University of Maine - Prism Yearbook (Orono, ME)

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Dorm living is an experience most university students go through, one time or another. For some it’s a phase best forgotten, for others it's an exciting and successful way to temporarily live, but for all it's a chance to learn and grow, with some taking and a lot of giving. For eight months you. with all your wordly possessions, and your roommate (or two if you’re really lucky) sleep, study and entertain in this cubicle. It's hard to avoid personal contact with your cube'’ mates. THEREfore, it’s highly recommended you establish open lines of communication. Then there's the neighbors. Everyone knows how quiet and considerate you are but there's always a couple on the wing who can't follow your example. To deal with the rowdy cheering in the hall during a frisbee game — while the Grateful Dead screams forth in quadraphonic sound, you (a) wait until 5 a.m. to turn on your stereo, full blast, playing Sousa Marches, (b) pad your walls, floor and ceiling, (c) go out and join them like you secretly wanted to in the first place. You may not have to clean your room, but eventually you have to do laundry (underwear can only be turned inside out once, and jeans start begging to be washed). Usually, the machines are in the basement, a real joy if you're on the 4th floor. Naturally, everyone does their wash Saturday and Sunday mornings. This means you learn to time to the second when a machine will be free. You race down 80 stairs, laundry bag slung over your shoulder and Cold Power All in hand. The clothes are thrown in together (colors, delicates, whites) along with an undetermined amount of detergent. You dial 31

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When your little sister brother asks you what to bring to school — what will they need in their dorm room? . . . You stop and think . . . earplugs? Binoculars or a telescope to catch the streakers, maybe a camera with a good flash; sleeping bag and air mattress for when you get kicked out of your room, a broiler is nice for grilled cheese at midnight; beer mugs or martini glasses (also good for pudding.) And when your grandmother asks you about dorm life, what do you say? What can you say? The showers are super? The girls in the next room have bunk beds and every time the girl on top jumps into bed, your mirror almost falls off the wall? The rooms are too small (too small for you. your roommate and her three boyfriends) . . . you don't like school because you can't wear your bathrobe to breakfast? What you leave out is the real dorm life . . . Like when the girls down the hall yell, “Ann's passed out in the waste basket. I think she's dead! Or the night the boys attacked your floor with shaving cream at 3 a.m. and turned the hall into a Winter Wonderland. The nights you danced (ALL NIGHT) on the beds while Hot Rocks” blared from the stereo. The night you read pornography out loud to the kids on your section and they said. “How many ways can you say the same thing? The day you went to take a bath but the little room was so full of marijuana smoke you were afraid you'd be stoned before you got out of there (but you went in anyway). . . The mornings you woke up with someone in your bed who liked to watch the same cartoons you did...........................

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to the permanent press setting (isn't everything permanent press today?). Then you realize you forgot the 35 cents. On a daily basis there's mail time. Supposedly a pleasant ritual, checking your box. A message, a word from the outside world, a check from home could be awaiting your immediate attention. The glorious day comes: you see four envelopes in the box. You're so excited you almost forget the combination . . . three letters for your roommate, a Newsweek bill for you. and a note — male phone call, no message. ... 01 course dorm life isn’t all bad. negative, and down. There are a few ups. It's harder to skip classes. You may not see that as an up. but it's a long run-up. When you’re only three minutes away from Little Hall, it's hard to justify not going. Even if you DID wake up ten minutes after class started. (I could have sworn I set that alarm.) It's easy to live right on campus because everything is right at your toetips. It’s a pleasant walk to the library, even at 11 p.m. (you still can get in one hour of study); movies at Hauck, Little and Nutting (best if you live at THAT end of campus); the gym (quick 20 laps in the pool before lunch or a basketball game?); lectures, mini and major, all over campus, anyone from Steve King to John Dean; concerts and recitals, etc. etc. And then the main reason people stay on-campus: the STREAKERS, who only grow on campus. These flowers bloom in the spring around the dorms. They have short but fruitful lives. . . . While off campus people relish the distance between them and Campus-world most on campus people like being in the middle of this world. 32