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muck_a_luckI was at the University of Michigan in graduate school in the early 1990s.
I took a great political decision making course with Professor Raymond Tanter. Awesome guy. But as conservative a Republican as a conservative can get. But in that great academic way that still allows for a sharing of ideas and a coming together of minds and thoughts. Like I said, an awesome guy.
At UM, as you are probably aware if you've been with me a while, I lived in a student co-op. It was built with a $1,000,000 HUD grant in 1970, and was the size of a medium-sized dorm. It was student owned, operated, and governed, but because of its size, it was not quite like the smaller coops. The smaller houses did tend to have a real commune feel a lot of the time. More than one was vegetarian or vegan. We were just a bunch of kids living cheap and well way up at the edge of campus.
Prof. Tanter's class was a graduate level course. It was a handful of people. I was either the only woman, or one of two. Can't remember now. I was a Russian and East European Studies Master's student, at the time hell bent on the State Department. Yellow Dog Democrat, but with a healthy respect for the efficiency of the capitalist system and very much uninterested in communist dictatorship as a way of life. So in no way a pinko. I would also like to note at this point in the story - that never, ever have I done any kind of illegal drug. Nor have I ever smoked anything, legal or illegal. This is relevant to the story below, as one could never suspect me of having used drugs by my smell or behavior.
Also in our class, we had an Airforce major who was getting his PhD, whereupon he would be a colonel. He was an instructor at the Air Force Academy, destined to return there to a full professor position. This guy was an amature magician.
We also had, in our group, a couple of hand-picked undergrads who had performed well in Prof. Tanter's undergraduate classes. One of these guys, was the President of the College Republicans. Now. I don't know what Tanter saw in this kid, cause he was dumb. So, so dumb. I think Tanter hoped to mold him into a person who could actually think. President Boy was morbidly fascinated by my co-op life. He thought because I lived at the co-op I was smoking pot all day, having wild group sex by night, and, apparently, as illustrated below, practicing witchcraft. He would ask me questions about co-op life, and I would explain patiently that we got our own rooms cheap and free food and it was basically a financial decision to live there and he would seem to understand, then the next day he would ask me some other dumb question about my supposed life of hedonism. I was always kind, and Tanter and the rest of the class had seen me deal with him gently many times.
Now, the charcters are all introduced. On to the story.
Class is assembling. Tanter is there. Hal (Major Hal, USAF) was demostrating his magic to the assembled grad students. This is your standard card tricks, flowers from a wand type magic. No smoking altars or anything. So President of College Republicans arrives just as Hal is doing a coin trick. I am duly impressed. President Boy looks at me, all wide-eyed and amazed and says, "Do you believe in that stuff?" He asks me. Nobody else. Me.
Really. Who would "believe" some lame disappearing coin trick?! What the HELL? Everybody is there, including Tanter.
I turn to the kid sweetly and say, "Of course! Why don't you come up to the co-op tonight and we can share a hash brownie and discuss it!" Hal is totally cracking up.
The kid is floored. Finally, confirmation! He stammers around 'til Tanter finally feels the need to step in and point out that of course I was kidding, what did this kid think about me? "She's taking a class on strategic decision-making! Get a grip!" was essentially what he said.
I still look back on this and snicker to myself. It wasn't even a good lie. It wasn't even delivered well. And he totally went for it, and he was such a mental deficient I bet he still thinks today that he could have come up to the co-op, gotten high with me, and maybe lost his cherry to a communist witch...
*snickers more*
I took a great political decision making course with Professor Raymond Tanter. Awesome guy. But as conservative a Republican as a conservative can get. But in that great academic way that still allows for a sharing of ideas and a coming together of minds and thoughts. Like I said, an awesome guy.
At UM, as you are probably aware if you've been with me a while, I lived in a student co-op. It was built with a $1,000,000 HUD grant in 1970, and was the size of a medium-sized dorm. It was student owned, operated, and governed, but because of its size, it was not quite like the smaller coops. The smaller houses did tend to have a real commune feel a lot of the time. More than one was vegetarian or vegan. We were just a bunch of kids living cheap and well way up at the edge of campus.
Prof. Tanter's class was a graduate level course. It was a handful of people. I was either the only woman, or one of two. Can't remember now. I was a Russian and East European Studies Master's student, at the time hell bent on the State Department. Yellow Dog Democrat, but with a healthy respect for the efficiency of the capitalist system and very much uninterested in communist dictatorship as a way of life. So in no way a pinko. I would also like to note at this point in the story - that never, ever have I done any kind of illegal drug. Nor have I ever smoked anything, legal or illegal. This is relevant to the story below, as one could never suspect me of having used drugs by my smell or behavior.
Also in our class, we had an Airforce major who was getting his PhD, whereupon he would be a colonel. He was an instructor at the Air Force Academy, destined to return there to a full professor position. This guy was an amature magician.
We also had, in our group, a couple of hand-picked undergrads who had performed well in Prof. Tanter's undergraduate classes. One of these guys, was the President of the College Republicans. Now. I don't know what Tanter saw in this kid, cause he was dumb. So, so dumb. I think Tanter hoped to mold him into a person who could actually think. President Boy was morbidly fascinated by my co-op life. He thought because I lived at the co-op I was smoking pot all day, having wild group sex by night, and, apparently, as illustrated below, practicing witchcraft. He would ask me questions about co-op life, and I would explain patiently that we got our own rooms cheap and free food and it was basically a financial decision to live there and he would seem to understand, then the next day he would ask me some other dumb question about my supposed life of hedonism. I was always kind, and Tanter and the rest of the class had seen me deal with him gently many times.
Now, the charcters are all introduced. On to the story.
Class is assembling. Tanter is there. Hal (Major Hal, USAF) was demostrating his magic to the assembled grad students. This is your standard card tricks, flowers from a wand type magic. No smoking altars or anything. So President of College Republicans arrives just as Hal is doing a coin trick. I am duly impressed. President Boy looks at me, all wide-eyed and amazed and says, "Do you believe in that stuff?" He asks me. Nobody else. Me.
Really. Who would "believe" some lame disappearing coin trick?! What the HELL? Everybody is there, including Tanter.
I turn to the kid sweetly and say, "Of course! Why don't you come up to the co-op tonight and we can share a hash brownie and discuss it!" Hal is totally cracking up.
The kid is floored. Finally, confirmation! He stammers around 'til Tanter finally feels the need to step in and point out that of course I was kidding, what did this kid think about me? "She's taking a class on strategic decision-making! Get a grip!" was essentially what he said.
I still look back on this and snicker to myself. It wasn't even a good lie. It wasn't even delivered well. And he totally went for it, and he was such a mental deficient I bet he still thinks today that he could have come up to the co-op, gotten high with me, and maybe lost his cherry to a communist witch...
*snickers more*
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no subject
Date: 2005-09-12 04:28 pm (UTC)*eyedart* Probably perfecting brownie recipes. *snicker*
Good story!
no subject
Date: 2005-09-12 07:08 pm (UTC)I was at uni right at the rise of the Young Republican movement. When I started ('81) I was happily semi-punk, into theatre, all that. By my senior year campus was overrun with preppie kids rah-rahing Reagan/Bush. And this was in San Francisco. I couldn't wait to flee school -- at least the faculty and staff were as horrified as I was. (Jesuit university. The '80s "greed is good" motto wasn't really working for them.) Fortunately grad school at University of Arizona in the late '90s was apolitical, party-wise.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-12 10:23 pm (UTC)Would've been the best sex of his life. ;)