The Midwest “Underground” Press Conference originally scheduled for Saturday, May 20, at WSU has been called off until further notice due to the machinations of Dean J. Don Marsh of Wayne State University, who refused the WSU Artists’ Society classroom space for the Conference.
Since neither the FIFTH ESTATE or the SUN has adequate facilities for holding such a Conference, it will have to wait until facilities can be arranged. In the meanwhile, people who wish to publish “underground” or independent newspapers, tabloid or mimeograph format, can consult with the staffs of Detroit’s two community newspapers—the FIFTH ESTATE, 923 Plum Street (3rd floor) and THE SUN, 4863 John Lodge (at Warren).
Both papers will give as much aid and advice as they are able to give.
The high school underground newspaper scene is growing by leaps and bounds.
In addition to the “established” high school papers YELLOW (Cass Tech) and KULCHER (Grosse Pointe High), papers have sprung up in Cooley (two papers—THE TRUTH and THE DAILY PLANET), Berkley High (AESTHETIC), and other unlikely places.
The ELEVATOR, a paper scheduled to appear at Mumford High, seems not to have appeared. However, in the most exciting development to date, the Berkley paper and two papers at Birmingham schools which were being planned as mimeo sheets have joined forces and will be putting out the nation’s first teenage 8-page tabloid underground newspaper, DIVA.
DIVA is under the direction of 14-year-old Dick Schloss and has a large and talented staff of North Woodward—suburban teenagers. Look for it SOON—it’ll be worth the watch.
Meanwhile, a newspaper at Detroit Thurston High School was destroyed and its editors suspended from school for having the audacity to dare to speak for themselves without asking permission. What a drag.