The Third Hitchhiker Says Goodbye Columbus

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Alumni newsletters

exist to enlarge

endowments
and egos. 

They can also
 enlighten the world

about fabled

skirt-chasers 

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In this newsletter,
an alumnus shared an anecdote
about a thumb-drive
from a previous millennium.

I will paraphrase the anecdote: 


As a fraternity pledge trip,
in 1951, three Bucknell classmates
hitch-hiked 400 miles
from central Pennsylvania
to Columbus, Ohio.

One hitch-hiker
 became a literature professor.
Another became a doctor.

The third hitch-hiker
–from Newark, New Jersey–
 was inspired to write a story
about a girl.

His name is Philip Roth.

Thirty-two years after
the hitch-hiking adventure
Mr. Roth comments about
disturbed readers
who referred to
GOODBYE, COLUMBUS
(his first book)
as his Mein Kampf.
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