UNDERGROUND PAPERS

“THE COMRADE”
 
My political inclinations began forming as a sophomore in high school.  How prescient was it for me to fill the role of writer, editor, publisher, and distributor of “THE COMRADE”?  It was an “underground” paper of the “Secret Student Organization”, referred to when teachers might be listening as the “SSO”.  This group was formed in the spring of 1962 at Grosse Ile High School located on an island in the Detroit River. There were six complete issues published for the membership.  Many of these members eventually achieved reputable status in such careers as politics and higher education.  
 
The focus of members’ activities was to fantasize about causing trouble and to criticize the style of some educators so as to improve the teaching practices we suffered.  Tabulations of elocution foibles and oddities were calculated and published.  Directions to members included taking the side of Bob-Lo Island in a teacher’s use of the nearby amusement park on an island in Ontario (since decommissioned) when presented with examples of conflicts between imaginary countries. 
 
In the second edition of the membership newsletter published on May 15, 1962 it was proclaimed that 21 of the 26 students in the 7th Hour Chapter had signed membership confirmations.  However, THE COMRADE’s subheading explained:  “The SSO’s party paper published spasmodically whenever the editor feels like publishing it.”  Progress in forming an effective organizational structure was understandably erratic.
 
Naturally, such radical activity was destined to not go unpunished.  The fifth issue of the paper reported that students of the 4th Hour Chapter refused to take a test on the basis the teacher had not prepared them adequately for it.  The newsletter proclaimed that a “Revolt” was underway.  By the 7th hour SSO members had learned that the teacher informed the principal of the revolt in 4th hour and the entire 4th hour class had been marched down to the principal’s office for a stern lecture.  Obviously, these educators’ opposition to reform “threw a wet blanket” on plans that had been made for the 7th Hour Chapter that day.  Unfortunately, the final edition of the paper, the sixth, announced that publication was being suspended for two reasons:  because of the school management’s oppression and because it was taking too much of the editor’s time. 
 
"THE ROCK"
 
In no way did my publication experience in high school follow me to Albion College.  Rather I found a group similar but more democratically organized at a higher academic level.  From 1964 to 1969 “THE ROCK” was published by a group of highly motivated students on campus who had more well rounded interests than those at THE COMRADE.  Today, copies of all issues of THE ROCK rest in the college library’s Special Collection archives.  All those I kept myself have somehow disappeared. 
 
The 10/19/67 edition of “THE ROCK” included the audacious recommendation (demand?) that the new student center being planned for the campus should contain a separate room removed from the in loco parentis eye of the college.  The purpose of this room would be for students to make out in peace prior to the curfew time imposed on women residing in dormitories.  As one whose date was chastised for PDA more than once while only five feet from the reception desk of the women’s dorm, I had to consider this proposal seriously.  Now, with hindsight provided by a distance of 66 years, the proposal in THE ROCK seems preposterous.  Of course, students these days can elect to live in co-ed dorms, unheard of in my day on campus.
 
I have looked through many old copies of THE ROCK to see if I contributed any writing.  I don’t remember doing so.  What prompted me to volunteer with its publication was a dramatic crush on one of its leaders, to which she was oblivious, I think.  During my junior year I participated in skull sessions discussing selection of the publication’s content.  Primarily my contribution was to help solve our distribution issues  My trudging to all points on campus where we made the publication available free in sunshine and in snow storms is an endearing memory. By the middle of my senior year, I found myself married and thoughts about THE ROCK and the crush were quickly extinguished.
 
"THE NORTHERN LIGHT" / " THE UNCLASSIFIED" / "THE AURAPHOBIA"
 
Beginning in October 1971 and for one year after that several professional counselors with whom I worked in a social agency decided to publish an underground paper.  There were many issues that needed discernment without management’s intervention.  Although one manager did contribute to the content of one of the publications!  Figure that out. 

The publication's name changed over its brief lifetime as well as its form and focus.  The first six issues of The Northern Light reflected a strong focus.  The next two of The Unclassified presented an ambiguous, questioning focus.  The final issue, The Auraphobia, was loosely translated by the editor to mean, "fear of the Northern Light".
 
Reviewing the content of these missives fifty years later makes one wonder about the motivation of those involved. Here I have to admit to knowing first hand of what I write. Certainly each of us experienced stresses while assisting our clients, all of whom had serious health issues affecting their employability and in some cases their very lives.  Many of our clients had unsolvable and untreatable problems for which we had no solutions.  But there were times of having “too much time”.  Not always, but many times the work on these publications was done AT work. 
 
Ours was out of the mainstream of social agencies in some respects.  Being the country’s first socialized medicine program met vociferous objections in Congress as the initial legislation was being considered in the 1920s.  We could purchase medical services, surgery and other types of hospitalization, orthotics, and prosthetics on behalf of our clients.  And the counseling personnel differed from other social work categories in that there was a preponderance of men rather than women filling the positions within.  In fact, during my first out-of-state training assignment, in 1968, I learned that the State of North Dakota would not hire women at all to do this work since much driving was necessary in that rural state.  It had been concluded by those in authority that women would not know what to when they encountered car trouble.  I wouldn’t write this if it were not true.
 
One article I contributed appears here in its entirety.  It was an obituary written on the death of Saul Alinsky, one of my all time heroes.  He was the criticized social reformer who figured so prominently in Republicans’ attacks during the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.  Both worked in Alinsky’s programs.  As it happened, as a senior in 1968 I was the Master of Ceremonies for a presentation by Alinsky on my campus.  A variety of community social workers and administrators were invited to attend.  After an informative and invigorating description of his efforts to promote social change in Chicago he entertained questions from the audience.  It was during this Q&A portion of his presentation that he excoriated those within the “War on Poverty”.  Its programs and others who designed social programs which interposed themselves on poor communities with mistaken ideas as to what can solve powerlessness and poverty were his comments' targets.  It was a rude ending to the campus visit by one of America’s foremost social reformers of the time.  Even those in the audience shirking from Alinsky’s attacks who worked in anti-poverty programs could not have anticipated the vitriol expressed against this man by those opposing Obama and Clinton forty years later.
 
These experiences with “underground” papers made me realize how episodic each was.  The personalities and tactics of the leaders were as important, or more important, than were any messages the publications contained.  Dissipating dissatisfaction, advancing age and maturity, or other competing interests or obligations limited these leaders’ commitments over time.  Without the impetus and energy and management of these leaders, these publications collapsed within themselves.  

Publication of "THE ROCK" with permission of Albion College Archives and Special Collections