• Format
  • Publications (documents)
• Type
  • Text
• Source institution
  • Western Carolina University
• Identifier
  • HL_WesternCarolinian_1976-07-01_Vol42_No03_05

THURSDAY, JULY 1,1976 THE WESTERN CAROLINIAN Book Review 4Zen' teaches more than just 'Art' Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Robert M. Persig. William Morrow & Company, 1974. by Wanda Crawford I'm a little bit psychic. As well as a great believer in the Eastern axiom, "When the student is ready, the teacher appears." Therefore, I bought this book on Tuesday, June 29, 1976, for $2.25 when the same amount of money could have bought me a pair of cheap K-Mart tennis shoes, which I need almost desperately. Bought it after having resisted a year of pressure from my laid-back and high-brow friends. Why two days ago, and why at T.D.'s? After all, I first saw the book in a squash shop last summer in Boston, Mass., squashed in between On the Road and Trout Fishing in America. A freak, whose jewel was most certainly in the lotus, explained to me, that I, smelling of six days spent hitchhiking, was now at the peak of my soul's refinement-by-humiliation, and therefore, ready to receive The Knowledge. He was wrong. I peaked almost one hour before buying the book one year later. Peaked because of the need, and without one single squirm over the cut in my dwindling funds. And oh! the need. And how it was answered! You see, two weeks before I bought the book, I hurt the feelings of a very dear friend by misunderstanding the message of one of his poems. This friend has a beautiful and brilliant soul through which I am very fond of looking at the otherwise unbearable light of God. He has served as sort of a stained glass window; liod smiles on me through him. But I, like one blind to those breathtaking colors, blundered through a work of poetry written to intensify the religious experiences of all sensitive Anglicans everywhere. So I really think I was meant to buy Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. A diminutive but growing clairvoyance has puzzled me for three or four years. I can sense when there is a letter in my box from someone I care for. When the phone rings, something about the way the sound waves reach my ears lets me know if the call is for me. Consistently, I foresee fads and trends. And something in the way the cover of this book reflects light made me know that herein is healing for the schism between my friend and me. There were three colors from which to choose-green, yellow, and pink. I took green, a cool soothing, quiet color. The student was ready. The teacher made himself known on page fifteen. The lesson he taught me can have no meaning outside of the trinity of my friend, me, and the Buddha. But three pages further brings something of even more lasting value, lasting because it is so universally important to all put-upon citizens of affluent cultures. "Their flight from and hatred of technology is self-defeating. The Buddha, the Godhead, resides quite as comfortably in the circuits of a digital computer or the gears of cycle transmission as he does at the top of a mountain or in the petals of a flower. To think otherwise is to demean the Buddha which is to demean oneself.'' That wisdom is at the end of chapter one, and as chapter two starts out, "The road winds on and on..." We are led from profundity to sagacity to ethereality, and not always of the mystical sort, as the author, his son, and two family friends motorcycle from Minnesota to Montana, and then on to Anywhere. Persig is no ascetic. He ignores squashed bugs on his gloves and goggles. He sleeps in motels, lunches on malts-n-burgers, admires technology, and during eleven months of the year, edits and writes, operator's manuals for digital computers. Yet, without leading a life of quiet desperation. As he tells us, life by computerized transistor, or likewise, by transistorized computor, is upon us for good. But nobody has prepared us for it. We have been exhorted by religious leaders, philosophers, and all our great teachers to preserve tranquility by lifting our eyes unto the hils, or by studying the universe contained in the drop of water trembling on a lotus leaf. Thoreau's example was very plain. But Persig shows us the universe sloshing in the reserve tank of a twenty-eight horsepower motocycle. And it isn't scary. And to me, to me, to me? What else did he do to me? He explained to me that mathematics, with its terrifying assertions of ominous infinity, is a ghost. It has no energy, and no mass, and therefore, does not exist except in the mind. I peaked for that when I was in elementary school, and was shown that the number line shoots out from zero never to find a destination, swallowed up in black space. But for you? You'll have to find out for yourself, as I can t fathom your needs. Maybe you won't even find anything which seems worthwhile. The book is fun, and a bacchan^lia of unusual thoughts, and hypnotically written. Any other judgements are practically worthless. The Bible is called a great saga or an exhaustive poetry anthology, but nobody can critique it. Same goes for this book, except for the poetry. I have but one other thing to say; Walden is dead; long live Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. The Wetter The Better Wet Willie Capricorn CP0166 Jimmy Hall, lead singer for Wet Willie, has that listenable, althouqh it seems that just as one tune type of voice which brings Rhythm and Blues to establishes a comfortable g/oove, the next comes life. He can be mean and sassy or just as sharp as a 0n like Black Sabbath in a wind tunnel. If you're razor. While he is reminiscent of early Jagger, he interested in the current state of the art in seems to be trying and singing harder. His voice, fuzztones, check this one out. combined with a hot alto sax and a tasteful harp, makes Hall the essence of Wet Willie's music. But, Hall isn't the only talent here. Faithful Ricky Hirsch, lead guitarist, plays some fine Todd Rundgren guitar and contributes three songs to this effort. Bearsville 6963 One, Everything that 'cha do is perhaps the album's best. Why in the world would Todd Rundgren re-cut With this record, it is clear that Wet Willie is SUch standards as Rain, If Six was Nine, and Good still a funky band. Baby Fat could teach Brother Vibrations, among others, change not one note James Brown a few things. Nevertheless, the band from the original arrangements, and succeed i appears to be heading in some new directii Ring You Up and Everybody's Stoned are more melodic ventures than Wet Willie is generally known for. All in all, The Wetter the Better is a great dance album by a great dance band. It's gonna bring good to your neighborhood and put some jump in your bump. BEST CUTS: Everythin that 'cha Do, Baby Fat, Teaser, Ring You Up. No Heavy Petting UFO Chrysalis 1103. Here we have yet another band into that chordal white noise popularized by such bands as Kiss, Montrose, Rush, etc. UFO does, however, seem a bit more concerned with occasionally hinting at melodies than is common in these circles. But don't despair, more often than not it's "Damn the dymamics, tull voli Perhaps losing the spirit in all of them? Perhaps it's as he says, re-record the songs that influenced him most. Or, maybe he's practicing to begin recording covers for K-Tel. Whatever the motivation, the EPA should bring a suit against him for such a flagrant waste of vinyl. Wedding Album Leon & Mary Russell Paradise 2943 This album finds Leon Russell at his soulful best. It appears to be a well-thought-out album in every respect, with strong tunes, effective arrangements, and good vocals. Leon receives a major assist here from his new wife Mary who co-wrote many of the songs and whose voice really moves the record along. Particularly nice is Bobby Womack's Daylight, on which Womack plays o harsh. Half of the album is This is one of Leon Russel's be as such is well worth listening to. r albums and Your legal rights by Bryant Berry, Jr. literature? Is the seller of obscene literature guilty Should Court Believe The Impossible? of a crime? Larry aimed his .22-caliber rifle at the target Wallace Cunningham was confronted with these and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. The two questions. He owned and operated a bookstore cartridge did not fire. He opened the bolt and in New York. Tommy Henderson, a sixteen-year- suddenly after a five second delay, the cartridge old, entered the bookstore, surveyed the exploded in his face. He was blinded in both eyes, merchandise, then selected and purchased two His face was permanently scarred. Larry sued the "girlie" magazines. When Tommy's mother found manufacturer of the cartridge for $700,000. the magazines hidden in his sock drawer, she The manufacturer had expert witnesses testify asked him where he had purchased them. Tommy to the effect that no event of this sort could have advised her and she immediately filed a complaint occurred since the cartridges were so constructed against Cunningham. that there could not have been the delay stated by The state found Cunningham guilty of violating Larry between the striking of the cartridge by the a New York Penal Law which stated it was unlawful firing pin and the activation of the priming for one knowingly to sell to a minor any picture mixture. Therefore, the event physically could not which depicts nudity or any magazine which have occurred. One of the experts theorized that contains such pictures and which, taken as a Larry, after opening the bolt, allowed it to slide whole, is harmful to minors. forward and fire the cartridge. Should the court Cunningham appealed the case to the United rule in favor of Larry? States Supreme Court. He contended the Penal Yes. Larry got the $700,000. The court stated Law violated an individual's constitutional freedom that when a manufacturer markets a product of expression secured to him to read or see known by it to be imminently or inherently material concerned with sex. Cunningham further dangerous when used in the customary manner, argued this right cannot be made to depend upon the manufacturer must exercise reasonable care to whether the individual is an adult or a minor, safeguard against the danger or to inform the Should Cunningham win the appeal? user of the danger, although the product itself is No. The court rejected Cunningham's not defective. The cartridge boxes carried no arguments, saying that the Penal Law did not warning of a danger in attempting to withdraw a invade Tommy's constitutionally protected misfired or hungfired cartridge. Viewing the freedoms, but merely "adjusts the definition of evidences as a whole, the court held the cartridge obscenity to social realities by permitting the irrefutably had to be defective or it would not have appeal of this type of material to be assessed in fired in the abnormal manner sworn to by Larry. It terms of sexual interest of such minors ". The court is said that according to the laws of science it held that the power of the state to control the should be impossible for a bumblebee to fly, but it conduct of children reaches beyond the scope of its flies nevertheless. authority over adults. In some areas a child is not Based on a decision of the United States Court of possessed with the full capacity for individual Appeals. choice. Obscenity is not a constitutionally protected expression. Can Obscene Material Be Sold To Minors? Based on a decision of the United States Supreme Can your child legally purchase obscene Court.

The Western Carolinian is Western Carolina University's student-run newspaper. The paper was published as the Cullowhee Yodel from 1924 to 1931 before changing its name to The Western Carolinian in 1933.

• Creator
  • Western Carolina University
• Format
  • Publications (documents)
• Type
  • Text
• Date
  • Date original: 1976-07-01
  • Date digitized: 2018-06-21
• Extent
  • Dimension: 16.5" x 11.5"
  • Pages: 8 pages
• Subject - Topic
  • College student newspapers and periodicals
  • Cullowhee (N.C.) -- Newspapers
  • Universities and colleges -- North Carolina -- Cullowhee -- Newspapers
• Location
  • Jackson County (N.C.)
  • Cullowhee (N.C.)
• Source institution
  • Western Carolina University
• Source Collection
  • WCU Students Newspapers Collection
• Identifier
  • HL_WesternCarolinian_1976-07-01_Vol42_No03
• Repository
  • Western Carolina University Hunter Library