Here is Part II of your responses to, “What are your salient memories of your freshman trip?” David Sherwood: “I fondly recall singing ‘When It’s Hog Calling Time in Nebraska’ at Moosilauke with Walter Palmer, John Lynch, Scott Mackle, and the rest of my fishing trip crew. It was the capstone to the greatest fishing trip during which we never fished. We spent our days making the ‘Jell-O No Bake Cheesecake’ mixes that prior campers had left behind in Stoddard Cabin. As it was a fishing trip, we were told to pack duffle bags (not backpacks), and I recall it was something like a six-mile hike from the drop-off to the cabin. All of those things, plus the ghost story by Dave Herron ’87 and Walter’s terrifying sound effects outside the cabin, made it a fantastic experience. This spring John Lynch, Caroline Choi, and I caught Springsteen on Broadway, so absolutely lifelong friends were made on that trip!” Julie Tomasz: “My lifelong friendship with Julia Weil Lazarus started not on freshman trips, but about six hours before, on a corner in midtown N.Y.C. where we met in line waiting for the bus to Hanover. We chose seats together, talking all the way to campus, where we were then pleased to learn we were on the same hiking trip—but that I had forgotten to bring a check to pay for it. Julia’s first of many acts of bail-out generosity toward me was loaning me money to pay my freshman trip fee. That generosity continued throughout our years at Dartmouth (and to this day) in so many beautiful gestures of friendship, and notably via her prowess at typing, as she helped me type up countless English and philosophy papers that I dictated to her in a panic at 3 a.m.” Jen Gittes: “I distinctly remember feeling sad, confused, and somewhat angry when people began singing what was then still called ‘Men of Dartmouth’ on the bus ride back to campus. It struck me really hard that our song excluded me as a woman of Dartmouth. I am so glad and proud that the alma mater was officially changed during our time at Dartmouth. On a different note, my hiking trip was all fun, no disasters, but it did make me greatly appreciate the comforts of North Mass upon our return from the great outdoors. And that was back when the dorms were not too fancy—creaky linoleum floors, clunky radiators, and weird lighting, remember?” Andy Affleck: “My favorite memory of bike riding, in general, comes from my freshman trip. We had spent most of an entire morning biking (well, mostly walking our bikes) up a hill (mountain?) and finally came to a sign that read “12% Grade Next 2 Miles.” We all whooped and got on our bikes and flew down the hill. Tears were streaming straight back from my eyes. Cars were passing us, but very slowly so we must have been going at least 50 mph. At the bottom of the hill we all sat by a really cool waterfall.”

And in class news, Benjamin Kwakye, who is vice president and associate general counsel of Global Payments Processing Co., read excerpts of his books at the Goethe Institute in Accra, Ghana, on July 25. Kwakye is the winner of two Commonwealth Prize for Literature book awards for his novels, The Clothes of Nakedness and The Sun by Night. One of Africa’s leading literary scholars, professor Eustace Palmer, describes Kwakye’s most recent collection of poems, Songs of a Jealous Wind, as an “impressive collection that continues to reinforce Kwakye’s claim to being incontestably in the front rank of African writers.”

—Rob Crawford, 22 Black Oak Road, Weston, MA 02493; crawdaddy37@gmail.com