Cristina Booker

1.) Who do you wish you kept in touch with from high school?
I was lousy about staying in touch with everybody when I moved away from MI. Fortunately, Saliha, Ann, Neil, Mazzoli, Stephanie, Denyse & Jennifer tolerate my flakiness. I would love to know what's up with: Lisa Piccard, MaryKay, Sandy K, Bernice, Amanda, Heather, Fred, Greg Panek, Kris Penner, Stephanie Martin, Tony P. and Matt H. and all kids from Walnut Lake...
2.) What is something you wish you did after high school or college that you never had the chance to do?
Similar to others' lament, I also wish I had lived in another country while young and flexible. I had no idea as a student how short 3 weeks of vacation would feel once the rat race began!
3.) What is something you're happy you had the chance to do?
I've lived in some great places in the US-- San Francisco & now Boston. For work, I've been able to work hard for public health and social causes that mean a lot to me. Seeing Bill Gates & Bill Clinton and activists from across the globe at the last Int'l AIDS conference was a definite highlight. Shameless plug: one of my favorite vounteer activities is being a Community Partner for www.BeadForLife.org -- a group that sells fair trade recycled paper jewelry from Uganda.
4.) Where is your favorite place you've been to in the last 20 years?
Tough to pick one place -nothing like scuba diving in Grand Cayman and eating/drinking like the gods in Tuscany with friends (Saliha among them).
5.) Name a high school memory that still makes you smile/laugh
So many come to mind... Miss Slaughter's many life lessons ("Do you really think you're gonna change when you turn 18 and become an adult? Most of you will pretty much stay the same - just wait and see."), art department trip to NYC, getting busted by Gerardo shortly after graduation when several of us almost put the school up for sale (you young offenders know who you are), skipping class for the first MLK march, the daily rides to/from school with friends... And I need to correct an important detail in Stephanie's story -- Ronna and Ann were there, too, and it was vodka (not rum).
6.) Who are you looking forward to seeing at the reunion?
Everybody.
7.) Is there anything your spouse/significant other would be surprised to know about you from your high school days?
There's little he doesn't know. The fact that I was a class officer and involved with Safe Rides is a little puzzling to most people, though.