..... In September 1967 they were throwing these damned Superballs BETWEEN the walls of the narrow hall to see how many times they could get them to go back and forth........ I have my first letter to home in my room somewhere. I recall writing it as, of all things, I didnt know if the word for 'lone' was spelled sole or soul as I had never used it in a letter before and I stupidly made the wrong choice. Its around somewhere. ...... At the College Mall there was a store I liked best that was either the second or third one in from the main entrance on the right. It had all sorts of doo-dads, many having to do with writing. 'Wax' things were in that year and one thing to do was to seal an envelope with sealing wax and use a metal piece to emboss it. I bought the kit there and they had a whole section devoted to that stuff. I think I may have even used it on my first letter home which, if it has a postmark visible, will be quite interesting....... There was a guy on the second floor just a couple of doors in who was cleaning both his gun and his marijuana at the same time. First 'libertarian' I ever met..... We had to iron our shirts in those days. We had to rent irons at the main desk and there was an ironing room in the lounge where that TV was on the other side of the breezeway and Id try to teach myself how to iron. My roomie kidded me about the "shirts with the wrinkles ironed in"...... I bought a PARKS HOUSE sweat shirt at some point. I ordere it and had to wait for it. This one was red with drawn-in sweat. One guy said the one they had the year before with the knight thumbing his nose was better. I had bought a bunch of brand new underwear and white socks and shirts and threw them in with the shirt and they all came out PINK! I ranted in the hall about it and Steve said he'd take them if I didnt want them so I gave them to him. Then he stands in the hall and acts like i did him a big favor, saying "Look at these, all brand new stuff Im getting" and Im thinking I hope he knows how to get the pink out as i couldnt imagine wearing pink at age 17 but he was less uptight than I about such things. I had money that year so I didnt care about the loss...... I bought little dog toys and put them in the little cereal boxes we had and mailed them to Major using his name.... My roommate was always getting mail and always at his typewriter typing it. He said, "You have to send mail to get mail". True, but typing letters to friends and family seemed not right to me.... Note: Some of the above could have happened in October 1967 or even later. Thurs Oct 28, 1999: I wasnt able to take a harpsichord course like I had planned after seeing that teachers harpsichord on N.Sherman St. Too big a course load and they always had them the same time as my mandatory courses for Astronomy..... I had thought that I bought my tan/gold fedora during the Summer of 1967 while visiting York yet i have no memory of it my Freshman year in college. Perhaps I didnt get it until the Summer of 1968 while on a York visit. I lived in Astoria BOTH Summers....The cold war was going on. I forget if Bloomington had air raid siren testings but I seem to recall sihns for where shelters were, especially one on the East side of the square..... The electronic equipment of the rock bands always impressed me as I couldnt figure out how those guys who didnt seem that smart could understand all that wiring. Truth was that they didnt. No more than people now dont understand the insides of these circuit board TVs. But I didnt know that yet at age 17..... In late Sept? 1967 I was taken out east to a place i didnt recognize by that Hippie guy Frank to fly a kite on a beautiful day. Wasnt until much later I learned where we were that day. He warned me of snakes in the lot we were at. I wonder if that was even before I first went to the Mall as it was where the White Castle is now at the northeast corner of East Third Street and College Mall Road just before the funeral home out near the Mall. That had to be very shortly after arriving as I had no clue where I was. .... I didnt realize it but the parents were sent monthly newspapers telling them what was going on on the campus..... I recall my first Astro class when Prof Burkhead walked in with his big beard and big smile: He even looked like an Astronomer..... The Beatles were still huge then. They just went over to see that ridiculous Mahesh Yogi with their wives/girlfriends and their manager Brian Epstein just died which was headline news. His contract with them was about to end..... Over on Swain West's back stairwell, at the top of the stairs to the right, I wrote the word 'pneumonoultrasilicovolcanokoneosis' which I had seen in a PARADE Magazine that summer of 67. That word stayed between the cinder blocks from then until now. It was there from 1967 until long after I left and when I returned I saw it was fading so I redid it. If its still there its been there 32 years..... I think some people still used baby carriages then. I dont recall strollers..... There were still Caddies with big fins around but new cars were huge American made widetracks.... Guy at the end of the hall on other side of stairs where there were only two rooms worked for WQAD which became WIUS the next year. My roomie and I were in his room while he talked to us while holding a plastic coal scuttle for some reason...... I got my haircuts over at the Crosstown Barbers which was still there in 1995 and looked EXACTLY the same EXCEPT one chair was missing. I got regular haircuts and shaved regularly in 67-68..... My hair was so thick then that barbers had to thin it so they could work on it. And when I washed it I had a heck of a time combing it as I didnt use a brush in those days when many thought that weird..... I was told that right around the corner from us where there were rooms on the crossbar of the 'H' of the dorm that two guys hanged themselves the year before. It NEVER crossed my mind that they may have been gay. I thought it was the college pressure alone..... In those days shoes were of leather and American made and one had them repaired when the heels or soles wore down. I forget if I did that in Bloomington or waited until I got back East..... I dont think I ever walked north of the Greyhound Station/A&W (Both on 10th Street) in those days. Thought of it as Stonie Territory. There was no Burger King up there yet to attract students. However, there was a restaurant up Walnut from 10th which I never noticed and now wish I had a photo of...... In Sept 67 I was invited to two smokers for Frats but didnt go....... Guy on floor claimed his father was the Chairman of the Board of Proctor and Gamble and that he was from Cincinnati...... A typical day in September 1967: Clock go off about 730am on MWF. Go to floor mens room to clean up. Row of guys at sinks. This all new to me as a)I wasnt used to Middle Class culture and b) I was an only child who wasnt used to people. Back to room. Get dressed. Walk out to right, thru metal door to entrance of next 'house' as that exit door was closer than Parks House door. Across part of courtyard. Under breezeway to entrance which was under it at other end. In and turn right into bldg (Striaght ahead would have led to where I picked up fruit box). Inside a few feet, turn right and immediately down a few steps. Through hallway. At end of hall one could go right to snackbar and front desk and mailboxes but we went up a long, wide flight of stairs. Turn completely around at top and get in line for breakfast. They check card and ID (When did I get ID taken?). Then pushing tray along in front of all those adult women I mentioned previously. Then we ate with our floor by the window across the big room. We could look down on the whole courtyard and I could see my room across the street. They really had fancy expensive murals on the walls and rugs on the floor. Elaborate built-into-the-wall water dispensers. Out and down the stairs and back to the room to get our books. Now out Parks Entrance by the Jordan Ave breezeway (or sometimes all the length of the courtyard and across the field behind to the steep stairs there. But usually out by the crescent and out onto Jordan.... 10-29 152pm: Down Jordan to the intersection (was that 7th St?, it was much more of a campus road than a 'street'). Right past the IU Theatre. The only real sidewalk was on the right and it had the woods next to it all fancied up with stairs and seats etc. In Sept there was a row of long banners promoting a play with a weird Greek name I had never heard of and thought was something serious and risque. Sidewalk went past the theatre, in front of the art museum, and went around the right of the Showalter Fountain. (see map). I could then cross there to the fountain and then to Woodburn Hall or go up a little to cross directly to it or up a little farther to where it met with the crowd coming south and cross with the two crowds to Woodburn on its father side. That was where my first college course, Philosophy was. I sure did feel like I was at college. Nowadays colleges are like high school with ashtrays (except they banned smoking). My 830am class was on the third floor towards the Fountain and I could look down on the movement below. It lasted from 830am until 915am. We had a pile of books for it as well. After class I went out into the very thin hall and turned left to the stairs. We then had 15 minutes to get to the next class.I dont have my notes with me to remind me what my 930 class was. But my 10:30am was Astronomy 201. Room 221 in Swain West. I sat towards the back or at the back in a beginning crowded class of about 50 people. I was close to the back window but not in the first row by it. Usually second or third. There were no 'real' rows as people could put their chairs-with-wide-right-arm whereever they wanted and it was a jumble. Windows only looked out upon a roof and I couldnt see anything else. The shades were black. Board at front and side and they were both used as the profs put stuff on so fast non-stop throughout the class. There was often a Friday quiz. Prof Burkhead with the beard and smile. So many, many times did I go in and out the same way the first few years. Through the Swain Woods paths, over the little bridge right behind Swain EAST (It was not a crossbridge then) up the stairs from the bridge and then right to the Swain West stairs. Up the inner stairs to the second floor and down the long, long hall to the Astro and Physics classes. At 1115 Id go out the same way: down the hall, down the stairs (one could see out on top of everyone and across part of the campus from the landings as one went down) and out. I guess I got out at 11:15 and then back to ParksWright to eat. When i moved to Briscoe I really had to move fast as Briscoe was so far. I think I usually ate lunch alone at 1130am. As everyone lived in the dorms there was often a long line. I'd try to sit by the window. I think I always dropped stuff off at my room first and then picked it up later. I forget if I had sense enough to drink extra coffee to not nod off after lunch. I then think my next class in Fall 1967 was GERMAN 101 at Ballantine. I DO recall my first day there. Same walk to past Woodburn but then I turned left and was in the flood of students passing the side of Woodburn on the wavy walk towards Ballantine. Very picturesque with the woods and streams and wooden bridges in front and to the left and the chapel to the front and right. Big open area. Then across a small street (see map) to Ballantine, the biggest bldg on campus. I went past the front of it and turned left. First time I was there I wasnt sure to do that or go up the stairs to a big outside landing where other college students were looking down. I went around and went under a huge relief on the side of the bldg. Then my walk opened into a fancy courtyard with students all around standing and sitting. I felt a bit self-conscious. Then into the main entrance where there was a huge turning globe in front of a big plastic decoration. Somehow i found my way upstairs to my class. (Hold it now, was this my German DISCUSSION Im thinking of? The 'main' class was the big lecture hall which I considered useless). Well, this guy was a young TA (Teaching Assistant) and our chairs were in a "U" so he faced us all and threw things at us for us to respond to. He liked saying, "Bloomingnothing". HMMM! As i left my schedule notes home maybe I should stop here. And start somewhere else................... .............. .............. ................ ................ ........ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____Rain in Cincinnati, September 1967: Saturday, Sept 9,1967: .07 stopped before 7pm,,,,, Wednesday, Sept 13,1967: .08 inch,,,,, Thursday, Sept 21, 1967: .74 RAIN!,,,,, Wednesday, Sept 27,1967: .25 RAIN, Thursday, Sept 28, 1967: .57,, ______ _____ ______ ______ ........ ................. OCTOBER 1967: