Ladies and gentlemen of 1956, Homecoming is upon us: a splendid October 27-30, hosting Harvard, which seems to be in more politically correct trouble than Dartmouth as of this writing! We don’t need a weathervane, the “woke” winds are blowing, but this college will be stronger and more relevant to humanity as the storm calms and the arc of history continues its inexorable path. And the joy and emotion of hanging out with cats you’ve known forever (and meeting new ones) is one of the special perks of life at this late date, as is enjoying the magnificent Upper Valley! The Rosenwald/Billhardt fish gig promises a neat moment in “The Woods”! We are nearing the end of the poetry year, though Don Sokol writes: “Here is my free-verse poem to honor my friend Joel Ash. (The night before his wedding to Marsha, a number of us sang at least 20 different dirty limericks, of which Doug Keare would have been proud!) ‘Rest easy dear friend/your classmates recognize your poetic contributions to the class and to the College you loved so much./Laughed singing the verses of the non-PC limericks./Sad, when you, the author of most poems in the history of Dartmouth, that were not felt worthy by the College to receive an honorary degree for your monumental effort./Your poems with the Big Green as a subject inspired us and caused us to reflect upon our college days./You are enshrined in our hearts forever./May we all meet in the hereafter and recite limericks together./Rest easy.’ ” And Harry Nutting tosses me a couple crumbs: “Jack issued a call for some rhymes/A splendid idea at the time/Harry Nutting came through/with a poetic line or two/Most others were too damn lazy to be bothered at the time!/Being class scribe ain’t a lark./Not like a walk in the park./So send Jack an email,/Call, or even snail mail./Thanks from us all for doing a great job.”

—J.W. Crowley, 15612 SE 42nd Place, Bellevue, WA 98006; (425) 746-1824; crowleyjack58@gmail.com