1989

("Can we realize for an instant what a cross-section of all existence at a definite point of time would be? While I talk and flies buzz, a seagull catches a fish at the mouth of the Amazon, a tree falls in the Adirondack wilderness, a man sneezes in Germany, a horse dies in Tartry, and twins are born in France." In his Principles of Psychology, William James forgot to add, "Dartmouth student rafts down die Colorado river," but in 1890, how would he have known?

My 1991 update reads as follows: "While I stare at the Mac screen and a roach the size of Guam threatens to try on my shoes, VictorSmith gets married in New Jersey, Dave Irwin sells printing for R.R. Donnelly in Chicago, Anne Gazzaniga mails a postcard via mule at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, and Brooks Entwhistle wards off a volcanic eruption in a Philippines resort town."

Brooks, working in Hong Kong for a third year at Goldman Sachs, escaped tie molten rock. But a hemisphere away, Victor Smith may have been crooning "Our Lava Is Here To Stay" as he wed Dawn Generals '9O. Groomsmen Darryl Weatherspoon and Allen Spooner shared their congratulations. Victor, studying for an M.B.A. at Rutgers, and Dawn, employed by IBM in New York, recently celebrated the birth of their daughter Bianca Elizabeth.

Hurricane Bob stepped deferentially aside for the Caribbean honeymoon of newly licensed (SCUBA and marriage) Jen Avellino and Zach Levine. Their August ceremony featured Yale Law novitiate Jamie Heller, myself, Linda Kelley, and Dave Kramer in the wedding party. On hand to heighten the festivities were Kurt Moser, Allison Polley,Jeff Kaufman, Seth Rosenblatt, JonBurnham, Adrian Block, Chris Maher, NeilWheaton, Blinn Latta, Mike Parrott, RickSpalding, and Eddie Barker. Eddie's inexplicable desire to become a "productive member of society" relocated him from France to the D.C. area, whereas Arlington, Va., transplants Linda and Kurt merely wanted to get out of Boston.

Out of the blue, into the breech: Heidi Reich is back in New York City. I haven't yet ascertained what she's doing, but her new blue eyeglasses are surely suave.

Off the stage, into the library: Fiona Bayly hopes to graduate with a master's in theater from SUNY Stonybrookin December, pending the completion of her thesis, tentatively titled Diversion and Inversion: Dramatic Playand Anti-Structure in the Dances and Dramas ofthe Nineteenth-Century Post-EmancipationTrinidad Carnival. Fi's timing remains impeccable, as witnessed by her acting successes in SUNY's comedies What the Butler Saw and Baby With the Bathwater, so I'm sure the thesis will enter right on cue.

Bill Grace steps once more into the conservative spotlight as the newly-named first executive director of the five-year-old Ernest Martin Hopkins Institute. Starting this fall, the private alumni organization plans to sponsor visiting scholars and supplemental courses and seminars at Dartmouth, particularly in the area of Western civilization.

At this Jamesian juncture, I wonder what possesses me to search for a monthly, thematic throughline in the lives of my classmates? Do I kid myself that there's some mysterious Green logic unifying our actions? Marriage seems to be the most common denominator, as opposed to unemployment a year ago, but the variety of individual pursuits increases in complexity. So humor me while I contrive connections amidst die chaos—where are you in the cross- section of existence?

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