Class Note 1980
Issue
Lest the old traditions fail: The tradition—an alumni conversation with the College president—was old but the medium—a five-city videoconference call—was new. In late January classmates from the New York, Boston, Chicago and San Francisco areas joined a videoconference with President Jim Kim hosted by trustees Bill Helman and Denise Dupre in Kim’s Parkhurst office. Kim began with some heartwarming comments about the extraordinary College response to the heartrending events in Haiti (where he had spent some formative years). He then gave a state of the College report with (sign of the times) an emphasis on creative cost-management techniques and the continued need for our support even after successful completion of the capital campaign. He answered questions and once again demonstrated his keen sense of Dartmouth’s culture, a sense clearly grounded in a deep knowledge of the College’s history. I happened to be in the Bay Area at the time and thus had the pleasure of joining Cami and Brent Bilger, Brad Koenig and Ross Jaffe for the call at Franklin Templeton’s San Mateo campus.
Since our third trustee-classmate John Rich could not join that call I set up our own private call, eschewing the video (in case either of us had a bad hair day). John is chair of health management and policy at the Drexel School of Public Health and—not surprisingly—has known Jim Kim for 10 years. John describes Kim as a visionary with global perspective and feels that “Jim Kim is ready for Dartmouth and Dartmouth is ready for Jim Kim.” And perhaps the healthcare debate is ready for John: his book, Wrong Place, Wrong Time: Trauma and Violence in the Lives of Young Black Men, was just published.
It is impossible to speak with Rob Daisley without his conjuring a smile from you, so I happily checked in with Rob in January. Dais himself was still smiling in recollection of a post-Christmas road-trip visit from Brian Boyer and family. The Boyers, he reported, loaded up the car, fled the Windy City and drove to the Florida Keys, stopping in the Cigar City (the now probably politically incorrect nickname for Tampa) to stay with the Daisleys.
Dave May reports that he and wife Julie celebrated their 25th anniversary last summer. Dave, having left academia for private practice eight years ago, is practicing musculoskeletal radiology, which means he reads tons of MRIs, including for children and athletes. Like John Rich, Dave is also an author (of a medical textbook) and in his spare time he reviews journal submissions, delivers lectures and does visiting professorships, including one at Dartmouth-Hitchcock in January.
It took Dan Zenkel’s message to loosen my suspicions of LinkedIn. I replied to Dan’s message and the result was a catch-up lunch at Rockefeller Center (Alec Baldwin was a last-minute no-show). Zenks is planning to re-enter the summer camp business. After my lunchtime lobbying I hope that he’ll join us for a camp-like experience at our 30th reunion, June 17-20. It may seem an odd source for reunion (let alone any) inspiration, but how’s this from Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness: “We looked at the venerable Stream [read: campus] not in the vivid flush of a short day that comes and departs for ever, but in the august light of abiding memories.” For the record, Conrad was speaking of the beloved Thames before leaving for the Congo; thus the point is to evoke “the pleasure, the pleasure” rather than “the horror, the horror.” So e-mail Cami or Merle Adelman to tell her you’re in!
—Paul Elmlinger, 1111 Park Ave., #2A, New York, NY 10128; pelmlin@frk.com; Frank Fesnak, 111 Arbor Place, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010; (610) 581-8889; ffesnak@yahoo.com
May - June 2010
Lest the old traditions fail: The tradition—an alumni conversation with the College president—was old but the medium—a five-city videoconference call—was new. In late January classmates from the New York, Boston, Chicago and San Francisco areas joined a videoconference with President Jim Kim hosted by trustees Bill Helman and Denise Dupre in Kim’s Parkhurst office. Kim began with some heartwarming comments about the extraordinary College response to the heartrending events in Haiti (where he had spent some formative years). He then gave a state of the College report with (sign of the times) an emphasis on creative cost-management techniques and the continued need for our support even after successful completion of the capital campaign. He answered questions and once again demonstrated his keen sense of Dartmouth’s culture, a sense clearly grounded in a deep knowledge of the College’s history. I happened to be in the Bay Area at the time and thus had the pleasure of joining Cami and Brent Bilger, Brad Koenig and Ross Jaffe for the call at Franklin Templeton’s San Mateo campus.
Since our third trustee-classmate John Rich could not join that call I set up our own private call, eschewing the video (in case either of us had a bad hair day). John is chair of health management and policy at the Drexel School of Public Health and—not surprisingly—has known Jim Kim for 10 years. John describes Kim as a visionary with global perspective and feels that “Jim Kim is ready for Dartmouth and Dartmouth is ready for Jim Kim.” And perhaps the healthcare debate is ready for John: his book, Wrong Place, Wrong Time: Trauma and Violence in the Lives of Young Black Men, was just published.
It is impossible to speak with Rob Daisley without his conjuring a smile from you, so I happily checked in with Rob in January. Dais himself was still smiling in recollection of a post-Christmas road-trip visit from Brian Boyer and family. The Boyers, he reported, loaded up the car, fled the Windy City and drove to the Florida Keys, stopping in the Cigar City (the now probably politically incorrect nickname for Tampa) to stay with the Daisleys.
Dave May reports that he and wife Julie celebrated their 25th anniversary last summer. Dave, having left academia for private practice eight years ago, is practicing musculoskeletal radiology, which means he reads tons of MRIs, including for children and athletes. Like John Rich, Dave is also an author (of a medical textbook) and in his spare time he reviews journal submissions, delivers lectures and does visiting professorships, including one at Dartmouth-Hitchcock in January.
It took Dan Zenkel’s message to loosen my suspicions of LinkedIn. I replied to Dan’s message and the result was a catch-up lunch at Rockefeller Center (Alec Baldwin was a last-minute no-show). Zenks is planning to re-enter the summer camp business. After my lunchtime lobbying I hope that he’ll join us for a camp-like experience at our 30th reunion, June 17-20. It may seem an odd source for reunion (let alone any) inspiration, but how’s this from Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness: “We looked at the venerable Stream [read: campus] not in the vivid flush of a short day that comes and departs for ever, but in the august light of abiding memories.” For the record, Conrad was speaking of the beloved Thames before leaving for the Congo; thus the point is to evoke “the pleasure, the pleasure” rather than “the horror, the horror.” So e-mail Cami or Merle Adelman to tell her you’re in!
—Paul Elmlinger, 1111 Park Ave., #2A, New York, NY 10128; pelmlin@frk.com; Frank Fesnak, 111 Arbor Place, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010; (610) 581-8889; ffesnak@yahoo.com