The Honors Dorm

The semester ended. Since I didn't know anyone in Delray Beach, where my parents lived, I decided to stay at UM for the summer, to take some more science courses, to lighten my load sophomore year.

I already knew that was the "weed out" year for pre meds, as Organic Chemistry loomed ahead --the class that separated us into those who would get into med school in the US, those who'd have to go overseas, and those who wouldn't get accepted.

Bldg 22 closed for summers, so I moved back to the 1968 Complex, a 12 story dorm so named for its year of completion, and where I had spent my first semester.

The first day, as I was unpacking, my roommate came in. He had an Arab-fro, a silk shirt, and a gold coke spoon necklace. He wore a Rolex. He was the very rich son of a Saudi Arabian, something or other. He presented me with the deal --his family thought he was going to live with me, but he had a hot Latin girlfriend in Kendall. He was going to live with her. Twice during the summer, a call would come from the Sheik. I was to tell the Sheik that (we'll call him Mohammed, which was probably his name) was in the library, studying. I was to then call Mo (I love when they take that nickname!) and let him know.

If I did this, I'd have the room to myself. Deal. We shook hands. How could peace between Israel and the Arabs be so hard to accomplish? Mo and I reached an accord within 10 minutes of meeting...

Off he went. I was thrilled at first, but soon became lonely and bored. My friends were all gone. Eric, my best friend, was working full time at the JCC summer camp, and I barely saw him.

My beloved Islanders were playing for their first Stanley Cup championship. I watched alone, in my room, on a 12 inch black and white. Most of the rest of my floormates were Middle Eastern Arabs, too (presumably sans LAtinas) and lauged at the silly sport.

I took Genetics and got a B. My GPA was around 3.5 --As in the Humanities, Bs in Sciences...Med School was still an option.

Alison came down for her freshman orientation. She was due to follow me from LI and enroll in the Fall. I broke up with her. I told her that, at 19, I just wasn't ready to commit to marriage.

Later, I saw her mother on campus, as Alison walked with her. The mother looked at me with such pure hatred. It's a look I never forgot --as if I had, as a 19 year old undergraduate, ruined an entire life plan for a nice family from Seaford, LI.

The summer semesters ended, and I went to Delray for a few weeks. I became acquainted with a beachside bar called Bostons. I drank a lot and sat at the beach. I had meals with my parents, and my Dad debriefed me on my freshman year. His first major life regret was never going to college, and he wanted every detail about what he missed (his second life regret was not staying in California after WW II. He's convinced he'd have gone into show biz writing instead of glassware sales).

I wrote a mass letter to the incoming Honors Class, as their president, asking for the $15 HSA dues. I got one reply, in perfect grammar and penmanship, from a young lady from Roseville, MN. She wrote that she had never been out of Minnesota. What did UM kids wear? What things did they like to do? Would I show her around?

My father read the letter, and gave me a look exactly like the one on Bluto Blutarski's face from "Animal House," as he peeked into the sorority window, and the coeds were starting a topless pillow fight...

I also learned I'd have new roommates in Building 22. My roommate was Rudy, a Filipino doctor's son from Wisconsin, with zero personality. I had met him in Chem class, through my good friend Fred, a Chinese Trinadadian whose father was a rich businessman.

A word about Fred. We became pretty close, He had been schooled in England. We'd had amazingly different backgrounds. His mother cooked me Caliloo (a spinach soup) at their house in Kendall. My mother made him corned beef at our Delray condo.

Fred and Rudy were study partners. They'd teach me a lesson, later that year, in old school anti semitism. Ha! Even among Filipino and Trinidadian immigrants! Who knew?

The other room was to house Mike S, a blonde Italian from LI with perfect math SAT scores and a command of the English language out of the "Godfather" movies, and Wing Wang Wei, a student from Hong Kong, who asked the Honors secretary to give him a more typical American name, and since she was of Irish ancestry, chose "Colin."

So the Fall, 1980 roster for Building 22 was set! In the far bedroom were Mike and Colin (they both subscribed to Playboy magazine, though Colin''s was in Chinese --a fact when discovered caused us all to pee in our pants). In the near bedroom I was to bunk with Rudy.

Organic Chem loomed in the horizon...