In the meantime (teaching at Michigan State) I was starting to look for a job and I saw an ad for Fresno State. That was a very interesting experience too, because the ad indicated that they wanted a professor with an American Studies or an American literature background and they were going to be at the Modern Language Association meeting in Washington D.C. A guy named Russ Leavenworth was going to be there representing the English department. It said, “Write to us and tell us when you want to meet him and we’ll arrange for an interview.” So I wrote and made an appointment and we went to Washington. We got there and started looking for Russ Leavenworth and he never showed up. There was no message from him and there must have been fifty people who were trying to get that job, and he never showed up. We came back home. I wrote back to this crazy guy, Earl Lyon (department chair), whom I had been corresponding with and I said, “Hey, what’s going on? Your man never showed up.” I got a letter back from Earl saying, “Oh, I’m awfully sorry. He got fogged in.” Well, I had no idea what the fog was in Fresno, but it was around Christmas time and that’s just the time for fog. Of course, he could have called to tell someone, but he never did. He said, “It’s okay. The vice president of the university is going to be in Lansing and I will arrange for him to see you there for your interview.” I said, “Okay.” On the appointed time I went to the Jack Tar Hotel. and the guy’s name was Dallas Tuller. I went to the place and said, “Is Mr. Tuller here? They said, “Who? There’s nobody with that name here.” I had gotten dressed up. I even put on a tie. I said to Ellie, “I don’t know who this Earl Lyon is but I think he just made up Fresno State College stationary and he just makes appointments and nobody ever shows up.” I wrote him again and said, “Hey, I’ve about had it with you.” I got back a telegram saying, “Very sorry. Dallas Tuller forgot.” He told me later when I got here, that he said to Dallas Tuller, “Did you see Bluestein?” “Oh!” he said, I knew I forgot something.” Anyway, the telegram said, “Nevermind, I have put you in for an appointment and I will let you know if it’s approved.” Shortly after, it was. I didn’t know it then, but the way this place was working under Earl, there were two criteria for you to get a job here. One was that you had to be a known trouble maker. The second was that Earl had to think you were smarter than he was. When they looked at my stuff, I had a letter in my file which I had never seen before. It was from a woman who was an acting chair at Michigan State, and it said, “Gene Bluestein will function very well in any place that tolerates freedom.” That indicated I was a trouble maker. Then Earl said, “Okay, he’s one of ours. Hire him.” From letters, he thought I was smarter than he was. If I had actually met him in person, I would have hit him with a chair, or something, because we always fought about things. So, I got the job.

Just at that time a very good friend of mine had been made head of the department at MSU. There were no elections. Blackman, the old head, died and they just appointed a guy. This guy was very cool. He was actually very ill with diabetes and was taking injections. But he was a very smart guy, a nice guy. He had somehow gotten into this American Thought and Language scene and he couldn’t get out of it. He knew that I was trying to get out and he said to me, “Gene, you know, I hate to lose you. You’re a very valuable guy to me. You can do many good things here. I can arrange it for you to name your own price and I will get it for you. There’s only one condition.” I said, “What is it?” He said, “You have to say yes.” I said, “To what?” He said, “To everything.” He had spoken to the dean. I said, “Thanks a lot. I just arranged to get a job in California and I’ll be leaving at the end of the semester.” The next day I saw the dean, who always used to look out of his office to see if Joe Waldmeir (coleague and cohort) and I were in the hallway. And if we were, he would run back into his office. This time he caught me and he said, ” Where are you going?” And I said, “I’m going to California.” He said, “It’s not far enough.” Very nice atmosphere.

That was such a crazy place. Bill Burney was working there and he quit. Virginia Rock was working there. She quit to go to Canada. Anyone with any brains quit. But that program is still going. They’re a monster university. They have more than fifty thousand students. And they’re still going strong. But, that was the end of my career at Michigan State. I was there for three years.