Mama. Oh Mama! That Boom Is Here Again!
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When Is a Chair, Is a Chair, Not a Chair?
“A Chair is a chair, is chair, is a chair—
—Gertrude Stein.
j »
# #
rpnAT line was recalled yesterday when
news was recevied that' the browsing
' room will be completely furnished within six
weeks. Experiences with the green-skinned
objects in the browsing room, widely repre
sented (or misrepresented)-as chairs, causes
. one to wonder as to what "seating taeilities
the finished product will include.
I\li-- Steins philosophic summarization of
the qualities inherent in a chair seems some
what inadequate and obscure, but neverthe
less, it typifies the theory on which the chairs
n i\v in the browsing room were constructed.
This haphazard conception of what a chair
is and the purposes it serevs should not be
criticized too harshly, however, for the library
lacks material on the subject. Of its hundred
thousand odd volutin s but one short book on
chairs is included, a description of Hitchcock
chairs in the 19 GG report of the Tercentenary
committee of the state of Connecticut.
* # * '
'J'Hls treatise is not concerned with the
utility of a chair but with the craftsman
ship used by Lambert llitelic-oek in 1820 to
, make them. When the browsing room fur
nishing committee met to form a policy on
the matter of chair construction, this work
must nave neen close ar nanu. ior me
of the Hitchcock principle is strongly felt hy
browsing room sitters. The straight hack
and the angle of the seat in relation to it of
tlie green numbers now in service are not only
uncomfortable but so incompatible that the
sitter is in constant conflict with them. To
keep himself off the floor and in some sem
blance of correct posture, the occupant must
repeatedly change his sitting tactics.
# #
¥F Mr. Plato had concerned himself less with
dissertations on the nature of a number of
things, and Mr. Aristotle had spent less time
summarizing essentials that go into the mak
ing of these things, students today would
probably lead a more comfortable existence.
The neglect of Plato and Aristotle apparently
left the committee with no other choice than
to accept the 3820 chair building principles of
Mr. Hitchcock,
It is conceivable that if the ancients had
theorized on chairs they would have referred
to the value of comfort as a means toward
improving the social structure. Before draft
ing final chair plans the browsing room com
mittee might “seek the truth” of sounder
chair building principles and end forever this
“chair is a chair, is a chair” business of Miss
Stein before it transforms a race of gentle
students into a company of emotionally un
balanced and physically warped chair cow
boys.—L. T.
I
In the Mail
J NEW ‘STAND?
4, To the Editor:
t Because of space limitations
j i” Tuesday’s Emerald, m v
j .Btatement on the matter of my
j .f. r o b a b 1 e exemption from
1 tI OTC after a threeyear fig'ht
| V as killed at the last moment.
I still, however, desire to ex
v.'ain the situation from my
jL-oint of view. First of all, let
1 *, e say that I opposed the pre
at ure publication of the ex
emption story Tuesday but I
■ I vi no other alternative than
, ,1 i sanction it because the com
plete news had leaked out via
other channels. It would have
.i ?en my preference to wait un
id the exempt! -n was definitely
clear and to limit the account
{ < a purely factual representa
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tion.
Second, let me say that it
will come as a surprise and a
disappointment to many to
hear that I have changed the
grounds in my efforts to gain
exemption, but I have done so
only after lengthy and com
plete consideration of the value
of my objections on other
grounds.
or three years I have more
or less jeopardized my status
by opposing what I believe to
be an insult to any university
— peacetime conscription. I be
lieve that I can do no more
either as an example or as a
test case. The voters have end
ed the immediate possibility of
terminating local compulsion
through the initiative channel.
i
and the supreme court decision
in the California case has con
vinced me that nothing can be
gained in the courts, because
the bench has ruled that the
administration of an institu
tion has the right to control
its requirements! and I have
decided that this refers to a
discrimination of grounds for
exemption as well as to wheth
er there should be any exemp
tions (as in the California
case.)
What might appear to be
rank opportunism is neither
that nor an admission of de
feat. Rather it is to evidence
the fact that the military com
mittee has acted fairly, consid
ering the rules as they are.
—Gordon M. Connelly.
i
BANDWAGON
By BILL CUMMINGS
Election plans arc about as
unpredictable as the March wea
ther, but one thing is certain, at
least. The political pot is al
ready starting to boil, and out
of it—like the witch's cauldron
in Snow ’White and the Seven
Dwarfs—are emerging plots and
counterplots, some of them po
tentially as poisonous as the
witch’s shiny red apple.
Some of the politically-mind
ed have already held meetings
to outline sketchy campaigns,
but activities for the most part
seem to be limited to the class
of '40. Two blocs, somewhat
along the old lint's, but offering
possibilities of radical ehang-es,
are forming under the influence
of sophomore leaders, some of
whom have already organized
considerable support.
* *: *
Things are much more quiet
and not so well developed on the
ASUO political horizon. Stu
dent body leaders seem to be
holding back until they see the
whites of their enemy's eyes, or
maybe until conflicting campus
events are cleared away, allow
ing plenty of room ' for the
slaughter.
* sj:
Marshalling his crew for the
biggest student-handled task of
the year, Zane Kemler an
nounced appointments recently
for Junior Weekend, which will
feature this year a keynote of
“imaginative picturesqueness"
for the traditional canoe fete.
Nine floats will drift down the
millrace, depicting a “Vagabond
Melody” theme with each float
representing a foreign country.
Possibly, the floats will pass
through a watery spray, colored
by electric spots, instead of the
usual cloth curtain. ‘
$ S: S!
“What's the use of putting on
a big program like Junior
Weekend without using it to
better advantage in advertising
the school?" someone recently
asked. The argument advanced
was that only Mothers are in
vited to the campus for the
i - ■ i
Pink’s Lemon-Aid
By JOHN PINK
(By THE EMERALD BROWSING ROOM EDITOR)
Towards the end of last term while strolling past the browsing
room I noticed on a bulletin board a sign which I am fairly certain
read, “Reading Aloud Hour—tonight from 7 to 8.” I meant to take
the hour in for the pleasure I would have derived but neither time
nor tide concurred, however, so I was forced to stifle my desire.
But since I have given the matter considerable thought. What
an opportunity to toss off the fetters of educational restraint. Manj
have been the times while reading away in the stuffy library thiat
I have been forced to strangle an impulse to start reading aloud
just to relieve the oppressive atmosphere.
But let’s Take your own case for an example.
Suppose you are reading a play. You come to a certain passage
in Shaw’s Caesar and Cleopatra where Cleo tells Caesar to sit
down beside her in the flower-decked seat she has rigged up for
him. Caesar looks at the fancy posterior-rester and says with dis
dain, “What the hell do you think I am—a caterpillar?’’ The
r eference which is not to the almighty is mine, not Shaw s.
This is the point. Such a line reads well, but speaks a hundred
times better—I know because I tried it on one of the balconies.
But what if I had never declaimed the line aloud? Certainly some
of the brilliance of Shaw would have escaped me entirely.
So I am mightly in favor of the Reading Aloud Hour. The next
time I see a notice of the approach of one of these delightful hours
I am going to so budget my time that I can take it in. Then I will
get one of Noel Coward's plays and settle down in one of the corners
for an enjoyable 60 minutes.
I particularly am anxious to read Coward aloud because of the
staccato rapidity which his characters are made to speak. I have
often wondered if a person reading one of his plays wouldn’t sound;
like a one-lunged motorcycle putt-putting down the pike at full
throttle—with only an occasional backfire or miss when one of the
persons takes time out to breathe.
As I said early in this opus, I have never attended a Reading’
Aloud Hour. I can well imagine what it is like, though. Quite a
bedlam of sound and fury, most likely. But at that I think it W’ould
be far quiter than the reserve rooms with all the freshmen scraping
• around, and running up and down the aisle visiting and giggling.
Give me the satisfactory rumble of good literature.
I can just see the ghosts of Dante, Emerson, Spinoza, O’Neil'
(only he is very much alive so I will have to imagine very hard to
see his ghost), Kipling, emerging from their long confinements
within the musty dungeons of leather, or cloth, covers. Back and;
forth, across and back, upand down the room they go, shaking the
years from their shoulders like fine dry snow, once more to live,
once more to be really alive. All this because someone has had the
intelligent foresight to set aside an hour when students can come
in the library to read aloud.
In fact the more I think of the Reading Aloud Hour the more
enthusiastic I become. It is a very good idea—What?
(At this point in my efforts the editor, after reading this over
my shoulder, as I have told you before is his hobby, said, “You
dope, the Reading Aloud Hour is when someone reads aloud to a
group not when a whole cageful of you apes get to rave and rant
for an hour. Whattan oaf.’’ ’S'nother of my dreams shattered,
Well, it was a good idea for a while. I thing if about 25 of you wrho
have become interested in my idea by now would say so, we could
go over some night and put on our own Reading Aloud Hour.)
weekend, and the chance to pub
licize the school to future stu
dents is lost. Junior Weekend
is widely publicized throughout
the state, but nevertheless the
foregoing a r g u m e n t has its
points, inasmuch as the colorful
events of the weeknd afford an
excellent opportunity to show
not only mothers but potential
W'cbfoots what goes on.
Christian Youth to
Bring Religious
Speaker Thursday
Young people of Lane county
will hold an interdenominational
Christian Youth rally tonight to
hear Kirby Page, noted author and
speaker. The rally is scheduled for
7:30 at the Christian church.
Page, who has spoken in more
than 300 colleges on religious and
social topics, will discuss “Relig
ious Resources for Personal and
Social Living.” He is also author
of a number of books, among
which are “Living Creatively,” and
“Must We Go to War?”
Following an organ prelude by
* Edwin Myrick, Bill Sutherland will
lead the group in singing "Are Ye
Able?” The Northwest Christian
college quartet will sing a special
number, and Howard Cole, State
Christian Endeavor president, will
lead in prayer. Page’s address will
be followed by a question period.
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