My stories
The original draft of my salutatory address (which is identical to the final product, except for this particular point of interest) contained the following passage:
"You are an individual because you did not back down when being yourself became a punishable offense." Since Mr. Mathews pointed out that graduation was not really a day for being bitter about things, I changed it to this:
"You are an individual because you did not back down when your dress, or your make-up, or your hair color or length, or how you spend your precious free time resulted in the dreaded yellow slip, a summons from on high."
More appropriate to the day, perhaps, but the original gives you some idea of my thoughts at the time.
Ben Davis was the object of much discrimination on the part of the dean, presumably because of the way he dressed. He once got a detention for "sleeping in the halls and having a 'pillow' after group has been repeatedly warned. tell your friends." What could be more obvious? Two arbitrary rules: no sleeping and no having pillows, and two blatant instances of classification: "group" and "tell your friends." You would never catch Temple or anyone else saying that to a football player.
The Monarch newspaper staff was called in to a meeting with the big four: Robinson, Brosnan, Mathews, and Temple. Mathews was not able to attend, but the meeting went on with the other three. It basically consisted of Robinson yelling at the newspaper staff, belittling us, and accusing us randomly of things we couldn't possibly have done or meant. I broke down sobbing as a result,and remained so for the entire meeting. Mrs Temple was nice enough to hand me a kleenex. At the end, Robinson turned to Mr. Van (our moderator) and said "can you take care of her?" (referring to me).
On more than one occasion, it was made clear to us that the student newspaper was to be a vessel for pro-mitty propaganda rather than for student voices. We never heeded this, of course, but the warning was there, and censorship was not uncommon. I think the reason we were able to get away with so much was that our level of controversy and courage was unprecedented: Robinson simply didn't know how to react.
At some point, i think during my sophomore year, the anouncement was made that we were no longer allowed to tape signs up on poles, walls, and lockers, because it ruined the paint. before this, people had been in the habit of putting up birthday signs for their friends all over campus. i suspect that the real reason was to prevent any student organization or dissent as perpetuated by flyers around campus. I suspect this because student activities was still allowed to tape signs up all over the place, and they used duct tape, which i'm thinking is a TAD more harmful to paint than scotch or masking tape.
"You are an individual because you did not back down when being yourself became a punishable offense." Since Mr. Mathews pointed out that graduation was not really a day for being bitter about things, I changed it to this:
"You are an individual because you did not back down when your dress, or your make-up, or your hair color or length, or how you spend your precious free time resulted in the dreaded yellow slip, a summons from on high."
More appropriate to the day, perhaps, but the original gives you some idea of my thoughts at the time.
Ben Davis was the object of much discrimination on the part of the dean, presumably because of the way he dressed. He once got a detention for "sleeping in the halls and having a 'pillow' after group has been repeatedly warned. tell your friends." What could be more obvious? Two arbitrary rules: no sleeping and no having pillows, and two blatant instances of classification: "group" and "tell your friends." You would never catch Temple or anyone else saying that to a football player.
The Monarch newspaper staff was called in to a meeting with the big four: Robinson, Brosnan, Mathews, and Temple. Mathews was not able to attend, but the meeting went on with the other three. It basically consisted of Robinson yelling at the newspaper staff, belittling us, and accusing us randomly of things we couldn't possibly have done or meant. I broke down sobbing as a result,and remained so for the entire meeting. Mrs Temple was nice enough to hand me a kleenex. At the end, Robinson turned to Mr. Van (our moderator) and said "can you take care of her?" (referring to me).
On more than one occasion, it was made clear to us that the student newspaper was to be a vessel for pro-mitty propaganda rather than for student voices. We never heeded this, of course, but the warning was there, and censorship was not uncommon. I think the reason we were able to get away with so much was that our level of controversy and courage was unprecedented: Robinson simply didn't know how to react.
At some point, i think during my sophomore year, the anouncement was made that we were no longer allowed to tape signs up on poles, walls, and lockers, because it ruined the paint. before this, people had been in the habit of putting up birthday signs for their friends all over campus. i suspect that the real reason was to prevent any student organization or dissent as perpetuated by flyers around campus. I suspect this because student activities was still allowed to tape signs up all over the place, and they used duct tape, which i'm thinking is a TAD more harmful to paint than scotch or masking tape.
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