It’s hard to believe that 30 years have passed since I walked through the Van Wickle Gates during Commencement at Brown University. This year, members of the Class of ’94 gathered there over the past weekend to celebrate the 3 decades between then and now. It was nice to see familiar faces from years ago – lots of shared moments searching the memory banks, and then realizing how we knew each other… that course we took together, freshman year hallmates, and shared experiences with absent friends.
Campus Dance on Friday night of reunion weekend is a special time – dancing under the stars to a classic big band, or enjoying the student bands on Lincoln Field, near where I spent so much time as a student studying planetary geology. Everyone is in a good mood, and this year was no exception. The weather was perfect and we took in the sights and sounds over the course of a lovely evening.
As midnight arrived, Z and I made our way to Faunce Archway for an annual tradition – the Brown Derbies a cappella reunion arch sing. A small group of alums had gathered, and as the current members of the group arrived, our gang of singers swelled to well over 30 of us, crammed together in the arch. Despite most of us never having sung together at the same time, we ran through a bunch of songs that have spanned generations of “Derbs” – Faith, Veronica, House of Stone and Light – and managed to sound pretty good.
After a few songs we started to gaggle, and some of Derbies from the Class of ’99, celebrating their 25th reunion, spoke to some of us “94’s” about their memories of “A Day on College Hill” – when they visited Brown as pre-frosh. A few of us had returned to campus in the spring/summer of 1995 to prepare for our trip to Japan – we were a year out of school but were graciously invited to take part in the trip. It was moving to hear that after all these years, they still remembered seeing the Derbies perform during their visit, and how it influenced their decision to audition for the group when they arrived.
My hope for all of us is that we get to see the inspiration we impart to others that build upon the things we treasure. Even if it’s a simple as an a cappella group. Forgive the blurry picture of us in the arch after finishing one of the many songs we sang that night:
