April 2003

This was a busy month.  It began in Pasadena, where I became president of the Pacific Sociological Association.  The theme I've chosen for the 2004 meetings in San Francisco is "Sociology: An Idea Whose Time Has come."  My intention is to (1) highlight the impacts sociology has had in the past--often unheralded--and (b) create an agenda for a more impactful future, asking decision-makers from outside sociology to identify areas where they most need sociological input.

A little later in the month, a good friend, Irene Peter, finally succumbed to cancer and its cures.  A quarter century ago, Laurence Peter, author of The Peter Principle, wrote a short piece for my introductory sociology text, Society by Agreement.  Later, he wrote a dust-jacket blurb for my You Can Make a Difference.  When Sheila and I moved to Southern California, we finally met Laurence and his wife, Irene.  We were immediately taken by Irene and when Laurence died in 1990,  we stayed in touch with Irene. though never as often as we wanted to.  We had visited her just a month before her death, and her mind was operating 100% as her body was in decline.  I loaned her an iMac that we thought would put her in electronic communication, but it came too late.  We will miss Irene. . .and already do.

The middle of the month took a happier turn, with the arrival of Ara, Aaron, Evie, and little no-name.  They came for Easter and we got to iniate Evie in the world of egg hunts.  She turned out to be very good at it. Our niece, Jessica, also joined us for the festivities.

In addition to her Easter egg chores, Evie found some time to relax and recreate.


The next weekend, I flew to the University of Wisconsin in Madison to give a keynote address at a data analysis workshop.  Two days after I returned, our good friend, Bill Ryerson, founder of the Population Media Center arrived to give the keynote address at a science fair here at Chapman.  All in all, things moved right along in April.