Update 11-9-04

Hi,

Yes, well, three people, thousands of miles from each other, all asked, "I send the Hundred-Dollar-40th-Reunion check to Dennis Who?" That would be Dennis Shapiro, and I will now add that information weekly to the updates.
Also, while I'm housekeeping: yeah, well, I've been travel- and election-fatigued, so I didn't post the last three updates online on the class home page, where at least one person I know of reads them. I will post them, either tonight or tomorrow, along with this one. And I'll post the photos of Smiling Booker Gibson and the Out-of-Focus Plaques, which sounds like a new children's book. Actually, the plaques aren't out-of-focus so much as they have small, unphotographable type. But you can all squint. And I can't post the pink photo of Smiling Barbara Blitfield Pech and The Breast Cancer Rally as I promised, because that's copyrighted, so I couldn't lift it from its site. Imagine that.
I'll also add the same News of the 40th Reunion to the index page of the home page, so anyone wandering onto that can be informed. And I'll rejoin Classmates.com after New Year's, to post the information there and blind e-mail everyone who's not contactable through this mailing list.
Enough.

Other brief news, in the order that it electronically appeared:

From Hy Rosov: Thanks for keeping me up-to-date on the reunion activities. Sorry to learn of Karen Rachoi's passing. If you need any help, drop me a line. I did a mini-yearbook for the Tampa reunion two years ago. If you would like a copy, I'll mail you one. It was a lot of work, but worth it. Sue Howard did a great job.

[Rich -- This sounds interesting. How do other people feel about it?]

From Linda Fenton Goodgold: Please add my name and e-mail address to the mailing list. The address is: lgoodgold@verizon.net

[Rich -- Welcome back, Linda.]

A public service warning from Barbara Blitfield Pech: A directory of cell phone numbers will be published soon. This opens the door to solicitors calling cell phones, annoying you, and using up your minutes. The Federal Trade Commission has set up a "Do Not Call" list. You must call FROM the number you wish to register. The number is: 1-888-382-1222. OR you can click on the link below to register your cell phones and house phones online. You can register 3 numbers at a time. https://www.donotcall.gov/register/Reg.aspx

[Rich -- Oh, yikes.]

From Zelda White Nichols: First, Happy Birthday, Booker. Hope it was wonderful.
Also, my husband Dave and I have been knocking ourselves out trying to get our house ready to sell. It goes on the market today, and we hope to move to our new house in Lexington, North Carolina in February. After years of hard work, two years ago, Dave realized his dream of owning his own consulting company. In 2005, my dream will come true of having a lakefront home where I can watch eagles fly and, at the end of the day, watch the sunset with a fishing rod in my hand and maybe another dog by my side.

[Rich -- I'm jealous, even if I don't fish.]

Some possibly useful filler, from -- god help me -- the online AARP newsletter. By Ben Brown: Communes for Grownups. Five years ago, Arthur Okner retired and headed to Boulder, Colorado. Almost immediately, he realized, "I was lonely." He discovered a solution in a "cohousing" development, a concept that has growing appeal.
In cohousing, the residents themselves plan their communities and choose the appearance. They own their own units and divide duties for maintenance, gardening and other chores. And they rotate responsibilities for fixing meals that are shared two or three times a week in a community building.
"People are just jumping on this idea," says Sandra Timmermann, director of MetLife Mature Market Institute. More than 5,000 people reside in nearly 80 completed cohousing communities in more than 30 states, and at least 100 more communities are in various stages of development. The sizes range from half a dozen units on a fraction of an acre in the city of Oakland, California to 22 units on 260 rural acres in Hartland, Vermont. Most are intergenerational communities.
A cohousing community is more condo than commune, but with a twist. The relationships between buyers and developers are reversed. First comes the buy-in by would-be neighbors, then at least two years of building relationships, working out community rules and cooperatively designing the community they'll share. Cohousing is not necessarily cheaper than conventional condos, especially if the community wants custom-design elements and a lavish community house. Land costs are a crucial factor, too. In rural Abingdon, Virginia, where a group of former nuns and their friends are building a 29-unit community known as ElderSpirit, they offered two-bedroom homes under 1,000 square feet for $114,000. But in Boulder, with its soaring housing market, Arthur Okner's 16-unit Silver Sage Village offers its smallest two-bedroom units at $353,000.
The most popular arrangement may turn out to be a cohousing neighborhood in an urban center or adjoining a mixed-use development. Still, cohousing is not for everybody. Prospective residents have to be prepared to talk about community plans for two years or more before buildings start going up. They have to be prepared to make decisions by group consensus rather than through top-down hierarchies and majority-rules votes. And if it's a community for people 50-plus, they should be prepared for frank discussions about aging and death -- including practical matters, such as what to do when residents can no longer take care of themselves -- which may be uncomfortable for those who want to think only of active living.

The -- far more cheerful -- reunion info:
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.

Finally, a quick bit of self-promotion. An article on Frederic Remington that I expanded from my U.S. travel journal has just been published as the shared cover story in December's Adirondack Life. The link: http://www.adirondacklife.com/ Then click on Remington Revisited. It'll save you six bucks.

Rich