getting old isn't fun. no one warns you of what a challenge it is. I try to make the most of it & remain as cheerful as possible as one friend after another exits.
but as I age I've come to appreciate the wonder of dreams.
last nite I dreamt I was back in Kent & spent a day at the library. there I encounterd people from my past who mean so much to me -- such as Dean Keller & Wendy Ma. & in the context of the dream I went back even further. apparently there was some sort of conference at the library that day. from across a room I thot I saw Jan Denman. by the time I got thru people he was gone. but then in the dream I began speaking abt him.
almost as soon as I got to Kent in the fall of 1961 I began working on the newspaper -- the Daily Kent Stater. Jan was a year older & had been on staff longer but we immediately became friends.
as I recall that friendship I think I may have uncoverd the trigger for his appearance in my dreams. there have been quite a few stories lately abt the 50th anniversary of the Cuban missile crisis. & as I recall the one collaboration Jan & I had was a major story on campus reaction. I remember that Jan -- who was capable of great excitement -- was beside himself with worry that the world was indeed on the brink of destruction. we went around interviewing faculty & students.
I think it was Jan who brought the original cast album of "The Fantasticks" to the paper's office in Merrill Hall. we playd it over & over. he & the late Bill Bierman & I often went to the movies together. I recall our conversations abt "Phaedre" & "David and Lisa." & somewhere in the recesses of my mind there was a drunken nite of political chat at the Rat with Craig Stephens.
as far as I know the only photograph of us is this group shot of the DKS staff which appeard in the yearbook:
after graduation I had some letters from Jan & then as often happens we driftd apart. then in 1993 I did a search. he had been a high school English teacher in northern Ohio. I was able to find a phone number & calld him to reminisce.
in this last dream his appearance was brief. but it was a connection to a friendship that had great meaning for me at one stage of my life.
but as I age I've come to appreciate the wonder of dreams.
last nite I dreamt I was back in Kent & spent a day at the library. there I encounterd people from my past who mean so much to me -- such as Dean Keller & Wendy Ma. & in the context of the dream I went back even further. apparently there was some sort of conference at the library that day. from across a room I thot I saw Jan Denman. by the time I got thru people he was gone. but then in the dream I began speaking abt him.
almost as soon as I got to Kent in the fall of 1961 I began working on the newspaper -- the Daily Kent Stater. Jan was a year older & had been on staff longer but we immediately became friends.
as I recall that friendship I think I may have uncoverd the trigger for his appearance in my dreams. there have been quite a few stories lately abt the 50th anniversary of the Cuban missile crisis. & as I recall the one collaboration Jan & I had was a major story on campus reaction. I remember that Jan -- who was capable of great excitement -- was beside himself with worry that the world was indeed on the brink of destruction. we went around interviewing faculty & students.
I think it was Jan who brought the original cast album of "The Fantasticks" to the paper's office in Merrill Hall. we playd it over & over. he & the late Bill Bierman & I often went to the movies together. I recall our conversations abt "Phaedre" & "David and Lisa." & somewhere in the recesses of my mind there was a drunken nite of political chat at the Rat with Craig Stephens.
as far as I know the only photograph of us is this group shot of the DKS staff which appeard in the yearbook:
after graduation I had some letters from Jan & then as often happens we driftd apart. then in 1993 I did a search. he had been a high school English teacher in northern Ohio. I was able to find a phone number & calld him to reminisce.
in this last dream his appearance was brief. but it was a connection to a friendship that had great meaning for me at one stage of my life.
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