Vital Signs

As a new faculty member during Vietnam, I’d lost my student deferment. Frantic, I brought the dean a blood pressure cuff and stethoscope, requesting he write my draft board about how important I was. He cursorily examined me, said don’t worry: I’ll write that the college considers you absolutely vital.

Joel Savishinsky, author of Breaking the Watch: The Meanings of Retirement in America, continues to believe in the value of letters. Ithaca.edu @savishin