Class Notes

1970

May/June 2003 Jon Oplinger, Scott Holland,
Class Notes
1970
May/June 2003 Jon Oplinger, Scott Holland,

Snow up to the windows, even here in southeastern Pennsylvania. News trickles in, invariably from the Colleges clipping service, usually months after the fact. It's winter as I report it, almost summer when it arrives at your door. War in Iraq is still on the horizon, hopefully behind us by warm weather. Timeliness seems not of the essence. Anyway...

At a Houston, Texas, gala (sounds like fun!) last October Ray Hall was the featured speaker before a crowd of nearly 400 who raised a lot of money for the End Hunger Network.

In November former U.S. ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago Terry Shumaker, long active in Democratic Party circles, was named executive director and general counsel of the NH affiliate of the National Education Association. NEA-NH is the states largest labor union, with 13,000 members, and growth prospects are good: NH has 16,000 certified teachers.

Chuck Haldeman is our columns first 2003 repeat mentionee. No sooner had we reported on receiving a nice piece from the Philadelphia Inquirer on his work as CEO at Delaware Investments than news came of his being named the new investment chief for Putnam Investments. (Does anyone else out there wonder if mutual fund growth prospects will ever again look as good as Terry's numbers, above?)

Josh McHugh penned a piece published in Wired last October. "Unplugged U." touts Dartmouths wireless network and the innovation incubation environment flourishing in "the sheltering groves of academe." (Hey, Josh, that nifty turn of a phrase suggests that you have the sow's ear/silk purse equation down pat, thus moving you to the top of the list to take over this assignment when Scott and I retire.)

More kudos for Jim Nachtwey. He was one of four winners of the Colleges Martin Luther King Jr. Social Justice Award for 2003, given to recognize Green folks' past or present contributions to peace, civil rights, education, public health, environmental or social justice. Many of us know Jim, most have seen Jims work—seems a fine choice. Anyone who read this column in the Jan/Feb issue couldn't help but have seen this news, including a shot of Jim on the unfamiliar side of the camera, in the green-boxed announcement to its immediate left soliciting candidates for the 2004 awards. Got any? A '70 repeat would be sweet.

"Crooning for Kids" is an article that appeared in the Santa Barbara, California, News-Press and tells of the latest project of Dr. Mac, as Don MacMannis, Ph.D., is known to the kids who enjoy his workbook/CD of children's songs, APocket of Tunes. Don's a family therapist-turned-entertainer. He developed the program and wrote and performed the songs aimed at impressing on kids the importance of getting along and teaching them the social and emotional skills that make that happen. Check it out at www.apocketoftunes.com.

My cohort Scott Holland took off in January to wait out winter in Thailand, again. He's one emmet with the good sense to come in from the cold.

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6 Pump House, Springhouse, PA19477; jonoplinger@yahoo.com;P.O. Box 607, Grantham, NH 03753; hollansx@ earthlink.net