4p, one sided pages, mimeograph on matte off white paper. Mentions that students will register for Winter Quarter courses on Wednesday afternoon, and the Fall Quarter of the 1944-45 Session will end on Thursday at 1230 pm. Received a Letter from past students Tommy and John saying that there was a reunion of BMC students in Belgium. Exptected for a visit: Dr Maurice Gramer; David H. Corkran, James B Hill.
BLACK MOUNTAIN COLLEGE COMMUNITY BULLETIN
College Year 12 Bulletin 12
Monday, December 11, 1944
CALENDAR:
The Faculty will meet on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday afternoon from 4:30 to 6:00 o’clock.
Alfred Kazin will address the College Community this evening at 7:30 o’clock in the Lobby of South Lodge on “The Crisis in American Education.”
The Board of Fellows will meet in Bob Wunsch’s Study on Tuesday afternoon at 3:00 o’clock.
There will be a meeting of the College Community on Tuesday evening in the Lobby of South Lodge. The meeting will begin at 7:30 o’clock.
The drama students will present “An Almost Lonely Christmas” for the children of Black Mountain at the Black Mountain Grammar School on Wednesday morning, December 13, at 10:00 o’clock.
Students will register for Winter Quarter courses on Wednesday afternoon.
The Fall Quarter of the 1944-45 Session will end on Thursday at 12:30 P.M.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Before leaving for the holidays, every student should:
a). Return all library books,
b). Clean their studies thoroughly,
c). Leave radiators on,
d). Put all food in tins or in other tight containers,
e). Clean their lodge rooms or spaces and leave clothes in order,
f). Remove all food from lodges,
Note: North Lodge will be closed during the holidays.
g). Leave holiday address,
h). Get ration book from business office, if desired.
The truck will take a load of baggage to the Black Mountain Express Office and Bus Station on Thursday immediately after lunch.
Kenneth Kurtz writes from New Haven, Connecticut: “I have just read Jacques Barzun’s “What is Teaching?” in the new Atlantic. It’s the best thing I’ve seen in years, on this subject. He’s a cogent writer and has put his finger on the main things. I should expect it to blow open the door of criticism and maybe let in some fresh air lots of places.”
Robert Wunsch has accepted an invitation to address the Guilford County Chapter of the American Association of University Women in Greensboro, North Carolina, on January 12.
Expected for a visit early this week:
Dr. Maurice Gramer, Princeton graduate, candidate for the post-holiday vacancy in the English Department;
David H. Corkran, formerly Assistant Head Master of the North Shore Country Day school in Winnetka, Illinois, a candidate for the vacancy in history;
James B. Hill, Director for the past two and a half years of the Northeastern Dispensary in New York City, a candidate for the Business Managership, the position formerly held by Bob Orr.
College Year 12 -2- Bulletin 12
Each student should discuss his Fall Quarter work with his adviser, then select his adviser for the Winter Quarter and talk over with him his courses before registration on Wednesday. A student is under no obligation to keep the adviser he had during the Fall Quarter. The Faculty recommends that a student select as an adviser a teacher under whom he does some class work.
WITH FORMER STUDENTS:
New addresses:
John Gifford Actor’s Equity Association 45 West Forty-Seventh Street New York City
Jean Jordan 460 Ford Place Pasadena, California
Patsy Lynch 19 Washington Terrace St. Louis 12, Missouri
In the mail:
Aurora Cassotta (Piscitello) writes from New York City: “I received several letters from Bruno after he had left the United States. The first one came from Casa Blanca, the second from Iran, and the third from India. In the third one he said he was still travelling…. I have a job now. Friday was my first payday, a very exciting time. I am a copy holder in a linotype plant and work five days a week..”
Corporal Harold Raymond writes from Geiger Field in Washington State: “My army life seems to be about the same as it was in other camps. My outfit has been through an extensive training program which ran from infiltration courses with live ammunition to lectures on sex morality… My ballalion has been converted from an airborne unit to a regular ground battalion. Just what, if any, changes this will make remains to be seen…. This part of the Northwest is very flat and treeless. There are, of course, mountains in the distance, but around here the plain rolls for miles without a break, dry and colorless. Half the year there is welcome a cloud in a sky, while during the other half the sun rarely shines. I often find myself longing for the woods and hills of Massachusetts or the purple-green mountains of North Carolina…. I have found a good deal of relaxation, and, I hope, some knowledge in the post library, where I spend most of my time off duty….”
Sergeant Frances Foster writes from India: “My request for a transfer to combat has finally come through. In a few days I shall leave here…. I have been on temporary duty with the engineers. This assignment gave me leisure to get some much needed thinking done…. For a long time I have been meeting Indian friends several evenings a week. We discuss politics, economics, and literature. I suppose that I have learned a fair amount, particularly of the first two subjects. For the past few days I have been helping the son of a South Indian poet, Vallathal, correct and rewrite English translations of his father’s work. These translations will later be included in an anthology of Indian poetry, to be published by Oxford University. My role has been minor, but the work was interesting, and helpful to me.”
Jack Gifford writes from backstage in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on December 2: “I am leaving this show Tuesday and returning to New York to appear in “Dark of the Moon” for the Schuberts. Our ex-stage manager is returning to direct it.. He has arranged for me to be released from my contract to join him.. Jose Ferrer.. Also had a hand in getting me this break.. I don’t know definitely what part I’ll take in the show, but it will probably be small, with understudying the lead. I think that’s the set-up. It’s just a chance to get another show, to be seen, and to gather experience– an essential for an actor…. Saw Renate Klepper in Cleveland at the Cleveland Playhouse.. Saw Mary Brett in Detroit..”
College Year 12 -3- Bulletin 12
Jacqueline Tankersley writes from Key West, Florida: “I’ve signed up for overseas duty and probably go to Hawaii in a month or two…. The weather has been strangely cool for Florida, and we’re shivering around electric heaters in all sorts of peculiar cold weather outfits…. As far as I know, Dick Wyke is still in training at the Cadets’ Field at Newburgh, New York..”
Bob Marden writes from France on November 26: “My regular charting work goes on steadily, and in addition, I am doing some decorative mural jobs, one in an officers’ bar and one in a Red Cross coffee bar; and, lest anyone think I am ‘bucking’ via an educated brush, the bar job is strictly business…. Have gotten into written contact with John Stix, who is now in a leaky chateau in Belgium. Obviously Tommy Brooks is nearby; no chance of seeing him under the present set-up. No work from John Evarts or Hattie Englehardt as yet, although I know where Hattie is and hope to meet her in Paris sometime..”
Reunion in Belgium
Belgium, 27 November 44
Dear Bob,
BMC reunion in the wilds of Belgium! Somehow we managed to get together for a couple of days in spite of Army red tape which always goes a long way in discouraging such “foolishness”. We’ve been trying to see each other since last March, just to breeze over old times; and it always seemed the harder we tried the less the chance. Tommy finally reached the Continent, joining an outfit in the same corps as John’s. A rapid-fire exchange of letter revealed that we weren’t too far apart, so Brooks hitched a ride back to Stix’s billet, a mouldy old chateau last renovated in 1790.
Spent the evening in a room full of G.I.’s, reminiscing over BMC and airing our pet gripes about the Army, the latter finding us always in perfect agreement. We subjected ourselves to a Belgian obstacle course and cross-country run in pursuit of a bottle of cognac which, though it was well watered, had us feeling much better before the night was over.
Find we’re as concerned as ever with the success of Black Mountain, and send every good wish for a happy New Year.
(Signed) Tommy and (Signed) John
VIEWS AND SUGGESTIONS OF SERVICEMEN:
Private Bob Marden writes from somewhere in France: “Black Mountain College won’t have the problem of veterans considering childish the normal campus social life, an area in which some universities are already experiencing difficulties. I think the universities are already experiencing difficulties. I think the returning veterans will be even more appreciative of the values of community life than are new civilian students. Those who will want to come to Lake Eden, because they are looking for something of real value in the educational field, can be depended upon to pretty serious students and community members. The more common reaction to the privations and restrictions of the Army will be a binge of luxurious indulgence. They will not be cynical, but will demand a substance to back up our promises. Many probably will be interested in the social sciences; for, after one’s life has been a matter of luck a couple of times, he asks, while waiting for the next time: ‘Just what do I really want out of life if I get through? How do I fit into things?’ There might be some thought given to the possible expansion of housing facilities at Lake Eden; because on the supposition that the College is successfully operating after the war, I think there can be expected more students than the 80-odd that we can now take in. quick housing that would be adequate, although distasteful to veterans, is the Nessen Hut, that ought to be cheaply available; it is easy to build. Also, there ought to be
College Year 12 -4- Bulletin 12
Some provision for the housing of married students. In the present dormitory system they would take a lot of room that can hardly be spared. There will be a good many veterans married, but not yet through with their education. They should have some sort of family life, especially after the years of war separation…. Veterans will expect to have presented and explained diverse points of view existing about modern society; they will want to gain as wide an outlook as possible. There is the chance that in a college where there has been a deep split of opinion along political and personal lines, those remaining might oppose anyone with a point of view at variance with their own, both as regards society and the course that the College should follow…. I think that any democratic society, such as Black Mountain College, will advance in a surer way if many opinions are represented to create a check on too great a movement in any one direction. When one opinion has defeated another, it is only natural for the group that sponsored the opinion to consider criticism as renewed attack, although it is offered only in a helpful manner. This shouldn’t happen anywhere, especially at Black Mountain College…. I don’t know whether it is happening or not; but from observing other, similar conflicts and aftermaths, I think that it could. I know that I am perhaps forward in speaking for others as well as for myself, and I can’t guarantee that this is a general attitude; I believe, however, that this attitude is generally subscribed to.”
WITH FORMER MEMBERS OF THE STAFF:
New addresses: Rachel Dwinell Apt. E-53 247 Drake Avenue New Rochelle, New York
