September 10, 1989|By Michael Kilian, Chicago Tribune.
WASHINGTON — America`s leading (and most-admired) college dropout-First Lady Barbara Bush-finally got a degree from alma mater Smith College last week, an honorary doctorate of humane letters awarded for her many years of good works, especially in the areas of education and literacy.
Mrs. Bush left the prestigious, Northampton, Mass., college in 1944 at age 19 after her freshman year for the most romantic of reasons-to marry her war-hero beau, George. While he went on to complete his studies at Yale, she immediately took up the life and career of a housewife and, shortly afterward, mother.
As she told some 5,000 people gathered at Smith for its fall convocation last Wednesday, ``I have absolutely no regrets about that decision.``
Mrs. Bush`s press secretary, Anna Perez, said the First Lady also ``met about 2,000 people and posed for about 2,000 pictures.`` Smith has an enrollment of 2,700.
Smith is also the alma mater of Mrs. Bush`s predecessor, Nancy Reagan, who, after graduation, took off for California to make it in the movies. She is to receive an honorary degree at a Smith convocation this winter.
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This month`s issue of chic, glitzy Architectural Digest magazine has a spread on the abodes of famous fashion designers. In the piece on his pad, Adolfo drops Mrs. Reagan`s name and otherwise keeps us from forgetting that she sported a number of his duds at White House state dinners.
Arnold Scaasi, who was simply Arnold Isaacs before he turned things around, was more subtle in advertising the fact that he`s now designing a lot of clothes for Mrs. Bush. Scassi posed for the magazine in a room decorated with just one prominently displayed framed photo-not of his wife or mother but, yes, of Mrs. Bush.
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This month`s slick issue of the Royal Saudi Arabian Washington newsletter proudly announced that Saudi King Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques (also known simply as King Fahd), would visit the White House for a gala state dinner this Thursday. But last week he abruptly and mysteriously canceled. How mysteriously? The White House referred inquiries as to why to the State Department, where everything that happens in the world usually is termed ``useful and fruitful.``
Does the cancellation mean that the White House is going to be stuck with a lot of lambs` heads, dates, yogurt and watermelon juice, all King Fahd favorites? A White House spokeswoman said there was still time to stop shipment of a lot of the goodies that were ordered, and that the stuff that couldn`t be stopped would be used for other White House social occasions.
Maybe at the next White House breakfast with congressional leaders they can serve lamb and eggs with watermelon juice.
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The young people who worked as Senate pages this summer conducted a sort of poll, or at least test. As they performed their duty of holding the Senate chamber doors open for members as the public servants arrived for roll-call votes, the pages took note of which members said ``hello.`` Although their ad hoc survey may have missed a hasty greeting here or there, their findings showed only one Democrat bothering to say ``hello`` and only one Republican who did not say it.
As might amaze many in Washington, the pages voted ultraright Sen. Jesse Helms as the member most unfailingly helpful and polite to them during their summer labors.
The experience was edifying in other ways. One young lady pledge noted that one senator wore the same clothes for an entire week. She described another senator, locally famous for his zest for strong drink, as: ``Really weird. And he got weirder as the day went on!``
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Two new museum exhibitions involving manual labor are opening at Washington`s National Building Museum this month. On Sept. 23 and 24, the museum is featuring ``Blacksmithing Days`` with actual blacksmiths making actual metal objects at a forge. Starting Friday, the museum will open a show called ``Tools As Art,`` which includes such masterpieces as artist Jim Dine`s ``Big Red Wrench in a Landscape`` color lithograph.
Both shows will give members of Congress and government bureaucrats a rare, firsthand opportunity to view people actually at work.
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Washingtonians using the Trump air shuttle to New York this month are being handed free samples of a new hydrating skin cream for men and women that the manufacturer says ``can be used not only when you are flying but also when you are under stress.`` It sounds ideal for senators who get weirder as the day goes on.
