Reunion

OK, let’s see, how do I get this started? Uh, the initial purpose of this blog (who knows what it may evolve into ...) is for me and my friends around the world to communicate, about life, death, and whatever we care about in between. Recently, I've been exploring some new spiritual directions, making some new friends, and reconnecting with old friends. Most of them don’t live nearby, and I want to stay connected (duh!). So what shall we talk about first?

I just came back from my 35th Carleton College reunion this past weekend. It was intense, stimulating, and fun – I’m really glad I went. There were friends I had seen at some point in the past or at previous reunions, but also a few I hadn’t seen since we left there. There were ministers, doctors, teachers, scientists, writers, lawyers, captains of industry … but that wasn’t the point. The point was it was a place that taught you how to think critically, to keep an open mind and to have a broad perspective, and our conversations reflected that. (I’m still shocked and dismayed when I meet people who don’t view the world this way.) It was a feast of ideas and emotions just being around this community, both then and now. I suspect most of us graduated thinking we should try to make the world a better place, and it seems like a number of people have really succeeded in doing that with their lives. The best thing was, most of us either couldn’t remember or just didn’t care any more about all the things we would prefer to forget from back then.

I read about half of “The Toughest Indian in the World” by Sherman Alexie during my trip home – the stories are awesome (how’s that for an erudite adjective?). Thanks so much to my former roommate Kathy for introducing me to him. Does it seem to anyone else that there is a streak of guilt running through his stories that he somehow escaped, while at the same time longs to belong?