It was June 1971 and I was on the plane on my way to Buffalo for an orientation for my freshman year. Now you may wonder why I was on the way to Buffalo when I had got a full ride academic scholarship to NYU (that will be a later blog). When I got there with several hundred other incoming freshman that would all become my closest friends(LOL), well at least a few, we got to sample what life at UB would be like. I met a girl that was the same height as me, six foot tall. She was the off spring of a Swedish man and Japanese woman that met during the occupation of Japan after WWII. She was absolutely Gorgeous and she was the first girl I knew that was my height. We spent most of that weekend together. It definitely gave me something to look forward to when I would be coming back in the fall.
They told us about a new experiment in American College Education that they were going to do. They wanted to start a residential college system similar to that at Oxford and Cambridge. There were going to be four colleges: Clifford Furness College (the science); College B (the humanities); Rachael Carson College (the environment); and an Art College. Clifford Furnas and College B were to be in McDonald Hall and the other two in the residential hall across the quad. The concept was that rather then upper class resident advisers, all the resident advisers will be graduate students. The Dorm director rather then being just some elderly couple would be a Junior Faculty member and their family. There would also be fellows of the College and they would hold seminars and offer non-credit courses exclusively for the members of the college. The idea was to have students who would expand their studies outside of the traditional disciplines and combine the arts and science when approaching a topic. I intellectually fell in love with the idea and ran to sign up. I met Lyle Borst PhD the Dean of Clifford Furnas College and Jon Ketchum (pictured at right) the Dean of College B. I will have lots more Blogs ab
out both these men as they are two of the most important men in my intellectual development and also both had fascinating history and uniquely inquisitive minds.We also met Warren and Tony Barbour(see picture of Warren on right) the dorm 'parents' . They lived with their new born daughter in an apartment on the first floor. Warren was an anthropology Professor and specialized in mid American ancient cultures and headed the excavation of The Teotihuacan Valley Project.
As a founding member, I stayed with Cliford Furnass College for six years through the end of my Junior year in Medical school(being the longest resident member ever). It was where I met Margie my wife. I had so many fantastic encounters with professors that I would never have had if I wasn't a resident there. Through Jon Ketchum I developed my strong interest in philosophy and stayed, during the summers, at the student residence Oakstone Farm that he ran. So stay tuned and I'll blog a lot on these topics and men.
This Blog Snippets of my life, is going to be a daily blog for at least one year. I will tell stories about me that I hope you find interesting. If you like them please do two things: click to become a follower; and post on your Facebook page or twitter them. I hope to have 10,000 followers by years end. Some stories will be very personal. I will try to remember the correct names of those involved, however, I have a terrible memory for names and some names will be completely fictitious. The stories however are completely truthful as far as I can remember. Hope you enjoy.
