1990

The East Coast is experiencing a cold snap this month (January) and, amusingly enough, I have been having the same conversation each time I have had dinner with a Dartmouth '90 friend: Is it as cold here as it was our first winter? The freezing-nostril-hairs thing is just not happening here in N.Y.C. But at the same time, it's been so cold lately that none of us can imagine surviving anything colder. The culprit seems to be the dreaded "wind-chill factor." We may feel like it's 20-below, but the actual temperature could read 10 degrees above zero on a thermometer. Contrast that to Hanover in January 1987, when the thermometer would actually read 20 below.

Having never been to the Middle East, I always imagine it to be warm and dry. Gary Katz and his wife, Diane, could set me straight. In February they will have moved to New York from Jerusalem, where they spent 18 months. Gary also wrote that Todd Eagle and his wife have moved to London, where Goldman Sachs has transferred Todd for the next five years. I am trying to imagine what five years surrounded by proper-speaking Brits is going to do to Todd's New York accent. (I can say that—we went to the same high school.)

Two other new New Yorkers include Chris Hogan and Steve Cosson. Chris moved from Boston to become the new executive director of Visual AIDS. Visual AIDS is a small non-profit for artists that promotes HIV/AIDS awareness and education through visual art and provides services to artists living with HIV/AIDS. (Go to www.thebody.com/visualaids/ for more information.) Steve left San Diego to work part-time (with benefits!) for a non-profit and full-time launching his directing/play-writing career. In January he had a staged reading of his play, "Fingered." In his inimitable way, Steve explained to the audience that, this being simply a staged reading rather than a full-blown production, we would have to use our imagination to picture "the largest marshmallow Peep ever" appearing onstage.

Derrick Olsen and his wife, Rebecca, now have a baby girl, Morgan, born in April 1999, as well as their 4 year-old son J.D. Derrick is serving as a political officer in the U.S. Embassy in La Paz, Bolivia. The first week he arrived in La Paz, he bumped into Mario Fantini in the grocery store. They had been roommates during the 1989 government FSP term in Washington, D.C., but had not seen each other since graduation. Mario has been living in Bolivia for the past year and is a reporter for Bridge News, covering Bolivian economic issues.

Derrick also writes that Mike Kim is in Korea working on his Ph.D. dissertation from Harvard, Ernie Young joined the faculty of the University of Texas Law School, Andrew Latimer is working for the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office on environmental cases and Jim St.John is also in the Boston area working for Putnam Investments.

Carolyn Choi also sent an e-mail to catch us up. Last July she moved back to her homestate of Nevada with her husband, Jonathan, and kids Hana (2 years in January) and Jake (9 months in January). They bought a brand new house in Las Vegas and are teaching in elementary schools. Carolyn writes: "I was extremely disappointed to find out that there is no Dartmouth club in Las Vegas. I'm hoping that there are some other alums in town and I just don't know about them yet. If they are, I am at warmflashchoi@earthlink.net. " You heard her, Nevadans, it's time to exert your independence!

Finally, I just want you to know that this is my last column for a while. I've had a blast, and thank you for being such great correspondents. Ramzi Nemo will continue where I leave off, splitting secretary duties with Sanda Lwin. Write on!

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Director Steve Cosson told the audience to imagine the largest marshmallow Peep ever. JEANHEE KIM '90