Non Sequiturville

if ever I should leave you…..

Every time Robert Goulet shows up on a TV show, they play that song. For some reason, I just think this ad is hilarious:

This past weekend, I ditched my brother’s graduation from law school and went to my ten-year college reunion. I still feel bad about it! both my parents went. Of course, they didn’t both come to my graduation last year. Sigh.

Anyway, it was surreal and quite cold. In the 40s and 50s with lots and lots of rain. They canceled Illumination Night, which is supposedly unheard of, and Ivy Day and Commencement were in the gym. I would have cried my eyes out if that had happened when I graduated! Here’s a link to the Wikipedia article about my alma mater and its traditions.

I ran into Jill Ker Conway (prez 1975-1985) at the Alumnae House and Gloria Steinem ’56 was on my train back to Philly (of course, she got off in NYC).

Gloria gave the commencement address. I didn’t attend commencement because I sat through four during my years of college and she spoke in 1995. But here is a link to her commencement address. The train was full and we all had to sit with someone. She wound up sitting next to some lucky women who looked like they were current Smith students. I overheard her saying to one of them, “If you have to talk to pro-lifers, then….” I made eye contact with one of them and she gave me a knowing look back, like, “I KNOW!” Then when Gloria got off the train I smiled at her knowingly and she smiled back knowingly. How smug Smithies are.

Cyn and I took a mini class on Friday morning on Little Women. It was full of the class of ’57 and a couple members of the class of ’42. We were by far the youngest in the class! It was fun and taught by Pat Skarda who of course is a force to be reckoned with. She was Cyn’s advisor when we were there. I ran into a prof during the social hour with whom I’d taken a course on Joyce but also with whom I’d sung in an opera twelve years ago: his daughter is now a professional singer in Europe.

I ate so much I think my stomach expanded. Northampton has the best restaurants around. I met some wonderful new people: I had never met them when we were in school together and I hope that we stay in touch. I found out that some of my friends had gotten married and had kids, which I hadn’t known before at all. They just kind of showed up with husbands and babies.

I got to see DP, who has just been hired as a librarian at Smith: the entire *shush* of librarians there were agog over him because he’s cute and young and single. They said he’ll have a shelf life of ten days!

I also got to meet S’s baby for ten minutes (she’s way stressed out over feedings) and see my friend A.

A is amazing: she is not only a pianist and a conductor but she told me she’s been invited to be an artist-in-residence. Naturally, I assumed it was music-related but it turns out it’s for painting! Plus she writes music and words. Sigh. I feel so unaccomplished.

One of the cool new people I met works for the UN as an advisor for the Darfur region. Yet another way to feel unaccomplished. Two of the women in my graduating class are returning this fall to be professors at Smith themselves: at the old age of 32!

I can’t believe it’s been ten years. Lots of us stayed in the houses (Indrani and Cyn and I were smart and stayed in a hotel!). The houses haven’t changed a bit. I guess a lot of them had changed right before we started in 1993 when they consolidated so much of the dining. Before that, everyone ate in the individual dining rooms of each house. The bathrooms have the same ’70s wallpaper that they always had. Hubbard, the first house I lived in, smelled like Hubbard and Lawrence smelled like Lawrence. It really felt like I’d left only yesterday. How can ten years have passed?

This is Mary Polly Wimberly.  With her two crazy kittens.  Mary Polly Wimberly is going to be my cat.  She is getting the silly name because it was my great-great-great-great grandmother’s name.  And my mother talks incessantly about the original MPW.  The crazy kittens are going to live somewhere else.  They are both boys and I hear they will be named Burt and Ernie.