Anassa kata, Class of 1974

1952: Year of the Water Dragon.

It’s been said that our year didn’t hold a candle to 1950 or 1947.  Some believe that our bulging birth rate got in the way from the start: less individual attention in the hospital, more crowded kindergartens …

But that was ages ago.  What matters now is that it all worked out quite well.  And a major anniversary is just around the corner — #40 for Class of 1974! Four decades have spun by since we wore our bunny fur on May 13, 1974.

But I won’t be on the ground.  With some regret, I’ll miss all the class fun, the robust and tender hugs, the great stories…

Where I live now, we call them “talk stories.”

No doubt about it: I’m a proud alum of the tiniest and owliest Seven Sisters college — Bryn Mawr.  My father jokingly called it “Bring More — Bring More Money!”  An obscure girls school in eastern Pennsylvania, he used to tell folks … with a grin.

Back in fall 1969, we filled out pre-application forms before we moved on to the important one. I remember writing those essays, with a dream in my heart. I’m still trying to make that dream come true.

Time for a little trivia: Did you know that Bryn Mawr and Georgetown are the only two colleges around that won’t let you graduate until you pass a swimming test!  (What would my life be like today, I wonder, without the inverted breast stroke?) And did you know that for a while we considered going co-ed … a convenient marriage with our friendly next door neighbor, Haverford College — the squirrel school.  Vassar, everybody knows, opened their door wider; Radcliffe got even chummier with Harvard; Barnard and Columbia you could say “lived together.” As for us on the Main Line, we didn’t change a hair.

One reason why today’s college acceptance numbers are the way they are is because anxious high schoolers apply to so many colleges now. All those applications drive the numbers up like crazy.  NYC public school students, in my day, could only apply to four colleges … and Bryn Mawr was my first choice, then and now.

May this Reunion be the most joyous ever!  Anassa kata, Class of 1974!

Anassa kata, kalo kale,
Ia ia ia Nike,
Bryn Mawr, Bryn Mawr, Bryn Mawr!

Translated:
Queen, descend,
I invoke you, fair one.
Hail, hail, hail, victory,
Bryn Mawr, Bryn Mawr, Bryn Mawr!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9VoLCO-d6U  Our class song — we voted for it as freshmen and it still gives me goose bumps.

www.nytimes.com/2014/04/25/upshot/when-the-seven-sisters-had-a-bigger-welcome-mat.html