Contemplations & Reflections (with Toni Matulis)

Maroon & Gold

Bloomsburg State College (PA) - February 24, 1967

The Common Fare

In our College Commons there is a very interesting gadget. It is called a garbage disposal. It eats food that people take with the intention of eating but just never--for one reason or another--get around to actually eating. In that manner it eats dollars. Dollars that, since ARA Slater isn't out to make any kind of a killing, could be used for such little extras as ice cream cones at lunch time, special occasion dinners, and one-thousand-and one other such things that some little elves who sit in a secret back room could come up with out of their very fertile minds. It only takes a little bit of common sense to realize that machines are doing a good job taking over for Man without feeding them in the process...

The Koffee Kup

Last weekend saw two more very successful nites at the “Bye The Way” coffee house. The entertainment becomes more polished upon each visit to the cellar sanctuary, and the individual conversation a little more varied. Particularly enjoyable this past weekend, aside from the sing-along sessions, were Peggy Walters and her troope-de femme and some poetry readings by Brain McLernan. The cellar gate swings open Saturday nites fro 8 to 12:30; Sunday eves from 7:30 to 10:30.

The Buk Shoppe

Perhaps it is a little like stating the obvious, since everyone who is taking courses must have gotten books from the College Book Store during the first few weeks of this semester, but it should be noted for posterity (if for no one else) that the book store is finally situated in quarters that offer it adequate space for efficient functioning—probably the first time in the college’s history. The people involved with the store (from Mrs. Barkauskas down to the cop who guards the great supply of tomes around harvest time) should be complimented for their fine job so far this semester.

A Pinch of Philo

Sophocles has written: “Nothing great enters into the life of man without a curse.” Let us all take time from our busy day to contemplate that statement: First thing that comes to my mind is cigarettes and cancer-of-the-lungs; then things like the United Nations and Red China; or how about the automobile and smog; King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Yeap.

One Lonely Line

"The poetry of Earth is never dead," writes John Keats in his opening lies of "On the Grasshopper and the Cricket." He then goes on to describe the sounds of Nature throughout the year. Spring is coming upon us swiftly, so if you take nothing else from your literary pursuits of English, at least take that with you to the country club this spring. [It should be explained that the "country club" was an abandoned golf course on the hill opposite the campus that the college bought and planned to use as the college expanded in the future; but in the meantime, every spring, dozens of couples would drag blankets to the hillside to "study."]

The Wax Muse-eum

New hobby at the “By The Way” is to sculpt the candles with stir-sticks while they burn. If you’ve got a book along you can spread your out-of-it hours in the cellar cove by putting a wax cover on your book.

Buk & Mag Pak

A very good-and-upcoming college-oriented magazine with some good, some so-so, some odd fiction, articles, reviews and art in it is Readers & Writers. A buck sent to 130-21 224th Street, Jamaica, NY 11413 will net you four issues.