May 2008
Tonight, I want to talk about reunions. College reunions, I think, are an especially American phenomenon. I don't even remember hearing about such things before I came to this country. But I think they might be catching on in England, and I was surprised to get a letter from the Alumni Director at Manchester University, suggesting that I attend a reunion for the class of 1966 for members of my school, the School of English Language and Literature. A list of my classmates was enclosed (the 109 who had addresses on file) and I pored over the names, trying hard to visualize this one or that one—mostly in vain—for I didn't have a Yearbook. Manchester University hadn't heard of those either! And then with some enthusiasm, I signed the form saying, "I want to come to a reunion," thinking that, yes, I would even travel overseas for such an opportunity. But, several weeks later, another letter can from the Alumni Director with the disappointing news that only six people from the whole class of 109 had expressed an interest in coming to a reunion. The reason is, I suspect, that we in England, unlike you, don't have a clue about what reunions do and are.
And so I got to thinking about reunions and about why reunions would be so successful in a place like Skidmore. At Manchester, you see, we did not feel connected to the place. Our university was so big, so impersonal, our lecture halls vast—and so few of our experiences were shared. At Manchester we made friends, if we made them at all, in spite of the place—not because of the place. And then I thought about how much I had missed by not having reunions.
Reunions take us to a place of ghosts. Think how many ghosts are her with us as we speak. The ghosts of Skidmore's past. The ghosts of you in '45, '46, '47, '48; all the ghosts of you at reunions past. The ghosts of your friends and classmates. The ghosts of boyfriends who became husbands. The ghosts of professors and deans and presidents. And while you can perhaps call up those friendly ghosts from time to time in the privacy of your own homes—they are best and most successfully called up here, in this very place where they had, and have, such robust lives.
Reunions are an opportunity to travel, to connect the present with the past. A chance to encounter the ghosts of your former selves. A chance for measurement and reflection. A chance to sizing up your history, for assessing your growth. How far have you traveled? And yet how close are you to what you once were? What has happened to your friends and classmates? How many are no longer with us and will now always be beloved ghosts? The years transform us all. But in this place you are still the vibrant young women you were in September of 1944 when you entered Skidmore.
Reunions can be reassuring. While all the world is changing around us—wars, economic disruptions, digital revolutions—and while we watch our faces slowly become strange to us in those lying mirrors—reunions give us a sense of stability, a sense that we can count on certain things in our lives to still be there for us.
Reunions unlock the box of memory. I've been saying there is something magical about place. Despite the fact that Skidmore itself has physically moved its location since you were here, place plays its tricks: a smell of chalk or lilacs, a street corner on Spring and Circular, a house on Union, a friend's unforgettable laugh, a ghost of an ancient professor frozen in mid lecture liberates a memory you didn't even know you had. Some magic combination clicks and releases into the light events and actions lost to you in your everyday lives, moments you didn't even know were buried in this densely populated ghost world. And it takes place—and the companionship of those who shared your history with you—to release those memories and to remind you of the richness of your lives and histories.
So we travel back to reunions to remind ourselves who we are and who we were, to connect the ghosts of ourselves and the ghosts of others. Our relationship, yours and mine, is part of this time travel. When you endowed the Chair for Excellence in Teaching, you affirmed your connection with your teachers; and through you, I am connected to those lovely ghosts as well. Truly, it's been an honor to be part of your Skidmore world as your first Class of '48 Professor for Excellence in Teaching. I want always be part of your ghost world. And now, in this place—which we all love—you will always be a part of mine. Thank you.
Susan Kress
Remarks to the Class of 1948
May 2008 - Mary Ann Foley
It is my great pleasure to be here this evening to honor members of the Class of 1948. I was asked to share a few brief remarks about my research-a topic that actually touches on aspects of this evening's celebration.
My research interests focus on the study of remembering. So, I'm curious about what comes to mind when we recollect events from our lives including our various Skidmore experiences. I'm also curious what comes to mind when we hear someone mention a news report or a movie that we recently experienced. Do we find ourselves remembering different details from these experiences? And why might that be?
Although questions about the what of remembering fascinate me, what captures my attention even more is how are we able to figure out the sources of our memories? When thinking about your first Skidmore experiences-during your college years-are the memories that come to mind based on your own recollections or those of your friends'? Are the memories related to photographs that you haven't looked at for years, but nonetheless come to mind vividly whenever you think about them? Drawing on a literary example-in writing about her memories in Moments of Being, Virginia Wool reflected on a scary memory involving a reflection in a mirror-wondering whether the memory was that of a dream or a symbolic reflection based on a real experience. In my lab, we study the ways in which individuals try to sort out these sources of memories.
Years ago now, what drew me to the study of memory sources, and remains true to this day, was the discovery that many scholars-in many walks of life -assume that imagination-one source of memory-always gets us into trouble, creating memory confusions. Well it turns out, your fellow alums working in my cognition lab over my Skidmore years have helped me to show that these broad assumptions about the negative effects of imagination on memory for sources need to be re-examined more closely and qualified carefully.
Although I'm tempted to keep you here with me longer, and share more about why I make these claims about my research, instead in the moments I have left, I want you to know what your generosity and commitment to Skidmore have meant to me and to the lives of several Skidmore students, some of whom now join you as Skidmore alums.
As a representative of your Class of 1948 by way of my appointment as your Endowed Chair (and perhaps an honorary member of the Class of 1948 by the end of this evening), I have been able to provide a number of students with special research experiences in my lab that I would not have been able to do otherwise. In keeping with the spirit of this Endowed Chair, these research experiences have been transformative for students' education, preparing them in special ways for the next phase of their professional development. Now in graduate schools or working in fulltime research positions, many of these students also join me as co-authors on several new publications in scientific journals, publications made possible through your support.
For this reason, you the Class of 1948, join the most special people in my life, supporting & inspiring me long after my years as your Endowed Chair. And, speaking of memories, this evening will number among my special Skidmore memories for years to come. Delighted to be able to join you this evening, I thank you one and all! !
August 15, 2008
The photo gallery is officially available, so enjoy the show and thanks for the memories!
We had a grand time at our 60th Reunion. Please stay tuned for a photo gallery of memories!
With best wishes,
Tibby Van Ness Reid
Class Historian
2A Hampshire Road,
Framingham, MA 01702