The Academy
The Adventist Camp meeting of 1972 was held at the campus of the Academy I was thinking about going to in September, it was a week long event and I went up with some of our bible study group electing to stay the entire week rather than leave after a couple days like the others. I fell in love with the campus; it was situated on the shore of one of the Finger Lakes (Lake Keuka) and was on a hill with a panoramic view of the area. There was a small town, more like a village within walking distance.
I thoroughly enjoyed the experience that week I caught every sermon/seminar/class possible and soaked in all the erroneous doctrine like a sponge, on the surface the atmosphere seemed very spiritual to my eyes. I would later learn that there was a whole lot more going on at these camp meetings than what could be readily seen or observed.
My decision was pretty much made up after that week, I felt my best chance for academic success would be by attending school there and refining my study habits as they were more than a little rusty. We (my parents and I) made a trip to the Academy to meet with the school principal to discuss the possibility of me attending in the fall. I needed to make up a couple of credits to qualify for my senior year and a couple other things needed to be worked out but it was looking good. My parents were quite pleased by it all.
With everything worked out I was ready to head back to school on Labor Day, the campus and dorms were made available over Labor Day weekend for a kind of orientation and to accommodate families who were coming in from all over the Northeastern USA, and a few from Canada as well.
Richard was right
At first I was enthralled a little bored at times but overall I thought this was a great decision, the first week kind of eased you into the program but by the second week you were pinned to a fairly rigid schedule. They had different “jobs” for those who wanted to earn money toward tuition, the cafeteria, grounds maintenance, dorm monitors, broom shop, yes, broom shop.
The newer kids worked where they were told to work, after a while if there were openings or expansions you could request a transfer to another area, of course I drew the broom shop duty and can’t say I was ecstatic about it, the broom shop manager was a crusty old guy who seemed to suffer from a no humor anxiety issue.
As much as I tried to make the best of it I hated the repetition, the noise, the smell and the cantankerous mood of the shop manager and his assistant, I surmised this was the first time either of these men had any authority over anyone and loved lording over a bunch of kids they thought they could dominate, after a few weeks of this I privately and quietly told the assistant I would no longer politely disregard his critiques and the next time he made any stupid comments he may find himself defending them man to man. His look of shock almost made me laugh out loud, but I was able to contain myself.
That evening after supper the Dean came to my room and wanted to speak with me, he was in his late 20’s and was a down to earth decent sort of a guy who came right out and said that it was obvious to him that it was not going to be an easy transition for me to fall in line at the Academy (Richard was right) especially as a few of the teachers and a couple of the campus foremen had stunted personality problems and had never really been outside of this type of environment. He told me he was going to pull some strings, call in a favor to get me as his Boys Dorm Monitor. Yes! Goodbye broom shop!
I may have considered this to be a failed experiment and just gave it up but a new twist had entered into the equation, her name was Dawn. I first saw her at the reception/introductions the night before the first day of class, she was very attractive and I saw the Honor Roll(s) posted noting she also made Honor Roll every semester since she enrolled at the Academy 3 years earlier. I was very impressed.
We had met in the library and I found out she was also from Rochester (YES!) and after talking a few times we knew we had something brewing. This made my stay at the Academy much more bearable as I was chafing at the rigid structure, being treated like a little kid by many on the staff (a one size fits all approach) and the maturity level of some of the other kids, man some of these people have led some sheltered lives.
Once as we were on a group outing we were all walking on the rocks of a stream near campus, Dawn had slipped and I took her hand lifting her back to her feet, well the “teacher” in charge of our little outing took exception to Dawn and I touching and warned me about getting “written up” for inappropriate actions. (Richard was right) It was all I could do to keep myself from putting him into the water and keeping him down there, I could feel the adrenaline surging and my temper getting red hot, I told him “didn’t you see what happened, she fell and I picked her up, what could possibly be wrong with that?” I added “when someone falls I will pick them back up without regard to whether they are male or female” (or something to that effect). He responded silently with a glare and a beet red face.
When I decided to attend this place I thought I would be sharing a spiritual, academic Christian experience with people who thought like I did, who were like our bible study group, I was really disappointed. With the exception of the Dean, a couple teachers, my friend Ken and of course Dawn I really felt out of it there. One night after making my rounds as Dorm Monitor I caught a couple guys in their room guzzling down mouthwash, you heard me right, mouthwash. I was shocked, the fact they were drinking did not bother me, I would have quietly gotten rid of the evidence and tell them to go to sleep, but seeing this hit me hard, they are reduced to drinking mouthwash like some prison elixir. I just shut their door and walked back to my own room without saying a word. Sitting in my room thinking about this place and how much I was beginning to despise it I thought of the upcoming Christmas vacation, being able to spend a lot of time with Dawn back home in Rochester. I decided to just see how I felt after the Holidays and make a decision at that time, and for now I am going to walk into town and belly up to the bar for a couple hours, it’s only 11 P.M. That of course would have got me canned from there once and for all, for some reason I didn’t give it a second thought.
Report cards came out the day before we headed home, I made the Honor Roll, my GPA was just a decimal point below Dawn’s …… the folks will be pleased.
Back from the Holidays
Dawn was very persuasive during our Christmas vacation and here I was back on campus, just six more months, I can do it, I can do it, I can do it.
There were a few new guys in the dorm for the second semester; one of them was a guy who moved up from New York City named Alvin, his dad had a job related move to Rochester (fancy that) and he and I hit it off immediately, the problem was that Alvin was blatant in his disdain for the whole Adventist experience having been in it his whole life, he was smart, funny and a generous faithful friend, more mature than most of the others but his negative attitude underlined my own changes in attitude and perception of the Academy.
I was pretty much going through the motions during Sabbath worship, religion class, vespers and all the other stuff, I did not like being a phony and did not feel very spiritual at all, the joy at my discovery of Adventism was almost totally evaporated. I plodded through until February Recess when we got another week off to return home, when my cousin told me he could get me a good paying job at Stromberg Carlson, it was a no brainer, I am not going back, it’s over.
Dawn was not pleased, her mother pleased even less and my parents seemed resigned to the fact that I was just going to do whatever my headstrong idea happened to be at any given time. They were not surprised.
Actually Dawn got over it pretty quickly, she was happy when I told her I bought a brand new car, a bright red Volkswagen Beetle and that I would go up to visit on weekends, the spring went by quickly and next thing we knew it was summer. Alvin and I continued being friends and I drifted back to some of my old friends and the old habits. Alvin fell right in with us as did Dawn, some of my friends had some very cool apartments, cars and decent jobs we worked and partied hard.
One night Alvin and I were talking and he casually mentioned my friend Richard who visited his dad fairly often, then Alvin said that his dad was the Pastor at the church Richard attended and Richard had asked him (Alvin) if he knew me from the Academy, I felt a tinge of guilt as I had not contacted Richard since I left the Academy and basically left the church, my attendance had gone from spotty to virtually non existent. Alvin said told Richard he knew me but was sketchy on any details; he said that Richard and his father were too close for him to want to know Richard any better. I kind of felt sick to my stomach, had I come this far away that I would avoid my old friend and mentor?
Summer was closing into fall and the Labor Day orientation (Academy) was coming up, Dawn, Alvin and a few others wanted to attend the weekend events, see some old friends, Alumni were encouraged to attend. Dawn and I quietly got our own room in Auburn; we thought it a safe distance from the school, Alvin and a couple other friends from the Academy stayed on campus. That Sunday Dawn was going to sing in the choir at one of the events, I was bored to death as was Alvin so we decided to go into Auburn to knock down a few drinks and smoke some weed, one led to another and another and then some more, we were very blasted when we discovered the time, man we need to get back, quick!
Racing down that winding road with Led Zeppelin blasting from my stereo, man this little Beetle is flying along at 90 mph we’ll be there in no time at all…………..
Next thing I know I am looking at Alvin and he looked great except for the fact we were upside down and skidding on the roof of the car, I was so tuned my only thought was how bad my roof was getting scratched…………..
The stereo is still blasting Zeppelin but the car is not moving, looking through the broken windshield I see a massive tree 2 feet in front of me. (WHERE IS ALVIN?!) I see the top of the steering wheel is broken, but I need to get the hell out of here, attempting to turn the ignition I find it is already in the on position and it is silent. (WHERE IS ALVIN?!)
I wipe the sweat from my forehead but it isn’t sweat it is blood, I find my cigarettes on the floor and as I put one in my lips I notice the lack of teeth in the front of my mouth. Getting out of the car I am amazed at how it seemed to have grown around the tree and how there are no longer any fenders on it, feeling a bit queasy I leaned on my car and the reality started sinking in. (WHERE IS ALVIN?!)
Out with a BANG! (Part 5)
Should be the final part.
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Topic: What got me here, Part 4 (Read 4242 times)