Update 5-18-04


Hey,

Sad news and happy news in a week when almost anything's a relief from international news. First, the sad.

From Barbara Blitfield Pech: Without further details, other than those in the following notice from the May 11th Miami Herald -- EICHENGER, ROBERT "IKE" 58. Passed away May 8, 2004. Born in Brooklyn, Bob resided in Miami for 35 years. He was preceded in death by his parents, Henry and Alida. A loving husband, father, and friend, Bob is survived by his wife Ronnie, daughter Maureen, son Curtis, daughter-in-law, sister, brother, uncle, and many nieces, nephews, and cousins. Ike was a carpenter with the Miami-Dade school system for 30 years, and was also an avid fisherman who loved the outdoors. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Humane Society of Miami. The family will receive friends from 3:00--5:00 PM Wednesday, with funeral services beginning at 5:00 PM at Stanfill Funeral Home. To visit the guest book online go to: www.herald.com/obituaries

Again, from Barbara: While I didn't know Ike well, we were blocks-apart neighbors in Miami. Our children went to the same elementary, middle, and high schools and the same university. As I never came across their name in any of the school activities, I was unaware of how close we lived to each other, as I certainly would have recognized the family name. Just before our last reunion, Robert and Ronnie invited me to their home. They shared a lovely and warm home with their son, daughter, and a large dog, and offered an equally-large, friendly welcome to all who were part of their circle of friends. I hope to be able to attend the service tomorrow on behalf of our class and friends, and will most certainly convey our shared condolences.

[Rich -- Yes, certainly, our condolences to Ronnie and the family]

From Peter Rosen, on hearing the news: I got the chills reading about Bob. My most vivid memory of him at South, unfortunately, isn't the most pleasant. I still dream about the time, after school, when he got me in a head lock so tight that I thought my head was going to crush. When I saw him at the reunion, he had no recollection of that event whatsoever. Good-bye, Bob, and be careful around those angels.

Some quick, happy news, from Booker Gibson: I'm getting even more excited as the June date arrives. Whenever I've mentioned this, most people stare and act like "How can one class do this?" My wife says that yours is a high-achieving, determined group that we had more of during a limited time period. I was very lucky to be there at the same time. Bye for now.

Which brings up the reminder that the annual awards assembly at South is on Wednesday, June 9th at 7:00 PM. Among other presentations, they'll be the first Booker Gibson Music Award and the first Vince Tampio Theater Award. Booker will present the former and Robert Fiveson the latter. Ken and Laura (Waxman) Ulric and Steve Cohen, all from the class of '64, said they'll be there to help celebrate, and anyone else is welcome.

Speaking of the awards, Liz King Giordano just sent me the names of the first winners. For music: Vanessa Spica. For theater: Paul Ianniello. We should be hearing from these folks sometime in June, and I hope Robert will take pictures of them that we can post on the home page. In return for the names, I sent Liz the first two checks. So to all those who've contributed and have been wondering when your checks were ever going to clear, they'll be deposited this week.

A suggestion from Ryki Zuckerman, class of '66: If you haven't already, perhaps you could post the information about the awards on the class of '66 section of Classmates.com.

[Rich -- I'm not sure Classmates.com welcomes solicitations, other than advertisements for itself, but I was hoping word of the awards would spread by e-mail to other South alumni who knew Vince and Booker. I'm sure it will in time, and all donations will always be welcome.]

Some quick, informative nostalgia, forwarded by Zelda White Nichols: Who invented the Slinky? Like so many other great inventions, the Slinky, a favorite of both kids and physics teachers, was just a grand accident. Richard James, a naval engineer, "discovered" this enduring toy in 1943.
     Working to help the war effort, James was developing an anti-vibration device for ship instruments when he knocked over some springs and was fascinated by the way the springs appeared to "walk" down the shelves. James showed his invention to his wife, Betty, who provided the name.  (Tabloid trivia: Betty eventually came to run the company, after Richard left for Bolivia to join an obscure religious group.)
     The Jameses took their first batch of 400 Slinkys to Gimbel's department store in Philadelphia during the winter of 1945, right in time for Christmas shopping. They were so desperate to sell the toy, they paid a friend $1 to buy one and start the feeding frenzy. Ninety minutes later, not one Slinky remained.
     Some other little known facts: Slinkys were among the first toys to travel into space; a stamp commemorating the 1940s features the beloved toy; during the Vietnam War, U.S. soldiers would toss a Slinky into a tree for use as a makeshift radio antenna; and, if stretched end-to-end, the Slinky toys sold since 1945 (about 250 million) would wrap around the world 126 times.

Finally, back to that conflicted international news: Robert Fiveson sent word of a June 5th march in Washington, to support efforts to bring the troops home, and a friend of mine forwarded a long, supposedly goverment-generated analysis of the Iraq situation, which included these paragraphs. If you'd like to read the whole piece, please ask me for it.
     The strategic situation, as of March 2004, was rapidly improving for the United States. There was serious, reasonable discussion of a final push into Pakistan to liquidate al Qaeda's leadership. Al Qaeda began a global counterattack -- as in Spain -- that was neither unexpected nor as effective as it might have been. However, the counterattack in Iraq was both unexpected and destabilizing -- causing military and political processes in Iraq to separate out, and forcing the United States into negotiations with the Sunni guerrillas while simultaneously trying to manage a crisis in the Shiite areas. At the same time that the United States was struggling to stabilize its position in Iraq, the prison abuse issue emerged. It was devastating not only in its own right, but also because of the timing. It generated a sense that U.S. operations in Iraq were out of control. From Al Fallujah to An Najaf to Abu Ghraib, the question was whether anyone had the slightest idea what they were trying to achieve in Iraq.
     Which brings us back to the razor's edge. If the United States rapidly adjusts its Iraq operations to take realities in that country into account, rather than engaging in ongoing wishful thinking, the situation in Iraq can be saved and with it the gains made in the war on al Qaeda. On the other hand, if the United States continues its unbalanced and ineffective prosecution of the war against the guerrillas and continues to allow its relations with the Shia to deteriorate, the United States will find itself in an untenable position. If it is forced to withdraw from Iraq, or to so limit its operations there as to be effectively withdrawn, the entire dynamic that the United States has worked to create since the September 11 attacks will reverse itself, and the U.S. position in the Muslim world -- which was fairly strong in January 2004 -- will deteriorate, and al Qaeda's influence will increase dramatically.

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

Rich