2003

Happy New Year! I'm a little short on information this month so let me use some room to wish everyone happiness and good health this year. I hope I'll get to see some of you again at Winter Carnival.

Some very exciting news first: Elizabeth Hamon was in touch to let me know that she recently got engaged to John Paul Reid '02. Their wedding will be in July at the Aquinas House chapel on campus. Currently Elizabeth is in New York City working for Google. Congratulations to the happy couple!

Noah Miller sent in an update about his future plans. "I am moving to Asheville, North Carolina, with my love, Heather, whom I met dancing this summer. Neither of us has ever been there, but we have heard from dozens of people that it is a wonderful city: dancing, music, art, friendly community. It's up in the mountains, surrounded by rivers and forests, and the weathers better than Hanover. We're going down in early January, staying with my '03 friends in N.Y.C. and D.C. along the way. When we arrive, I'm planning to take classes in modern dance, ballet, capoeira, contact improv and West African dance; to look for a programming job; and to make some new friends." Way more exciting than what I am up to, that's for sure!

Two more placements have come through for our classmates in the Peace Corps. Margie Makielski will be living in Campo Nueve, Paraguay, a large town of about 25,000 people about four hours from the capital city of Asuncion. She writes, "The site is a mixture of agriculture and town. Many Mennonites live there and own factories in town that employ Paraguyans. I will be living near a major highway, and will have running water, electricity and cell phone service. I imagine a large part of my work will be developing a catalog system, and training teachers and students on how to use the [new] library." Sarah Stokes will also be in Paraguay for the next two years, in Carona, a small town of only 2,000, about eight hours from Asuncion. As only Sarah could have written, here is a description. "It reminds me a bit of Freedom, New Hampshire, with less people and more grocery stops and, instead of nice white fences, there is more barbed wire and rustic stick houses. Okay, maybe not Freedom...the size at least of Freedom. Everything is red due to the rich, bright red clay, which reminds me of Alabama, except in Alabama my hair didn't turn red." She will be working with a local youth group on environmental issues.

Finally, word came from Lewiston, Maine, that Erin Harker has spent this fall interning with Sen. Susan Collins in her Washington, D.C., office. Erin was an environmental studies major and is hoping to continue working in the field of environmental policy. I hope you had fun in D.C., Erin!

Please send me updates on what is new in your life too so I can stop adding lame side comments to everything. Plus, people really do like to know what we're all doing now. Watch your e-mail for mini-reunions and other fun stuff happening soon in a city near you!

3007 Church Ave., Cleveland, OH44113; jill.e.haltigan.03@alum.dartmouth.org