Emerson College - Emersonian Yearbook (Boston, MA)

Page 9 text:

FOREWORD There it is: 130 Beacon Street. Those old brownstone buildings have not changed much since the first time we espied them four years ago. Remember? I wonder if the old buildings are saying the same thing about us. Somehow, I do not think so. We have changed considerably during this past episode in our lives. Not all of the changes have been pleasant. At times the metamorphosis has been painful. But who can forget those sweet changes that crept stealthily by and startled us by tapping us on the shoulder from behind. Some of us fell in love among the brownstone walls. Some of us learned. When we first saw the school we were somewhat disappointed. Where was the campus? How could a college be so small? But, at the same time, we were struck by a strange, indescribable charm that seemed almost against our will to envelope us. And most of us stayed. And most of us changed. We have not always been proud of Emerson. Now and then we have had to look away and blush. At times, we wondered whether the walls were about to crumble, and we wanted to run. But instead, we squinted between compressed eyelids and saw that the brownstone had not crumbled, that, indeed, the brown- stone had prevented us from crumbling. And then the brownstone walls ex- changed a murmured promise and a secret with us, and though we did not altogether understand, we all stood more erect. There it is: 130 Beacon Street. It has not changed, but yet it’s not the way it was four years ago. When we first saw it as freshmen, we saw it as the Whole, all of its many facets swelling and looming around us. As sophomores we began to see the Parts, and we worried. As we drifted, almost aimlessly, into our third year, the Parts began to slip into relation with one another. And now, right on schedule, we begin to see the Parts in relation to the Whole, and at once we understand the brownstone’s whispered secret, the secret which kept us bound here through four sometimes difficult years. Can we tell the secret? No. Each person must listen for the quiet murmuring himself. A clue? Many years ago a gentleman with not a little influence said something about Magnanimity of Atmosphere.” We have learned the secret of the brownstone buildings on the corner of Berkeley and Beacon, and only the future can reveal the promise. Barrett John Mandel 5

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This yearbook is dedicated to Mr. John Howard Ahlin. Mr. Ahlin is known and respected by every stu- dent in the class of I 960 as a man of faithfully-honored loyalties. He is loyal to the college, he is loyal to the stu- dents, he is loyal to the tenets of his profession. By saying he is loyal to the college we mean that Mr. Ahlin strives tirelessly to further those principles for which Emerson stands; his erudite, scholarly mind is a high representa- tion of the calibre of the instructor at Emerson; his gen- ial personality represents an ideal which Emerson strives to uphold: the non-bullying, non-ranting, quiet but per- sistent presentation of knowledge through speech. By saying he is loyal to the students we mean that Mr. Ahlin comprehends the problems with which an undergraduate is faced, and in his comprehension he is warmly sympa- thetic; amidst voices of condemnation, his is ever the voice of kindness. Not only in his office of Dean of Men do students seek his counsel, but in the classroom, in the hallways, in the cafeteria, they stop him and present their problems, confident that his consideration will be thoughtful, and that the advice he gives will be wise and kind. By saying that he is loyal to the tenets of his pro- fession we mean that Mr. Ahlin, realizing that truth fur- thers humanity, is persistent in his efforts to broaden his knowledge in order to arrive at general truths, which he can impart to his students; unceasing in his search for truth, he is uncompromising in his presentation of it. So we say that Mr. Ahlin is foremost a loyal man, to his col- lege, to his students, to his profession. This yearbook is designed to be a tangible expression of the fact that his college, his profession, and his students will always be loyal to him.