Update 1-30-07

Hi,

Yep, it gets cold, and people stay in and write:

Hey, Falcons.  Moss in Maine here.
        Ahhhhh, 4 degrees below zero this morning, with a brisk wind chill of -10.  Life here in Maine is good! Even my beagle boys barked, "Uh...I don't THINK so," when I offered the leashes to take them for their morning walk.  They opted for a quick trip to my backyard run instead.
        I have been enjoying the TV trivia that Marc Jonas started a few newsletters ago. The whole idea of revisiting our childhood and the era of the 1950s and earlier is so much a part of me that one of my former partners once quipped that she thought she was living with one of the characters from Pleasantville.  With a 1959 ranch house, a collection of vintage 1950s toys, eight years as the proud owner of a 1950 Buick convertible, a collection of classic movies, and a love of the old television shows ala Netflix, I had to agree with her.
        How about trying this one on for size Marc (and all you Falcons):  What four other shows were in that Saturday television line-up with "Winky Dink and You?"  Here are four hints:  a sketch pad, a rubber frog, the color pink, and a puppet that was a cross between a duck and a dachshund.  Speaking of toys, I have spent the last year trying to collect some of the original toys that I had as a kid.  Amazingly, I have found four of them in mint-in-box condition, meaning that they were never put out for sale and remained in the backroom inventory for fifty years.  Obviously, they are not the ones I actually had, but the same kind of toy.  They were a 1952 Marx boxed playset of the "Captain Solar Space Academy," a 1954 wind-up seaplane, a 1954 bomber with a trap door that you opened and let out two bombs, and a 1954 Ideal TV truck, complete with take-apart television, ladder, and house aerial.  Well, here I am at age sixty and still playing with toys.  Yippee!
        Happy New Year, and I hope that 2007 brings health and happiness to all.
   
    From Robert Fiveson:  My brother and I got the "Winky Dink" screen at my grandmother's house, and I promptly used the screen to draw a simulated cracked screen with.  I then screamed to my grandmother that Mike had cracked the TV screen.  It's amazing that she didn't die on the spot.  We laughed about it for years.  "Winky Dink" was the true precursor to interactive television and in that regard was quite brilliant.

    From Paul Zegler:  Hey, there.  Hope everything is good.  My surgery got moved again.  On the way to hospital, I got the stomach flu that's going round, so they sent me home.  Hopefully, we'll reschedule in
    March.  Feeling better but still weak.  Hope you're all enjoying yourselves.  Stay in touch.
   
    A change of address from Ellen Epstein Silver and her husband Alan:  Comcast has become Roadrunner in North Texas, resulting in an e-mail change from comcast.net to tx.rr.com.  So our new e-mail address is:  alan.silver@tx.rr.com   Thanks.
   
    [Rich -- Ellen was just here in L.A. and saw Paul Zegler for dinner one night and me for dinner the next.  She looks well, and she said Paul also looks fine.]

    From Barnet Kellman:  I thought it was sweet that Barbara Blitfield Pech even tried to remember our birthdays.  But since we’re all ganging up on her, mine is November 9th.
   
    From Barbara:  Good grief.  Even the long term memory is going.  What's next?  Nonetheless, I hope that everyone celebrating birthdays, whenever they are, will have happy ones.
   
    From Linda Cohen Greenseid:  I browsed through Amy Miller's quilt site, and I am impressed.  I knit and crochet, but I would not have the patience to do quilting.  We just got back from Phoenix, and we visited  a friend who moved there and took up quilting.  What imagination!  She has already produced fifteen quilts.  You ladies have talent.
        Besides granny squares, a jigsaw puzzle laid out on a table that you don't use is another great winter project.  The only problem is you find yourself saying, "Just one more piece," and then you check your watch and it's two AM.
        Between volunteering at the local hospital, taking piano lessons (1 1/2 years now), babysitting for the grandchildren, popping in at the knitting store for them to straighten out my messes, swimming at the JCC four times a week, and all the other stuff of life, I am busy.  People say, "Don't you get bored?"  NO.  I don't even have time to do all the things I want to do.
        Travel, especially in the winter -- and you know that New York winters can be ugly -- also takes up a lot of our time.  My husband and I love to go everywhere and have seen much of the world.  In February, we are going to Australia and New Zealand.  That will make six continents we have visited, but we're stopping there.  Last year, my brother Steve went to Antarctica and made all seven.  He loved it, but it is not for me.  I shiver with cold just thinking about it.
        I wish a wonderful 2007 for you all, filled with good surprises and new directions.
   
    Some sad news, relayed by Eric Hilton:  I was talking to an old friend of mine from South, Greg Wohlgemuth, who informed me that his brother Erick -- who is one of the people you were looking for on the homepage -- passed away in July 2006.  The Wohlgemuth family was one of the most talented families I have ever met, and there was nothing they couldn't fix.  If something was broken, and they couldn't easily mend it, they would redesign and manufacture it.  I think Erick designed and manufactured a machine which changed the industry he was working in.  This was quite an ingenious family.
   
    From Amy Miller, in answer to the question last week about drumming:  African Djembe drums are used for drum circles which I discovered late last year.  I mentioned  this to my nephew in San Francisco, who happened to be coming east and who happens to be now doing Brazilian drumming.  He brought me his Djembe.
        I've gone to two kinds of circles.  The first one is led by a local woman percussionist -- her website is: http://www.lehighvalleydrumcircle.com/ -- and is held in the back area of an instrument and music store.  Dozens of people play drums of all sorts, mostly Djembe, as well as a lot of rhythm instruments.  The leader takes people through different kinds of routines with a great deal of joy.  She always insists, "There are no wrong notes."
        The second circle is a small group led by a woman psychiatrist, held at a therapeutic horse farm.  There, we do some drumming with groups of two people each on a part, and then the woman reads a feminist fairy tale.  We act this out and then discuss its relevance to personal growth.  The food afterwards is always healthful and plentiful, and the bigger circles have given way to a more structured, weekly class.
         I am really having great fun with the drums and have ordered some smaller hand drums  to use with families in my work as a psychologist and family therapist.  Drums are being used for health with sports teams, in music therapy, and in the large group drum circles, but I haven't come across anyone yet who is using them for family therapy.
        If you have any interest, check out a major drum company's web site:  http://www.remo.com/
    The drums themselves are neat to see.  Who would have thought a former viola player would do this?  Mr. Griffin would smile!
   
    Also about drumming, from Emily Kleinman Schreiber:  Amy Miller and I have a lot in common -- I'm also into drumming.  I attended a workshop at Nassau Community College, where I learned how therapeutic drumming on a small bongo drum can be.  You just hit that drum in whatever rhythm you want and out go those angry feelings.  I've never gone to a drumming happening, so if anyone knows where or when one is taking place, please let me know.  Meanwhile, have a calm and happy day.
        Also, only a handful of '65ers have joined the South Alumni Association, and I've been wondering why.  Any ideas?

    [Rich -- First of all, I didn't know that only a few members of our class have joined the Alumni Association.  Second, I think, oddly, we may be a victim of our own communication success, and we stumbled on that same surprise when our 40th reunion came so soon after our 37th.  The truth is that while a lot of us want to stay connected with each other on one level, there's only so much connection we all want or need.  And the newsletter may provide more than enough.
        Also, our class seems to choose its shots carefully.  People are terrifically generous at supporting the Tampio and Gibson scholarships, and that may be enough.  Still, I did just get spam offering Porn Star Escorts For Your Next Reunion.  So maybe that's been what's been lacking.]
   
    Finally, official news from Emily, in her position as Alumni Association president:  At the last meeting of the association, the board voted to co-sponsor the Nassau County Veteran's Summer Standdown.  Since it's a big commitment to a very worthy cause, I'm now asking you to be a contributor. 
        Patrick Yngstrom, an alumnus from the Class of 1967 and one of our board trustees, spoke with us last Thursday night.  He is the Deputy Director of Veterans Services in Nassau County, and he shared the following information:
        "The Nassau County Veterans Service Agency sponsors two "standdowns" annually. The summer standdown is in July and is held at the American Legion, at 160 Marvin Avenue in Hempstead.  The winter standdown is held at the Freeport National Guard Armory, at 63 Babylon Turnpike, Freeport, on the Monday directly preceding Thanksgiving Day.  The expenses for the standdowns run around $2500 each.  A dinner is provided, along with clothing for the season and entertainment.  Last summer, we had almost 100 homeless veterans attend, and the winter standdown had 177 veterans in attendance.  Every social service agency in Nassau County is in attendance, and we also provide haircuts and showers.  The July date for this year will be set soon."
        Patrick offered the association the opportunity to serve as a co-sponsor of the summer standdown.  In order to fulfill our financial obligation, we want to raise at least $500.  I'm counting on you to lend your support, in any amount you choose.  Some South alumni are among the homeless veterans who will be serviced, and I, for one, was shocked to learn that there are thousands of homeless vets right here on Long Island.  Please make your checks payable to:  the United Veterans Organization of Nassau County (or simply the UVO of Nassau County) and mail your checks to:  Patrick Yngstrom, 1624 Chapin Avenue, North Merrick, New York 11566.  And let Pat know that you're South alumni.  Thanks in advance.