To my classmates:
I was impressed and moved by Jim Alexander's memoir of our days at Cranbrook. This is my reaction to his words.
Jim's piece shows how completely the perspective from which one views the universe colors perceptions. Jim speaks of boarders as having some kind of secret mystique to him, disappearing into the dorms after athletics to participate in rituals with strange-sounding names. He writes of feeling like an outsider on the sidelines of "real" life at Cranbrook inside the dorm walls.
Well, Jim, let me tell you the view from Marquis was quite different. I viewed day boys as a higher race of beings, as boys who drove their own cars to school, who had all the benefits of both Cranbrook and a home life with parents, siblings and simple things such as a refrigerator and a stereo.
Even more importantly, day boys dated girls! In cars, too! -- not standing outside the Little Gym in all manner of weather waiting for the bus from Kingwood to arrive for our few hours of chaperoned female companionship. On Monday mornings, I heard whispers and quiet laughter amongst the day boys about apparently wild parties that had been held over the weekend. For cloistered boarders living the monastic life, those events may have as well been held on Mars insofar as being even remotely close to the reality of our own lives.
It was telling to me to observe the number of boarder versus day boys who came back for our 40th Reunion. I did not take an exact count, but it was apparent boarders significantly outnumbered the day boys, even though the day students were of much more local origin. I am not sure what that means, but there is a lesson somewhere in there.
I thought I'd share this with you, for whatever it may be worth and for whatever thoughts it may provoke amongst you.