My Exaggerated Life: Pat Conroy by Katherine Clark

Author:Katherine Clark [Clark, Katherine]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9781611179071
Publisher: University of South Carolina Press
Published: 2018-01-15T07:00:00+00:00

The Shannon Faulkner story is another highlight in my poor relationship with the Citadel. It began in about 1988 when I was living in San Francisco. My wife used to set up talks; that was her business deal. She would set up the talks and send me off. So I’m going around; I’m talking. She sent me off to one at the Rhode Island School of Design, where my daughter Melissa was a student, and I was talking to a few other schools in New England. I come to one on my itinerary, and it says the Coast Guard Academy. The Lords of Discipline had been published in 1980. It was not a big hit with military academies.

I call my wife. “There’s been some mistake. You have the Coast Guard Academy for me to speak to.”

She said, “Not a mistake. They really want you to come. This captain is dying to have you there.”

I said, “Are you sure?” She knew no more about military colleges than I know about fashion schools, but I said okay.

The guy that meets me is in hysterics. He said, “My God, I never knew you were so controversial. I never would have invited you here had I known my job and my livelihood would be in jeopardy.”

I said, “Don’t worry about it, Captain.” I think he was a captain.

This guy told me in agony that the commandant of the Coast Guard heard I was coming, called him up, and said if I said anything controversial he would fire this guy. Even though the guy had tenure, he’d figure out a way to get rid of him. I say, “Relax, pal. We’ll have a ball.”

He had three cadets with him, this young woman and these two handsome guys, and they were my military attachés guiding me around. I said, “Yes, yes, I always wanted an entourage, and now I have one. I feel like MacArthur.”

I didn’t have rank at the Citadel, so I said, “Do you all have to do anything I want you to?” They said, “Yes, yes, sir.” I said, “Good. I want to march you around campus, because you’re very high ranks.” So I stood them in line. I would yell left, right, left, right; I did about-faces. I had a ball with them. So then we went to the first thing, which was, I was talking to the plebes. They’re all these miserable freshmen going through the plebe system.

And I see girls all over the place. I see about 30 percent of the class is girls, and I am shocked. These boys clubs are hard to break into. I’m going, “My God, let me ask a question. What are you young women doing here?” And they look up, and of course they can’t answer me. They’re plebes. I said, “Let me just ask you this one question. Is it as miserable and unhappy and hellacious and stupid for you as it was for me when I was a freshman at the Citadel?” Okay, they can’t answer, but I saw these imperceptible nods of their heads, going up and down.

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