1983

The best and highest use of the television medium occurs when it connects us to the world, when we walk for a minute in the boots of a soldier serving in Iraq, when we, along with New Yorkers, witness the surreal horror of the Twin Towers toppling and share in their grief, when we join throngs outside the basilica celebrating the popes life while mourning his death, when we attempt to understand the mind of the suicide bomber or the Central Park jogger rapist. Well researched and produced television informs us, arouses our compassion, expands our minds and, in some instances, spurs us to action. We don't often acknowledge the people down in the trenches bringing the world to our living rooms (or kitchen—my television is in the kitchen). As a producer with ABC News who creates stories for the magazine show Prme Time Live and covers breaking stories for the news department, Joan Martelli has connected us to all of these events by virtue of her willingness to travel anywhere things are happening and to stay up around the clock to tell us the story. For example, for Brother in Arms, which won a Sigma Delta Chi (Society of Professional Journalists) Award for Best Documentary and was nominated for an Emmy, she traveled to Iraq and Kuwait to interview Marines. Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Pakistan, North Korea...hell, she'll even travel to Texas to cover an intriguing story. And the adventurous spirit never rests. Joan's idea of a relaxing vacation is scuba-diving with sharks and manta rays.

Another hardworking, sleep-deprived and under-appreciated bunch is the medical profession. Doctors are not the self-promoting sort, and I rarely get any e-mail from the doctors in our class. Thank goodness for the proud parents who rat them out. My favorite kind of mail arrived along with the bills today. William H.H. Chapman 11, class of 1949, wrote with an update on his son, William H.H. Chapman 111. A follow-up phone chat with my informer elicited this: Bill was recently chosen to represent Dartmouth at the installation of Dr. Stephen Ballard as the chancellor of East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. Bill graduated from Dartmouth Medical School in 1987 and is now associated with the Brody School of Medicine at ECU and the Pitt County Memorial Hospital where he specializes in laparoscopic and robotic surgery. I'm told that with robotic surgery, the doctor sits at a television screen and directs a robot to do the actual cutting. Bill met his wife, Debbie, a UVM graduate and clinical dietician, while in medical school. They live in Greenville with their three children: William H.H. Chapman IV (16), Caitlin (13) and Sarah (11). Adding up his own time at Dartmouth, Bill's time in college and medical school and his twins Jimmy's and Timmy's (both '84s) time undergrad and at Tuck, William H.H. Chapman II calculates that his family has spent 22 collective years on the Dartmouth campus. The College apparently has trouble keeping all the William Chapmans straight—for example, they have Mr. Chapman II graduating college in 1949 and medical school in 1987.1 don't think I'd want such a slow learner operating on me, robot helper or not. Thank you for the news, Mr. Chapman II! Any of the parents reading this who have something to say about their modest children, please contact me!

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