Hampden Sydney College - Kaleidoscope Yearbook (Hampden Sydney, VA)

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THE FIRST DAYS The first day at college. Bit- parents, standing in a line it tersweet, exhilarating, enervat- took almost forty-five minutes ing. Feeling all of a sudden to find, between some over- very grown up and just a little large kid from Dubuque who bush league compared to all talks funny and some stud those RA's with the cool, from West End Richmond assured smile. Glad your Dad who won't talk at all until let you bring the good car he's had his broker check out and, again, just a little uneasy your portfolio. about the way your Mom is You never knew how long fussing over you and isn't four names were until you've quite herself: You,re sure had to print them fifty times. you'll be all right with just the three pairs of pajamas? Moving In Checking In a rite determined some time Literally. You, your pen, and your checkbook. That's what the letter said you needed in order to register. So here you are, fresh from a six-hour the previous summer by the Dean of Students, the man in charge both of your rights and lack of rights, of passage and otherwise. You will hear more of him. You've finally got the key, and figured out what all the letters in VWG-12 stand for, and have found the room Qand your roommate and his aquar- ium and console TVD. Same size guy. You think: two times as many khakis, 1007, cotton shirts. Wow, some luck. Only one problem: he wears double- knit pants. You are faced, in your first hours at school, with one of the biggest de- cisions of your col- legiate career: drive, with a nervous brace of 5 X f K X 3 , R Cf I 10 X f -

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HAMPlJliN-SYDNEY KAl,lCllX7SC1Ul'l1 WMI I THERE ANYWHERE ELSE? Although you always knew that you were going to be a Hampden-Sydney gentleman C for the natural rights of prepdom are naturally knownj you also knew that someday you would officially have to join the Community by going through time-honored Rites of Passage. The Rites of Passage will have begun sometime even before your matriculation. Mummy and Daddy would often rhapsodize on the Rites between hors d'oeuvres and the first course. And Muffy-that older sister of yours-could not help but tell you fnot in a direct revelation over brunch but in an overheard telephone conversationb about her initiation into the Hampden- You do not wake up over- night and find yourself a Hampden-Sydney gentleman. If you were a true Prep, you were born with an alligator birthmark on your chest and a filled-out application to Hampden-Sydney in your mouth. fThat's why you gag on spoons to this very day.l Others, not so lucky, are forced to spend an aimless and frustrated childhood, grasping subconsciously that some- where something like Hampden-Sydney must exist, but unsure how to reach it. Release comes when a benevo- lent neighbor, a gung-ho alumnus, signs you up at age six, steering you away from an otherwise certain perdition in the guise of V PI. So what about those, say in Albuquerque or Nome, who are born without even an ink- ling of Hampden-Sydney? On them, fortunate few, the Col- lege has seen fit to have mercy Every spring, as thirty thou- sand L. L. Bean catalogues arrive at the College, thirty thousand announcements, called the Search Piece, go out to let the uninformed know that Hampden-Sydney exists and Cif they fulfill certain con- ditions, among them blond- ness, all-cottonness, and coolj is willing to give them a second chance on life. The Search Piece, Ham pden-Sydney 's nzessage of nzerqx ,, 1 t

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X v. do you try to convert him to khakis or try to flunk him out so you can get a real roomie next semester? Your Dad opens out the back of the station wagon and there it is-the wall of famil- iar things made unfamiliar by being packed so tightly, rak- ishly together. Subconsciously recognizable ends of things peek out between Chivas Regal boxes full of records and ragg sweaters. Then comes the safari back and forth between the bushes, under the five-foot seven-inch doorway, around the corner through the twilight to your room. You pile everything in the middle or on your bed because your roommate fthe decision gets easier the more you think about ity has taken up the rest of the room with his stuff and claims it's there to stay. Mummy, who had been sit- ting, wringing her gloves, on the bed until it ot too full of X ff! f 31 .. ,,- gy - 1.-g. , :W rf' .. 1,-ti .. - -fp . ., --2 . W1-. 2-f:.'u 1 AWG . '-6 C 49,071 T. -ey :wer 3 ae, ' .V' X' sauna. All she found was a shower, which you get to share with twenty other guys. She is obviously trying hard to be blasee about the living conditions and, undaunted by your assurances that it beats an Army barracks any day, wonders if they will let Aldora come up once a week to clean your room. Saying Goodbye Everything is out of the car. The last hints about catalogue orders have died away. The polyester kid has slunk off. Everyone is suddenly about as conversational as hospital visitors. Well, son, I guess we'll have to run on now. Yes, sir. You will remember to eat ri ht won't ou? S S , Y - boxes, has gone to look for the Yes, ma'am, there's the .. ,nip . Commons. And to write us every week? Yes, ma'am, I have the stamps you gave me. And to mind your manners? Remember about job interviews .... Yes, ma'am, it's all in that little book they gave me. We're going to miss you, son, around the house. Thanks, Dad, I'll miss you too, but there's Parents Week- end in a month. Well, dear, I guess we'll be getting on now. Mom? Yes, dear? Are you going to kiss me goodbye? I would like to. Would you mind doing it up here, where the guys won't see? ll - f- ',,,s-Q -4. r,A ' 'I L in... ii