This page is dedicated to my one year away at college during the 1967-1968 school year. I was at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York. The college was right on the Hudson River, and was nicknamed "Marist on the Hudson", or MOTH so we were nicknamed "Mothmen". It would be my first trip away from home, but not the last (the Air Force would enter my life in 1971). As it was my first time away from home, it was like being released from prison. There was a lot of drinking, sleeping, and very little studying or class room time.
I was an avid rock & roll fan in 1967, and did not follow baseball. I also hated collegiate clothes and tried to emulate rockers. The collegiates did not like that or my other eccentricities, but that was their loss. I did play electric bass and was in a band for a short time. They sacked before the first gig, and the rest of the time up there was spent simply jamming and plugging my favorites artists - Cream and John Mayall - either in person or on my radio show on the campus station.
As for the opposite gender, Marist was all guys in 1967 and that presented some problems. The joke was that there were 450 guys (commuters) and 850 sex maniacs (resident students) there. I think that about sums it up. There were some dances with girls' schools in the Hudson Valley, and sometimes I did allright. But with no car it was not easy to keep up a decent relationship, and the nearst girls' school was Vassar College, across town. It was a tony snob school for rich girls. They hated us for being low class ethnic trash, and we hated them back for their hypocricy. I consider them the poster children for limousine liberals: talk left and live right, with the motto of "Don't do what I do, do as I say". Fellow freshman Bill O'Reilly, now of Fox News, felt the same way about them and bashed the school and the alumnae in his first book - The O'Reilly Factor.
Not surprisingly, my parents yanked me out after freshman year (if the school did not throw me out) and I ended up at St. John's University.
On October 25, 2009 the 3 of us visited Poughkeepsie to check out the new Walkway over the Hudson Rail to Trail. It's the old New Haven Railroad's bridge that spanned the River between Highland and Poughkeepsie. There have been no trains since 1974 after a fire on the eastern side of the bridge. After sitting unused for 35 years, on October 3, 2009 it was converted into a pedestrian walkway. We enjoyed the walk, and afterwards visited the Marist College campus and I marveled on how it changed since 1968.
Left column, top to bottom: on the Walkway above Route 9 and looking toward the Campus; my daughter and me on the Walkway; the 3 of us.
Right column: my dormitory, Champagnat Hall, looking toward the Campus from the Walkway
Cream: Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce & Ginger Baker; John Mayll's album - Crusade, and the inspirataion for my radio show - The Blues Crusade; John Mayall, one of my favorites in 1967-1968
The New York Penn League's Renegades play in nearby Fishkill. They did not exist in 1967.
Marist College's teams are the Red Foxes
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