CRAIG CONLEY (Prof. Oddfellow) is recognized by Encarta as “America’s most creative and diligent scholar of letters, words and punctuation.” He has been called a “language fanatic” by Page Six gossip columnist Cindy Adams, a “cult hero” by Publisher’s Weekly, a “monk for the modern age” by George Parker, and “a true Renaissance man of the modern era, diving headfirst into comprehensive, open-minded study of realms obscured or merely obscure” by Clint Marsh. An eccentric scholar, Conley’s ideas are often decades ahead of their time. He invented the concept of the “virtual pet” in 1980, fifteen years before the debut of the popular “Tamagotchi” in Japan. His virtual pet, actually a rare flower, still thrives and has reached an incomprehensible size. Conley’s website is OneLetterWords.com.
Pinball as an illustration of a college's department of religious studies? According to the Church of the Silver Ball's Pinball Museum (which, sadly, is neither a church nor a museum, according to its own description), pinball can be a religion.
Our photo is from Colorado College's 1975 yearbook.
Here's why the caption is a lie. It says, "A single trumpet is calling you, a mystic note only you can hear." But it's not a trumpet -- it's a saxophone solo. From the University of Nebraska at Omaha's 1970 yearbook.
This photograph may be used either to facilitate time travel or, on an astral level, to move away from the darkness and toward the light. However, it should not be used for near-death experiences. From the Illinois State yearbook of 1978.
For how to tap into the strangely potent spirituality contained within an old yearbook, see How to Hoodoo Hack a Yearbook. From Pennsylvania State College's La Vie yearbook, 1920.