Susan Flynn
More than a dozen high school reunions are taking place tonight on the North Shore. But the reality is mini-reunions are happening all year long — on Facebook.
Classmates will walk through the door tonight already knowing what many of the other people look like, where they work, how many kids they have and, depending on how frequent the posts, what they ate for dinner.
You don't have to wait until the reunion to see if the high school football captain is still handsome and fit. With Facebook, you can quickly pull up a photo of him at the beach with his four kids and decide for yourself.
Taking the advice of his 20-something son, David Gravel created a Facebook account to help plan tonight's reunion for the Peabody High School Class of 1974.
"I was quite amazed at how many people were on it," Gravel says.
He heard from people who had never come to a reunion before. He saw current photos of classmates to replace the 18-year-old faces preserved in his mind. He found himself drawn to the online community where he had thought only people his son's age went to hang out.
The same thing happened to Caroline "Cheech" Garabedian. She let her daughter create a Facebook account to promote the reunion for Salem High Class of 1979. She was skeptical at first.
Then her daughter came in with an update: "Mom, in two hours, you have more friends than I have."
Now neither plans to close the account after tonight's parties end.
Facebook is the high school reunion that never ends. Forty-something friends of mine have connected with old elementary school boyfriends and favorite teachers, tracked down the most beautiful girl from high school, and took some degree of pleasure discovering from her posted photos that, yes, there's a price to pay for perpetually bronzed skin.
"I think Facebook has really changed a lot of people's lives for the better," says Jen Mason, who recently created a Facebook page for the Peabody High Class of 1989. There are 156 members.
Shelley Powell helped organize tonight's Beverly High School Class of 1984 reunion and used Facebook to get the word out. Some people rely on Facebook to help decide if they plan to attend, based on who else is going. But she wonders if there may be a downside.
"I have heard some say, 'Why go to the reunion? I am already talking to the people I want to on Facebook.'"
Not everyone is on Facebook, obviously. But sometimes it feels that way. The company reports that age 35 and older is its fastest-growing demographic.
I am still lukewarm about the benefits of Facebook. For me, it's like lobster. Everyone keeps telling me how great it is, and then I try it and I'm left wondering what the fuss is all about.
I've had a few Facebook "friend" requests from high school classmates I haven't spoken to in some 25 years. The truth is, it sort of creeped me out.
As terrible as it sounds, here's where I take a different view from many Facebook fans out there. I don't want to reconnect with people from my past through my computer.
What I miss is the element of surprise, the randomness of running into someone at the mall, the beach or a Red Sox game. There's no mystery with Facebook. You type, and there they are.
I guess I like to think that the sandy-haired boy I had a crush on in fifth grade still looks that way. I don't need to discover he's bald with two kids living in upstate New York.
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Staff writer Susan Flynn can be reached at sflynn@salem news.com or call 978-338-2658.
