While I was in Athens for my photo exhibit, I wandered around campus looking for familiar landmarks. One stop was the dorm I lived in my junior year – Scott Quad. I remembered it being on top of the hill at the heart of the campus. When I got to where I thought it should be, it was missing.
Surely they didn’t tear down the dorm where Paul Newman lived when he was an OU student.
I looked about half-way down this steep hill and, there it was. Man, I sure don’t remember that hill being that steep in 1967.
How WE called home
In December, I hauled out a 1967ish photo of coed lined up to talk on pay phones on that very corner, probably about where the light pole is.
Modern communication
Just before I crossed the street, I looked to my left and saw how different things are nearly half a century later. When the student was through texting, I told her about the old photo and asked her, “How do you think YOUR kids will communicating when they stand on this corner>”
She just gave me the “crazy old geezer look” and smiled before quickly walking away.
Here is a Frony photo of a wooden phone booth at Capaha Park.
http://www.semissourian.com/blogs/flynch/entry/37231
I didn’t realize kids actually called home from college. I thought this was some kind of urban legend.
Love your comment about the gal on the corner. I have actually been contemplating how technology will advance in the next 10 to 20 years. iPhones and such will surely be viewed as pioneer variety instruments. Maybe everything will be voice operated. It’s interesting to ponder…….
I lived in Scott Quad in the early 1990 as a student. Pay phone booths weren’t there then. We all had a phone line in our rooms. No TV nor internet yet though. TV came in around 94. Until then we all piled into the TV lounge and shared the TV. Mostly played cards while the TV was on the background.
That place was the best kept dorm secret on campus. All the other dorms were trash but living there was relative luxury. Centrally located too. A restaurant about 100 paces north. The massive Ping Fitness center, one of the largest in the country, just down the hill to the south. The library just to the west and the math/science building just to the east.
I wasn’t much of a fan of dorm life, but I was happy to be in Scott Quad. I practically lived at The OU Post and most of my classes were nearby, so the location was perfect.
I was stuffed into a room with two freshmen, but one flunked out early, and my hours at The Post meant that my other roommate and I didn’t see much of each other.
Food in the cafeteria wasn’t bad, although, I ate uptown more than at the dorm. We got phones in the rooms after Christmas break, if I remember correctly.