1981

The Wrongs of Spring. Like everything else in Washington, the seasons creep in at a snail's pace.

I suppose it begins when the sun replaces its neon-white winter bulb with one of the softer yellow incandescent items. This invariably unleashes the jogging bureaucrats at lunchtime - every one of them squeezed into the pair of sweats that shrank two sizes since last October. Next appears that nostalgic vision of couples in the park; though I can't help feeling that Ron and Nancy 'would be a tad appalled by the varied tastes on public display. Then come the birds the sparrows and robins, the swallows and gulls. And every one of them is thoughtful enough to announce its happy return with a few dozen calling cards on the windshield.

Finally comes the congressional yammering over budgetary inanities as all the turkeys gather to gobble up as much pork as conceivably possible. That's when Mother Nature shakes the death rattle out of Old Man Winter. But enough of all this.

Engaging Conversations. As is my wont, and my want, allow me to initiate today's proceedings by announcing the first drafts of somemore perfect unions. Helen Bonnar has taken her name off the eligibility tot-board. I'm told the man in question is an electrics wizard from Helen's hometown, but no word on names, dates, suit size, socio-economic quartile, or dental health. Yes, yes, I'll pass it on as soon as I get it.

Jeff Dufresne has also announced wedding plans. Duf will be marrying Shari Lyn Nicolau '83 sometime in June. Please don't send wedding gifts though, cash will suffice; just send it to the above address and you can bet I'll make sure it gets into the proper hands.

Sue McLaughlin has found enough time in the midst of her budding Boston-based legal career to announce her engagement to Joe Jangro '82. Again, I have not received major details. So I'm gonna make them up. The couple will be wed on the island of Guam, honeymoon in Passaic, N.J., and reside in a hot air balloon over Madagascar.

And last in this matrimonial melee is the engagement of Marc Levy and Diane Ben nett. Diane is up in Boston working as an editorial assistant, with the CBI Publishing Company, and Marc is assistant to the director; of ACCION International, a non-protit organiion in Cambridge (of which there are a few, they tell me) that develops economic assistance programs in Latin America. I think that's what the State Department does.

Outraging Predilections. Up in Hanover, some things is same as they ever was. Some aren't. For example, you may not have heard about Psi U's suspension of recognition. You also may not have heard about the ALUMNI MAGAZINE being pressured to adopt the editorial policy of Tass" Or about Al Haig's impendent speech, on what I can't imagine.

Nor is it likely that you know what Buddy Livingstone is up to. Perhaps you'd like to know. C'mon, say please. O.K.- Buddy is expanding his ionosphere of influence at Thayer. All in all, the '81s have done pretty well by that place; Buddy is one of 62,354 '81s at Thayer! Can you believe it?

Meanwhile, though some continue to hold down our old stomping grounds, the list of'8 ls overseas continues to swell. Justin Monjo is living in a land down under, pursuing his brilliant career amid the smell of the crowd and the roar of the greasepaint. Or something like that. Actually, Monjo is studying under a Reynolds Scholarship at the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney. Ah well, once a colonial . . .

Anyway, as long as we're off the North American continent, let's sail up to the People's Republic, shall we? Super.

To tell the truth, we'll have to stop just short of the mainland on that island Barry Goldwater loves so much Taiwan. Sam Norton is there these days, working for the First National Bank of Boston in Taipei. And they don't even have branch banking in Chicago. Now if it should happen that Deng and the boys decide to do a little tap-dance on Formosa, Sam may have to turn for help and Paul Del Piero will soon be available. That looming luminary is on his way to the Far East as soon as he finishes up at Thayer (there's that name again). Paul will be in China building oil rigs under the aegis of U.S. Steel.

This brings us back, albeit by a rather circuitous route, to the States. High-Waging Occupations. Sue Lasko is also doing the steel thing, but on this side of the Atlantic (or is that the Pacific?). Sue is in Kansas City at National Steel's district sales office.

Moving eastward, let's drop in on Thorn Smith in Pittsburgh, shall we? Wonderful. Now you're not going to believe this, but Smith has scaled new heights to astound and amaze. Thom has been working for a small but growing advertising firm and, well, perhaps we should let Thom speak: "Y'know Dirk," he said in January, "I like my work at Genesis Graphics so much, that I bought half the company." Which he did. No, I am not lying. Yes, they did give him a cut-rate deal. Yes, he really owns half the works. I know Smith's gotten his share of the press before, but this is incroyable.

Also up to some stunning tricks is Pat Berry. Pat is clandestinely whipping up a new magazine for Children's Television Workshop in New York. Details are top-secret, but I can go this far: kids, komputers, no kartoons. Komprenez-vous? Bueno.

Finally, as for completely unpredictable events, Ben Hart has signed on with the National Conservative Political Action Committee, that fun-loving PAC that worries about knee-jerk liberal infestations like the Dartmouth Review.

And finally finally, I have just received yet another engagement announcement this one from my former Windy City turf. Liz Keppler will be marrying long-time hometown companion Mark McCloy sometime in the not-toodistant. Which is, let's face it, where I'm writing from care to join me?

Anyway, that's all. There ain't no more.

803 C Street N.E. Washington, D.C. 20002