Page 258 - WhyAsInY

Why (as in yaverbaum)
Between Eileen, Pam, Sue, and Rusty—especially Eileen—I had the makings of a circle of friends that was reminiscent of my circle in high school. I would drive over to Northampton just to hang out in the Emer- son House living room and eat meals there, especially when I took a seminar in religion given at Smith (about which more later). I thereby became known to and friendly with a large number of the girls who would sit and talk with me in the Emerson living room, and the warm and receptive atmosphere with real friends at Emerson was very impor- tant to me. Eileen and I stayed in touch when we were both in New York after graduation.
Pam, who was not just beautiful but also extremely bright (she grad- uated from Smith summa cum laude, which actually meant something in those days), so she was therefore qualified to be the fire marshal at Emerson House, a fact that contributed to one of the better diversions of my college years. Because Pam was fire marshal and charged with making sure that the dorm was emptied quickly in the event of an emer- gency, she was privy to the timing of surprise fire drills. That meant that I was as well, at least on one occasion. With the knowledge that a drill was scheduled for 1:00 one midweek morning, Phi Gam was ready to ensure safety and douse the flames. This was accomplished, as you would expect, by dispatching the Phi Gam fire engine to the Quad, and, because it really didn’t have a functioning hose (no comment necessary here), it was filled with strong young men with well-filled buckets. Nothing more need be said.
Having friends at Emerson House did not mean that I didn’t have a dating life at Smith. At one point I prided myself in having dated one young lady in each of the houses in the Quad. (I knew that it was bad form to date two Smithies who lived in the same house.) At the same time, I also had a fair number of dating relationships at Mount Holyoke, although fewer than at Smith. The explanation for the higher concen- tration at Smith, which seemed to be the pattern in Amherst dating, was two-pronged: First, the distance from Johnson Chapel to the entrance to the Quad was 6.2 miles and easily driven in snow, as Route 9 was flat, with its only limitation being a handful of traffic lights. The distance to
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