The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 56, No. 18, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 30, 1969 Page: 3 of 6
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Rice annual continues technical photographic excellence
By RICHARD SAWYER
A revolution is occurring in
college yearbooks these days
which is shaking by its very
roots that venerable, ageless
tradition of College Rhythm,
U. S. A. The current avant-
garde of yearbooks seek to
emulate the more realistic (and
controversial) college newspa-
pers with a kind of expose-tell-
it-all photojournalism. GRIN-
NELL '68 is the most notorious
of all these radical annuals. Ac-
cording to the editor and print-
ers (who were stuck with the
printing bill after the Grinnell
College administration refused
to accept delivery), the book
photographically documents pot
parties, the students' private
lives, and other "seamy" aspects
of college life.
YAKKETY-YAK '68 from
the University of North Carol-
ina, contains a remarkable es-
say on its editor's growing up.
Its charm lies principally in its
disarming frankness, even with
regard to the author's sexual
habits. Neat!
Books like GRINNELL and
YAKKETY-YAK leave far be-
hind a swarm of cheaply sen-
timental, poorly executed pic-
ture scrapbooks. Most any of
them you happen to pick up will
dutifully report Phi Lambda
Epsilon's picnic, the Big Game,
the Big Dance, Alpha Gamma
Omega's rush, those Hallowed
Halls of Ivy, the Football Queen,
and other endless crap. And
nothing else. All Taylor-made,
of course.
In the middle
Stuck somewhere in between
these two poles are all the
Campaniles since 1964. A few
of them may have tended to
the right, as the McCravey
fiasco did, others have been
slightly "leftist" as Winning-
ham's was. But in a general,
insensitive appraisal, they all
look pretty much alike: they
are documentaries (but not
"too" documentary) of people
at Rice, they are technically ex-
cellent, to one degree or other
they propagate the Great Rice
'Myths. None of them is very
blatant, but all are very serious.
Karl B. Stauss's book con-
tinues this tradition in a some-
what more introspective, much
more sensitive manner. As all
recent Campaniles have tended
to reflect the personalities of
their .authors, so does this one—
CAMPANILE '68 was indisput-
edly conceived and executed by
Stauss and the people of whom
he approved, his own editorial
clique. This is evident not only
in textual features like the edi-
tor's astounding essay on Hous-
ton and Paul Hester's condes-
cendingly sympathetic poem on
jocks, but more importantly, in
visual aspects like the careful
and often extremely powerful
layout.
Simple graphics
There is nothing slick or arty
(a la Winningham) about
Stauss's graphics; rather, they
are simple, unpretentious, and
earnest. Stauss's color plates on
pages 52 and 53 eloquently de-
termine the tone of this book,
which I find very appealing. But
then, maybe I just have morbid
tastes.
It is a pity the printer wasn't
as responsive to the finer quali-
ties of the book, for the general
handling of the offset reproduc-
tion has to be described as a
rape. It is somewhat sickening
to realize that the many brutish
hours of retouching prints were
negated by some slob of a press-
man who didn't care enough to
dust off the plates. Even after
having witnessed for some time
the weekly slaughter in the
Thresher, it is shocking to see
mousey gray reproduction of
prints that have black blacks and
brilliant whites. Walsworth blew
it. You win a few, you lose a
few more.
The technical quality of the
photography (except in the real-
ly gross fuck-ups by the printer)
maintains the standard of ex-
cellence established in 1964 by
Geoff Winningham. Quite sur-
prisingly, the artistic quality of
many of the photographs is al-
so first-rate. In particular, I
have in mind the pictures on
pages 19, 52, 79, 86, 185, 199,
210, 221, and 267. The Cam-
panile photographic staff is to
be congratulated for having
produced so many neat pictures,
especially considering the po-
litical turbulence under which
they worked last year.
thfeshing-it-out
Jennings defends Math 101 as humane, mind-opening
To the Editor:
Why must you indiscrimi-
nately trample those ideas
which are not personally pleas-
ing to you? Your editorial of
January 23 labeled Math 101 a
"travesty," and that evaluation
is, I think, grossly unfair and
unwarranted. I would venture
to guess that you had not con-
descended to personally attend
a Math 101 class this year.
If you had bothered you
would have seen a teacher who
tried his best to help every
single student, taking time out
from class to try and right
their perspectives when he knew
they were beginning to tilt. You
would have seen a teacher who
succeeded in opening many of
those minds which were closed
and locked * when it came to
dealing with numbers. You
would have seen curriculum
evaluation and adaptation in
action.
The love affair was mutual
though. Standing at the other
side of the room you could have
seen a class, the majority of
which "would have tried to learn
anything, "Just for Mr. Wind-
ham's sake." In short, you
would have been able to ob-
serve a situation closely re-
sembling the "humane ap-
proach" advocated by so many
people on this campus.
In the future sir, if you find
it necessary to be malicious,
please be responsible. Don't de-
stroy the academ's glimmer of
humanity on the scientific hori-
zon.
COLLEEN JENNINGS
Brown '72
Alum likes recent Thresher 'trend'
To the Editor:
For some time now I have
been strongly motivated to re-
spond critically to a number of
articles appearing in the Thresh-
er and now, as sometimes hap-
pens, am happy to have pro-
crastinated. Your last two is-
sues have been excellent and
the best that could have been
Tanaka: meaning of education lost
To the Editor:
I fully share Miss Saunders'
indignation over the obscene
spectacle, but I must differ in
her assessment of what is ob-
scene. Q
Most of the university stu-
dents are not concerned with
education per se, but education
at Rice; for most students are
not naive enough to envision
education in a romantic light
as a process of gaining knowl-
Harold's Garage
HENRY J. ENGEL, Owner
ft Automatic Transmissions
ft Paint & Body Shop
ft Air Conditioning
ft Wrecker Service
2431 Dunstan
JT 8-5323
edge to overcome one's ignor-
ance. They are here to com-
pete for grades and recognition
and to receive a prestigious de-
gree. This unfortunate situa-
tion is only a reflection of .the
social and economic reality of
the external world. Integration
must be implemented, but only
by recognizing what is cur-
rently meant by a university
education.
When the full complement of
black students finally comes to
Rice, perhaps black and white
students shall all "run lusting
madly after prestige" together.
AKIO TANAKA
Hanszen '69
Of course, CAMPANILE '68
is by no means perfect. In fact,
it has as much dead wood in it
as any of its predecessors. Some
of the layouts Stauss bombed,
pure and simple; some of the
photographs were hopeless to
start with. Ancl awkardly posed
honor groups gawking at the
camera, nervous-looking faculty
smiling apprehensively at their
crazy students, and pompous ad-
ministrators are all pushed to-
gether in their own little mor-
gues which Stauss chose to call,
appropriately enough, "Hon-
ors," "Faculty," "Administra-
tion." Gasp, wheeze . . . But if
this traditional editorial and
graphical dross can be ignored,
a pretty, rather delicate book
remains.
Stauss's introductory essay is
a startlingly honest description
of Houston's materialistic mer-
cantile culture. And his declara-
tion that Rice is "right in the
middle of it" has to be the coup
of all Campaniles. Read it!
Gawdam! The slumbering giant
awakens!
But then it goes back to sleep.
The Campanile rule of "better
pm
5006 FULTON OXIord 7-8781
LUIS BUNUEL'S
i ■
[Ski
rami
pTaaliaw wtth a caM whlta aya what
^■thay km rfana hara an aarth In
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said before was that there was
a certain excitement.
The excitement is still there.
It is not necessary to be un-
constructively hypercritical of
people shouldering a vital and
complex job to achieve it. There
was a time not so long ago
when this was called yellow
journalism and the color was
chosen advisedly.
I am sure that I speak the
feelings of a majority of alumni
in this conviction, certainly that
of fellow members of the Ex-
ecutive Board. I am equally
sure that the Thresher was not
representing anything like a
majority of students. The last
two issues (Jan. 9, and 16th)
at least gave equal time.
Congratulations. Keep up the
trend.
TALBOTT WILSON
Class of '34
"ToiI^GE^EACHIMr
A Cooperative College Reg-
istry representative will in-
terview candidates February
3 for faculty and administra-
tive posts in 250 church-
related liberal arts colleges
throughout the United States.
Salaries—$6,000 to $19,000,
plus fringe benefits. Ph.D.
preferred. Master's required.
A free service.
Appointment through
Placement Office.
not say too much; watch out,
what will X, Y, Z.think?" domi-
nates the rest of Stauss's copy.
Oh well, you can't really ex-
pect a yearbook to be the first
campus publication to tell it in
depth.
Incomplete
But some very important
things were not told. A student
killed himself last year; another
tried and failed. Many more
thought about doing it. Other
Rice students were embalming
themselves in alcohol, or maybe
did not even live in this world
anymore. Rice students fell in
love, shopped in the village,
went to gay bars. One would
never know it by reading CAM-
PANILE '68.
Stauss was very perceptive
in remarking that yearbook-
are fairly worthless as enduring-
classics in art. Their value lies
in their ability to make people
remember, and, by remember-
ing, to discover a little more o '
themselves. Judged by these
standards, CAMPANILE '68 is
a good book, maybe the best so
far, but not what it should have
been. It is a hopeful sign of
things tn come.
A little
kapow
for the
bt C®tfc
Wm8®m
It's called Beam™.
And it's also got a little 6!am, a bit
of Bam and a dash of Zap.
Beam, you see, is a new pocket-
size breath freshener that does all those
things to your breath.
Just a couple of drops or a spray
on the tip of your tongue will blast your
bad breath away and make it turn
good and clean and fresh. To you and
to everybody else.
hi"'!"
If you breathe carry Beam.
(f 1968 Looming Division, Chai. Pfizer i Co , Now York, Now York
the rice thresher, january 30, 1969—page 3
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Bahler, Dennis. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 56, No. 18, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 30, 1969, newspaper, January 30, 1969; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245047/m1/3/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.