There was a heat wave in Boston in the summer of 1969. There was always a heat wave in the summer in Boston. It was literally the last summer of the 60s, but it was metaphorically the last summer of the 60s as well. We did not know that. Both Kennedy brothers had been assassinated; […]
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Williams 74, Harvard 59 (Dec 12, 1967, Lasell Gymnasium [audio broadcast])
Listen as classmate David Snydman, aided by some energetic acoustics from Lasell gymnasium, takes us through a memorable basketball victory over Harvard. David entered medical practice after Williams, eschewing a brilliant future as a replacement for Johnny Most. Due to server side audio size restrictions, we’re offering an edited version of each half. Click on […]
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Communications
While today’s Ephs are said to exist in the Purple Bubble during their Williamstown years, they nevertheless live their undergraduate lives in the era of telecommunications miracles and global interconnectedness. In contrast, although we of the Class of 1968 thought we were living in an era of space age technology, the communications tools personally available to us were quite basic and limited. Students came to college usually equipped only with a radio, and perhaps a stereo phonograph (or, in some cases, a reel-to-reel tape recorder).
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Our War and Welcome to It
The Vietnam War — our war — always loomed just beyond the mountains. To serve or not to serve? Our choice — or pure chance in the draft lottery — still marks us. Ken Burns’ documentary “The Vietnam War” once again reminded us of those who lived and those who were lost, on both sides. […]
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Crossing the Border: The Williams-Bennington Experience in late 60s
What was it about Bennington College?
The 17-mile ride up to Bennington was transformative. But it was not always an easy journey for the Williams student of our day. One classmate, quoting James Joyce’s Ulysses, mentions understanding first-hand what Joyce meant by the “scotumtightening sea,” as he would sign in at the small guard’s office manned by stolid Vermonters whose tacit disapproval he interpreted as directed toward him, but was maybe aimed in a more general way toward the entire permissive and doubtless sinful lifestyle that lay beyond the gates.
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Getting there… to the Brave New World
The Brave, New World of Williams College by Lloyd S. Thomas In the late fall of 1963, a high school friend, who had gotten early acceptance at Yale, handed me a faded, well-thumbed, but still elegantly purple copy of the Williams College Bulletin that I still possess and treasure after more than 50 years; somehow […]
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The Red Balloon — The Williams College Literary Magazine
Read our interview with Red Balloon editor Scott Fields below. Before you do that, and to sort of set the stage, you might like to read our deceased classmate Bill Smith’s generous and sensitive review of a poetry night at the babbel featuring some Red Balloon poets. Bill’s review appeared in the May 2, 1967 edition […]
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