Reconnecting Alumnus

I suppose Reed doesn’t get much fan mail from those of us who attended one or two or three years; we are, after all, a species of traitor. But I would like to state that although I attended Reed for a mere two years, split asunder by a two-year leave of absence, and probably had a more scalding, wrenching, desperate, and humiliating time there than any other Reed student has had before or since (90% my fault and that of familial and environmental forces), I have always looked back on my time at Reed with fondness and appreciation for all it did for me.

For if it hadn’t been for Reed, I might well never have a) developed a social conscience and resisted the draft (very destructive and isolating for me, but I have never regretted a bit of it), b) developed an intense, ongoing love of history, c) understood that there were some really intelligent women out there, d) taken up the fine arts as a career (I failed professionally, but that seems to have been a good thing ultimately, oddly enough), e) become a Buddhist, f) begun to learn the value of a friend (by not making one for quite an extended period), g) learned something of the machinations of elite bureaucracies, and h) lived in a city with a population greater than 100,000. So, um—thanks.

—Thomas Whitehead ’65

Klamath Falls, Oregon