Carol Tuttle Moseson '77
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- Kathryn VincentKathryn: Right, so I'll have you start with your name, the city you're currently living in, and your class year.
- Carol Tuttle Moseson & Kathryn VincentCarol: Okay. I am Carol Tuttle Moseson. I live in DeForest, Wisconsin, and I'm a member of the class of 1977.Kathryn: Great. Why did you come to Grinnell?Carol: Well, I originally came to Grinnell because I knew I belonged here. I had a wonderful college rep in the Chicago area. Her name was Marilyn Scholl, I believe, and she came to all the Chicago area schools where I grew up, and was really wonderful.
- Carol Tuttle MosesonCarol: And I remember the little recruiting piece at that time was also the 'bird in the bush.' Grinnell was not about the bird in the hand, it was always going for the one in the bush.
- Carol Tuttle MosesonCarol: And I came out to visit with my dad, and I was not all that impressed. Grinnell had a... it was kind of like, cold and gray and rainy, and, you know, everybody was dressed drably, and looked kinda... you know, into whatever they were doing next or you know, mulling things as they walked across campus. It didn't seem like a happy, social campus.
- Carol Tuttle Moseson & Kathryn VincentCarol: But I wasn't a happy, social person either. So I looked at some other places too, but about a couple weeks after I came here, the place really, really started growing on me, and I withdrew my applications to other places, and I... came here early decision.Kathryn: Wonderful.
- Carol Tuttle MosesonCarol: And it was just really out of left-field for me, but I knew I was meant to be here. So that's how I got here.
- Kathryn Vincent & Carol Tuttle MosesonKathryn: Do you have a first memory of being on campus?Carol: Just, the trees. The trees just being so beautiful. In fact, I still dream about the trees here, you know. I'll be walking where Burling and the music school kind of connect, and there used to be more green space there, but walking through and seeing the trees, and... just...
- Carol Tuttle MosesonCarol: They were-- it was so nice to have that bit of nature on the campus, and to be out in the weather every day. And so they were one of the first things that struck me, were how graceful and beautiful they were-- especially along... I wanna say it's Sixth. You know, where there are a bunch of old, kind of, trees from different classes from a long time ago, and...
- Carol Tuttle MosesonCarol: There used to be more of them, I think, and some of them have been pruned back over the years, but... I just always felt like I was coming into a beautiful place, and...
- Carol Tuttle MosesonCarol: You know the, also, the leaves turning in the fall, and just how gorgeous that was to walk through town. It was like, the best break that you could ever have from school was just to like, walk past some of the Victorian houses and see all the maples.
- Kathryn Vincent & Carol Tuttle MosesonKathryn: Did you have a memory or image of the town of Grinnell that is particularly poignant?Carol: Oh, just... I remember it was always kind of.... its own place. Just that, when you came into town there was the-- I always came on the bus or by car, usually by bus, and there was always the grain elevator, and I think it had a painting of a sunrise, and it might've been Sunrise Grains or something like that.
- Carol Tuttle MosesonCarol: And the little Dairy Queen, and just... it looked like a very little, traditional rural farmtown as you came in. And yet, you know, this beautiful campus, these beautiful homes, you know, the gorgeous trees; it always felt like I was sneaking into a place that was very special, and also 'cause I never drove outta here during campus-- during the schoolyear, it was so self-contained.
- Carol Tuttle MosesonCarol: It was like going into a medieval city or something. It's... it always seemed so set apart from the rest of Iowa and the rest of my life in the Midwest.
- Kathryn Vincent & Carol Tuttle MosesonKathryn: Was there a professor, or a student, or staff member who had a particularly strong influence on your life?Carol: Oh, Peter Connelly of the English department. I just loved him to death, and I was so sad when he passed away several years ago.
- Carol Tuttle MosesonCarol: Just, he brought such enthusiasm to his teaching. He just loved teaching with every fibre of his being. He just, you know, kind of tingled with joy, you know? And he would just... you could take the dryest stuff-- one of the things I took with him and with Don Smith and the others, was the Humanities thing, the Enlightenment. It was a double-course.
- Carol Tuttle MosesonCarol: And some of the readings were just dry as dirt, and he would just get all, you know, "You see what's goin' on here?" you know, "Look at this guy, he's saying this!" and you know, he'd be practically giggling over it, and it really made it easy to... you know, read challenging material and really get to know it on its own terms.
- Carol Tuttle MosesonCarol: And he was just also such a... a joyful kind of... Well, you know, when I-- when I heard he was dying, they sent out a letter to staff-- to students of his. I think his wife did, saying, you know: "Hospice is doing Palliative care for him, and we thought that, you know, he'd get a kick out of hearing from students."
- Carol Tuttle MosesonCarol: And so I wrote him a note, and I said, you know, I was really a very shy, kind of, smallish internal-life person when I came to Grinnell, and he was like the ghost of Christmas past to me, with the big wreath and the pipe, and, you know, just so much joy, and I'd never met a person like that outside of books before.
- Carol Tuttle MosesonCarol: And so that's so much of what he brought to me, was just that you could be your own authentic person and color outside the lines and just live your life. And... I think that was every bit as important as, you know, the wonderful books and the way of reading and understanding that he taught me.
- Kathryn Vincent & Carol Tuttle MosesonKathryn: What are some of your best memories of your time at Grinnell?Carol: Oh, God. You know, my sister was asking me that, and one of the best things was actually having my sister for one year. Jean Tuttle, she was class of '79. She was an art student out east at Parson's, and she could've gone to the New School for her liberal arts requirement to get her BFA, but it was kind of sketchy back then.
- Carol Tuttle MosesonCarol: It'd be like, no pun intended, but it would be like a... you know, astronomy for poets and that kind of thing, and she wanted to make sure she had some writing skills, and some math skills and things because, as an artist you're pretty much self-employed. You're only as good as your own business and management skills.
- Carol Tuttle MosesonCarol: So she came here for a year, and I was here... My boyfriend, who I later married and am still married to, we were both here. And... many of the friends that we still keep in touch with were all here, so it was really a golden time that she came here as kind of an outsider from New York, and you know, was immediately swept into the life of the campus, and it was just so fun having her here, and everybody loved her. And it was just....
- Carol Tuttle MosesonCarol: You know, and she came back to this reunion with me. We were both in the midwest, and it was our cluster, and my husband didn't wanna come, so, you know, we came and it was just the best time ever. Yeah.
- Kathryn Vincent & Carol Tuttle MosesonKathryn: So you said you met your spouse at Grinnell?Carol: Yes, I did! I did.Kathryn: Describe how you met and fell in love.Carol: Oh! Well, this is very Grinnell.
- Carol Tuttle MosesonCarol: If you look at his picture in the yearbook, he looks, as one of the women at the auction last night said, "kinda angsty." He has this.. you know, these brooding good looks, you know? And back then he was very serious. He's a little goofy now. He's lightened up quite a bit over the years, but..
- Carol Tuttle MosesonCarol: I met him because I'd broken up with my highschool boyfriend, and... it was my-- It was about February of... my freshman year, and I had been so depressed I could barely get out of bed and go to class for about a month.
- Carol Tuttle Moseson & Kathryn VincentCarol: And finally there was a no-- snow day. There were just, maybe eight inches of snow on the trees, and... you know, classes were cancelled, which never happened here--Kathryn: Mhm.Carol: --'Cause you can always get here.Kathryn: Yup.
- Carol Tuttle MosesonCarol: But they actually cancelled classes, and so I got up and went to the Library 'cause of course that was open, and... I just thought, "You know, I've suffered long enough." You know, "It's time to get back into my life," and I saw a poster for the Rudolph Circum Concert in Iowa City that the professors would buy, you know, season tickets to things, and.... you know, you could carpool with them.
- Carol Tuttle MosesonCarol: You know, it was easy to buy a ticket to something you were interested in, and a professor or somebody with a car would let you ride with them. So, I went with the Kissanes, and with John Goldfarbe, and Gary Moseson, neither of whom I'd ever laid eyes on before. And so I met my husband in the backseat of a car.
- Carol Tuttle Moseson & Kathryn VincentCarol: So we all, you know, talked back and forth, and I went to the concert with him, and... you know, he was very daring because it was just... It was one of the best concerts of my life for other reasons. Just, it was a magnificent performance--Kathryn: Mhm.Carol: --and just the best thing I'd ever heard in a long, long time.
- Carol Tuttle MosesonCarol: But at intermission he wanted to go down and sit in the really good seats, because there were a lot of open seats, and I went with him, but it was a real struggle. It's like, "Oh, this is so far outside my comfort zone to do this."
- Carol Tuttle MosesonCarol: But I did! And, you know, we went back, and then I started running into him everywhere. He was one of the most peripheral people. He was friends with maybe six people I was friends with, and it's like everywhere I went there was this guy.
- Carol Tuttle Moseson & Kathryn VincentCarol: And.. finally I went to a Purim Party with a friend, and... It's a costume party thing, and, you know, you're supposed to dress like characters out of the Bible. And he dressed up as Haman, who was the bad guy of the peace.Kathryn: Mhm.Carol: And he was wearing like, a black over-sized suit and black pants, and he had a black beard and black ringlets at the time.
- Carol Tuttle MosesonCarol: And he just looked s-- He looked like mister wrong, but he was such a sweet guy and so friendly, and it's just-- I fell for him! He was like the bad boy who was a good boy that I could go for, and...
- Carol Tuttle Moseson & Kathryn VincentCarol: You know, it took us a while to really figure out we were serious about each other, but that was the moment that I fell for him.Kathryn: Cool.Carol: Yeah.Kathryn: That's a good story.Carol: Thanks.
- Kathryn Vincent & Carol Tuttle MosesonKathryn: How has Grinnell changed since you were a student?Carol: Oh, it's bigger. It's slicker. It's got its... its act together a bit in terms of long-term benefit to the students who go here, I think.
- Carol Tuttle MosesonCarol: When I was here, I had no clue about what I was going to do afterwards. No clue whatsoever. And it was almost like, if you didn't go in with a clue of what you wanted to do, when you came out, or if a professor didn't really take you under their wing and say, "Oh, yeah. You know, you should be going to Columbia in this or that!" you know, you just kind of drifted in and drifted out.
- Carol Tuttle MosesonCarol: And I was one of those people. I really... did not know what next to do with my life, and... Which has served me well and also not served me so well..
- Carol Tuttle MosesonCarol: It was also a little awkward because I sat between John Chambers and Sam Tannenhouse, class after class, so... You know, these guys knew what they were doing like, from day one, especially Sam. And he ended up being the editor of The New York Times Book Review. And John Chambers is the guy who wrote the opinion that the U.S. should have its credit rating downgraded, so...
- Carol Tuttle MosesonCarol: It's like, "Oh, yeah, everybody is-- knows what they're doing except me," which of course is, you know, totally falacious, but... I would've liked more... more of a path into the rest of my life. It's been a very rich and fulfilling experience anyway, but...
- Carol Tuttle MosesonCarol: You know, in a way, I came in clueless, and I also left clueless in a lot of ways, and I think that, just because going to, you know, a liberal arts college that really cares about in-person teaching and research and scholar-development, they've really gotten their act together on that, that it's less likely the people wander out like they used to back in the day.
- Kathryn Vincent & Carol Tuttle MosesonKathryn: In that same vein, how would you compare the students of today with your classmates?Carol: Oh, gosh. In some ways they're really, you know, the same. And it's funny because I was so... One thing I was not looking forward to was, you know, being surrounded by really bright, young people who had the world by the tail, you know? And I just thought, you know, there's often so much arrogance in youth and I live in a college town, University of Wisconsin, Madison is very close to where I live...
- Carol Tuttle MosesonCarol: So I deal with a lot of people who are very used to living and breathing that they've hung the moon all their lives, but... I've just really, you know, loved the students that I've met. It's-- everybody's been so sweet to me, and some of the alums that are just ten years out and stuff, you know....
- Carol Tuttle MosesonCarol: It's really kind of a kindred spirit thing, that we might not have a lot in common in terms of, you know, our intellectual gifts or interests, or our personalities or whatever, but you know, there is a-- there is a commonality: just that you could say you were from Grinnell and I would say, "Oh, sure!" you know?
- Carol Tuttle MosesonCarol: "I'll pick you up. I'll take you anywhere." You know, "Come get settled in Madison, I'll show you how." Just that there's a common understanding, there's kind of a common.. I'd say attitude towards service, and attitude toward making the world a better place.
- Carol Tuttle MosesonCarol: I've not met a lot of people here who are here just to... kind of get rich and go on to the next thing, or... get famous and go on to the next thing. And when you live in a larger university town, you do see a lot of people who come from priveledge and go to priveledge, and a lot of people who are really in it for themselves...
- Carol Tuttle MosesonCarol: And with Grinnell I think part of the thoughtfulness of the people it attracts back then and even now, maybe even more so now, is kinda like, "The world's in bad shape. What can I do to make a difference?"
- Carol Tuttle MosesonCarol: "I can't do everything but what can I do?" And I just think that's so important.
- Kathryn Vincent & Carol Tuttle MosesonKathryn: What was one of your favorite academic experiences or classes that you had at Grinnell?Carol: Let's see... I loved all the English classes, you know? In my dreams I would come back and take all the English classes all over again, but I'd read the books earlier in the thing, and, you know, give even more thought to my papers, although I was an obsessed person about papers.
- Carol Tuttle MosesonCarol: I really loved the Russian Literature class. It was Sheila McCarthy. She did not get tenure here, and... she left, but... She did just a marvelous job with that.
- Carol Tuttle Moseson & Kathryn VincentCarol: And I loved Randy McGee, who was the Russian language professor. A lot of the professors I really liked were kind of destined not to stay here. So I loved him, as well, and he was from, I wanna say, Louisiana, and had a very strong southern accent except when he spoke Russian.Kathryn: Hmm.Carol: And he was funny, and he... played country music, and would, you know, have people over to his house and stuff, and...
- Carol Tuttle MosesonCarol: The other classes I really liked were the Religious Studies classes with Mr. Kasimow. I took some wonderful classes on Jewish Mysticism, and I still have the books. And I keep thinking I'll re-read them, but when I open them, I know them so well because I wrote papers on them, that I almost don't need to read 'em. But I'll never part with 'em. They were great.
- Carol Tuttle MosesonCarol: And there was so much about the Grinnell thing, too, of kind of, you know, the light of the world is broken, and has been shattered, covered by husks, and it's our job to release the light and the things that are all.. you know, shattered up.
- Carol Tuttle Moseson & Kathryn VincentCarol: And it's like that's so much our task in the world. So that's always stuck with me.Kathryn: Cool.Carol: Yeah.
- Kathryn Vincent & Carol Tuttle MosesonKathryn: Did you have a favorite place on campus?Carol: Ohh...Kathryn: --to study or hang out, or...?Carol: I just... you know, I loved walking among the trees, especially along highway 6, kind of behind the music school.
- Carol Tuttle MosesonCarol: I spent a lot of time at the... the music school. I studied piano the whole time I was here, and my boyfriend, Gary, studied violin quite seriously. So, he was out there a lot sometimes when the weather was nice. He'd be practicing outside among the trees, and... I was always walking back and forth between Burling and the music area for the practice rooms.
- Carol Tuttle MosesonCarol: And so I just really remember how much I enjoyed that, and also just seeing-- walking across campus from the Library and seeing the night sky, that-- It was even darker back then than it is now, of course, but...
- Carol Tuttle Moseson & Kathryn VincentCarol: You know, I'd see shooting stars and the constellations would be gorgeous, and... I grew up a suburban girl in Chicago, so... we had that, but not like here.Kathryn: Mhm.
- Kathryn Vincent & Carol Tuttle MosesonKathryn: Is there something that's no longer available on campus that was meaningful to you? Buildings, or, you know, the tree grove, or a program or activity or something?Carol: Yeah, let's see. Mhm. That's a good question.
- Carol Tuttle Moseson & Kathryn VincentCarol: That's a very good question. I think it... the only thing I can think of is, I believe, and I may be remembering this wrong, but I think the old PEC had a sauna instead of a steam room.Kathryn: Hm.Carol: And I loved that, you know? I'm sure I would be addicted to the steam room if I were here, but I loved the old PEC. It was brand new when I came through, and so it was a temple like this one's a temple.
- Carol Tuttle MosesonCarol: And I did swim in this one, and it was like one of my best times on campus ever, and I had a lot of good times on campus, but... It was such a beautiful pool, but that was my routine, is, I would stay late and study, and then it was open 'til 11, so a friend or I, or a couple people would walk over and swim, and then hang out in the sauna. And then just kinda drift home, so..
- Carol Tuttle Moseson & Kathryn VincentCarol: I hope to God there was a sauna. I'm not remembering this wrong. I don't think it was a steam room back then.Kathryn: I think it was a sauna.Carol: And so it had that nice wood smell to it, but..Kathryn: Hm.Carol: And in the winter it was just nice to kind of get baked dry, you know?Kathryn: Yeah!
- Kathryn Vincent & Carol Tuttle MosesonKathryn: If you were writing a history of Grinnell college, what would you include from your years here?Carol: Oh, gosh.... Let me think. I would... I would include the amazing teachers, I would include Peter Connelly and Don Smith, and Mr. Kasimow, and the Manhattan String Quartet. They were here for my early years, and...Kathryn: Cool.Carol: I thought they were amazing.
- Carol Tuttle MosesonCarol: I also like the Mircourt Trio, although I was crazier about the Manhattan... Let's see. Just... I think the things that I most treasured that I would include would be Pine Tree House, that I lived off-campus my junior year, and it was very sweet.
- Carol Tuttle Moseson & Kathryn VincentCarol: It was-- there's a parking lot there now, but it used to be--Kathryn: Pine Tree House is still there!Carol: It's New Pine Tree House now.Kathryn: Ohh, okay. Bummer.Carol: There used to be a school and a little playground, and right next to it was Pine Tree House, and Pine Tree House was like the left part of that parking lot.Kathryn: Hm..
- Carol Tuttle MosesonCarol: So it's gone now, but there's a similar house like, two doors down, but it was beautifully constructed. There were like, little sleeping porches and conservatory-like rooms in it, and... We had wonderful meals, and... of-- everyone cooked, you know, once a week or so.
- Carol Tuttle Moseson & Kathryn VincentCarol: And you invited guests, and the professors would come, and our friends from campus would, and... it was really good. It was just a.. a wonderful community. I haven't kept touch with, I don't think, anyone from that group, but it was just really wonderful.Kathryn: Mhm. Cool.
- Kathryn Vincent & Carol Tuttle MosesonKathryn: Well, I've gotten through all the questions that I have. Do you have any stories you want to add, or memories that are particularly poignant in your head, or anything?Carol: Hm. No, I just loved being here, and I love being here now.
- Carol Tuttle Moseson & Kathryn VincentCarol: I was really hesitant to come to the reunion. My sister really kind of dragged me because, you know, I've often labored out of-- kind of under that came in clueless, left clueless... It's like I'm one of those people who's been a late bloomer all my life.Kathryn: Mhm.Carol: And I do bloom, and it always happens, but, you know, I'm always kind of obsessing about it 'til I get to that point where it's like, "Oh, now you have mastery of," you know, "business skills!" or, "Oh, now I have mastery of this or that!" or parenting, or whatever.
- Carol Tuttle MosesonCarol: I tend to white-knuckle things, so I was thinking, "Oh, geez," you know, "I don't know if I want to go back." You know, I'm the kind of person who had nightmares about, you know, coming back to Grinnell, and not knowing where the syllabus was 'cause I never picked it up, and now it's too late to drop the class and the exam is in a building that's been built since I was there.
- Carol Tuttle Moseson & Kathryn VincentCarol: So it was just really nice for me to come and see the-- you know. It's such a welcoming community, still, you know? It really is kinda Disneyland for adults, to come back as an alum. Just really sweet, really fun, and no lines. So I just really like it, and it's been really a wonderful experience to be back this weekend. Really fun.Kathryn: Cool.
- Kathryn Vincent & Carol Tuttle MosesonKathryn: Oh, that's it! You have--Carol: That's it.Kathryn: I'll have you say your name and class year again to finish up.Carol: Okay. Okay, Carol Tuttle Moseson, class of 1977.Kathryn: Great.Carol: Thank you.
Alumni oral history interview with Carol Tuttle Moseson '77. Recorded June 2, 2013.