Update 3-10-09

Hi,

Notes from former teachers first, I usually try to say.

From Toni Rea:  Just want you to know how much I enjoy (and continue to enjoy) the South High Reunion Class of '65 updates.  This will be short because I have a dentist appointment a bit later this AM, but I have been wanting to let you and all the former students who follow your letters know that I get a kick out of seeing how their lives have moved on since we shared some time and experiences at South High.
        As for me, I -- actually for my partner of thirty years, Lorraine Nagle, a former English teacher at North High in Valley Stream, and me -- we sold our home in East Hampton and bought a villa in Naples, Florida.  We miss East Hampton, especially in September when life always quickens with new beginnings, falling leaves, and, yes, the first snow of winter, but the sharp winds of winter and joints that have gotten less nimble over all these years -- 76 of them now -- became an incentive to find a place we could call home in a more gentle clime. We had friends in Naples and had visited here, as well as having rented a condo here for a month-or-two before deciding we could maybe make this our new 'hometown'.  Then, too, East Hampton was becoming more and more expensive as we grew older and had to hire people to help take care of outside chores.  The town had also become even more upscale and tax heavy.
        In short, it was time to relocate and start anew -- not easy after eighteen years of the wonderful life we had on our four acres, three miles north of the village of East Hampton, in what is known as the Springs of East Hampton.  This area was once home to many writers and artists such as Jackson Pollack who would stop for coffee and conversation at the Springs General Store about a mile from our house.
        Here in Naples. and after three years of being more or less 'settled in', I'm still trying to get my study (the third bedroom in our villa) organized.  As most of my former students will understand, it is filled with books --read and yet-to-be-read, magazines, sudoko puzzle books, mementos, walls filled with paintings and prints, large and small, a computer work table -- also filled with stacks of paper, emails, etc., a TV, a printer, two book cases (full, of course), a large, teak-stained walnut desk which was 'modern' when I bought it fifty years ago.
        We also have a lively presence in the house named "Annie", an all-black-with-a-right-front-white-paw Shitz tzu who turned two years old this last Saturday and whom we bought when she was three months old.  She allows us to tend to her needs and is known (and we think loved) by the whole neighborhood.
        So that's it, for now.  Just know that I again thank the class of '65 for its invitation to attend its reunion (When was it?  In the seventies?)  Thanks also to Barnet Kellman, who always sends me a family picture around the holiday season.  It was wonderful to see so many of you at that past reunion, and, as I have said, to share glimpses of your lives as they are now through these weekly updates that Rich so tenderly nurtures and sends out to us.
        Much love to all.
   
    And from Joanne Shapiro Polner, partly to Judy Hartstone:  As I finished your last words in the Update about the female sidewalk dodger who couldn't take your old guy's broad smile, all I could say was:  Aaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwww Jeeeeeeeeesss!
        The trouble isn't with us "last third of our lives" people; it is with the younger generation, who seem lacking in gentility, courtesy, and appreciation.  They don't know how young we are inside.  Our surface presentation is a trick of nature against our hearts and spirits.  There's that title for women -- we're just "girls with grandmother faces" -- and the same idea goes for guys.
        Oh, you may observe, does my neck look a little stretched out?  I say, I have been looking left and right and up and down and peering here and searching there to know my world and to fill my spirit of being human, so I may look like I am all stretched out from all that living, and I am, but my head is filled with wonder and some knowledge.  I have to have a positive attitude about my body's changes.  It's what's in my head that counts -- and in my esprit.  You can see why we enjoy the intense bonding with our high school (and college) buddies, because we are in this aging thing together and we know how young we are inside!
        I belong to a French Circle for weekly lunch and conversation.  Of the eighteen of us, I, at 67, am the fifth from youngest.  There are a few women in their forties and two in their fifties, but the average age of the other dozen is eighty.  I have been in this club for almost thirty years.  I used to play tennis with one of the two women who will be ninety this year -- and she only stopped skiing four years ago.  The minds of my Circle friends are top notch, and I want to be like these people when I grow up.  I want to be ten-pin bowling at eighty-five, like some of the older women in my bowling league. 
        South buddies, we have things to do, places to see, contributions to make, and accolades to savor.  Full steam ahead despite nature's cruel tricks on our bodies' joints and systems.  Ladies, throw away your turtleneck shirts, except to sleep in, and wear v-neck tops all the time -- so much more complimentary as the focus is on that nice triangle lower than your chin, on your chest, never wrinkly, always smooth and flat.  Guys, keep fit, and you are always attractive.
        Look good, feel good, do good!   Act so as to bring out the best in others and thereby in yourself.  Our new motto might be -- to follow directly from Judy Hartstone -- "We're off to Pittsburgh."  That means renewed purpose, renewed commitment, and renewed energy.  It's a phrase for all of us, right now, as we move through our "final third (or thereabouts)" in life.  We salute you Judy and wish you well.  C'mon guys and girls, men, women, children, "We're off to Pittsburgh!"
   
    From Stu Borman:  I like the assignment you've given me.  I accept.  But I have to find an easy way to deal with the photos, and I'm researching this right now.  Basically, my idea is to take down the photo site I set up earlier and put all those photos, plus all the new photos I'm getting, on a new site.
        Right now I'm focusing on Flickr.  I already have a Flickr account, as I put a few photos up there from the one dinner of the DC South High School reunion group (remember that?).  I think I'll be able to load photos up there, caption and credit them, put them in different sets, and I'll be done.  People will then be able to go to a Flickr address, select sets they're interested in (based on a representative thumbnail and a brief description of each set), and view photos or photo slide shows.  It's pretty simple, but I want to read the Flickr help files to make sure I set this up correctly.
        So I printed out the Flickr help files today, and I'm in the process of reading them.  It may take me a little while to figure this out, especially since I'm flying off to Chicago on Sunday, March 8th, for a five-day business trip, and my time tends to be chronically oversubscribed.  I've also been in touch with Marc Jonas, who has already sent me some new photos directly, in addition to the one photo of his you sent me earlier.   And, yes, I think both Marc's Green Acres sales brochure and the Lord's Wood map should be posted.
          Thanks for your confidence in me.  Regards to all.
   
    [Rich -- from me to Stu:  It's great that you're interested in doing this, and I'm sure everyone will be pleased.  And take all the time you need to find a form you're comfortable with and one that will stick around for a while.  One of the reasons I've never reloaded all the photos I had from the old AOL site onto the new class blog is it takes so much time.
        Hope all is well.  I'll pass your note on to the class to let them know of our progress.  I suspect it might generate even more interesting photos.  If not, as I said, I have a batch, including many of the grade school class photos.  Just let me know if you want them.]
   
    From Stu back:  You and I are thinking along the same track -- about how long-lasting the venue will be.  I suspect that once people see others' photos posted (besides just my original ones), they will also be inspired to scan and send some of their photos to be posted.  So it's important to anticipate the possibility that the number of photos on the site could grow.
        I discovered this morning that Flickr only allows 200 photos to be displayed in a free account.  On the other hand, the next most popular service, Photobucket, apparently permits 1 GB of photos to be displayed in a free account.  (These limits go up much higher if you pay for an account -- $25 a year for Flickr and $40 a year for Photobucket.)
        The free Photobucket account sounds better to me than the free Flickr account, as we could use a free Photobucket account to post 1,000 1-MB photos, 2,000 500-KB photos, or 4,000 250-KB photos.  Any of those numbers seems adequate to me, whereas we would be dead-ended at 200 photos with Flickr, and I wouldn't be surprised if we could exceed that limit.
        Still, maybe scanning old photos is much too hard for most people, and not all that many contributions will come in.  So please let me know how you feel about this, as the Flickr site is more widely used than Photobucket.
        There's a freeware program that I use called IrfanView (written by a guy named Irfan Skiljan) that permits me to very easily resample (resize) photos and run a quick optimization on the image (if necessary).  I'm already very familiar with Irfan View.
   
    [Rich -- from me to Stu again:  I'll pass these questions on to the class and see who responds.  My instinct is that people will be happy to let you do what you think best, and I also think that 200 photos might be fine.  I probably had more than that on the old AOL site but that's because I posted almost everyone's photos after the 37th reunion because I didn't want to leave anyone out.  But many of the photos repeated other photos, and I wrecked some of them because I couldn't control the software well enough -- too many of the photos went out of focus.  That's why, when I saw your site, I realized you were much better at this than I was.  So find the program you're most comfortable with and get yourself set up.  Once you're done with the initial work, I'll send you the batch of grade school and high school photos I've accumulated, and you can sort through them and post what you want.  But don't make yourself nuts.]
   
    A blessing from Mr. Fiveson -- The Senility Prayer:
        Grant me the senility to forget the people
        I never liked anyway,
        The good fortune to run into the ones I do,
        And the eyesight to tell the difference.
   
    Marc Jonas says, "I'm thinking that the unidentified lad in the photo I sent could have been Eddie...  Was there an Eddie Kilroy, or have I been at the bar too long?"
        Marc also adds, about the Philadelphia weather:  "Now it's ice, and it's cold.  Gotta love the Northeast."
   
    Linda Cohen Greenseid mentions:  A bit of news from Long Island, another victim of the financial crisis -- Fortunoff's will close in April, and another piece of our past will be erased.  That sounds so gloomy, so here's a piece of good news for us Northeasterners -- all of the spring birds have returned to our backyard bird feeders this week and are giving the winter birds some competition.  It's good to see them again.  I am very, very tired of winter.
   
    Among other notes:  A patriotic forward from Alan Bendel.  A nostalgic forward from Zelda White Nichols.  Both without links, or I'd add them here.  Zelda also adds:  As I think I've mentioned before, I’m co-moderator of Si-Sawat, a Yahoo group for owners and breeders of Korats around the world.  Korats are a rare breed of cat.  For details, see:  http://www.cfainc.org/breeds/profiles/korat.html.  I am the Southeast Regional Director of Korat Cat Fancier Association (KCFA) and am heavily involved with rescues, re-homings and finding kittens all over the country.
   
    [Rich -- also, an apology from me:  I forgot to remind people that the Alumni Association met at South last Thursday night, the 5th.  Kind of badly balances the fact that, last month, I reminded everyone a week too early.]
   
    Finally, from Danny Stellabotte:  Eric Hilton was in town this past Wednesday, and we met in Lynbrook at Vincent's restaurant.  Emily Schreiber, Robin Feit, Arlene Lynn, and Nancy Panzarino were all there, and it was fantastic.  Eric and I grew up as best friends, and it was a pleasure to see him.  We have been in touch in recent months, and it was great to see him and everyone who was at Vincent's.  Since the class of '65 reunion, I have been in touch or met with some people from South High, and it has been great.
   
    The South '65 blog:  reunionclass65.blogspot.com
   
   
    Rich