Letters

More Thorny Presence

Throw those Review bums out before I take my lily-white fist and bum a big black hole in their pointy little heads! How absolutely embarrassing!

Free speech? I suppose that's how Hitler got his start. Well, it ain't going to work in my house, because I learned long ago to exterminate rats whenever and wherever I find them.

Filth and vermin breeds more of the same. Dartmouth, for God's sake, clean up your act!

Phoenixville, Penn.

The Dartmouth Review is using brilliantly the best tactic of eighteenth-century English journalism: when faced with public indifference, print something shocking. This is not surprising, since Professor Jeffrey Hart, an arch-conservative and one of the most intelligent and entertaining of English professors, is a specialist in eighteenth-century political literature. I'm not sure if his relationship to the younger Hart of the Review is familial, but it is certainly ideological and strategic. And as the latest flap shows, they know their business.

The Reviews adversaries, on the other hand, have not learned the lessons of history, and their well-founded indignation and outcry have only provided the Review with the wished-for publicity. I'm reminded of an episode that Professor Hart no doubt relishes (except for its ideological implications) in which George III, furious over John Wilkes's attack on him in TheNorth Briton No. 45, caused Wilkes to be arrested and the paper to be burnt by the public hangman. As a result of this action, Wilkes's reputation was made he eventually became a master of media warfare, Lord Mayor of London, and eponym of Wilkes-Barre, Penn., and Wilkesboro, N.C.- and the North Briton (itself a relatively mediocre journal) descended into English history as one of the most famous of political papers. So much for direct, serious response (e.g., Samuel Smith's).

It is, however, against human nature to sit quietly while attacked, and so I again turn to Wilkes for my remedies: wit and humor. .Where is the satiric spirit of the middle and the left? Is there nothing funny-in fact, ridiculous about the anachronistic blowhards of the Dartmouth Review? When the Scot Smollett (quoted by David Schwartz in the last issue) was hired to defend the pro-Scot, pro-peace policies of George III and his ministers, he did so in a paper he called The Briton. Wilkes responded with The North Briton (i.e., "the Scot"), in which, at least for the first few numbers, he pretended to be a Scotsman and ironically parodied all of Smollett's arguments. (Professor Hart will recognize that this is an oversimplification, but I only have a few paragraphs.) After a time, The Briton was effectually put out of business.

So let us greet The Dartmouth Review with the wit, humor, and benign contempt that it deserves. Or let's satirize and lie about its authors until they're afraid to show their faces out-ofdoors. Or let's begin a parody called The Dartmouth Review (would they dare sue?) and see who can tell the difference. But let's not respond seriously, or they've already won.

Austin, Texas

A young man who is a score or so years old commits a gaffe. He gets carried away, and the College seems to favor suppression of the Dartmouth Review. I think an Ernest Martin Hopkins would have been more interested in the charges made in the indictment, however crudely drawn.

The mistake that Keeney Jones made is, in fact, a measure of his exasperation with the College that constantly proclaims its own excellence and graduates students who may never have heard of Shakespeare, or Bishop Berkeley, or Dr. Patton and his trilobites, Why are there not a few basic required courses in the humanities, sciences, and languages? I suspect that Keeney feels deeply about Dartmouth.

The Dartmouth Review is not an isolated phenomenon; there are many conservative publications in existence in colleges and universities all over the land. Repression will not make them go away.

Uniontown, Penn

Dartmouth Abroad

I was very much interested in the "Dartmouth Abroad", article by Shelby Grantham in the September issue and amazed by the variety of schools and countries now included in the foreign study program.

Although Norman McCulloch '50 may have been one of the first Dartmouth students to study abroad, I know of at least three who "piggy-backed" on a junior-year-abroad program many years prior to McCulloch s time. My classmate, Dick Porter, and I joined the University of Delaware foreign study group in France in our junior year, and another Dartmouth student whose name I can't recall had taken his junior year with the same group two years earlier and had encouraged us to apply.

Our group (about 60 students from various eastern colleges), all with good backgrounds in French language and literature, sailed from New York in late July 1929, spent three months of intensive study in written and spoken French language at the University of Nancy, followed by some seven months of mostly lecture courses at the Sorbonne (University of Paris), while boarding with our French families in both places. Our experiences (outside of the classrooms) were similar to those of the presentday students described in Shelby Grantham's excellent article, and I agree with Norman McCulloch that this time abroad was a high point in my Dartmouth education.

The Delfor group of 1929 had its own fiftieth reunion at the University of Delaware in 1979.

Oakland, Calif.

Good Choice

I wanted to let you know that I was most impressed by David Shribman's thoughtful and sensitive discussion of the most recent batch of Webster volumes. I can hardly imagine how anyone could pack more insight into the same amount of space.

Good choice of reviewers!

Hanover, N.H.

A Dangerous Thing

College graduates everywhere know that the problem of alcohol is no worse or less bothersome at one college than another. In fact, the problem has been around wherever and whenever people gather for any kind of social affair.

In Great Dialogues of Plato, "The Symposium" (the banquet), written about 386 8.C., I find the following comment concerning alcohol: Eryximachos, the physician, turns to Agathon, who made the arrangements for the evening dinner party, and asks if they are going to do any drinking tonight before they start the banquet. Agathon replies that he doesn't feel much like it-he had enough yesterday.

Then Eryximachos replies, "Since no one present votes for a hearty bout of deep winedrinking, perhaps I should not give offence if I tell you the truth about the effect of getting drunk. I think I have seen quite clearly as a physician that drunkenness is a dangerous thing for mankind, and I am not willing to go far in drinking myself nor would I advise another to do it, especially if he still has a headache from yesterday."

From the lofty pinnacle of a 1921 graduate, may I advise all undergrads to drink little, or better still-drink not at all?

May I stress the fact that Dartmouth, more than any college of which we are aware, has taken the lead in meeting the alcohol problem head on. We graduates must ask: "Is the slaughter of 26,000 people per year by automobiles alone worth the emphasis on getting drunk? Why does it need to be?" Any problem can be solved if it is taken seriously by those who strive to lead a people and a nation.

South Palm Beach, Fla.

The Affirming Past

Ten years after graduating from Dartmouth -class of' 72-I returned for a visit. Driving up from New York the megalopolis slowly giving way to lush countryside I felt an overwhelming sense of déjà vu. But I was still not prepared for the visual onslaught that flooded my memory as I pulled into town. There was Baker Tower crowning a seamless tableau of manicured lawns and picture-postcard buildings. Everything lay in the same hushed repose I remembered. The same sweet, exhilarating smell of pine and old wood-smoke was mixed with the fresh, light breezes of early summer. Main Street, too, looked almost exactly the same, a tourist's New England fantasy come true. And of course Hopkins Center the heartbeat of campus life welcomed me back with those big blue-and-white letters announcing the day's Film Society schedule.

Walking into Parkhurst Hall, that fateful spring day in 1969 came rushing back in all its fabulous anarchic phantasmagoria. I could still see the milling crowds of determined-looking "hippies," ecstatic with the heady responsibilities of having just taken over a building. I was on the front steps when 200 state troopers, German shepherds in tow, arrived at 3:00 a.m. In the surrealistic glare of kleig lights, the helmeted troopers snaked through the crowd and up the steps, then pushed outward to form a gauntlet down which the 30 students still inside were dragged to the waiting buses and a month in jail. I can still remember the feeling of trying to keep my knees from knocking uncontrollably with fear as the crowd was pressed tighter. All this came flooding back as I walked up those steps again.

That the contours of a particular pathway or the smell of a certain building could bring back so many faces and events so vividly was wonderful to me. Perhaps that is what is so affirming about visiting the places of one's past. It reminded me of President John Dickey's matriculation speech: he stressed that the most important result of our education would be to develop a deep awareness of everything around us every tree, every gesture, every human event.

And so it is only now strolling down by the river, hanging out at the Hop that I can actually begin to appreciate that time in my life they have so aptly named the Dartmouth Experience. It was a lovely hiatus, a blessed retreat from the grimy reality of life in America. Even against the backdrop of the sixties, it was idylic. I only wish I'd been more mature and assertive in making the most of what was here. Maybe they should schedule college during middle age, followed by another stage of "career development."

San Francisco, Calif.

Taste in Tunnels

Peter Smith has shown himself to be a man of exquisite good taste. (A person has good taste if he or she, without advice from you, chooses the same tie or spouse that you would have done.) I have been thinking of a slighter larger version of the Smith/Ludwig/Getty plan for several years, but I have been hesitant to share it with others because of the anticipated cost.

I would propose that all automobile traffic around the Green be routed underground, leaving the Green open for Frisbee throwers and intramural football teams. The underground parking lot should be multi-level and spacious enough to provide accommodation sufficient for central campus requirements for now and for the foreseeable future. Furthermore, the area between the present paved streets and the buildings encircling the Green could be excavated to provide space for administration records and little used libary books, and for other uses.

Two related points are worthy of mention. First, the major buildings on the campuses of Carleton (in Ottawa) and Laval (in Quebec city) are linked by underground pedestrian tunnels, which are used extensively by students during the long months when those cities are snowbound. Such an alteration at Dartmouth would change the winter lifestyle considerably and might not be welcomed by all, but the idea indicates the possibilities opened up once the idea of utilizing below-ground space has been broached. Second, if ever the national leaders in Washington and Moscow should decide to settle their differences atomically, the tens of thousands of square feet of the Smith/Ludwig/ Getty underground parking lot could serve as a practical fallout shelter for members of the College and other Hanover residents.

Montreal, Canada

Revamping

With children and young adults embarked on another school year, formal education is a timely subject. Our current educational system needs to be revamped in several key areas.

First, a thorough preparation in reading, writing and arithmetic is only part of what the core curriculum should include. Practical economics" should be an integral part of everyone's formal education. Courses in banking, selling, buying, business negotiations, and the income tax return are relevant to economic survival, let alone prosperity. One should know how to set up savings and checking accounts and be proficient at balancing the latter. One must be a knowledgeable, sharp consumer to get maximum utility for his or her dollar. And everyone should become acquainted with the language and implications of the income tax return and related schedules if only to be able to converse intelligently with one's accountant. In dealing with the federal government, ignorance is certainly not bliss!

Second, students should not graduate from high school, let alone college, without knowing how to write a successful job resume. It is critical to economic survival in a world where competition is both intense and immense. A person needs a structured course in self-evaluation to analyze his or her achievements. This thorough introspection includes "success factor analysis." The knowledge of one's "success factors," be they financial aptitude, human relations skills, artistic/creative abilities, or athletic prowess, is translated from life achievements to a logical, marketable, and successful resume and subsequent presentation.

Third, communication, both verbal and non-verbal, must be stressed in the new core curriculum. Public speech-writing and delivery is an invaluable aid in successfully marketing oneself. Courses in public speaking should be obligatory. The experience and self-confidence generated by this practice are inestimable. As for non-verbal communication, this very important subject has been sorely neglected. Topics such as personal grooming, attire, eye contact, and body language would be addressed in this communication course. Effective communication demands reinforcement, not confusion.

The result of thus revamping our current educational system would be happier, more self-confident, and more successful young people. Their knowledge of their skills and abilities would motivate them to be assertive and determined in their quest for self-realization, happiness, and income generation.

After all, diplomas alone are not very nutritious.

Manassas, Va.

A Record of Sorts

What do the following names have in common: "Gluckauf," "Birchmere," "Brimloch," and "Bass Cove?" They are four adjoining summer cottages located on Lake Morey, in Fairlee, Vermont, owned by Bill Breetz '63, Bud Hummel '42, Alan Moats '70, and Bill Pierce '62.

The homes were purchased at widely different times, and none of the four alumni knew any one of the others were buying there until they became neighbors.

We wonder if we have set a record of sorts, or is there a five-in-a-row out there somewhere? If so, perhaps it could report in, and we both could then await a possible six-pack.

Fairlee, Vt.

{The reference is to Keeney Jones's much-publicizedparody of black English, "Dis sho' ain't no jive,bro," originally carried in the Dartmouth Review. An excerpt from it appeared in this column in theSeptember 1982 issue of the MAGAZINE. Ed.}

{Michael Birkner is associate editor of the papers ofDaniel "Webster at Baker Library. Ed.]

{The Smith/Ludwig/ Getty underground parkingplan was outlined by Peter Smith in the Septemberissue's "In the Wide, Wide World." Ed.}