John Aubry '77
Primary tabs
- Kathryn VincentKathryn: I'l have you start with name, city of current - you currently live in, and class year.
- John Aubry & Kathryn VincentJohn: Okay. My name is John Aubry. I am currently living in Stone Ridge, New York- actually dividing my time between New York City and Stone Ridge, and I’m a member of the Class of ’77.Kathryn: Great! Why did you come to Grinnell?John: I came to Grinnell because I was looking to get out of the state of Oklahoma.
- John AubryJohn: I was influenced by some high school friends who knew of Grinnell and when the Grinnell rep. came to my high school, they said, “Oh, why don’t you come along and talk to this guy?” And I did and was just very impressed with the description of the College and the notion of a small liberal arts college was pretty foreign to anything I was aware of in Oklahoma. At that time, I don’t think there was a single liberal arts college in the state. They later- they tried to start one later and it didn't- Oklahoma is not really the right environment for a liberal arts college. You put that word in there and it causes problems in a place like Oklahoma. But I was really taken by it, and... put in my application.
- John AubryJohn: There was actually sort of story about that, because my folks weren’t really keen on me going out of state. They thought it would be, you know, too far away, and that I’d be subject to all of these bad influences, I think- though they didn’t quite say it- put it that way, but I think that was part of their thinking, and--
- John AubryJohn: Also, it was expensive compared to what my father thought: "Do the first two years at Tulsa Junior College. You can live at home, save a whole lot of money and the first two years of this- of college are the same wherever you go," and so forth. So I really had to argue a lot to overcome their resistance to even get the application, and to get the check- you know, the... fee, the application fee and all that, but they agreed. I kept saying, “Oh, probably won’t even get in." Y'know, "I probably won't. Probably won't, you know. Let’s just try. Let’s just send it off.” But, the application went in, the acceptance letter came along with a little bit of financial aid, you know, enough to make a difference, and more importantly, it was enough that it- somehow that just totally broke down my father’s resistance. He said, “Well, if they’re willing to invest that much in you, I guess I should too if they-” you know.
- John AubryJohn: So that was- That was the... That sort of broke the barrier, and at that time he said, “Do you want to go up and see the place before you accept?” And, it was a long way to go; it would have been an expense and so forth, and I said, “I don’t think it’s going to change my decision, so no. Let’s just wait until August and I’ll go up then.” So, that’s what we did.
- John AubryJohn: So I arrived on campus, had never seen it before. They drove me up. My folks drove me up, and...oh, I was just... I was in, really, a state of shock, delirium, you know. I was really excited at meeting my roommates, and seeing the dorm, and just seeing the campus. It was... It was just sort of an amazing place to be. I said goodbye to the folks, which was- it was hard for my mother, you know, that she-- I think she knew that once I was here, then Oklahoma would not really be my home again, and I was on my way to wherever I was going, but.. that was sort of the experience of getting here.
- Kathryn Vincent & John AubryKathryn: Mhm. Was there a professor, student, or staff member who had a particularly strong influence on your life?John: I would say yes, Don Smith had a pretty strong-- The experience I had- the British History- took both British History One and Two with him my freshman year... Wonderful courses. I remember getting back the first paper, and.... I didn't actually get the paper. I’d handed in the first paper and he handed back the papers and said, “If you didn’t get your paper back, make an appointment. Come see me in my office,” and did that.. sort of sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach. I was like, “Oh boy. Must have been really bad!”
- Kathryn Vincent & John AubryKathryn: Mhm.John: He hands me the paper; hands me a dictionary and says, "Look up the words you don’t know how to spell," and then we sat and went through the paper line by line, sentence by sentence.Kathryn: Mhm.John: Not- you know, finding things that were good, saying, “This is really good. This is a good idea, but you need to flesh this out,” and through working with him, I think I really began to write, you know.
- John Aubry & Kathryn VincentJohn: I thought I knew how to write, I’d done well in high school, but it was a totally different thing, and I have sort of had a reputation in the place I worked, as... Writing is something that I find easy to do, find... I’m called upon to do it a lot. I haven’t done as much writing as I’d like to. That’s something I’m sort of looking forward to in retirement, is, maybe that. But, no I think that was a moment I remember and I think that learning to write, and... If you can think clearly, you can write clearly, and if you can’t write it clearly, then you need to think it through some more.Kathryn: Mhm.John: Yeah.
- Kathryn Vincent & John AubryKathryn: What are some of your best memories of your time at Grinnell?John: Oh, boy! Many, many good times. Just sitting around with friends, talking about the meaning of life and history, and politics, and... art.Kathryn: What was your major?John: I actually ended up doing an Independent major in British Studies. Don was one of my advisors, and Jim Kissane in the English Department, so it was both literature and history. I ended up writing a thesis, and... yeah, it was- I liked the flexibility and the freedom of being able to do that, to put together a major.
- Kathryn Vincent & John AubryKathryn: Was that in the beginning of Independent majors or had they been around for a while?John: I think they’d been around for a while. I think they were- you know, it was not an unheard of thing. It wasn't that unusual of a thing... I enjoyed doing that. It was a lot- writing that thesis was- Oh, that second semester senior year, that was.... a lot of sleepless nights.
- Kathryn Vincent & John AubryKathryn: What did your dorm room look like while you were here?John: Well, I lived in a lot of different places. My first, freshman year I was in Norris, and it was really spartan then. That was before it had been renovated. I haven’t seen it, being back. This is essentially the first time I have been back on campus since shortly after I graduated. But it was... It was pretty- pretty stark actually.
- John AubryJohn: I remember some friends down the hall, they had taken India Print bedspreads and they had really made it nice and sort of warm and theirs was a great room to hang out in.... Hang out there and smoke and drink beer, and listen to music. It was a place that everybody sort of gathered at. Our room was not like that. Our room was really spartan.
- John Aubry & Kathryn VincentJohn: And then I lived.... I lived in Cowles, had a two-room double which was sort of nice then.Kathryn: Mhm.John: And then I lived, I think- I can’t remember exactly which year.... I think- I guess it was the year I came back from my- I spent the junior year, first part of Junior year in London, the Grinnell-in-London program, and I think when I came back is when I lived in Russian House.
- John Aubry & Kathryn VincentJohn: I took a lot of Russian. I, at one time, was going to major in Russian, but I changed my mind on that one... But I did live in Russian House and that was a lot of fun. That was a great place to be. And then my senior year I was in a nice, big single on the top floor of Main, right above the Pub. That was so convenient.Kathryn: Hmmm. There are some big, big rooms in Main.John: Yeah, that was a fun floor. That was- I was, I guess, one of the few seniors on that floor, with a lot of underclassmen, so it was a good group of people. It was really fun. It was just- they were fun people, interesting people.
- Kathryn Vincent & John AubryKathryn: What kind of clothes did you wear every day as a Grinnell student, and would you dress up for any special occasions?John: We did dress up for some occasions, but it was mostly jeans. It was mostly jeans and T-shirts, and that was… Clothes were not a big thing and that was one of the… You never knew who- folks had a lot of money, and who was on scholarship, 'cause everybody dressed the same. Some people did laundry more often than others.Kathryn: Still true.John: Yeah.
- Kathryn Vincent & John AubryKathryn: What book influenced you most in college?John: That’s a hard one.... It makes me think: a book I actually didn’t read in college, but some very close friends did. They did an independent reading of the book with James Kissane- it was Ulysses- and so many, we spent so many lunches and dinner with them talking about Ulysses and talking about doing this reading that I was just absolutely fascinated, but regretted I hadn’t signed up for that, and didn’t have time to do it 'cause I think that was when I was writing my thesis. But the summer after I graduated from Grinnell, I read Ulysses using the notes and thinking about those conversations. So that was- and I had moved to Ann Arbor. I didn’t really know anybody there and that was just something that gave me a lot of focus that first year off, after graduation.Kathryn: Hm, fascinating. That's a good book.
- Kathryn Vincent & John AubryKathryn: What memories or images do you have of the town of Grinnell?John: Oh, boy... Just walking around the town with friends. Actually, going to the library in town. They have the old library. Steiner. Steiner was... Is that what it was called?Kathryn: Stewart?John: Stewart! Stewart, yeah, yeah. Stewart Library.
- John AubryJohn: Going for doughnuts, 2 o’ clock in the morning, did that fairly often. I even remember the movie theater. I went there a few times. Most of the movies were on campus. That was a big thing then. I don’t know if it is now, but that was a big part of my education, as much through friends- One friend in particular, whose father had taught film at SUNY Stony Brook, but- and so he really knew movies, really knew films, was, “Oh, you gotta’ see this one! You gotta see this one!” So, a lot of Friday and Saturday nights were spent on campus. I remember The Longhorn was a major... That was sort of a treat to go there. I had my first mixed drink at The Longhorn.
- Kathryn Vincent & John AubryKathryn: Describe student and campus life: you’ve been talking about the movies, anything else that sticks out in your memory?John: Well, the movies were important. The parties, which were fun, but sort of... It was really more the informal, the lunch and dinner conversations that went on and on, wonder over to the Forum and continue talking.. I guess I had a relatively small group of friends in some ways, but we were very.. very close friends, and some people I’ve stayed in touch with since, some people I’ve lost touch with, but... I sort of felt like we primarily made our own social life and that was a good thing... The focusing around hanging out in somebody’s dorm room or at the Forum, or up at the- in the dining room.Kathryn: Cool.
- Kathryn Vincent & John AubryKathryn: How has Grinnell changed since you were a student?John: Well, a lot of big, pretty new buildings. That’s the biggest physical change I’ve noticed. 'Course, I haven’t been back so much, but I think... I guess I’m really struck by how much is the same, certainly, and the kind of education the institution seems to be trying to provide, and being so consistent with that tradition of being a place where students create their own lives, create their own education in some way, with the help of the faculty and... I guess I see more continuity than change in that way.
- Kathryn Vincent & John AubryKathryn: Describe something that is no longer available on campus, but that was meaningful to you: buildings, programs, activities?John: Well, I think the Forum is the most striking thing. That was a very big part of our- that was really the focus of campus life. It was so easy to drop over there for a cup of coffee as a study break from Burling, or just a place you would walk through to see who was there, or a place just to hang out and read and study in hopes that somebody would walk by and--Kathryn: Distract you.John: --distract you, exactly. So, it was that... And it was just great memories of performances in the North Lounge, or- when it was the- Yeah, it was the North Lounge that was primarily for music performances and readings, poetry readings, things like that. Sitting on that floor, sitting on those cubes.Kathryn: Mhm.
- John Aubry & Kathryn VincentJohn: Has it been sort of in this state that it is in now your entire time at Grinnell?Kathryn: The Forum building?John: The Forum building, yeah.Kathryn: It has. There- used to have the Forum South Lounge would do performances and meetings, and things in there, but, actually, this year they changed it to an office space.John: Yeah, and it’s sort of sad looking. It's really sort of- the building is sort of dilapidated-looking.Kathryn: It's kinda... dilapidated, yeah.John: But, when we were here, you know, it was new-ish and beautiful.
- Kathryn Vincent & John AubryKathryn: It's a cool design, too.John: Yeah, yeah. So, that’s the one building. I sort of- I hope there’s a future for it. I know it’s got problems, but…
- Kathryn Vincent & John AubryKathryn: Describe your favorite academic experience or class at Grinnell.John: Favorite academic experience- Oh, the eight credits. I did two of the eight credits. I don't know if these are still around, but they were team-taught…Kathryn: That's a lot of credits.John: It's a lot of credits, but they were... Gosh, how was it done?
- John AubryJohn: They were- the one I remember most strongly, was, it was team-taught by Peter Connelly, Beryl Clotfelter, Morris Parslow, and Don Smith, and it was on the Enlightenment, so it was… I guess the credits were for history and literature, or maybe you could do- get credits for whatever you needed them for, but you know, we were reading the primary sources, reading them in a small group discussion, but, there was really... very little lecture. It was mostly led-discussion. Questions, probing in the works, reading these works on the Enlightenment…
- John Aubry & Kathryn VincentJohn: I’ll never forget, towards the end of the class, maybe one of the last sessions, we were talking about Rousseau and I was saying something, and, I don't- who knows what I was saying, but Morris Parslow turned to me said, “Now if you understand what you just said,” as if there was a real possibility that I didn’t, which, of course, there was, “If you understand what you just said, you’ve got the gist of the course.”Kathryn: Yes!John: You know, that’s what the course was about, which was a very satisfying thing, you know, to hear that. But the way he put it, you know, there was always this possibility that it just...Kathryn: You didn’t really know what you said.
- John Aubry & Kathryn VincentJohn: Because, another time, a classmate had been talking, you know, getting- you get in that stream, and so forth, and the bell rang and the guy kept talking, kept talking, and Professor Parslow very nicely said, "It’s okay. You don’t have to make any sense after the bell rings."Kathryn: Nice.John: So that’s... yeah. That was a...
- John Aubry & Kathryn VincentJohn: There were a lot of- I did a lot of those multi- I did one on the- an eight credit one on the Victorian Period: Imperialism and Industrialism. I did the Russian 12 credit, which was 4 credits of political science, 4 credits of history, and 4 credits of Russian, I think were the... And it was- so, Russia in the 20th century. So the whole Revolutionary Period, the whole Cold War, it was intense.Kathryn: Sounds like a lot.John: Enormous amount of reading, and a lot of really grim reading. Really, you know. It was...
- John Aubry & Kathryn VincentJohn: That’s what made me decide: no, I really don’t want to be a Russian major. Although, I loved the Russian department, the faculty, and... they were just great. I still know a little bit of Russian, though I don’t have much opportunity to use it, but.. It was a really strong department here and attracted a lot of really good, interesting students.Kathryn: Mhm.
- Kathryn Vincent & John AubryKathryn: Describe one of your favorite places on campus.John: Well, I’ve talked about the Forum. That was a really a very important place. I spent a lot of time in Burling; I worked in Burling. That was part of my work-study package., I worked in the Library, and so I got to know the librarians since I... Yeah, I hung out there, of course, studying there, was there a lot. So it was, really a big part of life was Burling.
- Kathryn Vincent & John AubryKathryn: If you knew then what you know now, what would you have done differently during your time at Grinnell?John: I would have taken more science. I would have. They didn’t have requirements at the time. I guess they still don’t. There's not- is there some distribution- some sort of distribution requirements, and so forth, but it was sort of a factor in my wanting to come to Grinnell. I was science-phobic, and “I really don’t want to have to take science.” But, that was a big mistake, not to have taken more in the- because I later got, one of my first jobs after graduate school was as an Archivist for the Center for History of Physics, and I told them, “Look, all I know about Physics is Newton’s Principia ‘cause I read it in an 18th Century--". And they said, "Oh, you know, the archives- you’ll figure out--," and you know, I ended up having lunch-time conversations about quarks and muons, and I picked up a lot. I learned a lot, but, you know, I would have done more science when I was here.
- Kathryn Vincent & John AubryKathryn: If you met your spouse or partner at Grinnell, describe how you met.John: We didn’t. We met long after.Kathryn: Long after.. How would you compare the students of today with your classmates?John: Well, I haven’t had a chance to meet a lot of students this Reunion Weekend. I met some recent grads, and as I say, I think there’s more continuity than discontinuity. I think if I were 18, 19, I would be friends- find friends among this generation of students and would feel a lot in common with them.
- John AubryJohn: If anything, they may be- you may be more directed, more focused than we were. A lot of us were here sort of trying to figure out what we were going to do, but I think it was easier to be that way. I think maybe it's... It's- people are aware that it’s more incumbent upon them to figure out sooner rather than later what they’re going to do, and how they're gonna put it together, but you can’t really know, anyway, ‘cause life’s gonna’ take turns. There’re gonna be jobs that don’t exist now that you will end up doing, and that's certainly what happened to me.
- John Aubry & Kathryn VincentJohn: I mean... I'm- one could say, I am a librarian, but that’s so different a thing than it was when- My colleagues here at Grinnell were- would be doing totally different things. Lives are totally spent with computers now, which was not the case at that time.Kathryn: Right.John: So, just... And I get the sense that that’s what people are doing: they’re preparing themselves for whatever happens and that’s great.
- Kathryn Vincent & John AubryKathryn: The last question is: if you were writing a history of Grinnell College, what would you include from your years here?John: I probably would talk about the origins of the Waltz, which happened, as I recall it- memory plays tricks- but I remember sitting around the Russian House, and Nicole Hammond, was an assistant in the French Department- French woman- but she was studying Russian..Kathryn: Mhm.John: And she was there and a bunch of other Russian House people there and we started talking about, "What if we were to have like, a ball? You know, like a grand Rousseau, Franco-Russian Imperial Waltz. Wouldn’t that be cool, you know? And maybe we could get the Margot Triodo to play." They didn’t play, but that was sort of an idea, "and we could do it in the Quad."
- John Aubry & Kathryn VincentJohn: And we just talked about this, and carried it around, and it happened and I understand it became a real tradition that continues on. So…Kathryn: Still happens.John: So, I was in that conversation, you know, sitting on the floor of the living room of Russian House when the idea was born! And, you know, it was just like, this crazy thing that, you know, oh, would be maybe funny. It'd be fun, and we would all dress up, so if I ever dressed up it would have been for that.Kathryn: Simple idea that you were all like, "Yeah, let's do it!"John: "Let’s do it! Let's do it! Let's make it happen!"
- Kathryn Vincent & John AubryKathryn: Alright, anything else you want to say? Stories?John: No, I think that's sort of what I remember. It's.... Thanks for providing this opportunity to think about some of that stuff, and..Kathryn: It’s been fun to hear all the stories.John: Great, great.Kathryn: I'll have you say your name and class year one more time.John: John Aubry, class of '77.Kathryn: Great.
Alumni oral history interview with John Aubry '77. Recorded June 2, 2013.