 Timothy Stiles:: Timothy Stiles, now living in Monmouth, Illinois, class of ’98.
 Catherine Stiles:: And Cathy Steuhower Stiles, also in Monmouth, Illinois, class of 2001.
 Chelsie Salvatera:: OK, thank you for coming by. I just wanna find out first how you found out about Grinnell, or why’d you come to Grinnell and your first memory of Grinnell College.
 Timothy Stiles:: Sure. My older brother, who’s five years older than me, was going to William Jewell, or had gone to William Jewell College, and I was looking at colleges and he asked his professors what colleges his little brother should apply to and one of them was Grinnell and I applied and wasn’t too sure about it until I came for a visit. I really couldn’t visit, so those prospective group visits are really important, I’ve realized. This was a great time, it seemed like the perfect place to relax and have a nice community of people.
 Catherine Stiles:: My mom told me to apply to Grinnell. I was the youngest of three and I actually didn’t have a chance to visit Grinnell before applying and it was the only school that I didn’t get to visit before I actually applied so I wasn’t too sure but then I came to visit after I was accepted and it was the best fit. Probably one of my first memories of campus is just the move-in day of everyone just kind of swarming and helping unload our van of all of our stuff and it was done right away. So that was kind of cool, just the, everyone fitting together.
 Chelsie Salvatera:: I wanna do this one ‘cause I’ve been very curious. So how did the two of you meet?
 Timothy Stiles:: Well, it’s not on the list.
 Catherine Stiles:: It's on the list.
 Chelsie Salvatera:: But I’m very curious!
 Catherine Stiles:: My second semester my freshman year, which was Tim’s senior year, he was actually gone first semester and then we ended up in the same dorm. The guy who had moved out of that room was named Rick and one of the other girls- I remember coming back from winter break, she’s like, “Come meet the guy who’s not Rick!” So that was...
 Timothy Stiles:: That nickname stuck for a while. This is Not-Rick’s room. But yeah, so I went to Glasgow for a semester, came back. I remember that I was at the computer lab in Loose.
 Catherine Stiles:: In Loose!
 Timothy Stiles:: Which no longer exists, probably checking email or something. Emails, the new thing, was still somewhat new. But I don’t remember who introduced us.
 Catherine Stiles:: And then we had, we had a.... So we lived in the same dorm and then we both were in Singers.
 Timothy Stiles:: Singers was the main thing.
 Catherine Stiles:: And so we spent a lot of time together because Singers was pretty time-intensive so we just get to know each other and...
 Timothy Stiles:: We got engaged...
 Timothy & Catherine Stiles:: that summer.
 Catherine Stiles:: So, I was engaged the last three years of college, so...
 Chelsie Salvatera:: Whoa.
 Catherine Stiles:: Thirteen years later...
 Timothy Stiles:: Now it’s thirteen years later.
 Catherine Stiles:: Here we are.
 Chelsie Salvatera:: So, obviously you guys both had a strong influence here on each other. What was the professor or staff member who particularly had a strong influence in your lives? Or friends?
 Catherine Stiles::  For me, I think the, I worked at the pre-school and Karen over there was a big influence. I ended up doing a lot of pre-school teaching and just working with kids and that kind of was really a huge part of, I mean it was my campus job and it ended up being what I really wanted to do with development and play behavior with kids and stuff like that, so that was a huge thing for me.
 Timothy Stiles:: It was my advisor in Physics, Mark Schneider. We hung out a lot. He was a big influence. I can’t think... Charles Schrift- or, not Charles- Alan Schrift, in Philosophy. That was a very fun course and changed a lot of my perceptions coming from small town Missouri. 
 Chelsie Salvatera:: Wow.
 Timothy Stiles:: Intro to Philosophy course was a big experience, a lot of different things.
 Chelsie Salvatera:: So what were both of your majors and how were those, or did your academic experience influence your career paths?
 Timothy Stiles:: Well, I was a Physics major, I’m now a Physics professor at Monmouth, so it was a big influence. 
 Catherine Stiles:: Pretty straightforward.
 Timothy Stiles:: Yeah, pretty straightforward. The reason I wanted to go to a, be a professor in a small liberal arts college in the Midwest was the interactions between faculty and students in Grinnell; ended up carrying that to other places, have the same sorts of relationships with my students.
 Catherine Stiles:: I was a Psychology major and so the working with children and doing, I’ve gone the social work kind of route. I do a lot of image and like the teaching preschool programming for children and families in the community and identifying families in need and things like that, so. I’ve also, I’ve started my Masters in Nonprofit Management and I’ve pretty much always worked for nonprofit organizations and I think that social justice commitment also was really, yeah.
 Chelsie Salvatera:: So I know you guys had tons of memories here, can you kind of talk about your best memories at Grinnell? If you have any in particular.
 Timothy Stiles:: I can think of two.
 Catherine Stiles:: Well, Singers was definitely a big one for me. Singers tour in 2000 we went, like St. Petersburg and Prague and that big tour and that was, that was a pretty good, like one of the big memories but just the little, everyday stuff of just y’know, hanging out with friends. I remember sitting in the booths in Loose a lot ‘cause I lived in Loose a couple of years and just those booths in the kitchen and just sitting and talking with people and doing homework and stuff. Just kind of hanging out, that’s, and Main, spent a lot of time down in Main and in Bob’s.
 Timothy Stiles:: Spent a lot in Bob’s, spent a lot of time doing physics problem sets in Loose lounge.
 Catherine Stiles:: I was not involved in that.
 Timothy Stiles:: Before the new building, before we had the study spaces in the new science building. When we had the study spaces in the new science building, I remember, there’s one image that I always think about is the, so the, see the dorm doors were locked from 11 to 6 back in the day. They were open all the other times, and I remember we’d left the science building at 5:30 and somebody didn’t have their key and we’re like, we can just wait half an hour ‘til maintenance comes around and opens the doors. It was a lot of work. But it was fun, we were hanging out and doing stuff.
 Timothy Stiles:: Something that’s no longer there, again the science building my first year, there were some beautiful, huge elm trees just south of the science building.
 Catherine Stiles:: There was a willow tree outside Loose.
 Timothy Stiles:: There was a willow.
 Catherine Stiles:: I used to take things out under the willow tree outside Loose a lot. And we had, we hung out at the Grill and the Forum a lot.
 Chelsie Salvatera:: Would you say that was your favorite place on campus, of the time?
 Catherine Stiles.:: I think so, that’s kind of where we, if we weren’t in the dorms that’s where I ended up a lot. I worked there for a semester.
 Timothy Stiles:: The chairs aren’t there.
 Catherine Stiles:: A couple of the chairs are there.
 Chelsie Salvatera:: Nobody really hangs out there anymore.
 Catherine Stiles:: But you’ve got a new place to hang out.
 Chelsie Salvatera:: What kind of clothing did you guys wear during that time?
 Timothy Stiles:: Oooh, mid-nineties so grunge was the big thing.
 Catherine Stiles:: Jeans, t-shirt, flannel.
 Timothy Stiles:: Flannel, everybody wore flannel. T-shirt with the flannel over it.
 Catherine Stiles:: I was more of a like...
 Timothy Stiles:: You had this coat, and dresses...
 Catherine Stiles:: Peasant dress. I did a lot of the flowy dress type stuff, but mostly just the jeans and t-shirt.
 Chelsie Salvatera:: Oh.
 Timothy Stiles::  Well, with Singers, I had a tux, so for waltz I was set. Just put on my tux.
 Catherine Stiles:: I don’t even remember. I had a silver dress that was like this, silver sheath thing but then I had a blue one?
 Timothy Stiles:: Yes.
 Catherine Stiles:: Yeah. I don’t remember going out and getting anything special, it was kind of...
 Timothy Stiles:: You went to the thrift store.
 Catherine Stiles:: I might’ve gone to the thrift store but I would just dress up in what I had and that’s what my friends and I did also, which is kind of between what we already had, ‘cause there was always somebody, and never make-up or jewelry, I, yeah, that wasn’t me.
 Chelsie Salvatera:: Would you guys go to town a lot, go out to town? Do you have any images of the town, memories?
 Catherine Stiles:: I would go to the library, just the, is Stewart? Yeah, just the downtown library ‘cause I was a big recreational reader even with all the coursework I needed like a mystery novel or something.
 Chelsie Salvatera:: Awesome.
 Catherine Stiles:: So, almost right away that was one of the first things I got was a library card and just, that was really important to me to have that time. So...
 Timothy Stiles:: I don’t remember going into downtown too much. We’d go out to eat every once in a while, go to McNallys for snack food.
 Catherine Stiles:: We went to Pizza Hut a lot and Subway, when we were dating.
 Timothy Stiles::  You and I did but Subway wasn’t there ‘til 2000.
 Catherine Stiles:: Yeah, that was our big date.
 Timothy Stiles:: Going to Subway, walking to Subway.
 Catherine Stiles:: If we really wanted to get fancy, we’d get Pizza Hut.
 Timothy Stiles:: Of course there was the Bar, and the Pub. So my first two years the State Street Bar was the good one, and the Pub opened and that became the new hangout spot.
 Chelsie Salvatera:: How has Grinnell changed since you guys were students?
 Timothy Stiles:: Certainly a lot more buildings.
 Catherine Stiles:: The buildings, it seems a bit more upscale and that might just be, I mean this weekend we’ve been staying in the new Cowles apartments and we spent a long time in the JRC, so it’s the newer buildings. But, in the dinner last night over in the Bear and that whole facility, it’s a lot but it’s very over the top on some level. 
 Chelsie Salvatera:: Wow.
 Catherine Stiles:: Yes. So, and the Fine Arts building was new when we were here so it’s, I mean it’s good that there’s new facilities but it’s definitely just the feel of the place is a notch up.
 Chelsie Salvatera:: Can you guys recall an academic experience at Grinnell that was your favorite? A class that you enjoyed?
 Timothy Stiles:: I enjoyed all the classes.
 Catherine Stiles:: Liar. I did not enjoy my 8 AM, first semester Religious Studies class. That was painful. Developmental Psych, obviously. That was one of my favorites.
 Chelsie Salvatera:: Who was your advisor for Psychology, is the person still around?
 Catherine Stiles:: ...Sinnett? Laura Sinnett was my advisor. And then I did a lot of work with- I did some work with Ann Ellis also ‘cause she was the developmental person, but, I don’t know, what other classes?
 Timothy Stiles:: I liked Tutorial.
 Chelsie Salvatera:: Yeah?
 Timothy Stiles::  It was with Armstrong, in Russian, Todd, Todd Armstrong. That was a really good experience, I liked the idea of Tutorial and I’m glad that a lot of places have it, or something similar.
 Catherine Stiles:: Especially now that you’re a professor.
 Timothy Stiles:: Especially now that I’m a professor and looking forward to teaching that course next fall. My first year was 1994, my Tutorial was on Slavic Histories, Slavic Mysteries: The Height of the Balkan War. It was a nice little, very engaging discussion. It was very thoughtful, commentary both on the current, well the then-current events in the Balkans and the history… It was a very different class than anything you would have in high school.
 Chelsie Salvatera:: If you knew then what you know now-
 Timothy Stiles:: [Laughing]
 Chelsie Salvatera:: Yep, what would you have done differently at your time at Grinnell?
 Timothy Stiles:: I would’ve gone into town more. I regret not building more bridges with the town.
 Chelsie Salvatera:: Community interactions or just going to town?
 Timothy Stiles:: Both, but I think that’s the big one. I really couldn’t understand that that is a struggle. It can’t be a struggle for small towns, small college towns. It helps that students go out and shop local and go to the farmer’s markets.
 Catherine Stiles:: I might’ve studied a bit more.
 Chelsie Salvatera:: Did you party a lot?
 Catherine Stiles:: No, I’d hang out with him!
 Timothy Stiles:: Oh, you’re blaming me?
 Catherine Stiles:: I’m blaming you, totally. Well, I did do a lot of, ‘cause he went to Madison for grad school and so there, kinda towards the end I would drive up to Madison a lot for the weekends which meant I wasn’t here and that is something that I wish, I’d spend a lot of time with our relationship and, I mean I had good friends here but I maybe could’ve spent more time making other friends.
 Chelsie Salvatera:: This is a very, very, oh, well, how would you compare the students of today with your classmates and how much you know about students today?
 Catherine Stiles:: We know a lot of, just generic students today with working at another small liberal arts school in the Midwest. I think the technology is the big factor, and we were talking about that last night at our class dinner, if like, there was one guy in our class who would have a cell phone all the time and we made fun of him all the time ‘cause he always had his cell phone. But now, it’s like you can’t really compare the students, well, yeah, they all have cell phones and they’re texting in class. We never did anything like that. Well ,no, we didn’t. We did other stuff. So....
 Chelsie Salvatera:: Can you describe student and campus life as you experienced it during your time at Grinnell?
 Timothy Stiles:: That’s a big question, that’s a very big question. So one thing, so there were the big parties each semester. Waltz, Disco, Mary B. James.
 Chelsie Salvatera:: Did you guys attend all of these?
 Timothy Stiles:: Oh, yeah.
 Catherine Stiles:: Yeah.
 Timothy Stiles:: I was a big part of-
 Catherine Stiles:: You were much more of a partier than I was.
 Timothy Stiles:: That was a big part of student life.
 Catherine Stiles:: I think one thing that I kind of reflect back on is the seriousness with which some issues, which may or may not actually be, I mean, I’m sure, they were serious at the time, but really? Do we have to be that passionate about the menu, or...
 Timothy Stiles:: The menu’s a good one.
 Catherine Stiles:: The menu’s a good one.
 Timothy Stiles:: The menu, the menu struggles. There's still menu struggles?
 Chelsie Salvatera:: Not so much.
 Timothy Stiles:: It’s just always something.
 Catherine Stiles:: There’s always gonna be something that people are gonna complain about and that is something that I’ve learned over time is that wherever you are there’s gonna be something that people complain about. It’s just a matter of how seriously you have to take yourself and there reaches a point where you take yourself so seriously that that’s kind of ridiculous, and looking back I’m like, really, did we get that passionate about things that really, in the grand scheme of things, don’t really matter?
 Catherine Stiles:: I think it’s the little things that are important, like vegan crack. That’s what we called the chocolate mint-malted soy, yeah, and they were in Bob’s and they would be frozen and we’d call them vegan crack. Just little things like that, vegan crack! ‘Cause it was really good and it was vegan and there’s not a lot of really good special treats that are vegan. So. I think those kinds of little things are important, in addition to the grandeur like, this building was built or this building was torn down or, y’know what? Yes, lots of buildings were torn down. 
 Catherine Stiles:: Y’know what else is one of my memories is that we didn’t throw in there, was Captain Condom.
 Timothy Stiles:: Oh.
 Catherine Stiles:: That was a big, I was in GEAR, so what was it, Grinnellians Escalating Aids Response, and we did a Captain Condom thing where we’d go around to parties and hand out condoms.
 Chelsie Salvatera:: OK, yeah, we have a couple, Condom Angel, the Condom Fairy.
 Catherine Stiles:: Yeah, the Condom Fairy? Yeah, that’s what we called – 
 Timothy Stiles:: That’s a rip-off, ‘cause that was Hannah’s.
 Catherine Stiles:: Well, we had Captain Condom and Condom Fairy. But the Condom Fairy costume was better. So, yeah.
 Timothy Stiles:: You still have the t-shirt, though.
 Catherine Stiles:: I do have the t-shirt.
 Timothy Stiles:: You still have the costume, too.
 Catherine Stiles:: I do have the t-shirt. But I still remember the order, ‘cause we had student fund money and the order of however many, like 5,000, that we bought, just, the boxes of condoms sitting in my dorm room. It was kind of fun, but, and that was one of the first nights that we were dating. We kinda weren’t quite dating yet and you saw me goin’ around to all the parties with condoms.
 Timothy Stiles:: Her basket.
 Catherine Stiles:: With the little basket of condoms. So, yeah.
 Chelsie Salvatera:: Do you guys have any other things to say that we didn’t get to touch on?
 Catherine Stiles:: Don’t think so.
 Chelsie Salvatera:: No? OK, it was great talking to you.
