contents
Kentucky will be here after California is gone, page 5 Wayne H. Davis
Dr. Feelgood was here,   page 6 Jack Lyne
snaps:  Bill Roughen,   page 8
interview:  Dr. Benjamin Spock,   page 10 Nick DeMartino
Uncle Trav Wilson and the dog,   page 13 Wendell Berry
ya say it's your birthday,   page 14 David Holwerk and Tony Urie
books:  Fat City,   page 15 Thomas Blues
a poem by James Baker Hall,   page 15
cover: concrete poetry by Ellsworth Taylor. (The cover was to have been Michael Lane's antiwar flag poster, but unfortunately, our printer refused to print it.   At this late date, with no other printing facilities immediately available, we have no choice but to cop-out and switch covers. Our apologies to Michael Lane; we will try to run it in a later issue. )
blue-tail fly
December, 1969 vol. 1, no. 3
The blue-tail fly, a statewide student paper, is published by blue-tail fly, inc. at 210 West Third Street, Lexington, Ky. Cost per issue is 20 cents; a year's subscription is $2. 00.
core of impudent snobs: Guy Mendes, Jack Lyne, Rick Bell, Sue Anne Salmon, Gretchen Marcum, Bucky Young (a real effete sonofagun), Nick DeMartino, Howard Mason, Julie Mendes, Bonnie Cherry, Don Pratt, John Beckman and Geoffrey Pope.   Business gang: John Simon, Jeannie St. Charles, Terry McCarty, Carol Bryant, Maria Chalk, Buck Pennington, Becky Martin and Warren Ford.   Mad Dog Jew:  David Holwerk.
tidings
1969: Indians land at Alcatraz rock
By Larry Bensky
SAN FRANCISCO (LNS) " More than 100 Indians have reclaimed Alcatraz Island, in San Francisco Bay, "in the name of all American Indians by right of discovery," and have occupied the barren former Federal prison since taking it over at dawn, Nov. 20.
The Indians have found numerous hiding places on the deserted fortress island, in anticipation of an invasion by Federal marshals to evict them.
A proclamation issued on the day of the invasion declared the Indians' willingness to purchase Alcatraz for $24 in glass beads and red cloth, a precedent set by the white man's purchase of a similar island about 300 years ago. "Our offer of $1.24 per acre is greater than the 47 cents per acre that the white man is now paying California Indians for their land."
Citing a treaty signed with the Sioux in 1868, the young invaders claim that Sioux tribes were promised first right to unused surplus property, and that when the Federal prison was abandoned in 1964 they should have been offered the land.
Powerful business interests have been quarreling over what to do with Alcatraz. The city's tourist-profit-oriented rulers favor some sort of plastic recreation site, while Texas oil interests have lobbied in Washington for the sale of the island to real estate developers.
Local officials seem to be waiting for word from Secretary of the Interior Walter Hickel in Washington before expel-
ling the Indians. Tremendous Bay Area support has been gathered through the odd friendship of a top-40 AM radio station. The Indians have also had favorable publicity on FM rock stations and in the underground press.
The Federal government has responded with a partial blockade of the island, but ingenious boat-owners have floated and thrown supplies on to Alcatraz for the past five days. A massive invasion with supplies was scheduled to take place after dark on Thanksgiving Day, led by sympathetic boat-owners from Berkeley, San Francisco and Saucelito.
In their proclamation, the Indians-many of whom are from Native American student groups at UCLA and Berkeley-said:
"We feel that this so-called Alcatraz Island is more than suitable for an Indian reservation, as determined by the white man's own standards. By this we mean that this place resembles most Indian reservations in that:
1. It is isolated from modern facilities and without adequate means of transportation.
2. It has no fresh running water.
3. It has inadequate sanitation facilities. .
4. There are no oil or mineral rights.
5. There is no industry and so unemployment is very great.
6. There are no health care facilities.
7. The soil is rocky and non-productive and the land does not support game.
8. There are no educational facilities.
9. The population has always exceeded the land base.
10. The population has always been
held as prisoners and kept dependent on others.
It would be fitting that ships from all over the world, entering the Golden Gate, would first see Indian land and thus be reminded of the true history of this nation. This tiny island would be a symbol of the great lands once ruled by free and noble Indians."
Ships entering the Bay are now greeted with Red Power signs, Federal property signs changed to read: "Warning: Indian Property, Keep Off," and a large red flag frying from the top of the main prison building with a broken peace pipe on its center.
Pigskin review: the big state game
NEW YORK (LNS) - College football, as the country is becoming aware, is big business. High school players are recruited all over the country, offered great scholarships, and freedom to do exactly what they want to do: play football and nothing else.
Now it seems college football players are looking around them and finding some things are more important than lugging the pigskin for Alma Mater. The Coaches aren't pleased.
The economics of major collegiate sports are very intricate. Scholarships abound, training and equipment are expensive, transportation costs can be enormous (the entire squads, including hangers on, are flown to away games in such conferences as the Big 8) and stadium costs are high. Even the footballs come to $25 apiece. A losing season or two,
attendance down, and the money begins to slip away.
More importantly, the old alumni spirit, " the longing for youth and stature which prompts old men to find large sums of money for their schools " the Class of'02 syndrome, begins to let down. It's not just the pressure of school spirit and the of desire to win that makes college coaching such a tension-filled job. There's the Board of Trustees looking with displeasure over your shoulder if you should lose to the Traditional Rival
Football players are to the large University what showgirls are to Las Vegas. Strut your stuff, but don't stop to think about it.
But these are strange times now. Political times. Black runners brought politics into the synthetically pacific environment of the Olympics by raising black-gloved fists, and took shit for it. The Olympics themselves were boycotted in part, as were various track meets last year, in protest of the racist policies of the athletic clubs which sponsor (use) black athletes for their own needs. Now, black college football players are recognizing their positions and are making their protests known.
At the University of Indiana, 14 black members of the football squad boycotted practice because of what, they called "assumptions made by the coaching staff based on stereotyping of the blacks." The atmosphere they were playing under was "mentally depressing and morally discouraging." All 13 were summarily dismissed from the varsity football squad, ostensibly for failing to abide by the coach's policy prohibiting two practice cuts " but obviously for reasons which go much deeper. Their scholarships will not be renewed.
Emphasizing the group nature of the
December, 1969