The story runs a bit long here so I will say upfront this is a birthday tribute to Ardee! (Tomorrow is her birthday)

Happy Birthday, Ardee!!!

***

I was a little more than a month into the new school year at art school when a teacher in one of my classes presented a new homework assignment that was quite different from the norm.

The class was "Designing a New Urban Society" and it was the type of class that could appeal to anyone interested in cities and city life.

The main focus of the assignment was to invite a stranger to dinner and through conversation find as many things in common as possible. We were told the other person could be a RISD student, but the student would be someone that we didn't know.

Immediately after the class ended that day my classmate, Craig, and I were talking in the hallway about the odds of actually getting someone to agree to dinner because it would sound like some type of hoax we would be a stranger in, like the cheesy steak knife sets we saw advertised on TV all of the time.

Anyway, by the following day I had a plan. I would approach someone who had a post office box at the school post office and engage them in the proposition.

When I was a freshman my box number was 59, but then I took a year off and was given a new box number in the 600s. The day was Tuesday, October 14, 1975 and my goal was to invite someone to dinner for the upcoming Friday, (the 17th). I loitered around the area of my old post office box for about 15 minutes before I had to leave to have lunch at my apartment. A few students came by but I either knew them or felt they weren't right for picking a dinner out.

I came back to the post office around 4:00 after my afternoon design class was over and once again was in the general area of the old post office box. After about five minutes a female student went to open box number 54 and I approached. 

As memory serves me, I started the conversation with, "Hi, your box is almost next to my old one, number 59."

"Did you used to be a student here?"

 "I am a student here and I have a unique problem. I have to invite a someone I don't know to dinner for one of my class assignments."

"That is an odd assignment. Who is paying for dinner and where is the restaurant?"

"I'm paying and the restaurant is the Mee Hong Chinese restaurant on Westminster Street."

"Maybe I can help you out. When are you supposed to have dinner there?"

"I'm aiming for this Friday."

"I could meet you there, no problem. What's your name?"

"John."

"Hi, I'm Leslie!"

We talked further and exchanged phone numbers. She lived a few blocks south of the campus on Benefit Street, I lived a few blocks north, also on Benefit. Already I had some things in common to present in my homework assignment paper. Because I was on the staff of the yearbook I also had a copy of the faculty and student ID book which revealed that Leslie's photo was a few rows down from mine because our last names started with the same letter. It was looking like this assignment would be a breeze!

The conversation closed along these lines:

"See you at the Mee Hong at eight on Friday!"

"Looking forward to it, thank you!"

With photos taken just a month earlier for our student ID cards here's how we looked back then. I'm in the top row, obviously the one in the center, and Ardee is in the fourth row, fourth over from the left:

The Mee Hong which is no longer part of the restaurant scene in Providence. I took this photo a few months later in the winter.

I saw my classmate Craig later on and told him of my success. He still hadn't come up with anyone so I suggested the post office idea for him. I said why not sit on the bench and the first female student who walks by wearing Earth Shoes can be your "target."

Wednesday and Thursday passed by quickly and suddenly it was Friday! I hadn't heard anything from Leslie so that was a good sign that we were still on for the Mee Hong that evening.

I arrived at the restaurant a little early and claimed a table. Leslie arrived promptly at eight.

"Great to see you! Please excuse the legal pad I have to jot down some notes during dinner."

 "No problem, I know this is related to your class."

 And thus began a scintillating and wonderful converation, plus I was able to find a number of things we had in common.

She was in architecture and I had taken a course in interior architecture during my freshman year. Some of her classmates were my friends. She was from Florida, I had visited my grandparents in Florida, and on we went with all types of things we had in common!

Then she said the following day was her birthday and I said a celebration should be in order. There is a band that has three former RISD students in it that is playing tomorrow night at Lupo's. The name of the band is a little different: The Talking Heads.

...and the rest is rock n roll and Open Salon history!

A drum roll, please and take it from the top....

 Happy Birthday and many happy returns, Ardee!!!