Last week I got an email from a curious reader that raised a question I don’t know how to answer:
Although I understand you’re not a fan of O-week, I wonder if you’d be interested in the history of the name. Before Christy Moore and I were coordinators at Hanszen in 1984 or ‘85, I had the impression it was still called Orientation Week. Christy and I definitely referred to it as O-week, but I wonder where and with whom that started.
Hope you’re well!
Yours in curiosity,
Hannah Baker Hitzhusen
It’s true that I don’t much care for O-week as it is currently constituted. It would have made me miserable, but I can see that the students do seem to enjoy it. In any event, Hannah’s question is a good one. I did a quick look in the archives but it would take more time to figure this out than I have to devote to it.
So here’s a place to start. In 1970 we had Freshman Week (which looks much more congenial to me):
At some point this became known as Orientation Week and at some time after that we started calling it O-week. What I’d like to know is what did they call it when you arrived as a freshman?
Bonus: Meanwhile, some things never change.
This picture of an Italian cypress on its way from the FE&P yard to the academic quad was sent in by a regular reader. (Thanks!)
And here it is going in:
As I watched this process I was a bit surprised to realized that I’ve developed some emotional attachment to these trees. They’re like brave little soldiers. “Once more into the breach, dear friends, once more.”