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•y-'r .7--— a MERGER CLUSTER ZditvuaU 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 • e*V . , ** V' ' V ,* ' V ... , ‘ .* ■' ^ '• - ■ '• ■ -W -