Rivers, We Hardly Knew Ye

“I kept wondering, who’s this 30 year old guy in the bathroom?”

Dave A. Stephens ’05

“I wasn’t an Asian girl so I didn’t get to know him too well.”

Alex M. Phillips’ 06

“It was awkward to sit near him and inflict yourself upon him. I desperately wanted to. He didn’t dislike company… but I was shy. But he didn’t give the impression he minded company. It was especially awkward, deliciously awkward, when his songs would plan in the dining hall. Island In The Sun, at least 3 times!”

Lillian B. Stoner '05

“I brushed my teeth near him with regularity. He was a nice guy but kept to himself. I asked him if he was our tutor but once he said “My name is Rivers, I spent the last couple years in LA,” I figured it out.”

Nate G Bernhard ’07

“It was in November so he had been here for months and I saw him at dinner across the dining hall and I was like ‘Man that guy has the most intense eyes, they’re scary,’ and then everyone around me was like, ‘That’s Rivers.’”

Victoria W. Chang ’07

"We studied together and sat in class. My roommates were like ‘Oh My God’. He only

wore the thick glasses during lecture and took them off immediately after. He was always on top of the reading and always went to lecture. People sat around him in a little radius but no one sat next to him. I met him randomly having dinner with him. I ended up sitting with him in class.” Racquel N. Bracken ’05

“'Twas I who spent many sacred afternoons in the Barker Center one table

over from Rivers. He always got his food, sat down quietly, and stared

intently into a book or at the table itself. Was this really the same rock god

that I worshipped in middle school, the man who by looking directly at me while

I crowdsurfed to the front of the Tsongas Arena in Lowell basically made my

life complete? I couldn't say then, and I still have trouble negotiating

between his private and public personas.”

-William B. Payne ’07