Northwest High School - Vanguard Yearbook (Indianapolis, IN)

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Confused, disgusted, or harrassed by the surrounding pressures of school and work, Northwest students often escaped into another world of a book, a movie, or a television show and lost themselves completely in fan- tasy or philosophy. Money often limited what students read-newly pub- lished books, usually unavailable at libraries because of long waiting lists, were read several months to a year after publication when they were printed in paperbacks. Nevertheless, Northwest students enioyed a wide vari- ety of literature, that individuality reigned was evident in that no one book could be labeled most popular book of 1971-l972. There was a general trend to- wards non-fiction, which might indicate youth's stability or search for reality. Some of the more prominent books, Future Shock by Alvin Toffier, a look into the ef- fects of society's rapid change, The Greening of Amer- ica by Charles Reick, about, as it is subtitled, how the youth revolution is trying to make America livable, The Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer, which relates the development to a woman's role to today's society, Eve- Storytellers like rything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex by Dr. David Reuben, a handbook on sex in question and an- swer format, Hard Times by Studs Terkle, which chroni- caled with personal interviews the Depression, and Kent State: What Happened and Why by James Michener, a novelist-reporter's account of the May, 1970, Kent State University demonstrations that ended in the death of four students, reflected interest in society and youth's role in it. The scope of fiction popularity ranged from J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasies The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy to the existentialist Crime and Punishment by Fiodor Dostoyevsky, read by the modern literature class. Students enioyed more contemporary works like The Godfather by Mario Puzo, Love Story by Erich Se- gal, Going All the Way by Dan Wakefield as well as re- quired reading for certain English courses, A Separate Peace by John Knowles, Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy, Lord of the Flies by William Golding, and The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Regular publications, following the recent trends of specializing and catering to individual tastes, enioyed patronage by students. Mad and National Lampoon competed as satire reviews, with advertising and articles directed towards college and young businessmen, Es- quire and Playboy caught the attention of students, male and female, sports fans generally turned to Sports Illustrated and The Sporting News, fashion magazines like Seventeen, Vogue, and Glamour and liberated Cos- mopolitan were read by Northwest girls, for the socially conscious, journals reminiscent of the muckraking 1 60

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It s the class of '7l. Organized year Puds also had 20 of 23 and Black Soul l had ld members' were clubs that existed in the as a result of insufficient there was no evidence that the any useful purpose, some of the plete some constructive projects. For Christmas, DD's collected articles, such as rollers, hairpins, and hairnets, and presented them to girls at Girls' School, Jadettes sent gifts to servicemen overseas. DD s also sponsored an Easter egghunt and party for underprivileged chil- dren at the Christamore House while Jadettes made Eas- ter baskets for a nearby nursing home. Social clubs primarily existed, however, for the social activities involved. Profits from money-raising projects, such as car washes or candy sales, were almost always used' to finance dances, hayrides, or rush activities. Rush consisted of a series of slumber parties, teas, and initiations in which the new members orxrushees X it 'i faii't'ifE i ij33i :?t'5i before' being officially voted in. With the exception of Puds who had no in- r itiation, all the clubs planned and carried out rush activ- ities once a semester. Girls being initiated into clubs were usually required to braid their hair in tiny braids all over their heads or to wear pony tails, unmatched clothes, and anklet socks for a week. Some were also expected to collect 500 a certain upon performed clothes, tasks, the halls, knock and carry their classmates' lunch trays for When a rushee completed initiation to the satisfaction of the other clubmembers, it was then decided whether or not he should become an' 'active member. If he was accepted, he was permitted to participate in all that club's activities. Members. of some social clubs possesed symbols of distincition such as T-shirts imprinted withc their club names or emblems or having all their members wear a -certain outfit. j lt has been established that there were both positive and negative sides to social clubs. Whether students' reasons for joining the clubs were prestige, security, the close association between friends, climbing the social ladder, or simply that there was nothing else to do. there were definitely conflicting viewpoints concerning their valuefor the individuals involved and the effects they had on those not included. Q ' ,Yet I2 percent of the student body ignored parents administration, as well as state statutes, which banned social clubs because the clubs' activities excluded the remaining 88 per cent of Northwest students.

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-v i - l900's were Consumer Reports and Ramparts, Rolling Stone shook off its underground image to emerge as an important critique of music and the music society, and perennial favorites of male students of Northwest were the countless different car, hot rod, and motorcycle magazines. With the folding of the long-extablished va- riety magazine, Look, in November, 1971, the transi- tion of magazines to suit specialized tastes was nearly complete. Cartoonists captured the fancy of Northwest students as they also experienced a period of transition. In the daily comic strips, Peanuts by Charles Schulz and Tumbleweeds by T. K. Ryan were not only valid social and philosophical comment, but also among the favor- ities of students. Comic Books, from True Romance to Green Lantern enioyed a revival. New cartoonists, imi- tating the style of animated films of the l93O's, contrib- uted to the underground press, Robert Crumb, Gilbert Shelton, Ken Greene, and others created cartoon char- acters in such counter-culture comic books as Zap, Mr. Natural, Tooney Loons, and Noof Unnies. it is today The motion picture rating system kept students under 'l8 from attending movies with R lUnder I8 requires ac- companying parent, guardian, or spousel or X lUnder 'l8 not admittedl ratings, limiting them to those rated G lAll ages admittedl or GP lAll ages admitted-parental discretion advisedl. Most Northwest students selected Billy .lack as the year's best. Starring relatively unknown Tom Laughlin, the story revolved around a half breed veteran of Vietnam who has dropped out of society to study ancient Indian lore and protect kids at Interracial Freedom School from uptight citizens. Students also mentioned as movies important to them: Two-Lane Blacktop, starring Warren Oates and singer James Tay- lor, Academy Award-winning actor George C. Scott's Patton, a film biography of Army General George Pat- ton, futuristic science-fiction thriller Andromeda Strain, Summer of '42, a story of young, inexperienced love, Little Big Man, with Dustin Hoffman as the only living white survivor of the Battle of Little Big Horn, and clas- sics Gone With the Wihd and Dr. Zhivago, re-released to capture new audiences. The medium that stole moviegoers from the theatre, television, filled many hours of students' lives. There was little question on which program was most popular, Emmy-Award winner All in the Family lCBSl, with Carroll O'Conner, Jean Stapleton, Bob Reiner, and Sally Stru- thers, shocked and amused people with its frankness and subiect matter. Archie Bunker, played by O'Conner, became the hero or the enemy for viewers with his middle-class, conservative, sometimes preiudiced opin- ions. Outspoken announcers Howard Cossel and Don Meredith on Monday Night Football lABCl entertained Northwest football fans with their between-play banter. Laugh-In lNBCl, and hour of fast-paced comedy skits and black-outs hosted by Dan Rowan and Dick Martin, was toppled from its pinnacle of popularity by All in the Family and newer shows. Other shows, Nichols lNBCl, with James Gardner as a motorcycle-riding sheriff of a western town at the turn of the century, Mike Conners Ui' .sf-Q . ,gi xii! an Q ..lw,,,,.. A t a- X. -W is is FT- 1 K - 1 - 1. . . fs. 5 x 'Y 1:. ' eq ..,. ME.: and Gail Fisher in Mannix lCBSl, about a private detec- tive, comedian Flip Wilson's The Flip Wilson Show lNBCl, Sesame Street lPBSl, a show directed to pre- school youth, but with appeal to all ages, Great Ameri- can Dream Machine lPBSl, a highly acclaimed television newsmagazine, Mary Tyler Moore, as a young, unmar- ried assistant producer of a news program in the Mary Tyler Moore Show, and Room 222 with Lloyd Haines as a high school teacher with special insight into his stu- dents' problems, all figured prominantly in Northwest students' television schedules. Whether graphic, cinematic, or electronic, escape routes from reality offered by 1971-1972 media were gladly taken by frazzled Northwest students. lol Looking in on Archie Bunker on All in the Family, Randy Dewees, freshman, judges his opinions. lbl Senior Sherri Norton and Scott Swanson, '71 graduate, take in a winter Favorite, Dirty Harry. lcl To expand his knowledge beyond the classroom, senior David Dukes explores the world of books. 61