lex1

yeah, i think most of us in the eigth corps did that our first year at emporia. i remember when they sent my bunch it was pretty cold at night, especially in the quonset huts, and i remember the jaded, indifferent stares of the migrant workers in ther who had seen so many of us come and go - who knows what they thought about us. the constant bending was hell on my back injury, and i was greatly relieved when my duteis switched to truck loading and i could be handed bushel baskets of peppers to throw in the trucks without bending over. on the way back the bus broke down only a few miles out from the farm and we were all left to hitchhike back to kansas. we strung ourselves way out along the highway in groups of two and three to have a better chance. on the final leg of the trip my hitching partner and i "witnessed" to the truck driver and practically browbeat him into having lunch at the campus, after which he stood and got "oh we love you, love you etc." sung to him by the crowd. the truck driver was plainly uncomfortable and embarresed at this, and at that moment i was quite ashamed of myself for my ruthlessness at taking advantage of his good nature.

yeah, i did that too. actually it was nothing compared to something gerald wren put together for us the first year in the eighth corps, when we did the p.o.w. camp thing - more about that some other time. as for l.e.a.d, it was nowhere near as sadistic, and the rappelling and climbing this one vertical rock face were a lot of fun and very memorable. however i think those running the show might have had some issues with women, because they were harder on them and managed to make just about every one of them cry more than once. the part that was quite unexpectedly the best for me was that after building hooches, we each had 24 hours of total solitude. this was a profound relief from all the relentless indoctrination back at emporia, and i was sorry when it was over.