We continue to receive terrific responses to our “Big Question” series. Jeff Healy recently wrote about a Dartmouth moment he would gladly re-experience: “My first real introduction to Mexican culture was sitting in a Dartmouth Hall classroom the winter of freshman year, in a class taught by Marysa Navarro. It was the first time I’d heard of Teotihuacan, the pre-Aztec ruins located outside of Mexico City. About seven years later I was living and working in Mexico City. Professor Navarro’s generous coaching helped me land that job. She stayed with me in Mexico while she attended a conference, and we visited Teotihuacan together. I will never forget that afternoon as she urged me to picture what things must have looked like 1,000 years earlier. Villages would have flourished on the surrounding hillsides. I also won’t forget her gentle reprimand as I spoke somewhat disrespectfully to a vendor trying to sell us trinkets.” For Ann Jacobus Kordahl it was graduation day—“the humid morning and that hot black polyester gown; my pride and sense of accomplishment as I marched past a waving section of my family; Kemeny and Streep on the dais; the figurative and literal pomp and circumstance; and the buzz of excitement, relief, sadness, and trepidation most of us felt poised in that liminal space between the end of one chapter and the beginning of the next.”

Classmates also told us of an interest sparked at Dartmouth that has become a core part of their lives. For Robert Goldbloom it is an appreciation of nature. “Prior to Dartmouth, nature mostly meant things I was allergic to (including trees and grass!). The animal kingdom consisted of pet dogs and cats, birds, squirrels, and ‘bugs.’ Winter was too cold and summer was too hot, spring and fall were allergy seasons. I did not go on a freshman trip. It happened gradually, but—because it was Dartmouth—inevitably. I grew to love the beauty of the leaves in fall, falling snow in winter, hikes in the woods. That was only the start. It has become much deeper over time. Nature is like God in form. I enjoyed learning more about it along with my sons when they were young and curious. It’s always a part of every vacation I take with my wife. I’m passionate about saving-the-earth causes. And maybe it was due to my primal change in attitude, but I no longer have those terrible allergies!” Steve Sullivan chose two: “Dartmouth was the place and time I learned that developing and maintaining physical fitness could be enjoyable, and I probably would not know or care about films and cinematography a fraction as much as I do were it not for the education I received by regularly attending Dartmouth Film Society showings and working as audio-visual crew for film studies courses.”

Our 40th reunion is soon, June 18-21! Mark your calendars and stay tuned for updates from co-chairs Lynne Gaudet and Rick Silverman. In the meantime, please connect with us through d.81.news@gmail.com.

—Veronica Wessels, 224 Buena Vista Road, Rockcliffe, ON K1M0V7, Canada; (613) 864-4491; vcwessels@rogers.com; Emil Miskovsky, 520 Seneca St., Suite 312, Utica, NY 13502; (802) 345-9861; emilmiskovsky@gmail.com