{"id":4039,"date":"2026-09-07T13:36:39","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T20:36:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/riffin_griffin\/?p=4039"},"modified":"2026-09-09T11:38:56","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T18:38:56","slug":"epic-friendship-beyond-gilgamesh-and-enkidu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/riffin_griffin\/2026\/09\/epic-friendship-beyond-gilgamesh-and-enkidu\/","title":{"rendered":"Epic Friendship – Beyond Gilgamesh and Enkidu"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On Wednesday, September 2, Visiting Assistant Professor of English, Robert Ribera, gave a lecture to Reed’s class of 2030 for their second ever class of HUM 110. He lectured on The Epic of Gilgamesh<\/em>, with a talk called “How Would it End? Ain’t Got a Friend”<\/strong> (which references the song “What Did I Do to Be So Black and Blue,” utilized across Invisible Man<\/em>, which be the final unit of HUM 110 this year). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weeks before, Professor Ribera had put out a call to Reedies far and wide: “I was hoping to end by telling the students that they are going to meet some lifelong friends at Reed, perhaps right there in Vollum lecture hall.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Responses poured out of the woodwork\u2014many Reedies truly did make friendships of epic proportions during their time at Reed. Professor Ribera and the freshmen left Vollum with a sniffle or two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See a selection of our favorites:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I’m currently relaxing on a couch in Burgas with my best friend, Alex ’04, and his family on my annual Bulgarian holiday trip.  Bulgarian Disney junior is playing on the TV  for the kids and I just read the request of professor, Robert Ribera. I thought I’d send a quick note that, yes, you will make life long friends at Reed. <\/p>Evan Hayashi \u201902<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
\n
\"\"

In the first black and white image from 1979, are (left to right), Mark Mosley \u201981 , Beneth Sauer \u201982, and myself (Jean-Pierre Masclet \u201981).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
In the color image shot in New York City in 2023, a group of us chose to meet and see the Edward Hopper retrospective at the Whitney.
(left to right: me, Beneth Sauer \u201982, Felicia Value \u201982, Jane Page \u201981). We all met at Reed and have stayed friends ever since<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\"\"
This is Noah Iliinsky (left) and Jer Faludi (right), both physics \u201995. The earliest photo is probably in Sission dorm in the \u201992-\u201993 school year. This photo montage was created for Noah’s wedding.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Tina Le and Jessa celebrating their 18 years friend-iversary after meeting at Reed, where they took HUM 110 together. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

John Ullman \u201965 wrote in about his wife, Irene Namkung \u201965, who he met in freshman year:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I suppose Irene counts as a friend. The first was taken in Fall 1962, or maybe spring 1963, our sophomore year. She’s looking out of her room in McNaughton, second floor. The second slide is Irene with Peter Bergel at our 40th Reunion. Peter has been a life-long friend. The third is with Phil and Vivian Williams who graduated a few years before us. They collaborated with us to start the Seattle Folklore Society. The pic is from a Seattle Times article  from 2006 about the Folklore Society’s 40th anniversary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Making life long friends doesn’t begin to tell the story, at least for us. There were at least a dozen Reedies, probably more, who impacted our lives in profound ways, quite apart from anything academic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Never thought of ourselves as characters from Gilgamesh, though.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I met my best friend (and former husband) Jeremy Stone at Reed. As did many of my classmates! 
Here is us in freshman year.<\/p>Anne Pearson \u201999<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Two are from our time at Reed (graduation and spring break in Astoria). We graduated in 2014. The other two are pictures from a wedding and our group trip to Alaska in 2025. Despite living all over the country, we have remained friends and see each other every year or two!
Alumni pictured: Lisa Hiura \u201914, Nisa Beceriklisoy \u201914, Larisa Owechko \u201914, Phoebe Young \u201914, Alan Bauer \u201913<\/p>Phoebe Young \u201914<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Larry Randall and Judith Gedney Baggs, class of ’64, remain friends. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Larry and Judith have been friends since Reed days in the early 1960s. Larry lived in Quincy with Judith\u2019s spouse, Ray, for their freshman and sophomore years, until Judith and Ray married in 1962. At the wedding, Larry was the Best Man. They all moved apart after Reed but had a few in-person visits in New York state, California (on Larry and Marla\u2019s cross country honeymoon), and Washington state. Ray died in 2023, but Larry and Judith, both of whom now live in Continuing Care Retirement Communities, in New York and Seattle respectively, have kept in touch. Larry provided advisement to Judith when she moved.<\/p>Photos show Ray and Judith’s wedding, with Larry as Best Man<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Bonnie Stockman and I became friends in fall 1967, when she was a freshman and I was a sophomore. We bonded over folk dancing, which was very popular at the time, sourdough pancakes, and in later years, horses. 
Here is the Peach Jam Story. In 1968, we found ourselves in the same city at the same time. Our first visit consisted in catching up on gossip about mutual friends. For the second, however…what else was there to say? Was continuing gossip healthy? I had a bag of peaches and she knew how to make jam. We spent the afternoon making peach jam, laughing and engaged in kitchen creativity. The lesson we both understood was that friendships endure when they are based on shared life experiences and mutual passions (and delicious jam is always a good thing.)
We remained best friends over the decades, living in different states, and vacationing together with our families. When she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, I flew up for some of the initial rounds of chemo. Almost 5 years later, in 2013, she asked me to come when she entered hospice. I helped to take care of her and her family for the final 6 weeks of her life. I wrote her obituary for the Reed magazine.
Here are a few photos from across the years.<\/p>Deborah J. Ross \u201968<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We all met in 1972 at Reed. We’ve stayed in touch since then over the years. From all over the US (NH, MA, MT, MI, NY, CA), we shared houses all over southeast Portland from Holgate, to Hawthorne to Carleton Street. Two of us became dentists, one a hand surgeon, one an ophthalmologist, one an investment banker, another an attorney and another a college professor. Scattered after Reed to the four winds, New Hampshire, Washington, Oregon, Montana, Wyoming, Connecticut, London, California. We are constantly in touch, messaging photos of our journeys\u2026hoping to rendezvous once again soon\u2026 once we are all on the same continent at the same time!<\/p>Art Lyford \u201976<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

From Rafeal Gurvis \u201977: “A group of LIFE LONG FRIENDS from the classes of 1976 and 1977 are shown in these 4 pictures. Not every picture shows everyone, but between the 4 pictures most members of the tribe are shown. We got together over the decades for various joyous occasions:”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\n
\n

Lolo Scheiner and Beth Melton (n\u00e9e Ungerecht), both class of ’06, met during Prospie week. They immediately connected and spent the week together – eating in Commons, touring the dorms, and buying their first Reed sweatshirts in the bookstore together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was before the era of cell phones, so they stayed in touch by email when they headed back home. They both chose Reed as their first choice, and when they arrived, were in neighboring cross-canyon dorms (Bragdon and Chittick). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They spent much of their time at Reed together. Parties in the Bragdon hallway and the Chittick balcony (RIP), knitting or studying in each other’s rooms, and even going in together on a slightly functional $600 car so they could get off campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lo and Beth shared a thesis office in the psychology department. When Lo graduated a semester early, Beth’s disposable camera roll (remember, no cell phones yet) was full of blurry photos of her rainy spring-fall thesis parade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After graduation, they went their separate ways, Beth staying in Portland and Lo headed to New York. But, as fate would have it, they ended up back in the same place – Boulder, Colorado – as Beth started her first teaching job and Lo started grad school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They haven’t had the opportunity to live in the same place again, but it doesn’t matter. They talk constantly, sending each other “which bird are you?” quizzes, obscure questions about niche linguistic observations, and photos of the new and interesting plants and fruits they find. Weddings, kids, land projects, road trips – they are in it together. Friends for well over half their lives.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We met at Reed in the early 1980s. Cathy and Louis bonded during an Orientation Week hike in the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness. Laurie and Louis met in Hum 110 conference. Cathy and Laurie met later in an Anthropology class and lived together senior year, enduring the trials and tribulations of our theses. Over the past four decades, we’ve stayed in touch across the miles – attending weddings, bat mitzvahs, sharing meals and lively conversations in Seattle, Boston and points in between.<\/p>Cathy Baker \u201986<\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

From Ann Campbell \u201994: “Anna Billstrom \u201994 and Nanci Surrett were my best friends. Nanci transferred to Mount Holyoke during her junior year (lots of people used to transferred out of Reed in the early 90s), but we’ve all stayed close over the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nanci was my roommate during my first year of a PhD program at Emory in Atlanta. We lived together during 1994-1995. Anna and I have gotten together at reunions or on trips many times over the years. All three of us traveled to Austen in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I always tell students in a class I teach called “Applied Austen: Emotional Intelligence in Austen’s Novels” that you cannot make new old friends. Maintaining friendships is as important as cultivating new ones. Anna and Nanci have been important to me for more than 30 years now. And it’s great to make lifelong friendships at Reed, because you find out quickly once you graduate that Reedies are unusual people. They’re smart, quirky, funny, imaginative, and just interesting to know. They are great conversationalists. You never get another shot at that sort of concentration of “clubbable” (Samuel Johnson’s term– although it was actually “unclubbable” as applied to a boor) people in one place. “<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

As Professor Ribera said in his lecture, “look around you. In the coming weeks, semesters, and years, some of the people sitting around you will become your own lifelong friends.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who were your epic friends from your time at Reed, or the Reedies who have become your friends since? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A group of freshman during the last session of HUM 110, A cluster of them near the back have remained friends to this day. Courtesy of Zach Babb. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Wednesday, September 2, Visiting Assistant Professor of English, Robert Ribera, gave a lecture to Reed’s class of 2030 for their second ever class of HUM 110. He lectured on The Epic of Gilgamesh, with a talk called “How Would it End? Ain’t Got a Friend” (which references the song “What Did I Do to … Continue reading Epic Friendship – Beyond Gilgamesh and Enkidu<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2891,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[187,190],"tags":[205,227,219],"class_list":["post-4039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-oldereed","category-studentlife","tag-community","tag-friendship","tag-hum-110"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/riffin_griffin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/riffin_griffin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/riffin_griffin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/riffin_griffin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2891"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/riffin_griffin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4039"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/riffin_griffin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4039\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4102,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/riffin_griffin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4039\/revisions\/4102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/riffin_griffin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/riffin_griffin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.reed.edu\/riffin_griffin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}