Ronald Koatz was a friend of mine at Columbia–the nicest guy you can imagine. Instead of “Joel,” he liked to call me “Noël,” which always used to amuse me. Well, I’ve been going through hundreds of letters and cards I kept in two bellows folders, sorting them into individual file folders by name, subject, etc.
When today I came across a communique addressed to good old “Noël,” I cracked up. A friend happened to call, and I told him about it, and he laughed, too.
Not entirely sure why, but it’s absurdly funny.