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Spe/man Spotlight March 28. I OHO Page 4
THE VOICE OF BLACK WOMANHOOD
Editor-In-Chief - Rolonda G. Watts
Associate Editor - Pamela Denise Moore
Editors
Advertising Manager - Phyllis Sawyer
An Editor- Ellen Robinson
Business Manager - Trevonia Brown
Angela Nickerson
Circulation Manager - Lavita J ohnson
News Editor - Kiron Kanina Skinner
Photography Editors - Kirby Ayres
Pamela Scott
Public Relations Manager - Sheron Covington
Religion Editor - Angela Benson
Literary Editor - Michelle Dacus
Photographers - J oe Louis
Ruth Cauthen
Kirby Ayres
Reporters
Michael D. Harris
Torri C. Brown
Kevin Flemming
Disco This Way,
By Michael D. Harris
Welcome to Atlanta: home of
Maynard Jackson, Martin Luther
King, Andrew Young, Mr. V’s
Figure 8. In four years that I’ve
lived in Atlanta I have heard
more praise of the Campbellton
Road Discos than I’ve heard
about the contributions of our
distinguished Black Leaders,
(with the exception of MLK). It
may have occured to you that we
young Black are displacing our
priorities.
Recently, I went to an NAACP
Banquet which was quite a
memorable evening, and on my
way home, dropped a friend off
at one of the “Big 3” on Camp
bellton Road only to discover
that there were probably three
times as many Blacks at the disco
than there were at the Banquet.
Never having been to this club, I
decided to go in and check out
what was so interesting.
After paying $5.00 to get in. I
was so dumbfounded by what ap
peared to be an earthquake. Af
ter practically regaining my sen
ses. I convinced myself that it
was ‘safe’ to enter into this circus
of noise and lights. The noise
(music) was so loud that I had to
raise my voice four octaves to or
der a drink costing $3.00 (that’s
$8.00 in the first four minutes,
just think if I had a date!!).
I stood near the bar for there
was no place at all to sit, until I
heard a familiar voice which in
formed me of a comfortable
place to stand. This circus went
on seemingly forever with people
dressed like A1 Capone. Roy
Rogers. Billy- Holiday and Susie
Ching Chang Chow (everybody’s
got a gimmick).
The lights were flashing at such
speed and pattern, and with such
an array of colors that my suit
changed colors and made
movements that I thought were
impossible of linen. By the way.
have you ever heard of
subliminals? They are defined as
stimuli received into the brain
which are below the threshold of
consciousness. Can you imagine
what kind of messagees are being
transmitted from those flashing
lights?
Disco That Way
Amid all the confusion of
lights, hypnotic sounds which
continue from the time you enter
until after you leave a disco are
words and phrases like “She’s a
big ole freak...she’s the freak of
the week..”, and “Don’t hold
back, if it feels good-do it”.
Maybe I’m mistaken, but it seems
that only a couple of years ago a
‘freak’ was something ugly, defor
med and/or grotesque. Yet this
year my girlfriend has to be a
‘freak’ in order to be fashionable.
If Sigmund Freud was alive
today, he’d have more than
enough data to substantiate his
theory of personality, sex, and
aggression. Can you remember
the last time you turned on your
radio and didn’t hear “Groove
me, baby”, of “Chase me”?
I contend that it is high time
that we, as Blacks, take out the
time to become aware of what
disco has done to our culture.
Aretha Franklin, the Queen of
Soul, has even gone disco, and
proclaimed herself “Queen of
Disco”. So now, who is the
“Queen of Soul”; or is there ‘soul’
anymore? Soul was once a style
that was inate to Blacks only.
Today disco is John Travolta.
Bee Gees, Donna Summers
(whose music prostitutes every
black who hears it).
We are told through disco that
to get a woman, you have to be a
“high-steppin’. neat-dressing
fella” and all you have to do is go
to a disco and “that’s where all
the happy people go”. We even
have Teddy to tell us how to pick
up a woman (without any
pressure). And if you don’t get it
the way you plan to get it. Barry
tells us how to beg and get it.
Have you ever noticed that the
kid next door, who has repeated
the second grade twice, knows
“Rapper’s Delight” in its entirety
and can sing it without music and
not miss one line?
Do you find it amusing to hear
your daughter or little sister
moan, groan, hiss and sleaze
along with "Love to love you.
baby”?
See DISCO p. 7
What Is A Tilly?
By Rolonda Watts
I’ll never forget the first time I
heard about the “Tillies.” My
initial reaction was one of total
confusion and a great deal of
skepticism. I was deeply con
cerned about what possessed a
grown man to go around calling
himself a “Tilly.” I had images of
the rosy-cheeked white girl on
that banking computer.
Depressing! I thought, until the
day I found out just what a Tilly
is.
Tilly is the name of an Atlanta
University Centerwide
organization of men and women
“gathered together to promote
brotherhood and protection,” ex
plained Samuel “Matcho-Tilly”
Matchett, Vice-President of the
group.
The United Family of Tilly
started as a joke on third floor
Mays Hall at Morehouse. Poppy
Kilgore and Joe Lewis, founders
of the group, started calling each
other “Poe-Tilly” and “J oe-Tilly.”
The name fad dominoed after
Spring Break of this year.
Everyone in the Tilly group has
“o”tacked to the end of their
name and “Tilly” added to that.
The Tillies don’t feel they are
in competition with fraternities
and sororities. “We are not a
fraternity,” explained Matcho-
Tilly, “...but have a fraternal
spirit.”
Gary “Garo-Tilly” Franklin,
Treasurer of the group, explained
how he had come to Morehouse
expecting a fraternal spirit and
was discouraged when he did not
find it. “Spirit...is what
Morehouse should have, not that
we (the Tillies) have a monopoly
on it (spirit), we just want tp
spread it.”
The Tillies boasted about their
Tilly spirit nights, claiming to be
the loudest and most spiritual
group around. They said they
challenge any other group that
thinks they can outspirit them.
That might be hard to do since
the Tillies alone have a mem
bership of 86, (41 men and 45
women).
The group also boasted about
the fact that they have not
recruited one memDer. As they
put it, “They came looking for
Tilly.”
The president of Tilly is Will
“Woe-Tilly” Dawkins, J r.
Each Tilly carries a business
card that bears the Tilly motto.
The main objective of the
group is to help others. They
have sponsored such programs as
a Thanksgiving canned goods
drive, spirit nights for the
Morehouse basketball team, and
a college student tutorial
program. They have also raised
money for the United Negro
College Fund in Basketball
competition.
To be a Tilly all one has to do is
express interest, understand the
concept, and get to know the
Tilly members. Unlike frater
nities there is no pledging period.
Morehouse faculty and staff
members participate in Tilly as
well. Dean Nix is the “Honorary
Daddy Tilly” and Mrs. Alexan
der, head resident of Mays Hall,
is known to the group as “Mom
Tilly.” Dr. Barksdale participated
in one of the Tilly spirit nights.
“It’s amazing,” said Garo-
Tilly,” how so many people from
such diverse backgrounds and in
terests can all come together and
be so close.”
It is amazing, I thought to
myself as I sensed the strong ties
of brotherhood in the six Tilly
gentlemen that sat in front of me.
The gleam of friendship that
eluded was one I’ve so seldom
seen in this Atlanta University
Center Complex. Thank good
ness someone took the initiative
to promote it. ,
Can Women Outperform Men in Sports?
By Juanito V. labat
National News Bureau
Could women outperform men
in sports? Could a women’s
basketball team, for instance,
clobber a men’s quintet? Could a
woman excel in a marathon now
participated in mostly be men?
“Crazy questions,” says a
chauvanist friend who believes in
the all-time superiority of the
male over the female in activities
that require stamina and en
durance, activities like athletics.
But, Prof. Wildor Hollmann, a
leading specialist in sports
medicine in West Germany’s
Cologne Sports Academy,
doesn’t think the questions are
that crazy.
Dr. Hollmann believes women
have a good chance of out
performing men in many sports
events, including the sprints,
swimming, cycling, rowing, and
some ball games. Now, maybe,
but pretty soon.
Instances where women out
perform men in sports events
have been increasing in recent
years. For instance:
* Billie Jean King defeated
male chauvanist Bobby Riggs in a
much ballyhooed tennis match a
few years ago.
* Marlova Lubatska, a 23-year
old Yugoslavian teacher, last
September took part in an all
men swimming competition in
Senegal and won the gold medal
in the 100-meter and 200-meter
freestyle events.
* Last August, Michiko
Yuichi. 18-year old Japanese girl
basketball player, played with
her school’s male cage team
against a visiting New Zealand
squad and came out with a total
of 38 points, the highest in
dividual score in that game.
* Nina Sutamonkorn of
Bangkok, Thailand, competed in
an all-male cycling contest last
September and won the cham
pionship with power to spare.
* Kelly Cornish, 18-year old
girl athete of a high school in
Philadelphia, Pa., won 15 variety
letters at school—four in hockey,
four in basketball, four in soft-
ball, and one in track and field, a
record for letters won by a female
in her school and tying the school
record for male athletes.
* In Hungary last year, 19-year
old Cornelia Holoppan beat a
field of 10 male swimmers in
three events in an open swim
ming contest in Debrecen.
In claiming that women have
the potentials to outperform men
in some sports events. Dr.
Hollman took into consideration
not the build of the female but
the way her body works.
“It has been found that the
heart and blood circulation of
women prior to menopause are.
on the whole, more stable and
resilient than men’s,” Hollman
said.
In the Cologne Sports
Academy, Hollman embarded on
Scientific experiments with a
view to harnessing these at
tributes of the woman’s body for
_ competitive sports.
TTwas discovered that not only
the lungs and heart of the female
are more resilient than those of
the male but also that their
oxygen transport is more
economical than man’s. Their
muscular metabolism, too, is
equipped to cope with greater
strain.
“As a result,” Hollmann said,
“women are naturally better
suited than men to withstand
strain over long periods.”
Hollmann also said that over
long distances women swimmers
are superior to men in every
respect. It can onle be a matter of
time, he claimed, before women
account for every world swim
ming record.
The Cologne sports medicine
specialist added that a similar
trend could be expected in long
distance running. This is because
women not only need less oxygen
than men, they also usually weigh
less than men, an abvious ad
vantage.
In principle, according to
Hollmann, the natural physical
advantages women enjoy ought
to apply to rowing and cycling,
too. Whether the females can
outstrip the males in these events
remains to be seen, however, sin
ce both muscle and stamina also
count toward performance. But
then again, the doctor said it has
been found out that man’s
muscles tire faster than woman’s
because they either are fed less
oxygen or they utilize oxygen less
efficiently.