Ottawa University - Ottawan Yearbook (Ottawa, KS)

Page 17 text:

We did nol dance lhe Charleslon or lhe Big Apple And no one smolced loreign cigarelles. Our men wore durugarees, and while T-shirls Thal gleamed in lhe sun. Our women did nol have lhe rich, cosmopolilan loolc, Bul lhey wore brighl smiles and were, Usually honesl. And lhough al limes lhe men lhoughl lhey were dumb Many ol our women gol married. We saw some ol lheir children. We lcnew Hue alomic bomb, And lear ol hydrogen power and Soviel Russia. We were a class ol velerans and high school girls. We remember John L. Lewis And cold rooms in Hue Adminislralion Building. We read Loolc, Life, Time and True Confessions. We dranlc Coca Cola and Grapelles, as well as Beer and whisky. We remember lhe repeal ol Prohibilion in Kansas, When Ollawa voled dry. We lcnew, inwardly, lhal Il was wrong. lvlosl ol us admilled il. We had a small malerial cullure and a Naive love lor humanily. We read our conlemporaries Spender, Waugh, Auden, Dos Passos, lvlalraux, Eliol, Olhleill, Lewis, lvlann, Frosl, Maugham, Side and Shaw. We gol engrossed in Quo Vadis and called our lriends Nero, Pelronius, Eunice, Venicius and Lygia: And were lull ol vanily because we had a secrel. We compared Wolle and Calher And saw lhal where Calher llowed Wolle was lilce a Gianl Colossus, maddened in guiclcsand. C. S. Lewis was our aposlle lo lhe slceplics, And we laughed al his Screwlape Lellers. There was l'lomer, Virgil, Danle, Millon, Plalo, Arislolle, lhe Tragedians, and olhers Thal we sweal over in all seasons. Ollen we learned. The seasons al Ollawa: as dependable as a cal Wilh muddy leel. Fall: an old lhing wilh new laces and boolcs. Eagerness lo gel slarled, vows Thal were never lcepl. The heal ol early Seplember, oppressive in wood and lield. WARD SCIENCE HALL. This lhree-slory building houses lhe deparlmenls ol pre-engineering, malhe- malics, physics, biology, and chemislry. Here one may observe lhe induslry of lhe scienlilically mind- ed as lhey do research.

Page 16 text:

THE CAMPUS STORE iusf before The Ten o'clock rush. The pride oT parenTs when oTTspring Do well in aThleTics- Like a Tall boy's moTher who wepT When his Team losT aT Emporia And laughed when he was raTed high in an All-conference selecTion. Women's aThleTics: yellow bloomers wiTh shorT skirTsg Hockey sTicks, curved and hard on The shin bone: LeaTher covered ball, screaming and Tlying hair. BaskeTball, and a Tew oT The girls were as good As some oT The men. Volleyball, screaming and long serves. Square dancing, wiTh The men's classes. The gossip in The dressing room: a chaTTer oT SOTT and loud sounds, mingling inTo a noisy whole, SweeT and Triendly. This we remember. The Boiler Room: and smoky air. A row of chairs and a wash Tub Tull oT sand For cigareTTe sTubs. MaTches, cokes, milk, And all kinds oT conversaTion: Talk abouT cars, Teachers, classes, women, PoliTics, cigareTTes, books, religion, Children, aThleTics, shoes, radio And a hundred diTTerenT suloiecTs. Made inTeresTing by The Thousand and one AdiecTives oT lusTy, liTe-loving men- READING ROOM in The main library. You'll probably 'Find Those people who aren'T here in The picTure To The leTT. And Treshmen boys whose moThers did noT know They were ouT. We shared our common griefs ln many diTTerenT places. Places where we TelT welcome. Like The Boiler Room and The Campus STore, Where Jim Pearce smiled and acTed impaTienT. We cried abouT deTeaT and TrusTraTion: The Things ThaT we evenTually laughed aT. Fog crepT inTo our souls and curled around our Smiles-buT Triendships warmTh chased The Tog away Friendship: The indeTinable realiTy oT our happiness. We never called iT love, The word was Too weak Tor our sTrengTh: BuT iT was love, and we were Too weak To see iT. DeaTh and parTing opened our eyes. Friends: The diTTerence beTween loneliness And belonging. A coeTTicienT oT liTe's X. Our gregarious naTure lmpels us To love one anoTher And we sTruggle againsT iT. There were no Tads in our Time. Like megaphones, Freud and raccoon coaTs. BuT our New Look was more pracTical Than The holoble skirT. X

Page 18 text:

THE COMMONS BUILDING. Visifed daily by 350 hungry sTudenTs. Besides The dining room and campus sTore, facili- Ties include The swimming pool, sTudenT organizaTion offices and lounges. The living, shining, silenT, moving air oT auTumn, The colors-dull browns, biTTer reds, bronze, The diTTerenT yellows-The smell oT smoke upon The air, burning leaves: a door slams And in The disTance The wail OT one soliTary Train, Treading iTs way across The naTion. From a blue, clear sky came winTer, and A lighT snow made The ground look like The sea, WiTh whiTecaps shining in The disTance. WinTer is wiTh us, and a dry, cold air ThaT passes wiThouT our noTicing iT. AuTumn is gone: The Trees bow poliTely BeTore The wind which genTly Turns up our collars. lce scars The paThways and a young lady Winds up seaTed on The cold cold ground. Kansas in winTer is wonderTul. While Michigan ciTies are snowbound We go golTing on Sunday. The grass is brown, Tlecked wiTh Kelly green. l.oveliesT Time oT The year was aT ChrisTrnas, When we wenT home, To moThers, TaThers, in-laws And old Triends. We came back To school wiTh new cloThes and gadgeTs7 Plus The same old vows To sTudy harder. WinTer: and The sniTTles, The baskeTball, volleyball, Slush and mud, The hoT coTTee and The crackle oT lce covered Trees, glisTening brighT in morning sun. We loved The TirsT cool winds- And reioiced aT spring's Thawing rain. Spring-and Tine showers on brown grass. Slick, mirror sTreeTs and sTorm windows removed. Black branches drip whiTe iewels While girls run, holding Their skirTs high. The Track, wiTh men in dirTy, smelly sweaTcloThes Running, iumping, Throwing, laughing, swearing. Ancl skinning Their knees on cinders. ThaT Teeling oT hopelessness, biTTerness, in The LaboraTories on Those moisT, sunny days oT spring. Nymphs and Swains, walking hand in hand, Bleary eyed, romanTic, reciTing Browning or Their own verse: The TruiT oT love-sick hearT. Summer-and beads OT sweaT dripping on Thick books Long classes and longer assignmenTs. STudy sTudy sTudy-Tick Tick Tick Tick- UnTil There seems To be no poinT in iT all. BUT some oT us worked: digging diTches, Teaching blond liTTle kids To swim and Throw a Baseball, reading, loaTing, playing, bumming. DRESS NIGHT in The Commons. Here we learn To be ladies and genTIemen aT The Table.