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

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power and the lack of concern over the fragile ecology of an academic community. I wasn ' t looking for an excuse to be mad, and I certainly did not wish for any harm to the tree, but in my response there was something a little self-righteous, having a little of the them and me. I enjoyed being judgemental, having another con- firmation of my suspicions about incompetence and the absence of human or vegetative feeling in some of my colleagues. Spring came. Other trees began to show the annual and eternal re- newal of life; even the male ginkgo budded and leafed out on sche- dule, seemingly callous to the apparent lack of life in his mate. Then, slowly, she began to show signs of life: buds, leaves, and a few branches, and finally, ftill and glo- rious health! Her abundance of growth seems more vital and para- doxical in light of the expectation of her death; the unexpected and unlooked-for has given this spring an extra dimension, a fuller sense of joy. And there is something to be learned from this. I was made more aware of how I can let my prejudices and categories condi- tion my response to events and people, of the inexorable effect of letting the labels get in the way of perception. I hope that we also learned that the vital health and growth, that annual renewal and rebirth of hope, that the fragile ecological balance we hear about, extends to systems that are not simply biological. An academic community is built on a series of relationships as complicated and as interdependent as those that maintain the life of the plants around our buildings. Maybe the incident of the ginkgo can remind all of us of what we can gain if we respect principles that foster growth and life and learning. — James Koger

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THE NEAR DEATH OF THE GINKGO: A THREAT FROM WITHIN Right — The ginkgo in full bloom. Fall, 1980. Below — Dr. Koger with the seemingly lifeless ginkgo. Fall, 1981. There was more than a little con- sternation in the late summer and early fall when it appeared that the female ginkgo at the head of the walk on the west side of Munger had been damaged, perhaps irre- parably, by an accidental applica- tion of herbicide. The incident seemed at the time to provide a convenient symbol of a kind of general misunderstanding of the proper limits of human technolo- gy, to the detriment of the health of a beautiful representative of what Nemerov has called the old- est living captive race. I was among the loudest of those who commented on the misuse of vf ! x . ,-■ »- ••■ ' r

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Saut ierriy Birmingham-Southern ' s Comfort, held March 24-27, took the place of Quest II ' s annual spring concert. It brought four days of band parties, picnics, and fun to the Hilltop and offered a needed break after midterm exams. Under a big top circus tent, the bands Chevy 6, Janice, Brazen, and Hotel played music for every taste. Three on a String, a long time B-SC favorite, played bluegrass music in the amphitheatre. Campus organizations were given the opportunity to participate in the activities by sponsoring booths at the Saturday morning carnival. This was the first Southern Comfort weekend, but judging from the response, it probably will not be the last.