University of Virginia Library

It Takes
All Kinds

It takes all kinds to make a school like this one.

The millionaire's son dining at the same restaurant with
fundamentalist yokels,

The Vice President of the United States and Jacques Barzun,
speaking on the same night,

The unwashed freaks who infest the Corner,

The first-yearman from Newport News, Virginia, who is seeing
mountains for the first time,

Rhodes Scholars in jeans – or in Hart, Schaefner, and Marx
suits,

The faithful who watch Citizen Kane each and every year,

The drugstore owner who hopefully places the February 1965
issue of Moody Monthly in his store window,

The lass who worships every dundering primate on the playing
fields,

The tuba player in the band,

The obnoxious, misinformed beggars on Main Street,

The football player living in luxury fit for Nebuchadnezzar –
while Echols Scholars squeeze into triple dorm rooms,

The dedicated souls in the Cavalier Daily composing room,
fighting that decrepit and obstinate headliner,

Young Republicans face to face with Hare Krishna dervishes,

The taxi driver who regales you with his adventures in Cupid's
art,

The TV trivia expert in your dorm,

The Boston snob in the next suite,

The 'Bama-born bigot who shares a room with you,

Tourists asking who designed that horrid geology building,

The Boobish professor who, when illness in your family has
you worried nearly into the tomb yourself, chirps that "science
helps us conquer all adversity,"

The brilliant professor who all but determines your career.