Skidding through the Door

by Eris Perese

When my husband and I moved to Buffalo from Albany, we didn't know very much about Buffalo, but I knew that I wanted to complete my nursing degree. I took a job at Roswell Park Memorial Institute as a surgical nurse during the day, and I enrolled in UB's Millard Fillmore College for evening classes.

I attended classes with all the veterans who were completing their education under the GI bill. It was an intense experience. Most of all, I remember huge rooms full of veterans who did not want any interruptions during class. It was strictly get in, get it, and get out. Since we were all balancing work, families, and evening classes, we came skidding through the door at the last moment.

Although the classes were huge, you were able to meet your requirements and the teaching was effective. Millard Fillmore College had good professors, very dedicated people. You got a lot of examples of hard work from people who were committed to their profession. These were professional professors.

At MFC I took creative writing with a writer-in-residence, Sloan Wilson, who was writing The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit. In fact, he would often read us a chapter that he was working on, and we would critique it. The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit opened up a new style of writing and went on to become a great movie with Gregory Peck. I learned a lot from Sloan Wilson: "Keep it crisp; no clichis; write what you know, and no one has told your story."