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Gray gothic buildings
surround serious students
with gargoyles laughing.
- Tom Nolan, AB'83, MBA'89

ON FIRST READING PLATO'S SYMPOSIUM

gray city gray Quad
a silhouette of bare trees
cold stones around fire
-Robert Klein Engler, AM'76

WORKERS OF THE WORLD

Gothic gargoyles stare
Cambridge Chicago Oxford
Marx perfumes the air
-Robert Klein Engler, AM'76

SCHOLARSHIP NOT FELLOWSHIP

wind swirls fallen leaves
heart to heart they play around
head to Regenstein
-Robert Klein Engler, AM'76

SHAKE DAY AT C-SHOP

Wednesday is Shake Day.
For one dollar it is yours:
Sweet brain-freeze of bliss.
-Paul Cobb, AM'91, PhD'97

NELC SOCIAL HOUR

Hittite geeks drink beer:
The OI is just too hot.
The mummies sleep on.
-Paul Cobb, AM'91, PhD'97

FALL QUARTER–QUADS

Was that Ted Cohen
windswept in a swirl by Cobb,
or an autumn leaf?
-Zimri Yaseen, AB'99

WINTER QUARTER–REG.

Orange-creamsicle
sky at 2 AM and snow –
Library is closed.
-Zimri Yaseen, AB'99

SPRING QUARTER–REYNOLD’S CLUB

The radiator,
no longer knocking banshee –
brief perch for sparrow.
-Zimri Yaseen, AB'99

Now it's annoying
academic name droppers
it only gets worse
-Ben Leff, AM'94

Now it's annoying
academic name droppers
one day you'll miss them
-Ben Leff, AM'94

Hyde Park social life...
Frat parties, concerts, or sports?
No, just hit the Reg!
-Andrew Satinsky, AB'85, MD'89

Drove west to campus
in awe of Rockefeller
and the common core.
-George Anesi, SB'06

Late nights in the Reg;
brunching at Salonica's
after the Maroon.
-George Anesi, SB'06

Learned there are no aims
but education itself.
Drove east back to home.
-George Anesi, SB'06

Greatest in the world
(or neighboring galaxies)
but the winters suck.
-Matt Zakosek, AB'06

Where fun comes to die,
intense undergrad program
shakes me to the Core.
-Matt Zakosek, AB'06

Gray gargoyles stare down.
Young students hurrying by.
Gothic windows glow.
-Myra J. Armstrong, AB'60

Sprawling mustached boys,
thick-legged, strong-backed leather chairs--
Reynolds Club: Sixties.
-Karen Waysdorf Mandell, AB'70

Dig in! Study! Learn!
Hour by hour, day in day out
To the end of term...
-Mitchell Winthrop, AM'63

Cropsey, Morgenthau,
Lowi, Easton, Shils—and I?
Cornucopia.
-Frank Creel, AM'73, PhD'78
 
I, lost in the stacks,
Wife, working in Regenstein.
No time for babies.
-Frank Creel, AM'73, PhD'78

Later, a Fulbright.
Twenty months in Istanbul.
Hi, cool Number Two!
-Frank Creel, AM'73, PhD'78

Chicago. Phoenix
flaming within thick gray walls,
forever renewed.
-Dian Fitzgerald, PhB'46

From the city gray
we draw a dazzling treasure,
the thirst for knowledge
-Dian Fitzgerald, PhB'46

Splinters of sun rise
From a bomb to make a new
Rose for Chicago.
-Stephen Stepanchev, AB'37, AM'38

Teachers die daily,
Like autumn gold, to earn green
Fields of endless praise.
-Stephen Stepanchev, AB'37, AM'38

Like wheat, young students,
Rising against the sun, climb
Beyond arrogance.
-Stephen Stepanchev, AB'37, AM'38

A UNIVERSITY MEMORY

That beneath Stagg Field
Began the Culture of The
Atomic Flower.
-David H. Swanson, AM'69

Mitchell Tower bells.
Treble’s going. She is gone.
Tintinnabulate.
-Robin M. Haller, AM'69

I may have trouble
Finding jobs, but I’ve read Marx,
Plato, and Weber.
-Emily Bernstein, AB'02

U of C students
Exhibit intensity
Rarely found elsewhere.
-Emily Bernstein, AB'02

It’s funny that more
All-nighters happened over
Scav hunt, not finals.
-Emily Bernstein, AB'02

Wind whips past Gargoyles,
Turns right at Rockefeller;
School does freeze over.
-Adam Pachter, JD'96

The "Chicago School,"
Tastier than the pizza.
All is proven here.
-Adam Pachter, JD'96

An architect's dream:
Gothic meets the Renaissance.
Robie tops them all.
-Adam Pachter, JD'96

Scrawled by the front door:
"Die capitalist pigs, die!"
Such is B-school here...
-Eric Chung, MBA'01

Wednesday afternoons
Running with but a dollar
To this week's milkshake.
-Eric Chung, MBA'01

Just think...beneath us,
Fermi figured something out
That would change our world
-Eric Chung, MBA'01

If at Chicago
haikus replaced term papers
I’d have more free time!
-Brian H. Nathanson, AB'93

At the U of C,
critical thinking begins
with the Common Core.
-Brian H. Nathanson, AB'93

Chicago’s classes
Taught that life is bittersweet
Through Thucydides.
-Brian H. Nathanson, AB'93

When the Hawk soars, find
solitude, peace, and warmth in
a brown paper bag.
-Walter Wacht, PhD'73

Mid-winter twilight.
Grey gothic, chilling wind, snow.
Aah! The warmth of Flint.
-Lisa Fein Siegel, AB'79

Durkheim, Weber, Marx
A first-year’s Soc-Sci debut.
Fascinating texts.
-Lisa Fein Siegel, AB'79

“Ho. Ho. The UC
Is funnier than you think,”
reads my old T-shirt.
-Lisa Fein Siegel, AB'79

Esoteric jokes
Ornate gothic quadrangles
Welcome to Hyde Park.
-Steven Meralevitz, AB'90

Little Red Schoolhouse
Expressly practical course
Should be required.
-Steven Meralevitz, AB'90

English major then
I still read Thucydides
Weintraub's voice haunts me.
-Steven Meralevitz, AB'90

Dollars are needed
If the goal is to be met
Get with it, pay up.
-Judy Sosted, AM'63

U. of Chicago
Magazine connects us all
E’er how far we roam.
-Judy Sosted, AM'63

did an undergrad
really say about UC—
“where fun comes to die”?
-Lawrence Greenberg, AB'70

Great Books and Maroons:
life of the mind? or body?
who can really know?
-Lawrence Greenberg, AB'70

winter '66:
more than enough snow to build
a huge Midway maze
-Lawrence Greenberg, AB'70

WINTER

Winter frost, First love
Snow balls, Black Ice, and New eyes
Midway recalls All.
-Beata Welsh, AM'72

Humanities one.
Rococo sensory feast.
Warming snow-chilled minds.
-Marjorie A. Russell, AB'63

At the Point in Spring
in the sunshine on the rocks.
Were we reading Soc?
-Marjorie A. Russell, AB'63

CHICAGO

The year was the best,
A freshman awed by college,
And the image made!
-Angela F. Marcus, AB'53

Send money now ! Yeah.
I used to resist it so …
Now, I send money.
-Jon Koplik, MBA'80

Emerging from Reg
Students blink in the Spring sun,
and sleep on the quads
-Jared R. Cloud, AB'91, JD'95

Winter fun starts soon
Greet the sun (and snow, and ice)
Kuviasungnerk
-Jared R. Cloud, AB'91, JD'95

Knowledge and insight
to a liberal degree
from The U of C
-Audrey Moskowitz, AB'54, AB'55

Enrico Fermi
Like wayward Prometheus
Stole fire from the gods.
-Jeff Haas, AB'82

At first rejected,
Vonnegut wrote Cat’s Cradle
For a fake degree.
-Jeff Haas, AB'82

Friedman was hungry
And went to lunch with his friends,
But it wasn’t free.
-Jeff Haas, AB'82

Study the Classics,
but learn nothing of ethics.
Ashcroft. Wolfowitz
-Lewis Bayers, AB'74

WINTER WONDERLAND

a soft dark blanket
pulled up tight against the cold
—doc, on friday night.
-Anne Parsons, AB'04

PAWNS

black/white strategy
conquering 53rd street
—a hyde park chessboard.
-Anne Parsons, AB'04

MISSION ON THE QUADS

secret agents jump
from hovering jet at midnight
to change the flowers.
-Anne Parsons, AB'04

Gray Buildings. Gray Snow.
Gray Sky. Gray Clouds. Gray Faces.
Chicago Winter
-Raven Deerwater, MAT'83, PhD'91

Rewriting again
Hours tracking down a quote
Dusk at Regenstein
-Raven Deerwater, MAT'83, PhD'91

“The Life of the Mind”
and “Monsters of the Midway”
Jay Berwanger Rules!
-David Kumaki, AB'76

Yes, Life of the Mind—
Joe Regenstein Library
on Saturday night…
-David Kumaki, AB'76

Where is Woodward Court?
I met the love of my life
in old Lower Flint
-David Kumaki, AB'76

Gothic stocks the night
in Stonehenge measure as heads
eclipse lamplight o’er

books; axons rip like
drums—a full mute symphony;
if A equals C

and like abstractions
are bookmarked in memory;
all minds go en pointe.
-Gabrielle Nabi, AB'94

UP WOODLAWN

to Jimmy’s we walk
through loud leaves, and her small words,
quiet, break me clean.
-Joe Cislo, MAT'97

LOOKING AT THE SURFACE OF BOTANY POND

My son sees candy
wrappers, Styrofoam peanuts,
leaves, his laughing face.
-Joe Cislo, MAT'97

DEMOCRACY AND EDUCATION

Dewey’s head, in stone,
watched from the front of the room
as we worked with him.
-Joe Cislo, MAT'97

Three generations
With Knowledge from Chicago
To serve their neighbors
-Betsy Weiner, SM'44, MD'44

Midway memories
Hutchins, Bellow, Friedman, Gray
Compton, Fermi, Stagg
-Emma Bickham Pitcher, AB'37

Libraries and Labs
Midway winter skating fun
So many great minds
-Emma Bickham Pitcher, AB'37

Rockefeller Chimes
Hutchinson Commons portraits
Mushroom cloud sculpture
-Emma Bickham Pitcher, AB'37

FIRST QUARTER

Scalding black coffee
Cold Pizza on my lab notes
My first all nighter!
-Candace Bienenfeld Hisert, AB'67, MAT'69

SECOND QUARTER

Dark Gothic towers
Looming through the icy flakes
Twilight on the Quad
-Candace Bienenfeld Hisert, AB'67, MAT'69

THIRD QUARTER

Snow pelting the buds
A robin weeps by my door
No Spring: just finals!
-Candace Bienenfeld Hisert, AB'67, MAT'69

Divinity was
No solemn experience
Our God had died there
-Russell Becker, PhD'50

Hutchins was guru.
Live the Good Life, he taught us.
He knew not Karl Rove.
-Frances Spielberg, PhB'44, AM'50

Broken trees, fallen,
Like those who, once, studied here,
Grew, reached high, are gone.
-Barbara Kinyon Clark, MD'44

No elevator
But a basement laundry room
Burton-Judson Hall
-Kathryn Waffle, AB'02

Running out of life?
Bring your mug and thirty cents
To the Cobb basement
-Kathryn Waffle, AB'02

Sun shines on the quad.
Students stroll from class to class.
Gargoyles are watching.
-Patricia Kenney, AB'79, MST'84

Still in Bond Chapel,
Warm sun through stained glass windows
Seeps into my soul.
-Patricia Kenney, AB'79, MST'84

“Knowledge is Power”
I went to the U of C.
Still can’t push that car.
-Dale Dellutri, SM'72, MBA'81

U of C beckoned.
I came, I listened, I learned.
Still using that stuff!
-Dale Dellutri, SM'72, MBA'81

One night, long ago,
No sleep so I walked the quad.
Fog and quiet calm.
-Dale Dellutri, SM'72, MBA'81

Hutchins called the kids
to tackle college early
and excel we did!
-F. Charles Woodruff, PhB'48

The student bodies
weird in 1946
teens/Vets, what a mix.
-F. Charles Woodruff, PhB'48

The Phoenix rises!
Chicago kids, count ‘em, win
more Nobel prizes.
-F. Charles Woodruff, PhB'48

Core curriculum,
Comps and Kate Turabian,
PhB, MA
-Edith Fein, PhB'47, AM'49

The life of the mind,
Winter winds on the Midway.
Oh, my Chicago.
-Edith Fein, PhB'47, AM'49

Youthful turning point,
The intellectual life.
My soul’s Chicago.
-Edith Fein, PhB'47, AM'49

I am now eighty
but my years at U of C?
Serendipity.
-William Small, AM'51

Once on the midway
A mind is never again
Less but always more.
-William Small, AM'51

I thank Chicago
For that wonder: a mind stretched
As never before.
-William Small, AM'51

Chicago morning.
Students cross the U.C. quad,
Mind awakening.
-Carolyn Mattern, AB'70

See the U of C
See students who succeed by
seeing their own truths
-Norman L Macht, PhB'47

Multi-colored leaves
crunch underfoot to the Reg.
Deep thoughts. Long talks. Learn.
-Alison Holmes, AM'87

The Quads dressed in white.
A hush falls with the first snow.
Hibernate with books.
-Alison Holmes, AM'87

Spring sun at long last.
Slush clear’d—the mind grows new thoughts.
Cycle without end.
-Alison Holmes, AM'87

Before I arrived
After I left Chicago
Argumentation
-Andrew E. Hershberger, AM'96

A Chicago group
They named it "Laocoön"
Is it still alive?
-Andrew E. Hershberger, AM'96

Consider the "Reg,"
prospective Chicagoan,
"Navaho Gothic."
-Andrew E. Hershberger, AM'96

summer construction
unforgiving winter wind
chicago i love.
-Aranh Pen, SM'03

Fermi’s work was done.
Japanese Americans
were not so welcome.

University
had minimal suspicion
but admitted me.

Nineteen forty four
The University said,
“You may now enroll.”
-Paul H. Kusuda, PhB'45, AM'49

After sixteen years
still no degree, but knowledge
for doing crosswords.
-Alice Wirth Gray, U-High'50, X'52, X'56

Nursery School through first
year Law: a compendium
of basic concepts.
-Alice Wirth Gray, U-High'50, X'52, X'56

by Botany Pond
peripatetic pigeons
four years one season
-Donald L. Edwards, AB'69

Moore’s skullcloud hovers
O Monsters of the Midway
Halflife time stops play
-Donald L. Edwards, AB'69

Gothic by Midway,
Scholar-echoing gables…
Umbilical home!
-Lyle R. Johnson, SB'44, MBA'48

First critical pile
Leaves Regenstein Level B
Radioactive?
-Narayana Kocherlakota, PhD'87

Regenstein Floor A
Cold gray fortress oasis
Good friends and good times.
-Narayana Kocherlakota, PhD'87

A full moon rises
gleaming sun on the Midway,
Winter's early night.
-Julie R. Stauffer, AM'87, AM'88

Students in winter
Studying econ. of snow
Searching for the sun.
-Gregory Smolen, AB'06

Gray turns to color
As spring releases students
from drab winter coats.
-Gregory Smolen, AB'06

"Where fun comes to die"?
Hardly...But fun does seem to
get pretty sick here.
-Jacob Schiff, AM'04

Many years swept past
And miles in equal measure.
Heart beats: Chicago
-Lawrence S. Lerner, AB'53, SM'55, PhD'62

Last leaf on a branch
dancing in the lake breezes
refuses to fall
-Martha Hoffman, AB'87

It hurt at the time
But I wouldn't trade it for
Any other place.
-Yelena Kalinsky, AB'03

Our Milton is gone
but lives.  His twinkling eyes our
cherished memory.
-Hodson Thornber, AB'62, PhD'66

Teacher of thinkers -
This Windy City wonder,
Window to the mind
-Lucy M. Perazzo, MD'96

Once hogs and railroads.
Now arts, commerce, soul, and smarts.
Second city -- not!
-Ryan LaHurd, AM'69

Fermi's reactor
And Friedman's economics.
World, fear us greatly!
-Benjamin Recchie, AB'03

1968.
The world was in such turmoil.
The U of C rocked.
-Anne Schiff, AM'70

Social work or law.
How to best pursue my dreams?
I chose SSA.
-Anne Schiff, AM'70

Out to change the world.
The profit motive be damned.
Can you spare a dime?
-Anne Schiff, AM'70

CLASSICS

Five classics ten weeks,
Thoughts merge, collide, live anew,
Burst like wild snow squalls.
-Paulette Levchuk, AB'79

Looking down for years
On many paths in the snow,
Grey stone sees and smiles.
-Jerrold Spinhirne, AB'71

A cold night, the wind
Slams the door behind my back
But does not come in.
-Jerrold Spinhirne, AB'71

Counting out the hours,
While daffodils sleep hidden,
High bells make music.
-Jerrold Spinhirne, AB'71

Glass and gray stones store
pages of golden ideas,
borne through fertile minds.
-Rosalind (Lott) Reichstein, AM'61

History claims us
first, then at last, come new worlds
enthralling humans.
-Rosalind (Lott) Reichstein, AM'61

Mysteries unfold
as inquiry goes deep, if
probing space and time.
-Rosalind (Lott) Reichstein, AM'61

Gargoyles monitor
sacred gardens: fertile minds,
humanity's hope.
-Blane Conklin, AM'01, PhD'05

For prairie ivy
carillon sings. Within doors
Paris woos Helen.
-Blane Conklin, AM'01, PhD'05

Chicago scholars
illuminate new knowledge
for a life enriched
-Catherine Malave, AB'81

Got the windchill blues.
You understand: all roads lead
to Thucydides.
-Kathy (Edith Katherine) Knowlton, AB'71

UCXTC -
Lascivious Costume Ball
and harmonica.
-Kathy (Edith Katherine) Knowlton, AB'71

RECIPE FOR A CHICAGO EDUCATION

step one: be humbled.
lose youthful pretentiousness,
embrace new thinking.
 
for four years (or more),
ask questions, let your mind grow
just a bit wiser.
 
once you've discovered
your intellectual voice,
repeat from step one.
-Julie Marie Celebi, AB'05

gargoyles immobile
students arrive frenetic
amber leaves falling
-Sandra Shapiro, X'69

lashing, frigid winds
gust through Harper’s quadrangles
research incubates
-Sandra Shapiro, X'69

ivy creeps up walls
blossoms open on lilies
at Botany Pond
-Sandra Shapiro, X'69

An ode to Zimmer:
You're my only Sonnenschein.
At least you're not Gray.
-Jeremy Ehrlich, AB'93

Yesterday's ivy
Swells maroon with importance
Snow white diplomas
-Inger S. B. Brodey, AM'91, PhD'93

A-level Arendt
Confucious at the C-shop
Homer on the quads
-Inger S. B. Brodey, AM'91, PhD'93

Early morning frost
Leaves fall from the gingko tree
Sudden shock of snow
-Cathryn Easterbrook, AM'89

Bevington speeding
across the quad on his bike:
Time flies. Time remains.
-Peg Duthie, AB'91

Pushups in the snow
Another experience
More than studying
-Peg Duthie, AB'91

Western Civ's demise
has been exaggerated.
Good morning, Mozart.
-Peg Duthie, AB'91

Gargoyles spout torrents
Faded elm leaf memory
Quad mud meets Dante
-Ana Gobledale, AM'77

Divinity School
Womb of questions, searching, dreams
Births this preacher girl
-Ana Gobledale, AM'77

Enter unfaithful
Encounter searing truth. Change.
Depart convicted.
-Ana Gobledale, AM'77

old pond new water
and this year's learners jump in
conversation sound
-Palmer Pinney, AB'54

My sweatshirt's maroon.
As are my old cap and gown.
Closets hold mem'ries.
-Peggy Sullivan, PhD'72

Alumni events
Bring out the forceful and strong.
Note how the food goes.
-Peggy Sullivan, PhD'72

Booth, Bellow, Friedman,
Kolb and a dozen others
Leave rich legacies.
-Peggy Sullivan, PhD'72

Fall, '87:
Smartest kid in my high school,
my eyes get opened.

Spring 1990:
Regenstein is too noisy,
study at Crerar.

1991:
I know what I know, and I
know what I don't know.
-Brendan A. Niemira, AB'91

Cropsey channels Strauss,
and the virtu of the prince
emerges in time.
-Marshall Seeder, AB'71

50-book exam
GI Bill check on dresser
Cottage Grove buses
-Michael J. Hansen, AB'58, AM'60

Nobel prize winners
In many fields of knowledge
Is our wide renown.
-Walaska Battenburg, AB'37

In fields of teaching
The U of Chicago leads.
To excel, the aim.
-Walaska Battenburg, AB'37

It's a great divide
Winter walk on the midway
Cold blasts brain awake
-Hilary Wolpert Silver, AB'82

U.C.'s Common Core
Brain muscle not stretched withers
Not a worry here
-Hilary Wolpert Silver, AB'82

Work hard when you work
Chance to relax comes sometimes
Precious balance found?
-Hilary Wolpert Silver, AB'82

Gray gothic towers
Stretch into the winter sky—
Framed by black branches.
-Merri M. Monks, AB'74

Learning To Look sucked.
Learning To Listen did not.
So I got a B.
-Daniel Hoffman, AB'63

Fresh student braving
Icy lake winds to bask in
Warm rays of the mind.
-Robert Lebling, X'70

Heart of the South Side
Each year infused with the blood
Of new perspectives.
-Robert Lebling, X'70

A mind came to life,
amidst grey gargoyles and snow.
Excitement remains.
-Anne Mertl Millhollen, AB'65, MAT'67

Creaking from disuse,
my mind strained for the first time.
Thermodynamics.
-Anne Mertl Millhollen, AB'65, MAT'67

They were mostly men,
wise men exploring old books,
teaching me to think.
-Anne Mertl Millhollen, AB'65, MAT'67

After I grow old,
how much will I remember?
Harold's Chicken Shack.
-Christopher Brown, AB'85

Reg. A friend. A balm.
A once home-away-from-home.
A boundless giver.
-Jane Lagen, AM'81

Reg offered knowledge.
The student returned whispers.
Hardly a fair swap.
-Jane Lagen, AM'81

But consider this:
If whispers are forever,
Reg, student don’t part.
-Jane Lagen, AM'81

Chicago winter:
Grey stone; grey sky; bare grey trees.
Sunshine thaws my heart.
-Margaret Poznak Mine, X'52

Sosh Science Research,
La Symphonie Pastorelle
Doc Films. You. Me. Love?
-Margaret Poznak Mine, X'52

Door slammed in my face
Between Classics and Wieboldt.
Goodbye happiness.
-Margaret Poznak Mine, X'52

pausing in snowfall
at rockefeller chapel
with her outstretched palms
-Charlotte DiGregorio, AM'79

buxtehude wafts
through rockefeller chapel…
dogwood tree blossoms
-Charlotte DiGregorio, AM'79

pausing in stillness
at rockefeller’s portal…
snowflakes grace her hair
-Charlotte DiGregorio, AM'79

Chicago revealed
The good, the true, the beauty
Waiting to be found!
-Herbert L. Caplan, AB'52, JD'57

Bound by ignorance!
To College—the U of C!
Freed at last—to soar.
-Herbert L. Caplan, AB'52, JD'57

Aimless as a cloud
I drifted without a clue.
Then: “A Muse of Fire.”
-Herbert L. Caplan, AB'52, JD'57

My first born Matthew
Has flown the parental nest
To soar at UC.
-Elizabeth M. Streit, JD'84

U of C: Limestone-
walled university. Home
of Socratic thought.
-Nilda Carlo, CER'98, CER'00

Broad-based, urban coach,
Chicago nurtures science.
Math.  Humanities.
-Nilda Carlo, CER'98, CER'00

Within, young and old
feast from cornucopias
of inspiration.
-Nilda Carlo, CER'98, CER'00

Perpetual gray.
Out of my depth, straight into
my passion. Head first.
-Kathi Esqueda, AB'75

U of C I be
Because of you like that frog
Always jumping in
-Laurel Bauer, AB'64

First day: Whose garden?
George Wells Beadle, pulling weeds,
bids me good morning.
-Dan Campion, AB'70

As whirling sparrows
trace wheels above the Midway,
stone squints. Thought flowers.
-Dan Campion, AB'70

Let the stone tongues wag,
those glacial nags! Who listens?
Harper. Hutchins. Stagg.
-Dan Campion, AB'70

Harry Kalven speaks
Vosburg, Putney and baseball
Enliven the law
-Marlene C. Dubas, JD'76

My exercised mind
Now skates on the icy pond
Law school memory
-Marlene C. Dubas, JD'76

The Phoenix's seal:
Unwilling to press my luck,
Around it I step.
-Adam Grealish, AB'05

I should have listened
Playboy's top hundred parties
Chicago not one.
-Adam Grealish, AB'05

Gazing on the Quad
from Gothic fenestration-
a wintry night's joy
-Jonathan Ekman, AM'81

Hyde Park, summer's end-
as though idly dreaming of
scholars soon to come
-Jonathan Ekman, AM'81

The proud and mighty
Colossus of Regenstein
holds wisdom aloft
-Jonathan Ekman, AM'81

A pebble's throw from
History's chain reactions,
Harry met Sally.
-Steve Young, AM'94

Eventually?
Listening, more. Arguing?
Less. Reasoning? Some.
-Steve Young, AM'94

Windy Chicago
Grey stone rising to grey sky
Hope for the City.
-Barbara Jur, AB'66

South side Chicago
William Rainey Harper’s School
Dream for the future.
-Barbara Jur, AB'66

Left, right, in between
Arts, Science, law, medicine
Chicago leads all.
-Barbara Jur, AB'66

Quite controversial.
Supply-side economics.
The atom bomb, too.
-David DeGrazia, AB'83

Long, bitter winters.
The pace of quarters brutal.
Flee home for summer.
-David DeGrazia, AB'83

Students haven't changed.
"Where to go Saturday night:
Harper or the Reg?"
-David DeGrazia, AB'83

Nora bought Colin
at the Vegan Date Auction
in June, junior year.

They fell in love through
pre-med madness, research, and
two BA papers.

She proposed to him.
Item two-eighty-something--
at Scav Hunt, that is.
-Jena Barchas Lichtenstein, AB'05

My major was Love
Of Learning; my minor was
Critical Thinking
-Evelyn Parry Chidester, AM'47

I’m legally blind
From AMD, not from U
C’s required readings.
-Evelyn Parry Chidester, AM'47

We arrive in awe
That only grows as we learn
How little we know
-Evelyn Parry Chidester, AM'47

Green bag on shoulder
I race across the Midway.
Our first day of class.
-Daniel S. Hamermesh, AB'65

Fall quarter exams,
Latke versus hamantash:
Study, or listen?
-Daniel S. Hamermesh, AB'65

Ice on Midway turf,
Skates gliding near the Chapel.
Much more fun than class!
-Daniel S. Hamermesh, AB'65

Sixty years don’t dim
youth’s exhilaration with
Quad and I. House hymn.
-Virginia Barto, X'46

Did Hutchins’ vision—
grey-thumping metaphyics—
loft the way we think?
-Virginia Barto, X'46

I. House diverseness
and conviviality
augment campus ways.
-Virginia Barto, X'46

Gargoyle’s knowing eye
See thinkers in bud and bloom.
He winks: There go some.
-Sara Hull Wright, PhB'44, AM'47

Japanese tourists
standing around the Atom
photograph themselves
-Giuliana Fargnoli Chapman, AB'96

We six are alone
the stupidest of them all
in Theory of Math
-Giuliana Fargnoli Chapman, AB'96

HAIKU FOR CHICAGO: 1943

Is this a glass of
water, and if it is a
glass of water, why?

He and I walk in
Jackson Park, talking, talking,
snow on our shoulders.

We ice skate under
the North Stands, ignorant of
atomic fission.
-Adrienne Gooder Richard, AB'43

Months of grey-stone sky.
Snow skates across the Midway.
At last…Summer Breeze!
-Carol Lin, AB'00, JD'05

Cold winds and dark skies
fuel the burning minds that warm
this stone hearth, the Reg.
-Carol Lin, AB'00, JD'05

Beneath cold hard ground
Silent seeds wait for rain, then
Bloom revelations
-Neil J. Saltzman, AB'91

Among low buildings
Towers ascend without shame—
Man’s aspirations
-Neil J. Saltzman, AB'91

Above the towers
Heaven’s vaulted expanse yields
Countless creations
-Neil J. Saltzman, AB'91

PhDs downing
beer and nuclear physics
A scene from Jimmy’s
-Karen Lucas, AM'80

thoughts too fast for words
laughter in the Bandersnatch
uncurl my tight mind
-Regina Forni, MAT'74

Blue new day cleaving
In the heat of Fermi’s globe
We sat a moment
-Regina Forni, MAT'74

pulsing and fraught air
voiceprints in relentless stacks
the lake in stone mouths
-Regina Forni, MAT'74

We walk quadrangles
exchanging thoughtful insights,
juggle with teachers.
-Anne F. Berlin, MST'82

Probe structures: Gothic
intermingling marble, glass,
steel, fauna, flora.
-Anne F. Berlin, MST'82

First Year; Life Pattern
Set. Teachers met (Bellow, Booth,
Redfield, Bettelheim).
-Nathan Szajnberg, AB'74, MD'74

A New Collegiate
Division. A new thinking.
Finding the Fault Line
-Nathan Szajnberg, AB'74, MD'74

Down the Quadrangle:
Aristotle and Plato.
Earthquake, Mind Shaker.
-Nathan Szajnberg, AB'74, MD'74

3-SCORE SAGA—BY DEGREES

Hutchins PhB
Great Books, plus science hybrid
vigor—launch my life!

BS dug up Earth
science for ecology
PhD on dunes.

Statistics Postdoc
faces uncertain futures—
for Greenhouse Warming.
-Jerry S. Olson, PhB'47, SB'48, SM'49, PhD'51

Voice from the Fifties.
Learning continues. Rejoice-
Chicago inspires.
-Lou Ross, AB'53

U. of C.—my school
Loved attending college there,
I am very proud.

Editor-in-Chief,
Woman’s Guide to U. of C.
Had something to add:

Hit by a fast car
And asleep in a coma,
Got my diploma.
-Michelle Martone, AB'00

An economic
Haiku? Economy of
Words, value laden.
-Lee Imrey, MBA'06

cMail down again
students’ flurry of panic
final exam due
-Erica Kees, SM'06

Ida Noyes knows, as
we glide, swing, & Java Jive,
where fun comes to live!
-Erica Kees, SM'06

deconstructing themes
sunny day perched on quad bench
developing proofs
-Erica Kees, SM'06

Etched in our young souls:
meetings of fine talk, friends, snow.
Rejoice in the gift.
-Barbara Shatkin, AB'73

Complex offerings.
Snowy, schmorgasbord of paths
Muddy, spring walkways.
-Barbara Shatkin, AB'73

A LIBRARY CYCLE

Regenstein, fourth floor:
Why throw parties and drink beer
When you’ve got Hegel?

Ex-Libris beauties
Bathed in this pale fluorescence,
Your skin looks gray-blue.

The pad thai looks old.
When was this made? I don’t want
To die in the Reg.
-Kathryn Graber, AB'02

Chicago is home.
Ten years in Connecticut.
I miss Chicago.
-Elise Schneider, AM'82

from Harper till now
knowing abides with lake winds
long winters quick springs
-Palmer Pinney, AB'54

oh the Midway spin
that once-in-a-lifetime ride
the curriculum
-Palmer Pinney, AB'54

August and sincere
Phoenix of dreams taking flight
emanates freedom
-Lisa Kirchhoff Miller, AM'96

Effusive skyline
Eruptions of light and hope
inspire dreams beyond
-Lisa Kirchhoff Miller, AM'96

First-years: better dressed,
Better looking than before.
My day, we were nerds.
-Rick Perlstein, AB'92

My teacher. My friend.
What distances we travel!
Leap! Alight! Exhale.
-Patricia Morris Rogers, MBA'82

Chicago bright minds.
The chrysalis breaks open.
Seminal thoughts waft.
-Patricia Morris Rogers, MBA'82

Head-bowed walks under
the gray stone, wrought iron peaks.
Look up Chicago!
-Patricia Morris Rogers, MBA'82

Fourth cappuccino
Blurry eyes at Regenstein
Caffeine overload.
-Robert Kulys, MLA'02

Pages more pages
Much to learn for Reading Week
Finals soon follow.
-Robert Kulys, MLA'02

Books and hot coffee
Hyde Park campus tools of trade
Hello U of C.
-Robert Kulys, MLA'02

CHICAGO

Where the wild things are—
bears, cubs, bulls and my favorite
university.
-Barbara Jurgensen, AM'75, DMN'82

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

On the midway, near
the lake, best in all the world
say we who know it.
-Barbara Jurgensen, AM'75, DMN'82

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

Have you raised us well?
And are we proud of you?  Is
botany pond wet?
-Barbara Jurgensen, AM'75, DMN'82

Pious Baptist school,
Rockefeller's intention.
God has other plans.
-Mary Clare Beck, AB'63

Turbulent city.
Brutal wind sweeps the Midway.
The scholar's lamp glows.
-Mary Clare Beck, AB'63

GRADUATE EDUCATION

It was hard to learn,
Words are easy to say but
They are not actions.
-Harry Burke, AB'79, AM'80, PhD'87, MD'88

GENERAL EDUCATION

Hutchins had it right.
General Education
Is the way to go.
-Patricia Stark, AB'50, MBA'59

THE GREATEST

We always thought that
the University was
Simply the greatest.
-Patricia Stark, AB'50, MBA'59

GREY TOWERS

The high grey towers
Represent our striving minds
Reaching for the sky. 
-Patricia Stark, AB'50, MBA'59

What surprise awaits?
What enigma unresolved
At the U of C?
-David A. Cramer, MD'61

Intellectual.
I have to say it again.
Intellectual.
-David A. Cramer, MD'61

"Schwoop" go the neutrons
at Fermilab. What counts is
Acceleration.
-David A. Cramer, MD'61

FORESIGHT

With most my chips gone
From the hand I dealt myself
Still held my degree
-Hope J. Lafferty, AM'89

Quads live in seasons,
leaves fall, snow covers, flowers,
gargoyles stare always
-Camilo Parra, AB'91

Snowfall covers quads
on limestone walls gargoyles perch
waiting for classes
-Camilo Parra, AB'91

HIROSHIMA

From under bleachers
There came forth a "Little Boy"
To waste a city.
-Dorothy Vining, PhB'46, SB'48

You – my Babylon
of intellectual wealth –
I still travel you!
-Anna Gabrielian, U-High’96, AB'00

Like a fresh fragment
from your geometric womb:
the birth of knowledge.
-Anna Gabrielian, U-High’96, AB'00

You gave me language.
I spread you across the world!
You are immortal.
-Anna Gabrielian, U-High’96, AB'00

HAIKU RIFFS ON U OF C T-SHIRTS

"Hell Does Freeze Over"
If you had read your Dante
that'd be no surprise.

"Where Fun Goes to Die"
Don't you want to spend your time
in the Regenstein?

"Nobel Prize Winners"
just gets longer and longer.
More cloth? Smaller font?
-Diane Kelly, AB'90

Grey city gargoyles -
Grotesque guardians over
Harper’s legacy.
-William M. Cwirla, SB'78

Phoenix rising - white
and maroon.  “Let knowledge grow
That life be improved.”
-William M. Cwirla, SB'78

CHICAGO FIRE

Hutchins and Adler
Blazed a path where none had gone
And sparked a real fire.
-Dorothy Vining, PhB'46, SB'48

How beautiful is
Ginko at Botany Pond—
Benisons and nuts
-David O. Staats, MD'76

Prince Edward saw Hutch—
"Looks just about like Oxford,
But we wash our panes."
-David O. Staats, MD'76

Is God there in the
Rockefeller Chapel Space?
Maybe at Yerkes...
-David O. Staats, MD'76

Fine minds seek the Way,
From Harper to Ravelstein,
Under gargoyles' gaze.
-Mary Clare Beck, AB'63

Fall leaves bid welcome.
A new fellowship of minds
reads fresh unchanged words.
-Seth Katsuya Endo, AB'01

Each new season forms
an eternal fellowship
where Lake and Core meet.
-Seth Katsuya Endo, AB'01

Fall leaves bid welcome
and Chicago thought spreads like
ripples on the lake.
-Seth Katsuya Endo, AB'01

U OF C PEOPLE

U of C people
Are often full of manure
That makes the mind grow.
-Ruth Cadwallader Meszaros, AB'69

IMMENSE DISTANCES

I traveled by car,
So far in miles and spirit
Between home and here.
-Ruth Cadwallader Meszaros, AB'69

Rustling gold ginkgo,
Languid koi circling below
In Botany Pond.
-Sem Sutter, AB'73, PhD'82, AM'85

MY U. of C. EDUCATION

It was hard to learn,
Words are easy to say but
They are not actions.
 
Is that really true,
Words spoken are an action
Of the mouth and lungs.
-Harry Burke, AB'79, AM'80, PhD'87, MD'88

Negative reversed.
Sun from Harper's north windows:
Sacred musing space.
-Joy Reedy, AB'92

Looks to be reading,
But mind dancing through Harper
In fancy-dress ball.
-Joy Reedy, AB'92

Night cold, crisp wind push
on our backs:  skate, arms spread wide.
Silent Midway glide.
-Ann K. Adams, JD'93

Smart, biting winds race
the Midway at dusk, finding
Linnaeus alone.
-Zachary Martin, AB'03

Particles hurry
and snows flurry, as winter
comes to Fermilab.
-Zachary Martin, AB'03

O haunted garden
of inquiry and debate --
a lone gargoyle grins.
-Michael Hirsch, AB'98

To learn how to learn:
Wrestling with method and truth.
The phoenix rises.
-Michael Hirsch, AB'98

Phy Sci, Bio Sci,
Soc Sci, Hum; Math, Civ, Language:
The (Un-)Common Core.
-Michael Hirsch, AB'98

White hot scholarship,
cold nights along the Midway—
must be U of C!
-Miram Rich, MAT'83

Nobel prizewinners
have walked these steps before me;
their legend beckons.
-Miram Rich, MAT'83

Book-lined apartment,
delicious grad-school lover—
how sweet is learning!
-Miram Rich, MAT'83

Snow mutes the Midway.
In dark the Chapel choir
chant resounds, pure voice.
-Anne Lovering Rounds, AB'04

All night cars come down
fifty-ninth, their muffled rush
an urban nocturne.
-Anne Lovering Rounds, AB'04

Ruby leaves rustle
Across stones gray-gold and damp
As autumn light fades.
-Pamela Johnson, AB'85

Crusted ice glitters;
The snow melt spatters loudly
Into the stone quad.
-Pamela Johnson, AB'85

Crisp breeze and sunlight,
Red tulips stand sentinel,
I smell hot coffee.
-Pamela Johnson, AB'85

Bright yellow leaves stream
down through the brisk autumn air.
Sunlight shines through each.
 
In rapid descent,
pealing bell tones strike the ground
as each leaf arrives,
 
the joyous descant
a celebration in sound
of a new season.
-Peter Kraus, CER'96, CER'98, CER'05

“Squirrels spread rabies”
We were told in the sixties
Scare tactics still work
-Avima Ruder, X'62

How I remember:
Snowy quads, icy fingers
“City Gray,” gray sky
-Avima Ruder, X'62

Solemn processions
Serious sit-ins, spring mud:
Sixties memories
-Avima Ruder, X'62

University
of Chicago embraces
open inquiry.
-Carolyn Feigenbaum, AM'56

Chapel choir performs
"Vivat academia,"
long live professors!
-Carolyn Feigenbaum, AM'56

Changing of the guard
Installs a new president
Robert J. Zimmer
-Carolyn Feigenbaum, AM'56

Carpets green and gold
Give each level its own hue.
Regenstein colors.
-Steven B. Webb, AM'73, PhD'78

North wind in my face,
I walk across the Midway.
Price of Price Theory.
-Steven B. Webb, AM'73, PhD'78

From Hobbes to Hume to
Nicomachean Ethics,
U. C. opens minds.
-Wesley McGhee, AB'94

Pick books.  C-Shop.  Reg
Common Core.  Study breaks.  Quads.
Ah, My U. of C.
-Wesley McGhee, AB'94

red leaves fall twisting
the wind rages through Hull gate
students briskly walk
-Paul Waltz, SB'61, MBA'67

old books in new stacks
bronze light catches the rain drops
shuttle bus awaits
-Paul Waltz, SB'61, MBA'67

1977

Crossing the Midway
My coat cannot protect me
At twenty below
-Michele Corazzo, MFA'77

MIDWAY STUDIOS

Art, part and apart
Across the Midway Plaisance
A quiet island
-Michele Corazzo, MFA'77

U C Football cheer
The Peloponnesian War
H2SO4
-Christine A. White, AB'74, MD'78

S.V.N.A.  Punch
Lascivious Costume Ball
Nineteen seventy
-Christine A. White, AB'74, MD'78

The Life of the Mind
Main Quadrangle Chemistry
Too early, too cold
-Christine A. White, AB'74, MD'78

Too late for dinner,
Marx-Engels Reader ‘til dawn—
Ramen: ample feast.
-Carlee Tressel, AB'05

Last paper finished,
A splash in Botany Pond.
Catharsis is cold.
-Carlee Tressel, AB'05

Proud bagpipes droning
Commencing eyes blink wet tears:
Those loans will come due.
-Carlee Tressel, AB'05

Go to Chicago
Athena and Apollo
and you'll come of age.
-G. Bennett Humphrey, MD'60, PhD'63

The Utopias.
Much more than erudition
dwells on the Midway.
-G. Bennett Humphrey, MD'60, PhD'63

I immersed myself
in Chicago's crucible
for a gold standard.
-G. Bennett Humphrey, MD'60, PhD'63

INTO THE FUTURE

“Onward, Inquiry”—
Global shout for U of C
from Pres, frosh,  alums.
-Georgine Loacker, PhD'71

LIGHT-UP 2007

“Onward, Inquiry”
and Inquirers all--new Pres,
new frosh to alums
-Georgine Loacker, PhD'71

U OF C MOTTO HAIKU-ED

Crescat Scienti-
a Vita Excolatur:
Latin says it all.
-Georgine Loacker, PhD'71

Counting the squirrels
when I'm too tired to read-
playing on the quads
-Laura Grandau, AB’91, AM'96

Excited people
gather to debate about
potato pancakes
-Laura Grandau, AB’91, AM'96

Lost in the archives
thinking is it time to go?
Suddenly – lights out
-Laura Grandau, AB’91, AM'96

Multiple Nobels
Three space observatories
The Heisman Trophy
-David Sher, AB'57, SM'60

Grey granite gargoyles
Grimacing from grottoes of
Collegiate Gothic
-David Sher, AB'57, SM'60

WINTER AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

Outside, ice further
benumbs the stony grotesques.
Inside, facts combust.
-Mary LaBrec, AB'98, JD'04

THE IDEA OF ORDER AT CHICAGO

Conjecture billows
and strains, but faith is grounded
in economics.
-Mary LaBrec, AB'98, JD'04

When winds wet the quads,
leaves cover Botany Pond,
students, mushrooms, grow.
-Mary LaBrec, AB'98, JD'04

Walking from Haskell
toward the Admin Building,
smokers outside Cobb.
-Andrew Rodriguez, AB'03

"There is no sex here-
Learn to love Marx and your hand."
Orientation.
-Andrew Rodriguez, AB'03

"Read fifty-two works
By thirty-four dead authors."
Let's start at Jimmy's.
-Joseph Brisben, AB'69

Two comps in one day.
I contracted writer's cramp.
Brain is dead. Need sleep.
-Joseph Brisben, AB'69

I was up all night,
but at 4 a.m. I had
an epiphany.
-Joseph Brisben, AB'69

At the Reynolds Club
Math and literature mixed.
I changed my major.
-Daniel Hoffman, AB'63

Three hundred dollars,
Ten minutes' thought. Hum. II now
Begins to pay off.
-Daniel Conner, AB'66

Every night dreaming:
Soc texts unread, spring comps loom . . .
Forty years later.
-Daniel Conner, AB'66

grey stone face breaks wind
gargoyle looks on darkened skies
humor rests within
-Katherine Freimund, AB'83

Ancient chants called up,
gained edge as novices read,
rounded as they sang.
-Catherine Lacey, AM'71

hot muggy summers
endless gray winter bleakness
Chicago weather
-Mary Bouchard, MBA'80

wispy white flakes fell
to Regenstein I sauntered
quarters go by fast!
-Mary Bouchard, MBA'80

U of Chicago
When you get there you don't know
It will change your life
-Ralph B Hirsch, AB'54

Maroons on the field
Can outthink their opponents
Or wish that they could
-Ralph B Hirsch, AB'54

Fifty-year alum
Mulls million buck donation
But can't be twenty
-Ralph B Hirsch, AB'54

Where fun goes to die?
That must be another school!
UC's new image.
-Laura Ellen Handlin, AB'78

Hum common core class.
Students analyze the works
of Thucydides.
-Laura Ellen Handlin, AB'78

Inside Regenstein
working late into the night,
letting knowledge grow.
-Laura Ellen Handlin, AB'78

Running across Quad
Late for class, and fell down hard
Broke a tooth--too bad!
-Sunamita M Lim, AM'76

second to cornell
in student suicide rates
let's go for the gold
-Katherine Schultz, AB'01

Winter Quarter Joy.
Time away from books and work,
Kuviasungnerk!
-Patrick O'Connell, AB'84

THE DIFFERENTIAL QUOTIENT OF ACADEMIC APPETITE

Our quantity grows:
The multiple integral
Of journeying minds.
-Sarah White, AB'05

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO…

Symphony of minds,
Cataclysmic parallax,
And one dollar shakes.
-Sarah White, AB'05

Lacanian?  I
Think not.  My life of the mind
was cultivated.
-Sarah White, AB'05

“I WAS STUDYING”

Have you seen the love?
No, neither did I – really?
I was studying
-Dan Wagner, AB'05

“BOOKS ARE KIND OF HARD”

Books are kind of hard
But what's the alternative?
True – I lack muscle
-Dan Wagner, AB'05

“DEAR MR. FERMI”

Dear Mr. Fermi
My capacity's splitting
I'm working hard – meh
-Dan Wagner, AB'05

BIG SNOW OF 1967

Swift coffee-tinged pipe-
Tobacco-tendrilled Plato
Killer sleet-bit bike

Bright naught of blessing
On Woodlawn, heaped and carstill
Robie House --  tink, scrape

Wash of baptist air
In sovereign spangle lung --
All, christening garb
-Paula Sayers, AM'67

THE QUADS 

Sun lighting limestone.
Chapel bells ringing thru leaves.
Tulips bursting red.
-Suanne Goldman, AB'82

all-night discussions:
"what is truth?" "is there free will?"
never quite solved those
-David Fang-Yen, AB'04

finals week again:
coffee, ramen, tired eyes
night approaches dawn
-David Fang-Yen, AB'04

we don't have answers
but now we know the questions:
so be life enriched
-David Fang-Yen, AB'04

late greats, early class,
a pretty girl -- the warmth now
winks, then vanishes
-Nourolhoda Birouti, AB'05

Memories of friends,
Halcyon times abounded,
Salience of thoughts.
-Alexandra Merz, AB'96

Rockefeller's chimes
waking us for Hum I class
with Bach's Tocata
-Eliot Landau, AB'63

Sitting on C Bench
admiring fall colors and
different faces
-Eliot Landau, AB'63

In my foggy mind
deep in a Platonic cave --
Socrates, help me!
-Eliot Landau, AB'63

Future of Science
supplants football glories past
Mankind better served
-Gretchen Young, AB'84, AM'84

Muddy Waters plays
Buddy Guy and Junior Wells
The U of C song.
-Gretchen Young, AB'84, AM'84

U of C Winter.
Cold, crisp, inviting, and free.
Met my sweet wife there!
-Peter Weinstein, AB'87, MBA'93

Received magazine
on January 13.
Still feel the pressure.
-Robert Marriot, AB'96

A place where its cool
to prefer the library
to any sports bar.
-Keir Lieber, AM'96, PhD'00

GARGOYLE LOVE

I met my first love.
In winter gray gargoyles loom.
They smile and approve.
-Julian Brown, AB'77, AM’78

Impressionable
Inquisitive yet cautious
I embraced new thoughts
-Elizabeth Start, PhD'92

Your hard icy truths
And warm creative breezes
Enchanted my life
-Elizabeth Start, PhD'92

Quiet gargoyled views
Pause for questions and debate
Our visions mattered.
-Elizabeth Start, PhD'92

The Starbuck in us
(all madness and desire here)
swallows Ahab whole
-Alyssa Irick, AB'00

Monochrome winter?
So many shades, white and gray
Landscape of the whale
-Alyssa Irick, AB'00

This we learn in stone:
neither fear nor worship beasts
know them as they are
-Alyssa Irick, AB'00

Amongst stone and snow,
floating in a reverie,
my gargoyle moments.
-Rich Bryden, MBA'01

Anticipate and
Embrace appropriate change
Keep it UnCommon
-Doug Stewart, AB'47

THEORY AND PRAXIS

Trying not to look
on 57th Street; "Guy!
Can you spare some change?"
-Philip Kao, AB'99

Each time the leaves change
fresh footsteps travel worn paths
Gargoyles wait for snow
-Melissa Ramocki, MD'03

Snow falls on gray stone
Toes are numb but mind is warm
It's winter quarter
-Catherine Masters, AB'76, JD'82

The life of the mind
Meets the life of the stomach
At the Medici
-Catherine Masters, AB'76, JD'82

It's all happening
At Regenstein Library
Even on weekends
-Catherine Masters, AB'76, JD'82

Why obscure my smile?
UC melancholia.
Contrary:  pure bliss.
-Catherine Henze, PhD'95

Eleventh week means
full Regenstein, empty quad:
gargoyles watch squirrels.
-Zachary Martin, AB'03

You’ve left Chicago.
Remember with me making
music in Mandel.
-Marianne Kelly (parent of Deirdre Kelly, AB’04)

What is a maroon?
Run, jump, pass, score, stretch, breathe, think.
Or it’s a color.
-Marianne Kelly (parent of Deirdre Kelly, AB’04)

Possibilities
progress to reality.
Chicago couples.
-Marianne Kelly (parent of Deirdre Kelly, AB’04)

Charlie Trotter’s house,
epicurean delight.
Foie gras protected.
-Robert Jamieson (parent of Andrew Jamieson, AB’06)

Rows of thick columns
A fine crust of sturdy snow
Grow to love learning
-Joseph M. Leff (brother of Benjamin Leff, AM’04, and brother-in-law of Lisa Moses Leff, AM’93, PhD’00)

pierce and tufts her home
tools to dig and sprout anew
fall pang then promise
-Victoria Murray-Brand (parent of Clara Murray-Brand, AB’04)

campus blossoms swirl
surprised by snow in April
winter joy spring hope
-Victoria Murray-Brand (parent of Clara Murray-Brand, AB’04)

daughter Latinist
classical studies U.C.
launched and teaching, thanks
-Victoria Murray-Brand (parent of Clara Murray-Brand, AB’04)

Unworthy of our
scholarly community
is syllable count.
-Michael O’Donnell (University of Chicago professor of Computer Science)

You see, at UC,
the essential character,
not ephemera.
-Michael O’Donnell (University of Chicago professor of Computer Science)

True egghead haiku
has kiro and kireji
not quasimorae.
-Michael O’Donnell (University of Chicago professor of Computer Science)

soaring rafters fly
winter garden indoor sky
beams of steel of sun
-Suzanne Riggle (Senior Director of Operations, Alumni Affairs and Development, Chicago GSB)

Sunken playing field,
Rugby game between the lanes.
Cars speed East and West.
-Suzanne Riggle (Senior Director of Operations, Alumni Affairs and Development, Chicago GSB)

Ivy in winter
Arrested in its progress
Clings to cold, grey stone
-Suzanne Riggle (Senior Director of Operations, Alumni Affairs and Development, Chicago GSB)

Choreography
of squirrels, Frisbee jocks, and profs:
all the quad’s a stage.
-Yvonne Zipter

Carillon music
festoons the Midway gardens.
Stone faces brighten.
-Yvonne Zipter

Nobel laureates
infect the air here. Even
the museum’s Smart.
-Yvonne Zipter

Teaching at U.C.
Blasts our minds like dynamite,
Homage to Nobel.
-Ethel Gofen

Inner-city kids
Interface the U. of C.,
Elevating goals.
-Ethel Gofen

Facing Frank Lloyd Wright,
Rafael Viñoly yet
Winks at Gothic spires.
-Ethel Gofen

One warm autumn day
Months of grey concrete bleakness.
Then comptime in Spring.
-Marjorie A. Russell, AB'63

Ten years on in life
you’ll know if you learned from us.
But who will we tell?
-Marjorie A. Russell, AB'63

Off campus visits;
Chess, Russian, Witchcraft, cooking.
The Hutchins mixtures.
-Marjorie A. Russell, AB'63

We, striking workers:
Watched when students moved next door,
Set to change their world.
-Marjorie A. Russell, AB'63

Son of mine departs.
Thru storied archway he soars.
Mournful bagpipes wail.
-Kathleen Milcarek (parent of Ryan Harte, ’10)

Big city my home
Grounded in fertile school soil
My roots drink deep hope
-Jeannette Darcy (current graduate student)

Marooned in Harper
Seeking knowledge by the ton
It’s due tomorrow
-Bo Yan Moran (daughter of Joseph A. Moran, Jr., MBA’85)

Midway by the Lake
Campus stands tall with spires
Phoenix flying high
-Bo Yan Moran (daughter of Joseph A. Moran, Jr., MBA’85)

U of Chicago
Education on its mind
Scholars on the rise
-Bo Yan Moran (daughter of Joseph A. Moran, Jr., MBA’85)

This quad is sacred,
History encouraging
new hypotheses.
-Erica Kees, SM’06

I get so annoyed.
“Nothing to do in Hyde Park?”
Ratner, Smart, docfilm,?
-Erica Kees, SM’06

Hey Fellow Maroons!
Graduated, unemployed?
Stuck with big fat loans?
-Erica Kees, SM’06

A vast empty hole.
After graduation day,
Education sucks.
-Erica Kees, SM’06

They work 9 to 5
Family left in the dark
Lecture 6 to 9
-Erica Kees, SM’06

Desire to be Prof.,
student for 7 years +.
Thesis incomplete.
-Erica Kees, SM’06

You lost your charm, dude.
backpacks, books, jeans, beard are now
replaced by a Suit.
-Erica Kees, SM’06

div or GSB?
Sushi, hummus, or Kim Chee?
Lunch rocks U of C.
-Erica Kees, SM’06

1st year from abroad
Huge down coat. Wandering, dazed.
Mamma, it’s freedom! 
-Erica Kees, SM’06

Blues is the city
Melodies in the mind, fill
with life-changing thoughts.
-Val Summers (parent of Ann K. Adams, JD’93)

MY U. OF C. EDUCATION

To speak is to act,
Yet they aren't truly actions
They are air-based acts.

We know an action
By its effect on our lives,
Words can affect us.

Words are actions that
Are meaningful symbols too,
Words sound symbolic.
 
Words are Janus-like,
Function as acts and symbols,
As meaningful sounds.
 
Meaning can act on
Us in unexpected ways,
Making us ourselves.
 
It’s the ultimate
Act one that can transform us
We become our words.
-Harry B. Burke, AB’79, AM’80, PhD’87, AB’88

 In a twinkle of
an eye—egg, larva, cocoon,
scholar born maroon!
-Susan Jamieson (parent of Andrew Jamieson, AB’06)

The lines of text sing,
Spreading their song through their minds,
Lighting up the dark.
-Alex Penev (current Lab School student)

The scholars abound,
Immersing themselves in light,
Feeding their hunger.
-Alex Penev (current Lab School student)

Now remains the spread,
The painting of new portraits,
Adding to the pool.
-Alex Penev (current Lab School student)

Dried leaves underfoot
Anxiousness assails the soul
In the beginning.
-Jason Rothenberger, ’10

Dried leaves turn to salt
Frigid winds erode spirits
As time passes on.
-Jason Rothenberger, ’10

Grass regains control
Relieved faces turn from books
To welcome reprieves.
-Jason Rothenberger, ’10