Rebecca Mauldin '05
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- Rebecca MauldinRebecca: Rebecca Mauldin, Chicago, Illinois, class of ’05.
- Chelsie SalvateraChelsie: OK. Thank you, Rebecca. So, first question, like always, why did you come to Grinnell College and what is your first memory of the campus?
- Rebecca MauldinRebecca: It was kind of, it was by chance, actually. My mother read about it in a book, and she was like, “You should go check out this school. It sounds really interesting.” Then I came and visited and there was something about the College that just, I couldn’t put my finger on it but that felt natural. There are so many like, places here to study that I was like, “I wanna study in all these places. I could go here.”
- Rebecca MauldinRebecca: My first memory is walking on South Campus with my father, and I lived in Loose and chalked on the sidewalk said, “Loose girls are loose,” and my father gave me this look like, “I might take you back home. Maybe we’re not staying here.” But then I also remember him driving away and me feeling like, “OK, this is it. I’m here. There’s no turning back at this point. I’m here.” But it was one of those moments where you grew up a little bit.
- Chelsie SalvateraChelsie: Yeah, awesome. So during your time at Grinnell was there a professor, student or staff member who had a particularly strong influence on you?
- Rebecca MauldinRebecca: Yeah, it’s hard to pinpoint just one because I was a Theater major, and that whole department, they were just, y’know, fountains of like, knowledge. So, they were all really important to me but I remember particularly my senior year Pip Gordon, who doesn’t work here any longer, she was just amazing. The way – and this goes for all the teachers – but the way they really care about their students. But she- I was like, “I’m lost, I don’t know what I’m doing,” and she was like, “Well, here’s what I know.” She, I took like three pages of notes because she just was spewing information and it was, y'know, the teachers just really care about their students and it was really lovely to feel that way.
- Chelsie Salvatera & Rebecca MauldinChelsie: Yes, the connection, right. So, this is kind of broad but your best memories at Grinnell College?Rebecca: Oh, my gosh, there’s so many of them.Chelsie: You wanna talk about a few?Rebecca: Yeah, I think...Chelsie: You wanna talk about your experience...?
- Rebecca MauldinRebecca: I remember the first play that I was cast in. It was Leslie Delmenico’s, who I think is the chair of the department now, and just that whole process of being part of a group, making a show, that was really exciting for me. So, it was a great memory. And then, oh, also feeling like someone was like, “You are good enough to be in my show. I want to work with you,” that was very exciting. And then, just those great moments where you like, get your... the curriculum? The first day of class, I loved that ‘cause you read through all of it and you were like, you realized that all of this stuff on the paper that you didn’t know was going to be in your brain. You were going to learn it all, and I loved that first day and buying your books and just the potential that this new semester holds for you. So that’s very exciting for me. I’m a nerd.
- Chelsie Salvatera & Rebecca MauldinChelsie: No, but you were talking about theater a lot and all of that, so I just wanted to know how Grinnell, your major, or just like any of the academic experience influenced your career?Rebecca: Yeah, the Theater department, I mean all the stuff I learned there was really influential. It’s not so much based in, ‘cause I do acting in Chicago and it’s, y’know, it’s very academic as well here. It just gave me the ability to look at a play and analyze it and understand it and it just really equipped me for doing things out in the real world, but also my Anthropology classes – I thought I was gonna be a double for a while – were really helpful in understanding human experience. I think everything that I studied here in some way, y’know the more you read the more you know the more you’re able to be a conscious human being and thus be a good actor, so it all contributes.
- Chelsie Salvatera & Rebecca MauldinChelsie: I like that answer. So, what did your dorm room look like?Rebecca: It was a mess. It was a total mess because I just didn’t know what to put on the walls, like, I don’t know it just took a while for me to feel really comfortable in it because it was a room and I had a roommate who I didn’t know and that was, y’know what I mean? Just like figuring things out, and then after that –
- Chelsie SalvateraChelsie: That was in Loose?
- Rebecca MauldinRebecca: That was in Loose. And then after that I was an SA in Norris and I remember the day that we did room draw and I had a really terrible number, and I cried when I got Norris. To me now that seems absurd, like 'Why did I cry? That’s so silly.' But it’s so far away-
- Chelsie SalvateraChelsie: It is.
- Rebecca MauldinRebecca: I was like, “Oh, my God, I’m gonna have to walk so far,” and now I live in Chicago and I’m like, 'that’s not far at all.' This campus, it’s all about where you live and then you sort of have a different idea what the scale is. But, I loved being an SA, that was super fun. I mean, all the dorms here, you make them your own. Yeah, it’s so weird to be back. It feels like, concurrently weird and very natural. Like, naturally I would live in this dorm, ‘cause I’m staying in Haines right now; that’s where I lived my senior year. It feels very strangely natural just to be back.
- Chelsie Salvatera & Rebecca MauldinChelsie: What kind of clothes did you wear? I mean, you weren’t here that long ago, but what kind of clothes did you wear every day and on special occasions?Rebecca: I’m kind of a clothes horse, so lots of different stuff. Not a lot of heels, a lot of comfortable shoes. I was fr – I’m from, originally, Houston, Texas, and my parents bought me this jacket ‘cause they were so worried I was gonna be freezing cold, that was just terrifying. It was a horrible, horrible jacket. My father insisted on getting me a big jacket so I could put many sweaters, so it was actually a men’s small and I have a fairly small frame and that just, I looked around the first winter and I was like, “Nobody is wearing anything like this. I cannot wear this.” So that’s just funny, but yeah, a lot of like casual clothes.
- Rebecca MauldinRebecca: It was always really fun getting ready for Waltz though, ‘cause then you saw everyone burst out their, or bust out their prom dresses. That was very exciting, get very pretty and you go dancing and, yeah, so I think that was the time that I like, really dressed up. But I have this great, this is silly but my friend saw someone rollerblading across the way and she was rollerblading in a skirt and she was like, “I knew that was you ‘cause you’re a big weirdo. You would totally rollerblade in a skirt.” I was like, “Fair.”
- Chelsie Salvatera & Rebecca MauldinChelsie: Was there a particular book that influenced you most in college, if you recall..?Rebecca: Yeah, no, the one that immediately came to mind, it’s all theater-related stuff. We did a lot of Stanislavski stuff and read a lot of Stansilavski and An Actor Prepares was the book where I was just like, 'This all makes sense, I get this.' All the Stanislavski work that we did was just really influential in the way that I prepare for things now. There’s just so many books that you read, right? And at the moment you’re like, 'This! I love this book!' And then you read another book and you’re like, 'No, I love this book!' It’s hard to remember, in the grand scheme of things, what exactly was your favorite book. But I would say that one is, I remember that very clearly.
- Chelsie Salvatera & Rebecca MauldinChelsie: How do you feel, in terms of Grinnell now and Grinnell then, I guess, changes since you were a student?Rebecca: The... so we used to eat in Quad.Chelsie: OK, oh, wow.Rebecca: Yeah, I worked in Quad too, actually. I loved, I was always a south-sider at heart even when I lived in Norris for two years, and I love Quad ‘cause it’s so Gothic and dark. I know some people didn’t love it but I loved it and I actually, this campus center? What is it called? The Rose?Chelsie: JRC?
- Rebecca Mauldin & Chelsie SalvateraRebecca: Yeah. JRC. I actually really love it and I’m sort of, I love this sort of Gothic architecture and, I don’t even know if it’s really Gothic but I love this old- I’m a big fan of old architecture so I was like, “No! I don’t like anything nice, I don’t want new stuff! Keep Darby!” and I think this center is fantastic. The windows, it gets so much light, it’s nice to sort of not have that divide, those who eat at Cowles and those who eat at Quad. It just feels like there’s better unity now, I think. But, yeah, I think the campus has done a lot of great things to sort of promote unity and grow but still sort of keep the same Grinnell spirit in everything they do.Chelsie: I’m glad you appreciate the new buildings.Rebecca: I love it.Chelsie: Not many do.Rebecca: Really?Chelsie: Yeah. People have been kind of bashing on it in these things.Rebecca: I love the windows, God, I just love light, especially when you’re like craving light, especially in like Chicago. Oh God, there are so many grey days. It’s just nice though, like, you don’t get light in there. I enjoy it.
- Chelsie Salvatera & Rebecca MauldinChelsie: Is there anything that’s no longer available on campus that was meaningful to you? Like buildings, programs, activities?Rebecca: Quad is one of them; I did love that. But I think it’s natural for a school to grow. Where’s the radio station?Chelsie: I think they do it in the JRC.Rebecca: Do they?Chelsie: Yeah, upstairs.Rebecca: We used to do it in Darby and you climbed these real sketchy stairs and this room was kinda dirty and had- it was cluttered and my friend and I, Jordan, had a radio show our fresh – sophomore year? ‘Cause we were like, “we like entirely different music, we should just play it!” I kind of miss that sort of grungy place where you just play music and hang out, so I would say that’s a place I miss.
- Chelsie Salvatera & Rebecca MauldinChelsie: Would you say that was your favorite place on campus, or do you have another favorite place on campus?Rebecca: I love Burling.Chelsie: Really?Rebecca: Yeah, I actually walked through it. I love it so- I know some people that couldn’t sit in there because it’s too quiet or they need to see people around them. I have so many memories of writing papers; I walked through it and I was like, “That cubicle is where I wrote this paper!” I love Burling. It’s so comfortable, there’s so many nooks and crannies to study and it’s comfortable, sometimes too comfortable and I fell asleep, but that’s OK too. At least you’re not in a sterile library falling asleep, you’re in like a comfortable safe place. So Burling’s definitely one of them.
- Chelsie Salvatera & Rebecca MauldinChelsie: If you knew then what you know now, would you change anything during your experience at Grinnell?Rebecca: I... yeah. A whole lot. Well, I, y’know when you get out into the real world, you realize just how many resources you have here. You notice that the books and the magazine articles and, God, the theater spaces here are incredible, and you get to the real world and you get to perform in shoeboxes. Yeah, the stage is the size of a shoebox and, I would’ve done like a MAP, I probably would’ve just really worked more with the student theater on campus, done a lot more stuff, done a lot more independent projects. I also would’ve studied more, not that I didn’t study but I think I would’ve, just a more, you know what I mean? You appreciate all these things in retrospect. You’re like, “I would’ve done this so differently,” but if you were actually back in college would you have done it differently?
- Rebecca MauldinRebecca: Like, I was very busy, ‘cause I was doing, my freshman, sophomore year and I did dance troupe and theater and classes and my teachers didn’t seem to understand that I couldn’t- their class wasn’t the only one I was taking. Which, simultaneously is difficult, ‘cause you have so much to study, and kind of awesome ‘cause they’re like, “I just wanna give you all of this knowledge and then you take it and you do what you will with it.” Yeah, so I wanna say, yes, but I’m not quite sure where it would’ve been different, might've been the same.
- Chelsie Salvatera & Rebecca MauldinChelsie: That's a good answer. Did you meet your spouse or partner here at Grinnell?Rebecca: I did not, no. I had a lot of lovely relationships here. There are actually, some of the places in Burling I was like, “That was where my then-boyfriend gave me a rose and a bottle of NoDoz so I could finish my paper,” and that was really sweet, but, yeah, I hadn’t, it’s not often that when you’re in a location where you have all of these people your age who are interested in very similar things who you have a lot in common with. So it’s, it’s a nice place to start your dating life.
- Chelsie Salvatera & Rebecca MauldinChelsie: Just- very broad question. Describe student and campus life as you experienced it during your time at Grinnell. Srudent and campus...Rebecca: Student and campus life?Chelsie: Just in general..Rebecca: I don’t really know. I don’t know, there was just-Chelsie: We can talk about it a lot.
- Rebecca Mauldin & Chelsie SalvateraRebecca: There are a lot of, this campus just felt like it was full of a lot of very eclectic, interesting people that cared about a lot of things. Sometimes I actually felt that was kind of overwhelming, like, what do I have to contribute? And then you find your niche. You find your place at Grinnell and you’re able to thrive. I was just...Chelsie: It took 'til you find that-Rebecca: Confidence, yeah, ‘cause you get here as a freshman and I was just like 'Oh, my God, I’m alone and I miss my family and there’s so much work, and who am I?' You’re going through all these problems when you’re eighteen-
- Chelsie Salvatera & Rebecca MauldinChelsie: This was my first year, too.Rebecca: Did you?Chelsie: Yeah.Rebecca: And, but your sophomore year is so much better, I swear.Chelsie: Okay.Rebecca: Freshman year, especially first semester it was kind of hard just because I was overwhelmed and then every subsequent year just gets more awesome as you figure out who you are and what your interests are and a little self-discovery goes a long way, I think.Chelsie: A lot of that, yeah.Rebecca: Did you have a good freshman year?Chelsie: I did have a good first year. A wonderful first year.Rebecca: That’s awesome.
- Chelsie Salvatera & Rebecca MauldinChelsie: Do you feel like the students- or how do you compare the students now to your classmates?Rebecca: Oh, how they’ve changed?Chelsie: Yeah.Rebecca: Oh, my God, we’re so much cooler. We're more awesome.Chelsie: What!Rebecca: We are so much cooler than we were back then! Also, y’know, again I’m touching on what I just spoke about but, as you become more comfortable with who you are which continues as you get older, you just, your interactions with other people become more comfortable and you become more interesting and I just feel like those groups at Grinnell where you like, 'these are a group of friends' and 'these are a group of friends' and you don’t really talk to each other sometimes, at reunion everyone is like, 'whatever, we’re not in college anymore.' You just wanna see everyone, which is very exciting.
- Rebecca MauldinRebecca: I used to mourn birthdays because I’m getting older and that’s not very exciting and then my friend, who’s ten years older than I am and she’s very very wise, so brilliantly pointed out, “But don’t you like yourself so much more now? You’re smarter, you’re more interesting, you’ve done a lot more. More experiences.” I was like, that is a brilliant way to look at it. "I am, I do like myself a lot more now." But then you get older and, it just sort of happens. It's really lovely.
- Chelsie Salvatera & Rebecca MauldinChelsie: One final question. If you were writing a history of Grinnell College, what would you include from your years here?Rebecca: My God, that’s an epic question. If I were writing a history of Grinnell College, what would I include? It’s hard to say. It’s so hard to say because it’s just like this feeling. I guess I would write about how Grinnellians form life-long relationships. I would definitely include that, that the people that you meet here, you just, you never forget them, even if you don’t become life-long friends but you form so many bonding rel- so many important relationships and I...
- Rebecca MauldinRebecca: The sense of community in Grinnell College is really amazing. Being back here is just, it floods you with memories, like wonderful memories. I think that’s so essential to a college experience, that you come back and you are overwhelmed by this sort of sense of love. That’s cool, but that’s hard to write down, y’know? That’s not, that’s a feeling. So that’s not very specific, but that’s the best I got.
- Chelsie Salvatera & Rebecca MauldinChelsie: Is there anything you wanna say, anything else additional? Things you wanna talk about?Rebecca: What have other people been saying when you ask that question?Chelsie: Some people go on and on about things.Rebecca: And you’re like, “And then I sit here.”Chelsie: Some people say, "Go pioneers!" Some people don’t have anything else. You sound like you had an epic experience.Rebecca: Yeah, it was fun. Y’know honestly it wasn’t all fun, like, 'cause some of it really sucked, because again, self-esteem, you’re building that. You're figuring out who you are. That’s very difficult and then on top of that you have four very difficult classes and you have to prep for that and then your social life, it’s just, it’s a lot to deal with, but that kind of stuff just helps you later in life. I, there were a couple years where I was like, “I don’t know if I’m coming back.” After my freshman year I was like, “I don’t know, maybe this is the wrong school for me. I should’ve gone to Bryn Mawr. This is not where I belong,” and it was, it just took me a while to realize that.
- Chelsie Salvatera & Rebecca MauldinChelsie: I'm glad you stayed on.Rebecca: Yeah, you too!
Alumni oral history interview with Rebecca Mauldin '05. Recorded June 5, 2011.