Classbook Arrives, Kudos Ensue

Classmates received their copy of the 50th Reunion ClassBook, with most books arriving the first week of April.  And the response received by the reunion committee and ClassBook leadership has been overwhelmingly positive:

• Macon Cowles submitted a “Memories and Observations” post, saying

“To our publisher, Art Klebanoff, and to all of you who worked hard, designed well, wrote well and shared photographs: Thank you so very much. We are grateful beyond measure for this terrific community of sharing.”

• Jim Sleeper added:

We were on the West Coast when the book arrived, but we got back to Manhattan yesterday, and now that I’ve had a chance to dip into the book, I’m not sure when I’ll get out. The memories come swimming back, thanks of course to our classmates’ own sharing of their memories and reflections but also to the deft research, compilation and presentation of our self-presentations, and to the selections of the photos, Doonesbury cartoons and design features.  Btw, I’m stunned by the beauty of the full-page photos (Yes, some are familiar from another photo-book about Yale), but you can take satisfaction from my being thrilled even though I’ve been on campus so often during the past 20 years that one might think I’d be inured to its attractions.

• Bill Stanisich emailed,

“What a beautiful, generous, fascinating book you all have fashioned…  I spent three hours with it just now, reading it out loud with Jim …  It shows so much flair and consideration, far more than we would have been capable of in 1969.  … I am very grateful to Yale.  Very grateful to all of you for making this book something we will enjoy sharing with friends, former students, fellow graduates from other years….  It is really a beautiful piece of work. “

• Cleveland Morris added,

“It is astonishing! I cannot even imagine how you go about putting a book like this together!  I am in the throes of getting ready to open a show and, with no time on my hands, thought I’d quickly skim it to get the flavor–so to speak. I immediately realized you cannot “skim” a book like this. Here are people’s lives, spoken in their words with an intimate vulnerability that makes every entry worthy of attention. I had opened to a random page and the words of someone I never knew held me spellbound.

I loved the way that the standardized format followed by the personal essay allowed each of us to give the basics and then share an essence in his own way. Everyone was of equal value and treated with equal respect. And how about all those surprises!

My immediate reaction was far more emotional than intellectual and far more emotional than I ever would have imagined. It was like wandering into Spoon River or Act III of Our Town. I was floored by the number of dead classmates, as well as MIAs. Those of us who survive, are starting to feel a sense of elegy, Gray’s Elegy.

…  It’s not just a classbook, it’s a work of art.

•  Alan Boles adds:

The 50th Reunion Class Book, in an intricately constructed, thick cardboard box, landed on my doorstep Monday. It is a visually beautiful volume. I have only managed to read a small amount of the content so far, but I am also impressed by that. Thanks to you and the others involved for lavishing such care on this magnificent work.

• David Cohen says,

The book is truly fantastic!  We really appreciate the effort that you put into elevating the quality, format and content well beyond anything that we have seen previously. I have begun thumbing through and reading the class essays as well as the invited essays. Having this before the actual event will make attending the reunion a more interesting experience.

• Roger Collins continues,

I just “weight-lifted” our 50th reunion book and was super-pleased to thumb through it.  Congratulations to you and your team for pulling together a volume that my family and friends will enjoy thumbing through for quite some time.  I’ve skimmed the essays and I look forward to future reads – well before our reunion…which I’m very much looking forward to.  For now, I just wanted to say congrats and thanks for reaching out and allowing me to be part of our class “picture.”

• And this from Tom McNamee

What a magnificent job you guys have done!  Just: wow.  I’ve been up way too late last night, and the night before, plowing through the bios.  The best one so far is also the worst: the guy in Alaska who was shot and killed, with his wife, by kids high on glue–after having devoted his life to helping their village.  “Organized their reindeer herd,” as I recall, among other things.

Many hands made light the work

As the “Credits” in the preface to the ClassBook set forth, many, many people were responsible for the publication.  Reunion Committee co-Chair, J.P. Jordan joined Carney Mimms as co-Editor In Chief.  They mapped out the framework for the overall content, including:

• Invited Essays — thanks to the Authors of those essays: Earl Miller, Tom Guterbock, Bill Stanisich, Reed Hundt, Richard Tedlow, Tom McNamee, Roger Collins, Jim Sleeper, Art Segal, Art Klebanoff, Tom Reed, Mike Baum, Jeff Wheelwright,  and Art Klebanoff
• Obituaries –thanks to Dan Seiver for writing or wrangling them all
• Photographs – thanks to Steve Dunwell, who licensed his gorgeous images from his book on Yale and to Garry Trudeau for permitted Doonesbury reprints without charge,
• Personal Essays — and, of course, many thanks to each and every Classmate who submitted an essay, and perhaps some photographs and “objective data,”
• 4-Color Printing and overall design — courtesy of Art Klebanoff’s Rosetta Books, and his staff.
• And organizing and editing all the materials — thanks to the whole team, composed of Carney, JP, Doug Colton, David Howorth, Bill Newman, and Myra Drucker (JP’s wife), and Wayne Willis.

Comments welcome!