Page 176 - WhyAsInY

Why (as in yaverbaum)
accepted early. In the normal course, the Ivies and the Seven Sisters did not send out their letters until May 1. Lesley was wait-listed at Smith, got into Vassar, and then, about one month later, got into Smith “off the waiting list.” She chose to go to Vassar anyway, and I was relieved.
I was not on the Sing Lyric Committee in my senior year. (Student government was enough of a responsibility.) I was, however, asked to write a sketch about the SATs for the Senior Sing, and as a consequence of my effort, I was asked to perform in it. I played a proctor in a scene in which I read incredibly simple and redundant instructions, all of which were clearly designed for morons, to a bunch of kids who were about to take a very difficult and sophisticated test. Thus, I was once again on the stage of the Brooklyn Academy of Music, where, in a manner of speak- ing, it had all started. At the end of the sketch, I threw my scripted directions into the air to demonstrate my frustration—and the audience first seemed to be spellbound, but then they erupted in cheers.
Why? It turns out that a prop in the scene was a wastepaper basket that was placed behind my desk chair. When I threw the script up and back (as I was later told), it seemed to hover in the air until it wafted very slowly down and down, only to land right into the trash, a one-in-a- million result! And that just about summed up my feelings concerning Midwood, the SATs, and the pressures of applying to college: I knew that I had been very lucky in high school, was happy to have put the pressures of college applications behind me, and was looking forward to summer camp and—with some trepidation—to college.
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