1973

Summertime...in March Jack Zouhary was confirmed 96-0 by the U.S. Senate as a federal judge for the northern district of Ohio. Jack has served as a Lucas County common pleas judge since March 2005, when he was chosen by the governor for the post vacated by another jurist. He received bipartisan support throughout the confirmation process. Both Ohio senators recommended Jack to President Bush in June 2005, and the nomination was made formal in December. According to Senator Mike DeWine, "Judge Zouhary's confirmation by the Senate is great news for Ohio and our federal justice system. Throughout his career, he has demonstrated a firm commitment to the ideals of civility and professionalism in the legal field—something we unfortunately don't see enough sometimes. He has the talent, fairness and judicial temperament to be an outstanding federal judge who will make Ohioans proud." After Dartmouth jack, who has deep roots in northwest Ohio, obtained his law degree from the University of Toledo and practiced in Ohio before his elevation to the bench.

A new book titled 2973 Nervous Breakdown:Watergate, Warhol and the Birth of Post-Sixties America by Andreas Killen, a professor of history at the City College of New York, claims that the 1970s had an outsize impact on American culture. The tagline in a book review that caught my eye was, "Killen locates the unlikely year of 1973, which he refers to as a low point in American history, as a watershed year." The argument is that a number of current cultural trends had their loci in the 19705, particularly 1973, such as skyjackings, POWs, conspiracy theorists, cults, the early fore runners of reality TV and Andy Warhol's obsession with celebrities. Most of us view the year quite differently, I'd wager.

Hollins College (Virginia) professor Caren Diefenderfer was in San Jose, California, for a meeting as head of the mathematical group that writes the AP calculus exam, so beloved of high school students (these people decide the problems to pose, the correct answers and how to grade responses). Caren, Pat and Martin Buerger and yours truly got together for dinner and caught up. Martin is still busy as the chief operating officer of the Independent Institute think tank in Oakland.

The Aires had a West Coast tour during spring break and presented several performances in and around San Francisco. Tp those listening with eyes closed, they are indistinguishable from the group during our college years, with a mix of contemporary favorites, traditional Dartmouth tunes and sketch comedy; with eyes open, they include Ben "Looks-like-his-dad-Wayne" Davis. The Aires have been in existence now for 60 years and their recent album Impaired won the 2005 Contemporary Acappella Recording Award for best all-male collegiate album. Check out www.dartmouth.ed/-aires/.

Aconcluding observation: When the Rolling Stones performed in China this spring they were forbidden to play four songs, including "Brown Sugar," "Let's Spend the Night Together" and "HonkyTonk Woman," all staples of local band performances when we were students.

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