Nassoons around the country and world have been coping with the global pandemic in a plethora of ways. Here follows the thoughts and pictures from the lives of current members through many great classes in our past, all shared with an eye to the future in which we may share our song, fun, and camaraderie in person again!
All are welcome to share pictures, videos, paragraphs, and snippets from their lives, and I'll continue to post as these roll in.
Sean Crites ('22) - Business Manager
After returning home to WV, learning and motivation became very difficult without the quintessential social experiences that assuage Princeton’s academic rigor. I am fortunate in that my county has only had 5 confirmed cases of coronavirus and my community looks forward to restarting soon. I have spent my extra time volunteering at a local food pantry which will lead to a summer internship before hopefully returning in the fall. As the Business Manager for the Nassoons and a Residential College Advisor, I have been in several meetings with the administration about the fall, and everything remains uncertain. We remain optimistic, but in either case, singing will be drastically different due to social distancing measures. Regardless, our virtual experiences will provide options to remain connected for the future. We are all learning how to cope with loss in these times of uncertainty, but I am choosing to focus on the newfound appreciation for one another and the innovation that this will bring.
Franklyn Darnis ('15) - TB and Crossfitter extraordinaire
Alan Southworth ('14) and his girlfriend Emma Krasovich put on a virtual trivia on April 4th for anyone who was able to join. With 20 teams and 160 people, the event gave us something to look forward to on a Saturday night. The attendance was made all the more impressive given the just-before-released Netflix docu-series "Tiger King", the popularity of which I like to believe has something to do with our alma mater, but probably more to do with the fact that there weren't more awesome trivia nights for others to join while sheltering in place...
The night was a blast! Our team led for 7 out of the 8 rounds and was put together by John Whelchel ('15) under the sobriquet "Reign of Terror", a reference to the Nassoons officer corps in '14-'15 which included all four of the then rising seniors, Yacob Yonas '15 (President), James Walsh '15 (Music Director), John Whelchel '15 (Performance Director), and me (Business Manager). We were ultimately bested in the final round by our seniors in a team that included Ryan McCarty '14, Quinton Beck '14, Krishna Choudhary '14, David Simins '13, and Vijay Ramani '12. We couldn't help but notice that the fourth missing member of the 2014 class was the one picking the questions...
Jokes aside, the event was a resounding success. Alan's COVID-themed categories and clues were unsurprisingly super fun and creative. Personal favorites included a Round 1 - "Wine, Dine, and Quarantine" - clue: "Neither sweet nor bread, sweetbread is the culinary name for the thymus or pancreas, typically from calf or lamb, and is considered a dish in this terribly-named food category." The answer was just offal. Another favorite was Round 6 - what is haPPEning - in which all 10 answers included the consecutive letters "PPE." The night was a blast, with reunions, laughter, and a little smack talk. Alan and Emma even used the night to help raise money to support a community that was being affected by the pandemic, which was a creative and appreciated way to support in these uncertain times. I'm looking forward to the next virtual trivia night, which will hopefully be another one of Songs (round 2), Friends, and Charity.
Scott Watson ('74) - PNAA Board Member
With a greatly-reduced work load (and commensurate reduction of income) from my business, Charleen and I are thankful that our expenses have also been somewhat reduced. For exercise, now that the health club is closed, we are doing work ourselves that we formerly paid others to do around the house and garden, and we are not complaining about the cancellation or postponement of the costly events and weekend trips that were supposed to take place during this time. We are using our extra time together to undertake long-delayed projects and to rekindle the intense flame that united us almost ten years ago. I am writing a detailed summary of all the things Charleen will need to handle if I catch the virus and lose the ability to take care of them myself, temporarily or permanently. We have become more observant Episcopalians, hearkening back to our childhood by participating almost daily with other members of our church in a Zoom-meeting service of Morning Prayer. I am working more diligently on the two books I plan to publish after I retire (since this may happen much sooner than I was expecting), one a very light-hearted set of somewhat-autobiographical short stories, and the other a serious examination of how we humans conduct our myriad human-centered activities, thoughtless of how they affect everything else on the planet, and offering up for public discussion some proposals for correcting the present imbalance. I hope the onset of the virus, and the many inconveniences caused by our attempts to mitigate its effect on us, will get more people thinking about how we can change our ways and begin to make amends to our world, while there is still time for this to have a useful and beneficial effect.
Rich McGlynn ('60) - PNAA Board Member
The pandemic has hit NJ really hard. Vicky and I are sheltering here at home. We try to walk every day, but always wear a mask and rubber gloves. Too many folks we see don’t do either, and it concerns us. As old folks, we really don’t want to catch the virus because our age group has the highest mortality rate. So we’re very careful. Zooming has kept us in touch with family, friends and weekly Church services, all of which is very helpful. Who knows what comes next? Sure would like to resume traveling. We have a Senior Soons gathering scheduled for the second week of November in Longboat Key in Florida and we do hope it will happen. Stay safe and well! SFC.
Matthew Weatherhead ('23) - R-Squad member
Hey everyone! My name is Matthew Weatherhead, and I am a freshman in the Nassoons. After the virus put a halt to in-person instruction, I headed back to Barbados. Up to the day before I was scheduled to fly back home, my island had recorded no cases of the virus, but while I was packing, I received a message from my mother that my island was no longer one of the few countries that had zero recorded cases. I arrived home to a strict lockdown with everything except essential services remaining open. The island has remained mostly the same for the past 2 months with only a few exceptions. I have been using quarantine to pick back up hobbies I haven't given as much time to at Princeton, such as playing the flute and writing songs, but I must say that the bulk of my non-schoolwork time has gone, ashamedly, to streaming services like Netflix. The virus has certainly made me think of what the implications for social interaction will be in the future. Assuming that no vaccine is found soon, we will be facing months devoid of contact with our friends and extended family. The toll that this can have on our mental health is one that I am sure no one will be able to predict, but I do wonder what might happen after the quarantine is over. Will people, now accustomed to a socially restrictive environment, lose the human urge for social interaction or will we quickly return to our past habits? Whatever the answer, one thing can be sure. We, as a society, have learned the importance of cherishing the time we spend with each other because as we now know, all of this could end in the blink of an eye. I do hope that we become a bit more unattached from our devices after this ends and place more value on face to face interaction because now that it isn't possible and everything is online, I certainly miss it.
Matt Dearth ('92)
Life in Singapore in the time of COVID-19 is quite interesting, mostly in good ways. It’s important to remember that the 2003 SARS epidemic was a much bigger problem for Asia than for the US, and as a result Singapore was well-prepared for COVID. Also, in stark contrast to the US, this is a small country of 5.5 million people, and the popular government already has quasi-authoritarian population monitoring in place—a great combination for fighting a pandemic. Though the crustier among us remember the caning of American teenager Michael Fay in 1994, I find that Singapore is a wonderful place to live as long as you don’t litter or criticize the government too much. Flag-burning, free-speech types and NRA members should probably seek residence elsewhere.
Since the virus started to spread around Asia in late January, Singapore has gradually tightened its controls. I was able to take a five-day trip to the UK at the end of February, but in mid-March the rules changed dramatically. Since then, no tourists are allowed in SG even for transit. Citizens and long-term pass holders like myself need to apply to the government for permission to re-enter before we are even allowed to buy our return ticket. Schools and “non-essential” businesses are closed. We have to scan in and out of malls and supermarkets for contract tracing, and we’ve had markings on the floors for months to enforce social distancing. Nothing dramatically different from the rest of the world, I expect, but I’ve also noticed some fun and perhaps uniquely Singaporean things along the way...
First, cocktail delivery is fantastic! Bars pre-mix cocktails and vacuum-seal the liquid with the garnish separately. And delivery is quick and easy: cut open a corner of the bag, pour over ice and enjoy one of the best cocktail cultures in the world. Second, Singapore Airlines has sent over 1000 flight attendants into the community to perform customer-service jobs. If you’ve ever flown SQ, you know that this is the best community beautification program around. Third, the government hired hundreds of “social distancing ambassadors,” helping enforce safe distancing in the subway (MRT) and in queues to enter malls and stores. They wear polo shirts and armbands and remind me again why Singapore feels like Disneyland or The Truman Show. Our so-called “circuit breaker” restrictions are set to ease as of June 1, but without a dramatic relaxing of international travel restrictions, the biggest issue we have is that our summer plans in the US appear to be shot. Still, I count my blessings every day knowing that it could be much, much worse. Like many others, I celebrated my birthday during this crazy period; and since it was my 50th, it certainly felt less celebratory than I had expected. But I’m very fortunate to be healthy and that those around me are healthy as well. I can even hold my own doing 50 pushups with my teenagers (Sebastian 19, Nicolas 17).
Eric Westendorf ('94)
This spring was supposed to be about integration. In December, the K-12 digital curriculum company I co-founded, LearnZillion, was acquired by a large education company. My team and I all stayed on and we were in the midst of figuring out how to take advantage of big sales and marketing teams. Then COVID-19 hit. Schools closed. Suddenly our current and prospective customers needed advice: how should our teachers make up for lost learning when they returned later this spring? Within several weeks, the question morphed as schools realized they probably wouldn’t re-open in the spring. How should they recover lost learning in the fall? Then, it morphed again. What if they didn’t come back in the fall? What advice could we give about how to support distance learning in steady-state? My team has been working to answer that question, putting together a framework for how school districts can support their teachers in thinking through entirely new schedules. What are the different modalities for teaching and learning (ex. synchronous large group vs. asynchronous small group)? What are the benefits and drawbacks of each modality? What are different ways of blending those modalities into a cohesive learning experience over the course of a week? How does that shift the role of curriculum? Of teachers? Of students? Of parents? It’s exhausting and exhilarating at the same time. I know that some of these insights will become obsolete when the virus is over. But others won't. Which insights might become a catalyst for something better down the road?
Jamie Forrest ('98)
My wife, Rachel, two kids, Sasha and Ezra, and I have been sheltering in place in Pittsburgh since about March 16th. On May 15, Governor Wolf moved from a "Code Red" to a "Code Yellow" lockdown, which means more retail shops began to open, and small gatherings of people can take place. But my family and I are continuing to shelter-in-place as much as possible. My kids have both been doing “Zoom school” since around the beginning of April, and my wife Rachel, who is a professor at the University of Pittsburgh, moved all of her classes online for the first time in her career. We are fortunate to still be working (from home) at our relatively stable jobs (I am a software engineer at Apple).
To pass the time and have some laughs during this strange time, every weekday after family lunchtime we record a video of ourselves dancing to the “song of the day,” as selected by us. This usually involves costumes, some lip-synching, some singing, and sometimes even choreo. We send that video every day to my mother and step-father, who live in Florida, and they do the same for us.
We started on March 23 and have only missed 2-3 weekdays. We’ve done so many—around 40 so far. Sometimes the whole song, sometimes just the first minute or so. A few selections: “Thriller” by Michael Jackson, “Hey Ya” by Outkast, “Happy” by Pharrell Williams, “Limbo Rock” by Chubby Checker, “Particle Man” by They Might be Giants. Then we had a whole Broadway phase: “Tradition” from Fiddler on the Roof, “Jet Song” from West Side Story, “The Hamilton Polka” by “Weird Al” Yankovic, “One” from A Chorus Line, “Anything You Can Do” from Annie Get Your Gun. It’s become one of the highlights of my day during the pandemic!
Doug Eisenhart ('72)
Given the Nassoon Notes is recognizing the impact of COVID-19 on the Nassoons, i.e., spring semester canceled, no graduation for Class of 2020, no Annual Dinner, etc., to these could be added the cancellation of the planned 60’s-70s mini-reunion in Boston for May 6-10, 2020. Among other activities, we were scheduled to sing the National Anthem at Fenway Park, hence the reunion title "'Soons & Sox".
To keep up with our brethren, a set of recent “Perfidia” related posts on the PNAA FB page contain videos that I think will entertain and enlighten all Nassoons about the history of our founding song:
“A flashback to the song and the era that started it all for the Nassoons. . .”
"Perfidia" also appears in Casablanca - who knew?
"If you want to hear the source of the 'Soons Perfidia arrangement listen to the Glen Miller recording" - Rich McGlynn
Comments