As I write in December I wonder about the state of things as you read this. Have you had your vaccination? Did we turn the corner? Are we on the road to herd immunity? No way to know from this vantage point, but fingers crossed as the snow is melting and the flowers blooming that life is returning to normal for all of you. One good thing about 2020 was the positive attention that Frank B. Wilderson III’s book Afropessimism drew from many quarters.Blending groundbreaking critical and theoretical reflection with moving passages of memoir, the book was longlisted for the National Book Award and featured in The New York Times and The New Yorker. Covid-19 did not stop Frank’s international book tour. He “visited” four continents and gave more than 50 bookstore and university launch presentations. UC Irvine (where he works as chair of African American studies) named him a chancellor’s professor. This title is bestowed on professors who have demonstrated exceptional academic merit and whose continued promise for scholarly achievement is unusually high.

In the early days of the pandemic, looking for something to keep me from going crazy, I started a history livecast called History Happy Hour with my friend and fellow historian Chris Anderson. Well, lo and behold, we have now done nearly 50 shows, interviewing an amazing array of authors including Chris Wallace, Adam Hoschschild, Andrew Roberts, Hampton Sides, Lynn Olsen, and Susan Eisenhower. We broadcast weekly on the Stephen Ambrose Historical Tours Facebook and YouTube pages. Jim Lattin has been a loyal viewer and a number of other classmates have tuned in as well from time to time. It’s been great fun, a yearlong history seminar. And its not too late to participate—all the programs are archived on the Stephen Ambrose Historical Tours website (stephenambrosetours.com).

We have learned of the deaths of three more classmates. Dr. Jared Bremer of Newton, Wisconsin, died on October 8. Paul Johnson of Nashua, New Hampshire, passed away on August 1. Paul Nemcek of Prior Lake, Minnesota, left us on November 21. I want to express condolences to all their friends and families. Look for remembrances of them on the class website: 1978.dartmouth.org/in-memoriam.

Continuing on this somewhat uncomfortable topic for a moment: As you have probably noticed, we instituted a new policy this year of emailing the entire class every time a classmate passes away, both to make sure people are notified and to seek comments and thoughts for their remembrance on the in-memoriam page. I want to say thanks to class president Barbie Snyder Martinez for the work she has taken on writing these missives, to Brooks Clark for making sure they go out, and to web guru Dave Hathaway for making sure we stay current on the website. Your efforts are appreciated by all!

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—Rick Beyer, 1305 S. Michigan Ave., #1104, Chicago, IL 60605; rickbeyer78@gmail.com