As we navigate through the oppressive heat of July and August into the merciful cooling of September I am inescapably reminded that it was 20 years ago this fall that our class made its way to Hanover to embark on a few days’ worth of freshman trips followed by a few years’ worth of incredible on-campus memories. Amazing how time flies!


It’s been a busy few weeks’ worth of ’96 news. To start, Brendan Doherty recently relayed a big career milestone. Brendan, a political science professor at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, just authored his first book, titled The Rise of the President’s Permanent Campaign; it has already been mentioned by ABC News, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist and many more. He indicated, “I don’t think [my book] can go head to head with Brad Parks’ as a suspenseful page-turner [but is] timely giving the upcoming election.” Brendan and his wife, Robyn, live in Silver Spring, Maryland, with their children Eva (4) and Asa (2), whom he claims are pretty much in charge of their house!


And while we’re addressing the world of American government, I would be remiss in not acknowledging Joey Hood, who has been appointed by the U.S. Department of State as consul general to Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. A career foreign service officer, he has also served in Qatar, Yemen and Eritrea. Most recently Joey was the acting director of the office of Iranian affairs at the State Department.


One of our own has also been making a difference on two wheels. Spencer Garrett just finished his participation in the annual AIDS/LifeCycle, a seven-day bike ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles raising money and awareness in the fight against HIV/AIDS. The event raised more than $12 million and involved 2,200 cyclists. Unfortunately, the ride ended early for Spencer when he went down in a peloton crash and emerged with a broken radius and torn ligaments—but at least his spirits were intact! “After five years of riding I finally got to see the inside of a sweep vehicle. So what if I walked across the finish line and then headed to the hospital for X-rays, I still had one good arm with which to sign up for next year,” he typed one-handed back home in San Francisco.


I also received an update from Matt Little, whose household is undergoing great transformation. Matt and wife Paula welcomed their second daughter, Brooke, in June, joining elder daughter Sabrina (16 months). As if that weren’t enough change, Matt tells me, “Paula just scored her dream job as campaign director for the Oregon Zoo, so I will be leaving my job at the Oregon Natural Desert Association to be an at-home dad while she pursues this cool career move.” Beyond news of the ladies in his life, Matt himself was just featured on the cover of the June issue of Northwest Sportsmen magazine after nabbing a 35-pound king salmon on a family trip to Port Hardy, British Columbia. He said, “Now I’ll be living next to the Columbia River, so I’m sure there will be more dorky photos in the near future!”


Natalyn (Nails) Bradshaw had baby news of her own, announcing her newest arrival with husband Scott. “My daughter’s name is Hope Nicole, born April 30 at 7 pounds, 10 ounces. She joins older siblings Natalie, Ian and Bobby. She’s eight weeks now and still pretty small so we are still settling into a routine, but we are very happy!” Congrats to the entire Bradshaw clan and welcome to the ranks of future Dartmouth alumnae to Hope!


—Garrett Gil de Rubio, 1062 Middlebrooke Drive, Canton, GA 30115; ggdr@alum.dartmouth.org