Post-Reunion

Ok, well, it's over, and it was great. I'll write a few thoughts here, and then the idea will be to pull together the best of this blog and make a how-to/reflection document.

The last month was pretty crazy, finalizing plans, sending last emails, and wrangling with the administrators over things like Alcohol, accommodations. Blogging wasn't on the top of the to-do list.

After getting about 100 yes-RSVP's for the Reunion, we got around 200, which we expected. We had way too much food, since people were coming and going, and the greatest number came after lunch was pretty much done. Yay for leftovers for the last remaining week.

The activities were great, too. Storytelling was wonderful and should've happened earlier in the evening, before some of the older folks headed out (for steak.) Having some meat might've been good. We needn't have been so go-with-the-flow about things; people were willing to gather to do stuff when we suggested it.

I'm a bit sad that i dropped the ball on displaying materials from people in-absentia. Pictures, clippings, and words. Just a small collection online, not entirely confirmed before publicized. I feel like i still want to share these materials, but i'm not sure how to do so. Perhaps a dual html-pdf project. If i took this with me, i could do this remotely. (Crunched for time before Commencement and move-out...)

The press coverage was exciting but thankfully isn't needed for every Reunion. 50 is a big deal. Similarly, Vladamir Klimenko, Immy Humes, and Elisabeth Sperling got together at the last minute to produce a documentary of the day's events. This absorbed a lot of storytelling energy and frequently had people missing from other events. For better or worse. It will certainly be a great piece, and people seemed to enjoy the chance to reflect.

I had an idea to plug in a good phone to allow people to call. The existing phone was busted. I forgot to replace the phone, and yet i told people to call.

We sold about 26 copies of Amelia's thesis. The first 21 were disappearing at such a rate in the beginning, i quickly phoned Kinkos and ordered another 30. The last of the 21, though, only went by 8 or so. But another 5 is worth it. And now some current Co-opers will get one if they're interested. This helped bring in a bit of money (people paid 20 though each cost $12-15 to make), and if current Co-opers pay, we'll recoup even more.

Alums gave about $1200, and a few more dollars should straggle in during the next few days. The total budget was about $1100 for food-related stuff, about $150 for miscellaneous stuff, $300 for a 20x30 bad-weather tent in the backyard of 3sac, and about $650 for 51 copies of Amelia's thesis. We had approved $1000 from Co-op savings, but we'll be able to reimburse some of this cost with the copious donations.

Alums were super-ready to engage in current issues, and we're getting plenty of creative ideas for how to address our issues. We're a bit stressed about following up right now. I have a number of other things i want to see happen before i leave, too: 2007-2008 yearbook/scrapbook (must be done before i leave), reunion anthology (must be done before i leave), the "Semester" document of all alumni by semester (can be done remotely with the appropriate stack of papers), writing up instructions for SIG, organize the library one last time and have a book sale, clean up the Co-op @hcs email account (remotely and later) and the website/wiki (remotely and later, Anne-Marie?), and indexing the archives. Oh, and augmenting the store of Co-op articles, not least with the 4 50th articles: Globe, Gazette, Crimson, Harvard Mag.

This blog has turned into a personal freewriting tool for me. Oh well.

But man, if Co-opers aren't the most appreciative group of people i've ever met...every project seems worth it, if people are grateful.

The alcohol situation was fine. The "Beverage Authorization Team" (BAT) showed up after we'd drunk nearly all the booze! The tutors (or at least one) was a bit uneasy about the situation, but it was ok, as it was clearly more important that people have a satisfying Reunion. I saw no irresponsible behavior *at all*, (which i could not have guaranteed.) Also, so few people stayed over, i was shocked. We probably scared them off by making it difficult. So long as that didn't discourage people from coming altogether, this seemed to end up ok.

What a fulfilling project. What a wonderful, maybe life-changing thing.