Thomas L. Reed, Jr. – 50th Reunion Essay

Thomas L. Reed, Jr.

1917 Hibiscus Street

Sarasota, FL 34239

reedt@dickinson.edu

603-276-0863

Spouse(s): Dorothy Grant Reed (1987)

Child(ren): Abigail Stuart Reed (1988) and Daniel Walker Reed (1992)

Education: Yale University, BA, 1969; University of Virginia, MA 1970, PhD 1978

Career: Professor of English Literature and Film at Dickinson College

Avocations: Writing, walking in familiar and exotic places, travel

College: Saybrook

Gearing up for this second quarter-century update, I did two bits of research. First, I Googled people born in 1898 to see what some of them had made of their lives before they, like us, reached age seventy-one. The predictably-humbling group included Enzo Ferrari, C. S. Lewis, George Gershwin, Paul Robeson, Golda Meir, M. C. Escher, Lotte Lenya, Alexander Calder, Berthold Brecht, and Sergei Eisenstein. Fortunately, I’m more than content to have spent a life flying well below that kind of historical radar. Of the things I’m most happy to have managed, the foremost is to have found my wonderful wife Dottie, convinced her to marry me, and remained worthy enough in her tolerant eyes to stay a couple for all these years. When I proposed to her over a plate of Chinese stir-fry, listening to Mark Knopfler’s soundtrack to Cal, she responded, “Yes, but only if you want to have children.” Thank goodness she had preconditions! Thank goodness we fulfilled them! Abigail and Daniel are now 31 and 27, both of them beloved and brilliant teachers of secondary school English and both of them bringing as much energy and benefit to their world as they bring joy to their parents. (No grandchildren yet, but, as welcome as they would be, that wasn’t in the original contract!) I am happy to have spent four decades teaching English literature (including Lewis) and film (including Eisenstein) at Dickinson College. I’m happy to have played a range of central roles at Camp Pemigewassett, founded by my grandfather in 1908. I am happy to have run a marathon. (Thanks, Frank Shorter!) I am happy to have written a bunch of academic books and articles (validating my claim to Saybrook roomie Phil Rourke, way back when, that I was going to become “a scholar”). I’m happy to have trekked the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal, and even more happy to have lived for two years in New Zealand, where Dottie and I still have some of our best friends ever. Having spent a lifetime teaching novels I wish I had written, I am happy finally to have published one that I did write—about Robert Louis Stevenson’s journey toward penning Jekyll and Hyde and then the completely unforeseen consequences of its publication. (Seeking Hyde, Beaufort Books, November 2018! And I’m more than happy to autograph copies!)

The other thing I did to prepare? I went back to the 25th Reunion Class Book and Mac Thompson’s original commencement address. Vietnam hung with impossible weight over our heads that memorable morning. Mac’s last words? “The war must end now, and the fight for our cities, for our nation, for our people must begin.” Was that 50 years ago or yesterday? The current combat may be elsewhere, but the domestic fight that remains to be fought is crushingly similar. Even while I count the quiet blessings of the last half century, I hope for the energy and wisdom to use these coming days to good and restorative effect.