The Cavalier daily. :: Tuesday, May 20, 1969 :: University of Virginia Library

Well, it looks like the new UVM won't have
them dancing in the streets, either. It's not a
had magazine, so far as it goes. But it certainly
doesn't go very far.

The front and back covers are the most
impressive magazine covers put out here in
recent years. The elevating rotunda, a sight to
make any Kurt Vonnegut fan smile with joy, is
well executed. It should be a poster by itself.
From there, it's all mostly downhill.

On the inside cover are two poems on
Founder's Day by Robert McLain and T. D.
Thelen. Both are super cynical, somewhat bitter,
and not without promise, although the black
border is a bit much. Mr. McLain's poem, part
of an extended cycle he has written this year, is
probably the best poem in the magazine.

One is then treated to a peace page by the
liberal new UVM management. It may be trite,
but it's a nice page.

Next, Bill Weaver attempts to sum up 150
years of the University in pictures. How this
can be done in 9 photographs is beyond me,
and apparently beyond Mr. Weaver. Perhaps the
only significant thing about this spread is that it
contains not one picture of anything remotely
academic, and, of course, there are no blacks.

This is followed by a UVM reprint, an article
on censorship first printed in 1958. Apparently
not much has changed since then; some of the
incidents are amusing, and, except for a
somewhat inane statement by an anonymous
UVM writer ("most mistakes in college
publications could have prevented by thinking
twice.") it's not a bad article.

Next is a poem by Charles Owen Taylor
called Magnus Deus, a searingly soul searching
effort that, if it didn't take itself so seriously,
would be excellent. His other poems are not as
good.

Riot and Tradition, an article by James
Poole, is probably the best article in the
magazine. It covers the history of disturbances
at the University until 1850 when it abruptly
stops, It is both well researched and well
written.

Jefferson's Epitaph, taken from the New
York Times in 1931, is a series of letters by
Thomas Jefferson which prove conclusively
that he loved the University. Most of us knew
that already.

The Crime of Prisons by Bruce Franzel, the
other original essay, is an excellent survey of
Virginia's prehistoric penal system. It's enlightening,
depressing, and worth reading.

Potpourri, the magazine's attempt to be
humorous, satirical, creative and political, is
sometimes humorous, satirical, or political.

Finally, Demetrius Mazacoufa closes the
magazine with a poem about Hellenic Greece,
the complete meaning of which will unfortunately
be lost on anyone who doesn't read
Greek (as the last two lines are in Greek), a
handicap of which I am guilty. Until it reaches
the point of incomprehension, however, it is
excellent.

The high point of the magazine is
undoubtedly Tom Duncan's photographic effects.

He has two particularly excellent ones, of
a beautiful girl and of a sunset, which alone are
worth the price of the magazine. So far as I
know, this is Mr. Duncan's first published
creative photography; I look forward to seeing
much more from him.

The trouble with the new UVM is simply
that any magazine with only two original
articles is bound to be a little short on content.
Reprints are nice for giving historical perspective,
but not when they are the major part of
the magazine.

Further, the magazine is too much a product
of Charlottesville; one can only get away with
being super local when one is a lot more original
than this UVM is.

This is Editor Mike Russell's first magazine.
He has collected some excellent photography, a
few interesting poems, and little else for this
effort, which, in spite of its thinness, shows
some signs of promise. But Mr. Russell will have
to extend the base of UVM and find more
material before the magazine again becomes as
good as it has been this year.