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Room 327
Written about
November 1965
Background:
As a freshman at Oberlin College, I lived in Room 327 of Burton Hall,
at the north end of the Men's Quad.
My
view of the Quad, looking south from my desk, is seen in the
colorized 1965 Polaroid below. Kettering (the chemistry and
biology building) and Barrows (another freshman dorm) are in the distance.
My roommate was a
flutist from Sausalito, who added some artwork to our walls and
played classical music.
As an introvert, I
was uncomfortable having a roommate, although we got along okay by
practicing mutual avoidance. When he was at the Conservatory, I
was often in Room 327. When he was in Room 327, I was often
somewhere else.
I was also
uncomfortable in the boisterous atmosphere of a men's dorm.
Freshmen
customarily held "open houses" in the fall, welcoming
visits from other students (especially those of the opposite
sex). Here's an advertisement of such an event at Harkness, a
freshman women's dorm, on Saturday, November 19, 1966.
For our open house
at Burton, various denizens planned special decorations.
In one room, there would be some sort of Halloween theme, with
recordings of spooky Gregorian chants playing. |
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Room 327 planned
nothing outlandish, however. I expressed my feelings,
appropriately enough, in the form of a fake 60-second radio commercial. |
ANNCR:
(use sincere tone)
Third
Center Burton has, from time to time, been characterized as a rather
wild section, interested more in girls than in the finer things of
life. But there is a quiet, peaceful corner in the midst of
this perversity: Room 327.
Playboy
Magazine has never found its way to 327. There are no pinups
on the walls except a Picasso, a woodcut, and a brass rubbing of a
16th-century tombstone. No harsh sound is ever uttered, except
by the phonograph when it's playing Stravinsky. In short, when
a lady enters Room 327, she is treated as a lady.
Should
you tire of the exhilarating entertainment being offered in the rest
of the section during the Burton open house, come to the peaceful end
of Third Center. See Tom Thomas quietly struggle to decode his
FORTRAN error messages. Hear Dave Wilkinson play Bach flute
sonatas as only he can, on the record player. That's the
peaceful end of Third Center Burton: Room 327.
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