Carleton Class of '87
1/5/22 Our Class Website has Moved
Check out the new, fancy website on the Carleton site
Wait, but why did it move? What's wrong with this site? WHY ARE YOU MAKING ME CLICK AGAIN?!?!?!?!
It turns out that it is a lot of work to create and maintain a dynamic website, with everything that people expect nowadays. Back in 2002 (oh my god, we were so young!), when this carleton87.org site was first created, it was pretty simple. But now the amount of stuff required is... a lot of work, and it turns out that Carleton has all of this stuff working already, so why not use what they have instead of duplicating it on our own?
Anyway, be sure to check out that site to see what's there, including details on Reunion, links to the Zoobook and other classmates, a new Bio book , and more. We'll keep this old carleton87.org site going for old-times sake (with the old content), but all new communications will be through that Carleton site. Also, be sure to join the Facebook group to be part of the conversation with our class. And most importantly... come to Reunion! See you in June!
11/27/16 The Bio Book
Remember way back for our 20th Reunion, where the website had pages where we could enter info about ourselves? We could spend our time typing up our own bio stuff or reading those of our friends'. I'm sure we all lost multiple minutes to this festering hobby.
We didn't do this last time around because we had Facebook to do it for us. Also, we had a lazy website editor who complained about the work it takes to do more than a half-assed job of it. So the bio pages went away and we had to satisfy ourselves with the Facebook feed instead.
But now it's 2016, and Carleton has taken it upon itself to recreate the glory of the old days and has created the online Bio Book. Go there. Log in. Fill one out. Read others'. Fester.
11/12/2016 Hi, It's Me Again
If you've come to this site looking for information on our upcoming 30th Reunion, you've come to the right place. Sorta.
Reunion will be June 15-18, 2017. Details of exactly what we'll be doing at Reunion (besides hanging out with you, of course, which is the main thing) are still being decided in smoke-filled cabinet rooms. But instead of coming back here to check, please join the Carleton - Class of 1987 Facebook group instead. It's way more interactive and fun than this rather stoic website. Really. So we'll see you there.
6/30/2012 Picture This
Here's what we looked like after Reunion Convo. The shell-shocked look on our faces is a combination of the heat (the pressure's on in those pious seats up front), the flushed feeling of having done really well in our 25th year class gift to the college ($300k!), and having been severely trounced by the 50th year class gift of '62 ($30m. Repeat: $30. Million. Showoffs). Plus there's probably more than a few hangovers in the group.
All things considered, I think we're looking pretty good. Or at least it looks that way to our eyes. Over-40 eyesight gives an automatic soft-focus to everyone's face; just another benefit of getting old.
Sorry if you couldn't make the picture or the Reunion weekend this time around; hope to see you at the 30th. In even softer focus.
6/23/12 And.... It's Over
It was the best of times, it was the best of times....
Reunion’s over. In case you were planning to go but didn’t make it, don’t bother, unless you just want to spend the weekend alone, with only the college administrative staff and a lot of empty beer bottles for company. It’s done.
For those who didn’t manage to join us, or were there but somehow don’t quite remember anything about the weekend, I thought I’d give a quick recap.
Thursday
Reunion didn’t really start in earnest until Friday, but there were events hosted on Thursday, mainly to show those folks that don’t live in Minnesota anymore what a real rain storm is like. With lightning. And flooding. And bright yellow Carleton ponchos.
The golf game in the afternoon got rained out. Of course, they could have treated it like one huge water trap, but apparently the players balked at the requisite 2-stroke penalty per shot. Or perhaps that scene from Caddyshack is still fresh on our minds and there was general reluctance to carrying around a bag of lightning rods all afternoon.
The evening’s entertainment was supposed to be an all-class pizza dinner in a tent next to the chapel. Given the sixth Great Lake that formed in that tent, the college nimbly changed the evening’s activity to a game of “Race to Cowling Gym on the Other Side of Campus without Drowning.” Basil’s pizza flowed forth in the gym as we all mingled. It felt a little like a refugee camp or an air raid exercise, except for the live folk music and the gyros pizza.
The rain abated by the end of dinner, and we all made it back to Burton, where we continued to hang out for the rest of the evening.
Friday
Reunion began in earnest on Friday, as did the decent weather. There were plenty of panels, tours, talks, and (mostly) socializing happening all over campus. I attended a great talk by the creators of Oregon Trail, one of the most (or maybe even the most?) popular educational software programs ever created. Not too shabby.
Friday evening we gathered in the new (and pretty spiffy) media arts building, the Weitz Center. We ate, drank, socialized, and listened to the music of Nate Land, followed by Somewhat Fierce. Fun evening.
And then we made it back to Burton to, of course, drink and hang out until the wee hours.
Saturday
Saturday brought more rain, so the Parade of Classes was canceled. Damn. And we all had our nifty ‘87 t-shirts cleaned and ironed for the occasion. Most of us made it to Convo (many for the first time), and got to sit right up on stage in the pious seats, since the 25th reunion is a big deal for Carleton. We presented a pretty awesome gift, arguably overshadowed slightly by that of ‘62 a few minutes later. But I look at it this way: sure, they gave more money. 100x times more. But that just means we were off by only a couple of 0’s, right? And zero is, like, nothing. So really we gave about the same amount.
In any case, we weren’t there for the money. So we got back to hanging out.
The class picture followed Convo (I’ll post it here when I get a copy). Then there were more panels, talks, and tours in the afternoon. And (most importantly) continuing to hang out with friends.
After dinner, we hosted the dance in Sayles Hill. This consisted of a [very] short set by Josh and the Ex-Senators, followed by an excellent (and long) set by This Must Be the Band, a Talking Heads tribute band. There was much dancing.
Wrap-Up
Reunion was very fun. But don't take my word for it; apparently it was fun for a lot of other people (from the feedback I heard and have read on the FaceBook group). The best part was that so many of us came back. Reunion isn’t really about going back to the college - it’s about getting back together with old friends, and new friends, and people that might have been friends, but you really don’t remember after all this time. Mostly, it’s about hanging out for a weekend with people that you just plain have a damn good time with.
Over 170 of us (not counting the partners, spouses, and children) ‘87-ers made it back this time. It was not enough for a new attendance record, but it was a lot of classmates regardless. You couldn’t go anywhere without seeing someone you wanted to talk to. And you couldn't talk to someone without then seeing someone else you needed to say hi to. It was like a wedding or a funeral, without having to be married or dead.
I have no idea what’s up next time around, for our 30th - planning for that is over 4 years away. But something tells me it’ll be a very full agenda of hanging out with friends. And therefore it will be a good time.
In the meantime, if you want to know more about the weekend, and the people that were there, head on over to the FaceBook group - people are posting pictures and memories there. If you want me to post anything (pictures, writeups, love letters, childrens’ art projects) here on the ‘87 website, I’d be happy to do so. Just contact me through my FaceBook profile. But really, you might want to just post it on the FaceBook group directly - it’s more fun if see and comment on it. It’s like having a conversation at Reunion. Without as much pizza and beer. And rain.
5/27/12 Music to My Ears
According to the alumni office, our class has done way more with musical entertainment than most classes. Maybe it's because we're so hip and musical. Maybe it's to fight the mistaken notion that rock from the 80s is now played as 'Oldies' on misinformed radio stations. Maybe it's because our hearing is failing and we just need things TURNED UP LOUDER.
We may never know the real reason, but we do know that it'll be a fun weekend. Here are some of the highlights:
Friday
'87 party with Somewhat Fierce and special guest Nate Land
(No, it's not a typo - apparently Something Fierce had artistic differences with their name, so it changed sometime between then and now).
Saturday
8:30:
Josh and the Ex-Senators: Reunion Tour
A subset of the original band is coming to reunion and will
play a set in Sayles Hill before the main band, or at least hum a few bars.
8:00 This Must Be the Band (a Talking Heads tribute band)
Dance and
party in Sayles Hill to 80s music like it's been 25 years since you did it last time.
Of course, there's more than music and parties that weekend. For one thing, there's a packed schedule of events to participate in. More importantly, there are more than 200 of us '87ers attending that you can simply hang out with. I hope you can make it.
3/10/12 Registration is Open!
Remember what happened when you really wanted to take Prowe's European History class and become a history major, but you overslept after a late night eating bagels in the Cave and the class was full and you had to take Chemistry instead and ended up doing pre-Med and now have a successful orthopedic practice in Beverley Hillls, fixing hips of aging and terribly rich celebrities?
Remember that other time when you missed the bus to The Cities and ended up spending that weekend with that girl and then you started dating and eventually got married and had kids and have had a wonderful life together so far?
Remember when you didn't put that book on hold in The Libe early enough so you weren't able to check it out in time to study for the final and so you winged it and ended up acing it, leading to that Rhodes Scholarship, graduate work at the Sorbonne and your eventual run for President?
This isn't like those times. This is Reunion. Don't be late: register now.
Registration: https://apps.carleton.edu/reunion/registration/
Look Who's Coming (This site shows who's registered so far. For all of you that used to ask what your friend was having for dinner before you accepted an invitation): https://apps.carleton.edu/reunion/attendees/?class_year=1987
3/10/12 87+ Reasons
We've been adding some of the reasons to come back to reunion this year to the FaceBook group. We've also posted a few of them here on the 87+ Reasons page.
1/16/12 Money, Money, Money
Here's a quick update on the money side of things from Peter Chiappinelli, one of the folks driving the 'giving' side of our 25th reunion:
Just a quick update on class giving.
First, the Class of 1987 should know that the 25th is where, historically, classes really step up and give close to 5 times what they usually do. For our class, we chose a goal of $200,000 (stretch goal of $250k), and a 62% participation.
There's good news to report. At the halfway point in the calendar, we have raised over $120,000! [Editor: That's over 80,000 cups of coffee at Hattie's, or just under 20,000 Wild Pizzas] So we are well over halfway to our goal.
Anecdotally, there are some classmates who have given over 10x what they usually give. Secondly, we've got a few classmates who have committed to over $20,000. If you've given, many thanks. If you haven't yet, there's plenty of time. To date, only 17% of the class has given, so if you're part of the 83%, check out www.give.carleton.edu. Thanks from me, Ted MacLean, and 10 other classmate volunteers who are making phone calls, sending out letters and emails, and otherwise "hounding" you!
1/15/12 Q'ing the FA's.
Welcome to the first update of the new year. It's been a while since we posted anything here, but there's been burbling activity on the FaceBook site in the meantime (which is, after all, what it's there for. Jump in. Participate. Add Friends. Post. Like. Interact. Tell us what you had for lunch.).
Things will pick up as we get closer to registration and then to Reunion itself, and we'll post information here as it makes sense.
Speaking of making sense, we (and by 'we' I mean, of course, Becky Zrimsek) put together a helpful FAQ to answer some of the veritable plethora of questions that you might have about reunion. Check it out and see if it answers your questions.
10/22/11 RSVP 'n' Stuff
The first reunion letter went out this week to thousands of our classmates. The response has been stunning, the surge of traffic on this site took down the servers and required complete overhaul of the infrastructure here at carleton87.org central.
Meanwhile, the added load to FaceBook from people joining the Carleton - Class of 1987 group caused interruption worldwide as '87ers flocked to that social network site for the first time. Where they had no interest in connecting with friends, the appeal of connecting with classmates was overwhelming.
What, you haven't joined the FaceBook site yet? What are you waiting for? Get over there and sign up!
Meanwhile, Jeremy White has added some nifty functionality to let you RSVP to reunion, which will collect a list of the folks that plan to be there. It's nothing offical (you'll still have to actually go to the carleton site and register when that opens up in the spring). But we thought it'd be fun to see who's going, and to let you pester your friends that haven't rsvp'd yet. So go to the RSVP site and let us know whether you'll be there.
Remember: reunion without U is just renion, which isn't even a word, much less a party.
Holy Crap, It's Been Five Years Already?
Welcome to the reunion site for the class of 1987. That's right, it's the class voted the most likely to have graduated in 1987. June 14th-17th, 2012 is our 25th reunion. That's a big number by anyone's standards, but is particularly significant for our class because, well, because it's our 25th. Not the class of '86, not the class of '82, and definitely not the youngsters in the class of '88.
So happy 25th reunion: bring it on!
Oh, you're still here? Good, because there are a few preliminary details that you might want to know about:
This website: This website will continue to be the main place to come for info about the reunion, so check back. It's bare-bones so far, but we'll be adding to it gradually to build suspense and because we don't have enough time to do it all now. So come back to http://carleton87.org. Often.
FaceBook: In addition to this site, we will be using a new, private group on FaceBook so that everyone in the class can interact in a deeper and more meaningful way than ever before. So go to FaceBook now and join the Carleton - Class of 1987 group. Look for the link to request to be added to the group. No, you can't add yourself because we want to ensure that the people joining the group are actually people from our class. So request to join and one of the lovely admins will let you into the party (feel free to tip him on the way in).
Oh, you have questions about our use of FaceBook? Like "why?" Then please check out the FaceBook page on this site that we created just for you. And then join the FaceBook group. All your friends did.
Last Time:Are you missing the old site with all of its heartwarming pictures and messages of good cheer? Then go to the reunion2007 page and wallow in nostalgia.
Website by Chet Haase