Barely freshmen, literally green, perhaps muddy and wondering what the hell was a salty dog. That’s right: Twenty years ago this month a good number of us were on freshman trips, eventually hiking up Mount Moosilauke to croon a bastardized version of “Shower the People.” (Maybe that was just my trip.) Inspired by that memory I recently reached out to one of those first people I met that first night as we all crammed together in the Choate lounge. Working now in the office of career services at Stanford Law School, Elizabeth Armand (who seemed a bit shocked to be reminded that we are this old) has some big news: She is getting married this summer to a wonderful guy named Carlo! She still keeps in touch with some of the same people we met that night, including Musetta Leung, Julie Donahue Kulchuk (who happens to be the first classmate I ever met at Dartmouth), Marsha Davis and Somesha Ferdinand. Try it yourself: Reach out to someone back from freshman trips and see where they are 20 years later and if they can still do the Salty Dog. (Next time around maybe I’ll tackle my freshman seminar.)


Also in the Bay Area is Nandini Joseph, whom I harassed over Facebook: “We’ve been in Palo Alto for the past five years and are enjoying West Coast living. I’m an endocrinologist and have three kids (10 and 4-year-old twins!). We often see fellow Bay Area residents Rob Mascola and his wife, Jennifer Kopec, and Jay and Kelly Foley Stachowicz. I also caught up with Katie Roberts and Mary Beth Keiller at Katie’s baby shower in Boston. Katie is a science specialist in Hingham and M.B. is an educational consultant. Katie got married last year to Jim Mannion and is expecting her first baby in a few weeks [probably born by now—congrats!]! Roberta Braum is in Seattle and works for Amazon. Danae Chryssomali is a busy lawyer in Athens, Greece. I hope to see Danae along with a few other Dartmouth people at Hans Mallalieu and Manju Chandiramani’s wedding in July in London.” Methinks an update will be in order after that wedding.


Clent Bourdreaux writes in: “My wife, Soula, and I are still living in Phoenix after an aborted attempt a few years back to move back East. Guess after being desert rats for 13 years the prospects of snow (or even a stiff breeze) was too much. Currently I’m working in San Diego on a multi-year project with a global orthopedic manufacturer, commuting between SoCal and Phoenix every week. While this lifestyle is terrific for the frequent-flyer account, it makes for a challenging family life—especially considering that my wife and I are expecting our fifth child this June. (No, not a typo.) My daughter Alexa is nearly 11 now and has her hands full with brothers Ethan (7), Andreas (5) and Joseph (2). Thank goodness our fifth is expected to be a girl, otherwise Alexa would have put the kid up on Ebay. As with any new arrival most of my ‘free’ time has been spent with my wife getting the house ready for the baby—I’m still picking pink paint out from under my nails after a week of DIY nursery design.” Congrats to the new arrivals!


Profound apologies to Heather Gunas for misspelling her name in the last column! And check out the ’93 Web site or our “Dartmouth Class of 1993” fan page on Facebook for details about our exciting marquee event this September led by classmate Richard Owen.


—Jeffrey Middents, 505 Ethan Allen Ave., Takoma Park, MD 20912; dartmouth93@gmail.com