Thirty years?—seems hard to believe. Greetings from a snowy northeastern U.S. in mid-winter.
I live in Amherst, Massachusetts with my two kids, Julia and Sam,
and an amazing golden retriever called Puck (after Shakespeare, not hockey).
Although the truth is, Julia just went off to be a first year at Macalester College,
so she spends most of her time in the frigid Midwest. Sam started high school last year.
I do grant writing and development work for a program called Civil Liberties and Public Policy. We are based at a local college, and we educate and train student activists working to secure reproductive rights. It’s a tough environment to be fundraising, but I love my job.
After Girls High, I studied at UCT for what seems like forever—I did a BA, a teaching diploma, honors and then masters in English. When I’d exhausted all sources of loan money, I got a job in the UCT administration, working in strategic planning, and academic development. I worked at UCT and at UWC through the late 80s and 90s, with interruptions—to start a law degree (which I loved, but never finished); to try my hand at desktop publishing; to travel to the U.S.)
In 2001, I moved with my family to the U.S. and have been here ever since.
I love Amherst—it’s a small town in the country with tonnes of open space and
walking trails, and also five colleges and 20,000+ college students and all the
cultural and intellectual life that sustains.
I’m not realy in regular contact with anyone from my year at PHSG, but it has been fun to re-connect on facebook. It would be enormous fun to come to the reunion this year—I would love to be there, but it’s a LONG way to travel. I haven’t been back to SA for about two years now, so I hope I can manage something. It would be great to read where and what everyone is doing. Happy 30th, y’all!
Tina Barsbytinabarsby@gmail.com