Reunion: Exhibit of Books by 69ers At Sterling
It has become customary at 50th Reunions to create an exhibit of the published work of classmate authors. The exhibit is curated by a classmate (me!) and beautifully executed by the professional staff of the Sterling Library. It was on view during Reunion in the glorious, newly-refurbished nave of Sterling.
I counted about 160 books, written by our classmates, listed on the class website. Alas, only 48 submitted books for the Library display. Many classmates have written multiple books, as there are many professional writers in our class. And George Effinger seems to have written most of them (24 by my count). The other pros, McNamee, Sleeper, Medved, Hundt, Tedlow, Hine, Wheelwright, Breitman, et. al. are all well-represented here. And the academics write because they have to, or perish.
My interest here is the amateur writer, in the French sense of the word. The one who writes on the side, because there is an itch he’s got to scratch.
Take Vinnie Pitts, for example. During his career as a banker, Vinnie continued to research and write on his favorite subjects, France, the French monarchy, St. Simon, Fouquet, and more. Now that’s an independent scholar!
Or David Darst, investment banker at Morgan Stanley, writing countless books on investments, asset allocation, a children’s book and prose poems inspired by space exploration.
Maybe bankers have a lot of time on their hands.
Marty Cohen spent a lifetime career in management, yet wrote poetry and essays on poetry all his life.
Jeff Graham wrote short stories and poems while he was busy doing other things.
Bob Wittebort practiced law, but decided to write a book about his Chicago business club.
Dennis Drogseth had a career as a tech analyst, but he was really a writer of fiction, memoir, poetry and theater.
Eric Muirhead built a boat, sailed the seas and worked in offshore oil, all the while writing novels and poems. Now that’s my kind of guy.
Doug Barzelay practiced law, but loved Burgundy, enough to write about it.
Bruce Bolnick taught economics, and then he wrote about his passion, a hiking guide to the waterfalls of the White Mountains in New Hampshire.
I think we have the picture now. We’ve been trained by Yale to write. And there is much that we have still to write about, especially now that we have acquired some perspective, on a lot of things. Which is why I am urging you to write, if only for your friends and family, about anything and everything that pleases you.
Here are the replicas of the posters that actually appeared in Sterling:
