4________ THE GRANTONIAN________ November 8, 1968 Editorials y Supreme iacn^ce in They came as freshmen, meek and young, walked the halls with hun­ dreds of other students, and graduated with hope and future plans in mind. B.T. 3rd Thomas L. Cogill, U.S. Navy; Lance Corporal Gerald G. Ded- more, U.S. Marines;-Corporal William E. Irwin, U.S. Navy; Lance Cor­ poral Stephen M. Krinke, U.S. Marine Corps; Specialist 4 Dwayne C. Mc­ Clure, U.S. Army; Corporal Steven J. Miner, U.S. Army; Lance Corporal Merrick R. Pierce, U.S. Marine Corps; and Sergeant Kenneth L. Thomas, U.S. Army. These eight were patriotic Grantonians, not because they died for their country, but because they fought for their country and its beliefs, and died in the process. No material thing can ever take the place of eight human lives, but a living memorial is more than fitting. The organ, purchased in the memory of the eight Viet Nam war dead servicemen will be paid for through contributions by friends, and family of the dead, and by faculty members and students. Individual contribu­ tions should be made through the Grant High School Memorial Organ Fund. With each note played on the Memorial Organ, whether it be Veteran’s Day, or Christmas, thoughts of these men who made the supreme sacrifice, and thoughts of those who yet may do so for their country, will go with us, and with all those others who hear and see, the living memorial to the gallant dead. 'Unite black and white people’ discussion topic “If you do not discuss the problems of the black and white relationships,” com­ mented Junior Johnson, “you will never have a united black and white commu­ nity.” TAKING THIS into consideration, a meetiiig was held for all interested stu­ dents who had questions or ideas about the problem. “Unite black and white people” was the topic used for discus­ sion. Mr. Johnson and English teacher Thomas Neilson were the moderators for the discussion. Students and teachers could attend the discussion if they so desired. If a student had a class and wanted to come to the meeting, it was up to that student to get excused. Neither teacher in charge of the discussion wrote out excuses, and if the student received a cut slip for the par­ ticular class, it was up to him to clear it. “WHY DO YOU RIOT,” and “Why are you so loud in the halls?” were a few of the questions asked of the Negroes. “We are loud because it is our way of having fun,” was one answer. “When the black people bum down their own. area, the white man will build it up again,” was another answer. Another comment was, “They say they will build things, but they never say when.” “I THINK IT WAS a good idea to have this meeting as an open discussion,” said Doug Mackie. “It should be done more often. It might help in one way or the other.” If these discussions are continued, it ^Jhe (jrantonian Published weekly by the advanced jour­ nalism class of Ulysses S. Grant high school, room 203, 2245 N.E. 36th Avenue, Portland, Oregon 97212. Phone 288-5975. Printed by Modern Typesetting company with a circulation of 3200. Second class postage paid at Portland, Ore. Subscrip­ tion cost $2.00 per year. Vol. 73, No. 9 — November 8, 1968 Editor .......................................Jan Kelley Page 1 editor........... ......... June Ammon Page 2 editor................. .Marlene Feves Page 3 editor................. Bruce Fishback Page 4 editor ................... Martha Ojard Reporters........Debby Liesch, Katherine McGregor, Kathi Robinson, Lisa Rose, Debbie Rovech, Gary Cogill Photographer .........Joyce DeMonnin Advertising Manager ... . Kathy Walton Circulation Manager ..Kathy McGregor Circulation Staff ... . Margaret Hadden, Mary Ann Hutton Advisor................... ........... Willard Mohn is hoped that the auditorium will be available, so that more people will be able to attend. “I THINK we should keep having these open panel discussions,” asserted Junior Johnson. “It will bring our white and black students .closer together. I feel that it will put an end to almost all of the racial problems at Grant.” An outside speaker from Washington University discussed the purpose of the Black Panthers organization. He ex­ plained that the main purpose of this group is to keep, and have, self-protec- tion in the community in which they live. VARIOUS IDEAS and comments were raised .concerning his statements. “I think that they were too militant about the whole thing,” said Elise Anfield. “They believe in rioting in their own area, and believe that the white man will come in and build it back up.” “I feel that the Black Panthers are just a young police force,” asserted Di­ ane Wagner. “If they see someone in trouble they will try to help them no matter what color they are. I think that by having these sessions, it will clear up a lot of unanswered questions. They should have them announced ahead of time so more students can participate, and also—more space is needed.” OTHER STUDENTS that participated in the discussion felt that it was worth­ while, and that more should be held. The participants did not seem to be afraid to ask the questions that bothered them, and the students gave direct an­ swers. Some students felt that these dis­ cussions will not end the racial prob­ lems at Grant. No matter where you go, they say, there will be prejudice. Another step that might be taken is to bring Negro History classes together and have them discuss the past and future problems of the black and white rela­ tionships. “This would probably give a better understanding to the students,” com­ mented Diane. “They will realize that both groups of people must meet each other half way.” “It is my sincere hope that these ses­ sions will be continued, and that maybe some of our racial problems can be un­ derstood,” concluded Junior Johnson. Student ’relevance poll’ nets varied reactions Recently, Edward Basaraba, English teacher, conducted a poll among his sen­ ior English classes, concerning the rele­ vance of the English curriculum to stu­ dents. One hundred eleven responded, thirteen were absent. “WELL, MR. BASARABA, it (refer­ ring to class discussion concerning pos­ sibilities of change), didn’t do much good, ’cause if ya want to know the truth, you are kind of set in your ways, no offense, you can’t help it, you are get­ ting older, and the older a person gets, the more set he is. Don’t feel too bad though, it’s a bummer to be down.” “I think that we may not be inter­ ested in the books that are assigned to us, but I am sure that the school board has found something in them that they think would help us. After all, we are here to learn from others, not to say what we want to learn.” “ADD A FEW books by contemporary Letters to the Editor To The Editor: I just read your article entitled POLL REVEALS DRESS CODE UNREAD; CHANGES WANTED ... and complete­ ly freaked when I got to the part which read: “Concerning the question, ‘Does long hair interfere with a student’s learn­ ing?’ 371 students said it did.” I just wish to warn all of the girls with long hair that if they want to learn anything this year, they’d better cut it off now, before it’s too late. That must also apply to our foreign exchange stu­ dents (who must’ve had a little more up there academically in order to qualify for the AFS program). Regan C. (Excuse me, Regan, for condemning you!) who, if I’m not mistaken, has carried a 4.0 GPA for the past few years; Janet Jump, last year 4.0 . . . and Kanta Mirchandi, from the year before .. . etc. . Oh, I’m sorry. You 371 students may be referring to the guys only. Since when have ears been a major difference of the sexes? I think I’ve made my point clear as to my opinion of the ridiculous statements expressed by these students. And I’d ap­ preciate if any of you 371 would show the courage to come up to me and de­ fend your viewpoints. (I’ll even put my hair behind my ears to hear you better!) Thank you, Debby Rengo To the Editor: I feel that the Memorial Assembly on the morning of November 6 was the best ever conducted at Grant. The student body behaved in such a way as to be commended. The moment the color guard entered, a hush came over the room. Thank you, Cathi Block, Linda Donin authors. . . . But I think we should also do the required because many of the students . . . are college bound and will probably be held responsible for the ma­ terial ...” About forty-five of the total had this “Keep some—change some” opinion. “Let’s do what we did yesterday, (re­ ferring to the discussions) more often. The greatest feeling in the world is go­ ing through the day knowing that we didn’t do English in English.” “FIRST OFF, when I was younger, I loved English, but when I moved to Port­ land, I lost all interest completely. . . . Patterns of English didn’t make any sense. I can’t remember now what it was even about, except that a noun was a ‘1’ and a verb a ‘2’, etc. My sophomore year we went into the history of the English language. . . . That was more boring than anything on the face of the earth. I hated it with a passion. When the teacher was absent or late, I felt like jumping up and down for joy. The whole thing was a burden; I felt just swamped by it and would’ve done anything to escape it. At the same time there was . . . the thick book of A Tale of Two Cities. I didn’t care if I passed or failed.” “. . . The classics give ideas that are prevalent to any age. This is why . . . they’ve lasted. . . . You can’t just com­ pletely throw out the classics and jump into the contemporary—our environment requires the two ...” Four of the students polled were in­ different and twenty-eight advocated change.