No. 7
August 11, 2005
Welcome to the seventh issue of the Columbia College Class of 1963 eNewsletter.
Apologies for its lateness, but it's Summertime, and the living
is easy.
Good news on the lost classmates front. In the last issue I had listed
several, including my old roommate, Patrick Cary-Barnard, who
somehow caught wind of the list, and contacted me by email.
I have included his notes below. Still lost are:
Christian (Chris) Rieger
Bill Sprague
Robert Vargas
Again, if you know how to contact any of these classmates,
please let me know. And send me the names of your lost friends,
and we will try to find them.
Overall, a very quiet month on the notes scene, I hope that
you are all have a good Summer, and will let us know what you
did in the Fall.
Hope to hear from all of you.
Table of Contents:
Every Second Thursday, 12:30 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Columbia College Club - 15 West 43rd Street, NYC
Please join your classmates for an informal lunch
at the Columbia Club every second Thursday of the month. It
is our hope that these gatherings will renew old friendships
and foster improved relationship with our class and the College.
We are skipping our lunch during these dog days of Summer, so
the next lunch will be on September 8, 2005.
July Lunch Attended By Four Stalwart 63ers
The seventh Second Saturday Class of 1963 lunch
was held on July 14. Although the numbers were small, we had
two first-timers, Steve Bauer and Walter Stein, and the welcome
return of David Alpern. What we lacked in quantity was made
up by the warm recollections and interesting discussions.
Here is the happy (and slightly-out-of-focus) group.
(From left to right) Steve Bauer, David Alpern,
Paul Neshamkin, and Walter Stein
As I mentioned last month, the Class of 1964 has
also decided to meet at the Columbia Club Grille each second
Thursdays, and will be sitting at a table near us on September
8. If you have any friends in that class, encourage them to
attend.
I hope you can all join us at the next lunch on
Thursday, September 8. Please let me know if
you will attend so that we can reserve a big enough table; RSVP
to Paul Neshamkin (pauln@helpauthors.com).
Lunch Archives
If you like to see our previous lunches, click on
the dates below:
December
9, 2004
January 13, 2005
February 10, 2005
March 10. 2005
April
14, 2005
May
12, 2005
June
9, 2005
For information
and inquiries call Paul Neshamkin at 201-714-4881 or email at
pauln@helpauthors.com.
Your messages are still a little slow this summer,
but it's great to hear from you. Here is a selection of the
unedited (and unexpurgated) notes and news that you have sent
in the last month.
Patrick Cary-Barnard
Just a short note to let you know that I am not missing in any
final sense -- I have simply been living in the beautifully
marginal country of Canada for the last 38 years. A fine woman
from Saskatchewan and two sage cats share an apartment with
me over-looking a park. These past decades have been spent either
teaching literature at Montreal's Dawson College, or working
as a free-lance radio broadcaster for the Canadian Broadcasting
Corporation, Radio Netherlands in Hilversum, Holland, and even
for NYC's WBAI. My single published book, The Language of
Silent Things, is a translation of Baudelaire's poetry
and has a lived a subterranean life of its own. When I returned
from Europe in 1990, I published a series of political pieces
in Newsday, Commonweal, and The Nation.
Since I hold both Canadian and EU citizenship, I have been thinking
about how I could wangle someone into paying me for this duality,
perhaps with travel grants included, but so far I have found
that only a Department of English will pay for an individual
to exercise his or her innate ambivalence. I warmly remember
that year you and I roomed together as freshman, and I often
find myself thinking about the outstanding teachers we all had.
Many of their remarks still echo in my mind, such as Fred Dupee's
acute throwaway line about Wallace Stevens: "Stevens is
a Dandy."
If, as Stevens wrote, one should know the "eccentric to
be the base of design," then both Columbia in the early
sixties and The West End Bar and Grill gave us great preparation
for finding order in the dis-centered.
Patrick, it is great to hear from you again. I,
of course, have little recollection of what went on at the West
End. But I do have some vague recollections of a trip to Birdland.
I'm not sure how much order I've been able to find since.
David H. Pittinsky
Since I saw the entry for my partner John Ake
in the July 2005 edition of Columbia College Today, I thought
I would add my two cents. I, too, have worked at the Philadelphia
law firm of Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, but in my
case for only the last 13 years. Before that, I worked at the
Dilworth Paxson Kalish & Kauffman law firm for 25 years.
My specialty is commercial litigation and I have represented,
and continue to represent, several Fortune 500 companies along
with The Philadelphia Orchestra. For the last two years, my
peers have recognized me as one of the top 100 lawyers in Pennsylvania.
Since the survey has only been conducted for two years, I consider
this quite an honor. Although it is by no means imminent, I
am looking forward to our 45th class reunion.
David, I hope that we see you before then. Try to make a lunch
(and bring Ake) or come to the Homecoming and our minimal, but
still planned, mini-Reunion (see below).
Always great to hear from you all.
Share your news and views with your classmates. Contact your
Class Correspondent, and let him know what you would like posted
here or in Columbia College Today (CCT).
For information
and inquiries call Paul Neshamkin at 201-714-4881 or email at
pauln@helpauthors.com.
.
Mini-reunion Still Planned for Homecoming Weekend
I have heard nothing further from any of you in the last month
either pro or con about the planned mini-reunion, so I will
keep it informal and minimal. We will still move the regular
Class luncheon at the Columbia Club to Friday, October
14, in case any of you are planning to return to New
York for the Homecoming Game. On Saturday, October 15,
I invite any classmates to join me at the Homecoming tent in
the morning at Baker Field, and then watch Columbia beat Penn
at the Homecoming game that afternoon. Let me know if you plan
on attending, and I will get a block of tickets reserved so
we can sit together. But other than that, I will not plan on
any other "reunion" events unless there is a sudden
show of enthusiasm. Please let me know.
Maybe next year, we'll be able to organize a larger, more meaningful
mini-reunion. As I asked last month, anyone want to volunteer
to help me out?
For information
and inquiries call Paul Neshamkin at 201-714-4881 or email at
pauln@helpauthors.com.
.
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