A few CVRR pictures and some other related pictures....

[MurphOnMillerAve]

It was heaven there. Absolute heaven.

I liked the University. They gave us money, they gave us the facilities and we didn't have to produce anything!

And then you were cast out, a fallen angel unleashed upon the unsuspecting youth of the world.....unrestrained, unrepentant, and unconforming to any and all standards.

Oh wait, maybe that's me,

1845? Hmmmm.......1st college I was at was founded in 1832 in PA. Couldn't afford to go there now!

(1.) I didn't feel "cast out" at all; rather, well prepared to be an adult in a challenging world, replete with Vietnam looming over everything.
(2.) "Fallen angel"? Well, no angel, but "fallen" , ah, well , ah, er, not for me to say....
(3.)"Unleashed upon unsuspecting youth of the world.." Yes! Yes, indeed! I became an elementary school teacher and, then, of high school. And boy-o-boy was I unleashed, and were they unsuspecting! They weren't sure what hit 'em - a young man with traditional (old?) standards for decorum and academic standards.
(4.) "...unrepentant," well, I was sorry for none of it, being there at university (except maybe for that last time I got fall-down-beer-drunk on a Saturday night and found myself still puking on Monday morning. Never did that again. In fact, I still abhor beer. And never allowed myself to get drunk again.)
(5.) I was able (barely) to afford to attend ($3,800 in 1962 !!) my university, but to help myself earn that sum, I worked during summers at an amusement park (Kennywood), and on-campus, being a servant in a sorority and cleaning film for classrooms; then, learning Cardio-pulmonary Therapy at a nearby hospital (Mercy). Initially, mother gave me $10,000 cash, upon graduation from high school, in 1962, pushing it across the kitchen table to me, in a brown envelope, saying, "Here, Frankie, now, go buy yourself that Cadillac convertible you always wanted and take a trip to California, or give yourself and your friends one-heck-of-a party, or go to college."

The decision was mine. The party could wait. The car would wait. But college was my ticket to the rest of my life.

That college changed me from a boy to an adult.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

(1.) I didn't feel "cast out" at all........

But you had to leave.......and in many ways those years were not only formative but safe and insulative against the reality that waited for you...........

But college was my ticket to the rest of my life.

I hear that! I still go back to visit the one department that put me on the path to the rest of my life, although in many ways there was a high school teacher that really started me down that road.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

I just, today, saw another version of "Goodbye, Mr. Chips," this one with Peter O'Toole. It reminded me, as has this conversation, of how schools, including colleges, are places of Goodbye. They are constantly emptying themselves of students, soon replaced by new stories to begin.

When you are gone from such a place, student or teacher, you are really gone. The chair is empty of you, completely, ready for the next responsibility.

So many stories begun, there, and about most, we never know how they continue ,or how they have ended. Maybe we are not supposed to know all that, we teachers. We had our chance to make our mark. We can only hope it was done well.
Murph, still @ it.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

.....most, we never know how they continue ,or how they have ended. Maybe we are not supposed to know all that, we teachers.

I actually got a nice long note from a member of my group that left several years ago bringing me up to date on his career, family, etc.

Some never disconnect and so you build a network of students across time....

[MurphOnMillerAve]

Yes, some of us do. Thankfully. And happily.
Murph

[Rufus T. Firefly]

[rogruth]

Rufus,
The old photos you post draw me in. Although I have never been to [most of] those towns they all seem familiar even though I am not really old enough to remember that time there were still small towns that were very like them in the 1950s. I don't know why I am attracted unless it is the supposed simplicity of the time. That simplicity is probably mistaken. We flip a switch and there is light. It took much more to have light then. Think of getting groceries. Going somewhere.Etc.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

...not to mention flush-toilets and air-conditioning. And cars that can take you across the country anytime you have a mind to go.

Oh, and model electric trains you can send jetting off the side of your layout absolutely anytime you look away for only an instant.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

......the supposed simplicity of the time. That simplicity is probably mistaken.

Maybe, but the frantic pace of today was lacking. Everything took time.....

[MurphOnMillerAve]

......the supposed simplicity of the time. That simplicity is probably mistaken.

Maybe, but the frantic pace of today was lacking. Everything took time.....

And my impression is that folks took considerable time and patience and effort in being polite and considerate of others. Or have I watched too many movies and TV programs?

Ever see the movie (circa1993) The Age of Innocence, a real peekaboo inside those times, at least, on one level of society. I found it enthralling.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

......the supposed simplicity of the time. That simplicity is probably mistaken.

Maybe, but the frantic pace of today was lacking. Everything took time.....

And my impression is that folks took considerable time and patience and effort in being polite and considerate of others. Or have I watched too many movies and TV programs?

I suspect a good percent of those media depict wishful thinking merged with total guesswork.

I'd wager that in part that behavior was simply how things were done; I would also not discount that there were just as many bastards percentage-wise running about as today.....

[MurphOnMillerAve]

Yup. "Tammany (sp?) Hall" springs to mind.

[rogruth]

Maybe, but the frantic pace of today was lacking. Everything took time.....

And my impression is that folks took considerable time and patience and effort in being polite and considerate of others. Or have I watched too many movies and TV programs?

I suspect a good percent of those media depict wishful thinking merged with total guesswork.

I'd wager that in part that behavior was simply how things were done; I would also not discount that there were just as many bastards percentage-wise running about as today.....

Probably. My guess is that the elite of that time were, at least outwardly, more elite than the elite of today.
And the bastards and "bad guys" probably even worse than we think.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

[MurphOnMillerAve]

Reminds me of the orphanage building, which caught fire, in an old movie, "Mighty Joe Young."