October 19, 1969 (Letter from Barb Lucia)

Well, Pauly, yes it has been a long time.  I just about have it figured out where everybody id -- what they're doing is another thing because nobody knows that.  Take me for an example -- DUH!  I am now working in Warren Pa. 16365 (!) at the Blue Manor Restaurant 6 days a week, waiting on a bunch of old, middle-class, conservative, mother-and-apple-pie, small-town, narrow, stagnant -- shall I go on?  I'm sure you understand -- you have only to live here to know -- Bla-a-a-h!  And Mardi spends her days at New Process -- I don't even have words for that!  She works until 5:00 and I work till 8:00 and we see each other from about 9:30 to 11:00 at nite -- during the day it's like being in solitude because there's no one to talk to at work anyway.  But, t his is my choice and not by force -- right?!  Like, I know I made the right decision about school, but duh, duh, duh that leaves me neither here nor there -- "come on in, I dig long hair" -- I wonder what song that's from --something I heard at the Cape.  I remember something and I can't remember whether it was said to me, by me, for me, sung -- complete confusion of the mind.  That place...we should all go up there next summer.  You have to work hard at a job but it's worth it 0-- worth what??   There's all kinds of action if you're a guy -- duh!  Believe me when I say it because I know!  Being a broad is a real kick in the pants -- you don't know what in hell -- ahem! -- the hell to do sometimes.

Mardi said you quit your job -- yes Paul -- Go, go, go.  Working and going to school is a real drag -- you're there, Tired, Tired, Tired!!  Are you coming home next weekend -- 24th!  Good grief, imagine having someone else to talk to -- Mari and I have been using sign language.  We had planned on going up to see you and going to Pittsburgh for a weekend, etc. etc. but shit, damn, and screw I only have Sundays off!  If it gets too bad I'll just quit and go where I want to.  I mean, this is ridiculous -- I have enough money saved to pick up and go somewhere -- so why don't I go?  Boston is the likely place, but something says, Wait, wait, wait.  Thinking rationally is completely out of the question, don't you agree?  Trusting yourself completely to your instincts will really mess you up but it's real - you know?  Duh, what am I talking about?

Today you're probably sitting around the old apartment drinking beer and watching the game -- maybe you're at the game -- blah, no it's too crummy out.  What's O.J. like in person -- I'm sure you've met.  I can't believe you've lost 20 pounds -- I've lost 5 lb and it's bad news.  You might not have eaten, slept, etc. but did you have a good time.  No.  Well, that's life, Paul.

I talked to Mike once or twice before he went back -- we were all sitting at Shorty's once (once is enough!) and he was expounding on something or other.  Michael Fraternity Kid Foster is still the same but then Mike's not all that bad.  I'd take Mike over 3/4 of the other fruit-loops running around the world  Haven't seen or heard from Renee since Christmas??  I hear through the grapevine that she and Morrey were here for awhile -- oh, Renee, you've got to be kidding -- married?!!  The pattern her parents, etc. have forced her into is so obvious -- doesn't she care?

And then there's Joan -- God, I hate to even think about what she's doing -- Mardi and I haven't heard a thing -- I can just imagine -- Freddy, Freddy, Freddy -- Oh, we are all in fine shape, aren't we -- I've never known Mardi to be so confused but then I'm a big help because I'm a complete dud at the present -- there are no answers in Warren, Pa!  Remember that.

Well, I will close up and clonk over to Mardi's now through "the rain upon the trees".  Take care -- we'll see you soon.  Paul, do you still go into a trance when you drive?  I will never go to Lum's again with you kids unless I wear my spike shoes -- honestly, laugh much.  Haven't been anywhere near Bemus Point -- how is the old dud?  Last nite Masked Martin and Girl Wonder went to the Pub (duh!) for a nightcap -- we're there  -- sip, sip, oh brother, get me out of here.  I had my proof for 21 all ready but they didn't ask me.  Mardi had a line of bullshit ready.  Well, I did say this is it!  Goodbye!

May 11,1969 (Letter from Tina)

It was wonderful hearing from you.  Although I've been neglecting my correspondence, you still put up with me and are thoughtful enough to write.  So, you'll be living and working in the big burg of Buffalo...You can't get rid of us that fast, Paul, dear...We'll be coming up to see you during the summer so we can check the situation out. It just won't be the same without you -- going to the Surf Club, or trying to pass for 21 in the Pub, and going to see a flick at the Wintergarden or even the passion cit..."Chuck" the Whiteway for entertainment...that's a bit below our station, now.  Oh!  I forgot about the Peninsula.  We should get a room for a couple of nights -- the six of us.  You should bring some of your friends home.  It would be great to see a few new faces in that stereotype little town.  I can just imagine what your Q.P. will be for second semester, probably a 3.5, or close to it.  Hope that all is going well for you, especially on the social end, but I need not worry about that aspect of your life at U.B.  Right?  Right!  When is, or was, your Spring Weekend?  Ours is this coming weekend, including the formal, a chariot race, a fashion show, "Shoutout" -- a takeoff on Laugh-In, a concert, and a sports car rally.  I've been asked by someone from campus, but I don't want to go with him.  I've asked a guy from Shady Side that I've been dating since last October, but I don't think that he'll be able to make it.  (To the weekend, Paul....)  I know how your mind works!  He's really a sharp guy, but he's very unassuming, yet very intelligent.  He hopes to become an architect and is going to school in Pittsburgh.  He'll be 21 this summer... This weekend he's at Lake Placid...must be nice.  He's a ski instructor.  Guess it would be nice if I told you his name...Vern.  He went to Mansfield for two years, but decided to transfer because he didn't like the idea of teaching the rest of his life.  Besides, Paul, there's not too much $$$$ in that profession.  You might know that I'd think of the money angle!

About life here at RMJC...not much happening, but that's not so unusual.  I was in a place here at school presented by our Theater Group.  I was Laura in Tennessee Williams' "The Glass Menagerie".  I really loved it!  Our director, Mr. Thomas Gaydos, is marvelous to work with.  He's a graduate of Harvard, London Fine Arts (where he went to school with Peter O'Toole and Albert Finney), worked in New York and Hollywood for five years as an actor, and is now working as an English professor here.  The play was presented May 3, 4, and 5, and was a big success.  My. Gaydos asked me if I had ever seriously considered acting because he felt that I could do well if I really had the desire and ambition.  Mom and Karin drove down for the last performance last Monday night.  Vern also came, and they were introduced.  Mom and Karin both like Vern, and good old Mom is all hep on his coming to Warren this summer.  I don't know what Vern is thinking or how he feels about me because we've never really seriously discussed between us how we both feel or what the future will hold.  I really like him, but I don't expect anything from him.  There's no sense in my getting all hot and bothered over someone I may never see again.  Our finals begin this week and will continue until the 27th of May.  They'll be rough, and I can't wait to get them over with.  This week is going to be a bad one -- I've got a research paper due this Thursday, which I haven't even started,; a critical due on Orwell's 1984; an Eng. Comp Lecture final; and finally,, serve as hostess for a tea here at the dorm.  All this is happening on Thursday!!!  I'll probably have a nervous breakdown about 1:00 Friday morning.  Last night I went out with a guy who is a senior at Pitt and is also a football player.  He's so sharp!  After he graduates, he's going on to Law School.  We went to see "Oliver!".  It was really a marvelous, fascinating movie.  His name is Ray Reppert.  His sister, Gina, (really a sharp, egotistical, sophisticated young lady), who rooms right next to us, asked me if I'd like to go out with him. Naturally, I said "Yes!".  I really had a wonderful evening.  Get this one, Paul, he didn't kiss me goodnight, or for that matter all evening.  I had a late pass, so the security guard had to open the door at the dorm. We said goodnight and thanked each other for the wonderful evening.  He said he'd like to see me again -- we'll probably run into each other in another ten years.  Just so it's not in court!  (Damn that security guard!)  A few minutes after I got in, there was a power failure and all the lights went out.  Absolutely no electricity!  We all whipped out our candles, took off our make-up and went to bed.  The traffic lights weren't even working.

About working this summer -- I went to see Mrs. Decker at the Process while I was home over Easter.  She said that they weren't thinking about hiring any of the kids this summer, but then they say that every summer.  They usually hire about 60!  Instead of coming back here in September, I'm going to work in Warren until January and return in February.  I'll finish up my last two semesters here, going February through to the June semester, then June through September.  I'll get my associate, then heaven knows what I'll do.  I'd like to go into some phase of travel, probably the airlines -- as a ground hostess.  My parents don't want me in the air as a stewardess.  That doesn't appeal to me either...Maybe I can grab a prospective husband within the next two years so I won't have to worry about supporting myself for the next five...Yea, I WISH!!!  Have to have the right bait before you put your hook in the sea and get a good catch!

What's this about Mardi going to Florida and working?  Last time I talked to her, she was thinking about going to New England this summer for work.   You're right about Mrs. P not liking it.  She is such a wonderful woman.  I really hate to see her alone, as she is now.  I wish that Mr. Sayles would get the lead out of his feet and take her down the aisle.  She doesn't deserve the loneliness that she has now.  But really, one couldn't expect Mardi to stay close to home because she, too, has her own life and ambitions.  She's such a shaarp girl, and she'll have no trouble adjusting anywhere she settles.  (I haven't written her lately.)

The weather here has been so shitty.  It's been raining for the past week.

Well, I must start crackin' those books.  Next time you talk to Mardi, please send my best!  By the way, I've switched from Lark to Marlboro.  Everybody is always kidding me about how horrible Larks are...one thing, they never bummed cigarettes!  It's a pack a day, now...Guess I better cut down, seeing as I'll be going home in a few weeks.  Mom would have a cardiac arrest if she knew how much I smoked.  Mike and I have been writing -- he's at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.  He's received orders for Fort Benning, Ga.  He's in the Combat Engineers, and he thinks that he'll be headed for Vietnam sometime this summer or next fall.  I know that I'll never love him enough to marry him, but somehow he'll always be in my thoughts.  I could just never start anew with him because for me it would be impossible to forget the past, as things were before.  His jealousy is a part of him, although maturity will aid in taming it down.  Paul, it's hard for you to understand why I even went back with Mike.  It's hard for me, too.  When I broke up with him at the beginning of my senior year, I hated him.  And yet when the summer came, I wanted so badly to see him, hoping that he had changed; but as I found out, he hadn't.  Neither had I.  I don't know what I'd do if anything never happened to him while he was overseas.  It would give a few people in that Bleech family a chance to think twice.  No two people can experience what Mike and I did for that year and expect, when either of them has tired of the other, to forget everything.  When I never had to worry about seeing him everyday after we'd broken up, it was easy.  But as soon as I knew he was back, I ran to h im.  I guess that I've aid enough on that subject-- it's a sore one.

-My roommate, Pat, went home to Johnstown for Mother's Day weekend. Actually, the real reason she went home is because she didn't have a date.  JoAnn, my other roommate, just left with her boyfriend, Bob, to go over to his apartment.  So, here sits Tina.  That's typical.  A guy who I dated last semester, November through January, is now in the Air Force Reserves.  He went to Penn State for two years, and he flunked out.  When he transferred here, he didn't have enough credits and the draft was on his back.  He received his orders in December and was sent to Lackland AFB, Texas, January 31.  He is now at Keesler AFB, Mississippi.  He will complete his 120 days basic training May 27.  He's from Altoona.  He's the boy who sent me the dozen long-stemmed red roses for Christmas.  He's really a great guy.  We've been writing a lot, and he calls me every Tuesday morning from Mississippi -- we talk for about an hour.  (His parents sent him a credit card.)  He's planning on coming to Warren this summer and stay for the weekend.  Mom has invited him.  He's from a wealthy family, and I just hope that after he sees our home that he won't change his feelings.  Let's face it, Paul, we don't live in any palace.  His name is Bob DiVentura.  I really shouldn't say that about our house, because Bob isn't the kind of guy who judges a person by the car he drives or the house he lives in.  Besides, if he doesn't like it, TUFF SHIT!!!  (I'd better watch my language..)  I really wish you could meet him.  I think you'd like him.  Bob and I care for each other, but it's nothing serious.  That's the only way.  We have no strings on each other, and we've made no promises or commitments.

Did I tell you that I flew out to the Univ. of Missouri for a frat Spring Weekend?  I probably did.  That was about six weeks ago (March 22).  One of Jim Mattson's frat brothers, who I dated while he was in Warren for a week last summer, asked me out.  I had a really great time!  I flew by jet from Pittsburgh to St. Louis.  It's the first time I've flown, and I loved it!

I almost forget to tell you!  Linda Rickert and Jim Pompilio were married last weekend at Holy Redeemer.  I was her maid of honor, and it was a beautiful wedding.  Linda looked lovely, and wore a long gown.  Jim is stationed at Keesler AFB, where Bob is; and they'll be living off base.  They left for Mississippi last Sunday. They don't expect to be back in Warren to visit until next fall or next winter.  Linda is really a beautiful and intelligent girl, and I know that she and Jim are going to be very happy and that she'll be a wonderful wife.

Well, well, well, I REALLY MUST close.  Take care, Paul, and if you have time, write.  I'll be home May 28.  Good luck to you....

November 18, 1968 (Letter from Mardi)

It's really snowing today.  I can't believe you're home.  I think I'm going horny out here.  I know you'll have a good time at home.  Stop in and see my mother.  She'd love that.  Tell Joan her one and only letter was appreciated.  I finally heard form Tina.  I hear through the grapevine that the Pub has changed to 21.  You can't win.

Nancy and I are making all these plans today.  It seems so much like Christmas.  Right now it's 3:00 and it's so dark and hazy out.  They're decorating all of the city and should be done Thanksgiving.

This weekend went flying by so fast.  Friday night Mike had steak at his apt for us.  It was a surprise for Wendy and I.  We had a misunderstanding though and I'm afraid I probably won't be dating him again, unless we work things out.

You win some and ya lose some but most of the time you get rained out.

Sat night it started to snow and since Wendy and I were home w/ no dates for some reason, we cut up tons of magazines and we're doing the entire walls and ceiling into a collage.  Then we went out about 11:30 and made a huge snowman.  When we don't have anything to do we find out own fun.

Sunday Nancy and Peggy and I went downtown and clonked around and ended up sitting in a restaurant eating.  I have to stop eating because when I get home, I'm going to stuff myself.

Right now I'm waiting for you to call me.  That's another thing I'm going to do is call people on the phone all day and just say hi!  Then the luxury of a car.  Shit!  I want to come home and see everybody.  Everybody is getting their suitcases and packing.  Blaaa!

Take care honey!  29 days!