Letters

QUOTE/UNQUOTE "My favorite place at Dartmouth was not the river, the cemetery or the Bema but the inquisitive mind (and the all too many yet-unread books) I found opened in Hanover," —TIM PATRICK-MILLER '78

Fave Places

I WANT TO THANK YOU FOR THAT wonderful "My Dartmouth" [Mar/Apr], of which I read every word. Although I predate the authors who contributed, it was all very familiar and left me with a warm glow. Although I spent most of my four years with the Dartmouth Players and working in the Tower Room (40 cents an hour), I loved the whole College and had no favorite places. What Dartmouth gave me and two generations beyond was a love for the outdoors and especially for New Hampshire—the greatest gift of all.

Palatine Bridge, New York

THE FAVORITE PLACES ARTICLE made for a most enjoyable mental stroll about campus. My friend Noel Fidel '66 won't be surprised to hear that I second his emotion for Bartlett Tower as No. 1 among all the special spots Dartmouth has to offer—and that I share his disappointment at the College's having rescinded the offer. Noel's not kidding about the kryptonite bike lock. He didn't mention the offensive sign on the locked gate that explicitly threatens to prosecute anyone even thinking about how pleasant it would be to once again scale those stairs. The tower is literally never open to the public.

So what's the deal? Having poked around a bit and lobbied several in the administration, the best I can ascertain is this: A few kids tried to climb the outside of the tower, fell off, broke something and sued. So the College locked the door and (ironically) gave the only key to the Mountaineering Club, effectively bequeathing this great campus asset to a minuscule minority.

[Director of Alumni Relations] Nels Armstrong '71 (whom, don't get me wrong, I love) told me that the Alumni Relations Office would address the issue if and only if there was a ground swell of alumni interest in Bartlett Tower. To me that sounded like a request for a few thousand e-mails to nels.armstrong@ dartmouth.edu. If the spirit moves you, tell Nels what a crummy deal you think it is that students and alumni have been barred from this favorite campus locale.

Lincoln, Massachusettsl.philip.odence.79@alnm.dartmouth.org

I enjoyed the comments of coach Barry Harwick '77 about Pine Park being one of his favorite places at Dartmouth. That must be true of many past and present Dartmouth runners. It's certainly true of me. Barry's wrong, though, about how Freshman Hill got its name. Here's my version, which will probably be corrected by someone truly old. Back when there were freshman teams, this was the only big hill on the freshman course, though we ran it as upperclassmen, too, as part of the longer varsity race. To our minds, Freshman Hill extended not just up onto the golf course the way I think the teams run it now, but switched back 180 degrees around a big tree and then up, and up some more, to what must be the highest point on the golf course, overlooking that wide open area that we knew as the "sun bowl." It was that demoralizing second section that made it such an advantage to Dartmouth runners (though it never helped me much!). Sometime in 1970 or 1971 Sports Illustrated ran an article on great American cross-country courses, and the photo it ran to illustrate Dartmouth's was of runners laboring up the piney first half of Freshman Hill.

We also had "Varsity Hill," which was a feature only of the upperclassmen's course. It was the hill heading north, back up onto the fairways paralleling the Lyme Road. To longtime coach Ellie Noyes, that long flat stretch alongside the road, followed by the 90-degree turn to the west at its end, was "Broadway and 42nd Street."

Woodbury, Connecticut

The snippets of prose and photos awakened dormant memories of a magical time and place: my peripatetic years at Dartmouth College. I have several favorite places, though I remember more the favorite journeys than the destinations, especially the mirthful discoveries with classmates and the joyful reflections in solitude.

I remember first the daily journey (and occasional food-tray sledding) through the mystical cemetery, thinking against an old elm tree, reading my Walt Whitman, writing my Shakespeare paper, but really enjoying the quiet solitude of time frozen still. Second, the panorama of pines admired daily through the picture windows of the Tuck library while I daydreamed through my many science texts in my favorite chair. Third, swaying with the Ledyard piers alongside the Connecticut River, where the "'shmen of French Hall" laughed sophomore summer away. Last, the terms abroad Eurorailing the continent, worshipping weekly the Monets in the Courtauld or the Turners in the Tate.

Years later, returning gratefully to the unchanged Bema for a 20th reunion dinner and sad that so many friends were not there, I revisited my still-unfinished copy of Robert of Melancholy. I realized my favorite place at Dartmouth was not the river, the cemetery or the Bema but the inquisitive mind (and the all too many yet-unread books) I found opened in Hanover.

Princeton, New Jerseytpm78@netscape.net

My favorite places at Dartmouth were the balconies and front porches where I watched the sun set in the west, the living rooms where anyone who came by was welcomed and the basements where I had the pleasure of watching people laughing and enjoying themselves on weeknights and weekends alike. Where were these places? They could be found at my fraternity and all of the other houses on fraternity row.

It is a shame that the DAM continuously gives a bitter, classless and angry woman from Brooklyn named Regina Barreca '79 a forum to spew her venom at a place that so many Dartmouth alums enjoyed and remember fondly. I also question Barreca's honesty and the DAM's fact checking, as I'll bet that no one ever offered her a "smacking kiss" or threw scalding water" on her or her friends. As to the "acid scent of beer and piss, I guess Barreca's Brooklyn-trained nose had loads of experience to draw upon in making this outrageous accusation, as that is what Brooklyn smells like to me whenever I have the misfortune of going there.

New York, New Yorkdvonredern@aol.com

Gina Barreca replies: I got the smacking kiss. The scalding water happened to a fraternitypledge who ended up in Dick's Housewith third-degree bums. Trust me, I could havetold worse stories. But don't worry: The row hasso many defenders I'm sure one little vox cryingin the wilderness couldn't damage its otherwisesterling reputation. My Grandfather, E. K. WOODWORTH, class of 1897, and his brother Charles, class of 1907, would have loved the favorite places choices of David Hooke '84. The Moosilauke summit photo shows the plaque commemorating their 1920 gift of the summit, which helped Dartmouth pioneer oneer what is now nationally embraced as the "Freshman Trip." Wood worths and their in-laws and cousins owned and ran Moosilauke's Tip Top House from 186O to 1920.

North Andover, Massachusettswnpgoss@aol.com

Back the Mac

How sad to learn that Dartmouth is abandoning the Macintosh platform just as it is reaching new heights ["Campus," Mar/Apr], Reviewers and technology pundits are virtually unanimous in their praise of the elegance and functionality of new iMac and System X. Even The WallStreet Journal, not traditionally sympathetic to the Mac platform, has recognized the Mac's superiority as a "digital hub."

The marketplace is speaking, too. While massively discounted PCs languish on store shelves, there's a six-week waiting list for iMacs at the Apple dealer where my mom just bought her new computer.

The other troubling aspect of the Colleg's decision is that Dartmouth is now just another cog in the Microsoft/Intel duopoly, feeding millions of dollars every year to Bill Gates and rewarding Microsoft's unsavory if not illegal business practices. Instead of allowing their products to compete fairly with others, Microsoft documents describe their strategy as "cutting off [competitors'] air supply" by threatening and bullying hardware manufacturers who dare to even communicate with other software firms.

Is this the sort of technology or morality Dartmouth wishes to support?

Walpole, New Hampshirerick@putney.com

Monumental Aversion

Thank you to michael wygant '58 for his comments on the Vietnam monument ["Letters," Mar/Apr], Graceless and nondescript appear to be accurate, as well as a sell-out. I thought I was taking the monuments lack of taste too seriously, being a Vietnam paraplegic and knowing several of the men who died, including soccer bud Bill Smoyer '67. For five years or so this was a pretty popular war, and now it is simply dismissed as a mistake. Perhaps the comments of Robert Reich '68 to this publication in 1968 should be added to this scrapheap, negating most, if not all, of its value.

Santa Rosa, California

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