GEORGE M. GUESS
Washington, D.C.

George M. Guess, Ph.D
Scholar in Residence in Public Administration and Policy
Co-Director, Center for Democracy and Election Management (CDEM)
American University
3201 New Mexico Avenue NW, #395
Washington, D.C. 20016
202-885-1538
email: guess@american.edu
websites: http://www.american.edu/ia/cdem/index.cfm http://spa.american.edu

Thanks for the invite. I won't be able to make it down as my '48 Cadillac hearse is just not up to it anymore! Part of the problem was that my mom paid someone to cut it in half with a torch while I was in class during the 11th grade. But, I do recall some of the names on the committee (all bound for success so quickly that I could see their vapor trails leaving CGHS). Of course, I remember yours. We might have even had a disastrous date once. Hope you did better after that--I'm sure you did! Unfortunately, I had to get serious after graduating from there, as the councilor seriously believed I was best cut out for the army or even worse. So, I headed to California, stayed with my brother who was in the speed shop business in San Jose at the time, spent a few years at Foothill College, headed to UC Berkeley and later got an MPA (at USC) and a PhD (at UC Riverside). So, the worst student in the '62 class at Gables ended up ok on the education ladder. I've been tenured faculty, aid worker all over the place, and now do a bit of both.

I did talk with Dean Cook a few times on periodic visits after graduation. He felt like he had let me down somehow and wanted to know how they might deal with students like me in the future. I told him he couldn't, because like many whose hormones and muscles are out of control at the time of life, I was more interested in drinking, chasing women and having a good time. I later learned to do all those more efficiently, while getting college degrees, jobs and books written in the process.

Keep in touch and drink one for me at the reunion.