Creative Class Notes
An every-issue guide to staying in touch with Dartmouth
Dartmouth's class secretaries take their jobs seriously, and generally make their columns interesting even to readers outside their own classes. We asked Brooks Clark '78, chairman of DAM's editorial board and his class's secretary to assemble some "do's" and "don'ts" that contribute to quality.
Do: • Get right to the information. A Class Notes column is one place where you don't need to tell readers what you'll be writing about or why they should care. Class Notes are about class members arid readers want to see if those BoldfaceNames include someone they know.
• Make random calls and find out what a classmate and spouse are doing, how many kids they have, what their main interests are, and how they feel about life.
• Include thoughtful quotes.
• Name names—both classmates and spouses—and with classes after 1972 check the last names. Nobody likes to See thtemselves referred to as a nameless husband or wife.
• Refer to current events. Mort Kondracke occasionally asks fellow '6os for their opinions about particular issues or societal changes.
• Pick a theme to explore. Classes go through periods of nonstop weddings, then nonstop babies, then a decade of youth sports, and so on. Several years ago I obtained a printout of my class sorted by profession. This allowed me to pursue theme columns on doctors, lawyers, do-gooders, clergy, computer people and, finally, mothers and fathers who had elected to stay home with their kids.
• Give details. The name of the Little League team. The town in Mexico where they had the vacation. The organization that made the award.
• Include humor (but don't force it).
• Use e-mail and faxes (along with mail and phone) to obtain information.
Don't: • Try to seta "mood" by describing the; weather at your home at the timeyou were writing the column. With three month's lead time it's better to cut to die chase.
• Complain that no one has written or called. It sounds negative, and it doesn't make anyone write or call.
• Give your column a funny tide with volume and chapter numbers, as in "The Real World, Volume 3, Chapter 2." These are Class Notes, nothing more, nothing less—and over time the practice loses its charm.
• End each column with a signature line of poetry ("Where'er you tread, die blushing flow's shall rise, and all things flourish where you turn your eyes") or repetitive sign off ("That's all for now from the old Boomer").
• Use the "I called..." topic sentence, as in "I called Biff Stockdrucker and heard from a babysitter that he is doing fine."
• Refer to yourself more than once or twice a year.
• Miss deadlines. Nature abhors a missed Class Notes column. Don't let your classmates down. (Imagine hundreds of readers opening the magazine and being disappointed.
