Quote Of The Day: Campus Controversies

Quote Of The Day #43

Other wars end eventually in victory, defeat or exhaustion, but the war between men and women goes on forever.

Sometimes I think wanting to be good is just another form of vanity.

Probably he isn’t taking proper care of himself because of self-hatred…

He could see no way out: it was like a multiple-choice test in which none of the answers were right.

I mean, isn’t that just going along with everything that’s messed up in this society? If you just do it because you’re afraid of prejudice, isn’t that sort of helping to perpetuate it?

She never complained of being bored like her daughter-in-law. Every day for her was important, presenting a constant series of problems in moral arithmetic. Every detail of behavior, down to setting a mousetrap or taking another slice of cake, was good or bad; every night there were complicated moral sums to add and subtract—even to multiply—in private dramatic consultation with God.

Bill was an ambitious, cautious, personable young man; an executive type, devoted to the smooth functioning and greater glory of the department, but without strong opinions of his own.

…for on close acquaintance, Wendy’s malleability has proved just as intractable as Erica’s stubbornness. She will agree to anything, accept his opinion on any matter; but a few hours later she will meet Linda or some other friend, hear a lecture, read a magazine article, and change her mind.

It was agreed everywhere, also, that Mrs. Hyde was the worse; or at least the more responsible. A father might possibly avoid blame for the awfulness of his children—a mother never.

I’ve had this book forever but for years I couldn’t get past the first few pages. Then last weekend, I opened it by mistake and read it. It’s a great book. What a surprise. The title is, “The War Between The Tates” and it’s written by Allison Lurie, who passed away in 2020.

It’s about Erica and her husband Brian Tates, who’s a professor of Political Science in a university in Upstate New York. (It is said it is referring to Cornell University) And the book is set in 1960s when protests were common and campus controversies were everywhere. Brian had an affair with a student named Wendy and Erica kicked him out of the house. Erica had a hard time to make ends meet and had to take a part time job. Brian also had a hard time since he had to rent an apartment and prepared to divorce Erica in order to marry Wendy. However things didn’t go as planned. It all culminates at the point when Brian encouraged Wendy and her fellow students to take Professor Dibble’s class. Dibble was very conservative and very dismissive of women. Brian was Dibble’s archenemy in the department. Needless to say Dibble’s lecture and his attitude enraged the women who took his class. They demanded Dibble’s apology and requested him to make changes to his lecture, which Dibble refused. And the conflicts escalated until the women stormed Dibble’s office and held him hostage. I just love a story of “Amazonian” women warriors. And I can’t believe I had not read this book until last weekend.

Even though I like the book a lot, I have to say I disagree with the author in certain parts, especially in those points that concern Sandy, who was Erica’s admirer and college friend. He was described as inept, passive, shy, thin, poor, cheap, homeless who believed in Eastern philosophical thoughts, with a strong implication that he believed in Buddhism. This is quite a negative and stereotypical view of Buddhism. And it is…. Well… I don’t know what to say because it is so wrong in so many ways that it is almost a farce. And I think the author intended to be humorous and I really shouldn’t be too serious about it either.