Word: essays
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...reminiscence would have followed an internal logic of its own. Zigmond, relying on the experiences and words of others, must develop his argument in a more formal way. He fails for two reasons. First, the abstractness and detachment of the essay simply do not fit a subject so intensely personal and emotionally complex. It is easy to list, in a neatly ordered manner, the "problems" faced by a white volunteer: guilt, fear, prejudice (both ways), self-doubt, etc. Such a list, however, provides about as much feel for the problems as would a similar list for the "horrors...
Second, the essay fails because it does not probe deeply enough, even on its own terms. Zigmond postulates that most of the white volunteer's problems stem from the preconceived notions he entertains of the Negro and the Movement. Fine, but why treat only two of these notions, and at that the two have been most throughly discussed already, Granted, some whites join the struggle because they see the Negro as the Oppressed One (the "guilt-ridden white" in Zigmond's terms) or as an agent of massive social change (the "utopian white"). This however hardly exhausts the possibilities. Some...
...Your Essay, "Ode to the Road" [Sept. 10], was most refreshing. We in the traffic engineering field are plagued by the prophets who contend that despite tremendous improvement in highway design and traffic control, we are destined to prolonged congestion. These prophets conclude that a gain of 6,000,000 vehicles per year in the U.S. is too much to absorb. This is ridiculous, but it takes little to convince a disgruntled motorist that such prognostications are valid. Traffic is being handled more efficiently now than ever before, and this situation will continue to improve. Your constructive piece should alleviate...
...this rank-and-file union member, your Essay on union labor [Sept. 17] missed the boat. Neither militancy nor affluence is the significant feature of union labor today. It is power and solidarity on a national scale as reflected in the A.F.L.-C.I.O. leadership that counts. This power and solidarity is neither capitalistic nor capitalism. It is an effective counterbalance to the power of big business and big government. As long as it stays independent, it will serve the nation's interests...
...Church and the Modern World. Already rewritten 20 times the schema is an essay on the Christian response to secular life, addressed not just to Catholics but to all men. Its major topics: the true theology of the family, the characteristics of modern life, the Christian role in politics, the church's proper response to such issues as nuclear war and pacifism...