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Discussions

 

Forum: 2023 Reunion Suggestions

TOPIC: 

when will there be a reunion?

Created on: 11/30/22 01:52 PM Views: 649 Replies: 2
when will there be a reunion?
Posted Wednesday, November 30, 2022 01:52 PM

this is getting ridiculous - Is Oberlin ever going to schedule a reunion?  are they thinking fall?  does anhone have a clue?

 

 
update from Rinaldi but where? when will there be a reunion?
Posted Thursday, December 8, 2022 07:29 AM

Matt Rinaldi  (I think it was he) shared a message about our upcoming reuion - but where is it?  was it an email from him?  a mesage posted somewhere on this site?  on the class of '68 site? help. 

 
RE: when will there be a reunion?
Posted Monday, December 12, 2022 03:18 PM

I’m a Reunion die-hard, having missed only the fifth, and I’m feeling a great sense of loss about not having our quinquennial Memorial Day weekend Reunion in May 2023. It has been an anchoring ritual for most of my adult life, and for me, it’s like Brigadoon: the familiar elements of Reunion Weekend reassemble themselves out of the mist. Friday night: the Grand Piano Extravaganza and then the excitement of re-encountering one other at our first get together. Picking up deep conversations begun decades ago. Our wonderful talent show featuring both old and new passions . By Saturday, beloved aging faces somehow transform into our 19 year old selves. Illumination and pie on Sunday night. Monday, the academic procession with all its pomp, (and at our 50th gloriously led by Gideon. ) The nostalgia of another Commencement , and welcoming the new grads, some of them our kids and grandkids.
And then long farewell hugs and the hopes that most of us will be back to do it again in five years. When people ask me why are the reunions so profound, I always say , “it’s the intimacy “. It’s not just Oberlin College that connects us but more our shared history which has been nurtured through these 4-day intense experiences every five years. We’ve all been through so many changes, traumas, losses and joys over the years, and we’ve been able to process and share them with each other with these steady five mile markers as we’ve moved together from being young to middle aged to elders.
This won’t happen with an isolated October event. Too many things will be missing. 
If we can’t celebrate this May, I would be in favor of postponing until Memorial weekend 2024 but keeping it within the same cluster calendar and structure. And let’s hope that most of us who were looking forward to being there this year are still around.