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Tuesday, October 14, 1975
University Daily Kansan
Fords insert feet
Awhile back, it looked as if Gerald Ford had the 1976 presidential election in the bag. Ronald Reagan hardly seemed capable of defeating a candidate from him and the Democrats seemed unable to produce a strong, outstanding candidate.
Ford's public policies have been unpopular, but until recently his private life seemed fairly devoid of scandal. After a President's term he valued this image of a president who was a clean-living, all-American family man.
Then one day, Mrs. Ford opened her mouth at the wrong time in the wrong place. In a moment of thoughtlessness that was soon to become a trademark of the Ford family, Betty Ford admitted that she wouldn't be surprised if her children had smoked marijuana and had premarital sex.
Poor Mrs. Ford. Her only reward for being honest was a torrent of harsh words released against her.
That uproar had just died down when Ford's son, Jack, committed another faux pas by publicly admitting he'd smoked marijuana.
This time, it was President Ford himself who tried to patch up public relations with irate potential voters. He issued a statement saying that although he disapproved of marijuana smoking, he was proud of his son for being honest.
These aren't the only examples of the "open mouth, insert foot" syndrome that seems to afflict the Ford family. Ford's daughter, Susan, who graced her with her presence this month has had her moments of tictlessness also.
Many Topekans were rather miffed when she publicly said it was nice to get away from the big city and spend some time in a quiet, little Midwestern town.
The President himself isn't unfamiliar with the taste of shoe leather. At a recent press conference, a reporter asked if he'd read an article that quoted Sen. Barry Goldwater, R-Ariz., as saving he might support Reagan.
Ford answered, "Sen. Goldwater is a very close, personal friend of mine. I admire his record in the Senate. I saw the report. It is a newspaper story."
When the reporter asked him what he meant by that, Ford, oblivious to the raised eyebrows of the newsman, replied, "Well, it speaks for itself."
Of course, the American people want their President and his family to be honest. But the majority of the people don't care to know all the intimate details of the first family's personal life. Although the photograph of Lyndon Johnson holding his dog by the ears made him seem more human, few people wanted to see their President doing such a thing.
Likewise, although the people want information about what their President is doing, there is a point where they can be getting more information than they want. For example, when President Eisenhower was in the hospital, few people really were interested in the daily reports on his bowel movements.
If the Fords keep opening their mouths without thinking, Martha Mitchell will have some competition for the "Mighty Mouth of the Year" award and Ford might have some stiff competition for the Presidency after all.
Jain Penner
Contributing Writer
In any case, football is getting more pretentious every day. It's not like baseball, a gentle, beautiful, simple game which an 8-year-old can understand—and devotion to which doesn't require unremitting spiritual dedication in waiting room of the orbital bed; or whether some high-paid elbow or ankle can be repaired in time to be bashened again in the upcoming game.
WASHINGTON—The week of the World Series seems as good a time as any to try to bootlead a national championship. Football League's essay content on the subject of "the role and importance of the NFL in American history." (Only those youngest, 18 years of age are eligible.)
Baseball is still a sport.
Professional football is a cult. A whole way of life and values has been built in the world, demands are heavy. To forego the exhibition games is to fail a loyalty test. Not to possess Redskins season tickets spells a failure of status, only a success of managing than never been seen in the owner's box.
First of all, nobody should be surprised to see the NFL straight-arming its way onto the bicentennial field. All large commercial ventures want to play. The way it looks on and the way the party was staged by earlyimmigrant corporation-sympathizers to demonstrate in support of free enterprise.
Mary McGrory
Nobody keeps score on you at a baseball game. Come or don't come, it's up to you. You don't have to go to a clinic or a brunch with the team that you woke. You can be a bred Tox xian and still be a free American.
Baseball is what we used to
NFL called pretentious
born in many female breasts while the master of the house, even on Christmas, swirled his beer, adjured all to silence and cursed any small child who wandered across his field of dreams. He studied an endless series of tangled bodies on the screen.
be. Football is what we have become.
stiskish as race horses. Take the Redskins' phobia about Astrofur, an aversion all lovers of the authentic can relate to. It was advertised as a negative factor in their bout with the Eagles, and sure enough they lost. The brushes are sensitive.
Nor does it; seem much fun for the players. They are, I gather, as fragile as ballerinas and as
Every year, when the draft season rolls around, draft choices are discussed with the anguished solemnity that the unpleasured occasioned during the World Cup the tight ends and the wide receivers are bought and sold like slaves.
It could, however, turn out that the fact that football has become a game for all seasons has been one of the root causes of the feminist movement. Militancy may well have been
Something called "playing out your options" is too com-
understand, too sad to contemple, even on the way to the bank.
Recently the women who decided it was better to join them have been going to clinics. The women in the chalk talks and watch old movies in the joyless way of football fans. The idea is that they won't disgrace themselves when playing with a ball, for instance, a loose end as well as a tight end, or a narrow receiver to partner the wide receiver. Such are the social roles produced by the cult of football.
More recently, it appears that the Defense Department bought Redskin tickets for Northrop and the Nasa team, so that it should have been the other way around, but that is a whole other question. But the fact that Redskin said greatly to football's reputation as a wholesome pastime.
Football players, additionally, are subject to abuse in the locker room. George Allen tells me that the Eagles
are yelled and screamed at and called "dogs" by their coach before they trot out to the roars of the crowd.
Baseball players may also have to face pregame verbal violence, but once on the field, they are out of danger. Just hit the ball, run around the bases, tip your hat at home plate.
The fans are happier, too. Nl clinics, no brunches, no broken bones to worry about. They lie go first and nonseated lie like that. The game post-mortem don't last a week.
I'm with Emperor Hronne,
who was taken to a football
game during his recent visit—
unaccountably, since Japan
were awarded war medals,
it said. "It was exciting,
but I didn't understand it."
Searches rewarding
Now, we can briefly review the essay contest subject: the only thing football has meant to American history later is that during the peace demonstration of November 1969, inside a building in Washington, former president of the U.S. watched reums of old games.
Take me out to the ball game. (c) 1975 Washington Star Syndicate Inc.
Book collectors browse
He doesn't mind spending those beautiful Saturday afternoons inside.
M. Cain, Corey Ford, H. Allen Smith, John Collier and many others.
It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon-perfect weather for bicycling, basketball, taking the dog for a run or just walking. But he was driving his car down the streets and down the streets of Lawrence, looking for garage sales and auctions.
books for the use of future generations, as well as for their own gratification.
THE "COFFEE TABLE."
"Reader" and other collectors serve the purpose of preserving
the "reader-collector" hunts for books in which he has a literary interest. He eventually becomes an editor in first editions, oddities and matched volumes, but his main interest is in books that satisfy an intellectual curiosity, or esoteric that curiosity may be.
THESE PEOPLE are book collectors, maniacs of a sort who breathe deeply odors of bookcases and historic pages.
Yet another person was sitting at his kitchen table, poring over poorly typed mimeographed book lists.
Another person was on his way to a small town, eager to spend the beautiful day inside as tiny, dirty shop.
There are different types of book collectors. The "coffee
table collector* *collects books because they are rare or valuable or both.* This collector doesn't care much about collecting, he savers the act of collecting and the joy of owning.
"The Bedside Tales," as with most good anthologies, can lead the reader to writers of whom he has probably heard little and read less. Within its pages are stories by Wolcott Gibbs, E. B. White, S. J. Perlman, Robert Benchley, Irwin Haw, James
Collecting is an addiction. Each acquisition leads to the search for complementary or supplementary volumes.
BOOK COLLECTING is often spontaneous in origin and ultimately obsessive in nature. In one collector's case, it was the gift of two library edition reprints of Philo Vance detective novels that started a Philo Vance obsessed Vanity in an effete detective created in the '20s by S. S. Van Dille (Huntington Wright), was extremely popular with audiences then.
Ward Harkavy Contributing Writer
Although the collector had paid as little as 10 cents for three Vance novels, he was willing to pay $30 dollars for the last book necessary to complete his collection.
BOOK COLLECTING can lead to an expansion of literary interest. Anthologies are especially important here. It's worth mentioning that A. J. Leibling could be both 20 years late and accidental. A 1945 anthology, "The Bedside Tales," selected by Peter Arno, unlocked the door for one of the authors' inclusions of "The Jolliy Building," a marvelous piece of reporting.
THE SERIOUS COLLECTOR can thus develop a wide breadth of taste naturally and enthusiastically.
An important part of serious book collecting is browsing. Most used book stores are hapazharmy designated. There's a few other bookstores, the locally famous Book Barn. Often, the collector has to wade through many Frank Yerbs, John Marquands, Carter Browns and Seldon Tussles to find one. But the search is usually worth the trouble, even if three hours produce only one or two gems.
AGAIN, THE PRINCIPLE of proliferation acts on the book collector. While browsing, the collector often sees many interesting books about which he knows little. If the curiosity is high, the book will but a book and discover yet another author.
Book collecting is not a static hobby. For most people, tastes change, interests wane and new ideas and styles are discovered. The frustrations of wading through junk at used book stores can only be naturally help the collector change his interests by exposing him to other genres and by leading him to different obsessions.
Books are our most accessible important cultural artifacts. They provide glimpses of genius, decadence, humor, prurience, prudery, life and death. The collector, perhaps unwittingly, helps preserve this heritage.
Readers Respond
To the Editor:
As two of the people who have worked on the Leo Beurerman memorial and knew him persevered in his misunderstanding about the proposed inscription: "Remember me? I'm that little man gone blind. I used to sell pencils on the street corner. My father, they are how he described himself in a letter. That these are his own words will be made clear on the memorial. The rest of us can very modest plaque, appropriate to Leo's own modesty.
Lee Beerman was proud of the act that he sold penshe. He worked, independent businessman who earned his own living. He thought there were deep demeaning about his work.
During the years he kept his shop on the sidewalks of Massachusetts Street he was an example of courage, integrity and self-confidence. He is credible adversity. It is our hope that the memorial will keep his example alive—not only for the handicapped but
"JUST THINK, IF I WERE ALNE TODAY, I'D BE MAKING SPEECHES AT THE UNITED NATIONS."
also for all those who must face adversity.
There are memorials to causes ("World Peace," "The Veteran"), but the Leo Beuerman Memorial is for a particular man who did a great deed and saved a time. Therefore, the inscription, "Remember me, etc." seems fitting.
Sally Jenkins
Omaha Senior
Michael Reed
Courtland Senior
Pie-thrower lesson
According to a recent news article, a KU student was arrested and taken to trial for attempting to throw a pie at a friend. The police appeared odd to me about this incident was not so much the action of the pie thrower, but that of Professor Holmes. It would seem that if he was at all perceptive to his teachings, he might have been more alternative than the strong arm of the law.
To the Editor:
For instance, Mr. Holmes could have stopped the pie assailant (as he did) from hitting him but, instead of taking chase, the professor could have remained in his classroom and opened a discussion on motivations or motivations behind it and the feelings it evokes in others. Not only would this have ended the limbray for the would-be pie assassin, it also would have shown a great deal more depth in Mr. Holmes.
Or the professor could have pursued and captured his hitman, (as he did), but instead of calling in a third party like the police, he might have heard an immediate reaction, such as anger, humiliation, fear, embarrassment, etc.
By understanding his own feelings first, it seems Professor Holmes would be in the position of then dealing with these emotions and their resolutions directly with the assailant, thus eliminating the need for any outside authority.
Beuerman tribute praised, justified
Psychology can offer many tools toward personal insights and growth. But these methods must be internalized by students before they can have any value. Perhaps it's time to move beyond the power games and start dealing with the challenges of personal unpredictability and individual responsibilities.
Robbie Wright Eugene, Ore.
Evaluation faulted
If the School of Business has used a formalized evaluation procedure for seven or eight years (Kansan, Oct. 7), why give that up for some University students much more likely to be inept? And if other schools and departments are having problems in this regard (and no one has convinced me that they are), let them work out these difficulties themselves. Making the department responsible for some formalized procedures as, say, radiation biophysics, is both senseless and counterproductive.
It absolutely confounds me why the powers that be in this exalted University carry on so much about formalization of teacher evaluation and such. I see no reason why such formalization is either necessary or beneficial.
Surely our departments have enough character to manage themselves indoors by play a play on the part of the administration to keep certain officials busy, and worse, to pat themselves on the back by creating a grandiose "self-job" for our University teaching?
Feedback has failed to serve us as some of us thought it might because it has been "watered down" and formalized out of meaningful existence. An important, indeed a variable need, to bureaucracy; but do those of us in this University really need such a University-wide palliative to
David Radd
Assistant Instructor
Department of English
convince ourselves, and others, that we are doing our jobs well?
Lecture unsettling
The lecture given by Dr. Henry Morris on the creationist's view of life and the universe was particularly interesting. By backing up his statements with documented evidence, he was successfully in degrading the theory of evolution, even during the (weak) questioning session which followed.
Of the 300 or more people attending the lecture, those with similar beliefs could be more complacent about what was written. But there was no position. However, many of us were left unsettled. Are the arguments expressed by Dr. Morris on the great failability of dating techniques of prehistoric times well supported by errors of a million-fold) actually well supported by experts in this area? Has the earth's magnetic field decreased over time? Is 38 years old the onset of life possible only about 10,000 years ago? Is vertical evolution impossible because of the second law of thermodynamics seen in the evolution of particular animals universal, as claimed?
These arguments are probably subject; to criticism, but where were the geologists, physicists, biologists or anthropologists nowhere to be found at KU. Dr. Morris'讲座 was originally
intended to be a debate, but no individual in the scientific community accepted the challenge. Was this because of his leadership or because he was sponsored by the Campus Crusade for Christ or simply lacked interest? Whatever the reasons or excuses, Dr. Morris succeeded in getting the audience that the evolutionary theory was highly ineffective in explaining the origin and diversity of life and to some degree branding his views with concerns concerned and-or incapable of debating against his position.
It is my opinion that those who refused to debate Dr. Morris failed in their responsibility to both the academic community and the general public, particularly a debate that the best means to achieve truth, as the skills of the debaters are being tested in addition to the opinions that are held. Time can also be limiting. But a debate is still preferable to a one-sided lecture.
Comments have been made recently in the Kansan approving the cancellation of the benefit that would least it would have been a debate, probably a most stimulating one by bringing forth the pros and cons of eugenics, sterilization and the genetic evidence to substantiate the variance of IQ with race.
"Education" is the name of the game, Dr. Morris won it easily. Far too easy. But the price paid for his lecture was probably not much—or was it? Milt Clark
Prairie Village Graduate Student
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