Missing alumni

Every time there’s a class reunion, the class officers send out a list of people from the group who they’ve lost touch with. Well, I have my own list of people that disappeared from my life, who I wonder what happened to.

For instance, Lavinia, a cute girl from my kindergarten class. Her family moved to Phoenix. I don’t even know her last name.

In elementary school it was Pam Hartley. We really liked each other in second grade, but she never returned to school after that. I guess she only moved one town over, but I never saw or heard from her again.

At the top of my list is Ellen Rubin. A year ahead of me in school, she went up to high school, but by the time I got there her family had moved. I’ve often searched, but never found her.

Speaking of junior high school, there was my music teacher, Miss Lerer. She was a porky little thing when I had her, but between one year and the next she lost a ton of weight and turned cute. Alas, I recently saw her obituary. Several of my old teachers have died, including a couple of the best teachers and best people. But I wonder what my old teachers Miss Ciannavei and Mrs. Gelpke, both of whom I think are still living, are up to nowadays.

High school friend Paula Nahabedian’s family moved away. Sue Wald is out there somewhere, and I owe her an apology. Virginia Peters. Alda Glover. Where are they now?

Even college friends have disappeared: Glori Feinstein, Lori Oshansky, Abby Hacker, Alma Souza, Cindy Goozh … And from the beach, Maya Laurinaitis and Beetle Donati, and the folks with whom I did summer theatre.

I wonder what become of the folks with whom I attended Phillips Academy’s Short Term Institutes. I wonder where my old BESGL friends are.

And old work friends, and friends of friends – Peter Paige, Brenda Ortiz, Chet Shuman, and everyone from H&S; Judy Reardon, Bob Jordan, Gwen Wharton, Susan Boulanger, and many other old Globe friends; and Christine and Debbie from Long Island. All of them live in the pre-social networking era. All of them are lost to me now.

I hope you’re all well. I miss you. I think of you more than you might expect.

Lee needs work

After a year of posting a daily blog entry for my employer, I’m going a little stir-crazy with nothing productive to do. If you’ve visited my site recently you’ll notice a new look – I put in a new WordPress theme, and added an archive sidebar. Might as well keep the place looking fresh, even if there’s not much new content.

Freelance copy editing

It seems as if many technology publications that are laying off staff are starting with their copy editors. This may help a publication’s bottom line, but it leaves the copy desks undermanned and overwhelmed.

For magazines and sites that have no money for staff but still have a freelance budget, freelance copy editing is a good option. And for those organizations, I can recommend several excellent freelance copy editors, starting with – me! My rates are reasonable, my references are glowing, and I can generally turn a piece around on short notice.

Several colleagues I’ve worked with in the past are also excellent copy editors. I’d be happy to pass along their names and contact info.