Salem College - Sights and Insights Yearbook (Winston-Salem, NC)

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librarian ' s iidIc Kild iiic I knew Iihi liitlc ahoiit (lie l)c f (|c( iiiial s stcm. 1 sliuk the iiolc (111 riiy minor .uul walked u|5t(n ii Inr a cincinascnpc western at the (Carolina and eoHee at Morris Ser ice. Back in Clewcll at niidiiinlil people screamed in, disheveled and elated. The next house meeting tittered at a plea lor neater date-returning and oohed at an in itation from Bowman Gray Phi Clhi ' s. The panic engendered by mid-semester grades Hed from the smiling face of the Christmas spirit. I went home stacked with term paper sources and yellow legal pads. My enthusiasm at the chance of be- ginning second semester afresh swamped me with newspaper assignments and pres- sure to play basketball for the class team. I plunged into the phobia of participation; sweet, iuit . . . blind dates came easier, and the basement became in - early morning ivory tower. Suddenly I was a sophomore, an ex- debutante, and almost twentv. Separation into three dorms clicnieilicd the class. 1 said I was glad and set out to prose my indi iduality. Recjuired religion became my idea-outlet; my roommate and I, alter supper, smoked over speculations on love, and life, and our love of life. I scheduled confeiences and came out in deeper perplexity; I applied elementary psychology on my friends and invself with no avail. An escape— often— to C ' hapel Hill or Durham helped until Sunday ni ht and

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im «TjiipDi Preface 3 C CAME to Sale m in the summer when bricks reflected humid, paint-smell- ing air. The chair slipped awkwardly beside the dean ' s desk; I did not know if my major would be home economics or English. Outside the swimming pool water looked frozen-still and I wondered if we could sun-bathe on the graveled top of the gymnasium. In September there was a Sunday when the frozen-still pool water was circled with rain splats and ringed by a marble my brother threw from a third floor window in C ewell. A high-heeled senior hostess peeped in and saw my mother hopelessly hidden by trunks still on their ends. In the hall fathers stole clothes hangers from outside ne.xt-door rooms. Behind one of the closed doors a girl told her mother she wanted to go back home. Then it was night and the speaker at vespers explained about the raised brick eyebrows over the windows. Raised eye- brows made Salem friendly and interested in all of us. The windows were dark half an hour before the clock clanged midnight. Late in the week the uncurtained, lighted windows of Strong were peopled with unpaekers. I sat in my senior ad- adviser ' s suite and memorized the ad- ministration ' s grant of power to the stu- clents. I wrote it on my liandbook test and placed in the top forty; but the

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ungraccd cheesey sandwiches in the dining room. C ' omprehensives drained me of all I knew but renewed my chances of sur- ival. I devoted myself to May Day practices and stayed out in town after the dance. I sought out a summer job that would challenge a wearied philosopher and teach her how to party with sophisti- cation. A shrunken circle of stable conservatives comprised the first meeting of the junior class. Cliques had lost their mainstays and merged into a giant force prepared for a downhill obstacle course. I chose between an education bulletin board and an array of humanities courses. From the listening room of the library I watched autumn invade the square; at night I walked across and talked in Tom ' s about the relative merits of marriage and career. Upon me was the gradual, subtle con- viction that either was worth doing. It thrilled me to glimpse, in a rare objective view, the logic of the faculty ' s reaction to 7 our unlimited-overnights petition. I sacri- ficed a Duke-wcekend for a trip home and my folks gave me the keys to a sur- prise. The end was almost in sight — just around the corner of a last studential summer. Why don ' t you hop into the car with me while I cruise through my last year at ' Salem. I ' m turning the ignition key; you scan the table of contents and turn the page. . . .