My apologies--to those of you who view this site with some regularity will note that it has been a while since the last update.  First, extremely unseasonable temperatures led to days when the creative juices dried up. Then, I accidently “lobotomized” Polly’s computer with the resulting loss of much of her data and memories (backup! backup! backup!) which took a while to reconstruct, and finally each of us had medical problems that stretched over several weeks.  All in all, a summer best forgotten, and not a very creative one.

We’ve made a change in the “In Memoriam” section.  Several folks had commented that it was becoming increasingly difficult to find the names of deceased women, since they had known them by their maiden names.  Accordingly, we now have two lists; one ‘conventional’ including both men and women (by married name, where appropriate), and an additional listing of women, sorted by maiden names.  We hope this will simplify the searching of an ever-growing list.

Our scholarship fund, like many others, took a substantial hit this past year, but has been showing signs of rejuvenation since summer.  However, the draw from that fund is still well below 2008 levels, which in turn translated into significantly less money for our scholarship student, Alex Trudeau, and many others like him.

We again have a Class Historian.  Bibi Antrim Hartshorn has volunteered for this activity, and we thank her for that.  By now she may be working her way through all the issues of the Cornell Daily Sun from 1948-52.  If you have additional material for her, you can get her email address on the Class Council page.

Apropo of emails, did you know that you can set up a permanent forwarded email account such as xyz@cornell.edu, and that you also now have access to all of Cornell’s online resources.  Among them is Cornell’s CyberTower, which is a rich compendium of online discussions and lectures, and study topics ranging from mosquito hearing to Mayan civilization to the origins of rhythm and blues.  It is well worth a look-simply go to http://cybertower.cornell.edu and enjoy.

One final note. We had a pleasant time the other day with Dori and Terry Warren, our reunion co-chairs, who were passing through town on their way to visit family and friends in Washington State.  Over lunch we reminisced, and talked about plans for our (gulp) 60th reunion, coming along sooner than you think.  All I will say now is that things are well on course for a memorable time--its not too early to mark your calendars and decide who will grandchild or doggy sit while you go back to the “hill” in June ’12!  At that lunch, Dori told me that I had to include a bit of nostalgia in each column, so...

Do you remember-- a mass WSGA meeting in Bailey Hall that was “disturbed” by a stink bomb? and that frosh had to wear their caps at all times (except weekends), and freshman women were prohibited from smoking on campus and walking on lawns, and YASNY and Mummy and Majura and waiting for the statue of Andrew Dickson White to cross the quad.  ‘Nuff said.  Till next time.

Paul Herman