crazietalk.net

As my 1,000th post, I would like to create a thread dedicated to the memories of the Duke alumni, employees, and Blue Devils that post on this board.

Considering that I'm currently in the process of applying to Duke and am working on the finishing touches to my Duke Early Decision application, I am curious to know what memories or thoughts you have about the university. I know, or at least hope that you all loved the time you spent there, but I want to hear about specific memories that would help me understand what I could expect from the daily life at Duke. I know there is a decent chance that I won't be accepted, so I won't object to any negative experiences you might want to share. It would help me maintain a thorough and well-rounded view of the college. I do however believe that there is a decent (decent can be debated) chance that I might get in, so I do want to hear just as much about the things that make it such an amazing place.

I know that many of you share tidbits and short stories in random threads, but it seems like a lot of trouble to hunt all of those down - which is why I'm creating this thread.

What was your favorite class? What were your professors like? How was being a Cameron Crazie? What has changed since you attended that you would like to experience? Etc.

Thanks for helping me gain a better perspective on Duke University!

Nice idea for the 1000th, it should be a fun thread. I can't add anything as far as campus life, I'm not an alumni, but I'll enjoy reading what folks have to say. Congrats on 1000, best of luck with the application!

Excellent idea.

1. Dating a Hanes Honey and marrying her. ;)
2. Having a son graduate from Duke in 2007.
3. Having a daughter there now who is a cheerleader.

devildeac wrote:Excellent idea.

1. Dating a Hanes Honey and marrying her. ;)
2. Having a son graduate from Duke in 2007.
3. Having a daughter there now who is a cheerleader.

CellR - Was thinking the same.... great idea!

DD - regarding #1, you never let your GF or wife where your underwear!
regarding #2, congratulations!
regarding #3, I have to ask, do you see any resemblance to the below PIC? BTW, I was cheering for her and was actually correct for whom I cheered for!!!!

Ah the memories.

Being the first class to start out on the all-freshman East Campus. All the classes above us were so pissed about it and the reorganization of all the living groups. But I think it really helped the class gel. No one seems to dislike it now.

Showing up to Wally Wade stadium at 9am on cool dewy Saturday mornings, to practice the marching band show before noon games.

Pulling all-nighters, subsisting on Dr. Pepper or Mountain Dew and swedish fish to get physics homework done. We'd usually camp out in a classroom in the math-physics building and fill up all the whiteboads/chalkboards with problems. A couple times Professor Roxann Springer actually stayed with us late in the evening to help. She was great.

We also pulled a lot of all-nighters in the basement of the Teer building in the computer lab there working on computer science projects.

That time we derived chemistry in a quantum mechanics class.

I remember my freshman calculus II class in the West Duke building on East Campus. We had a grad student teaching. She was hot. She was smart. And she'd bring us Bruegger's on every Friday. And she could teach. Some people complain about grad students teaching, but sometimes they are much better than the professors.

When I lived in an apartment on Central, I'd frequently just walk to class on West Campus by cutting through the gardens. What a phenomenally scenic walk to class to start out your day.

I used to try to take most of my classes between 10am and 2pm. I'd almost always come home and nap from 3 until dinner. Then I'd stay up late at night to do work. Thus necessitating a nap the next day.

I didn't have a car the first two years, so I had to bum rides from friends.

My very very first weekend at Duke, I piled onto a bus with 100 other marching band people I had just met and we drove to Florida. We played Florida State at the citrus bowl. We stayed at a shady motel next to a tattoo shop near Orlando. FSU paid all of us to get entrance to Disney World. We partied hard at the hotel and I became great friends with people I'm still friends with today. I learned that 5 year old FSU fans are the most vulgar little annoying cretins on the earth.

Choral vespers, tenebrae services and carols and lessons services in the Chapel. Beautiful beautiful beautiful.

Being able to skip the tents and walk into Cameron 2 hrs before tipoff with the band.

Never tented.

Standing 20 feet from the court at the 1999 championship game watching Trajan Langdon (twice) stumble up the court and lose the ball in the last minute.

The 1997 UNC game where Trajan scored 21 pts on 7 three-pointers to get us a big win and break the losing streak.

The 1998 UNC game - the loudest game I ever attended in Cameron - where Roshown McLeod tipped in the game winning layup and UNC proceeded to choke at the band-side free-throw line to lose the game 77-75.

Also CellR... I just volunteered to be an alumnus admissions interviewer for the Durham/Orange county area. I have no idea if you can request an interviewer.... but if you wanted to come up this way for an interview......

DukeUsul wrote:Also CellR... I just volunteered to be an alumnus admissions interviewer for the Durham/Orange county area. I have no idea if you can request an interviewer.... but if you wanted to come up this way for an interview......

I wish! Apparently I my interviewer is a lawyer named Buzzy Stubbs. Does anyone know him?

cl15876 wrote:

devildeac wrote:Excellent idea.

1. Dating a Hanes Honey and marrying her. ;)
2. Having a son graduate from Duke in 2007.
3. Having a daughter there now who is a cheerleader.

CellR - Was thinking the same.... great idea!

DD - regarding #1, you never let your GF or wife where your underwear!
regarding #2, congratulations!
regarding #3, I have to ask, do you see any resemblance to the below PIC? BTW, I was cheering for her and was actually correct for whom I cheered for!!!!

1. "...where your underwear"-C'mon . And you talk about my quoting? Maybe we can both take a remedial grammarmarian or linguistini class together sometime... :roll:
2. Thanks.
3. Brunette. Anything more than that can only get me in serious trouble. Yea, it's pretty sad when Mrs. DD and I were BOTH waving to/cheering for the wrong young lady. And my wife had not had a single drop of any adult beverage prior to the "illegal use of the wave/cheer." :roll: At least there was no penalty for our error.

DukeUsul wrote:Ah the memories.

Being the first class to start out on the all-freshman East Campus. All the classes above us were so pissed about it and the reorganization of all the living groups. But I think it really helped the class gel. No one seems to dislike it now.

These damn youngsters.

(I'm a single year ahead of Usul).

throatybeard wrote:

DukeUsul wrote:Ah the memories.

Being the first class to start out on the all-freshman East Campus. All the classes above us were so pissed about it and the reorganization of all the living groups. But I think it really helped the class gel. No one seems to dislike it now.

These damn youngsters.

(I'm a single year ahead of Usul).

You're making me feel VERY old, throaty.

devildeac wrote:

cl15876 wrote:

devildeac wrote:Excellent idea.

1. Dating a Hanes Honey and marrying her. ;)
2. Having a son graduate from Duke in 2007.
3. Having a daughter there now who is a cheerleader.

CellR - Was thinking the same.... great idea!

DD - regarding #1, you never let your GF or wife where your underwear!
regarding #2, congratulations!
regarding #3, I have to ask, do you see any resemblance to the below PIC? BTW, I was cheering for her and was actually correct for whom I cheered for!!!!

1. "...where your underwear"-C'mon . And you talk about my quoting? Maybe we can both take a remedial grammarmarian or linguistini class together sometime... :roll:
2. Thanks.
3. Brunette. Anything more than that can only get me in serious trouble. Yea, it's pretty sad when Mrs. DD and I were BOTH waving to/cheering for the wrong young lady. And my wife had not had a single drop of any adult beverage prior to the "illegal use of the wave/cheer." :roll: At least there was no penalty for our error.

OMG, I can't believe I did that! Thanks for bringing it to my attention! ;)

I suspect each group of students has generally liked and made the best of the arrangements in place while they were at Duke.

I lived on the East Campus when it was the Woman's College. My sister, who is five years younger than I, was in the last class of the Woman's College. Most of the gals I knew appreciated the co-ordinate college system and the benefits we felt we derived from it. My friends cut across all classes because of the dorm system which was based on housing all four classes together in the same dorm.

I was fortunate to have classes taught by some the best among the professors. A couple of my professors also taught my dad when he was at Duke. (My dad was at Duke 1929-1933. He arrived in the fall after your great grandfather graduated in 1929, CellR.) My dad used to tell us stores about various things about his time at Duke and I relished most of my time there because of that longtime connection.

Some of my best memories are of football Saturdays. We had Saturday classes then, though I made sure my classes didn't go past second period. The bustle of getting dressed up (women and men dressed up for football games then), heading over to the Union for a quick lunch and then on the bus to West Campus. The student section was located on the home side, near its current location. The cheerleaders did a great job of involving the crowd in cheering during the game..... there were men and women cheerleaders then..... the cheers were chosen to fit the action on the field.... How long has it been since you heard a cheer for a fumble play? The games were at 2P. I've read some of the historical background of the design of Wallace Wade Stadium; it's fascinating that some of the design takes into account the angle of the sun during the games..... based on a 2P kick off.

When the rains begin to fall in the early autumn, I think of the puddles on East Campus sidewalks, especially those near East and West Duke. I also think of the first hourlies being given about that time in the semester.

Basketball season was a wonderful time at Duke then, too. Vic Bubas was coaching some of our best basketball players during that era. My customary seats for a couple of years was behind the freshman team who sat behind the varsity. It was a heady time when Duke was getting established nationally and playing powerhouses like UCLA and Michigan in then Indoor Stadium. I loved the way the players were announced.... the house lights were turned down, only a spotlight on the player being introduced. We enjoyed greeting opposing players with "Who's he?" until some administrator asked us to stop.

One of the best things about being at Duke then was the sense that we were all somehow part of a greater entity than ourselves. Most professors were very approachable and many made an effort to mentor students. Compared to other colleges available to women at that time, Duke was ahead of its time in terms of the level of independence accorded to and encouraged among the women undergraduates. Those of us who benefited from that sort of environment were often unaware that it was very different for other women.

CellR wrote:

DukeUsul wrote:Also CellR... I just volunteered to be an alumnus admissions interviewer for the Durham/Orange county area. I have no idea if you can request an interviewer.... but if you wanted to come up this way for an interview......

I wish! Apparently I my interviewer is a lawyer named Buzzy Stubbs. Does anyone know him?

I know him a little from attending CLE* seminars he's taught and from working with him on a couple of cases. Great guy, good sense of humor, very well-respected. I think you'll like him - I imagine he's a good interviewer.


*Continuing Legal Education

CellR wrote:

DukeUsul wrote:Also CellR... I just volunteered to be an alumnus admissions interviewer for the Durham/Orange county area. I have no idea if you can request an interviewer.... but if you wanted to come up this way for an interview......

I wish! Apparently I my interviewer is a lawyer named Buzzy Stubbs. Does anyone know him?

I know his daughter, Alice. She and I shared office space about 14 years ago. I moved on to California, and she moved on to the bench.

According to his firm's website, Buzzy earned his undergraduate degree at unc in 1964. He was a Morehead Scholar. He went to law school at Duke, graduating in 1967.

CathyCA wrote:

CellR wrote:

DukeUsul wrote:Also CellR... I just volunteered to be an alumnus admissions interviewer for the Durham/Orange county area. I have no idea if you can request an interviewer.... but if you wanted to come up this way for an interview......

I wish! Apparently I my interviewer is a lawyer named Buzzy Stubbs. Does anyone know him?

I know his daughter, Alice. She and I shared office space about 14 years ago. I moved on to California, and she moved on to the bench.

According to his firm's website, Buzzy earned his undergraduate degree at unc in 1964. He was a Morehead Scholar. He went to law school at Duke, graduating in 1967.

So... Before I trip up and make a mistake - can anyone confirm he is a Duke fan?

CellR wrote:

CathyCA wrote:
According to his firm's website, Buzzy earned his undergraduate degree at unc in 1964. He was a Morehead Scholar.

So... Before I trip up and make a mistake - can anyone confirm he is a Duke fan?

He hates Duke and only wants the very worst students and most degenerate kids to be admitted. He feels it's his duty as a carolina grad. Count your recent "event" as a positive in his eyes.





























Just kidding about all of the above.