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Husni Houssami ’87: “April Fool’s Day!”
The story you're about to
read must have made
precedence in our beloved
school's fictitious "Prank
Log Book.” Usually, an
event of this magnitude is
talked about and advertised
days in advance, but not at
IC, where impromptu
genius coupled with swift
initiative taking made that
April Fool's a blast!
On Tuesday March 31st 1987,
whispers of a crazy idea started circulating throughout
Rockefeller Hall. Rumored was an idea that was differ-
ent, an idea that belittled water balloon fights and put
every other traditional prank we'd ever pulled to shame;
an idea which, as far as I'm concerned, remains unpar-
alleled to this day. It was an open invitation to all grad-
uating students to gather at 7:30 AM sharp the follow-
ing day at the Southern Gate (aka Bus Gate) in order to
go to Summerland Hotel for a quick coffee and return
by the morning's first break. The gag was meant to stag-
ger teachers as they walked into half empty classrooms.
All went according to plan, except that we never
expected an astounding 150 students to show up. We
managed to squeeze everyone into about 35, fully-
packed cars, and moments later we were at the
Summerland's upper gate, arguing with the security
guard who wouldn't let us in. He made some claims
about, "management orders.” "But all of us are mem-
bers here!" we insisted, but that didn't work either.
Stubborn as we were, we decided to invade
"Multaqua El Nahrein" instead. Half an hour later, we
were there dancing to the beat of a portable radio-
cassette (that's what we called them then)- some stu-
dents even ventured to take a dip in the icy cold
water of Al-Damour River. The party went on till
around noon, when we finally decided to head back
to IC. We obviously had some learning to attend to.
And they called us irresponsible!
At around 1:00 PM, I was among one of the first stu-
dents to set foot on campus, and there, calm as ever,
stood our beloved director Mr. Nabil Rahhal, waiting to
greet us, a startling reaction to a stunt of this scale. A
few days later, we learned that as punishment, we
would be denied our traditional right of inserting
humorous commentaries under each Graduate and
Campus Life picture in the Torch'87 Edition. These
commentaries, as most of you would agree, symbolized
our identity as proud IC graduates; moreover they con-
stituted part of a cultural myth. We decided we could
not relinquish these honors. The concept of designing
and financing our own edition of The Graduates’ Torch
'87 was born. It was a product that embodied both the
determination and assertiveness of a young Lebanese
generation bred at the hands of the best, in the finest of
schools, International College.
To those who will remember me: teachers, classmates,
schoolmates, administrative staff, Shawki, Maroun,
Garo and of course dear old Mehio (God rest his soul),
thank you for the best ten years of my life!
Akram Najjar ’62
In the early 60s, IC had a wonderful teacher
named David W. Miller. He taught both Biology
and English. I have tried since the end of the war
to contact Mr. Miller, but have been unsuccessful.
Even IC's New York office did not have his
address. I hope this story will reach him so I can
now express my gratitude.
In 1960, when I was in the 3rd Secondary, for some
reason unknown to us at that time, Mr. Miller selected
ten students from the regular English class and moved us to an "Accelerated
English" class. I remember that Nawaf Assaad, Marwan Ghandour, Hani
Wehbe and Gaby Asfar were amongst the ten but have forgotten the names of
the rest. His purpose was to move us from plain English language instruction
to a literary analysis class. We only had two responsibilities: we were to read
and analyze a novel selected by Mr. Miller every week or two and we had to
write a weekly essay on any subject of our choice.
I wrote essays on subjects that I knew; it was pure reporting. Slowly, however,
my essays became very introspective and personal. Soon, I could not write
anymore. I felt empty and without any direction. I wrote Mr. Miller a note
suggesting that because of my new inability, he could send me back to the
regular English instruction. I was called to his office and was chided for miss-
ing the point. "This is exactly where I wanted you to reach,” he said. "Others
have reached it too, don't worry.” He went on to explain to me how he want-
ed us to empty ourselves on paper and clean out all the blocks, the pre-con-
ceptions and cliché thinking. He assured me that this "restarting from zero"
would happen again, but only if I was attentive, honest and analytic. What a
lesson! It has stayed with me all my life and has changed me.
Another major influence Mr. Miller had on me
was the way he analyzed novels. 1960 was also
the year when we had to write a term paper on a
selected novel. My choice was Albert Camus'
The
Outsider
. Mr. Miller's analytic techniques, his crit-
ical insight into the way we wrote, and his pas-
sionate approach to literature stimulated me to
appreciate literature and philosophy all my life.
Even though I studied Physics at AUB and later on
Electronic Engineering, literature and philosophy
were my life long majors.
I remember other experiences that influenced me greatly. One day, and
while still in the regular stream of English, we were writing an essay in
class. I asked Mr. Miller about the spelling of a particular word. "I am not
a dictionary,” he said. "Go to the library and find out.” I could not
believe that a teacher would actually let me leave the class for something
as simple as that, a simple thing that proved to be a lasting influence.
Another influence was the way Mr. Miller taught us public speaking. We
had to research subjects and present them in class. Mr. Miller also con-
ducted public speaking contests. He introduced me to “Scientific
American”, which I still read today. His love for both science and litera-
ture was contagious.
Mr. Miller remained at IC for only a few years. During that period, he was
very creative. He gave lectures on subjects outside English and Biology.
One lecture of his remains in my mind till today. It was on how Schliemann
discovered the place where Troy was built. Another covered his trip to
Europe on a Lambretta with another IC teacher, Mr. Thomas Hasenflug.
When Mr. Miller left IC, he sent the ten of us in Accelerated English one of his
drawings. It had no comment on it. It was that of a naked man, standing on
top of a high mountain. His head was bent forward and down far enough for
him to be able to look up his own behind. Mr. Miller was saying,
"Introspection is important but do not reach the level of looping inside
your own self.”
Husni Houssami '87
Akram Najjar '62
Mr. David Muller’s picture, taken
from the 1960 yearbook.
My IC Story