Thomas J. Reed – 50th Reunion Essay

Thomas J. Reed

230 West End Avenue

New York, NY 10023

tumblereed@aol.com

212-861-1123

Education: Yale University, BA 1969; Princeton University, MPA 1971

Career: Adjunct Faculty, New School Univ./Parsons and NYU School of Professional Studies: teaching, Illustrator/Photoshop. NYC Dept of Health and Mental Hygiene, 36+ years: materials developer/designer, program evaluator/analyst/director. NYC Addiction Services Agency, 4+ years: researcher/evaluator/analyst

Avocations: Art, design, teaching, computer graphics. Wrote and illustrated a children’s book. Political cartooning.

College: Berkeley

As our 50th approaches and we summon our Yale memories once more, I’m finding it doesn’t take much—a bit of reverie and bang! I’m back on the Old Campus again, moving into Welch Hall. To this day I still have my Old Campus Book with its freshmen photos. How young we were! Smiles, short hair, narrow ties—Wally Cleavers from a bygone era!

Undoubtedly, we’ll be forever branded as Yale’s last all-male class. To today’s millennials we must seem like hopeless relics from those dark days before coeducation. Some stereotypes about us are true. Female connection was largely confined to weekends. During the week our adolescent hormones did rage (rumor had it, back then, a swoon wave could erupt among susceptible freshmen lined up for chicken at Commons, just by asking which part they preferred, breast or thigh!).

But the truth is, we were more complex than that—many factors beyond just gender and hormones shaped our class. Already on entry, we reflected Yale’s increased recruitment from public high schools and its efforts to broaden our diversity. We were also frontrunners of the “Boomer” generation, already a quirky mix, rapidly waking to its generational muscle. And the ’60s, with its persistent tumult, exerted a huge tidal pull on us, reshaping us on almost every level. Wally Cleaver rapidly receded, giving way to long hair and the Rolling Stones.

The Vietnam War was, of course, a lengthening shadow over all of us. As the war intensified, draft quotas rose, deferments were less secure, and antiwar sentiment grew. Protests, grading reforms, new majors—Yale went through many tremors and changes during our time. One could argue these were just our versions of what was going on nationally. But it is worth noting we weathered our changes without the upheavals besetting other campuses. What spared us? Attentive leaders like Kingman Brewster and William Sloane Coffin, open discourse, basic civility? All of the above, I think.

Following Yale, I went to Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School for an MPA. Having survived Yale’s rigor, I was relieved to find myself well-equipped for Princeton (though I did have to buy some orange and black clothes!). I then moved to New York and began what became a 40-plus-year stint focused broadly on public health and city government (most spent at the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene). I followed a typical MPA career arc, but later veered in some new directions.

As some of you know, I also have a creative/artistic streak. I’ve written and illustrated a children’s book. And Princeton published a political cartoons calendar I created for the WWS. Later, when the computer wave hit DOHMH, I learned computer design skills to integrate with my public health work. This bore fruit and for 20-plus years, I designed a wide range of public health materials. I also started teaching (primarily Photoshop and Illustrator) and am now an adjunct at the New School/Parsons and at NYU’s School of Professional Studies.

Recently I retired from New York City government. I’m maintaining my teaching, and hope to explore some new creative directions. I’m not married, but am blessed with a great brother and sister-in-law. And I’m a proud uncle who enjoys spending time with my nephew and nieces. I look forward to maintaining old friendships and developing new ones, and still believe many interesting adventures lie ahead.

I’m looking forward to our reunion. Our class memories still, even now, reveal much about us. Are we any wiser through the passage of time? I don’t know. I do know our shared Yale experiences still connect us even now, 50 years out, something I find comforting. I remain proud of my fellow ’69ers and am proud to be a member of our talented class.

Looking back, what advice would I offer my freshman self? Enjoy, love, explore, connect. Have fun. Keep (and use) your sense of humor, your perspective, and your sense of what’s right. Rise to the moment, be helpful and kind, remain humble. Realize learning, change, and course corrections are lifelong. Oh, and watch out for those splinters in the floorboards of Welch Hall.