University of Massachusetts Amherst - Index Yearbook (Amherst, MA)

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way he vanished without awaiting his present after the first operetta we won- dered — and so did the audience — but Doric ' s seeming patience at rehearsals is really a study in self-control — maybe he uses yogi. Speaking of rehearsals, there is Doric ' s habitual relaxing. Many a coed has wondered audibly why he bothered to get all dressed up anyway. Almost invariably Doric arrives at rehearsals with jacket, sweater, shirt and tie. Right at the beginning, he lays aside his jacket, preparing for action, then at intervals in the succeeding ten minutes, he rolls up his shirtsleeves, loosens his tie, opens his shirt collar, takes off his sweater and removes his tie in approximately that order, meanwhile stretching his sweater — while he retains it — nearly down to his knees. It is almost impossible to picture Doric as a member of the faculty. One of the first profs incoming freshmen meet, he has been taken frequently for a senior, so lacking is all pomp and most dignity. Informal, friendly, collegiate, admired and liked for the verve and spirit he brings to campus doings, he commands, nevertheless, as much respect as docs the most austere professor. To put it briefly — a really swell guy, that ' s Doric. Katie QluUit tui4. Pilx Ufiusx Where are you going . To the infirmary, to have my throat sprayed. Haven ' t you been yet? The flu epidemic on campus seemed to be reaching alarming dimensions. Rumors of a-patient-every-other-minute records were being spread and made to appear plausible by the migrations headed away from classroom buildings toward the ex-Phi-Sig house, now the Student In- firmary, since the Army took over the original di-spensary of bandages and cold- pills. Late one night, a merry group of freshman girls skipped and giggled down Fraternity Row. Asked where they were going, they replied in chorus with the old refrain: To the infirmary. Soon, every healthy person left on campus hesitated to confess to his ab- normal condition. The feeling seemed to prevail that, if one did not manifest one ' s school spirit by sharing the common torture of having his throat painted, one might at least co-operate to the extent of sniffing and coughing a bit. Other means had failed to get the Christmas vacation extended. Surely the Board of Health could be convinced, by mass action, that an epidemic student body should not be subjected to contaminated last-minute hour examinations. Did you hear that we are going to be dismissed at Convo? Not until then? I thought we weren ' t going to be here after Wednesday noon. At any rate, rumors, as usual optimis- tic, soon made rosy results out of the yearning snifl ' s of coeds. There was even supposed to have been a faculty meeting called on the subject. A specific professor was praised for having advocated the cause of the long vacation. But Wednesday came and went, and nothing happened. Thursday arrived, and students sneezed and yawned through Convo; still the administration was silent and unmoved. There were reports that the infirmary was not quite so crowded on Friday morning. The pilgrimage had been unsuccessful; and the frustrated pilgrims, equipped with coughdrops and red noses, were homeward bound. Eva Schiffer jbocto Q. Have you seen the little man with the large straw hat digging up the Butter- field Terrace Victory gardens? Armed with felt cap and rake, he labors among 12

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vier. And it so happens that the um- brella and the man were walking as far as Norzagaray Street, where he was going to catch a bus — or — well, something vehicular. Now, any queer name like Norzagaray undoubtedly belongs to the Basque tongue. The Basques come from a high country in the Pyrenees; they have never been conquered; their language is the most difScult in the world. Unamuno, the brilliant philosopher, is a Basque. And there is a dose of geography, mil- itary strategy and biography, courtesy of Dr. Fraker. Then, too, our hero, besides protecting himself from the rain, had another purpose in mind. He was going to Colorado. Introducing American History. Dr. Fraker was born in Colorado, which, until 1919, was Indian Territory. The people planted crops and herded cows, and, when the men were away, the women fought the Indians alone. This is the be- ginning of an American Saga. Spanish becomes, not a jumble of verbs and rules for using the subjunctive, but a living, working language. Often, under the stress, the professorial pencil breaks and, very seriously. Dr. Fraker produces a pen-knife and very seriously whittles his pencil into a sym- metrical pin-point. At which point, a bell rings and Dr. Fraker collects his watch and beret. Spanish class is over. C AND ICE Read Once upon a time when butter was plentiful, nylons purchasable, and MEN on the campus, the student body was too large for the auditorium. To the indigna- tion of the upperclasses, it was, therefore, decreed that the juniors and seniors should attend convocation during alternate sem- esters. Those were the days! Awed fresh- men used to stand at respectful attention while the senior class strutted out, to the strains of the Alma Mater. And when the turn of the juniors came, they usurped regretfully-surrendered seats of giggling sessions and self-importance. It is not now as it has been of yore. The student body has adjusted itself to the auditorium. Juniors and seniors, in merry company, knit and write letters at the same convocation. A junior can no longer occupy the seat of her senior friend who has an aversion to military speakers or has run out of stationery. Outnumbered and robbed of their masculine poise, the upper classes tiptoe to their conspicuous position under the watchful eyes of the monitor and the platform, and sneak out between the self-possessed glares of freshman womanhood. „ Skip An in-a-word description of Doric Joseph Alviani, Ed.M., is enthusiasm. Descriptive as the term may be, it is nonetheless an understatement. Doric ' s vitality, pep and go have put the snap into many a campus frolic. Just like one of the gang, he is always ready for fun, and his grand sense of humor and hearty laughter make him welcome everywhere. A broad grin, a whiffle, and, come zero zephyrs, an extraordinary fur coat are his trademarks. Happy-go-lucky as he may seem, Doric is not just a rah-rah boy; those who have seen him work have been conscious of a strong current of seriousness beneath the carefree exterior, and of his understand- ing, sincere love for music. Never is this feeling more evident than when he raises his fine baritone voice in song or plays so expressively on the organ or piano. He does not completely betray his appear- ance, however, for he can tickle a mean ivory in a hot bit of boogie-woogie. With all these accomplishments comes one inevitable questio n — Temperamen- tal? Well, that ' s hard to say. After the 11

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the fall leaves. At 7:58, he whizzes down Fraternity Row and pedals up the Old Chapel hill just as coeds break into a run for their eight o ' clock class. (It ' s his gear shifts that get him there.) He is present among innocent gather- ings of students everywhere. Bull sessions inevitably turn from the last U.S.O. dance to a baffling discussion buzzing with f utilitarian irony, and religious hu- manism (not to be confused with moral humanism ), natural super- naturalism, and the twofold law of righteousness. The outsider is left some- what in the dark; but when he hears the Renaissance discussed in terms of per- vasive dualism and master dilemma, he knows he is dealing with a student of Dr. Goldberg. So what ' s and curlecues which, upon deciphering, turn out to be question marks printed across a freshman ' s scru- pulously composed argumentative theme, are another clue to identification of this remarkable professor. Which comes first, the chicken or the egg? is the Doctor ' s paraphrase of the more usual comment, illogical se- quence. Is it surprising that Dr. Gold- berg ' s marginal remarks rate high in the appreciation of his students? Recently, a freshman even received personal advice on a margin, after having emphatically explained the purely Platonic nature of his interest in a girl. Quoth the wise counsellor, Watch out! In class. Dr. Goldberg is famous for austerity, but strangely so ; for Li ' l Abner often makes an appearance in his literary discussion; and he dramatizes effectively the spitting schoolmaster from J. A. Rice ' s Cavie Out of the Eighteenth Cen- tury. For many, the onion will long impersonate Beowulf. And, as we peel tearfully, Dr. Goldberg ' s analogy of the accretive layers in Beowulf ' s character will be painfully evident at the disclosure of each additional layer. When Dr. Goldberg reverts to serious- ness, all sorts of things may happen. Once, when he had just expounded the difference between moral and re- ligious humanism, — at that crucial moment — a string of pearls broke. There, remarked Dr. Goldberg with gratification, you see how emphatically I stated that? As a matter of fact. Doctor G. is usually emphatic, except in asserting his privilege of closing the period, which the class grants him with exceptional generosity. There is an alarm clock on his table; but, much to the secret disappointment of students, it does not go off with a loud clamor, for it is not set. Invariably, therefore. Dr. Goldberg carries his in- spiring enthusiasm to a rapt audience several minutes beyond the end of the period. His are some of the very few students who do not object to running to their next class, in exchange for a closing remark on the compleat gentleman or on Daisy Mae. Skip If the scurrying figure of a small- statured man is sighted in the Mathemat- ics Building, it is undoubtedly Professor Moore — better known to the students as Dinty . Besides being head of the mathematics department, he is also the motivating force behind the Mathe- matics Club. To those who lack the opportunity of becoming acquainted with Dinty, he may at first appear to be gruff and abrupt. However, those who are acquainted with him realize and enjoy the real Dinty, for under his seeming harshness is as friendly and sympathetic a professor as can be found on campus. Perhaps it is through his apparent brusqueness that he com- mands the attention, awe, and respect of so many students, particularly the 13