Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I was friended on Facebook by the organizer of the last reunion, a guy I hated in high school, typical pompous a**. After we moved here the messages on Facebook became more frequent. Mostly due to the fact that we both had golden retrievers.
<snip>
Rant over!!
Wow. I'd be tempted to avoid the reunion just to avoid interacting with him.
The 50th anniversary of my HS graduation was yesterday and there were plenty of good memories on our FB page. I'm looking forward to the reunion in early October. Airfares were kinda crazy so I redeemed airline miles but still have to fork over $$ for a hotel and rental car but I'm looking forward to it. I've developed some friendships over the past few years at reunions that I didn't have in HS- the boys were on one side of the building and the girls on the other for the first 3 years (merged my senior year, more to save %$$ than anything else) and we were placed into academic "tracks" (College Prep, Vocational and General? I forget) based on standardized testing so there were some I never saw in my classes.
Wow. I'd be tempted to avoid the reunion just to avoid interacting with him.
The 50th anniversary of my HS graduation was yesterday and there were plenty of good memories on our FB page. I'm looking forward to the reunion in early October. Airfares were kinda crazy so I redeemed airline miles but still have to fork over $$ for a hotel and rental car but I'm looking forward to it. I've developed some friendships over the past few years at reunions that I didn't have in HS- the boys were on one side of the building and the girls on the other for the first 3 years (merged my senior year, more to save %$$ than anything else) and we were placed into academic "tracks" (College Prep, Vocational and General? I forget) based on standardized testing so there were some I never saw in my classes.
Definitely part of the reason. Another classmate messaged me the other day asking me what I did to attract his attention, so it is noticeable. If you contradict him on a memory etc or even get remotely sarcastic in a post he jumps all over you. 635 people and only a few have stepped forward to help, because he is the self-appointed king.
BTW the "tracks" still exist, even if not blatantly. My daughter graduated last Thursday and was talking to her homeroom teacher who asked if she knew all the students (class of 500) and she said not if they weren't in AP or honors classes.
And someone mentioned yearbooks, if you weren't popular in my daughter's HS, you didn't get your picture taken a lot. She laughed at graduation and said alot of those kids are going to get their asses handed to them in college because they were no longer important. She has no illusions.
We will be having our 50th in three years, Class of '74. Wow!
I haven't gone to any of our reunions. I think our 10th was a Pot Smoking Party at a Camp Ground. I recently learned there was a special book created for our 30th Reunion which allowed for voluntary personal story contributions from all Class Mates. I never knew about this book. One female Class Mate (who I felt was part of the Inner Circle in HS) also never knew about the Book and was shocked to later learn her name wasn't even included in the Class List!
Oh well......
I have connected with some Classmates via FB and Alumni sites. Most of the A-Holes still fit that description, although a few are now great people. One of the Stoners is a very successful Architect. A surprising number of Classmates are already deceased.
I have not been to ANY class reunions. I live on the West Coast - my hometown is in Wisconsin.
There’s a small handful of friends that I have kept in touch with over the years - I know 2 of them will not be attending.
That said - the reunion committee established a FB page. Complete with photos and stories of those who have died. We had a graduating class of 500.
And by posting a “hello” message on the page - I reconnected with a couple of old friends.
Honestly - that’s about as good as it will get. I cannot see spending over $1000 (airfare, hotel, car) to sit in a room with people I have not spoken to in over 50 years.
I’m in the same boat next October however I don’t have to go quite as far but I can afford it so why not do it it’ll be fine. Ok
I forgot all about this thread. I need to remember to subscribe to threads when I post.
Well regretfully, I will not be going to my 50th high school reunion. The politics (both presidential and internal) got out of control. Politically, I lean left. But my Catholic classmates were overwhelmingly Trumpers. In 2020, I just couldn't imagine any of my Class of 1971 classmates voting for Trump. But they did. Twice.
So I was labelled as a California Communist-hippie. I avoid talking presidential politics with anyone. But when I read their Facebook posts, I was totally surprised by the number of Trumpers in my class. Catholics were advised by their Bishops and Cardinals that a vote for Biden was a mortal sin. Talking with my classmates became very difficult.
Much to my surprise, a costly Catholic education did not lead to a good job in my high school class. Most of my classmates were poverty-level and couldn't afford to buy a 50th Reunion ticket. So I wrote a generous check to my reunion planning committee and asked them to cut the ticket prices in half. Rather than thank me, they accused me of flaunting my wealth. I just couldn't win no matter what I did.
So I backed off from my global recruiting efforts. The reunion committee really didn't want out-of-the-area classmates to attend. They were happy with the same faces that attended our reunions for the past 50 years.
If I sound disgusted, I am. I really wanted our 50th Reunion to be an event to remember. My wife and I plan charity events here in San Diego. I gave them several easy ideas how to pay for this event but my ideas were not welcome. Everyone wanted to party and no one wanted to work. So I reluctantly moved on.
I forgot all about this thread. I need to remember to subscribe to threads when I post.
Well regretfully, I will not be going to my 50th high school reunion. The politics (both presidential and internal) got out of control. Politically, I lean left. But my Catholic classmates were overwhelmingly Trumpers. In 2020, I just couldn't imagine any of my Class of 1971 classmates voting for Trump. But they did. Twice.
So I was labelled as a California Communist-hippie. I avoid talking presidential politics with anyone. But when I read their Facebook posts, I was totally surprised by the number of Trumpers in my class. Catholics were advised by their Bishops and Cardinals that a vote for Biden was a mortal sin. Talking with my classmates became very difficult.
Much to my surprise, a costly Catholic education did not lead to a good job in my high school class. Most of my classmates were poverty-level and couldn't afford to buy a 50th Reunion ticket. So I wrote a generous check to my reunion planning committee and asked them to cut the ticket prices in half. Rather than thank me, they accused me of flaunting my wealth. I just couldn't win no matter what I did.
So I backed off from my global recruiting efforts. The reunion committee really didn't want out-of-the-area classmates to attend. They were happy with the same faces that attended our reunions for the past 50 years.
If I sound disgusted, I am. I really wanted our 50th Reunion to be an event to remember. My wife and I plan charity events here in San Diego. I gave them several easy ideas how to pay for this event but my ideas were not welcome. Everyone wanted to party and no one wanted to work. So I reluctantly moved on.
I could have written this. Same exact dynamic as I now live in the Bay Area, and have unfriended every single Trumper from my northern New England high school class. Just isn’t worth the effort, sadly.
Yup! I also lean left politically and have been labeled as a 'Communist Socialist' by far right classmates on FB. To a person they are all financially destitute and survive only via Government Programs created to aid the income challenged.
I didn't bother to inform them that Communism and Socialism are two distinctly separate economic/government theories, and as such no one can be a Communist Socialist.
Well, my 50th reunion was planned for July 2020. (Height of Covid).
I have reconnected over the years and more so due to Facebook with quite a few people from my very large graduating class. Some I would get together with from time to time or at least keep in touch with. I did go to our 30th reunion, (there were some before that but I did not go) and had a wonderful time. Since then, as I say I did get together very occasionally with some in person.
Originally I really enjoyed and felt the connections were on a very comfortable and warm level.
Somehow when the 50th started to be planned, I dont know why, but I was not enthused. Once I explained that I wasn't into a big bash, and that if I wanted to connect with people I really prefer small groups or even one on one, it seemed that the people who were super invested in the 50th were offended.
As it happened, the reunion was canceled and may be rescheduled for 2022.
High School was a very good and fun time for me, but I marvel at how some people seem to not have moved on from it and really connect identity to it.
I have since been quite turned off to it, and many of the people. What I thought were warm and deep connections, seem to be the opposite.
So, I am less connected and have no plans to get together. I am still in touch with several, but actually not the ones I was originally very connected to.
Sometimes the way things "shake out" can be most interesting.
People who live their whole lives in the same area can be incredibly cliquish, small-minded and unwelcoming to anyone outside their closed circle of lifetime and high school friends. We recently moved away from such a town.
I've not been called a communist yet but a close friend was when she declined an invitation to attend a GOP rally, stating that she was a Democrat.
I think that same mentality that leads people to have no interest in venturing into the larger world beyond their upbringing and enlarging their minds in any way is the same mentality that leads them to throw out the words communist and socialist without even bothering to look up the definition of those terms.
They toss out those words indiscriminately and then complain about "the elites" looking down on them.
My wife and I went to one of her reunions, 40th I think, that was being held in a large hotel with multiple meeting rooms. She hadn't seen any of her classmates since graduation and was excited to see them as adults. We pushed through the crowded lobby and down a hall to where the reunion was being held and walked in the door of a packed room but she didn't recognize anyone. She did turn to me and say, "they've all aged so much". I was feeling pretty good about my own appearance as well compared to the people I was talking to. We mingled about 30 minutes before we realized we were in the wrong reunion. It was a class that graduated ten years before hers and just happened to be having their reunion at the same place on the same night. We crossed the hall into the correct reunion and the reality of our age.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
