Black Hills State University - Eoicha Yearbook (Spearfish, SD)

Page 29 text:

.;u...-....... . He was ushered into the same room, but was it the same? The homey library atmosphere had changed. The great antique desk had been replaced by a bare table. The rocker was gone. Efficient shutters hung at the long windows, and the now un- filtered glare gave the whole place the barren look of a clinic. Cold, grey light silhouetted the stocky figure of a man sitting behind the table. He looked up. His face creased instantly with a robot smile, and his eyes, un- changed behind the thick lenses, remained twin microscopes. itSit down? he said. It was more command than invitation. ttI imagine you are wondering why I sent for you. Without waiting for a reply, he went on, ttI was examining some old files of your newspaper, the Red Start - I believe at that time it was known simply as ithe Stari - and I was interested in an editorial written for the October 18, 1964 issue. Do you remember that editorial? Again, without pausing for a reply, the voice continued, iiYou should remember it, you wrote it. A very clever one it was, too. You seem to have been much more perceptive than your col- leagues. Perhaps your younger eyes could see farther. We need men of your vision in the Party. But Iim coming to that later. Right now, I want to refresh your memory of this writing. Picking up the newspaper which lay on the table in front of him, the High-One began to read from its editorial page. His Oriental accent at times distorted the English. The title announced simply, NToo Late? Under that, in one paragraph, a young re- porter named L. Jamison had written: itThere have been many re- actions to this weeks earth- shaking headlines. Our com- placency may even have been slightly disturbed for a moment, but we have been immediately lulled into our accustomed state of stupidity. There is no need to worry about the infinitesimal explosion of a tiny atom bomb somewhere way off in the Mon- golian wasteland. tIt will be years, if everf say the high-in- command, before anything of the least possible destructiveness can come out of that primitive culture? No one notices the little pebble which, dislodged by the explosion, rattles harmlessly down from the heights. No one hears the muffled roar of the mighty avalanche behind it. With ears attuned only to What we want to hear, with eyes blinded to all we do not wish to see, with mouths uttering non- sensical banalities we continue merrily on our way? The voice stopped and the piercing eyes again focused on L. Jamison. ttTell me, Reporter Jamison, just why did your so- ciety weaken? You were almost too easily taken over, you know; it was like - the face again creased with mirthless smile t2- like stepping on a bug. Jamison did not answer. He sat as one in a trance, staring into space. He could not give voice to his thoughts, tiYes, bugs! That is just what we had become. Fat, over-fed termites! Blind to all but our physical drivings, liv- ing only to satisfy our greedy appetites. Silly, scuttling bugs! We deserved to be smashed? ISO L AT I O N MILDRED McCLUSKEY What is this sadness that returns again As sun's last ray slants seaward in the west. Guilding that speck of ship which yet remains Poised lightly as a gull upon the crest? What lurks here in the gathering dusk with me As homing bird sends back its plaintive call. And shrouding mist trom rush of surfacing sea Veils stars' cold gazeeexcluding me from all? Night taIIs-the sea awaits more ships. more suns. The sad note ends as bird has found its mate. The new moon rising. with a star communesI And I. alone. am left to human fate. I-l alone, of all. am not attuned. I-I alone. stand sentenced to man's doom

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MILDRED Mc The car threaded its way skill- fully through the heavy traffic. The man sitting in the back seat stared out at the dreary, rain- soaked City. Under a brooding sky the Capitol buildings loomed dark and ominous; and as the driver swung in sharply at the great gate, the man had a feeling of foreboding. A guard held out his hand for credentials. His eyes, beneath their bushy brows. carefully scrutinized the papers. Finally satisfied, he waved the car on through the gate. In the car, the man raised his head slightly as they swung up the curved drive. His tired eyes swept the imposing building be- fore him. It had been a long time, but there it stood - the same as before. Its whiteness undimin- ished: its stately pillars stood as proudly as ever. He alighted under the shelter of the enor- mous p o r t i c o and hesitated slightly before starting to ascend the wide steps. No. nothing had changed in these past fifteen years - nothing had Changed e nothing. but everything!

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SUMNER EHHINS The sun rises and unconscious fingers seek ou+ iangling clocks. +hen bodies reach for one Ias+ +ouch of Iasf nighf's play. +hen +urn abou+ +0 s+ar+ +he day. CigareHe smoke and muscles s+re+ch ou'r; cool showers +0 make +he senses shout Breasf now covered in coHon firms 3 foofh-pasfe kiss as s+ockings +urn. 26 Taxi drivers unfriendly +0 +hose 'roo sfubborn +0 smile. For early +hey 'rose +0 seek ou+ +heir love wi+h slipper in hand, or fumble +heir way pas+ a newspaper s'rand. Insidious hea+ brings +he lunch hour in- Iigh+weigh+ clofhes are close +0 +he skin; a cocldail hour a+ +he corner bar. +hen back +0 +he Io+ +0 pick up +he car. Throughou+ +he park where lovers walk. down by +he river where in+ellec+s +alk in shadows +hais cover an af+ernoon kiss: now kisses grow longer in momenfs of bliss. Then aHer +he da+es of dining and dancing simple apar+men+s become now enfrancing. And only +he dial on +he radio glows as lovers surrender and hang up +heir clo+hes. All +hrough +he nigh+ +hey dream or dream no? on silken sheefs or dir+y co+; +he rhyfhm of life beai's on in each head'- dis+urbed once again by +ha+ iangling s+ari'. +he is I cell gei are cor ch