1977

New England autumn again. Moosilauke Ravine Lodge. Freshmen arriving. Convocation. Field hockey and football. Classes starting. New faces. New en- ergy. But the perspective 16 years out is a little different. Now it's one of us giving the talk at the Ravine Lodge to nearly 100 happy and tired hikers, and realizing that when we were there as "'shmen," they were only as old as our son Scott (age 2). It's both of us "advising" freshmen, and recalling again the confusion of a first-time introduction to "x-hours," IOAs vs. 10s, and the wonder of only being assigned to attend classes 12 hours for the whole week. A new term has emerged, tongue-in-cheek, to overcome the inherent masculinity of the word "freshmen." It's "fresh ones." I kind of like it. Convocation, no longer an evening "family affair," now is at Thompson Arena. And we notice there's a home football game when the Saturday morning round of errands encounters thick traffic en route to the Hanover Co-op. Beyond the misty mornings on the Connecticut River, the crisp apple-picking fall days, and the turning leaves, lurks the inevitable dark of winter. Snow and cold we don't mind, but as fall approached, summer's dying was really heralded not by falling temperatures, but by the reality of having to turn on the light in the morning as the alarm goes off.

In late summer, a cryptic message arrived: "A Cinderella story was played out at the 42nd annual Brae Burn Country Club member-guest tournament the last weekend of July. The protagonists were two '77s: DanMahony and Kurt Reimann. In golf remotely reminiscent of Walter Hagen's 1919 U.S. Open victory on the course, Dan and Kurt proceeded with a three-day ham-and- egg routine (in true ex-roommate fashion) to come from a three-stroke deficit to win the coveted Sunningdale Trophy. This was their fourth annual outing. Dan is presendy contemplating a member-guest career, Kurt is working on a book to be titled either Downthe Rough or On Casual Water."

Another July press release announced that Pasquale De Angelis had been elected to the partnership of KPMG Peat Marwick, certified public accountants. Pasquale has been with the firm since 1977 and specializes in providing tax services to high technology and emerging growth companies. He and his wife, Georgine, live with their two sons in West Windsor, N.J.

Tom Ropelewski coat-tailed his way into a mention in The New York Times this summer. He and his screenwriter wife, Leslie Dixon, are collaborating on a new movie called "Madhouse." He is writer and director; she is producer. In the film, two yuppies' lives are destroyed by a procession of bad house guests.

In the arguably saner northern portion of California, firefighter Edy Ullman was temporarily transferred to Humboldt County and promoted to fire captain for the summer. She wrote, "Not a whole lot of action, but the scenery really makes up for it!" In our own local paper, The Valley News, we read that there is a big storm brewing in that part of the country over some 18-year-old efforts of Ted Geisel '25, better known as Dr. Seuss. It seems the redwood loggers have taken exception to his marvelous tale of The Lorax, attempting to ban it from the schools and dividing the world as they know it into "loggers" and "hippies." So which is Edy? Stay tuned .. .

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you and yours.

P.O. Box 861, Norwich, VT 05055