5p, one sided pages, mimeograph on matte off white paper. Mentions that the college bulletin on the summer music institute will be sent to the press. Visitors- lieutrnant Bela Martin Prof Emil Willimotz of Camp Shelby in Missipi Dr Goerge Redd, Robert Lee and Robert Powell left.
BLACK MOUNTAIN COLLEGE COMMUNITY BULLETIN
College Year 11 Bulletin 24
Monday, March 20, 1944
CALENDAR FOR THE WEEK:
The Board of Fellows will meet this afternoon at 4:30 o’clock in Study 10.
The International Relations Club will meet this evening at 6:45 o’clock in the Lobby of North Lodge. There will be a panel discussion on “Why Go to College?”
The Faculty and Student Officers will meet tomorrow afternoon at 4:30 o’clock in the Kocher Room.
The students will hold their regular meeting in the Lobby of North Lodge on Thursday evening at 7:00 o’clock.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
The copy for the College Bulletin on the Summer Music Institute will go to the Biltmore Press in Asheville this afternoon.
The Drama Department of Black Mountain College will be represented at the Annual State Drama Festival at the University of North Carolina this week by Roxane Dinowitz, Dan Dixon, Jack Gifford, Betty Kelley, Renate Klepper, Carol Ostrow, Egbert Swackhamer and Bob Wunsch who will motor to Chapel Hill on Wednesday. The costume plates and costumes of Marilyn Bauer and Jane Slater will be entires in the Costume Contest. Betty Kelley and Carol Ostrow will participate in the Make-Up contest. The actors will present Anton Chokhov’s “The Anniversary” in the Carolina Playmakers Theatre on Saturday evening.
WITH FORMER STUDENTS:
New Addresses:
Edward N. Jenks S 2/C
Aerographers School, Class 51
USNAS
Lakehurst, New Jersey
Claude Monteux
Company M, 3rd Trng. Bn.
Camp Ritchie, Maryland
Private Robert H. Mardon, 14101733
13th T.S.S., Barracks 808
Scott Field, Illinois
A/S Bruno Piscitello, 14175373
Squadron G, Section 17
309th College Training Det.
(Air Crew)
Texas Technological College
Lubbock, Texas
In the Mail:
Bill Berry is now Lieutenant William C. Berry. He was graduated in Class 44-4 of the Army Air Forces Navigation School at Selman Field in Monroe, Louisiana on Saturday, March 18. Bill writes from Monroe: “After a short leave I go to an O.T.U. (Operational Training Unit) somewhere. We stay for a couple of months before going overseas. I’m hoping to visit the College before I leave the country but I’m not sure of my chances.”
Cynthia Carr writes from Gulfport, Mississippi: “I have finished my course 2nd Class Ph M….but I am not eligible to take the examination until April or May….”
Air Cadet Danny Deaver writes from Ellington Field in Texas: “Last Saturday one of our planes was caught in the thunder storm. It became imperative to bail out; and one of the students, a friend of mine, was struck by lightning on the way down. I have just returned from the family’s home in Pasadena, where the funeral was held. His people are wonderful folk, and they made my mission, which I expected to be very difficult, comparatively simple. However, I hope I never have to make another similar journey, though I hope I never have to make another similar journey, though I know this boy is not the last of my buddies to
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Barbara Beatty Dwight writes from Gulfport, Mississippi: “Friday morning Emil Willimotz and Tommy Wontworth appeared…We tried to get hold of Cynthia Carr, but she had a long watch… so the four of us had a small and short reunion- it was fun” (Cynthia Woston)…”We are on the verge of moving again- the school here is being closed at the end of this month. We have no idea what will happen to Dune- he may be sent to another school to finish his training, or he might be sent over.”
Lieutenant George Hendrickson writes from India on February 29: “When I left California, India was just about the last place that I imagined I would be stationed. There was a rumor when I was still at Camp Reynold to the effect that we were headed for India, but one doesn’t give too much credence to rumors in the Army… Our crossing was long and uneventful; of course we may never know exactly the conditions. I know that at sometimes we were running faster than at others and zig-zagging more frequently. It was odd though- the complete lack of care that we had. The ship was formerly a liner, so we were much more comfortable than many more less fortunate ones, who had to voyage ‘down the sea’ in Victory Ships. We had three excellent meals a day; and, as all we did was eat, sleep and read, it was fortunate, for under such circumstances, food becomes the object of much comfort or otherwise, I can’t tell you much else about the board, as our route, name of vessel, and other things are all secret…..We arrived at an Indian port; and as it took some days to disembark and unload, we were given shore leave from 2:00 P.M. to 9:00 P.M. for two days….Everywhere we went we were accosted by peddlers selling whips, knives, fountain pens, watches, women- in fact everything you could want or not want. The first time one of the ‘knife merchants’ approached me, I thought I was about to be attacked. They got very close, those peddlers, then their hand whips toward you and a seven-inch blade pops in within three inches of your naval. Then they smile and cry: ‘Knife, Sahib, very fine knife!’ and pursue you for blocks. It gets to be nerve-wracking after a bit…..As you wander through the streets, you pass little hole-in-the-wall shops selling all sorts of goods: Indian hand work, sandals, shoes, brass objects, flashlights, food. All of the proprietors shriek at you to come and buy and shriek abuse at you in Hindustan if you don’t…..Eventually we were loaded on a dirty, smelly troop train. The coaches were built for the transportation of Indian troops and are quite unlike anything in the States. The aisle is on one side, and the seats face each other, forming compartments- similar to European trains. The back folds up and each section can sleep six men. We had four to a section and used the uppermost bunk for our equipment. After much jabbering and false starts, we were off. I don’t think we averaged over twenty-five miles an hour. When we realized that it would take days to do the journey that would take only hours back home, we relaxed, and I, for one, enjoyed the trip co end!.... For the most part the country we travelled over was flat- looking and rubbish was nowhere to be seen. We soon found out why: In this country everything is salvaged by the Indians- paper, tin cans, even garbage. As human excrement is used widely as a fertilizer, we were cautioned against native foods, told to eat only coconuts and fruit with skins unbroken. It was hard to see all the delicacies at the stations and noy buy them, for we were subsisting on C Rations and Billy Beef. We did eat enormous quantities of bananas, coconuts and tangerines, which we bought, after much haggling, from the hawkers at the stations….At each station where we stopped- and this was practically every station we came to- hoards of natives came down to beg from us. As we are, waifs fought over pieces of bread we dropped and over scraps we threw out of the windows. It was unbelievable- the poverty of the people here! The poorest Negro in the States is a king compared to the average Indian we saw in the interior of India….”
Ed Jenks writes from Lakehurst, New Jersey: “Aerography is part of the Aviation Branch of the Navy, and one gets a 3rd Class Petty Officer’s rating after finishing the three months’ course here. No telling, where one goes then. Except that it will be either to a land base or something that floats and is a cruiser or larger…..I’ll be here till July 1…”
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Fernando Leon writes from Highland Park, Michigan: “I am working as a Junior Project Engineer in the Design and Development of an Aircraft engine. There is no harm in my telling you this, since publicity has already been given to this machine. It is a really beautiful engine. My work is interesting, and it and the Graduate School keep me busy. Otherwise I wouldn’t know what to do with myself in Detroit. We have had a few good concerts which I have attended, but there has been nothing worthwhile at the two theatres. I have attended a few lectures and have given one myself- on ‘The Causes of the Spanish War’- to a group of professional men and women belonging to a Methodist Church. It was a good experience, for I had to talk for one hour and a half. It was a bit difficult, for I didn’t know what kind of an audience I was going to have until I got there, since I was invited by ‘phone.”
Private Bob Marden writes from Scott Field in Illinois on March 14: “I am back at Scott Field, since the AACS School has been moved here, and tomorrow I start classes again. We’ve had a welcome vacation during the last week.”
Lieutenant Bela Martin writes Bob Wunsch from the United States Military Air Station in Green Cove Springs, Florida that if the weather permits he will fly up the Asheville-Hendersonville Airport tomorrow morning for a visit of a few hours.
Lieutenant Don Page writes from Glendale, California: “I am now an Assistant Intelligence Officer in the 481st Night Fighters Group. We fly the P-61’s or the ‘Black Widows’. They’re the new planes that look something like the P-38’s only much longer and painted all black- really look very sinister….I’ve been moved around so much lately that I’m rather dizzy- feel just like a travelling salesman.”
Mrs. Nell Aydelette Rice announces the marriage of her daughter Mary Aydelette to Roger Duryea Marshall Army of the United States on Friday, the third of March Nineteen hundred forty-four Washington, D.C.
Connie Spencer writes from Washington: “I resigned once from the Weather Bureau and returned to Washington. The shifts were too much. In January they called me and asked if I would take on a special project for them. It sounded interesting, so I did. Can’t tell you just what it was, but it was pretty interesting. At one point it involved the learning of the Russian alphabet and a quick brushup on French. Then one bright day someone found out that I had had some drafting at College. The finger was then put on me and I was informed that I was not a cartographer that’s a guy who makes maps. They bundled me off to the drafting section and set before me the job of revising a stack of maps, which placed together, would cover the world (not in size; in shown area). It’s very interesting, and it spite of everything they’re making a cartographer of me. At least I sling such terms as ‘transverse polyconic projection’ around with the best of them… Outside of the office, ice-skating is my life. I saw Tommy Brooks just before he left For Meade for oversea assignment. He was in high spirits and seemed glad at the prospect of going overseas…..I also saw Ike Nakata while he was at Meade….News of Kiril Chenkin came to me through Mrs. Hapgood not long ago. He is living in Moscow and is not on the fighting front. He is apparently well and working hard, as are all the Russians these days. It was good news to me in view of the fact that some of us had heard a rumor to the effect that he had been killed…”
News Note:
Morton Steinau has been made Distribution Manager of Time Magazine for the Eastern Seaboard.
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VISITORS:
Among the visitors last week were Dr. Max Dehn, who spoke on “Mathematics” on Thursday evening; Pete Hill, and Joy Corbett, a friend of Ati Gropius.
Dr. George N. Redd, Professor of Education at Fisk University, and Robert Lee and Robert Powell two students majoring in science at Fisk, arrived yesterday for a visit of several days in the College.
DEPARTMENT OF PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS:
In the Mail:
From 56 East Seventy-Ninth Street in New York City: “This note is from a future BMC student whose name is Alain Paul Monteux. I am the son of Virginia and Claude Monteux, and only about one month old, but I’ve heard my father talk about the College, and before I was born, Corporal Evarts told me all about it, so I have decided to become a ‘prospective’ student…Daddy came home last Saturday and said he had managed to get a 15-day furlough (I guess he’s in the Army). Now he’ll be able to catch up on his letter-writing, I hope. As you know, he is at present stationed at Camp Ritchie, Maryland. According to the Mother, his address is: Co. M, 3rd Training Bn., and he is quite anxious to hear from you soon because he is being sent overseas in the near future. He refuses to tell me what he is doing in Camp Ritchie: pretends it is none of my business but it seems, somehow, very mysterious and exciting…..The other day I heard Grandma say that John Evarts is overseas, and it made me cry because he is such anice fellow. Do you have any idea what he is doing, or where he is? Grandma is very busy right now with all kinds of job: nursery, French relief, music, etc..I myself am not much of a musician yet, but I like the stuff, and if Daddy helps me someday, maybe I can play the flute too…Give my best to all of BMC for me, Daddy, Mummy, Grandma and Nancy…”
COMMUNITY WORK REPORTS:
(For week of March 13 through March 18)
At the Farm this week taking of newly cleared land was begun. The brush piles were burned, and some of the legs were hauled down to the buzz saw. Several truck loads of saw logs were transported to a nearby saw mill to be cut up into lumber to complete the one unfinished wall of the beef shed.
Crows kept busy spreading manure on the fields in preparation for the soil for spring planting.
Josef Albers and a crew of students moved the large hydrangea bush from the top of the coal bin to the southeast corner of the library.
The scenery for the forthcoming production of “Outward Bound” was begun.
Thirteen and a half pounds of mica were inspected and gotten ready for the Asheville market.
A part of the program time was used for copying lists used in the survey-making of the town of Black Mountain.
Reported by Nell Goldsmith
From the Farm came four bushels of potatoes and 423 quarts of milk.
Reported by Janet Heling
WORK PROGRAM REORGANIZATION:
After much discussing, planning and organization a new system of community work is ready to go into effect to replace the coordinator system. The new plan is based on semi-permanent crews under straw bosses. Each crew will take care of its special type of crew, i.e., maintenance, construction, etc. on the campus. In this set-up the necessary work will be done, in shorter time by people proficient in specialized skills.
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At the head of the organization is a Committee composed of straw bosses and the two work coordinators who will meet each week and try to effect a connecting linkage among the independent crews.
It is hoped that the new plan will be more elastic as far as time is concerned and more efficient in getting the work done economically, satisfactorily and rapidly.
Straw Bosses and Crews:
Ginger Osbourne, Maintenance
Molly Gregory, Farm
Bill McLaughlin, Hauling
Nell Goldsmith, Construction
Carol Ostrow, Mica
Patsy Lynch, Kitchen
EVENTS OF LAST WEEK:
Professor Max Duhn, visiting lecturer, spoke before a group of students and faculty members of Black Mountain College on Thursday, March 16. Telling the story of twenty-five thousand years of development in mathematics in a humorous, refreshing manner, he made this subject quite interesting for even the laymen.
Professor Dohn was only fitted for the subject by forty years of experience in teaching higher mathematics. A native of Hamburg, Germany, he taught at the Universities at Breslan, Kiel, Munster and Frankfurt. He then spent two years in Norway doing research work, and in 1941 came to America. Here he taught Philosophy and Ethics at the University of Idaho, Mathematics at the Illinois Institute of Technology, and is not teaching at St. John’s, in Annapolis. In addition to his work in instruction, Professor Dohn has made many notable contributions to research in the problems of history of mathematics.
Animals, he pointed out, recognize units and pairs; and prehistoric man decorated his cave walls with geometric forms. The development of symbols is a necessary preliminary to progress in Mathematics, and this was begun in about 2000 B.C., but the Babylonians. However, an essential method of solving problems, that of proof, was invented by the Greeks. It is interesting to note that although many fundamental theorems were proved thousands of years ago, it has not been until comparatively modern times that their importance has been recognized as the basis upon which all metrical geometry, prospective geometry and the mathematics of precision can be built.
Reported by Flora Ricks
