West Virginia University - Monticola Yearbook (Morgantown, WV)

Page 9 text:

As the Tijuana Brass can set the mood for the manner in which we dance, so the present times set the mood for the manner in which we live. To catch a feel for the mood of our age is not easy. To he tuned to the pitch and tone of our times is difficult. The moment in which we are living has its mood; a mood created hy burned cities, weeks in Appalachia, the vision of Kennedy, the strength of King, the tragedy of Vietnam. For the man of faith, the resurrection of Christ is not .separate from the mood and tone of this age. Like bread, beer, rain and music, the resurrection is woven into the fabric of life. For the man of faith — alive and sensitive — death and resurrection are part of the ongoing, evolutionary process in which we live. Our being hi the world of 1969 is as natural and beautiful a thing as the launch of a new keel upon the waters or the maiden flight of a jet. Nothing in creation is too big for man. too hot to handle. The world like a Mother has received the seed of Christ buried in her ami now risen. And it is gradually works out its victoiy over the forms of death which poignantly touch each of us. As Norman O ' Connor has written, The syncopations of these death forms are the ones we have been hearing since we had ears to hear and eyes to see and the mood is best described by the lonely voice of Billy Holiday because the single voice with the rasp and the whiskey best describe the loneliness of living and the horror of life. But the person who senses the resurrection will be the one who works to detect, uncover and celebrate the miracle of birth, glory and resurrection in whatever form or shape he finds it. And parado.xically, he accepts the fire and flack which he draws in celebrating life. If Alleluia is the traditional manner of expressing awareness of resurrection, then in our day and age, alleluia will be expressed more in commitment to bridges than to walls; in a refusal to murder in a murdering society; with as much effort to understand St. Paul ' s idea of personhood, as there is to understand Hugh Hefner ' s idea of it; and in the final analysis, a willingness to get ulcers over people and not over things. So from a growingly EMstered man. I hope our jangling discords of fear are turned into hand- shakes of peace. As Daniel Berrigan expressed it. The worst thing in the world is to lose the texture oj ' the world, to slip under, to become grave, to wear shrouds, to prefer false gods to real men. Don ' t slip, don ' t shock, don ' t be folded, .stapled, mutilated. Everyone worth talking about draws fire, from Guatemala to Vietnam and in between. Everyone is under bombs, except the makers of bombs. Celebrate life — is the only warmth which hatches the ri.sen life of the world, over which the Holy Spirit broods. Fr. Richard Marold — Paulist

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But the vitality of Countless collegians Beckons a life Younger than age. Though never absent From suns which Draw one to maturity. The shell cracked slowly. Spring came late Budding In the warmth of Irresistable loves. Fr. Richard Marold — Paulist Monday Morning wears a veil of cold, gray drizzle. I have a vague feeling That God needs an Alka-Seltzer Farmington, W.Va., November 24 Seventy- eight men in a hole in the ground And nobody knows if they ' ll ever come out. The flys come buzzing. Hoping to land. Lusting to see. Drawn by the stench of dead and dying flesh — They covet the salt in the tears. The old brick road is a leach on the hillside Buih by the Green Black Red Blood of the land. It slithers past the ball park — A gift For the loss of a father. And on To the company store. Dead. But standing still, With its great gray fangs Buried in the throat of the hill. One wet dog Cuddles underneath a rain-soaked TV set, Waiting for someone to come home And play. Seventy-eight men in a hole in the ground. Wanting only water. Or one last gasp of air. But at the edge of town The sign still reminds that Coke Refreshes You Best. — Don Wildman 4

Page 10 text:

THE FOOL The fool is he who grows adept At making self appear inept. The Coward {In Heroic Couplets) I think that I shall not attempt to he, A friend to all, except my best friend me. Fm all for one and I ' m the one I ' m for. This ain ' t my bag, and man, this ain ' t my war! If danger nears and I decide to run. As I leave I ' ll let you have my gun. If cowards die a thousand deaths, I say . . . ni die my thousand later, not today. THE PROTESTOR If Dupont steps on campus, III picket in the streets. Fll don my fragrant grubhies And store away my neats. I ' ll jeer each representative, I ' ll call each one a slob. But if I pass chem. 17, I ' ll ask them for a job. T.G.I.F. There once was a man without fear. Who drank eighteen gallons of beer, While quenching his thirst. His huge stomach burst. Filling the streets with good cheer. PLA YTEX LIVES! A girl with a figure fantastic. Her upper proportions bombastic, Said Girls, don ' t despair. I think it ' s just fair. To tell you it ' s all done with plastic.