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Paul Shelton
I recently looked into the basic organization and costs of another reunion. I do still live in the Seattle area and could be a point person for such an organizational endeavor. I was dismayed, however, when confronted with the costs, which for many would approach $2000 for such a 2 day experience. I, of course, wouldn’t be burdened with travel or lodging expenses, but most everyone else would. A second concern is attendance; just how many of us 1.) would want to come, and 2.) would value it at the considerable outlay it would require.
Like Art and Kip allude to, it would be nice to know just how many of us still follow this site. This would be a first step in knowing if a reunion is at all feasible. Our only contact, certainly for most of us, is through this site. Polling classmates must be a first step before any further consideration of a reunion.
Another thought, with such new technology as we have today, is a virtual reunion, whatever that would look like. Has any meeting app been developed to effectively simulate a class reunion?
As for the continued value of the site, and its use, I would at least like to see a count of all who read each post, even with no ID attached. This could be automatic as a site feature. Anyone who opened the message page would, I assume, read all the latest entries, and could be counted as having read all posts. A “like” selection, as Kip brought up, may have an unnecessary sense of judgments being made, but knowing if anyone is “still out there” tuning in would help. We have, let’s admit it, entered the “countdown era”, where over the next decade, almost surely, a good number of us will no longer be around. If we survive to 95, will the site become like SETI, searching for any survivors?
Turning to content, I still write a lot about substantive things, but the current divides in our country make it difficult to talk about much beyond gardening and vacations. Even the Ukraine war has become a divisive topic in some communities. For that matter, I have long held that my parents created me through a long chain of ancestors over evolutionary time. Art’s very well written submission makes the matter of fact assumption that I and everyone else accepts that we wouldn’t be here without the Almighty. This is thought to be “neutral language”, and I appreciate the effort. But even here, neutrality is betrayed – as if I had written that evolution and fate have caused us to be and soon we’ll be transformed into flowers. This would not go over well for several readers. So scratch that. End of discussion about, well, biology in general.
Not quite – I forgot a crack I could squeeze into. I am now more or less familiar with scorpions and tarantulas, and while I will avoid being “venomized”, I am no longer afraid of them. I’m still afraid, in a highly cautionary sense, of the dreaded fer de lance. We have had 2 scorpions in our abode here in Mexico, and one tarantula was crawling in an open door, though persuaded to leave. They’re really quite defenseless and pretty cute.
So where does that leave us. Please report if you have any ideas related to class readership surveys, any thoughts on the effect of cost on a reunion idea, and any knowledge on whether there could be such a thing as a virtual reunion. We might be able to pull a reunion off, but first, as they say, we need data.
Adios, Amigos and Amigas
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