Category Archives: Duke

Duke, Life\'s mysteries, Study

Equipped for the long journey

Dear Answer Person,

Some of my classes at Duke were bad, and some were good. Some were good, but I wasn’t in any condition to appreciate them or learn from them. I assume that many people could say this about their college experience.

My question is: why does it seem now like a few key things I’ve read since then would have been a perfect foundation to have to be more equipped to deal with those good classes I wasn’t ready for?

Good question. I too remember not being ready for a lot of things I read as an undergraduate (Robbe-Grillet, Calvino, Garcia Marquez), and only really “getting it” after more experience (both in life and in the classroom).  I’m going to guess that the answer has something to do with faculty forgetting where they were – intellectually and emotionally – at that age to construct an appropriate syllabus.

Duke, Lobby Book

The keyword is private

Who lives in the “private house” by the Nasher? [3589A]

[written in answer space:  The Hitcher (see “Mighty Boosh”)]

Not even close, Secret Scribbler. I realize we live in a society where nearly everyone wants to know everything about everyone else (for instance, Tiger and the Transgressionettes), but I’m not one of those people. I think people are entitled to some privacy; therefore, I won’t reveal the identity of the person who lives in the “private house” by the Nasher. The keyword to your question is “private.”

Duke, Lobby Book

A mysterious and glorious place

Answer Person, thanks for your hard work.  Why does it seem, reading the archives, that the University was mysterious and glorious as recently as 1995?  Was it so? [3573A]

If it was mysterious and glorious as recently as 1995, it’s surely because people didn’t spend their free time reading the Answer Person Archives back 15 years.  Come on, get out there and live mysteriously and gloriously!

Duke, Lobby Book, Sports

Skinny dipping snob

Do you recommend skinny dipping in a pond in the Duke Gardens? [3574B]

[written in answer space:  No. There are frogs in that pond.  You’ll get warts.]

No, Secret Scribbler, you won’t get warts from the frogs.  But what is that pond, like six inches deep?  No, I prefer larger bodies of water for my skinny dipping.  Though I’ve been accused of being a skinny dipping snob.

Duke

Does anybody remember the BOG?

Hi Answer Person!

I recently bought Dukeopoly (monopoly but with familiar Duke sites as the places on the game board). While most of the places I recognize (Duke Chapel, Cameron Indoor, the Gardens)- one I have never even heard of- I think it might be an old reference. Could you please tell me what “The Bog” is? Thank you for your help!

Too Young and Clueless

The BOG probably refers to Bunch of Guys, an independent living group that was disbanded by the Judiciary Committee in 1992 for alcohol violations. The BOG resided, at least at the end of its lifespan, in Building HH, Few Quad.  While latterday BOG members might be infamous, a little bird told me of at least one earlier member who’s a highly respected member of the Duke community today (I must admit, though, that after learning he lived in the BOG I haven’t been able to look at him without imagining him with a 40 in his hand and a lampshade cocked rakishly on his head).

So, young?  Perhaps.  But not clueless.