Memorial High School - Humanist Yearbook (West New York, NJ)

Page 8 text:

CG-'heme Essay The Trylon and the Perisphere-The symbols of the World of Tomorrow. Two years ago had you asked anyone the meaning of those two words their answer, if they had an answer, would have been an incoherent jumble of words meaning nothing. And yet today they form a part of every American's vocabulary. ln the past few decades a custom, born probably many ages ago, has flourished. lt is the cus- tom of exhibition. These exhibitions range in importance, and are usually called Fairs or Exposi- tions. Who does not know of the innumerable annual Village and County Fairs where proud farmers put up for inspection sleek and overfed hogs, or abnormally large ears of corn, and multi- grained sheaves of wheat, while their wives show off their needle work and knitting in pursuit of praise and prize. No one who has ever seen the immortal Will Rogers can forget the State Fair. On seeing such common articles as mustard jars and wine bottles you will constantly be re- minded of the many French Expositions: and merely the word exposition is enough to bring to mind the first really great American Exposition, where a conglomeration of countless articles from every part of the entire world was placed on display-The Philadelphia Centennial Exposi- tion of 1889. The custom of Fairs has grown with a tremendous impetus. Never has anything in the way of Fairs been so lavish and spectacular as the Chicago World's Fair of 1933, but we sincerely believe that the New York World's Fair of 1939, to which we reverently dedicate our HUMANIST, will supersede and surpass even that. The Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia seems, in retrospect, a puny effort in comparison with the New York Fair. There was no Surrealist House, no South Sea Village, no Ford elevated roadway, and above all, no Trylon or Perisphere at that Fair, but there was an exhibit that by far overshadows all the above, one exhibit that proved to be one of the greatest boons to modern civilization-the telephone. It would indeed be worth any sacrifice and expense if our World's Fair produces another such great invention. But it is really immaterial, in the larger sense, if something so wonderful is derived from the Fair. All the architectural precision and perfection are somewhat worthless. The whole proces- sion of rarities, novelties, and oddities doesn't seem to matter. After all, what difference does it make if a person can be shuttled to Europe in six hours, or what is the use of a three-hour jaunt in a rocket-ship to Asia, if upon arriving at either of these destinations you find nothing but terror, strife, and dissention, while the country you've just left is filled with discontent, worry, and distrust. Those are the real problems to face and overcome-not how to remove the few remaining cogs in the machine to pave the way to an ultimate perfection in mechanism which would further moti- vate the tempo of already over-paced industry and thereby push posterity into chaos-but to pro- vide for a slowing-down process for the modern pulse in such a manner as to place ideals before ideas, reconstruction before construction, well-being before world building, sincere pacifism before any other ism. By beginning this Way, and this Way alone, the world can be a better and more fruitful world. If in any way the coming Fair takes a step, no matter how small a step, in the direction of a better understanding and a greater feeling of love for humanity among all the represented nations it will well have been worth all the cost and extravagance. We, the youth of today, must do all in our power to further this theory of making the world a better place in which to live, for we, the youth of today, and not these two pieces of cold steel and concrete, the Trylon and the Perisphere, symbolize and are The World of Tomorrow. -Gino Cignoli 4

Page 7 text:

gore word The class of January, nineteen thirty-nine, offers this semi-annual in the sincere and earnest hope that it will afford a remem- brance of the joyous years spent in Memorial. Our ideals, ambitions, traditions-all are re- flected in these printed pages. A final backward glance-then let us step forward into the world with an effort to achieve the dreams we now cherish. 3

Page 9 text:

Qedicafion TO 'l'lll'I XVURLIJ UI 'l'ONIURRUXY N QXNIJ ITS IfI l'l7R CERINS A-XNIJ I,JlCYliI,lJPNII-IX'l'. NUT HXLX IN SL'lICXL'lf, .-XRCH llL,l'l'Rlf. lNlll'S'l'RY. .-XXI! KYIXIIICR XlyX'lxlfRI,'Xl, .'XR'l'S, lilwl' IX kl l'l'l'RlC, Il7li.'XI,S, ANU IIUXIANISNI WIC Ul I IfR Ul'Ix lll XlfXNlS'l' AS .-X 'I'U.AXS'l' IN .-XN'l'lL'll,.AX'I'lUN. 5