338 research outputs found
Columns by Robb Schrof and Billy Graham
No full textThese September 19, 1985 columns by Billy Graham, sports editor for the Western Carolinian, and staff writer Robb Schrof. Schrof and Graham write humor, often directed at each other. In this week’s issue, they both agree that the campus is showing its close-mindedness when it comes to the new organization, Lavender Bridges. Lavender Bridges, an anonymously founded student organization open to all individuals, aimed to promote awareness of lesbian and gay lifestyle, provide lesbian and gay resources, and increase communication with all students and community members. The first organizational meeting took place October 10, 1985 and was officially recognized by the office of Student Development on December 13, 1985. The last mention of the group appeared in the October 10, 1991 issue of the Western Carolinian
Marcia Langton and Peter Robb in conversation
No full textFollowing a Monthly profile on Indigenous academic Marcia Langton by author Peter Robb (\u27Midnight in Sicily\u27, \u27M\u27, \u27Street Fight in Naples\u27), Langton and Robb come together on stage at the Sydney Writers’ Festival for an intimate conversation about the common themes of their lives: difficult early years in Australia, exciting times abroad and life back in Australia subsequently. Presented by the Sydney Writers’ Festival, May 2011
Where’s Rob Schrof?
No full textIn the November 4, 1987 issue of the Western Carolinian, Chris Geis writes a column titled “Where’s Rob[b] Schrof?” about the apathy of students at WCU. He reminisces about the days two years ago when the writings of Robb Schrof, Billy Graham, and Carl Brickman could rile up the student body. The students were particularly responsive when the subject of Lavender Bridges came up. Lavender Bridges, an anonymously founded student organization open to all individuals, aimed to promote awareness of lesbian and gay lifestyle, provide lesbian and gay resources, and increase communication with all students and community members. The first organizational meeting took place October 10, 1985 and was officially recognized by the office of Student Development on December 13, 1985. The last mention of the group appeared in the October 10, 1991 issue of the Western Carolinian._By Chris Geis
Where's Rob Schrof?
My friend Billy — that noted Western Carolinian columnist vacationing somewhere between Sylva and Waynev-
ille this semester — has been a pleasant sounding board for
me for the last couple of years, preventing me from turning
into another effete idealist and intellectual. He constantly
comes to the rescue of a young man thirsty for debate and
thought-provoking conversation, and he uses real words, too,
like constertaneous or panacea. Show me a dozen WCU
students who wouldn't need a dictionary for those words.
Billy thinks tradition is what this school is lacking, like the
tradition they have at that sacred sister institution of ours in
Chapel Hill.
Paula is another friend of mine who has kept the intellectual in me from withering up and blowing off down N.C.
107. She thinks the emphasis on Greek life at Western — too
much reliance on those nice but over-dramatized indulgences, sex and alcohol — has done our student body in,
focusing attention away from other areas like academics or
cultural events.
I certainly want to place the blame for this lethargic
student body somewhere, although I think I'll stay away from
business majors this week, as much as I'd like to get my
hands on that business professor who lambasted liberal arts
majors in my friend Tim's class last week. (In the last issue I got
my friend Lee, a student at the University of Tennessee, mad
because of my disregard for those who choose to study
business in college; he is one of them. Really, I have business
majors for friends. The editor and business manager of this
newspaper — the ones who gave this job and pay me,
repsectively — are business majors. Maybe I even love
business majors.)
But just where to place the blame for this fastidious
student body is a difficult task. One would naturally first point
to the university's administration, which has admitted about
a third of a student body that probably should retake grades
9-12 and the SAT as well.
The administration is not all at fault, however, for its
hands are tied: Should it liberally give the opportunity for a
college education to people who might be able to make
something of themsevles (read: take in these marginals'
tuition money to better the school), or should it admit only
the students whom it knows can handle the academic
demands of college life (read: and lose the marginals'
money)?
There is little choice but for it to admit as many marginal students as it can, for whether or not they bring down
the overall quality of the student body (and hence, the
school's image to outsiders, for a school is only as good, most
say, as its student body), the university needs that money to
keep the school from turning into another WCTC, or Western
Carolina Teachers' College, which it once was and which
some say it still is.
Where do I want to place blame? Well, as much as I
respect the opinions of Billy and Paula — and I yearn for their
observations and conclusions all the time — I have to disagree with them to some extent. We have tradition at Western. The school is almost 100 years old (although, granted,
most of those years were as a teachers' college). We have
old buildings and old trees and stone-paved sidewalks (take
a walk on the lovely hill side of campus one day and you
may move up there). And the Greeks take enough heat
from the rest of the student body; we can't blame their existence and influence for the problems of our school.
I have to point to pride in the university as the culprit. I
don't think most of the students at Western take iheir studies.
or their time at the school seriously enough. They think it's a
big joke. They go home every weekend and watch the
Carolina football game on TV, rather than staying here to
watch a l-AA football team kick some tail around Bob Waters
Field. They sit in their rooms on weeknights and watch
"Moonlighting," rather than going to a Catamount basketball game. Their excuse isn't that they have to study — are
you kidding? They just don't take anything seriously, not even
class.
There are plenty of things too take pride in or care
about at this unversity. But our students just don't seem to
care.
The only thing you can be sure to get at least part of
the student body fired up about (aside from sex and alcohol)
is Lavender Bridges, the gay support group that tried to get
student government recognition here a couple of years ago.
In fact, Lavender Bridges is the only topic we've ever
counted on every year to get feedback on here at The
Western Carolinian.
Two years ago the campus was up in arms about it. I
remember that year, my sophomore year. We had a columnist named Rob Schrof, and each week, with the countenances of Editor Randy Rosenthal, Schrof would get all kinds
of people mad with his blunt and inexorable writing style on
this page. Next to Schrof's weekly editorial vomittings were
those of Graham and another friend of mine, Carl Brickman.
What times those were. You couldn't find a copy of
The Carolinian around campus the day after it came out.
And when it did come out, students' heads volleyed back
and forth in tennis-spectating manner as they perused the
point-counterpoint-counter-counterpoint writings of that
triumvirate of Schrof, Graham and Brickman. Students cared
about what Schrof (and Graham and Brickman) wrote -
they finally cared about something!
I think many students took pride in having a scribe like
Schrof, the likes of whom has never been seen on this campus, entertain them each week. Or if they didn't they certainly made it known, which could only mean that they
cared about something.
How I yearn for those days now. Presently Schrof is
somewhere in a Denver suburb, and Graham and I expect
to have him drop in soon and milk us for our hospitality and
humor, but it just won't be the same.
However cloying Schrof or any of his contemporary
rivals were to the rest of us, they made us care. That is something not too many of us seem to be able to do at Western
these days. I wish I knew of some other way to do it. It would
enrich us all a bit, and it'd be a little more fun around here,
too
A calm and peaceful land
No full textUPEI 091; [sound recording] / P. Batchilder, M. Hennessey, C. Perry.; 2 sound cassettes (125 min.; Contents : Introductions (Grant & Robb) -- The Belfast riots (Batchilder) -- "The artist" (Hennessey) -- Rum running days (Perry).; Introduction : William Grant ; Andy Robb.; Recorded at the Confederation of the Arts Centre, 13 March 1977.; The Belfast riotsSource type: Electronic(1
Matters of life and death. by Peter Robb
No full textThe author joins Doctor John McCarthy and his team in Australia's most successful intensive care unit
Letter to the editor by C. Mark Knecht
No full textThis September 26, 1985 Western Carolinian letter to the editor by C. Mark Knecht in support of Lavender Bridges is in response to the previous week’s columns by Robb Schrof and Billy Graham. Lavender Bridges, an anonymously founded student organization open to all individuals, aimed to promote awareness of lesbian and gay lifestyle, provide lesbian and gay resources, and increase communication with all students and community members. The first organizational meeting took place October 10, 1985 and was officially recognized by the office of Student Development on December 13, 1985. The last mention of the group appeared in the October 10, 1991 issue of the Western Carolinian.LETTERS
Dear Editor:
Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!
Three thoughts:
1. Stereotypes were designed
to be shattered. Billy Graham's
closing two paragraphs in the last
edition of the Carolinian did more
to change my stereotype of "frat
boys" than anything else in my
previous 28 years of living. (19
isn't an end in itself...it gets better
yet). If what he said could be seen
as representing a sort of collective
conscience of fraternity members
then I can do more than just
tolerate them. I can respect them
and be glad for their presence.
2. Robb Schrof is correct.
There aren't enough jobs between
Murphy and Asheville to support
all the heterosexuals graduating
from WCU each year. Being an
alien to this conservative's heaven
myself, I can assure you that the
rest of the world is not like
Cullowhee. Out there homosexuality is not met with giggles,
dropped iaws or explicatives. You
do that and people look at
you like Nerdsville. Besides, what
better place to start adjusting to
the realities of the world than the
relatively safe environment of
school? Let's grow a little as
human being while we're here.
Let's show our support for the
Lavender Bridges group.
3. Putting Billy Graham and
Robb Schrof side by side was a
master stroke. Together they're
the best read in the paper.
C. Mark Knech
Robb M. Thomson
No full textRobb M. Thomson
Inducted: 2000
Citation: For leadership of research on failures of and failure avoidance in materials and management of the NIST postdoctoral program.
Tenure: 1971-1995
Birth: 1925, El Paso, Texas
Education:
University of Chicago, MS, 1950
Syracuse University, PhD (Physics), 1953
Positions held:
Senior Research Scientist, Institute for Applied Technology
Program Coordinator for Failure Avoidance
NIST Post Doctoral Program Director
NBS/NIST Fellow, Materials Science and Engineering Laboratory
Post retirement: Emeritus Fellow
Honors:
U.S. Department of Commerce: Silver Medal, 1980; Gold Medal, 1987
Memberships:
American Physical Society (Fellow)
American Association for the Advancement of Science
American Society for Metals
American Institute of Metallurgical Engineers
Publications:
Author of technical papers, book chapters and encyclopedia articles on the theory of imperfections in solids and their mechanical properties and one book: Physics of Solids, McGra
Letter to the editor by Tommy White
No full textThis September 26, 1985 letter to the editor by Tommy White is in response to the previous week’s column by Robb Schrof regarding Lavender Bridges. White is concerned about the transmission of AIDS. Lavender Bridges, an anonymously founded student organization open to all individuals, aimed to promote awareness of lesbian and gay lifestyle, provide lesbian and gay resources, and increase communication with all students and community members. The first organizational meeting took place October 10, 1985 and was officially recognized by the office of Student Development on December 13, 1985. The last mention of the group appeared in the October 10, 1991 issue of the Western Carolinian.Dear Editor:
First, let me commend your
paper on being so far left that it has
caused this conservative to take
arms with the pen.
Robb Schrof's analogy of
Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, with
it's racial slurs, and the group
Lavender Bridges is at best in very
poor taste, not to mention
journalism. I understand that Mr.
Schrof is from the "wonderful"
state of California where anything
goes, but this is the South, and we
have made many great strides in
our racial relations, to have him
come down here and start trouble
where it does not exist!
As for Lavender Bridges, I
realize there are and will continue
to be homosexuals here at WCU;
however, with this group of people
being the most subject to the
deadly disease AIDS, I feel much
more confortable with my sexual
preference than I would belonging
to this group. I will not insult
myself nor the members of this
organization by getting into the
transmission of this disease, as I,
nor the doctors, seem to know just
how one may become infected
through casual contact. Yes, there
is concern on campus about this
group of unknowns as there well
should be.
Tommy Whit
John Donald Robb’s Imperative to Collect: Towards an Archival Ethnography of the Robb Archive of Southwestern Music
Full text linkJohn Donald Robb (1892-1989) was a mid-career and extremely successful New York City lawyer when he decided to radically alter his career path in 1941 by becoming head of the University of New Mexico’s Music Department and completely devoting himself to music as a composer, educator and pioneering collector of folk music. This project is focused on this last facet of his adventurous and multi-faceted professional life. His impressive collection of approximately 3,000 songs and oral histories is housed at the University of New Mexico’s Robb Archive of Southwestern Music. Why did Robb devote so much time and effort to gathering this collection of music field recordings? Why did he deem his efforts important? What did he think his efforts would yield for the communities he studied and the society at large? What pleasures, victories, disappointments and frustrations did the process of collecting provide him at the personal level—as a collector, as a scholar, as a family man and as an musician? What impact did his passion for collecting have on his professional and personal life? Important clues to answering these questions are in the myriad lectures, notes, correspondence, interviews, autobiographical writings, and oral histories that are part of the J.D. Robb Papers, 1915-1989 at UNM’s Center for Southwest Research. This project is simultaneously a biographical exploration of Robb and a first step towards an archival ethnography of the Robb Archive of Southwestern Music.
Raquel Z. Rivera is Affiliated Scholar of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College in New York City. Co-editor of the anthology Reggaeton (Duke University Press 2009), she is also author of New York Ricans from the Hip Hop Zone (Palgrave Macmillan 2003) and numerous articles on Latino popular and folk cultures. Her areas of scholarly interest also include race and ethnicity, nation and diaspora, and the intersections between Latino and Africana studies.
Raquel was awarded the Greenleaf Visiting Library Scholar travel grant for October 31-November 21, 2011. This grant is made possible by a generous gift to the LAII from Dr. Richard E. Greenleaf, and is intended to provide scholars who specialize in Latin America the opportunity to work with one of the largest and most complete library collections on Latin America in the United States.https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/greenleaf_scholars/1004/thumbnail.jp
The music of Miriam Gideon during the McCarthy era, including a complete catalogue of her works
Full text linkThis thesis considers the musical response of the American composer,
Miriam Gideon to political events during the McCarthy era. It examines the
interrelationships between politics, society and culture and considers how these are
reflected in two works, Epitaphs from Robert Burns (1952) and Altered Steps to
Altered States (1953) that Gideon composed during this period. Specifically, this
thesis focuses on Gideon’s transition from teaching and composing music within an
academic setting to preparing for life in a musical world, without support from
mainstream academic institutions.
Following the Introduction, Chapter 2 documents the rise of anti-communist
practices on campus at Brooklyn College and City College, New York City where
Miriam Gideon held music teaching posts. It reconstructs the personal events that led
to the loss of both of these appointments and examines how and why this occurred. It
is argued that Gideon entered a period of ‘inner exile,’ and this concept and its
consequences for Gideon are explored in Chapter 3. An examination of her private
diaries demonstrates that the effects of the McCarthy era were not only physical, but
also psychological and social.
Chapters 4-6 consider Gideon’s music through the perspective of inner exile
and aim to show that the music that she wrote was a reflection of her experiences.
Gideon’s return to academia in 1955 and her rehabilitation back into the academy are
discussed in Chapter 7. A complete list of Gideon’s compositional output is included
and is organised chronologically, alphabetically and by genre. This thesis examines
new documents not previously available to scholars, and includes interviews
conducted by the author with Gideon’s former students and colleagues
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