1988_09 The Daily Collegian September 1988

              Page 2        Friday. September 16.1968
The Dally Collegian
Opinion
McCue's View
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BLOOM COUNTY
by Berke Breathed
BLOOM COUNTY
by Berlin Breathed
the Dally Collegian
Rob Evans-Editor In Chief
Barry Crovc - News ""dHor
LeePasamore-Co-Scv. s Editor
Mike rOlngtoell - Co-Sports Editor
Susie Tombs -Ad Manager
Donnell Alexander-Managing Editor
T. James Madison - Copy Editor
Maryann Milligan - Graphics Editor
Mark Mirko-Photo Editor
Jodl Harwell - Ad Production Mgr.
Randy Hergenroeder - Business Manager
Richard McCue - Stan"Artist
StalT Writers - Mary Beth Alexander. Kim Kasablan. Paige Leech. Hanlf
Moorad. Steve Lashley. Jeff Pennlsl. Jim Proubc, Pawl Worthlngton
Sports Writers - David Comfort. Jennifer Konze. Ryan McMillan
Photographers - Steve Pringle. Dean Slagel. Thor Swift
Advertising Reps - George Hutcheson. Missy Karabian. Tony Martin. Ken
Pappanduroe, Dave Spencer
Distribution - Desmond Khong Circulation - Wang Keen Tee
Tha DoSy CoBaofam la pubfaahrd by lha Aaaoclatrd Studenta. Incorporate ol CSUF and tha neaaapaper ataff
delfr except Saturday*. Sundays, examination week, and untveratty holiday*. Tha ncwapaprr oTftc* la located
oi Ihe Keata Campua Building Frcano. Cahfomia 03740. Neva/Eduorta] line: 204*2486. Duameaa and Adver-
minf 2M-226& The Dcofy CoOatnon la a member c/ the California Intercollegiate Preaa A**<x.iai:oii. 9ub-
arnpUona arc available by mall for «17» per eemrater or S30 per year. The optnlone pubbahed on Ihla pafe
are not imiaiinl/ Ihoac oTTha Dolay CcOigtm or lla euuT. Unalarad edttorlala are the optnkan oT lha papers
oil tonal board.
Art still keeps
Fresno address
Donnell
Alexander
There's a courtyard at the center of the
Conley An Building. When it rains
outside, it rains inside and when there's
sunshine, its infectious. Atmosphere is
everything in this place, the coolest spot
on the CSUF campus.
A long-haired student in a green tie-
dyed T-shirt approaches a man silting on
the courtyard ;tairs. The kid is dropping
his full compijnent of science courses so
that he can again have tbe chance to do
an.
Tt wasn't easy," getting out of all
those classes, the student explains. The
man silting on the stairs, a professor wilh
rumpled clothes and graying hair, nods
his head in understanding. He makes a
feeble attempt at appearing dign ificd and
staid
Jame Zerle Smith, an an department
technician and part-time student, watches
the conversation and lets a visitor in on
how the student tried to ignore his artistic
yearnings in order to pursue something
more marketable.
"He tried to do it, but it just didnt feel
right, man," Smith says.
Il can be no coincidence lhat Conley
Art sits amid the only hills on this
campus, north of Joyal Administration.
Between its walls, the air gets
otherworldly. There's dust in light flurries
upon passing the pottery and sculpture
rooms. Thoughts are being processed into
things you can touch. Things are being
made.
The artists here have forgotten that this
isn't Berkeley they're leaching ar. No,
that's wrong. They've decided that this
isn't Berkeley, and, boy. aren't they
lucky. A
The creative energy is here," says
Smith, a muscular 43-year-oid black man
with a red bandanna covering his head-full
of braids. T wouldn't be here if it wasn't
here.
He means Fresno. Specifically he
means the CSUF An Department.
Bohemianisrn. Some people want to be
beaten about the head and neck wilh it so
they'll know they're in the right place.
Some people think a city limits sign is
going to define who they are.
David Bouiru, a comrade of Smith's,
alternately sits on the courtyard stairs and
stands to emphasize points. He talks
about Conley An's singular nature on a
lesser scale. He talks about how (he feel
of the building differs from thai of other
places on campus.
"Because of the freedom, the personal
nature of art. the place becomes more
personal," says Botuni. also 43 and a six-
year veteran of leaching in  the
department.
'It's not just learning about a bunch of
facts and then regurgitating them. You're
examining your own personality," be
says. "If you really examine every aspect
of life, you'll see art is the only thing
that it makes sense to do."
Outside and around the 20-year-old
building, there are sculptures and
paintings. Some are up on a temporary
basis and others are forever. The works
were done by students.
That's an important pan of the
creative process, having people see it,"
Bottini says.
The professor who had been counseling
the kid in green tie-dye has finished that
conversation and is now talking with
Smith. He points to a girl, a student of
his and speaks of her wilh admiration.
"She's way out there," he says. "In worids
farther away than this one."
Everyone slips up once in a while.
Smith talks now. He's trying again to
get across lhat there's something here,
right here. The sculptor gestures with
big, brown, waxy hands. Like his braids,
they're flecked with clay from sculpting.
You can see those hands at work
messaging and shaping spinning gray
matter.
"It's an open shop here," Smith says.
"You can work here seven days a week,
24 hours a day.... They dont do that no
place in the nation."
Donnell Alexander's column appears
every Friday in ihe Daily rwygian
Reader
Response
to Ihe Dolly Collegian Is welcome. Please
send letters of do mora than 250 words to:
The Daly Collegian. Keats Campua
Building California State University,
Fresno. Fresno. California 93740-0042.
Letters must be signed and have the au¬
thor's name, telephone number, and ad¬
dress.
Is CSUF a Harvard? Well, not really.
To the Editor.
The ankle was called, "Even CSUF
Can Be a Harvard" (Sept 12). A friend
- from high school passed it to me in class
tbe other day. He thought it might upset
me. It did, a little. But not for tbe reasons
that one might guess.
Early in the piece, Scott Vick—who I
gather is ASI President, set forth tbe idea
lhat "Fresno State is just as good a uni¬
versity as Harvard." Then, through ty ser¬
ies of images that taunt the signifig'ance
of things like "Nobel Laureates* and Har¬
vard diplomas, Mr. Vick set out to chew
what he'd already bitten off.
Right about now, my friend expected
to see my Ivy League ego get bent out of
shape. Would I scoff at the comparison?
Maybe set the paper on fire? Challenged
io defend my school's honor. A sudden at¬
tack of school spirit. "My your mascot;
meet me on the playground at noon."
No, what bothered me about the article
was something much more basic than
thai. I think its very premise was flawed.
I read it again. A student body president is
urging his classmates to take advantage of
the many opportunities that lie ahead of
them at Fresno State. And I bear him.
But, somehow, as I read on, I can't help
but think lhat the messenger is carrying
the right nv ^age in the wrong way.
At issue is how deeply we aooreciate
the reputation of a fine school. A school
that has produced leaders in every field for
almost a hundred years. A school lhat has
helped millions of people increase their
potential to leam and better their lives, a
school with faculty that are committed to
giving their students greater control over
their futures and resources that are, in
sonic areas, unmatched anywhere. A
school in the San Joaquin Valley.
Simply, Mr. Vick's suggestion that
"Fresno State is a Harvard" misses the
C" l Of course, Fresno State is not a
aid. And my friends at Yale, Prince¬
ton, Berkeley, and Stanford would, I
know, be quick to point out if there is
indeed an heir to the proverbial "throne"
of higher education, the line forms to the
Please see LETTERS, page 5    *v