Here’s is more on Ashok.
Here’s is more on Ashok. The web site that Tracy provides this background.
Born in 1966, grew up in Delhi before going to London, UK for his A’ levels. He attended Williams College in Massachusetts, USA on a full scholarship graduating with a double major in Mathematics and Economics, with honors in the former.
After teaching English briefly in Nagoya, Japan he joined Toyota Motor Corporation, where he set a company record by rising to Assistant Manager by the age of 30.
He started BUSINESS-INDIA/ JAPAN in November 1999 to actively promote Indo-Japanese cultural and business relations. He also contributes articles on related matters to the national English press.
A former table-tennis player and rower, he now enjoys horse riding.
Of course, the most interesting tidbits is that Ashok runs the business with his wife, Hitomi Ashta, who is native Japanese, a “black belt in the Japanese martial art of Shorinji Kempo”, and “a licensed teacher of the Japanese paper craft Origami.”
Hmmm. I guess that this means that Ashok’s wife can kick his butt and then send him a beautful Get Better card! Well, glad to know that I am not the only one so married. ;-)
Of course, those of us who have gone through trials and tribulations of convincing an East Asian family that we are worthy of their daughter will appreciate Ashok’s new found love of horseback riding. At least, that is my between-the-lines reading of the web site. Whatever it takes . . .
;-)
Dave’s latest yearbook page prompted
Dave’s latest yearbook page prompted me to “Google” Ashok Ashta. It looks like he is a founder of a company called BUSINESS-INDIA/ JAPAN, which seems to provide translation services, among other things. Unlike some of us perhaps, he appears not to have aged a day since Williams!
My record of naming people
My record of naming people in photos is not so good to date, but I’ll take a guess that the snoozing individual is none other than Scott Brower. Of course, I welcome corrections! I think college was where I started to appreciate napping…my mother had warned me this would happen someday (during my regular tantrums about having to take naps as a kid!).
Here’s the second page of
Here’s the second page of our listings of senior year book photos.
As always, we play the game of naming the individual(s) in the picture. This time, I have no idea.
We are also still waiting on someone to help out with Jody’s valiant efforts on the recent yearbook photo.
I’ll be posting less frequently, if at all, over the next 10 days. Not sure how internet connectivity will be. But, I have all the faith in the world in my co-bloggers, Tracy and Kim. But all of you loyal readers should feel an obligation to send them material. Any blog is only as good as its readers.
One would think Kerstin Skoogfors
One would think Kerstin Skoogfors and Kate Macko would be pretty easy to Google. Alas, this is not the case. The best Google can do is tell us Kate was once on the swim team at Worcester Academy. I’ve got the inside scoop though. She’s a middle school teacher in central Massachusetts.
As Kerstin was one of my suitemates senior year, I know that some of the famous Skoogfors that come up are relatives of hers, but she is absent. This is probably because she got married and is now Kerstin Skoogfors Porter, living near Boston with husband Dana and two sons, working at LightBridge. She no longer has to spell her name on the phone, as she did oh so many times senior year. She is the person in our suite who got the most interviews. I’ll never forget hearing, “S-K-O-O-G-F as in frank-O-R-S as in sam” every time she was on the phone. (Dave, this qualifies in your “I remember” category.)
The name game is currently a hot topic at my house as a result of the aforementioned nuptials. I would suddenly become MUCH easier to Google if I changed my name. I grew up in a town where I was one of 4 “kim jordans” and have run into plenty more since then. A part of me really wants to be the only one, like Tigger.
Jody Abzug sends along these
Jody Abzug sends along these comments on a recent name-guessing game:
You have the correct info for Amy Asadourian, her married name is Senecal and she is a lawyer in (or around) Plattsburgh, NY.
Though luckily Thomas the only dog I’ve ever had, and though it was Annie Cordova’s dog all of us at Thomas Street had a share in the upbringing from January to June, did not eat my yearbook I refuse to take the easy way out and consult it.
In the pic with Wolfie are Jane Becker, Wolfie, Emily O’Brock, ?, Kate the Grubby One Gerber, Debbie Zalesne, ? and Ellen Lee.
In the pic with Mike Friedman, the animation is because he was watching a WWRFC game on the pitch with Bill Pike, Ray George and Ulyses Sherman.
Anyone with insights into Jody’s question marks should drop us a line.
Welcome aboard to Kim Jordan,
Welcome aboard to Kim Jordan, who has kindly volunteered to join Tracy and I in our endless quest to entertain our faithful readers with news our our classmates, our memories and the current goings-on (going-ons? goings-ons?) at Williams. As before, our hope is that each of us will be able to publish at least a brief item each day (with time off for vacations for Tracy and me and for her upcoming wedding for Kim) and, thereby, keep people coming back for more. Of course, for this to be a plausible goal, we need your help. So please send us whatever information, gossips, links and memories that you may have.
The article Kim mentioned is here. Although it has nothing about Williams, it does give some insight into how we come up with material to publish and why some people, like Chris Jones, elude our best efforts.
Dave got tired of my
Dave got tired of my e-mailing him all the time so he added me as another co-blogger. I think the article on “google stalking” that I forwarded pushed him over the edge. Thanks Dave.
Kim Jordan was going to
Kim Jordan was going to make some comments on the College Council material, but she hesitated to open “old wounds.” Old wounds? Hah! I can’t speak for Andy Harris (where are you know Speed king?), but I have nothing but fond memories.
Still waiting for someone to identify all the candidates from that election by name. I am embarrassed to admit that I can’t do it that well (or at least I can’t do it with accurate spellings).
Ben Miller reports that Carter Zinn will most likely be attending reunion. I guess now I can’t stop writing all those wonderful things about him.
;-)
But wait! I have one more.
I remember . . .
A campus forum of some kind during, I think, Carter and Nicole’s time in office. The subject was a campus controversy of some kind, althogh I can’t remember the precise topic. Carter gave a short speech at Brooks Rogers that talked about how all of us come to Williams with baggage, baggage about our past, our parents, our high schools, our backgrounds and everything else. He then pantomimed carry two heavy bags. And then, he said, we come to Williams, where everyone else carries baggage of their own. How, asked Carter, can we come together, shake hands and talk to one another without, each of us, putting down our baggage, at least for a little while.
At the time, I thought that this was a great way to frame the question. Of course, some of my Post-Modernist friends might point out that Carter is really asking for everyone else to drop their baggage while he gets to keep his (white, male, heterosexual, College Council president). But, from a rhetorical point of view, I still love the metaphor.
Until more people start sending in their own “I remember . . .” vignettes, I am have no choice but to print my own.
Thanks to Kim Jordan, Mike
Thanks to Kim Jordan, Mike Harrington and Jody Abzug for providing answers for our name guessing game.
Mike wrote:
The fence sitters are actually Bill Pike (standing), Jim Elliott, Ray George, Ulysses Sherman and Andrew Kelly. Given that I’ve provided you with that information, do you promise to refrain from printing the page from the yearbook with my picture on it (which is incorrectly labeled as Sarah Hansen! - go check out how they screwed up all the names on the Harrington page)?
The resemblance between Scott Berman and Tim Peterson is uncanny.
Answer to Mike’s question: No!
;-)
Stand by for more games in the near future.
Well, I could cheat and
Well, I could cheat and pull out my yearbook (which, incidentally, was about the only thing of value my dog chewed about 8 years ago - giving new meaning to the term “dog-eared”!) to name all the fence-sitters, but I will go from memory and name Mike Friedman (I think that’s him anyway) and Chauncy Lennon. I have no idea what they are doing, but love the fact that Mike looks so animated. I think Mike was the only Sociology major in our class, and since I took a lot of Soc classes myself, we were often sitting across a (small) table from one another. I have to say that I’m not sure that I ever saw him this excited in one of Professor Jackall’s classes though…
3/13/03 - Oops…as I feared (kind of like I had that nagging doubt about Scott Berman being in the trike race photo), I was wrong about Mike Friedman being in the picture. I wish I could blame it on the quality of Dave’s scanner, but I think it is rather the quality of my eyesight and memory!
I think that Amy Asadourian,
I think that Amy Asadourian, see picture below, is an attorney in New York State. If I have the right person, then she might also be on the board of her local PBS station. Of course, that last item suggests that Amy has married someone named “Senecal,” but I am now well into the land of speculation. Does anyone out there have better information?
Since no one seems to
Since no one seems to have taken an interest in College Council elections (either present or 15 years ago), I think that I’ll go back to easier pictures. Here is the first in a series from the year book.
Who can name all our intepid fence sitters and/or explain what they are doing?
Jane Amidon has an easily googled name. This site provides a bit of an update:
Jane Amidon graduated from Williams College and holds a masters degree in landscape archiecture from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. She has been a studio associate with Kiley since 1993 and has worked extensively to document his works and words.
Jane has been a prolific author over the last couple of years. Gardens Illustrated Review wrote about one of her books that:
the book is a compelling and beautifully written discussion on contemporary landscape design. A book about any other field of design would probably not include the rather self-conscious word “radical” in the title, but its use here is indicative of the generally reactionary nature of most open space design… there are a few valient souls out there trying to change this state of affairs, and this book chronicles some of the best…Amidon writes, ‘Among the creators of radical landscapes it is difficult to find common threads,’ but her strategy is broadly successful in organizing this diverse selection of landscape designers and their work.
You can check out another review of this book here. As best that I can tell, Jane is currently a lecturer at the Austin E. Knowlton School of Architecture at The Ohio State University. In describing the work of a landscape architect, we have this great quote:
Draft plans to transform once-polluted mining quarries into amphitheaters, design private marigold gardens and elaborate public hedge mazes, and work to preserve historically significant tracts of land. “It’s where biology and aesthetics intersect,” notes Jane Amidon, co-owner of the Colorado-based Land Art Studio. “We shape a living medium.”
I wish that I could describe my profession with such an eloquent one-liner.
Anyone with better information about Jane should pass it along.
Thanks to Brooks for clearing
Thanks to Brooks for clearing up the question about Scott Berman and the trike race picture. Every time I looked at that picture, something didn’t make sense. I didn’t really remember that Scott looked like that, but blamed it on age and a failing memory…so glad to know that I haven’t completely lost it yet! Of course, maybe the way for us to generate more mail is to post false information and prod people to write in to correct it… Not exactly the journalistic standards that earned the New York Times their reputation, but then again, we don’t get their subscription revenues either. Please keep the good stuff coming!
The blog has now become
The blog has now become a self-referenential Escher-like drawing. In trying to find where Carter Zinn is practicing law for the previous post, I disovered an entry from before in the blog itself. The googlers have been googled.
The College Council elections are
The College Council elections are starting today and I finally found an article in the Record that covers the candidates and their positions. Alas, I haven’t found web sites for the four candidate slates (and it appears that the one that I linked to the other day is actually for the election in some past year. The article notes:
Although neither Dutta nor Haviland has previous experience on CC, they believe that they are qualified to be elected to its highest office: “We’re not so sure CC credentials are necessarily a positive thing,” Dutta said. “If you look at what the CC leadership has accomplished this year, they’ve actually backpedaled more than they’ve progressed. And now, not only are those same CC leaders asking us for a second chance, they’re asking us for a promotion. And what have they accomplished this year?”
Comments:
1) Note that the offices in contention are for College Council Co-Presidents. In our day, the positions were the more hierachical president and vice president.
2) Although I don’t have enough information to thoroughly handicap the race, I would suspect that mixed class tickets have an advantage along with mixed gender tickets. In the old days, I thought that JA candidates had an advantage because freshmen were more likely to vote (mainly, I thought, because the voting was in Baxter and freshmen were more likely to be there while the voting was going in). In any event, now that elections are conducted on-line, this last item may not matter as much, to the extent that it ever did.
3) Another of my memories was the candidate forum that we had in Brooks-Rogers for this election 16 years ago. I am not sure how the order of candidates was decided, but Ken April gave a bravura performance. His delivery was perfectly deadpanned and he managed to make fun of both himself and the entire conceit of student government in a way that was simply hillarious but not at all mean-spirited. At the end, I wanted to vote for them. And it was Carter Zinn’s turn to speak next. Alas, Carter found himself in trouble because he had planned to give a speech which addressed the issue of his and Nicole’s lack of experience on College Council head on by pointing out that they could tackle the issues afresh. He had even planned to make reference to the Zen concept of Beginner’s Mind. Alas, Ken had used a series of Zen jokes and spoofs in his speech a few minutes before.
Carter handled the situation beautifully. I can’t remember the precise rhetorical tricks that he used, but even though his planned speech, if given as was, would have made him look the fool, he managed to get across precisely the point that he was trying to make while simultaneously acknowledging Ken’s humor. I thought then, and still think, that I would be wise to have Carter on my side should I ever need some help with environmental torts, or whatever.
Brooks Foehl comes to the
Brooks Foehl comes to the rescue of (the alledgedly traitorous) Scott Berman. Brooks writes:
Scott’s blog posting sent me back to the picture for another look and sure enough he can rest easy. The Scott Berman look-alike is Tim Petersen, Sage A JA, I believe, and Williams tennis player, hence the hat. The resemblance is quite remarkable.
I agree with Brooks. Note, however, that no one has named the person in between Jim Woodruff and Jim Hartnett. Nor has anyone taken the challange of naming all the 88′ers in the year book page with Kathy Wolf. Do I have to do all the work around here?
;-)
Scott Berman sent in some
Scott Berman sent in some comments
Since my name is now being used in vain, I thought I’d better step up.
First, I’m stunned by the recent postings. Not only was I not aware that I had a twin, but also I had no idea he went to Williams with me!! I must admit that the guy in the trike race certainly looks like me, but I don’t remember anything like that picture. I don’t remember the shirt at all, I can’t think of any reason I would have supported Sage A over my beloved Williams E, and although I remember being reasonably friendly with many of those in the picture, I don’t think I knew any of them that well until sophomore or junior year. Plus, anyone who knew me well
freshman year would know that I certainly never owned a Prince baseball cap. Brooks, I’m disappointed that you would have missed such an obvious clue that something was amiss. The only other possibilities are that a) I was trying to infiltrate the enemy camp as a double agent in an effort to sabotage their trike, or b) I had been hanging around with Ann Munchmeyer too much and simply don’t remember the entire day.Anyway, you asked for reminiscences and the trike race reminded me of another Freshman Quad tradition: I can’t remember what it was called, but somehow our JAs convinced us that at midnight you had to run all the way around the paved streets of the quad before the church clock finished its 12 strikes. Because it was Williams, I remember that this was only attempted in Winter, and only when the street was a solid sheet of ice. Of course, given the time of evening, most of us “racers” had just returned from the Log, which certainly didn’t help. The only guy I
ever remember making it all the way around was Pete Grose.Speaking of Pete, and of spies, I saw Pete and Britta Bjornland in Washington DC a few months ago. I asked Britta if she was a spy and she denied it. Good enough for me, but I still think her current job seems like the perfect cover for recruiting Russian agents. Here is a link describing what she does.
I also caught up with Stu Staley in London last week for dinner and a few beers. Unfortunately, I had a colleague with me who probably learned a lot more about me than she needed to know. So, here’s my chance to get even. The last time I had seen Stu was on the eve of his appointment as head of international wholesale energy marketing, trading and generation for AEP. This press release came out the next day.
We also made a $100 bet about reunion. The details will have to remain secret.
Note that we have featured said press release about Stu’s activities in a previous entry, but it always a pleasure to note compliments for a classmate like:
“Stuart Staley has a strong background in energy markets,” van der Walde said. “His leadership of the coal and freight trading group has been impressive. We are operating in international markets that have undergone significant changes in recent months, but we are committed to the markets - and to our strategy - so it is important that we make changes necessary to continue our success.
“Stu will keep our international operations moving forward.”
Note that the prior occupant of Stu’s new position “resigned to pursue other opportunities.” It is unclear to me whether we should hope that the same fate does befalls Stu or not.
Something triggered a memory of
Something triggered a memory of Debbie Zalesne the other day - maybe it was because I was out in Colorado on vacation (and I think this is where Debbie went after Williams), or maybe because I saw someone on the street that looked a little like her - anyway, it appears that Debbie is both an attorney AND a professor at CUNY, which is pretty cool. I managed to locate her bio (and picture!). It looks like some of her work focuses on workplace harassment and other hot topics. It also looks like Debbie is another fellow runner (sorry Dave - another person keeping in shape!), as I found several references to race results via Google.
Political junkines will recall that
Political junkines will recall that March is the month for College Council elections at Williams. If you, like me, love the gnitty-gritty of representative democracy in action, then you’ll enjoy surfing around these pages. Some of the highlights include the section on current council projects as well as the archive of council minutes. The latter will prove to be a great resource for future reunion bloggers.
The site is maintained by C. Prosper Nwankpa, who would certainly get a nomination from me for coolest name for a current Williams student. Or perhaps I am just baised because he quotes poetry (and nicely rhyming poetry at that). The full text of the poem he sites, by Arthur Hugh Clough, can be found here.
Of course, current reunion bloggers have to rely on their trusty scanners. Who can recall the 5 candidate slates for College Council President and Vice Presdent from our year? Here are the first 3:
Of course, the Nerd Ticket ran the most amusing and brillant campaign that I have seen in many a year. Indeed, I would wager that if the “humor” vote had not been partially split by another slate (with their move produced by future Emmy winner Mark Solan), Ken April and Nathan Schmike would have made the run-off against Carter Zinn and Nicole Melcher. Alas, I didn’t save any of the Nerd material (although you can see some of the platform in the background of the picture above). If anyone did, I would love to be able to post it.
I have been looking around for information on the current candidates, but all I could find was this link.
Apologies if you have been
Apologies if you have been sending in all sorts of pictures and memories via e-mail. Alas, because I am not as geeky as I should be, I have not gotten my e-mail up and running (nor do I have my lovely wife’s WiFi network operational yet, but that isn’t your problem). Fortunately, there is always good Williams-related stuff out there. For example, in today’s Daily Adviser, we see that:
JUNIOR ENGLISH MAJORS interested in Honors for next year, please join Katie Kent and other members of the dept, on Tuesday, March 11 in the Stetson Faculty Lounge at 7pm for a discussion about the honors thesis in English. Sophomores who are considering honors in English are also welcome to attend.
Perhaps someone at the meeting can clarify for me the pronounciation of “symetry” in “The Tiger.”
Also, if you’re wondering where the undergraduates who will be shepperding us around this June come from, the DA has the answer:
SHORT-TERM EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY ALUMNI RELATIONS REUNION RANGERS WANTED: Are you a People Person? Would you enjoy helping alumni and their families have a great weekend here on campus? Are you interested in free housing from the end of school until June 16; good pay; great company; a chance to see your friends graduate and enjoy life here at one of the most beautiful times of year without the pressures of classes?
APPLICATIONS FOR REUNION RANGERS MAY BE PICKED UP AT THE ALUMNI RELATIONS OFFICE, MEARS HOUSE BEGINNING ON MONDAY,
MARCH 10. Are you interested in making some money before summer really sets in? Consider becoming a Reunion Ranger. Reunion Rangers are energetic, patient, cheerful and willing to help alumni families have a great visit at Williams in short Rangers are Williams¹ Ambassadors. If this description fits you, pick-up an application today at the Alumni Relations Office, Mears House, (75 Park Street, across from Williams and Sage). Days of work will be from June 10 June 15. Pay will be $7.50 per hour and you will receive housing until noon on Monday, June 16. Application deadline is April 14th. Any questions? Contact Sandra Brookner by email at sbrookner@williams.edu.
The terminology of “Ranger” is interesting. Surely there is a joke to be made here somewhere.
Lots of good stuff in
Lots of good stuff in the recent issue of the Alumni Review. Of course, it is probably a good bet that most of the readers of this blog also get the Review, but, for the few that don’t, here are some items worth noting.
My favorite article is “You’re Doing What with Your Williams Education” by Laura Gatzkiewicz ‘86. In the on-line Review it is listed as the “Signature” article, which I think is a rechristened “Tailgate” section, but I don’t have the hard copy handy to confirm. (On a personal note, today was moving day in the Kane Family Household, so it is actually a small miracle that I am blogging at all.) Laura discusses the trade-offs and rewards in using her Williams education as a stay-at-home mom. She writes:
I admit that I often have wanted to lie on the “job description” questionnaires the alumni relations office sends. And in the quaint fashion of a Hallmark greeting, I guess I could justify checking off any number of boxes on the sheet, for a stay-at-home parent is an educator, actor, economist, chef, administrator and–if there is more than one child–diplomat. This, however, is a superficial treatment of the issue. The deeper issue concerns how a liberal arts education changes your perspective and how that awareness affects you as a person and as a parent.
I recommend the whole article. This is connected to our blog because, obviously, our postings are heavily biased against stay-at-home moms (and dads, my brother, class of 1990, is a full-time stay-at-home dad). Part of this is not our fault. After all, google leads us to what is on the web and people in the workforce are more likely to be easily googleable. Part of it is your fault for not sending us information (pictures, memories, observations, anything) that we can use. Allow me to be especially critical of the husbands out there, especially the ones with wives from our class with more than 3 children, who have failed to send in anything about their families. You know who you are (and who you are not). And much of it is our fault. We will be redoubling our efforts (suggestions welcome) to ensure that postings are not skewed too much to the career-oriented among us.
According to the always hard-working
According to the always hard-working reunion treasurer, Ben Miller, we have had three updates to our purple card list. They are:
Nils Christoffersen
Jean Hooks
Michele (Lowe) Duff
As always, information on what these folks are up to would be appreciated.
Nils seems to be program manager at Wallowa Reseources. His on-line blurb states:
He has a Bachelors in Economics from Williams College ( honors in Environmental Economics), and a Masters in Forestry from Oxford University. His work experience includes 6 years in Eastern and Southern Africa on forestry and wildlife management issues, with an emphasis on community based natural resource management. Previously, Mr. Christoffersen has served as Executive Director for the US Office of Africa Resources Trust, Regional program Coordinator for the IUCN Regional Office in Southern Africa (Zimbabwe), Training Officer for Wildlife Division in Tanzania, and Field Supervisor for Forestry Department in Botswana. Other work includes policy work with the European Commission on matters related to CITES and natural resource management, and short term field work in Australia (livestock), UK (forestry), Norway (forestry and fishing), and Israel (agriculture).
You can get a lot of detail on what Nils is working on by checking out his statement before a Senate Committee. It is interesting stuff. Nils also has an interesting essay on whaling that you can read here.
Nils also has an interesting essay here, although you have to scroll down to the middle of the page. It begins with:
About two hours south of Oslo, Norway, my relatives have owned and worked a farm for nearly 500 years. The farm is still there. The lands, forests and creeks on the property are in good shape, supporting both farm production and a wide range of wildlife. The small family farm and forest property are the dominant features of rural Norway. National policy continues to value and help sustain this “working landscape.”
Read the whole thing, as we say in the Blogosphere.
I am still working through
I am still working through the technology of picture scanning. I would appreciate any feedback on whether this latest batch is too small, too big or just right. Also, I could be providing these as links rather than in-lining them. As always, we are reader-focussed, so your comments are welcome.
Who can name all the 88′ers in this picture?
Of course, Kathy Wolf is here.
I remember . . .
Sitting on Spring Street and watch Kathy Wolf and some of the other Williams skiers go roller-blading — although I don’t think that that was the term at the time — down the street and off to do their non-Winter training. I recall that the equiptment that they used was not like the rollerblades that we have today (doesn’t that sound like an old man?); it was a boot with sort of a mini ski with whells on it. At the time (and recall, this was 5 or 10 years before rollerblading became a fad), I thought, “Wow! That looks really cool. I bet a lot of people would have fun doing that.”
Of course, I failed to use this insight to start up a rollerblading company and become the sort of person that the alumni office dotes over. Ah, well. So it goes.
Brooks also had some thoughts
Brooks also had some thoughts on the Trike Race. He notes that:
Sarah Pierce is on the far left wearing a jean jacket with, in classic 80’s fashion, the collar up. The woman behind her in the vest is class of ‘87 but can’t recall her name.
Is that Scott Sibly behind John Canty?
Dirck’s hand looks huge.
Scott Berman once again proves he is a man of the people- the loyal member of Williams E dove right in to support the apparent winning effort of Sage A.
Where is Gyver?
As always further observations/questions/answers are wlecome.
Brooks Foehl was kind enough
Brooks Foehl was kind enough to send an encouraging e-mail. He says that I should, “Go nuts with the scanner- we need more photos of Hart Murphy, etc. to jog those memories!” Well, Brooks wish is my command. Does this jog anyones memory?
Comments:
1) This is Winter Carnival 1986. I believe that the drinking age is 21. So, it follows, presumably, that only one person is breaking the law here. Hint: It isn’t Britta or Mike.
2) The editors of the year book in 1986 liked the top event so much that they have another picture of it in the book. But I think that this is more complimentary to our faithful class secretary Mike.
3) As always, if something in this blog strikes you as inappropriate or uncomfortable, please let me know and I will remove it. I have received one request along these lines so far and I was happy to oblige. This blog is meant to elicit nothing but smiles and (occasionally rueful) chuckles.
Just when I thought that
Just when I thought that I was a lone voice crying out in the wilderness, Jody Abzug comes through with the answers to our quiz from yesterday. Jody writes:
1) Unfortunately I don’t know everyone in the picture (and I lack the time or the energy to search for my facebook), but . . .
Top Row (left to right) John Canty; ?; Chris Tyler
Middle: Jim Woodruff; Jim Hartnett; Scott Berman
Bottom: Michael Caljouw; Niraj Desai2) I don’t know who the man is but I would guess those were the Sage A entry t-shirts which were no where near as cool as the “Moose is Loose in Sage D” t-shirts we had courtesy of John Kuich.
3) With your fingers raised a la we’re number one (versus up yours) I would guess maybe the First Year Quad won recognition for its ice sculpture.[ I know I'm getting old because my first thought was if it's winter carnival what are they doing wearing t-shirts, even if they are long sleeves.]
The fellow that Jody couldn’t identify is, of course, Dirck Fuller, who first convinced me that squash was a game worth learning. Alas, I am not sure about the person between Jim Woodruff and Jim Hartnett. As to activity, my guess would be that this has something to do with the trike (sp?) race and that Niraj is actually sitting on the Sage A entry. The fingers indicate either a recent victory or the expectation of one.
But surely one of our hundreds of readers can provide the details . . .
Once again, there has been
Once again, there has been a dearth of suggested posting. Fortunately, the scanner still functions. The following picture is from Winter Carnival 18 years ago.
Note that, as our enthusiastic heroes were cavorting around the Freshmen Quad (do they call it the First Year Quad now?) in 1985, the current residents of the Quad were being born. Some poetry on this observation would seem appropriate.
Now, our trivia questions for the day is:
1) Who is in the picture?
2) Who/what is the strange man pictured on the t-shirt?
3) What are they doing?
Everlasting fame to whomever can come up with the correct answers . . .
Alas, my inbox has not
Alas, my inbox has not been overflowing with either memories or pictures. And so out comes the scanner. Note that, pack rat that I am, I have access to yearbooks from all 4 years at Williams. Here is a page from our freshmen year. (Of course, they now refer to that time period as First Year and to the inhabitants of it as first years).
The speaker seems to me to be Hart Murphy, who spoke better extemporaneously than anyone I knew at Williams. (Behind him, I think, is my old debating partner, Tom Williams ‘87.) Last I knew about Hart, he was attending graduate school in philosophy at Boston College and writing articles like this one. I came across some interesting google references to a Hart Murphy in San Antonio, Texas and, as the facebook reminds us, this is Hart’s home town. Does anyone have a better update?
Drew Erdman is not the
Drew Erdman is not the only classmate we have working with the federal government on important issues. Mike Dawson is Deputy Assistant Secretary for Critical Infrastructure Protection and Compliance Policy at the Treasury Department. His official bio notes that:
Michael A. Dawson was sworn in on February 3, 2003 as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Critical Infrastructure Protection and Compliance Policy. As Deputy Assistant Secretary, Dawson is responsible for assisting the Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions on the following:
Working with the private financial services sector to improve the protection of the nation’s critical financial infrastructure,
Working to maintain appropriate protections for non-public personal financial information
Developing appropriate regulations to protect the nation’s financial system from abuse by money launderers and terrorist financiers, and
Serving as the Department’s principal liason with the Office of Homeland Security on critical infrastructure protection issues.
Dawson supervises a dedicated team of professional staff, including the newly-created Office of Critical Infrastructure Protection.
Dawson previously served as Senior Advisor to the Deputy Secretary of the Treasury from April 2001 to February 2003. Prior to joining the Treasury Department, Dawson served as Chief of Staff at FOLIOfn, a web-based broker-dealer that was the first to allow investors to buy and trade customizable baskets of equities. Dawson also worked for the Washington-based law firm, Covington & Burling. In addition, he clerked for Judge James L. Oakes on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Dawson holds a B.A. in Economics from Williams College, an M. Phil. in Economics from Cambridge University, and a J.D. from the Yale Law School.
You can read more about Mike’s new job here. I first came across the information in this article in the Record. The article notes that:
Following spring break, the Gaudino Fund will sponsor a variety of speakers, including Michael Dawson ‘88, who is the assistant department secretary of the U.S. Treasury in charge of monitoring and financing the War on Terror, and Joseph Bianco, who just resigned as the chief of the terrorism bureau in New York City.
Alas, I couldn’t find any recent pictures of Mike or any personal news. But, I have a scanner and I am not afraid to use it.
Apologies for the quality. We are still working on the technology here at reunion blog headquarters.
