Quote of the Day (James Thurber, on Gym, A Horror of His College Experience)

“If I went through anguish in botany and economics – for different reasons – gymnasium work was even worse. I don’t even like to think about it. They wouldn’t let you plays games or join in the exercises with your glasses on and I couldn’t see with mine off. I bumped into professors, horizontal bars, agricultural students, and swinging iron rings…. In order to pass gymnasium (and you had to pass it to graduate) I had to pass a swimming test. I did not like swimming and the swimming instructor, and after all these years I still don’t. I never swam but I passed my gym work anyway, by having another student give my gymnasium number (978) and swam across the pool in my place….Another thing I didn't like about gymnasium work was that they made you strip the day you registered. It is impossible for me to be happy when I am stripped and being asked a lot of questions.”—American humorist James Thurber (1894-1961), “University Days,” in My Life and Hard Times (1933)