By Arthur Greenwald
Greetings from L.A.’s San Fernando Valley, where this week the temperature topped 95 and it’s only mid-May. This global warming thing is getting out of hand. So onto much cooler developments, including a special announcement at the end of these notes:
The Shared Interest Group committee of the AYA has selected Tommy Bourgeois (tjbourgeois1@gmail.com) as a delegate-at-large to represent—well, they didn’t say. “I haven’t been asked to represent any particular shared interest, but I suspect I’ll be representing alumni in broadcast media and a variety of related endeavors, including television production, public relations, new media, and media law. I hope that my alumni contacts in those fields will help inform the ideas I bring to and from the AYA assembly.” (Memo to Tommy: The chances of finding a Yale official well versed in these matters are roughly the same as being struck by a meteor.) Tommy adds that his appointment will bolster “the traditionally under-represented Cajun bloc. Laissez les bon temps roulez!”
Speaking of media law, Howard J. Symons specializes in cable, wireless, and telecommunications companies and trade associations for the Washington-based law firm of Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo. In doing so, Howard frequently handles matters before the FCC, Congress, state legislatures, and, naturally, the courts. And that’s not even the best part. According to the press release forwarded to me by Yale Alumni Records, Howard was selected as a Washington, DC, SuperLawyer for 2008—based upon ballots sent by Law & Politics to over 35,000 DC-area attorneys. (Only five percent of Washington lawyers make the cut.) The list appeared in the March 23rd New York Times (DC edition) and elsewhere. And talk about burying the lead: the same press release casually mentions that Howard is also listed in both the 2007 and 2008 Best Lawyers in America. (Another memo to Tommy: If CBS hired Howard, would the FCC let Janet Jackson get naked again?)
Greg Zorthian (GZorthian@aol.com) reports, “Last fall, I became the global circulation director for the Financial Times, overseeing circulation, production, and distribution for the five editions around the world. I split my time between the New York offices and our London headquarters. My wife Robin ’76 has just been reelected president of the Yale Club of Greenwich, and we are the first husband-and-wife presidential duo. (Sorry, Hillary.) Our two children, Julia (15) and John (11), are well.”
I remember The Scarlet Letter as the first reading assignment to send me scurrying for the Cliff Notes. But now Lori Laitman (yale75@gmail.com) has come to the rescue of high school students everywhere by turning Hawthorne’s novel into—an opera! “It was commissioned by the University of Central Arkansas,” writes Lori, “and will premiere there in early November of 2008 with a brilliant new libretto by poet David Mason.” It must have turned out well. The same university has already commissioned another. Lori also has “a new CD release on the Naxos label—the premiere recording of my song cycle The Seed of Dream, which includes the poetry of Vilna Ghetto survivor Abraham Sutzkever.” If you Google Lori you’ll discover that the Journal of Singing calls this cycle “a masterpiece that should not be missed!” By the way, lest we accidentally start a baseless rumor, in private life Lori continues to be known as Lori Laitman Rosenblum. (Hi to Bruce.)
A generation of techies knows John Levine (johnl@iecc.com) as the author of Internet for Dummies. Well, clear a little more space on the shelf above the computer for his latest tome, Mobile Internet for Dummies, which should be hitting stores by the time you read this. John says, “It’s about using the Internet from handheld devices, aka phones. The mobile Internet is about where the regular Internet was in 1996—small screens, incompatible devices, spotty content—but it’s evolving fast.” And it’s a good investment, John adds modestly, because it was “co-authored with several guys who actually know something about the mobile Internet.”
At the top of these notes I mentioned a special announcement, and here it is. Many of us remember the unfailingly cheerful Art Keefe for his singing with the SOBs or from the Yale Corinthian Yacht Club, or from just hanging around Davenport College. You may also recall that when Art attended our 30th reunion with his wife Lori he was confined to a wheelchair by multiple sclerosis. Regrettably, Art’s MS and related health problems now restrict his mobility at home to the first floor of his house. Unable to work, and ineligible for Medicare/Medicaid, Art and Lori’s savings were already drained before facing their own Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, replete with ADA requirements and state renovation codes.
So a number of Art’s friends have gotten together to help. But if you’re expecting some formal-sounding details, there aren’t any. Our CPA/class treasurer Mike Greenwald confirms that there’s no practical way to create a nonprofit entity to benefit an individual. And for obvious reasons, this is not and cannot be a formal Yale or Class of 1975 project. Therefore we’re asking you to send a NON-tax deductible gift directly to Art and Lori Keefe at 9017 Willow Valley Drive, Potomac, MD 20854. (Lori adds that prayers and good wishes are equally welcome.) And to challenge and encourage us, a generous and anonymous member of the Class of 1974 will double your donation, by matching the first $10,000 sent to the Keefes.
Thanks to Mike and to B. K. Munguia for taking the initiative on this and for helping to overcome Art’s initial objections with both logic and affection. This is one of those times that remind me why it’s a privilege to serve the kind of people that make up the Yale Class of 1975.
Speaking of whom, keep in touch, why dontcha? Update your e-mail address and contact information at www.alumniconnections.com/yale. And while you’re at it, subscribe to our class listserv at www.aya.yale.edu/lists. Meanwhile, enjoy your summer.