North Carolina State University - Agromeck Yearbook (Raleigh, NC)

Page 8 text:

WHERE I BELONG •AT LEAST FOR NOW To try to write oil the things that I wonted to soy through this book to which I hove given o year of my life is difficult. I om ofroid thot I will leave some- thing out, be wrongly translated or misunderstood. I wanted to give you something of your- selves to keep forever, for as you chonge ond grow you may lose the uniqueness of this single year at N. C State. Though no one perhaps con touch or recreate your experiences directly, I hove tried to reach into the year with both my hands and to bring you the tiny bit thot didn ' t sift through my fingers.

Page 7 text:

CONTENTS PEOPLE ALONE AND PEOPLE TOGETHER 4 An essay on the university comnnunity and people that bring It to life. A LOT OF THINGS THAT HAPPENED 24 A chronologicol review of the organized events that entertoined ond sometimes educated. WHERE I BELONG, AT LEAST FOR NOW 80 A study of student living situations that are lifestyles in themselves. AT LEAST ONE PAIR OF TENNIS SHOES 120 A recap of the sports year filled with personal and team successes ond frustrotions. SOMETIMES I GET LOST IN ALL THE PEOPLE 1 54 The seniors and undergraduates with comic interpretotions of school stereotypes. EMPTY SPACES LEFT 228 A statement about leaving — the exodus.

Page 9 text:

I remember coming here for orientation end thinking My God, how did I end up here? This is the ugliest place I ' ve ever been. But thot was before I hod seen the Court of North Coroiina at eight a.m., dewy in the sunlight. That was before I heard the ominous hum of the Physical Plant or the midnight clanging of pipes that vein the walls of buildings that keep me warm. My negative thoughts come before I smelled the cold, gloomy dompness of much-trampled tunnels or the sultry thickness of greenhouse air, heavy with dirt and fertilizer. And before I hod tested the milk in the little triangular cartons, milk produced by State ' s own cows. (I couldn ' t get over that.) It is true that there ore other hums and clongings, other tunnels and greenhouses, other cows and milk. But State ' s ore o little different, just because they ' re port of where I belong — at least for now. The sights and sounds and tastes and smells ore only a tiny port of this university ond its speciolness. The biggest port is the presence of people — friends, roommates, haltmotes, suitemotes, housemates. People with whom I am close. People with whom I am not. People clone and people together. Walk across campus early some Sunday morning and feel how the absence of people mokes every place seem hollow, flat, still. But sometimes I can get lost in all the people. They can seem hostile, frightening, boisterous, closing in oround me. Or they con be friendly, accepting, reaching and dra wing me in. At other times I can simply sink into oblivion among so many people. Try slipping into the Erdohl-Cloyd theatre some Wednesday night to achieve true ononymity. I don ' t always wont or need people around me. Their presence is sometimes confining, frustroting, irritating. But their existence and gathering here gives the university landscape its purpose and its essence. Articles in this section by: Dophne Homm Jim Davis