Update 1-8-08

Hi,

The November Alumni Association minutes will have to wait for another week. Lots of letters, beginning with three that got sidetracked in my electronic packing to get away for the holidays.  I'm happily home now, having just missed the blizzard in Donner's Pass and the flood in Fernley, Nevada.

First, from Judy Hartstone:  Ask Andy Dolich if this means I can have my old job back with the 49ers.  It's just about the right timing since when I joined the organization in 1972, they were 2 and 12, which is just about what they are now, right?  I was assistant promotion director, one of the most enjoyable jobs of my life and perfect for a sports-crazy twenty-five-year-old.  Being on the field on game day, directing the half-time shows, hosting the anthem singer, setting up speaking appearances for the players -- most of whom lived and worked in the area during the off season -- ah, the good old days.

Next, from Emily Kleinman Schreiber:  I want to wish everyone a happy and a merry holiday season.  Please remember your Alumni Association when you sit down to write all those end-of-the-year donation checks.  We're an important and appreciated part of the South High community, and we need your continued support.  Cheers!
    I also want to give all of you the opportunity to listen to a most amazing voice of a most amazing young lady, Carla Duren.  As well as being extremely talented, she is also caring, sensitive, intelligent, pretty, and dedicated to her craft.  She was most recently in the show 110 in the Shade at the Roundabout Theater on Broadway, and she now has recorded a CD.  She wrote every song on it, and you can sample/purchase them at her website.  My son, Mike, is also Carla's loving boyfriend.
    That's all for now.  Enjoy the experience, and have a happy holiday season

Third, from Eric Hilton:  First I'd like to express my interest in attending a South reunion on Florida's east coast, which is about four hours from us in Sarasota.  Hopefully, Mr. Rosov will be joining us.
    As for discovering our sexualities:  I had never known any gay people until I joined the Navy.  Then, after returning to New York, I got involved in photography and the arts and was surrounded by gay men and lesbians.  I immediately bonded with them and enjoyed their company.  In the last ten to fifteen years, I have photographed many gay weddings and have become the official photographer of Pride-Fest, in Sarasota.  That has been an eye opener.
    To Robert Fiveson:  I think you and I suffer from the same frustrating condition.  I, too, feel I am a closet lesbian, and I tried desperately last year to convince two beautiful, tough, biker chicks, who were making out at a party, to let me join in and to photograph them together. Then I tried quoting the famous Woody Alan line, "Sex is something very beautiful between two people…but between five, it's fantastic."  It took the paramedics two hours to remove the camera from my rectum.  Lucky for me, it was not on a tripod.  All I can finally say is it has truly been enjoyable being involved with the gay community for many years.
    I also heard that Paul Zegler had an operation which reduced his size dramatically, and he is doing well.  I wish him all the best in the world, even though we were rivals at Brooklyn Avenue School and at South for the hand of the very lovely Jean Cohen.  But she eventually escorted me to my bar mitzvah as my girlfriend.  So there, Paul!

Also from Eric, two weeks later:  To Rich Sternhell -- congratulations on your becoming a grandfather.  I can't wait to see what that feels like.  Being partially deaf, I guess the crying and screaming won't bother me very much when I get to baby-sit.  By the way, how much should I charge to baby-sit for a grandchild, and are there any guidelines?  I use to get about seventy-five cents and some very cool snacks, and I could sneak my girlfriend in while sitting.
    At this moment, my wife Gilda and I are waiting for my daughter, who's also a South graduate, to give birth to our first grandchild.  He could be born any day now, and perhaps he will attend South High as his parents and I did before him.  I can't wait to give him my 1966 South High School ring, which I think cost my parents about thirty-five dollars.  Has anyone purchased school rings for their children?  I think the rings have gone up to a few hundred dollars.  Where has the time gone?  Next thing you know, gas will be over twenty-five cents a gallon, which is what I paid for it at the gas station by Dunkin' Donuts next to Wetsons burgers on Sunrise Highway.  I can't believe gas has gone up so much in only forty-four years.  What's that all about?
    Hope everyone has safe and healthy new year.

And from Eric, a couple of days after that:  The other day, we, too, had a bit of a cold front here in Sarasota.  The temperature plummeted to a brisk sixty-seven degrees, and I couldn't find my South High jacket, the one that my mother purchased at Jay's sporting goods store on Rockaway Avenue.  That was across from Al Lang's, where she bought all my Husky Boy pants.
    I turned sixty-one on November second.  It's no big deal.  It's just a number.  Yes, it's a very large number.  Now, when a guy gets to be very old, feeble, blind, deaf and has a heart ailment or any other serious problem, he moves to Sarasota, Florida, where he will still be allowed to drive, no matter what his condition.
    To Allen Moss:  Great photo of your dog and I'd love to see the final image used in the L.L. Bean ad.  I know the "Moss Door" is always open, and someday we will take you up on that, as I would love to photograph the beautiful country side.  I haven't been to Maine for almost thirty-five years, and then we got caught in a blizzard in Kennybunkport.  We ended up in a sleazy motel near Moody's Diner, and they only had frozen Devil Dogs to eat.  Last week, I was thinking of you while watching Jurassic Park.  I loved playing at your house with your very cool dinosaur collection.  I was a closet geek and enjoyed playing with the dinos and studying astronomy.  During the movie, as the guy was being eaten on the toilet, I kept saying Allen Moss would know the names, dates, sizes and weights of each dinosaur, as well as when each became extinct.  The only dinosaur names I know are t-rex, brontosaurus, and Barney.
    Last week, I received a phone call from Diane Fruzetti, who is living in beautiful New Mexico.  Her son is getting married again, so I will be flying out to photograph the wedding -- I shoot all of his weddings.  Gilda and I will also be heading to Valley Stream on Friday when our daughter is due to deliver her first baby.  That will be at Mercy Hospital in Rockville Centre.  Hopefully, one night, I will get to see Gayle, Robin Feit, and any other of our wonderful South classmates who would like to get together close to Valley Stream.  Again, I want to wish you all a warm, healthy, happy new year. Large hugs from down under,

From Janice Williams Teeuwe:  I want to wish you all a wonderful and blessed new year and many, many more of them.

From Zelda White Nichols, for Peter Shapiro:  You are moving into my neck of the woods although we moved away three years ago this month.  My sister lives in Del Mar Heights, and I lived in Alpine, which is in the mountains east of San Diego.  Let me know if you have any questions about the area.  One of the best wineries in the state is in Escondido, which won't be far from you.  If you are a wine enthusiast, let me know at: zelda.nichols@high-rock-lake.com.  I will be happy to tell you about the winery.  I can also tell you about great restaurants, veterinarians, and places of interest in the San Diego area.

From Marc Jonas:  A happy and healthy new year to all of the Valiant Falcons.

From Helen David:  Please ask Richard Sternhell for news about his presumable sister.  She was one of my helpers, and we used to "talk"  And his grandfather/nanny story was fascinating.  Congratulations!  And Happy New Year to all you youngsters.
    Also, to any of you who use AOL, please watch out for the scam I received and fortunately rejected. There was the most legitimate looking letter from AOL, threatening to eliminate my service within twenty-four hours if I didn't respond.  It asked for every detail of my credit card account, including the numbers on the card back and my mother's maiden name.  The excuse was that somehow I had outrun my credit reserve and needed a re-registration. Of course, we don't even pay for AOL any more.

[Rich -- There are also a pair of old IRS scams making the rounds again.  One says you're entitled to a refund.  The other threatens an audit.  Both ask personal banking and credit card information.]

From Allen Moss:  Hello from snow-covered Maine, folks.  This is the "Moss Way" to enter 2008 in Maine -- over a foot of snow on the ground, a fire in the fireplace, and a whopper of a storm headed our way this afternoon.  Ah... life is good!
    Sending you lots of hugs and best wishes to you and yours for 2008.  I am headed for the big "61" in two weeks.  Yikes.  So I was downstairs furiously doing my treadmill and hoping for the best!  All else is good.  Health is good.  Job is good.  The "boys" are fine.  Argos, in fact, has become the darling of the L.L. Bean catalog.  They have used his picture four times in the last few catalogs.  I have some photos which are the "raw" shots they took before I was airbrushed out and the picture was put into a background setting.  No residuals for me, but I did get a nice, free L.L. Bean parka, so, hey, no complaints on that one!
    2007 was the year of making my house more energy efficient, with all new storm windows and doors, a new roof, and the purchase of a portable generator.  The price of heating oil in the Northeast is through the roof, so every little amount of saved energy helps.  I'm headed for New York in the spring, for my yearly trip to Broadway, and I already have tickets for the revival of South Pacific in May.  It will be great to be back in the city -- just briefly is good enough for me.  Very close friends of mine from Chicago have retired to Tucson and have bought a beautiful hacienda-style house on the outskirts of town, so I will be headed there in September.  Other than that, I'm just staying the old Mainer and enjoying small college town life.  Of course, the Moss welcome mat is always out, should you be traveling this way.  More hugs from here.

From Jean Cohen Oklan: A happy, healthy 2008, filled with all good things to all of you.  I had such a hard day at work New Year's Eve day because of a run-in with my idiot supervisor, and I wasn't looking forward to working today.  But when I read all of your 2008 well wishes, my priorities were realigned, and I was able to place my supervisor on the back burner where he belongs.  What a wonderful support system this reunion newsletter has created.
    My husband and I spent the summer "giving back" to our little log house since it has taken care of us for thirty-one years.  We corn cob blasted the outside logs and brought them down to their original finish. Then we proceeded to brush on four coats of product, and when my arms and back were stretched and twisted to the max, I knew I was going to be seeing that same damn area three more times!  We gave each other a "job well done" hug at the end of October, while the geese were flying overhead, telling us we just made it under the wire.
    My son and his wife are residing in Brooklyn.  My son is embarking on a music career in New York City and soon will be touring.  I'll let you all know when he will be touring in your fair cities.  I may be down in New York City at the beginning of February for a gig of his, and the record label folks don't know what they are in for, with the drummer's mother in house.
    My husband and I have very interesting jobs, working for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. How, in the scheme of life, I ended up conversing with Law Enforcement and Special Agents is mind boggling, educating, and sometimes a bit creepy.
    We are in the midst of a very heavy snowfall that's supposed to last three days.  This means I will be snowshoeing this Thursday and sore on Friday.  Allen Moss:  Buy some Vermont Tubbs.  Eric Hilton:  this isn't what you think, and someday you might want to give it a try.
    Again, wishing you all the very best for 2008.  And thanks for y'all being out there.

From Tom McPartland:  Happy New Year to you all.  It's always a pleasure receiving and reading these updates.  All the best in 2008.

From Andrea Schwartz Neenan:  I changed my e-mail address and have not been receiving the newsletter.  I couldn't get the address from anyone, so I Googled you and fortunately found the website.  Please change my e-mail address and put me back in the loop.  Thanks.  My new address is: aneenan@verizon.net

Finally, from Ira Mitzner:  These letters certainly brought up some memories, some painful.  To Andy Dolich: Mea culpa unnecessary, so long as I get tickets the next time the 49ers play the Redskins in DC.  I even would enjoy getting together with you, but don't call me a fag in front of my wife Rachael.  I promise not to hit you as long as you don't cry like a little baby as did Fiveson when I tapped him.
    Steve Gootzeit:  You make my point.  I have almost no recollection of your pain when I was made Senior Patrol Leader -- laughable to us now, but painful to you then.  However, by the tone of your words and offer of documentary evidence, I would advise you to "get over it."
    Riki Zuckerman:  Close -- not Hans Christian Anderson, but HMS Pinafore by Gilbert and Sullivan. My mother made all the costumes and put lots of makeup on me.  More evidence for Andy Dolich that I was a fag.
    Robert Fiveson:  Paul Winchell was the hand behind Jerry Mahoney.  You once were crazy, but now you're crazy, clever, and confused about your sexuality.  Not that there's anything wrong with that.