1988

This is the magazine's "Nostalgia Issue," in which we hark back to our glory days on campus. But my deadline the day on which I am writing is January 15, a deadline for, conceivably, the future of the planet. I hope you'll forgive me if it's a bit difficult to focus on remembering all-nighters, parties, and how good the good old days were.

If, in fact, they were all that good. Few classes experienced as much tumult in four years in Hanover as ours. The nation turned to watch us during the shanty incident, and who can say if the images of that conflict will ever fade? A new president arrived and forced us to re-evaluate what our small college was about. Constant bickering over issues mundane and monumental marked our four years.

Not exactly tear to the eye nostalgia, is it? This is not to say that our four years were a total mess, featuring 1,000 class members wandering from battle to battle. There were good times, to be sure: Winter Carnivals, formals, unforgettable classes and professors, and even a few Ivy League titles in athletics. We saw the 1988 presidential candidates up close. We stumbled down Webster Avenue, as many have before us (and as many will after). We learned from great minds and we were wowed by our classmates' abilities on the stage, in the laboratory, in debate, and in letters. We sat up late at night in dorm rooms, arguing for anarchy or Bolshevism, or whatever the ism of the month was. We learned lessons of life, and as often as not, we came up grinning.

These days, some of us find it harder to grin. The nation's economy, booming when we were students, has gone south. Jobs are lost or changed, salaries cut. Futures that were so bright we had to wear shades (remember that song?) are now not so brilliant.

Given all that, maybe a touch of nostalgia is a good idea. Recall the good times, my friends—but don't forget the upheavals we endured. There were lessons, souvenirs of the heart and mind, in all of the above.

I close this column by remembering our classmates who are no longer with us: JenniferCrary, Craig Washa, Stacey Coverdale, and Omondi Obura. We remember each of you, and the times we shared, good and bad, as we sorted out what we were about.

Chuck Young, 53 South Main Street, Apt. 2A, Concord, NH 03301-4829