Margo Gray '05, Jenny Noyce '05, and Maggie Montanaro '05
Primary tabs
- Heather RiggsHeather: Okay, so.. Yeah, just before we start, if you could each go around and say your name, your class year, and where you live now, just for the microphone.
- Margo GrayMargo: Cool. I’m Margo Gray of the class of 2005, and, what else am I saying?
- Heather Riggs & Maggie MontanaroHeather: Your home.Maggie: Where you live.
- Margo GrayMargo: I live in Chicago, Illinois.
- Jenny NoyceJenny: My name is Jenny Noyce, the class of 2005 and I live in Oakland, California.
- Maggie MontanaroMaggie: I’m Maggie Montanaro, also class of 2005, and I live in Avignon, France.
- Heather RiggsHeather: Wow. So, what are your strongest memories of Grinnell?
- Maggie MontanaroMaggie: Harris Parties.
- Jenny Noyce & Maggie MontanaroJenny: Mud sliding in the rain.Maggie: Yeah, mud wrestling. Mud sliding on Mac Field. Lots and lots of work.
- Margo Gray & Maggie MontanaroMargo: I guess I remember people, like, I still am in touch with a lot of people from Grinnell and yeah. So I don’t, I mean I don’t have like these really specific memories of like meeting people, but just mostly, like this whole sort of like pool of memories of times when I was hanging out with people or working with people or, yeah. Building the sort of, you don’t think of it when you’re there, it’s not like, "Ah, I’m building connections to last me!" You’re just like, "I’m hanging out with my friends." But those sort of things tend to last.Maggie: Lots of good hanging out.Margo: Yes.
- Heather Riggs & Maggie Montanaro & Jenny NoyceHeather: What kind of Harris parties did you have? Like themed...Maggie: All the, I assume they still have them, the hall ones like the Haines Underwear Ball, the Mary B. James, Disco... what else? Lots of just themed…Jenny: They started a Fetish party.Maggie: Really? They still have Fetish?Jenny: I never went to that one. Maybe I was too close-minded.Maggie: Yeah.
- Heather Riggs & Margo Gray & Maggie MontanaroHeather: What are your first memories of Grinnell?Margo: Move-in day.Maggie: Katie Luland’s dad telling us all to lock our computers down because it was really dangerous to leave them.Margo: Yeah we had, ‘cause I think we’d left stuff in the hallway.Maggie: Other people's parents.Margo: Yeah, other people's parents.
- Jenny Noyce & Maggie Montanaro & Margo GrayJenny: You telling people they were gonna get raped.Maggie: I never said that. You can’t say that out of context.Margo: Yeah.Jenny: So now we have to tell the whole context.Maggie: Go for it.
- Jenny Noyce & Maggie MontanaroJenny: So, during New Student Orientation one of the trainings they do is sexual harassment or, and…Maggie: Race aware- I don’t remember what it was called.Jenny: Victim and like, taking care of yourself awareness, ‘cause so many assaults and sexual assaults happen on college campuses. And, someone was like, “Oh we’re not gonna go to that. We’re gonna skip it even though it’s mandatory.” And so Maggie had to say to them…
- Maggie Montanaro & Margo Gray & Jenny NoyceMaggie: I said, "Well, don’t come crying to me when you get raped." Which obviously is not a very nice thing to say. You could definitely come crying to me if you got raped.Margo: It's true.Maggie: But-Margo: But at that point...Maggie: We were just being irresponsible that night. We did go though.Margo: We did, we did attend.Maggie: See? It worked.Jenny: And we remember it as the first joke.Margo: Right.Maggie: You been told.
- Margo Gray & Maggie MontanaroMargo: Y'know, see how that sort of like awk- you know, when you first move in and have roommates, ‘cause we all lived on the same hall our first year. There were two quads of freshman girls that were across the hall from each other, and so we are-Maggie: In Dibble.Margo: Three of those eight.Maggie: Yeah.Margo: Yeah. But you sort of have to work up to jokes like that.Maggie: I just put it out.Margo: That’s like day two.
- Heather Riggs & Maggie Montanaro & Margo GrayHeather: Why did you decide to come to Grinnell?Maggie: I came because my, I think, of my prospie experience. But, I visited so many schools and I was actually pretty stressed out at the end because I hadn’t heard back from Grinnell yet, and then when I visited… I don’t remember how that all went, if you visit after you find out get in... Probably not.Margo: You do.Maggie: But I visited before. But I got to campus and I was actually really homesick and felt really weird and I wasn’t talking to anyone. Then I went to a movie and I walked around by myself and I felt like, at the end of my time here I was like, “Hey, I like this place for some reason.” It just kind of fit, and I like, got over myself, and, I don’t know.
- Maggie MontanaroMaggie: The other time, the other experience that I had I was with a host who I didn’t like very much, whereas here my host was like, “OK, I’m busy, but, let me know if you need anything.” It was kind of like, "You’re independent. You don’t need me," and I think that really was good for me instead of trying to get to know someone in two days that I obviously wasn’t going to, and didn’t like in most cases. When we went to her boyfriend’s- there was some other school I visited where we went to her boyfriend’s drinking competition with his wrestling buddies. I was like, "This is not..." In a frat house.
- Jenny NoyceJenny: Can you picture yourself?!
- Maggie MontanaroMaggie: "I don’t see myself going here."
- Margo GrayMargo: I think it was a, sort of a late decision for me to come to Grinnell, because I didn’t even... I don't know, I visited very late because I was very, sort of like that person who, my sophomore year of high school, was like, “I’m going to order all the brochures from all of the places.” I had my little filing cabinet. Yeah, you know how it is. So I was very sort of like, reading all the material. But I didn’t visit Grinnell, I think until after I got admitted so sort of very late in the process. At that time I had visited a bunch of other schools and, like Maggie had some comparative experiences that were unfavorable.
- Margo GrayMargo: When I came here, I remember I visited... I had asked at other places to visit with professors and had a lot of people tell me, “I don’t really have time for that Prospie. Student. Possible student-person.” So, but I asked to meet with Pip Gordon, who was the head of the Theater department at the time and she was like, “Sure, yeah, come in.” So I came in and I remember she had Tim Curber, who was a senior that year and he was her like, department assistant and he was just hanging out in her office and she was like, “Do you mind if Tim hangs out?” I was like, “Sure.” Seeing their interaction and them very much sort of like bantering back and forth, I was like, “Oh, I want to be friends with my professors. That looks like a lot of fun.” Now I am friends with Pip so, booyah. But I think that was sort of, seeing the relationships between people that I thought were... good.
- Jenny NoyceJenny: And how it’s so different than when you were in high school. You were like, "Oh, my God these adults, they have power," or this or that and to see teachers as mentors instead of someone who’s just controlling your grade. It’s cool.
- Jenny Noyce & Maggie MontanaroJenny: I was the opposite of you. Where, I was like, “College? Yeah, I guess I know have to do that.” Then, I didn’t know anything about the process or what to do and my mom had to... I think I saw the school counselor once. She was like, “Oh, are you applying to schools?” I'm like, "Yeah?” and she was like, “OK, bye.” My mom sort of drug me through-Maggie: Thanks for your guidance.Jenny: Yeah- drug me through the process. So, I only applied to three schools.
- Jenny Noyce & Maggie Montanaro & Margo GrayJenny: I ended- at first I wanted to go to Carleton. So the first time I visited I was like, "They’re too snobbish. I don't want to go there." The second time I visited I was like, “Oh no, I could totally handle this place.” And then I didn’t get in and then I got into Lawrence and but didn’t want to go there then, because it was too urban.Maggie: That is where the wrestling-drinking contest was.Margo: Really? At Lawrence?Jenny: See! High five!Maggie: So good choice.Jenny: No Lawrence! Go Grinnell! I’m really happy that I went to Grinnell, and it feels good. It was a good place.
- Heather Riggs & Jenny NoyceHeather: Were there any professors, students or staff who had a strong influence on your time at Grinnell?Jenny: I would say Kara Lakey and Jean Ketter from the education department. For me, it was the first time that I did have adults who I felt saw me as a person as opposed to just a number or grade. So, it was nice to be able to sort of come into adulthood but have other adults sort of guiding you and not giving you feedback about what that’s like.
- Margo GrayMargo: Yeah, and I think most of the Theater department professors I had, it was very like, small department. Russian too, actually, they were just very, yeah. They were interested in you as an individual, and I remember going to one of my first oral exams for beginning Russian and I was so nervous ‘cause I was like, “OK, we’re going to be talking about grammar and stuff.” The exam itself was her asking me how my first semester at Grinnell was going and how my other classes were. So we were, of course, talking about this in Russian, but, I mean, she was actually interested even though it was a class of like 20, which was huge.
- Margo GrayMargo: She was actually interested in how my time was going, so I think there were a lot of professors who were really, especially my major departments who were really, and Pip, of course, who I’m still friends with, was very much and continues to be... I will sort of write to her when I’m like, “I don’t know what to do about my career, tell me what to do!” She’ll say, “Well, here’s what you should think about but ultimately you gotta do what you want and you know that." And you’re just, yeah. So, that was always very nice.
- Jenny Noyce & Maggie Montanaro & Margo GrayJenny: You passed on good advice to me, too. I think. I’m assuming it was from her as well, but it was like, “Have you thought about what you want to do as opposed to what you should do?”Maggie: That was on Plans, I read that too.Jenny: Yes. That was.Margo: I know, she was totally, she was like, “You have to like- You feel like you have to do this. Why do you feel that way? You can do whatever you want.” I was like. “…Oh! ....Duh.”
- Jenny NoyceJenny: I think it’s changing my view of graduate school ‘cause now I’m just like, “I’m gonna do this and get it over with.” It’s not such this huge like, life-structured thing, as I feel like college was. ‘Cause, I have more direct goals and plans for after it. So yeah. Need to help me chill out there, really.
- Margo GrayMargo: Go team.
- Jenny Noyce & Maggie Montanaro & Margo GrayJenny: How about you, Maggie?Maggie: I don’t feel like I had like a big connection with one professor, but I always was very surprised and pleased when professors I had, like the year before, would recognize me on campus and say hi, and I was like, “Oh, I didn’t think you knew who I was.” Or, that’s always nice to feel, that you could, I always felt like I could talk to my professors if I needed to. So, but I would say my friends were the biggest influence on...Margo: Bad influence.Maggie: Yeah, that’s right.Jenny: Awesome influence.
- Heather Riggs & Maggie MontanaroHeather: How has Grinnell changed since you were students?Maggie: Well obviously the buildings. I don’t know much about how, ‘cause I don’t know many current students, so it’s sort of hard to say how the culture has changed.
- Jenny NoyceJenny: I think one thing, just from being back, from what I’ve heard from staff or people, is having a different president has really made it change in the fact that he seems much more involved in the community and so it has a much more positive feel, I guess, about him or about this idea of here’s this person who’s leading us or who has power.
- Heather Riggs & Jenny NoyceHeather: Yeah, he’s only been around for the past year so it’s been different for us, too. Is there something that was available on campus when you were students but, that is no longer available but is still meaningful to you?Jenny: Oh my gosh.Heather: Building-wise, or programs..Jenny: I think it’s so weird to come and, like, coming across the Loggia and looking at the JRC or the Joe, whatever you guys call it and being like, "Darby’s not there." That was really weird. Even though Darby-
- Maggie Montanaro & Jenny Noyce & Margo GrayMaggie: We used to work in the upstairs of Darby.Jenny: Yeah.Margo: Or go to basketball games.Jenny: Yes.Maggie: Yeah. Although that was gone by the time we left.Jenny: Yeah. I think they tore it down our senior year?Margo: Yeah. I didn’t, I didn’t like, cry about it.Maggie: Yeah.
- Jenny Noyce & Maggie Montanaro & Margo GrayJenny: I think it’s just something where I'm like, "Whoa, there’s something that’s hugely different." I think I haven’t gone over to the PEC yet where, or where the PEC used to be. So it’s, I would be there at least twice a week at work, so.Maggie: The Forum is weird to see, but it’s like a Computer Lab now. ‘Cause that was the hangout when we were here. You can tell that a lot of the alumni still wish it was because they’re all hanging out, yeah, and drinking. It’s like, “Oh.”Margo: It's not actually a thing now.Maggie: It’s kinda funny, like they’re mourning the Forum.Margo: Pouring one out for the Forum.Jenny: Yeah, libations.
- Margo GrayMargo: I think Plans, I mean I know Plans still exists but even, the sort of switch happened when we were students from it being kind of like, a hosted college thing to something that’s independently sort of student-run now, so that was a big shift. But I mean that’s something I use so much to keep in contact with other alumni, and current students even. It’s the one time that I ever interact with current students is, if something connects randomly on plans. But, that was one sort of change I noticed.
- Heather Riggs & Jenny NoyceHeather: Yeah. I’m curious how Plans was then, compared with how it is now because you’ve probably kept in touch with Plans, if not with the campus.Jenny: I think Plans is pretty much the same format. I don’t feel like anything about that has changed. I think, as I think about us growing older, there is the in-fluctuation and the up-and-down of how much people use it. What you’re using it for, how you keep in touch with people, like who updates, you know, versus who doesn’t.
- Maggie Montanaro & Jenny Noyce & Margo GrayMaggie: Well, and when we were here there was also- there were like, a couple scandals, weren’t there? Some kid wrote some threat on Plans? Do you remember this?Jenny: Oh yeah. And then he got-Maggie: And so then there was that- I think that kind of started a whole debate, like "The College can’t be responsible for this. It’s not connected to the college."Jenny: Because he made a comment about bringing guns to campus to get narcs, and he was being sarcastic. So, the FBI came and got him.Margo: Oh, yeah!
- Jenny Noyce & Maggie Montanaro & Heather RiggsJenny: And he was put in prison, and then he got to come back the next year, but he had to wear an ankle bracelet.Maggie: Oh, I didn’t know that.Heather: Wow.Jenny: And for him, he was like- I guess it was an eye-opener of like… y'know this...Maggie: Free speech only goes so far?Jenny: So far. Yeah, things like that. So... I mean...
- Margo Gray & Maggie MontanaroMargo: It's- because there’s so much, I mean, "social" social networking has changed so much that like, we didn’t really have Facebook.Maggie: Yeah. That started at the end of our time here.
- Margo GrayMargo: Yeah, but the way the people use Plans is so different from the way that, well, some people, use Facebook and Twitter. And it’s such, such a different community where you feel like you can sort of address someone across time or social circles and be like, “Hey, got here via Montanaro,” y’know, like, “I do have a recommendation about restaurants in downtown Chicago.” Whatever it is, weird stuff like that. "I hear you’re talking about grad school in Moscow," or random stuff like that. I think that that’s been pretty consistent across my years of using plans, at least.
- Jenny Noyce & Maggie MontanaroJenny: I think it’s the one place where... I mean there’s the social norm of still being friendly. It’s not like, "Whoa, who is this person?" but it’s fine to post something up there, being like, "Oh, anybody know this?" And then knowing- Like the implicit trust of knowing the answer you get back will be honest, or...Maggie: Well thought-out.Jenny: Yeah. Well thought-out or well-meaning.
- Margo Gray & Jenny Noyce & Heather RiggsMargo: There can actually be like, debate about, y’know... There was that sort of body image debate recently, where someone said something about... yeah, just like body image and that was sort of like that’s what the discussion point was that day. It was about body image, or something about how your major influences your earning potential over your lifetime and then that was the point but on Facebook, y'know, that would turn into…Jenny: A flame war of some sort, so I'm like...Margo: Yeah. So like, something really not very productive. But y'know, people are like, “Well, here is my well thought-out response. Here is a link to the New York Times article to support my point and I also recommend that you read-,” y’know?Heather: That is funny because there are kind of these trends in Plans. I read the body image things on Plans, but it’s pretty cool that even when, like seven years between our classes you can still kind of like, "Oh-"
- Margo Gray & Jenny NoyceMargo: St. John’s can still search- stir up… Saul St. John who was the- anyway, nevermind.Jenny: But wait! Tell us the memory of Saul St. John.Margo: No, that was him! He initiated this body image conversation. He was the one who said some really inflammatory things and then he's just... He’s.. two years below us, I think? Anyway, he’s just sort of, kind of one of those intentionally inflammatory folks. But it’s OK because everyone on Plans was like, "Here’s my very reasoned response and here’s why I think I don’t want to engage with you on that point because I reject your premise." So there was- yeah.Jenny: That’s pretty funny.
- Heather Riggs & Jenny NoyceHeather: What were some of your favorite places on campus?Jenny: I think, I mean obviously just saying like, the Loggia for me, just because it’s something that’s so different and you don’t see it in architecture all the time. But, I think the big tree really stands out to me, on North campus right outside of Cowles and Dibble and Clark. It’s just... I'm just like "Oh, yay."
- Margo Gray & Jenny NoyceMargo: I smoked my first cigarette under that tree.Jenny: Really?Margo: For a film we made for tutorial. I didn’t know how to smoke. Tried to look cool. Not so cool.
- Jenny Noyce & Heather Riggs & Maggie MontanaroJenny: Oh, great. They’re emailing all the new kids today about tutorial choices.Heather: Wow.Maggie: Exciting.Jenny: Yes. I was like, "Whoa." My little brother’s gonna come in this semester, so I’m reliving moments.Maggie: That's exciting.
- Heather Riggs & Maggie Montanaro & Margo Gray & Jenny NoyceHeather: Where did you guys live, when you were here?Maggie: First year we were all in Dibble. Younker second year.Margo: Younker.Jenny: And I was in a house, 1217 Park. That was crazy.
- Maggie Montanaro & Margo GrayMaggie: That was one of my favorite places that year. We did a lot of hanging out over there.Margo: Chips and dip parties.Maggie: Yeah we had Chip and Dip Club.Margo: It was like midnight..? On Tuesdays...?Maggie: It was funded by the school.
- Margo Gray & Jenny Noyce & Maggie MontanaroMargo: It was one night a week, right, like midnight? Funded by the SGA.Jenny: Something like that.Maggie: Our friend would go to the, well it was before there was a Mexican restaurant in Grinnell so he would go- was it Marshalltown?Jenny: Yeah.Maggie: He'd go there and get like, a trashbag full-Jenny: La Cabana.Maggie: Yeah, La Cabana. - Get a trash bag full of tortilla chips and a bucket full of salsa, and we’d have-Jenny: It was like a huge, industrial bucket.Maggie: - Chip and Dip Club. Everyone was invited.Margo: It was great.Maggie: It was mostly the same people every time, though.
- Jenny NoyceJenny: That’s what, I rem- That'll be my most vivid memory I think, for Katie and Colin. Because, Colin came to Chip ‘n Dip night – I was telling Wes this story earlier – and it was this big snowstorm. And he was like, “Oh, I have to go move my car. I need to go move my car,” and y’know he, he did his goodbyes and was like, “All right, gonna go move my car.” He’d like, put on his coat, put on his backpack, and then Katie came in the door and he like, completely changed his tone, and he was going to stay! And then his car got towed.
- Margo Gray & Jenny Noyce & Maggie MontanaroMargo: And now they’re married.Jenny: Yes, so then I’m like, "Awww."Margo: Chips and dip brought them together.Maggie: That's right.Jenny: Yes.Margo: I didn’t know that story.Maggie: I didn't either.Jenny: Yeah, so...Margo: That’s good.
- Heather Riggs & Margo Gray & Jenny Noyce & Maggie MontanaroHeather: Have a lot of people from your class gotten married to each other, or...? ‘Cause y'know, they say that 40% of Grinnellians...Margo: Yeah, yeah...Jenny: Is it really 40%?Maggie: Well, you’re dating a Grinnellian now, but you weren’t dating at Grinnell.Jenny: I am. I know, I was too judgy. I rejected him at Grinnell, so. It’s sort of a joke 'cause I rejected him like two times, and then finally I was like, "Okay."Maggie: He persevered.Jenny: Yes, he did.
- Maggie Montanaro & Margo Gray & Jenny Noyce & Heather RiggsMaggie: I know there are a few people from our- There’s like, a few couples from our class who have gotten married but I don’t know them personally. I’m sure there are more.Margo: Or like- And people who have married people from other classes, like Mark Henry. Or like, Molly Obsats and Amber Griffin. So, there’s a lot of them though.Jenny: I feel like they’ve gone through the first wave, which usually happens like two to three years out.Maggie: Maybe some people will meet some future spouses this year at reunion.Jenny: Maybe. Never know.Heather: You never know.Jenny: I feel like within the next five years there will be another big smattering.Maggie: Wave.
- Heather Riggs & Jenny NoyceHeather: How do you feel like your class is different from the classes before you and the classes after you? Do you feel like there was any big changes?Jenny: I think our class was really affected by the suicides that happened on campus, and so I know that there is... I feel like, a different mentality around what being a healthy college student means or what the college should provide and what they needed to focus on. So, I think that definitely affected us and even the way we view suicide. I know, movies with suicide I get really really touchy about it and don’t like to watch it. Or if people bring it up and are talking about- or, joking about suicide I’m just like, "Don’t do that. That’s awful to do."
- Margo Gray & Maggie MontanaroMargo: Yeah, and I think our sort of perspective on the community shifted a little bit because when the, y’know there was that whole, like, cluster suicide phenomenon and that was when we were sophomores? The second semester of our sophomore year? And so I- Right? Right.Maggie: It was in May, I think.
- Margo Gray & Jenny Noyce & Maggie MontanaroMargo: Yeah. So I think the idea was that after that people felt more responsibility. I mean, there’s already a very strong sense of community at Grinnell but I think that after that, when you think about, you know, your responsibility for your fellow students and the idea that it is sort of a matter of life and death whether you can sort of provide support for so- or at least help someone get whatever it is that they need for help. So I think there was more emphasis for all of us in terms of like, “Hey, are you doing OK? Have you talked to this person lately? They seem like maybe they’re having some problems. Has anyone-" y'know, "Is someone on that?” sort of a situation, sorry.Jenny: Or even knowing what resources were available on campus and being able to use them.Margo: And destigmatizing mental health. I think that that was-Maggie: That was a big thing that the school pushed for too, after that and all that happened.Margo: But in some ways, I almost feel like after that experience, that has served me well in dealing with people outside of Grinnell which are not maybe as accepting of mental health as a legitimate thing. So.
- Maggie Montanaro & Jenny Noyce & Heather Riggs & Margo GrayMaggie: We also were freshman when September 11th happened.Jenny: Yeah.Heather: Oh, wow.Margo: Oh, that’s true.
- Heather Riggs & Jenny Noyce & Maggie MontanaroHeather: What was that- What was the campus atmosphere like?Jenny: I think when I'd shown up...Maggie: It was almost a void...Heather: Was that the first month of freshman year?Maggie: Yeah.Jenny: Yeah, it was!
- Maggie Montanaro & Margo GrayMaggie: I was in tutorial-Margo: Morning tutorial. Tuesday, 8:30 in the morning.Maggie: -and our professor came in, and it was like.... Oh, I don't know exactly what time it was, but- and she came and announced it to us. It was so weird, to see a professor so shaken and we were all just like, “What?” Like, no, it was very strange. Like you said, it was shock and we all got around TVs to watch it.
- Jenny Noyce & Maggie Montanaro & Margo GrayJenny: I was in the hallway at...Maggie: Here? At ARH?Jenny: No, I was in the hallway over in the Science Building, and going to Math class, and there was like a girl sort of crying in the hallway ‘cause her family worked in that area of New York. And I heard someone else talking, being like, “Oh my God, they flew a plane into a building,” I was like, “Oh, are you talking about a movie?” They were like, “No, no, like...” So it was sort of like, whoa, and then our math teacher was like, “There’s nothing I can do. I mean I guess yes, just take this test and if you do OK, you do OK." Like, "Don’t worry about it, we’ll support each other.” But it was just sort of like, y'know, this idea of like, "OK, we have to go on, but we don’t know what’s gonna happen."Margo: Just, confusion.
- Maggie Montanaro & Margo Gray & Jenny NoyceMaggie: I think there were a lot of people on campus who were from New York. Like there always have- I mean, I think that too.Margo: Yeah, I just remember a lot of people on their cell phones trying to call people.Jenny: And then when we invaded Iraq, I remember being Grinnellians in Mexico and that was interesting to… 'Cause there had been a big push beforehand of activism on campus and people being like "No! No war, no war!" and then what- to see we invaded and then to be in Mexico and to have other people there who were very much, who weren’t Grinnellians and they were very much anti-the-invasion, so that was interesting.
- Maggie Montanaro & Jenny Noyce & Margo GrayMaggie: So those are some depressing things that make our class different. But we’re also just pretty cool.Jenny: We’re good people.Margo: Good times.Jenny: And when you look back on your years you’ll be like, “Oh yeah, that was a piece of history that I witnessed at that time.”
- Heather Riggs & Jenny Noyce & Maggie Montanaro & Margo GrayHeather: What was student and campus life like while you were students?Jenny: Goofy.Maggie: Yeah.Margo: How do you describe that?Heather: I know. It's like, a huge-
- Maggie Montanaro & Jenny Noyce & Margo Gray & Heather RiggsMaggie: There was always a sort of like, North-South Campus divide. Like hippie vibe on South Campus, jock vibe on, y’know. That’s always kind of the stereotype. I don’t know if it still is, but-Jenny: Well, East Campus is...Maggie: Now there’s East Campus, what’s that?Margo: Business.Jenny: Preppy?Margo: Preppy.Jenny: Business?Heather: Sterile.Jenny: Sterile?!Maggie: But, that wasn't always true.
- Margo Gray & Jenny NoyceMargo: Was East Campus finished when you were..?Jenny: Our s-Margo: Junior year.Jenny: Junior year.
- Margo Gray & Jenny NoyceMargo: ‘Cause we moved, D wasn’t, Katie and I were supposed to live in D with Patty Cakes! And Patrick Hall was there, for posterity.Jenny: And David Koontz.Margo: And David Koontz. So we were supposed to live there at the beginning of our junior year and D was not finished, and so they had to put us in off-campus housing for like five weeks while they finished that, and then we had to move again. And then I was leaving for my semester abroad so I only stayed there for like five weeks. Good times.
- Margo Gray & Jenny NoyceMargo: What else about student.. Just the idea sort of like, of everyone was working really hard and it was definitely like a badge of pride like, how much you were, y'know. You’d be standing around, sitting around in the hallway drinking - or not drinking - and everyone being like, “Man, I have like two hundred pages of reading to do for tomorrow I haven't even started on, and a three page paper plus a test! What d’you got?” It was just sort of, bragging rights, who has, y'know, who has the most work left to do.Jenny: In retrospect I’m like, "Oh look! Who's procrastinated the most?"Margo: Yeah. Pretty much, pretty much.
- Jenny NoyceJenny: So... but I think like, when you think of college life, and on Grinnell campus too it is the idea tof like, it’s not just study hard, but play hard and that openness of being like, “Oh, we're gonna do this! You wanna go try that with me?” Like, meeting someone else random and being like, "Yeah, you wanna come join us? Cool, totally come do this with us."
- Maggie MontanaroMaggie: I also felt like the school, like Grinnell has always been... I don’t know if it’s still this way, ‘cause I felt like there were some changes happening when we were here, but the fact that they trust us to be self-governed, y'know, that they let us have parties where maybe underage people might be drinking, y'know. They give us a lot of freedom. People can smoke. Y'know, there’s not this whole policing thing. There’s no RAs, that sort of thing. I think that was really important to me when I came here, and I think that was definitely a big positive to student life at that time.
- Jenny Noyce & Margo Gray & Maggie MontanaroJenny: I think it was positive to student life but in retrospect, I look back and I still wish we would have had more adult guidance.Margo: Really?Jenny: Yeah.Maggie: No.Margo: I don’t.
- Jenny Noyce & Margo GrayJenny: And not necessarily like, I wish that there had been something where- or maybe it’s just me regretting that I feel like I didn’t take advantage of campus support enough. Of like, what it meant to be on a college campus as opposed to just like, "Oh, you’re on your own. This is what college is." But really understanding how to take advantage of academic advising or student affairs or the career counseling center and things like that. I think that would’ve helped some, direct us and-Margo: Transition afterwards.Jenny: Yeah, and direct us too, to make sure we’re living healthy…Margo: Well, I think those things were available, but you can’t make... y'know, people pay attention.Jenny: Make people do- No, that’s so true. So true.
- Margo Gray & Jenny NoyceMargo: I also think, and maybe this is just my learning more about the community as I spent more time in the town of Grinnell, but connecting. I always found that connections with the community were valuable and sort of enriching. Like, going to Community Meal. Love Community Meal. Or, hanging out, like –Jenny: Love free food.Margo: I love free food. Or like, I helped coach at the high school, the speech club, or just those sort of connectionswith the community. But it was like, "Oh yeah," Grinnell isn’t just by itself in the middle of the prairie. There’s actually a real world and a whole community right here. So, yeah, that was something I found valuable.
- Heather Riggs & Jenny Noyce & Margo GrayHeather: What memories do you associate with the town of Grinnell, besides Community Meal?Jenny: Scoopin’ the loop!Margo: Scoopin' the loop.Jenny: Our friend-Heather: What is that?Jenny: Our- What?
- Heather Riggs & Jenny Noyce & Margo GrayHeather: What is that?Jenny: Oh! Scoop- The current lights! The current lights!Margo: No- and it's not a-Jenny: The stoplights.Margo: It's not one-ways anymore. It’s not one-ways.Jenny: Okay, so..Margo: Scoopin' the loop. This is not just Grinnell. This is a lot of, small...
- Maggie Montanaro & Margo Gray & Jenny NoyceMaggie: Yeah, they do this in Ohio, too, by the way.Margo: They do. Yeah.Maggie: My mom has told me about scoopin’ the loop.Margo: Scoopin’ the loop.Jenny: So it’s like, you get in your car and you’re literally, you’re just driving around in a big circle around downtown.Maggie: To see who you can see and who can see you.Margo: To see what’s going on.
- Maggie Montanaro & Margo Gray & Heather RiggsMaggie: Yeah, and so we- our friend Al had an apartment, his senior year, literally on the loop, and so I can remember he had like, a balcony up there and we’d be like "Oh! That car drove by at least two times already."Margo: And people like, washed their cars in preparation for scooping the loop, y'know?Heather: Wow.Maggie: It’s a big deal.
- Margo Gray & Maggie Montanaro & Heather Riggs & Jenny NoyceMargo: Yeah. Oh..Maggie: Like, "What are you guys gonna be doing tonight?" "Oh, we’re gonna scoop the loop, y’know?" What else is there to do?Margo: Yeah, town of Grinnell, that was good. Or Saint’s Rest, hanging out at Saint’s Rest.Maggie: The Pub, which doesn’t exist anymore.Heather: Where was The Pub?Margo: It’s where the Voodoo Lounge is now..?Maggie: It was disgusting really so it’s probably good that doesn't exist.Jenny: Yeah. It's probably a public health violation, yeah.Maggie: There’s a new bar there though now. Is there like some lounge...?
- Heather Riggs & Maggie Montanaro & Jenny Noyce & Margo GrayHeather: There's a Voodoo Lounge there.Maggie: That must be- is that-Jenny: Yeah.Heather: Then there's Rabbitts.Maggie: Yeah, Rabbitts was pretty trashy too. That started. There was a girl from our class who worked at Rabbitts senior year.Margo: Oh, I did not know that. What else in town..? Oh! The like, the park, just like, music in the park, or... And I like, that was where I did a show.
- Maggie Montanaro & Margo Gray & Jenny Noyce & Heather RiggsMaggie: Weren't there plays in the park?Margo: Yeah.Maggie: Yeah.Jenny: And you guys like brought in a little Shakespeare tent. Or, wagon.Margo: No, it’s a- the wagon? Yeah, so I directed after my- summer after my senior year, I directed a show that was, Grinnell Shakespeare at the Park.Heather: Wow.Margo: Yeah, and they had this pageant wagon that folds out and was...Jenny: Cool.Margo: Hip. So, that was fun.
- Heather Riggs & Margo Gray & Jenny NoyceHeather: Yeah, I mean I don’t have any more questions. Do you guys have anything to add?Margo: What else? Our brilliant- Your brilliant wisdom.Jenny: I know.Margo: Share.Jenny: Brilliant wisdom. What would I tell kids who weren't here today?Margo: About your memories of Grinnell.
- Jenny Noyce & Maggie MontanaroJenny: Grinnell advice. What advice would I give people?Maggie: I would say- well, the one thing that I regret is that I didn’t talk to people more. I wasn’t more outgoing ‘cause I was intimidated by people that I thought were smarter than me or more involved in social justice than I - well, they were, ‘cause I wasn’t, but.. I really admired a lot of people here and I thought that would be a good, y'know, I wanted to come here because my scores were a little lower than the ave- y'know. I wanted to come here to be challenged, and then I don’t feel like I really took advantage of the people I was around as much as I could have, so I would say, don’t be afraid to-Jenny: Engage.Maggie: Engage with other people and don’t think that what you have to say isn’t as cool or smart as what other people have to say.
- Jenny NoyceJenny: Take the classes you wouldn’t have taken in high school, I feel like. I feel like, the way I structured my academics, at least for freshman year was like, "Oh, well, this is the way they had us do it in high school so I guess I’ll just take this class and this class and this class." And they were from like every category, but that didn’t really broaden my horizons.
- Margo Gray & Jenny NoyceMargo: I think just the, as you were saying, taking advantage of the- because y’know, we’re all so busy in college. It was like, when would I have taken two more ExCo classes anyway? You know? Like, I- That’s nice to think about but I don’t think I actually could’ve done it, but even just taking advantage like, post Grinnell, of all the connections that you build because I think that we don’t quite like, we don’t know how good we’ve got it, but-Jenny: We don’t!Margo: We don't in a way-Jenny: And we need to not take ourselves as seriously I think, on campus. I would’ve taken my, not myself but I would’ve taken everything a little less seriously.
- Margo GrayMargo: Yeah, and just the idea that the Grinnell community is, I mean it’s not unique in all the world. There are close communities, but the fact that Grinnellians are genuinely interested in changing the world for the better and in sort of like, helping each other. So many people- I live in Chicago right now which is a huge concentration of Grinnellians, and other people who I know, they’re all like, “Oh are you guys talking about Plans again?” Or, they’ll say things like, “Ugh, another Grinnellian who's helping you with something? Ah! Why are there so many of you?” It's like, there aren’t so many of us. We just find each other and are willing to help each other. Like, if you call up a Grinnellian, you’re like, “Oh by the way, do you know anything about this?” and they’re always willing-
- Jenny Noyce & Margo GrayJenny: Lucinda’s husband decided he wanted to make some version of some Plans things for people…Margo: Oh, for Plans spouses?Jenny: Yeah, for Plans spouses.Margo: Plans widows really, ‘cause your... 'cause really your Grinnell spouse spends so much time on Plans that you might as well be a widow. Yeah. That’s our advice, for the future generations listening to this in the basement of Burling.
- Maggie Montanaro & Margo Gray & Jenny Noyce & Heather RiggsMaggie: I gave some real advice, I don’t know what you guys are talking about.Margo: Oh, you did! No, you were very thoughtful. Jenny and I are full of crap.Jenny: Dude, life is full of crap. You gotta make fun of it.Heather: Well, thank you guys so much.Jenny: Thank you.Margo: Yeah, thank you.Heather: That’s great.
Alumni oral history interview with Margo Gray '05, Jenny Noyce '05, and Maggie Montanaro '05. Recorded 3-June-2011.