Southeastern Massachusetts University - Scrimshaw Yearbook (North Dartmouth, MA)

Page 29 text:

on...but that was part of tlzat wlzole atnzosplzere. You were freer to do wlzat you wanted to... because tlze economic conditions weren't half so bad...you know? Now, you 've got to think if you 're going to go to tlze store to buy a loaf of bread, and you 've got to decide if you 've got enough money. Before, it was nothing, It really was...and of course even though wages lzave supposedly gone up, too, along with tlze prices, it hasn't gone up..,they,re not comparable. Theylre not. 1 nzean, it was much easier to do things before, Now it's tight... That life was good, and of course, as I was saying, we were in tlze Palace, we were tlzere two years, and I can rentember as I said we went to Colorado... Paul lGraham! canze over one time with Sue Powers to feed tlze fish, you know? -and he walked in tlzere, and he said, My God'...Sue was telling me... 'Students live here?' He just couldn't believe it. Of course, we didn 't think it was that, you know, wild..,but, if you think about it , lookirzg at it through someone else 's eyes, because lze lzad lived down on Dean Street in an apartment tlzat was down by tlze Rug Rat City, and he just couldn't believe it, y 'know? Then it started to spread, kind of, 'Well, maybe...that's not a bad arrangement, really nice,' and so forth and so on...and people started to do nzore things like tlzat. 1 tlzink it was a bad tinze, because things were getting more expensive. After two years there, it was time to nzove again. So, uh, we ended up lzere. I always wanted another house after Fisclzer Road, because having your own house is just, you know, tlze nicest tlzing. So we looked, and we looked for months, and months...well we found tlzis place. 1 didn 't want to movefor montlzs, and months...well we found this place. I didn 't want to move in here, at first. We came, and we looked at it, and it was really a dump. We had looked at so many beautiful places tlzat were really out of tlze question, tlzey were jllSf so big We looked at one place on Mount Pleasant St. T lzat was gorgeous, It lzad this beautiful mahogany staircase that canze down, and splitmbeautiful beams and stained-glass windows and fireplaces everywhere... a real mansion, y'know. Oh, we wanted tlzat place so bad, but of course, it's a good thing we didn 't get it because we never would lzave been able to afford to stay. So, Paul actually talked me into this place, he did... 'cause it was so bad, such a nzess in here, Ijust didn't want to even nzove into it. But tlzen, we realized it was really kind of wlzat we wanted because we could do wlzat we wanted to witlz it, and so, we spent a month, a wlzole nzonth, in here, to make it like it is, and now people still come in, in amazement...It's really interesting to see, because we forget-we do, we easily forget-tlze way we live. You know, you get accustomed to living certain ways and you forget, you know, wlzat you have, y'know. And when people came in the otlzer night, just from tlze party, y'know, tlzere was one girl ther who just couldn't believe it. And tlzat makes you realize more tlzat you really lzave more than most people. 1've always been extravagant in tlzat way, and I've moved so much furniture and so many things down here now, over tlze course of tlze years, five years, I've just...1've accumulated so much stuff Moving now is going to be really something. I canze down here witlz nothing, practically, and now 1'm going back witlz truckloads. I don 't lzave time to waste, now. Things are becoming much faster-paced, 1 think. You can lt take tlze tinze you could before, leisurely...you can 't do this, or do that...Now it's... time and money are so inzportant, rzow, because money is so tight, y 'know, tlzat you just can 't afford to take tlzese little detours and do tlzese things as much now. You lzave tomunless you ,re financed by somebodymparents, or sonzeone else...but, I tlzink that's tlze case, too, you've got to get in tlzere, and do tlze work, and just get out. I don 't think we 're going to be finding as many long-time sclzool veterans like we lzave at SMU, people tlzat are there five, six and seven years...I don lt tlzink you 're going to see too many more of those kind of people. Simply because of econonzics, you cart 't afford it anymore. I don lt see tlzat nzany new ones, at SMU. You know? Itls still tlze same old bunch, hanging in there...but 1 tlzink when those people leave, I don 't think you 're going to find so many long-term people tlzat just hang around the university for the, ulz, university life, and security, and all tlzat. 1 don 't think people can afford it anymore. Because you can't live tlzat cheaply anymore. So that's it, you lzave to get down to business. 1t's unfortunate in some ways, because you can learn so much... fronz these tlzings. You don 't get an opportunity to have so nzany tlzings around you and just say, 'Well, 1'm going to try this, and learn about this, and work on this...' There's not many opportunities like tlzat, except in a university. There 's a lot of things I'll never forget, because I did so nzany bizarre things at SM U. l t was all tied up witlz tlzese people wlzo would kind of 'lock-in' to a certain goal and would all work...those people were around...Everyone in the tlzeatre working towards a certain tlzing. Wlzen we first started in theatre...Sue Powers was president of the theatre company...we tried to do tlze Decenzber show, 'No Place to be Somebody ', and we couldn't cast it, and all tlzat lzappened, then Marat-Sade, tlzen we tried to do Marat-Sade in five weeks. And everyone just sorta rrrrmmmmmmmnzmmnim! I mean, everyone just sorta seemed to be tlzere, People were tlzere, tlze goal was there...I mean everything was tlzere, all the factors tlzat could get people togetlzer to work and push were tlzere. And that's what happened, it just happened. And 1 cart never forget tlzat People were just goirzg wild, working niglzt and day on Marat-Sade', just get tlzat show on tlze road, rehearsals, rehearsals, day after day after day. And that really started tlzings nzoving. That show went so well, and it was suclz a tough show ,.., We moved to 'Two Gentlemen of Verona, and we decided... 'Well, let's put up a sign '-we got tlzat tarp. 1'll never forget as long as we live...See, we were supposed to go back to Denver, in the spring that we did 'T wo Gentlemen of Veronaf We had a Winnebago rented, and we lzad everytlzing set to go... 'Two Gentlemen' was coming up, and we

Page 28 text:

groups, formulating these organizatiorzs, a pushing them and doing... there were a lot of conscientious people. For a good while there... and now, it's changed again, now! think that it is over with, and the people that are Ufjlllffig in now are more...I don 't know if they really care or not...more apathetic lin! attitude...tlzey came in, the organizations were there, they were running fairly... you know, good .... so they just fit right in. And I think it meant, at that time...if they wanted to develop these forganizationsl any more, it was going to be a lot of work, because they were at a level that was-okay...I think it's just go in, do, plan, and get out. I don't tlzink the devotion is there. I don 't see people getting gung- ho over these tlzings, staying up hour after hour, night after night, working... maybe it'll change, I don't know...but I think it's a whole attitude, I don't think you can pinpoint it...I think it's across the country...I think if you went to look at another university, look at another student organization structure, you 'dfind the same thing...and I think if you talked to students who went through at our time who have graduated and who could still look back into the universities that they would probably have the same ideas that we do about it... I think so. I don't think it's just SMU. I you never lived like other college students?j No. lWhy?I I was crazy, that's why. I do think in this locale, in this area here, I have been unique. I don't think there are that many other people that sort of went through this...When I came here, of course, there wasn't much, actually, it was small. I don 't remember how many students there were, maybe three thousand. I think the size has almost doubled now...T here were no dorms...T he dorms were supposed to open the next Fall I after I came herej. So I came down and looked around for apartments and so forth and so on... they had a housing list...so Ifound a place, I moved out to Fischer Road... If you became friendly with anyone from SMU when you were a Freshmanmfrom out of the area like I was...It would again be people from out of the area... I can never remember meeting students or friends or anyone...who lived with their family here...It just never happened. Somehow those people gravitated together. It's amazing, when you think about it. These were the people you'd find in the clubs, again, too...I don't know which was first, probably you met them in the clubs...but then again, there they were, where the other people weren't. I lived there lon Fischer Road! for two years. It was a nice place out there... it had everything, we were out in the woods, there...I guess that's what started me off starting in a place like that. , We had the whole house...complete kitchen, dishwashermit was great. Of course, when they sold that house I had to find a place to go, and I 1001595 fOr quite a while- and it was really tough to find something comparable to that- but that's when we moved into the palace. On Shirley Street. That was a jirst, too, 'cause at that time Rockdale West wasn't open, and lShawrnut Manor! was just starting to open. And we were the first students to move in there, so... we were the first students to move into that kind of a life... luxury apartment type situationmlater on, other students started to move in, either there or Rockdale or somewhere else like that...that was a beautiful place...It was when we first moved there, anyway...that was different, because people weren 't used to that...most students...they didn 't care, really. I don't know why they didn 't care. Ijust don't like living in a dump. It wasn't really very expensive, with four people you could make ends meet very nicely, and live in a nice place. And I can remember, when Ifirst came here we used to buy food- and this was five years ago- you say, 'five years, it really isn't that long ago, five years...we could buy food, back then, that Ijust couldn't imagine nowadays. Because I used to go shopping, and I would be able to buy, oh ,... we used to have a different meat every night. Pork chops, chicken the next night, a roast the next night, fresh fish...you know...every night, six, seven days a week, we'd have a meat main meal...I used to buy six pounds of hamburg- justfor snacks-and everyone would just make hamburgs and it was like eating potato chips, know what I mean?- and it was like sixty cents a pound, one of the best hamburgs we got, we used to buy it at Norman's Meat Market up in the North End...I used to get all my meat up there...whatever it was, sixty, sixty-eight cents a pound, I mean, that's nothing!...and it was fabulous meat...really was, top meat...and you could eat all you wanted to!... and I think we used to spend- there were six of us in the beginning- like thirty-five dollars a week, or forty dollars a week...and you could eat all you wanted to, non-stop-eat for a week on thirty-five dollars for six people... and it's amazing when you think back only five years ago. Now you can't even buy a cracker...and you 'll starve...but it was much different. I don 't know, maybe more students now have to go to the dorms...I don't know. When the dorms first opened it was a lot cheaper to go out and live in an apartment...the costs are getting closer and closer now. So, as I was saying, then we moved to the Palace, and it still tfoodl wasn't that bad, I used to buy it wholesale...that was a nice place, and I can remember when we went to Colorado. That was something, too... We just left. That was, uh...I don 't know, three years ago...and of course now that would be an expensive thing to do, I mean, you'd have to think about it a little bit more than we did... we just went...I think we each took a hundred dollars... we had a great time... you know what I mean?... 'cause the gas wasn't that high back then. We used to do a lot more traveling back a few years ago. When I was here, I used to travel all over the place, New York, used to go to New York a lot...Stet and I often used to go to Atlantic City, Pennsylvania, and then of course when we went to Colorado we just left... You know?- I said we were going to go,visit Scott...we just about got in the car, and drove away! You know? -for a week...week and a half ten days... but now, you have to think about that, you have to say, well it's going to cost me this much, cost me that much...so forth, so

Page 30 text:

were now getting entrenched over there... you know...ana', uh, we didnt So, since we didn 't go, 1 Said, 'Well tf we can 't go, were going to make this fun, were going to tin what we want,' -it was vacation wcekeand going to have a lot of fun! So I had f..':'Jefret3 rlzat.,.crack...Paul was saying, 'You krttifw. cztzglit to put a sign up on the building sfgftnettting, ' and I said, 'You know, I was thinking about that we ought to put a big sign up theref so Paul says. 'Well why don 't we put up a...well, how big? Maybe get one like five by ten feet or something like that! I said, 'No, we're not thinking of that, 1 says look, there 's a lot of room up there, let 's make it like, Oh, I don't know...fifty by twenty- five feet! And Richard just... 'Fifty by twenty-five feet You're crazy! Fifty by twenty-five-Do you know how big that is? That's as big as a stage! ' I said, 'Yes, Yes! The bigger the better! We 'll cover the whole side of building I said. 'Yes, yes! The bigger the better! We'll cover the whole side of the building!' And of course, I was always great for coming up with ideas like that. You know. Most of the time people go blah-blah-blah. But U' the right people are there, then they 'll go with me. You know? And will go through it- you know what 1 mean? 'cause I won 't...1f there's other people around, that'll go along with it, then I'm not going to back out!I'm all set, to go! y'know!? So Richard said well you can 't make that! So well all right forty by twenty-j7ve feet. So Richard said noooo! Everybody started laughing. Laughing, laughing said'That's just gigantic! ' I said, 'That's right the whole building with lights and everything' So everyone got excited, y'know, yes, yes, so Paul went down and ordered it. We got it back and oh, we put it on the stage and Tom, Tom Higgins was there and we opened it up and it filled the whole stage. The whole stage. It was great. He's...you 'llnever get that up, you'll never get that up, cut it in haljf cut it in half that's the biggest sign in the world you 'll never make it! So anyway, we put the thing down and we started with it. That was the first tarp we ever put up. And uh, it took us a while to paint it, all night long we worked on that thing of course we didn 't know that much about it but we found out how to do it. We gridded it out and...those kind ofpeople were there. You know? Let's figure this out, you know? They were interested, and, you know, it wasn't just a- Aaaah, Richard gridded it ou t, in proportions and we cut out cardboard, and cut letters 3-foot letters and...painted that thing all night long. Then we put it up. So well, let's put it up. 'Cause that's when we were supposed to go as 1 said to Colorado. So we were all upset 'cause we couldn't go so we were going to make the best of this. So we hoisted that thing up from the grid all the way from the stage flaws up tlarouglz the grid up to the...the roof there... and lashed that thing up with steel cable and that was at 6 o'clock in the morning and we were on top of that building and oh, it was cold out- this was in May-it was in May, and uh, the sun was just coming up. Gfz, it was beautiful. Not a cloud in the sky and the sun was just coming up lover! the horizon...We were all on top of that buildingmwe let that sign down little by little...Barbara was there, down the bottom, and...we couldn't wait... We lashed the thing on- there, ran downstairs...I remember saying, 'No one goes out! Everyone waits down that door! No one gets to look first! ' No one could get ahead. I said, 'Everyone' We were going out there together. We didn 't want anyone to get out there first and see it, y'know? We all went down and waited at the door until everyone was down off the roof and everything and we just ran out the campus road there and we just laughed. We were in hysterics. We saw that thing up there and you couldn't imagine. We laughed and we laughed so hard we were crying. We were just so... you can't imagine. We were in tears! We were so happy that thing was up there. It was just beautiful. It was... what an experience at seven o'clock in the morning. We were in tears. We were so happy that we actually did it. You know, 'cause everyone was sayin 'You 'll never do it, you'll never do it...' And, of course that made us... drove us...Richard, of course, when you tell Richard he can 't do something, it pushes him more and more and more...I'll never forget that. We were in tears. We were so happy we were crying. I'll never forget that. Peter Cantone former Managing Editor, TORCH former President, Theatre Company former chef, P.J. Ke1ley's former Business Major, SMU presently attending graduate school, Hotel Management at UMass