Our upcoming 45th reunion (June 19-22) is less than a Dartmouth quarter away and early registration is open! Watch your inbox and snail mailbox for registration info and links. Early birds receive a discount and an L.L.Bean class of ’81 tote bag. A reunion page is up at alumni.dartmouth.edu/reunions, but far more enticing you can see what our reunion chairs Rick Silverman and Ellen Brout Lindsey have planned activity-wise at dartgo.org/81derful. These include a Ted Talk, scavenger hunt, pickleball round robin, hikes, the Kemeny awards…and, best of all, for those who want to relive their freshman trip—or never went on one—arrive Wednesday night June 18 at Moosilauke for a 48-year, “Salty Dog” time-warp to September 1977. Wake up to a mountain hike on Thursday.
“The Time Warp,” as in let’s do it again, could end up on reunion playlists being skillfully curated by Robert Goldbloom and Abner Oakes. For practice, Abner has organized the “Brookdale Porchfest” each October since 2020 in his Bethesda, Maryland, neighborhood, “building the schedule for 16 bands, ranging from bluegrass to bagpipes to classic rock to Irish folk.” A labor of love, it “encapsulates the joy that comes from grooving to a cool band with a bunch of like-minded people.” Suggestions are welcome.
Phillip Gibbs has called for anything from the Grateful Dead, Frank Zappa, and Dolly Parton. He also asked about “the incredible string of great performers” we had the chance to hear in concert. “Who was picking the bands and why were our four years so extraordinary?” Good question. Answer?
Herbert “Buddy” Livingstone suggested a reunion musical theme of “water,” which has an existential, symbolic appeal that’s as old as we are. He had me at Talking Head’s “Once in a Lifetime.” How did we get here? He requests “Drowned” by The Who, “And It Stoned Me” by Van Morrison, U2’s “The Ocean,” and Bobby Darin’s “Beyond the Sea” “as a shoutout to the old Sigma Nu jukebox.”
I’ll own my disco affection and add “How Deep Is Your Love” by the Bee Gees. Plus, Christopher Cross’s “Sailing,” “Fool in the Rain” by Led Zeppelin, “Drift Away” by Dobie Gray, and the B-52s’ “Rock Lobster” (in memory of Jan Gaynor Bandeen), plus EWF’s “September” just because.
Themes are welcome too. You see how this could go.
On a more serious note, Greg Slayton’s people contacted us about his new book, Portraits of Ukraine: A Nation at War, written with son Christian ’15 and photographs by daughter Alessandra ’13. It’s “an analysis of the 2022 Russian invasion within the context of Ukraine’s people, history, arts, culture, traditions, and geography.” All proceeds go to Ukrainian charities and relief organizations.
Also, very sad news of the death of Richard “Dick” Whitney Crowley in December. Condolences to family and friends.
We’ll recognize each other in June by our tote bags.
—Ann Jacobus Kordahl, P.O. Box 470443, San Francisco, CA 94147; ajkordahl@gmail.com; Emil Miskovsky, P.O. Box 2162, North Conway, NH 03860; emilmiskovsky@gmail.com