Update 1-29-08

Hi,

Let's start with the nicest note that's arrived all week:

From Charles (Chuck) Messner, our retired science teacher:  This is to let you know that I read the newsletter, and I find it stimulating to learn about the lives of adults who were teenagers when I knew them.  Reading the bulletin is akin to reading a novel in progress.  In the classroom, one wonders what the future will bring for each student.  In your class' bulletins, we find out.  It's also nice to read about former fellow faculty members.
        Regards to all.
   
    [Rich -- That's why I never delete any names from our mailing list without being asked.  We hadn't heard from Chuck Messner since his e-mail address turned up during the 40th reunion hunt three years ago, and I'm never sure if these  newsletters are an intrusion and just end up in some people's spam folders.  I ask occasionally, but, of course, if the newsletters are going into the spam folders unread, these people never see my questions.
        Speaking of which, we've recently had newsletters returned as undeliverable from Tom Velardi, Donald Wilber, and Barnett Zinger.  If anyone's in touch with these guys, please let them know that in case they want to stay on the mailing list.  Thanks.
        I also need to update our class and class-adjacent mailing list and send copies to everyone who gets the newsletter.  I used to do that annually then kind of slipped.  And I need to update the class home page with, among other things, the new link Stu Borman sent in a month ago.  I will do these things.  And I will wax my car.]
   
    Moving on, a note, a link, and some information from Jean Cohen Oklan:  Hi, everyone.  Hope you're all having an enjoyable winter.  We're getting into our cold season in northwestern Vermont and have been hearing our log home "checking" at night.  "Checking" is when the logs crack so loudly they sound as if someone is taking a splitting maul to them.
        Aside from that, I'm excited about the fact that my brother has retired and is pursuing his lifelong passion -- acting.  He's been in several New York City plays and movies -- one being Brooklyn Rules -- and you can currently see him as a rabbi in 27 Dresses.  That movie may now be playing at a theater in your neighborhood.  The following is a link to a site that gives my brother's credits and shows the film industry his popularity.  Click on the link as often as you like to find out where you can next see a South High alumnus on the big screen: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1788789/
   
    For those people who avoid links, here's part of the information from Bern Cohen's film biography page.  Some of it seems familiar, so it may have turned up here before.
        Bern Cohen grew up in New York City's Chinatown until his family moved to Long Island, where Bern attended Valley Stream South High School.  There, he was struck by his love of acting and became adept at its nuances.  He attended Adelphi University on a full scholarship and was fortunate to be at a college near enough to New York City to attend theatrical auditions.  He was even luckier to land New York City stage roles while still in college.  After graduation, he was successful on regional and New York City stages until he left the stage and went into education in his mid-twenties.  He did this to participate more fully as a parent of two children.
        During his years as a young stage actor, some highlights were his work with Mercedes Reuhl, Samuel L. Jackson, Paul Price, Sesame Street, ZOOM, Rupert Holmes, Marsha Rodd, and Baruch Lumet.  Further theatrical experiences were delayed while Bern established himself as an outstanding English teacher in New York City's Harlem.  Eventually, he became an outstanding high school principal.
        While an educator, Bern served as a consultant to National Geographic and WNET, and he wrote several college textbooks about the field of education.  These brought him national recognition as an educational consultant.  In 2003, Bern returned to acting by studying Acting for the Camera for two semesters with Penny Templeton and for another semester with Ruth Nerkin.  After these studies, Bern sent out his resume and has been busy ever since.
        During his first two years back in acting, Bern had principal or featured roles in nearly twenty independent films, playing such diverse characters as a mentally depraved judge, a Donald Trump-like CEO, the ghost of Boss Tweed, several different rabbis, a bizarre psychologist, and a nasty publisher.  He worked with Freddie Prinze, Jr. and Jerry Ferrara in Alec Baldwin's Brooklyn Rules and was Lena Olin's agent in the spring 2007 release Devil You Know.  Bern's first starring role in a film is in Woodhaven Pause, where he plays an abusive father who must eventually be cared for by the son who hates him because of the abuse.
        On the New York stage, Bern has also had diverse roles.  The New York Times and Variety both gave him standout reviews for his role off-Broadway in Motke Thief, and he also played Freud in Secrets Revealed,  James in the 2006 Fringe Festival musical HA HA Club, and a supporting lead in the musical-in-workshop, Kabbalistic Love Story.  He did this last role while simultaneously shooting a featured part in My Mother's Fairy Tales.
   
    In a different world entirely, here's a new Internet phrase, forwarded by Linda Cohen Greenseid:  Electile Dysfunction -- the inability to become aroused over any of the choices for president put forth by either party in the 2008 election.
   
    And another link, this to a vintage-but-newly-illustrated Billy Joel song, forwarded by Marc Jonas and accompanied by this note:  Have you seen this video?  It's pretty clever and seems appropriate for us old folks. http://home.uchicago.edu/~yli5/Flash/Fire.html
   
    Finally, a thank you note from Evelyn Roedel Read, class of '59, for a link forwarded in last week's newsletter:  Thank you, Barbara Blitfield Pech, for the wonderful jukebox site.  I, too, have added it to my favorites, so it is always just a click away.  It sure beats most of the music on the radio these days, and I'm going to print the song lists up by years, so I can find the songs more readily.  The site is interesting because it lets you see how music developed over the years.  1950 was still like the '40s, and then the music gradually changed.  Thank you again and again.