Boston College - Sub Turri Yearbook (Boston, MA)

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Prologue This is a yearbook . . . quite like many other books of its type . . . And yet . . . somehow different. This is a year . . . quite similar to the thousands which have preceded it, and to the unpredictable many (or few) which may follow it . . . And yet . . . somehow different. This is a portrait . . . of many colleges, and yet one college . . . And therefore . . . somehow different. Where lies the basis of these differences. Where are the foundations for labelling the obviously simi- lar as different or distinct? More specifically, how can the assertion be justified that a yearbook, a year, a college is really unique when, in fact, a negligible amount of observation and comparison produces likenesses which though often fabricated, are often factual and, on occasion, painfully true? Perhaps the most obvious answer is to be discovered within a group to whom any claim of uniqueness becomes readily apparent, readily defensible, namely the seniors. This is understandable. For graduation year obviously marks a period of time as singular. So too, a college reveals its distinc- tiveness in countless minor ways over a four year span, — ways so subtle, so elusive of description that they are bound up in a mental complex which runs the gamut from freshmen awe to senior loyalty. But what of the question of yearbooks? justified in existence merely by the annual bi. niors. If this be the case, this book has approxi, thousand nine hundred reasons for being, and is rightly di- rected toward them to do with what they will. Basically a yearbook is a portrait of something impressive, and indeed memorable. A memory-book, if you wish. How- ever, this is not always so; for college annuals serve many functions: as a toy, quite durable; but like all playthings — at first carefully fondled and examined for flaws, then soon thrown aside and forgotten to be later rediscovered for new enjoyment; or perhaps, as decorations, as shelf-filler, or as a door-stop. However, its true purposes whould not be over- looked. They dominate every thought and act of the editor as he strives to convey true meaning through a yearbook: Let this book portray the distinctiveness its owner feels exists in this college; Let this book be a source of pride when shown to others, not for any cleverness it may contain, but for the intangible it attempts to capture; Let it be a picture-book for yet unborn children; and perhaps, because of it, for future seniors and alumni; Above all, let it be a mental goad, prodding the mind to remember often the pleasantries, friendships, and yes, anxieties of days long past, but worth recalling. This is an attempt to accomplish these purposes through people, places, and events. It mingles the noteworthy with the incidental, the athletic with the social, the crowded with the lonely, the spiritual with the material. This is an amalgam of contrasts . . . Boston College SubTurri 1978 Kim R. White Editor-in-Chief Richard R. Pastorello Mana ging Editor Gregg R. Tousignant Business Manager Rev. John R. Trzaska, S.J Faculty Advisor