Walking, Walking, Walking-- West to East to Hanes House

This statue of Washington Duke on East Campus.
The legend is... If he stands up as you pass in front of
him, you are a virgin.

That first semester at Duke changed my life in so many ways.  I was away from the security of my home and family and in a new exciting world.  I walked a lot before Duke, but I really began to Walk. In this first year my classes were on East Campus, except for Sociology, and that was on West. From the Chapel on West to the statue of Washington Duke on East, is 1.8 miles.  Hanes house is about half a mile from the Chapel.

One of the landmarks that remaied the same at least
until a few years ago. This
Underpass was the first place you see after you leave
East going West. Always lots of graffiti. 

We had several choices.  There was a bus that passed in front of Hanes House.  It went off campus and took a ton if time.  Those of us with a limited allowance found the cost too much.  You could walk to West and get the shuttle. That was the method of choice for most of us.  The third option was to go to the quadrangle and get a ride with an upper class man with a car. Freshmen did not have cars.  This was iffy option but one we loved.  The last option was to walk.  If the bus was not there, if there were no rides to be hitched, you walked and you walked fast.  I have been on that drive many times recently and there is no one walking. There are people all dressed in correct apparel who are running or biking. It appears for exercise or pleasure.  We walked out of necessity!

The building that Art History was
taught in is the red building at the
very back of campus.

Art History was in the oldest building you can imagine.  The class was on the third floor,  By the time we got from Hanes House to the bus, walked the distance to the back of campus, and up those three flights of stairs we were exhausted. I love art, I learned a lot, but after the walk right after lunch and looking at two screens in a darkened too warm room was very dangerous to learning.

It was the fate of all Duke students to take Religion. One full year of it.  My professor was Dr. Mason Crum.  The first words he said when we entered class was that we would not discuss religious practices as individuals. We were there to learn about religion and theology. But, he said, I will say one thing about my belief.  This is my Fathers' world.  That is the last we heard of individual beliefs, but we learned about the Q, all the way to modern religions.  I was amazed at the A and so were many of my East campus class mates.  Somehow, the school of nursing students were not supposed to be as smart.  They had not caught on to the fact that we had to meet the same entry requirements.  Our baccalaureate program was of the same quality, we took the same classes, and we carried more hours.

Marilyn Monroe in the fifties.  She was the pin-up
that every guy had and the look we all wanted.

Sociology was taught by a professor that taught me resilience if nothing else.  The class was all male except for two nursing students, female of course, there were no males in the fifties.  The first words out of his mouth was, "Can you imagine Marilyn Monroe going to the bathroom?"  I am sure my face was redder than my lipstick.  But the lesson was a good one.  At the human level, we all have the same needs. Do not be fooled by the trappings.  Political correctness was not yet a concept.  I am sure he had shocked classes since he began teaching.  Later when I was teaching college courses, I had my set of shockers and remembered this class with fondness.

English was taught first as English Composition, the first semester, and as English Literature, the second. I loved both courses and excelled in them.  There was a student union type building behind the building and the most luxurious thing was to get coffee and lounge in one of the nooks with an assignment.  Writing was not a chore for me, thanks to LOUISE SMITH at GREENSBORO SENIOR HIGH.  She had quoted most of the great works, had us read even more, and insisted we write a five hundred word theme each and every week of our senior year.  I hated it then but really loved the skill it had given me when I got to Duke.

One of the classes that I forgot to mention earlier was PHYSICAL EDUCATION. This was another walk.  We donned shorts with a raincoat over our exercise clothes, and tromped all the way through the quadrangle to a building near Cameron Indoor Stadium. A good part of the walk was through the men's dormitory area.  They hung from the windows and yelled and whistled.  They would run down to talk to us on our way back after class. 

My raincoat was a yellow slicker.

This is what was under those
raincoats . That is what we were hiding.

Walking lasted us until the day we left Duke and years after.  Our first initiation in Walking 101 was just the beginning.  We walked to classes, we walked to the hospital at six in the morning, we walked from the hospital to the dorm at midnight and we were on our feet all the time we were in clinical. There was no sitting for us.  We even had to stand when we were not doing anything.  

Until next time.....