The Connecticutian

Kathy, my co-worker and personal goddess, asked if I’d blog about my weekend events — so I cannot let her down. I served on an alumni panel at Bennington this weekend. it was an event held for current seniors so they could learn about networking, grantwriting, job-getting, life-making, etc. Jon, Kathy’s partner, asked me before I went if that meant that I was among Bennington’s distinguished alumni, and of course the answer is obviosly, “Yes!” Okay, so maybe my life is not insanely glamorous, but it was fun to talk about hardships after graduation, perseverence, and following one’s passions. There’s a real difference graduating from a place like Bennington — more or less an arts school–than graduating frm most other schools. We don’t have hiring firms come in, no crazy job fairs, etc. Bennington really does urge its students to make the world their own.

Part of what was so fun was to hear what some of my fellow Alumni were doing. In a quick web search, I could find a site on Seth DeCroce ’98 and a Google search on Taliesin Thomas ’98 shows lots of her fame on the web. Having a less that common name helps a lot on the web. I could not easily find a site for Matt Moss ’94 or Brandi Wilson ’99 — but both are working in interesting fields. Matt is working in developing real estate and Brandi is a creatve headhunter. There was also another guy, Chris, and I don’t remember his last name (Tilden, maybe?) — but now I cannot find his info from the planning emails from the college. (Sorry!)

It’s always interestng to see classmates as adults. We all have our lives that we are deeply immersed in, and it’s nice to come up for air. I also love talking to current students. It’s great to see the passionate on the verge of going out into the world. I had drinks with two seniors, Jessie and Brian. They are each clearly brilliant minds, and they’ve been doing impressive work. I love working with high school kids — but it’s also great to see kids at this next level. Brian, for example, is working on gender studies and goes to comp lit conferences. He was telling me about some of his impressive projects, and yet — he still loves the movie “Team America.” I, of course, think there’s something serious wrong with him for that — and yet, it’s the kid at heart (and proximity in age). Good luck, Bennington seniors!