Newspaper Page Text
Spelman Spotlight
November 17, 1982
Page 6
Gina Hudgins
Spelman’s Own “Glamour Girl
by Stephanie Green
There is a “glamourous
celebrity on Spelman’s campus
this year. Even though she is a
“Glamour Girl,” you won’t find
the heavily - applied make - up,
overly flashy clothes, or the one -
dimensional character that is
sometimes associated with the
type. For those of you who don’t
know yet, I am speaking of Gina
Hudgins, president of Spelman’s
Student Government Associa
tion. You see, Gina was selected
as one of the Top Ten College
Women of 1982 by “Glamour”
magazine.
It was on a recent autumn
afternoon that I finally got a time
slot in Gina’s busy schedule to
talk with her about gaining
recognition by a major women’s
publication. Gina spoke of how
she went about applying, what it
was like being selected, and the
opportunities that have resulted
after “Glamour’s” August issue
hit the newsstands. Being con
vinced by her mother that she
should apply, Gina sent the
necessary background informa
tion and list of her ac
complishments to the contest
with the normal amount of
doubt. As her mother put it, “the
only thing that they can do is tell
you ‘yes' or ‘no’.”
When Gina did receive the all
important call that she had been
selected, the next step was to
have her picture taken and an
interview scheduled to deter
mine what would be printed in
the magazine. “It was great
being recognized be a national
magazine,” Gina stated. “In
addition to being in the
$1,000.” If anyone deserved to be
selected, Gina most certainly
was. In her twenty - one years,
Gina has accomplished a great
deal, and her years at Spelman
have exemplified the talented
and diverse person that she is.
Beginning with being elected
President of her Freshman class,
her list of past and present
activities and accomplishments
include; Chairperson of the
External Affairs Committee,
Most Outstanding second and
third year Engineering Student,
Vice - President of S.G.A., a
member of Delta Sigma Theta
Sorority, Inc., the basketball
team, and even the winner of a
Scripture Reading contest!
Since adding the Glamour
award to her list of credits, Gina
stated that “a lot of offers and
opportunities have come my
way. The article was sent to
various corporations across the
country, which was a big step in
letting companies know about
me.”
However, Gina is not one to
by Angela Jackson
Rev. Joseph E. Lowery, Presi
dent of the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference -(SCLC),
and president of the Black
Leadership Forum, spoke in
Sisters Chapel on September 30.
Rev. Lowery, one of the foun
ding fathers of SCLC, served as
SCLC’s vice president until 1967.
Under the nomination of Dr.
Martin Luther King, he was
elected as chairman of the
board. In 1977, at the 20th
anniversity of SCLC, Rev. Lowery
was unanimously elected the 3rd
president of SCLC.
Since 1968, Rev. Lowery has
been associated with Central
United Methodist Church,
Atlanta’s oldest and largest pre
dominantly Black United
Methodist Church. Under Rev.
Lowery’s leadership, 2,000 new
members have joined.
On the national front, Rev.
Lowery has been a fighter for
civil rights and nuclear disarma
ment.
He began his speech using the
story of Ester as an analogy of
the attitudes of the American
people. The Jews were being
persecuted, and Mordecai went
to Ester for help. Ester replied,
“I’m sorry Mordecai. You know
I’m working on a degree now.
I’m on Spelman’s campus ... I’m
in the palace now and I presume
a certain priviledged position .. I
hear you - maybe I’ll send you a
check the first of the month —
even say a little prayer for you.”
Rev. Lowery continued, “I’d like
to lift that out of that Old
Testament and place it on your
mind and your heart this mor
ning — right where you have
come — to this place of privilege,
this place of preparation, this
place of challenge and inspira
tion. I think you’ve come to this
SCLC: Still Working For You
kingdom, for such atimeasthis.”
Rev. Lowery stated that
students need to adopt the
attitude stated in a popular
statement received much
applause.
According to Rev. Lowery, this
age is also plaged by insidious
individualism. “If you marry
insidious insensivity with in
vidious individualism, and you
have a poison which has crept
into the life stream of America ...
it has crept into the Black ex
perience. That is the frightening
thing about it because more than
insidious insensitivity, invidious
individualism is alien to our
culture.” He asserted “We have
made it thus far along the way
because we were able to relate to
each other.” Blacks as a people
had common dreams and
aspirations that enabled us to
communicate with each other.
Rev. Lowery states that Spelman
students, as members of the
black race, must help to break
the chains that have divided the
black race.
“Whether you’ve been to
Morehouse or no house.
Whether you've been to
Tuskegee or bit by
a’muskegee’,” stated Rev.
Lowery, “we have to understand
that no matter what level we
reach on the economic or social
ladder, there is a common ex
perience, the commonality of
heritage, that binds us together
and leads us.” He continued,
"our salvation is in each other.”
“The black experience and the
progress it has experienced is a
direct result of our movement.
Nobody has ever, out of terror,
given us anything. We had to
sieze it and wrestle it, our
movement.” As the movement
continues, Rev. Lowery suggests
that blacks must make it con
tinue. We must not be totally
dependent on outsiders.
One way to continue the
movement is through the vote.
He says that blacks must register,
examine the issues, vote, and
hold elected officials accoun
table for their actions.
Blacks must challenge a system
where "the poor folk steel and
go to the penitentiary, and the
rich folk steal and go to Ber
muda.” “The rich get richer and
fewer and fewer and the poor
get poorer and morer and
morer.” Where large companies
donate money to black colleges
yet, won't hire the graudates of
these schools.
Rev. Lowery stated that blacks
must stay close to their faith. He
asserted, “what has brought us
thus far along the way is the God
of our weary years, the God of
our silent tears.” He continued,
“that faith gave us bou - an - cy in
the midst of the turbulent sea.
That faith gave us hope when
unborn hopehaddied.Thatfaith
kept us alive.”
Rev. Lowery concluded with
his original analogy. In response
to Mordecai, Estar stated, “If I do
go in to see the king I may perish
but, if I don’t go in I’m already
perished.” Rev. Lowery stated if
each individual in the audience
doesn’t goto see the king, he will
have the same fate that Ester will
have.
“You have come to the
kingdom Spelmanites for such a
time is this. You come to ex
perience education and enrich
ment of your life ... for such a
time as this my sisters, you've
come to the kingdom.”
“To serve the present age
99
dwell on things, for she con
tinues to be a very busy person.
Her days are filled with the many
and varied activities that her
position of S.G.A. president
entails, along with her studies at
Spelman and Georgia Tech.
Her future goals include ob
taining a degree in bio - medical
engineering, which will enable
her to design life - sustaining
machines.
Well, it’s been proven wrong
that a “Glamour Girl”, does not
necessarily have to fit into a
certain limited mold. All I can say
is that becoming one of
Glamour’s Top Ten College
Women couldn’t have happen
ed to a more deserving person.
Keep up the good work Gina!
If you have the desire to be
selected asoneofGlamour’sTop
Ten College Women, the poster
advertising the contest is in
Spelman’s Post Office. Who
knows, you just might be next
year’s “glamour girl” from
Spelman.
my calling to fulfill, oh may I all
my powers engage to do my
masters will.” He continued, “It
really doesn’t matter how those
before you served. The
challenge now is to you. For
you’ve come to such a time as
his.”
Rev. Lowery gave an analysis of
the time in which we live. He
said, “This is an age of insidious
insensitivity. We’ve grown cold
and callus in our regard for
human suffering. We’ve grown
insulated and isolated from the
groans and the cries of despair,
from the moans of hurt from
people all around us.”
He continued. “Unemploy
ment in this country is as high as
it has been since the Great
Depression, and few people are
moaning and crying about it -
only those who are directly
affected.”
Insidious insensitivity reaches
into the realm of the
government. The government
seems insensitive when “the
president is willing to get on
television and talk about the
economy is improving, while
unemployment goes up.”
According to Rev. Joseph
Lowery, hunger is another grave
problem characteristic of the
eighties. He elaborated.
“Hunger is all around us. In our
ghettos and across the world.”
Recently, Rev. Lowery and his
wife were arrested for protesting
the dumping of PCB, a nuclear
chemical, in warren county,
South Carolina. Warren County
is 2/3 black, poor, remote and
rural. All of the 12 women tested,
have PCB in their breasts. Rev.
Lowery plans to continue
fighting for the cause. “I am
going to get back in front of the
trucks as long as they insist on
dumping in that county.”