June 20, 2012: Post 526 (2012 Day 172) - Fast Day
June 20, 2012
Daily Comment
When I think about my college life, there are 3 phases. All are tied to 3 very, very different points in my life, influencing my relationship to the college experience. Today, I'm thinking about the first phase. It only lasted a few days. The first begins at age 16, and lasted only a few days. I had graduated from Bayside HS in May, 1966, knowing then that I was accepted at CCNY and would start at the end of the Summer. I was 16 years old. That Summer, I got a job with my friend Johnny's father, working for Frank Wolf Drummer's Supplies on Manhattan's 'Music Row,' 48th Street, between Broadway and 6th Avenue. The following September, I began the registration process for incoming Freshmen.
All I actually knew going in was that I liked to play bass and guitar and sing, and to write (poetry and letters) and take photographs. I had no idea how any of that related to college. I didn't have a career goal that I could translate into a course of study. I was confused and intimidated by the registration process. Everybody else seemed to know what they were doing, and I felt... unprepared.
In those days, the registration process was completely manual. No phone-ins, you had to be there, and there was the department location of every course you wanted to take. You would go to one, check the board for full or cancelled classes, select the one you needed, or check the printed course catalog if that one was unavailable, to find something that fit in your schedule. Then you would locate and walk to the next department, repeat the process, and so on. That is how you built your class schedule.
Freshmen registered last, because the philosophy was that whatever they couldn't get into this term they could get into sometime in the next 7 semesters. That being the case, most desirable classes and sections were unavailable. I ended up with only 3 classes, at really awkward times, and none of them what I wanted.
A couple of days later, classes started. I made a go of it for a week. I didn't like my classes, which had me making the 1-1/2 hour commute from Floral Park 5 times a week, and spending a lot of time on campus between classes. I wasn't meeting people. I wasn't engaged, excited, or happy. I was, in fact, miserable, feeling very alienated.
That was the first time I dropped out of college. I just wasn't ready. At all.
I had a job, though, so I was set for the year. It was a great year, a year of huge leaps in my understanding of the world, my exposure to new people and ideas. It was not a maturing process process, though. My adolescence, and naivete, continued for years. Hippie-ness came first.
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Food and Diet Section
Today's Weight: 202.4 lbs
Yesterday's Weight: 202.0 lbs
Day Net Loss/Gain: + 0.4 lbs
 |
| Year 2012 daily weight from December 31, 2011. |
Diet Comment:
OK, so far, so good - even with the fractional gain posted.
Food Log
Breakfast
Skipped.
Skipped.
Lunch
Skipped.
Snack/Break-fast
 |
| Spring Mix greens with coleslaw, pepperoni, hard-boiled egg, chia seeds and balamic vinaigrette. |
Dinner
 |
| Wild-caught salmon burger with guacamole and faux mashed potatoes (cauliflower, chia seeds, butter, almond milk, salt and red and black pepper). |
Snack
Baby carrots and home-made mayonnaise.
Liquid Intake
Coffee: 22 oz, Water:136+ oz
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posted by Reverend Ken at
7:36 PM
3 Comments:
I was also at CCNY in the fall of 1966. Though I had little interest in school, college was always billed as the next step for me after high school, and CCNY was where I was admitted, after being rejected at Queens College. I remember the application form, which was for all the city colleges in the system (it had not yet been named CUNY). You listed your order of preference--CCNY was my #2 choice--and the first one you were admitted to was where you were going. More interested in being a runner than a student, I joined the cross-country team. Commuting from Clearview was onerous, and adding in practices at Van Cortlandt Park made the schedule that much worse. I too was 16 when I arrived on campus (a few weeks later to turn 17) and totally apolitical. At registration I was shocked when the upperclass advisers questioned me about my draft status--something I was totally oblivious to--and whether the 13 credits I had registered for would be enough to keep me exempt (they had a good laugh once they realized my age). I found myself in a different world, and though I liked parts of it, the overall situation was just unworkable. I won't get into other aspects, such as the type of student I was, so let it suffice that I lasted all of three weeks before dropping out and getting a job at the A&S store in Manhasset, in the Christmas shop. Like you, it was an inauspicious beginning, but unlike you, I never finished college, though I returned for several more tries.
Your story is amazing to me. How did I not know you were at CCNY in 1966? I, literally, lasted a week at my first attempt.
I haven't finished telling about my second attempt yet, but keep reading. Our stories aren't so different, but I took a left turn and the third try - more than 10 years later - was the charm for me.
I'll be filling in some more holes as I keep writing (and I intend to keep writing), so stay tuned.
I want to thank you very much for sharing your story here.
It means a lot to me.
Thanks, Ken. By the fall of 1966 we were moving in different circles. CCNY was a big school and I rarely ran into people I knew from high school. Given the one whole week we attended at the same time, no surprise.
My second attempt at CCNY came three years later, by which time I had taken a left turn of my own. I lasted somewhat longer but, sparing the gory details, school seemed simply not meant to be. I believe I'm the only one of my dozen cousins (add my brother and sister and you have 14) never to have finished college.
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