Rochester Institute of Technology - Techmila / Ramikin Yearbook (Rochester, NY)

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INTERVIEWS INTERVIEW WITH PAUL Paul is a business student who graduated in June. Although he has come out of the closet he did not want his real name used in this inter- view. On his homosexuality: Last year 1 met a young man on campus who was my age, but actually was a senior. In every sense it was a really nice high school romance, it was one of those things where something just clicked. We used to wait for each other after class, and did all those silly things that two high school kids in love do. Well, one day he was sitting on my desk in the office and 1 was standing there with him and it was quite ob- vious that we weren't discussing the sports scores, if you know what I mean. But we were behaving ourselves quite admirably at the time, given my desires. But another kid in the program walked in and saw the two of us together. This guy has been to Nam and has several girl friends, so he just automatically put two and two together, turned beet-red and turned around and walked out. So, it was about two days before everybody in the program knew I was gay. It was interesting because it took awhile for it to soak through to everyone that, yes, I was one of those, but, no, it didn t change my behavior, and that I was just as much of a cynic and character as I was before. I didn't bother to show up in a dress or anything bizarre, so 1 was simply ac- cepted for whatever 1 was . , . But it is true that as a gay you have more opportunity to hate yourself than most people. It's sort of the idea of waking up in the morning knowing that you are going against the grain with practically everyone you meet. I ve never been in another culture, but to me it would probably be like going to a foreign country and knowing there was no way that you could ever learn the language. You're just naturally put in an outsider's position. You can always get by, but by getting by you're assuming a posture of some sort or another. INTERVIEW WITH MRS. THEY: Mrs. Ttley is a homemaker, and mother of three children. Her hus- band, Ed, is student in the school of Photography, On the morals of RIT students: RIT is a good school, and it's got a fantastic photo department. As far as the academics go, they're (the ad- ministration) doing everything right. But I don’t think they're concerned about keeping the morals in young people high enough. There are so many things you see every day . . . the bathrooms at the RIT dorms are not even marked for men and women; they re coeducational just like the rest of the floor. I think it's wrong. And I just don't like the cohabitation over here in Colony Manor, They (the ad- ministration) say Were taking care of it, we re not allowing it.” Well I say 17

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baloney , because I see it every day out here. It might be oaky for me, but what about my three young kids? What about the kid up around the cor- ner? What about the two little girls in the house around the corner? I mean there are kids over here . , . 1 think it's wrong to advertise it as being married students' and faculty housing, and you come here and there are single stu- dents living next door. They're stu- dents but we re students too and we're married and we've got three young kids , . . One day I let Martha go out to play and I was in the nursery with the baby putting him down for a nap. And 1 heard Marcy screaming at the top of her lungs, and there were two RIT 'chicks' laying out sunning themselves in the corner over there, and not one of them budged to see what was wrong with the child. You know, not par- ticularly my child, but any child. If you can't be nice to a child, there's no hope for you. INTERVIEW WITH ISRAEL KAPLAN; Israel is a senior, graduating with a degree in printing technology and management. Israel arrived in the Un- ited States from the country of Israel five years ago. His wife, Kathy, works as a teacher and librarian in one of the area public schools On RIT students'complaining: I find that a lot of the students here take everything for granted. They are always complaining about something. If they can't find something to com- plain about, they will dig under the ground to find something. To me, a lot of these kids are just spoiled brats. They have a really good food plan, they have really nice dorms, they have a beautiful school, and then they com- plain that there are too many bricks, or too much of this or too much of that. They've got all these things here that they take for granted because their mother used to be a better cook than the cafeteria, and so the cafeteria is not good enough for them anymore. They think their dorm rooms aren't big enough or they complain because they don't have air conditioning. They have all the necessities and some of the lux- uries, and yet they are still com- plaining On the male female ratio at RIT: You know, because I am thirty-two years old and am married, I cannot say I am a Don Juan, but I have had some experience with the opposite sex, A lot of the guys complain that there are not enough girls at RIT or that all the girls are snobs. I think that is bunk. They don't know what they are talking about. The average RIT kid doesn't even know how to approach a girl, and when none of the girls likes him, he complains that they (the ad- ministration) doesn't supply him with enough girls. If I was outside for two hours I could get two marriage offers, 1 swear to God. 1 really mean it. In Israel they say that no girl is going to give to a guy who doesn't know how to take. I really believe that. Most of the girls that come here as freshmen are more mature than the guys their age.