Planning a Life

In 1956, Joni, my recently-departed beloved, and I began planning our life late at night on the steps of Low Memorial Library. From time to time we would stay late enough to get nudged by security. Later, in 1959, when we married and moved to 113th street, we continued these late night trysts and evictions until graduation in the spring of 1960. As the seasons of life passed and we came to those inevitable difficult decisions, we frequently returned to the steps. There we always found a source of strength in the aesthetics and momentary midnight campus calm, and in the beauty of knowing that inside the walls around us every known assumption was being challenged, just as we were challenging every assumption about our life. I return there alone now from time to time attempting to sort out the meaning of life without her, only to discover that our life-long love affair with the owl continues.

Bill Host ‘60’ C