DIY History | Transcribe | Campus Culture | May Tangen Christmas Letters, 1961-1974 | 1968-01-28 Letter to Jo, John, Kirk, Becky and Natalie Page 1

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May Tangen Christmas Letters, 1961-1974

1968-01-28 Letter to Jo, John, Kirk, Becky and Natalie Page 1

Box 54, Rust College
Holly Springs, Mississippi
January 26, 1968

Dear Jo, John, Kirk, Becky and Natalie-

By my silence it looks as if I wasn't happy to hear from you -- I've had your letters so long. 

Now it's nine p.m. on Friday. The dorm is very quiet. Miss Couche, the only other person at home, just got up from a long nap. She threatened to sleep all night when she started her nap at about 6:30, so I was glad to hear her stirring.

You'd be horrified to see my room. Black mold has struck us, began creeping in at Christmas time. I washed off the stuff the first Saturday after New Years and followed a barrage of advices I received: spray with lysol, "crack" your window (which in this context doesn't mean throw a stone through it, but rather to leave it open a crack, leave your heater burning just a little all the time. I was the only one beset at first, but now it's in almost all the rooms. The remedies failed. But tomorrow I shall wash it all off again. After all, you can't continue to tolerate it. We've asked for a special paint job and it'll have to be washed before the paint is applied anyway.
 
I began to see that I'd have to keep my papers and other-season clothes in something other than paper boxes which sag in the dampness. So I ordered a filing cabinet from Sears Roebuck, hoping to have it by now so that when the walls are washed again I can empty the soggy boxes and look a little more respectable. 

This evening I got acquainted with my new book, Thornton Wilder's "The Ides of March", which came with a load of gifts from some book drive. Mr. Jackson put them out for students to help themselves, so I took this. Took off the old dust jacket and what do you suppose? I was covered with mold! Ah, me. I think it was in the box we got from Puget Sound, so it is a west-coast mold. However, it's dry, so probably not going to mongrelize the black mold we have here. Couldn't tell its color. When I washed it off I only saw the navy blue of the book color. 

Last night we had the first meeting of the College's Research Committee, which was held at the home of the chairman, Dr. Vishnu Oak. What we did or said I won't say, but the group might interest you: Dr. Oak is an Asian Indian, old enough to retire, has an American Negro wife who is quite charming, much younger than he. Mr. Biswanath Shaw is also Indian, very dark-skinned, teaches journalism, was educated at Univ of Iowa, knows and appreciates the Moellers. Mr. John Cook is a white New Yorker, almost twice as tall as Dr. Oak under whom he works in Social Sciences. He's white, very nice, a friend of all, in his 20's. Mr. Frank Benson, a Mississippi Negro, Director of Research and Projects (also publicity manager), a very heavy man, probably the faculty's most genial man, much appreciated. Mrs. Naomi Nero, who teaches sociology, about my age, married to a man much older who is the

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Box 54, Rust College Holly Springs, Mississippi January 26, 1968 Dear Jo, John, Kirk, Becky and Natalie- By my silence it looks as if I wasn't happy to hear from you -- I've had your letters so long. Now it's nine p.m. on Friday. The dorm is very quiet. Miss Couche, the only other person at home, just got up from a long nap. She threatened to sleep all night when she started her nap at about 6:30, so I was glad to hear her stirring. You'd be horrified to see my room. Black mold has struck us, began creeping in at Christmas time. I washed off the stuff the first Saturday after New Years and followed a barrage of advices I received: spray with lysol, "crack" your window (which in this context doesn't mean throw a stone through it, but rather to leave it open a crack, leave your heater burning just a little all the time. I was the only one beset at first, but now it's in almost all the rooms. The remedies failed. But tomorrow I shall wash it all off again. After all, you can't continue to tolerate it. We've asked for a special paint job and it'll have to be washed before the paint is applied anyway. I began to see that I'd have to keep my papers and other-season clothes in something other than paper boxes which sag in the dampness. So I ordered a filing cabinet from Sears Roebuck, hoping to have it by now so that when the walls are washed again I can empty the soggy boxes and look a little more respectable. This evening I got acquainted with my new book, Thornton Wilder's "The Ides of March", which came with a load of gifts from some book drive. Mr. Jackson put them out for students to help themselves, so I took this. Took off the old dust jacket and what do you suppose? I was covered with mold! Ah, me. I think it was in the box we got from Puget Sound, so it is a west-coast mold. However, it's dry, so probably not going to mongrelize the black mold we have here. Couldn't tell its color. When I washed it off I only saw the navy blue of the book color. Last night we had the first meeting of the College's Research Committee, which was held at the home of the chairman, Dr. Vishnu Oak. What we did or said I won't say, but the group might interest you: Dr. Oak is an Asian Indian, old enough to retire, has an American Negro wife who is quite charming, much younger than he. Mr. Biswanath Shaw is also Indian, very dark-skinned, teaches journalism, was educated at Univ of Iowa, knows and appreciates the Moellers. Mr. John Cook is a white New Yorker, almost twice as tall as Dr. Oak under whom he works in Social Sciences. He's white, very nice, a friend of all, in his 20's. Mr. Frank Benson, a Mississippi Negro, Director of Research and Projects (also publicity manager), a very heavy man, probably the faculty's most genial man, much appreciated. Mrs. Naomi Nero, who teaches sociology, about my age, married to a man much older who is the