Today’s prompt from Long and Short Reviews is, “Have You Ever Attended Your High School Reunion? Why or why not?”

Well…no. I graduated in 2003: by 2013 we were all facebook friends. My high school class didn’t even talk about a ten-year reunion; it simply wasn’t on our radar. We see pictures of each other and our kids every day; we’re part of group chats where people talk about politics and substance abuse problems and getting along with spouses and share recipes. I have literally seen kids grow up on facebook, from pregnancy bumps to senior photos.The closest thing we had to a real reunion was a rally/fundraiser for a classmate who had been stricken with a rare cancer. Our class has had numerous deaths, so there have been funerals over the years — far, far more than we would expect, even if we are ‘geriatric millennials’. An attempt was made at a 20-year reunion, but it was a small group (under ten, mostly the organizer’s friends) and sadly one of the few attendees has since passed away. These days our big class event chat is mostly used to share links to each other’s fundraisers, gofundmes, that kind of thing. Robert Putnam would not be surprised. Working at the library, whenever I see class reunion adverts it’s always for classes that preceded social media: I wonder if they’ll just stop being a thing once the Boomers pass away It’s a morbid thought, but Boomers really do prop up a lot of society that people don’t realize. Mainline Protestantism, for instance, is half-Boomer.

And on that chipper note, WWW Wednesday!

WHAT have you finished reading recently? Bad Blood. A narrative history of the RFK/LBJ relationship, which was fairly acrimonious.

WHAT are you reading now? Need to focus on Angle of Repose.

WHAT are you reading next? Need to give Rupture some attention.