There seem to be a couple of corrections to the new LASFS DIRECTORY that need to be made, so get out your pencils and change the following phone numbers:

Felice Rolfe should be 326-6328        Stu Metchette should be 838-9066

And the phone at the Booby Hatch is disconnected, for the nonce at least, while the residents and the phone company decide whether the last bill was paid or not.

That taken care of, let's get on to:

-- BEING COMMENTS ON LAST WEEK'S DISTRIBUTION

Bruce Pelz -- Frankly, looking back, I'm rather surprised myself that I've held the post of Official Collator for as long as I have. When I took on the job, I decided to hold it (pending other circumstances) for as long as I enjoyed it, and I've never really gotten tired of it. I'd continue it longer, if I were sure that I'll be able to keep coming to Meetings regularly; and I'll be glad to be a collator and help Dian (hopefully without crowding her) when I am present. There is another reason, though, why I haven't resigned the OCship before this; some time ago I made a promise (to myself) that I was going to personally make sure that Apa L would keep going for at least one whole year (52 numbers) longer than Apa F. Apa F folded with its 69th Mailing, and we just passed our 121st Dist'n last week, so I can turn the job over to Dian with a clear conscience. ## That's what I meant about the LASFS stapler not going with the APA L OCship; it's not mine to give to somebody else. I could turn custody of it back to the club, and the club could reassign it to the new OC; or the club could decide to give it to the new OC and instruct me to pass it over; but it doesn't automatically go with the post. Actually, 1825 Greenfield Avenue is the repository for all sorts of club property: the Swingline stapler, the LASFS Rex, the lightbox and lettering guides, the bacular clock, the Evans-Freehafer Award plaque; just about everything except the folding chairs and the part of the Library in storage at Al Lewis' parents' home, I guess.

John Ryan -- I was seriously considering writing in Robert Vaughn's name in our recent gubernatorial election, more out of disgust for our two principal candidates than for any other reason -- it would've been a more positive sign of my displeasure with the choice we had than just not voting at all. At the last minute, I decided that of the real choice we had, I'd rather have Pat Brown serve four more years than let Reagan foul things up, and since Brown obviously needed votes if he was to have a chance of being re-elected, I gave him mine. As it was, he lost by a large margin anyhow, so all I got was the moral satisfaction of knowing that I didn't throw my vote away frivolously. Reagan had now been in office about a month and a half, and it's still too early to tell what his administration will accomplish (or "be responsible for"); right now, the biggest danger to California's socio-political progress seems to be not in Reagan's cutback programs themselves, but in the deadlock that may well result if the large opposition to Reagan that exists manages to block or stall all of his plans (with or without taking the trouble to find out what they are meant to do), leaving California politically leaderless. We had one good example just this last week, when a large body of teachers and students marched on the State Capitol to protest Reagan's alleged educational policies (and, as Bĵo said a couple of weeks ago, nobody seems exactly sure what they are; there is only a general feeling that Reagan is "anti-education", or that "he'll ruin the State University"). When the Governor appeared before them to explain just what he is trying to accomplish, they refused to listen and set up such a booing that he couldn't be heard -- so much for their claims that they're the ones who're being responsible and it's the Governor who refuses to listen to what "the people" want! ## Actually, I think that up until recently, a theatrical background was more of a handicap than a help to a potential political office-seeker. A businessman, or lawyer, or farmer, or anyone else with no political experience could run for office just as easily, but actors were generally considered respectable, for the most part. Now that the profession itself is no longer a drawback, though, it's true that the experience in public speaking that the successful actor has will probably give him a built-in advantage over the doctor or educator in appearing before the public in the manner that they feel a politician should have. ## To a large extent, our Presidential elections (not the mention other elections) are popularity contests. Theoretically, of course, the people will always vote for the "best man"; the corollary being that if they make a bad choice, they have nobody to blame but themselves. For the most part, it seems to work to the extent that there are no charges of tyranny, and the picture of the unwanted or incompetent office-holder forced upon the public by the machinations of the professional politicians is growing ever dimmer. ## Yes, you have the correct idea as to what "write-ins" are; a voter has the right to vote for anyone he wants, and if he wishes to vote for someone other than one of the official candidates, there is usually a blank on the ballot in which he can write in whosever name he wishes. Since the most popular candidates are invariably the official candidates (i.e., officially file for the post and have their names printed on the ballots), write-ins seldom stand much chance of being elected. On the other hand, there's the example of what happened in Georgia this last year, when Lester Maddox, a racial extremist (he became known to the public refusing to allow Negroes into his restaurant, choosing to close the restaurant rather than integrate when the Courts ordered him to), won the Democratic Party's nomination for Governor in that State, and the defeated candidate of the liberal wing of the party ran for Governor anyway as a write-in candidate, getting enough votes that neither Maddox nor his Republican opponent won a clear-cut victory. (In this case, by Georgia law, the new Governor was selected by the legislature, which picked Maddox.) Unless someone does have a definite preference in mind over the official candidates, though, a protest write-in does usually seem to go to an obviously ridiculous candidate such as Mickey Mouse. I was tempted to vote for Robert Vaughn (as I mentioned above), not because he's obviously ridiculous, but because if we must select our future politicians from the acting ranks, I'd rather encourage Vaughn than any other actor I know of at the present. He at least has some theoretical knowledge of political science, and seems to be more liberal than conservative, which fits my own political leanings. ## I rather think that the people of Alabama voted for Wallace's wife, rather than change the State Constitution, because it seemed a more dramatic way to express their contempt for the Federal government and 'yankee' society.