I have to believe that wherever a person goes to college they will find it to be the most beautiful. I went to a school that was actually free!! Can you believe it? A college that was free, but more importantly, it was no doubt the most beautiful college I’ve ever seen. I’m 91 years old and put three sons through college, visiting many each time before we chose one , but never have I seen a college like the one I went to, its name is CCNY. Which means The City College of New York. The campus was in the middle of Harlem and was built in 1847, when Harlem was the most prestigious place to live in New York City. I went to college in 1950, and couldn’t believe that this school could offer a wonderful education for free. Actually, the best part of going to that school was seeing the campus, the buildings were like they came from Rome, thousands of years ago! The grounds, although not extensive but were perfect to learn and study in an atmosphere to learn and not to play!
The better part of the school that I found were it’s teachers who all were all older and experienced with each retired and now only wanted to teach for the love of it, and were considered the top of university teachers, and they now did it out of love, as most we’re older than most, or wiser, and mainly wanted their students to be very special. My math teacher saw that I had a special talent for math and he asked me if I would like to help my fellow classmates. I naturally said yes, and he set it up where we could all meet together in a lounge and he would tell me to tell my classmates my way on how I saw math problems. Slowly, they began to see math in a different light. I naturally got 100% when leaving the class. But the best part was two guys who I was helping were wizzes at English Literature and geography, and they in turn helped me pass those courses.
I know I sound like a man that is dreaming, but the drive going there in itself daily, was something of a nightmare so when I arrived, it was wonderful! I hope those who read this understand that in those days life was just getting back to normal with the war just ending and the returning soldiers trying to get back their lives, and some attending this college as well.
Thank you for reading this, and I hope you have enjoyed this as much as I have. Why? Because I was brought back to being a young man at a place to me was unbelievable, in the heart of an area that had originally homes built for the rich, but now, existing for the very poor,as the neighborhoods changed, as people living on the lower third and fourth aves were forced out of the area and giant apartment building were made for those rich to part of the heart of the city, forcing those people who were pushed out to move the those now abandoned homes, who were mainly black people. I eventually opened a small warehouse on 128th St. and hired the young men just hanging out on 125th St. there is a story of my having an incident there going to my factory, Look for it. It’s called “My 9/11 story!!”
Sal “The one and only”
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