4
THE GRANTONIAN
November 21, 1969
Editorials
Exchange teacher from Russia visits;
answers questions about USSR life
by Martha Ojard
Gangsters not sent into oblivion! 'Sir Gawain'
'living in Chicago Southside, ’ say students
Sir Gawain, is alive and living in the
Chicago Southside! The “great silver
screen” has not sent the 1930’s gangsters
into oblivion! James Conover’s English
Lit students hand in a joint term pro
ject.
Big G Meets the Derby, a ten-minute,
silent, 8mm, full color feature film of
1930 gangster type was produced as a
transition from Sir Gawain and the
Green Knight, a 14th century didactic
romance familiar to most seniors.
THE STORY is sparked with violence,
adventure, suspense, lust, seduction, re
sistance and religion, practically simul
taneously. Evidently the makers felt it
deserved the self-inflicted “X” rating.
Allen Mayberry, Mark Borquist and
Evan Whipple portrayed, consecutively,
Big G, Bad Bert (alias the Derby) and
The Priest. Completing the cast were
five “thugs”: Gerry Reese, Doug Board
man, Dave Grosz, Terry Owens and Pat
Doyle.
FINISHING THE nine was Don John
son, official cameraman. Rocky Menashe
also lent her talents as “The Gay Lady.”
The whole scheme took five weeks to
carry out. It began with the idea of
simply rewriting the epic into more mod
ern English. Then the more original pro
cedure was brought about on suggestion
of Allen and Gerry.
AFTER MUCH planning in and out of
class, actual filming was ready to begin.
The company traveled to such on-lo,ca
tion sets as the railroad tracks under
42nd Ave. at Lombard and a drive
through North Portland (representing
Chicago Southside).
Seven hours of film splicing followed,
with the selection of appropriate musi
cal accompaniment, which was then
taped.
Premier showing were last Friday at
which time Dr. Roy O. Malo authorized
new film allowance to the students for
possible future productions. According to
the group, they’re ready to start again—
this time with a little more knowledge
of what they’re doing.
Mr. Conover is encouraging them
along also. He was “extremely pleased”
with the project.
Generally Speaking
by Gary Cogill
Recently a black member of our var
sity football team injured his leg very
badly in a daily practice. He was taken
immediately to a hospital in the Portland
area to get aid, and the bills began to
moimt. His name is Terry Phillips.
IT WAS then brought up among the
coaching staff and various members of
the faculty, not to mention the players,
that a collection be started to help pay
for some of these bills. Money then came
pouring in and the bills began to look
smaller and smaller.
A lesson may be learned from all of
this. Whether it be the idea of charity or
helping people in a time of difficulties.
THERE IS one thing that is tremen
dous about all of this, and that is that re
gardless of the person’s color, money* was
raised to help him. Not only by black
students but by white students also, and
it is vitally important that people feel
this way when our world is in such an
uproar. It is tremendous that people can
throw out all forms of prejudice and con
centrate on getting something done that
is worthwhile. Self is sometimes very
important, but many times the security
of others outdoes the importance of self.
A big hand may be given to these few
who have thrown out thejir ideas of
being prejudiced. Thfey should be com-
mended for making others see their way
in stopping forms of racial disorder in
the world.
Grant High School may only be a
small incident in many incidents around
the country that has showed some prom
ise towards making peace among people
who feel that color of skin is a barrier.
Terry is at the county hospital; he
would welcome all visitors.
“Zrastvweetchye Kak Wee poszeveye-
tye?" asKed Mrs. Victoria Georgievna
Annikova, a Muscovite English teacher
who is visiting American schools.
MRS. ANNIKOVA was selected to be a
member of a group of Russian teachers
being “exchanged” with American Rus
sian teachers for two months. “I don’t
know why I was chosen, though,” she
commented. The exchange is sponsored
by the American Friends Service Com
mission. She will be in Portland three
weeks, then she goes to Philadelphia,
New York, and Washington. Her visita
tion began in Cambridge, at a private
school—Brown and Nichols, which is an
all-boys’ school. “There was only one
other woman teacher there, besides my
self,” she reminisced.
When asked if she liked America, she
replied, “Yes, it is just as I had expected.
I had read a lot of books about it before
I came, and they prepared me. But of
course, people are people everywhere;
Americans don’t really differ from Rus
sians.”
SHE CONTINUED to say that Moscow
and Portland were different, as far as
population and building construction
goes. “There are 7 million people in Mos
cow. Our buildings are long and tall; I
live in a block long, 9-story high apart
ment building, on the ninth floor,” she
elaborated.
When asked to comment on the differ
ences and similarities of Russian and
American schools, and Russian and
American teenagers, she said that Rus
sian students “all wear uniforms. The
girls wear brown dresses, a white collar
and cuffs, and white aprons. The boys
wear gray slacks and blue jackets. Oui
teenagers like both classical and modern
music. They also like to travel. Even in
winter, they go camping or hiking. They
take tents, knapsacks and guitars, and
travel.”
IN RUSSIA, students usually begin to
learn a foreign language, in this case,
usually English, when they are 8, if they
are in a “special school.” In a “normal
school” foreign tongues are taught at 11.
Instead of grades, Russian students re
ceive “marks”: the highest mark is a
“5,” the lowest is a “1.”
Late News Bulletin . . . [
Tana Marrs and Larry Wheeler have
been nominated to represent National
Honor Society’s local chapter in national
competition for NHS scholarships. The
two were selected Wednesday morning
at a special meeting of NHS. They now
qualify to be colnpared with other
NHS’ers on a national level.
If selected nationally, they will receive
an NHS scholarship for $1,000. One hun
dred seventy-five such scholarships will
be awarded to NHS seniors who fulfill
four areas of achievement: leadership,
scholarship, character, and service.
“All forms must be returned to the
Scholarship service by December 10,”
Mrs. Elva Newcomer counselor and NHS
advisor, explained. “Both of our nom
inees will participate, but their eligibility
does not guarantee that a scholarship
will be awarded,” she concluded.
Letters to the Editor
Editor, The Grantonian:
In last Thursday’s assembly, 11/13/69,
the conduct of the Grant High student
body was thoroughly disappointing.
Some of the students talked during the
playing of the national anthem. Others
showed disrespect for the speakers by
visiting, doing school work, and sleep
ing.
Grant has been a great school not only
because of its outstanding athletic teams,
but for its music, drama, academic
achievements, and, as noted, especially in
this assembly, for its nationally recog
nized forensics program.
We think it is too bad that the student
body generally has to be so crude in
assembly conduct. Surely the great tra
ditions we have inherited and hope to
pass on to other students demands a
greater degree of sophistication than we
showed in our last assembly.
Anne Gerber
Kathy Murray
Marty Roberts
Harriet Diver
Barbara Kelley
“ALL EDUCATION is free,” she em
phasized. “There is no tuition or expense
for school—in fact, some college students
receive a stipend from the govern
ment. My daughter receives 11 rubles a
month.”
Continuing to elaborate on Russian
schools, she commented: “The students
do not choose subjects. They must take
everything we have outlined for them—
everything is essential. Because of this,
by the time they are through high school,
they are capable of entering any univer
sity in Russia. But to enter college, en
trance exams must be taken: only these
are used in deciding upon admissibility
of a student.”
AVERAGE CLASSES are usually
made up of 38 or 39 pupils. If English
classes are begun at 8 years of age, that
class is split into three sections, with
8-10 students in each division.
“There is a lot of hunting and fishing
in Russia,” Mrs. Annikova explained.
“And people travel abroad more. This is
my first trip abroad, but my husband has
been to many foreign countries.”
SHE DENIED any drug problem in
Russia—“there is none at all.” .She was
also asked about reactions to the Ameri
can VietNam Moratorium and she an
nounced, “There are no demonstrations
against our government because we elect
our government. We can write our gov
ernment about our grievances — we get
an answer, ft is. illogical to protest
against people we elect to government.”
She asserted that there is freedom of
press and speech in Russia. “It was im
possible for me to undertand your tele
vision movies . . . because of the com
mercials. We never interrupt our pro
grams. At first, I couldn’t tell whether
the commercial was part of the movie or
not!’L
Miss Illona Zakovics, German and Rus
sian teacher, later enlarged upon Mrs.
Annikova’s replies. “The T.V. is con
trolled by the government. It is only
available for several hours a day—
perhaps one-two hours in the morning,
and one-two hours in the evening. It is
usually political or maybe educational.
It’s party-run, and usually all slanted.”
One interesting aspect of Russian life
is the requirement for obtaining a driv
er’s license. “One must be able to take
apart and put together a car motor.”
Upon seeing quizzical looks, Mrs. Anni
kova smiled and said, “Oh no, only my
husband has a driver’s license. The tests
are very complex.”
Mrs. Annikova concluded her remarks
about Russia with a typical Russian
phrase—“Dusveedanya!—‘Goodby!’”
Miss Zakovics also added, later, that
she “was embarrased to let her see our
cafeteria. I walked out the other way so
she wouldn’t see too much. We walked
through Jello in the halls and I won
dered ‘What if she slips and breaks her
leg?’ I could just hear her explanation—
‘Oh, I slipped on some Jello in America
at one of their high schools!’ ”
Published weekly by the advanced
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Vol. 76, No. 10 — November 21, 1969
Editor ............................. Martha Ojàrd
Page 1 Editor........... Margaret Hadden
Page 2 Editor ..........Mary Ann Hutton
Page 3 Editor ................... Gary Cogill
Page 4 Editor........... ..... Jenni Raies
Reporters............... Sue Gottsch, Chris
Hawes, Steve Johnson, Kathi Rob
inson, JeanTaylor.
Entertainment
Editor.......... J....... Mary Ann Hutton
Advertising Manager....... Sue Gottsch
Business Manager............................Sue Gottsch
Circulation............... Neil d’Autremont
Advisor.......................
Willard Mohn