1981

This is my first set of notes without Jumpin Jim Watt as head of the Interior Department. What am I going to do? He's been such a source of inspiration to flippant cynics (or is that cynical flippers?) for so long. Who needed a muse while Watt was in office? Ah well, there will always be George Steinbrenner. And Qadaffi. ISTot to mention the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Or Yuri Andropov.

You know, word has it that Andropov picked up Freddie Silverman's contract after NBC's erstwhile program director was let go. I'm not kidding. The Politburo's Central Committee on Information signed Silverman to a three-year, multi-million-dollar contract, and, so far, Freddie promises to do for Soviet culture what he did for us.

Imagine: Laverne and Trotsky, Mikhail'sNavy, Yuri and Boo-Boo, and Michael Landon starring in Little Dacha on the Steppes. The possibilities are endless. Yet, sadly, they must end. Here. If they don't, you all will start to get miffed and accuse me of failing to attend to my duties.

So here goes news.

The press office has finally informed me of something that I'm sure you're already aware of. Bob Gaudet has been named assistant hockey coach up in Hanover. That should bode well, given that Bob was co-chairing the meetings of the board that brought us into the NCAA finals for the first time in 30 years. Perhaps those of you who went to the games under the influence of milk and cookies remember what I'm talking about.

Also still in the teeming metropolitan region of Hanover is Rich Barlow, working for the Valley News by emitting feature-writing behaviors.

Susan Messer, now Susan Eliot, has like wise painted herself into the northeast corner of the map. While her husband engages in carpenter-o-metrics, Sue is working for Port-land Landmarks Inc. As Maine goes . . .

Poor Allison Sirken, meanwhile, writes that she has been "exiled" to veterinary school after some summertime frolicking in Wyoming. I might be inclined to sympathize, were it not for the fact that her exile is at the University of Florida. C'mon, I know that dissecting furry little creatures can be tough, but the formaldehyde is gonna wear off in the first ten minutes at the beach. So let's keep things in perspective, shall we? OK.

Now if we're going to talk about true asceticism, we must note the fact that Loren Weeks is studying economics at the University of Minnesota. That's real sacrifice. And DaveKunin, a.ka. Face, has also placed himself on the altar of the frozen north. Whadda guy. Face is serving as a consultant and a major expense account liability for a Minneapolis teleconference corporation that Dave says will either make Braniff look good or MCI look bad. Flip a coin. It's like a jungle sometimes.

Further out and up, Nancy Kopsco is in Seattle, pursuing a master's in resource geography. It'll be a two-year chase/so anyone in the Northwest should drop in and find out what the top ten scarce resources of the eighties will be. We're looking for a class gift.

Now let's take a quick jaunt back to this part of the world, the northeast corridor, where no one will grant me a hall pass.

In New York, surrounded no doubt by myriad others of our clan, John Byrne is selling bonds for Salomon Brothers. Just remember, there are plenty of places in Manhattan where John would be arrested for engaging in municipal bondage!

Also, in New York, at the university of same, are Larry Dunn and Alex Doty. Alex is just starting his M.B.A. studies, while Larry will be taking time out from his for a wedding in December.

Farther north, Steve Sanford has been teaching at the St. Paul School and will be entering a Jesuit novitiate in Boston. (Remember, that's how Jerry Brown started.)

Vicki Grossack spent the summer in Cambridge, which they tell me is also in Boston, working for a computer software marketing company. Vicki reports that she may end up there on a longer-term basis after finishing up at Indiana University B School. She also took note of Greg Ramm's short sojourn in the Boston area, adding that Greg is back to Zaire for his third year in the Peace Corps. A quick stop in Nigeria might remind him what a democracy looks like, if he gets depressed.

Now how did I get from Boston to Zaire? I meant to go right down the coast to New York again. Too bad. We'll have to skip the other 654,000 '81s in that greater metropolitan region and come straight to my bailiwick (a word I've been waiting to use for the last seven paragraphs).

Ben Knox is sliding into his third year at Johns Hopkins Med School. Hiding out in Annapolis, Pam Fiertz is doing the public finance thing for Ferris and Company, a brokerage and investment house in D.C. Hanging out in D.C.proper (though I'm told there is no D.C. proper) is Jeff Meer, who is working for Psychology Today.

Just a tad farther down the Atlantic seaboard, there are a couple of '81s at the Duke Med School. Lindsey Tweed has just begun the torture, while Steve Smith is in his third year of eyeballs looking like roadmaps.

I was about to stop here. I do have some other stuff, but I thought I'd save it for next time. But I did find out that Jonathan Perezous has returned from his study of international law under a Rotary Scholarship in Pamplona, Spain. I'm told he's starting up at the University of Chicago Law School. Now, what do you think? Should I put that in or not? OK, I'll hold off until next month.

A group of old friends from Harold's (alias Delta Psi Delta) convened recently at the Top of theHub in the Prudential Center in Boston. Together with wives, fiancees, and dates, the crewtotaled 25. Those pictured include Roger Glovsky '80, Jack McElhinney 'BO, Joel Rappoport '80,Jim Doscher '81, Lon Povich '81, Greg Korjeff "81, AlJohnson '78, Phil DiBello '82, Bill Wright '8l, Rich Pender '79, Chuck Jarrett '80, Bob Laflam '80, Steve Risberg '81, Charlie Russell '83,and Jonathan Hall '80. Other Big Greeners present were McElhinney's wife Maureen '80,Korjeff's fiancee Michelle Meyers '83, and Russell's wife Julie '83. Jonathan Hall, who sent inthe picture, noted that addresses for any of those in the group can be obtained from him c/o 10Patriots Drive, Lexington, MA 02173 though he himself will have moved to Illinois by thetime this appears in print.

1640 19th Street, NW Washington, DC 20009