Class Note 1990

This month I asked ’90s, “In what way(s) do you think your personality has changed since college?” I received so many responses, it will take two columns to share them. Here is Part One: David Rosenberg:“I am far more conscientious and detail-oriented (i.e., anal retentive) than I was in college. I also have become less blindly trusting and am now a ‘trust but verify’ type of person. The rose-colored glasses I once wore have been removed. Overall, I am far more ‘curmudgeony’ than I was in college. In short, I have become my father.” Chris (Kirkmire) Mazzolla: “I personally think some aspects of personality are innate—introvert, extrovert, optimist, pessimist, etc.—but I think that through time the strongest aspects of personality can be tempered by time and life. By now life has kicked us all around in one way or another. There is not a person in our class who has not suffered in some way during these last 27 years, whether it be through illness, death of a loved one, divorce, discrimination, alienation, depression—the list goes on. I think those life events mute the hard edges of one’s personality—in general for good. For example, I have always been a pretty sunny, outgoing, optimistic person and for the most part I still am. But the ebb and flow of life has quieted my spirit and made me much more introspective and empathetic than I was as a young adult. I’m calmer, more thoughtful and less selfish. I’d say I’m kinder. My sweet husband, Rich Mazzola, is still the calm, steady, kind person he has always been. In that way, he has not changed. I suppose the combination of our personalities is what has helped us to weather life together for 30 years.” Scott Facher: “Rob, since I think only you are able to come up with such an inspired question, I’ll answer in a heartfelt way (yes, being a man who leads with his heart may be the biggest way I have not changed since college). Given that in the late 1980s several of my closest friends called me ‘narcolapper’ as a pun on a narcoleptic whose ‘rap’ was marked by repeated brushing upon the arm of whichever woman I desired, now that I am an almost-49-year-old single father of 11-year-old twin boys, I must confess my narcolapping has largely shifted to falling asleep with iPhone in hand while logged onto a dating website.” Carol Ann Ling: “I’ve become much less concerned and serious about the societal trappings of success and of social judgment and I have come to appreciate and embrace enjoying my own life by reminding myself that I make the ultimate choice about how I perceive my life is going and going to be tomorrow. In other words, f**k what other people say or think or judge about me; I’m the master of my own destiny.” Hallie Brooks:“I think I am more outgoing, assertive and grateful. After being somewhat introverted in high school, a degree of success on the riding and crew teams gave me a confidence I previously lacked. Since Dartmouth I have become a stronger and more self-assured person. At the same time, maturity has made me more grateful for the experiences I’ve had and the kind and wonderful people (and animals) in my life, past and present. Never forget to say thank you.” Mary Es (Anderson) Beaver:“I think that I have become more thoughtful and introspective, but I still love to laugh and have fun and groove to the music and I take joy in seeing others doing the same!”

—Rob Crawford, 101 Black Oak Road, Weston, MA, 02493; crawdaddy37@gmail.com