News Scrapbook 1980-1981

SAN DIEGO UNION

Stdlfphoto by ldn Dryden

Time For Hfaling Calms Nikki's Anger

"The Women and the Men.' Her most re- cent book 1s "Vacation Time," a collection of poems for children dedicated to her 11- year-old son, Tommy. . Raised in Cincinnatti and part of a rmd- dle-class family, Giovanni became serious- ly interested in poetry "from the time I could write," she recalled. Her parents, both college graduates who pursued prof cs ·sional careers, raised their children in a "non-pressure environment.'' "My parents allowed us kids to do what- ever we wanted to," she said "I WGs al- ways writing something down because it felt good This habit of mine contmued through college." . . . .

By FRANK GREEN

once ,1 snowfl.tke fell on my brow and i loved it so much and i kissed it and it w.ts happy andCdlled its cousins and brothers and a web ofsnow engulfedme then i reached to love /hem all . ..

• Slaff Wrilll, TIie Son o;e90 Union Nikki Giovann , one of the premier black revolutionary poets of the 1960s, is today cheering for Ronald Reagan. . ''The Prez is the only guy we've got," she said. "I like what I see in the Reagan ad- ministration. He's not nearly as mean as Nixon was. And I perceive him to be the type of person who won't ignore the agony of the poor. He's a man you can talk to." "Besides," she added, with a touch of mischief in her smile that changed her small face "Nancy Reagan wants her little guy to be great - not in the bottom five." Strange words coming from a woman who was once ccmpelled to write about her "militant dreant'l of taking over America to show all these white folks." At 36 this V1riter-lecturer-teacher has shed an'traces of the angry, bitter radical. Bittersweet, shesaid, would be an accurate classification of her outlook and poetry today. She is still lively and witty, but more loving and introspective. . . Explaining her transformabbn, she said: ''One winds down. We've touched on every sore that anybody in the country ever had and I think that we ought to do some heal- ing. I'm not downgrading anger, but how long can you stay angry 1 " Giovanni was seated on the edge of a bed in her room at the Little America Westgate Hotel, sipping on a cup of black coffee and chatting and reciting poetry to a dozen friends. She was in San Diego yesterday to

- From 'Winter Poem' by Nikki Giovdnni After graduating from Fisk University m Nashville, she took graduate courses at the University of Pennsylvania. Midw~y through her studies there, she formed a ht- '-------------- ,tic publishing house, Black Dialogue, and . . published two small volumes of work, lecture to students at the University of San "Black Feeling Black Talk" and "Bla<'k Diego, part of a 28-city tour to help pro- Judgment." ' m~te Blac_k History Week. . "I scrimped and saved and borrowed . Ther~ IS a great need to communicate from my grandmother," she said. "It took mAmer1ca, a problem that was compound- $500 to print 500 book~ which I sold at ed in the 'me decade' of the '70s," she said. t ., • "I'm on tour_ because people _are beginning co;he volume of sales far outpaced her ex• to read agam _and are co~mg out _more. pectations and she was eventually contact- They're ~eceptive to new ideas ~gam an,d ed by the William Morrow publishing firm, are talkmg to one another agam. Thats which was interested in combining the two what I'm happy about,-" . books into one volume. Since 1967, Giovanni has written 15 books That book went through three printings of poetry, including "Poem of Angela in two years - no small feat f(lr ·a poet's Yvonne Davis " "Gemini," "A Dialogue: . d A 18 Col l) James Baldwi~ and Nikki Giovanni" and (Continue on • , · Poet Sees Time For Healing (Continued from A-17) first published work.

Giovanni lamented that many young no- velists and essayists are being held back by a book industry that she said concentrates on profits instead of quality writing. "The <'hain bookstores, especially, don't buy books unless they're sure to get a quick turnover," she said. "Writers are hurt by this, but so is the public, which doesn't get the diversity of works. Bookstores should not be like McDonald's. Bookstores are not hamburgers that you process and throw out every 15 minutes - books are our living legacy." About the future of America and its peo- ple, Giovanni is unabashedly optimistic. "If Reagan doesn't work out, we'll all organize and do something about it. "By 1990, I suspect we'll have gone through a revolution. People will rise up in love, and have a song - that'll beat any- thing else that has been happening."

In 1969, she suddenly became enamoured with the anti-war movement and the idea that "society could be changed for the betterment of all by a small band of reb- els." She now feels that viewpoint was naive. "I found socialism - which I was playing with then - to be at least as uninteresting as capitalism because you don't ever get either. I'm a humanist now. We should all work together. Everyone is here for each other." Besides writing and lecturing, Giovanni today is a volunteer in the Cincinnatti pub- lic schools system, where she teaches poet- ry. and is a collector of first-edition works of poetry. Her most prized possession is a volume from the late-1700s by Phyllis Wheatley, a black slave who was the first person to publish poetry in America. That book is worth about $50,000, she said.

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SAN DIEGO UNION

Founders' Gallery: Paintings by Glenn Bradshaw, through March 17. University of San Diego. Mon- day - Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. 291-6480.

Gordon Gains Tennis Final 1 Four local players will be mvolved in ~he_ singles finals and the University of Texas needs to wm Just one more match to claim the team title wday when _the eighth annual• San Diego Invitational College Tennis Tourna- ment closes at Morley Field. . . Coronado's Andy Gordon, playing for the University of Arizona will play UCLA's Danny Saltz in the featured No. 1single; final. Gordon defeated Texas' Guillermo Stevens 6--7, 7-6, 6-2 yesterday while Saltz eliminated USC's Sean Brawley 4-6 6-4 6--1. . . La Jollan Hector Ortiz, playing for Pep~rdme, ~ill meet University of San Diego's Chris Jochum m_ the No. 3 singles title match and ~~D's Steven Wood w~l oppos~ Arizona's Kevin McClmbc m the No. 4 smgle~ fmal. Gor don and teammate Tim Marcin will also be m the No. 2 singles finals. Two USD doubles teams lost in yesterday's semifinals. . ' Only Arizona, in a second-place tie with Pepperdme with 34 pomts, has a chance to catch the Longhorns, who were the nation's No. 16 ranked team entermg the tourna-

SAN DIEGO UNION

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l PIANO CONCERT_ The Noontime Concert Sanes continues with a l piano recital by Father Nicholas Reveles Wednesday al noon in the French Parlor, Founders Hall, Univenity of San Diego.

EVENING TRIBUI\IE

FEB •• 4 1981 The University of Sao Diego will conduct a week- end tennis clinic April 4-5, open to adults and JUD· iors of all abilities. The clinic will stress fundamen- tals, strategy and competition. It will be conducted by Ed Collins, Scott McCarthy and the USO varsity players. The cost is $40 and is tax deductible.

ment.

H-4 Sunday. February 22, 1981 Gaels Erase Toreros' late lead 70-69 THE SAN DIEGO UNION

On top of all that, Stockalper was the leading rebounder for USD at the half with three. But the Toreros came back from the 45-37 halftime deficit, playing patient, intelligent bas- ketball - and finally getting some strong inside play by Gerald Jones and Bob Bartholomew. Bartholomew, who was held scoreless the previous night against USF, scored on a drive to pull USD within two (47-45), and Jones added a layup to tie it at 47-all. The teams exchanged the lead several times until the Toreros moved in front 60-58 on a layup by Whitmarsh. The 6-3 junior added a free throw, then it was Stockal er's turn. He di

'It was such a shock," said Stockalper. 'There was one way we could have lost that game, and we found it. Losing the ball like that ... that three-point play. It was just a nightmare." The loss overshadowed an impressive second• half comeback by the Toreros, and probably the best game of the season for Stockalper, USD's playmaking guard. On a night when his backcourt partner, Rusty Whitmarsh, was weakened with flu, Stockalper took control in the final minutes with an assort- ment of jumpers and what seemed to be game- winning free throws. He finished with 24 points on 8 of 11 from the field and a perfect 8 for 8 at the line. Stockalper, ~ho leads the WCAC in free throw percentage (84.4), hit_ two free _throws with 1:11 remaining to make it USO by five (63- 58). He succeeded on two more with 49 seconds left to keep the edge 65-60. And he sank two at the 13-second mark that Brovelli, the rest of the Toreros and just about everyone else thought had won the game for USD. But then came the plays that comprised what Brovelli termed ·a giveaway." . . 'That's what it was," said Brovelh, after fmal- ly emerging from the dressing room. 'This was the toughest loss of all., definitely the toughest." The Toreros looked like a completely differ- ent team in the second half. In the first 20 min- utes they were outrebouned 21-15, had more turnovers, eight to six, and they wasted numer- ous opportunities at the line. USD succeeded on just four of 11 for 36.4 percent.

By AILENE VOISIN Stoff Writer, TIie Son Diego UniOn

MORAGA - Mike Stockalper called it a nightmare. Jim Brovelli said it was a giveaway. And more than one of the 1,600 fans in atten- dance said the Gaels were Just plain lucky. But when all the commotion cleared, one thing was certain - the Umverslly of San Diego lo:; t another West Coast Athletic Conference meeting this one to St. Mary's 70-69. USD appeared on its way to a third WCAC victory, and 10th of the season. But three plays - two by St. Mary's Ray Orgill and the other by Peter Thibeaux - ro pt U o 2- in- league and 9-14 overall. With 08 to go, Orgill drove the lane, pulled up for a short jump shot, and was fouled by USD's Dave Heppell. Orgill made both free throws, narrowing the deficit to 69-67. On the inbounds play, with all five Gaels pressuring. Orgill intercepted the pass and went up for another jump shot just inside the key. This time, however, U D's Bob Bartholomew swatted the ball away but into the hands of Thibeaux Thibeaux laid the ball in, was fouled by l'SD's Ru Iv Wh1tmal"$h then calmh sak the winning free throw with 03 on the clock. A la t second half-court shot by Stockalper fell ~hort. Afterward. anyone standing outside the USD dre mg room would have thought the San An- dreas fault was causing havoc. Chairs were being kicked around, fists were slammmg walls and th )anguage was, ah, colorful, at the least.

EVENING TRIBUNE FEB 2 3 1981

The University of San Diego, which is used to close games, played another one Saturday in Moraga against St. Mary's. But as has been the case so often for the Toreros this winter, they lost it 70-69. USD was up by four points with eight seconds to play when St. Mary's Ray Orgill hit a shot to close the lead to two. Orgill then intercepted an inbounds pass. He tried a shot and it was blocked, but St. Mary's Paul Thibeaux picked it up, laid it in and was fouled. He then sank the free throw for the winner. "This was the toughest loss of all, definitely the toughest," said Torero Coach Jim Brovelli, whose team's record fell to 9-14, 2-9 in the West Coast Athletic Confer- ence. "It was a giveaway" Pacing the losers was guard Mike Stockalper, who poured in 24 points. After playing four consecutive games on the road, the Toreros return to Alcala Park this week for games with Loyola-Marymount Thursday night and Pepperdine Sat- urday night.

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