Freshman Year Experiences 1967-1968

NOTICE: THIS IS ABOUT TO BE FROZEN AND ERASED. SO COPY IT IF YOU WANT IT. WHOLE SITE CAN BE GONE QUIKLY. UNDER REPAIR . FIXING TYPOS. 1-21-99Much or most of this has already been printed elsewhere including in the Arts and Sciences Alumni Magazine among others.: In response to your Freshman Year experiences Query: I arrived in Indianapolis after a 24 hour train ride from NYC. In 1967 both the NY Central RR and the Pennsylvania RR were trying to get rid of their passenger service so they made the trip as miserable as possible. (Fall67 song:& Gimme a ticket for an aeroplane, dont have time for a fast train &)My first sight of Indianapolis was from above it. (Fall 67 song: & 'Everyone knows its (W)Indy') I found it weird that the tracks came into the city from way up in the air while curving around but it made it much more impressive than any other stop on the way. It sure looked like an OLD city from the 1920s. NYC had been putting up all-glass bldgs since the 1950s. Indy had none in 1967) I got off, age 17 (I had never been west of East Pennsylvania), and lugged lots of baggage down the steps and out the front door where I got a cab. Told him to take me to the Greyhound (whereever that was, I had no idea how many miles away it would be). Was surprised that it was just a few blocks away. Went into the bus depot and found out that I had missed the last bus until morning. So I put my bags into 24 hour lockers except for one suitcase and I asked where the YMCA was. Miraculously, I went right to it. I still have the YMCA receipt somewhere. Next morning I oversleep. I still recall hurrying to get out before the maid reaches my door.So I go back downtown. I go out front of the Greyhound and walk a block and I see something called Frisches Big Boy on the corner across the street. I go in and see and get my first huge burger. Back east the trend was to make burgers smaller as with White Castle and Wetson's. We only had one McDonalds and that was way out on Long Island and only had little 15c burgers. I had never seen one made bigger before. The 'Big Boy' was later copied by McDonald's in 1969 and now they have the gall to say they 'invented' it. (Fall67 song: && Remember what the dormouse said, feed your head, feed your head &&) On that same street in front of the Greyhound, a couple blocks towards the rr station I see my first Indy newspaper. The headline was about Joel Horlen throwing a no-hitter in the pennant race. (Fall67 song: & "Come on baby, light my fire") I think, that figures, my second favorite (after Gary Peters) AL pitcher throws his no-hitter during the only time in my life Im stuck on a train for 24 hours with no connections with the outside world. So then I walk to the monument circle. Looked like bad designing to me. Bumper to bumper traffic trying to criss cross each other to get out. There was a 5&10 on the circle and one down the street. Both reminded me of home in their design. I went back to the bus counter and asked for a ticket to Bloomington. To my surprise the attendant asks, "Which one?". Huh? Are there two of them? So I say ,"Where the college is!". The attendant says, "Which college?". So I say,"Indiana University" and he understands. Turns out that Illinois also had a Bloomington with a college. Well, the Bloomington bus was always at door 5 and I saw a few other students there so I got in line. There was no huge highway in those days so all I saw was barreness.It didnt look like much of anybody lived between Indianapolis and Bloomington. On the way out of Indianapolis we passed some place with a huge sign of a man standing and waving called "Gay Dan's" and I thought, "That's an archaic word. I only saw that word once in an old text book I had to read in class in first grade 1956." (In the 80s the chain was in Time or Newsweek due to its name change) Nothing like the East Coast megalopolis. The first thing I noticed when the driver announced that we were getting into Bloomington was the Big Wheel Restaurant sign. I then saw the railroad trestle and I wondered what could possibly be east or west of Bloomington for a train to go to?! However, the first thing i actually recognized was the A&W Restaurant at the corner of College and Tenth. In 1966 they had sprung up along the East coast and were the most popular restaurant. I knew their menu so I knew they would be one place where Id feel comfortable. I then noticed the Waffle House as we turned. I had no idea it was new, I figured it for some venerable Indiana institution. Then the bus pulled into the smallest Greyhound station in the world. We got out and I got into a cab. I was shocked when other people got in as well. On the East Coast there was no such thing as 'sharing a cab' with strangers. Your cab was yours alone. Cab was so crowded that I put my softcover books on the shelf behind me by the rear window. Then we went down 10th street. Someone got off partway down and a girl got off on the other side of Wright and then he whipped around and dropped me off in the Wright semi-circle. It was lucky that Parks House is the one right on the other side of the breezeway so I didnt have to check the whole place for it. I went down the hall, found my name on a door, and dropped my stuff on the bed. No one else seems to be on the hall yet so I go for a walk. I go from Wright as far as the back of the theatre and theres no people or cars around and Im thinking, so this is a REAL university. Much bigger campus than the ones squeezed into lower Manhattan that Id seen. They had no room to grow sideways and became vertical. Then I figured Id better find my missing books. So I go back and call a cab. I ask him where the cab companies are and he says 'downtown'. So I say,"Take me whereever downtown is". On the way back on tenth I ask him where the girls are and he says,"Youre in it". He then turns down college ave and I tell him to let me off at the red light across from The Indiana Motor inn at the square. I then go down to the three cab companies there behind the hotel and they have no idea what Im talking about. Im using the term 'pocket sized books' and they seemed to have never heard it before. I say, "Well, they say 'pocketbooks' on the side" and one guy says, "You lost your pocketbook???" And I go "No, no,no. The small softcovered books that are considered pocket- sized even though they really arent". So I leave wondering if its just the cab yahoos or if noone in Indiana knew of any book other than hardcovers. I never did get those books back. Then I went into the 5&10s around the corner for the first time as they were no different than home. Although I never heard of a 'Jupiter' before. I couldnt believe how all the 5&10s were on the west side of the square, the 'department stores' all on the north and the shoestores on the south. I especially couldnt believe how tiny stores like that could call themselves 'department stores'. My mother was then an executive at Macy's- New York, the worlds largest store then. I didnt go to the south side and had no idea about Kirkwood Avenue. I dont recall how I got back to Wright from there. I dont recall if I went and got a cab or if i walked north to tenth and over. I think I took a cab. I dont know if I met my roomie then or if it was the next day. I think it was the next day. But I remember suggesting we all go get sodas at the Wright snackbar I discovered. Sodas? To Easterners that meant a carbonated beverage like a cola or rootbeer. To Hoosiers it meant someting like an ice cream soda! Weird! So what do you call carbonated beverages, I asked. "Cokes", Im told. Cokes? You mean that includes Coke and Pepsi and rootbeer and 7up? Yes, Im told. These people have screws loose, Im thinking. I dont recall things in sequence after that but I recall incidents that took place before classes started. I mentioned the town and someone told me about Kirkwood Avenue. That was a shock. I figured that for a town like Bloomington what I saw in the square and on college and walnut between the square and 10th street was plenty. Then they told me about the Eastland Shopping center. I had been to one shopping center before when I was outside NYC but my image of them was that they were always far away from these small towns. The idea that I could actually WALK to a shopping Center was surprising. So two guys, who I think were brothers from the next house in Wright, took me from Wright, behind Read and out to Eastland where I bought a BLT at a 5&10 (I was eating at 5&10s as they were national franchises so I knew what they had.). I still recall that BLT. Then we came back from Eastland and someone asks me, "Did you got to the mall?" and Im thinking,whats a mall? Is it something different out here than in NYC? In NYC the only 'malls' are large flat concrete areas at places that only tourists (ugh) go to. Like at the UN Bldg or Rockefeller Plaza. But I didnt see the Mall from the shopping Center as it was farther back. So back I go. This time by myself. I think it was the next day. (And back then Third Street in front of St Charles had one fewer lane and when one walked on the sidewalk one was a few feet below street level and could see the cars overhead. Nothing like that existed in NYC. The cars during rush hours would land on the pedestrians walking below) I walk to the end of Eastland and I still dont see anything as Im approaching. Just a big muddy field beyond. But when I get to the end I see it.(Fall 67 song; & I can see for miles and miles and miles &) Eastland wasnt as long in those days. And at the end there was a big cheap clothing store and a big field all the way to the street. No Osco or Eisners or whatever is there now. No paved parking lot. Just a thin dirt path. (I walked that dirtpath looking down to watch for mud so many times its burned in my brain like it was yesterday) Eastland wanted nothing to do with the new usurper mall. I enter the 'mall' and Im quite impressed. This is just something of science fiction out east. I read articles about doing such things but they were worried about the expense of 'enclosing an entire town center' and about the roof caving in. This was something in the future in NYC. So here are these Indianan Bumpkins ahead of us worldly New Yorkers. Embarrassing. In those days it was less than half the size it is now. It didnt yet have the theatres or the MCL cafeteria. Way in the back was the Hall of Cards which was mostly catering to the Peanuts frenzy then at its height and the big 5&10 next to it.(Where I got my Fizzies as we werent allowed to have refrigerated sodas (excuse me, 'cokes') in our rooms. The next major thing I recall was having to go to freshman orientation at Swain East. I had absolutely no idea where it was. But all future Physics, Astro, and Math freshman had to go. According to my 1967 Redbook I had to be there at the "New Student Meeting-Junior Division Sept. 10, Sunday, 730pm. So I set out from Wright with no idea where I was going. There were NO signs in front of the buildings in those days to tell one which was which. And Im walking all over the campus for the first time. At 730 pm in September, Central Time, I guess it was twilight. Id have to look it up on my other page. I just remember walking up and down trying to find it in the dusk and not willing to ask anyone for some reason. Actually, in NYC I never approached strangers. But FINALLY I found it. I went into the ancient building and down the stairs where we were all crammed into a small classroom to the left when going down. By the time it was done it was very dark outside. I recall using the mens room and wondering about the strange see-through insects. NYC is held up on the backs of ten trillion roaches but I never saw a silverfish before.(Maybe the two are incompatible) I then left and I was standing outside in the dark with absolutely no idea where I was! I went to the right a ways and couldnt see anything I knew. So I turned around and walked the other way. It was pitch black and I was cold and I had no idea if I was walking the right way or if I was getting farther lost. I was 17 and in a strange state where I knew noone a zillion miles from home. I kept walking in the dark and lo and behold, there was a lighted phonebooth in the distance. (Funny how long that walk seemed then). So I go up to it (It was the one in front of Brummetts Pharmacy which was closed on Sunday night) and I call my parents collect. I didnt tell them my problem but it was good to hear recognizable voices. So I talk a while until Im feeling better (and it was warmer in the booth). I then continue walking in the dark until I reach a big street. Now what? Do I keep going up a street I never saw before or do I turn right and go farther south or do I turn left? There were no signs with arrows saying where the various buildings were. So, luckily, I turn left. I keep going while still recognizing nothing. The fact that the street curves made it worse as I couldnt see down the street. And Im thinking that Im even worse off. But I finally get to the Jordan St intersection where I recognize Wright Quad. (There was no huge library in those days, especially not one all lit up). Then I enter Parks first floor acting like the whole thing was just a piece of cake. 1-6-99 Looking back, I can see two huge mistakes in my Freshman experience that the school itself had a hand in: 1) They put too many freshmen on my floor. The first floor of Parks/Wright is truncated due to the lounge at one end and the breezeway entrance at the other. So there were, according to the 1967 Redbook, 24 of us sealed into the short hallway. And almost all of us were freshman cut off from other influences. We hadnt a clue about anything. The only thing all these freshmen did was party and raise hell 24 hours a day. If we had made up , say, 25% of the floor with upperclassmen making up the rest this would never have happened. But as we know-nothings dominated the hall we were the major influence. The result was that the floor pulled a 1.6 gpa (and it was only that high because the few upperclassmen did so well) and everybody either flunked out or was on academic probation. My second semester the floor was like a ghost town as so many freshmen flunked out or quit as their grades seemed to low to ever get up again.(There was another mistake. We were under the impression that, to get into grad schools we HAD to have at least a 3.0 average over the entire four years. Naturally, if youre starting with 1.0+ it's almost impossible to get it up to 3.0 in time. I was later shocked when I got my grad school forms that all they seemed to care about were 1) our GPA in our MAJORS and 2) our GPA in our JUNIOR and First Semester SENIOR years. HAD A COUNSELOR TOLD US THAT we would not have been so disillusioned about our future possibilities AND those guys would not have quit and joined the military during the Vietnam War) Some wound up in the Service, including Vietnam. The second thing was that the counselors didnt really counsel. I had no idea what a freshman schedule should look like so I went by my honors high school one and proceeded to fill in every time period on monday, wednesday, and friday with all the 'labs' and 'discussions' on tuesdays and thursdays. My counselor didnt stop me from doing it! I had a severe overload and didnt know it. Especially since I was also taking some sophomore courses as a freshman. I still recall meeting my counselor. It was in the building that houses the Kinsey Institute. I walked in (there was an alcove with booths on each side of the entrance, one is gone now) and looked around the foyer. Then I noticed the room number was directly on the left when one came in. So I go in (According to my 67 Redbook it was on Sept 11, 12 1967; m,t) and he did make a comment on the number of courses and I said, well thats what my high school schedule looked like, and he said okay and signed it. He should have said, this is college, not high school, youll be assigned much more work here to do in your dorm- especially in Astronomy/Astrophysics and taking these sophomore courses competing with people who have had a year of college experience...... More strange things about Indiana: You couldnt buy pizza by the slice in Bloomington. Only a whole pizza at once! (Actually, here in York, Pa where I am now they didnt even have pizza delivery until about 1985!). In NYC I used to walk down the street and buy it, and 'knishes', out of store windows without even having to go inside. But I was elated that Dog and Suds delivered HAMBURGERS! I knew of no place in NYC that delivered burgers. So I ordered a bag and the young guy came to the door and I took the bag and gave him a tip and he says, "What's this?" and I said that's a tip. He had never heard of them!!! (As an usher for the NY Mets in 1966 most of my income was tips. Especially when the Beatles showed up that summer at Shea). (This same thing also happened to me in York,Pa the first time I bought gasoline for my first car. The kid who pumped my gas in the rain also said, "Whats this?" when I gave him a tip.) (NOTE: This was BEFORE the huge fast food explosion that wiped out the 5&10 snack bars where most people ate. There was an article in the papers that year, which I clipped out, which said that both hamburgers and movies (and animated cartoons) were dying and being replaced by pizza and television. This right before the fast food burger assault in the early 1970s) And none in Bloomington ever heard of BAGELS!!! or Jello Cups or Charlotte Russes or Knickerbocker chocolate covered raspberry jelly candies or halvah candy or chocolate cream sodas or egg cremes.(Fall67 song: & "Apples,Peaches,Pumpkin Pie. You were young and so was I") I once had to argue with the lady at the ice cream parlor at the Indiana Theatre when she refused to make my chocolate malted with chocolate ice cream! (Fall67 song: & "Never my love") And guys wore these horrible wing-tip shoes that werent seen in NYC since Truman was president. (They were the proverbial things that barefoot farmer boys in cartoons would wear when they went to the 'big city' for the first time). That semester they had just replaced the Bottle soda machines with Paper cup ones. That was a real throwback to me. Out east the health departments had just gotten rid of the cup machines in most places because the sticky soda winds up all over where the cup comes down and draws insects. But here was IU going backwards to them. Putting all that junk on pizza was also weird. In NYC a 'real man' took it plain. Stuff on pizza was for girls! (In 1968 at Briscoe I became addicted to Freds Pizza with sausage and mushrooms and had them delivered to my room at lunch while everyone else was downstairs. Indiana corrupted my palate. FREDS PIZZA remains the only place Ive ever seen which put the sausage finger-thick across the WHOLE pizza. Probably bankrupted them.). And of course there was my big sack/bag incident. I was at Sears (Sears Roebuck in those days) next to the snack bar where the little candy counter used to be (theres a photo place now where the snack bar was) and some girl asked me if I wanted a 'sack' for what I bought. I had enough. "It is not a sack, it is a bag! Bags are made of PAPER and sacks are made of COARSER MATERIALS. What is it with you Indianains that you call paper bags 'sacks' and Hippies who carry green sacks 'greenBAGgers'??" She got all blushy and all the "Indianans' were laughing.(Fall67 song:& "Hey, My brown-eyed girl")(I think the jukebox across the hall in front of the Wright snackbar played B.E.Girl a milion times a day) (Note: Here in York,Pa they refer to pebbles as 'stones' )(In NYC it's: pebbles, rocks, stones, boulders in increasing size). We also had a Hippie guy on my floor (who said he wasnt a Hippie, they never liked that term) who used to go out at night from Wright to the late night supermarket on E.10th st at Crosstown (now razed and replaced by a convenience store). He'd go in bathrobe and pajamas and slipper or stocking feet! It was 1967, man. So I did it one night with him in my stocking feet. And I saw others doing it! It seemed to be the cool thing to do for a while there. Luckily it was warm then. LATER THAT FALL THERE WERE RECORD LOW TEMPS (I thought Indiana had weird temp extremes). Another habit that semester was to go to the Commons snack bar and get the hot tea in the teapot and ceramic cup. And nothing was said as we'd walk outside with these things and walk all around campus at night pouring tea into our ceramic cups as we talked and then returning the teapot and cup. (I especially recall one constant slow-drizzle night in late Nov. 67 when we were doing that and ran into two girls I knew in front of the Music Bldg). Things were more civilized then. I was under the impression when I arrived that I was supposed to pay for the whole year, both classes and housing, at once. So I rode out on the train with a huge wad of money (including triple high out of state fees) in my pocket. I never knew anyone who went to college and had no idea of 'travellers checks'. So I had this wad all the way out on the train which I only showed when I had breakfast in the dining car while the sun rose over Ohio). I went from bank to bank (I did not know what a 'savings and loan' was then so I thought they were the same thing) and I could not locate one bank like the ones we had in NYC. In NYC you open an account at a bank with one dollar and you can take money out as many times as you wish. The savings and loans were the same way as I had an account at the Long Island City Savings and Loan. But I could not find ONE bank in Bloomington where they would let me take out my money whenever I wanted. All they had were things where you could only take it out a couple of times or you had to get a checking account. I never had a checking account and I did not trust them or myself with one. So I finally gave up and I put all my money for two semesters in a metal index card box on the shelf in my closet. No lock on it either. I went to class daily often leaving my door unlocked and sometimes with the door wide open and, although everyone knew of my money, noone touched it. Even when I got 'boressed' and they removed furniture from my room they never touched the money. A few years later, before graduating, I visited Parks-first floor and saw that things in the hall were smashed, the walls had paint thrown all over them, and everyone locked their door at all times.(FALL67 Song: & "How can I be sure, in a world thats Constantly changing? Im sure with you.) I think the wildness of the 60s grew too much at the same time the coming of college loans brought in too many vandals. I remember my first walk to the first football game of the season from Wright to the stadium. It was across fields from jordan/tenth diagonally to the stadium. It cant be done now. I tried. The new stadium blocks the old walk that everyone from Wright, Teter, Forest, Willkie, and old GRC took during the Rose Bowl year. I had no idea that IU had been terrible in football. I bought my tickets one at a time from a guy who lived in the room next to me who had no interest and got them from his mother. I paid him 50 cents each. I went to the first game and was surprised at what a big deal everyone else made of them winning. I found it far more fun than going to see the Giants or Titans/Jets in NYC (My father was an usher). I liked those teams very much but a team that represented the school you LIVED at was more personal so I was a big fan from the start. (I still have the cards for a board game where one can replay the 1967 IU football games).(Fall67 song:& "Keep the ball rolling, keep the ball rolling")( The little red ball and the song became the symbol of that FB semester)( The head of the IU Alumni Assoc in 91,92 was fascinated by those little cards I showed him) I was surprised though that there were no vendors hawking food in the stadium. I also worked on the Wright/Forest lawn display float in front of Forest. It was based on the newly popular comic strip, Wizard of Id, with the castle and characters. (That was then THE strip for college people as Peanuts went national). I recall having a date that night, making a date with a girl I was working with, and then walking into Forest to make a date via phone. Hey, I was 800+ miles from home where nobody knew me and much of my competition was sent to Vietnam or Germany. I recall it rained all that week and the floats were all a mess._____ _____ _____1-5-99 tuesday 241pm TO BE CONTINUED 1-6-99 wednesday 243pm. Now friday 1-8-99 1208pm: more thoughts: 1967 was the year BEFORE the Frisbees appeared. The SUPERBALL was big then. When I'd enter Parks-1st though the fire door I'd have to dodge superballs bouncing off the walls. And walk thru a cloud of 'pot' smoke. (Fall67 song:& "Incense and Peppermints") They be playing music in unisom at the ends of the hall. Beatles (Sergeant Pepper was new), Doors (also new), Hollies (since 66). Registration was done in the old fieldhouse which had a dirt floor. You'd stand outside and wait for the first 3 letters of your last name to be called. You'd have an index card. Then you'd go from desk to desk as they took cards and gave you others of various colors. Then, finally, you'd be out in the large main dirt floor area with desks all around the edges for each dept. Then you'd try to get the courses on your schedule by standing on lines, handing them cards and getting other cards in return. I quickly realized that one way to meet girls was to find a line where one was last on it and get behind her and start talking. If she was already talking to someone I'd look over her shoulder and memorize her info off her card and phone her later.(Fall67 song: & "Woman, woman") (These guys with their computer sign-ups now can't do that) (NOTE: One friend of mind would call the girl, tell her he was The Great Pumpkin of the then-new Peanuts cartoon, and if she wanted to meet him she'd have to be on the corner of 3rd and Jordan at 7am(!) with hot chocolate for him. They actually showed up!). I went to the First Fling Dance (I dont know if it survived the Hippie era, I know the tradition of ROTC cadets with rifles guarding the body of Juan Purdue didn't. And I think the Miss IU beauty contest was also stopped after 1967).(Fall67 song:& "A girl like you") There was a dance listed for woodlawn field but I never did find woodlawn field for some reason.(Fall67 song:& "I DIG rock n roll music") I was warned of the 'horrible STONIES' who liked to beat up college kids for 'no reason'.(Fall67 song:& "I say a little prayer for me. Forever. Forever") Because of that I never went west of the stores of the square nor south of them either until 1971. They also had a bar right across from the movie houses on n.walnut where some of them would yell at college kids and their dates waiting for movies. I pretty much kept away from the north of the square just in case. In NYC you dont challenge some other gangs turf. I never walked from the square straight up to the A&P on college. If I wanted to go to the A&P from town or to the A&W Id walk only on the East side of Walnut. I never heard of anyone else on my floor WALKING down college or walnut or west of town. HOWEVER, I do recall that before I had been told all these Stonie stories I had walked, a couple days after my arrival, west from Wright. Because, by definition, it would be the farthest west I had ever been. So I kept going until I ran out of sidewalk and finally saw this road into the distance with a couple of broken down shanty trailers along it and I stopped. Each time I returned in the 90s I tried to find that road but nothing looked like I remembered it. Anyway, I think it was 1971 before I walked far west again and south for the first time down walnut. The 'stonies' kept getting pushed back by the college people. Especially after the rule against cars was dropped. I couldnt even find a real working class neighborhood in the 90s. My first college class was at Woodburn Hall on the third floor. It was Philosophy and we had to carry Plato's Republic just like in the movies and the comics where they always carried that book. The room was also what I thought a college classroom would look like. It didnt go far back but it was very wide and each row of desks was on a higher level. (I returned in the 90s to find that it no longer exists. Its now didvided into offices). I had a BORING "HUMAN GEOGRAPHY" sophomore level course in which the prof just droned on quietly and no one could hear him. I wondered how he could get away with that. He just looked down and read his notes quietly to a huge lecture hall with no emphasis. We learned nothing from him. The upperclassman sitting next to me brought me over to Willkie with him where he had a roomful of people trying to dodge the draft after graduation. I still have his name and room number on a freshman periodical. Like Dan Quayle they especially were filling out National Guard forms. After that he showed me The Hideaway which was the big anti-war restaurant. It was where the big parking garage is now. Just a half block south of 3rd street from, I guess Swain East or ther bldgs east of Swain East. It had very high back booths and someone singing with a guitar up front. That was the only time I was in it so I dont remember it well. Each time I walked to class from Wright to classes Id pass the IU Theatre which was always showing a play with some weird Greek name on banners. I thought it was something probably really strange and probably risque. College was risque enough with Crosstown Pharmacy selling magazines like Ramparts and Evergreen which were considered 'commie' mags by the NYC working class Catholics I knew. Naturally, 800 miles from family, I bought the forbidden magazines. (Theyre right next to my bed now ) We were also able to take Fencing and Archery my freshman year which was also what I thought college would be (Like 'The Student Prince").


(The above section ran out of space and would not take anymore);; And I really got into those, buying my own equipment. Fencing was taught downstairs under the Old Fieldhouse (which was the only FH then) where there was a long room that bent around and an ANCIENT classroom for tests. Its all modern now and houses weight training equipment. .My German teacher in Ballantine (I recall the 1st time I entered with all those people hanging around the courtyard) whose name is now lost to antiquity as the info I looked up at IU in the 90s did not list individual TAs for discussion groups) was always making us say things in German that knocked Bloomington. He also seemed to think that as I was from NYC that I especially wouldnt like it. But I did like it. I didnt want to make waves with him, though._____ I still remember the very first time I ate at IU. One of the few upperclassmen led us out of Parks and across the yard, through the building and up the stairs and around to the right. I think there were phone booths in the wall up there. The line was only about a few people long outside the door plus the six or so of us (For suppers it often went all the way around and partway down the stairs). I mimicked others by showing my lunchcard. Naturally to be cool someone mad nasty comments on the food and "to be sure to eat lots of bread". The only young people working were one person counting and checking and one writing something down. Behind the counters then were all ADULT women (Now its all kids) and plenty of them (The USA was ACTUALLY affluent then). So I pushed my tray along and just grabbed what was closest. I was self-conscious and didnt want to slow up the line or do or say something stupid. I even took a few bread slices out of the bread machine after seeing someone else operate it. (Theyre gone now. Just loaves) But the meal was very good so I had no idea what the smart remarks were about. I think I have the date on my IDS page. On Sundays we had to dress up. If we were warned of this, I dont recall. But I had to borrow a tie until I got one of my own. Still, looking back, I now like that we did. For Sunday meals many guys went out and ate with their parents who showed up. I always used to walk over to the Wright Snack Bar. And Id get the same burgers and coffee or soda each time. There was not yet a Burger King. When I returned in 1991 I found the snackbar CLOSED for renovations. I missed it by a few months after all those years. Like the walk between Eastland and the Mall that Sunday trip was also something I did so often its still like yesterday. Hoosiers also commented on how I always drank coffee while leaving the spoon in the cup. Well, everyone I knew in NYC did that. You wouldnt want to put it down on a semi-dirty public table and then use it again. We always drank with the spoon handle against our right thumb. To this day when I try to drink it the Hoosier way my thumb feels lost with nothing to do. Also in INDIANA when Id say I wanted "coffee-regular" I'd get it BLACK! In NYC "coffee- regular' meant 'with cream and sugar' and in NYC 'coffee' light' meant with sugar and EXTRA cream. I had no idea it was just regional. (NOTE: Many members of this new generation do not know what Im saying when I refer to One Dollar Bills as 'singles', to them singles mean unmarried people).. There were no city buses in those days in Bloomington. And I dont think you could ride the IU bus unless you bought a season ticket. I dont recall riding it for a rare trip until 1971. I also recall how, in late 1967, my origianl graduation date of 1971 seemed a century away. Four years now is laughable. Back then it was one-fourth of my whole life! Now its only 4/49. Or less than 1/12th. There was a ritual of shining shoes in those days each night before bed as everyone except Hippies wore leather shoes.(They wore sneakers, usually low tops). You could spray them or 'paint' them. But the 'cool' think to do was the old way out of a can with a colored rag and using a brush. I still have a can I used in 67. Injector razors were in. Our beds were simple low rack beds. When I returned to my old 1967 rom, Parks 112, in 1991 I wanted a photo of my old room but now they all have these four-poster beds that clog up the room and you cant see anything across it. They make them seem much smaller. In Indiana they also ate all these mushrooms and rhubarb and onion rings. And they put mayonnaise on EVERYTHING, for God's sake. They even put out square metal mayo containers when they put out steak and potatoes for chrissake. There was nothing normal to put the mayo on! Mayo went on tomato and lettuce PERIOD in my world. NOTHING else. (Must be the crazy French influence from when they ruled Indiana before the French and Indian War. No wonder they lost). I avoided town restaurants for the longest time because God only knew WHAT these crazy 'Indianains" would put on/in my food. As they have different ideas about bags, sacks, coffee-light, coffee-regular, chocolate malts, mayo use, 'sodas', rhubarb, onion rings, then who the hell knew WHAT mysteriuos things they were doing to the food during preparation. So I , for a while, did a lot of eating at national franchises like the 5&10s and A&W. And I shopped at the A&P until late 1968 as I knew their A&P (Ann Page) stuff from when my mother worked there for years. I didnt recognize the names of the other supermarkets. (When you have to deal with people who call bags sacks and sacks bags and a coffee-light is handed to you black and make chocolate malts with vanilla and say coke is not a soda but a 7up is a 'coke' you know you're dealing with the Bizarro World where up is down and down is up and you might find mayo, mushrooms and rhubarb in your strawberry jam. I ate a LOT of BLTs at the Eastland Woolworths. But I still carefully opened each one (Bread? check!, Bacon? check!, Lettuce? check!, Tomato? check!, NOTHING ELSE??? No, thank God! {As Hoosiers had this seething need to put mayo on everything I figured i might as well order the one and only sandwich one is SUPPOSED to put mayo on!). I also saw my first chipmunks in Bloomington. I thought the first one was a squirrel who lost his tail to a cat. Then I saw more of them on my window sill. A 6'2" Brooklynite who grew up next to the East River docks saying, "What the HELL is that thing?".. Kirkwood Avenue had stop signs in oil drums at its intersections. Had they done that in NYC everybody would be turning them sideways for 'fun'. I put a poster on the long wooden strip that ran across the top of the dormroom wall and I got a notice in my mailbox that I had only one word on it "thumptacks" (sic). I was then told to use a metal hanger or some clay-like stuff to hang posters. I think mine was of Al Kaline. (Yes, Kaline had his fans in NYC. Mantle was god but we picked other players to root for too)...... to be continued, now friday 1-8-99, 130pm_____wed 1-13-99 1217pm. In those days we Freshmen HAD to take either a 730am class or an extra 830am THAT MET ON SATURDAY MORNINGS and another day. Well, I was already overloaded on mwf (most science majors had most classes those days) so I took an English Comp course on Thurs and Sat at 830am. What a mistake! First, he loaded us down with more hard cover books than any other three BIG courses behind. Cost me a fortune. And I still remember trying to carry that stack to the check-out at Curry's Books on 3rd St. Well, I virtually never went to that course. I figured I had no interest in learning to write anything. After all, I had to take all these terrible math courses while the non-science majors dont so why should I have to do their stuff? I slept through most of the classes and got info about what was due from other students. I put the work in the prof's box. Interestingly, he kept giving me good grades on what I handed in. But he'd put on comments about my "extreme contempt for this class". Then I got a notice to report to the dean's office downstairs at the "gargoyle building" (our term for it). I went there and the dean ( he was probably an assistant as he was at a desk in the center of the big room) politely chewed me out and said,"I think you had better go to the remaining courses". That was easy as there were only two left. I do recall one extremely rainy Saturday morning at 730am when my roommate (Who became Freshman Class president) who naturally also had a class then and I had actually planned to get each other up that time said, "Hey, roomie. Are you going to go out in this?", "Hell, no" I said. So we slept until noon again. ...There was no big new library then. Just a big pebble field we'd cross to our mandatory 'hper' classes and a small house in from the corner that was virtually invisible. One day some guys from Parks House ran over there with a sign that said, "Future Home Of Parks House Library". Eigenmann didnt yet exist either which meant that when you walked to the Crossgate Shop Center you were going to the edge of civilization. ..I was surprised that these Hoosiers had so many M-80 explosives (We called them 'ashcans in NYC. I had never heard M-80 before). Then one guy showed me the box they came in out there which said, "For agricultural use only". he told me they were used by farmers to blow up groundhogs. (No groundhogs in NYC but I remember the first time I saw one in Pennsylvania and my mother got scared). At Parks House they'd actually set these things off in a dormroom when someone was asleep or drop them down the toilets! I never saw that before!.. The toilets and showers at Wright also had no doors on them. I was told is was because of (homosexuals)(but that word wasnt used). That made it tough for an only child like me who was used to privacy. Tough enough having my first "roommate". ...That was a BIG sports year for males and as TVs were much more expensive then we'd watch the important games in the first floor lounge of the 'house' on the other side of the Breezeway. It was up above on a shelf in the corner next to the washing'/ironing room both houses used. The ping pong table that was there in 1967 WAS STILL THERE in 1995! Besides the fantastic Indiana football season we watched together the final games of the greatest MLB pennant race of all time between Boston, Chicago, Minnesota, Detroit in late September, early October 1967. A whole bunch of people yelling together sure makes a tv show more exciting. And there was the World Series the next week. I taped the games with a huge tape recorder I lugged from NYC. Big slow moving reels. Now there are ads in the mags asking if anyone has such tapes to sell. (Note: The term MLB wasnt even yet used then.) And in NFL football we gathered to watch Baltimore have an undefeated season until its last game, lose that one, and NOT be able to go to the playoffs which started the idea of 'playoff games' the next year. And that was Vince Lombardi's Packers last great year. ... WRIGHT was then called "Animal Farm", FOREST was known for the prettiest girls. BRISCOE was the newest and most pretigious dorm. (The catalogue I received in Summer 1967 referred to it as "Fee Lane II" as it hadnt yet a name at time of printing. SAE was the most prestegious frat. Sigma Nu had a rep as the most snobby. And people picked on TKE and Sigma Pi. A LOT of ping pong was played. As well as Euchre ( a game I never heard of),and Hearts (a game I thought only old ladies played). I was teaching people how to shoot craps. And Hoosiers werent very good poker players. Not compared to NYC where we start as little kids as all our parents played it weekly with relatives (penny ante). Wright had an aborted panty raid on Teter. I was told they had one in the 66-67 year and now all these guys were running past my Parks 112 window to that dorm yelling about it and someone came to my room to tell me. So I went over there, it was night, and saw this big crowd of guys standing under Teters windows and a lot of whooping and hollering by both boys and girls and a few things thrown out the windows. But matrons came ouside with cameras ordering the girls to close their windows and turn out their lights and anyone whose lighted window showed up in a photo was in trouble. So that ended that. ...The first month I was there I got a notice from somewhere telling me to go across the courtyard and thru the other breezeway as there was something for me. I got there and there was a truck backed up with boxes and a bunch of other guys there. Turned out that we were getting fruit boxes from home. The college contacted the students parents and, for a nominal fee, offered to do this. It was a nice unexpected surprise. Well, young males were in charge of it and soon the slow idea of taking the slips and filling out the forms ended and they just jumped into the truck and started throwing the boxes out to everyone which was a heck of a lot more fun with a bunch of comeradery. But everybody got their fruit box and went back to eat. I told my parents that the unexpected gift was nice but the kidding around while getting them was more fun. ....Then there were women's hours. I think they had to be in by midnight sun-thurs and 1am fri-sat. But that sure regimated dating. You went to eat out 6-7, the movies in town were about 7-9, the dances would last until 11. Outside the womens dorms a flood of couples would be standing outside making out until the last second. then all these girls would run inside. And in the womens dorms the first floor lounges would have dozens of couches wall to wall for making out. It was a record cold Autimn so anyone who wanted privacy for such things would have to find open classroom bldgs or go to the parks (such as the one in the south with all the hills and rills) or to Swain Woods (where a horse almost stepped on my head one night. Never saw another one in there since). The Parks House Scribe (that I havent finished copying yet) exposed my activities in the little kiddie park that then existed behind St Charles Catholic Church (There's now a below-ground driveway there). Of course we snuck women into our rooms but it was a major infraction back then. It was great there were no cars allowed for freshmen or sophs as non-car guys could compete. Taxis would line up outside the womens dorms. And at the downtown theatres( none in the College Mall yet) the lines of couples would be huge and after the movie ended theyd make sure evryone left before bringing in the next line. We also had to leave by the back. Hundreds of people down the fire escapes into the back alleys . (Both N.Walnut theatres are gone now. I was told that one collapsed completely and the other collapses in the back but the front was LESLIES RESTAURANT that I ate in when I went back there. Interestingly I had forgotten the double level makeup of the theatre. When one enters one either goes UP or Down. Not straight ahead.)... My 18th Birthday was October 30,1967. A bit of a sad day for me. In NYC the biggest day of your life was your 18th birthday. That was when you could legally drink and get a driver's license and other things. It was full adulthood day in NYC. But outside of NYC drinking legally was at 21 and driving at 16 (its obvious why they dont want more people driving in NYC). So, of all times for me to leave NYC it has to be just the month before my 18th birthday!!!!! Well, it fell on a monday too. So that meant no IDS came out to tell me what was going on that day. I was also under the false impression that one had to sign up for the draft ON one's birthday. I didnt know you had a while before and after. It's not even in the City Directory but in Oct 1967 the draft board was on 7th st right across from the side of the Burger Chef and upstairs one of those side doors. (There's now a Pawn Shop below(1995)). So I go up there and I see a room full of WOMEN talking and kidding around and doing their nails and Im a bit ticked-off because here I am signing up during a war. There's one man in charge of all these females and he's in an office in the back. He asked me a bunch of questions including if I had any scars (I had a couple of small ones but I didnt want it down anywhere that I was 'scarred' so I said no. Then I left. He handed my info to one of the woman typists. That night I had a big date and no real dress clothes so I borrowed stuff from various people on the floor. I also borrowed a mini-umbrella, the first Id ever seen. A photo was taken of me which is still here somewhere. Then I went to Read to pick up my date and took the cab to the Indiana Motor in at 6th/College. It pulled into the back of the bldg which was a mini-parking lot back then. Now its a concrete park. The fancy restaurant, I believe was The Lamplighter (I think The Fireside was upstairs yet I think I recall a fireplace downstairs. There was a hall with, for some reason, a big bump in it that I promptly tripped on while trying to be a cool 18 year old.(Bump still there in 1995). It was at the rear left of the hall. As it was Monday there was only one other couple there. I asked the very nice and polite maitre d' what the best thing on the menu was and he said 'The New York Steak'. I said "That's fitting" . The girl ordered Vichyssoise and I had no idea what it was so I got it too. I still cant understand why cold potato soup was so expensive. For the life of me, for some embarrassing reason, I absolutely couldnt pronounce it. Have no idea why. Perhaps my mouth had never formed that sound before. Now i have no problem but I had to let her order that. At the end of the meal the right-thinking maitre d' asked if we wanted something to drink,"coffee or tea, perhaps?' Thus politely informing us of the law (but also reminding me that in NYC I could have alcohol). But he did it in a nice way so I left him a big tip. The NY steak cost $5.00. That's about $35 using the REAL inflation rate. Then we went upstairs and left out the front door. It was dark and had rained why while we were in there. (Guess that's why I borrowed the umbrella). I think we might have walked down a couple of blocks and then turned right. Anyway, for some reason we turned right crossed Kirkwood and kept going southwards. I dont recall if we thought that was the way to the campus or not. But after a while we got nervous when we reached a small hill and saw nothing in the distance. At that point what was University Street started and we knew that that was the direction of campus. Talk about picking the wrong street. In those days it was not yet a student street. It was a family street (I also looked it up in the City Directory). It was totally quiet and pitch dark. The houses were all way back from the small sidewalk, up above ground level, and behind high hedges so the window light didnt reach the sidewalk well. (Since conversion to student housing the hedges have been destroyed and much of the beauty gone). So we walked and walked and walked. We had no idea what happened to the campus! (I knew NYC like the back of my hand but not this small town). Finally, when we were WAY down and worried about getting back in time for women's hours, we saw a light in the distance on the left. We had gone as far as the edge of the Education bldg where Brummetts was on the corner. (Theres that Pharmacy again when I got lost)..........The next day Dean Rusk was due (Halloween!). But I didnt bother to notice it ahead of time. (A couple of days before there was a demonstration against Dow Chemical and the ringleaders were to be held until after Rusk left). I was walking past the side of the IU Theatre and I noticed brown buses in front of me. Then I see people up in the trees for some reason. Then I see the girl I was out with the night before in front of me with some other people. Then the doors open and people come out the side and here comes dean Rusk looking just like in the newspapers. but he must have jumped the gun because he was coming out before all these guys who jumped out of those buses (I wonder why they stayed inside them?) in full riot gear were in place. So here I am standing a couple of feet away from Dean Rusk while he's just standing there waiting for, I guessed, his car as he probably left early. Good thing I wasnt an assassin. Then behind me I hear all this commotion and I see nothing because the street bends. Then I see all these GRAD STUDENTS (all old guys to me, 22-28 yrs old) carrying signs around the corner and marching towards me.(I guess he also jumped the gun on them) (I should note that Rusk stared at me when he first came out like he was wondering if I was there for some reason). Then there was a mob all around with me as one of the guys in the center. But not a dangerous one. Just a lot of people squeezing together and not touching the riot guys. All "Out Now" stuff. (I'd love to see photos of the event to see if I could see myself. Talk about Keystone Cops coming too late to protect someone). A car pulled into the crowd and took Rusk away....more to come. 1-13-99 235pm... My roommate won the election for Freshman Class President and became the first Black guy to ever win a campus-wide election. He ran on the new IMPACT! Party which was formed out of the two Conservative Parties TRYUS and ACTION that were created by the split of the one big one in Early 1967 allowing PRP Party candidate GUY LOFTMAN to win (When I visited him in 1992 he still had a good laugh at that). The IMPACT! people visiting my room to see my roommate later went on to create The AMERICAN SPECTATOR magazine.. I recall that in the 60s the anti-war people of Guy had a paper called THE SPECTATOR and T.A.S. was originally called THE ALTERNATIVE and was done on a mimeograph and given away for free. Then sold for 1c, then 2c. About 1971? THE SPECTATOR folded and the right-wing paper/magazine became THE ALTERNATIVE: An American Specatator. Later it became THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR. Funny how a right-wing paper eventually adopted a left-wing paper's name.,,, In Fall 67 the Acacia House on 3rd across from Swain Hall had a huge slingshot from which they hurled fruit through the air,,,When I returned to Parks 112 in 1991 I noticed the old suitcase racks above the closets were now all sealed. Once when I snuck a girl into my room the guys snuck the shorter guy who lived in the next room up into it to listen but I discovered him immediately. ,,, The Wright windows USED to be LOUVERED. They arent anymore. Once they tried to penny me into my room and pile snow on my window to keep me from climbing out but it didnt work. I got out sideways (really skinny then) and went to the next House where I borrowed a jacket from a friend (who is now a dentist in the Carolinas. I kidded him in 67 about the new Rudolph cartoon and the kid dentist),,,, We had a connection of some kind with SYCAMORE which was a GIRLS' DORM back then (I went INTO it for the first time in 1991, all offices now). They came over to our first floor lounge in 1/68 and most of the guys didnt leave their rooms to go down so they came down and dragged us out (Were we nuts or just spoiled because most guys were drafted and girls were plentiful?). They really outnumbered us. There was a trophy case in that lounge then. In 1991 it was gone. The shelves in the wall were still there but the glass was gone and so were the trophies. They just dont have the comradery ( I prefer the French "camaraderie" better) of the pre-1970 era. I was asked what it was used for. They also asked me what all the locked doors in the halls were for. They no longer have maids and janitors! Anywho, on a freezing cold night I recall us all outside toilet-papering Sycamore and the tree outside (Is the same tree there? It would have to be 32 years older),,,, In Swain East they still had the Cyclotron in the basement and in the hall on the first floor were often empty cans with radioactive symbols on them,,, Many left or flunked out after the first semester so we turned the room next to mine,110, into 'The Parks House Library'. There were two ways to get into the locked room. The wooden panel behind the phone could be removed and there was a big hole and, for some reason, the desk on that side of the room had a big hole behind it through the cinder blocks. One pulled out the big bottom drawer and there it was. They started experimentation with 'visitation' in Early 1968 with Wright Quad of all places. But we had to 'place a book in the doorway'. So naturally we used comic books and slammed it shut.,,, Once I got money from home and had to go to the WESTERN UNION on East Kirkwood to pick it up. There were no 'cash machines' in those days so WU was very impotant. I went there at night and they asked me my dogs middle name (Major KADET) to prove it was me.,, Back then the only place an out of stater like me could cash checks was on the third floor of the IU Bookstore,,, In Early 1968 I recall seeing the following 'forbidden' movies at The Von Lee which was known for such things: 'Poor Cow' (She bared a breast once, wowwie!), 'Valley of the Dolls' (drugs! I fell asleep, either the first or second time I ever did in a movie),,,'Barbarella' ( Jane Fonda naked behind bubbles, a year later she got radical, after LBJ already quit), and some Lesbian movie whise title was two womens names. The leftie types considered it intellectual and the others laughed and hooted and hollered. I remember some older radical type in front of me when the movie ended turning around and giving me a nasty glare as if I was the one(s) doing it.,,,My mother was always afraid that I wasnt getting enough to eat in Indiana, especially on Sunday nights when they didnt serve food. WORKING ON THE TYPOS AND ERRORS >>>>> ..... ..... WED Jan 21, 1999.......Tuesday Jan 20,1999 12:49pm EST, _____ _____ _____ _____ ______ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ The above personal experiences are true, many have already been printed elsewhere, (including the IU Arts and Sciences Alumni Magazine) and all are my intellectual property. I have been writing for various publications, cartoonists, and syndicates since 1981.


_____ _____aa _____ ,_____ _____ THINGS I WAS UNABLE TO FIND ON MY TRIPS BACK TO BLOOMINGTON::::: 1) Back in about 1971 my friend and I walked west from the Square to and through the cemetary west of town. We then turned south. We walked along a street parallel to College but west of it. It was a quiet street with many leaves on the ground. We walked in the street itself as there wasnt any traffic. To our right as we headed southwards the sidewalk was RAISED and on one corner was a store of some kind. It was very old looking and directly facing the corner, facing southeast, not either street.Concrete steps way up to it. Never could locate that street or that store. I even think we saw two stores. saw no mention in the 1967 City Directory I have, Yet it looked old in 1971. Couldnt find in 1991,92,94,95. 2)I have a photo taken of me in front of a big RED metal building. Perhaps a large horizontal storage building. It was taken when my friend and I started at about South Walnut and Second Street (Where the Candy Store/Soda Fountain was) and on our way to the College Mall to the east. But it was in an alley. Couldnt find it but as it looks big but corrugated it might have been torn down. 3) Walking with same guy all three times. This time we passed where the train went over a street and there was a bar nearby. A solid underpass below. I located such a place west of town across from a large store that sold construction stuff but that didnt look quite like it and there was no sign of a bar ever being there. I check my maps (I got from the Bloom Bus Co.) and my 1967 City Directory but I couldnt find them. 3) That weird road west of town that I mentioned that had the shanty trailers on it and went off into the distance. A false memory? (Boxholder pobox 2372, York, Pa 17405 or via the email here) _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ MY BIGGEST COMPLAINT ABOUT BOTH THE I.U. AND BLOOMINGTON WEBSITES:::: LACK OF PHOTOS!!!!! Each time I visited IU and Bloom I took between 600 and 1000 photos. Its CHEAP nowadays. Both IU and Bloom are beautiful. Yet they have no systematic photos on the web. They should take photos and post them . And I mean REGULAR photos that normal people care about, not the artsy-craftsy stuff. For example, start at a dorm on one side of the campus and just take photos as one goes to the other side, all overlapping so nothing is missed. Then do it in another direction. And so on. Same with the city. Walk along Kirkwood and take photos across 2 or 3 times a block on each side. Then with walnut and College ETCETERA with streets with stores on them. Thats what I did but I dont have a scanner. Dont forget that IU has a high turnover rate. People come in, stay for years (which they usually consider the best years of their lives) and then they leave, often to another state to work, and want to see whats happening to the city but are far away. Surely the University and the city can afford to do such things/. Heck, many webpages are FREE!!____ (NEW NOTE ON THIS: Someone was on TV the other night saying that Paris, France has a webpage in which this type of thing was done. He said that if you go to it you can start st some street and then just 'walk' down the street and see everything and then choose which corners to turn. So he followed his own walk through Paris he once took to see what had changed) ____ IM TRYING TO DRUM UP SOME PHOTO SUPPORT____ ____ ____



Forgot to add until 1-18-99, Monday times.

My Snazzy List of Links

The Bloomington I Saw in 1967: Check all the links at the bottom of each page!

My Snazzy List of Links

Check these out: