Birmingham Southern College - Southern Accent Yearbook (Birmingham, AL)

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B-SC in RUSSIA

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Spring Dance Performance Marianne Cook, Barry Gager, and Marjorie Goodman in Stravinsky Short Pieces. Music by Stravinsky, choreography by Daniel Levans. Arlan Boehme and Elaine Besh in Pas de Trois, from Swan Lake, Act 1. Mu- sic by Tchaikovsky, choreography after Petipa by Mira Popovich. Elaine Besh, Jennifer Pontius, and Scott Murgrove in Coppelia: Ballade de L ' epi and Theme slave varie, Act 1. Music by L. Delibes, choreography by Mira Popovich. 19

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Above) Drewry and Barry Wood enjoy a Russian troika ride. (Below) Market place at fash Kent, the crossroads of the ancient world. (Opposite Page) St. Basil ' s Cathedral m Red Square, Moscow. (Photos by Lisa Milner) Thirty-one B-SC students and three professors spent a chilly Interim inside the Iron Curtain. For three weeks, from Jan. 2-Feb. 3, the Interim group toured the Soviet cities of Moscow, Yerevan in Armenia, Baku in Azerbaijun, and Tash Kent in Uzbekistan. The official purpose of the Interim was to discuss personnel administration and energy economics with the Soviets. The group visited numerous factories and trade unions in hopes of learning more about the mechanics of the Soviet economy; however, the Russians were very closed-mouthed about their labor-management policies and left the B-SC group with very little room for discussion. Professor Aubrey Drewry, director of the Interim, says that although the Soviets deny to foreigners that there are any problems with their way of life, there are many. For example, the creative energies of the Soviets are saddled and directed into purely technological and military aspects. The workmanship that affects the consumer is generally poor, says Drewry. The Armenian hotel in which the American students stayed is an example of this. The hotel is only three years old, and although it is beautiful on the outside, it is faUing apart on the inside, says Drewry. He comments that he came back with all his right-wing proclivities greatly strengthened. I went there a supporter of capitalism and I have come back an even more ardent support of capitalism. I went there thinking Leninism a vicious, nasty cancer of the human spirit and I believe that even more strongly now. His general feelings about Russia sums up the feelings of many of the students. It is a fascinating place to visit, but I sure wouldn ' t want to live there. — Gail Livingston