1975

We'll start off this month with an appeal from Class President Matt Dwyer: "The ALUMNI MAGAZINE is mailed to the entire class (828 members). The class is billed $4,400 annually for the MAGAZINE and a total of about $500 annually for newsletters, dues mailings, and mini-reunions. All of these costs have been picked up by the half of the class which has been paying its class dues. The $ 15 annual dues buy you a subscription to the MAGAZINE and class newsletters. If you like reading them and have not yet 'subscribed,' ease your conscience by sending a check payable to the 'Class of '7s,' to Rick Waddell, 1624 Highland Avenue, Wilmette, 111. 60691- Thanks."

Ever heard of a five-piece band called Smash the Windows? No, it's not a punk group bent on anarchy, it's an Upper Valley combo specializing in early 18th-century New England music. The dance step that accompanies these traditional songs is called "contradancing," a popular style of hoofing for the Colonial upper crust before the ascendancy of waltzes and polkas. Contradancing nearly died out between the 1920s and the 19505, but it was kept alive in southern New Hampshire. Dartmouth's contributions to "Smash the Windows" and the preservation of this early musical genre include flutist Wayne Cripps and Bill Schults, the caller. Bill is a carpenter by day; Wayne works as a bicycle mechanic at the Pedaler in Hanover. Other musicians in the band, which takes its name from an Irish jig in the repertoire, include fiddler Dan Lynch, a professor at Thayer School of Engineering, flutist Betsy Maislin, a nurse at Mary Hitchcock, and Danny Dover on dulcimer.

Contradancing is participatory. The caller walks everyone through the dance and calls every step. According to a recent Valley News article, this art form seems to be enjoying a revival in the Connecticut Valley, and apparently many Dartmouth people have been caught up by the infectious music and the accompanying social whirl.

Dennis Wright, director of public affairs at Boston's WNEV-TV, has been promoted to executive assistant to the general manager. Dennis, a practising Boston attorney, is responsible for several areas affecting station policy and planning standards, practices, supervision of the station's editorial operations, and some strategic planning and organizational development. Dennis wrote and produced the 1981 WNAC-TV documentary Delinquent Justice, which examined Massachusetts juvenile correction institutions, and a three-part series entitled Hooked on Credit, which focused on credit abuse. Dennis teaches broadcast classes at Emerson College in Boston and is the former counsel for the Boston chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Congratulations on your new position, Dennis.

Dan Skorich writes: "We're proud to announce the arrival of a son, born October 11, 1982. We did have a bit of trouble choosing a name. (Not so with our first child. Rosey being the mother and myself reputedly being the father, we called her Danielle Rose. Rather clever, we thought, but then people from the North Country are easily amused.) After lengthy debate, we decided on an appropriate ethnic name for our son: Dan Rosanna Danna Skorich. Unfortunately, we learned that the number of letters in that name would prohibit us from applying for a Social Insurance Number. Instead, we settled on: Stefan Joseph Skorich. He checked in at nine pounds, seven ounces, and 21 inches." Thanks for the note, Dan. Now you've got what my friend calls "a millionaire's family" a son and a daughter.

Bob Vaeth engaged? Impossible, you say? Couldn't happen here? Is Bob Sullivan putting me on? Read this column next month and find out!

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