opinion
Yuletide blues
“What do you want for Christmas this year?” he
said during a commercial between football games.
“Christmas? We haven’t even eaten Thanksgiving
dinner yet!” I said, as I put the final touches on the
gravy for the thankful dinner.
Setting the table I heard what had triggered his
Christmas spirit outburst.
Christmas jingles, announcers telling us that if we
haven’t done our shopping yet, we’re pushing it, and
pictures of snow and Christmas trees filled the
screen of the tube.
A newscaster told us that consumers are pickier
this Christmas than before. They are buying less
items, but spending more money on the ones they
choose.
Pickier? How does he know? It’s only
Thanksgiving! Surely not everyone has done their
Christmas shopping so soon! Am I the only one who
still has to shop? Wil I be able to get what I want?
No, I won’t let it happen to me. They’re trying to
get to me. They have the sickness and they’re trying
to give it to me! Then it hit me - does Santa have
commercialism, too? No, that can’t be.
I went to a department store to buy a birthday
present for my sister. Christmas songs were playing
and synthetic snow lined the isles. I paid for the gift
and the salesperson announced that it was great that
I was shopping so early.
“Early for what?” I said. “This is a birthday present
for my sister.”
“Oh, that’s too bad,” she said. “Don’t wait too
long, everything is already being picked over. Merry
Christmas!”
I left the store with an uneasy feeling. But, I
wouldn’t let them get me.
I wrapped the package and took it to the post of­
fice. The lines of people holding packages and let­
ters were long. Finally 1 reached the window. The
postal representative wished me a Merry Christmas
and told me that it was a good thing I mailed my
package now, otherwise it may not reach its
destination until after Christmas.
I was stunned. Everyone has the sickness.,
I walked across the street in a stupor. Santa Claus
was waiting for me in front of another department
store. He handed me a candy cane.
“Me-e-ery Chri-i-istmas,” Santa said. “Me-e-ery
Chri-i-istmas!”
“Merry Christmas, Santa,” I said. “Merry Christ­
mas.” CB
feedback
Mural facts
To the Editor:
Re: Your item in Nov. 15
issue, entitled “Mural to
Brighten Library,” these facts
are the background for the
“donations.”
In September 1973 a class
was offered in Rose Villa on
“Writing Family History,” by
Clackamas Community
College Division of Community
Education,
under
Mrs.
Elizabeth Ryan, a professional
writer.
The teacher became im­
pressed by the true stories
coming from the class of life in
past years. Each term new
members joined the class,
many from outside the Villa.
Writer friends encouraged the
thought of a book to be
published.
In November 1977 an
organization was formed, of-
ficers were selected, and
inquiries were sent to possible
publishers and contact was
made with Charles Rooks * an
industrial printer who agreed to
prepare a book for $2,630.
Thirty stories were chosen,
edited and prepared. The
College furnished 2,000 flyers
and letters were written to
libraries
and
colleges
throughout the country.
A careful copyright was
planned whereby the rights to
individual stories would remain
with the writers, but any
proceeds from the book would
be given to the College for
creative projects.
One thousand books were
delivered in May and orders
began to arrive. In July all ex­
penses were paid and the Rose
Villa Bank opened an account
for “Leaves.” With orders con­
tinuing to arrive, Mrs. Ryan
contacted Bill Anton, College
Development Officer, to plan
for the use of the fund. Now a
mural of Clackamas County
History is being planned.
Elisabeth Donaldson
Secretary, “Leaves From
Family Trees”
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guest shot
Men-talk
By Milt Freudenheim
(from the Oregonian,
February 26, 1978)
Men, not women, do most
of the talking and especially the
interrupting in middle-class
white America, a series of
studies by sociologists has
found.
“The old saw has it that
women talk too much. But
what research there is shows
that women talk less often
when men are present,” says
Prof . Barbara Bate of Northern
Illinois University.
Professors Candace West
and Don H. Zimmerman
recorded male-female conver­
sations in coffee shops, drug
stores and private homes in a
California university town.
They found that “46 out of 48
interruptions were made by
males to females.”
“In every conversation, the
male interrupted the female
more frequently than vice-
versa,” report Ms. West, now
at Florida State University, and
Zimmerman, of the University
of California, Santa Barbara.
“Females showed a greater
tendency toward silence,” they
said. This was especially true
after the men had interrupted
them-96 percent of the time in
West-Zimmerman sample.
In another study they
suggest that male-to-female
talk often resembles the high­
handed conversation style
adults use with children.
Another sociologist, Erving
Goffman, sees children being
treated conversationally as
“nonpersons.” Their status in a
conversation depends on
adults deigning to listen, and
they can be turned off or
ignored at will.
“We take the view that the
use of interruptions by males is
a display of dominance or con­
trol to the female (and to any
witnesses), just as the parent’s
interruption communicates an
aspect of parental control to the
child,” West and Zimmerman
write in the scholarly journal,
“Social Problems.”
Northwestern University
Professor Arlene Daniels,
editor of the publication, says
this type
of
“women’s
movement
research
has
revealed a lot about the real
divisions of power in our
society. It shows the ways in
which women through overt
discrimination and informal
gestures, even friendly ones,
are made to feel their subor­
dinate status.”
“Language reflects power,”
agrees Sharon Veach, co­
editor of Women & Language
News, published at Stanford
University.
Another way of using
language to reflect power is by
calling a person by his or her
first
name,
Harvard
psychologbist-linquist Roger
Brown has noted. First-naming
someone who replies using a
respectful title amounts to a
reminder of who is boss.
“Women are first-named
much more often than men,”
says Professor Barrie Thorne,
Michigan State University
Sociologist. “This is compoun­
ded by their subordinate
positions, as secretaries and the
like, in the work force. But it'
also happens with men and
women in the same job. For
example, I am first-named
much more than the men here.
They are all ‘Dr. So-and-l
You also can notice it on!
talk shows, Johnny Cai
and so forth.”
She cited a study]
sociologist Pamela Fishn
describing how men contn
conversation. “Men havi
more obtrusive listening st
They say ‘Right’ and 'E
which gives them an opj
tunity to interrupt, wl
women are more circumspi
Women say ‘mm-hmmiti]
nod their heads or keep siler
Professor Cheris Kramei
the University of Illinois spe
department says that o)
dominance of television nj
and other public forums n
account for the fears so
women feel about speak
out. One example: won
who are terrified to speak!
class.
Professor Nancy Henley]
author with Thorne of the M
“Language and Sex: Dm
ence and Dominance, ”hasf
tended her studies beyoi
language to what are call
“nonsymbolic gestures
Examples include tone
voice, touching, eye contact!
In her book “Body Wlia
she notes that men let tn
gaze travel over womel
bodies, while women learn
avert their eyes. Men ton
women in public, patting W
But if women reciprocal
initiating eye contact]
touching, this is read.bymei|
a gesture of sexual invitation]
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Clackamas Community Colled
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