Journal, March 18, 1970

Finished first of two dress rehearsals tonight for “The Dybbuk” by S. Anski. That may be one reason I haven’t written more lately. It’s been very hard work. I had many lines to learn and a difficult part, Reb Azrielka, who tries to exorcise the dybbuk (Ron Ellyson).  (Note: I remember my lines covered 12 pages of single space typing). On top of all that, I’ve got a sore throat. Well, spring vacation begins this weekend.

I’ve learned of summer school at Pendle Hill. One of the courses deals with journals. I’d really like to go to that one.

I got a nice letter form Lois Doty, who I stayed with in Minneapolis last year during the Junior trip. I had sent her a copy of my paper on education, a subject she is  very involved in.  She says:

“I enjoyed and agreed with many of the points you brought out in your paper on education. I have felt for a long time that the only valid reward for learning was the act of learning.

Too often adults feel that young people can’t handle things in depth so they don’t even attempt to expose anything in depth. Thus young people end up feeling that life is shallow and sometimes give up trying to explore or discover any depth or meaning in life.

Orin this year as an added Income Tax protest, besides refusing to fill out income tax forms, has listed 13 dependents for withholding.  We still hope to sell our house and move to the country or maybe to Canada if things get too awful.”

March 30, 1970

I was reading my CCCO (Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors) Draft Counselor’s Manual this evening. In a court decision Warren vs. U.S. a distinction was made between (1)  one’s  freedom to think and (2) one’s freedom to act in connection with religious freedom under the First Amendment. The court ruled that while one’s right to believe was protected, one’s right to act could be restricted.

April 1, 1970

This evening we saw the movie “Rebel Without A Cause” (James Dean). I guess I was moved by this film because of the conflict of the youth and their parents.  I have been thinking more about the draft and I wish so much that my parents could support me. They try to tell me you don’t have to be idealistic, that the whole matter won’t be important in 10 years, unless I have to go to jail. But what Jim was trying to say (in the movie) and what I have tried to say is the ideals are crucial now and how we act on these ideals now will largely determine the quality of our lives in ten years.

“I think that the worst kind of fear or dread, is the fear that you yourself will fail to act according to your conscience. That fear is now gone. I am one of the freest men in the country. Can you understand that?”  James Taylor Rowland, Draft Resister

April 9

Heard Dr. Benjamin Spock speak today at the University of Iowa on “Dissent and Social Change”. No new ideas. Also saw film by Committee for Responsibility about Vietnamese children war victims sent to the U.S. for treatment. Physically sick after seeing those pictures.

(Note:  I remember spending hours in the darkroom making about 100 prints of this photo we took in the cemetery across from the School, for the program for “The Dybbuk”.  Someone else cut the tile for the inked heading at the top of the program. I also remember how someone thought to hang a white sheet across several strands of clothesline, so the images from a film projector appeared on three separate surfaces, seeming to float in the air. The director was Nancy Duncan)

Photo on front of The Dybbuk program