Herald & Lantern 12 January '83

23

Good Reading by Owen Murphy

By Owen Murphy (All of the books review ed in this co/umn are avai/ab/e at the Cape May County Library.) A VIEW OF WINTER By Ronald Blythe Ronald Blythe is an Englishman with several award winning hooks to his credit. "A View of Winter" consists of a series of remarkable conversations about old age between Blythe and a number of elderly men and women in Britain. Interspersed with the conversations are short essays by Blythe about par ticular aspects of aging in human beings The follow ing quotations, unless otherwise attributed, are by the author. Ronald Blythe. One of the fearful developments in the consciousness of many old people is that, in the eyes of society, they have become another species The old often live half lives because they know they would arouse disgust and fear if they attempted to live whole ones Nursing hom& You hear people say — you are forever hearing it “Oh God. I pray that the lime will never come when I have to enter a place like that'' Though when the time comes, it is quite dif-

ferent because you are different. —Mrs. Robins, English Nursing Home Matron Not the least tragic part of old age is learning how to provide false evidence in sexual matters, the tacit lie which says, “I feel nothing, I am past all that.” ...the way in which the old are always finally manipulated by those who still care for them but who no'longer regard them as whole people I can't say that I know what old age means I don’t feel one scrap different to what I felt when I was talk ing »o the parents fifty years ago. Of course, I can’t walk very far, but the inside person who can't walk very far is still the same young woman who rambled for miles and miles —Retired Teacher, age 94 But it is youth and middle age who define what is unbecoming in the old. not the old who feel it. The acceptance of standards of seemliness in areas where, privately and deeply, no unseemliness is felt, is one of the major concessions which the aged have to make to society Until society car. say. “We are they," things will remain much as they are.

Murphy Begins Book Reviews Owen Murphy, teacher, vegetarian and hermit, this week begins a weekly book review column, “Good Reading “ Murphy. 42. of Cape May Courthosue, was reared in northern New Jersey, sum mered and then lived per manently in Stone Harbor, spent 10 years in Nashville

OWEN MURPHY

as a “would-be song writer,“ and returned to the county 2 x /7 years ago A Notre Dame Umversi ly graduate in communica lion arts, Murphy is a substitute teacher, mostly in Middle Township High School and Gower Cape May Regional He also tutors students in an enrichment program A “writer by avocation.“ he is working on a long children’s fantasy He owns no television set and spends most of his time reading THE BOOKS Murphy Winners In Holiday Decorations AVALON - The Avalon Recreation Department on courages residents to get in the spirit of the holidays by decorating their homes They were encouraged to make them appealing to adulLs and children and the judges were two adults and two children Judges Charles Kerner and son Kevin, and David Habcrlie and daughter Donna made the following decisions Most Original Large House — The Joseph Salfe Jr family; Most Original Small House or Appart ment The I-eon Garofalo Jr family, Large House First, Leon Garofalo Sr. family. Second, The Mead family. Third, The William Tozier family; Small House or Apartment — First, The T. Short family; Second, The J. Adamick Family; and Third. The J Schwartz family Kvening Hours For Shelter OCEAN CITY - The Humane Society of Ocean City will open its shelter one evening a week, Wednesdays, starting Jan 12 “We have found, shelter manager Vicky Rutter said, “many can not get to the shelter during our daily 1 to 4 afternoon hours, so we will also try this one evening a week opening 5 to 8 p m each Wednesday to encourage more adoption of our animals “ The shelter is on Shelter Rd off Tennessee Ave behind the golf course

This week, instead of dealing with records, we'll talk about music-rclatrd books that merit your at tention In the past, most rock books dealt on a fan level, but recently there have been quite a few indepth studies on popular music Hopefully. I'll be able to write about the more important books in future columns. ONE OF THE most im pressive and exhaustive studies has to be Hr ad l-llliott's work on the Beach Boys. Surfs Up’. (Pierian Press, P.0 Box 1808, Ann Arbor, MI 48106) is for the rock scholar as Elliott lists every record, television ap pearance, radio special, and bootleg associated with America's most popular group The Beach Boys. What's especially nice for the hardcore Beach Boys fan is the section that deals with the tracks that remain unreleased These gems are probably lost forever, but thanks to Elliot those with an active imagination can at least pretend to kno«v what these never issued sides sound like. Every group with a history as long and detailed as The Beach Boys deserves an historical perspective as rich as Surfs Up’ EQUALLY AS enticing, but easier for non fanatics to read is Nicholas Schaff ner’s The Britlah /nvaaion (McGraw-Hill) Schaffner and a few choice writers have put together a collection of essays concerning British rock from the days of The Beatles. Stones. Kinks, etc to the present day stars of The Pretenders, Clash, and

Police'. Each section is written with feeling and love for the music, making this fun. easy reading Especially nice arc the lengthy pieces on The Beatles. Stones, Kinks, Pink Floyd, Who, Bowie, and T Rex An excellent gift Cool Cats (Delilah) which is edited by Tony Stewart, probably could have been a lot better, as some of the essays are dull and long winded. However, I hai)c to recommend it wholeheartedly for the piece on the sixties mod movement which was writ ten by The Jam's Paul Weller. Instead of making it sould like a dusty museum peice, Weller injects life and vitality into h»s descriptions, giving an edge of excitement, not on ly to his section, but also to the entire book Alan Betrock has long been one of America's bet ter rock historian and his new book. Girl Groups The Stoty Of A Sound (Delilah) covers the short lived girl group phenomenon This easy to read history of such artists as Shargri las Roncttes. Marvelettes, The Shirelles, Little Eva, etc...is plenty of fun and should 'bring back a lot of fine memories Betrock should be proud of this book Inside Look Al Gardening AVALON - Indoor Gardening and the Effect of Light" will be the topic for the Garden Club meeting 10 a m Monday. Jan 17 The meeting will be held in the Borough Hall

reviews are available in the Cape May County Library. His review style will lean heavily on selected quotations Tve found that the best way to turn someone on to a good book is to give them tantalizing, b i t e < s i z e chunks of the author at his or her best," he said "One couldn't do that, of course, with most popular novels or a majority of books that make the lies! seller list because there is nothing eminently quotable in them The books I intend to review are all good books, hence my column's title Many of fliem are new publications, some are recognized classics, a few are overlooked or N misunderstood gems, but HflncjjLthem arc dull " Dr. Beit man Begins Dr Robert G Beitman, co-chairman of the Cape May County Unit , of the American Cancer Society, this week begins a weekly column on preventive medicine, “Health Watch “ A graduate of New York University Medical School, Dr Beitman is a tmardcertified internist, trained at the Philadelphia Veterans Hospital and the Medical College of Pennsylvania He came to Cape May County two years ago, after an additional two years training as a digestive disease specialist al the University of Pennsyl vamaPresbyterian Modi cal Center He is affiliated with Burdette-Tomiin Memorial Hospital and has offices in Cape May Court House and

Seaville

DR. BEITMAN is cur rently co-authoring a tex tbook in gastroenterology, and has numerous scientific articles to his credit He is a mem tier of the new American Cancer Society

Health Watch by Dr Robert d Reitmjn

By Dr. Robert G. Beitman

Americans have the

ability to live longer, hap pier, healthier lives, if they apply the important discoveries in the field of

preventive medicine The idea behind this col

umn. “Health Watch.,'' which is a project of the Public Education Commit tee of the American Cancer Society, is to present and discuss many of the concepts in preventive medicine which can help

save and extend our lives Knowledge, it is said, is

power It is my hope that as the residents of Cape May

County review this column, each person will seek to ap ply the information to themselves, and the lifestyles of those whom they love EACH DAY I am con j fronted by patients with 7severe illnesses which might have been prevented My day is saddened greatly by each case where the prognosis might have been very different had detection been sooner, or had the patient known to apply some of the elements of preventive medicine to his/her lifestyle

Column

Speakers Bureau Dr. Beitman has been named to the board of the

Dr. Robert G. Beitman

United Way, is a member of the County Health Advisory Committee, and is secretary of the Cape "May County Medical Society Dr Beitman, :t4, resides in Marmora with his wife, Gail, who is an artist, com munity planner and active volunteer in community affairs

For the next several columas. our first project will be to focus specifically upon cancer prevention and detection We will discuss the role of nutn tion, lifestyle, environ ment, heredity and emotioas on cancer We will cover the warning sigas of cancer and other important home detection strategies we can take, as well as special screening tests which your family doctor can arrange for you I FEEI, privileged to have been asked to serve as volunteer author of this col umn But I also have a re quest of you, the reader Please give feedback If there are topics in proven live medicine you would like covered, wni^ to me in care of the American Cancer Society. Cape May County 'Unit, 15 Delsea 'Drive, BoX 4 86, Rio Grande. N J <18242 Please also be aware that for each topic we discuss, the Cancer Society has ex cellent printed materials, available at no charge For copies, simply call 886-1154

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