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PROFILE :
THE PANTHER - Page 9 - March 1974
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Amaryliss Hawk,
Creative and Witty
By FANNIE FLONO
The spectacle you see
as you enter Amaryliss
Hawk’s office in the speech
department might con
fuse you.
There she is -- amid
as great a conglomeration
of materials, books, let
ters and many times peo
ple as you can find work
ing hard and having fun.
You might find her im
mersed in a political dis
cussion with both students
and instructors or you might
find her having a conference
with members of the TRIO
tutoring staff, one of her
many other activities. She
does it all with a smile -
one as light and bright
as her name.
Astrologically speaking,
Mrs. Hawk, a speech in
structor at Clark, is a Ge
mini. True to her zodia
cal nature, she sometimes
becomes involved in more
things than she can han
dle. But on the whole, her
other Gemini character
istics - her creativeness,
charm, wit, intelligence
and easygoing nature -
have been assets over the
years.
Born in Valdosta, Ga.,
Mrs. Hawk attended Spel-
AMARYLISS HAWK
man College on academic
scholarship and received
a degree in English. In
1955, she went to North
western University where
she received a master's
degree in speech com
munications.
Her work experience
has included a stint as a
speech therapist in Atlanta
Public Schools, speech
instructor at Fort Valley
State College, and work
with the Atlanta Univer
sity speech clinic.
In 1965, Mrs. Hawk came
to Clark as a speech in
structor . Since that time,
she has seen the staff grow
in staff and content.
"I’ve seen the staff in
crease from one to four
with both a speech and
drama department," she
stated
Mrs. Hawk noted that
speech has had a rather
nebulous position in the
college curriculum.
"Speech has always been
somewhat of a stepchild in
the curriculum," she said.
"Speech has traditional
ly been given high lip ser
vice and later been taken
for granted."
Presently, there seems
to be more emphasis on
speech by the staff and
students, she says.
“Surprisingly, we’ve had
to alter a formerly stream
lined course schedule to
place more emphasis on
reading and writing and
not just oral performance,"
she said.
"We’re using a three
fold program which seems
to be helpful to the stu
dents,”
One interesting thing is
that students are now de
manding speech courses
although they are not man
datory, Mrs. Hawk.
Presently, Clark offers
a major in speech com
munications and drama
Mrs. Hawk seems ex
tremely pleased with this
new support for speech in
struction.
"Speech is the founda
tion of all communica
tion," she said. “It pre
Noah’s Ark Misses The Boat
By KATHYE LEWIS
The Morehouse-Spelman
Players have had a rela
tively good school year
of productions. Such plays
as The Fall and Sho’ is
Hot in the Cotton Patch,
were very successful and
enjoyable to the majority
of the audiences. For this
reason we can seemingly
excuse the apparent failure
of the play, Noah’s Ark.
Noah’s Ark is a story
about the future before 1984,
and a developing controll
ed society. Economy is
controlled within the indi
vidual families by govern
ment control and conformity
to laws is greatly stress
ed. It centers around a young
Black revolutionary figure,
the son of Noah, and his
dangerous efforts to com
municate underground in
formation to the Black po
pulation. The son, James
is eventually spirited away
by the U.S. Postal Service
and is mailed as freight
to the Caribbeans.
The play’s theme was
workable and worthwhile
paying attention to, but
the direction and develop
ment of the play was very
poorly done.
The acting was contriv
ed and not in the least
natural. The actors were
predominantly expression
less and unsure of them
selves, it appeared. There
was little action on the
stage to keep the audien
ce’s attention. People were
murmuring and whispering
frequently, and the number
in the audience was small.
There were frequent incon
sistencies in the play such
as, people coming in from
the rain with no umbrellas
and no signs of dampness,
the doorways changed
around a lot as far as peo
ple entering and leaving,
the same oven was indi
cated in more than n one
place, and despite the pro
claimed scarcity of lum
ber in the basement, Noah
managed to build a box for
James’ escape with inten
tions to build several
more. Also there were no
changes in clothes by seve
ral of the actors from day
to day.
The actors themselves
were tired as a whole. Gla
dys was not poised and spoke
in a loud monotone. Her
speech was not fluid. Also
her side or back was al
ways to the audience. Es
ther portrayed her role
well even though her dia-
loques se ned to get dull
after a T,uile. Noah was
fairly consistent in charac -
ter but he was also out of
the acting mood. His chides
and jokes didn’t go off too
well. Ruth was the most
natural person in the play.
She was normal in the
sense of her speech and she
represented the average
Black woman who spoke her
piece but was appreciative
of others also. She wasn’t
catty. Valerie used good
expressions and played her
role well also. She was
the snide college gra
duate who happened to pur
sue and attain her doctorate.
Although not a pleasant
character, she did add some
action to the play. Reverend
Thompson was typical of a
nigger preacher. What
more can I say! James,
the son, seemed so imma
ture in his role, and bab
ied by his mother, I could
never see him running any
kind of underground radio
station. His character was
very inconsistent with his
role. Actors, please re
turn to rehearsal.
The scenery was ade
quate. It portrayed a scar
city of luxury goods, which
everyone discussed as be
ing controlled by the
government, by consumer
purchase cards. These
cards designated what a
person could buy and how
much. The scenery was
hard wood which I sup
pose was attributed to the
play’s title, Noah’s Ark.
As I said before, the
Morehouse-Spelman Play
ers have been doing such
a wonderful job this sea
son, we should pardon them
for tnis blunder. I hope tne
next play will bring their
record back up to par
"POWER HAS NEVER
CONCEDED WITHOUT A
DEMAND ... .IT NEVER
HAS AND IT NEVER WILL.
IF THERE IS NO STRUG
GLE THERE IS NO PRO
GRESS. THOSE WHO PRO
POSE TO FAVOR FREE
DOM AND YET DEPRE
CIATE AGITATION ARE
MEN WHO WANT CROPS
WITHOUT PLOWING UP
THE GROUND. THEY
WANT RAIN WITHOUT
THUNDER AND LIGHTEN
ING. THEY WANT THE
OCEANS’ MAJESTICE
WAVES WITHOUT THE
AWFUL ROAR OF ITS WA
TERS.”
Frederick Douglas
eludes reading and writ
ing. ’ ’
Ideally, we should have
always put more money
and time into communi
cation skills, she added.
Mrs. Hawk, who says she
is "interested in just about
everything, ’ ’ does not spend
all of her time in the class
room.
She is Freshman Con
sultant, counselor for -
freshman students, Fresh
man Studies Consultant,
affiliated with the Metro
Atlanta TRIO tutoring pro
gram, and the Cooperative
Education Program, mem
ber of the Clark College
Publications Board, For
eign Student Organization
sponsor and an Atlanta Uni
versity Summer faculty
member since 1965.
Surprisingly enough, she
is also an adamant follow
er of transcendental medi
tation.
She has attended Indiana
University to do further
study in linguistics under
a grant from the Rocke
feller Foundation.
And if all that is not
enough, she is married and
the mother of three chil
dren.
Alpha Kappa Mu
Initiate 14
la Honor Society
Kappa Theta Chapter of
Alpha Kappa Mu Honor Soc
iety of Clark College in
itiated recently, fourteen
new members.
The inductees were Bren
da Camp, Linda Daniels,
Lloyd Guest, Barbara L.
Massenburg, Denise Mort
imer, Thomasine McCam-
mon, Gathion McVay, Sam
Norman, Edward Prater,
Laura Peoples, Anita Smith,
Linda Tucker, Brenda Wal
ker, and John Whitlock.
Alpha Kappa Mu estab
lished also a scholarship
fund during the week of the
initiation activities. The
scholarship will be awarded
to a student at Clark who
needs financial assistance
and who maintains an aver
age grade point.
The organization’s newly
elected officers are Bar
bara L. Massenburg, Pres
ident; Linda Tucker, Vice
President; Brenda Camp,
Secretary; Denise Morti
mer, Treasurer; and Bren
da Walker, Reporter. Mr.
Solomn Sears is the faculty
advisor.
Alpha Kappa Mu National
Convention will convene in
Frankfurt, Kentucky on
March 28-30.