Another author in our midst! The third book by Paul Griffin, Stay With Me,will be published by Penguin on September 8. (In fact, Paul wrote 23 novels prior to having one published, exactly 20 years after leaving Dartmouth. Way to persevere, Paul!) I asked Paul for an update: “Only this past year have I been able to make a living writing, and a modest living at that, but I work with great people—Penguin is ridiculously good to me, and my editors and I have a lot of fun collaborating. These are young adult books, generally for 14 and up, but you don’t need to have a young adult in your life to make use of them—they make good beer coasters, so if people want to buy sets of 12, that’d be fine. Sadly, I’ve been out of contact with everybody—mostly. Jay Kumar and his wife, Catherine, and their two great kids came to visit for a day last summer. Jay is an entrepreneur and a writer. He wrote a great (and very scary) thriller novel called Dark Woods a few years ago. His latest book is nonfiction, about grouse hunting. Rob Cote makes me laugh with a (cheerful) e-mail every year or so.”


Another talented Paul made a splash recently: Paul DeVeaux wrote and produced a film that premiered in May. Adams Morgan: The Moviewas filmed on location in that vibrant D.C. neighborhood. Paul sent this news: “I have been working as an attorney for the past few years in Washington, D.C., area, where I live with my wife, Naomi, and our two children (Maxine, 10, and Malachi, 5). This is my first script and film, but I am currently working on several new projects. I am still in touch with several Dartmouth folks and most recently spent some quality time in Los Angeles with one of my old roommates, Tyler Goldman. Thanks to Facebook, I chat on occasion with Rowland Wu and Robin Joy.” Congratulations on your movie, Paul, and let us know if you need any 40-something extras in your future films. 


Lastly, did you know that our class has contributed $39,000 to support Dartmouth’s Habitat for Humanity chapter since 2003? Class of ’88 support, both financial and physical, helped undergraduates build homes for three families in the Upper Valley. Special thanks to classmates Gregg “Aldo” Nourjian for launching this partnership and Anne-Marie (Weldon) Keane for raising the money. Other classes are now supporting this great cause, so we are looking into new project ideas. Stay tuned. 


I asked Anne-Marie for an update: “Life in Colorado is great. We have settled into mountain life (we live in Vail) and have no desire to leave it except for brief visits to family and friends or to Chile in the summer so our kids can do their summer ski training. It seems we have no shortage of visitors in the winter. I was kept pretty busy with family and friends, including Julie Zahniser, her husband and their cute red-headed 7-year-old twins, who came to town to ski Vail. Not really sure if I was the draw or the more than 500 inches of snow this year. I was happy to join them on the mountain as their guide. This winter I skied every run at Vail and had 123 ski days. So if anyone is planning to ski Vail next year and needs a guide, give me a call!”


Cheers.


—Jane (Grussing) Lonnquist, 4510 Drexel Ave., Edina, MN 55424; jjlonnquist@earthlink.net