1982

John Lee is an attorney with a respected Chicago film. I know this because he referred business to my firm when his firm needed Indiana counsel. Neat how the Dartmouth family works. John has a lovely wife and daughter and reports that he likes parenthood better than the law. I suspect many classmates would agree with him.

Barry Schweitzer sent this information to Alum Net, an alumni e-mail bulletin: "I'm living in Orlando, Fla., with my wife, two kids, and a rather annoying Dalmatian puppy. We moved here a few months ago from New Haven, where I was a research scientist in the Department of Pediatrics at Yale. I'm now a division director in the Cancer Research Division of the Walt Disney Memorial Cancer Institute at Florida Hospital and an assistant professor in chemistry at the University of Central Florida." Dear Barry, can't you find something to occupy your time besides sending e-mail to the College?

Mike Rafter, in his never-ending quest to make the rest of us look unsuccessful and insignificant, won an Emmy Award last year for his work on the ABC-TV movie of Gypsy, starring Bette Midler. I received a letter from Jamie McKenzie reporting this news. Jamie himself is "doing that actor thing in N.Y., and toured with Richard Chamberlain in MyFair Lady last year before going to Broadway with it.

Approximately three months after sending his letter, Jamie was featured, flattering pictures and everything, in a New York Times article on so-called Broadway Gypsies - performers who can dance, sing, and act and spend their lives either auditioning for Broad-way and off-Broadway plays or performing in them. I couldn't help wondering how Jamie was singled out for the honor. Must be the well-remembered, scintillating personality. Or else he knows somebody.

Meanwhile, Jamie is not the only classmate with contacts in high places at New York papers with large circulations. Ken Elias actually wrote an article for the Wall Street Journal titled "Why My Business Failed." Now, this is a guy with lots of self confidence. Most people try to avoid discussing their less-than-successful ventures. I know I would. The article offered tips on avoiding common pitfalls of start-up businesses. Ken lives in Santa Monica, Calif., and wrote that he would absolutely attempt the start-up thing again, but next time following his own advice.

One last item on articles featuring disgustingly renowned and successful (or at least disgustingly well-connected) classmates, and then I am going out to my garage to drink multiple martinis and forget about my pitifully pedestrian life. Kathy Briscoe was written up, with another flattering picture, in a publication called Commercial Property News. The article detailed how Briscoe is a rising star at her company, Lowe Enterprises in Los Angeles. By October in one year she had closed $72 million worth in deals. She was quoted saying that people at Lowe like to "work hard, play hard, and sleep fast." This quote was very welcome to me, as it indicates that Briscoe has quite obviously not changed one iota since 1982. There are some things you can rely on in life besides the relentless rising and setting of the sun.

Finally, Ben Murtha was appointed vice chairman of the New York Mercantile Exchange's Charitable Foundation Committee. The foundation oversees distribution of grants and proposals and last year distributed more than $400,000. No other info. I assume Ben lives somewhere and does something for a living, like the rest of us. Ta ta!

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