1987

Richmond—It's raining here finally, and my first week of teaching has ended. I love summers but somehow I am happier in the structure of the school year. If the column seems a bit rambly—unlike my other ones J—it's because I'm writing this after deadline, on the heels of the first week.

San Francisco Tales: Just before school began, I went out to San Francisco to visit friends, including Michael Tanner, whose couch I spent a few nights on. Did you know that the San Francisco cable magnates do not run theWeather Channel24 hours? It's very disturbing.

Apparently Laura Gasser has better San Francisco news to report. She writes: "About a year and a half ago I left private law practice here in San Francisco to work in the legal division of the California Public Utilities Commission. My timing was terrible—it was right in the middle of the California energy fiascobut things, thankfully, have quieted down a bit since then!

"In November 2001 my husband, Marc Katz, and I bought our first house here in the city...just a few blocks away from Landon Gates and his wife. Landon recently got his general contractors license and has been very busy helping San Franciscans with money to burn make home improvements.

"Last weekend Marc and I flewup to Seattle and had a great weekend visiting Allison Bleyler and Jock McDonald, who continue to enjoy the beautiful Puget Sound area outdoors. Among many other adventures, they took us out on a kayaking tour of the houseboats on Lake Union.

"Michele Rivard and her husband, Andrew Patzman, still living in Washington, D.C., just had their first child, Ian Thomas, in June."

What a good correspondent!

I actually saw quite a few Dartmouth people this summer—Erin Foster and Jeff Blatt, with whom I shot over 120 on a very nice golf course. I had dinner with Dan Bernstein; I remember us talking about speeding tickets and Ben & Jerry. I visited Tom Kannam and Heather McCutchen. Tom and I were also supposed to golf, but he was laid up with a basketball injury. Better news about Heather: An accomplished playwright (I know that sounds like column fluff but it's true—my other playwright friends have heard of her), she turned her hand to novel writing. Her first one, Lightland, appears November 1. When I visited Heather and Tom last year, Heather was in the process of reading the novel to her children Julia's and Katherine's classes in elementary school, so it's not only well-written—it's roadtested! I will review it myself here for the next column, but here are the basics according to Heathe": 1) It's not just for children; 2) it's beautifully written ("Just ask Tom," Heather says); 3) it's a great Christmas gift; 4) it's scary, but not too scary ("Just enough," Heather reports); 5) there's a Web site ( lightlandfans.com); 6) it's the first in a trilogy (Jonathan/Beavis says, "Trilogies are cool"). Heather also says she'll be in Hanover and Norwich over Veterans Day weekend doing readings. And.. .can anyone get a copy to Spielberg?

A man after my own heart: Ted Dodge reports in the only acceptable column/poetry form: The column was sad Without news for us to read Pity struck my heart Ted Dodge and his wife Announce birth of second child Diapers now fill house J.T. Dodge the 3rd Arrived August 20th Nearly 9 pounds—big! Is this hard to read? Think you can do better, eh? Send to Jonathan

Also don't forget our Homecoming Weekend, November 1-2. According to our president Christen O'Connor: "We'll be marching as a class in the Dartmouth Night parade with balloons and hats for the kids and also will have a pregame tailgate brunch on Saturday."

2814 Kensington Ave.,#l6,Richmond, VA 23221;jtsilver@jpvcu.edu