1989

Yesterday I bought a Duraflame log for $2.50, the giant size, which guarantees me at least three hours of nuclear glow. I'm sure its "wood-ette" composition is about as environmentally unsound as a Twinkle or Exxon Valdez, but join me as I settle back to bask in the first harbinger of the holidays: a ready-made hearth.

Curling up to hearth and home for the first winter together are Beth Wilde and MichaelJoynt, married in Tonawanda, N.Y., this past summer.

Andrew Pulrang also makes his home in upstate New York Plattsburgh, to be exact. After receiving his master's in rhetoric and communications from UVA, Andrew set to work as special projects coordinator of the North Country Center for Independence, an organization which provides information, counselling, and advocacy for people with disabilities as they try to live life independently Getting the most out of his master's, Andrew adds: "Much of my job involves public relations and good old 'education' arguing in print and in person so naturally I enjoy it."

Refining and expanding his debating skills, Ashley Chadowitz continues in his second year at Columbia Law. He recently moved from Morningside Heights to the Upper West Side with Steve Lehman. Margo Miller embarked on her first year at said legal haven, while Courtney Nemroff is nearby at Columbia's School of International Affairs.

Eastern European economics inspires Barbie Puklin after a six-month internship in Romania and Czechoslovakia. A master's candidate in public policy at University of Michigan, Barbie describes her course of study as "everything I didn't do at Dartmouth."

Continuing to "do" at Dartmouth, KateSaunders is working toward a MALS degree in the sociology of health and illness. Significant friend Scott Bateman explores the psychology of it all in his third year at Dartmouth Medical School.

Exploring the outer regions of space, or at least the suburbs of Houston, Tim osby has moved to Texas to work for NASA. Formerly a rising options trading star at O'Connor Associates in Toronto, Tim may now focus on celestial bodies instead of being one.

Talk of stars brings me back to my happily flickering Duraflame log, resplendent in its mood-ring blaze. In light of this, I wish you all a Very Happy Merry Season, filled with rekindled love and friendship, including at least one evening in front of a real fire. Chestnuts and mistletoe are optional.

3 Washington Square Village #2B, New York, NY 10012