Seven months before the last item - in which I am planning to run off to Chicago, and possibly ditch the best boyfriend I've ever had - I write him this letter - which apparently never got sent. He's coming to visit, I guess - 12 more days, I have underlined at the top of the page. There are so few pieces of my own frame of mind, please forgive me dealing with it at length.
It's November 10th, 1962.
"Here I sit in my little room, drinking a beer and about to assist in a crime. It is now 1:30 a.m. Holly _____ and Paula _____ are going to go out the window from our room. We've set the light timer to turn them off in 15 minutes. It'll be good practice, 'cause when you come (if you get home before school is out,) I'm going out the window, too. And don't argue. I can get my way sometimes, can't I?) Ugh! This beer is terrible - it's warmed over."
Oh, college days in the early 60's! I did like our dorms, though. They were old fashioned, ivy-covered brick? stone? We had little dormer windows that opened out onto the roof. I don't remember how Holly and Paula were going to sneak out. We were on the 4th floor!
I do remember snowy winters, with bright snow sparkling silver in the ambient light from the campus, scooping it up into cups and putting "fizzies" in it. I remember how the campus looked from those windows. A long "walk" of trees, with a special "rock" somewhere on it - some tradition stuff. Old neo-colonial buildings (I think they were neo-colonial - with a touch of Goth? - I remember nothing of the architecture, but it was picturesque), arranged in an open-ended rectangle around a large grassy yard. It was a very traditional small college.
I go on:
"We've had one other interesting incident tonight. At 6:15, Loren _______ called. The pledges had just gotten back from the Augie game (we won - 36-27 - we're undefeated - the only team in the state) and still had ironing to do, and a paddle to finish (it's hell night). Anyway, five minutes later, Anne and I were in the john with 2 irons and 2 ironing boards, going to work on three shirts and two pr. of pants - they had to be there (wherever 'there' was) at 7:00. Never say I'm not loyal! I'm stiff as a board from spraying the can of starch the wrong direction!"
This is Larry's old fraternity I'm helping out here. I did not join a sorority - I was not asked to until I wrote a letter standing up for their right to exist, and when they asked me to join, I turned them down. Oh, I was tempted. I spent most of my high school years on the other side of the "popular" bunch. But I could not join them, especially after standing up for their right to exist. It would have made my arguments spurious, since I think I argued that the existence of sororities did not impair my own place in the community. I think I was being Ayn Rand again.
I go on to say something about "jobbing" - apparently ripping stuff off, like a coffee mug from the student union, and I finish up with:
"Found out tonight I got one of the highest grades in the class on the final part of the humanities test. Everyone else thinks they flunked. I thought it was easy. Aren't I smart?! (please praise me - everyone here hates me for being smart. Silly, isn't it?"
It's November 10th, 1962.
"Here I sit in my little room, drinking a beer and about to assist in a crime. It is now 1:30 a.m. Holly _____ and Paula _____ are going to go out the window from our room. We've set the light timer to turn them off in 15 minutes. It'll be good practice, 'cause when you come (if you get home before school is out,) I'm going out the window, too. And don't argue. I can get my way sometimes, can't I?) Ugh! This beer is terrible - it's warmed over."
Oh, college days in the early 60's! I did like our dorms, though. They were old fashioned, ivy-covered brick? stone? We had little dormer windows that opened out onto the roof. I don't remember how Holly and Paula were going to sneak out. We were on the 4th floor!
I do remember snowy winters, with bright snow sparkling silver in the ambient light from the campus, scooping it up into cups and putting "fizzies" in it. I remember how the campus looked from those windows. A long "walk" of trees, with a special "rock" somewhere on it - some tradition stuff. Old neo-colonial buildings (I think they were neo-colonial - with a touch of Goth? - I remember nothing of the architecture, but it was picturesque), arranged in an open-ended rectangle around a large grassy yard. It was a very traditional small college.
I go on:
"We've had one other interesting incident tonight. At 6:15, Loren _______ called. The pledges had just gotten back from the Augie game (we won - 36-27 - we're undefeated - the only team in the state) and still had ironing to do, and a paddle to finish (it's hell night). Anyway, five minutes later, Anne and I were in the john with 2 irons and 2 ironing boards, going to work on three shirts and two pr. of pants - they had to be there (wherever 'there' was) at 7:00. Never say I'm not loyal! I'm stiff as a board from spraying the can of starch the wrong direction!"
This is Larry's old fraternity I'm helping out here. I did not join a sorority - I was not asked to until I wrote a letter standing up for their right to exist, and when they asked me to join, I turned them down. Oh, I was tempted. I spent most of my high school years on the other side of the "popular" bunch. But I could not join them, especially after standing up for their right to exist. It would have made my arguments spurious, since I think I argued that the existence of sororities did not impair my own place in the community. I think I was being Ayn Rand again.
I go on to say something about "jobbing" - apparently ripping stuff off, like a coffee mug from the student union, and I finish up with:
"Found out tonight I got one of the highest grades in the class on the final part of the humanities test. Everyone else thinks they flunked. I thought it was easy. Aren't I smart?! (please praise me - everyone here hates me for being smart. Silly, isn't it?"
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