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MERGER CLUSTER
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More Subdued Music "In Concert"
Last week-end Mercer
celebrated its homecoming
in a somewhat stepped-up
i o i m. The enthusiasm
among students was strong-
c i than in the past but one
could not help noting the
desire among, many stu
dents for a different type
ol entertainment “in ron-
lett.’'
Friday night had provid
ed a dance and Saturday
night saw a game and a
concert, but the concert
gave the same type of
music as had Friday night.
Of course The Rascals
By Tom Ccruthorn
were “big name” enter
tainment but they were, in
the final analysis, in the
same genre as the Friday
dance group.
I thought during the
concert that if I were a
salesman for the Vox amp
1 would have been thrilled
at its high decibel repro
duction. Even sitting some
twenty yards from the
platform 1 had a small
headache after the |*r-
formance. This is not to
say that the music was not
enjoyable but it is to say
that perhaps some more
subdued form of music
could be sought for “in
concert” entertainment.
It seems to me that when
one is permanently in
place in a chair with ones
date close-by one does not
want the soles of his shoes
rippled by overwhelmingly
intense music. It would
seem more in place to be
treated to a softer and
more celestial type of “pop
music” that would be
amenable to the confined
"in concert" milieu.
Aboard the ship HOPE
Perhaps you may find a
message from this if you
want, and hence possibly
pursue it through action;
or it may be for you
nothing more than a by-
the-way” treatise which you
can store away within
your intellect. If either is
done, then something, be
it small or large, has been
accomplished.
Last year it was from
mere coincidence that I
heard of “Project Hope.
Now I want to tell the
entire world about it. From
higher echelons, however,
that is occurring much
more effectively and thor
oughly; and it is the en
tire world that is hearing
continually about it, and
most assuredly, benefitting
from it.
“Project Hope” is spon
sored directly in Washing
ton, D.C. by the People-to-
People Health Foundation,
Inc., and by the people of
the United States. Through
their private donations
they have kept the com
plete hospital ship
“HOPE” (Health Oppor
tunity for People Every
where) sailing since 1960,
with a five million dollar
cost basis annually.
The 15,000 ton, five
decked ship in its entirety
is a fully equipped hospital
with 280 patient-beds. Each
year the HOPE for ten
months visits a country
By Steve Woodruff
which has a dire need for
medical progress. Upon re
quest for the past eight
years, HOPE has visited
Indonesia, South Vietnam,
Pemi, Equador, Guinea,
Nicaragua, Columbia, and
since March of ’68 has been
in port at Colombo, Cey
lon.
The primary objective of
the permanent and volun
teer HOPE staff is to teach
and not simply to donate
money or medical equip
ment. Approximately 120
doctors and nurses of all
specialties comprise the
paid permanent staff. Dur
ing its ten-month stay, five
two-month rotations occur
whereby eighty volunteer
doctors fly to the ship from
the states for each rotation
in order to assume their
role of teacher. The suc
cess of Project Hope is due
not only to the American
citizens, but to the perman
ent and volunteer medical
staff teaching on and from
HOPE each year.
In addition to the pro
fessional staff, eight to fif
teen college students are
selected by HOPE each
summer for the June-July
rotation. In Ceylon this
past summer, three stu
dents from Univ. of N.C.,
one from Pomona College,
one from Rollins, one
from Columbia, and one
from Mercer composed the
summer program.
We spent our first week
surveying an orphan home,
a detention home, a blind
and deaf school, a 2000
student public school, and
a leper colony of 600. Our
purpose was to determine
what, each school needed
that we could at least ini
tiate and possibly supply
during the two-month pe
riod.
The activity from organ
izing volleyball and soccer
to cleaning and painting a
ward. These, However, act
ed only as means to an
ulterior goal. The under
lying idea we felt needed
to be insulted was that of
individual and group re
sponsibility.
The orphan's home for
boys was located on the
coast of the Indian Ocean,
and like most “homes” it
was distinctly separated
from society. Three sec
tions comprised the home:
twenty (age 6-16) mentally
ahd physically fit orphans,
and forty abandoned babies
(the majority of whom
would not live past three
years). Two convened
Buddhists assumed the full
life-time role of masters of
the home, with the help of
six attendants for the three
sections.
TO BE CONTINUED
Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor,
I have had to be out of
school for fall and winter
quarter because of spinal
surgery and I’ve missed
school terribly. Like all
college students, though
I’m older than most, I’ve
never had time to read all
the books I’ve wanted and
needed to read. So al
though I've lost time from
school, 1 do not consider
the time lost to essence.
I’ve read and read and
read.
A thoughtful soul at
Mercer remembered me
yesterday by sending me
an edition of the Cluster.
Oh great), I thought, when
I saw it sticking out of the
mailbox. But after reading
it, I was disappointed. It
was filled with articles of
grievances against the ad
ministration, the comput
er, and the roaches.
Of course one can always
find fault with some part
of college life. Understand
ably, no one enjoys stand
ing in line for hours on
end. And naturally, com
puters do not know our
name, talents, or appre
ciate our wonderful per
sonalities. But surely the
Cluster can serve a more
worthy purpose than just
present a medium for ex
pressing discontent. It
could be more literary in
scope and less dissentient
in fact.
Surely some phase of
college life is rewarding
enough to be documented
in print. A column entitled
The Essence of Things
could provide just such a
place to recount some
moment of enlightment,
some significant experience
when a truth was discov
ered, or understood, in a
college classroom.
While some students
show their lack of maturity
and true intellectual ca
pacity by destroying school
property in other parts of
the nation, and do Their
Thing, while our young
men daily give their lives
in Vietnam to do theirs,
why can’t Mercer students
pause a moment and re
flect on the opportunity
that is theirs, and ask
themselves, “What is MY
THING?” Let us hope
most will find it is some
thing lacking in pessimism
and abundant with opti
mism and hope.
A dissentient student
body and administration is
like a married couple who
constantly bicker and be
little each other until both
are wrecked. They become
cynical and pessimistic and
enjoy little happiness with
thraeselves or others.
College life should be a
life dedicated to the seaach
for higher ideals. Educa
tion should inspire an in
dividual to concentrate on
big things in life, not mull
and petty ones.'
The Cluster could pro
vide a stimulating and in
spiring means towards pro
moting that endeavor. Its
pages could be filled with
essays, book reviews, new
ideas on how to study, per
sonal accounts of what
education means to you as
an individual, and hun
dreds of humorous, inter
esting, and creative articles,
by students and faculty
alike. I hope others feel
the same way and will
contribute their part in
making it a bigger and
better paper for the new
year.
Marie Chapman
Dear Miss Chapman,
Upon reading your letter
1 was in fact surprised.
THE MERCER CLUST
ER is after all the voice
of the students. It is the
duty of the Cluster to re
port both the news and the
feelings of the student
body.
Since you have been out
of school for sometime I
can understand your feel
ings about our grievances;
however, you have to real
ize that you have not been
close to these problems.
You have not had your
classes messed up or had
to fight the flies in the
co-op.
The PLUCKED DUL
CIMER is the literary
magazine on campus not
the CLUSTER. I would
suggest that you turn your
essays, book reviews, and
creative articles to them.
I am sure they would ap
predate them.
Respectfully yours,
Linda McNeal
Editor
(JHmer Cluster
Editor-in-Chief __
Associate Editor _
News Editor _
Business Manager
Managing Editor .
Cartoons ——
Photographer _—
Circulation
_Linda McNeal
-Tom Cauthom
Claudia Young
Bob Lanier
Proofreading
-Claire Jordan
JGory Johnson
-Roger Poston
-Bob Johnson
&
Executive Editors
Sports Editor
i Staff,
New Staff
-Joanne Hofnowski
Carol Ison
Peggy Sullivan. Elijah Lightfoot,
': Angie Hayes
__j .Cornelia Bennett
John Guthrie
MKMMUt
Feature Editor
Feature Staff
Bob Staunton, Judy Irving
Bobby Phillips,
Wright Davis
— Louia^fof
-Julian Gotdy,
Layout.
Kidd
Salter
Frost,
Debra Rogers, Johnny Turner, Lyndon
Mayes, Tyler Hanamett, Loqhlyn
Social Editor ■; Jart
— —;— Anne Puitt
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