1984

A few issues back, I saluted President Freedman by making him an honorary member of our class. Some of you criticized me at the time, after all, how did we know he would treat us with the respect we deserved? To make things worse, he publicly humiliated me by not having me over for dinner.

Well, I never gave up on President Freedman, Jim, as I like to call him. I stuck it out, and things are finally starting to pay off. Sure, Jim and I haven't been as close as we might have been in the past few years (I'm still waiting for the dinner invitation), but with our sth Reunion right around the corner, it's time to mend fences.

Toward this end, I spoke with Jim the other day (well, I never actually spoke "with" him, but I was on hold for quite a while), and Jim has agreed to act as the "Official Host" for our reunion.

"What will the host do?" you query. Well, we're still ironing out the details, but let me try to paint a picture of what our reunion will be like, with James Freedman at the helm:

Our story begins with the illustrious members of the class arriving on campus. Jim is on hand to greet class president LuciaJackson. Lucia, fresh from divinity school, is thrilled by the fresh flowers. She is taken to her luxury suite, where the bed has been turned down, and a fine Belgian chocolate sits perched on her pillowcase.

Early the next morning, President Freedman leads' Nick Bernstein to Thayer Hall for breakfast. Nick, whose name is beginning to appear in the credits of major motion pictures with increasing regularity, forgets to put his tray on the conveyor belt. Jim, ever the gracious host, picks up after Nick.

After breakfast, it's off to the beer-pong table for our host, where he faces stiff competition from Mike Budwig. Mike has spent the last several months in Tibet, trekking around and playing beer pong with the local monks. After the reunion, Mike plans to move to the Midwest, where he will race mobile homes for a living.

Later in the afternoon, our host stops to chat with Bill Hamlin. Bill works as a crude-oil commodities broker for Shearson Lehman in New York. Astute readers will recognize that I have included so many facts in the previous sentence, that in all likelihood, none of them are correct. Well, whatever Bill does, he and Jim have a grand old time.

I think you get the idea. If this catches on, and I think it will, every class will want a host for their reunion. While we already have dibs on President Freedman, there are plenty of other high administration officials, begging to be adopted. Dean Ed Shanahan is still in Hanover and might make an excellent choice for a younger class he's been around awhile, knows his way around, and, most importantly, how mucn trouble can you get in with a dean as your host.

Well, that's pretty much how I expect our reunion to go. For those of you who still aren't sure they'll make it, I can offer you only one thought: Go, your President is counting on you.

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