40th Reunion - Draft of a Report by Theo

Just before our 40th, Eric Benke from BBN called me and asked if I would prepare a report of our reunion for publication in the alumni news. I said "sure, sure" and promptly forgot about it. Several days after the reunion, Eric emailed me - reminding me that I was now several days late in submitting my report. Below is what I sent him. This was all prepared on a Blackberry. Blackberries are fine for ten words, but become instruments of torture when you try to write paragraphs. Add nine hours jet-lag and too many glasses of Prosecco and here is what you get...



These reunion notes were started sitting next to Larry Schell drinking a glass of Prosecco on the terrace of the Monaco Hotel overlooking the Grand Canal in Venice. In other words our classes are again as scattered, as distant, as separated as any strangers could be.

But for a moment we were again the classes of '66 - all bubbly and full of bravado - as together as only those people that are passing through adolescence together can get.

We started as we must, at Strawberry night. You saw one or two classmates and joined them. And then more joined. We were not the full group until photograph time. Even then we missed Bruce and Micael. I thought I was going to have to Photoshop them in, but the kind photographer allowed us a retake.

So the photo somewhere on this page will show, say, twenty - thirty people. If there is one photograph where we are all quiet and paying attention it's a miracle. No different than 40 years ago.

Now add the spouses and class of '67 ladies and it's quite a good number of stories to exchange: "Do you remember the party/teacher/night?" "I live in Rio/Boise/Cambridge..." "My book/career/children foundered/went missing/exceeded my expectations..."

Some highlights were Violeta flying in from Rio de Janeiro and Sigrid from Munich. Also we have friends it turns out - Fran Atherton '67 flew in from California.
Speaking of CA - we had four Californians show up with regrets from two more.

I really do want to list everybody I talked to and what we talked about, but I'd be late for dinner at the Guggenheim and I'm late with these notes as it is. Not to worry though, when I get home the brain dump will occur with full results published on bbn66.com.

So now we come to the class picnic. *50* attendees *50* all packed in Lenore's house. Only Lenore's oxen stayed outside. It rained the entire time. On the other hand this allowed for easy moving about and so everybody talked with just about everybody. The day was more relaxed than the night before - a chance to double-click into people's lives. Nice touches include Steve arranging for the bluegrass band to play and the delicious food - made us feel special. Many thanks to peter, lenore, steve, allen for putting this splendid event together.

OK, so there are issues. In our era the schools were different schools - so perhaps we should celebrate our reunions in separate ways? Nice touuch: Buckingham did have pictures taken with and without B&N. And perhaps more varied type of get-togethers would be appropriate.

All in all: my estimate as to our feelings about the fiftieth reunion? Bring it on!

It will be interesting to see what Eric uses of this...

Ranjit Makkuni - Sitar Player

Courtesy of Theo Armour, Ranji Makkuni will be playing his sitar for us:



Bio from: http://www.sacredworld.com/asp/team.htm

Ranjit is currently the director of the Gandhi Multimedia Museum in New Delhi, which he is building for India, presenting Gandhi’s contribution to India’s freedom struggle, class unity and race unity. The exhibit presents through modern tactile multimedia lexicon of core Gandhian values such as non-violence, non-possession, service to the poor, ecology, and their relevance in today’s world.

Ranjit obtained a B.Arch. from IIT, Kharagpur, and a Masters in Design Theory and Computer aided Design from University of California Los Angeles. He is a frequent speaker at the world's leading design conferences in which he has become a spokesperson for putting forth the aesthetics and values of developing cultures. In 2000, Ranjit was nominated to be a founding member of the explorers club of the Ivrea Interaction Design Institute, Italy. He is a consultant to HP Labs Palo Alto, HP Labs India.

In parallel with his career as a multimedia researcher and designer he is an active sitar performer, and has performed at the world’s greatest learning centers and concert halls. Together, the proficiency in multimedia technology as well as traditional knowledge systems allows Ranjit to bridge multiple worlds, between technology and culture, techno-Man and traditional Man, and between developed and developing worlds.



see also: http://crossingproject.net/

Theo Armour - Recent Photographs

Theo at the 49th Meeting of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection Advisory Board in St Petersberg, Russia - looking a bit dozy.


Another picture of Theo in St Petersberg with daughter Cynthia to the left.

Theo Armour - Personal Data

a.k.a. Norman Armour III

From 2006:
Daughters:
Alix - born 1986, will be studying at Jiaotung University in Shanghai this fall
Cynthia - born 1988, about to take the bacalaureate exam at the Ecole Alsacienne in Paris
Eloise - born 1993, a seventh grader at the Ecole Alsacienne in Paris

Addresses:

theo@evereverland.net

440 Davis Court, Apt 2101
San Francisco CA 94111-2458
USA

mobile 415 828 0000

17 rue Brezin
75014 Paris
France

residence +33 (0)1 46 34 13 68

The Paris address is the apartment of my former wife Isabelle.

Theo Armour - Yearbook Page

Theo Armour - Guggenheim Web Site

The current Guggenheim web site which I designed will soon be replaced will a whole new look and feel. Here is part of the press release sent out when it went on-line...


At present, www.guggenheim-venice.it consists of over three hundred pages of information (in both English and in Italian). The site incorporates 2800 internal links to facilitate the visitor’s quick and effortless access to material, a number that will steadily increase in order to provide a constantly improving service.

The website is designed, developed and realized by Mr. Théo Armour, member of the Advisory Board, as a gift to the Peggy Guggenheim Collection...

Press Release #87

Mini BBN Reunion in San Francisco

Attendees

Beth Jacobsen, Neil Morse '66, Theo Armour '66

No Shows

Diana Chace '67, Franny Atherton '67

Venue

Frisson (www.frissonsf.com)

Discussion Items

Nice restaurant to meet at. Well actually it was much much more complicated than that, but if I write about it (it has to do with Beth and high school reunions) I shall probably put my foot on the plate (which is where French people put their foot when we put it in our mouth but, of course, they are civilized.)

More tomorrow...

The Royal SCREW Crew

I drew this shield sometime in May of 1966.

Symbology of the Quadrants
Telegraph keypad sending Morse code - Neil Morse
Armoured helmet - Theo Armour
Atomic symbols reoprsenting atoms - ?? Adams
Tartan - ?? (Was it for "Scott" Maguire?)

Tooth - nickname for Mr Emmet because he was slightly bucktooth/had a toothy smile.

Theo Armour - Profile for 2001 Reunion

Here's what I wrote for our 35th reunion:

Theo Armour – Profile - 01/26/2001

Back in '66 I arrived at B&N wearing a raccoon coat and an Australian outback hat. I sped around Cambridge on a French Velosolex moped. I worshipped Lenore, Nancy, Nancy and Sarah. I liked to give parties where the highlight was the cheapest beer (Black Label) available. Sock it to me. Groovy. This is where it's at.

I am not like that any more. I find the thought of being passionately in love with four different people within six months to be most curious. In fact I think I would have a lot of difficulty communicating with the person that I was then. I don’t think it would be much fun to sit under the piano and talk about Kahlil Gibran (“The hidden well-spring of your soul must rise and run murmuring to the sea.”)

Then again, if you remember, Neal Morse was going to be President - stepping easily from head of the class to chief of state. Jeff Rudman was going to be Chairman of the Democratic Party. As I remember, around the class, all of our people were going to have a role to play in the administration.

I wanted to be Minister of Pleasure. It was Minister, not Secretary. Why, you ask? Well, just for the fun of it, of course.

Curiously I have never let that mission escape my thoughts for very long. It became my manifest destiny. In so many ways my life has been lived as a preparation for that role. Truly, I dedicated myself towards assuming the rigors that this position in life entails.

And yet, as we now see, such a career opportunity is plainly impossible. That little glimmer of mirth cupped in the hand of an eighteen-year-old boy is now nearly extinguished. What seemed within such easy reach then is now in-your-face complex.

But the value system that underlies that old crusade is not at all gone. To paraphrase a recent statement made by Linda Chavez, erstwhile Secretary of Labor: “I believe that I would have made an excellent Minister of Pleasure.”

I look forward to hearing about your manifest destiny on Strawberry night.