1986

"And my fraternity brothers thought I was a geek!" Rob Levine Ok, in the fame category this month we have JimFoster, who writes, "I play lead guitar in a band called Vision Thing. We are based in Boston, and we are currently touring New York and New England. Our debut CD will be available this spring, and we can be heard in rotation on WFNX and WBCN here in Boston. For those who have lingering frat-party memories, at Dartmouth I had a band called Shaggy and the Hackers."

Also working his way up to a billboard of lights is Mark Irish, who ran in the new off-Broadway play Trophies for ten weeks until it closed last December. He was also in A Taleof Two Cities as "Gaspard" at the Paper Mill Playhouse last spring. More famous classmates: Suzanne Hall King and LeslieThompson, who both qualified for the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer The Minneapolis Star Tribune did a story on Suzanne last February, which noted that she has only been ski-racing competitively for the past four years. The article also revealed that Suzanne qualified for the U.S. cross-country ski team that old-fashioned way—"beating head-on the best women in the nation, without support from U.S. Skiing, without advertising on her hat or skis." And last but not least on this "fame thing" is our own Rob Levine, who was featured in the "Party Poop" section of the March issue of Spy magazine. Rob tells it best: "I can be seen Hangin' with Mary Tyler Moore! (And my fraternity brothers thought I was a geek!) This was all a part of a major fundraiser cosponsored by my bank in New York. Funds will go to support famine relief in West Africa." Also note, Rob and his wife Cynthia expect a baby in October.

And that's a nice segue from the fame thing to the baby thing. Betsy Crawford Ragan and husband Bill '82 had a baby boy last December. Betsy and Bill are doing that politically correct thing by not pressuring young James to attend Dartmouth in 2012. Instead, they are leaving that up to grandfather James '58 and uncles Rob '90 and Ben '92. Suzy Nachman Mercado had a baby girl last November and is thoroughly enjoying parenthood.

Moving right along to the hard-working thing, Sue Weiner writes to let us know she received her Ph.D. in French from Duke University in May of '93 after having spent '90 and '91 in Paris as a Fulbright Scholar. She is currently an assistant professor of French at the University of Toledo in Ohio and working on a book about representations of female adolescence in postwar French culture. (Move over John Grisham!) And in perfect "M.D. scrawl," I could just make out a note from Jeff Ferguson, M.D. "I am in the research lab for the next year trying to cure prostate cancer. Then I'll have one more year of surgery residency at Mayo Clinic."

And finally, doing the relaxing thing is Paul Hochman who writes, "I've been writing and teaching at Andover. Most recently published in the New York Times Sunday Magazine; still testing skis for SKI Magazine; Trish, my wife, and I are due in August! The best thing about being a teacher: naps in the afternoon. The best thing about being a writer: same thing, and the commute is ten seconds." Well, considering the fact that Paul is probably a pop now, I doubt those afternoon naps have lasted.

As for me, I have relocated back to San Francisco. Note new address below and keep the mail coming!

2111 Franklin #1, San Francisco, CA 94109