Subj: Re: class news
Date: 2/1/2004 10:17:15 AM Eastern Standard Time
From: JEC84
To: RTilden
hi bob--- good to get your second request-- i was thinking of emailing you but obviously didn't get around to it. this past year was a good one for me as artist.
I worked with the Cambridge Arts Council last spring , headed the art committee and we did a performance on the Charles River for the Cambridge River Festival-- with canoes, kayaks. music and community participation. It was a lot of fun! Am looking forward to working with them again this spring.
This new year has started out full force. I am in two shows concurrently. One is the 18th Boston Drawing Show which is a juried biennial show; the other is an installation piece that is on Mission Hill.
So i am happy and working hard! take care, jan
Subj: Re: FA news, of a sort....
Date: 2/24/2003 10:44:55 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: JEC84
To: RTilden
Hi Bob---
The last time I wrote, we were just finishing up college applications for my daughter, Emma. It was a grueling year but now it is just a distant (still unpleasant) memory--. She is happily ensconced at Bryn Mawr College (just outside of Philadelphia), and I am happy too--not only because she likes it a lot and that year is over, but because it is very sweet for me to go visit her (read that as when we move her in in the fall, and take all her stuff back home in the spring) because it brings me back to my old college (U of Penn) stomping ground. Where as an undergrad, I met up with Sally Edwards( hi Sally), and where Sandi Smith's daughter now goes (Sandi-- please call me sometime when you come east)....
And the big bonus is that I have my life back--until next year sometime when my son Ben who is a sophomore now in high school starts to think about college. Oh well.....
So what life do I have back? I have been an artist now for quite a few years-- gave up photography in the early 80's after we returned from Japan, went back to art school and got another bachelor's and started concentrating on drawing and painting. Most days are split between working in my studio and doing all the household stuff that never seems to go away. I also have been active in trying to improve our local high school -- which is a thankless task but does make me appreciate the education we received at Friends.
My husband Michael is a nurse practitioner-- so I was interested to learn that Sandy Rising is also a nurse-- and this is his second career also.---He has been a NP since 1995. He is currently working with aids patients but is also certified to work with the elderly and in acute care situations. It has been great having a nurse in the family ( child has a scratch? send him to dad. child sick?, go see dad. I'm not sure if I have even put a band-aid on a kid since Michael went to nursing school). We also sometimes talk about living overseas again --in some distant future--- and working for an organization such as "doctors without borders".
But for now, we are both happy to be in Cambridge, Ma. we have spent the last 8 years fixing up our victorian house and have it almost to where we want it to be--just needs an exterior paint job and some better looking furniture. I always thought I loved fixing up old houses but this one has taken too much time and energy to say that anymore. For now, we are staying put and only talking about going abroad again....
Take care, Jan
Subj: FA alumni
Date: 10/14/00 2:07:12 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: JEC84
To: Rtilden
Hey Bob -
This is Jan Corash writing to say hello and let you know that I can't make it down to the reunion. This is a crazy fall for us - I have a daughter who is a senior in high school and we are going through that whole college application process - visits and all. Can't wait for January to come!
Anyway, I do appreciate your trying to organize it and I hope people show up. It is really nice of Sandy and Brandt to offer to host. I do have a question or two for you. My husband went to a Catholic high school/seminary in Montour Falls (he isn't home at this moment and I think that is where you said you were living). He was surprised because it is such a small town, and we both wanted to ask you what you are doing there???? How long have you been up there? His school is now some kind of fire station or fireman's organization center - some kind of public office space - I think. I also think that maybe I asked you this at the last reunion I went to - in 1989 maybe? - but of course, being middle aged, I can't remember what you replied!
Take care,
Jan
I wrote Jan and she replied:
Subj: Re: Montour Falls
Date: 10/18/00 8:36:28 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: JEC84
To: RTilden
hi Bob--
It was really interesting to read about Montour Falls and your life there--- I didn't know you liked flying. I wonder if it was an interest you had when we were at Friends. Michael said that Montour Falls was a place for hang gliding-- do you do that too? Also, i was interested to hear that you had spent time in the far east-- Michael and I were in Japan(Tokyo) for 3 years at the end of the 70's. What an experience--- difficult but amazing. We were very poor and couldn't afford to either live like the wealthy western businessmen sponsored by their companies nor could we afford to fly back home. we were just sort of plopped down in the middle of japanese society and culture and had to make a go of it-- no understanding anything about Japan and the japanese. When we returned to the states after the 3 years we were in reverse culture shock. When we were living there we were totally aware of just how american we were-- shocked by that realization actually. And when we returned we were surprised to see how eastern we had become!
Anyway, it was very nice to hear from you --- this is the stuff reunions are made of and why it would be great to have one---i wonder if it will happen--- you might be right that our time to gather has passed. But I hope it does happen because it is really nice to reconnect with people you saw everyday for 4-6 years and then not all for a good 30-35! Take care and say hi for me to whoever shows up.
Jan