I’m sure you’ll spot me immediately. I was a sophomore at Whitman College at the time the photo was taken during the Spring of 1967. Location-somewhere near the Whitman campus in Walla Walla, Washington. I can place it because I spent the next academic year at UH trying to build my grades and my confidence before returning to Whitman to graduate. By the time of my senior year, several people in this photo had graduated. So best guess–late Spring semester 1967.

The photo captures a group of Delts–members of Whitman’s Delta Rho chapter of Delta Tau Delta fraternity during a “kegger”–an outdoor gathering somewhere out in the countryside centered on a large keg of cold beer–in a “secret” location we all referred to as “Delt Island.”

The location was passed on each year to the few Delts who had cars and would be called on to ferry groups out to the island for these occasions. I recall that a man known as “Orville” would approach in his truck to check on our gatherings. A cold beer would be thrust into his hand as soon as he exited the truck. I doubt he was the owner, but he might have been. Or perhaps just an employee in charge of maintaining order. But, for whatever reason, the Delts were invited to party there. Must have been some history, which would have been interesting to know.

I suppose my grades for the first two years at Whitman might have been better of I had picked up books more regularly than I picked up beer mugs!

This photo was restored from the scan done years ago of an old B&W print from one of my stashes of photos. It was done by Google’s Gemini after ChatGPT refused to process the photo, saying that it could violate the company’s policies regarding teens and children. I tried to reassure ChatGPT that these were college friends, but to no avail. But Gemini processed the photo without delay.

Okay, to be honest, there are a lot of underage drinkers in this photo, including myself. But offialdom seemed to look the other way and ignore these common infractions. And we all thought it was perfectly normal. As I recall, I became a regular at the Green Lantern, a popular college hangout, before my 20th birthday. I think my claim of legal age had been vouched for by someone trusted by the management, and after that I just walked in and ordered another beer without being carded. I guess it was good for business, although beer cost almost nothing in those days. A dollor or two per large pitcher, as I recall.

The bold colors in this restored photo are unnaturally strong and bright. That’s really kind of a problem. But I’ll have to experiment with prompts that direct Gemini to tone them down in a reasonable manner.