BRISCOE 1968- _____ 1-17-2000: I believe you couldnt date a check on a Sunday still back then,,,, I dont know if I had to get another photo ID after I returned. That first one was stolen in Jan 1968 and i dont know when I replaced it,,,, PHYSICS LAB: At the very end of Swain Wests first floor. We called it "Springs and Things". I was honest in the beginning while taking my readings but the Grad Students who graded us simply went by how close your readings were to the right answer and NOT if you did it correctly but were stick with ancient broken equipment that didnt work well. It was ridiculous that the ones who got the best equipment by luck of the draw got the best grades. But the grad students themselves told us to use a 'fudge factor' for the equipment as each one had its own error and should be figured out and factored in as that was what was done in real experimentation. So that got us through it. I still recall working those experiments and where I was. Years later the lab became the grad student offices,,, age 18/19,,, , BRISCOE TROPHY CASE: On the back of the first floor Briscoe lounge. The photos and trophies of 1968 were STILL there unmoved in 1995!!!,,,, One time I was in Freds room and some obnoxious guy I had never seen before was in the next room picking on him thru the phonebox. Fred made the mistake of saying , "Say whatever you want about me but dont say anything about my mother". Naturally the guy then attacked his mother non-stop. The guy thought I was some kind of a tough guy from my accent. Silly, but it kept things calm between us. I think that was November 1968,,,, age 18/19,,, I think Tang, pop-tarts and Screaming Yellow Zonkers all appeared on the floor that same semester,,,, White Trash people watched Demolition Derby and Roller Derby on TV along with 'Pro' Wrestling. Now half of America seems to be white-trash,,,, This was the semester I learned to pop the elevator doors both inside and outside. Once I did it after a game. I got into my dorm just as the football crowd got there and I was in a huge crowd waiting to go up. So I pushed 'down' and was the only one to get on. It went down to the basement. On the way up I popped the doors just before reaching the First Floor and quickly grabbed them before they got open more than a few inches. I then held them there so the elevator would go right past the First Floor without stopping. The crowd went crazy but I went up to TEN alone. I dont know when I learned it or from whom,,, age 18/19,, ,, Vietnam was in the media every day reminding us we could get drafted out of college anytime,,, Some profs held classes outdoors in nice weather but never classes in things like Physics, Math or Chemistry,,,, Cold Duck and Boones Farm were the Underage drinking beverages,,,, First popcorn popper I saw was in Vals room where the doubles hall crossed the singles hall but I think it was Rick M.s,,, Posters were everywhere in the 60s as were bumper stickers with messages,,,, Either in Fall68 or Spring 70 someone kept pulling the fire alarm whose bell was at the singles/doubles intersection high up. Someone finally broke it. Never did learn who,,, The floors intermural teams were the Briscoe Bombers, Ken and Val and Bucky were on them. There is a great photo of them playing football in an Arbutus but I dont know if its 68 or 70,,,, The whole Fall was full of the campaign between Nixon and Humphrey and Wallace. Nixon was way ahead,,,, Was it late 68 or early 70 that Val had the tape recorder and we recorded spontaneous humor on it?,,, The sidewalks on the north side of the Courthouse Square were quite hig and one had to walk up to them via steps,,, Guys would get M-80s and drop them down the trash chute from the tenth foor. Sometimes theyd wait until they heard someone rustling about below, including the janitors cleaning them out in the basement,,, In the 'sounding contest with McNutt, Im the one who invented, "Lick the lint off.... ",,,, I noticed that so many guys were taking pills of various types. I didnt attribute it to most of them being from middle class families,,, Fred wore his 'Fredallion' with his double breasted sports coat.,,, Ken had the best Fu Manchu I ever saw,,, In either 1968 or 1970 there was a guy who lived between Rick M and me who sat in his chair in the middle of the room and studied facing outwards towards the door with it opened. he had doilies on the armrests and he had framed pix on the wall he got from the library,,, We had baby food in our closets as it could keep without refrigeration and we werent allowed refrigs,,, "Freeks vs Pigs" is what they called the football game between cops and hippies for charity,,, I stillhad plenty of insomnia but there was always someone else up at night,,, SPACE was still big but had been going down yearly since Glenn orbited the Earth,,, The Monon train would chug over the two main streets up north, and between Briscoe and the main campus, and then on the ground by the Crosstown Shop Center and after Sept 1967 it was mostly animals and a few people in the caboose,,, The fifth floor went around in a group with a stencil spraying the word 'ANIMALIZE",,,,, Later, for BOBBY SEALE, supporters would use one that said FREE BOBBY while detractors would spray LET BOBBY BURN,,,, Val once ate ten eggs at breakfast so I ate twelve BUT eggs dont have much bulk, its the richness that slows people down,,,, Ken was always jumping up and down on John T's bed to tease him.,,,, John T was into 'Golden Boy' stuff. He said that a couple of athletes were golden boys and he was one, too.,,, There was a bg metal plate built into the floor in a room at the Union and noone was supposed to step on the plate,,, Ken S. got a subscription to Scientific American so I could read it, too,,, Purdue people used a stencil to spray "POTFH" around campus,,, sugar cubes were in and I had a box at all times by my little percolator coffee pot, I didnt realize it all started with the use of LSD,,, I dont know if they still had WOMENS HOURS in late 1968,,,, I dont know if BIG TEN MAGAZINE was still around,,, Some counter-culture people wore ANKHS,,,, I was beating the hell out of my greasy hair with Head and Shoulders then. I had both grease and dandruff from lousy diet/exercise habits,,, Wearing buttons with phrases still popular,,, body paint used by 'hippies',,, We had maids who pushed carts to clean and replace things in our rooms. They had closets for their stuff. Kids in 1991 asked what the closets were for. they no longer had maids,,, Every floor had its 'narc' who was usually a Police Science major or an ROTC guy,,, No real onus on smoking. It was unusual that Val, Ken and I werent smokers,,, Halloween was a dying holiday,,, Swain West had a wooden phone box built into the wall on the first floor around the corner between the elevator and the door. see map of swain. I often called my parents from it late sunday nights,,, The circle in front of Briscoe was called THE ELLIPSE,,,, There were a lot of knee level light along the walks around Briscoe but I forget if they were there in 1968,,, Every night that I went out for a walk along Fee Lane, especially on weekend nights, Id hear the FOSTER QUAD flagpole line clanking away. Now I think its plastic but then it was metal,,, In 1969 the prices would go up from $495 for out of staters to $745. Multiply that by seven. The state legislature was angry at the anti-war things going on. But we did not know this in 68,,, Did Pringles come out in Late 68 or early 1970?,,, They had both the Little 500 bike race and the Mini-500 Bike race in the OLD stadium, as shown in BREAKING AWAY movie. Mini-500 was college girls on tricycles. No feminism yet. I snubbed it. Bikes were for kids before 1970, especially in NYC,,, We thought that if a prof was 10 minutes late the class was cancelled or if a TA was 5 minutes late it was cancelled. Not so,,, The KIVA still had a rep as a gay place and I had never gone down there. When I finally did years later I learned it was a lot bigger than I expected,,,, ping pong still big in late 1968,,,, We had CANDLELIGHT DINNERS in Briscoe but as this dorm had a male tower and a female one and we could eat in either lunchroom it wasnt as silly,,, The stadium guns from the USS INDIANA still moved around then. They were fused later. But they turned in 68,,, PIZZA KING was still the exclusive FRAT pizza place with the nice booths,,,, We had a lot of 'BURGER CHEF AND JEFF' jokes,,,, I had a bright Hard Plastic sign that said DRAFT BEER, NOT STUDENTS,,,, Sometimes Id see guys take trays of food up to sick roommates. Also Jews could get kosher food but they said it wasnt as good,,, wall tapestries still big. From fabric shops,,,, We could use CAMPUS MAIL to write back and forth,,,, 'BUNGEES' were just flat straps to wrap around books. Dont think I noticed one until Ken got one,,, Only the well to do had credit cards, all others used the many credit agencies that were everywhere then,,, Was it in Late 1968 or Early 1970 that the YORK WHIPPED CREAM PATTIES appeared in the Briscoe basement vending machine room? Probably 1970,,, :1-17-2000,,, 1-19-00: Val told us about some retarded guy in his class as a kid who, when everyone had to yell out their grades, would always go, "ZER-O",,,, Someone told us about a guy with a trich-whatever in his throat and who hocked out a big green wad,,,, In late 1968 was the great IM THE ONE WHOLL GET IN TROUBLE scam: I talked John M. to go with me from floor to floor and get up on the table by the big plate glass window facing the womens side and getting naked and doing a dance as I shone the desk lamp on him in an otherwise darkened room. I kept telling him: "Hey, If we're caught, Im the one who'll get in trouble",,,, At another time the doors to the elevator flew open and there was John M. handcuffed to the inner railing stark naked and it was some day that the parents came or else when girls were visiting. The 11th floor guys did it to him,,,,, And in, I believe, Oct 1968 John M. 'got' Harry S. John came into the bathroom on my side and heard a noise. He saw that Harry, who was the co-ordinator to get the girs to visit, was on the toilet. So he went back to his room and got his POLAROID. John was very tall and gawky so he leaned over the stall, said something to Harry and Harry looked up and John took his picture (making sure he got his face). The picture went up on the bulletin board the next time the girls came over,,,,, John M. had his MONKEY JUICE which was a big bleach bottle of urine, cold cuts and anything else he wanted to ferment. One day he was chasing me with it and shaking it as it went. We kept running around and around the triangular part of the 'A' shaped dorm floor. Finally, right in front of Vals door he opened it up as I turned left towrds my room and it missed me but splattered some others,,, :1-19-00,, Sometimes if you were in the shower someone would deliberately flush all the toilets so you'd get all cold water,,,, Sometimes if one was on the toliet someone would throw water over the stall top,,, Sometimes if one was in the showere one would see the lights go out and hear giggling and taht meant they were going to throw cold water over the shower stall,,, 1-24-00: Jum M. had a big crescent scar on his face but had a regular girlfriend,,, age 18/19,,, I forget how often Dr Honeycutt took us to the old Observatory,,, Were there all thouse cinder block 'book cases' in 1968 or was that not until 1970? They must have been from the building of both the new library and Eigenmann,,, I dont even recall watching them build that library and they must have been working on it in late 1968 and Id walk past it on the way to the mall on weekends,,, There was a TIME or NEWSWEEK article about Germany and Japan now doing so well and finally pulling out of WWII. But GERMANY was emphasized as the one to watch. I mentioned to some guy on the floor that I read TIME and he was impressed for some reason and said he only read NEWSWEEK as TIME was more intellectual. They seemed the same to me except that TIME was then more to the 'right' than Newsweek,,, Did I have a subscription to TIME???,,, TIME also brought out those big softcove TIME CAPSULES of the news of important years,,,, Steve McQueen was still big but I had no interest,,, Supposedly the SLIDER was getting big in baseball and everyone was wondering why PITCHING now dominated so much. What did they expect with the new huge strikezone?,,,, There was always a huge puddle on Fee Lane halfway between the MONON BRIDGE and 10th Street by the OLD STADIUM. I got splashed by passing cars often enough. When I returned in the 90s it happened again so it was still there within hearing range of the FOSTER FLAGPOLE CLANGING,,, VWs with flowers were around but they really started appearing in 1969 when free plastic flower stickers were given out nationwide,,, Freshmen were in the JUNIOR DIVISION then. Later they made it the UNIVERSITY DIVISION as they thought Junior was insulting,,,, And people majored in GOVERNMENT then, not POLITICAL SCIENCE,,, There were two SCOTTIES BURGERS places near the center of town but I never went as it was still stony territory. One was just a couple of blocks down SOUTH WALNUT STREET and the other was just a block or two north of the GREYHOUND between Walnut and College Ave.,,, I was in a plane sometime in 1968 and I read one article about how Tennessee was finally dropping its anti-evolution law and a photo and article about the world anarchists meeting in Paris,,, I think I also read about all the Cuban hijackings were taking place that year,,, At some point my father gave me a 19th century style shaving mug. 68???,,, In either 68 or 70 Ken had a 3-d chess set like on Star Trek and we played it in the COMMONS,,, Indiana Fragipana: I had no idea for years that it was referring to a flower. I thought it was made-up until I noticed Fragipana Street across from Forest. There also used to be a weird triangular island at the street before that one that was still there in 1995 although the sign that used to be in the middle of it was ripped off, leaving only an old piece. There was also a round traffic island on 6th street and the next street east of Walnut still there in 1994 but gone when I returned in 1995. Those islands made me feel old as they were nice and new in 1967,,, At Jordan and 3rd street there was a gas station on the northeast corner which is now inside the campus and across 3rd from it there was no shopping center but a teenage drive-in restaurant that I dont recall what it looked like at all but know it was there. And next to Currys was that grocery store way back from the sidewalk,,,, The ironing room was outside my door and I may ahve used it in Early Fall Semester 1968 but never ironed much after that. At some point in 68 or 70 there was a stationary bicycle in there to the right and someone put my name on some sheet there and 'last seen heading over George Washington Bridge'. When I met the guy again I said it was cute but no New Yorker went over that bridge as it was for New Jerseyites and tourists. New Yorkers used the EAST RIVER BRIDGES. Of course he could have meant I rode away from IU and home although then I would have taken a tunnel,,, Were there underground comix around then?,,,, Tie-Dye?,,, I liked the BIG CHEF at burger Chef. When back in York,Pa I would drive 13 miles to over the Susquehanna River in Columbia, Lancater county in 1980 to eat at the only one in Central Pa.,,, But I dont think I ever went to the one by the College Mall,,, Magazines like Avant Garde and Evergreen were probably still around,,, Our RAs name was something-Stura,,, I was watching TV the day that GEORGE WALLACE came on and said that CURTIS LeMAY would be his running mate. He even made Wallace look wimpy.,,, Ken was hoping his flat feet would get him out of Vietnam,,, At the edge of the Astro Dept they had vending machines. One was a cup soda machine that always had fruit flies as it was always sticky and the other was a candy machine whose closest bar to chocolate was a ZERO BAR,,, Still checked out the rainbow behind the Geo Bldg on the railroad hill each time it rained. God, I was young then and all I did was worry,,, Val told me that in his language lab he was in his cubical and made a sexy comment about the teaching assistant and she just happened to be hearing him on her earphones but she looked around as she didnt know who it was,,, 1-24-00,, Ken had a date! With an 'older woman'. In her car to the drive-in. Never did find out what happened,,,, I was reading RISE AND FALL OF THE THIRD REICH for the first time in my room in Fall 68,,,
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL PLAYERS BORN WHILE I WAS DOING THESE THINGS AT BRISCOE IN FALL 1968: Mike Piazza 9-4-68, Hideo Nomo 8-31-68, Carlos Baerga 11-4-68, Bernie Williams 9-13-68, ____________ One night Ken and I were walking home in the dark. Across the field in front of the STUDENT UNION. There had been an all-night be-in on 7th street and the street had been closed to traffic. I believe that this was the second day of it. There were cardboard refrig boxes used as stand where they were selling stuff. Many of the people were 'Baggers'. But this night they closed and left their stands there. And on the big field was a huge wooden cross used by some Fundamentalist to stand on and preach to the crowd. Ken and I somehow got the cross out of the ground (It must have been eight or more feet high and very heavy) and we began carrying it towards Briscoe. Each on one end. Ken was in front as we went up the steep hill of the street behind the GEOLOGY BLDG a block west of FEE LANE. It had drizzled and I warned Ken as he got to the top to watch out for the metal Monon RR tracks up there as theyd be slippery. Naturally, when I got up I slipped on one and he said, "Yeah, watch out for the tracks!". We then lugged the huge heavy thing thru all those parking lots behind McNutt and Briscoe and somehow got it the the elevators without killing ourselves. Then we got it into the elevator from lower front left corner to upper back right corner. Then we brought it into the room of John T and Adam while they were sleeping as John was such a Christian type,, Of course, when it wound up in people rooms the joke was to say, "What cross?",,,,, This same thing was repeated with a big flat boulder that would later wind up in each persons room but that no one person could remove by himself. I dont know who first brought in the boulder but I helped move it about,,, 1-19-2000,,, There was some girl that John M. liked and would see in the lunchroom. After being rejected by her he'd say weird awful things to her across the lunchroom with everyone listening. His favorite saying was about Big Green Monkey D----s,,,, I'd get pennied in and theyd call on the phone to make sure I couldnt call out for help. If they didnt hang up their phone I couldnt call anyone else. it was done to everyone,,, age 18/19,,, One time I really wanted a FREDS PIZZA for lunch even though I had walked back to the dorm and could have eaten there. So I called FREDS and waited and waited and walked around the hall until lunch was almost over. Then I called back and asked what happened and they said that they called back to verify that it wasnt a boress and noone answered so they didnt deliver it. I waited an hour for it and i was really bored and hungry. noone else was on the floor at all for some reason,,,, :1-19-2000. The one thing I hated about Sunday nights in 1968 was ROWAN AND MARTINS LAUGH-IN. Every Sunday night I could hear someones TV on the floor and it would be on with a bunch of guys watching it. And it always had those bigoted anti-Polish 'jokes'. I dont recall anyone of the hall bothering me with them but I knew that they were effecting the general public and I would overhear such crap now and then on campus. Unfortunately for me the Polish 'jokes' started RIGHT when I was 15 and going through puberty and in high school in a strange town and then LAUGH-IN even managed to make them much worse during my college years. And the TV show was number one so I feared it would last forever. Dan Rowan was a WASP and Dick Martin was a Jew. But I sure recall hearing that TV with that show on while I was waiting for the elevator,,,,, We had a see-thru glass mail chute between the elevators in those days and every now and then some idiot would put in a bunch at once and it would jam up and you could sometimes see the letters in it. As standards went down for getting into college the glass was later broken and had to be replaced with metal. Then they got rid of it all together,,,, When was the BIG ICE STORM?? Was that Late 68 or early 1970? Ill save it for 1970,,,, I also think the snack bar guy who said he went to Persepolis may have been in 1970,,, :1-20-00,,, age 18/19,,, There was a 'draft counseling' office at the Student Union which everyone knew was a draft-dodging place,,,, I got my mail from my parents on Fridays in red, white and blue striped airmail envelopes,,,, Some local stonies were paid to use those sticks with points on them to pick up trash,,,, Someone, it may have been Ken, created the FICKLE FINGER OF FATE AWARD which was placed each week on the door of the guy who had either said or done the stupidest thing the previous week. Fred really wanted to win the award to be accepted (I guess) and the guys knew this so they never gave it to him,,,, FALL 1968,, age 18/19,,, ,, Fred would cut up comic books that would be worth a lot of money today to make comic book collages to cover his walls. One of the comics he often used was called NOT BRAND ECCH. Once he says to me, "Wouldnt it be great to be able to walk up walls like Spiderman?",,,, Bob T. was always studying. He'd get up early, get a quick breakfast, and then be gone all day until bedtime except for the few minutes he allowed himself to eat. He was always at the same desk at the library. Weirdly I was NEVER in the MAIN LIBRARY that was then at the entrance to the campus,,,, In either 1968 or 1970 someone kept setting off the fire alarm late at night so one day someone just broke it once and for all,,, The famous MASTERS AND JOHNSON sex lab was over on 3rd street near CURRYS BOOKS and BRUMMETTS PHARMACY. The science major counselors were in the same building,,,, 1968 was a LEAP YEAR but I dont recall anything about SADIE HAWKINS girl propose to boy stuff. Speaking of that, AL CAPP was in all the news as he was so right-wing and he went to campuses to lecture and LIL ABNER was still big in the papers but now it was often political,,, IU had an ice cream factory of its own so there was always lots of ice cream at the end of the line and you could eat as much as you wanted of the many flavors. Some guys would get coffee, use one teaspoon of vanilla to lighten it, and then throw the rest away,,,, The supperlines were long in those days and I recall going down with the other guys quite often. The line went the length of the counter, wrapped all the way back down the wall to where the girl/guy checked cards and then around to the left and out and up the short staircase. There was a mens room at the bottom of those steps that I often used. It was the same in 1995. There was a lot of talk on the line about Denny McLain going for 30 wins and whether MANTLE would retire and if IU could repeat its 9-1 season and the 'Greenbaggers'/Nixon/Vietnam,,,,, Unlike ParksWright in 67-68 the Briscoe Ten guys were not always out with girls. They were practically never with them. Noone I knew had a girlfriend and only Ken once went out on one date. I at least had wallowed in such stuff at ParksWright as did the rest of that hall. Amazing how halls have 'personalities'. At Parks we all showed up ready to hit the ground running with girls our Freshman Year there. But at Briscoe Ten the Freshmen showed up as regular science nerds. Maybe that wa sit. I was the ONLY science nerd at Parks Wright First Floor and I wanted to party 'a thousand miles from home' where noone knew me. At Briscoe a bunch of smart guys showed up simultaneously and stuck together,,,,, There were no HEAVYWEIGHT FIGHTS to follow in 1968 to speak of. On March 22, 1967 Ali beat Zora Foley and then was stripped of his title for evading the Draft on April 28, 1967. The title was not unified again until February 16, 1970 when Joe Frazier beat Jimmy Ellis. Frazier was recognized by NY state and Ellis by the WBA until that time. But it was still all considered phoney until FRAZIER and ALI actually fought,,, I recall how boring it was to do my homework in my room, especially on Sunday nights. I put the shelf from the closet over the wooden chair desk handles. But I had almost NO attention span any more. My attention span from birth to age 9 was fantastic but the brutalization from 2/59 until 1964 knocked it out of me. It was absolutely amazing that I could pull those tests out when I repeatedly DID NOT TOUCH MY NOTES OR BOOKS UNTIL I HAD A TEST THE NEXT DAY. Then Id be so scared my attention span would click in and Id catch up with so much at once. When I did not have a test the next day I couldnt think straight at all. My mind was in a fog and I read with near-zero understanding and my mind extremely depressed and I just had to go out and walk, walk, walk as fast as I could for hours as I had done since 1959. But scared, everything quickly clicked into place although I did not leave myself enough time to work the problems to see where the tricks and traps and exceptions were,,, It was the same way in my classes. Back in GREENPOINT I was the real whiz-kid in those days before being terrorized. I hung on every word the teachers said and I blew through everything easily. But since moving to Astoria and living in Hell all I could think of in class was survival and getting away from the bullying thugs. That need to get away from the classroom stuck with me forever after. I couldnt wait for the bell to get out and swiftly walk and walk and calm down,,,, I did, however, like to linger after coffee at the back of the BRISCOE LUNCHROOM while the sun went down before I went for a walk to the COLEGE MALL,,,,, Problem with my floor friends is that to eat with them meant I had to go down with them and they always went down when the line was long and I was always too 'antsy' to keep standing there. I had to move. So I often ate alone because one had to wait until almost six o'clock for there to be no line,,,, I had no ASTRO classes in Late 1968, just PHYSICS,,, There were campus tours for new students and parents sometimes wandering around the campus,,,, In PHYSICS I saw my first laser. WE were in the big lecture hall. Was Lurie or Hendry the prof? And he had it on the big lab counter and it was in a rectangular solid wooden box painted ugly green. It also had a hole in the back. Val told me that he wa sin the GEOLOGY bldg (I think) with another guy and they got ahold of one and shone it out the window at night. Some guy came along and they shone it on him and he raced into the building complaining that it 'sterilized' him. Val also said that when he noticed the hole in the BACK of the laser box he made the mistake of trying to look in and it was so bright it temporarily blinded him in that eye,,,,, I went for help in CALCULUS to a special help thing they had at night at, I believe, SWAIN EAST. It was in a big old room with chairs on different levels! The guy I had helping me had HORRENDOUS breath so I dubbed him "OLD HORSES--T BREATH". Later when Val went for help he came back and told me that HE got OHSB too,,,, Fall 1968, age 18/19,,,, I was always wearing those white shirts with the sleeves wound up. My father always wore them and the pix of scientists I saw as a kid wore them and I also had skinny arms. (I spent 1983-1994 lifting weights like crazy and I STILL had the toughest time with my arms. The rest of me grew quickly. I thought Polaks were SUPPOSED to have huge arms??!! ))),,,, Before bedtime I often got into my red and black Chines lounging PJs and had some Blackberry brandy. I dont recall reading myself to sleep. I also had constant worrying insomnia and my ulcer hurt,, I did like staring out my window which faced mostly blackness as it aimed towards Downtown but there was almost nothing for many blocks and then town was much lower down so all one could see was the distant horizon,,,, I often went out the BACK way from Briscoe as it was aimed towards SWAIN and most of my classes. Down the elevator to the First Floor and then through the big lounge past the piano and up the short steps in the stairwell, out the door to the left (hearing the news over the piped in radio), and down the stairs and around and across the long, long parking lot to the railroad tracks,,,, There wasnt as much boressing in Briscoe as in Parks,,,, I had to take GELUSIL tablets one hour after eating eah meal. I usually ate until 630pm (serving stopped at 615), then went upstairs and hung around an hour and took my Gelusil for the ulcer. But I often got drowsy and fell asleep until 8pm or later. If I had a TV I might have watched the 630 news while waiting for my time to take the anti-ulcer pills but I dont recall when the news was then and I was also on CENTRAL TIME,,, I was introduced to different types of bread being used for grilled cheese in Indiana. Something I never saw in the East,,,, Some guys still wore PENNY LOAFERS in Indiana. Only little kids wore them in NYC and I was surprised to see high school guys wear them in Pennsylvania but seeing college guys wear them was even weirder,,,,, age 18/19, Autumn 1968,,, :1-20-2000 1257pm,,, I count my ulcer period from that time I spat up green bile in my gym class in 1966 when I was 16 but I had been messed up since Feb 1959, age 9. I was a psychological wreck trying to figure out how to do all the things people expected of me with no help, no money and the fact that some were contradictory to each other. I was that way daily until 1981 when I realized I was knocked out of college for good (and then my mother died and my father Totally went broke). As I feared, nothing could 'solve' these problems and nothing could cure my ulcer/ worrying/ insomnia/ Black Depressions as long as I planned to go to college. Only losing everything I built my life around all my life ended that nightmare. But now it meant I had nothing to show for those miserable 30 years and now I was blank about my future with no skills, no money, awful debts, and my remaining parent dead and no siblings to aid me.,,,
Monday 1-24-00: You could bring coffee, cigarettes, and even some quiet food into college classrooms in those days. That all ended when they dropped all the standards and all the morons came in,,, Val would get PROTEIN PILLS from York Barbell which was just a couple blocks from where I stayed in 1966-67,,, I had a 28 inch waist then and my chest wasnt much bigger,,, Indianapolis was still OLD Indy before all the glass bldgs. I have a picture postcard,,, I was envious of the guys with the big sliderules in the leather pouches. Those things could cost a hundred dollars in those days of a $1.40 minimum wage,,,, Did I go to A&W on tenth street in Late 1968? Or buy anything at the CAROUSEL or whatever it was called then at the MALL?,,, I believe I had exactly $5 a week to spend so the occasional $2 pizza was a big deal as was the roast beef at ARBYS by the mall,,, Almost no Muslims, Blacks or Hispanics at college then,,, Some guy came into my room one night when we may have had a party or something and proceeded to crash on my floor and said he had the ability to sleep anywhere just like my roomie did the year before. But he didnt stay after all. Think Rick M. had his expensive waterbed,,, Did anyone have beanbag chairs?,,, Eugene McCathy not heard much of after blocked at CHICAGO CONVENTION,,, Ho Chi Minh heard of every day,,, 'Hippies' also into old wood and burlap,,, 1-24-00,,, age 18/19,,, I was down in the basement and instead of taking the elevator up I walked to the other end from where all the student stuff was (washing machines, vending machines) through a tunnel to the stairs upwards. Just a few yards down was the open door to the furnace room and it was HUGE as I should have realized. It took up the whole area that on upper floors would have the halls and all the dozens of rooms. And in the huge warehouse-size room I could see workers on platforms along the walls and it was dark and gloomy down there. Like the Eloi and Molocks in "The Time Machine". These local guys labored so we college kids could screw off upstairs,,, Each morning I could hear the guy dropping the student newspaper at doors,,, 1-29-00,, 2-1-2000: The anti-ROTC protests were still goin on especially in front of Lindley Hall,,, LIONEL was still pained on the rr bridge over Fee Lane under which so many student walked,,, They still played Euchre and Hearts in the lounge but I never did. I dont recall a ping pong board in there,,, Eugene McCarthy was still the anti-war hero but he lost it all at Chicago in the Summer,,, I still sometimes sat at the window in Swain Library looking out at 3rd street and the little circle with a bench underneath me,,,, 2-1-2000,,,