Thomas Parker: My wife and I are surviving the covid-19 impacts in Los Angeles County reasonably well, still employed, still healthy, and working from home much of the time. Our two grown sons are also healthy and employed in their locations. One silver lining of this mess has been the on-line Kenyon alum meetings for me. The “bobcat” fire in the Angeles National forest is uncomfortably close to our place in Azusa (right by the San Gabriel mountain range) and we got a good deal of smoke and bad air early on. No evacuations in our area, thankfully. I will be very happy when this year is over. I wish the best to all of my ‘80 classmates.
Jennie Hutton Jacoby: Doug ’82 and I and the children and their partners have spent the better part of half a year quarantining on Cape Cod, with all of us working remotely. I am on sabbatical this fall (I teach high school English at the Rivers School in Weston, MA), so it has truly been the endless summer. Back in June, I had such fun Zooming for our Kenyon Reunion, getting to hang out in a breakout room with the likes of Joey Glatt and Lee Segal. My most joyful news, though, is that Doug and I became grandparents to Theodore Douglas back in March, and we have recently begun taking care of him three days a week. So, I'm singing "Baby Beluga" once again!
Ethan Powsner: Still living in Grand Rapids, MI with my wife of 36+ years (Cynthia). Our three kids are all in town and self-supporting. We enjoy seeing them (one, in particular, likes to mooch free dinners). No grandkids but we have a cat. Have been enjoying driveway socializing with our neighbors. Still enjoying my career at Fidelity National Financial (not Fidelity Investments) and spend a fair amount of time in TN consulting with our title insurance customers. Retired from motorcycling after 8 years. Planning on attending the 41st reunion.
Quentin Hardy: Just before everything shut down, I was in Florence and Siena. I've filled quarantine with a couple of essays and talks on the history of Art and Technology, which is a nice sideline.
Karl Shefelman: While locked down in our cozy West Village NYC apartment during this Covid craziness I've managed to keep working my day job as a storyboard artist virtually, which I must say I kind of like. Just worked for director Ron Howard on a new movie he is prepping called 13 Lives, the story of the Thai soccer team kids who were trapped in a cave and miraculously rescued! Meanwhile my new short film, Man on the Tower, a fictionalized account of my memory as a youngster of the U.T. Tower sniper shooting in Austin, Texas, is now hitting the film festivals (all virtual) and will be viewable online in November. If you're on Facebook I've been posting ad nauseam about it as usual. Stay safe and healthy everybody! Strange days indeed!
John Weir: John Weir's collection of linked short stories, Your Nostalgia Is Killing Me, won the 2020 AWP (Association of Writers and Writing Program) Grace Paley Prize for Short Fiction. It will be published in Spring 2022 by Red Hen Press. Don't read it, just buy it!
Lynn Snyderman: For the past year, I have enjoyed life as a retired Pennsylvania Supreme Court staff attorney and I spend most mornings on either a pickle ball or tennis court. Fortunately, these sports are Covid-friendly, and I have been able to maintain my sanity (mostly) for the past six months. My husband Lew and I recently adopted a Covid puppy named Leonardo. We forgot how much work a puppy can be, but we have high hopes for this cute guy. My daughter, Jillian, is a primary care physician in the Appalachian mountains of Western North Carolina; my son, Jesse, co-anchors a morning television show in Pittsburg, Kansas, and my stepdaughter, Hannah, is designing jewelry in New Mexico. We also have high hopes for a change of Administration in November, and I urge everyone who has read this far to GET OUT TO VOTE!!!
Susan (Behrens) Raker: Well, we did it! Married just a month after graduation, we (Chris '79 and I) celebrated 40 years together last June. Big celebration plans had been in the works, but like with so many things, 2020 had other ideas. So, with the backstage machinations of our two wonderful daughters, we received long-distance well-wishes from all over, including many of our beloved Kenyonites! It's been a wild and wonderful forty years, finding my Kenyon art degree to good use cutting and pasting and glittering in Kindergarten--though it's hard to get the glitter to go through the computer camera in virtual school....Chris continues in his long career in ministry, preaching and teaching virtually and connecting with folks all over the world--this Zooming universe has its perks! It was great to see so many old friends at the 40th Reunion--we're still obedient to that strange spell!
Andrew Bowers (Ludovik…nom de prisons): Hmm... I think it says a lot that the highlight of my summer was getting take-out at a sub shop in Rockport, MA-- ooh, what a day that was! Okay, okay, maybe I've done other stuff, but it seems like The Day the Earth Stood Still... for months and months. Kudos to the people who set up our virtual reunion in May, it was honestly delightful to "see" and catch up with friends... and others. Less delightful is being back at work teaching. Middle schools are germ factories in the best of times-- let alone now. I remain hopeful. Hope you do, too. (Note to editor: Actually, my last name was NOT "Ludovik" as a student-- that was later while I was in prison.)
Terrell Snyder: Thanks to the great job done by our class committee and to Dave Cohen in particular, I joined the modern age to enjoy our virtual class reunion. As a result of that, and with some more help from Dave for emails, I have been lucky enough to reconnect to some of my friends from days gone by. Michael Kaufman, Sharon Bulthaup and I are in sometimes frenzied communication to support each other through the trials and frenzies of this election season, and also hold poetry symposiums via Zoom. We have also been in touch with Maria Masucci, who seems to have had a very exciting international life. Need to hear more from you, Masucch! Southwest Ohio seems like the COVID capital of the world, so it is good to get away, at least in spirit. I continue to practice law, when I am not obsessively following the news or sneaking off to read poetry or watch Antigone in Ferguson. Happy to hear from or see (masked and with social distance) anyone from Kenyon days. I have also discovered that Dr. Fauci strongly resembles Harry Clor H’99!
Robert Thomas: We were blessed with a visit by Garry Bender ‘80 and his wife Joyce recently as part of a trip to return their son Garrick to Denison. We had a nice but brief visit with them. They are both well. Our children returned to school this fall at the University of Colorado and High Point University. Looking forward to our 41st (?!) reunion with crossed fingers that it can happen in 2021!
Tom Chesnutt: Amidst the pandemic and wildfires, I was able to officiate the wedding of my oldest son Taylor in August. A redeeming event that still managed to lift the spirits of all those unable to attend. Ah, the human desire to persist; something to that. (Family members officiating is officially a thing. Hit me up if you want a script.)
