Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

April, 1967 THE SPELMAN SPOTLIGHT Page 3 Founder's Day Events 1% I Hope This Phases" You by Barbara Pyatt Dr. Walker before her lecture JUBILEE “How I Wrote Jubilee” should be the title of the auto biography of Margaret Walker Alexander, for indubitably, the agony and ecstasy engendered in her assiduous research of twenty-five years most obviously symbolize the deep yearnings of her soul and the outward manifestations of their fulfillment. Mrs. Margaret Walker Alexander, the wife of an interior decorator, the mother of four children, and an instructor at Jackson State College in Mississippi, first began to write her book in her mind. As a child she listened to the stories about the Civil War and about her great-grandmother as told by her grandmother. At nineteen, while a senior at Northwestern Uni versity, she felt compelled to begin putting something about her mental book on paper. She used the theme of the Civil War as the subject of several of her class assignments. Her research carried her up and down the Mason-Dixon Line scrutinizing every conceivable detail. Some of the twenty-five years were harder than others. Having children while writing, teaching, going to school, and running a household were very difficult. In her speech at Spel- man, Margaret Walker cited the six months her family stayed in North Carolina so that she could have the advantage of the Southern Historical Association and the seven year block when she had to put the book aside for desultory domestic matters. The book was finished while she was studying at the Uni versity of Iowa for the Ph.D degree. The book was completed April 19, 1965, one hundred years after Appomattox, and her final oral for her degree was taken on May 20, exactly one hundred years after her great grandmother had been freed from slavery. “I was determined to be a writer,” she told us, “so that I could paint a picture of my world.” When she had finished speaking, the audience realized that they had been privileged to receive a keen insight into the essence of a meaningful life. Joyce Young chats with the Singing Priest, Rev. Ian Mitchell What a difference a Cap and Gown make!!! Rev. Wright glances at our “No Parking” signs SPOTLIGHT Publishes FOCUS At the beginning of the school year the editor of the Spot light told her staff that in addition to printing ten issues of the Spotlight we would also print a literary magazine. Some one might ask, “Why should the newspaper sponsor a literary magazine?” The answer lies within the fact that the Spotlight has always provided a kind of limited outlet for creative lit erary ability. We felt that the poems and other forms of ex pression printed in our paper were very worthwhile and ought to be encouraged. In February, the scouting for literary work began. The work came in slowly at first, and it seemed that we wouldn’t have enough material, and then it seemed to be coming from everywhere. Our only regret was that we were unable to print all of the excellent work that was submitted to us. Our initial problem — that of finding enough material — was solved, but we were soon confronted with another prob lem. The Spotlight’s allotment of funds simply was not ade quate to meet the expense of printing the magazine in addition to the monthly newspapers. We were determined, however, to have a literary magazine, and we took our case to Dr. Manley who very graciously consented to give us part of the money we needed. In 1963, Dorcas Boit edited another literary magazine. In her editorial she expressed a hope that the 1963 magazine might not be the last or the only one; she hoped it might be come an annual or biannual publication. Four years have passed since then. We wish that the literary magazine should become a continuing tradition on our campus; we wish that it should have its own funds and staff; that it should set and maintain high standards so that the artists and writers among us might have something to aspire to. We hope that somehow this dream will become a reality in the future. “Man! Nothing don’t phase these Spelman College girls— except partying and playing cards.” A young man made this observation in my pres ence about a week ago. Do you think it is a hasty gener alization? Perhaps it was hasty and it is a generalization, but the terrible thing about it is that it applies to a tragic ma jority of us. And if you don’t believe it just stop and think. Think of all of those quickies. (For the benefit of non-play ers and those who know it by another name, a quickie is a game of whist that starts after dinner and ends at bedtime.) Think of your shrugg of indif ference when that “nut” brought around that petition about “conscious objects or something like that.” Think of last week when Mr. Jacks passed back that last test paper, the one you failed be cause though you knew about it in advance, you were just too “sleepy” to study. Think about April 10th when that girl asked you if you were go ing to Margaret Walker’s lec ture, and you said, “Who’s she?” Then when the girl told you she is the author of Jubilee, you asked, “What’s that?” We’ve all noticed the apathy around here. We’ve even apa thetically laughed at it. Sadly, though, it’s not a laughing matter. We are all in general too apathetic (and this applies to not only Spelmanites, but to all of us in this center). We’re apathetic about aca demic and intellectual affairs; we’re apathetic about life. The shrugs of indifference, the all-time “quickies,” the party ing, the “It don’t phase me’s” will soon take us all on a toboggan ride that bypasses life if we don’t take stock of ourselves and do it NOW. We live in a community, one in which there are people who need our help. In your spare time lend a hand. The stuff of life is commitment, and this commitment not only demands us to avoid harming others, but more important, to help others. The first step in any of these areas is TO CARE; to let it “phase” you. PEOPLE, LET’S BREAK THIS APATHETIC HOLD ON OUR LIVES. It’s fright ening to think of what an empty shell a person is when he or she doesn’t care. To care and do something because of it is a mark of achievement. I hope that very soon, we’ll all stop and think over the achievements we’ve made. And hope that we’ll be able to say more than, “Me and my roommate just ran 7 Bostons!”