1978

Finding news for this column is rendered less Sisyphean by the advent of the Internet. I don't know what class secretaries did before...but I greatly appreciate encounters in cyberspace. I heard from GarWaterman, who is a sculptor in New Haven, Conn. "I just ran into Mark Muth '76 out in Aspen. He works for GE Capital in London. We had a bit of a ski together which was grand. Here in New Haven I continue to create all sorts of strange things out in my studio, while my wife is involved in the transformation of our neighborhood by acquiring real estate and showing other artists how to actually own and afford their own life/work situations. We have our own building, bought for a dollar, that is proving to be the best investment I ever made. I am off for Turkey for a month on an artist's residency in Cappadoccia, a really wild-looking region, to do a series of bas reliefs in terra cotta, then back in April to continue my production of 'Tin Soldiers,' a body of sculpture that I will show next fall. I will see Whit Johnson this weekend. We still get together when we can, occasionally playing music with friends in Framingham.' Whitless,' for those who never knew, actually knows how to sing and also plays a mean percussion. Yes, there was more to him than skiing."

I also received an e-mail from FrancaTaylor Voegelin, who could empathize with my plight: "We donate our time to do the production on a 'monthly' newsletter for a group of writers and photographersyou'd think they could send us some writing or photography for their own newsletter, wouldn't you? You'd be wrong. It's always late while we wait for material, and I'm always scrounging for new clip-art. A little creative white space is good; great gaping holes are another matter altogether. (Sigh)

"My husband, Rick, and I still have our motor-sports PR business here in the Monterey Bay area. Rick travels around doing on-site PR at races and gathering material for the various publications we produce, and he writes all the copy. I do the photo scanning, editing, design and layout, and get the finished publication output to film and off to the printer. Our publications won International Automotive Media Awards in several categories last year.

"In my spare time I do volunteer online tech support for the desktop publishing program I use—Corel Ventura. It gets me a free trip to Ottawa once a year and a bunch of free software, but the real satisfaction comes from being able to help an overwhelmed new user or a veteran user with upgrade pains or any user in a panic because the deadline is tomorrow and the job won't print! And in what's left of my spare time I work out, try to make a dent in the huge pile of books awaiting my attention and spend some time enjoying the wildlife (both indoors and out!). Oh yes, and scrutinize the calendar for vacation opportunities...Rick has collected enough airplane mileage to fly us both in business class around the world twice, but the trick is finding the time to get away!"

We just returned from a week in Jackson Hole, where my older daughter managed to break her wrist on her second day of snowboard lessons. This after seven years of skiing without incident. Nonetheless, she is raring to get back on the slopes as soon as possible. Does anyone know if there are boarders at the Skiway? I imagine there are. Does Dartmouth have a snowboard team? I'm thinking about telemarking—much more my style, and I've been enjoying crosscountry skiing and snowshoeing. My next goal is to ski the back country in die Tetons. Meanwhile, I hope some of you will follow Gar and Franca's example and send me news!

14960 Altata Drive, Pacific Palisades, CA 90272; (310) 459-8871; 310-459-8170 (fax); mmfh@ mindspring.com