Update 2-7-06

Hi,

A pile of stuff, mainly in the order it arrived.

From Zelda White Nichols:  Just wanted to announce that I am going to be opening "Southern Spirit -- The Fine Crafts Gallery of the Carolinas" in May with my business partner Toby.  It will be located in the cute little town of Denton, North Carolina.  If anyone is a juried quality crafts person or artisan and is interested in exhibiting, please contact me at zelda.nichols@high-rock-lake.com.  If you are in the area, stop in to say "hi."
        Also, I am now the fundraising director for "Friends In Need," a no-kill animal shelter in Lexington, North Carolina.  This is a non-profit shelter strictly for abused and abandoned animals.  If anyone is planning a move to this wonderful area and considering a pet or considering to causes for donations purposes, this is a good one.  Many of these animals can never be placed in homes due to age (who wants an eight- or ten-year-old dog?), disease (several dogs are cancerous and will stay here until it's there time to go), or mental problems caused by abusive former owners.  We recently rescued fifteen Katrina victims and are overflowing to the point where we need to build a new shelter.
   
    From RoseMarie Cassillo:  Hi, everyone.  Sorry I haven't been e-mailing you or replying to yours.  I haven't had a computer for weeks now, and I am using the time to pack the house up, as many of you know that I have sold my house and will be moving soon.  I am on my work computer now, which I am not allowed to use for personal use.  I am breaking rules, as no one is here to tell.  Please hold off on your e-mails until further notice, when my computer is up and running.  Thank you.  I love you all and have missed the e-mails, especially the pictures.
   
    From Barbara Blitfield Pech:  Good news, pun intended.  Robin Feit Baker recently mailed me a copy of the Valley Stream Herald with the 50th anniversary article.  I noted the web address http://www.liherald.com/  and felt obligated to check it out.  Eureka!  Not only did I pull it up, but I was also able to create a free account and have an online version of the newsletter sent to my e-mail address.  You can also access close proximity town newspapers from the Five Towns, Lynbrook, and Franklin Square via their home page.
        Also -- and I thought there were few things in life that could still catch me -- but going to my mailbox today both humbled and aged me:  my son received an announcement for his 10th high school reunion.  Ouch!

    A quick note from Amy Lieberman to Booker Gibson:  I was just talking on the phone with Larry Miller.  He said to say "hi" to everyone, and to add that, unfortunately, he can't make it to South's 50th Anniversary celebration.  But it sounds like fun.

    From Peggy Cooper Schwartz:  I was devastated to hear of Wendy Wasserstein's untimely death.  Through the years, my family and I have loved her plays.  I was lucky to hear her speak, many years ago, at the Cherry Hill New Jersey, Jewish Community Center.  In one of her early plays, Isn't it Romantic, there are some funny lines about The Green Acres Shopping Center.
    Similarly, from Amy Bentley:  I loved Wendy Wasserstein.  I was a big fan of hers.  I met her, and she inscribed a book she wrote.
   
    And Barnet Kellman just mentioned that he'd gone to two memorials lately, one for Wendy Wasserstein and one for John Spencer.
   
    On a happier note, Ellen Epstein Silver mentioned that her daughter Jessica had gone to a Superbowl Party with Kevin James, Jerry Stiller, Ann Meara, and Lou Ferigno.  One of Jessica's friends is a writer on the sitcom King of Queens.
   
    Though, again, sadly, noted in passing:  Betty Friedan, whose perceptions probably shaped some of our lives as much as Dr. Spock's.
   
    From Emily Kleinman Schreiber, and, separately, from Claire Brush Reinhart, though originally from Stephen Lando sent on with this note, "If you get duplicates of this, consider yourself popular":  Hello Everyone.  I received the following from Dr. Lando, South High School's principal, and I'm now happy to share it with you.  Please pass it along to other alumni.
        South High School now has an active website, which includes information and some of the forms for the invitations for the 50th Anniversary celebration.  The web page address is:
    http://www.vschsd.org/schools/south/ctesouth/SouthAnniversary/50th%20Anniversary%20Page.html    If you go to http://www.vschsd.org/ and clicks on "Our Schools" and then on "South High School," you will also be able to navigate to the page.
   
    A quick follow-up from Emily:  I had trouble when I went to the site via AOL, but it was fine when I used Safaro, Internet Explorer, and Firefox. 
   
    A similar follow-up from Claire:  I have heard back from a few of you that you were unable to access South's website with the information regarding the 50th anniversary celebration.  If you can't access it with that information, try this:  Go to Google and type in "Valley Stream South High School."  The first thing that should come up is the Central High School District
    information:  www.vschsd.org/schools/south   Click on that, and it should bring you
    directly to South's web site where there will be a big button that says SOUTH'S 50TH ANNIVERSARY INFORMATION.  Just click on that button, and it should have all the information.  Good Luck!

    Another q
    uick follow-up from Em and an unknown-to-me Paul:  Yes, I found it on Classmates.  I was very surprised.  I have not been in contact with anyone for many years.  I got an antique computer last year and upgraded it somewhat.  Had AOL for a while and the grandkids of my lady friend said AOL dial-up and my computer were too slow, so I didn't have a leg to stand on if I wanted to make them happy.  I went to the website and printed the luncheon form and also the events schedule.  This is going to be great!  I am so excited!  Thanks again.

    (And Em comments:  E-mails like this one make me happy.  People, do go to Classmates.com!)

Also from Em, but on a personal note:  Forty of my favorite photos are on display at the Baldwin Public Library for the month of February.  The library is located on Grand Avenue, between Sunrise Highway and Merrick Road.  I will be there this coming Sunday, February 12th, from 1:30 to 3:30.  I hope you will be able to stop by, take a look at my work, and chat.  They don't allow food or beverages in the library, so this will be a weight-watching event.  Hope you can make it.

And still from Emily:  How about a South High recollection from you?  I don't recall your sending one in yet.

[Rich -- So I sent Em the newsletter piece I'd written after Vince Tampio's death, about how much he meant to a lot of us.  I also sent the two-dozen-or-so notes many of you sent in the following week.  That should make our class well represented, but Emily would appreciate further notes.  Send them to her at:  cre8em@aol.com.]

Finally, from our person of the plains, Jerry Bittman -- Part 1:  So does anybody have any good advice for a person who has to fly several times in March and loathes flying?  I'll be in Las Vegas from March 2nd through the 10th.  My company will be an exhibitor at a gift show convention.  And then from May 16th to the 22nd, I'll be in Florida.  This is too much flying.  I wanted to drive it all, but my partners persuaded me not to.  All I know is if my plane crashes I'll kill them for their bad advice.
    Our web site will be up in a week or so.  I'll post it here so that whoever is interested can take a peek.  We are developing another item in which a portion of the proceeds will go for breast cancer research and to the Susan G. Koman Foundation.  They predict that we
will sell over one million units of this item.  If this comes to being as they predict, I have made arrangements through the publishers of O magazine, which is one of the magazines we will be in, that we will hand over a sizable check to breast cancer research on The Oprah Winfrey Show next year.
    My trip to Las Vegas has a stopover in Phoenix.  I am making plans to meet Kenny Seelig's widow, Joyce, and their youngest daughter.  They moved out there this past August.  Again, if anybody has good advice to help me with my fear of flying, please pass it along.
    Also, poor Peter Rosen:  Next month he will be on a plane that will seem like an eternity.  He is flying to India.  I think he is going there for a close-out sale of Madras shirts.
    PS -- Go Grizzlies!  Andy Dolich's team is doing really well this year.

And part 2 from Jerry:  It is Super Sunday and a few days since I sent the last note.  I just want to report that I have found out from one of my partners what the words are going to be on this item we created to help fight breast cancer.  All I can say is they are very, very powerful.  I predict that this item, and especially the slogan, will become mainstream in the fight against breast cancer.  When the general populace sees or hear this motto, they
will relate it to the fight against breast cancer.
    I am setting up the advertisement for three publications:  Mamm, a magazine that deals
with breast cancer; More, a magazine for women over forty; and, finally O, which is Oprah Winfrey's magazine.  We believe that we will eventually raise over seven million dollars for breast cancer.  Wow, I am still in shock.  This motto/slogan is that powerful.