Draft resistance is poetry theme
By SARAH DALE Kansan Staff Writer
The first in a series of nation-wide poetry reading draft resistance movements began last night with a benefit poetry reading before 175 persons at the United Campus Christian Fellowship building. The benefit was organized by Robert Bly, a visiting poet at KU this week.
"Last night's benefit wasn't part of the actual series," Bly said. "I took the first ten cities requesting poetry readings. I wanted to start at KU however as there are so many good poets in the Lawrence area."
The Presidio 27 case served as the starting topic of conversation. Ted Steiner announced the beginning of a two-fold KU campaign. He said the first step would be to make Presidio a campus word, and that boottoes would be set up to
distribute postcards to students urging them to write their congressmen and senators.
On May 1, Steiner said a rally would take place outside of Fraser Hall and then would proceed to the Military Science Building.
The Presidio 27 issue, however, was not the predominant topic at the benefit.
R. P. Dickey, Columbia, Mo., English professor, presented the first poem entitled "Over There". During the poem he asked the audience if they have ever been shot at, "... they're using actual bullets over there ..." he then pulled a gun from his pocket and fired a blank directly into the audience.
A small child screamed out "... don't shoot, don't shoot!"
War in Kansas was the topic of poem recited by Bill Holm, Minneota, Minn. graduate
student. He said, "I received my inspiration for this poem after I read the Lawrence Journal World for one month and realized that the editor felt the war was coming to Kansas." The poem expressed fear that China will bomb Kansas and neither Jesus nor the chairman of the Republican Party would be able to stop it.
A poem written especially for the benefit was presented by Edward Dorn, KU visiting English professor. The title,
"The Cosmology of Filling Your Spot" was actually dedicated to the "great white dog of the Rock Chalk." The poem closed with, "... these dogs seek their place ... I give the resisters this poem ... that we may all be gods and seek our place."
Bly ended the benefit with selections from his own poetry and some poetry translations. "I
KU to build two clinics
The University of Kansas will have two clinics for mentally retarded children within two years, one in Lawrence, the other at the Medical Center in Kansas City.
A federal grant of more than $2 million to the State to assist in construction of the facilities was announced in Washington yesterday. The grant also provides for a clinic at Parsons State Hospital and Training Center (PSHTC).
Provost James R. Surface said the new construction would provide professional training for about 300 graduate students pursuing degrees in fields related to mental retardation and human development.
It will also include an education clinic, a language clinic, an administrative suite for the clinic coordinator and his technical and secretarial staff, and an area for the Child Research Bureau to use for special projects.
The federal grant will be matched by $930,000 from the State for the buildings at Kansas City and Parsons, and to add two floors to the research wing of new Haworth Hall, the bio-life sciences building at KU.
The Medical Center building, the largest of the three, will provide facilities for a dual training function—training and modifying the behavior of mentally retarded children, and training graduate students who are entering the field of mental retardation study as a profession.
The clinic unit will have an inter-disciplinary diagnostic are to completely evaluate the condition of each entering client.
Construction is expected to take 18 months to two years.
The children's clinical unit in Haworth will include a day training program for young retarded children and their parents from the Lawrence area, a nursery and play area, individual training and counseling rooms, an observation area, offices and workrooms and an area for a mental retardation psychology clinic.
think war has something to do with killing the Indians," Bly remarked. "We ran out of Indians and we don't want to end the war so we continue to deal with people having black hair as this reminds us of the Indians."
Proceeds from last night's benefit and future benefits will go to the Draft Resisters League.
Future benefits will include Bly's next stop in Portland, Ore., where he will meet poet Allen Ginsberg. He will then travel to Boulder, Colo. to meet poet Lawrence Ferlingetti for the second in the series.
For the last six weeks Bly said he has been doing personal poetry presentations. The last two weeks of April he will meet with a group of 26 American poets to give more benefits.
Two years ago American writers against the Vietnam War did a similar series, Bly said. "At that time there was little emotion about the war on college campuses," Bly continued. "However we did travel to 40 colleges and afterwards presented our collected works in a booklet entitled "A Poetry Reading Against the Vietnamese War."
KU rodeo starts tonight at county Fairgrounds
Members of KU's Rodeo Club will compete this weekend with 150 entries from 20 schools in the annual KU Rodeo.
Rodeo queen candidates have been announced, chosen on riding ability, poise, personality, and interest, said Jan Vandeventer, Raytown, Mo., senior and 1968 Rodeo Queen.
The queen candidates are: Mary Jane Basilevac, Shawnee Mission freshman; Mary Ann Vangemeren, Lawrence sophomore; Marty VanLerberg, Shawnee junior; Kathy Winkel, Delevan, Ill., sophomore; Dianne
16 KANSAN Apr. 11 1969
Norbet, Belleville, Ill., senior; and Terry Hubbard, Arkansas City senior.
The queen will be announced tomorrow afternoon at the Douglas County Fairgrounds, Miss Hubbard said.
The annual Rodeo will start at 8 p.m. tonight, 2 p.m.
tomorrow, and 2 p.m. Sunday.
The Rodeo Club will sponsor a parade through Lawrence on Massachusetts Street at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow, said Ace Johnson, 1012 Emery Rd., a former KU student to whom this weekend's KU Rodeo is dedicated because of his involvement over the last three years.
Faster absorbency. Longer protection. That's the extra security you get with new Meds, the only tampon with this double-protection design: an outer layer of larger fibers that absorb instantly, with an inner layer of tiny fibers that store more, longer.
Comes in the first gentle, flexible plastic applicator.
MEDS AND MODES ARE TRADEMARKS OF PERSONAL PRODUCTS COMPANY