Marilyn and the Word


Words were sacred to Marilyn. Each and every word spoken or written
by her students or great authors were received as if they were the
essence and the power of life. There were times when we would spend
hours reveling at someone's use of a word in respect to its elegance,
appropriateness or creative use. I think that is why poetry was so
important to her and in particular the great English poets like Yeats,
and Wordsworth, and the Brownings. I think she knew that the right
word would stand forever while the wrong word would eventually fade
away.

In the early 70's, she had a vision of a program that would help under-
prepared but otherwise capable students to not only succeed in their
pursuit of a college education but would expose them to a high level of
academic enrichment and enlightenment that would greatly enhance the
quality of their lives. And so the program Mainstream was named and
initiated to make sure that under-prepared students who were in the
mainstream of college academics stayed afloat and moreover were
provided an opportunity to experience excellence. After a semester or
two from the initiation of Mainstream, a controversy arose. I am not
sure of the details but, perhaps issues dealing with grants and funding,
it became known that there was another human service organization that
had already adopted the name Mainstream. Dr. Maxwell was advised
to change the name of her Mainstream program. For a long time, I
remember her doing everything she could to resist changing the name of
her program because it was the right name, but moreover, she knew
that keeping the name Mainstream would keep the focus of her
program intact.

Alas at some point and for some reason, she was with no doubt forced to
capitulate, and Latch, a very different word than Mainstream, became
the word that described her program. It was perhaps her attempt to
latch on to the name Mainstream, symbolic of latching on to students,
but more likely the many other meanings of latch, like the latch on the
door of success, the handle on problems, or the fastening of
relationships that were her reasons for choosing the name. At the time,
I could not understand the importance of a word, but I do know that
she was very disappointed in having to change the name.

For many years thereafter, the Latch program thrived with Marilyn at
the helm. But each year the program changed a little, for Latch opened
the door for more deprived and less capable students to enter her
program and latch on to anyone who could sooth the myriad of
physical, psychological, social problems that not only hindered learning
but hindered any kind of a quality life experience. And Marilyn
welcomed all and gave each student the same positive regard no matter
how under-prepared or ill-suited they were for the rigors of college
academics and accepted the responsibility of caring for the unwanted
that were being sent to latch on. But I always knew that she made the
supreme sacrifice of abandoning her ideal to take poor disadvantaged
but otherwise capable students to the mountaintop of academic
enrichment and intellectual discourse to literally feed the hungry,
comfort the sick and raise the esteem of the very poor in spirit. I will
always believe that she knew when Mainstream became Latch that
eventually her ideal would change as well because one word is that
important.

Bill AuCoin