1984

While I was considering what to write for this nostalgia issue, it occurred to me that it has been exactly ten years since our freshman year on the Plain. While I am sure there were many first-year experiences that were very different from my own, I hope this somewhat romanticized recounting of my freshman season will cause you to recall some of your own memories from the fall of 1980 and the winter and spring of 1981.

My earliest memory is hiking through the mountains of New Hampshire on my freshman trip, learning "Men of Dartmouth" with tripmates who included Jeff Couture, BobMansfield, Beth O'Neill, Lucia Jackson (later our class president), and John Hurd. I remember eating green eggs at Moosilauke, learning the salty dog rag, and listening to ghost stories by the fire. I remember the endless tests and parties of freshman week, Dean Manuel's address in Webster Hall, and President John Kemeny beginning his convocation speech with his trademark "Men and Women (sounds like 'vimen') of Dartmouth." I remember all the pageantry of crisp fall football Saturdays: running across the Green with classmates like Katie Tongue, JonnaKirschner Sinclair, and Pam RossCiszewski toward the sea of '84 jerseys in the stadium; passing people "over the top" and making our class numeral during halftime (no one seemed to care if we disrupted the visiting band's formation), and running into the corner of the stadium to sing the alma mater.

I remember sneaking into fraternities to learn beer pong even though freshmen were not yet allowed (I believe the statute of limitations has lapsed); helping to build the bonfire 84 railroad ties high and staying out all night to guard it; writing my first articles for The Dartmouth along with Ken Ackerman,Mike Drooff, Shaun Gurl, and TamaraLoomis. I remember heavy-duty, all you caneat and then some meals at Thayer Dining Hall when that was the only place to eat.

I distinctly remember questioning my college choice when the temperature failed to climb above zero degrees for the first week of winter term. As things warmed up a little, I remember taking the bus from the Green to the Skiway (before there was any snow-making); playing hockey on Occom and watching the varsity in Thompson; long, cold walks from the River Cluster; and reading "Paradise Lost" in freshman English. I remember our first Winter Carnival helping to build the Cat in the Hat snow sculpture on a snow less Green and marvelling as the campus was invaded by outsiders; watching Animal House in Webster Hall; and nearly freezing my toes off as a member of the DOC's Winter Sports Division marking the ski jump at the golf course.

Then came spring term. I went through Rush and joined Kappa Sigma with a pledge class including Gus Rogerson, Ric "Scarf"Lewis, Allen Taber, and Chuck Chapman, to name just a few. I remember Bill Asher,John Kennedy, Jim Clemens and I "brother raiding" a senior and taking him to Lake Sunapee, and then being kidnapped at 3 a.m. the next morning and left in the woods of northern Vermont. I remember Freshman Parents Weekend, my freshman seminar, and sorority formals (the first fraternity formals were still to come). I remember Green Key Weekend's pre-censorship "Hums," including Phi Delt's "Take a Walk on the Phi Side," enjoying the outside bands, and getting pelted with eggs and flour while pulling a chariot around the field at the River Cluster.

After exams I headed home for my summer job and hoped that Sophomore year would be just as good.

Brad M. Hutersky, 8 Wild Rose Court, Bloomfield, CT 06002