Vol 53 No. 29 ,An ind-ependent student weekly_ Friday, April23, 1982
U of L professor
pens book of poents,
shares views of life
Students vie for feather in cap
BY MELVA SMITH
Student Writer
Michael Blumenthal of the Univer­sity's
English department recently
combined a number of his poems to
form a book called Sympathetic Magic.
His book, originally published in 1980,
is undergoing its third printing.
JJiumenthal, who teaches two crea­tive
writing seminars, finds poetry
philosophical, educational and satisfy­ing.
Unlike many poets, he doesn't write
to relieve his emotions. "1 find that I
don't write very well when I'm too
emotional. I write much better when
I'm quiet," he said.
Also unlike many poets, Blumenthal
doesn't write to show off his wisdom.
Instead, he tries to lead the reader into
tt>inking on his own. But not only does
he help. the reader, he helps himself. "I
write to learn something about what I
know," he said.
Blumenthal gets his ideas a variety of
ways . "I use things that happen to me
but I almost always change them.
Sometimes I completely make them up,
or use things that happen to other
people," he said.
End of the line
Thi~ is the last issue of the Louisville
Cardinal for the 1981 -82 year.
The staff wishes you a happy sum­mer
and will bring the Cardinal to you
again starting in August with the begin­ning
of the fall semester. We hope you
have enjoyed our publication this year.
If you have any questions or com­,
ments about how we can improve
please drop by room 305, fourth floor
in the Student Center.
Blumenthal's poems touch on many
aspects of life. "A lot of them are about
psychological themes," he said.
His book is divided into three sec­tions.
The first section is called "Re­membering
My Unimportance." The
second section is "Cruelt1es Trans­formed,"
and the third section is called
"Other Islands ."
Oddly enough, Blumenthal did not
write in high school. After majoring in
philosophy at the University of New
York at Binghamton. he taught high
school for a year and then taught in a
mental institution for a year before he
decided to major in law at Cornell Uni­versity
in Ithaca, NY.
It was about I 0 years ago at Cornell
University when Blumenthal first de­cided
to write poetry. "I hated law
school," he recalled, "and I had started
reading a lot of poetry . I was kind of un­happy
and lonely, and decided to write
because I found that I liked to write."
Blumenthal published his first poem
in 1978: "Washington Heights, 1959."
"It was published in a magazine called
"Outer Bridge,"in New York,"he said.
Of all the poems Blumenthal has
read, he has a favorite, one poem that
inspires him the most. "I think that
probably the poem that inspired me the
most that I've read was the poem called
'The Painter Dreaming In The Schol­ar's
House,' by Howard Nemerov ," he
said .
Blumenthal teaches two classes at
the University, a graduate creative writ­ing
seminar and an undergraduate crea­tive
writing seminar. "I'm a poet in re­sidence,"
he said.
Blumenthal's book, Sympathetic
Magic, contains many creative sketch­ings
and may be obtained in paperback
from the Campus Store on the second
floor of the Student Center. The price is
$6.50.
A note of caution however: due to the
book's popularity, the supply may be
low.
BY MELVA SMITH
Student Writer
With the school year coming to a
close, many students are faced with
important decisions about their fu­ture.
Some prepare for life out­side
of school, others face summer
vacations, even jobs. And one of the
most important decisions to be made
by students and faculty at the Uni­versity
of Louisville is the choosing
of a Cardinal Bird for next year.
One person trying out for the posi­tion
is David Cummings, a music
major. "I think it's great," he said re­ferring
to the Cardinal Bird cos­tume.
"It's not as hot as I thought it
would be . The main thing is the
breathing. You can see much better
than you can breath."
This reporter, out of curiosity, de­cided
to try on the Cardinal Bird suit
and see just how it feels to be on the
inside of the bird looking out. Once
inside the hirJ, it was a bit stuffy.
The only means from which to see or
breathe is from the tiny net-like
woven holes ,which are located in the
beak. The visibility was so bad, in
fact, that you probably wouldn't rec­ognize
your own mother if she were
to stand before you.
Coordination was another prob­lem.
To make the problem worse.
there was only one foot available for
me to try on.
"One of the feet was left in New
Orleans," said Janet Wells, who was
coaching Cummings during his
practice . "Part of the creativity is to
decide what to do with the other
foot, such ideas as bandaging the
missing foot, or using a cast would
be a solution to the situation. The
only problem is tryin_g to _ find a
routine that would go with the
musi"- ·"
Harold Adams, assistant vice
president of student life, explained
the situation with the missing foot.
According to Adams, the costume
It's a plot! If this were sprinc break, the benc:h where Laurie Camp was studyinc last week would have been a
snowbank.
Final Exam Schedule
8:00 - 10:30 II :30 - 2:00 2:45 - 5: 15
FRIDAY All 10:00 a.m. All1:00 p.m. All2:00 p.m.
April23 MWFClasses TTh Classes MWFClasses
MONDAY All 9:30a.m. All 12:00 noon Combined
April26 ITh Classes MWFClasses Sections
TUESDAY All 9:00a.m. All 11 :00 a.m. All3:00 p.m.
April27 MWFClasses TTh Classes~ MWFClasses
WEDNESDAY READING DAY
Apri128
THURSDAY All 8:00a.m. All 11:00 a.m. All 2:30p.m.
April29 1Th Classes MWFClasses ITh Classes
FRIDAY All8:00 a.m. All 1:00 p.m. All 12:00 noon
April30 MWFCiasses MWFClasses 1Th Classes
was packed in three separate gar­bage
bags and placed on a bus which
took it to the hotel. The band bus
was supposed to leave early, so the
bags were transferred over to it. It
was then that it was flrst noticed that
the foot was missing.
"As soon as we realized it was
missing," said Adams, "we called
the Superdome; we called the bus
company that did the transportation
for us down there; we called the
hotel where the team was staying
and we thought just maybe some­body
had takeri it out by accident.
We've had everybody in New Or­leans,
I think, looking for that Cardi­nal
Bird foot and they can't find it
anywhere.
A new €ardinal Bird costume is
being made and should be finished
by this fall .
Adams explained the importance
of the rules to the Cardinal Bird try­outs.
"You do a two-minute skit," he
said. The skit is judged for neatness,
originality and performance, and
"one of the important things is an in­terview
," said Adams.
The interview is important be­cause,
as Adams explained, the car­dinal
bird is asked to appear at many
social activities and to do a lot of
public relation work. "One of the
problems with it is that it takes quite
a commitment," Adams said. The
reason why we have the interview
and the reason why we rate it so
strongly is that we want to find out
what's the student's capability of
dealing with this kind of thing , what
kind of commitment do they think
they have to\\ ards being theCardinal
Bird.
"If they have to work and they
have to go to school. it doesn't leave
a lot of t-ime for appearances.
. The Cardinal Bird tryout~ will be
held on April 27. at Noe Middle
School.
c.niiMIIIIIOCDIVIdd Hopper
·If the shoe fits ...
David Cummings and his coac:h Janet Wells are trying different ways for
the birds feet to be worn, since one of the original feet was left in New Or­leans.
Children and Youth Project has
funds cut but workers are happy
BY JOHN DAY
News Editor
Most people are disappointed when
their funding is reduced, but workers at
the Children and Youth Project at Uni­versity
Hospital are elated with their
budget cuts for the next fiscal year.
"Hallelujah!" exclaimed Sherwin
Spero of the project. "I just came from a
meeting with Grady Stumbo (secretary
for Human Resources) and he assured
me that we would be cut only 20 per­cent,
instead of the 57 percent which
had been proposed.
"The people in FFankfort wanted to
all but eliminate us, but I assume that
those people finally realized the value
of our program."
Before the less severe cuts were an­nounced,
two people associated with
the project explained the importance of
the medical care for children that the
clinic performs.
"There have been tremendous bene­fits
from this program, and it has at­tracvted
worldwide attention for
Louisville, Kentucky. We had one of
the nation's first neo-natal care facili­ties
in 1968. In 1977 Cerebral Palsy
was reduced right here," said Dr. Wil­liam
Adams, head of the project. "I am
the American Pediatrics Association
liason to Congress, so I know that both
parties want to increase this area as a
priority in the near future.
"I don't see how any responible rep­resentative
could cut out this program. I
understand that belts are being tight­ened
and less money will be available,
out the cuts which have been proposed
for our project are too severe. If those
people knew the worth of this clinic I
don't think they'd cut us at all."
Adams explained how the pro posed
cuts came about.
"Last year, and always before that,
the Maternal and Child care funds by
which we were financed were part of a
bloc grant. But this year the legislators
separated that particular section from
the rest of the bloc grant so there were
less restrictions on uses for the money,"
said Adams. "The people in Frankfort
decided that the Children and Youth.
Project did not warrant as much money
as it received . It was their feeling that
we could still function effectively on re­duced
funding, but each child we treat
deserves to be seen .
"Our project is an outstanding exam­ple
of care. It has been used as a re­source
repeatedly during its existance,
so we need every dollar that is avail­able
."
Since the mid-6os, the U.S. govern­ment
has provided money on a 75-25
basis for the treatment of children under
the Maternal and Child care funds . This
year Kentucky opted not to fund the
Children and Youth Project because of
the less strigent provisions that Con­gress
attached to the bloc grant, but
eventually the state got in line with the
national scheme and reduced funding to
20 percent.
"Any government, school, person or
organization that gets rid of excellence
has not only damned themselves, but
also damned everyone who follows
Words of Wisdom
Gary Younri a radiolou physicist at U of L, explains nuclear weaponry
and its poss .. le etreets. at the Ground Zero Speakathon Wednesday on
the River City Mall.
them," said Adam . "It is socially irres­ponsible
to deny our grandchildren the
opportunity for the best possible treat­ment
and facilities.
"The prospect of Norton-Children
becoming part of the Pediatrics pro­gram
thrills me to death. Our program
will become a part of that wonderful op­eration
. A medical setupofthatsize can
do so much more than the wing of a hos­pital
, like we occupy now. so we can
teach our students a w0rld more of
knowledge."
Adams also pointed out that the op­portunities
in Louisville enhance the
prospects for medical school residents.
The clinic's national reputation enables
graduates of the program to go to top­notch
schools.
"All roads lead to and from Louis­ville.
and I. for one , would like to keep
it that way," said Adams. " Instead of
cutting our budget, I wish the state
would give us more, but they don' t re­lize
the PR and good we do for N-lis
community and state. I hope the world
will keep coming here for training ."
Another employee who lamented the
proposed cuts in the project 's finances
was Sue O'Donnell. a registered nurse
who works in the clinic with the chil­dren.
"The state had planned to spread the
$746,000 that used to be our budget out
over the entire state in 27 different
counties to treat children. It sounds like
a good idea, but it's really pretty stupid
because no one county will have
enough money to adequately treat the
kids. This particular type of treatment is
very expensive per child , so spreading
the money thinly will only mean that
nobody will receive adequate he lp."
The clinic's proponents claim it is
not only an integral part of the city's
health care scheme, it is also a vital link
in the U of L Medical School child care
program.
"There were at least I 00 students
who went through the project last
year," said O'Donnell. "Those students
came from Nursing, Dental and Medi­cal
schools, as well as from the Kent
School of Social Work. Plus, we have
·students from Eastern , Murray and UK
training here. That is why the project
serves as a learning lab for the Univer­sity,
and gives students the opportunity
to learn the unique needs of the pecial
children. It's a give and take situation
with the University, and I only hope we
can exist with whatever funds that are
available.
With the cuts made by the state,
Adams, Spero, O' Donnell and the
other workers who perform at the Chil­dren
and Youth Clinic will continue to
operate in only a slightly reduced <"B­pacity.