Flashback Friday

PILOT ERROR:

Last Tuesday's post had a collection of bird photographs taken at the beach.  I inadvertently forgot two of them and in the interest of closure and forward motion, I include them today.

 We now continue with our regularly scheduled Flashback Friday

OK, a window.  What's the big deal?  What window is this?  And why is it being featured today?  

Well, there are windows, and then there are windows.  

This particular window is on the second floor of Hershey Hall at Iowa Wesleyan College.  In my Junior year at Iowa Wesleyan College, the school decided to force all fraternities and sororities to live on campus, to stem financial losses due to lower school enrollment. The school moved all frats to Hershey Hall which at that time was empty.  The Phi Taus were on the 1st floor, the Phi Delts the second, and Sig Eps on the third.  The reason for the floor assignments were because the Phi Taus couldn't count to 2, and since the Sig Eps were always high, they might as well be on the uppermost floor.  

As protest for having to move, all affected students were supposed to apply to other schools in an attempt force the school to relent.  It didn't work of course, but as a side note, as I have written before on this blog, I applied to Rollins College and was accepted.  Rollins is in Orlando Florida.  I didn't go like I mentioned a few posts ago, but that was one of those fork-in-the-roads that we all confront from time to time, which very often reveal us for what we really are.  

Back to the window.  I had the room to myself my Junior year, but had a roommate my Senior year.  He was Daniel Kolbow who ended up Dr. Daniel Kolbow.  He was from Buffalo, New York and a smart-ass, smart kid who happened to be my Pledge Son when he decided to join our fraternity.  What this window saw:

• It was a perfect window to see everyone heading off to classes or the Student Union.  Right next door was Scheaffer-Trischmann Hall which housed the ladies.  To the right and back aways was McKibbin Hall which housed the non-Greek guys. We were sandwiched in between both other residence halls giving this particular window excellent viewing abilities.

• This was where we would go down and grab snowballs, then take up to our mini-frig and keep nice and cold and icy to throw down at students as they returned from classes. 

• This is the window that would witness (witness only, I think) Jerry's pizza delivery guy who would park out front in the street and take a pizza over to the girls ST Hall.  Then guys from other floors would then slip down and grab any pizzas left in the car.  And did the girls order a pizza?  Hmmm.  Sadly sometimes it was a bogus order.  Again, the Phi Delts would never devise such a horrendous scam for free pizza, although we might go upstairs to have some. 

• This was the window that had a set of blinds that would be set in such a way to let the other roomie know if he had a guest over.  It would also become more important after I was banned from the girls dorm over an unfortunate misunderstanding over my supposed ability to enter at all hours.  ST Hall was locked at 10:00.  I supported the feminist movement back then and thought it fair and just that some girls had a right to spend time with me regardless of the hour.

• This was officially Hershey Hall, but unofficially was called Hymie Hall.  Hymie happened to be my nickname in college.  Thankfully, it ended upon graduation.  

• This was the window which saw a few pop bottle rockets fired to unsuspecting cars driving by.  

• It was where I constructed a tall two-panel plywood wooden project complete with map and real bas relief topographical mountains, translated Aramaic language and fold out 10 Commandments for a class,  finishing up one night watching Godzilla till 3:00 am.   It was for one of Dr. George LaMore's classes, which I always got A's.   By the way, I stopped in the Science Hall probably in the mid 90's and saw the presentation board still in one of the rooms.  Sadly in my last visit a few years ago, it was gone.   

As you can see, the window is  is strategically placed for campus googling.  Hershey (Hymie Hall) is the ancient Gothic structure in the center.  ST Hall is to the right, the blond brick building.  McKibbin Hall, the guys dorm is down and across the road to the left of Hershey.  The building where the camera is placed is the Student Union.

Our window on the 2nd floor was great to see campus happenings.  

• A single room just to the right of our room belonged to RB, our Liberian/UK friend who was quite startled by a horror flick we saw once.  It is hard to see, but there is a window just to the right facing south where the building has an area that juts out just a little.  When RB was showering and left his door unlocked,  I went into his room and attached fish line to his walking stick and ran the line over a pipe above and over to our window.  When he went to sleep we gave him lots of time to get to dozing, we then pulled the line thus making his cane levitate.  I can hear his screams even today.   

The pictures clear at the top were taken during a trip to Homecoming I went to in 2003.  It was a fun trip where I went into the Science Hall, the Chapel,  McKibbin Hall,  Hershey and then down to West Side Tap where I ran into Dr. Kolbow.  Fun day.  I also won over $200 at a raffle at the football game and then stopped at Gulfport on the way home.  The midgets at Gulfport are a story best left for another day.