1939

777 West Street Pittsfield, MA 01201

We are sorry to have to open this column with sad news of the passing of GusZitrides on January 27th.

The following column has been contributed by Bill Bachman.

As I write this, it's the last day of the year and I'm aboard the good ship StellaSolaris, 1,000 miles up the Amazon River. And, I'm wondering how I ever let Dick Jackson talk me into being "guest editor!" The combination of year end and thinking alumni means looking back a nostalgia trip. And that leads to a bit of literary piracy. Perhaps you have seen the following. If so, forgive. It's thought-provoking and there's a message here for all of us.

THE WAY WE WERE

We were before the pill and the population explosion - which oddly enough, went hand in hand.

We were before television. Before penicillin, polio shots, antibiotics, and frisbees. Before frozen food, nylon, dacron, Xerox, Kinsey. We were before radar, fluorescent lighting, credit cards, and ballpoint pens. For us, time-sharing meant togetherness, not computers; a chip meant a piece of wood, hardware meant hardware, and software wasn't even a word.

In our time, closets were for clothes, not for coming out of, and a book about two young women living together in Europe could be called Our Hearts WereYoung and Gay. In those days, bunnies were small rabbits and rabbits were not Volkswagens. We were before Grandma Moses and Frank Sinatra and cup-sizing for bras.

We were before Batman, Grapes ofWrath, Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer, and Snoopy. Before DDT and vitamin pills, vodka (in the United States) and the white wine craze, disposable diapers, jeeps, and the Jefferson nickel. Before Scotch tape, Grand Coulee Dam, M and M's, the automatic shift, and Lincoln Continentals.

When we were in school, pizzas, Cheerios, frozen orange juice, instant coffee, and McDonald's were unheard of. We thought fast food was what you ate during Lent.

We were before FM radio, tape recorders, electric typewriters, word processors, Muzak, electronic music, and disco dancing.

Almost no one flew across the country then and trans-Atlantic flight was mainlv for Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart. We were before the. United Nations and Israel. Before India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Iceland, and the Philippines became independent countries. Since "our day" at least 92 countries 48 of them African have become independent nations.

We were before pantyhose and drip-dry clothes. Before ice-makers and dishwashers, clothes dryers, freezers, and electric blankets. Before men wore long hair and earrings and women wore tuxedos. We got married first and then lived together. How quaint can you be?

In our day grass was mowed, Coke was something you drank, and pot was something you cooked in. The term "making out" referred to how you did on an exam.

In those days there were five-and-tencent stores where you could buy things for five and ten cents. For just one nickel you could ride the subway or make a phone call, or buy enough stamps to mail one letter and two postcards. You could buy a new Chevy coupe for $659, but who could afford that in those days? Nobody. A pity, too, because gasoline was 11 cents a gallon.

That's the way it was and will never be again!

The message? As times change, the College must change, too. No amount of Alumni wailing will ever return the Hanover Plain to the way it was in 1939. Certainly, abstaining from participation in the Alumni Fund does little to accommodate the changes necessary to match the College to the generation it serves. Perhaps it's even more important this year than ever. With a new president in the offing, whoever he may be, he will need support. You can bet the students will be minimally interested their interest is in graduation. The administrator's interests lie with their jobs under the new president and the faculty will be split down the middle. That leaves the Trustees and the alumni with the latter most important for obvious reasons numbers and mmoney.

So, in the end it's you and I the alumni who are best able to influence the future of the College by supporting the new president. Not giving to the Fund is a negative vote. Let's give a resounding "aye" with a generous gift to the Alumni Fund.

On a personal note: retired from the ad biz 14 years ago and now wonder how I ever had time to work! Still married to the same wonderful gal, spending seven months a year in North Palm Beach and five in Michigan. Lots of traveling and lots of golf and enough community volunteer work to keep very busy. Like being a guest editor! Had a ball at the Dartmouth-Navy mini-reunion and now looking forward to our big 50th. Is it only the. year after next? Impossible!