Mr. Tolbert and the PERspective Students

Mr. Tolbert was Director of Admissions at St. John's in 1967, when I applied. He was fastidious about spelling and grammar. He once exclaimed "they are PROSpective students, and not PERspective students, since they are real, solid, three-dimensional" (a perspective denotes an angle or vantage point).

I was a terrible speller, and those were the days before spell-checkers, which cover a multitude of sins. I had to write a long essay stating why I should be accepted as a student at St. John's. I had some occasion which escapes my memory now to use the word "laundry", but I mispelled it as "laundary". Mr. Tolbert soundly rebuked me. For the rest of my life, whenever I write the word "laundry" I remember that moment.

Mr. Tolbers parting words of advice, after my interview, were "We, at St. John's are GRAMMARIANS." He told me to purchase a copy of House and Harman's "Descriptive English Grammar", which was a 400 page hard cover book. That summer, I read ALL 400 pages, and diagrammed each and every exercise sentence. I came away from that experience which a much better understanding of grammar, which prepared me for the study of ancient Greek.

Today, I thought about entitling one post "Inhibiting Excellence", which of course is a trick title, since one assumes that the topic will involve something which hinders excelling. But what I mean by that title is that "Excellence" itself can be a hindrance, when our desire for excellence and perfection intimidates us, and holds us back from simply brainstorming, and getting it all down on paper, on 176 index cards, spread all across the floor.

I want to be able to just let go sometimes, and say whats on my mind, and not worry about style, or punctuation. I want to reminisce at this blog unhesitatingly. Yet, still, I pause to choose my words with some .

The Summer Before Leaving for College

Of course, I had to read through House and Harmon's Grammer that summer, but I also forced myself to read something else rather unusual.

My high school Sophomore English teacher, David Baumgarner, suggested that I read Lawrence Durrell's "Alexandrian Quartet: Justine, Balthazar, Mountolive and Clea." The novels were set in Alexandria Egypt in the 1920s. One scene branded itself in my memory. A group of Egyptian businessmen hired a blind muzzein to come and recite passages from the Qur'an. They wept for the beauty of the words. I decided that I must learn something about this curious Qur'an. I purchased Mohammed Marmaduke Pickthall's "Meaning of the Glorious Koran" (Penguin Paperback, $1.25). I still have the copy I read on my bookshelf.

I found the Qur'an a bit boring and repetitive, but I resolved to read each and every page. I underlined any sentence which seems to merit further attention. I looked up every unfamiliar word in the dictionary, and wrote the definition on the margin of the page.