Date: Sat, 9 Aug 2003 01:10:37 -0700
From: Christopher Gillen <philosophiste at msn.com>
Reply-To: johnny at charm.net
To: johnny at charm.net
Subject: equally for the record

  Elliott Zuckerman was my Freshman Lab tutor for first 
semester.  At my first don rag he came down on me pretty hard 
for my classwork and participation, which completely floored me.  
I had thought I was doing rather well.  A few days after don rags 
I ran into him in the coffee shop and asked to speak with him.  
We sat down at a side table and I nervously stammered out a 
question about a lab paper that he had been particularly critical 
of.  I don't like grade-grubbing but I wasn't used to having my 
work criticized, especially when another student who I knew was 
barely treading water in class had been praised.  I told him I
wanted to know why my essay had been worse than student X's.
He told me that far from being worse, he thought it had been
the best paper in the class, but it was also clear to him that
I was coasting.  The other kids had really worked at it and had
handed in the best papers they could write.  I hadn't, and that 
pissed him off more than anything else.  Although he had to drop
our class at semester, those last few weeks of Lab were some of 
the best classtime I had at St. John's.  Mr. Zuckerman kept tabs 
on us throughout the rest of the year and in May, although he was 
no longer our tutor, had a party at his house for us just before 
the end of the year and even whipped up some of his famous salmon 
mousse.

  In those days, Mr. Zuckerman would grace the waltz committee with 
live performances of Strauss waltzes at Cotillion, and occasionally,
with an everso wicked grin, launch into his 4/4 version of the 
Blue Danube - sending waltzers colliding into each other.  Times
changed and the waltzes gave way to swing and Mr. Zuckerman's
waltzes were no longer the attraction they once were.  Students
talked over his playing or wandered off the floor, waiting for
the next DJed swing number.  Though the Waltz Committee still made
the offer out of form, eventually Elliot started excusing himself
from performing.  Years later, Roberta Gable (then the new Alumni 
Director) and I arranged an afternoon Alumni Weekend 'tea waltz' 
in the Great Hall, strictly waltzes with no swing, for the alumni 
who still remembered the 'good old days', featuring Elliott Zuckerman 
at the piano.  It took some persuading, but he eventually agreed
to perform for us.

  The day was sunny with a light breeze, alumni children
scampered about the lawn as the sounds of Strauss wafted out the
open doors of McDowell while their parents spun gracefully about
the dance floor.  It was a grand success.  Afterward, I went up 
to the piano to thank him for playing for us.  He was packing up 
his shoulder-bag and mumbled something about how the piano needed 
tuning.  I shook his hand and told him how much we had appreciated
him coming out again to play for us.  A small crowd gathered by
the piano and chimed in with their own appreciation.  His face
lit up and he stammered "Well.... well, you're very welcome."
As he made his way out of the Great Hall, other dancers kept 
approaching him to add their own thanks.  By the time he reached
the door a wide smile had come across his face and he looked for
all the world ten years younger.

I don't know anything about your experience with Mr. Zuckerman
and I'm sure I don't care to, but I found him to be one of the 
brightest, funniest and most caring tutors at St. John's and I
wouldn't trade that Freshman Lab or those waltzes away for
anything in the world.

- Christopher Gillen, A'90