N u m b e r 9 D 6 r ie n H-.:ig::..h School, Da ri'?n ...neirad.darienps.net/print/june131978.pdf · N u m b e r 9 D 6 r ie n H-.:ig::..h School, Da ri'?n ... ... I 'd.,

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Doherty Describes D.C. Duties As Senate Page

Sherry Dryden and Matt Nichols sing the song "Money" during the :\'tusieDepartment's Cabaret Night on May 24. Also performing were the staKeband, choirs,and the trombone ensemhle.(photo by Charlot Ras-Allard)

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New Olympic Fitness Center Donated;Program Open To Interested Students

Shown here is the new Olympie Fitness Center at DHS. It will Ill' used foran improved, regular weight-:training program. (Photo by Richard Ft.·rris)

Panama Canal treaty debates, for ex-ample, classes were often I:) minuteslong.

One of the most appealing aspects ofBob's four months of work is the pay -$3000. After Jiving expenses and a newcamera were deducted, Hob hroul{hthome $1200.

As far as the excitement of being onCapitol Hill with the Senate in sessionis concerned, Bob sums it up by saying,"I would have enjoyed it more if I hadbeen a senator."

By GREG BURNS tration of exercise on specific areas ofThe new Olympic Fitness Center, the body. As a result, in addition to the

given to DHS·throu.gh the effortS of a basic universal. weight. parll.~~'·lCTJ~p(;~p.c;I;

Page 2 Neirad June 13, 1978

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Bearded Faculty Anached To Whiskers

Low Attendance Shows Student Apathy

Narotlle publiehed b)' tlw etudenu of Darien Hip 8e1Jool on • bi·_eakb'-ale. Lette... for the "Vlewpoinu" coluNn••)' be..u.1oNarotl, DerMaH"h 8ehool, Darien, Conneetieut 08820: Annual eubecri~rate,....'&0.!Au N~raiI featur.~'rt!' ~py'ri"'~ 1978. "~i\·h"l'"'.\1'!,h·f.i\i~'i:,w'r\1.(re.;"~,~,.,v~4'1("1~inulie printed at the Board of Education Printin. omee by Dlreetoro'

IPrtat.... Robert Velabir.Editors in Chief Linda Bornhuetter

John TibbettsBoys' Sports Editor Bili WaggenerGirl.' Sport. Editor Marylynh Slattery

Photo Editor Richard Ferris

Business Manager ; Mark Clowes

Art Editor8 Nelson EhingerBonnie Kitchen

Entertainment Editor David Gurliacci

~irculationManaarers Greg BurnsJim Yarish

A8.i.tant Editor, Feature John Reichart

AS8i8tant Editor, New Matt Maley

Editorial Advisor Jamie MacKenzieJeanne Mueller,

Advisor Robert Davis

I

released the following statement

for publication.

story was written, Alan Dikeman

"The great stand for 'privacy' at allcosts taken by Drs. Porter and Robbinsbasically conflicts with my stand thatthe people of Darien have the sameright to know as much about this trip toCommunist China as the organizers ofthe trip. By refusing me the legitimateinformation I desire they are, whetherthey realize it or not, witholding in-formation from the students, parentsand the rest of the people of Darien andrun the risk of being charged by many

One of Dr. Porter's main objections toMr, Dikeman's aCtions was hischaracterization of the China trip. In aletter to Dr. Porter, Mr. Dikeman wrote,"Now that the high school studentshave returned from thier pro-Com-munist proagandajaunt to Red China, Inow seek further information abouttheir trip in China and what is nowplanned for them by way of furtherpropaganda activity in the Darien areaas part of their agreement to take thistrip in the first place...." Mr. Dikemanclosed the same letter by saying,"Yours for real truth and freedom inDarien...." Dr. Porter stated, "I find thecharacterization placed on the Chinatrip by Mr. Dikeman quite offensive,and I strongly object to it."

Gur"acc', Stringer Lead InRecent Theatre 308 Product'on

Continued from page 3 her lines to be lost in the wings.her rendering of the stuffy, One of the most effective dramaticconservative headmistress who seeks techniques used in the play was theMiss Brodie's removal. Her haughty, flashback narrative provided by Carrieaustere demeanor brought out her Rich as a nun who had been the formercharac"l'er's personality with a Sandy, and Peter Croncota, the in-

credibility that was a pleasure to watch. quiring American reporter. CarrieEllen Clark handled effectively the dif- effected the calm purposeful mien oftheficult role of Mary McGregor, the cloistered nun very skillfully. The use ofnervous, stuttering, uncoordinated girl medieval church music and Gregorianwho becomes a highly motivated young chants, bells, and dim lighting com-adult and is killed in Spain. bined with the nuns' habits to create a

Many of the lines which were convent atmosphere that was trulyintended to be humorous fell flat as a authentic.result of poor delivery, and lines often The provocative philosophical ques-would trail off and lose volume so that tions raised by the play, as well as thethe viewer missed some of the words. outstanding performances of Beth

Charlotte Sonnenblick was very con- Stringer and the rest ofthe cast, madevincing when she played Sandy as the the Theatre 308 production of Theyoung woman who turned against Miss Prime ofMiss Jean Brodie a memorableBrodie and sets in motion her removal, experience. It is sad that only a pitifulbut she was a bit too forceful and few turned out to see it, because thebelligerent as the younger Sandy. participants deserved a larger audienceCharlotte has a tendency to turn back and those who neglected to cometo the audience, which caused some of missed a worthwhile production.

Dikeman Seeks Data On China TripContinued from page 1 fair-minded people with conducting a

plete Ii st with the amount donated coverup. What ha:m is there in telling. .bl ' t k the people of Danen how the studentswas ImpOSSI e 0 rna e up as, ..t Ch' ?

technically, everyone who attended spent eac? day m Com~ums m~.any benefit held for the China trip and Are we bemg toldeverythmg abou~t?iswho paid money for a ticket, was a con- trip or only what the school authon~estributor to the trip. permit us to know? Is Dr. Robbms

Some of the items requested by Mr. "sharing" all the facts with us as heDikeman were not given to him because promised to do or just those facts aboutthey were not available, according to the trip that he or others want us toDr. Porter. A few examples where there k~~w? b D R bb' d h' 'Gwere no specific lists made are a daily Mayer. 0 ms an . IS angitinerary of the trip and a copy of lec- or 4' can answer these.ques~ons:Whyt ' t th Ch' . was Pete Seeger, an IdentIfied Com-

o '.' !Y~~~,i'~F~J},",,'f,; _.".,fl, ,,(,W~ ;§G,~m-')\,J,'~, ml:lh~gt!\~H'&w'e~.~e.cl:~tI~~1\\Ae,cb.,.j;pWara Cleary oneofthe lawyers m the. ,. . '.';";'

, . ralse funds for thIS tnp while op-firm for the Board of Educabon, stated, t fth t' h d th 'r freedom of"Th I d ,. k ponen SOl' np a eI

e aw oesn t reqUIr,e you to rna e speech suppressed by the Darien policeup r~cords that you don t have. It only on a phony trumped-up charge thatreqUIres you to r~veal records avallable, free speech was a violation of Darien's~xce?,t those whICh are exempt from the litter ordinance. Does Dr. Porter dare toaw. deny categorically that the Darien

police suppressed the Constitutionalrights of free Americans outside thePete Seeger concert after holdingconversations with school authoritiesinside the high school attending theconcert? Does Dr. Robbins, as anAmerican educator, believe in freespeech? If so, why did he not speak outfor free speech when it was beingsupressed by the police on the verydoorsteps of his high school? Did theDarien school authorities instigate thepolice suppression of free speech inDarien the night of the Pete Seegerconcert?"If the seminars held in conjuction

with the trip to Red China were reallyfair, objective, .'learning experiences,'why was only one out ofeight seminarsheld devoted to 'anti-Communism'?

Editor's Note: After the above Why were anti-,Communists like theJohn Birch SOCIety not invited to lec-ture at one of these seminars? Were theseminars open only to pro·Communistlectures? Did Dr. Robbins actuallysolicit funds for this school trip to RedChina from pro'Communist and otherleftist groups? .

"Why shouldn't the people of Darienand the parents of the students takingthis trip know the answers to thesequestions? They will if I prevail at theFreedom of Information hearing onJune 12. They will notifDr. Porter, Dr.Robbins, and other tOwn bureaur.l'atssucceed at the hearing. IfI 'win' at thehearing, all the people of Darien win. IfRobbins and Porter 'win,' the people ofDarien will lose. It's as simple as that."

much fun ("It's a boring beard," hesaid), Mr. Herbert recalled a prankboth he and Mr. McCarthy played onan unsuspecting teacher. At one of theorientation meetings just before thestart of school Mr. Herbert discoveredthat not all the teachers recognizedMr.McCarthy behind his beard. Turn-ing to Dr. Sykes, social science andhistory teacher, Mr. Herbert in-troduced McCarthy as "Herr Schmitt,the new German teacher in the foreignlanguage department." Dr. Sykes gavehis warmest regards, hoping that HerrSchmitt would enjoy his teaching stayat the high school. "I was fooled for aminute or two," said Dr. Sykes. '

Mr. Coloumbe declined commentabout his beard, although he didconsent to, havinJ{ his picture taken.

Continued from page 3

am totally against women growingbeards."

Mr. Dahlby has even rpade somemoney off his beard. Once asked tonarrate a military film to be shownbefore a lot of military brass, he wasasked to shave off his beard. It was feltthat a narrator with whiskers might beviewed darkly by the well-croppedgenerals. Mr. Dahlby consented, butnot until fifty dollars was added to hissalary. "So I guess you could say it's afifty-dollar beard," said Mr. Dahlby.

Mr. Herbert and Mr. McCarthy wereonce known by many as "the SmithBrothers" when both entered schoolone year with their new beards.Although Mr. McCarthy modestlyclaimed that his beard really wasn't

Recent activities at DHS, namely, Theatre :lOH's The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie,the junior class Pine Island concert, and the Activities Council's movie, Dr. Zhivago,were poorly attended and their respective sponsors have lost money.

Theatre :IOH was the worst hit by the lack of support. The first two nights broughtin a grand total of about 100 people, and the following weekend's performance wasattended by about 1:)0 people. Certainly a small audience must be a disappointinf.{sight for the members of Theatre aOH, after all the hard work they put into eachproduction.

The Pine Island concert had a meaf.{er attendance ofunder 200 people, causinf.{the junior class to lose a good deal ofmoney. Pine Island is a blue ~ass band, similarto the well·liked Helium Brothers, so the music itself should not have been the maincause for the poor attendance.

The showing of the movie Dr. Zhivago was viewed by an embarrassingly smallnumber of people. Fewer than 100 people showed up to see this "classic."

Even assemblies during the school day do not seem to attract DHS students. It isamazing to sec the numerous cars gone from the parking lot and the small number ofstudents attending the assembly.

The solutiim to the problem lies in two areas that relate to one another: betterpublidty and more student interest.

Publicity is easily improved by making it more inventive. Along with the standardarray of posters around the school and basic news releases to the local newspapers,more unusual advertising should be going on. For instance, if Pine Island recordswere played frequently in between classes and in the cafeterias during lunch, or ifcast members from The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie went to different classes andmade short readings, certainly the interest in these productions would have in-creased. Also, while posters were around the high school, few posters were placedaround town for any of the events.

If students were more interested in what the school was doing, the activities wouldnaturally be more successful. At this point, students do not care at all and are mis-sing out on good things. When the student body gains an interest in the schoolproductions, the word will get around about each event, and that is the best publicity.

In conclusion, there is no simple solution to improving attendance at schooleventH, but with more inventive advertising and a less apathetic student attitude, the('v('nts will become more successful.

June 13, 1978 Neirad Page 3

A Sense Of Pride Revealed BII Bearded Flreultll

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ultimate firing of, a teacher whoseteaching methods and personal styleare in question and who is at odds withthe school principal. The parallels tor{!cent town events are numerous.

The play takes place in Edinburgh,Scotland, in the 1930's, a time whenmuch of the world was racked by theGreat Depression, memories of WorldWar I were sharp in the mind, and fas-cism was on the rise. A small,traditional girls' boarding school is thesetting. The play evoked powerfully thespirit of a bygone age when school dis·cipline was strict and rigorously en-forced, and recitation and rote

memorization were the standard teach-ing methods.

Against this backd~p the energetic,opinionated Miss Jean Brodie, whoproudly announces repeatedly that sheis in her "prime," attempts to educateher class of young girls, not in thecontents of textbooks. but in the waysof the world. Miss Brodie does not stickto the established curriculum, butdeviates into various topics of interest,always adding her own partisan sen-timents to the instruction, which areusually pro-fascist and anti-Catholic.

While the controversy over her teach-ing methods rages, Miss Brodiebecomes involved in affairs with twomen. Teddy Lloyd, played admirablyby David Gurliacci. is a painter with awife and six children, which doesn'tinhibit him in the slightest from chas-ing every piece of female flesh he canget, hi.sJl!}nQ,s. ~n, But his-infatuationfor Jean Brodie eclipses his interest inhis other lovers, to the point whereevery person he paints looks like MissBrodie. Kip Hashagen did a good jobatplaying Gordon Lowther, the diffidentyoung country ge~tle~an who trieswithout success to win Miss Brodie'shand.

Despite the richness and complexityof the play's themes the productionwould have been worthwhile if only topresent the acting ofBeth Stringer. Herperformance as Jean Brodie captivatedthe audience and made the story comealiv{! with a vibrant, animated vitalitythat stays with the viewer long afterfinal curtain.

Duffy O'Brien deserves accol ades forContinued on page 2

Now Accepting ApplicationsFor Fall 1978

By JAMIE MacKENZIE

ReviewTheatre 308 performed its annual spr-

ing dramatic production on May 11,12and 20 with an outstanding renditionof The Prime of Miss ·Jean Brodie, adrama in three acts by Jay PressonAllen. Director Jon Edwards deserveshigh praise for the production, whichwas dramatically superior to anythingwe've seen on the DHS stage this year.

The timeliness of this play isstartling. The plot is essentially aboutthe controversy surrounding, and

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George Emerson and RobertOttenstein show an affectionate at-tachment towards their whiskers.

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Displaying their whiskers are (top row, left to right) Joe Hajla, WilliamMcCarthy, Douglas Paulsen, David Herbert; (bottom row,left to right) JackDahlby, Gerard Coulombe, and David Hartkopf. (Photo by Richard Ferris)

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Page 4 Ndrad June 13,1978

Reflections From China

"The trip to China, more thananything else, strengthenedmy moral values as anAmerican and made me ap-preciate the freedoms ofchoice,mobility, speech, and religionthat we enjoy."

Luke Sabatier.~ '.~'" .J

June 13. 197E1 Neirad Paa-e 5

"To understand the Chinese system, one has to look at its values. Whereas the emphasis in theWestern world is on the individual, in China, the individual sacrifices his personal freedom for the goodof the whole society. Personally, I found their system alien to what I, as an American, believe in withrespect to individual rights."

Clay Moltz

"It was awesome to see the masses of people going about theirdaily lives,so many doing the same things. They seemed to beprogrammed into a daily routine, yet never questioning the natureof that routine."

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Pa~e 6 Neirad June 13, 1978

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8ruce Sammis blasting a tee shoton the 419-yard. par-4 openinghole at Wee BUl'n Country Club.(photo by Richard Ferris)

scores were Darien 9-4 over Wilton and8'/z-4'.4 over New Canaan. The team'srecord was 3-5 going in to the match,and the double victory evened therecord at 5-5.

The Wavers continued their winningways by dumping McMahon 121h-lf2.Glenn Darinzo, Bob Kuesel, Sammis,and Jeff Bruce all won their matches.Darinzo, the number one player, has an8-4 record. He has been consistentlyshooting in the low eighties. Kuesel hasplayed at the second slot most of theseason and has compiled a 4-6-2 record.Sammis and sophomore Jeff Brucehave .500 individual records.

Junior varsity baseball coach JeffBrameier . sup~r:Vi8inghisteamduring workout. (Photo by RichardFerris)

javelin, Ken Klienfelter, John Penrose,Jeff McKee, Chris Flynn, and MikeKoenig. Some juniors who should makea contribution next year who could alsobe classified as jayvees would be MarkAndriuk, Scott Montgomery, GeorgeZengo, Tony Derbyshire, and JimCorsiglia, who has worked very hard,according to Coach Rubin.

The golf team's Junior varsity teamhas been a bit disappointing, but juniorJohn Marion and several sophomoreshave shown some fine promise ofthings to come.Without these junior varsity teams, or

at least designations, the varsity teamsthat everyone goes out to watch andcheer for would hardly be up to stan-dard, as all or most of the "stars" gottheir start in high school at the juniorvarsity level of competition. Theseteams Ilrovide for the development oftalent and a feeder system that is ab-solutely necessary in thecompetitiveness of today's high schoolathletics.

By LARRY KELLEY

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1016 Poot Road, Darien, Cf666·3177

Linksters Inconsistent All Season Long,Struggling To Maintain A .500 Record

The Darien High School golf team isin the midst of an up and down season.The Iinksters had a 6-6 record at presstime.

In their most recent match theWavers dropped a 9-4 decision to Dan-bury. Captain Bruce Sammis was themedalist as he shot an 82, but he wasthe only player to win for Darien. Itwasa disappointing loss for the team ac-cording to Sammis. He said, The teamhas been inconsistent all season. Wehad won four in a row prior to Danbury,who were supposed to be pushovers forus. On paper we should have a winningrecord."

The golfers have, however, achievedsome glory in this campaign. In what

'J Navio Ottavi termed the biggest meetof the year, the Blue Wave set back NewCanaan and Wilton in a tri-meet. The

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RacQueftes Wrap Up 12-2 Season

i"irHt hllHcpersnn .Hnsey I>lluk makin.: the stretch for another put-out.(Photo by Ki(,hllrd F"'rris)

The Darien IIigh School Kirls' tennisteam, led by co-captains Laura ten·Brucke and Barbara lIunter, endedtheir !It'uson with un admirable recordof 12-2.

The highlil{ht of the spuson was thematch aKainst arch-rival NewCunaan. Rebecca Stromingcr, coach ofthe Wavers, was especially pleasedwith thlo1r :>-4 victory bl'cause it ~avethe teum second place in the EasternDivision. Last year New Canaandefeated I)urien lind pushed them to athird· place standinK in the J