Newspaper Page Text
January 16, 1968
Volume XLIX No. 9
SdltoziaCd
Fall Quarter As
A Perspective
. f
Manhattan Prints
Brighten Art World
The beginning of any academic
year will necessarily be one of inde
cision and disorganization. But the
fall at Mercer was one of gross
floundering on the part of the t'lus
ter and its component parts. For
this we the Editors are clearing up
and already in this the first paper
the improvements have become ob
vious Problems have been of the
nature of staff coo|>eration and Ed
itorial continuity.
This is the winter time in what
is not actually the most lively area
ol the world. We intend to run a
survey of the student lardy concern
ing problems in the academic and
student activity spheres. The SGA
is preparing a student primary for
the Presidential campaigns that are
going to begin soon; this will be in
conjunction with over three hun
dred campuses elsewhere A new
INSIGHT program may material
ize this quarter with emphasis on a
different area of debate from Viet
Nam. Sports begin in earnest and
later baseball will diversify this
area.
But getting back to the topic in
dicated by the headline; We have
been through a quarter of comment
and some answer. The GBC did not
show where Mercer would get her
money for the Science Center; the
University has not indicated a
source for these needed funds. We
do not see these funds coming from
nowhere unless our business depart
ment has become so efficient that
it now prints money. As each stu
dent is an investor in the Corpora
tion of Mercer they should know
By Steve Darby
With the presidential elections
approaching, many interesting pos
sibilities arise concerning the pros
pective candidates around the coun
try.
The Democratic Party is pretty
well set on its choice for president.
You just don’t change horses in the
middle of the stream. The vice
president |>osition might be up for
grabs, though. It is all up to L.B.J.
A high cabinet jrosition for H.H.H.
has been hinted at and after the
latest events that took place in the
Defense Dept., the possibility is
feasible.
Reagan-Lindsey. Romney-Nixon.
Nixon-Percey, Nixon-Reagan, Per-
sey-Lindsev and on and on and on.
The combinations that could be de
rived from this group of candidates
iH endless. In the G.O.P., it’s any
body’s game.
The story doesn't end here. There
is h great similarity between this
coming election and the one of
1948 In '48 Strom Thurmond and
the Dixiecrat party took from both
of the major parties a block of the
southeastern states. Ex governor
George Wallace of Alabama could
if their annual investment stands
to expand because the low rates of
the Federal Government are to be
refused.
Again we have an indication
from WSGA that they are revamp
ing the archaic handbook. Are we
to be constantly put off with the
statement, "we will be ready soon
to make the results known?”
SGA this quarter intends to re
write its Constitution to make it a
more viable basis for student gov
ernment.
All of these disconnected tidbits
of information should distill into
quite an active quarter in the realm
of student activity and opinion. But
what of and what is student opin
ion? We have sometime been dis
appointed at ourselves and at other
times at the mass of students. Our
response has been a poll with an
other planned this quarter. We can
see a time of expression during the
Presidential primary but what we
are anticipating most are the SGA
elections during the spring. We saw
in the fall an abortive Dulcimer
election and with this in perspective
we plan a week of Cluster sponsor
ed ralleys during the SGA elections.
This should bring out the latent is
sues at Mercer and better inform
the individual student of his
choices.
With Fall Quarter in perspective
we intend to focus upon the build
ing of student ability. We can only
do this through concern and you
can only become concerned if in
formed of the issues at hand.
do the same thing but with differ
ent consequences. Throw in also a
peace candidate in the form of a
Robert Kennedy or a Eugene Mc
Carthy, and things really would be
hopping. It might hop right into the
House of Representatives where
the end results could be anyone’s
guess A man named Lester Mad
dox just last year won under similar
circumstances.
The key to the elections will be
the primaries, beginning with the
New Hampshire primary in March.
The New Hampshire primary could
weed out early the weak and
strong. McCarthy and Wallace will
have a hard go of it if they keep
their same platforms. McCarthy's
platform thus far has been formu
lated around a dis-enchantment
with the Viet Nam policy of the
administration, while George Wal
lace is running solely on !)is image
as a segregationist. A broadening
of the platforms of both of these
candidates would be necessary in
order to gain nation-wide appeal.
Keep an eye on the primaries,
conventions and the general elec
tions. The 1968 elections could be
the tightest race witnessed to date.
By Diane Downer
A sophisticated group of manhat-
tan prints is on display in the Con
nell Student Center Art Gallery
that the art lover will find thor
oughly complete and highly inter
esting. This show wall reside at
Mercer until January 28, and is
lent to the University by the Muse
um of Modern Art.
The first six decades of 20th cen
tury art are well-represented, and
all the facets of life in the big city
are completely and movingly illus
trated. The sensitive critic will
find both "the intimate life of the
city and its omnipresent personal
mass” inherent in each lithograph.
Professor Hutto of the Art Depart
ment calls the group "... a show
of great craftsmanship, good tech
nique, with a slightly 1920ish sty-
lished look.” He believes it to be a
fitting follow-up to the preceding
pop-art show, and labels it as art
that most everybody can enjoy.
Feininger is represented by both
his early and later work. The Kind
er Kids is a very ckiver cartoon
by the artist showing realism with
flat planes and the memorial Ger-
While reading Dr. Hugh J. Shon-
field's best seller. The Passover
Plot, Jesus was simply a man, so
thought came to me. What effect
would it have on contemporary
Christianity if we were to take
Shonfield's contention one step fur
ther. According to The Passover
Plot Jesus was simply a man, so
strong in his conviction that he was
the messiah. that he schemed and
plotted to change the course of
events, thereby fulfilling a majori
ty of the messianic prophesies.
Whether or not this viewpoint is
possible or probable is irrelevant
here. My interest is in conjectur
ing on the effect on Christianity if
conclusive proof were to be found
that, in fact, Jesus was in no way
divine.
It is easy enough to foresee the
effect on such sects as the Unita
rians and Southern Baptists. The
Unitarians would continue to prac
tice their faith as they have in the
past, since this discovery would only
serve to strengthen one of their ba
sic doctrines. There would be little
or no effect on the Southern Bap
tists either, who chose to believe
whatever suits them best despite
irrefutable arguments to the con
trary.
But what of the more objective
Christians who base their very reli
gion on the concept of the diviness
of Jesus Christ? Giving up such a
concept would necessitate an en
tire reworking of their basic theo-
gical doctrines and an entire reor
dering of their lives. Granted, some
have a faith which could overcome
such a drastic change and could
continue to function under the re
man grotesquerie, while the Ger
man artist Gross returns to the Gal
lery in a less bizarre vein with his
interpretative picture of Manhat
tan. Hopper, Sloan and Davis of
the Ashcan School, and Wengen-
roth project their ideas of New
York City, along with several for
eign artists, whose pictures and
highly varied outlooks on city life
round out the grouping success
fully—included are Omar Rayo, a
Columbian artist, Jun’ichiro Se-
kino, Japanese, and the English
men David Hockney and Richard
Hamilton.
Robert Rauschenberg has one in
triguing piece in the show—a litho
graph with overlapping transfers of
photographs, showing Broadway as
a pulsing raceway for speeding can
and track stars, and setting a mood
that is full of the “tension and ner
vous energy of contemporary city
life.”
Loneliness to mass joviality,
emptiness to bustling are all to be
found in the Manhattan prints—a
group highly varied in approach
but showing all the sides of the big
city.
mainder of Christian precepts. But
there are myriad others whose faith
is so grounded in the belief of
Christ’s divine nature that their re
ligious lives would come to a grind
ing halt. For them, the loss of
Christ would equate with the loss
of salvation. And unfortunately, the
loss of salvation would completely
remove, in their lives, all incentive
to follow the remainder of Christian
doctrine. If Christ was not as he
claimed, then they must forfeit the
promises he made them. If Christ
will not fulfill his promises to them,
then why should they be bound to
their promises to Him. Almost im
mediately, I fear, the selfish or what
are considered sinful desires which
they had been supressing for great
er gain through Christ would come
rushing to the fore. And until they
could create another instrument
with the promise of greater reward
they would live in chaos.
My contention is that Christians
without Christ would lose more
than the basis for their name. They
would lose their very reason for
living as they do, or at least as they
claim to do. It is not out of an in
nate desire or greed for more than
they presently have. It is out of an
innate fear of their own mortality.
Since by their belief in Christ they
do at least attempt to supreas what
is sinful in their nature, perhaps
the motive should not be of concern.
Yet it nevertheless remains interes
ting to ponder what new motives
they might create, should this par
ticular one be removed. Perhaps
they might even find it within
themselves to remain Christian for
unselfish reasons.
A Quick Rundown For Now
Election Time Approaches;
"The Passover Plot" ....
A Book Review By David Sibley
^ftftenrr Cluster
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Tom Cauthorn Wright Davfa
Cartoons ... Roger Poston, Haywood Turner
Photographer Bob Johnson
News Editor ..... :.. .... Dianne Downer
Staff Wardlyn Milk, Don Ripley, Chris Greis,
Susan Scott, Gary Johnson, Cathy Geron, Dianna Downer
Charles Goolsby, Shamo Young, Cornelia Tlran at I, Ginny
Scherer, Lois Scheller, Anna Rougman. Linda Poe, Ed Ward
Special Correspondents BUI Wehunt, Ed Bacon
Faculty Advisors , Prof. Anthony Stansfeid, J. O. Pains
BUSINESS MANAGER MANAGING EDITOR
Bob Lanier Stave Darby
Copy Editor Paul Kirk
Contributing Editors Becky Sims, Ed Beckwith
Business Specialist Christy Tyler
Exchange Editor - Russ Drummond
Executive Editors BUI Dayton. Bobby Phillips
Sports Editor .. ....: — Art Hapner
Feature ErBtor : Dan Nowell
Feature Staff Karan Riven, Milton Moon, Clyde Hoover,
Judy White, Stave Derby. Roger Ball. Read Banka
Social Bdlton Leonard Bona. Carol Brace
Letter To The
Editors
Letten to the Editon should fc
limited to 200 words and are
to procedure
Unsigned letters wiH not ba prist,
Dear Editor:
The editorial in the last edition
of the Chiatar. “Where Was i
Messiah’ Last Sunday?*’, mi
have more appropriately bean as
titled “Where Was the ‘Enteritis
ment’ Last Sunday?”. It is indi
unfortunate that an uninfoma
and comparatively meager audit
were about to be subjected, to thei
amazement, to two liturgical work
both appropriate for the see
Thank God their Sunday was
totally marred, due to the interns
sion which allowed some of them
escape.
How the critic could feel tors*
thing amiss about the psrformane
is incomprehensible. The Mag nig
cat, indeed, comparable to any
Handel’s most melodious works,
one of the four great monument
choral compositions of Bach. Writ
ten expressly for the Christn
Vespers in 1723, it is the most e;
be rant and concise of Bach's gr
choral works. The Christmas On
torio indeed challenges com pan
with any of Handel's works
graceful counterpoint, dramatx
characterization, and pictorial r*
presentation. The Christmas On
torio, a series of six cantatas
the festivals of the Christmas
Epiphany season, together with
Magnificat, sublimely heralding tk
the advent of the Messiah, couh
hardly comprise a more suits hi
program for the Christmas
These works can scarcely be r*
garded as poor substitutes for
“greater" Messiah.
The compiler of the Mr—id
text, a British literary dilettanti
Charles Jennens, created an
rangement of Biblical excerpts
a series of episodes that
little dramatic continuity and
absolutely no story. There ia
comparison here to the continuit)
and message in the Bach teife
Handel's v/ork was not designed
stimulate piety and devotion si
thus, although based on Holy Wi
the Messiah cannot be consider
a piece of truly religious music,
the chapel was half empty, then
is not surprising, for Handel m
really writing for the theater, si
like most theatrical composers, I
always had his "audience” in mil
The Ms—ish is a deliberate appi
on Handel's part to a middle cla
audience of theater-goers rath
than religious devote—. The Mi
siah was conceived along —
broad lines that would sasily I
appreciated by the public. Despil
its admitted grandiosity and ms
nifieence, the Messiah remains lx
for the concert hall and no' I
chapel
The opportunities to hear t
Messiah during the Christmas a
son are countie—. The occasion!
hear these two magnificent wad
of Bach are rare indeed. The
gleet which continues to ba tlx
of these masterpieces is most i
fortunate.
Tbs Mercer family should inda
be grateful to its music faculty a
chorus for their attempt to f
these works their due measure
public performance. My peraoa
gratitude to them for an hour
devotion minus the gymnastics
King George II, but rather a 8s
day which became e time to ca
template quietly within ourssh
the rebirth of the Messiah fl
Bach works psrhaps produc'd
“visible” display of amotion, I
they are works of an indivxM
nature, hallowed by a sense of
turgical dignity.
Sincerely yours.
Jam— R. Harvey
Department of Modem
Foreign Languages