1981

I just finished Remarque's All Quiet on the WesternFront with my sophomores. Imagine if Speaker Newt had written a new version of that classic WW I novel and if the narrator had been Pauline Baumer, rather than Paul. And Kat, the wily veteran, Kathy.

"Come on, Pauline," shouts Kathy over the sound of the bombardment, shells dropping around their foxhole. "We're on the counterattack!"

"I'm not going anywhere until this Gyne-Lotrimin kicks in," yells back an obviously uncomfortable Pauline.

To heck with Judge Ito and O.J.: just give me direct cable connection to Reinhardt College and Gingrich's weekly history lecture. A couple months ago the topic was the combatreadiness of women. February 11's? The baseball strike. Its solution, according to Newt? Send players and owners to an "isolated retreat," preferably Yellowstone or the Caribbean. Have them pray and watch Fieldof Dreams to "rediscover the sport's spirit of cooperation." Simple enough, huh? Probably should be a double feature with Wall Street. Who needs L.A. when you've got Washington? Man, I love this city.

But not George and Liz Alexakos. They've moved, but not to the District. In fact, these two are brave: they've purposely set up shop in Hingham, Mass., right next door to Lizzie's mum and pop. (A legend on the South Shore, Dr. Eldredge is die pediatrician who's doctored every town citizen for the past several decades. Run for political office in Massachusetts and be sure Dr. Eldredge is on your side: he might reveal your behavior when, as a seven-year-old, you screamed about a tetanus shot.) George and Liz moved back home so that Gram and Gramps could help take care of their 20-month-old grandchild William. Both George and Liz truck up to Boston for work, as George banks for the Federal Reserve, and Liz is doing a fellowship on pediatric anesthesiology at Brigham and Women's.

Doug Change-mailed to say that all's well in Phoenix. He and his wife, whom he didn't name, have two kids, whom he didn't name either, and the usual menagerie of animals. He did tell me the kinds of animals that they have: two dogs, one cat, and fish—but those, too, remained nameless. Doug is a physician, but he didn't say what kind of doctor or where he works. In fact just who is this mysterious Doug Chang, anyway?

Perhaps this being that called himself Doug Chang and somehow sent a cryptic note my way via the Internet is just some project of Justine Cassell's. Justine recently moved to Boston, bought a house in Somerville, and took a job as an MIT faculty member in the university's Media Lab. Our classmate will teach about and do research on virtual-reality kinds of things, in particular animated robots that gesture and speak. And type messages to unsuspecting class secretaries.

Lastly, Peter Heymann. Living in Seattle, Peter has started a company called Inter-Mind that's developing Internet software to ease, as he wrote, "information exchange." When not exchanging information and dirty looks with his computer monitor, Peter works with Washington Works, a non-profit that helps welfare mothers make the transition into fulltime, well-paying jobs. Over the last three years 62 women have found work, and our classmate hopes to influence welfare reform at the state and national level. (Peter: see fourth paragraph above, i.e. Newt.)

Don't forget our reunion, June 16-18. If you want to help out, give Rick "Slap Happy"Silverman a call at (508) 791-1358.

5101 Fairglen Lane, Chevy Chase, MD 20815; and 14 Woodland Drive, Darien, CT 06820

A lot Has Changed. A Lot Hasn't. THE CLASS OF 1981 15TH REUNION. JUNE 16-18, 1995