Today's supper reading was my alma mater's alumni magazine. I don't always skim the class news section, but there's usually treasure there when I do. In the past there's been mention of fainting goats and other phenomena; in this month's issue, there was mention of a philanthropist couple (class of 1964), for whom I briefly worked as an organizer, enjoying a neighborhood jazz festival; a member of the class of 1942 describing herself as "the most widely published unknown author in the U.S." (73 stories); "the first Asian American female judge in New York" (Dorothy Chin-Brandt, AB'67); bookbinders in the classes of 1962 and 1968; and the education specialist for the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge (class of 1991). There were several people who described themselves as lower-profile members of their classes, including a woman from the class of 1967 with this entry:

What surprises me most after 40 years is I can do things I never dreamed of doing at age 21. I dug in Petra, Jordan, with Brown University and discovered the capital of a large column. I have joined four couples in (not very holy but binding) matrimony. I lecture on Egyptian antiquities and Claude Monet for the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Reading items like that delight me, as does trivia such as Ted Fujita liking his nickname of "Mr. Tornado." There was an obituary for a Fulbright fellow who earned her MA in 1961 and her PhD thirty-one years later ("retiring as assistant professor [at UIUC] in 1998") -- I bet the celebration after that dissertation defense must have been something...

On the other hand, that the School of General Studies now offers a "Masters of Science in Threat and Response Management" -- that bothers me on multiple levels, and I can't decide if any of them are truly unreasonable. It is a bit scary being old enough to wonder if one is merely being reactionary (which, given the reactionary title of the degree -- oh, cripes, I think this is taking thinking about thinking to a whole new level of unproductive. I'm going to go read some poetry instead).