Update 11-07-06

Hi,

A batch of notes, pretty much in the order they came in.

From Jerry Bittman:  Today is Election Day.  I hope everybody participates.  The reason for this message is to relay the information that yesterday I felt really old.  I was talking to a girl named Lori at the Democratic National Headquarters in Washington, D.C., and I asked her if she'd ever heard the quote, "Read My Lips?"  When she replied, "No," I asked Lori how old she was.  She answered, "Twenty-one."  Well, I had to explain to Lori that this was a famous quote by George Bush given at the Republican Convention on August 18, 1988, and that within ninety days after taking office, he raised the taxes.  I was then asked if I would consider doing volunteer work for a week for the Democrats.  I politely told her that I've always been an Independent and that I vote for the candidate, not the party.  However, I am doing volunteer work here for a candidate who is running for Congress, and he, too, is an Independent.  He now has a six-point lead in the polls.  Whenever I think about politics, I often think of Steven Spector.  I believed, way back when we were in high school, that Steven would be a U.S. Senator one day.

    From Peter Rosen:  In answer to last week's question:  I don't live in the Tampa / St. Petersburg area, but I'm there every other week on business.  So if there is to be a mini-reunion, please count me in.
   
    From Andrea Schwartz Neenan:  I really enjoy receiving this newsletter.  Even though I was two years behind you -- class of  ’67 -- many names are quite familiar.  And all the talk about Harbor Road School brings back memories, since I also attended there and I certainly remember the principal, Mrs. Rumpleton.  Barbara Blitfield Pech's description of her is quite fitting.  I actually grew up on Hungry Harbor Road, as Carol Bunim Okin mentioned in her letter.
        You asked about people in the Tampa Bay area -- well, I'm in Oldsmar, a small town between Tampa and Clearwater.  I have already located three other people from my class in the area, Halli Albanese, Joanne Rossi, and Laura Arndt.  We've gotten together for lunch and dinner and would love to know of other alumni in the area.  Also, I know you mentioned it previously, but we are planning a 40th reunion for next summer and are in the process of locating classmates.  If anyone knows of someone from our class, please contact me at: aneenan@tampabay.rr.com
   
    From Judy Hartstone:  Thanks for the thought, but, nope, my birthday isn't in October.
   
    From Martha Morenstein:  Your birthday greetings remind me how some stuff just sticks:  Indeed, Halloween is Judy Schulman's birthday.  Susan Atkins celebrates on the same date.  But Judy Hartstone's is in early July.
   
    From Janice Williams Teeuwe:  Hello, all of you.  I just want to say Happy Halloween to everyone.  Recently, I went on a wonderful cruise to the eastern Caribbean.  What fun.  I'm still riding my Harley.  Just call me "biker mamma."  I can't wait to get my skis waxed so I can hit the slopes -- I love to ski.  I took a semester off from school but will be going back shortly.  I really love school though I don't know where I will get an anthropology job.  But maybe I can go on a dig.  That would be wonderful.  I took my youngest daughter to Moberly, Missouri.  She is going to a Bible college and wants to be a missionary.  She has already gone on several missions, one to Brazil, where she really enjoyed helping at an orphanage.  I really miss her.  She is my baby and her going leaves me with no children.  But I'm looking forward to her Thanksgiving visit.  We just had four feet of snow up here in the mountains.  I loved it.  But right after it falls, you can just walk outside with a T-shirt on since we are so close to the sun.  The snow does not last very long at this altitude, either, because the sun melts it right away.  It's not like in New York.  My daughter Nicole just got her Master's degree, and I am so very proud of her.  My oldest daughter is busy cleaning her six-thousand square foot house.  She is sorry now that they built such a big house because there's so much to clean.  My three grandchildren are all fine, and, of course, they are loved a lot by Gram.  Bailey just turned seven, and my two granddaughters are nine and twelve, but I am not aging any, so that works out very nicely.  The children just get older.  I am hoping one of these times I will be able to get to one of your gatherings and see a lot of you.  I sure do miss the good old days.  Meanwhile, my best to you all.
   
    From Jean Cohen Oklan:  I hope all is well with everyone.  I enjoy the newsletters, and, as many other classmates have done, I will contribute soon, even though I think my life is quite humdrum. 
   
    From Emily Kleinman Schreiber:  It was great having Paul DeMartino, Robin Feit Baker, Dennis Shaprio, and Arlene Ainbinder Lynn at our reunion last week.  I even got to dance with a younger man.  We had around ninety people attending, and I would recommend the Oceanside Knights of Columbus for other classes' future reunions.  The banquet hall is lovely, the food is good, and the price is very reasonable, which makes it easier for some people to pay their way.  We had a DJ and a full-time open bar, plus balloons on the tables and forming an archway.  The DJ and the balloons, we brought in ourselves.  I think other classes should also consider joining together with neighboring years' since it's hard to get the number of people per class attending as in the past.
        Also, about Carbonaro:  Barbara Blitfield Pech is correct -- Robert Carbonaro was a member of the school board for many years, and that's why the school was named for him.  I knew his wife Henrietta during my years as a PTA advocate.  She also served on the school board after he passed away.
   
    From Helen David to Barbara Blitfield Pech:  No exception taken for being corrected.  In fact, I got a kick out of your statement, "Far be it from me to correct a teacher, but..."  However, have you feminists noted that in the update of 10-31-06, that it is "Mr. Saffrin, Mr. O'Brien, and Mr. Gibson," but I am referred to as Helen David?  And I even bristle at "Ms."  You all knew me as "Mrs. David."  Remember those were the good old days!  (Yes, I know:  you called us by our first names behind our backs.)  Also, as a point of information:  when I went to high school, the female students were called "Miss" followed by our surnames.  Those were the good old, old days.  As I recall, we may still have had that practice when I taught at Washington Irving High School in the late 1940s.
   
    [Rich -- Actually, I meant to replace Irv Saffrin, Bernie O'Brien, and Booker Gibson's titles last week with their first names.  But I'd already done a mess of juggling with Stephen Lando's Ph.D. to make that letter read smoother.  And every week I balance between keeping my hands off the letters as much as possible and evening them all out.  So that was just one I decided to leave.]
   
    Donald Faber sent in a link to an American Heritage magazine article about 1964 -- The Year the 60s Began.  You can read the article on their website or wait until mail is slow here during the holiday season, and I run the article as filler.
   
    Also, Amy Lieberman has done it again:  She's won another Artios Award from the Casting Society of America.  This time she won for the Mark Taper Forum's production of Chekov's The Cherry Orchard, headed by Annette Benning and Alfred Molina.  This is her fifth award, and this year she was nominated four times in the same category.  She said something very funny in her acceptance speech:  "I'd like to congratulate all the nominees in my category."  There was big laughter.
   
    Finally, five notes from the Autumn Alumni Association bulletin, the first, again, from Emily Kleinman Schreiber:  Dear Fellow Alumni.  Once again, I want to thank those of you who have already joined Valley Stream South High School's Alumni Association.  Only with your continued financial support will our goals be realized.  To date there are two-hundred-and-eighty-nine paid members.  Considering that forty-eight classes graduated in the past fifty years, there are at least ten thousand alumni scattered across the country -- even the world.  We have merely chipped off a tiny piece of the alumni Iceberg.  I hope many, many more of you will join your Alumni Association if you haven't done so already.  This newsletter will be sent to all alumni for whom I have e-mail addresses -- members and non-members alike.  In case you need a new application, please write me at: cre8em@aol.com.  Then send it back with a check for fifteen dollars, and please plan to do that each new year.  In addition to monetary support, so many of you contact me on a regular basis to share ideas for upcoming class reunions.  You have given me reason to smile, and I feel proud to be your president.  I'd be remiss if I didn't mention our summer theater party -- dinner at Milleridge Inn followed by the Peter, Paul, & Mary in concert at Westbury Music Fair.  Thanks go to Laura Waxman Ulric for making the arrangements.  I also want to thank the Classes of '74, '75, and '76 for making me feel so comfortable when I popped in at their Beach Bash at the Mushrooms in Lido Beach.  In the next newsletter, I plan to include some photos from those two events.  Meanwhile, enjoy!
   
    Note:  New members of the Alumni Association will receive a newly revised copy of the Memory Journal.  A limited quantity remains.
   
    Your Help Is Needed:  It was suggested that a call be put out for the following:
    •   An attorney to fill out the necessary 501C3 government form
    •   An insurance advisor
    •   A web designer
    •   A web master
    •   An architect to create a simple plan for placement of bricks along the path to South's entrance off Gladys Street
    •   A bricklayer / landscaper to lay the bricks once the commemorative names have been engraved on each one
    Please respond as soon as possible.  Thanks.
   
    Valley Stream South High School Alumni Speakers Bureau:  There has been some discussion in the past regarding the formation of an Alumni Speakers' Bureau.  Last year at the March 11th Fifty-Year Celebration, former principal Christine Cutting spoke about it.  At our September meeting, Stephen Lando, South's current principal, spoke to our alumni association members about the concept.  He told us that he would like to use the school's Shared Decision Making Team to determine staff / class needs and to coordinate this effort.  Our role now is to survey all of you with regard to the area or areas of expertise that you would feel comfortable sharing with South's students.  The Shared Decision Making Team  will develop a form for submission.  However, you can let me know informally before then if you would be interested in being part of this worthwhile endeavor.
   
    Our Act of Kindness Project:  We want to make a difference in the community by helping RotaCare.  Plan to attend the November 16th meeting, when you'll hear a presentation by a representative from RotaCare -- an organization that provides free medical care to those with the most need and the least access to medical care.  Thanks to Enid Koss Parness, Laura Waxman Ulric, and Claire Brush Reinhardt for serving on the Acts Of Kindness committee.
   

    Two reminders:
   
    Class of '66 reunion:  Friday and Saturday, November 10th and 11th.  Long Island Marriott,
        Uniondale.  Two nights -- $125.00.  Saturday night only -- $100.00
        Friday Night -- Get Together
        Saturday Night -- Dinner Dance
        For information contact Michael Schimmel at:  mdschimmel@gmail.com
   
    Next Alumni Association Meeting:  Thursday, November 16th.  South High School
        library.  7:15  PM.  Everyone welcome.