RE Log - Fall 2023

58 Ransom Everglades LOG FALL 2023 Class Notes Lee Stockdale won the National Poetry Competition for a single poem in English. Lee’s poem, “My Dead Father’s General Store in the Middle of a Desert,” explores an encounter between the living and the dead and was chosen from more than 17,000 poems entered by poets from 103 countries. My Dead Father’s General Store in the Middle of a Desert It has gas pumps with red horses and wings, but is not merely a gas station, your father is not my father, standing over me with a clipboard, checking off things done and left undone. He seems happy at this last stop before death for those living, before life for those not yet born, where his general store deals in flour, sugar, pieces of hacked meat, or liver, reddish purple, a heart he wraps in brown paper. He cuts my hair beneath the tin awning. I must have gotten here from one direction or other on the road that stretches horizon to horizon, the desert heat shimmering my eyes into pools. I crawled in on my hands and knees, he handed me an ice-cold orange Nehi drink. It’s pure coincidence that this store is my father’s. I ask him where all this stuff comes from, as no trucks travel this road to replenish merchandise no one buys. He doesn’t like questions that challenge his existence. I become quiet, he’s cutting my hair and might consciously or unconsciously make me look bad. You’re doing a great job out here, I say, which he knows is bullshit— how many fathers, even if they’re dead, set up a general store in a desert. I persist, You keep the shelves stocked, floor broomed, bathroom clean. The more I talk, the more I encourage myself to love him for the trouble he went to making all this seem real, with cans of various sized nails, beans, rice, shelves of liquor, deli section with giant pickles. I begin to see what a dear, sweet man he is. Is this because he is dead? I wish he were alive again. I don’t think he killed himself to be mean to me personally. At night, he says, howling coyotes come down from the mountains and leave notes, bible verses, threatening messages, love letters. Everything a coyote wants to get off its chest. I ask if they come every night. He says, Without fail. 1971 Class Ambassadors: Mark Harrison (mark@4hranches.com ), David Skipp (dskipp@gmail.com ) David Skipp , see Zac Skipp ’07 1972 Class Ambassador: Carlos Prio- Touzet (carlos@touzetstudio.com) 1973 Class Ambassador: Roger Bear (rogerdavidbear@gmail.com) John Geraghty , see Christian Haub ’70 Steve Miller , see Christian Haub ’70 1974 REUNION APRIL 2024 Class Ambassadors: Andrew Hague (AndrewSHague@gmail.com) , Douglas Weiser (doug@4weiser.com ) Enrique Ginzburg is a University of Miami Miller School of Medicine professor and trauma surgeon who travels the world helping countries assess their trauma systems. He was inspired by his recent trip to Bhutan (see above right photo), a tiny country nestled in the Himalayas between China and India. Enrique was struck by the nation’s awesome beauty and generosity, but he had a larger mission: to help the Bhutanese improve their trauma system. This is not the first medical mission for Enrique. In 2010, he and colleagues helped Haiti set up a trauma center after the country’s devastating earthquake. Over the years, he has provided surgical insights and expertise in Ukraine, Argentina, Iraq and other countries. Enrique Ginzburg is third from left Jonathan Skipp , see Zac Skipp ’07 1975 Class Ambassadors: Edward Casal (emc.home@gmail.com ), John Fleeman (jbflee@gmail.com ) Everglades School for Girls 1960 Class Ambassador: Anne Williams (abwilliams42@gmail.com ) 1961 Class Ambassador: Katherine Swenson Kahan (kkahannyc@mac.com) 1962 Class Ambassador: Jourdan Moore Houston (vistafluvius@gmail.com ) Sara McDanald Cassel , see In Loving Memory From Lou Blair Pfaelzer, “Jourdan Moore Houston and Bebe Ferrell McClain arrived with their husbands to visit with me and my husband for a few days here in flooding Vermont. Good thing we had a lot of catching up to do, and we did! The maple creemees were the best! I love those women!”