Update 11-16-04

Hi,

Guys' week for letter writing. But first:

The photos of Booker and the scholarship plaques are online. Go to the home page (see address below), click on Photos, then on June 9th, 2004 South High Awards. In addition to what's been there, you'll see Booker smiling in one of the halls from which our sons departed.
Also, I've caught up and posted last month's newsletters. And when I said that only one person reads them online, I didn't mean that only one person reads them. I meant that, in addition to everyone who gets them weekly by e-mail, there's one person who prefers to read them directly from the home page.

Next, from Dennis Shapiro: I see that Ken Brown has signed onto Classmates.com. If possible, can you send me his e-mail address?

[Rich -- once again, to remind everyone how Classmates.com works: As a paid member, you can only send e-mail blindly, to anyone on their list. You can't get a person's e-mail address. And Classmates.com can only forward a note to the address that a person used when first signing on. That doesn't mean the address is still working or that the person will open the note. Unfortunately, it doesn't even mean that the person is still alive. But if there's someone on the list that anyone would like me to try and contact, please remind me after the holidays, when I rejoin the site.]

From Donald Faber: Paul DeMartino and I had an idea that I wanted to get some additional feedback on before pursuing.
I'm fairly confident that I can get a comped pair of tickets to Tony 'N Tina's Wedding for the Sunday matinee following our reunion in August (assuming the show is still running by then). Does it make sense to auction these off via the weekly newsletter, with all proceeds being donated to the Vincent Tampio/Booker Gibson scholarships? Since the tickets have a value of about $170, I think we'd need to establish a minimum bid, to make this worthwhile for the scholarships.
Also, my company has plans to open a new off-Broadway version of the very successful Canadian musical Menopause. If we're on track by August, I'm sure I can get at least another pair of tickets to this, and we could auction them off as well. I won't actually pursue this until February-or-so, but I'd like to get some feedback before I do

From me, to Donald and to Paul DeMartino: Actually, the scholarships for Vince and Booker are in reasonably good shape. Vince's has a small block of people who've promised to donate annually, while Booker's has built up more money and will probably continue to take in additional donations, just because more people had him as a teacher. But, as other people in our class have pointed out, there are plenty of other teachers who deserve attention. So if you want to use a theater ticket auction to kick off an additional scholarship in someone's name, that would be great. Anyone come to mind?

From Donald, back to me: No one easily comes to mind for me. I'm also not sure how much money this would raise. I was thinking of it as just a supplemental kind of thing.

From Paul, back to me: I think the auction is a terrific idea, and perhaps there are others in our class who are in the position to make similar offers. Tickets to shows or sporting events are always popular fund raisers. As for the idea that we should consider funding other scholarships, I cannot totally agree. Trying to support additional scholarships might undermine the two we already have going.
On a different subject: we finally received the contract for the reunion hotel, and we will be finalizing everything within a week-or-so.

From me, back to Donald and Paul: I think you're both right, about the limited fundraising possibilities, and about not splitting the focus of our present scholarships. I was just trying to follow up on what Booker and, I think, Dennis Pizzimenti have said -- that there are plenty of other former teachers of ours from South who deserve some recognition.
More from Donald to me -- and for Dennis Pizzimenti's story collection: I liked Ralph Foster and remember quite fondly his stories about going camping with friends to Yellowstone. I also remember your meltdown with Coach, as I was member of the track team until 9th or 10th grade.
From me, back to Donald -- and for Dennis: It's funny, I quit working for Foster after happily managing the junior high soccer and track teams for two years, because of a communication error. Towards the end of my second season, he said, "Go get some sticks." I couldn't imagine what he wanted sticks for, but, unpredictable as he was, I went and picked up a half-dozen. He meant batons. And when he started yelling at me, I quit. If he'd even laughed, I probably never would have gone into theater. The next fall, instead of managing the soccer team again, I followed Nancy Garfield into the drama club and found a career.

Finally, speaking of Nancy -- who I think is still traveling on business -- I have a call in to her to ask if she'd like Hy Rosov to send her a copy of the mini-yearbook he put together for the Class of '64 reunion in 2002. Since Nancy, Fran Bellucci Johnson, and Jane Ruzow Tiell all helped create and assemble the directory we used for the 37th Reunion, I figure they get first shot at deciding what we do this time.

The repeating 40th Reunion information:
When: August 5th, 6th, 7th (Friday night through Sunday noon)
Where: Hilton Long Island/Huntington, 598 Broadhollow Road, Melville, New York, 11747
Cost: $100 per person
Package Includes:
Friday night cocktail party with snacks and cash bar (7:00 PM -- Midnight)
Saturday night buffet with open bar & DJ (7:00 PM -- Midnight; Dinner at 8:00)
Lobby area with cash bar available both nights to continue parties
Teachers comped for both parties
Also: Hotel rooms available at $129/night
SEND: Checks to Dennis Shapiro. 495 Wateredge Avenue, Baldwin, New York, 11510. Please make them out to: VSS 40th Reunion.

Rich