“From the Archives” appears in every issue of The Blue and Grey. On the left is an article from the back issues of The Blue and Grey, and on the right is a present day analysis from one of our staff reporters. This column highlights the historical value of our publication and links the past to the present.
“Seniors Can Have Cars on Campus”
May 3, 1973
Have you wondered recently why there are such large numbers of girls with wrenches, scrub buckets, and auto manuals hovering behind Meyran after dinner? Well, it is not the Klu Klux Clan or even the AAA in action, but merely a gathering of seniors tending to their long-awaited cars. For, as Dot Hofstadter put it, “having a car carries a responsibility like having a dog; it must be pampered and cared for every day.”
As is exemplified by Weezie Reed’s naming her car “Busy Bucket,” the arrival of automobiles has greatly decreased the number of pedestrians on campus, and also created a decided upward trend in long journeys. Carole Borbonus, for example, has spent almost every weekend enroute to the “outside world,” putting over 2000 miles on her ’56 Chevrolet convertible in the process.
Dorothy DeAngelis, on the other hand, seems to prefer the Frederick area scenery; she and her many passengers have taken long Sunday afternoon drives in her ’57 cream and cinnamon Oldsmobile into the valley around Sugar Loaf mountain.
The most practical reason for the addition of vehicles, however, is that advanced by those seniors to go into student teaching. Soon seniors like Mimi Spaulding, Dot Hofstadter, and Weezie Reed will be taking not only joy rides around the campus, but also daily trips to the scene of future employment.
Perhaps the car best known for its appearance is that owned by Mimi Spaulding, who admits that when she ordered her ’56 orange and brownPlymouthshe did not know “just how bright it would be.”
Another automobile with a personality is Dot Hofstadter’s Buick Roadmaster, affectionately named “Mack Truck.” This is the car on which Dot learned to drive and having seen eight summers of long trips is referred to as “ye old tank.” The Hofstadter’s boast a long line of personable cars though, as Dot recalls that their first one was aptly named “grandma” and was put out of use only when after 13 years of service it sank into the mud and had to be towed away to the junk yard.
With fingers crossed, most of the seniors reported that trouble has so far been scant. Save for Weezie Reed’s very discouraging flat tire on the first day of the semester, one dead battery and a broken muffler, all seems to be well with the automobile set.
The only outstanding need, so the seniors say, is able underclass volunteers for scrubbing and shining said vehicles. For as Joan Voorhees is advertising “Wanted: extra hands for rubbing down cars.” Hop to it, little sisters.
From the Present
By Andrea Haines
Having a car on campus is no longer a privilege allotted to only seniors; the newly named roads ofHoodCollegeare constantly buzzing with automobiles owned by members of every class.
This semester has brought some big changes for the car owning population; over the summer the streets of Hood underwent a makeover. Bumps and cracks were smoothed out, extraneous roads were trimmed, and new paths were forged. With these changes came new street names, which can actually be found on Google maps.
The addition of Hodson Drive not only unites the two parts of campus, but it also makes the journey around campus to search for a parking spot much easier, although not any more successful. More often than not, parking on campus during prime class hours is frustrating, but there is something to be said about the feeling that you get when you somehow snag the elusive perfect spot.
For those who are without a set of wheels, the addition of many new sidewalks has improved life for those who have to travel by foot. Not having to look both ways before crossing what is now a sidewalk to get to the dining hall is a nice change of pace.
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