ABOUT
THE AUTHOR
Looking for work, a sturdy woman who spoils, a great cup of coffee, and friends who are incredibly funny (not necessarily in that order)..live an hour north of NYC, enjoy gnoshing and listening, love, love, love to write [March 2007]
AUTHOR'S OTHER TITLES (4) Destination Unknown (Short Stories) Her life is a never ending journey in search of something that she will never find...brief moments of intense pleasure lead her to believe that she is on the right path [391 words] [Erotic] My Wife And The Invisible People (Short Stories) My ex-wife is very kind and thougthful to people who do not really exist.... [225 words] [Humor] Overwhelming Experience Of A College Freshman (Short Stories) Culture shock does not describe the feeling that a sheltered seventeen year old feels when he begins his first week as a college student, 1968. [349 words] Vic Voegelin And The Iwo Jima Letters (Short Stories) A recent news story triggers memories of a fine man who taught us honesty, thoughtfulness, and compassion. [311 words] [Motivational]
The Kent State Tragedy- Its Impact On Me Greg Dinunzio
A comment a friend made about my freshman year in college article moved my thoughts ahead one year.
Transitioning from a straight preppie freshman to a wooly, uncaring sophomore brought academic consequences. After the first semester of my sophomore year, I was on academic probation.....and midway through the second semester, my GPA was well below 2.0....I was on my way to flunking out.
Something tragic happened that saved me academically...Kent State. Many on this site remember it all too well. Many of the younger folks may have heard of it.
The spring of 1970 was a time of riot and revolt...the Vietnam War tore apart our nation in unimaginable ways...college campuses across the nation became sites of mass demonstrations, building fire bombings, and insane tension. At Kent State, national guardsmen were brought in to restore order....inexplicably, guardsmen were ordered to open fire on the demonstrators, killing four students.
College campuses across the nation went over the top...probably ninety percent of the colleges closed early for the year. As a result, students were able to drop failing course grades without penalty, take a pass/fail grade, or take a letter grade if that worked out best. I wound up with a 3.0 on six academic credits. All because four students died on a warm spring day in Ohio.
If Kent State had not happened, I would have flunked out, and become draft eligible....where would I have gone? I never gained the maturity to do well as an undergraduate, but I was able to eventually graduate....only as a grad student did I give my full effort.
My mother said that it was the worst of times for a kid like myself (easily distracted) to attend college...but that is how it played out....Jonathan, you sparked a memory that is hard to categorize...all part of the madness of the time...it leaves me a bit numb.
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