R.I.P.

The Old Man of the Mountain. Never actually saw it. And now never will. (Unless the state is successful in a campaign to restore it.)

I grew up a mile-and-a-half from another wonder of nature, Jumbo the Elephant, and never saw him, either, before his stuffed remains were consumed in a fire in 1975. I shall always feel I missed something.

At any rate, to honor the memory of the late state rock-formation of New Hampshire, give a listen to this 1932 recording of The Old Man of the Mountain by Waring's Pennsylvanians.

In other Granite State news:

At Dartmouth College, nanny administrators have decreed fraternity and sorority officers must attend a sensitivity-training seminar called "Seeking Alliances through Leadership and Diversity," or SALAD. According to this entertaining account from the Dartmouth Review, students have complied in something other than the willing spirit of self-improvement envisioned by earnest multi-culti facilitators.

Ironically, the task of going to SALAD fell on me and two of my brothers because we lost a three-on-three boat race (brothers imbibe vast quantities of alcohol, first to finish is victorious). Seems [the assistant dean of residential life] has all but encouraged binge drinking, at least in my case.

Upon entering the 1930s room in Rockefeller Center at 8:30 AM, I found most of the students already there. Many were understandably dazed and limp, it being the morning after the week’s most popular night. The Tri-Kap president, collapsed on one of the plush, green, thousand-dollar government-department chairs, appeared comatose, eyes closed and his head cocked back ninety degrees on top of the headrest…

Nothing like a full day of diversity training to cure a hangover.

Dartmouth – or rather, the old, pre-PC Dartmouth – was, of course, the inspiration for Animal House, one of the two formative comedy films of my generation (the other being Caddyshack.)

The 25th anniversary of Animal House is being marked this July with a parade in Cottage Grove, Oregon. Wonder if the Dexter Lake Club still is for sale?

Last year, the NPR series "Present at the Creation" looked at Animal House and its iconic place in American culture.

And in one of his great columns, Jonah Goldberg searches for the most Burkean line in the movie.