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The Yale Alumni Magazine is owned and operated by Yale Alumni Publications, Inc., a nonprofit corporation independent of Yale University. The content of the magazine and its website is the responsibility of the editors and does not necessarily reflect the views of Yale or its officers. |
“Graduate Fence” You and I both know what the cover of your March issue was about (the picture showing the student with his moccasins off, lying on the floor, his head and torso hidden behind a table). But the 18-year-old Hungarian freedom fighter my wife and I have sponsored did not. “Boy kaput?” she asked when I tried to explain to her the goings-on at my kolega. She was, of course, relieved to know that the boy had not died with his moccasins off, but was merely studying.
“The Graduate Fence” Let’s give the game back to the boys. Let’s adopt a rule that when the whistle blows for the starting kickoff, both coaching staffs must go to predetermined seats in the stands and remain there during the entire game. It isn’t a battle of wits and strategy between the boys anymore. The game belongs to the coaches in modern football. Why isn’t the coach’s job comparable to that of a professor's? During the week, he teaches the fundamentals, new plays, and so on. But when Saturday’s game comes, that is examination time; the boys should go it alone and fail or pass on THEIR merit. The thrills that would develop from following the proposed rule would pack 'em in.
“The Graduate Fence” I quote from your November issue: “Yale led the nation in the number of blacklisted researchers.” Your article subtly, but not literally, defends these men who are, in fact, possible security risks and adverts to “McCarthyism.” Do you honestly think your government would unwarrantedly defame so many people?
“Treasure in the Archives” Perhaps the most moving of the prom souvenirs held by Manuscripts and Archives are the dance cards, with tiny dangling pencil, which were tied to the wrist. There was clearly a war of taste going on among successive classes. The 1879 dance card is Japanese in style, then the rage in Europe. The cards get more and more lavish, until the maroon velvet 1885 card is as fat as a whoopee cushion. Next year, a revolt back to simplicity: The 1886 card is incised gold on white leather, chic and slim, showing a strong Art Nouveau influence. Such displays of one-upmanship were no longer possible when the dance card withered to the puny piece of paper it was by 1940.
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©1992–2012, Yale Alumni Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Yale Alumni Magazine, P.O. Box 1905, New Haven, CT 06509-1905, USA. yam@yale.edu |
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