Work Study: U.H. News Liberated Press

One portion of my financial aid plan was something called Work Study. I could get paid for doing work on campus. Well, Erica, my roommate, had joined the newspaper staff and she said it was a fun group. So I joined. To the best of my knowledge, my job was basically that of a typist. I had taken typing in eighth grade and still remembered how to do it. Remember, none of us had computer keyboards in those days. But you know, I really don't recall doing a heck of a lot of typing. I do remember hanging around the paper's work room with all the witty and fun people on the staff. Jack Hardy, of course, was the infamous Editor in Chief. I have no clear memory of how it happened, but at some point Jack convinced me to apply for the Work Study benefit as a staff member of the paper. And so the U.H. News Liberated Press partially financed my time at UHA. So I guess Jack was my boss!

And though I don't recall when or how I first encountered Jack, it was in those early Freshman days that I fell madly and totally in love with John Studebaker Hardy – the talented writer/editor, musician, song writer (now legendary in the folk music world) and ladies' man, with long straggly hair, a walrus-like moustache, a Cheshire Cat grin, and an ever-present twinkle in his eye. He never took himself or ANYTHING too seriously, or so it seemed at the time. I was to learn different as time went by. It was during those weeks and months that I was to also meet the President of the Student Association, Benedict M. Holden III. Ben and Jack were best of friends and true partners in crime on campus. Whenever something bizarre and nefarious happened on campus, you could be sure that they were behind it. Below is an article I wrote in the entirely SPOOF edition of the paper published on April 1, 1969.