One might hope that Santa brings Mr. Samsky sounds like someone who has read to much Jack Kerouac… You can usually recognize a Kerouac devotee. As for me, twelve or fifteen years ago I would have agreed with him — but things are different now. I find that such pronouncements ordinarily come from those who lack taste. Zuckerberg attended Phillips Exeter Academy.
Not saying I disagree, but bad example. Made me think she has way-too-much free time on her hands. Seriously, how trivial. I recall he was able to study at Exeter on some sort of scholarship. If you spend any time in the Silicon Valley, the jeans and tee shirt with hoodie is a lifestyle look. There are thousands of such clones putting plenty of thought into that look…. Shot down by Buffy at Newport, or Biff at Yale?
Um, what? WASPs are the people who colonized, founded, fought for, died for, and built this country. Not only did the WASPs create this country, they actually invited—invited!
Many of the bloggers in this space rightly lament an inversion that has taken place in attitudes toward dress: In the past, kids wanted to dress like adults; today, adults want to dress like children. The U. After the Revolution we wrote up the Articles of Confederation, which did take ideas from the Iroquois, but that lasted only a few years and was a complete failure.
Eric, since your such an indian sympathizer, you might be pleased to hear that from the Pequot War to crashing the first Indian court, my family has always dominated the Native Americans! We took nineteen thousand acres of land that my grandmother owns today. So glad to see that there are others who believe that being sartorially correct and being politically correct are different things. The award goes not to the favorite, but to the newcomer, Michael.
Congratulations, Michael! Your comment slavishly apes politically correct memes without contributing anything to the discussion—all done without ropes, assistance, or thought! Eric doe not come to mind when I think of this. I appreciate that you may have encountered hostility in the past from certain parties from the UK but that was quite some time ago and to my knowledge those parties no longer exist. And: The Ivy League or prep aesthetic comes from a specific part of America, after all, and the men and women who wore these soft-shouldered blue blazers and Weejuns for most of the 20th century were not always as forbearing and gentle as their careful dishabille would imply.
After perusing her site and reading a few post I was impressed. Her blog was It was well written and the original photos some from the past of her late father were hauntingly beautiful. Now, I love preps who can present preppy as it really is, timeless, simple, classical, traditional and above all a strong sense of heritage, and Muffy delivers. The first thing I noticed was this writer definitely has an opinion. From where to eat, or how to compost to the correct length of a cuff on a pair of Khakis.
Yet the thing that impresses me the most is that she comments on each reader comment. I mean she addresses every one of them. She has in my opinion mastered what every blogger wants to achieve, the ability to communicate as if you had only one reader.
I also found some rather splendid facts about her site. Flame me all you want, but it's entirely true Your list included no girls' schools. Interesting list. There are several on it that puzzle me and others not on it that puzzle me more.
Girls I knew at Madeira and Mt. Vernon Seminary certainly seemed to fit this category more than the guys I have known from St. Mark's and Thacher. MGC, I enjoyed your comments on your father. Not sure what his experience was in the war, However, most combat veterans have alcohol problems. It was not well recognized in prior generations. Regarding the current generation of the Kennedy family, I would grant them some latitude. The loss of three members of one family in the service of the country is a large sacrifice.
Also, seeing your father killed on national TV tends not to be good for a child's development. To 'HHH' Sept. Paul's where he roomed with Angier Biddle Duke. I'd add - regardless of politics - George F. Will and Tucker Carlson to this list. Funny - I know kids at those elite prep schools, and they are most certainly not preppy. Great kids, though. Blue Train, thanks for pointing that out. This was the description that I liked best: " Alfred E Neuman, who also stated : "It takes one to know one - and vice versa".
I think it's difficult to go back to an era pre-"prep", and say who was prep, and who wasn't before the label even existed. Perhaps i'm reading into it too much!
I've only known several kids who went to prep school and they did not seem particularly preppy as it is being described here apart from the one qualification of having attended prep school. I also spent some years teaching at Harvard as a very lowly teaching fellow and don't recall many any? Now that I think of it, though, I did have the extraordinary pleasure of meeting Mr. Jonathan Kozol. I think he is a good candidate for the prep icon list.
No offence, Lancer, but I don't know that most combat veterans have or had alcohol problems. My father didn't and he was even a POW in Germany for a year. Likewise, my son does not either and he spent 15 months in Iraq as a tank crewman. My son, when he was in Germany, was in the same town where Elvis Presley not a preppie icon but an icon just the same was stationed.
And speaking of icons, I mentioned before that it means "image. My wife's uncle, the radical priest Episcopal in the family, together with his wife, fit the image perfectly. He would get a laugh out of it if I told him, which I surely will sooner or later. They have many friends from Episcopal High School, just up the street. I'm surprised no has mentioned Garry Trudeau so far. He went to a prep school and even to Yale. But more importantly, many of the characters in his comic strip are parodies of prep personas, if not icons.
Also, thank you for the kind words, New communications. I am flattered. But I'll bet your father had qualities you never knew about. Sometimes misfortune brings out a person's better qualities. I will amend my earlier comment about no Kennedys. I agree several of the JFK generation should be considered. To the commment that Joseph P. Kennedy was a bootlegger, that falsehood has been debunked many times over.
Blue Train Glad to hear that your dad and son were strong probably a reflection on your family in general. As an emergency physician and combat veteran, I have one perspective on substance issues in service members and those exposed to traumatic loss.
The perspective also has made me more understanding of some of the issues faced by the Kennedy family. As a preppy quality, I always have appreciated RFK's enormous grace under pressure.
I was particularly moved by his actions on the evening of the death of Dr King. As I've been told by Ferd: "you wouldn't know prep if it hit you in the face by a train".. My lord, where to begin? Alice R. Muffie Cabot such grace. Oatsie Charles the old gal can still party. The list is endless.
I could go on forever Ben Bradlee Dexter, St. Another Baby Paley mention? Not old money but she married well both times.
Attended good schools. But I'm still not seeing it. Well, then, in that case, I'll nominate someone presumably well known locally who did in fact graduate from a prep school. She has established herself as the person to whom you would consult as a guide to "excruciatingly correct behavior. Another local personality that might be listed and is within the time frame, is Wallis Simpson. Iconic in her own way and in her own right in spite of being from Baltimore, she married an even larger icon, though not one that would be described preppie, strictly speaking.
Mind you, I've never met any of these people, although I have met Peter Schickele, a graduate of Swarthmore, where a number of family members graduated. Blue Train, I am from and live in the Baltimore area. We in fact have a very large prep culture, especially heading north from the area near Johns Hopkins University to the horse country of the northern suburbs. There are a lot of private schools and plenty of preps. Don't forget that this is one of the meccas for lacrosse, in fact, before the sport gained in popularity nationally, it was a stalwart within the Baltimore prep school scene.
We also have a strong boating presence here. There is a lot of "old money. Arnold Palmer! While he did not come from old Northeast wealth, and did not even finish college, he still embodies the sole of the prep mindset. Despite his tremendous self-made wealth, he is known for his frugality and humbleness. From the way he conducts himself, to his manner of dress, to the style of his homes again, rather modest considering his wealth , Arnold Palmer carries and promotes a great sense of tradition and old fashioned values, both on and off the golf course, that epitomizes the character of the true prep.
Schlesinger Jr.. Perhaps a good example of a prep who bolted? Lots of good names in these comments. Delightful to read through them. I'd add Reid Buckley, William F. And Robert Mueller. Joseph Alsop Groton, Harvard, Porcellian. Not really prep in contemporary terms. Interesting how nobody mentioned wardrobe style as one criterion.
Interesting how being a prep school graduate has never been a criterion in choosing idols for many of us. My grandmother would have found the terms "prep" and "preppy" vulgar.
I can think of many people listed above who, similarly, would never have used those terms. In reading over the comments in this thread again, I am astonished at the number of posts I have made. There must have been something about the topic that energized me. Or something like that. I don't have any new icons to add but it should be mentioned that there is prep that is, attended prep school and ivy attended an Ivy League school.
One of my wife's grandfather graduated from an Ivy League school sometime before WWI and spent his working career in government service, chiefly working as an engineer on the George Washington Parkway in Virginia.
He also served in the army. I have no idea what schools he attended prior to university, but he was from New York.
On the other hand, my wife's other grandfather was employed at a prep school in Virginia, but I'm not sure about his educational background. My mother-in-law and her sister grew up there on the grounds of a boy's boarding school.
You may notice in all my comments that all of the achievements in my family are on my wife's side and I'm only related by marriage. I checked with my wife about her grandfather's schooling, for the one who worked at a boy's boarding school in Virginia. He did not attend college, there being no money, but he had graduated from Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia, presumably as a day student. He only lived a couple of blocks away on property that's still in the family.
Rules may have indeed been different back then, but even if you live nearby they still require you to board. My daughter wanted to attend and we lived a few miles away and I was NOT having it. Oh, the rules are always changing. I mentioned that there was no money in the family and so never attended college, yet he attended a private high school.
My wife believed it may have been on a scholarship basis. Another distant family relation, again on my wife's side, was headmaster of two different private schools. Many of these private schools went through hard times financially, particularly during the depression. I think there used to be more of these private schools than there are now. One of the schools that man was headmaster or principal of, Shenandoah Valley Academy, still open, had to close during the Spanish Flu epidemic.
Likewise, never confuse background, breeding and confidence with class or character. That's a great reply. And I completely agree about Nick. Expelled from Choate, maybe? As I recall, Nick had past connections with Rick Von Sloneker, so they may have prepped at the same school. Bartlett Giamatti. By this one was President of Yale. I met Mr. Schickele at one of his P. Bach concerts when I was a student at WVU, around or My roommate at the time was handling the sound system at the concert hall and I watched the concert from the sound booth.
Schickele came into the booth to check on things. I don't suppose he was a preppie but he did attend Swarthmore. I must admit I am enjoying this discussion! I live in an area in which there are no real preppies, but quite a few people who possess some of the more noticeable qualities, like dress and interests. Pseudo prep? How about just 'good breeding', 'good families' and very possibly 'old money.
How spot on and so true! I too had a canine just exactly like that, very top notch kennel she came from. Yes those qualities do make a canine don't they? But as you stated yes costly-money wise, but you get what you pay for. Senators Pell and Chafee and their clans. Frolic Weymouth. I wouldn't consider Frolic Weymouth preppy, but he certainly was a character. I would consider his best friend Anson Beard Peter's brother preppy. Perhaps you knew him better. He went to St. Mark's with my uncle and we'd see him at Coaching Club events, etc I just grew up seeing him as part of "the club" so didn't think of him as anything other, though he was certainly a colorful member.
The last time I saw him was years before he passed in Newport Can we agree on another of the dearly departed? Frank Cabot. A character is his own way and also amazingly passionate and creative when it came to gardening. It looks like perfection, but it didn't seem like he could walk more than 10 feet without pulling out his notebook to add to the list of things that needed to be done. The only being that dared mess up a leaf in those gardens was his terrier.
All the Princeton alumni who attended my Oxford college as graduate students.
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