KANSAN COMMENT
Freedom Rubbish
Midwestern Music and Art campers learned last week, much to their surprise, that they were being repressed. In one of the single-sheet mimeographed handouts so common on the KU campus, some anonymous group of self-appointed philanthropists announced their intention to free the campers from the "blatant examples of repression" to which they are being "subjected."
Right on, right on, brothers! Free the poor, oppressed children from the horror of being forced to wear their hair short (how long can hair grow in five weeks?); free them from the terrible fate of being forced to wear dresses on Sunday five weeks in a row.
Never mind the children who are going hungry in the poverty pockets of America—the Trail Room has been declared off limits to throngs of starving campers. Put aside the problems of the minority groups of America—the campers are not allowed to smoke in dormitories.
Racial discrimination, oppression of minority groups, illiteracy, poverty—all these minor sosial problems must take a back seat to the major problem at hand. After all, America's other ills are year-round, and the campers must be released from their chains within the next four weeks.
to pollute her lungs in her room? How can a budding artist express himself if he must make his bed and straighten his room each day? How can a camper possibly practice a Spanish dialect on Sunday if he must wear a tie?
How can a flutist flute unless she is allowed
When the campers are free at last (though it may require following them to their homes, where some of the same "unreasonable" regulations are enforced), let us hope that the mysterious group behind the handouts does not slacken their pace, but turns to free other oppressed peoples.
If this writer may offer a humble suggestion, why not release infants from behind the bars of their cribs and playpens, or, better yet, free the fetus from the shackles of the womb? Surely these helpless souls are worthy of your attention.
Oh, ye humanitarians. How sadly you are wasting your time and talents.
The campers you are trying so hard to save were given a pamphlet of rules before registering for the camp. Obviously they did not consider those rules unduly restrictive, or they would not be here. Are black people given a list of discrimination and racist policies before being born?
Perhaps the philanthropists of KU should turn their missionary zeal to free people in the direction it would do the most good.
A camper's view
(Editor's Note: The following is an editorial written by a student in the Midwestern Music and Art Camp, journalism division. The subject matter is of his own choosing, and was not assigned or prompted by any camp official or faculty member.)
A publication has recently appeared on the KU campus which condemns the repressions of freedom of the campers. My response to this publication is that it is a bunch of bunk.
No freedoms have been denied the campers, and if some rules seem unduly harsh or overbearing, the campers are not without the power to have
these rules altered. There are precedents for change, as was demonstrated last year.
It also was entirely within the power of the students not to come to the camp, as all the rules were explained explicitly in the information sent to the campers. These rules were formulated with the good of the campers in mind, and none of the rules can hurt them.
There are people in his world who try to right the world's wrongs, even when the wrongs actually are the rights. The publishers of the previously mentioned paper must belong to this category. They are trying to straighten out the crooked, uplift the downtrodden, and act like the heroes of
tomorrow. These persons neglected to speak to the students here. The students are quite well off and are not being suppressed, but rather are being urged, simply by being offered to come to this camp, to express himselfs and what they believe in. The varied fields of studies, such as speech, music and journalism, all offer outlets of expression.
I therefore say that we should count our blessings that we live in a country where even the Brutuses and the Guiteaus are allowed to flourish.
—Bob Kolski
Harry Berlin, played by Richard Sarradet, Metairie, La., junior, is a dropout. Ever since a dog urinated on Berlin's leg shortly after he left college, Berlin has had nothing to live for. Berlin is about to kill himself when Milt Manville, an old college friend, stops him. Milt, played by Rod Carr, Wichita graduate student, is the exact opposite of Harry. Milt sees the important things of life as being his gold watch, his suit and his finely descented armpits, which he forces Harry to smell.
The play "Luv," which runs until July 3 at the Experimental Theatre, is a delightful comedy. It centers on the semi-tragic yet comical actions of three improbable characters, Harry Berlin, Milt Manville and Ellen Manville.
The action of the play is very light. The three characters change moods with no effort. Harry, after stamping on Ellen's foot, rips off the front of her blouse. He then throws her fur coat in the river.
Caught between these two men is Ellen Manville, played by Rhonda Plymate, Topeka senior.
Ellen, in return, slugs Harry in the stomach, cuts his belt, causing his pants to fall down, and invites him to commit suicide.
These actions, designed to test the love of each partner, give "Luv" its unique quality.
If the reader has limited himself to the more heavy theatre offerings, last semester such as "The Three Penny Opera," or "View From the Bridge" he owes it to himself to see "Luv." It will give his cultural diet the vitamins it may be lacking.
BOOKS: Anti-war
Perhaps it is not good policy to write a new review about an old book. But it is even worse to assume that every reader knows about "Johnny Got His Gun" by Dalton Trumbo.
Written in 1939 about World War I, shortly before World War II got underway, "Johnny Got His Gun" has yet to be equaled as a viciously honest and moving anti-war novel.
Imagine, if you can bring yourself to it, a man with no legs, no arms, no face. A man, if he can still be called that, whose only connection with the living is through the reminiscences of those near death.
biographical novel that is commended to those who are ready for light fare these summer days. There are enjoyable cartoons throughout.
TENDER LOVING CARE, by
Joni Moura and Jackie Sutherland (Crest, 95 cents)—The story of two Air Force nurses, an auto-
The anguished cry of his mind will not be silenced. He devises a method at last to make himself heard. The feeble tappings of a faceless head against a bed, and the answering tap of fingers
against what was once a forehead—and the realization that his silent plea is futile.
Read it if you can bear the unbearable, if you can answer with the voice of the living the unanswered question of the dead.
THE DEATH COMMITTEE, by Noah Gordon (Crest, 95 cents) A best-selling novel that deals with three prospective surgeons at the Suffolk County General Hospital in Boston. The book has been praised as an authentic depiction of life in a big city hospital. The author, Noah Gordon, wrote that interesting book of Jewish life called "The Rabbi."
YOULL LIKE MY MOTHER,
by Naomi Hintze (Crest, 75 cents)
—Billed as being in the pattern of
"Rosemary's Baby," this one is
about a young widow and her
horrible mother-in-law, a dame
who is as bad as the worst ones
in the jokes. Thrills and chills in
this one.
The author writes in the introduction of the book that its meaning "is what each reader conveses it to be, and each reader is gloriously different from every other reader, and each is also changing."
BOOKS
But the inglorious message of "Johnny Got His Gun" is unchanging. Each war is like any other war in that men die, and their bitterness is buried forever. "Johnny Got His Gun" is scheduled to become a motion picture. One can only hope that the results are as horrifying and brutal as the printed word. America should know.
By JONATHAN JORDAN
THE SUMMER SESSION KANSAN
The Summer Session Kansan, student newspaper at the University of Kansas, is represented by National Advertising Service, 18 East 50 Street, New York, N.Y., 10022. Mail subscription rates: $6 a semester or $10 a year. Published and second class postage paid at Lawrence, Kansas, every Tuesday and employment advertised in Accommodations goods, and employment advertised in the Summer Session Kansan are offered to students without regard to color, creed, or national origin.
The opinions expressed in the editorial columns are those of the editorial staff of the newspaper. Guest editorial views are not necessarily the same as those of the editor's own opinion expressions expressed in the Summer Session Kansan or necessary ones, those of the University of Kansas Administration or the Kansas State Board of Regents.
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