Who knows what to believe these days? Does Miller Lite taste great or is it less filling? If you feed an aspirin to a seagull, will it explode in midair? Do higher tax rates generate higher tax receipts? In today’s complex world, finding the truth can be difficult indeed.


Let’s see how sharp your truth detection skills are. It’s time to play a round of “Two Truths and a Lie.” Two of the following three stories about classmates are true; one is false. See if you can identify the fictional story. Using Google is strictly forbidden!


First: No other American man, woman or team has ever finished better in an Olympics rowing event than Carlie Geer, who won a silver medal for single sculling in the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles.


Second: Kevin Bacon produced and directed a movie based on a novel written by Vicki Redel. The 2005 movie featured performances by Bacon, wife Kyra Sedgwick and Oscar winners Marisa Tomei and Sandra Bullock.


Third: When Loverboy guitarist Paul Dean became ill during a concert tour in 1986, Bob Spencer temporarily replaced him. Bob ended up playing lead guitar for Loverboy at their Calgary and Edmonton concerts that summer.


Are we graced by one of America’s greatest sports legends? Are all of us a scant two degrees of separation from the hyper-connected Kevin Bacon? Does the song “The Kid Is Hot Tonight” actually describe one of our own? And why do all three stories make me think about headbands? It’s your job to identify the fictional story. The answer will be revealed in the next column.


I share a common thread—a first name—with a classmate who has quickly and correctly answered each of the column’s common thread questions. Frank Vecella properly credits entertainment that features cops and detectives with saving our name from extinction (we can credit the new pope for its recent popularity surge). Back in 1983 Frank and his wife, Pam, decided to move from his hometown of Baltimore to Dallas “for a year or two”; some 30 years later they are still there, with a daughter starting her career in Dallas and a son finishing college. For the past 13 years Frank has been managing litigation as an in-house counsel for telecommunications giant Ericsson. As part of two trips to Vermont and New Hampshire last year, the Vecellas had dinner with Stan Smith and Joel Chansky and their much better halves, and later caught up with Cathy McGrath. Whenever possible Frank still reaches out to Bobby Garry, Peter Marlette, Paul Mourning and Brian Wicks.


Nearly 10 years ago I stated my intention to make Hans Morris this column’s most frequently mentioned person. It’s been way too easy, given his regular participation in college-related events and continual personal evolution. For this post: In his spare time Hans recently produced and co-wrote a feature-length documentary, Cherry Cottage: The Story of an American House. His film premiered last year at the Berkshire International Film Festival and received many favorable reviews. I thoroughly enjoyed it.


Jenni Prigge Buhl, Kaj Christenson, Monica Williams Knox, Dennis Murphy, Crystal Morgan Phillips, Donald Skantze, Peter Storfer, Tom Vieth, Stuart West: What is the common thread that ties this list of classmates together? If you think you know the answer, send us an email. The first three correct responses will win Gift Rocket cards redeemable at the Dartmouth Bookstore (or virtually anywhere). Don’t let an opportunity like this pass you by!


—Frank Fesnak, 242 River Road, Gladwyne, PA 19035; (610) 581-8889; ffesnak@yahoo.com; Rob Daisley, 3201 W. Knights Ave., Tampa, FL 33611; (813) 300-7954; robdaisley@me.com