New Utrecht High School - Comet Yearbook (Brooklyn, NY)

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The main reasons why we have noT cornmunicaTed wiTh you is ThaT you are men- Tally unable To grasp The TacT ThaT people Trom anoTher pIaneT can exisT and are capable oT space Travel. Besides, we have noT yeT perTecTed a meThod oT com- municaTion by which you EarThmen would be able To see us, aIThough we are worlc- ing on iT. Under presenT condiTions, cornmunicaTions, while possible, would be very inconvenienT indeed. I Icnow ThaT you will be curious as To liTe on my pIaneT, and I will Try To give you a guicla glimpse oT iT. Basically we have The same ideas as you EarThmen, buT our acTuaI way oT living is compIeTeiy diTTerenT, and, even iT I say sc myseIT much more advanced. We have no wars, because There is nc desire To have more Than The nexT person or group oT people. There is no crime, and Those people Who show any wish To acquire ThaT which is noT righTTuiIy Theirs'are oiiclfly acprehenoed and puT inTo an insTiTuTion roughly similar To your insane asyiums. There are PC such Things as diT'TerenT counTries and diTTerenT governmenTs' represenTaTives are senT Trom each secTion oT Venus To an organizaTion vaguely on The line OT The EarThs UniTed NaTions, This organizaTion governs The .whole i:'aneT, and mahes any improvemenTs and changes deemed necessary. There is no such Thing as unemploy- menT, Tor everyone has The iob Tor which he is besT suiTed. Thus There is no dis- conTenT. Ivloney is unlcnown, as are diTTerences in classes, because everyone worlcs Tcr everyone else and each person is supplied on reguesT wiTh whaTever he needs. Nobody TGIKES more Thar' ne needs, because There is always a pIenTiTul supply oT everyThing Tcr The aslfing. Eoucahon is creTTy much The same as on Earfn, es- cepT ThaT science is The suoiec' mosT sTressed, and each one is given special Training Tram 'he beginning in regard To h's Tusure vocaTion, which is known Trom Vf early childhood. Une 'ning abou' our sCcieTy which nwighT 'verses' you is The Iacl QT unaT Tp M-is is sci common as To be Talen Tor granTed, The ordinary mirror, This is because Venusians are noT ThaT much concerned abouT Their appearances. I fh'nL I can honesTIy :ay ThaT The mirror ii, whaT inTrigued me mosT on my xfisiT, I have given Thi IiTTIe IeTTer To a high school magazine in Trad QT To a sciens Ti5T, because I Teel ThaT ri high uchool sTudenT i-. The only ann ThaT would beexe T For you are aduIT enough To undersTancI whaT I have seT down, xeT sTiII open- minded enough To acceiiT iT. I have chosen your magazine, raThei Than any oTher, becau'e iT'. TiTIe, CQTVIET, aflraclecl me, I Tc-IT a -iorT oT Isinship since The name TwenTy

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Leffer From A Venusian The following lvifrr ll'tlS found in the COMET'S lnuil. Luzitfz ll note almclled ask- ing ns to print lil' in our rrnzgazzirzir. Bt'1lif'l'I-ll-g' if rl. lrofzx, we wvrv going Lo throw if IIICII-Y. ewvelzzl that one of flu' staff nolived Ilml ll small mirror was umlccouintably 7711.-'siflg from the 141111 on I4'f11iCl1 if was lIt'!'IlSf0fl1Pd lo flung. Since the office is alzvays loclrvd. theft was out of 1118 question. and owing to the way a mirror was 77IUI1fli0I1t'd in flu' If-tier. uv dm'1'uleuI it Irvs! fu print if and let you draw your own vorzclzzsliolzs. lm Trom Venus. 'l'haT's righT, I'm a Venusian. I realize ThaT This TacT will be enTirely unbelievable To you, because, while your science-TicTion wriTers have pre- pared you Tor an invasion Trom Mars, They have enTirely ignored The TacT ThaT life could exisT on Venus, NeverTheless, I am really, honesTly a Venusian. BuT perhaps l'd beTTer explain, and Try To answer The quesTions ThaT mighT come up. l5irsT, how did I geT here? ThaT's very simple. I decided To run away Trom home! I never inTended To go so Tar as To visiT EarThg I iusT inTended To go To one oT Venusl ouTlying saTeIIi+es. LeT me cIariTy ThaT, because as many of sou know, Venus has no moons. BUT because oT The pIaneT's over-crowded condi- on, many Tiny man-made safellires have been builT. Because oT Their minuTe size and because oT anoTher TacT which I will explain laTer, your asTronomers have never see' 'nem and so are ToTaIly ignoranT oT Their exisTence. BuT Im digressing. LeT's reverT To how I arrived here. ATTer my decision had been made, I climbed inTo my rocIceT converTibIe, and seT The dial Tor whaT I -'laughs was SaTelIiTe Epsilon. WheTher Through my error, or a TaulT in The machinery o? The rocIceT, The nexT Thing I Icnew was ThaT I had landed on EarTh. You mighT also ask: If an ordinary everyday roclceT could geT To EarTh, why have-nT our scienTisTs made The voyage? Well, They have. They've visiTed EarTh mary Times, buT iT is impossible Tor you To see Them. Cn accounT OT The TacT ThaT Earmmen, wiTh Tew excepTions, are noT menTally advanced enough To accepT our ewirence, your brain cannoT regisTer The image we send Through your eyes, and so To you we appear as noThing buT moderaTely Thick vapor, which is hardly noTice- ac e. IT you were able To see us, we would appear To be much The same as EarTh- men. For This reason your asTronomers are noT able To discover any IiTe on Venus, or even To noTe The small saTeIIiTes. They say iT's because oT The dense cloud cover- ing cur planeT. WhaT has never occurred To Them is ThaT The cloud They see is acTualIy The Venusian civilizaTion. You mighT asln why, since Venus is so Superior scienTiTically, our air Torce hasn'T invaded and Talren over EarTh, as your science-TicTion wriTers are so sure The Mar- Tians will do. lYou needn'T worry abouT MarTians, by The way. They are less civi- lized and scienTiTicalIy advanced Than you, and could never span The disTance To EarTh.l We Venusians have no inTenTion or desire To Talce over anyfhing. One oT NineTeen

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signiTies someThing noT oT This EarTh, which is whaT I am. IT you believe me, iT will bring much closer The day when our scienTisTs and yours will communicaTe, since EarThmen will be able To accepT our exisTence. As soon as This arTicIe has been handed To The proper auThoriTies, anonymously oT course, I will leave Tor home, which I am beginning To miss. Eor while The noveITy oT This visiT has guiTe appealed To me, I musT admiT ThaT I am geTTing homesick Tor my ordinary IiTe on Venus, and am missing Too much oT my school worlc in my Tield oT rocIceT science. So To Those oT you who believe me I say Thank you, and To Those oT you who doubT me, when you see someThing quiver or move when There is no Torce moving iT, when you see a door open or close and There is no draTT, and when someThing which-To a Venusian-could pass Tor a souvenir is missing, iusT remember ThaT I mighT reTurn, and Try To explain The occurrence in some oTher way. JUDY KLEINMAN Old lchabod Fave ,ou ever seen a sTory boolc characTer come To IiTe righT beTore your eyes? No 'wo ceoole could have resembled each oTher more closely Than my English Teacher and WashIngTon Irving's Tamous personaIiTy, Ichabod Crane. The TirsT day I enTe-'eo RooerT Grims class I was amazed aT The simiIariTies in The appearance oT 'ne Two men. Grim was a gaunT Ioolcing man in his mid-TorTies, wilh large Tlappy ears, bushy' 6fSOfCVlS, and a posTure which indicaTed IisTIessness. I TeIT an immediaTe dislilce Tor him when he Tinished his welcoming oraTion. Wel- coming? Indeed, iT was raTher Toreboding. In his own words, he said, This is a course in English IiTeraTure and grammar, and I shall assign many long and boring assign- men+:. Even Though They shall conTIicT wiTh your desired recreaTions on The spring days To come. There will be daily quizzes on The worlc given. I care IiTTIe iT we com- pIeTe The worlf. IT also does noT maTTer To me how I am reTerred To ouTside oT class. Much To my surprise, I Tound The worlc guiTe inTeresTing. This was especially True CT our class worlc. Aside Trom our reading aloud and discussing many ouTsTanding worlcs TwenTy-one