Connections Made Easy at ORC

by Susan Bohan, Member Since 2007

The other day while volunteering at the Library, I met a Member who has recently published his first novel, “Campusland,” and given a copy to the Collection. Reading the inside jacket, a few things were obvious. First, St. Martin’s Press was the Publisher so this is not just a lightweight vanity project. And second, Scott Johnston is a very funny guy whose quick wit and banter made it obvious that it is a book I want to read.

Then the “Six Degrees of Separation” moment happened. The inside book jacket listed that his home was in Bedford, New York where my older daughter lives. The “name game” was the next step when we discovered that he knew her and had even recently played Paddleball with my son-in-law. Next, he asked my last name only to discover that he used to work with my husband, Paul, at Salomon Brothers years ago.

I often ask people I meet here what brought them to The Reef and the answers are as varied as the Members themselves. Scott Johnston and his wife first came here on vacation in 2000 at the urging of friends. He liked the people, the polite atmosphere and the fact that those he met were from all over. He became an Equity Member shortly thereafter.

But what made him write this book was what was most interesting. Being a novelist was never on his “bucket list”. He had careers in finance, owned three nightclubs in Manhattan, and created and sold two technology companies. It was when he went to a Free Speech lecture at Yale University, his alma mater, where he witnessed demonstrations on both sides and an insult from a young woman as he held open a door for her. He just felt that authoring a parody of what he termed, “an obvious bubble of academic smugness” would be a fun project.

The book is enjoying great reviews so congratulations to Scott. But congratulations as well to Ocean Reef for attracting such a broad variety of Members who never cease to surprise and delight.