My former WDCR colleague Allan Ackerman wrote to acknowledge and share “the health issues that seem to come for all of us in this chapter of the territory of life.” He highlighted two factors: paying for parking at Northwestern (Chicago medical facility) 110 times in one year and “making sure you retain the rest of your identity, not just the part that is a patient.” He thanks classmates Eric Lieberman, Don Becker, and Jon Agronsky for providing him and wife, Martha, generous support. Allan looks forward to being “out of the woods” by May and resuming international travel. Meanwhile, he spends time with his four grandchildren, helping the oldest with college applications in an environment he describes as “tough out there.”
Peter Wonson sent a recommendation for Roger Witten’s new book, Legal Briefs, a collection of 24 essays that includes five of Roger’s own and one each by Bill Kolasky and Warren Cooke. Many familiar, fascinating topics, such as the infamous “Saturday Night Massacre,” are addressed (in non-legalese!) with fresh, insider viewpoints. Buy it on Amazon starting in late April.
I solicited classmates’ thoughts about the recent class letter to President Beilock regarding reactions to the current Middle East conflict and learned from Peter Thompson that he had previously addressed the president individually with a similar expression of support for Dartmouth’s actions. Peter later elaborated in an email to us: “I am entirely against any statement that would designate anti-Zionist protests as anti-Semitic. I feel strongly that any further military aid to Israel must be contingent on serious plans for a two-state solution.” Peter recommends reading The 100 Years’ War on Palestine by Rashid Khalidi and watching Seeing Through the Wall: Meeting Ourselves in Palestine and Israel by Anne MacSoud.
—Jack Hopke, 157 Joy St., River Ridge, LA 70123; (504) 388-2645; jackhopke@yahoo.com