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CLASS NOTES
Jim Shaw Vince Rigdon, a priest, lives in Washington, D.C., but was in New York during the attack. "I was on the Metroliner, just out of Newark, N.J., due into Penn Station at 9 a.m. Looked out the window over the Jersey Meadows and saw the WTC on fire. Arrived at Penn Station and walked to my meeting one block from the Empire State Building. We were shortly evacuated from there (ESB was next logical target), but stayed in Manhattan and had our meeting the following day. As close as I ever hope to be to such a tragedy/attack. Left by train the next day. Said Mass for our school children on Thursday; the Gospel for the day was: 'Love your enemies and do good to those who hate you.' Never really knew how hard that was before Tuesday." I found Vince's entry on the www.college.columbia.edu/alumni Web site, which added a link to a "Checking In" site where alumni could post that they were safe and include comments. (If the site is still there, click "Checking In," click "Search Information," leave name blank, select Columbia College for school, select 1971 for class year.) Among those posting from our class were Terry Cohen, Bob Fuhrman, Dick Fuhrman, Stan Lehr, Arvin Levine, David Lindley, Carlyle Miller, Julio Rivera, Eli Rubenstein, Alex Sachare, Rich Steinman and John Yohalem. These were all posted by the classmates themselves, except for John's, which was posted by Dave Ricks '72, who noted that John had written a "vivid description." E-mail jyohalem@herodotus.com to get John's report and say hello. I urge Columbia to expand the concept of "Checking In" to beyond September 11 survivorship, as a way for classmates to connect. [Editor's note: Plans for a vibrant, interactive "e-community" are taking shape in the Alumni Office and should be unveiled soon.] Of my two best friends, one watched from an office window as the second plane hit and towers collapsed. I called to compare notes with the other, who neither works nor lives in New York or D.C., but as it turned out, his last day of work was September 10 and he had booked United Flight 93 Newark-San Francisco (to connect to a vacation destination) on September 12, taking a day to go through personal papers brought home from years of work. On September 11, that flight went down near Shanksville, Pa. I'm glad the class is safe. Beyond that it is hard to express.
Paul S. Appelbaum I write this column just days after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, events that will probably change our lives in profound but still unforeseeable ways. For any classmates who want to share their experiences of that day, this is one place to do it. The first e-mail in the wake of the attacks came from Nat Heiner. "I spent the day watching the Pentagon burn from my office at Coast Guard Headquarters. As chief knowledge officer and CIO(d), September 11 has changed my world of work dramatically. Nothing seems theoretical anymore. Hope all my friends from Carman, John Jay and Furnald are alive and getting through this difficult time. Feel free to write any time to cko@comdt.uscg.mil." Armen Donelian has received a 2001-02 Fulbright Scholar Award, which will support his travel to Armenia next spring to teach jazz for three months at the Yerevan Konitas State Conservatory. Hope you and all of yours are safe in the aftermath of the tragedy. Do write. CCT's more frequent publication schedule will enable us to get your news and reflections out to the class on a much more timely basis.
Barry Etra Not much happenin' — or, certainly, not much correspondence. Angelo Falcon was recently written up in The New York Times for his position as senior policy executive for the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund Institute for Puerto Rican Policy. He describes himself as a "guerrilla researcher" endeavoring to increase Hispanic political clout, although with limited success. His role, as he puts it, is to be a "troublemaker;" he's been at it for 20 years. Now THIS is an occupation to which I, for one, can relate. A-be-pa-ta-be-pa-to-be, that's all, folks.
Fred Bremer As I pen this column, my heart is heavy with thoughts of the memorial service I went to today for a friend who was at a meeting on top of the World Trade Center that fateful day. Like many who perished, he was a good human being who was very devoted to his family and actively involved in community service. There was no mortal reason for his death. He had not done harm to the extremists who were his executioner. He had not ignored credible warning of possible danger. He was what has come to be called "collateral damage." As I watch the tragic scenes on television of the human suffering and physical devastation, it reminds me of the all-too-similar scenes on the nightly news that we all watched together in the dorm lounges. Many of those slaughtered 30 years ago also were good human beings who left suffering families. This time the victims were Americans — three decades ago we were the aggressor. In the end, if not the beginning, the killings and destruction in both instances proved senseless. Our class has been fortunate in being able to largely sidestep the symmetrical horrors of the two eras. A court decision regarding student deferments saved us from the capricious lottery that would have led many of us to be conscripted into the role of active aggressor. Despite having many classmates who have worked in and around the World Trade Center, the few classmates still there all appear to have escaped without injury. (As many of you know, my office was across the street from the World Trade Center. I'm now in midtown.) As we sit around our Thanksgiving tables, we should all take a moment to reflect on how fortunate all of us in our class have been. Somewhere near the top of that list should be that, during more than 30 years, we have not been forced to be either the aggressor or the victim of the senseless struggles of political and religious fervor.
Randy Nichols On September 11, I watched in horror as the World Trade Center towers were pierced, burned and crumbled. During my Columbia days, I usually traveled between home and school by bus. Coming back to Columbia, my first glimpse of New York was the twin towers as we rode up the New Jersey Turnpike, and I felt welcomed when I saw them. I really felt I was home as the bus spiraled down into the Lincoln Tunnel, with the view of Manhattan and those wonderful silver towers directly across the river. Like many, I cannot imagine the NYC skyline without those gleaming icons. But what I can imagine even less is a world made darker by terrorist acts, and a world dimmed by the loss of life that occurred on September 11 and the days that followed. As a New York institution, Columbia and its children have extra grief. Classmates, at times like these, our thoughts must turn to each other; to friends who are still near and to others whom we may not have thought of in years. Please take a few minutes to share a note, an e-mail or a call. Let each other know that you and your families are OK. We know of the loss of one of our classmates, Rick Aronow, who worked in the Port Authority Law Department, and our hearts and prayers go out to his family and friends. If you know of other classmates or their families who have been touched by this tragedy, please share that, too, so that we lucky ones can help console those who have suffered. If you share with me, I will pass your messages on. By the time you read this, some of the pain may have dulled. But as I write this on September 14, my heart has a gaping hole, and that hole feels as large as those missing buildings.
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