Once again, you're hearing our Whiffs ("Nightie/Aphrodite"). To adjust your volume, click and hold on the speaker graphic and use the slider or adjust your speakers.
Does having to choose among too many intriguing offerings remind you of our undergraduate days? That welcome dilemma is emerging as part of our reunion, as you'll see from the latest schedule. (This is as of press time. Surprises are still in the works).
The real satisfaction, of course, is discovering and rediscovering not just new ideas and information, but each other.
Attendance is undergoing something of a late rush. We now have (as of May 15) 261 classmates, plus about 223 spouses and other family members. Click here to find out who is registered (names without asterisks are those who indicated interest early but have not yet signed up).
For the sake of the rest of us, please call and encourage unregistered friends to come - people you'd particularly like to see or who might come if they knew who else will be there. Registration forms and information are here.
TECHNICAL NOTE FOR AOL users: If you attempt to use AOL to register online for the Reunion, you may have difficulty. Our advice is to use your web browsing software (Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox, etc.) and not your AOL screens for registering. If you need further help, email our webmaster, Jean, at webmaster@yale62.org who can walk you through the AYA screens.
Attendance a la carte. We hope people will come for all four days, but you will be welcome if you only attend part of the festivities. Rates are reduced for partial attendees. This option may be especially appealing to people who live within driving distance, but accommodations in Davenport are available a la carte, too. See registration link.
Scholarships supported from our class funds are helping a few classmates attend. If that might help you decide to join us, Jennifer Julier at AYA (203-436-8014 or jennifer.julier@yale.edu) has the details and keeps inquiries strictly confidential.
Last-minute Reunion Book entries. John Stewart, Book Editor Extraordinaire, has brokered a deal with Reunion Press to allow more submissions to our spectacular 50th Reunion Book. More details are at this link.
This figure, and those below, are part of the ornamentation of Davenport College, our reunion headquarters. If you figure out the hieroglyphic "d" in ROOL (below), email Chris Cory
Thursday afternoon is truly the start of the reunion. Bob Oliver has developed a solid schedule, making it more than worthwhile to get to New Haven by 1:00 PM on May 31. Registration officially begins then, but the AYA staff will be on hand by noon and you can drop off luggage or likely sign in early.
The first of Rob Irving's art tours is at 1:30 (he does the Art Gallery Thursday, British Art Center Friday). Our exclusive financial seminar with Dave Swenson starts at 2:30 and is nearby (the Yale Art Gallery).
Ed Goodman's panel on the economy follows (and is proving another hot ticket), as does Alex Garvin's highly-requested briefing on changes in New Haven. The first undergraduate-led tour of contemporary residential life runs from 4:00 to 5:00, followed by a relaxed evening in Davenport to get reacquainted.
Cozy with coaches. Just in: At Friday lunch, Yale's recently-appointed football coach, Tony Reno, will join us and may take a few questions. Getting him is a major coup; it was arranged through extraordinary efforts by Bill Leckonby and Bob Oliver. In a second coup, on Saturday night, swim coach Tim Wise will join us for drinks and dinner.
Eli Yale. Another provocative item has just been added for Friday morning. At 8:15 AM Ben Zucker will talk for half an hour about his research into "Elihu Yale, the First Financier: Who he was and what he means to us today."
100 books by 52 classmates have been arranged by Ed Rowan for display in the memorabilia room of Sterling Library and some may be for sale in the Davenport common room. 18 exhibits of classmates' graphic art, sculpture and music (you can listen to it) will be in the gallery next to the common room, organized by Dixie Carroll.
The answers so far to the poll question "Are you satisfied with your sex life?" have turned out to be, well, interesting, but so have the responses on health, wealth and religion, just to name a few. There's still time to add your views. Click here (password is yale1962 - all lower case, no spaces). The Saturday morning discussion is designed to be fast-paced with as many classmates, wives and others expressing views as possible. Celine Sullivan from Smith '62 will be with us. Celine and Al Chambers will have presented the findings to the '62 Smith reunion the previous weekend.
Wine connoisseurs should anticipate the donation to Saturday evening's dinner by John Livingston — his Livingston Moffett 2006 Gemstone Vineyard Red Wine, consisting of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Merlot, and 12% Cabernet Franc. He describes it as "a true Bordeaux-style blend." It's the very top of his line.
Groups of classmates with special interests and memberships as undergraduates will be meeting throughout the reunion. Everyone is invited at lunchtime Saturday to the panel called "Hide and Seek" about being gay at Yale in our time, organized by Bill Nye. Other mini-reunions of a wide variety of organizations are invitation only for members, as you probably have been notified. If you want to find out if an organization you belonged to is getting together, contact a fellow member.
Dress. Since some have asked, it's informal, though readers and singers at Friday's memorial service should wear a jacket and tie or female equivalent. Though it's strictly optional, anyone is free to dress up a bit for Saturday night (no formal wear).
Boldface names grace all of our panels. To cite just five, the environment panel includes the former head of the US Environmental Protection Administration, Bill Riley, and a founder of the Environmental Defense Fund, Ed Strobehn; both are well plugged in to the pros and cons of today's environmental issues. The discussion of what we are doing next with our lives will include Michael Gill, who wrote a delightful book some years ago about his unusual career including a stint at a local Starbucks. The Friday evening class entertainment produced by Bill Weeden and David Finkle will include a newly-written contribution by New Yorker cartoonist Bill Hamilton and participation by Broadway and Hollywood actor Sam Waterston.
We look forward to seeing and hearing from you!
More detail is in Mike Kane's update on the last class council meeting's final reunion planning session, findable here, along with a photo of some of the members. They have been both sensitive and creative about what will make the weekend hum.
Panel Correspondents needed (with brevity). Our class panels are shaping up as action-packed and fun-filled, as a Lily Tomlin character once drolly described her life, so your outgoing and incoming Corresponding Secretaries want to capture the highlights on our website and in post-reunion class notes. If you have definite plans for attending a particular panel and would be willing to write a short note (a page or so), please get in touch with Mike Kane (mk40@gmail.com, 617-332-5685) or Chris Cory (ccory@optonline.net or 631-599-9123), or speak to one of us early in the reunion. Journalists welcome, but we coach amateurs.
Almost forgot: Handsome Dan wants you to come, too.
The answers so far to the poll question 
