Heath Row Goes to College II

Sept. 22, 1991

Dear mom and dad,

Today is Sunday the 22nd and it is about 2:30 in the afternoon. I awoke at ten, showered, and went to SBX with K. to get a couple more books. I returned to the room, ate lunch and then headed to Norris. There I purchased my last book. Registration on Friday went very well and difficulties were few. I had to pick a different discussion group for my history and poli. sci. and wasn't able to get into the math for behavioral science class so I signed up for calculus. Then I changed my mind and decided to sign up for introduction to statistics instead.

So... my final classes are as follows: American Government and Politics, History of the United States (Colonialism through the Civil War), Introduction to Sociology and Introduction to Statistics. All but Soc. fill distribution requirements. Worked out better than my original plan since I'd have to take the behavioral science math two quarters to fill the stat. req. but Into to Stats. does so in one quarter. Very nice. Here's my time schedule.

Monday
8-10 AM Am. Govt + Pol. lecture
10-11 AM Hist. of US lecture
3-4 PM Intro. to Soc.

Tuesday
3-4 PM Intro. to Soc.
4-5:30 PM Intro. to Stats.

Wednesday
8-10 AM Am. Govt. + Pol. lecture
10-11 AM Hist. of US lecture
3-4 PM Intro. to Soc.

Thursday
10-11 AM Am. Govt. + Pol. discussion
2-3 PM Hist. of US discussion
4-5:30 PM Intro. to Stats.

Friday
10-11 AM Hist. of US lecture

My lectures for Am. Govt. and Hist. of US are in the same auditorium so that's neat. It'll be fun to see if I can get back from the Soc. class on Tuesday for Stats. Soc. is in the Tech Auditorium and Stats is in Parkes. Pretty far away but I should be able to do it without a hitch. You know, I cannot wait for classes to start tomorrow. Cool. Oh! Books! I now have notebooks, folders, an assignment notebook and all the required texts.

For Am. Govt. and Politics I bought Peter Woll's American Government Readings and Cases; Janda, Berry and Goldman's The Challenge of Democracy; and Butler's accompanying study guide/workbook for that text. For History of the US I bought Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography and Other Writings, Thomas Paine's Common Sense, A Midwife's Tale by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, Christine Stansell's City of Women, Gerald F. Linderman's Embattled Courage and Stephan Thernstrom's A History of the American People. For Statistics I bought Freedman's Statistics text. Last but not least I bought Hess' Sociology text for Soc. Total cost came to $255.44. Wow! All the books look great and I can't wait to get into them. While shopping for books I saw so many more I was excited by but realizes I wouldn't have much time for leisure reading.

Oh. About K. He and I aren't as alike as you may think. He's a little like J. as far as his social habits go and has a little Eurofakeness about him. It's fine living in the same room with him but we're not doing too much together outside of that. But that's fine. Last night I toured the campus with D. from Itasca and L. from New Jersey. D.'s friends from his hometown were visiting from Loyola and U of I so we showed them the highlights of NU. There's this great garden thing called Shakespeare Gardens north on Sheridan. Hope I can find it again.

What else... the Tribune tour was lame but Billy Goat's was cool. Dad, ask mom what B. Goat's is. I told her on the phone. I did laundry for the first time today. Four wash loads nd two dryer loads. My underwear didn't dry first time so I had to do them again with the other stuff. My tee shirts are on the rack now.

The weather has taken a turn to the cool side of things. Comfortable though despite the wind. There are so many squirrels here! R. would go crazy. Really! And they're oh so tame. Something else that's neat. Despite being raised in an obviously predominately white city, I am having no difficulties getting along with the asians and blacks here. On my floor I have gotten to know (a little you realize -- haven't been here long) R., D. and V. -- all very nice black people. I feel weird calling them that (black) because I don't think of them as being different. D. next door is asian. It's sort of neat that I'm not having any racial hang-ups.

Oh. The tape I had gotten in the mail was Carolee returning a Zappa tape. My radio slot will probably be on Tuesday for two hours between (somewhere) 5 AM and 1 PM. I apprentice for 1/2 to 1 quarter before I go on my own. Should be fun and can hardly be called a time committment. No two t's in that word, I think. What else. Oh. My jazz audition is next (or rather this) Friday -- the 27th. Wish me luck. Last night late in Shepard's lounge I listened to two pianists and a sax/clarinetist -- all frosh. Absolutely amazing. Reminded me of Bix and Hoagie in a way with that "hot" piano. Nifty. Next time I'll ask if I can join in. Geez, this has gotten awfully long. Feel free to write or call and if I get tons of mail, send it. HA. Say hi to Bun and give me B.'s phone # sil vous plait. Merci.

Sprawled on his bed,