1981

A sight I won't forget from our reunion? John Sconzo wearing his more than 15-year-old green '81 football jersey. While it might've been a tad tight, like any piece of clothing older than Macaulay Caulkin, both shirt and Sconz looked to be in good shape. John e-mailed his address is to say that he and wife Kitty live in Glens Falls, N.Y.; that two boys, ages five and four, grow like magic beanstalks out of their own clothing; and that he puts people to sleep as the local hospital's anesthesiologist. In addition John is the president of the county medical society as well as on the board of the physician arm of a local managed-care organization.

Tyler Zabriskie just returned to LA, his home, from New England and the Hanover Plain. At Reunion John Rassias caught him by the scruff of his neck and asked our classmate if he wanted to teach French and ESL for ten days this summer in the professor's Accelerated Language Study Program. I wish Tyler had been my drill instructor at Dartmouth: he might've been more gentle in waking me from my slumber each early morning session.

And talk about lack of sleep. "Nothing can keep me from writing," Julie Wallin Kaewert told me over the phone yesterday. Each evening beginning at 7—and sometimes ending as late as 1 Julie sneaks upstairs to her computer, leaving husband Bill to take care of the dinner dishes and their cherubs, Sarah and Alexandra. In her aerie, partially secluded from the squeaks of kids getting ready for bed, Julie writes "bibliomysteries," an actual genre in the mystery writers' world, where victims don't get stabbed or shot or garroted but whacked on the head with the compact edition of the OED. Published by St. Martin's Press, Julie's first book, Unsolicited, is about an unsolicited manuscript that brings on all kinds of mayhem, and while that publishing house is not putting much "marketing muscle" behind it, as Julie lamented, Unsolicited can be ordered from any good bookstore. She's also just finished a sequel. Tentatively titled Folio B; it centers around the world of the rare and antique books trade.

As most of you have already realized, Stephen Godchaux and I are now sharing duties as Class Scribbler. Karen McKeei Calby, who labored in this office for decades, has decided that, right now, working more than 50 hours a week, commuting at least 90 minutes a day, and helping husband Doug raise their two hellions was not making column-writing easy. And she made Stephen an offer he couldn't refuse: $20, John Sconzo's '81 shirt, and the mention of her name in at least three columns a year. One down, two to go.

If, after racing through Unsolicited, you're looking for another good read, try anything by prize-winning Roddy Doyle: The Van, The Commitments, The Snapper, or Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, which I just finished. And check out the new address below: my wife and I bought a house. After years of living in schoolprovided housing, we are excited homeowners. Excited at least until next week when the washing machine belches water into the basement and the oven smokes uncontrollably, even when off.

IV, 4807 Dover Road, Bethesda, MD 20816; 1047 Lincoln Blvd., Apt. 10, Santa Monica, CA 90403