Amy Bliss Tenney::  Hi, my name is Amy Bliss Tenney. I currently live in Baltimore, Maryland and I’m a member of the Grinnell College class of 1992. I came to Grinnell primarily because of its focus on social justice, and my mom encouraged me to come because of the emphasis on women becoming independent and really developing themselves.
Amy Bliss Tenney::  I came on a campus tour and stayed with a very unusual woman, who I later found out was a self-proclaimed witch. It was very bizarre, staying with her. I was kind of freaked out. I think I also locked my keys in the car, which is a problem at Grinnell ‘cause there’s no hangers. So, everything is the little cubbies and the little nubs, like in preschool. So, it was not a great experience but fortunately I came back and stayed with probably more normal people, and had a much better experience, so I decided to come here.
Amy Bliss Tenney::  I think one of the best things about Grinnell was, it forced us to write a lot. More- I’ve never met a student from any other college who had to write as much as we did at Grinnell. I especially remember Professor Kaiser, who was a real stickler about writing and passive voice and he just had a zero tolerance for mistakes, basically. And so, while we probably didn’t appreciate it at the time, I think I’m very thankful for the writing skills that I obtained at Grinnell.
Amy Bliss Tenney::  I was a Russian major, so I had a great department at that time. John Mohan, Professor Trotter, other professors in and out. So, that was really great. It was a really fun time to be a Russian major, in 19.. in the early 90s, late 80s. I- believe it or not actually remember.. I enjoyed studying Russian. I studied really hard. I studied vocabulary, I made little cards and worked really hard and I think I really enjoyed it. I spent a lot of time in Burling Library, probably too much time. But, I really enjoyed the Russian department, took a few trips with them.
Amy Bliss Tenney::  One of the things that we were talking about this morning with the remembrance of Professor Mohan and his wife, Joan, is that the eight credit Russian course is no longer available. This was a great course. It was a double course in Russian literature and history and included, I believe a five week study tour to the former Soviet Union, which was just an amazing experience. We would really encourage the administration to bring it back because we had such a great experience doing that, and really learned so much. It was really, academically very rigorous course.
Amy Bliss Tenney::  I think, there’s not a lot I would change about going to Grinnell. I probably would’ve spent a little less time in the library. I have a lot of memories of sitting up on the top floor in my coat and mittens because it was so cold, studying there day and night. I probably should’ve spent a little more time having fun, but I definitely met a lot of wonderful people and had a great experience.
Amy Bliss Tenney::  There was a lot of activities going on. A lot focused on social justice and the environment. A lot of gay rights activism at the time, and really a fantastic experience, even though Grinnell is a small town, somewhat isolated, really brought the world to campus and exposed us to so much. You know, totally changed my life view and has continued with me to this day.
Amy Bliss Tenney::  I'm a very, very loyal Grinnellian, and it’s interesting meeting with my classmates here twenty years later, that while we all haven’t taken public interest or non-profit routes, many of us – I myself have – but many of us are in private industry or private practice, but still doing social justice whether it be through community lending or developing alternative energy sources and funding and research for that. So, it’s exciting to come back and see the breadth of where Grinnell has taken people.
Amy Bliss Tenney::  I hope that- and I hope and believe that the institution and the students are still the same in terms of really wanting to come and learn and to take what they’ve learned and the way of learning and the way of thinking and analyzing and take it out in the world.
Sophie Haas & Amy Bliss Tenney::  Great. That sounds- that's really inspiring.
Sophie Haas & Amy Bliss Tenney::  Great, thank you.
Sophie Haas & Amy Bliss Tenney::  Do you have anything else you wanna add, or..?
Sophie Haas & Amy Bliss Tenney::  I don’t think so. I really had a great experience. You know, there’s a little bit of an adjustment period, coming to Grinnell. But, I really wouldn’t change it for anything.
