Sentimental Education

 My friend Frank sent me this picture this morning. It's of my friend Doug and me in our first year of graduate school. This picture was taken in March 1983. Was I ever actually this young - and in graduate school? God, no wonder our professors in graduate school at UC thought we were morons (plus, they were perceptive).

It also got me thinking about the time that Doug was a finalist for the position of Provost here at Champlain. The college, as part of an endless string of dreadful administrative hires, didn't choose him. It did give us the chance to spend several blissful hours on the deck of the Saint John's Club reflecting on life, history, love, and friendship; essentially, it turned into the closing passage of Flaubert's Sentimental Education (which I recently re-read - it simply, unlike us, gets better with age).

It's hard to believe that these utter lunkheads somehow became reasonably successful and respected professionals.