November 15, 1972.
Page 3
Volume 8, Number 9
Mary A. Me Cor mack
stress storms
Sometimes I get sick when I think that people really believe the things advertisers write. Take the above diamond ring ad. First of all the ever - alluring mythology is promulgated that all one has to do is get a diamond and"you will never be alone again." Nonsense. Nothing in life is guaranteed. A marriage cannot be insured against death, divorce, lust for power or money or other lovers. A glittering ring means nothing in times of and crises - the a mature relationship must inevitably endure.
Secondly, the notion of a ring being "so spectacular" is diametrically opposed to the idea of the diamond symbolizing the love and promise between a man and a women. Instead of an intimate gesture the giving of a diamond ring has become ostentatious - a showplace for material values. We've all met at least one person who insisted on waving her newly acquired diamond in our face until we commented on it. The sad thing is that this person really believes the ad.
The most painful part of the ad is the last sentence fragment. "On the hands of beautiful girls who were born not to." This fragment is a delicate gem in itself. If we put on a jeweler's magnifying glass and examine it,details leap out at our eyes. It means that diamond rings are meant to be worn by beautiful girls who were not meant to stand alone. This leaves us in a quandry.What about un-beautiful girls,or beautiful women or un-beau-
"SOLITAIRE" MEANS ONE ALONE
...but the right-splitaire from the
right man on the third finger of the left
hand means you'll never be alone again.
These beautiful diamonds are solitaires
because they are so spectacular. They wen
born to stand alone. On the hands of
beautiful girls who were born not to.
$150 to $1,500.
tiful women. Perhans they were born to stand alone. But the diamond sellers are not concerned with whether or not you are a beautiful girl; they are concerned with getting you to believe that you need those diamonds. If you are a beautiful girl you have a diamond giver who will see that you do not stand alone. Very simple. Girlhood for ever. And it sells. The diamonds start that great commercial enterprise that is called wedding.The bridal business booms. And people really believe in it.
"I'm Living More
of a Home Life"
by Mary Kay Melcher
MI feel like I'm living altogether, completelyf this year," said Liz Hurdt, a CSB apartment dweller. "My apart* ment is an extension of myself and I can take pride in it# I!m living more of a home life here."
These feelings characterize apartment and mobile home living for many students. A place to crash...a kitchen tp putts around in...a place you can call home where you can run around in your nightgown if you feel like it...a place to be able to have buddies in and entertain.
"Things kind of just happen here. I don't have to look for things to do socially as I did last year. I nev« er know who is going to pop in to visit," said Liz.
Major reasons -for leaving the dorms for alternate liv-ing styles were want of privacy, freedom and choice of the type of. food one can have.
The joy coming from having one's own kitchen is very common. The girls enjoy experimenting with new recipes, creating new dishes, etc. They like watching each other's cooking styles, although they choose to be waxy sometimes,
"Once we were going to have meatloaf and we found that the cook was going to use breadcrumbs. I use cracker crumbs and I said that if she did not use cracker crumbs I would not eat it. We did not make it," said Mary Holmers, a trailor occupant.
Living with three other people becomes a cooperative effort. First of all one must learn to deal with three other distinct personalities.
"It has taught me not only how to live closer to people, but how to adapt and be flexible. There is a lot of give and take in accepting other people's ways," said Tara Brewi of the apartments.
Cooperation also involves daily activities such as Cooking, cleaning, and studying. One apartment group set up an intricate schedule to handle some of these tasks. On Sunday nights they meet and plan two weeks of Monday thru Thursday dinners. They volunteer respectively for each of these raeals. Next they rotate their positions on the cleaning schedule. This schedule includes the kitchen, livingroom and the bathroom.
"The more you listen to political speecheR, the more you realize why America is called the Land Of Promise."
"Some people are so an xious to make a Living that they've forgotten how to live."
"Almost anybody who has something to say can make a speech, but not everybody who makes a speech has something to say"
"Money talks, but in these days a dollar doesn't have cents enough to say anything."
The apartments and trailors provide a homelike atmosphere, including financing meals and setting up schedules i.e. cleaning, dishwashing.
"Every four weeks one of us is free from cleaning. She does what she thinks needs to be done. This way no one is made to feel that she is doing all the cleaning.
Another apartment tried many systems and decided upon a volunteer basis of cleaning. In financing meals, three of the girls go together for their food while the fourth pays for her own separately.
"I eat more than anybody else so we decided to do it this way. I buy a lot of snacks," said Sue Kaiser.
Studying goes on in a variety of places. Many of the girls in the eight-people trailer study in the library: a few stick around and use their desks. In other mobile homes girls enjoy studying on the livingroom rug or on the couch. Apartment dwellers find the kitchen table, bedroom and livingroom rugs, or desks well suited for this purpose.
"These people have to very honest with each other con-:erning what they will expect and what they will act like in this new situation. They must acquire a broad spectrum of knowledge of each other," said Sister Mary Mark, IJ of student development. continued to page
