Christopher Doemel:: My name is Christopher Doemel, and I currently live in Lansing, Michigan and I'm a member of the Grinnell College class of 1994. So I grew up in a small town in Indiana: Crawfordsville, Indiana, which was the home of Wabash College. So I always- I always sort of grew up in a small- It's an eight-hundred student 
Christopher Doemel:: all men's school, and both my parents worked there, so I knew I didn't want to go to Wabash, but there were a lot of students- children of faculty ended up at Grinnell for some reason, so when I started looking at colleges- and I was everywhere. I mean I'd looked at probably every single college in the ACM, and every single college in the GLCA, so I went on this epic tour of colleges the summer before my senior year, and probably visited like twenty schools in a week. And I remember really not liking Grinnell the first time that I came here because when I came in 19- like the summer of '89 I guess it would have been, 
Christopher Doemel:: the admissions department was over in that little house that's over by the old- the south campus, the far end of the south campus.
Erica Seltzer-Schultz:: In Mears?
Christopher Doemel::  Yeah. It was, used to be. It was in Mears when I was- when I came here. And, when I went to the interview, the lighting of the room was actually very much like this one where it was really dark and the interviewer, there was like one light that, you know it sort of felt like I was in an old war movie, you know, with the light shining on me. So I came out of that interview thinking 'Ugh'. Didn't get- didn't leave a good taste in my mouth. I mean, I liked some of the rest of the campus, but I'd pretty much written off Grinnell, honestly. But then a few- a little while later some of the other people from- of my parents, you know, my friends and the children of my parents' friends, said they were going to come out for an overnight visit, you know, to actually be able to attend some classes, and I came back for that and stayed overnight on south campus in the visitor- they had like a- at that time at least, they had a room that was set aside for admissions visitors. I don't know if they still do that or not. It's probably over on East campus now, but.. Anyway, 
Christopher Doemel:: I stayed overnight there, got to sit in some classes, and having actually experienced life at Grinnell, and meeting some of the other students and talking- you know, sitting in classes and hearing the conversations that were going on, at that point, it moved from sort of not being on my list to being, you know, top of my list. So, that's how I ended up at Grinnell. So my first memory of campus was not necessarily- not necessarily positive, but, yeah. So that's how I ended up here. I think that there were way too many professors and staff members that I remember, but Roger Vetter, who's a music professor. I actually got a chance to talk to him today.
Christopher Doemel:: I took pretty much every class that he would offer. I was in his gamelan for the three years he was there. And just- you know, basically, he was the one, you know up until that point I had really gotten a chance to see- my experience with music was very western based and of course he's all about everything that's not western, so having a chance to learn about that was really great. My advisor was Don Irving in the English department and he passed away a few years ago. And he's probably- I remember that he was probably the most- 
Christopher Doemel:: I was a strange student because I was in English. I had an interest in writing, you know, because what I really wanted to do was become a technical writer and so I was taking this, you know, very liberal artsy sort of focus in sciences and computer science and English to try to get that kind of background, and he was willing to let me get away with that, so I- it's so- He was influential in a sense that as someone who was both- he both taught English, you know, American Literature, and he taught American Studies, so he was sort of sitting on that- a similar boundary although much more Humanities-oriented than science-oriented as I was. Yeah, there's a ton of- Grant Gale. I don't know if you ever had a chance to meet him,
Christopher Doemel:: but he's the Physics professor. He was an Emeritus faculty member when I was here and he was this great, really smart guy. He was already retired when I started coming, but, all of those exhibits, if you've ever walked through the science building on the first floor, that museum, almost everything that's there is stuff that he collected and put together and he used to sit in his office, and if he saw any students standing in the hallway looking at some of those things, he'd come out and give you a personal tour of everything. And that's kind of- I mean he sort of sums up I think a lot of the faculty here because it's really- I mean, it was faculty like that 
Christopher Doemel:: went out of their way to really connect with the students which is something I really appreciated. So my memories of my time at Grinnell.. You know, that's hard. There's a lot to choose from. I think one of the things that I remember most was the town of Grinnell, because little things like the Danish Bakery. That was something. I actually did an American Studies project with that where I went and sat at the bakery from 1 AM when he started baking until 5 in the morning, two or three nights and bascially did this (interview) to try to get his story about
Christopher Doemel:: how did he start baking and you know how- what's it like to work in a college- this college town where you have students showing up in the middle of the night and you know that- it's- that was really- that was sort of the experience I was looking for too, right? Because, I mean, this was a town and it really hasn't changed in fifteen years. I mean it's still like nine thousand people in the town itself. The college is this huge piece of the population, and you know for the most part, you know, you'd walk down to Cunningham's back when it was Cunningham's. You probably didn't get to have that experience.
Erica Seltzer-Schultz:: Yes. So sad that we don't have it anymore.
Christopher Doemel::  So I saw today that it's- you know I remember the Cunningham's still had the soda fountain open when I was there and I used to go down there every couple weels just to, you know, sort of go back in time, really, to the 50's, and to go down there now and it's like a hair salon where the soda fountain was. It's a little strange. My first dorm room was actually in Norris. I don't think Norris exists anymore, does it?
Erica Seltzer-Schultz:: Yeah, no, .
Christopher Doemel:: Is it?
Erica Seltzer:: I'm living there right now for reunion. 
Christopher Doemel:: Are you? Is it still the old Norris or is it- has it been...? Okay, so it's still got the Holiday Inn sort of old- 
Erica Seltzer-Schultz:: Yeah. Narrow hallways.
Christopher Doemel:: Yeah. Really narrow hallways. So I lived on second floor of Norris, and sort of right in the middle where the stairwell was, so everybody that came upstairs would be clomping right past my room, and at the time, at least, Norris was also the home of a lot of really raucous, beer-oriented parties and so you'd wake up in the morning on a Sunday morning or a Saturday morning and you've got that Norris lounge sort of musk coming up from the first floor. But, I mean I- remember that that room was- it wasn't much larger than this room. 
Christopher Doemel:: So maybe, you know, it was probably, maybe ten feet wide, maybe eight feet probably. Ten feet's a little wide, but you know, it was a double obviously, and it had these black book shelves built into one side of it.
Erica Seltzer-Schultz:: They're still there. Those are nice.
Christopher Doemel:: Well, those aren't too bad, yeah, and the windows were sort of those cantilevered sort of layered windows that never gave you enough air in the summer. So it's one thing that I have forgotten is how much you get used to air conditioning.
Erica Seltzer-Schultz:: Yeah, we actually have air conditioning now in Norris.
Christopher Doemel:: Really? Oh, that's terrible. They spoil you guys. So, Norris, when I was there was kind of dilapidated, and kind of, you know... and I bascially kept moving progressively south every year after that. Second year I was in Smith for the first semester and Younker in the second semester. Not Smith.. Dibble? I can't remember. Anyway so, I ended up in Younker the second semester and then moved down to south campus and finally ended up in Loose my last- my senior year. But, yeah, I still remember that first- that first dorm room. That had- my roommate was Torin Koester
Christopher Doemel::  and probably everybody that comes in here, it's like your roommates, frequently, you've got some similarity but you're also like diametric opposites for that first year, so you either get along famously, or you learn to live with each for six months. That was sort of where we were. Gosh. Gonna go through these here. So I already talked about the town of Grinnell. I mean, again, I still remember the first time I walked downtown and saw that- the bank, the Jewel Bank, the Sullivan Bank. And, the town at the time, it was still sort of like it is now where you have a lot of empty shops and then you had some others that were pretty busy, but I spent most of my time 
Christopher Doemel::  at Pag's or the Back Alley Deli, or you know, all those places that I'm probably- pretty much people are going to today. Since they're all still there. The ones that aren't, I figure people aren't going to. How has Grinnell changed since I was a student? Well, that's probably the easiest thing because the campus is dramatically different from when I was here. I mean I came- I was here ten years ago and at that time the big change was that they had the new Admissions building and then they had the new... East campus stuff. Now I'm here and Noyce is twice as big as it used to be. The Rosenfield center is where Darby was, and Darby is gone, which is bizarre to me. 
Christopher Doemel:: I think that there's a lot of changes like that, but on the other hand, all of the changes that I see seem to be, if I'd been here as a student at the time, the places are things that I would've liked to appreciate. Like, in the Noyce building, the way they've got all these- more places for students to study and work there together that's such a huge improvement over what- because it used to be if you were looking for places to study as a group, there was basically Burling.
Erica Seltzer-Schultz::  Oh, really? Yeah, Noyce is great.
Christopher Doemel::  Yeah, and other than that it was all community space, right? So, I mean, you could sit in the Forum, and sit in the cafeteria there to work, but you were sitting at diner tables, sort of, or booths, you know?
Christopher Doemel::  And, that wasn't very great for academic collaboration, so I guess the physical structure of Grinnell has changed. That's changed the most from my impression. I mean, the students for the most part, as much as I have a chance to talk with them, seem to be pretty much the same, just, you know, more modern versions. In the town, like I said there's a lot of old fixtures in the town that aren't there anymore. And we didn't have a giant Walmart on the outskirts of town. Yeah, so we used to, just to get out of town, we used to drive - some friends and I used to drive to a truck stop that was on the way to Newton.
Christopher Doemel:: And- because they had really good chili there. Anyway... I think when I was on campus I certainly spent a lot of time in the art building. I guess that was probably- I mean I was involved with theatre classes and all of the music stuff. I spent a lot of time in Herrick practicing organ there. But, I mean we spent- We spent a lot of time just hanging out in people's rooms, which I'm sure hasn't changed that much. You know, we had a- there's a suite of rooms that's on the second floor of Loose that a group of friends had and we used to spend a lot of time hanging out there, so I remember.
Christopher Doemel:: I have a lot of fond memories of that part of the campus. I think when I- I mean I've always just really liked the- that, you know, the feel that's in the north campus. I mean that's sort of like the, when I come back, that's one of the first places that I look at, because that, you know the Loggia-
Erica Seltzer-Schultz::  The dorms?
Christopher Doemel::  Well, that, where you have the Loggia on the left and then the east campus is there now, but, you know that big, open green space that was there, which, you know, for me at the time, you sort of looked past that and you felt like you were in the middle of cornfields, but... I don't know. There's a lot of place on campus that I remember being at. If I knew then...? Well, you know the two things- the things, when I was at Grinnell, the things that I 
Christopher Doemel:: would have done differently, I think, is that I really wish that I had gone abroad. You know? If I had taken some off-campus study that would have been a good thing, which sounds weird, but I spent all four years on campus, which I really enjoyed, but on the other hand, you know, it would've been nice to get that off campus experience too. Like the Grinnell-in-London program was really popular when I was here. That would have been- that would've been a lot of fun. But I think everybody, when you're in- when you're at college, you feel like you're doing everything you possibly can, and then when you leave college, you look back. You know, I go "I wish I'd done this," or "I wish I'd done that." "Gosh, here I had an opportunity to take a class there and I didn't." So, it's hard to say, but I think the... I don't know. 
Christopher Doemel:: That's the only real regret that I have, based on, you know, what I know now. Probably would have spent more time studying. That would have been smart, too.
Erica Seltzer-Schultz:: It's hard to do all of that other stuff if you're studying.
Christopher Doemel::  Yeah. Yeah. So... I mean I guess, for student and campus life, one of the things that I liked about Grinnell was the fact that they tried to bring things in on campus that were kind of interesting that you could do, so you never really felt like, even though you were isolated, you never really felt like you were isolated because there was always something to do every weekend. But, you know, we spent, in terms of student life...
Christopher Doemel:: I mean, meals were the big place where you sort of caught up with everybody and you saw people that, you know, maybe you didn't see all the time. I mean, I was sitting down in the... I wanna say- I wanna say, is it old Main? Is that the southern-most-? It used to be the southern-most dorm where they had the dining hall. I don't think they have that anymore, but that was where, for two or three years, that's where I would have breakfast, lunch and dinner with a group of people that, you know, it was almost like we were living in some giant apartment, right? But, attending classes, you know, originally going to the Forum to watch movies and eventually going to the Harris Center once that was built on campus. That was built when I was here. You know, we used to have... 
Christopher Doemel:: When I was first here, it was rare for students to have a computer, right? I mean there were- I had a computer, and I think of all of the people on my floor, maybe two or three people had their own computer. Everybody else was using these little computer labs that were in- on the first floors of all the residence halls. Like, in Norris there was this... Yeah. At the time when I first got here, they were actually computer terminals. They weren't PCs or Macs. They were just, you know, green screens that you...
Erica Seltzer-Schultz:: Oh. I remember those.
Christopher Doemel:: Yeah. It was a long time ago. But at the time they didn't have air conditioning, and you know, you didn't do- They weren't like- The internet wasn't there yet, you know? It wasn't- You didn't really do the- all of the stuff with the world wide web and Facebook and all of that stuff came so much later, but, you know, so we had like- If you wanted to get on the computer, email was a big thing, right? You know, instead of text messaging, we're doing emails all of the time because that was the new, hip technology. So you had people who would find- know where every terminal room was on campus so that after class you would run to a computer room to check your email and send an email to, you know, your friends, and then you would move on to the next thing, 
Christopher Doemel:: and it wasn't until the- probably my sophomore or junior-senior year that they started replacing those with, you know, real computers like PCs and Macs, so that was definitely different than it is now, because you know, now I look around and see, well not only do I know that probably everybody- probably every student now has a computer or a laptop, so... And that was- would've just been unheard of then. So, wireless internet, you know... Internet in a dorm room, you know... All that stuff was new when I got here. What would I include from my years when I was at Grinnell if I were writing a history of Grinnell college? 
Christopher Doemel:: That's a really interesting question. I think it's hard- it's hard for me to look back and say what's- what's significant from a history perspective, because I mean, most of the things that stick out from my years were sort of the morbid tragedy things that happened, because we had a student that was- Everybody knows- Tammy- Jeez, I can't remember her name now. She was- She basically disappeared.
Erica Seltzer-Schultz:: Does she have a rock outside of...? 
Christopher Doemel:: Yeah. So she- That was one of the big event things, but I mean, from a historic importance, I don't know how historic that would be. I don't know. I mean, when you're here in the middle of everything, just like in history in general, you're a history major, so I'm sure you think about this occasionally, but when you're in the middle of history it's hard to tell what's historic. So, sometimes there are obvious things like, you know, you elect the first black president. But, there are other smaller things that you don't realize were important until, you know, years from now. Like the fact that they went from George Drake to Pam Ferguson as the first female president, was when I was- when I was at Grinnell.
Christopher Doemel:: You know, I- So there's nothing obvious that stands out in my mind, but... And I guess that's it, so...
