Harvard-Radcliffe Class of 1981

Holding a party was never easier!
If your region isn’t listed, reach out to Barbara@HR1981.org to host.

Miami/Florida and more(?):  details coming.

Scheduled Regional Socials:

• New York Picnic Potluck, Tue, May 18, 211:30am EDT
  (For the fully-vaccinated.) Central Park, New York City.
  (Details & directions & potluck specifics)  Contact Mark Gluck, gluck@rutgers.edu
   
• West Coast Late Show: Sat. May 22, 8-10pm PDT (11pm EDT)
  Register now. Cocktails and Talk with Harvard Friends on the West Coast:
  Zoomcasted from Steve Zelinger’s kitchen in Palo Alto, CA this interactive talk show will be hosted by Johanna Forman, Vivian Lee, Joe McDonough, Rick Raushenbush, and of course, Steve.  Live on Zoom, we’ll mix the famous Harvard Cocktail and a non-alcoholic Crimson alternative.  Then we’ll zoom to Hollywood to discuss movie production with Roadside Attractions’ Howard Cohen.  And there’s more… but you will have to join us on May 22 to find out.  Stay up late, whip together a Harvard Cocktail, and enjoy a fun and interactive Class of  ’81 evening.  Contact:  jomcd@gmail.com
   
• HR1981 Virtual Get-together from Japan: Sat. May 29, 5-7pm JST
  Please join HR1981 classmates in Japan for a virtual Happy Hour! Anyone in Japan, in body or spirit, is welcome to join us! For more info, contact Christina Ahmadjian: cahmadjian@gmail.com.
   
• Cambridge Picnic: Sat., June 5, 12-2 pm EDT
  Join us for a casual get-together near Harvard Square, at JFK Park, on JFK Street at Mem Drive, across from Elliott House. Bring a blanket or folding chair, and whatever you want to eat & drink. More details. Questions, or RSVP, to Cara Seiderman, caraseiderman@me.com

    • Video Story Club‘s page at Brooklyn Live Jams.

    • Videos & lyrics from April 29.

Register here.  We will share our own stories while discussing stories in music videos. The music consists of live jams of original songs by singer-songwriters, hip hop artists, and poets, from the first five Concerts For Our Children’s Future at Bashner’s Brooklyn Jam & Salon, planned by Richard Bashner, featuring Chris Owens as music director/bandleader.

Story Club will intersperse seven original songs with breakouts and assemblies to share and discuss stories; followed by Q&A with the artists, and then an After-Party in Paris (starting at 9:30pm, at the HR1981 Sophya cafe).

Register here.  This panel convenes major institutional and new arts leaders as they examine treasures and trauma in the current age of protest and pandemic. Diverse experts from museums and other arts spaces offer fresh views on adaptations to exhibits, creative historical perspective and public safety. Contact:  Patric@HR1981.org

Panelists engage in small group discussions, so that important professional lessons are not lost to crosstalk. Some of our offspring join in, and are expected to bring the fire, while classmates serve up deep knowledge. Surprises may abound.

With bodies and protests on streets across the nation, our civil discussion cannot afford to conduct business as usual. Best to come on time and with an open mind.

Since traditional frameworks, including introductions and formal presentations, don’t fit, here is a discussion plan, and the list of players:

HR1981 Virtual Book Fair: See the book covers (and click to buy)

Register now.  More than sixty of our classmates have published books in the past five years including novels, memoirs, children’s books, poetry collections, history textbooks, philosophical monographs, and even a cookbook.  Topics run the gamut from ancient ethics to modern medicine to future economies; self-help to social studies to science fiction; Oedipus to Henry V to Homer Simpson.

Join more than two dozen of these authors as they speed-pitch their works on Zoom, followed by an e-meet-and-greet on Sophya.  Most importantly, there will be plenty of links to buy books and support our talented literary cohort.  Contact:  Patric@HR1981.org

Our classmate Janice Edwards will host our event. Janice has co-authored the international best seller Step Into Your Brilliance and Quality Angles, and is an award-winning talk show host & producer and media coach.

The classmate authors are currently expected to include:

#1:  Sun. Feb. 28, 3 – 5 p.m. EST
#2:  Sun. Apr. 18, 3 – 5 p.m. EDT 

Help solve one of our nation’s biggest underlying problems—participate in The Civility Game trial. Led by Saul Perlmutter, Bonnie Bottoms, Steven Clark, Wilson Carroll, and Ruth Milkman. Learn more about The Civility Game. Contact: Ruth@HR1981.com

If you want to play along, register now.

About The Civility Game

At our last in-person reunion, a number of us classmates sat down to think about the then-visible problem that our society has split into at least two major groups that have a very difficult time discussing any societal issue productively enough to coherently develop solutions together.  This fissure within our society is perhaps the most dangerous challenge of our times, underlying all of the other serious concerns, since it undercuts all attempts to solve any problem.  In the years since the reunion we have zoom-met intermittently, but continuously, to discuss and develop approaches to this problem (and others), and most recently a subgroup has been exploring a “game” concept that we would like to introduce to our classmates.

The game starts with simple curiosity:  how is it possible that such a huge fraction of the population, almost necessarily of comparable intelligence and comparable ethical stature, are convinced of political positions that appear to me clearly wrong?  It would be fascinating if I could just talk to somebody who has that same question about my positions, just to understand what’s going on.   The goal of the game then is to find out the answer to this simple question.   Note that the goals is not to convince anybody else of anything, but just to find out what would I need to believe about the world or about my priorities to share the other person’s conclusions.

Register now.
Climate change is a global – and local – challenge. Classmates are on the front lines. Each panelist will briefly discuss climate solutions on which they’re working, using a Pecha Kucha format. Topics will include technologies for reducing greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions, public policy for reducing emissions and for adaptation to climate change, building resilience to climate change, stakeholder engagement, and communicating about climate change.
Contact: Robert_Stowe@hks.harvard.edu

Participants, with links to bios: