Directory

This stuffed bear hangs on the gate at a construction site down by the railroad tracks. It's where they tore down that council office building to erect a block of flats. I guess the workers felt they needed a mascot?

It's been pouring rain all morning, although it has slackened a bit now. Olga wouldn't go outside even for a quick pee. I'll have to get her out the door at least briefly before I go to work.

Other than that, I have no news, and this post is about to get as boring as a telephone directory.

And that's because it's about to BE a telephone directory. I was Googling around the other night when I discovered that my alma mater, the University of South Florida, where my parents used to work, has put some of its archived staff directories online. Above is a portion of the directory for 1975-76, and you can see my mom listed, along with everyone who used to work in her office.

This won't mean much to you, of course, but reading these names was like time traveling for me. I remember all those people vividly. My mom used to come home talking about them, and I met them at office parties, or when I was sick and spent the day with her at work. (I'm sure they loved having a sick kid around the office, but I don't think I ever went if I had something contagious. I remember once having infected insect bites on my legs, for example.)

Sylvia K was one of my mom's best friends, and we socialized with her and her kids. Susan F had a ribald sense of humor that my mom loved. Jeff S was a bearded guy with a groovy conversion van, and at the time I was obsessed with the idea of living in a motor home, so Mom and Jeff took me down to the parking lot to show it to me. It had blue shag carpet all over the inside and I remember being specifically told not to open any drawers or cabinets. I'm sure Mom suspected I might find a joint.

Conchita S once told me a story about how, as a little girl (in Cuba, I believe), when she ate fried eggs, she would stab the yolk with a knife and pretend it was blood running around the plate. I have never forgotten that!

Here's the directory for 1980-81. By this time my mom was coordinator of the advising team, a job she hated. She got along with most of her co-workers but did not like managing people. As you can see, there were a few staff changes, and once again I know all these names and can picture everyone. I wonder where they all are now?

Here's a terrible picture of my mom in her office around that time. I have no idea where she got that "Keep Calm" poster but she probably needed it. Isn't it weird to see a desk without a computer?

For some reason, the directory pages that would have shown my dad and his office in the math department are missing from the online directories, along with all the student information (which I'm sure USF deliberately omitted). So I can't time-travel with my dad, but I didn't know his co-workers as well anyway.