Hello,' 99s! The holiday season is upon us, and it's hard to believe that we're ending another decade as 2009 draws to a close and the winter months arrive. There isn't a lot of news to report and so this issue of Class Notes will be brief.
Kristin Garro writes that she was happy to run into Rex Morey when she returned to Duke to start her second year of business school. She writes: "It was great to have an old familiar face pop out of nowhere down in Durham! I'm really looking forward to swapping Dartmouth stories with him over the coming year."
Michelle Savage, meanwhile, is setting up a new company called Best Friend's Closet that allows users to borrow, rent and buy items from each other. The site will rely on trust and sharing between users-what Michelle calls "friendship-based capital"-to exchange goods. Michelle writes that her novel approach was inspired by two courses she took at Dartmouth. In the first course, on African studies, Michelle learned about how hunter-gatherers in Botswana developed a philanthropic culture. In her second course, on feminism and wedding traditions in East Asia, Michelle was surprised to learn that many women in India of marrying age would spend up to a third of their income buying saris. A woman in India, she realised, could save money if there was a way to borrow or recycle clothing. Best Friend's Closet was designed to help people share in an innovative way and is geared toward college students and young professionals in the United Kingdom and United States. The company is now in the process of raising capital and other partnership support. If you would like to find out more information or just get in touch, you can e-mail Michelle at info@bestfriendscloset.com.
That's all the news for now. I wish you all the best in this holiday season and hope you had a wonderful year. I look forward to sharing more news with you in 2010!
Tony Perry
tony.perry.99@alum.dartmouth.org