The Winter Term has ended to the relief of many, and the dramatic contrast with last year would have escaped notice had not the words “global warming” become a part of the public vocabulary. Without drawing any conclusions, you can see what how much the weather changed between my visits to campus over a two week period in the slide show to the right.
Academy News
Those members of the Class who swam on Mr. Boyle’s undefeated Varsity team during the 1968-1969 Winter Term (Herndon, Liipfert, Walbridge, Allen, Galuszka, Calder, Louis and Spitznagel) will be glad to know that this year’s Varsity team culminated its season by winning the 46th installment of the New England championships which were hosted at the Koch Natatorium. You can read all about it here.
On the college admissions front, 69% of the senior class applied under either an early action or early decision plan. Of the students who applied, 47% were admitted which means, if you’re following my math, that approximately two-thirds of the parents are probably now in a state of high anxiety. One of the most astonishing statistics in the annual college lottery is that all 14 early decision applicants to Penn were turned down. Over the last number of years, more Deerfield graduates have matriculated at Penn than at any other school except Brown.
Class News
Much of the Class appears to have spent the winter in hibernation, however, here’s what little I can report:
In case you haven’t visited Albany Road Redux since my report card on the Fall Term, you will find postings about Tee Johnson and Steve Esthimer, each of whom is featured in artistic releases. You can learn more about each by going to Tee-vita! and Shotgun Wedding on Albany Road. In other media news, Ed Grosvenor has published the first issue of American Heritage since buying control of the magazine and the related website last fall. A reviewer in The Washington Times wrote, “In its new life under the editorial directorship of Mr. Grosvenor and Executive Editor John Ross (a former senior editor of Smithsonian) American Heritage is both handsome and eminently readable. The winter 2008 issue is on newsstands and worthy bookstores.”
With politics much in the news, I have begun checking in with Classmates during the extended primary season. A few weeks ago I contacted Marty Kaiser who, as you know from past reports, is a big Poo-Bah in newspaper circles (as well as the editor of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Online) to get his prognostication on the Wisconsin primary. To his credit, Marty correctly forecasted the outcome but underestimated the margin of victory. Earlier this week I contacted Michael Buerger, our only Ohio representative, and Christian Liipfert from the Lone Star State, neither of whom, based on the actual results, need consider giving up their daytime jobs for political punditry. The next major stop for the Democrats is PA where we have half a dozen Classmates.
As our Massachusetts classmates may know, Howie Carr was in a contract dispute last fall over plans to move from WRKO-AM to a competing morning drive-time show. What you may not know is that Howie has a far wider following than simply New England which I recently discovered when I picked up a copy of The New York Post and found his column weighing in on Senator Kennedy’s Obama endorsement.
In February, Bill Morine, public information coordinator for the North Carolina American Radio Relay League, the US national organization of amateur radio operators, was appointed to lead the National Public Relations Committee.
In case you’ve been short sub-prime or are feeling particularly flush, Rusty Young has arranged for The Boss to host a one-time concert benefiting the Count Basie Theatre this spring. According to the announcement, VIP/Gold Circle Seats are available for the Springsteen concert on May 7th at prices ranging from $15,000 – 5,000 per seat. Classmates who have attended events in the past and are prime prospects include AC Starkey, Todd Stone, Larry Gottlieb, Mark Hall, Jim Lunt, Douglas Arnstein and John Davies.
I omitted to mention last fall that Lunt Silversmiths sponsored for the 17th year a golf fundraiser for the Baystate Franklin Medical Center, an acute care center in Greenfield. Jim Lunt, president of Lunt Silversmiths, commented, “I, too, am grateful for our hospital’s supporters. Thanks to them and to a great management team, Baystate Franklin Medical Center enjoys good health and thus can provide the same for all of us who live in this community.” The event raised $38,000.
Photo Trivia
After a real dearth of photos, I recently came across the picture on the left and, since I didn’t recognize at first the Classmate in question, thought others might be similarly puzzled. You can let me know who you think it is by e-mailing me at dwsquires@gmail.com.Thanks to all who shared their remembrances in January about Mr. Lambert. A memorial service in his honor is planned at the Academy on Saturday, June 15th at 10:30 AM. Tell me if the hapless soul under Mr. Lambert's skeptical gaze in the photo doesn't look like Jim Lunt.
The Academy reconvenes on Easter, March 23rd for the beginning of Spring Term. Until then, best wishes to all.
DWS
