By Arthur Greenwald
If you guys even see these class notes, we owe a debt of thanks to the alumni magazine’s Ellen Cole for saving the space. Alas, my deadlines have interfered with my deadlines. I’ve just returned from two hectic weeks covering Macworld Expo and the Consumer Electronics Show followed by the annual conference of the National Association of TV Program Executives—a consequence of my signing on with tvnewsday.com to write about media marketing.
Speaking of deadlines, no sooner had I told you that Cecile Ablack is deputy mayor of Los Angeles for communications, when Cecile up and changed jobs! More to the point, she was successfully recruited by the William Morris Agency for the newly created post of senior VP, global corporate communications. In other words, she’ll do most of the talking for the famed talent and deal-making agency. Her former boss, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, had nothing but praise for Cecile, calling her the “anchor for all our strategic communications and media outreach efforts, including most notably those supporting my first city budget and first trade mission to Asia.”
Speaking more publicly these days is Jon LaPook, who writes, “Last August, I started as the medical correspondent for the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric. So far the job’s been a blast. It’s been amazing to talk to world experts and have them explain the nuances of their work; what an opportunity to learn! And the folks at CBS could not be more supportive. I’m still teaching at Columbia University Medical Center and have a private practice in internal medicine and gastroenterology in New York City. I’m very happily married to Kate Lear—who is my favorite writer—and have two great kids: Daniel (14) and Noah (10).” Jon and Ms. Couric have a proud prior history. He’s played a key role in advising her famously successful efforts to promote early detection and treatment of colon cancer.
Greg Hyatt’s memories of Yale are captured in ‘Neath the Elm, a section of his new website, thebulldogedition.com. Greg reports that he recently moved to quiet Amesbury, Massachusetts, “which is a change for me. I had a rather tumultuous political career in the 1980s, and more recently I had a TV show and a couple of radio shows. Before that I led a statewide referendum to lower property taxes in the Bay state. I speak often with Craig Stern, a law prof at Regent U. Law School, and with Gene Meyer. I saw Wally Olsen and a bunch of other Yalies at Gene’s wedding in 2003. Gene’s now the president of the Federalist Society in D.C. I spoke with Prof. Donald Kagan the other day. He sounds exactly as he did in 1974 when I took his ‘Origins of War’ course.” Greg invites classmates to call or write at (978) 388-0482 or greg@thebulldogedition.com.
“After an excruciatingly long gestation,” writes Aimee Liu, “my new book, Gaining: The Truth About Life After Eating Disorders, has at last hit the shelves. A nonfiction mystery, it asks why so many of us wasted our adolescence starving ourselves and what that history can reveal about our lives today.” Though she’s best known for her fiction, you may recall that Aimee launched her literary career with Solitaire, a nonfiction memoir of her battle with anorexia. Aimee remains a respected expert on eating disorders, and Gaining has already won widespread praise. Reviews, book tour info, plus a chance to say hi to Aimee are available on www.aimeeliu.net.
Speechwriter, editor, author, and now “consulting producer.” All of these labels apply to Chris Buckley, whose Thank You For Smoking may be headed for NBC. Says Variety: “Rick Cleveland (Six Feet Under) is aboard to write and exec-produce the Peacock version of Smoking—a single-camera laffer focusing on Nick Naylor, the superstar spin doctor for big tobacco—[which] will pick up where the feature left off, with Naylor running his own firm. Potential clients could include fast-food companies, environmental polluters, or politicos caught with their pants down.”
Classmates on the road include Lee Lanselle who writes, “In mid-November 2006 I was in Atlanta for a trade show (International Association of Amusement Parks & Attractions) and escaped one evening for an extremely enjoyable dinner with Rob and Cynthia Tauxe. Good Thai food and great conversation!” Eric Goodman e-mails from Luxembourg, where “my wife and I, both professors of English at Miami University, are spending the year at our branch campus here, learning to say ‘Moien.’ I’m off this semester trying to finish the next novel. If any ’75ers are in the area, I’m easy to find at goodmaek@muohio.edu.” And by the time you read this, Julie Winn will have relocated from Paris to Los Angeles, where she and her family will join her husband for a two-year sabbatical stint. I look forward to assembling our West Coast classmates to properly welcome her, and to cushion the inevitable culture shock.
Please help us keep in touch. Update your contact information by visiting www.alumniconnections.com/yale. And please subscribe to our class listserv at www.aya.yale.edu/lists. As always, your class notes news is welcome. Write to me at yale1975@aya.yale.edu.