Class of 1949

Previously published :

June 4, 1999

Editors' note: This is the year the MHS Class of 1949 marks its 50th
anniversary. According to preliminary reports, the committee has had
unusually good results in locating the 285 members, 39 of whom are on
line.

The reunion will take place on the weekend of Sept. 10, at the
Marriott in Peabody. In the meantime, the class has a chance to
participate in the development of an innovative program, an electronic
scrapbook being produced by a graduate student at MIT's Media Lab,
Ingeborg Endter. The local connection for MIT is through Don Norris, a
member of the Melrose Silver Stringers and a 49er, who agreed to convince
his classmates of the benefits of participating in the experiment.

His introductory letter to 39 classmates was e-mailed recently:

A Note From Don Norris, MHS '49:

Congratulations, classmates, you have all been volunteered as
writers for the first-ever electronic Scrapbook of the MHS Class of
1949. You have been commandeered, cajoled, drafted and probably bent out
of shape, but all you good folk are now reporters for the '49ers'
Mirror.

Not to worry. The pay scale is terrible, so you can throw in the towel whenever you want.

I am talking about the '49ers Scrapbook that we, collectively, are
going to put together on an internet website, with the participation of
MIT's Media Lab. But don't throw up your hands quite yet -- read on, and
see what we have in mind, what we can do for each other by
participating in this off-the-cuff project.

At this early point, we have the enthusiastic approval of a handful
of key computer-types, including Stu Robinson, John Peterson, Ellie
Amazeen Mauriello, Cal Gardner and me, Don Norris. And the reunion
committee thinks it's a viable idea, also..

I see these pages as a tremendous opportunity for us, all of us, to
participate in recording our own history, for exploring what has
happened to us in the past fifty years, what have we created and where
have we missed the boat. I want to know about all of you, your
successes, near misses and downright failures. And I want all of us to
speak, to take part, to learn from the history of the whole.

Lordy, I sound like a preacher. I'm not. In fact, if you remember, I
was that rowdy kid from New Jersey, the football player who spent more
time in the hospital than on the playing field, the worldly kid whose
parents were from the deep south, and who spoke with a very different
accent.

... the place to talk about it.

So don't think I want to talk in platitudes, or sermons. No, what I
see in this project is a reflection of the whole class, with continuing
comparisons of what we did as kids, how we survived and grew, of where
we failed, of how our kids and grandkids are doing. As I write, the
history of the disaster of Littleton is only 24 hours old, and I see,
here, in what I shall call "The 49ers' Mirror" a place for us to wonder
why such gross displays of egotism did not take place in our times. This
is the place to talk about it.

We are at that age now, the age of philosophy, of looking back and
saying to ourselves, "If I had it to do over again ?" -- what would we
change? How could we have done better, or where did we fall short? Is it
our fault that today's children, who still act like adolescents, are
using emotions and behavior that were way beyond our age level? Are they
growing up too fast? Is TV to blame? or is it the parents?

This is the place, classmates, to count not only our blessings, but
to tout our accomplishments. Let's count the grandchildren, let's count
the places we have lived, let's retell the stories we have lived, the
disasters, the awards, the happenings that shaped our lives. Here, in
this Mirror, is the place to spell it out. We have a grand opportunity
-- this WWW certainly provides us with a means of communication we never
had, until we arrived at grandparentage.

And so I propose we all take part. Nothing obligatory, no homework,
nothing forced. Here is the pencil and paper and the opportunity. Here
is the camera, so we can publish the pictures we've created in the past
half century. Here are empty pages where we can give up our inner-most
thoughts, record our histories, and write about the prospects for the
future.

... meet Inge, our MIT guru.

Since each of you reading this letter is familiar with websites,
then you can understand how this new Mirror might work. Anyone can
submit a letter, a poem, a note on history, a question -- even have a
conversation with another classmate on the other side of the world. Each
class member will have a password so that only classmates can publish,
although the pages can also be open for reading by the whole world, if
the 49ers wish it so.

Our server will be a computer at MIT, for the 49ers' Mirror is the
brainchild of a masters candidate, Inge Endter. Inge is putting together
the software, and it's not quite ready for prime time yet. While
details are sketchy at this point, the 49ers' Mirror will take the form
of a scrapbook; you will be able to add photographs, stories, letters,
and even sound clips.

Our one problem at this point is that Inge (the oldest master's
candidate at the Media Lab, some dozens years younger than we) ... that
Inge is also grad-student advisor to several other projects, such as the
highly successful SilverStringers of Melrose and the even more
successful Junior Journal, the monthly publication of the Junior Summit,
comprised of some 3000 children 9-16 years old around the globe. So we
have to exercise patience, and before long, members of the class will be
able to begin working on the scrapbook online.

... last one writes the epitaph,

I can't tell you where this Class scrapbook will go. Theoretically,
it could last until we all give up the ghost, and the last one on earth
can write the class epitaph. In the meantime, we all can benefit from
the lessons that we, the members of MHS '49, have learned.

Perhaps we can even make this world a better place. Come on, let's try.

Publication schedule will be nebulous at this point. We'll just keep
adding copy (which you supply in the form of letters, notes, questions,
stories...) until we have to face the problem of space, perhaps a
couple of years down the road. At some point MIT may want to divest
itself of the project, in which case it will be up to us to make a few
decisions.

And in the meantime, we, collectively, have one of the most amazing
databanks ever assembled -- that is, if lots of us take part. And even
if there are members who have not become familiar with computers, they
can still submit material the old fashioned way -- on paper. We have
scanners and OCRs, and a lot of technical know-how at our disposal.

And when the project gets off the ground, MIT may just invite all of
us over to the Media Lab -- and I guarantee you, you will be amazed by
the projects and the young people you will meet there.

TO BEGIN: So, to start, since you have a computer, write
something pertaining to the class. Anything. A photo. A quip. A lesson. A
letter. A question. And send it first to me, Don Norris. Or send me
hard copy -- to 20 Spear Street, Melrose 02176. Yes, I still live here
in our hometown. My adopted hometown.

At first, Inge will create a mailing list for us -- it will be
similar to a bulletin board where you send a message to only one
address, but everyone on the list will be able to see the message and
respond. We'll be able to get a lively discussion going, and perhaps
dredge up some memories and stories that will go into the scrapbook.
Soon, however, we will have a website, and we'll be able to add our
stories and pictures directly to it. And if you'd like to get in on the
action, just say so; all you need is a computer, a connection to the
Internet, and a browser. And you can encourage other 49ers who don't
have a computer to look over your shoulder and participate that way.

Cal Gardner, Ellie Amazeen Mauriello, Stu Robinson, John Peterson
and the others of the 50th Reunion Committee are in on the ground floor.
So join us. Think positive. Think of the potential we have.

Don Norris, MHS Class of '49

Previously published

June 4, 1999