It was a beautiful November day in New York: November 9 in the Bronx to be exact. The weather was crisp, the all-Dartmouth pregame tailgate was tremendous (those drink bracelets were an A+ in the eyes of many), Yankee Stadium was awash in various shades of green, and the Big Green defeated those pesky Princeton Tigers, 27-10. What was really special, however, were the attendees. Cheering on the Big Green were Pam and Barry Bass, Amy and Peter Harned, Dave Kramer and wife Leslie, Jim Newman and wife Annie, and, as you can infer, Cindy and me. Joining the group that night for a superb Italian meal were Russ and Kathy ’83 Mitchell. Also showing their Dartmouth spirit at the game were Scott McDonald and wife Susan (still residing in Chicago), Andy Crowe (pretty sure he said he’s been in San Fran for a while), and Cricket Barlow.Also saw Elwyn Fields and either Peter or Press Romeyn (I couldn’t tell them apart 35 years ago, so that hasn’t changed—sorry, guys!) from afar at the pregame tailgate. These type of events serve to remind us how lucky we are to have these friendships. I also wonder if our non-Dartmouth contemporaries think their college friends and experiences are as great as ours—I’m sure they do, but it wouldn’t be nice to let them know they’re mistaken.

Had an awesome exchange with Becky Blake Osborne, where she shared (spoiler alert, thumbs up from Becky) the following.

“In August I received an email announcing an incredibly cool opportunity. In partnership with the Rassias Center for World Languages and Cultures, alumni relations was testing the idea of combining affordable international travel with a service component, launching as part of Dartmouth’s 250th anniversary and the ‘Call to Serve’ initiative. This pilot program invited interested alums to travel to Mexico City to volunteer for a week in underserved public high schools. My background as Romance languages major (French and Spanish) and French teaching assistant/drill instructor, and my incredible language study abroad experience in Morelia, Michoacán, where I fell in love with the country, people, culture, colors, music, food, history, was just the excuse I needed to return to this beautiful country. The charge for our group, 13 in total, was to support teachers and contribute in English classes in two of the most economically challenged high schools in Mexico City. Mornings, we joined the Mexican English teachers and their classes of roughly 50 students. After the mornings volunteering, afternoons were spent on cultural excursions and visits to historic parts of Mexico City. Each night local guest speakers joined us at our hotel for dinner to share Mexican current events and history. I have posted the experience at LinkedIn.”

Happy 2020, everyone—may the year bring you happiness and fun!

—John MacManus, 188 Ringwood Road, Rosemont, PA 19010; (610) 525-4541; slampong@aol.com; Leslie A. Davis Dahl, 83 Pecksland Road, Greenwich, CT 06831; (203) 552-0070; dahlleslie@yahoo.com