Leaving "like" behind

I hope the Alumni Bulletin carries more well-written, enjoyable articles like "IM, UGGs, 'Hey Ya!' and Beer Pong: Your Guide to Popular Culture at Kenyon" (Spring 2004). Writers Shawn Presley and Gordon Young describe how cell phones on campus are "not cool" and quote a first-year student as saying, "I had mine and someone, like, bugged me about it every day, like, you can't use that on campus." No cell phones! What welcome news! Hopefully, the trend will spread. But a monumental task remains: to immerse that student in a culture where he learns to express himself without using the word "like" once or twice in every sentence. Good luck with that!

--Ed Koran '53

Cover-to-cover kudos

The recent edition of the Alumni Bulletin (Spring 2004) was, cover to cover, the finest I have read in more than fifty years. After reading it through two or three times, Kenyon was more real to me than June of 1950. My thanks to all of those connected to its publication.

--Paul S. Buck '50

Whatever happened to Wales Tails?

I read the Spring 2004 issue of the Bulletin with special interest in the story on drinking games ("IM, UGGs, 'Hey Ya!' and Beer Pong: Your Guide to Popular Culture at Kenyon"). I was in the upper echelons of those playing Wales Tails during my years at Kenyon, and I wonder what happened to this grand old tradition? The game was based on the Prince of Wales having lost his tails. The players take turns accusing and denying the theft. I can move rather fast, and a player making a mistake must drink. It wouldn't surprise me if the game isn't played during Reunion Weekend by some of the gray-hairs coming back to Gambier.

--Stephen Bartlett '69

A splashing success

The Spring 2004 issue was the best Alumni Bulletin ever and quite a credit to the College. The swim team articles were particularly good.

--Bob Wilson '51

Dreaded ropes, stylish engines

I, too, recall the rope ("Recalling the Rope," Spring 2004), but I encountered it in elementary school, not middle school. (For one thing, middle schools hadn't been invented yet.) I went to two elementary schools in Detroit, and both had the dreaded rope.

Like others in my obsolete age group, I find reverse type difficult to read. The greenish background for the story on "metrosexuals" (a word, I am pleased to say, not recognized by my spell checker) presented a challenge. But it was worth the struggle ("Your Guide to Popular Culture at Kenyon"). However, some translations are needed. "A lot of them [guys] wear Diesel and nice shoes." A lot of guys wear a type of engine? And what is today's definition of "nice" shoes? Surely not the plain-toed cordovans or dirty white bucks of my day! I wore those plain-toed cordovans throughout my career. The first pair, which I bought from a traveling shoe man in Gambier in 1950, cost the outrageous sum of $20. The last pair, bought in the early 1990s, was $300. Same damn shoe.

By the way, the cool style of my day was to be "conspicuously inconspicuous."

--Doug Downey '51

War, sacrifice, and freedom

"Vietnam and the Shootings at Kent State" (Winter 2004) was of interest, as I am probably one of the few from Kenyon who served in Vietnam (Pleiku, 1966-67, flying rescue helicopters), and I completed a masters program at Kent State University in the spring of 1970. The few lines which Professor Rogan wrote concerning those who gave the ultimate sacrifice seemed lacking compared to lines written about Students for a Democratic Society and the Weathermen--especially when the moral, political background and the intent of these organizations are known.

American forces never lost a major battlefield engagement in Vietnam. France learned in the 1950s, and the communists knew, that you can win military battles but lose a war in your own cities. Did the protestors at Kenyon know this? As Professor Rogan gave his antiwar sermons, did he ever include Luke 22:35-38? As he penned his article, did he pray for or mourn the thousands who were forced into "reeducation camps," the boat people lost at sea or ravaged by pirates, or the genocide victims in the killing fields of Cambodia? How many died without knowing a basic concept that we take for an absolute: freedom?

Life teaches that when someone is preaching hatred of others, then we must be ready to defend and protect our civilization. Freedom has a price. There are over 66,000 World War II American graves in France. It isn't always the other citizen's responsibility to defend you. Sometimes the meek, the mild, and the pacificist must face reality.

Is the syndrome starting again? The antiwar faction is very vocal about what they don't want, but for what and when will they sacrifice? Will they repeat the past and accept the horrors of a Stalin, Hitler, Mao, or now of Bin Laden--get someone else to die for their cause? War has been present somewhere in the world almost every day of my life. To expect a quick end to violence seems naive. I hope and pray for a better-educated society, one that understands there is a difference between peace and freedom.

--Fredrik M. Bergold '59

To Our Letter Writers
The Bulletin welcomes letters of three hundred or fewer words. Letters to the editor may be used for publication unless the author states the letter is not to be published. Letters may be edited for style, length, clarity, grammar, and relevance to Kenyon issues. Please address submissions to: Editor, Kenyon College Alumni Bulletin, Office of Public Affairs, Gambier, Ohio 43022. Letters may also be submitted to alumni@kenyon.edu.

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