Uber Lawyer

“Driving Uber” (Fall 2016) was a very informative interview. It was great to know that a fellow alumna—Salle Yoo (LAW’95)—is part of this innovative company. My mom, who can no longer drive, has to rely on public transportation and taxis to get to work. After her countless bad experiences with taxi services—they never show or get there one hour later—I finally introduced her to Uber. She loves it. She is a big fan because of how reliable it is and how it is cheaper than a taxi. I have to thank Uber for allowing my mom to continue working despite the health challenges that she faces every day.

I totally agree with Yoo that hard work does not equate to success in the workplace. Having a mentor and a sponsor who will vouch for you is crucial for your success at work. It can be very challenging for minorities to find a sponsor or a mentor.

Magdala Randolphe (CGS’92, CAS’94, MET’03)
Waltham, Mass.

LAW Tower’s Beauty

When I arrived at the School of Law in 1972, I thought the LAW tower was a beautiful building. The fact that I had most recently spent a year at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, from which the tower’s architect, Josep Lluís Sert (Hon.’70), had only recently departed, may have influenced me. When I graduated from LAW, after suffering with the stairwells and the elevators for three years, I still thought the tower was beautiful. Your photograph in the fall edition (“School of Law Tower Makeover Wins Award”) reminds me anew just how breathtakingly beautiful this building is.

BU, Leland Cott, the restoration architect, and the Massachusetts Historical Commission—not to mention Sert himself—deserve our congratulations and our thanks.

Andrew Glickson (LAW’75)
Norwalk, Conn.

Memories of Myles

I only recently read the story about the renovations for Myles Standish Hall (“Renovation for Myles,” Summer 2016). It brought back wonderful memories. I arrived at Myles in 1955 and lived there through graduation in 1959. Since I was on a football scholarship, I had no option but to live there. For a young man who had just left a wonderful home in Connecticut—five siblings sharing one bath—our suite was magnificent. Four guys living in a three-bedroom, one-bath arrangement was light-years better than the housing that my children and grandchildren have experienced at Smith, Trinity, Bucknell, the University of Pennsylvania, Connecticut College, and Harvard. All of them lived in broom closets compared to our digs.

Who can forget the highly starched sheets passed out each week? As I recall, the food was more than adequate; breakfast was from 6:30 to 9, with a choice of eggs or cereal. This is a slightly different experience than my offspring’s: pâté to stir-fried steak, or anything else they wanted to dine on all day long.

I loved BU, loved Myles, loved Sig Ep, and loved my job as a bartender at the Rathskeller in Kenmore Square. With all of that, we had a two-minute walk to see my beloved Red Sox for $3 a seat in the bleachers.

Sorry, but we had no women at Myles while I was there.

Go, BU!

Dave McDermott (Questrom’59)
Essex, Conn.

In 1951, I found myself transplanted from a small town in Maine to the ninth floor of Myles Standish Hall. A small corner suite overlooking Kenmore Square was home to five college freshmen. Four of us were enrolled in the School of Music and one in the College of Communication, both in Copley Square. The colleges of Boston University were spread around the entire city at that time, and our long walk down Commonwealth Avenue each day was to become the norm. Later, I would be walking from my Beacon Hill residence to the new campus on Commonwealth Avenue. Walking in Boston was never a chore for me, as the varied landscape of the city is so remarkable in many ways.

The physical layout was not to my advantage, as I was housed in one room with a huge guy who spent his nights and days in a beer garden not far away. He was unkempt and dirty, smelly socks always ended up under his bed. My three musical friends shared the other rooms. Things were not working out, and after a couple of months I was stricken with a severe case of homesickness. Purchasing a train ticket, I was on my way home to Maine. After a long evening discussion with my parents, I went to bed.  Early the next morning my Dad knocked on my door and told me to get up, as I was going back to Boston. It was not a pleasant morning and only years later did I realize how fortunate I was to have wise, caring, and discerning parents.  Finding myself back at Myles, I settled down to study and excelled in every category. (This story has helped many of my adult friends to cope with similar situations in their families.)

I love Boston, married a Cambridge girl, and 58 years later we have a great lifestyle, spending our winters in Florida and summers at our family vacation home on a small Maine lake.

I certainly enjoyed reminiscing about the old Myles, as memories of that time are slowly diminishing with age.

Dick Grant (CFA’62)
Plant City, Fla.

Fondly Remembering the Bedores

On the last page of the fall 2016 Bostonia is an interview with Ruth Bedore (SAR’39) (“A Lifetime of Generosity”). During the 1950s, her husband, Clifford, was a teacher in West Branch, Mich. He was one of my teachers and an assistant baseball and football coach. Everyone I know loved Mr. Bedore. They came to our annual high school reunion every year until he passed away. I never knew their connection to Boston University until I read this article. Mr. Bedore was a paratrooper in World War II and used to tell us stories of his service time. He was always a pleasure. Thanks for that article.

George Wilkinson (CAS’74)
West Branch, Mich.

Corrections

A profile of School of Law Dean Maureen O’Rourke (“Lawyering Up,” Fall 2016) misattributed a quote about the habits of elite law firms and their impact on the profession. The quote is from a report on enrollment trends by Keith Scheuer, a California attorney and law expert for the education website Noodle.com, not a Gallup/Access Group study.

A chart on the Class of 2020 (“True Grid,” Fall 2016) incorrectly listed the number of students enrolled. The class has 3,552 enrolled students, not 6,952.

An article on Tony-winning producer Stewart Lane (CFA’73) (“Meet Mr. Broadway,” Fall 2016) incorrectly stated that 500 stages are defined as being on Broadway. The number of stages is 41.

We regret the errors.