I asked ’90s, “If you could bring your child(ren) to Dartmouth’s campus just one time for just 15 minutes, where on campus would you take him/her/them—and why?” My answer: Sanborn, the ’02 Room and Streeter. Here are half of your responses (the rest will be in the next issue): Michael Mauro: “To Baker lawn, the Geisel (Seuss) room, then Sanborn library to show the grandeur, wisdom, humility and civility of Dartmouth.” Barbara (Basia) Nikonorow: “On a snowy afternoon I would walk across campus from Baker Library, across the Green into the Hopkins Center.” Therese (Devlin) Brown: A run through Pine Park. I will always remember the soft bed of pine needles that covers this path through the woods along the Connecticut River. Beautiful.” Andra (Raudseps) Bowditch: “When they were babies, the Tower Room to show them proper napping. Now, down to the basement to ponder the Orozco murals.” Philip Privitera: “On the Green on Homecoming night when the alma mater is being sung and the bonfire is being lit. In that moment the heart and soul of Dartmouth comes to life.” Mark Sternman: “I’d chase my 7-year-old stepdaughter around the Green and show her where I spent most of my college years, Baker Library.” Meg Sommerfeld: “My favorite thing to do with my children at Dartmouth is to take them up to the Tower Room and sit in the big chairs and look out the windows overlooking the Green.” Bernadine Wu: “Definitely the bonfire. I was back for Homecoming last year for the first time since graduating. The delight in my 8- and 11-year-olds’ eyes and the awesomeness of the spectacle can’t be beat.” Kathy Heafey: “We’d start at the Hop to rub Warner Bentley’s nose, then hoof it across campus to the Choates! Sentimental favorites.” Paul Haffner: “Easier to say where I would not take them—Bones Gate basement. Tried that at 20th reunion and they are still scarred from the experience!” Andy Affleck: “My 13-year-old son is into the arts so I would take him through the new visual studies building and the Hood and Hop. In fact, we did that this spring and he loved them.” Rich Byron: “The Tower Room should be featured in a documentary film called Exactly What a College Library Should Look Like.” Mary Es (Anderson) Beaver: “I would take them to the Green in June because that is what life between work is all about, to the river on an inner tube in July because that is what summer is all about, to Sanborn at tea time when it is snowing out because that is what quiet comfort is all about, and to the stacks at night when quiet intellect blooms.” Julie Clugage: “I would take my daughters to the Tower Room to share with them the highest quality napping experience of my life to date.” Julie’s husband, Richard Hardegree: “It would not be South Mass. Our 8-year-old is still traumatized by her stay there during reunions. She described it as ‘stinky’ and vividly remembers ‘boogers on the walls.’ That would definitely rule out the Alpha Chi Alpha basement. So I’m going with the great outdoors—the Dartmouth Skiway and the docks on the river.” Sebastian De Atucha: “The Bema/Bartlett Tower (especially if you can get up the tower) and Ledyard.” David Clark: “Sanborn. The atmosphere in Sanborn is symbolic of the climate that Dartmouth represents, relaxing yet stimulating.” Lauren Kehoe: “I would take my imaginary child to tea at Sanborn to show him or her that reading actual books can still be beautiful, elegant and civilized, with cookies.”
—Rob Crawford, 47 Black Oak Road, Weston, MA 02493; robertlcrawford@yahoo.com; Walter Palmer, 87 South St., Rockport, MA 01966; palmerwalter@mac.com
