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.
A RATIONALE FOR THE CRISIS COLONY APPROAOi TO m.JCATION
THE SOCitTAL CRISIS - 1969
''The
:tnr:,n!
things change, the m:,re they N!'Jilain the same," black people say when
ever they read ptogzess 1epo:1-ts issued to reassure people that all is well with
minorities.
One has a feeling that the grandiose anmuncements, prog?'SfflS and post
The
urings of the past decade can be meas� rather accurately by that sumnary.
Soaring Sixties 8I'e ending with the Sanber Seventies
in Jm:)spect.
seem to have skidded off Dike Bridge at Olappaquiddick
and
Liberal dreams
disappeared
in the
murky waters beneath.
The End of the
At first glanoe
the
F.dwaro
Kennedy
Liberai Era
episode seens to be only an appendix-
not germane to the central narrative of the Sixties. A genuinely noble aney of
martyrs
have gone
And salutory.
of today's
before.
But in
another se.nse
it
is quite
integral
to the
era.
It cxmnents on a ranantic aura that has lurked beneath the surface
generation.
Not long ago one of them wrote, "We are the
first p.;eneration
that :earned
fran experience in our innocent twenties that things were really not getting
better, that we shall oot ove:raJne.
had
glimpsed
had
all
We f�lt by the time we were thirty that we
the most cx:mpassiona.te leaders our nation could produce,
been assassinated."
The despair is deeply touchin�, but a.so quite naive
Qther
generations have likewise. been
s�htly maudlin •.
stunned by events and the despair is not
lacking in parallels at other times in history.
reveals
am
and they
The Fmartl Kennedy incident
ambiguity, slxMs the vulnerability in liberal and n:mantic visions.
The Frontier Mythology of white-hatted and black-hatted characters is revealed.
The episode is symbolic and the flaw of the L:i.bere.1 is discerned.
derronic dimensions have not
been
The
understood; in fact, the liberal tendency to
demythologize
has
stripped us of the imagination to cope with such forces.
I was among those who strongly supported Adlai Stevenson, but it is clear that
"talking sense to the Pimerican people" was not enough for the Age. And satire
---the one weapon in the Liberal artillery---was insufficient in a time when people
became_essent�ally humorless. �e mystery of Black pc:&er, of course, was the
which
,,c�tance
.
made__the. .Liberal deficien�_
�11t.
-
Meanwhile, generational despair registered in the earlier statement still
carries force.
and complexity.
The problems to which there is no solution are gr<:Ming in number
As W. H. Ferry asserts,
"I am aware that mankind has gone on for a long time with a considerable
backlog of unanswered questions•••but it seems that today's backlog is
different in important ways. Yesterday's questions tended to be local
••• today's questions, on the other hand, are nearly universal in their
significance. 11
In Holland a certain group demanded the rip,ht to vote in the American
election in 1968 because they felt that the American president was as important
to the Netherlands as to America.
The fact that .America did not hear does not
cancel out the logic of what they were saying about the interrelation of people
and events.
No one can escape the bundling of humanity now so evident.
But the Liberal answer seems ban]q,upt. As Rosemary Reuther put it about
a bemused and erstwhile set of revolutionaries:· "The tides of causes had ebbed
and flowed, washed over them too many times, until they all looked alike and all
equally leading nowhere."
Assessment of Conservative Answers
for- the -Ti-rne
Early ------- --
Na., we are listening again to the Conservative answers.being unwrapped by
Mr. Nixon. The Nixon Pause
Just the delay in action
has
has
approach seems to be simply,
been more refreshing than many had thought.
given time for reflection. A caI'dinal tenet in his
How
can we find a way of accarmodation to things as
they are'? His unwillingness to make dcrnestic promises
2
has
made any initiative_
••
EXHIBIT Q
-
he
indicates in the area sane� of a mnent of hope._.
tmexpected
bonus
'
. since nothing has been pn::rn:i.sed.
At this time an Inccme Supplenent p� seens to
proposal for
the
premises, but
Any
be
gain would
be
an
caning as a Nixon
danestic situatian. The program canes out of oonseivative
it does represent a rather diffenmt app�ch to the whole mioo�
ity question. If it does cane to pass and does not get emasculated in Congress,
it could stamp Nixon as a conservative in the style of Disraeli or Bismar'Ck.
Other signs about consezvative, Nixon answers, ha.rever, make one hesitant and
fearful.
'Ihe process of going through the .AR-1 machine
Metternich
has begun.
The style
of
and Talleyrand is waiting in the wings. But, whichever way his admin
istration evolves, the bent of it is tooaro reestablishing the status quo.
Nevertheless, the clear effort to sloo cla-m the pace, even if successful,
has a
different kind of dilemna. in the making.
By
reversing the rubrics of the
opening statement of this article, another strange but forceful truth emerges:
"If we want tirings to stay as they are, things_will have to change."
.Acccmnodation and compromise to preserve the good that we have seems praise
worthy, but "the good that we have11 is loaded with questions
and
the manner of
preservation becanes a key concern.
Taking the latter first, those who noo clamor for a seat at the Carmunion
Table--spread with the earth's bread and wine for mankind---can be answered only
by
suppression, . if things are to remain the same. That means change. Military
and police f.orces for our
more as we are �raced
land
by
and for our world will have to
the heavy arms of law
and
accepted Fascism as an appropriate fonn for Greece
e
World
be
relied on rore
order. _We have already
and
Brazil
and
many Third
countries. 'Ihe logic for such a goverrmental approach is at the doorstep
of the l.hri.ted States itself. Essential elements are all around
a final mix. Even the phrases that
SUIIIIIOTl
us, waiting for
us to such a government are pre
scripted: "The streets of our country are in turnoil. The universities are
and
filled with students rebelling and rioting.
Corrmunists are seeking to destroy
our country. Russia is threatening us with her might and the :republic is in
danger. Yes, danger from within and without. We need law and order." These
woros of Adolf Hitler in 1932 seem highly applicable for some in our own day.
If an unagreed-on peace without justice is declared and enforced both here
and abroad, the fires burning may be shielded fran our view, but the fire burns
nevertheless, and the day of truth is inevitable whether that day is five years,
ten years or even 100 years away.
In the words of Scripture, "The poor will not
perish forever."
But the gravest obstacle to keeping things as they are lies within the
credo of the .American Way of life itself. The carmitment to unrestrained indi
vidual initiative coupled with the acceptance of technological change means that
a Viking atm:>sphe:re always prevails in the American---and therefore world economy.
Whole areas of life are constantly threatened by new industries which rise un
checked. Vi.king raids are the oroer of the day. Occupational catastrophes hap
pen at an accelerating pace--laboring forces drop from sif.,ht, disappearing like
Atlantis into the sea. Japanese cheap labor threatens the Textile industry;
American Capital is at the edge of controlling European Econany. Such chaotic
and uncontrolled disruption, which is at the heart of our economy, prunises that
things will be changing even if one wills them passionately to remain the same.
With the largeness of unchecked industrial forces one sees the possibility
of sudden events as being the final occasion for the close of society.
Santa
Barbara residents testify to their helplessness as the oil swirls against their
beautiful beaches; the entire fish supply of the Rhine was poisoned by unkncwn
sources this stmmer;
years ago,
a thousand people died suddenly in Pennsylvania smog sane
a grim hint of what lies ahead;
raped unhindered by strip miners.
the mountains of West Virginia are
EXHIBIT Q
Conclusions
Fron a Christian perspective the crisis can be handled only by beginning
with eschatalogical, even apocalyptic categories.
In fact, if the dynamics of
the conservative society have apocalyptic events native to them--and I have not
dwelt on atanic war possibilities or world-wide depression--one has to operate
basically with such futures rushing in on-the present. Eschatology and Christian
Hope then are the starting points for a life that seeks meaningful existence in
this time.
It is in the context of this kind of crisis that·-one can begin to sort out
the meaning of the educational crisis •.Those who atte:npt to speak of an intel
sis apart fmn the societal crisis only contrib� to the fragment
_lectual :5t
ation of our society. In tr'l..lth, fragmentation is a significant characteristic
of its disintegration.
But we shall rave to turn our attention to one form of the societal crisis
which is to be found at the universities.
Initially we shall be on a different
track but eventually we shall arrive at Grand Central Station again.
�
EIDUCATIONAL CRISIS -- 1969-)
In the space of ten years the docile, silent student of the SO's has meta
m::,rphosed into �ildering person who has rocked the whole educational institu
·----------
..
ion--and the nation. At first there was a feeling that the disturbances were
}
temporaxy and needed only sane fatherly ministrations of sane sort, but the
spe� has not gone away.
Wfth the introduction of violence on the campus the
very life of education is threatened.
The crisis is no longer a conference
subject or a theoretical dis�ssion over coffee, it has erupted into highly
unpredictable activity with mace and low-flying helicopters, truops and jail.
-
The phras�, "It's.only academic", is on the way ou:t.
5
When an older man peers timidly through University windows at his son who
m3kes revolution, he can scarcely identify this student with the student he was
in the 30 's and 40' s. His mind boggles. Even recent alumnae fran the 50's or
earlier 60's find themselves utterly confused. The violent 30 1 s with their
labor union warfare had had student interest and University discussion, but student
involvement in any degree was quite minimal. Post-war days brought an occasional
student cafeteria strike or a GI-led housing battle, but no one would Hnk such
activity with the new student emerging.
Violence then was a panty raid or a wild
party that cuJminated in stuffing students en masse in a telephone booth.
In
retrospect there is more relationship bej:ween the strange protests of the beat
niks and the absurd antics of campus pranksters
than
met the eye in those days.
Both were testifying to the essential meaninglessness of much of campus activity.
No brief statement can hope to do justice to what is nQ1,1 occurring. The
pie� emerging---which by the way cannot be shot with a still camera--is one
of enormous complexity.
In essen�jhe issues gather mainly about two f�i:@ Institutional
Maladjustments
and@
New Understandings of the University's Relation to Society.
The two are interfaced to such an extent that it is difficult to distinguish at
times, but much of the educational future depends on which of the two centers
gains ascendancy.
/t
The Institutional Maladjustments
At the heart of student quarrels within the gates of the University it
self is his rejection of the in loco oarentis appn:,ach to education and the
-- .:,II
�
institutionalization of the theory.
The prenise that a school operates "in place of the parent" may have some
validity for the early years of a child's schooling.
Certainly it has venerable
roots in the Christian teaching of the Fourth Comm:mdment. Likewise it must be
6
-
EXHIBIT Q
said that
the fonrulators of such a style have been men of integrity, well
intentioned and often possessors of awesane intellectual equipnent.
In fact, with
the development of psychology it would seem that the University would be. at the
very edge of knowing how to be a fatherly counselor.
Finally, the intellectual
storehouse of the fathers has to be transmitted sanel'laJ and all acknCMledge that
the acaEplisbnents of the
traveling to the m:xm?)
but in
view of
the
educational establishnent are formidable,
(Are
mt men
The price of being a child even for a decade is great,
rewards, it seems worth paying.
. .
Na-, day by day the theory is being challenged even at the Junior High
School levels. Sane wonder if it has any place at all in educational approaches.
lDoking over the shoulder
one can see the protest caning fran a long way back.
While supposedly inferior, non-college young adults have lived unencumbered
by fatherly advice in urban ocmnunities, the young "elite" of exactly the same
-
age have lived under exceedingly una.dult circumstances at the University. Iron
ically, the freedan at college has often
school.
been less than that experienced
in
high
The chafing at hours, alcohol regulation, courting hindrances, the
impossible grading systen or
have been
food, all seeningly trivial in and of themselves,
symbolic of a benign tyranny that has beocme insufferable.
"Father
knows best" has becane absurd.
The farcical nature of the theory was revealed
in
predicted large numbers of students came to the campus.
the Sixties when the
Relationships between
student and any university personnel--acbninistra.tor, counselor or faculty
was
alm:>st canpletely lost. The student was "parented" through IBM
institution, unencumbered by human beings had becx:me the father.
woro
of such a father was at the end when the
cards.
The
And the only
point average was spewed forth
together with �gistra.tions of student visits to psychology clinics and other
extraneous infOim:ltion.
7
On the
small college campus the situation was sanewha.t better, but even
tl1ere college a.aninistrative personnel were engulfed in financing the new build:ings that were
necessary far survival and relationships � quite tenuous. The
harcied small school professor, often still seeking to climb_the academic ladder
to a later stardan, tended to be preoccupied with his own ascent.
� excepti1?11S to all of this depersoralization process on
and the large for
That there
the small
campus--
that ma.tte%'--is a tribute not as much to the system as to the
indefatigable spirit.
The_student re-maated into serious
questions about his am existence and
"Who am I?" became an obsession.
�.f" -
Meammle,
in tbe oort:,_student �� of the University th� faculty as an
���as rore and m:,re bo� by the nece_ssitie� of status and salary. The
ultimate objective seemed to be to escape teaching either in a reseanm paradise
or in an administrative post, which carried the professor into a totally different
realm.
Administration too became an island of public relations caught in the
necessities of the next building program, teacher's salaries and relationships
with the oamunity.
Finally that 11\YSterious body called the Boa.ro of Trustees
was only beginning to reveal
its am distinctive isolation fran the campus scene.
Under the circumstances the explosion was inevitable, only waited for
apocalyptic events to shatter and
educational
thereby reveal the gaping cracks in the
s't:nletures.
But when the events�f which we shall speak shortly-began to occur,
the JOOSt pz:ofO\.D'ld challenge of all in the in loco
.
. .
'
by 't!le s�t popul�tion.
parentis theory was hUI"led
The notion that father even had the right inform
ation to jmpart to �. stud.en� about his world became questionable.
serene majesty of the f�ty
revolutions occurred
The
"1aS shaken to the oore, especially since the
at the very finest of our centers of learning� The one
8
-
EXHIBrr Q
area of dignity left, that alm::lst everyone acknowledged, had been 5hot out
fran under the educational institution.
The student had doggedly paid the price for the keys to the k:ingdan of
American institutional life for decades.
He had been servile and malleable when
he knew there was a� at the end through the power of the degree and its
autana:tic passport to the blessings of American enter'1)t'i.se.
But a sheepskin was
no key for the kingdan of a world inhabited by Viet Cong or South Viet Namese,
or for that matter the world of the black man who fnlquently lived at the edges
of the urban university.
f? �
Understandings of� University's Relation� Society
Students were al.reagy involving thenselves in extra-� activities by
the end of the 50 • s.
U) flowered
The small clusters in those years gradually grew and
in the early years of the succeeding
decade • . It is a little hard to
remember the high tide of the initial years of the 60'.s when Kennedy reigned
in Camelot and everyone enjoyed the wannth of. folk songs and sang confidently,
''We
shall overcane." The day of victory did not seem far off and among the
fella-1-tra.velers of those who marched. ta-1ard the new era were many students.
They registered voters and integrated �uses and restaurants.
They went South
to discover the enemy and even died bravely in the·sure and certain hope that
integration was near.
�.
It was a great dream.
The assassination of John F. Kennedy and the advent of Black P<:Mer changed
----
all that.
'lbe enemy was found within the Northern gate.
Sla-,ly it was discov-
ered that the demons even grinned fran within one's own soul.
slogans paled.
The�i�f rally !"Jlat occurred when Goldwater and the Far Right
were ove��-Wlls was quickly eclipsed by the
-
Civil Rights
liar
in Viet Nam.
dem::ms were rising fn:m the distant waters of the Bay of Tonkin.
9
The
_j
----
T!le ���-tmare of Viet Nam JTION than aey other single apocalyptic
event broke the students out- of their ioonastio preser.,es. Even the Black Revo.
------ -------- ---------·----
-
-
.
---·- -
- - -- -
lution had not touched then that totally and Black sepanrtistic impulses.even
pranised to .let many a white liberal off the hook of involvement.
But Viet Nam was a genuine student dilemna with
meaningless
death at the
end. No one would finally be soldier for him. r H$ ro1yj find�� shelter
at campus but the missive fran General H h would find him later if not sooner.
And many of his friends had not been able to escape. It was clear that he had to
find
his own way.
In such straits the student turned to !)is fatherly__ counselor and found
nost
- - - educato?"S strangely ·silent. Academic freedan had becane only· a phrase.
,_
Who would teach in this hour'? A few professors were found, but basically students
had to educate themselves in the face of their own death. Suddenly· the educational
�s _;eened
rem:>��the
��d.
Other wars had brought protest but governmental cases had been manged for
them. In it individual meaninglessness, Viet Nam cast an odd and meaningful
-
light on the pathos of the whole Thiro World. In f�ing a case for the North
C.Ong, the students found they had stumbled on what the
black man� knew: That the colonialism of the Third World and the
Vietnamese and the Viet
co,lQ__nialism_praet;igd on minorities in their own land bore remarkable resernblances.
Besides this the arrival of new black recruits on white campuses opened up
.
issues of white racism dixectly.
faculties had
in
.
:rebellion in the ghetto had becane a fact
with guns and jail and other appropriate effects,
the
apocalyptic events, � University and its
on University carrqruses·
Hereagain, as
The
other
a fearfully divided� of advice at best'and sheer muteness.at
the other end of the spectnm. Many professors and administrators proved to be as
10
.:
EXHIBIT Q
-
bigoted as their unlettered ne.:ighbqrs;
they were teaching.
cer:tainlY. much m:>re so than the students
Others suff� a diff�t agoey.
Their pose of obje�
ivity and neutre.lity had beoc:me unbearable but hcM then does one act if aie
never acted before?
As one
woo
has
'Ihey found themselves psnu.yzed·by their monastic stance.
lives
in the
institutional church it must here be said clearly
that churcll institutional reactions have not been much better than educational
oounte%parts, but our attention is on the University and many students had long
.
.
ago shrugged their shoulders at the church's inadequacies.
'1he University had
been the shelter for their secular faith.
(S_i
�(�
The � point of despair for students came with the revelations of
collusion between the i�"."'!_�ered �versities and the ln<:fustrial-Military
----
Canplex.
CIA infiltrations into the student camrunity shook then even nm-e deeply
and finally when Columbia and others stood revealed as institutional pa,,7ers
indiffeNnt to minorities at their doorstep the cin:le was canplete.
bankruptcy had
A kind of
appeared.
This is not to say
that all colleges have been touched by the struggles or
that good men have not sought and secured reforms, but it can be asserted that such
isolated islands where a calm prevails have not fashioned alterra.tive thinking.
Rather· the
force
of the issues �sed has not yet arrived.
As for refonn, it is
clear that the questions raised by students have becane m:,re and mm-e total in
their quality.
Fran Viet Nan students have turned their fire on the inadequacies
of the political system, the kpiications of
the Aaiing
of
American
life and. a host
of other questions to which .. English 101 may seem quite unrelated. ..
It is possible that �pared students can be'greduated with ccmparetive
ease for sane time-but not forever.
pregnant with apocalyptic qualities.
The prob1ems are too grave, imnediate and
The black student and
11
now
other minority
:s tu<lents
..--...------
as well have heen saying for sane time that the white man's education
.
was not mearu.ngful for·ghetto existence. How then can a student be educated in
----
�?
�
.
Evaluation of the Two Centers
With whichever of the two centers one begins, he. finds his w.ay to the other,
but it is imperative to see that deciding on the priority of one or the other
has
profound implications.
It must be said that if the maladjus1Jnents of the University as an institution
becanes the center of educational efforts, a patch-up job might be done that
could at least superficially seem to answer the needs of the situation.
could be made.
Concessions
In fact, the student might be once more anaesthecized by lessened
strictures that would return him to the kept status of former years. He might get
rost of his student rights
and
then settle
back
into complacenC'/ all over again.
That happened with Labor Unions. He might be stopped at the threshold of societal
problems
he
has been asking about. After all their very size could drive him
back
into the sanctuary and sen!nity of the monastery. In truth the chances are quite
great that students are not different
:m:m
their elders; one usually chooses the
easiest bed in which to lie.
But if the second center gains ascendancy a truly new foI'Ce is let loose into
society
and
a new style. of education•. . becanes inevitable.. 'The :onnidable strength
'
of students in the Affluent Society with
all of the pa-ver they have will
be directed
.
.
toward,the overw:helming questions raised by the new visibility of the Third World.
In loco parentis will disintegrate in the face of .societal urgencies.
student
and
All of us--
professor .and peoples of the non-educa�ion world--are in the fmmdeI'
ing ark together.
Who is .the father and who is the son? And where is the dove
of the .Spirit? Jesus once s�d,
11
cau
no man father."
12
EXHIBIT Q
It
is
int�stirig
to note that in suoh·clrcunstanoes students i«>uld have drawn
alongside most of the other student populat� of other countries all around the
world. A television shew in Germany on their educational upheavals has remarkable
similarities to one that might sumnarize the ltner.i.can educational situation.
In
France students oontr.i.buted �ctly to the da-mfall of DeGualle. In Japan the
t.m.versity of Tokyo has been shut cb-m for over a year.
The role of the student
behind the l1"a1 nJI"tain is JmJ.Ch nore of an enigma, but Czeclcslovakian students
and even Red Chinese students have indicated there is a� restlessness in
such cnmtries too.
What I am trying to say is that the search
stretching around the
for a new way is
world and beyond the curtains that divide. If students can
ber persuaded that the other person is roore :inp,rtant-that the seoond center is
indeed the centeI'--they will have perhaps unwittingly taken up the peculiar way
of the Galilean who talked about losing life to find it.
-
that said he wasn't just saying nice
woros.
And
there was a cross
IDJCATION -- CRISIS 001.0NY S'IYLE
While students.can be faulted for fuzziness in their frantic groping tOltlard
a new age, the outlines of their directions might be seen, if one can look �t
tear gas haze. Three major concerns .seem to danina.te what they talk about:
the
1.
They hunger after justice.
underly oc:mbine
'Racial division and white excesses mi.ch
with the Viet Nam War to pull aside an illusory veil that allOltled
Pmerica many pretensions to which she was
have been as hungry,
but
not
Perhaps other generations
'Ibis genemtioo kncws
the future can
finite, that it can be dealt away by others before they even have a chance to
live in it.
-
entitied�
few eras have had the harsh atanic· light, which outlines
i«>rld death, keeping the� so clear.
be
.
'!he ·end of the l«>t'ld is no longer just a mythological category.
The
Peace Corp, VISTA, and the McCarthy legions signal their concern on the one side
and
the drug scene indicates their despair on the other.
13
B
They hunger after ocmnunity. Hippie colonies with all their wiero aspects
are prophetic in their desire to form up the alienated (the strangers) into new
kinds of
camrunity which nevertheless carry the traditional flavorings of familial
love and devotion. This lies beneath the long hair and beads and oriental preoccupations. It is more and more apparent that the style has not matured. But
the streams of youth do not
enamored of
a
diminish. Perhaps those who flee are not so much
its beauty; they are runaways from heme, mute protesters against
meaningless society.
@
jJ1ey hunger after an education that relates then to society and ccrnmunity.
They have grown suspicious of an educational world that talks of objectivity and
neutrality when conmitrnent seems so badly needed. A Free University does not
autanatically produce
education of a new and different quality, but the range of
subjects indicate that the interests of students reach far beyond what they are
able to
encounter in the ordina?Y curriculum. The acccmplishments of the Draft
Resistance Movement make clear that their teaching can be both theoretically
and practically sound.
Crisis Colony is more than two past experimental events; it is a style of
educ�ting.
Hcwever,
th� is � intention � � advocating
.f! that
this style
should replace present education. What is here suggested is that it becanes an
ant�phon for present approaches to education.
_
--
The Monastic Form of Education
The
ideal of obj"ectivity as the center of learning is evaporating. . Perhaps
there never
was
understand the
as much objectivity as was thought. It would be well, hc:Mever, to
genesis of such an ideal. The investigation would need a book and
what is suggested here is• simply a clue to hCM the preoccupation came about.
14
-
. . - ·' ·
EXHIBIT Q
When. scientists began_"objective"
examination of
the
Universe several
,
.
..
;
centuries ago, they sought to forge a style that would keep then alive in the face
of treditionalist attacks.
approach enabled
them to
The
neutralist stance and the "nothing but the facts"
tilt the ma.clw'le of civilization into new patmmys. This
indirect approach gradually eroded certain glaring deficiencies in the world-view
of the West.· When Galileo was forced to recant his notia,.s of sun and earth move
ments, he ooul.d murmur under his breath, "Nevertheless, it m::wes"--if the legend
is tnle. And eventually the earth "m::,ved." SUcceeding decades brought a series
of spectacular occasions, ending in the m:x>nflight,
..
.
mere pranise. was
equalled by
performance.
Under
the circunstances the scholar mmk
and
the detached observers we.re in
hani¥:>ny. The monastic antecedents of the University
enhanced
the possil>ility of
quiet investigations that could bring change. Monastic form and mathematical con-
templation---the well-spring of
being which pleased the mind
modem
and
science--brought
an abstract world
into
did not openly �ten the slON-paced world
about the scholars. However, the subtle force of change was working through
their efforts and in the 'Iwentieth Centuxy, the lead fact had becane "the explo
sion of facts." Mary McCarthy speaks of the atanic fact of Hiroshima "exploding
fact into myth." The one tmeontainable ''fact" in the equasions---the inconstant .
K--was mankind.
Today facts in the eyes of the younger generation oo longer admit of·ne:u
trality. Facts are."prpvocational."* Like stones they ery out. Consequently the
place of learning_ had fallen. out of the educational perserve. The Word of
could � heard in the streets. Hidden
thought him dead, his
to define their
God. .
Word seemed to
•
thqugh
God
God seemed to a \t,,10I'ld that sanetimes
be found
e�. Youth� were reticent
·t .
._!
were nevertheless passiooately cauni.tted to what
was his truth
.
for the time.
*At the same time it m.1St be said that fairness in dealing with facts is an
important kernal that remains fran the perfectionist work "Objectivity."
15
Worldly Discipleship
The retreat or monastic fonn of teaching can be clearly seen in the teaching
style of Jesus. He often led his disciples "away fran the Jillltitude."
The Upper
-
Roan became symbol for this style as the place where much was imparted to the
disciples fran the Master.
There was also the Mount of 'Iransfigu:ra.tion where his
disciples would be filled with wonder by the vision of Moses and Elijah.
Yet in
the midst of the Upper Roan conversation another style of teaching was announced:
"'!be h:>ur is at hand when the Son of Man is given into the hands of sinners.
let us be going."
Rise
And his word to Peter was that a tabernacle for a place apart
on the Mount of Transfiguration was not the ultimate response to the sublimity
of the vision. He led the disciples dam the motmtain.
The tmiqueness of
learning
"worldly discipleship."
:m::rn the Master lay
in a style one could call
Taken as a whole his educational course consisted in
leading the disciples into the eye of the stonn.
His teaching tunbled out of
earthy event and out of experiences of a Father's world that was to be received
sacrementally.
"Behold the lilies of the field.
They do not work or spin.
in all his glory was not dressed like one of these."
But Solaoon
The world had becane a
teacher. A fig tree, a fishennan's net, a man sowing seeds became the occasion
for
learning.
Even more significant were the events that crowded around him. A wanan was
taken in adultery and, while flying stooes were halted, he reflected with his
disciples on the scapegoat quality of punishnent.
But all in the deed of decla%'
ing, "Let him who is without sin oast the first stone."
One could scarcely call
the first word of Christ on the cross-''Father, forgive them for they know not
what th� do"--didactic. Yet it was a profound m:ment of teaching one hCM to
live in the face of the enemy.
at Dmla.us.
Or,
he was knaffl to them "in the breaking of
bread"
The teaching was happening in the dynanics of enootmteI'--all in the
16
-
EXHIBIT Q
midst of the spontaneous action.
'lhe Crisis Colony
wouid seek to recapture this style of learning as a central
necessity for this t:ime.
For
this reason
the
Colony is set in the midst of crisis,
wherever the crisis is to be found.
� Ghettoed � Northside
2f Minneapolis
Becanes
! University
'lbe first two colonies in connection with Augsburg College were situated in
the Near Northside of Minneapolis.
In the latter experiment the Colony also con
Nevertheless,
cerned itself in the fonn of the crisis as it appears in a suburb.
the :root crisis was the crisis of
uroan life.
In the rapidly changing relationship between black and white peoples few
words can be discovered to carmunicate the type of relationship needed for health
in our day.
It is certain that words like salvation and help ftan the white can
nn.mity are anathema to many black people.
-
teacher fran white society feels more and
The helper, the social worker, the
im:,re
alien in such a role.
A diffe�
ent description of relationship is needed.
Essentially it would seem that the only ro_le for the white person at this
stage would be that of learner. . And the role of the ghettoed man is to be
teacher.
Such a stance can enable the white and black man to have sane integ
rity as they approach each other in � context � � ghetto.
But such teaching cannot be organized in the older styles.
person has not been trained to impart information.
ing
it.
The minority
'Ihe l� will find teach
caning at.him around unexpected comers and at t�s when he leasts expects
F\Jrt:herm:::Jr the detached
obs� cannot finally :+earn here. In sane fashion
he must participate, becane what Kenneth Cl.ark calls. a .. "participant observer."
As a footnqte it must be said that the white .person sanetimes has technical
skills to convey and this can be received by the Black Camnmity.
wish it.
But only if they
At this stage it is �rtant to support their oonviction that � have
tmique things to say.
And it must be a.an.itted that their teaching us with refer-
17
ence to the hungry 'T'hirn WoY'ld,_.the.. hurts of our am society, the quiet camrunity
of concern they have gathered under the oppression and the new understandings of
�ul � spirit seem far roore important .far, learning in this day.
!!!!, "Crisis" in Crisis Colony
Crisis refers then sinq)ly to a t:ime of judgment, when ''hearts are open and
all desires known." It is both a time of fear and trembling and a time of oppoI'
tunity, far when the real can be openly imagined and encountered, the gospel can
roove and hope is possible.
By standing alongside a carmunity in the toils of open crisis, the stud�ts
in their ''hungering after righteousness (justice)" learn of size and shapes of the
powers to be overcane. They can be baffled by the shadowy quality of the demons
and cane to see necessities far their vocational cannitment. The most astonish
ing aspect of the two experimental periods at this point lies in the awareness
that the crisis was inside the life of the learner and his own people.
A Comm.mity Fonned Around Those Outside the Ccmnunity
If the crisis induces action learning and learning by revelational encounter,
the learning through the colony form also lends a peculiar shape to this style of
education.
'lhe oth�centeredness of the ccmnunity is one of the roost important elements
.
.
.
of the education as it has operated to this point. Such a basic, beginning axiom
prevents the group fn:m regarding its own life as the JOOSt important aspect. The
Colony receives definiti6n fran the encounter with
the· questions
of the oamrunity
to which it has cone. By subsi.mdng its personal preoccupation the
group
discovers
its CMri significance. It loses life to find it.
The premise that group dynamics is
the
chief concern leads (l)'to withdrawal
fron the· camruni:ty outside and (2) to preoccupations about what the best utopian·
pattern for 'the colony might be. The Colony does not
18
'seek perfection---only to ·get
-
•
EXHIBIT Q
beyond itself •
This means that, though sane wisdan as to how the structure sln.11.d be fonned
is bea::ming evident, the exact pattern for all future oolonies is not realizable.
.
.
Exact patterns should not even be att�ed or sought.
Turning t� the significance of oolony educational dimensions, the follCMing
seems
to be .inq:>ortant:
1.
In the C.Olooies of the two experiments ea.ch person has had a different
assigrunent in the camrunity. (It should be enphasized that we have not yet
discovered the best method of developing each assigrl'nent to its fullest extent.
Sane
have been rich and others have not worked out and have %'8quired switching-
even this latter has had its blessings, h:Mever.)
with its bearing
At this point we are ooncerned
on the educaticn that goes on. Such diversity of experience is
brought back to the
colony, so that each person to sane de�e is learning 't.hrough
the experience of others as well as himself.
2.
In sane other matters the Colony works together.
(In the two experiments,
there has been colony parti<=:ipation in a political campaign and construction of a
liturgy for churohes to which the group has gooe.)
and possibility of corporate action.
3.
100tifs.
Elimination
of grades_except
in
Here the group learns the nature
the pass-fail sense take
aMey canpetitive
No one feels suspicious at being asked to "give aw�" infonnation to a
fellaJ student.
The intensity to learn incrieases because the student does not
worry whether he is learning exactly what the professor �uires.
.
4.
.
Sanething also is said by the unity of the experience and the totality
of the learning about the integration of what one learns.
'
-.
The campus experience
-
tends to �t; the Colony experience affinns the relationship of all areas of
-
learning to life.
5.
While the C.Olony creates a unity of experience, diversity is equally
balanced in the equasion.
'Ihe individuality of each task gives each person a sense
19
of doing his
CMn
thing.
to shape
0o1n
reactions.
his
The reflectiai diaIY also gives each person
opportunity
Hazaros � Need Mentioning
No hun:m
venture is
to a discussion of
l.
Putting
without
the�
vulnerability
and the follCMing seems pertinent
of crisis colonies:
students in areas of risk and crisis will
draw sane reactions
fR:rn
parents who sent their soo to college precisely because they thought he �d be
insulated ftan
such matters. The school itself will have sane long thoughts about
a free style of student life.
The form will die if it is canpletely controlled, but
not being able to oanpletely control also invites occasional problems.
2.
It is certain that developing meastlnfllents for such an educational imnersion
is a different task. There are preceidents, however, in intern approaches and field
work of the past.
This should not be ir.surmountable.
t-1hat is happening is that
certain liberal arts disciplines, which have always been classroan in orientation,
are being asked to rethink hcM they might give credit ·fori this approach in education.
In both experiments there was a morning seninar and books to be read arx1 a
reflection dully as a requirement, plus
papers for, independent study in the field
It may take sane time before one can establish
in which the student had his major.
the requirements far this approach.
3.
A corollary of the
above hazard is that the situation gives possibility
for students to "take advantage."
Within the two
experiments· three
out' of the·
thirty-four students might superficially be judged in such a fashion.
one wrote one of the finest papers of the first
ried
"teaching implications"
within the experience.
about_
experiment
themselves that
The crisis itself
and the other two
stipulations
ca.I\
made then exceedingly valuable
prevented
them fl'Qn ever being severed
fron the Colony, and no one there would dismiss them as .irrelevant
But certain
However,
to the
group.
about participating �uld help prevent a misunderstarid,,:
ing in th�_future.
20
-
EXHIBIT Q
-4. If Crisis Colonyappn::>aches continue and broaden, there will undoubtedly
to bring off
be a need. for developing the peculiar non-student leadership required
'
the situc!,tions of the future.
5.
financed.
Superficially th� might be a question about ha-1 such colonies could be
It is the belief of the author of this paper that the great share of the
financing could cane fIQil student fees if the oollege is willing to separate such
funds from the general budget of_the_ college.
6.
11
�ic to the approach is the notion that students can be involved in
the creation of knavledge." This has never been questioned at the graduate level;
the time has cane to demolish the myth as Theobald calls it, that students can only
be taught by dispensing facts to them. But the
mrth will
this involvement will require curricular adjustments.
-
go hard and ac�ptance of
In other
woros,
the appn,ach
will have to be •
has implications about hCM teachipg
.. on campus
.
In-conclusion, it will have to be said that in the eyes of the students there
was a unanimous view that Crisis Colonies should continue. Without question there
should be m:>difications and experimentation oontinuing in whatever efforts the
future might
. bring, . but the basic style has been endorsed by those who participate
.
without exception •.
SHAPES FOR THE FUI'URE
The possibilities of the Crisis Colony in the future are unlimited; the
pra.Qtiqal oourse to follCM so that sane of these pos�,¥>ilities are realized
is much oore difficult to_ chart. The progn:un of action to realize such pro
�: will have t(? be planned and improvised. We will list here sane of the
implications. .. ..
The premises of letting an urban camiunity becane a teacher, of forming
a carmunity around the shape of a crisis, of colony cooperative learning
on many vistas:
21
open
The Colleges
At Augsburg
l.
The developnent at Augsburg.
Augsburg has a.greed to attempt another
Colony in the spring of next year with the clear poss:il>ility that a year-round
Colony on a pennanent basis will be established.
This also �resents a hesitation as well.
I had hoped they would be much
mre willing to invest student fees and much earlier�
If it becanes only an
unusual class experience, I am not interested personally.
2.
Augsburg, hc:Mever, has developed a Center· for, Urban Studies on campus
which has involved six other colleges and invisioned six or seven m:,re colleges
of the area joining in a consortium. Basically this originally was conceived to
be
an institute with reseazcl\ experts and an 'ins�t availahle,to the 'Iwin
City ccmnunity.
However, the Crisis Colony falls under its
a part of the program.
unbreila as well
In fact, to this point the
and has becane
Colony has been its m:,st
tangible progrem. The rest of its concrete efforts are only now taking shape.
If the seven to thirteen colleges could each be persuaded to sponsor
a crisis colony
in
various crises areas, an exciting possibility arises.
With
students given an option as to which Crisis Colony they might join·� a new day
might be arriving with large
implications.
At Other American
If -th� concept of the Crisis
I.utheran Church
Colleges
Colony, which is not unreia:ted to other Urban
Crisis programs at other'Af.£ �chools, �uld
be adapted .and adopted
in
its
various possibilitie� (this would have to be very flexible of course), an inter
college program could be
developed, f�reaching in scope and variety·for AfC
students.
22
�IT Q
F.acb scbocL..bas-tangency-to .unique aspects of· the JOOdem crisis.
operation, a r.i.ch variety of experience ooul.d be provided so that
By exr
ali /iJ.c
stu
dents OCR.lld have those possibilities in his years at an Af£ school.
To number a few of the crisis dimensions nearl:>y
PW has urt>an neamess, oriental cxmmmities and the
iiearoy.
-
SCJile
of the schools:
sea as
critical areas
CI.C borders on L.A. mq, the grape strike, Watts, Mexioan laborers.
TLC
has the ?Ural South at its doorstep and
iinerioan studies for Af£ students.
oould be
the Gateway to Latin
CAPITAL would nmction at the heart of a metropolis, near a wealthy Jewish
and as OUI" �est.l"epresentative of the Url:>an East.
carmuru.ty
AOOUSTANA, IY\NA, WARI'BURG and llJI'HER have the Midwestern farm scene close.
Aiigustana. histhe� Indian scene nearby.
ST. OlAF and .AtGSBt.00 are set to tackle Twin City concerns.
CONCORDIA has the Northern cotmtiy, Indians and Canada nearby for crisis
developnent.
Undoubtedly, if they brainstonn., many new dimensions of which I am not aw�
would
emerge. 'Ihese are only passing guesses.
A
network of such colonies
Conference.
Af.C
Or
could be
developed
through
a National Institute.to develop could
the
Al£ Student
be established through
college adnini.stra.tians.
Seninaries
1.
The seninaries might also present possibilities for Crisis Colony forms
and aptm:)aches.
the
Northside
Perhaps a group could live and nmction with Black
pastors
of Minneapolis, for instance, as a fom of mutual education.
Black pastors could educate
about
minority life
and
Black
church
life
in
The
and think
ing white and the Seminarians could mediate to sane degree the theological training they were :receiving in :return.
.
The latter
quite carefully, of oourse.
23
would have
to
.
be thought throu�
EXHIBIT Q
IN 'IHEIR
cm �ROO
A narrative of the Spring E>cperiment, 1969
The stooents � required to keep a
reflective diary of their Spring activity.
A running narrative is constructed to keep
references clear, but the main stoty will
be told by the stooents thenselves.
24
2. A trailer camp Crisis Colony with husband-wife teams joining ''wagon
train" style might be developed. This would be quite different and would need nn.ich
- � before it was begun, of course.
3. The seminaries could ._aj-So be a place to dev�lop young leadership for the
Crisis Colonies' staff. One seraj.narian and his wife, for example, were used in
Crisis Colony II (Spring Quarter, 1969) of the Augsburg experiment •
. State Campuses
.An approach such as this might be adopted in sane form by the Campus Ministry,
led by Campus pastors and interested faculty members.
Non-College Possibilities
..
1. In the Young Adult field the most obvious place to·turn is in the area of
Conscientious Objectors. Many are looldng for places to do their alternate service
to the Draft. The possibilities of gathering such a cammmity seems quite open.
Here, with no college funds available, other methods of financing would have to be
operating. Perhaps a three synod approach would be good•
. .
2. The vocational schools might be approached to develop a Crisis Colony.
Here again, the fonn would have to be adapted. The m:,st obvious illustration of
a model would be the Ccrrmunity of Christ in Washington, D.C.
3. The ministry of the church to younger youth in High School might also
seek to adopt from the Crisis Colony moqel. Probably it would need a different
name and have m:,re limited objectives •.
4. . The developing metro clergymen might be looking for such Crisis Colonies
for their urban areas. Such outposts could be cultivated.
5.
The idea will also be projected in ecmien:i,cal circles.
These possibilities are �lightly grand and certainly absurd for a $10,000
budget in the Youth Office. The question is: How can such a situation, as it is,
- here be utilized to bring such a "fonning up" of the rai:iJ<s of youth in the years
ahead?
24
\
I
EXHIBIT Q
IN 'IHEIR OWN vl>RDS
Aworo.about the Crisis Colony
Recruitment
Recruiting students during the school year for a
sanewhat ambiguous experiment called Crisis Colony proved
sanewhat difficult for one who's main work was elsewhere.
·: ·.·Sane of the best enlistment efforts were made by interested
professors and it would be the opinion of the author that
this is the best souroe for stirring student interest. The
time for recruitment was brief and the dislocation of actu
ally using a School Ye.ar quarter rather than the Summer
proved to be fonnidable for a nunber of very interested
students. As a result the final crew oonsisted in the
group that could bring off the academic adjustments and
those who would do it because they finally thought it was
too important to miss. In other words the Colony was not
a selected group but those who would cane.
In a certain
sense there was a randan quality about the gn:,up rather
than
an elite set of students.
Initially it was thought that the program should be
for Juniors and Seniors but the cireunstanoes required
us to take whanever we could get.
(Five students who
had enrolled had to drop at the
last minute. ) The group
was predaninantly Juniors ( 8).
Five were Sophcmores,
two were Freshmen, and two were Seniors.
Probably the
Fres:tmen revealed sane hint of :inmaturity, but in general
the maturity of the group was
universally even and
acceptable. The l�est majority of majors was concent25
-
T'l'\Te<l in the · SOC'i r1.l
Sci('>.nces
(10) , with
a student
fran
the Hunanities, one� Elementary Education, two fran
American·Studies,
and a,e
up her mind yet.
The breadth of the group
increased
if students
fn:m Finance. One had not made
would. have
of other disciplines could have
been persuaded, but the group gave us evidence of how
students other than those in the Social Scien� would
react.
Finally the
·a 2.84 average;
vXJnen
the
students
men,
of the
2.67 with
the
cxmmmity had
whole gJX>up
registering a 2.79 average. Point average seemed to
have little
bearing
on
the
learning
that
occurred.
Securing the Residence
Obtaining a residence for 17
difficult.
students proved
to
be
The City insisted on treating the Colony in
terms of campus regulations with reference to the dwell
ing req�ts.
But part of
what was desired was to
feel the experience of poverty in every way, but such
houses
were
quite
ing became quite
unlike campus dormitories and so
frustrating.
more thought here.
hunt-
(The future will require much
Though the coed nature of the
was much liked by the gI'()up, it
.. · .
may
group
be necessary to
separate the sexes just to get facilities.)
A number of buildings were examined. Eventually
we negotiated with Kenneseth
Israel
Synagogue, whose
congregation had relocated in St. Louis Parle. A large
third floor, needing. a partition would serve as girl's
_
dorm and seninar meeting roan.
former kitchen
..
There was also a large
that would be utilized for Mr. David
26
EXHIBn· Q
fbristman and his wife fran wther Sam.nary, who were to
live in with the group. The basement contained the
kitchen, space for the nx:m and a curtained-off section
where the six boys could live.
Bunk beds were used and
the rest was furniture fran the synagogue.
The staff consisted in Ewald Bash, Project Director
--fran the Deparbnent of Experimental Ministries in the
Youth Division of 'The American wtheran Church. His
worl<: had centered in similar endeavors in the near North
side
for sane three years previously. His assistant was
Nathan Schiotz, who had worked with him in the earlier
forms of the experiment and Peter Hayden, who had formerly
been the D�ctor of Thee Whole, a black teen center in
the North Side. Mr. Hayden functioned as Carmuni ty
Resource leader. He obtained speakers for the morning
seminar, introduced the group to various ccmnunity activ
ities, and informally educated the students with regard to
si:z'leet life on the North Side. Nathan Schiotz had also
been Director of Thee Whole and then lately Director of
Our Place, a teen center in large troubles in the suburb
of Crystal. The latter became a focal point for under
standing the nature of the urban crisis as it reveals
itself in the suburbs.
Essentially, the week days consisted in seminars
in the rorning.
(Speakers are listed in the appendix,)
In the afternoon the students went to their various
projects in local ch\.ll"Ches, social agencies and schools.
Evenings were spent on the political campaign of Bill
27
-
Smith, black candidate for aldexman in the 5th Ward of
Minneapolis.
(He
was badly beaten.) Or the students
attended meetings of various groups in the Northside
a "Plain Truth FC>nlTl" for police and ccmnuni.ty, the
Center for Urban Enoounter's weekly program in the
Churohes, etc. On the weekends, after several Sundays
of attending ghetto area
churohes, the Crisis Colony
pNpared a liturgy which they led at three wtheran
Churehes, one Catholic and at Al.Jgsburg College. They
also gave the service at a special Conference of College
F.ducators at the Hilton Hotel in ··St. Paul.. ( See appen
dix.)
Meanwhile, they also read eight books--see the
appendix---and had long distance telephone conversations
with various national figures through Dialogue, Inc.
'lbese facts can help one understand sane of_ the refer
ences made as the narrative of the Colony unfolds.
28
EXHIBIT Q
Maroh 9, 1969
__ am ccmnencing .this diary of
"On this Sundey, March 9, 1969, I,
.--,..-my action and reactions in regard to the Crisis Colony. The purpose? Pernaps
I can understand myself better ••• Then too, it shall serve the purpose of being
an outlet for my erotions--1:ruthfully, sincerely and without pretense.
My first enoounter with the synagogue, our new hane. It's not as bad as I ex
pected--surprise! Basement is rather chilly, sanctuary-very inq,ressive (also
off-limits), upstairs-large, open, perfect for a reeling square dance •••
I 'find myself questioning everything.
they do--including myself."
Why people say what they say and do what
29
March 10, 1969
·••·•
.
"I don't really have too many reflections on the cxmmmity tonight because
haven't been in it that much yet.
we
To be perfectly honest, I have to adnit that rrr:, chief reaction to black people
who are strangers is fear--which means I'm prejudiced. For instance, if I
see a black person caning towarcisme.da-m the street I'm afraid and I wonder
if they're going to hurt me or taunt me, etc. I �ly feel threatened. I tell
ieyself it's silly, and it is, · but I still feel that wa:y. Towanis the blacks
who are part of Crisis Colony I feel uncertainty. I'm afraid to a�ch them,
don't know what to Sel.lJ.
·1 hope, and this is. one of my main goals for this quarter, that I can overcane
this."
"We have an immediate crisis concerning where we are living. The few Jews who
still worship here follow the traditional practices. '!hey strongly feel that
by us being here, they can't \�hip here. They must view their synagogue dif
ferent than we do our church---it is 100re of a holy house."
"Our Place 1'r board of Directors meeting at 8:00 p.m.--wild; two kids arrested
for not leaving ••• all the kids wanted to do was to stay and listen, we defi
nitely have to provide channels for them to get involved in running the ope�
ation."
"I wondere::l why we would be infringing on the Jewish camrunity that worships
in this synagogue if we lived here. It must hurt them deeply that sanething
so sacred to them has been changed into a carm,n facility which is for the
most part secular."
"Teen center in Crystal. Several students
were assigned to work at the Center. It
was having tremendous problems with fin
ances and with the question of what its
function as a youth center really was.
30
EXHIBIT Q
March ll, 1969
''There was a guy who sat by me on the bus who I suspect is mentally ill. He
talkeq to me about Biafra, Vietnam, and a lot of other things. The resons
I sense h�.\1as·mentally ill are that his speech·was fragmented and sort of
unrelated at tines. He dressed funny (which probably doesn't mean rruch) and
seemed hyper and anxious. I wonder if he was just acting to get my reaction.
He said he was just back � Vietnam, he wanted to go fight the Nigerians,
because he believed you.couldn't save people-you could only kill them.
a
W
-'Ibnight.for awhile I felt like I didn't want to be in Crisis Colony anyrrare.
It's because I'm being fota!d to look at myself and as a result I'm being
foroed to gn:M--which is painful."
"Olurch is sanewhere I haven't been or wanted to be in an extremely long time.
Thewhole thing was like a boa constrictor, naybe ingrained guilt. And "the
idea of giving a warship service panics me.
I knew it---I feel extremely out of place like I usually do. The girls
are really sweet but they are �letely different fron people I'm used to-on the surface at least. 11
Well,
"Jesus, looking at those kids I am afraid for them and fc:1:' all of us,"
"Amazingly, JOOSt of us students appear to be agnostic. Changes will be great
to observe."
"About Our Place•••kids should run it all. They have to becane a viable foroe
in the camrunity. A congregation of invisibles made visibl�?"
"-- said he felt one of "tle rrost important things was just loving one another
--people needing each other. I said I agreed and also felt it was an answer for
a lot of people. __ disagreed and asked me what the questions were. I said
questions like those on life and death, heaven, God, etc. wet"! answered for a
lot of people. He shook his head, but I said thats what I t:hcught. He told me
I was on the Northside now and not in school and I should keep J1rf big roouth shut
and J1rf ears open. The sooner I learned that "the better, or I wtuld get my
sweet ass kicked out of here.
Before this he told us sane of the things that were against us like ·11e were
between the conservatives•••and the Black militants. He said we'd be watched.
I think I learned rro:re in that one night than I would in
else."
31
many
weeks sanewhere
a
W
March 12, 1969
"A bunch of us went to Thee Whol�---we really stuck out like sore thumbs."
"I sanetimes feel awfully old when it seems like all our youth are being cynical
and negative because I seem to take a more middle-aged, m:::>derate view••• I have
to respect sane things about WASP just like I do about a:ey other group.
I think I must be less redical righ-:t now than I've ever been."
"The title of Christian seens to be difficult and for sane of us (myself included)
to reconcile what is done in the churches by se>-called 'Christians' • They will
know we are aicistians by our love, not by our christian church attendance.n-"Went to Our Place (nothing out of the ordinaiy, a lot of kids and no police
all night. ) II
"Tonight we went to Thee Whole. It was haro to feel at ease or natural because
again it was kind of faky just walking in to see what went on. This can't
be avoided though. You have to start sanewhere."
and was glad to be where lot·s of kids were gathered. I was able
"I liked
--.�
to talk to
than again. College interrupted my dialogue with kids--rn.unbers of
them. Few children are seen at Augsburg. I . think it is important that eight
een to twenty-five year olds do not lose the ability to relate· to people ruch
younger than themselves and to people ruch older than thenselves."
*Black teen center, North ·side.
Several were assigned to work
here.
32
EXHIBIT Q
March 13, 1969
"I can ·-feel-for the last two days I have been absorbing••• I thought about
my reactions... I'm upset, depressed, sad about all that I have learned.
It's l)opeless--or is it?""
"I would rather have absolutely no color. I am repulsed and nauseated with
whiteness. I wish God had made me black. I identify 100re with their sin
cerity, their unity with their brothers and sisters, their oppression, their
refusal to eat shit any longer than with my white 'brothers and sisters' who
continue to 'cleanse' thenselves with the whitew�h of hypocrisy and facades."
my
"I sat in on the Matt Eubanks trail for assaulting a police officer, juxy
was out deciding on a venli.ct. I got about � hours to just sit and watch
Eubanks •••vertlict came after I left. It was NCYr guilty."
"I also met with the director, �-- __• He is interested a great deal in
this center. He asked why I wanted
to go there and oot only told me about the
center, but sariething about black people in general. He's very open and honest
and told me to be strong and to expect anything. He said I might hear a lot I
didn't like, but it would be sanething I'd never forget."
33
-
March 14, 1969
"The Jewis:h rabbi spoke to� concerning the change in the Jewish population
and the feeling of the residents to the incidents on PlynDuth Avenue. He felt
the Black youth's accusations were unjustified. He said the ma.jority·of the
residents moved out of fear, not wanting to. Also when they got their stores
bumed---hcM are they supposed to accept it--'if it's my eye, it's my eye.'
Most of the reasons for JroVing were naturel reasons-lack of new housing for
young_and the ability of reformed Jews to·travel on Saturday."
''Met at Thee Whole•••was struck by the great age-renge. Felt it was a sharp
oontrast to a typical white teen-center."
"Hoving to the funeral hane* for sure ••• C.ould be more interesting--a little
more cozy and together, srooky, canfortable. I'm excited."
"Started a book on children in the ghetto •••Sane very poignant ideas and em::>
tions are expressed by some disillusioned children. A sixteen year old ended
his piece by this advice to himself: 'Get the hell out of here before I'm
trapped just like the rest!'"
(l0-15 people)
�e synagogue ccmnunity that was left in the
Northside became aroused by our living in
their sanctuary. We had to leave even though
the synagogue council had voted 13-1 to have
us rent the premises.
We roved across the st::r'8et into a funeral
chapel that had been abandoned after a fire.
The entrance and upstairs were thoroughly
blackened with smoke. The basement was
untouched and quite livable with a kitchen,
a library nook, an office and a large meeting
roan. Upstairs the chapel itself was part
itioned so that two separate donns could be
created. There was also a roan for Mr. and
Mrs. Horstman and three bathrocms with sha-7ers. We knew the situation was unorthodox
and consulted a city building inspector. He
agreed it was unorthodox but thought the
situation would be okay since it was only
temporary.
•
EXHIBIT Q
Marcil 15, 1969
"Today we introduced ourselves to several people and incluq.ed 'We're fran the
Crisis Colony. ' I hope that doesn't bec:rne a free ticket we use. Just because
we're in the Crisis Colony we are good and right•••I don't want to think I'm
righteo� .just because I'm, ass;oc�ted with the Crisis Colony."
_ meeting. i( Was really keyed at first. They were rapping
"Sat in on the
about Youth and__
tfie church and the generetion gap. MY BAG� Then they got down
to bus:iness. 11
''More and more I feel ccmfortable with blacks and finally after so much stupid
ity on my part, I can talk to them, do things with them and it's just like being
with whites. 11
have
"Crisis Colony is one of the few things I
been able to believe·:in totally
and advocate so canpletely. TTave a lot of enthusiasm for this term."
*An ecumenical group which does much in
the Near Northside.
35
March 16, 1969
"Prince of Glory's�� service got through to me a little. Wasn't helped
fact that I haven't been to churcli in three J1Dnths."
by
the
"Folk service•••Wc:M! f get so keyed everyt:ime--especially the last song. I
feel as if I want to hug everyone in the congregation."
•
"This afternoon we moved·. The kids were all good-natured about it and there was
little canplaining••• This former f\meral home is really nice. Saneone said
it wasn't really living like sane of those in the cannunity arotmd us•••with
poorer conditions. He )Tl,3,y be right, but I'm not sure.
Another new learning experience was learning hCM to handle hustlers."
"F.eceiv� free tickets for the play, 'Threepenny Opera' at the f.astside Theatre
in St. Paul. .It was a biting satire an s09iety and politics."
*A church of the ghetto, integrated but having a
predaninantly poor white constituency. The service
was folk in style�
36
•
EXHIBIT Q
Marcil 17, 1969
"What will. I have done but spied -on people · and disrupted their lives. But if
I becane aware ••• I ha� got to leain to question and try to becone aware."
"__ fears an Uncle Tan camrunity if Blacks .in .America beo:me part of the
"'capitalistic
systen which oppresses much of the Third World."
"Left early and went to .the Montessori school.* FANTAm'IC! Kids, kids and
m::,re Jd.ds, all running around, FREE, spontaneous, absolutely beautiful. Most
of the actual 1 structured' teaching is on a one-to-one basis when the child ·
canes to you. 11
Tonight I was a little disappointed. Here we are in a comnunity with op�
tunities for learning everywhere and most of the Jd.ds watched television and
sat around."
11
*One of the assignments.
37
March 18, 1969
"I felt like I was sitting on the fence between them. I was brought up believwanted to work within. I can
ing in the establistment anc;i this was what
also see the faults of the establishnent anawith my generation. I want to
change this drastically."
"In the afternoon I went to the teacher,s meeting after scho61---and they voted
to accept my presence."*
" ••. It's as IIDlch a learning expeci.ence for the teacher
as it is for the kids.
.·
Arxl the teacher is 'one of them' • "
�Another of the assigrments.
38
EXHIBrr Q
March.-..19,-. -19 69
-
"I'm just beginning . .to_ see haf lilmlY: ills our
39
courrtiy
has."
March 20, 1969
"Our morning worship time was spent di_i:;cussing whether or not we ought to have
worehip, since sore of the kids don't know whether or not they believe in God."
"The basic problem with devotions and worship is---there is no foundations for
m:>at of us. Most of us haven't read the Bible for years. Joe keeps saying the
rnearring and word is there--all we have to do is read it •••its hard to say since
I haven't, but it seems understanding the Bible is a little harder than that."
"•••am
in the afternoon I went to Thee Whole to type."
''They came to our ootmtry and taught us how to pray
knees praying they stole our country." Van White*
*One of the black speakers.
40
and
while
we
were on our
EXHIBIT Q
March 21, 1969
__ is a very nice gcy, very polite,· got class, honest f!},Xf, loves
"'..-- _
everybody, and can get along with everybody. He is ab� muslim. He works
at G.H. Tenant Canpany. He is an executive. He is also with the American
Friends. He has a lot of problems and he hopes he can really get to knew me
and the groupbecause he likes to work with organizations. He can't say he
doesn't have arr:/ prejudice 'cause everyone has prejudice, not prejudice outside
but prejudice· in the hane.'
asked me to write the above quotationbecause he wanted tobe in my diary
-ana--he didn'tbelieve I would write about him unless he dictated it. I think he
is trying to hustle me.
I guess I just take negatively tobeing hustled. I like to get to kn<X>J people
as people, without any games---and then if there's a mutual attraction, it's
based on honest friendship and not infatuation. �- far as dating black guys,
I think it's O.K. I do think a lot of girls dateblack guys just 'cause they're
black, and they want to rebel, or shock people, or maybebecause of the myth
aboutblack guys being sexier. But in these cases, the guy isbeing usedbecause
of hisblackness; . he's not liked justbecause he's a person. But I do think
the.re are honest, genuine relationshipsbetween seses of different races. And
I think these are good."
41
March 22, 1969
"God help
US
all. 11 )•r
"The overwhelming feeling dur:ing the time was fear and depression because
of the why behind the act."
"Had the rudest awakening of my life!! I felt the blow of black tension on
my own chin. I think I've begun to understand fear in a real way. You can't
learn that in books."
"Education, as it stands today, tries to generialize and standardize things and
people all too much. Everything is geared to the 'average student and average
progress. ' But hCM can one dete.nJline what is 'average' or what is 'nonnal'?
Sure you can manipulate test.scores and I.Q.'s but what about the rest of that
individual? There's a hell of a lot that's being ignored •••
just came in and revealed another side. I don't know why I'm writing •••
---1-•m :incapahle of putting into words my thoughts and feelings because they're
o::ming fn:m a thousand different directions all at once. I can only say that
I feel anger, hate, shame, intense sensitivity to the point that I feel almost
smothered by it. The smallest fraction of Christ's suffering while he prayed
in the garden of Gethsemane ••• "
"I found that sane of the students would speak first and then think. Because
of this there was friction between me and a couple other fella-JS. Such as one
of the fellows referring to me as 'sunshine', which was very much to my disliking."
)fOne reaction to an altercation that occurred between one
black and several whites within the colony. The event
was quite a shaking experience since rost had not realized
the anger building in our black brother.
4-2
A
W
EXHIBIT Q
March 23, 1969
-- is really sensitive.
II
He looked like death wanned over that day.
I'm finding myself questioning a lot more. Partly the Colony••• It's really
paranoiac an>und here; maybe being paranoid is being aware."
I think I can see why they feel this way, yet personally I feel detached
from their accusations. 'Ihis is sanething I'll have to think out. Object
ively, I don't feel afraid of death. That would be an easy out. To live and
try to work tlrings out, face encounters, these are muchJOOre frightening than
death."
11
"__,_ was ready to scratch the whole project and move to the subUI"bs. I
prefer to stay even though I'm still shaking."
"Sane felt we shouldn't be here because whites belong in white communities
and blacks in the black. This person felt we couldn't do anything here and
the main concern was merely to humanize people arrl we shouldn't have to cane
here to learn that. I felt I had to stay here because I wasn't getting enough
in the world in which I was living.";'<
*Continuing reaction to the alterea.tion the night before.
43
March 24, 1969
"If he keeps this up I � going to hate him likP I've neveri hated anyone
·
·
my life•.•I just can't take hi::; clannations-..
w
tnrearor
After Noth� But a Man I started thinking . what l'd said about
••• I'd
only Uvedwi
sanething like it for a few days, those people dCMl
South and blacks most all over, I guess, live with sane kind of fear all their
lives •..and all kinds of insults. . '!hey }:lave much 100re reason to hate than I
do."
"-- came ba.ck--not much was said and everyone tried to act different. He
gave another speech damning all white people and saying he had a friend who
wanted to kill all white people. This really makes me feel up tight and scared.
I'm not sure I want. to live with it."
4-4-
EXHIBIT Q
March 26, 1969
EVICI'ION1'
"It p:robably is the greatest, best thing that could have happened to,us-
made us a colony•••
It's wild, I like it. But I don't like what they're.doing to us� Damn--
the 'student as nigger'.� .Damn--no, I'm a human being and I won't stand for
it so why should a Black. Better? I can see why."
"But looking beyond this I think I was confronted with the paver and authority
of the government for the first time•••There weren't many things that I was
ever confronted with that didn't work out right. Just contact the right people
or give them the name. Na,., I kna,., what people hez,e have to fight against.11
''Malcolm Boyd at Augsburg--a scmewhat inconsistent talk--for being in the
church I wonder why he felt the chll!'dl wasn't worth trying to change•••
Today at 3:00 we received an eviction notice to be out by 5:00 that day.
Inmediately everything was in an uproar•••Becky Finch was the most exciting
--a fiery little girl.11
"Joke of the day: We 're evicted. Ha! Ha! No joke.
Fran pa.rents : r,1e don't want your name in the paper, where are you getting
all these ideas? Who's putting this stuff in your head? ••• Why don't you
cane hane to reality? (Reality? Huh?)"
"
and I toured Pilot City Health Center and as we sat talking to _, '""'
--about facilities and social services, __ and __ burst in t_o t-ell
us we got an eviction notice at 3:00 p.m••••"
''c<Toe Building Inspection Department gave us
two hours to leave the premises because it
was unfit for human habitation. We were
amazed in a sense because it was really
nicer than the residences of 2/3 1 s of the
area. The group debated the prus and cons
and decided to stay. We would wait and see
what City Hall would do.
45
Mardl 28, 1969
"Saturday I met a person who really cut up the Crisis Colony experience
into pieces ••• "
"I had a hassle with my parents on the phone and I was deeply hurt. I love
them rore than I can express in words and I'ealize all they've done for rre arrl
I've done almost all they've asked of me. I've always told them what I did and
why and tried to respect their judgment, but nr:M they seem ashamed of what I'm
doing and ask me what's happened to me.
talked to a couple of· us again. He was. lo.nd of mad at us for making such
_a_h_i_g thing of this eviction notice."
46
EXlllBIT Q
Mardl 29, 1969
-
"Went to Our Pl.ace (150 kidc:; > good band). Caught two guys drinking in tbe
I didn't kick them out as I don't think that solves the basic
problem. We talked for about an hour before I asked them to leave •. I �ally
don't knew how to deal with such cases. I do think that kicking them out does
not solve the real problem."
furnace roan�
"I feel the eviction was the link that unified our colony with the canmunity.
We were living in far better canfort and conditions than the average people
in the area and yet we were the blunt of a northside p<:Mer play. The students
were able to W'lderstand a bit of the politics involved in the northside strug
gle for better living conditians. 111�
*One of the black students of the Colony reacting.
47
March 30, 1969
"I remember thinking sanetime last night that I'll never make the grade. I'll
never be .independent and innovative enough to stay in the fight. It was a very
depressing kind of thought: ••Tonight I'm not so pessemistic. I think there is
sane hope."
48
EXHIBIT Q
·.. Marcll 31, 1969
"Today one of the kids here described sane. of us as tdipshits' fr.an the fann.
I do think sane of the people in the group think they � superior. If they
are preju.di.ced against us, how can they help humani.ty at all.:.• "
"He took us back a little because.he said
He had expected.us to put him on the spot
young colt.*
he was a little disappointed in us.
and really see our spirit like a
Most of us are starting to drag sanewhat••• "
�Reaction fRm a black speaker.
.April 2, 1969
"I was just amazed at the people frun the Northside. I can't get over ha-, they
care for·their neighbors in time of crisis •••A pl.ant of crocuses were delivered
to OUI' door� They·were fran a gentleman in the neighborhood (whan we did not
kncM) and they bore a card with the message: 'God is still alive in North Min
neapolis.'
and I were out getting people to register to vote.
A depressing rnanent. ·
An AFOC mother said, 'Oh, I can't vote, I'm on AFOC ! ' People don't know their
rights or privileges.*
•••I really feel the draft for killing is wrong. There ought· to be other ways
of serving your CO\IDtry besides killing. I'm not sure if prison is the best
way of protest. The consequences are huge••• It gives a person a chance to
read and think, a chance to get oneself together. But I still ck>n't know."
"We had a good discussion this morning on whether we want to present a program
at Crystal, etc. I think, as _______ said, a lot of us are getting lazy
and we've turned the churcil etc. off so long that we refuse to listen to anyone
else on it.
I really didn't want to go hane, but I felt I should talk to my parents."
�°'Bill �th' s campaign. This was a
neutral activity, however. Students
were trying to persuade people to
register.
50
EXHIBIT Q
April 3, 1969
EASI'ER VACKITON
"I'm hane and it's a diffeI'mt world.
I visited with my Grendpa and we discussed my situation. It is still hard
for me to believe that my Grandfather is so willing to listen to a person
four times younger. He still believes he I s learning •
••• My
parents were better than I expected. Not upset, just wondering."
''Went to school for the first day. Mrs.
seemed very wann."
--, the teacher I'm under,
"I realized in a new way that the place for me to be working is back in
hane community."
my
"Participated in the Morrill Hall March fran the University to the Mall. It
was really great---3,000 people."
''Tonight I had my parents read the articles on our eviction and tried to talk
to them about what was going on. I had my father read sane of this diary. He
got very angry. He told me he could read between the lines and I should wake up,
gra,., up, and go back to school, because I wasn't going to help or change the
Negro. I told h:im I knew that and I wasn't trying to. I just wanted to learn
about them as human beings. 11
51
April 7, 1969
"I' 11 have to make a n!SOlution••• to keep up: .tbi:s ..dialy."
52
EXHIBIT Q
April 8, 1969
"So she told her parents that her black friend was there and they might like
to meet him and talk to him. Well, you can bet they got over to her apartment
darn quick. After very stiff introductions they sat da.,m in the living roan.
Her father just sat there and refused to say anything. Her boyfriend tried
to ease the tension by recognizing it and talking about it. He said he 1 felt
electricity in the air.' But the tension wasn't eased and they refused to even
see him as a person. After a while they left. The next day her mother told
her that her father had had a vision about 'that man.' 'And you must believe
it because your father does get visions, he is a man of God and God reveals
things to him. God told him that that man is the devil, is Satan himself, and
when he talked about electricity tna:twas the holiness of Jesus caning through
your father. That's why he was uncanfortable about the electricity. He is evil ·
and he felt hol;t: rays.'
My friends reaction was ccmplete astonishment at this, and also shame that her
parents actually believed sanething like that and denied a person hunanity because
of his color."
"
is
doesn I t seem to think I'm doing a good enough job of what I think
kids.
--r
1 -the
Ir1.d...
ing
-- shoos her stress by changing the seating arrangement every day."
"Back to the grindstone. I almost actually dread going to Montessori some days.
Like today."
53
April 9, 1969
"Today.I'm disgusted with sane people in the oolany who don't
of the work."
do
their sharie
"And if black is so beautiful how cane the black man is after so many white
chicks? And I'm fed up with all the.hustling that goes on•••sure I love to
sit down and rap with people, get da-m to the nitty-gritty but just because
we happen to fall on the same wave length doesn't necessarily mean I want to
date the guy. And every time so far, if I've said, 'No thank you•, the feed
back is that I don't want to date black men because I cane fran a nice white
middle class background and rey parents object. HEIL, oo� •••• just because I
don't like to be hustled."
"The :reading center with talking typewriters was fascinating."
54
EXHIBIT Q
April_ll, 1969
"The lectures are just beccrning
of them."
IDOI'9
boring •••haven't been getting much out
"It may mean it's better to work through the system rather than outside it.
These two ways of effecting change are cx:mtinuously being brought up. Sane
times I feel I want to give up the system CCJIJpletely and other t:imes I want
to alm:>st grab it by the hand and pull it along.
Later in the afternoon, right before supper, we called up Bill Green, assist
ant p:rtlncipal at Ocean-Brownville School in New Yon< and talked to him on
Dialogue."
"He made an interesting point about things appearing to be opposite, saying
they may not be anti but may be other."
55
April 12, 1969
"So I went to Rleep--my favorite means of escape. 11
"I love the wilderness. I don't know what to think about this•••the metropolitan man is the man of today and the future. In the wilderness I feel closer
to God and man. In the city I feel stifled and boxed in and totally frustrated.
Maybe the Northwoods is my escape. But if I can't make it in the city, shouldn't
I try the country, or am I running af/ay fran it?"
"'Thirty miles south of Minneapolis our old buggy started dying•••put it to rest
•••decided to.test our fellowman and attempted hitchhiking•••watched ladies Aid
groups, felloo constituents of the liberal white front go by••• (sane had the
audacity to wave). Ib not fear•••our Good Samaritan finally arrived•••skin
colo:P--black. 11
''i-lorked at TCM'lhouse Apartments trying to organize the residents.* We passed
out flyers and checked to see hCM much interest there was in a resident's
council. It is fun and exciting starting a thing like this. I feel like an
inventor."
�'fOne of the projects of several students.
56
EXHIBIT Q
-ApriL.14-., ..1.969
"I never thought of··it likerthis before, but he said there was no such thing
as culturally de..Prived. He said evefyone had a cultun?-they were just dif
ferent cultures."
57
Apr-il 15, 1969
"With regard to the system---it's like walking a tightrope to be sensitive to
your feeling � stick to your guns on what you believe. 11
11 • • •we left for a city COJ.ncil meeting. i:
Father Podvin and Pastor Hinrichs**
presented a proposal for a city youth street worl<er and an advisory canmission
on youth made up by a majority of youth workers. It was absolutely rena.rkable
but the city council didn't react at all to the proposal •
••• talked about nmaways and three of us decided the Crisis Colony couldn't
take the risk of fostering nmaways."
*In Crystal. The group attended many meetings in the
Ccmnunity.
*i:'I'he Father and the Pastorw� able leaders in the
Crystal Canmunity.
58
EXHIBIT Q
April 16, 1969
"I guess maybe to �ly find myself I have to lose myself first.
wierd but I'm beginning to think it's true."
Sounds
"People are really going to have to organize to get what they want.
At the Residents Meeting tonight I really recognized a lot of people. '!hat
was sort of neat because I felt like I knew what was going on. On the other
hand, it was sort of sad. - These same people were worlci.ng on all sort of things
for changes in the'systan;·but there was only a small handful."
"Kids at Our Place have given up••• Board with rules pouring out of their heads
like paper fron a teletype machine ••• the final eviction notice (for Our Place)
hanging over our heads, bringing the end ever closer."
59
April 17, 1969
11Three kids frcm the Fascinators* in St. Paul rapped to us this morning.
It wa.c; kind of different ftml 100st of what we hear an:>U11d here. Like the
two guys still talked about colored people instead of blacks•.. And they spoke
against the black rnilitants•••They didn't like Afros on most girls. 'Who wants
to wake up in the morning and think he's sleeping next to his br>other?' One
guy read sane of the poems he wrote while he was in the workhouse and the
other talked about LeRoy Gardner's barber sh:>p. It was quite a session."
"We saw four films on sex education or rether human relations. A group like
POSE (Parents Opposed to Sex Education) is very fcightening---they kept making
:renarks like, 'We don't have acy problems here, rrrf children don't even knoo
what prejudice is.'"**
*A canbo
**An
experience in Crystal.
60
EXHIBIT Q
April 18, 1969
"Ton:i.ght I also decided I was a fence-sitter and on top, but not on one side
or the other. I'm involved but I'm not'involved. · I believe but I don't believe."
"One th:iJig I have to be ver:1 careful about--when·talk:ing to people about the
problems with the structure, church, etc.---I have to not be judgmental of other
people�lea.� myself out.".
"Sat in on sane small group sessions at Cooper High School* •••has really changed
•••I wish I could have taken part in sane of this •••when I was back in high
school."
Ain Crystal area.
6,1
April 20, 1969
"Tonight we went to the Soul Passion in White Bear Lake.* It was kind of great.
A _five-piece band and al� with dancing around the ch�." ·
"This aft�rnoon I had nr:J first serious disagreement with nr:J old -rocmnate•••I
want:ed her to
with me to hear John Ylvisake:r present Soul Passion.
cane
At the outset of Soul Passion I had mixed feelings. I'm so used to the trad
itional••.Maybe the loud electric guitars turned sane people off, but if I were
walking by outside the church (it). would have sounded loud and joyful? And joy
is a real
. part of F.aster. It was
. a great worship experience."
"The Fabulous Fascinators were over and rapped. It was hilarious hearing about
the talk that goes on in the barber shop••• _ ·
read sane of the poetry
he wrote while he was in the workhouse. Ya,_he sees it too. There's sanething
about frustration and depression that enables a peI'SOn to express himself."
*A service led by John Ylvisaker on the Good Friday
Faster Story.
62
A
w
EXHIBrr Q
April 22, 1969
It is no �er a questioo of the redemptiat of Negroes but of the redenp
tian of .America, and of the lrner.l.can image in the world.
11
'.��·It is difficult for Americans to be p:j.fferent ••• Our value system is such that
we e,q,ect difference to reflect sane kind, of superie>!'-inferior polarity."'. · ·
.
. ·
Quotes fu:rn THE BI.ACK .AMERICAN AND '!HE PRESS*
" - and I are observing the Minneapolis Public Schools Task Force at
-Emerson
Elementary.·"
"'One��eboaks�thebilil.iognlphy
63
April 23, 1969
"It felt:good to,be silen� for awhile."
"Board of Directors met at Our Place. But only a couple showed. We agreed to
petition .the city of Crystal voters and kids in an attempt to pers\1ade the City
Council to take a responsibility for their youth by first of all providing a
place; then a staff and program."
"I got my first letter ftan my pa:rents since· Faster. rt··was factual, but nice."
�BITQ
April 2'+, 1969
"Sane of the kids think we got· threatened tonight. l guess it happened before
I got back. I don't quite understand it all. So I think I'll go to bed!?"
"We talked at Augsbq today•••I was disappointed with our presentaticn•••We
wasted. a lot of time. Also not nuch toought was put into it•••"
''We talked about the sit-in to be held on Sa:turda.y ••• I am really caught in the
the petition on the one hand as
middle over the whole thing. I am supporti.pg
0
the irethod to pressure the city fathers. And at the same time I feel the kids
are right in their methods of exposing the issue."
65
April 25, 1969
"I 'rn s�e,irig a
lot
about Jlo/Self ••• I'm, Jl()t very tolerant�,•."
learned three letters today---we had a feeling of accanplishnent, which
"
he-despara.tely needs."*
"I went to the Police Department Cannuni:ty Relations Branch and was ve.ry upset
by the passive and even racist tendencies of the 'liberal' pelicemen. These men
really don't tmderstand so many problems of the Black carrnunity. For instance·,
the seven deman:ls •••have really been ignon?d••• o;,uldn't even find a copy of the
demands today."**
*At the school where one worked as an aide.
**A project of one of the students.
66
EXHIBIT Q
April 26, 1969
"Tonight was the last night Our Place, the teen center in Crystal, was open.
I knew the kids were planning a sit-in because after tonight they're out in the
streets again, but I decided not to go because __ half-joked that th ey might
be in jail tanorn:M when we're supposed to be giving the church service.
and __ finally got back---! was getting worried and wondered if maybe
,-..,..th
re
ally were in jail. __ is all bruised up---his head, face, arm, and
ey
hand because the cops took bl.ackjacks to then."
"We rehearsed at St. James.* I thought the a:rohitecture was the Lodge. It
was :really awesane and frightening."
"A debate in the colony•••Never trust anyone over thirty.
Should I be questioning �s Joe or any adults do JIDre than I do. I guess I
belong more to the old school.••Sane people I'm sure I disagree with and question,
but I don't think every established person or structure should be torn apart
just because it is that."
"Confrontation** ••• 9:30 or 10:00 •••40 •••police didn't shoo right away•••number
of kids cn-m to about 20 ••• with the entrance of the cops a few started leaving,
so we sat doon and started singing, 1 We shall overcane. ' The oops started
threatening certain members of our group with court appearances for curfew
violations and probation violation as well as phone calls to parents. Sane of
the kids had to leave.•• only eleven left•.•we continued to sing and link anns
in a small circle on the floor. The police blew their cool••.
accused ...-.....- __ of breaking a curfew ordinance and then he_p_roc-eeded to
try and haul __ out of the circle•••__ started twisting necks••• -:r--,-,:
began to use his blackjack. His first swing hit me right on top-of the
head. __ __ arrived and sent most of the other cops home•••chatted awhile
••. since there was no immediate confrontation it would be of little use to stay
around •••we left on our CMn accoro."
-----
'�e first church in which the liturgy of the
Crisis Colony was presented.
**At Our Place
67
April 27, 1969
"The first service lasted fore�-the second one was exciting--now I knew
there can be emotional fervor in religion. The congregation didn't seem
thrilled."
"One guy wondered why we had done this on Sunday morning. He thought it
would be Okay in the evening but not Sunday m:>:rnµig. __ tried to explain
to him that we had kept a lot of the old and added the new and didn't want
the new to replace the old or take over and thra,l out the old. But the guy
didn't believe that. One guy who is a pretty concerned and involved guy was
mad because we were saying, he thought, that he should be ashamed of 1iving in
the suburbs. He said he's getting sick of hearing this because he doesn't
believe it. He took the whole tiring as a personal insult•••One couple has been
taking sane kind of course at the University which they said had really helped
them to see a lot.
One of the Fascinators�" said afterwar>ds that that was really clean!---really
great.
One fella-l asked if the service was to shock. We said, no, we didn't think it
had any shock value as such. It was what we really believe•••"
"I don't Jaia-, how the Fabulous Fascinators, with their loud music and equip
ment all over the alter (area) went over••. Mrs. Thorson said she saw the
Fascinators at the altar offering the best they had to God. That really
struck me. Was the, rest of our group doing that?"
"The Fascinator's gloria was beautiful---This is My Counm and right in the
middle they stopped, lxMed their heads and raised.their 1.sts in the black
pa-,er sign. There were quite a fev, jaws that dropped, but it was beautiful
to me •
•• • two alternatives in the way we present our liturgy: we can be subtle,
cautious, walk on eggs; or we can sock it to 'em! The first is rrore rational
but I don't think we have time to be careful."
"Got to Our Place about 3: 30 p.m. and helped haul out furniture•••Sane of the
kids were really perplexed about whether to help•••or whether to resist•••I
was no longer in favor of a sit-in because I felt that we had adequately
demonstrated our concern Saturday night•••The kids had a hard ti.me understanding
this, I think, and maybe in the end sane will never••. I have no previous
experience with ar-rJ of this."
1:rhe
Fascinators played during the service
68
EXHIBIT Q
April 27, 1969 · ·
(cont.)
"When. I fir::;l encounle.re<l ·the ser'Vices ••• I thought it was crazy to have guitars
and drums in a church. The songs they sang were fran pop music and I just didn't
understand. I felt the church must really be in poor shape to hate to bring
rock into the church to bring people closer to God.
When we had our services I began to understand that people should be •••reached
and since more people partake in religious services than any other it was prime
time to attempt to reach the minds of people.
I felt that when I spoke to the church that I wasn't trying to indoctrinate the
people but more to cause them to reflect upon their past and present life.
I believe the services in general were to cause people to think of what existed
exists in the world ••• I think quite a few people try to live around the
problem."
and
"I feel we were unfair to the people at St. James by having the Fascinator's
play at their service. They were out of place. I felt they added nothing in
the religious or socialogical aspect. Our liturmr is meaningful but was not
listened to because of the soul band."
The service had been constructed during
the weeks before. A real attempt was
made to give roan in the woros so that
there were portions the agnostics could
say meaningfully. As it turned out, no
one specifically repudiated the liturgy.
Ylvisaker helped technically in the
musical portions and often led the music
ians.
69
April 28, 1969
"This was the last day to do campaigning and I-must say we did a lot� .. I think
we can win---both the primary and the final•••Tano?:"lXW will tell the .ta.J4. Vote
Bill Smith! "
70
EXHIBIT Q
April 2_9, 1969
"Poll-watching this morning from 7...11. ·· Real fun. Bill came a far second to
Joe �enstein! That means we have a hell of a lot of work to do before
June 10.
It really gets to me sanetimes--the Colony---no, maybe its
people I can't take."
a
couple of the
"A hideous night•••Stenvig, 15,000? *
Hoo could arry
human
hl.lllB11 being vote for Joe (;yleenstein over Bill Snith?
Today I read MY PEOPLE IS 'IEE ENEMY. There are sane really terrific statements
and insights in the book."
"Stenvig wiped out Hegstran!--on a law and order platform. 'We need to take
the handcuffs off the police ••• ' God that's scary. Hitler here we cane."
�s was the primary. The group also
worked for the main election later.
71
April 30, 1969
''The Colony is good in that we must interrelate and possibly clarify our· thoughts
for camnmi.cation. Ht:Mever, one oan'tbe alone. There is no place to go to sit·
quietly and reflect and just be still." .
72
-
EXHIBIT Q
May 1, 1969
"I spent the evening with :_ • We had a canforrtable time listening to music
and talking about everything._____We_ have a• lot in camion even-though I'm
considered rich and he's considet'e<;f poor. It's an attitude about our posses
sions that is not shared outwardly by say the in-between econanic strata."
''We went to Target to interview sane kids. With a group of fifteen kids and
Target cokes in hand, we engaged in conversation for about thirty minutes before
the store manager kicked us out. He said he wasn't running a teen center•••"
"A cheery 'phantan' left May baskets for all of us."
73
May 2, 1969
''Man and I talked tonight� •• such a hassle. .Ahlays. 'no they're not all that w�,
but' ••• told her about the HW\C bill ••• oonfinement of redicals, etc. , in already
rejuvenated
concentre.tion camps•. · I . think, I started to .get tllI'QJgll to· her."
'
74
EXHIBIT Q
May 3, 1969
"To be truthful, one of the . things I hate �st is keeping this journal.
I kn01,,T I have no self confidence or a sense of personal worth and I guess
that helps explain why I hate to write."
"The northside has changed nCM that the surriner temperatun!s have arrived.
The teens stand on street comers until � or three in the TJOming on week
ends. Destruction of windows has increased•••maybe the thief is not such an
inhuman character after all. We've placed machines over men instead of vice
versa."
"Discussed police with the parents. Amazing h01,,T well they keep up with sane
things. Tl
75
May 4, 1969
"Its so hard for me to get to knCM people. Tonight I was really mad that
it takes me so long•••so many interesting people•••and there isn't time•••
and I'll have lost something without·even gaining it."
"The more aware one becanes the hartler it is--for me it's hard to keep a
sense of hU!OOI'•••laugh to keep fran crying."
"The Danforth Foundation gave our service a warm reception at the Hilton in
St. Paul this morning. A pleasant change ccmpared to the previous Sunday.
A small churd"l in New London hearo our service and Peter.
re�ptive."
They too were
"The part titled 'New Visibilities'* is my favorite part."
1rin the liturgy of the Crisis Colony
76
EXHIBIT Q
Mays, 1969
"Remember that little old lady we talked to who had eleven dogs and was voting
for Greenstein because he gave her some pt.Dllpkins Hall™een and she made a pie
and he said it was good? She got on the bus with me today and started talking
to nobody in particular. 'There's nothing Wl'IC>ng with the Northside. I like the
Northside--lived here all my life. I can't see why people say there's anything
wrung. No sir, etc., etc., etc.' People who don't admit that- theres a prob
lem of poverty, tmempl�t, health, prejudice,
etc., . are the problem."
.
*.
"It's sad when a little
.
�~.+h;�'g•••
.-..Ul:f""'�-
boy
.
is so convinced that he is dlVIlb---and can't learn
Today hl.Bilall relatioris had beccme a responsibility---what I mean is that when you
cane into a critical situation like the one we're :in you really have to be to
gether (kna-1 yourself) or you can do a lot of damage. Unless this can be taken
seriously I wish people would stay out of the situation."
"The Human Behavior Camri.ssion together with the Park Boa.rd Carmission jointly
are working out a long range program for the teenagers in Crystal, including
a youth ccmnission and a staff of street workers."
i,At the school
77
May 6, 1969
"The colony is just getting dam far·enough to make sense. Everyone has over
cane sane of their basic confrontation fears ••• Scmetimes I think five lectures
a week is too much.
The lecture of an Indian on police corrmunity relations really came into focus
in what happened Friday night. __, __, .....-- and __ and I were in the
Shell Station on Olson Highway gettJ.ng gas---the police car was there also. As
we drove off the police fella.red and stopped us. The car was a ' 54 Chev, not
in top condition. He asked me for rrrJ license, which J gave him. He asked me
if that was ITrf mailing address, etc. I asked him why· he had stopped me and he
mumbled sanething. Then he asked_
_ ...,..... and_.....,... their names. Not the girls.
,
got
out
and
talked
with them---1t turned out one of the tail
and
..�ligh�ts was out and there was no light on the license plate---OKAY---so they
called davntoon to find out if __ and ·
had records---! got out and
asked why they stopped me---no answer---then I, said -?- don't you guys (there
were two police cars) have anything better to do and he looked at me and said,
'Don't you have anything BEITER to do?' He might as well have said--- you
whore, excuse the expression."
f
"There was a police-ccmnunity relations meeting---a panel spoke---it was not
representative of the canmunity at all. There were outbreaks fran the audience •••
they were mad and frustrated .•• the panel didn't recognize them•••Matt Eubanks
took over. Quite a few people left---he called people fran all diffe�t view
points to sit at the table."
78
EXHIBIT Q
May 7, 1969
I'm glad I got involved in the Tenant'� Union. I've met sane great people :through
and I've re.ally learned about the poor in the. city •••I helped with all the busy
work of surveying and talking to the residents but no,, its in the hands of the
residents and organizers. I feel sort of useless."
11
it
''Hoo..oo you justify a school day that is canpletely a mess?•••'Ihe issue in educa
tion .1s survival (Not if he is behaving OI' adjusting) or if he is learning."
"-- __ , blac::k pastor, 'I wouldn't march for anyone, for anything. '"
79
May 8, 1969
"I think I've realized a few things frcm all of this. The first is that we're
not really accepted by the ccmmunity. We 're just sort of tolerated as long as
they qan get places to stay, free meals, swipe stuff every once in awhile, and be
able to hustle white chicks. But cut anything off and ·they're angry, they get
destructive but they expect to be able to came back anytime for more. But I'd
say the biggest attraction is white chicks to hustle. Perhaps we're not always
genuine, and we're phony but are they really genuine with us? The saddest thing
about prejudice is that it causes people to be other than themselves and canmunications breaks down and people can't relate."
"I believe I'm more me n<M and I see myself becaning older for all that I have
learned•••I'm becoming more aware of the world.
--, --, -----irost of the guys who stop by have taught me a lot about me."
"Last night, after __ left,
's $40. 00 camera was gone. , • (__ knew he
had the camera.) The fact that she didn't know what to say to him reveals a
fail� and makes me ask myself, ''Have we really accanplished anything?'"
"On a conversation with a policeman: Lately I think I have been tending to
stereotype a lot of people and as a result all cops are 'mother fucking racist
pigs? ' Instead of holding an intelligent conversation on law and oroer and
even justice, we ended up indicting the guy for all the wrong-doings of the
police departments around the world."
80
-
EXHIBIT Q
May 9, 1969
"Sanet:imes •.•he gets drunk and then he has to turn on saneone and he finds a.
different person each time. I couldn't take it if it turned out to be me•••So
I just avoid h:im."
"In discussion in suburbs one guy said you have to have concern be;fore you can
love; that' you have to know the 'love of God' be;fore you can love others. NO!
NO! NO! By sharing and giving you <ii;scover. love and. it's �aning •••
The problem in the suburbs, as I see it, is that families have JJX)Ved there
because it's a good place to bring up kids. Fa.ch family is an entity .to itself
and doesn't see beyond it."
81
May 11, 1969
''We did the church service again*•••It . hit me 1111.lch nore--what
.
doing�" -
and
we
were saying
"I was �ly disappointed because he holds sane of the ideas which are white
.Ametj.ca's rationali7.a.tions for the position of the poor people, 'They can get
oork if they were willing to worlc'---but who wants to spend the rest of his life
as a janitor · if he would rather be a doctor."
"Just the experience of worshipping with them was meaningful. to me. I guess
maybe I was prejudiced against Catholics•••I've always been segregated fn::m
•II
theJil. •
'rAt a Ranan Catholic Church
1
82
EXHIBIT Q
May -l2 ;t 1969
interesting.
''My in::lependent study i&-�y.
.- .
. ..
got the hang Of .it."
I enjoyed
- . my' intervia,tjng
. .once I\T
' .
"Voter l'egistre:tion is int�ting but disheartening. Most of those who are
not l'egistered don't intend to do it-this_year ar in years to cane."
83
May 13, 1969
"Only two weeks left •••Less freedan with paper pressure.
I wonder hoo I've changed. I'm looking at the world in a broader sense---my
eyes are open--I'm sympathetic to larger m.nnbers of people and I'm hopeful of
a changing future."
"Police and carmunity relations aren't."
84
EXHIBIT Q
May 14, 1969
"I thought of man's ;i,nhunanity to man. Then I talked to a lawyer who pn!sented
just a cool, logical face to me. And I despair."
''Went to the library. Strange how unoan.fortable I used to feel in a library
when I had books to read. -Now when I chose to go I'ead I really felt at bane."
85
May 15, 1969
"The faculty
"Overwhelmed.
was
here
••• the ocmnents and discussion. was fantastic."
.
Do I have the discipline and responsibility to get things done."
''The question of freedan and' the youth struggle is frightening. For, if
discipline is left out and its only rebellion we will not have what it takes
to effect change."
86
EXHIBIT Q
May 16, 1969
"The thoughts I have had concerning the slow destruction of this country-this
world. And sanetimes I feel so danm helpless."
"Today the thought struck me that radicals and militants might·be sane of the
only real hunanists ther-e are."
"Everyone is getting tired� Saw Joanne--message---life must have a meaning-
you nrust be cxmnitted to sanething. My dad asked in the last lettel'---what is
the purpose in life?"
"Played the Ghetto game. Not ba.d---but doesn't compare to living in poverty.
Profs came. They still worry about credits and the possible 'r-ebellious natures'
that Crisis Colony may create.
Appeared on Cyril Paul's television sha-7."
87
May 17, 1969
''Tonight + w�nt to see Oliver!
JTOJSioal. "
"Read Doxiadis and fbuglass*
am.
to me. it was depressing.
aU aftenxxm-fascinat:ing?"
lrOne of the reading list.
Not just a light
-- ---- 7
EXHIBIT Q
May 18, 1969
-- whipped through his lessons-he just pretends he's dumb."
II
"Put our service on at House of Hope Lutheran Church in New fupe. The I'eaction
wasn't too bad. They seemed to like certain parts of it. ____ said that
when he read the service he was sure that 'Give a Damn' was out of place. But
when the service had gotten underway, then he thought it was very important. I
think it's �ant to note his change of attitude and willingness not to judge
canpletely on first sight. I mean to put all suburban men into one big bag and
fail to treat them as hunan individuals."
89
May 19, 1969
''When we go back to Augsbmg next year its going to be hard talking to people
about: these ideas...;;,-for they ck>n't want to hear them am will likely find many
reasons to turn us off. Yet we JmJSt try with a positive attitude."
"Marshal Mcwhan's film and perception of the wor-ld around us seems very
prophetic." ..
90
E»!IBIT
May 21, 1969 .
"They (black men) constantly test.
painful game• II
It's really a game. Very cruel and very
"Tonight the tcMnhouse apartments were to have a residents meeting with the
But the manager's wife was rushed to the hospital to· have her baby•• �
We have been working so long•••All our Saturday surveys, all 'the resident's
meetings, the tenant's union, and I didn't get to see••• "
manager.
91
Q
May 22',. 1969
"Profs! Fron sane people I get the feeling that intellect and humanism are two
different, separate things. The u1timate in life is developing one I s intellect
to the fullest. .And it• s logical. But how can you separate ••• " ·
''Went to Chinwag at Augsburg and it was filled with kids. That was beautiful,
but even better, half the kids were black and fu:m the 'U' or Augsburg. It
seemed right. However, I was disturbed when a friend said, 'Black boys are .
all right but when that many � in our school I just get a creepy feeling. ' .
Those people are sane of the hardest people to change."
92
EXHIBIT Q
May 25, 1969
''Well, this is going to be my conclusion� · Cri.'sis Colony is over. I've been .
doing a lot of thinking about it. One t1ring I have to say is that even though
this was a treme.rrlous learning experience for me, in a way I'm oot sure if it
was good for the .cc:mirunity. We care in, make ties, and take off. They're still
living there. I think what I have to do is renember that this is only the first
step, arrl the real test of my feelings is caning nc:M. hn I really going to be
ex>ncemed and do sanething? . I think the .best thing for me to do these next few
years is work through Augsburg with the FAME program and pushing other Crisis
Colonies.
I guess if I described Crisis Colony in terms of my experience I'd say it was
a baptism. It was a dying of the old ideas arrl attitudes that didn't worlc and
a · birth of new ones.
END POil1:
"You who are wholly holy
You who have no forgiven sins to :repress
are an empty cha.lice
Were you ever filled with the
fulness of life
Or did you pray them away before puberty
Gr<::Ming in what the. ancients
thought to be
The image of God."
"___,...., ___am. I ended up doing al.Joost all of the labor in our clean-up
operations. It was a long afternoon , ending with a chocolate malt at l.etofsky's
and a final farewell to the Gerst Funeral Chapel. For once more the building
had :returned to loneliness and darkness. The S1Wky odor which for nine weeks
had gone into hiding, once m:,re appeared on the scene. Life had left and death
had returned.
was talking about our contemporary worship service. Never before had she
.........-ed like this. She had given up on God and the Church a couple of� ago •••
-taik
and ncM she was just w.a.mning with new possibilities.
In many ways the · Crisis Colony was a catalyst. After ten weeks we had becane
action orientated."
"I feel we all delve into problems more in depth than before. That we under'-
stand that problem is always deeper than what it appears. The problems that
exist cannot be solved by the federel gove.rmient. We the people must be aware
of the injustices enOO\.Dltered by millions of others. Time is very important•••
93
May 25, 1969 (cont.)
We know that usually the person who has•••lived the problems is the only
one with a sound solution to it.
To tell the truth I didn't expect to learn anything ftan the colony because I
am black and we were going to live in conditions that were very familiar to me •••
When I first started, I knew only a couple of people and that was just 'speak
ing people. ' As the time went by everyone got to krn:M much m:>re about each
other. I don't believe anyone in the oolony disliked anyone else. We became
like a large fanily. Everyone was doing sanething else for and with the carrmmity.
We all tried to share our ideas with one another and discuss various points in
depth if there was a question•••
But I felt the colony was very helpful to me. As loog as people try to ccmnun
icate with each other with the sharing of ideas and differences of opinions then
problems can be feasibly wo:ri<ed out. I think the colony is very beautiful in fact
and thought and the experience that is gained can never be replaced."
"It's funny, but I'm not sad to leave here because everything
· · I've gotten will
stay with me for life."
"The Crisis Colony is an effective way for a person fran a background like mine,
with limited contact with the problems and troubles of :i.nner'-city living to
lea..vn to respect the values and attitudes of these people."
94-
EXHIBIT Q
URBAN ENCOUNTER SEMINAR SPEAKERS
SPEAKERS:
Charles Lutz, Center for Urban Encounter
Gordon Nelson, Augsburg College
Rabbi Jerome Herzog, Kenneseth Israel
Spike Moss, The WAY
Bill Smith, Political Candidate
Coselle Breedlove, Political Candidate
Van White, Employment
David Preus, School Board Chairman
Earl Bowman, Schools
Pastor Ron Hinrichs, St. James, Crystal
John Doyle, Urban League
Scotty Stone, Student Leader
John Warder, Plymouth Bank
Austin Coleman, Midwest Services
Lejeune Johnson and Nancy Hawks, Civil Rights Department
Mrs. Marlin Hendrieth, Basic Skills Center
Mr. Charles Nichols, Work Opportunity Center
Milt Williams, Way University (several times)
Lucy Clark, AFDC Mothers
The Fabulous Fascinators, A Northside musical combo
Pastor Rollie Robinson, Chairman - WAY Board
Marvin Trammell, Assistant School Supt. - Lecturer Mankato State
Dan Pothier, T. V. - "Black Voices 11
Dick Cunningham, Minneapolis Tribune
Leonard Weaver, Community Worker
Floyd Scott, Family Services, former Juvenile worker
Mr. Wally Neal, W.E. Neal Slate Company
Pastor Ron Terry, Sabbathani Baptist
Pastor Orpheus Williams, Grace Emanual Community Church
Pastor Marlin Mendrieth, Wayman Methodist
Pastor John Schultz, Coffee House Extempore, Director, ALC Youth
Felton Mathison, St. Paul Police Force
Matt Eubanks, Citizen's Community Center
Pastor Bill Youngdahl, Augsburg's Center for Urban Studies
Mr. Boynton, Robbinsdale School System
Vivian Jenkins, Phyliss Wheatley House
Father Richard Podvin, Crystal, St. Rapheals Catholic Church
Pastor Bob Samples, Director - Artist Culture Center
Pastor L. David Brown, Former ALC Youth Director
DIALOGUE ON TELEPHONE:
Mr. Bill Green, Ocean Hill-Brownsville School, New York
Gordon Parks, Author, Composer, LIFE Photos, Hollywood Director
Mr. Boyd, San Francisco State College Administrator
Senator Mondale
95
SEMINAR SPEAKERS (cont. )
IN PUBLIC MEETINGS, SPEAKERS HEARD:
Larry Harris, Urban Department, Minneapolis Public Schools
Joe Greenstein, Political Candidate
Chief Dwyer, Captain Lindbergh - Police
Father Janicke, Milwaukee 14·
Malcolm Boyd, Writer
DIALOGUES:
Dialogue with League of Women Voters, Crystal
Dialogue with five Suburban Human Relations Commissions
Dialogue with Mayor and City Council of Crystal
96
•
EXHIBIT
A PARTIAL LIST OF ORGANIZATION
WHOSE MEETINGS WE ATTENDED OR
ENGAGED IN DIRECT DIALOGUE BY
BEING THE PROGRAM
.Q
MARCH EVENTS
Our Pla.ce - Board Meeting on March 10th
Minicue Session, Bethlehem Lutheran on March 11th
Westwood Lutheran Luncheon on March 13th
Matt Eubanks Trail on March 14th
Northside Ecumenical Ministry on March 15th
-·Prince of Glory Folk Servioe on March 16th
Thee Whole -A.Board Meeting on March .18th
Lincoln, Jtmior:High l>TA on March 20th
Representatives - Crystal Human Relations·- March 21st
Grace Emanual Baptist on March 23rd
Human Behavior Meeting on Marph .24th
Minicue Session, Bethlehem Lutheran on March 25th
S Suburban Human Relations Commission's on March 26th
Crystal. City Hall Police Harassment Case on March 28th
Bill Smith Campaign Meeting and then Campaigning on March 29th
Various Black Churches on March 30th
With Tom Beach on u. of M. Summer course on March 31st.
APRIL EVENTS
Meetings of Commission on Human Behavior, Crystal on April 1st
Discussion of Police-Community Relations on April 2nd
Tactics of Northside on April 3rd
VACATION - April 3rd - 7th
Bil'i Smith Campaign Meeting· on April 8th
Tactics material passed out on April 9th
Our Place - a�ard Meeting on April 9th
Tactics - Board Meeting on April 10th
Pilot Medical Center on April 11th
WAY on April 11th
Bill Smith, Campaign Meeting_on April 12th
Tenants Union on April 12th
Blooming Prairie �nee.on April 12th
·Blooming Prairie Sunday School/Dialogue on April 13th
Mason City Luther League_9n April 13th
Housing Redevelopment Agency on April 13th
Sandbagged in 'Flood Ar�a on April 14th
Work Opportunities Center on April 15th
Eastside Tenants Union on April 15th
Thee ifuole - Board Meeting on April 15th·
City-wide Residents Meeting on April 16th
AFDC League on April 17th
Screening of fo�r films for Crystal people on sex education
etc. on April 17th
Bill Smith Campaign meeting on April 18th
Teen Center - Highland Park on April 18th
Bill Smith campaign meeting on April 19th
Northside Clean-up campaign on April 19th
Minnesota Studetjt Meeting on April 19th
Northside Ecume�ical Ministry on April 19th
Tenants Union on April 19th
Ylvisaker's us�ul Passion Service" - White Bear Lake on April 20th
97
MEETINGS/Page_2
Father Janicke, Milwaukee 14 on April 20th
5th Ward Alderman Candidates on April 22nd
Board of Directors - Our Place on April 22nd
Tenant's Union on April 22nd
Human Relations Commission - 5 suburbs on April 23rd
Tactics on April 24th
Augsburg Convo on April 24th
Tenant's Union on April 24th
Citizens Community Center on April 26th
Bill Smith campaign on April 26th
Conference at First Congregational on April 26th
St. James Lutheran Church - Our service on April 28th
Luther League at Prince of Glory on April 28th
Blooming Prairie Youth on April 28th
Minicue at Bethlehem Church on April 29th
Mr. Wally Neal on April 29th
MAY EVENTS . ;
Hospital Auxiliary on Hay 1st
Our service, Hilton Hotel, Danforth Regional Con£. on May 4th
Our service, New London on May 4th
Plain Truth Panel on May 6th
Catholic Renewal Couples Group in Crystal on May 9th
Our Service, St. Raphael's Catholic on Hay 11th
On Crisis Colony, 1st Unitarian Church on Nay 11th
Meet with City Council and r.layor of Crystal on Nay 12th
Bethune School Dedication on May 13th
P.T.A. at Willard School on Hay 13th
Our liturgy rehearsed at Calvary Uethodist on May 14th
Augsburg Professors on May 15th
Generation Gap, 1st Unitarian Church on May 15th
Education Fair, University of ainnesota on May 16th
House of Sojourner on Hay 16th
Peace Conference at Augsburg on May 17th
Protest at St. Paul legislature on l•1ay 17th
Our service, House of Hope Lutheran Church on May 18th
HCAC Art Festival on May 18th
.Minicue, Our Pentecost service on May 20th
Colony to a School class, Robbinsdale on Nay 20th
DFL Ward Club, Crystal on Hay 21st
Robbinsdale Human Relations Club in High School on May 22nd
Tenant's Union Demonstration at Capital on May 23rd
A.B.M. Debate on May 24th
Our service at Augsburg on !-lay 25th
98
LITURGY !Qa CRISIS COLONY!!.
EXHIBIT Q
The Fabulous Pa.scinators
"The ·Fool on 'the Hill" verse· 1-
L.
Day after day, alone on a hill
The man with the foolish grin 1s keeping perfectly still
Nobody wants to know him, They can see he's just a tool
And he never gives ari answer but the tool on the hill
sees the sun going down
and the eyes in his head see the world spinning round.
This service begins in the Strong Name or the Trinity,
Father, Son and Spirit.
C.
Amen
L.
It must be said, some or us think of ourselves a.s Christians;
others or us are not sure what to think---especially about
the Church. Some of us wonder almost to the point or despair
whether the Church, or any of the institutions or this time,
for that matter, will race up to the profound changes that
must occur in our day. This liturgy then is given with mixed
feelings. We must be honest •.
I believe; yet help my unbelief.
CONFESSIONAL, A Word of Honesty
C.
-
PSALM OF CONFESSION (130) - Gelineau
CONGREGATIONAL RESPONSE:
I place my trust in you, my God.
All my hope is in your mercy.
INTROIT, Episode in a Timeless Valley
I • . The hand or the Lord was upon me, and h� brought me out by
· 'the Spirit or the Lord, and set me down in the midst or
the valley;
II� It was full of bones.
I. And he led me round among them; and behold, there were
very many upon the valley;
II. And lo, they were veey dry.
I. And he said to me, Son or Man, can these bones live?
II. And I answered, O Lord God, You know.
I. Again he said to me, Prophesy to these bones and say to them,
II. o dry ones, hear the word or the, Lord.
I. Thus says the Lord God to these bones:
II. Behold, r·w111 cause breath to e·nter you, and you shall live.
I. So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied,
there was a noise, and behold, a rattling;
II. And the ·bones came together, bone t·o 1ts bone.
I. And as I looked, tlesh had come upon them, and skin
had covered them;
II. But there was no breath in them.
I. Then he said to me, Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son
or man, and say to the breath,
II. Thus says the Lord God: Come rrom the four winds, O breath,
and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.
99
I.
II.
I.
II.
I.
II.
So I prophesied as he· commanded me,
And the breath came into· them, and they 11 ved.
Then he said to me, Son or Man, thes-e bones are the whole
house of Israel.
Behold, they say, Our bones are dried up, and our hope is
lost; we are clean cut orr.
Therefore, prophesy, and say to them, Thus -says the Lord God:
Behold, I will open your -graves, and raise you from your
graves, .0 my .peopl.e';
. ..
And I :will bring you home il)_to the land or Israel.
KYRIE,
The Shape of Our Tomb
"The·: Sounds of Silence"
(Join us with the text)
L.
L.
In
peace let us pray to the Lord.
But there can be little peace when along the street
we live are buildings, empty, burnt, deserted because
all econ_om1c interests, long ago left the area. The
street is a scar.
C. Lord, have mercy. (Response, SBH, page 18 at the bottom)
R. There can be little peace whenthe houses and land
of the area are owned mostly by absentee landlords_
who are little interested in the people in their ho.uses.
C. Lord, have mercy.
R. One woman said she wouldn't let a daughter of hers live
where we are for five minutes. But 77,000 people must
live their whole lives here.
C. Lord, have mercy.
R. Another woman said she thought maybe we could teach
black people something by our living in their part
of town. How corifus·ed can you get?
C. Lord, have mercy.
For the peace of the whole world, let us pray to the Lord.
. .R. .A National Guard force,. 97 percent w_hite, patrolled the
city of Wilming.ton, D'el'aware;_with·a 40 percent black··
population every night· from April 9, 1968 to January
21, 1969. Was this the first portent of a police state?
C. Lord,, have me�cy. .
. .
..
. . . .
· ·:
R. In my town 1n nearby Wisconsin,' ·a blac� man moved to town.
First they burned his shed, the�_h1s barn, then his house.
That was. three year� ago. No Nati<;m.al Guard wa_s called.
C. Lord, have mercy.
.
·
: ·
conform have
R. In two suburbs, centers f'or y_o_uth w,ho 'do not·
(
been forced to close.· Intere�tingly,'.
A,pril 12, 1969,
came news that Russia too is:· forbidding long hair and·
non-conforming clothes. Will :the· Gene�ation Gap turn into
a War of' tlie Generatione all. 0,ver. the worl.
· d· 1··
·
C. Lord, have mercy.
Help, save, pity, and •. defend us; O God, by·yo�r _grace.
C. Amen.
R.
or
L.
.
'
.I . .
100
. ..
A
W
EXHIBIT Q
"The Fool on the Hill" verse 2
Day after.day. alone on the street
The black and the Indians wait and wait but we never meat.
Nobody wants to know them 1 each would seem a tool
And he never gives an answer but the tool on the street
sees the sun going down
and_the eyes in his head see the world spinning round.
GLORIA IN EXCELSIS, The New Visibilities
.
.
'l'he powerless are everywhere becoming visible. Some are only silent,
but still others are speaking with remarkable, unforgettable words.
And some are acting. The faces are red, brown, black, and white
paled by poverty. Their appearance 1s a judgment, but it 1a also
mercy, for they are new---a hope for our bankrupt time.
The are being joined by the powerless young. And the powerless old
are also becoming visible, saying that judging a man's worth by how
much he is able to produce is a blasphemous word of a god who 1s a
devouring idol.
••• Dimly we remember there was a powerless, speechless child, unable
to lift his head---Jewish, a refugee along the road. He never pros
pered, left nothing but a cloak when he died. The death was the
lynching of a man pronounced criminal. Yet the angels sang when he
was born, singing that God is celebrated by the powerless:
A Celebration. The Fascinators
The Gloria in Excelsis
A
Gloria or Celebration trom the Tradition.�. Number 25
THE WORD, Invocation or Resurrection - eviction notices for the dead
Luke 16:19-31
Gradual: Hymn of Reasurect1on (join with text)
-
John 11:1-4; 11-1�; 32-q4
Song from the tradition announcing Resurrection, SBH
Number 99. Verses l, 2, and 6.
THE CREED, A Day of Fools
0
The Fool on The Hill"
verse 3
Day after day, alone on a hill
The man on the crooked cross is keeping perfectly still
Nobody wants to know him, They can aee he's Just a tool
And he never gives an answer but the tool on the hill
aees the sun going down
and the eyes 1n his head see the world spinning round.
101
What shall we say or those who through faith conquered kingdoms,
enforced Justice, received promises, stopped the mouths or lions,
quenched raging fire, escaped the edge or the sword, won strength
out or weakness, became mighty 1n war, put foreign armies to
flight? Women received their dead by resurrection. Some were
tortured, refusing to accept release, that they might rise again
to a better 11re•••They were stoned, they were sawn in two•••
Others were assassinated with guns or buried in swampy places or
Southern towns or fell in the streets of Northern cities. Others
were thrown in Jail or fled their native lands•••They were destitute, afflicted, 111-treated---or whom the world was not worthy--
wander1ng over deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of
the earth.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud or witnes
ses, let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so
closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set
before us, looking unto Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our
faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross,
despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne
of God.
THE WORD ALIVE TODAY
11
I.
II.
III.
A Time for Burning"• Daniel 3:
The Golden Idol
The Three Men or the Furnace
The Fourth Man
SBH, Number 343, First Tune, Verses l and 2
"The Fool on the Hill"
verse 4
This 1s the day, the day of the fool
The Man with the bearded face attends a different school
But nobody seems to notice, uritil'he makes the news
Then they begin to wonder but the fool on the hill
sees the sun going 4own
and the eyes in his head see: the world spinning round.
OFFERTORY
The Fascinators
Offering, The Crisis of our Time as the Bread of our Communion
"Give a Damn"
PRAYERS AND·BENEDICTION
SONG:
"I Will Sing Unto the Lord u
102
Arranged by Ylvisaker
A
W
EXHIBIT Q
-
BIBLIOGRAPHY
PURPOSES
1. To inform ourselves or varying perspectives on minori
ties in preparation for the speakers of th.e coming week.
2. To educate each Dther about more than one boOk in each
weeks topic.
.
To
understand the connections between emotions. and
3
1ntormat1on.
Basic Books
(One or several ot these books to be read in advance.)
Carmichael, S. and c.v. Hamilton. Black Power. Random House,
· · 1967.
Clark, Kenneth. Dark Ghetto. Harp·er, 1965.
Greer, Scott. Governing a Metropolis. New York:. John Wiley and
Sons, Inc. , 1966.
..
Haley, Alex and Malcolm X. The Autobiography or -Malcolm
X. Grove,
.
1965.
Kerner Report Summary
Schaller, Lyle E. Community Organization: Conflict and Reconcili
ation. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1966.
Silberman, Charles E. Cr.isis in Black and White. Random House, 1964.
Week one - Politics
Student Seminar Books
.
Cleaver, Eldridge. Eldridge Cleaver, Past-Prison Writings and Speeches.
Fanon, Frantz. The Wretched or the Earth. Evergreen, 1966.
Hughes• Langston. History of the NAACP.
..
King, Martin Luther. Letter from a Birmingham Jail.
Malcolm X. Malcolm X Speaks. Grove� .. 1968.
Week two - Education
Coler, Robert. Children ot Crisis: A Study or. ·courage and Fear.
Dell ,. 1964.
Holt, John. How Children Fail. Dell, 1964.
Kozel, Jonathan. Death at an Early Age. Bantam ,. 1967.
Powledge, Fred. To Change a Child.
Trubowitz, Sidney. A Handbook for Teaching in the Ghetto School.
Chicago: Quadrangle Books, Inc., 1968.
Week three - Business and Economics
Hunger,. U.S.A. A report by the Citizen's Board or Inquiry into
Hunger and Malnutrition in the United States. New Community
Press, 1968.
Larner and Howe. Poverty: Views from the Lett. William· Morrow, 1968.
The Negro and the Cities. A Fortune Book, Time-Life, 1968.
103
...--------------------
------------------ -I
·Week thre� (cont.)
Riessman and Popper. Up from Poverty, New Career Ladders for
Nonprofessionals. 1968.
Spero and Harris. The Black Worker. Athenum, 1968.
Week four - Black Culture
Baldwin, James. Go Tell lt on the Mountain. Dell, 1968.
Baldwin, James. Nobody Knows My Ns.�e. Dell, 1962.
Cleaver, Eldridge. Soul on Ice. McGraw-Hill, 1968.
Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man. Random House, 1952.
Fanon, Frantz. Black Skil'}, White Masks. Grove Press, 1967.
Jones, LeRoi. Blue People. Apollo, 1968.
Jones, LeRoi. Tales. Grove Press, 1967.
Wright, Richard. Native Son. Signet :, · 1964. (reissue)
Week five - Minorities .and the Press
Fisher, Paul L. and:Lowenstein, Ralph L. Race and the News Media. ·
Frederick A. Praeger, Publishers, 1967.
Lyle, Jack. The Black American and the Press. Ritchie Pr�ss, 196a.
M1nneapol1s Courier
Minneapolis Spokesman
Minneapolis Star
Minneapolis Tribune
Week six - Minority and Police
Gerlach. "An Unarmed Intermediary Force" (unpublished paper)
Hersey, John. The Algiers Motel Incident. Bantam, 1968.
Sauter and Hines. Nir.tmare in Detroit: A Rebellion and Its Victims.
Henry Regnery, 196 .
Sauter and Hines� Police Power Abuses 1n New York City.
Week seven - Inner City Religious Life
Drake and Caytor. Black Met':i:•opolis3· Volume I. Harpel', 1962.
Lincoln, C. Eric. The Black Muslims in America. Beacon, 1961.
Stringfellow, William. My People is the Enemy. Doubleday, 1966.
Washington, Joseph. Black Religion: The Negro and Christianity
in the United States. Beacon, 196_4.
Week eight - Eye Towards the Suburbs {to be announced)
Week nine - Eye Towards the Suburbs ·(to be announced)
Week ten - Metropolis
Doxiadis and Douglass.
• Press, 1965.
Stringfellow, William.
1966 ...
Winter, Gibson.
The New World of Urban Man. United Church
"The Myth or the Great Society". Dialogue,.
New Creation as Metropolis.
104
-
.-- __
,.
Reflections from a Crisis Colony Experience
I f1nd 1t very difficult to relate to ot�ers the depth and
meaning or the experience I had this summer but I'd 11ke te try.
Unfortunately, 1t was an experience which 1s d1ff1cult to adequatel=r
evaluate 1n words.
It has arr�oted my life 1n many ways, a person
There
could not live this experienoe and not be changed deeply.
are• rev changes, which I would like to expl.&in as my reasons for
the necessity of educat1on and colleges to "link-up" with this type
or
czper1ence.
The best way l can describe the major chang� felt by myself
one
as well as every
of the students 1nvolvsd 1s tho.t I no
apeak of things simply as "I think ••• ".
both "I !.,!u and think ••• ".
And this
11
longer·
Now everything colr!es ou·;;
feel1ng11 for other peopl�
and whe.t they reel 1s the major eleL:.ent that can make the differcn0e
1n life.
One oan know a problem, such a� a problem of minority
persons, and its every oause and outcome but unless h" c&.n £.e�,l
then he has
that problem too.
essary
to
have
nothing.
Ana.
7et, 1 t 1s still
m�c,.
botn or one would be in the se.ms posj_tion a.s th€,
m1nor1t7 person and could
be
of no real help.
These two &sp�ets :•
both absolutely neoessary. represent the e.csdemics and the e:.tpert�•
enee or
&
venture
suoh as our
Crisis Colony.
students are feeling the irrelevancy cf acsciem1c!'l today.
The:::.r
are searching for 11fe and sooner or later (too often sooner) are
thrust 1nto 1t.
A progn.m such as the Crisis Colony is. f o:r· the
-
first time. an opportunity ror students to see and feel 1,.re as
it
really 1s, without the "screened protect1on'1 we &re so e.ccustomed to.
"Screening" of an
experience such
a:, ti1iE would onl�,. t1.si.lt<?.
and therefore just another uselees �.tte�pt..
it
ertif :1 cr·.l,
And yet the ver·y fi:·\-:.t
of hav1ng a college strueture "in the background" ie necessery s.s
something to "fall be.ck on" so students are net thro'P-.T. into this ".r:.�·,.,· 11
-
11te completely alone.
In the beg1nn1ng of th1s summer I muat admit, almost e?ery
T&lue we eTer held was questioned and knoc;ked down but we were
;r;�i:lil w1th1n the "structure of society" enough that we were able
to lean somewhere while we figured things out rcr ourselves.
1• where we need the struoture--the college.
college needs usl
And this 1s where the
Instructors keep telling us now,
a new thrust 1n education.
This
11
we 1 re starting
We want you to question. to !eel free
trom our tr&d1t1onal hangups and be free.to really learn." so m:.ny
textbooks help ua question our ideas an:S. values.
So where does that
experiences, where the questions are really rromt
Too :mEml' st1.,.de;nts
leave ua--where &re the answers? These have to be foU!ld in
are g1v1.ng up on aoadem1c�s.
llil
Some of us try to co11t1nue, only t;.c
reach the point or contusion, full of questions e.nd when we wcY.!i°• to
f1nd some answers, we're cut off short.
Studei1ts who f1nd ccl1c-.:g-::
totally irrelevant seek the learning a.r.ad e:per1ence on their 01-::r.
but I reel the majority want, .s I do. both the aoadecics and the
exper1enee: both the questions and the answers!
refuse to answer th1s call?
two?
.;o why do coJ.ies;cs
Why do they insist on seps,rf'�tin;; th�,
One of the speakers we heard this summer seemed to sum up the
one and only b&.s1o reason for the necessity of educe.tion
11
bec0Ein5
1nTolved.". • "We need to teach the hes.rt ••• for minds become closed s,:ni
Th1s is whst is happening today 1n ace.de!!!ics-�
commun1eat1on ceases."
we •re closing our minds.
open.
Maybe by the very fact that we think they r �e
Like so many students, we take all the good courses perteJ.n,,
1ng to our fellowman, maybe psychology, aociology o hume.n1ties. even
• course in raoe relations.
know what's going on.
Then we graduate thinkirLe; we reai lr·
We find a Job� me.ybe even 1n. a ghetto are&�
and proceed to show these people how
we are about their problemsl
11
open-minded" end "well-aducat'7ci n
Will colleges answer our call and help us get a true education
about 1uch problems. about l1fe? This seems to me to be the question at hand.
In the experience
or this project we were h1t •1th
aome ultimate questions, and hit hardl
t1on and •ought a few &J1Swera.
We "got
.But we stayed in the s1tuaourael-vea
together". or started
to. and that was what made the exper1enae only- a beg1nn1ng for :me:
Made 1t that one portion or 11.fe that mat.es all the rest aean1ngfu.l,
llke the "one 11 th1ng which De1tr1oh Bonboetter called
"God n i
In add1t1on to th• situation of the area, was the experience
or living together w1th1n "our" communitf. a Chr1st1an community.
It la d1ff1oult to convey the full religious s1gn1f1oance or our
relations with one another, but I guess that's the best I can sey
for the entire venture--1t
WQ.S
a "religious" experience.
-
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.»«ugsburg College George Sverdrup Library Minneapolis, MN 55454 .If life is but a day, Then day is only a moment. . . Grasp the image firmly - Lest it drift until dusk. from "Wisdom at Dawn” Maynard Danielson Augsburg College, Vol. III, 1960
EDITOR'S FORWARD Man is always seeking ways of expressing his fears, apprehensions, desires and other emotions . We feel that one excellent way of achieving such expression is through the medium of literature. In hope of fulfilling our participation in Augsburg's 1960 Festival of Fine Arts... Show moreEDITOR'S FORWARD Man is always seeking ways of expressing his fears, apprehensions, desires and other emotions . We feel that one excellent way of achieving such expression is through the medium of literature. In hope of fulfilling our participation in Augsburg's 1960 Festival of Fine Arts celebration this second issue of the ARKAI comes to you, with no pretensions . We offer a small collection of miscellany including , we hope, a measure of quality and the genuine. Joyce S. Birkeland Show less
TABLE OF CONTENTS TIME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page FULLNESS DESIRED . .. . . . . . . . . NEW YORK CITY . . . . . . . . . . . . EMPTINESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . LIFE IN LIBERTY . . . . . . . . . . . . PERSISTENCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . u . o u u u c o ¢ u o c o c SENTRY... Show moreTABLE OF CONTENTS TIME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page FULLNESS DESIRED . .. . . . . . . . . NEW YORK CITY . . . . . . . . . . . . EMPTINESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . LIFE IN LIBERTY . . . . . . . . . . . . PERSISTENCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . u . o u u u c o ¢ u o c o c SENTRY DUTY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . UNCONSCIOUSLY CONSCIOUS o o O a . AUTUMN GHOSTS THE WINDOW . . . . . . o o a i u o o o o u o 0 o o u . u c u c u n o n o u . BEAT OF THE NIGHT . . . . . . . . . . DYING OF DAY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . TO EMILY WITHOUT WORMS, ETC. . . . 10 11 ll 12 13 14 l5 l7 17 18 18 19 Show less
TIME Turning , whirling, twisting Tornado: blind, relentless, you bear down Upon all in your path, choosing none but taking all- Scholars , conquerors , idols , nations- All caught and held for breathless moments In fierce passion. Golden glory, Power, light shine forth. Then tiring quickly of... Show moreTIME Turning , whirling, twisting Tornado: blind, relentless, you bear down Upon all in your path, choosing none but taking all- Scholars , conquerors , idols , nations- All caught and held for breathless moments In fierce passion. Golden glory, Power, light shine forth. Then tiring quickly of fast-fading charms, You leave them, let them die And howling , shrieking of your triumph Clamor on to yet more conquests . And death and darkness mark your rubble-strewn path. Julie Medbery FULLNESS DESIRED The lamp is low, But has lost not its spark. The tree is not tall, But ignores not its upward thrust Reaching , climbing , growing , This continues . Joyce Birkeland Show less
Chorus: Old man: Rich matron: Young mother: Dock worker: Nurse: Busines 5 man: Chorus: Street vendor: NEW YORK CITY A Play in Verse Silence is above the city because the city murders or shall we say God takes it is all the same with us. We watch and wait the heavy waking which is almost sleeping... Show moreChorus: Old man: Rich matron: Young mother: Dock worker: Nurse: Busines 5 man: Chorus: Street vendor: NEW YORK CITY A Play in Verse Silence is above the city because the city murders or shall we say God takes it is all the same with us. We watch and wait the heavy waking which is almost sleeping still the horror of another day of bridge and tea and finally the cocktail which I desperately need. More diapers and formula and washing which when hung outside becomes as grey as if I had not scrubbed it till my arms ached with the rubbing . Hell of a job but a guy can't starve some will die today and what can you say to ease the pain of those who stay the market seems steady perhaps I dare yet what a scare when it fell last week. No they never cry—- more a moan of millions of voices that just don't know fresh roasted chestnuts fresh roasted Chestnuts I sells 'um hot 'cause it's all I got and people walk by and don't care . 2. Show less
Newstand man: Chorus: Newspape r editor: History teacher: Math teacher: S-ec retary: Chorus: Down in the hole lady - down in the hole like a mole in the dark where the pushing bodies crush a soul and a man can't breathe and the smell is sweat. The pulse is pounding in the city of man , and plan... Show moreNewstand man: Chorus: Newspape r editor: History teacher: Math teacher: S-ec retary: Chorus: Down in the hole lady - down in the hole like a mole in the dark where the pushing bodies crush a soul and a man can't breathe and the smell is sweat. The pulse is pounding in the city of man , and plan deranged Madison Avenue where fur strolls upon pinched bodies in girdles tight and urchins fight in the crowded street teeming millions crowded tight in one big , bad crime mad hell-bent, heaven sent throbbing, screaming , yelling city. ., . America is the land of opportunity the land of milk and honey. If one started with a penny and doubled his sum each day I think it safe to say that in a year . I fear the boss's anger but I won‘t be pinched no more I'm black and blue through and through a girl's got rights° Or so they say that man has rights , don‘t ask who says we are the trees that stand and stare in lonely clumps in witted parks we don't condemn we watch and wait. 3 Show less
Soda jerk: Chorus: Taxi drive r: Chorus: Like I said you keep eating banana splits you gonna get mighty fat, baby so all she says is maybe. . . Living in a pigeon city of soot carved buildings leaning heavy on the sky we tremble in the loneliness of wide grey eyes tear-filled with fear . The... Show moreSoda jerk: Chorus: Taxi drive r: Chorus: Like I said you keep eating banana splits you gonna get mighty fat, baby so all she says is maybe. . . Living in a pigeon city of soot carved buildings leaning heavy on the sky we tremble in the loneliness of wide grey eyes tear-filled with fear . The tempo slows the dusk descends as work day ends. . . Others go home while I still roam the city majestic in the rainbow glare of flashing pink and yellow. The solid black of alley cat has wrapt its furry body round the city that man built. Cynthia Jac obs en Show less
I WAS A TEENAGE GIANT You don't know what a. thing like that can do to a person's psychology. I was analyzed fourteen times before Iwas fourteen, Because my thirteenth year I grew one foot two inches . And when one is a girl five feet eleven inches to begin with, this is nothing to look down upon... Show moreI WAS A TEENAGE GIANT You don't know what a. thing like that can do to a person's psychology. I was analyzed fourteen times before Iwas fourteen, Because my thirteenth year I grew one foot two inches . And when one is a girl five feet eleven inches to begin with, this is nothing to look down upon, You have all read the words of our hero-philoso- pher, Max Shulman, when he tells of the sorrows of Demosthenes, whose offices were on the third floor but who was never able to get to them because the staircase hadn't been invented yet. Well, I felt like that third story, up there in the clouds without anything connecting me and ordinary humanity, My doctors call it a manicndepressive-schizo— phrenic—neurasthenic reaction to an excess growth, I don‘t know about the first part, but the second is certainly sure. To compensate, since there wasn't much I could do about adjusting myself to my peer group, which would have. consisted mainly of pro basketball players , I turned, as have so many in ages past and will so many in ages to come, to the wisdom of ages past and the hope of ages to come; i.e, , books. Again, I consulted my hero-philosopher , who has invented a marvelous method for memorization termed Mnemonics.(lnciden1;ally Mnemon invented the stair- case, a fact which in my case had symbolic implica- tions,) Taking my cue from Max I developed jingles which were my keys for unlocking the wisdom of ages past and the hopes of ages to come. I wandered around the house {which had special high. ceilings built in to accommodate Iny prodigiously elevated altitude) murmuring Mnemonically, The linotype has a line 0' type, A highway has a yellow stripe (Down the middle). My poetry and sense of rhythm, form, syntax, Show less
alliteration, and so on and on was not yet highly devel— oped (which unfortunately did not apply to my stature, which was). But it came. Soon I was muttering Mnemonically , Yosemite is a great big park, And Noah built a great big ark. It's amazing how much knowledge can be crammed into one little... Show morealliteration, and so on and on was not yet highly devel— oped (which unfortunately did not apply to my stature, which was). But it came. Soon I was muttering Mnemonically , Yosemite is a great big park, And Noah built a great big ark. It's amazing how much knowledge can be crammed into one little sentence . And through Mnemonics one forms also understand and love for words. Words, words, words . . . scintillating, precious, fragile, beautiful, cashmere, reticule, cat, dog. Well, anyway. No doubt you wonder at this coming from a child of four- teen and a seven-footer at that. Besides, I couldn't spend all my time as similating and amalgamating wisdom. I had to live live live also. I had to examine my interests, abilities, and aptitudes and on the basis of these considerations formulate my long range goals. In my case , my long range interfered with my goals. Several occupational vocational possibilities presented themselves to me -- I was offered, for example, even at my young age, a position as head giraffe feeder at Como; however, seeing little chance for advancement, I was obliged to turn the position down. Besides, time passed and I - I blush to speak the words - I - I hesitate to speak the words - I - I must speak the words - I fell in love. Whistles blew, birds flew, flower grew, I lost my shoe , but I was true, to only you. It was a little awkward at first, being a foot or so taller, but again I turned for an answer to my unfailing source and spring of wisdom, my Max. And he has an answer. I wish here to pause and pay tribute to a great man who has in times of distress and anguish never let me down. Or rather, pay tribute because he did let me down. Have you ever heard of inverted wedgies? No? Well, that's because no one, not even my beloved, no one but Max could have thOught of them, and without them (even smoked I Marlboro) my life would have been a fizzle, simply a fizzle and no other thing. But with them, and with Max, and with my beloved, I too was able Show less
to become a useful and integrated member of the com- munity, working together for the good of the community, that is to say, '.of me and my beloved. Nor did I forget the wisdom learnt during those Mnemonic years of hardship, struggle , and strife . I hope you too will come, through suffering, to... Show moreto become a useful and integrated member of the com- munity, working together for the good of the community, that is to say, '.of me and my beloved. Nor did I forget the wisdom learnt during those Mnemonic years of hardship, struggle , and strife . I hope you too will come, through suffering, to peace and adjustmanship as I have. Towards this end, let me close by saying: A vacuum cleaner is a wonderful thing Let us all give thanks and sing. Naomi Christen 5 en EMPTINESS Alone down in the swamp, Among the broken pine and twisted cypress; Alone with the frogs and crickets-— and the emptiness . I sit here alone , Shrouded in selfapity and deep despair; Alone with the eeri night-bird's call—- to this emptiness . As the darkness folds it's arms, Around the droopy, gloomy Spanish moss; Then the slowly creeping fog — fills the emptiness. I breathe the haunted air , Hanging like a lost soul doomed; Forever hanging between earth and sky — in this emptiness ., Ermon L. Deen Show less
LIFE IN LIBERTY The town had gone to rest. One light after the other was swallowed up into the darkness of the night. The streets were deserted and only now and then a car rushed by. The heat of the past day had created an uncomfortable humidity which was a burden for the whole town. Philip Baker... Show moreLIFE IN LIBERTY The town had gone to rest. One light after the other was swallowed up into the darkness of the night. The streets were deserted and only now and then a car rushed by. The heat of the past day had created an uncomfortable humidity which was a burden for the whole town. Philip Baker rolled restlessly on his bed. He tried to fall asleep but it was just too hot. The air arOund him was filled with tension. In his restlessness he saw himself sitting on a charge of dynamite with the fuse lit. Suddenly, for the instant of a second, a bright beam bathed the whole room in a yellow-green light. A loud thunder like the shooting of a cannon followed the lightning interrupting violently the silence . Phil jumped up and rushed to the window. He looked into the night which was in short intervals lighted by beams of lightning. Without luck he waited for the falling of the cooling rain° Phil was disappointed. After all these hours of sweat and restlessness no relief had come . He returned to his bed to take up the fight with sleeplessness again, It was not only the heat which kept Phil awake. There were other tensions which moved in his mind shouting to be heard. He thought of his friend and classmate Joe Smith, who had been arrested a few days ago because he had declined to leave a lunch counter which showed the sign "Whites Only." Phil thought also of Mr. Jones who lived only a few blocks away. Mr. Jones had registered his name so that he could take part in the last election according to his citizenship rights . Quite clearly Phil saw Mr. Jones' car with its broken windows and the three “K's” smeared over the hood. Phil's tension and restlessness was not only of outside heat. His inside was quite hot also. His eyes were directed toward the wall opposite him. In the brightness of the lightning a large book page could be noticed. It was fastened to the wall. Phil had read its coilitext many times. "The Gettysburg Address" was its? t1t e . . 1 8 1 Show less
The new day came. Through the streets cars rushed in great numbers . At the corner where a bus stopped every five minutes people gathered to go to work. Though the sun shone very bright the air was quite chilly ’1n these early morning hours . There was no doubt that it would be a hot day again.... Show moreThe new day came. Through the streets cars rushed in great numbers . At the corner where a bus stopped every five minutes people gathered to go to work. Though the sun shone very bright the air was quite chilly ’1n these early morning hours . There was no doubt that it would be a hot day again. After a fast breakfast Phil picked up his books and went on his way to school. It would only be a few more months until he would graduate from South High. He was quite proud when he thought of it. His way to school was not too far but far enough to give him time to think about his plans for the day. Right after school he wanted to visit Joe and cheer him up a little. Slowly the hours passed. It was as if the school bell would never bring the last class to an end. Phil left the school very quickly. Before going to see Joe he wanted to get a bite to eat at the drugstore a few blocks away. As usual at this time the counters were very busy and it was hard to find an empty seat. Phil looked around. “Nothing free on this side," he thought. Over at the other counter a seat just became free. Should he go and sit down? For a moment he was not sure. "All men are equal," a voice shouted within him. He saw the face of his friend before him and began to walk. He walked straight toward the empty seat and sat down. To his left sat a tall blond fellow who was about 25 years old. To his right a woman of about 40 was seated. As soon as he sat down the eyes Of his neighbors were on him. The woman to his right stood up and walked away. The waitress came up to Phil. “Can't you read?" she asked in a most unfriendly and harsh voice. "One hamburger and a cup of coffee, please,“ said Phil. "This counter is for whites only. You better leave fast,” the waitress said. "Please no onions. I don't care for any,” he added. "Shut up you burn. Can't you hear what the lady said?" The fellow to Phil's left had turned to him and looked angry at him. All eating had stopped. All eyes rested upon Phil. "Why should I leave? I have as much right as you to sit here. All men are created equal and the money with which I pay is as Show less
good as yours . ” Phil was calm but he knew that others around him were not so calm. "So you think you are as good as I am. You better go back to the slum where you came from ,‘,‘ yelled the blond fellow. "Get out Nigger,ll someone shouted. "Call the cops,” someone else said. Phil still sat... Show moregood as yours . ” Phil was calm but he knew that others around him were not so calm. "So you think you are as good as I am. You better go back to the slum where you came from ,‘,‘ yelled the blond fellow. "Get out Nigger,ll someone shouted. "Call the cops,” someone else said. Phil still sat calmly on his seat. The shouting of protests from the counter increased. Suddenly Phil felt a push and he found himself on the floor. Looking up he saw before him the blond felIOW. l‘If this doesn't cure you I'll teach you some manners,” the fellow said. Phil stood up slowly. A deep silence lay over the whole room. "You are not too polite," Phil said. "You need some manner-teaching yourself." This was too much for his white opponent. He aimed his fist at Phil's face and hit him hard. The mob laughed. Phil stumbled backwards toward the door which opened at this very moment. Two policemen came in. Phil landed right in their arms. The evening had come. The heat of the past day lay heavily upon the city. "It's rather hot in here," said Phil. “It's been this way all day," replied Joe. With his right hand Phil gently touched his chin. "I sure hope it will rain tonight," he said. "I hope so too. We could need some cooling off in these parts," answered Joe . Norbert Mokros PERSISTENCE To try Is to forget All failures and defeat, For it takes courage and patience to Repeat. Diane Olsen 10 Show less