Bob Gramling and his family are on sabbatical at the University of Cambridge (UK) and the University of Kyoto (Japan) this year. “My wife, teenage kids, and I are loving our adventure! I am a palliative-care physician and public-health researcher at the University of Rochester, where my team and I study medical communication. During my sabbatical, I’m collaborating with philosophers of language and cultural linguists to better understand how they approach the study of conversations.” * Lisa McMahon-Myhran wrote from Seattle: “I continue to practice law as a bankruptcy attorney. My kids (12 and 13 … what?) are great, as is my husband, Rob. I’m in touch with Marah Silverberg Derzon and Christy O’Rourke Habetz and saw Christy and her beautiful family in December. I hope to make it East again someday soon—maybe for our 25th?” * Katie Drowne was recently named associate dean for academic affairs at the Missouri University of Science and Technology. “I’m excited for the change and the new set of responsibilities. Our kids keep my husband and me running: Genevieve is 11 and a budding writer; William is 9 and obsessed with soccer. I keep in regular touch with Karen Santoro, who lives in West Hartford, Conn., and Amy Vreeland Dow, who lives in Newton, Mass., and is the mom of darling little Ava.” * This winter contemporary artist Jim Condron showed some of his works at Pulse Miami and was part of a two-person exhibition at Adah Rose Gallery in Kensington, Md. “I made many of the works while on residency at the Edward F. Albee Foundation in Montauk, N.Y. They are thickly painted abstractions that incorporate found objects, wood, scrap metal, concrete, plaster, plastic, and animal fur. They converse with the Sienese and early Renaissance paintings by Giotto, Sassetta, and Fra Angelico. Ever an English major, I take my titles from literature by great authors such as James Salter, Anton Chekhov, Nikolai Gogol, Oscar Wilde, Hunter Thompson, Kurt Vonnegut, Ernest Hemingway, Henry Miller, and Anais Nin.” * Tabby Biddle wrote from California: “In December I published my first book, Find Your Voice: A Woman’s Call to Action. It quickly became an Amazon bestseller, reaching number-one status in business leadership and women’s studies. I’m extremely proud and excited to see the success of the book. It goes to show you how many women are ready to take a stand for their leadership, what they believe in, and their vision for the future. I hope the book will inspire women in the Colby community. I look forward to hearing about their successes and being a part of this growing movement of women’s leadership.” * Last fall Amy Selinger, Sura DuBow Lennon, Lyz Makely Best, and I spent a great weekend in Boston. Michael Stanton joined us for a giddily expensive round of drinks at the bar of the Taj Hotel. Later, while at dinner at a hip South End “breastaurant,” Lyz and Sura cemented their (our?) middle-aged status by passing around reading glasses and using the flashlight function on their iPhones to read the menus. Good grief. Lots of laughs that night. In January I caught up with Elaine Bueschen O’Grady, who was visiting from Burlington, Vt. Elaine is a senior policy advisor working on transportation and climate change at NESCAUM, a nonprofit association of air-quality agencies in the Northeast. (She wears reading glasses, too.) * Please keep the news a-comin’!