Edmund White: Cranbrook and Romney

[Bolo Boffin]

Just saw this at Balloon Juice - Edmund White, the author of A Boy's Own Story, has a few Cranbrook memories of his own published in the New Yorker. He didn't attend with Romney, but he knows the place and, well, in the words of Anne Laurie over at BJ, "I doubt Willard ever felt that dagger."

I'm copying a paragraph, but you really should go read the whole thing for the full effect.

From what I can gather from the few details that have come out about Romney and his bullying of a student who was perceived as gay (forcefully cutting off his long, bleached-blond hair), a familiar picture emerges. Romney was not a good student nor was he athletic; he was the manager of one of the school teams, a sort of default position for boys who wanted to be athletic and cool and popular—a water boy, in essence. He was considered a class clown, always up to rather cruel pranks. I can picture his situation, though it’s only speculation on my part (I’ve never known any of his friends, though one of his older brothers was a classmate). On the one hand he had an embarrassingly famous father, the governor of Michigan, whom he idolized as the youngest child. On the other he was the sole Mormon, a member of what was definitely seen as a creepy, stigmatized cult in that world of bland Episcopalian Wasps (we had Episcopalian services at chapel three mornings a week). When his father was president of American Motors, he lived at home and was a day student, an envied status. When his father was elected governor and moved to the state capital of Lansing, he became a boarder. Suddenly he was surrounded by other Cranbrook students and the strict “masters,” 24/7. He no longer had the constant support of his tight-knit family. Now he had to win approval from the other boys.

[closeupready]

1. Thanks. I've always enjoyed Edmund White, even though

he is clearly from a privileged background, and I am not.

He has shed some much-needed light on what sort of school it was, and why Romney's bullying is important.