The exact date of Eric’s sixth letter is uncertain, but I estimate that it arrived in the late spring of 1988. Accompanying the letter was an application form and a catalogue with “a lot of propaganda” (Eric’s phrase) about Colorado College.
I was thinking of transferring from Westminster College after an unhappy freshman year there, and I appreciated the concern behind his question: “Do you have a Financial Aid Form filled out yet? You should do that fairly soon and have it (need analysis) sent to the schools you are applying to.”
After letting me know that Colorado College “is dropping one block out of the year in the so-called ‘Eight-block plan’ (and) CC also hasn’t divested (another point they don’t dwell on in the recruiting pamphlets),” Eric responds to a story I had told him in a recent letter. The story was about how I started an Amnesty International chapter at my college and how surprised I felt when one of my fellow freshman approached me to say that she would love to join the group but she could not. She hesitated because she was worried that the CIA would open a file on her.
I also lamented that I felt left out of social life at my Greek-dominant college because I was not selected to join a sorority. His reply was comforting:
Personally, I think Kappa Kappa Gamma and other herd-like organizations are a greater threat to Democracy than Amnesty International, even if the CIA and K. don’t agree with me.
The next paragraph continues:
I just started reading a book — Dead Souls, Nikolai Gogol. I think it’s going to be a really good book. I went shopping with a friend . . . who bought a book by Nabokov and a Cheap Trick tape at the Bookstore — quite a contrast.
Friday night, he and I filled out our Boto Bags* with drinks and got slightly drunk while walking around Colorado Springs. It’s really a shit-hole of a city but it was fun.
Did you pick up the book by Kafka yet? I hope you like it.
If you need to ask me something about your appl. that can’t wait for a letter answer, give me a call. Otherwise, write
LOVE,
ERIC
* Do you know what a Boto bag is? It looks like this.
