Sat, May 17 2008
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Published May 07, 2008 12:00 am - AUBURN, Ala. -- I feel the same, minus the halter top, wooden sandals and bell-bottoms. I wear sensible clo... Peggy Sue on prom night The Norman Transcript AUBURN, Ala. -- I feel the same, minus the halter top, wooden sandals and bell-bottoms. I wear sensible clothes now, as if some stern schoolmarm has taken charge of my closet.
When I was an Auburn coed, my younger sister took junior-high home economics and made me halters from one pattern and many jazzy bolts of cloth. Those stylish, brief tops, along with hem-dragging jeans, were my spring wardrobe. You can dress on the cheap when you're young. Somewhere along the way I got cautious with clothing. I spend more and wear more fabric with far less effect. But today, today only, I am the same free spirit, strutting across the Haley Center concourse with purpose, on my way to a journalism class. It might be 1974, so long as I don't pass any mirrors. For one ridiculous moment, I dive headfirst into the past. The rest of the town, with its relentless growth, may resemble Hong Kong, but the heart of campus is now pedestrian-only. That helps the illusion that once again it's near the end of spring quarter junior year, when I reached the zenith of my college game. I am Peggy Sue and this is prom night. If it's possible to die from binge-drinking memories, I'll soon be beached and bloated near the sea of spring green. I see people I've not seen in 33 years. Their eyes tell me more than I want to know. Old friends, who float in and out of my life every so often, are kinder in their reactions. What strikes me is the really important things here remain the same. Bob Sanders is on early-morning radio, playing the weird, flip side of records. His voice is a verity. He is the Rip Torn of AM radio. Retired men still huddle in their coffee klatches, solving the world's problems day after day. I sit with them a while. Jack Simms remembers the number of spelling errors in a paper he graded in 1975. Wayne McLaughlin is beyond gracious to a rare female visitor. And Gillis Morgan asks for your opinion and really listens. The world over, there are conservative, pontificating men lingering over their coffees, discussing politics and other nonsense. But, in Auburn, they somehow seem wiser. Most of them, anyhow. Calm Bill White continues in the newspaper game, only now he's "William" and editor. Grace and Allen Jones remain the couple to envy, forever youthful and laughing at one another's jokes. John Bedford and Gail Langley still can throw a party worthy of the wee hours. Cathy and Mike Wayman are the best-looking alums on campus, despite the passage of years. Thomas Gossom, once the football hero, now has an impressive resume thicker than his neck. Charlie Rose, my professor from back-when, is surrounded by a bevy of English majors and has a new book coming out next year. Ed Milton, head of student government in 1974, still looks wily and debonair. Cantankerous Bob Mount still growls as he passionately and eloquently defends the environment when nobody else seems to care. 
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