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Showing posts from July, 2018

Fall 1973 – Selecting a College and People of Color

Fall 1973 – Selecting a College and People of Color M y summer job at the bakery was over. At my previous Air Force Reserve weekend in August, my supervisors were asking me what school I would be going to in the fall. I explained that I really wanted to go to school out west but would have to wait a year till my reserve commitment was up. When they heard that, they told me that I could do the next years two weeks now and a few weekends in a row to complete my time. Then I could just go and they would handle all the paperwork. They would send me my release when my commitment was up. Wow! That was so nice. They actually liked me. They not only promoted me but they set it up so I could finish my commitment early. I suppose having to see me only two days a month helped. I am apparently more likable in small doses. It was too late for the Fall term but I could still apply for the coming Winter or Spring term depending on the school. I immediately applied to both UC Be

Freihofer's Bakery: The Summer of 73

Freihofer's Bakery: The Summer of 73 I t was the summer of 1973. Dottie was in our apartment in Watervliet but after the engagement episode I had moved out and was renting a place across the river in Troy. I graduated from Hudson Valley with an Associate in Arts degree. Most of my friends in the area were either schoolmates of Dottie's or non-students I had met in the area. I had made just two friends at Hudson Valley. One was Patty who I had met the first week of school. It was through her that I got a summer job at the Freihofer’s Bakery plant in Albany. Her connection was her Mother who was a full time employee there. In the summer the bakery's business would increase due to all the vacation spots in upstate New York, places like Lake George, Lake Champlain, the Finger Lakes, and Saratoga Springs. This was a union job so it paid very well. It started at $3.56 an hour. The minimum wage at the time was $1.85. Summer jobs generally did not pay much mor