Erica Fredrikson::  My name is Erica Fredrikson, I live in King’s Mountain, California, and I am class of 2001.
Chelsie Salvatera::  OK. Thanks for coming, Erica. First question: why did you come to Grinnell College and what is your first memory of the campus?
Erica Fredrikson & Chelsie Salvatera::  I came to Grinnell because I grew up in California, and I wanted to go some place out of state. I didn’t want to go to an Ivy League school, and the Midwest seemed like a vast, wild unknown to someone from the coast, because everyone just flies right over- "What?" Yeah, so my friends were sort of suspicious and didn’t really know where Iowa was and so it seemed very daring at the time. But it was like a fun liberal school with people from everywhere, so I liked that.
Erica Fredrikson & Chelsie Salvatera::  Is that your first memory of the college?
Erica Fredrikson::  I actually attended the summer- Grinnell Summer Institute which is a program for high school students, and I was a junior. And, the first thing that comes to mind is not actually the College but flying into- it was my first plane flight alone and looking out the window and seeing land that went on forever. Because I’m from the Bay area so there's bay, ocean, San Francisco, every- there’s mountains, there’s boundaries everywhere and I felt like you could walk forever and never hit water. Oh, my God. So it was really daunting actually, and really flat.
Chelsie Salvatera::  Yeah, I felt the same my first year here. Was there a professor, student or staff member who had a particularly strong influence on your life?
Erica Fredrikson::  I really liked Kesho Scott. She was my American Studies senior seminar. She’s just super kooky and vivacious and you never knew what to expect from her and she could really tell when you were BSing. I mean she wasn’t- I don’t feel like she was super strict but she was, yeah, kind of on the ball with that. My senior year I worked in the Office of Special Services, and my boss there, who I worked with, was named Carlas Rendren. At that point I was so intensely involved in academia that to have someone who was- just be really nice to me three afternoons a week or however many hours I worked and say, “OK, today you’re gonna file these papers,” and just give me simple tasks and ask me how I was doing, it was- she was a really calming, nice, chatty person. So that was a nice, serene... yeah, time for me.
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  What was your major?
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  American Studies. I was-
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  OK, so was Kesho Scott your advisor or just someone...?
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  I think George Barlow was my advisor. He did American Lit. But yeah, she taught the senior seminar. Also there was a prof here who was visiting named Professor Doolittle, who taught an amazing course on the ERA, the Equal Rights Amendment. That was great senior year.
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  What are your best memories of your time at Grinnell College.
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  Senior year I lived in Pirate House, which is, I think it’s 1206. It’s the big yellow house that’s across the street from here. That’s now offices I hear. But it was campus housing then, and I lived on Langan second my first year and it ended up with eight people from Langan second moving-
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  To the house?
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  Still being friends and moving in together senior year.
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  Awesome.
Erica Fredrikson::  That’s really what I thought of when I heard about this oral history project. I thought, “Oh, someone should give them a record of Pirate House,” because we used to stand in line at Cowles as little baby-faced freshman waiting for- to go into dinner, and we were always thinking of band names, just randomly, and then we were learning more about how Grinnell was run and learning about student off-campus houses that were owned by the College and how they could have themes and someone, I think Justin Rose, said, “Oh, we should have a Pirate House,” and it became this joke. Like, “Yeah, when we’re seniors we’re all going to live together in Pirate House,” and then we actually made it happen and I was the House Coordinator and it was just amazing to have fourteen people all in this house.
Erica Fredrikson & Chelsie Salvatera::  We had a big Pirate Flag that was outside the house and then there was a group of our friends who lived in Main who would, who like stole the flag and they were like the renegade Peter Pan kind of- It became this elaborate sort of prank wars.
Erica Fredrikson & Chelsie Salvatera::  That's awesome.
Erica Fredrikson & Chelsie Salvatera::  We had house meals every Friday, house dinners, and I loved baking so it was like, by Thursday afternoon senior year I would be so itching to just bake stuff and we had this awesome bread machine that had an elaborate timer that you could be like, “I’ll put the ingredients in at 6 PM, and set the timer, so it bakes the bread and it’s done by 8 AM,” which I could never figure out but I was always awake at 2:30 in the morning writing some horrible paper and I would be like ah, "If I put all the ingredients in and press start now, everyone will wake up to the smell of fresh cinnamon walnut bread or chocolate whatever," so that was, I think Pirate House was my favorite memories of Grinnell.
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  I'm talking about that now. Okay, so talking about- what did your dorm room look like? Maybe you can talk about what Pirate House looked like?
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  We had a hammock in the living room and we had a lot of Pirate paraphernalia like fake birds- plastic birds and lots of, everyone had a sword and then Emily Howard is an amazing photographer and she made us all little post-office boxes with our photos on them in the front hallway and I had a lot of- I love cutting up old magazines so I did like wall collages I think, every year. We had very elaborate decorations in my dorm rooms.
Erica Fredrikson & Chelsie Salvatera::  My freshman year I was so excit- ‘cause I’m from California, right? You- Are you from the West coast?
Erica Fredrikson & Chelsie Salvatera::  Hawaii.
Erica Fredrikson & Chelsie Salvatera::  Hawaii, OK yeah! So fall with seasons, with the leaves? I couldn’t walk anywhere without picking up leaves. I would just come home with pockets full of them and I lived in this crazy big lou- it used to be a lounge on Langan second, with Jessica Herd and it was like a drift of leaves that I had. And she was like, “Erica, we just can't have this pile of leaves.” So we covered our entire front door with all the beautiful leaves, which don’t look as cool when they get super dry, but it was awesome. And then we got a notice after fall break our freshman year from the Fire Marshal, saying, "Please remove everything from your front door. It’s a fire hazard." It was like, tinder covering our- fire leaves. Yeah. So, it was- yeah I really enjoyed decorating my rooms.
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  You lived in Pirate House from your second to your fourth year?
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  No, I lived in it just the senior year. I lived in Langan second and then I lived in Smith Annex. I got a horrible- I was so angry I got a horrible room draw as like, going into sophomore year you- and Jessica was gonna be my roommate again and we did all this careful research checking out- y'know, looking at the map, deciding which- Y'know, "If this contingency doesn’t work out then we’re gonna go for this," and we were definitely gonna live on South Campus and we obviously wanted co-ed.
Erica Fredrikson & Chelsie Salvatera::  We ended up in the Nunnery on North Campus. My- Smith Annex - that’s what we called it - was the Nunnery and I was so angry, and it ended up being ridiculously fun. It was just all girls and we would have parties in our little hallway all the time and we had this group collage going on and this giant quote board and cartoons everywhere and it was fabulous, but yeah.
Erica Fredrikson & Chelsie Salvatera::  I heard it's a group thing,
Erica Fredrikson & Chelsie Salvatera::  I hope it still has that vibe to it. Chelsie|Yeah, it does still have that. Girls just walk around naked without, y'know, worrying about anything, so.
Erica Fredrikson & Chelsie Salvatera::  I always felt kind bad ‘cause there were all these stories about fire drills where there were people- more boys coming out of Smith Annex than girls or at least all- just as many. All the guys would be like, “Hmm, yeah, I’m staying here,” y’know, "Nuns are keeping us busy."
Erica Fredrikson & Chelsie Salvatera::  "What's going on?"
Erica Fredrikson & Chelsie Salvatera::  Yeah.
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  Okay. So what kind of clothes did you wear everyday as a Grinnell student or on special occasions?
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  Ratty jeans. I wore coveralls a lot. I remember once, completely running out of underpants for- ‘cause I hadn’t done laundry in two months and I wore a bathing suit under my overalls which I didn’t realize like, "Oh, you can tell from the back that there’s..." So all day long people were like, “Are you wearing a bathing suit?” “It’s a tank top!” No it’s a bathing suit, sorry. I didn’t do laundry. Yeah, so super comfortable. I still have my Grinnell hoodie that my family’s like, “Don’t wear that outside anymore, Erica. It's ten years old." Yes, my-
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  And you wear the- around?
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  This shirt is ten years old.
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  Yeah, they only sold those-
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  Yeah, and then... Yeah, I mean I’m sure you guys still do Mary B. James. Everyone dresses up.
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  Waltz. You put dresses on.
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  Yeah, and Waltz was always ridiculous. It was so funny to see people like really spiffed, and y’know in- like I went down to the thrift store and bought this weird 70s jacket that still- it’s like a blazer or whatever, and I studied abroad in India my junior year so saris are really easy to dress up men in ‘cause they’re like one size fits all, it’s just four yards of fabric, right? So then after, we would always dress up all our guy friends in saris for Mary B. James, which was very original.
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  Nice. Okay. What book influenced you most in college, if you can recall one? Not many have recalled one.
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  Yeah. I actually was - before coming to this reunion ‘cause I haven’t been back to Grinnell since I graduated - was rereading my journal, which goes through most of freshman year and then it’s- like, completely blanks out. It comes back senior year and I taped in a list of my- a to-do list with a note that was like, “Hey future Erica, if you’re remembering why you don’t have a complete journal, this list is a week old and most of the things are still undone.” And the first thing was, “Finish reading 250 pages of The Feminine Mystique." So, I read like, a lot of, yeah, women’s history stuff and so that was influential to me.
Erica Fredrikson::  The most memorable, probably, is... I said American St- I was an American Studies major, so, there’s a famous author named Horatio Alger who wrote books about basically like, "American Dream. You can pull yourself up by your bootstraps," mostly set I think in the early 1900s? And we read a book called "Spotted Dick Struggling Upwards," which, y’know, being 18, 19 year olds we were like, "Ah! It's hysterical!" And it was about like, a poor guy named Richard, and he was struggling upwards in life, but yeah. That was memorable.
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  So what memories or images do you have of the town of Grinnell?
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  What comes to mind was, I went- I was a member of the Presbyterian Church.
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  OK.
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  First Pres- At that time Mike Smith was the pastor, and Sylvia Parson-Smith was a beloved Women’s Studies prof on campus, and she was- she like did all these projects for the Presbyterian general assembly which is where the- like studying pornography and stuff. Basically trying to bring a liberal slant to the Presbyterian Church. But- so I was- I went to church there and I was in the choir so that was always a really important part of my life and a really nice time to just sort of realize that the whole world didn’t consist of academic 18 to 21 year olds.
Erica Fredrikson::  I remember, I think it was my freshman year, waking up early in March or February and there had just been a blizzard and I was like, "Tromp tromp tromp through the snow," and I got there and Church was just closed and I was like, “Wow, they canceled church? Oh it’s a blizzard. Everyone ha-” I’m just so used to the walking life, never had a car. But that was- and then seeing people like, skiing down Main Street and- Yeah, so that Church and just walking the downtown area. McNally's and the funky old used clothing stores. I loved Cunningham’s which is no longer in existence.
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  How has Grinnell changed since you were a student?
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  Well, there’s that big, what’s it called? The Rosenfield, JRC? And East Campus, and…
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  Oh, East Campus wasn’t there when-?
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  No.
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  Oh. OK.
Erica Fredrikson::  They, it was in the works but... Yeah, and, I don’t know. I was debating with other members of my class at lunch today about, y'know, like, "What’s the attitude of Grinnell?"and like, "Oh,all the students are not liberal enough," but I remember all of the alums when we- when I was a student saying the same thing about us. Like, "You guys, we're-" "Where’s the fighting spirit? Rebel!" So, I sort of feel like... well ,I mean I sincerely hope that the sort of passionate, eager drive that embodies sort of like Grinnell attitude is still present. So.
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  Describe something that is no longer available on campus but that was meaningful to you. Buildings, activities, programs.
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  I’m pretty sad that American Studies is not a major anymore.
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  Right, there's a lot of people from American Studies coming in.
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  Yeah, I know. It's 'cause we have a dead sense of history. We need to report this! Yeah, I felt that that was sort of- I realize that it’s hard. Everyone is interdisciplinary therefore it’s hard to replace professors, but it sort of- I felt like there was some institutional neglect that let that slide by the wayside.
Erica Fredrikson & Chelsie Salvatera::  But, I also haven’t seen any squirrels and I saw a lot of rabbits yesterday and then perhaps some of my more drunken friends were saying, "We think that the rabbits ate all the squirrels." I don't know. There are still squirrels on campus, right?
Erica Fredrikson & Chelsie Salvatera::  Yeah. There aren't many squirrels. I don’t know where they’ve been this summer. They've been in here.
Erica Fredrikson & Chelsie Salvatera::  Yeah, but y’know, most- besides Pirate House now being an office, at least it’s still here - I haven’t seen the destruction of anything that I really hold valuable, sacred.
Erica Fredrikson & Chelsie Salvatera::  Have you- Did you go check it out since you've been here?
Erica Fredrikson & Chelsie Salvatera::  No, I got in yesterday afternoon and so I’m sure it’s locked on the weekend but we’re going to take a reunion photo tomorrow and I brought the Pirate Flag, so.
Erica Fredrikson & Chelsie Salvatera::  Sweet, awesome! Perfect.
Chelsie Salvatera::  Describe your favorite academic experience or class at Grinnell College.
Erica Fredrikson::  I think taking a Senior History Seminar on the Equal Rights Amendment was- that was with Professor Doolittle. That was probably my most… It was a rea- engaging class. It was a very small seminar and interesting subject. We did original research. I wrote like, a sixty page paper and it was one of the very few times – so much of what we do, like you just spent hours, and "What did I accomplish?" I read hundreds of pages, yay. Or I slaved over this tiny sheet of paper, but it just felt like I had completed something substantial. That was nice to- I mean we didn't, y’know, we don't have thesis, but it was nice to feel like I’d done that and we would- y'know, we got really into it and would bring food to class and it was very collaborative, sort of homey class that people really got along well.
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  Describe your favorite place on campus.
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  Mac Field, playing Frisbee on Mac Field. Yeah.
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  If you knew then what you know now, what would you have done differently during your time at Grinnell College?
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  I would have been less stressed out about academics, and had more balance in my life. I would’ve been more strategic about what I really needed to get done and been less- I don’t think I was reclusive but I feel like I should’ve known more people and been more confident. I would’ve stressed a lot less about who was dating who and "Oh my goodness, aaaah," like social life? ‘Cause it really, the social life was y’know- The friendships are the ones that really last and not, I mean besides all the people at Grinnell who are like, “Oh, I met you freshman year and now we’re married.” Right? There’s tons of those people from my class, it’s crazy. Which is adorable. Yeah, I just took a picture of my friend Pat and Gina kissing near the railroad tracks where they first kissed when they were sophomores, and now they’re- they're holding their baby in-between them ‘cause they’re married and they have a kid. It’s crazy! So yeah, I would say stress out less and have more fun.
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  So you stressed out about social life and academics?
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  Mostly academics.
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  Mostly academics?
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  Yeah.
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  And what do you feel like it took away from…?
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  Just that I wasn’t- I didn’t participate in as much of like, y’know, like my friend Kate would always come home late from the Pub senior year and I would be asleep on my desk because I would be writing some paper, y’know. She’d wake me up, “Go to bed! Take your contacts out. Take your shoes off!” I don’t, it just, I don’t know. Because I took, I was a social studies major so I was always, just the weight of hundreds of pages to read, and I would bring a textbook to bed with me and not even crack it open but just feel like it’s there, at least there’s some semblance of my attempt to be- "I’m recognizing that there’s work to do, but I’m sleeping."
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  "Please don't wake me."
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  If you met- Did you meet your spouse or partner here?
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  No.
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  Okay. How would you compare the students of today with your classmates?
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  I, thus far I’ve met you and the very sweet girl who drove me for the shuttle bus coming in yesterday, so you guys are awesome! Yeah no, I get, like I said, I feel like alums are always cranky. I have such a sincerely overpowering sense of nostalgia that I always, "It was better before! It was better before! What’s wrong!" You know? But, yeah no, I feel like Grinnell is still a great place and still attracting fabulous students.
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  Describe student and campus life as you experienced it during your time at Grinnell. Kind of a broad question..
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  That is a very broad question. I didn’t partake in a lot of super organized activities, but I did a lot of Frisbee playing. We used to, one of my other favorites memories was playing capture the flag in the Science Building late at night, which would really piss off the super tense Science majors that were studying late but, ‘cause it has all those crazy levels and it was still under construction or at least it looked different than it does now. And yeah, it has all these nooks and crannies and spy stuff. That was a lot of fun. And Bakery runs and yeah, just a lot of- also the snow. I’m sure you can relate. Like, "Oh!"
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  Yes.
Erica Fredrikson & Chelsie Salvatera::  I would get- I would- like, someone would say, “Oh, it’s minus two outside;” I would put on my clothes and run outside just so I could like, “I’ve been outside in negative two weather! So cold!”
Erica Fredrikson & Chelsie Salvatera::  I don’t know if we had the negatives this… but we did have a blizzard warning, did you hear about that? And they canceled classes.
Erica Fredrikson & Chelsie Salvatera::  Wow, nice.
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  Last question: if you were writing a history of Grinnell College what would you include from your years here?
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  Hmm. I’m trying to think of any super dramatic events that happened. I was here when Rusty K became the new president, with I think, far less acclaim and enthusiasm than any president got or seemed when he arrived. I think Rusty K - I don’t have any ill will against him - I don’t think he was particularly dynamic, but... So that was a little different and then there were always, y'know, threats against student self-governance and things like that, so that sort of fighting once again for student autonomy. Things like that.
Erica Fredrikson::  Oh! I was here when Bush got elected the first time, and that was so tragic. But Gore took the state so this was my big- I wanted to vote for Nader and.... Y’know, I'm from California. We... my vote counts way more in Iowa than in California ‘cause there’s so much more people, there’s the Caucus. So being part of that, y'know, going down to the gym at the public school and being part of the Caucus grouping and talking and discussions and revoting and voting again so, was pretty amazing and then students sitting up all night long because they called the vote for Gore and then Bush and then we went to bed at three in the morning after... There was about thirty people sitting on floor of our living room watching. We woke up and Bush won. It was a sad day. So I think I did end up voting for Nader, but he, that was- Gore won Iowa so it was, I feel like I didn’t help Bush win by taking votes away from Gore. Yeah, that was intense, and it doesn’t really have to do with the history of Grinnell but it was certainly a topic on campus.
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  Is there any other additional comments you’d like to give?
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  No.
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  Okay. Thank you for your time.
Chelsie Salvatera & Erica Fredrikson::  Good luck with this project!
