Who says grades matter?

I heard today from Rich Connor, my former roommate and best friend at the Tilton School, a prep school in New Hampshire which we both attended from 1961-1965. Rich was objecting to the fact that I had told someone we both know that was "a total fuck-up as a student." His objection was that his name and "student" should never be included in the same sentence.

While no academic wiz, Rich went on to have a great career in, of all things, newspapers. In fact, he would definitely qualify as a newspaper "tycoon" if newspapers were still valuable enough to have tycoons.

I have joked for years that New York State, newspapers and me were all headed for simultaneous demise. I now wish to take that back, and call on all sides to take it slow. However.

I will sleep more securely tonight knowing that New York has a lieutenant governor. What a relief.