1980

Not too early to start thinking about next year's 20th I Reunion. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal helped put in perspective what 20 years means. Today's freshmen were born in 1980. They have no idea that Americans were ever held hostage in Iran. Their lifetime has always included AIDS. They never took a swim and thought about Jaws. They never heard, "de plane, de plane." The expression, "You sound like a broken record" means nothing to them. Kansas, Chicago, Boston, and America are places, not bands. So if you thought turning 40 big deal, think again.

Regular correspondent Merle Adelman reports good results for the 1998 Alumni Fund. We gave $234,000, 104 percent above our goal, and 112 percent above 1997. We had over 51 percent participation (a better majority than the Republicans could muster for impeachment) and 69 leadership donors, a cut above most other classes. We're not getting older, we're getting better.

Personal injury lawyer Peter Hutchins is now with the Manchester, N.H., firm of Hall, Hess, Kenison, Stewart, Murphy & Brown. Bet they go through a lot of receptionists with a name like that. Peter is available for consultation if you injure yourself while visiting the Granite State. Your chances for recovery will be diminished if you are hurt while trying to relive past glory days.

Since 1994 Al Noyes has run sales and marketing for a company called Smarter Kids. If you want educational books, software, and games for your children, visit its web site at . Who would a thunk that Noyes would be old enough to be making recommendations about how to make our kids smarter?

Nova Scotia is now home to CliffStanley, an assistant professor in the geology department of Acadia University (4,000 students) in Wolfville (4,000 people). Cliff was previously on the other side of Canada at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. Cliff's wife, Sonya, and their three children, Olivia, Nathaniel, and Georgia, complete the Stanley household. You can contact Cliff at . Moving across Canada with three young children would be enough to age anyone into a character from Shipping News. Dartmouth associate professor of religion Susan Ackerman looks at the historical and cultural roles of women in the Book of Judges in her new book, Warrior, Dancer, Seductress, Queen: Women inJudges and Biblical Israel, Susan predicts that future works on gender and religion will incorporate ideas and perspectives from academic disciplines that have not before been paired with biblical studies. "I'm thinking particularly of queer theory," a reading of the text with an eye toward its presuppositions about sexuality, she notes. Wonder if I'm old enough to talk about queer theory with my preacher?

Confessions and corrections time. In a recent column I reported that BobHenderson was president of the board of trustees of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and that he was a financial demi-god, generally speaking. Well, turns out, that was not Bob, class of '80, but his dad, Bob, class of '53. Bill Helman, a.k.a. "Buff," properly pronounced with a deep French-Romanian accent, is a partner of the class of '53's Bob in Greylock Management. Class of '80 Bob is headmaster of North Yarmouth Academy in Yarmouth, Maine. This independent secondary school of 260 students serves the greater Portland, Maine, area. Class of '80 president and Portland lawyer MegCoughlin LePage serves on the school's board of trustees. Bob, thanks for setting the record straight. I admire you for your work in education, and I no longer resent you for having the accomplishments of a much older man.

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