Tempest in a Teapot Part II in More ways than One

In the wake of Hurricane Irene, we Hoosiers viewed the events in complete safety and sunshine. It was with great relief that the storm did not meet expectations as we thought about my East Coast classmates who were in the path of the storm.

It wasn't the only tempest in the picture however. Once again, the issue of privacy rears its head. Our thought was that many have over the years lost their yearbooks and would like to have a copy of their senior pictures with Facebook as the delivery vehicle. While no one has a problem with their pictures published permission on the Class reunion site, which have been on the Internet for over 5 years, suddenly it's an issue on Facebook. Seems that my posting high school pictures to classmates, which initially began amidst a great swelling of good feelings and fond memories has been tainted with suspicion and paranoia. Privacy is apparently defined differently in different quarters.

Again, I emphasize that this negativity will not affect the completion of my project which involves two activities, one, finding and contacting everyone in the class, and two, publishing a complete class directory, less the few who have opted not to participate.

It's just a shame that something that was meant to get people thinking about high school and the passage of time and attending the Reunion has become a bone of contention, another tempest in a small teapot, unlike Irene, the real Tempest in a much larger realm.

Despite these little harassments, we continue on. We heard from Patty Parkin Carr and suggested she give Carol Vanderway a call since they hadn't spoken for years. We haven't heard from Noreen West yet, but when we do, we'll see if we can't reconnect each of them with each other. Got a call out of the Blue from Earl Newman, out in  Los Banos, CA. I resisted the temptation to suck information from him since he spent half his career maintaining and repairing RVs. I also got a return call from Ed Dickenson another of our classmates in the ministry in the San Diego area.

I had a rollicking chat with Deborah Galesi who lives in Kihei, Maui, Hawaii. She has become an accomplished and classically trained artist (not to mention free spirit) and she promised to share a sunset with us on her west facing lanai the next time we were on Maui, one of our favorite vacation spots.

But as though there were some cosmic balance in the world for all this happy news, we were saddened to run into death listings for Diane Finnegan (2008) and Ed Miller (2002).

So even as Irene takes a parting shot at New England, and we warn the recently retired George Dingfelder in Maine to batten down his hatches, we hope this most recent obstructionist privacy snit will blow over and everyone can get on with good times, good memories and reconnecting with classmates.