The Cambridge connection

So, how many of you have been back to Cambridge since that June, 25 years ago? I know I've seen a bunch of you for previous reunions or passing through on business. Some of us still live here, or nearby. But I'm wondering how the Square will seem to those who haven't seen it in a while. For example, the Tasty is long gone – and this year we lost the Greenhouse Cafe, too. Some of us were mighty happy when the Tasty's successor, Abercrombie and Fitch, closed. And as we age, I miss Father's aka the Bow and Arrow Pub less (it's now a Baskin-Robbins). But does the Square really need another bank or cell phone store?

In the interest of looking back, I'd love to compile a list of what was there and what is there now. Contributions welcome - and if you're curious about an old hangout (Casablanca - still there, Hong Kong and Grendel's too), post a note and one of us will check it out.

Wursthaus and Tasty, now a bank
Bow and Arrow Pub, now a Baskin-Robbins
Elsie's, now a wrap/burrito place
Reading International, now an American Apparel
Wordsworth, gone and vacant

Suffragette City triggers some ideas ... What songs was everyone listening to? With a couple of teenage kids, it is amazing to find that they like a lot of the music we did. Clash, Duran Duran, AC/DC, Prince, Joe Jackson, Romantics "What I like about you" ... and then there was Martha and Loni's band ... and more from our era ...and of course all the great older stuff. Who/how are tunes selected for the "Gala Dinner and Dance"?

Freshman Week 1979 and Graduation 1983

I so recall arriving at Canady E44, where I was the last to arrive. My five roommates, Paul Isaacs, David Rosenberg, Jeff Ulin, Jim Star and Sam Medalie were already in the room. All of the parents seemed to be in the suite when I arrived. I'm not sure why, but I got the sense they were expecting that someone different would round out this 6-man suite -- not the black, southern, francophile, boarding school kid that I was. We, the roommates joked about that all year. I arrived that day wearing L.L. Bean Blucher Moccasins with no socks, a navy wool blazer with brass butttons, jeans and a tattered Brooks Brothers pin-striped shir. I arrived without my parents and brought with me only a large L.L. Bean duffle bag, a squash racket and my viola. What a ridiculous figure!

Those early days were amazing in terms of social stimulation, Meeting your roommate's friend from FOP or from their high school or their cousin's rooomate etc. etc. At some point on the first day, I went to visit Saskia Bailey, a classmate of mine from Exeter, and I met her rooomates Claire Anderson, Eve Troutt and Debbie Alvarez. Eve and I have been very close pals ever since. One of our great memories of that day was Jano Lieber and I lip synching to Suffrage City in her room -- a performance that will never be lived down.

I also recall lining outside Memorial Chapel on the day of commencement -- I recall seeing Cyrus, Susan and a bunch of my other friends who were just behind where I was in the line. I remember thinking, I have not yet spend enough time with them. Another reason to look forward to June!

Speaking of Wigglesworth, again

Don't you mean which members (plural) of the Class of '83?

Get Your Wigglesworth

Speaking of Wigglesworth Hall, look which member of the Class of '83 rates a mention in the Wikipedia entry on the dormitory:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Harvard_dormitories#Wigglesworth_Hall

Wigglesworth is still giggle-inducing, at least for me

Freshman mixer? Don't remember it specifically, as the whole week made me feel like I was in a mixer. I'm not sure I went to it but know I'd have been likely to. Does anyone remember meeting me there? Probably none of the guys, since you were all busy looking for Catherine Oxenberg...

I do remember, very distinctly, plunking all my 'stuff' down in the top floor of Wigglesworth I , struck by the sense that my roommates and I were a little melting pot microcosm. Sandy Cavazos (Mexican American), Lucy Lin (Chinese American), Faith Connolly (Irish American) and me (mutt, but with that Swedish moniker). My family were very present and, after all that lugging, couldn't wait to go out for a last bite to eat together. I, on the other hand, couldn't wait for them to leave and let me get on with 'life at college'. I also remember thinking how sexist, and yet comforting, it seemed that we 'ladies' were perched on the top floor, with an entry full of 'men' below. Such a Harvard thing to do for those of us so 'vulnerable' to the outside world (a.k.a. Mass Ave) -- practical, quaint and not as subtle as they might have supposed.

Since Cyrus started us out with a Jonathan Kolber mention, I'm pleased to report that I eventually learned to distinguish Jonathan, Andreas Keller-Sarmiento and Mark Rollins from one another -- but it took me until around Christmas to do so. I obviously made up for lost time, in one way or another.

Love this blog idea, Cyrus. Well done for not only thinking of it but getting around to it. I'm off now, to invite more friends to join us. Nice hanging out here with you, Cyrus.

How Did It Get This Late?

I still remember our graduation day vividly ... I remember looking over at the alums celebrating their 25th, with kids either in tow or on their way to age-appropriate fun-filled activities, and thinking, "Twenty-five years is a long time from now, and by then I'll have ..."

Sigh.

So here we are. I'm actually looking forward to the reunion, to seeing people I haven't seen since the last reunion (or longer) -- though unlike Cabot I can't really see myself working the room too aggressively. (I go to reunions to see old friends, not make new ones, I'm afraid.) And I'm sure that much of it will pass by in a haze of one sort or another and that, when it's all over, I'll be regretting not having had more heart-to-heart conversations.

So for once in my life, I'm not going to procrastinate. The reunion, which starts on June 4, is a scant 270 days away as I write. So, I say, let's start now. Let's all get reacquainted and start reminiscing here in cyberpace. I've invited a few friends from school to join this site as writers. Once they've joined the site, I'm hoping they'll invite others who are either members of or have an interest in HR '83 to keep us company here.

Hopefully, it'll become viral, as they say, and we'll have lots of people joining in during the next 270 days.

Anyway, I propose that those of you who are brave enough or foolhardy enough to respond to this call might start with a reminiscence of September 1983, perhaps even of Freshman Week or (egads) the Freshman Mixer.

By the way, the site is public, so don't write anything you don't want your parents, partners, or kids to find.

Here's what I remember from my the first day of Freshman Week: arriving at Wigglesworth F-32 from the Sheraton Commander pretty much as soon as we were allowed to, only to discover that Jonathan Kolber had gotten there first and taken the middle single (I took the one next to the stairway). I met him a few minutes later as he lugged a huge trunk up the narrow staircase. Later that afternoon: Kolber opening the door to the suite to greet me (and my parents and sister) in his underwear. If I close my eyes, I can place myself mentally into our living room, sitting there that first night with Jonathan, Joel Wachman, and Mike Escamilla, talking about the year to come.

I'll stop there for now.

Post, friends, post! Don't leave me hear alone in cyberspace, talking to myself ...

(P.S. If you're coming across this site by accident and want to join in, send me an e-mail at cyrus [dot] patell [at] nyu [dot] edu.)