Michigan Today
. . . Summer 2002


Return of the Bludgeon Battalion of '69 (continued from previous page)

We had lunch at the Red Hawk (new) near Nickels Arcade (unchanged). Our waitress was a reflection of who we'd been in the '60s, and who our daughters are now. We trotted out our credentials for her -- former students. "Wow! Sometimes I wonder where I'll be 30 years from now." But such wondering is only an idle pastime for a busy student. For us, back then, the more serious question was: what will I major in? Looking further, we'd had vague expectations about marriage, children and careers. But now we had the facts, and had gathered to share them.

Here the 10 of us offer our stories to those of you we knew less well, or not at all, because our reunion taught us that, like the waitress at the Red Hawk, you share with us that larger experience that the Bludgeon Battalion is/was a reflection of: the University of Michigan.

Kristen Rinaker
BA -- English

Ye Olde Oracle has survived defiance more than once, and herewith bounces back unfazed.
I hung out in Ann Arbor with a job and grad courses for a bit, masters degree from University of Chicago, taught high school English for one year, married Jim (a forester from U-M School of Natural Resources), followed him to California where he trained for the Olympics, followed him to Oregon where I taught bonehead English at Oregon Institute of Technology, went to UC Berkeley law school on a bet, became a bad statistic (the marriage didn't survive), clerked for 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, taught business law at University of the Pacific, didn't get tenure, became in-house counsel for an alternative energy firm, then started my own practice, got into writing scripts for corporate training films, etc. (initially relating to legal requirements, then some ESL, whatever), got adopted by a cat, bought a house on a canal with a big garden, became an aerobics instructor, and went back to teaching English (now at junior college). Still practice a little law, as little as possible (prefer mediation), write the occasional script.
An old friend from U-M (PhD Chemistry, now a boat builder) materialized with the manuscript of his first novel, and I was in it -- a good line, he moved in.
15-minutes of fame: Rinaker v. Superior Ct. 62 CA4th 155 -- a decision on mediator confidentiality. I didn't have to go to jail for contempt of court.
We now have 3 cats (new kitten just this week), 18 fruit trees (12 new this winter), and are both writing novels (his third, my first) and looking for agents/publishers for same.

Simple statistics: The Battalion originally hailed from Michigan (5), Ohio (3), Illinois (1) and Pennsylvania (1). We currently make our homes in Michigan (2), Nebraska (1), Alabama (1), Mississippi (1), New York (1), California (1), Oregon (1) and Maryland (2). Nine of us have married at least once. Seven are currently married, one for the second time. Five have children, for a total of 12 offspring. Four of the five moms devoted full time (at least a little) to raising those kids. All10 have had careers, and were pursuing them, in some form, at the turn of the century.

Our two premeds from undergraduate days both got their MD's and are currently practicing medicine. The rest of us have accumulated five master's degrees, a JD and one PhD. Yet all that learning provides only a hint of the range of activities we've found to keep ourselves occupied. (More details are contained in the mini-bios that Battalion members provided to short-circuit the catching up process, allowing us to make the most of our too short reunion in Ann Arbor.)

 

 

 

 

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