By: Roger Sitterly

Aug 25, 2012

Mr. Block –

THANK YOU so much for authorizing the re-issuance of “Campus Tramp”. I know it’s been a couple of years since you did so, but I just last week found out about it in the Spring/Summer 2012 “Antiochian” – and immediately went on line and ordered a copy, which I’ve just finished reading.

I have to tell you it brought back some incredibly fond memories of my time in YSO (June 1962 – June 1967). I didn’t normally go to Ye Olde Trail Tavern (most of my friends and I patronized Com’s), but I recall the congested state of the golf course from time to time, and I spent a lot of time (way more than was academically advisable) shooting pool outside the Record Office on the second floor of the Union. Then, around 1965 or 1966, a portion of the Union Building that was accessed from that pool table area was turned into a photography darkroom, and I ended up inhaling copious quantities of glacial acetic acid fumes while mastering, sort of, the skills involved in black and white photography. During my time at Antioch, I lived in South (Camelot), Corry (Nash), the Presidents, and Mills (Orton). And, of course, there were lots of midnight trips to the YS Bakery to be on hand when the first batch of donuts came out of the hot fat – that was truly food for the Gods!

By the time I arrived as a freshman in June 1962, “Campus Tramp” was already part of the Antioch legend/atmosphere. However, for at least a couple of years, nobody seemed to have a copy so we poor entering students could only imagine what the book was like based on the tales of upperclassmen (not always accurate, as it turned out). Then, I think around 1965, someone at WYSO got a copy and one quarter read a chapter each week on WYSO-AM starting at midnight. Everyone in the hall unit crowded into the common room to listen – it was great!

I do have one infinitesimal little nit to pick. On page 93, line 4, the line begins “pica-hole he used to measure the copy. . .” My checkered career includes a five-year stint at a newspaper in Arizona, and we called them “pica sticks” or “pica poles”. I therefore believe it’s a typo. That doesn’t detract in the slightest from my enjoyment of the book – and again, THANK YOU so much for making it possible for me to finally enjoy first hand such an integral part of the 1960s Antioch experience.

Roger Sitterly

rogersitterly@yahoo.com

Class of 1967

ps – I tried your e-mail address from the 2007 Alumni Directory, but it didn’t work, so I’ve posted here.