A little free (and highly random) association for y'all...

Free Association:

Since my latest blog dealt with some fairly serious themes, let's shift gears. Are you up for a little free association about your years at Vanderbilt? If so, let's go....

Your freshman dorm: was it Vaughn; Lupton (I was on Lupton 2); anything in Kissam Quad?

Remember your first class freshman year? Mine was General Biology 101. I have mercifully forgotten the professor's name but I recall vividly that he walked in to the huge classroom in the Science Center, clasped his hands behind his back, looked up at the 100-odd of us, and intoned: "Class, this is a first. This will be the first time everyone is here and everyone is quiet"...and with that, he proceeded to begin a highly detailed lecture on the cell. We all scrambled for pens and notebooks as he looked at us over sardonically raised eyebrows. Oh, how I hated that class, and my grades showed it, too. We had great fun later in lab every week dissecting cats, frogs, and the biggest formaldehyde-laced worm I never hope to hang on my fishing line.

Your sophomore dorm: Barnard (a/k/a the Barnyard--yeah, that was my place); living in exile (or so it seemed to some) over on Peabody...or, were you one of the lucky souls who got a place off-campus? Mike Castellan's and Rick Cozby's place was strategically located virtually next door to Obie's Flying Tomato; they had a pet tarantula. (Rick and Mike, that is, not Obie's so far as I know. At least, I don't remember ever eating an large and hairy arachnid leg on one of their pizzas. Of course, I often had imbibed various mind-numbing substances before I began to eat eating said pizzas at 2 a.m.)

Off-campus places to hang out and eat (late night or early morning; hey, what's the diff?) Steak and Egg (good eats), Krystal (better eats), The Sub Station II (far superior), Mac's Country Cooking (OK, that had to be the apex of undergrad soul food); and, of course, TGI Friday's, Houston's, Spats, and the sainted Obie's and Rotier's. Awesome bean rolls at Exit Inn. Cold and cheap beer at Jonesy's. And don't forget running the risk of cashing a bad check--you really didn't want to do that, if all the rumors were true--as Mrs. Mize's liquor store. How many of these places are left now in the Vandy area?

Places to hang out on campus: The Wall--the hangout/sunspot/mail reading, post-class place numero uno. If you were lucky, or maybe cursed (no pun intended), Sister Cindy and Brother Jed might wander by to save your souls and denounce your heathenish, co-ed-chasin', cigarette-smokin', alcohol-drinkin' ways, you Vandy [here, I'll self-censor their memorable descriptions of all of us accursed groveling lowlifes].

Who was the Vandy Knight for Homecoming Eve '81 (a/k/a " A Knight to Remember"?) Hint: he had eyebrows that would make a schnauzer jealous, but he was perhaps one of the most impressive persons that many of us still think we may ever meet, as a scholar, an administrator and leader, and as a person. Chancellor Heard was truly a Renaissance man.

Did you ever go into the steam tunnels? There is proof that these definitely did exist beneath those manhole covers, and in the days before Tom Cruise cut his chops, several of our classmates have their own "Mission Impossible" tales of derring-do and evasive maneuvers in escaping Campus Security (a/k/a Vandy's Finest) that would make a commando proud. (Caveat: Those midnight tunnelers had better be good: they certainly didn't want to get hauled before Vandy's Lord of Discipline, Dean K.C. Potter. Further caveat: Do not confuse the above mentioned Lord of Discipline with the Lords of Flatulence, a most excellent intramural sports-jock squad. To do so would be a most serious mistake. Another serious mistake would be to confuse the Lords of Flatulence with the Society of Creative Anachronism members who'd take to sword-dueling on Alumni Lawn occasionally...they were the ones in armor. The ones marching about sharply in the black or khaki uniforms with the white Good Humor Man hats would be the Navy ROTC midshipmen and midshipwomen--uh, midshippersonages. Confusing these two groups would be yet a fourth mistake. But, I digress....)

Remember where you were when President Reagan was shot? I was just walking into my dorm at the time, Tolman, right after a poli-sci class, and soon thereafter heard Al Haig utter those memorable words, "I'm in charge here!" Scary thing, that. That was a moment many of us will never forget.

Listening to the Davis Family (if memory serves correctly, that was their name) at The Bluegrass Inn? That was long before "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" and bluegrass became cool. For my money, nobody ever did "Fox on the Run" any better.

If bluegrass didn't float your boat, there were always the Vandy Concerts performances, or Sarratt Cinema, or plays or The Original Cast (they were usually staging a show each Parents' Weekend) ,or IMPACT, or the SGA Speaker Series. There were always parties. And, there was always a road trip to see "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." If you couldn't make it to Mardi Gras, you could always drink a Hurricane or Play-De-Do at Cajun's Wharf across the river. But, if you really wanted authentic performance art, there was the old Gerst Haus, with the guaranteed-meanest wait staff ever found south of Hell's Kitchen, or a 2 a.m. trip to Mary's BBQ in North Nashville where you'd be served out of a whitewashed cinderblock building that could easily have passed for a bunker at Checkpoint Charlie in East Berlin. Damn fine barbecue, though.

Learning early computer programming: in FORTRAN and COBOL on that gigantic old DEC 10 at the Computer Center (for some, just a convenient excuse to play early computer games).

Now, it's your turn, folks: yes, you can do this too. Just pour yourself your favorite beverage; turn on your lava lamp or your ancient eight-track player with Steve Miller, beach music, Bob Marley or Earth, Wind & Fire; think of Dr. Lach's philosophy class, a good day at Dudley Field, or a good nighttime walk around the Parthenon--whatever turns you on--and, free-associate to your heart's content!