Update 2-10-04


Hi,

A week in which it was so cold that people, even in Florida, have nothing better to do than change their e-mail addresses. The contenders:

From Michele Cohen Collins: Just a short note -- my new e-mail address is: mac8247@netscape.net. Thanks.

From Barnett Zinger: Effective immediately, please change my e-mail address to: barnhel405@adelphia.net. Take the old one off. Thanks.

From Judy Zinger: Just a quick note to tell you how much I enjoy the newsletter you send out to our class. Also, please change my e-mail address to: judezee@bellsouth.net. Thanks.

And a confirmation from Carole Ganz: Any mail for Carole Ganz, for Mariel Cabot, or for us as a family, should continue to go to: cabotganz@hotmail.com. Personal e-mail for Jamie Cabot should go to cabotganz@mac.com. Thank you. (If you received this communication before, I'm sorry, but a lot of my contacts reported not getting it the first time.)

In photographic news, from Jerry Bittman: This is for The Things Just Never Change Department -- I just received a photo from Lynn Nudelman that was from our Junior Prom. I knew 40 years ago that I had the privilege to be with the prettiest girl, and now, 40 years, later I realize I was correct in my belief.

[Rich -- I did finally manage to post the cheerleader photo Lynn sent me last week as a consolation prize for not going to the Junior Prom with her. It can be seen by going to the home page, then clicking on Forest Road and Harbor Road Photos, then scrolling down to South Photos and clicking on Cheerleaders.
Also, I'm having trouble with the home page at the moment. That's why I haven't posted last week's newsletter, and why I can't post this one. Plus, I won't be able to change the e-mail addresses listed above or catch up on the ones I've backlogged. I thought I finally might be out of web space, so I deleted some of the extra 2002 barbecue pictures, but that didn't help. I'm currently waiting for AOL Help to get back to me, but who knows how long that will take? So please be patient. Thanks.]

Linda Cohen Greenseid also forwarded a photo, an impressive shot of an iceberg her son Jamie had forwarded to her. It showed the damned thing from the tip we usually see to the base, many leagues below. As Linda (or Jamie) pointed out, it's no wonder the Titanic sank. (If you want to see the photo, write Linda.)

More thanks to Stu Borman, from Allen Moss: Way to Go, Stu Borman! -- for finding those INCREDIBLE pictures that are now posted on our home page. It was really fun to look at the "little people" on the Boy Scout trip, and then click forward to the reunion pictures and see them all grown up! Amazing to see how so many of the gang really have not changed that much. Makes me want to look for my bar mitzvah pictures from 1960. Henry Gabbay, Linda Iaquinto, Steven Boughner, and, quite poignantly, Bobbie Friedman, were some of my guests, along with several others.
Hope all is well with the gang all over the U.S. Best from Maine.

Additional thanks from Barnet Kellman: Stu Borman’s new pix are fantastic! Who knew what a great photojournalist he was! I don’t remember the central courtyard at South -- it looks pretty.
     Also, a friend of mine sent me the following e-mail: "I am also writing to introduce you to a very talented former USC Cinema student of mine named Anna Kang. I recently met Anna at a Sundance Screenwriters Lab-sponsored reading of her script, which was a comedy feature about an Asian girl and her mother. It was a very funny story about an Asian family growing up on Long Island, and the girl tells everyone she is Jewish so she can be accepted into the social life at school. Her mother doesn't understand, and the scenes with the rabbi and her mother are hilarious. The script was very well written, and I am surprised it hasn't been produced yet."
     I thought this sounded funny, so I called the writer. Turned out she’s from Green Acres and went to Forest Road and South! I’m reading the script now.
     Hope you all are well.

From Robin Seader Cottmeyer, in answer to my question about how the Beatles 2 Concert had gone: Thanks so much for remembering. How did you manage to do that?
     The concert was as Fab-ulous, as I knew it would be. The cold may have kept some folks away (it was about 8 degrees and blowing about 25 -- yikes!) but 13 of us weathered the "storm" -- 9 made the trip north from the Maryland/DC area, and 4 from New York City and Long Island. Unfortunately, I didn't run into any of our classmates currently living in the New York area, but three South High alums (classes of 1967 and 1969, I believe) were in our crowd. The concert was a sell-out for two nights -- truly, it was JUST like being at a Beatles concert. Please take a look at the website and, if you ever get the opportunity, please try to see them (1964thetribute.com). I guarantee an excellent concert experience.
     We are far from "thawing" here in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. I like the cold, but this is a bit ridiculous! It is going to be a long 2 months until spring (it's times like this when I wonder why I never moved to California!) I'd like to get out to the West Coast this year and hope we can get together when I do. My tentative plan is to visit San Diego, the Bay area (MUST see Terry and Joni Shields), Seattle, and Vancouver, British Columbia, most likely in the August -September time frame. I'll definitely keep you all posted.

From Robert Fiveson, regarding last week's cultural peek at Hamlet: Rich, don't Bogart -- or tell us all that you made all that up... please! Where the hell are you hanging out these days? DO NOT EVER AGAIN HAVE THE MUSHROOM OMELET! I will never again read the update before I go to sleep -- I'm serious. Holy moley! Sounds like a Freddy Kruger movie. HILARIOUS (for those of us not there).

Finally, more news from Terri Donohue Calamari's traveling daughter, Trish:
Greetings! On Sunday, I celebrated my first Muslim Holiday, Hiyat. In theory, it's a week-long celebration where a lamb is slaughtered and shared among family and friends. Also, it is high season to make the pilgrimage to Mecca.
     In the grand scheme if Islam, the Uzbeks are the equivalents of Unitarians, and the holiday is only officially observed by the government for one day. In lieu of the lamb sacrifice and trip the Mecca, my entire extended host family got together to play Let's Get the American Fat and Drunk. I found that my Italian heritage served me well, because every time I was asked about my marital status, I had a few thousand calories dalloped on my plate.
     Periodically, my family watched the State Iman on TV. They paid him the same regard as we would to the Yule Log on Channel 11 on Christmas Eve. Within about 10 minutes, they would flip the channel back to One Million Years BC with Raquel Welch or The Empire Strikes Back.
     Later on that night (or should I say the next morning), we went to the ambassador's house to watch the Super Bowl. Kickoff was at 4:20 AM Tashkent Time, though it didn't get good until about 7:30 AM (Justin and Janet notwithstanding). I had to leave during the last three minutes of 4th Quarter to go to Russian class, and I was assuming the game was over, when, in fact, it was really just beginning. But hey, the Pat's won! That's all that really mattered.
     So, in a nutshell, that was my cross-cultural, interfaith experience of the week. Tune in next time for another installment. Cheers!

The home page: http://hometown.aol.com/vssouth65

Rich