8.13.2011

on class reunions, pt. 1

So apparently my ten year class reunion is coming up.

I wasn't surprised - my best friend, who graduated the year before me, had hers just recently. Their event was $65 for a hotel ballroom and some appetizers, so I was hoping, when the time came, that it might be suggested that our reunion be something a little more worth the investment.

A week or so ago, a member of my class started a couple facebook groups in order to try and organize at least a committee to start working on it (since clearly no one had started any work so far). In the intervening time, as perhaps could've been predicted, people were apparently offended by her initiative and willingness to help, and started calling for the "right" people to be on the committee (namely, student government - only one of whom has even participated in the discussions, so far as I can tell). Eventually, someone else commandeered the group and said that *she* was going to take control, "not to step on any toes." She was applauded.

It's been an interesting but slightly off-putting microcosm of how people behaved back in high school. Equally interesting has been observing how the suggestions of activities very much reflect the types of people we've divided into as adults: one suggestion was a bar-crawl of 4th ave dressed as Cowboys and Indians; another was a family picnic so we could all get our kids together; a third was a golf tourney. Several people suggested the places they got married as nice, relatively inexpensive locations. One person has requested no events on Sunday so that the Sabbath can be observed. It seems that people are focusing on what has become most important in or typical of their current lives.

The idea of a class reunion, to me, is only mildly interesting. I would like to go if it were an event conducive to having a decent time; I am not interested if it looks like it's going to be an expensive but mediocre conglomeration of awkward silences and the reassembly of obnoxious cliques. I feel fairly distanced from most of what happened in high school; I am a very different person than I was, with more self-confidence and a good deal less tolerance for bullshit. Most of the people I wanted to stay in contact with in high school I have remained in contact with, and the people I haven't are either not likely to show up or belonged to a different graduating class.

I found this Kurt Vonnegut quote the other day, and I think it pretty well sums up how I feel (even if we're not quite to that point yet):
True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country.

3 comments:

  1. Ah, hmm. The dialogue on Facebook has certainly stirred many feelings for me, too. I think Paul Simon said it best:

    I said take this child, Lord
    From Tucson Arizona
    Give her the wings to fly through harmony
    And she won't bother you no more

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  2. I can only hope that we have move further past the high school drama of ten years ago, and can be adults! Depending on what you decide good luck Tasha! Hope tomorrow is a beautiful day!

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  3. Lord, my reunion is in October. It's $100 PER PERSON and does not include drinks. We won't be attending.

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