Author: Admin

  • We Need A New Listserv.  Your Input Needed.

    ByAdmin

    Editor’s Note: Yale retired our old system. Which of the new offerings should we use? The old system was broken and fell into disuse. It’s time to resurrect it. This article briefly discusses what a Class listserv is, what it’s good for and how it would benefit you. We share a few of the design choices we face and solicit your input.

    One of the lesser-known tools for communicating with other members of our class is the class listserv. It hasn’t been used very often over the past couple of years.

    What is a listserv, you ask? Well, it’s just a piece of software that manages a mailing list of its members. Any member of the list can send an email to a single address, and that message will be forwarded to all the other members.

    What do 69ers want from a listserv? Here are the design choices we are juggling. Your input would be helpful.

  • Ted Van Dyke is published in academic history journals

    ByAdmin

    What actions should you consider upon learning that your grandfather was like Reuben Markham—a missionary, educator, journalist, intelligence officer, and a significant American figure who played a vital role in the social and political lives of pre-war Bulgaria? What steps should you take when research reveals a wealth of historically important actions and writings associated with his life?

    Well, if you’re like Stuart (“Ted”) Van Dyke, you dust off your PhD in European History, ignite your research skills, and dive into the archives of the US State Department, the Christian Science Monitor, and several Bulgarian and other primary sources. You seek to uncover exactly what your grandfather did and how his contemporaries responded. And with a scholar’s dispassionate eye, you document that for history — maybe for a book, but for now in some academic journals.

  • Sleeper Essay on Salon.com Rankles Breitbart

    ByAdmin

    Our prolific classmate, Jim Sleeper, has been publishing political commentary on the election in The Guardian, Salon and Commonweal magazine. Most of the essays use rich historical analyses comparing the current rightward movement in our politics to prior periods of American and world history, specifically ancient Rome and Weimar Germany.

    Last week, on Presidents’ Day, Salon published an essay comparing the current Administration with the fall of the Roman Republic.  That essay, “Is Donald Trump more like Hitler or Augustus Caesar?   Honestly, it’s both” attracted a lot of eyeballs online and on social media. 

    A few hours after Salon published the article, Breitbart News took exception to the thesis of Jim’s essay in a prominent article, set forth below. Read the Breitbart critique and Jim’s original. Who’s right?

  • Subrata Narayan Chakravarty, February 1, 2025

    ByAdmin

    Subrata Chakravarty passed away on February 1st, just three weeks before his 78th birthday. His family reported that he passed away peacefully at home while in hospice care, no longer suffering from the dementia he had endured in his later years.

    Juju, as he was known during our bright college years, graduated with honors and immediately enrolled at Harvard Business School, graduating in 1971. Following this, he embarked on a distinguished career as a business journalist, contributing to some of the most esteemed business publications in the world, including Forbes, Bloomberg, Institutional Investor, and the Boston Consulting Group.

    Subrata arrived at Yale after attending an Indian boarding school. Although he spent …

  • Steve Dunwell’s Photographs Now A Part of History

    ByAdmin

    The Boston Public Library recently acquired one of the limited edition portfolios Steve Dunwell recently published, “With These Hands.” Each set contains nine archival silver prints showing New England textile mill workers 1973-1977. There are only 12 sets in this Limited Edition.

    This purchase is an excellent start on Steve’s goal of getting all the important archival repositories in New England, plus some key national institutions, to purchase and preserve these silver-process prints of a bygone era that he was able to document shortly after we graduated.

    This project began in early 1973 when Steve was invited to visit a textile mill in ….

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    “We Are All One Family” – Richard Seltzer

    ByAdmin

    Our prolific classmate, Richard Selzer, has done It again – by publishing his newest book, One Family.  This one is very different from his other books, many of which have been profiled in these pages.  This is not a novel; it’s an exploration, a meditation on the nature of human connectedness.

    The book starts with a mind-blowing thought experiment (and proof) that, if you have European ancestry, it’s likely that you are related to every other person with European ancestry on Earth today.  We are indeed … ONE FAMILY. 

    Richard also makes a generous gift at the end of the article — access to a free copy of the book!

  • Class Notes, Jan-Feb 2025

    ByAdmin

    A long-overdue update on Paul Severtson: “I became interested in music because “my mother was quite an accomplished cellist in her youth. She made sure that all five of her kids learned an instrument. Somehow she managed our musical training in such a way that she got a string quartet out of the first four. The youngest rebelled. He took up the oboe.” Paul majored in music theory and composition at Yale, and then received…

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    Marty Cohen’s latest book of poetry is now available

    ByAdmin

    Per his 50th Reunion Essay, Marty Cohen retired in 2015 with six goals, two of which were to publish works in process and create new ones. 

    He’s made good on at least one of those goals by publishing Stone Seeds, which Amazon describes thusly: “Stone Seeds is about paying attention to the connections between people and places, poetry and birds, songs and silence, spirituality and the material world.

    Marty has been publishing poetry and essays on literature and the arts in periodicals and anthologies since 1970. Stone Seeds brings together the best of his work since A Traveller’s Alphabet (1979).

    In this post, Marty makes a generous offer to classmates and shares some personal news, too – read more.

  • Peabody’s Mineral Galleries Reopen – David Friend Hall

    ByAdmin

    Editor’s Note: Those who attended the Reunion last summer had an opportunity to get a private tour of the newly renovated Peabody Museum, including the expanded exhibits of dinosaurs and replicas of other prehistoric flora and fauna. We also got to see the work being completed on the David Friend Hall, a section of the Peabody dedicated to the mineral collection donated by David Friend, ’69 Calhoun.

    This story is reprinted from this month’s Roskin Gem News Report, a leading journal focused on the natural gemstone industry. It reports on the formal debut of the completed exhibition, well documented with some stunning pictures. 

  • Classmates arrange musical interlude for Will Steicker’s hospice care

    ByAdmin

    Eliot Norman recruited Mary Langston, a well-regarded soprano, to sing “Over the Rainbow” as part of a musical program he put together for Dr. Will Streicker a few weeks before he passed away last Spring. Rob Riehle and his wife Byah joined others at Will’s home, where he was confined to home hospice. Owing to his immunocompromised state, Will (who Eliot and others knew as Bill) had to keep his distance, listening from an easy chair at the top of the stairs. 

    This performance was captured on an iPhone and is embedded here:

  • George Lloyd Priest, December 17, 2024

    ByAdmin

    “Professor Priest was a distinguished scholar, revered teacher, and fierce mentor,” said Dean Heather K. Gerken, Yale Law School. “A scholarly pioneer, George left a legion of ideas in his wake. He was also a beloved member of our community, someone who managed to be an intellectual giant with great warmth, humor, and modesty. He made us think, and he made us laugh. And we all mourn his loss.”

    Priest joined Yale Law School in 1981 and was named the John M. Olin Professor of Law and Economics in 1986…
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    If you have recollections, reminiscences or stories, or want to add anything to the above, please either comment below the story or email your thoughts to Dan Seiver (seiverda@miamioh.edu) and Wayne Willis (support@Yale1969.org).  If you have any good pictures, send them to Wayne, and he can add them to this post manually.

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    Yale roommates collaborate on a new novel

    ByAdmin

    Calhoun roommates in ’68-’69, Scott Howard and Bob Brush have a lot in common:  They sang together in the 1966-68 Baker’s Dozen and were founding members of the Roll and Pin Society (along with Bob Wheeler, James Hallet, Wayne Henderson, Charlie Peck, Brad Davenport and Bo Riehle).

    Recently, they decided to collaborate in the creation of a first novel, with Bob as the author and Scott as the illustrator. 

    Bob is an Emmy-award winning writer and executive producer of The Wonder Years and recipient of other awards. Scott is a retired banker now deep into painting, non-profit work, and family. “Read More” to see more about the novel, The Piazza: Stories from Piazza Santa Caterina

  • Paul Franklyn Lozier – August 23, 2024

    ByAdmin
    Editor’s Note:  If you have recollections, reminiscences or stories, or want to add anything, please either “Leave A Reply” at the bottom or email your thoughts to Dan Seiver or Wayne Willis.

    Paul Franklyn Lozier, 77, of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, husband of Janet, entered into eternal rest, Friday August 23, 2024. Paul’s life was a testament to his unwavering dedication to those he loved and the causes he championed.

  • Results from Colloquium 19: How We Fix Climate Change

    ByAdmin

    Our presenter, Wayne Willis, called on his experience as a tech entrepreneur and a leader with Citizens’ Climate Lobby to offer a solution to climate change.  His thesis, called “The EcoTech Synthesis,” observes:
    * Reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 requires CleanTech to replace DirtyTech.
    * That happens when the “Green Premium” gets to or below zero.
    * There are two paths to reducing the Green Premium ….

  • Victor Danielsen Norman, September 20, 2024

    ByAdmin

    Here is an obituary crafted by some of Victor’s academic colleagues and published in Centre for Economic Policy Research earlier this month.   See other tributes on X and other platforms. Victor Danielsen Norman passed away on 20 September after a long battle with cancer. For almost 50 years he was a leading figure in the field of international economics, not only for his own research, but also for his leadership in several research projects in…

  • Class Colloquium 19: How we fix climate change – Oct. 24, 4 pm ET

    ByAdmin

    The central chapter of Wayne’s forthcoming book is a framework outlining HOW a climate crisis can be avoided … and what YOU can do today to make a huge difference. This Zoom meeting will share that model and highlight why NOW is a critical time:  You see, regardless of the election outcome, there is a time window in November and December to pass one law (ready for a vote now!) and another window in 2025 to enact a different one (that is being developed)!

    Register here