1976

Those of you who have sent in news for this column have noticed the time lag before publication. The best exampie in my tenure as class secretary was when I reported that Mike and Susan Chiarella and their eight-year-old son took a trip to New Zealand. This prompted an indignant fax from New London, N.H. - by the time the Alumni Magazine hit the mailbox, young Mike was 12.

All this to prepare you for what may be the very last public announcement that Dave Shribman won the Pulitzer Prize for beat reporting in April. The Scribe, who is the Washington bureau chief for the Boston Globe, was described as a "brilliant soloist in a town more known for the journalistic chorus" by his own editor. I hope the editor remembers these words at Dave's salary review.

Gretchen Kent Kerr sent a note from her new home on Peregrine Drive, Sierra Vista, Ariz. This is the best sounding address I've read in a long time, and puts Gretchen high on the list of targets in the class-scholarship sweepstakes. Gretchen manages a group of software engineers who "maintain a system that processes terrain and topographic imagery." Gretchen and Pat are renovating an old, half-adobe vacation cabin in New Mexico, and, by the time this is published, should have had a nice summer of "Bach and Pearl Jam" courtesy of Pat's musicall y inclined children.

Speaking of munchkins I was pleased to learn about John J. Brennan's recent appointment as CEO of the Vanguard Funds. In addition to $150 billion of other people's money, John is now managing my son's paltry college fund. Among John's able associates is Gus Salter, who is in charge of Vanguard's "Core Group of Index Funds." I hope they do well; tuition is not going down.

Bruce Pfaff is trying to sneak ahead of the tuition curve. Brace's daughter Liza has been accepted into the class of '99 "and, obviously, will attend. She has already seen the gorf in AD's basement and, I hope, knows enough to stay away." (We all hope so too.) Bruce has a personal-injury law practice in Chicago, and is active in efforts to require prenatal HIV testing. His interest in this area was prompted "by a client and friend who was positive, did not know she was, and passed it on

If I read the press reports correctly, the youth soccer league of the 16th Arrondissement may have lost a coach to Hollywood. Michael Montgomery has joined the Katzenberg/Geffen/Spielberg "Dream Team" as its chief financial strategist. Mike most recently managed the financial rescue of the Disney Co.'s Euro-Disney park outside of Paris. No word yet on the fate of the 16th's "Green Team."

Some bits from Dartmouth Blitz Mail: Rob Salzman received an award from the USC Law Center Black Law Student's Association for his support and commitment to minority law students. Pam Gile was elected president of the Upper Valley United Way's board of directors. Tom Sorci received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to teach a month-long seminar in Avignon, France. Peter Stark read from his latest book, Driving to Greenland, at the Elliott Bay Bookstore in Seattle. The Boston Globe led off an article about New Hampshire development issues with this: "Who is Roland DuBois and why has he filed a lawsuit to stop a planned $20 million expansion of the Loon Mountain ski area?"

That's it for this month. Thanks to those who wrote, faxed or blitzed. I hope to be on e-mail soon, but, until then, if you've got news for this column, send it to me in Alaska by snail-mail or fax.

957 Gold Belt Ave., Juneau, AK 99801; tel. (907) 586-4000, fax (907) 586-3777