Subject: PHS'62: Someone ought to write a book....
Date: Sun, 11 Aug 2002 23:09:35 -0400
From: "James Lightfoot"
To: ALL

All,

In all this email traffic I'm interested in the number of English majors/ writers, the number of people with varied and useful experiences, and the number of people either retired or semi retired. It seems like an opportunity for someone with writing skills and time to put together a useful book on how people have handled situations in their lives, either professional or personal.

When we were in school in Peoria do you remember how many free sample packages arrived at your home in the mail? That was because Peoria had a wonderful set of demographics that came very close to matching national averages. Our class meets that criteria in many ways, except for the obvious age cohort. We're all economic levels, are all over the country, and I see a pretty positive attitude. This is an opportunity for someone to communicate with other class members and compile a collection of case studies or the like. In a nation that loves self-help publications this may provide some useful advice from a diverse and representative group that has been there and is still working at completing projects, achieving goals, and making a difference in the community or family.

Danielle Vansickle Zimmerman and Don Heytman had poignant comments on facing and handling adversity. A lot of us could augment their observations. Others have been very successful in business (those who retire before I can even ponder it meet one of my criteria for gauging financial success), academics, or setting up projects of a wide variety. Look at the number of our classmates with experience in handling career changes! Most of us have had ups and downs, in marriage(s), career(s), with children, in faith, and more. The list could go on and on. And it would be interesting to know how people are going to spend their future time – several have indicated service to others. Some inspired soul with time might want to tackle this or a similar project as a book or documentary – see you on Oprah in a year or two!

Jim