Preface: On Number 69

Stanford Bronze Plaque 69
in honor of Class of 1969
Stanford's Memorial Quad

Stanford Bronze Plaque 69 is on the ground 69 yards to the right of Stanford University's Memorial Church. It is in front of the archway between Buildings 60 & 70. The plaque is dedicated to Class of 1969.

As part of my compilations of Numbers project, web pages on "Number 69" were begun on
August 2, 2020 for my friend Cathy's 69th birthday on August 5, 2020. Using "Number 68" as a
template, the 208 entries in "Number 69" were completed on September 6. Foothill College's Krause Center was closed since March 15, 2020 because of the coronavirus-19 pandemic. Since I have no computer at home, Al Guzman helped me buy Apple 13.3" Refurbished MacBook Air Laptop for $679 from CollegeBuys (5-9-2020). Also getting AT&T Wi-Fi @ $10/month (6-4-2020), Free Trial BBEdit (6-28-2020), $39.99/6 months Adobe Photoshop (7-23-2020), Epson ET-2720 Color Printer for $218 (11-28-20). Without Al's kind help, this project would not see the light of day.

Best By Number: Who Wore What With Distinction (2006) enabled me to include three football players and a basketball player with uniform #69. From Jeremy Baker's Tolstoy's Bicycle book (1982), found famous people and their accomplishments at age 69— Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Copernicus, Galileo, Haydn, Wagner, Sarah Bernhardt, Igor Stravinsky, Buckminster Fuller, Czeslaw Milosz, and Ronald Reagan.

Delightful locating images for "69 in Collectibles, Coins & Postage Stamps", #116-123, including Marvel Comics stamp #69 of Marvel Girl, #69 Topps cards from Wings, World on Wheels (1904 Knox Surrey), Look 'n See (Guglielmo Marconi), & Scoop (Piccard Descends 2 Miles Under Sea). 69 denomination postage stamps include Canada 1369 Hickory Tree, U.S. C142 Okefenckee Swamp, Georgia, and Monaco 2129 Honoré Balzac. 2019 Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogues from Los Altos Library were consulted to locate these "69" stamps downloaded from the web.

Sections "69 in Books on Bible, Philosophy & Religion" includes items #133-177 from my personal library searching for wisdom quotes from favorite philosophers, saints and sages. Section "69 in Poetry & Literature" includes items #178-207 from my favorite poets and writers, quoting from their poem 69, chapter 69, & page 69. These quotes inspired "Meditations on 69: Beautiful music, do not cease!" poem (Notes).

Passages on 69 from spiritual mentors were typed from their books— #173-174: Wei Wu Wei's
Asked the Awakened & Open Secret, #175: Paul Brunton's Notebooks, Volume 16: Enlightened Mind, Divine Mind, #176: Satguru Subramuniya's Merging with Siva, Zen Master Seung Sahn's The Whole World Is A Single Flower

Passages on 69 from poets who taught me include #200: Kenneth Koch, my freshman English Professor at Columbia (1959-60), #203: Robert Bly (Asilomar Retreats 1988-89, San Francisco Mythical Thinking Workshop 1988, Stanford 2008), #205: Kay Ryan (Stanford Workshops 2010).

The final item #208 is Numerology: words whose letters add up to 69— Buddha Sapphire, Dragon Fountain, Dragonfly Rose, Golden Butterfly, Jerusalem Paradise, Knight Journey, Mother Mountain, One Trinity, Spinning Eagle, Straight Arrow, Third-Eye Jewl, Thunderbolt Drum, Universe Screen, Yggdrasil Tree . May readers of "On Number 69" drink from the Dragon Fountain, embark on a Knight Journey to the Mother Mountain, find the Golden Butterfly
and experience the Universe Screen.

Peter Y. Chou
Mountain View, December 21, 2020