Martin Van Buren High School - Futura Yearbook (Queens Village, NY)

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l Peace forever! shouted Renard. Hooray! Peace! Hooray! echoed the foxes. Work together! cried Leonard. I . f 1' s K, 4? , Hooray! Together! Hooray! echoed the foxes. gff' Q. And they all went home, The fable is not yet ende d. lt has three possible conclusions. The first and second are much alike in essence: Both camps of foxes were clever. Both traps must be, each side knew, well camouflaged, expertly hidden. So once they were in their own homes, they did not dare to venture out, for lear of being caught in an enemy trap, even though the enemy had declared that his traps would be destroyed. After all, everybody knew that foxes were sly and not to be trusted. Thus, both the red foxes and the silver foxes perished of inaction and starvation. In the second ending: The foxes all realized th-at they had to trust each other. But iust to make sure, each refrained from destroying 1is own traps until the sincerity of the opponent should be proven. So they stepped cautiously out of their abodes, ready to spring back at any moment. And the red foxerz and the silver were all killed by each other's traps. But the fable might end like this: The red and the silver 'ioxes went home, surrendering themselves to trust as their only salvation. And in the days that followed, no trap stopped their steps. They lived out their normal lives with iust a shadow of fear as they walked through the forest, and sometimes a start at the unnatural cracking of a branch. But their children grew up free of the taint of fear. Red and silver children worked together to liberate them- selves from the menace of hunters and from nature's pitfalls. And they lived happily ever after. As the Fabulous Fifties come to a close, we look ahead to the future. Will we discover that we have been cast in molds of distrust and preiudice? Will we step fearfully out into life, only to be ensnared by a trap? Will the Fabulous Fifties give way to the Sinister Sixties, or will the coming decade be remembered as the Secure Sixties? Surely the teachings of past years, and the exigencies of the present will iolt civiliza- tion out of its prolonged and turbulent adolescence into a rich and rewarding maturity. JOYCE GARTER 1 X'-ti K .L ls: e -A. 1, , fp if ff N15 lax 1 lhgwx -If 'rf J 5 l F rt .Nil 7 gg Ny t . .XQX F .LJ ef 1 ff f lflxx Q , 5 1 12 f f ,,t'5 '. ,- we f'f T75 4 ff' 17 J C7 r - ,ff -I .Y 'j, , A .f 1----3. - if 'IWW Z T f ' fi f 1 KM . , :'1-'2fTP- , .FZ kxxxx ,le x ,,-1 .- Q, X -A f ...Q-55-'f. ,x-M .f ' l SN- A I4 Q xx fm N ' g N . N is ' 4 f' 1 1 XX ffgf' ll1,'ll't'XQS f '- - lr - s , X id - - Q. lv Lx 'IN M r st' 2 9.-: -Sx E 2 'wqwgx nb, X 's A I' lrxxxxwa- xcxx Q Q xwx N ,M Q'-:'.,-59' T5 he 2,-v-riffs K I g'l'h.,NNE We I . X - R . lvmga' I T h ffl x ,fl All M.E 13

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,4 21615 IZ full K till! Tl 'diff 'psf sf ,- ,s- ,J ,NKUN N ,,.g- xbox ' 'xxkxw ,KQX-x X, Twin! 'I :bill f N D 2 N., .f: '4Q ,,xf if 56.52 1 ' X 5-x Z lt if - Ns. 'Q':l l TAN l I X X ' x c hu xx x X-N x s eff X , if ff , rg , 'lllutii-,P 1' , ,p 1 INF I A6. 7' 1' , X . K' ' 5' A 'Xxx il lf' X 1 Xi 'Z Q XY X X8 X l , I x X . s's,M.FI 12 All of the inhabitants of the Forest of Foxes were running toward the Meeting Mountain. The silver foxes were running from the west, and the red foxes were running from the east. They ran until they reached the top of the mountain, where Renard, the leader ofthe silver, and Leonard, the leader of the red, were face to face. Their people sat down, but they remained standing, contemplating each other. They raised their paws to their people, and no further sound came from the mountain that was half red and half silver but the heavy breathing of the two leaders. Then Renard put down his paw and broke the silence. We are gathered here at the summit of Meeting Mountain to discuss the grave problem confronting us. With our advances in science and technology, we have been building more and more deadly traps in the past years. These traps have been used in the fight between the red and the silver foxes for mastery of the entire forest. So far, the damage done by these traps has been relatively small, and the balance of power has been maintained. But recently we have simultaneously devised a trap that may well end society as we know it, and perhaps all life in the Forest of Foxes. We, the silver, do not know by what methods the traps of the red foxes accomplish their destruction, nor do the red know the secret of the silver. But these traps have both been secretly tested on hunters, and we do know that if they are used against us, our end will soon be upon us. At this point Leonard stepped forward. Friend Renard, he began, let us now get down to business and discuss the future of these traps, and thus our fate. The red foxes and the silver alike were held spellbound, although the sun crossed the heavens twice as their leaders discussed and argued. Their eyes were fiery and their tails quivered as the discussion grew more and more heated. At last their eyes became calm and their tails drooped quietly. They stood up, and Leonard announced, A decision has been reached. Our world is safe. All traps are to be destroyed at once. The citizens were motionless for one moment, and then, as a body, they lumped to their feet and waved their tails madly. Some leaped high into the air, and the atmos- phere was one of mad reioicing.

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LE X 'elses 1. ., .A ls! ' ' Q5 if - my flaluu 'uiiiftiz ,luis A ' WW! ' 111111 1 ll WI 0 , F' 1 'li ill K 1 ...-if f 1 i - . ' ,L -s lil 1 s :si F my 'll g' itil . M - 1 . nf- 75- t V I V X shi? . ll' lf l EE l I-'twig .-gasatiss'-Wg n u n ' ll' Ill' E'-5 't5I 25 gn gs 'mmm I-1 , Q-,. ill' 1'- ggll!,,n.n:'jn' H l D535 , fl QQ , Nw' gf 14 U16 Erucible The students who will graduate from Martin Van Buren in 1959 are largely products of the Fifties. lt is in this decade that we will have spent most of our formative years. The trends, the events, the character of the times have made an indelible imprint upon us. lt was in this decade that we started and completed the bedrock of our formal education. When the decade began we were children, as it ends, we cross the threshold of adulthood. What this decade has given us, and what we have taken from it, will profoundly influ- ence our lives. The international political events of the Fifties were ominous in portent. This was a decade marked by the emergence of two armed camps-one despotic, one democratic-each pressing to establish its own political phi- losohpy. lt saw the continuance of a strong tide of nationalism which had begun in 1776 and was now storming the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. In some areas of the globe, old empires disintegrated, some of the fragments to be engulfed by the newly constituted Communist imperialism. This decade began under the shadow of war as had the previous one. Only this was a different kind of war-a war small in size but fought against a background of weapons that could make the world uninhabitable. The Korean war was a contained conflict, a iet of flame bursting forth at a point where the cold war had grown hot. lt was a testing ground and a time of calculation, of miscalculation, of brinkmanship, resulting in large shifts in the balance of power in Indo-China and the Middle East. ln 1952, for the first time in twenty years, a Republican became President. ln Dwight D. Eisenhower the G.O.P. had found a leader whose popularity approached that of Franklin Roosevelt. With General Eisenhower as their leader, the Republican Party gained control of both houses of Congress. How- ever, the sentiment of the nation remained predominantly Democratic as evi- denced by the regaining of Congressional control by the Democrats in 1954. Another significant political change was wrought by the third branch of the government when, in 1954, the Supreme Court declared segregation in the public schools unlawful. To the South this meant a maior social upheaval, an upheaval that is still continuing on political, social, and economic levels. Little Rock took its place among the historical symbols that are created when the old order changeth, yielding place to the new. Many of the political developments in the Fifties gained significance be-