Prompted

Spring 2019

Prompt: Extracurriculars

Faith in field hockey

In the late 1960s, field hockey was a club team with no official coaches and no official budget, but we had the complete support of Ms. Buck and Ms. King, who arranged for transportation to our away games. Those of us from the East Coast, where hockey was highly competitive, recruited our friends so that we could field a complete team. We were lucky because we had one experienced forward, one experienced halfback, and one experienced fullback; so we had the coaching covered!

You can imagine our delight when we won the state championship in 1968, surely fueled by spirit and grit more than talent. On our way home, we stopped for dinner and carried our 3-foot-tall trophy crowned by its hockey player into the restaurant with us to keep it safe. The hostess looked at our prize and said, “I see you girls won a golf tournament!”

- Cindy Maier Bartlett ’70, Baltimore
Acting the part

I vividly remember auditioning for the musical Stop the World, I Want to Get Off during the 1968–69 season. Merritt Olsen ’68 was cast as the lead, Littlechap, and I was cast as Ginne, an American cabaret singer, one of his conquests. I recall how intense rehearsals were but how easy Merritt made it seem. His acting was so natural and he was so professional that he immediately put all the cast at ease.

In one scene, Littlechap and I had a flirtatious moment onstage after I sang a song and sat in his lap. It was so much fun to trade lines with him and see how the audience appreciated his performance as much as I did. Although this was my first acting role, taking part in the theatre at Grinnell and working with such a talented actor and the rest of the cast was a thrilling experience for me.

- Martha Wiedman ’71, Santa Ana, California
Winter 2018

Prompt: Winters in Iowa can be brutal.

Northern Lights

As a native Iowan, nothing really phases me, but there was one night in the winter of 1991–92 that was particularly memorable. That night, the aurora borealis was clearly visible from Mac Field — gorgeous glowing green and white lights dancing across the sky. I ran out to see as soon as someone shouted down the Langan Pit hallway and completely forgot to put on my shoes. Yes, I ran out into the snow of Mac Field barefoot AND stood out there to watch the lights for about 10 minutes before I realized what I’d done. I ended up having to wear double layers of socks for weeks and not being able to feel my feet for the next four days — minor frostbite. Whoops.
– Stephany Schmidt Hall ’9

- Stephany Schmidt Hall ’95, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Bonus Points

In the winter of ’82, I lived in a four-room triple on Haines 2nd. When the steam radiator behind our couch was cranked open, the central room became insufferably hot and stifling, so we always opened the windows. Standard protocol when approaching the dorm was to try to lob a snowball through a window. Surprise and laughter were guaranteed for a successful toss, and bonus points were awarded for actually hitting someone.

- Clay Parks ’84, Canton, Georgia
For B.B. King

Winter 1978–79, B.B. King’s in Iowa City: We borrow a car, and I sensibly suggest checking the oil first. Everyone else insists there isn’t time. Car burns out partway there. On snowy roadside, we solemnly contemplate our mistake until a nice patrolman drives us to town, saying car will be towed to “Barney’s Standard.”
Post-concert, no one we ask has ever heard of Barney’s Standard. We’ve broken someone’s car, then lost it entirely. Eventually discover garage’s new name, escape Twilight Zone, somehow get home.
Only I return with destroyed car’s owner, who hitches it to another car, then I — the least guilty party — must steer it without heat or lights on the highway at night with a large truck bearing down and the driver’s window stuck halfway open, freezing. Exiting highway, we land in snowdrift. Borrowed shovel breaks.
Replacement engine: $350, split several ways.
B.B. King: worth it.

- Rosa Michnya ’79, Philadelphia
First Date

It was 23 degrees below zero ― actual Fahrenheit temperature not that silly wind chill nonsense ― with a foot or so of snow on the ground. Born and reared in Iowa on the banks of the Mississippi River, I simply bundled up and trudged off to my Saturday morning physics class. The only other person who showed up that morning was a young man named Roy [Pengra ’69] who hailed from South Dakota. We waited 15 minutes for Professor Clotfelter (who wisely stayed home) then decided coffee at the Forum beckoned. I will never forget our instant laughter as we opened the doors and found every room bustling and bursting with students who apparently found it too cold to go to class but no problem at all to take the day off to play bridge or pool. Fifty years of married life later, Roy and I still count ‘hot coffee at the Forum on a very cold day’ as our first date.

- Lilah Morton Pengra ’69, Buffalo Gap, South Dakota
Your eyeballs will freeze

Having been nurtured on the drifting snows and subzero temperatures of Western Pennsylvania, I scoffed at the warnings about Iowa winters. Little did I realize that a mere couple of molehills stand between the hallowed streets of Grinnell and the maniacal winds of Northern Canada. They streak southward with a cold so intense that you can feel tiny icicles growing on your bones just looking out the window from a snugly heated room. Preparing for the brief walk from South Campus to ARH, we bundled ourselves into coats, mufflers, hats, mittens, and fleece-lined boots. I remember one morning the radio said we should avoid looking directly into the wind because our eyeballs would freeze. My advice to you: Be sure to leave for class five minutes early on those days. It will take you that long to strip off all those layers.

- Eda Sterner ’85, Pahoa, Hawaii
Value of appropriate footwear

Iowa winters are no joke, and while everyone might tell you to spend time getting the right coat, my biggest piece of advice is to invest in practical footwear with excellent traction! I experienced a classic Grinnell blizzard right before finals, and in my attempt to get to my dorm to grab study materials, I slipped on the ice over the train tracks, breaking my arm instantly. Young, stubborn, and a little stupid, I took Advil, wrapped my arm in a towel, and went to bed. Since the health center wasn’t open until 9 a.m. the next day, I went to my 8 a.m. class before getting my official diagnosis and cast. Once home on winter break, my doctor gave me a very stern talk about my choice in weatherproof footwear.

- Molly Rottman ’11, Brooklyn, New York
A Flag on the Play

My daughter included Grinnell in her college road trip only “to please the old man” in late summer 2007. After crossing into Iowa from the south Annie asked, “What’s with the flags on top of the fire hydrants?” “That’s so the firemen can find them in the snow.” Her eyes widened and I heard her think “OH MY GOD!”
People who had never seen snow screamed in Burling Library when the first flakes came down.
In Clark Hall we opened all the windows on the third floor and threw water into the hall so we could skate. There was terror when a freshman skated through the large window at the end of the hall and attempted to swing around on the fire escape pole but only flew into the darkness. A snowbank left him uninjured. Alcohol was involved.

- Greg Robinson ’67, Columbia, Missouri
Miles of tundra

I grew up in Illinois, not many miles further south than Grinnell. But as the winter of 1957–58 arrived my freshman year, it felt like there was nothing between ARH and the North Pole but miles of frozen tundra and biting winds. I finally called my parents to ask for money for a parka and winter cap. They agreed, but were surprised because in high school, I had never worn a cap or anything heavier than a light windbreaker.
Four Grinnell winters, however, turned out to be a kind of “boot camp” — good practice for what came next when, upon graduation, my wife and I moved to Minnesota, the nation's “ice box” state, where we have lived ever since, parkas and all. In short, Iowa winters proved to be just one more example of how Grinnell helped prepare me for life!

- Garvin Davenport ’61, St. Paul, Minnesota

What advice do you have for this year’s class of first-year students? Submit your response (150 words or less, please) to The Grinnell Magazine with “Prompted” in the subject line.