgan, Allen Winchester
City Editor Bob Butler
Assistant City Editor Kathy Hall
Editorial Editor Alison Steimel
Editorial Assistant Richard Lundquist
Sports Editor Ron Yates
Assistant Sports Editor Bob Kearney
Feature and Society Editor Ben Wilson
Associate Feature Editor Sharon Woodson
Copy Chiefs Judy Dague, Linda McCrerey, Don Westerhaus, Sandy
Zahradnik, Millyn Jackson
Advertising Manager Mike Willman
National Advertising Manager Kathy Sanders
Promotion Pam Flatten
Circulation Manager Jerry Bottenfield
Jefferson Manager Barry Arthur
Member Associated Collegiate Press
The Kansan Book Review
"The Beatles"
by Scott Nunley
Hunter Davies' biography of the Beatles is fascinating as another turn in the Question of the four Liverpool lads. But in itself, as either a document or an experience, "The Beatles" is disappointing.
You may try to deny, of course, that the Question exists. These would be four individuals trying to live their own lives and it would be best to allow them to do so in peace. But since August 1963 when their first single hit American markets or certainly since January 1964 when "I Want to Hold Your Hand" exploded over here—the Beatles have been an important topic of Yankee conversations.
“Oh, I don't mind their music so much. I can take it or leave it. But their hair! I can't stand to look at them!”
And in June 1967, a remarkable album titled "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" was at last received with generally serious (and long, long) commentary by the American "intelligentsia."
Parents equivicated as long as they could, while their children were already whirling to the dervish of Beatlemania. At its height, an "unnamed" Kansas City businessman (involved in pro football) gave the group $150,000 for 35 minutes of their Mersey beat.
Although the American pop music field has broadened considerably since then, it is still a commonplace to claim that the Beatles are trendsetters, front pacers outdistancing the frenetic onrush of even their most innovative imitators. The successful televising of their second Richard Lester film "Help" along with the popularity of their two Smothers Brothers appearances and their two new Top Ten songs speaks for their current strength.
Obviously any accurate compilation of Beatle-ania will contribute something to the understanding of this phenomenon. Davies admits that the first half of "The Beatles" is little more than this, an ordering of data about the group's youth collected from already published sources. Into this Davies weaves a leavening of personal interviews, but perhaps only the picture of Mimi (John Lennon's aunt) can stand apart from the data as interesting in itself.
It is only the final half of "The Beatles" that is original. With their privacy apparently open to him, Davies mixed with the new families and described his impressions of their lives today.
And a picture of sorts does evolve: Ringo as the simple, soft-hearted familyman; George as the aloof, dedicated Orientalist; Paul as the busy-busy socializer; and John as the introverted, poetic "leader." Nor are these studies completely as superficial as this summation makes them sound.
The reader has a right to expect to gain from this revelation insight to the Beatles both as men and as musicians. (Certainly since his first encounter with Davies' dull, plodding style, the reader will have learned not to ask to be entertained as well!)
As musicians, the four appear as grand improvisers, hacking out lyrics and tunes to sell albums and ridiculing the gullible public that praises and analyzes their phony artistry.
John Lennon, for example, is said by Davies to have mellowed from his hell-raising school days. He is pictured in domestic ease, having transcended such earlier needs as marijuana. And yet John now is being sued for adultery and has just been arrested for possession of the drug.
In their attitudes toward their music, too, the Beatles seem to contradict themselves. At one moment they laughingly claim to have taken highly-praised lyrics from old posters ("Mr. Kite"), yet as the next moment they are angered if their work is not treated seriously by the press. Something much more in depth needs to be done before the nature of this ambivalence will be clear.
In all, then, Hunter Davies' "The Beatles" is a successful but not a final or excitingly written biography. It provides a handy reference guide to Beatle lore and poses significant questions about their current development. But until someone asks those questions with more sensitivity and skill—perhaps the Beatles themselves—the Beatles' enigma will survive.