Travels swiftly
He chases adventure
By JOHN HILL
From Disneyland to the Detroit slums, Steve Swift lives up to his name.
Swift, Shawnee Mission junior, is continually on the move, geographically, scholastically, and philosophically.
BY HITCHHIKING, washing dishes on a train, working on a tow boat on the Mississippi River, and by car, bus and plane. his travels during the last year have taken him all over the country.
Swift, a member of Owl Society with a 280 overall G.P.A., began last summer as a deckhand on a Mississippi River tow boat going from Houston to St. Louis.
"Then I got the traveling bug," Swift said, "and decided that I wanted to something more on my own. So I quit by job in St. Louis and went to my home in Kansas City;"
FROM THERE, SWIFT took a train to Detroit where he stayed with a fraternity brother until he found a job as a construction worker.
"I lived in a tenement house, which was set on fire three times in a week because it had Negro managers, a lady was stabbed in broad daylight, and across the street, a bar blew up. Other than that," Swift said, "nothing happened."
About $100 worth of personal possessions were stolen from him the first day when his $16-a-week room (including utilities) was broken into, including his contact lenses, a camera and $10 in cash.
SWIFT SAID the main reason he chose to live in the slums was that one of the men he worked with lived there and gave him rides to and from work.
"I was concerned about the people there," he said, "but there was little I could do."
When asked if there were any philosophical reasons why he chose to live in the slums, Swift, a philosophy and psychology major, said, "Only post facto."
AFTER A MONTH in Detroit, he too a bus to Cleveland, stayed there a weekend, and then hitchhiked to Kansas City.
While hitchhiking, he had only a suitcase, overcoat, a sign which stated the nearest big city he was headed toward—and a full beard which he wore all summer.
"I grew one last summer, too, and did it again this summer, just for grins, more or less," Swift said. "It was really quite interesting because I got to look at things from a different point of view. I was on the outside as far as most
people were concerned and got to see things differently."
BETWEEN CLEVELAND and Kansas City, he was picked up by police and spent a night in jail for hitchhiking on a limited-access highway. It was, as Swift calls it, "quite an experience."
As soon as Swift arrived home, he went with his family on vacation. They drove to the East coast, where Swift visited New York, Philadelphia, Washington, and Greenwich Village, which ended his summer travels.
"Then over Christmas vacation, I got a job as a dishwasher on a Santa Fe train out of Chicago to Los Angeles, where I spent a day and a half. I'd never been there before."
HE RETURNED HOME for Christmas, then flew to Chicago for another train trip to Oklahoma City, which completed his travels.
When asked why he traveled so much, and in the manner, that he did, Swift explained.
"My job on the river was a good job, and paid well, but I got it through my uncle. I wanted to do more on my own, and get in a situation where I wouldn't exactly know what the outcome would be."
"I WANTED A situation where I could just work with things as they came along," he said, "and make the best of them on my own."
The implication that Steve Swift is continually seeking new challenges is understandable when his KU accomplishments are considered.
He made a 2.79 G.P.A. last semester, and a 3.00 G.P.A. for the previous two semesters.
SWIFT IS A MEMBER of Owl Society, and former vice-president of University Party (UP). He is now serving as pledge trainer in Phi Kappa Sigma, where he served as scholarship chairman for the previous three semesters.
"I'm presently involved with KU-Y," said Swift, "with their tutoring program, Children's Hour, and their Youth Friendship program, all of which I enjoy very much."
A RURAL VILLAGE in Bolivia will be the home of Steve Swift for the two years following his KU graduation in 1968.
Swift's interest in people, ability to accomplish and love of traveling led naturally to his acceptance into Peace Corps training which arrived last week.
Swift will attend a summer training session for Peace Corps
workers this June to prepare him for his work in Bolivia. After two years in the Peace Corps, Swift plans to enter medical school.
Why does he want to join the Peace Corps?
"ONE REASON, I suppose, is very similar to what I had in mind when I went to Detroit last summer—just to kind of throw myself into a situation where I was working with a bunch of unknowns and seeing how I could deal with them." he said.
"But perhaps more importantly, I just feel like it's this kind of service that is going to make all the difference in the world," Swift said.
"It's going to take a lot more than just giving money to a country, or food and medical supplies," he said.
"It's going to involve a great deal of commitment and willingness to get involved in the lives of other people."
'Empty' gun victim is 'fair'
The KU student who accidentally shot himself in the abdomen is reported in fair condition today at the KU Medical Center in Kansas City.
John Kanzig, Lawrence freshman, was taken to the center, Saturday, after shooting himself with what he thought was an unloaded gun.
He was reported in serious condition after undergoing surgery. His condition was described Monday, as poor.
The accident occurred at the student's home after his mother, Mrs. James Kanzig, cautioned him to use care in handling a new 22-calliber automatic-pistol. Kanzig said it was not loaded and, to prove it, pointed the gun at his abdomen and pulled the trigger.
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He did not claim to be a political scientist or well-versed on the affairs of Peking, but he spoke on the Chinese cultural revolution, from his own experience.
Mao's revolution seen by lecturer
An Equal Opportunity Employer.
David Owen, visiting East Asian Studies lecturer, spent 18 months teaching in Red China and witnessed the revolution from the beginning.
The revolution started in the newspapers in November, 1965, he said.
"IT IS NOT YET FINISHED and no complete analysis can be drawn until it is over," he added.
"I think the cultural revolution started out as a cultural revolution," he said. "Most writing has been on the lines of a power struggle, but I doubt if it started like that."
Owen said the movement built up slowly and the people being attacked were not top political figures.
AT FIRST, HE SAID, it did not go beyond the newspapers and periodicals, but in early May it shifted into high gear.
All places of higher learning were closed by the end of May, and more important people were being attacked, he said, but the most important people were not mentioned then.
The Red Guard was organized in August, he said. Peking became
a noisy and disturbing place to live in. It was marked by allnight meetings and all-day parades, and Peking University became a hotbed.
NO ONE KNOWS very much about the Red Guard, he said, but Mao is very much in control. He used them as an instrument to bring the tools of the revolution into the street.
Owen said he thought the revolution was a well-planned and organized action, and although it started out as a cultural revolution it has taken on the tendencies of power struggle.
4
Daily Kansan Thursday, March 16, 1967
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