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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 10, 1951)
A Search for a Certain Type--The College otudenl Typical Oregon student? Is that man in the Oregon Hall doorway typical? Or the coed with the per plexed expression . . . does she fall into this category? Tajic a look at the fellow sitting next to you in that 9 o’clock class, or consider the girl across the hall in your house. And then read the editorial feature at the right, and draw your own conclusions. THE BUCHWACH LETTER TO THE GODS (There’s only one way to keep rain from this Oregon campus on the weekend ahead. The formula was discovered on May 6, 1941, and It has worked ever since. It’s simple. All that’s necessary is the printing of this editorial a day or two hi advance. Aaron “Buck” Buchwach wrote the plea ten years ago when he was an Emerald staffer. And who are we to break the ten-year tradition. May it work once more.) When the occasion demands, and in truth it has on numer ous occasions, the Portland Oregonian and Oregon Journal have resorted to their editorial columns in an attempt to influ ence weather conditions. Now there is no exact procedure for a journalist to follow when he is begging for rain for poor farmers gazing at the sky with parched throats, for verily, it takes a combination of sub tle demanding, varied pleading, and good-natured hoping to achieve such desired results. The Emerald, although of course it adolescently blushes when compared to such time-honored organs as the Oregonian and Journal, is driven to adopt such tactics, however, by Jupe Pluvius, that old gentleman who loves the Oregon country so well and so much that he delights in spraying it often and thoroughly . . . especially when asked to by the Portland pa pers. Please, Mr. Jupe, Visit Elsewhere Btrt now, Mr. PIuvius, the Emerald asks you politely, but firmly, to shift your schedule in such a manner so as not to spoil our Junior Weekend ... t lie tanners nave naa their misty blessings, and the Oregonian and the Journal have received their just due, and the city pavements, too, are wash ed clean by the sweet Oregon mist. What the University asks now is for you, Mr. Pluvius, to rest on your laurels for awhile, and visit someone else. There is a reason to believe that you intend to scare us a bit. In fact, you have. The rain clouds have washed our base ball teams hither and yon, our track meets have been held in semi-wintry weather, and our golf and tennis teams have been forced to completely abandon their frolicking. But please, Mr. Pluvius (or Jupe, for we know you but too well), don’t come around with your clouds and your tricks . . . Our Moms will be down for the weekend festivities, and for sooth—-they will be attired in their springiest of spring outfits, and their hats will be of the kind to bring male smiles. But we want to take them to the campus luncheon to see the queen and her court of beautiful princesses crowned, and my goodness how the raindrops do raise havoc with even a proud mother's finest apparel. Pluvius, but not even they will praise you with much more honest enthusiasm and open-mouthed admiration if you will but take your vacation. And if you have to take that storm which is declared by some pessimistic meteorologists to be coming from out of Newport way somewhere, perchance you could deposit it at Stanforo, California, or even USC. Just for the weekend, you understand. We want you as our permanent resident up here in Oregon, Jupe, to freshen our flowers, to clean our streets, and to keep our soil rich and red,. But not Junior Weekend, please. We'll Admire You And Give Praise The Portland papers have more im portant advertisers, and have more influence; perchance, Mr. Jupiter In A Smog with Norm Anderson It was called to the writer’s at tention just the other day that 30 years ago this year the "Roaring Twenties" were just beginning to roar. President Harding was in the middle of the stream having h's boat rocked by his friends (much as one of his successors is doing today ), and the era of the “Flam ing Youth,” was hitching up its skirts, putting a flask of gin in a hip pocket, and setting out on the wildest joyride of all time. If one can remember—and around here there are a few pro fessors and their wtve* who will blush In remembering—‘life" with all the evil connotations therein, W'as getting looked at from a new angle. One of the most interesting facets of this period was the new attitude toward marriage and di vorce. One boomer of the day put it pretty frankly. When queried as to why she had married a guy she didn’t care for, she answered: "Well I can get a divorce. After all it’s better to be a gay divorcee than a frustrated old maid.” Those of us who know the po tentialities of an automobile will be more than a little amazed at the attitude taken by the older generation when the closed car became popular about 1921 or 22. One minister, who viewed the ris ing delinquency rate and the au tomobile as synonymous, said that the car had taken the place of the red light district. And typical of women since Helen of Troy, liquor didn’t be come popular until it became hard to get. Just before prohibi tion went into effect, the hus band still went down to the sa loon for a nip, but more than likely a few wives also went down. After Prohibition, it was worse, or better, depending on how you looked at It. The peculiar thing about all this is that the "Roaring Twen ties" was a period in which a younger generation set the moral standard of a whole way of life, and the younger generation of the twenties is the older genera tion of the fifties. What happen ed to the “flaming youth” in that thirty-year period? l! you're ;i typical University of Oregon student, step b ward please. We’ve been looking for you. j A letter came the other day a>l<iiiK; for pictures and w< about ( )regon’s typical student. Some kind of a contest. I’ri/. to be awarded. So we sat down and listed < hegoti men and women we h known and noticed for the last three years. We remember distinguishing characteristics, little eccentricities unique on to the student . . . maybe unique only to the Oregon tuden And we wrote them down. THE BAGGIER HIS PANTS, the greater his intellect. Y< meet him in English and philosophy courses. His age? You m er know quite how old he is, hut you do know that despite me. ocre grades, his mind is more shrewd than many a Senior Si er's. Lone nights when others read tests, he digests novels at hooks which strike his fancy. You can’t help hut wonder what this guy is going to do. No ing would he surprising—fame or failure. Doesn't main Somehow you're glad you ve nut hint. CALL THIS ONE “CONSISTENCY.” If he lias an asd: ment due Monday, it's in Monday. If a date is to he picket! at 8, she’s not waiting at 8:30. His grades are slightly higher than average, lie's a'Tit! the hasehall game and hoop series. He reads the ncwspapH but cares not a hoot for campus activities. This is the backbone of the campus—the part of the cun below the superiors and above the failures. His major migi he business or education or journalism, and no matter what I tackles after graduation, he’ll do all right. He always has. IN A CO-ED SCHOOL, these two characters both h.r their feminine counterparts. But there's one woman equalli by no male. She's the gtrl who would rather have a ring than diploma at the end of four years. It’s no secret. She came to college because she didn't want face the world right after high school. She really isn't inter* cd in her course of study. I he man interests her mo t. Then there are some of the off-campus students. You dot know much about them because the University i • only h; their lives. They walk into it at 8 a.m. and out at 5 p in. Son are active in religious groups, and a few have moved into fr tcrnitics and sororities, adopting the University a> a whole. AND THE MUCH MALIGNED activity people. A lev. rt in circles of meetings and plume calls because they have not ing else to do with that excess energy. A few arc genuinely i terested in improving the University. A few are straining at struggling for that great god Honorary. * * * * * * * * * * * * THE MARRIED STUDENT who works almost eig hours a day besides going to school. The unmarried studr who spends almost eight hours a day at Taylor's. The few v, men who pass so many minutes studying, studying, studyit for the all important A. The athlete, the wise guy with tin* barbed tongue, the ear pus beauty queen, the eager sophomore . . . the one twi'' r minds you of Sammy in Schulberg's "What Makes Saina Run ?", the nice kid who is fated to dunking out. * + * THE LIST GREW AND GREW. Every person we remembered was a type un*i him dt W couldn't even lump two students into one category. I low w "ti we ever find “typical”? We didn't. We only found a fact. And to the writer of the letter—you know, the letter nboi the contest and the prizes—we mailed that fact in one slio sentence: “The persons you refer to as ‘typical college students a non existent.” The Oiiooa Dmlt F.mmau published Monday through Friday during the co',*‘“5. - •KWbpt Oct. 30; Dec. 5 through Jat». 3; Mar 6 through 28; May 7; Nov. 22 throvHjh • after May 24. with isues on Nov. 4 and May 12, by tne A**ociaN*i Students of the • •f Oreatm. Entered aa second class matter at the posloftice, Eugene, Oregon. .SuW-cr i rates: $5 per school year; *2 per term. Opinions expressed on the editorial page are those cf the writer and do not l>r^t<n<' repres< nt the opinions of the ASTTO or of the Unhr«r«ity. Initialed editorials ar# wl the aasociate editors. Unsigned editorials are written by the editor. L_ Akita Hoi.uts, Editor Maktkl SctooofN, BusineM wan; Loiua Larson, Managing Editor Tom Kino, Ken Metzlek, Jackie Peitzkn, Associate Editors I Fean Neel, Advertising Manager