Volume XI—Number 14
CORNING COMMUNITY COLLEGE
January 28, 1972
Buckley Convo. Top Spring Event
Super Conservative To Speak April 27
By FRANK ANDERSON CRIER STAFF WRITER
William F. Buckley, called by many the nation’s foremost conservative, will appear at Corning College April 27 to deliver a convocation address in the College Field House. Buckley’s appearance will be the highlight of the events occurring at Corning for the coming semester.
Buckley, well known for his hosting role on television’s "Firing Line”, also writes a nationally syndicated column expounding the virtues of conservatism in politics. He is also editor of “National Review", a rightist weekly magazine. Buckley’s appearance is made possible by the efforts of the Arts and Convocation Committee of the college, who also will present in coming months James Restin, Jr.; Flo Kennedy; Gloria Steinem; and the Corning Philharmonic Orchestra.
Restin, a nationally famous writer, will speak at Corning on February 27, while Kennedy, an attorney, and Steinem, a journalist will appear jointly on April 20. All convocations will be delivered in the Field House at 1 p.m.
Other top semester events include Spring Weekend, in early May, and Brotherhood Days, set for February 21-25. Spring Week-
end, always the biggest social event of the semester, will offer top band entertainment along with various fun-type events to the students of Corning College. Brotherhood Days, the second annual this year, was a large success last year as an entire week was devoted to bridging racial gaps. This year’s version is planned to offer even more educational and social stimulus to the campus population.
A bevy of highly acclaimed films are on the docket for the semester. Included are such well known works as “Cool Hand Luke”, "The Illustrated Man”, “Joe”, “True Grit”, and “Casino Royale”. All films are presented in the Science Amphitheatre on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays at 8:15. Admission is generally free, although some higher priced films require a nominal entrance charge.
The Inter-Club Council’s Winter Weekend is scheduled for February 25, 26 and 27. This weekend, the joint effort of all campus clubs, will include a Keg-dance, a gymkhana and other social activities.
Blood banks, poetry readings, and no less than eight home sports events are also in store for an event-filled semester at Corning College. A complete schedule appears on page 3.
William F. Buckley, the nation’s foremost conservative, will deliver a convocation address on April 27 in the Corning College Field House. Editor of America’s conservative magazine “National Review” and television’s host of “Firing Line,” Buckley is unquestionably the spokesman of the politically conservative in the United States.
Crier photo courtesy of the Leader
What’s Inside	
and where to find it	
Spring Events Story		
Man of the Year			 Page 2
State of the Union Commentary .	
New Environmental Proposal ...	
Campus Activity Calendar		
Questions and Answers		
The Politics of Omission		
Crossword		
Scholarship Information		
College Money Crisis Solved .. -	
Campus Colloquy		
Editor’s Notes:
Man
of the
Year
Richard Nixon
He reached for a place in history by opening a dialogue with China, ending a quarter-century of vitriolic estrangement between two of the world’s major powers. He embarked upon a dazzling round of summitry that will culminate in odysseys to Peking and Moscow. He doggedly pursued his own slow timetable in withdrawing the nation’s combat troops from their longest and most humiliating war, largely damping domestic discord unparalleled in the U.S. in more than a century. He clamped Government controls on the economy, causing the most drastic federal interference with private enterprise since the Korean War. He devalued the dollar, after unilaterally ordering changes in monetary policy that sent shock waves through the world’s markets, and are leading to a badly needed fundamental reform of the international monetary machinery.
In doing all that—and doing it with a flair for secrecy and surprise that has marked his leadership as both refreshingly flexible and disconcertingly unpredictable — Richard Milhous Nixon, more than any other man or woman, dominated the world’s news in 1971. He was undeniably the Man of the Year.
“Imagination is more important than knowledge.” — Einstein
page 2
The Condition Our Condition Is In
by THOMAS MARTIN EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Richard Nixon, a prominent Republican who incidentally is the President of the United States, outlined last week what has been brought down in history to be called the “State of the Union”. In its pre-natal stages, this annual presidential address may have been accurately identified by the previously quoted phrase. But as America comes to age, and its presidents become more and more the high-powered executive, the “State of the Union” transgresses to what is now more of an annual report from the chairman-of-the-board. It condenses for the average, short-attention spanned American the general condition that our condition is in, into a jam-packed half hour. What has happened in the last year and what is going to happen, rather hopefully, in the year to come. Nixon, displaying an air of confidence and self-assuredness that he has heretofore lacked, delivered his analysis, or diagnosis, in a manner that suggested great leadership.
Nixon prescribed his own well-advised remedies for the “condition”. The following is a condensed look at the President’s address with comment.
On Politics:
Because this is an election year, many po-litical pressures will confront Congress, which must be resisted to show “high statesmanship”. Wishful thinking perhaps. Politicians concern themselves more with re-election than national welfare.
On the Economy:
The economic picture has brightened, but unemployment remains too high. New efforts will be made to achieve full employment in peace-time. The President’s wage-price controls are working well, but stability without control is his goal. 1972 will be a pivotal year toward that stability in this decade.
On Crime and Drug Abuse:
The rise in the crime rate is slowing but new programs are needed. Stronger steps will be taken to curb drug traffic and drug pushers. Although Nixon seems appropriately vague on this subject, it is nevertheless encouraging. Crime and drug abuse are high on the list of America’s concerns, and the President is aware of this.
On the Environment:
Although much environmental legislation has been proposed, little has been enacted, and "the need for action is urgent.” This is more or less a directive from the Chief Executive, calling for more legislative action on a plaguing issue. Has Dick joined Nadar’s Raiders?
On Foreign Affairs:
Going to Peking and Moscow with no illusions, but with hopes of expanding communication with the Communist countries so differences can be talked about instead of fought about. Nixon’s trip to the East is without doubt the most dramatic diplomatic effort in the last twenty-five years. His expectations are reservedly intelligent, and his intentions unreservedly hope-ful.
Mr. Nixon paints a very realistic picture of our condition and gives us at least the pacification needed to endure our maladies. With his imaginative leadership, it is not entirely unfeasible to foresee a productive year that initiates the action necessary to make America healthy once again. This is my opinion.
Two Birds...
by JAMES WILLIS MANAGING EDITOR
Two of America’s greatest problems are unemployment and pollution. There is a solution that can minimize or completely annihilate both of these curses that have plagued us considerably these past few years. This solution can also bring to an end the cheating that does exist within the welfare system.
The solution would be the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a public program subsidized by the federal government. The next step would be to eliminate all payments to welfare and unemployment recipients who are physically and mentally able to work. These people would then be entitled to work for the EPA at a pay rate equal to the benefits they were receiving under welfare and unemployment.
A branch of the EPA would be the Environmental Control Rangers (ECR), consisting of men and women who investigate any pollution violations and issue tickets to those concerned, much the same way we receive tickets for automobile infractions. An independent panel of judges would preside at hearings for law breakers. Fines would consist of a percentage of an industry’s previous year’s gross intake.
Working for the EPA as an office worker or a ranger at a minimum rate of pay would not appear too lucrative for many people and it may provide an incentive for those who are too damn lazy to work to go out and find a higher paying job. A majority of EPA workers would be out on the highways and byways cleaning up the litter, so it is my guess that they would be more than willing to report any violators they come across.
A conflict that would probably arise is that of jurisdiction rights between the EPA and the sanitation departments of our cities. If EPA workers were found doing the work of sanitation departments the various unions would cry bloody murder, particularly since the EPA would be restricted from joining a union. I do feel, however, that public opinion would be on the side of the EPA because most sanitation departments rarely do the work they are supposed to do and that they are usually tied up in a strike, leaving garbage to pile up in the streets.
For those people who are unwilling to work for the EPA, their benefits would be eliminated altogether because they would really be showing their worth. I fervently hope that some lonely congressman or senator, particularly one who is running for office, takes heed and pushes for legislative action with regards to this growing idea.
Full Fledged Member, Silent Majority
the Crier/January 28, 1972


Campus Activity Calendar
Spring ‘72
January
29	Basketball vs. Finger Lakes
8 PM Field House
February
3,6 Film, “Battle Ship Potempkin”
12 Wrestling vs. Auburn
13,14,15 Film, “The Sculptured Room”
17,20 Film, “Destiny”
17 Convocation, James Restin 19 Wrestling vs. Morrisville Basketball vs. Genesee 21-25 Brotherhood Days
23	Basketball vs. Mansfield
24	Blood Bank
25-27 ICC Winter Weekend
8:15 PM Sci. Amp. 2 PM Field House 8:15 PM Sci. Amp. 8:15 PM Sci. Amp. 1 PM, Field House 6 PM Field House 8 PM Field House On Campus 8 PM Field House 8 AM-6 PM Field House Commons
March
4 WAA Sports Day 5,6, 7 Film, “Joe”
9,12 Experimental Films
16,19 Film, “Lonely Are the Brave”
30	Easter Recess Begins, close of classes
Field House 8:15 PM Sci. Amp. 8:15 PM Sci. Amp. 8:15 PM Sci. Amp.
April
8:15 PM Sci. Amp.
2,3,4 Film, “The Fox”
10 Easter Recess terminates, classes resume 13,16 Film, ‘The Informer”	8:15 PM Sci. Amp.
16 Corning Philharmonic, Corning Glass Center
19	Lacrosse vs. Eisenhower	3 PM Soccer Field
20,23 Film, “Cool Hand Luke”	8:15 PM Sci. Amp.
20	Convocation, Flo Kennedy and Gloria Steinem
1 PM Field House
22 Lacrosse vs. Cobleskill 27,30 Film, "True Grit”
2 PM Soccer Field 8:15 PM Sci. Amp.
May
4 Poetry Reading 5,6,7 Spring Weekend 7,8,9 Film, “Illustrated Man” 11,14 Film, “Casino Royale”
11 CCC Chorus, “Spring Thing” 17 Last Day of Classes 19-25 Final Examinations
1 PM Commons Lounge On Campus 8:15 PM Sci. Amp. 8:15 PM Sci. Amp. 1 PM Field House
the Crier/January 28, 1972
page 3
Are you slick enough to discern the difference between manual labor and white collar back-stabbings ?
Remington
Rand
Wants
YOU.
Facilities Workshop
Joint effort of administration, faculty, students, architects, group process experts to uncover needs of Corning campus for renovation of old and construction of new facilities.
NEXT WORKSHOP February 18-19 YMCA, all day
Sick.
Self-righteous.
A credit to Coming. Intelligent.
Racist.
Objective.
New toy. Commendable.
These were just a few of the adjectives used to describe last semester’s Crier. Help us to eliminate the negatives. Work for the Crier.
Questions and Answers
Having given up ‘‘The Politics of Joy,” Hubert Humphrey has substituted “The Politics of Omission.” Certainly his announcement for President was most interesting not for what was said but for what was left unsaid. For example, HHH now says that if he had been elected in 1968 “we would be out of that war.” What he didn’t say is that if he and his party had been more cautious we most likely would never have been in the Vietnam war or any of the other three wars this century that his party involved us in. HHH now says that what is needed is "to put our house in order” and “to get our country moving again.” What he didn’t say Is that the last time things
were turned over to people talking this way the “house” was almost wrecked and the country very nearly brought to a halt. Commenting on Humphrey’s candidacy, the Washington Star noted editorially that HHH “continues to subscribe to the liberal cliches and programmatic ideas of years ago.” And why shouldn't he, he invented many of them.
The Politics of Omission
Editor’s Note: "Questions and Answers” is written in the interest of the students by Professor Joseph Oscsodal, and Dr. John Allen and Dr. Margaret Tich-ane, both gynecologists, to educate and inform potential par-ents.
Question: What social topic or personal concern is most prevalent among the conversational practices of college students?
Answer: Sex—sexual behavior!
Question: It is safe to assume then that college students are well informed about human sexual behavior?
Answer: NO. Even though this generation claims to be leading a sexual revolution in America —and in the world— it seems the illegitimacy and venereal disease epidemic is the least acknowledged and least discussed of the many social problems.
Question: Is that really true?
Answer: Yes. And the most surprising revelation is the amount of sheer sexual ignorance that still exists in this supposedly swinging, aware generation.
Numerous college and university surveys have shown an alarming lack of knowledge among both male and female students when it came to answering questions about their bodies, and how humans function psycho-sexually. The sudden increase of articles appearing in magazines, newspapers and journals that deal with the lack of sexual knowledge and understanding among today’s youth also attests to this. Just to mention two of these, one ap-
peared in Look Magazine, July
1970	issue entitled "What Kids Still Don’t Know About Sex, The Aware Generation Turns Out to be Surprisingly Ignorant,” by Thomas and Alice Fleming. Another article was printed in the Sunday New York Times, July
1971	entitled “What They Don't Know About Sex”, Andrew H. Malcolm.
Question: If this is really true, what can be done to close the wide gaps in young people’s knowledge about their sexual motives and even about the facts of reproduction?
Answer: It would be unfair and even impossible to identify just one causative factor. But there are a number of things that could be listed as means of alleviating the problem.
Question: What are they?
Answer: Sex Education, sex counseling, sex information columns, sex handbooks.
Question: How would these help, more specifically?
Answer: A growing number of colleges are offering courses on human sexuality. There are many educators who believe colleges have an important role to play in sex education, but not elementary instruction in the basic concepts of human reproduction, medicine and health care. This type of instruction should begin long before college age. College courses should cover different aspects of human relationships, male female sexuality and behavior, the family and love.
Sex counseling covering a wide range of behavioral problems is offered by more schools because of student pressure for it and because of the available leadership of young doctors.
Explicit sex handbooks have been prepared at many colleges and universities. They are gen-
erally published independently by student organizations, although not always official they are welcomed by the general college population as filling a real definite need.
Sex information columns written by doctors, counselors, faculty specialists in the area of human sexuality, and students are being published in a growing number of college newspapers. They usually handle sex questions, questions about the human body and its functioning and questions dealing with issues of male female relationships.
Question: What is the picture at CCC?
Answer: A number of printed surveys have been conducted on campus as parts of different courses of study the last few years, but no valid reliable summary of these was ever made. However, they along with informal sampling of knowledge about sexuality did indicate that CCC students are not any more knowledgeable than students at other colleges. But, there are definite indicators of needs to be met on this campus too.
The reason why many people do not realize the need to do more is that we do have a human sexuality course taught, (as a matter of fact we are one of the few two-year colleges that offer such a course) and we do have very good counseling services offered to our students.
We are also offering future sex information columns in the college paper with the hope that questions will be submitted to the Crier, and along with answers, periodic articles will be offered through this column.
Has Castro Gone Hardhat? Cuba’s Premier Castro dons hardhat in Chile on recent visit.	AP 	Wirephoto.
page 4
the Crier/January 28, 1972
CROSSWORD—By Eugene Sheffer
ACROSS
1. Vestment 4. Feminine name 8. Turkish coin
12.	Fish eggs
13.	Early garden
14.	Presently
15.	Mature
16.	Its capital is San Jose
18. American poet
20.	Perch
21.	Speech defect
24. French painter
28. Thrashed
32.	Facts
33.	High card
34.	Observes
36.	Decay
37.	Fastener
39. Form of
communi-
cation
41.-----code
43.	Network
44.	Also
46. Captured
50. Indispensable
55.	Constellation
56.	Masculine name
57.	Ripped
58.	Pinch
59.	American artist
60.	Single units
61.	golf mound DOWN
1. Semite
2.	Theater section
3.	Existed
4.	Arena division
5.	Fuss
6.	Thing (Law)
7.	Insects
8.	Separated
9.	Blackbird
10.	Arabian bird
11.	Literary collection
17. Assist
The Answer to this week’s crossword puzzle will be found on page 6.
19. Cloth measure 22. Speck
23 ______
O’Toole
25.	Indiana city
26.	Above
27.	Gratify
28.	Insect
29.	Skin disorder
30.	Slim
31.	Remove
35. Decides 38. Obvious 40. Beverage 42.-----
Chaney 45. Masculine name
47.	German philosopher
48 .------Canal
49.	Back of neck
50.	Wapiti
51.	Perceive
52.	Heir
53.	Electrified particle
54.	Land measure
Paper work stacks up for all men who procrastinate their efforts and sit idly while the world passes by. It is not enough to imagine great wonders or happenings; it is more than enough to create them.	Crier	photo	by Frank Anderson
1974 COULD FIND YOU JUST ANOTHER COLLEGE GRAD OR A JR. EXEC IN
MANAGEMENT.
If you’re a young man or woman with 2 academic years remaining either at the undergraduate or graduate level, you can apply for entry in the Air Force’s 2-year ROTC program, offered on college campuses all across the country. If you qualify, you’ll receive a $100 a month, nontaxable subsistence allowance. And on graduating, you’ll receive an officer’s commission in the Air Force. Also, this year, for the first time, the Air Force is offering hundreds of scholarships in the Air Force ROTC 2-year program paying full tuition; lab expenses; incidental fees; a textbook allowance and the same $100 each month, tax free. For more information, mail in the coupon today. Or, call 800-631-1972 toll free." Enroll in the Air Force ROTC, and get your future off the ground.	'In	New	Jersey	calf	800-962-2803.
U.S. AIR FORCE RECRUITING SERVICE DIRECTORATE OF ADVERTISING (APV)
RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE. TEXAS 78148
Please send me more information on Air Force ROTC 2-year program.
2-J-22
Name—
-Date of Birth-
_Sex_
Address-
City__________________
Date of Graduation-
-State-
_Zip_
. College.
I understand there is no obligation.
Find yourself a scholarship in Air Force ROTC.
Dietetic Group Offers $$
The New York State Dietetic Association awards an annual scholarship of $500 to a New York State two year college graduate of a course in Food Management. The graduate must have been accepted as a full time student in a Department of Home Economics or Food Administration at an accredited college or university in which it is possible to meet the academic requirements of the American Dietetic Association.
Selection of the award winner is based on scholastic record, ap-
DROP
INN
If you’re lonely, depressed or would like to talk to someone who cares, call 962-6806 or visit
DROP INN
56 E. Market St.
7 Days a Week—8 P.M.-3 A.M. 
................
titude, and interest in the dietetic profession, personality traits, leadership qualities and financial need.
The following credentials should be sent to the State Scholarship Chairman:
1.	Completed application blank.
2.	Official transcript of college credits.
3.	Three letters of recommendation, one from each of the following:
Your college advisor Faculty member familiar with your work Former employer, if possible, or another faculty member
4.	Letter of application which includes your work experience, your professional goals, and statement of your financial need. If parents confidential statement is filed, please request copy to be sent to the scholarship committee.
the Crier/January 28, 1972
Battleship
Potempkin
A film for all time
FEBRUARY 3 and 6 8:15 P.M. SCIENCE AMPHITHEATRE
page 5
College Money Crisis Solved
State Aid Brings In $373,000
The financial "crisis period” facing Corning Community College concerning the borrowing of operating funds will be delayed because of receipt of a portion of state aid.
Dean of Administration and chief financial officer Thomas L. McDonald told the college’s board of trustees Friday that receipt of some $373,000 in state aid will enable the college to pay operating expenses at least through April.
At a meeting in December, McDonald explained that delay in receiving state aid and chargebacks from surrounding counties might make it necessary to borrow funds by March.
The borrowing would have to be done by the Coming-Painted Post Area School District, the college’s sponsor.
Much of the source of college finances are based on individual student tuitions, chargebacks to
the home counties of the students, and state aid.
McDonald said that counties probably won’t pay chargebacks until they are due, 60 days after billing, and the state’s own financial problems have made it necessary to delay distribution of state aid.
Any money that is eventually borrowed, it has been stressed, will be paid back by the college, not the school district.
In a financial report to the board at the Baron Steuben Hotel Friday at noon, McDonald said the college has a cash balance of $925,000 which is only slightly less than the 1970 figure of $934,-
000	at the same period of time in the school year.
The cash balance is in four per cent interest drawing savings accounts, McDonald said.
He also noted that tuition collections seem to be improving
each year.
Arthur Worster, chairman of the board’s facilities committee, reported work is 95 per cent complete on the three-unit maintenance facility being built on the Spencer Hill campus, and that the maintenance staff is starting to inventory and move into the buildings.
It was pointed out that final payments on the structure won’t be made until late spring when a service road to the area is completed.
The board also heard reports on student fall semester enrollment, enrollment in the four-week “mini-mester”, and a study made by college administration staff on what graduates have been doing since leaving CCC.
On enrollment, Dean of Faculty Robert A. Chapman reported 1895 students have been billed, 1497 students have paid their tuition.
and that the college looks for a student enrollment of about 1900.
Some knowledge of the fall semester enrollment is needed, it was explained, because that is what the college’s operating budget is based on. The budget for ’72-’73 is being compiled now by college committees for presentation to the board in April.
The college enrollment has been leveling off, said President Robert W. Frederick Jr. and it may make necessary a new enrollment policy.
For the last two years, the college has been accepting students from the service area only of Steuben, Chemung and Schuyler counties.
But, if the service area is unable to produce enough students to fill the quota needed to run the the college at maximum operating efficiency, the acceptance area may have to be enlarged.
‘‘Trying to balance the budget based on conservative estimates of enrollment,” said Dr. Frederick, “has its advantages, but it also makes flexibility difficult.”
“If we broaden the enrollment policy for next year,” he continued, “we have to be careful to keep students and guidance counselors from other areas from having rising expectations. Otherwise, we will damage our credibility, if we keep changing our policy.”
One factor which may increase the number of potential students for the community colleges, the college president noted, was Gov. Rockefeller’s state budget which reduced the state university master plan enrollment from an expected 1,500 student increase to 4,600 students for fall of ’72. That, said Frederick may bring more students to the community colleges.
Campus Colloquy:
Where You Come From Is Important
(Born and raised in Malvern, Pennsylvania, Harvey Cox was graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1951 and later received bis Ph.D. from Harvard University. Presently a professor at the Harvard Divinity School, Mr. Cox has au-thored such nationally prominent books as "The Secular City” and "Feast of Fools”.)
by HARVEY COX
I used to be very embarrassed when people asked me where I came from. Actually I was born and spent the first seventeen years of my life in a little town called “Malvern” in Chester County in Southeastern Pennsylvania. It wasn’t really much of a town, especially in the 1930’s during my boyhood. Only 1555 people called Malvern home. It had no restaurants, no movies, no drive-in hamburger emporia. The trains rushed thru Malvern to stop either in Paoli in the east or Down-ingtown to the west. Malvern had an elementary school but we had to ride a bus five miles to Berwyn to go to high school. It was not a prosperous town. At the intersection of its two main streets, King St. and Bridge St., stood the wreckage of an abandoned Hires Rootbeer factory. The town was cursed with a sort of communal inferiority complex, so I grew up
Answer to this week’s crossword.
alb sara para SSJSGO anon Hsa costarica benet sit lisp degas walloped data ace notes rot penal too taken essential ara leon tore nip
being embarassed when people asked me about where I came from.
I am not so embarassed anymore. In fact I am writing a book now, which should come out in the spring of 1973 which is, in part, about my boyhood in that bypassed little town, because it was a singularly rich and memorable boyhood from a human point of view. Though small, Malvern has a little of everything. We had blacks and whites, Catholics and Protestants, some Italians, Irish, one Jewish family, two Mexican families that I can remember, and every variety of Christian religious denomination. We had traveling circuses, at least one tent revival per year, caroling at Christmas, one muddy but deliciously cool swimming pond and every summer two solid weeks of Fire Company Fair. Everyone knew everyone else, literally, and if you saw a stranger on the street it was cause for comment. Most people from Malvern got to Philadelphia, twenty-two miles away, once a year— usually for Christmas shopping.
Of course I had to leave Malvern. I went to sea on a Merchant ship at seventeen in 1946, hauling livestock and relief materials to post-war Europe. I then went away to college, away to graduate school, and eventually moved away to get married and work. Coming from Malvern for years made me feel a little provincial. When asked the inevitable question I would lower my eyes and mumble something about "near Paoli” or “suburban Philadelphia” (which wasn’t really true) or "near Valley Forge.” But recently I have been happy to tell people about my home town. I think it’s because as I grow older I get more and more apprecia-
tive of the good things about it.
I also find that I’m fascinated with where other people “come from”, what their childhoods were like, when and how (or if) they made the break into that big outside world. Of course many people I know come from many different places. Their parents moved around or got pushed here and there. But that also is where they “come from.” The fact is that the peculiarity of individual life histories is probably the most interesting thing in life. I had to leave Malvern, yes, to explore and settle in the larger world. But at forty-two I am ready to admit that Malvern is not such a bad place to have been from.
Coming to terms with where we come from is an essential part of maturation. Denying one’s ancestry, recent or ancient, is a kind of self-mutilation. Also it forces us into a kind of negative identity: defining myself against what I was or what I was expected to be. There was a time when people, for perhaps understandable reasons, would change their names or their religion because they were afraid that if people knew “where they were from” it would mean prejudice or exclusion. They were right that such bigotry exists, but to stop being who I am in order to be a part of something else now seems to me a too high price to pay. America will never be a really pluralist or really free society until that particular form of self-mutilation is no longer necessary for anyone. Where I come from or where my people came from (or as in the case of Afro-Americans, where they were brought from) is an essential part of me. If I must abdicate that to become part of some larger and allegedly more inclusive community, then it is not worth it.
I	hone in 1972 we have reached a stage in the evolution of American societv when we can rejoice and revel in our differences. We can discard the old image of the “melting pot” which never described the reality anyway) and
have instead a society which is more like beef-and-vegetable stew, in which each separate ingredient flavors the others but retains its own unique succulence. To do this we can let the question “Where are you from?” lead not to discomfort and the minimizing of differences but to an occasion for the mutual revelation of the variety and diversity which makes life zesty. It’s a question which can lead us back into ethnic history, comparative religion, contrasting cuisines, the variety of songs and stories and jokes, the things that make a people a people.
I’m from a little town called Malvern. Where are you from?
Extra
Harold F. Baldwin, entrusted advisor to the President of Kelloggs of Battle Creek, announced his resignation early this morning, January 28, when a large cockroach emerged from his bowl of cornflakes. Baldwin, understandably quite shaken by the incident, unleashed a blood curdling scream that alarmed his wife and amused his children. “Mister Cereal”, as he is known in the business, called a press conference on his porch at 9 a.m. this morning and cited his reasons for resigning. “I can no longer work for a company that allows such abhorrent practices to exist,” Baldwin stated, “imagine, putting disgusting corn flakes in with my cockroaches.” Purely a case of non compis mentis.
Portrait of a Political Opportunist
page 6
the Crier/January 28, 1972