two strolls

one time many years ago, betty spears, the wife of monroe spears, a famous literary professor and editor, was walking across the campus of the university of the south in sewanee, tennessee, when an elderly gentleman stopped her and asked the way to the offices of the "sewanee review".  betty responded that she was headed precisely there at that very moment and offered to escort the gentleman.  "my husband is the editor" she added, by way of introduction. the man then responded, "i come mere every year to buy a subscription for my 'nephew' or was it 'grandson'?"  "you might have heard of him", the man continued.  "his name is tennessee williams".  i have that story directly from betty who, like monroe spears, has been sadly absent from this earth for many years.

some years later i had just arrived in princeton, new jersey (monroe spears was a princeton phd.), and it was just starting to snow as i set foot on the campus of princeton university.  at that moment someone called out my name.  it was letitia taitte, at that time the wife of my good friend from  rice university, lawson taitte, who was a current english graduate student at princeton.  i was still officially a graduate student at the university of california at berkeley.  i was on my way to europe for an extended stay, a sabbatical of sorts. i was happy to see a friendly face, and the three of us had a very enjoyable visit both then and on my return some six months later.

so there are two walks across campuses, somewhat inter-related, incorporating chance encounters..  i could not help but notice the pattern.