Update 4-22-08

Hi,

Business first:  The Vince Tampio scholarship total is $600, coming from 11 donors.  The Booker Gibson scholarship total is $618, coming from 13 donors.  That gives us all the money we need this year, and we got it in record time, thanks to several generous donors.  It also gives us $218 towards next year's scholarships.
        I'll keep the extra money safe by not investing it.  Again, thanks to all.  The students will be grateful, and I'll let you know specifically who they are once the committees choose the recipients.
   
    Several letters next:
   
    From Janice Williams:  Guess I also need to take a few minutes to respond.  First, the sad news.  I ran into Carol Fasel's aunt and uncle, and they told me that Carol unfortunately passed away about four years ago.  Sorry to have to relay this.  It was a shock to me as well.  Carol and I were pretty good friends in high school.
        In other classmate news, Jeri Ferrera lives in Tucson, Arizona.  I don't know her address though.
        In personal news, I decided to finish my anthropology degree.  I really love the subject and hope someday to go on a dig.  Wow, that would be terrific, especially if I discovered something really great -- one can only hope.  Meanwhile, I am anxiously awaiting the warmer weather, so I can go ride my Harley.  Riding in the mountains is magnificent.  The views are outstanding.  Of course, where I live is just as beautiful.  And, loving the mountains as I do, I guess I will never move down from here.  My daughters all want me in Colorado Springs, but every time I go looking, I just cannot imagine living amongst people.  I just love all of my wild friends.
        Sorry to hear about Ken Ulric's mom.  Glad Ellen Epstein Silver's daughter is doing much better.  The notes from all of you sound just great, and I hope we have another reunion, as this time, I will get there.  I miss the days of high school.  I guess we all did not realize how fast life goes by.  But I still have a lot of fire in me, and I do not feel any older than I did in high school.  So I cannot complain.  Love to you all.
   
    From Helen David:  I was really astounded by the note last week regarding Al Raitano.  For the past few weeks, an ad for an entertainment series in 2009 has been on the bulletin board at the recreation center that houses our computer club and our exercise/meeting/entertainment room.  There was a photo of an Al Raitano, who was to sing in many voices.  Raitano?  Raitano?  Didn't we have an Al Raitano in our high school?  Oh, well, there must be a dozen people with that name.  And then comes the news that our Al Raitano is an entertainer.  Imagine his coming to our Sun City West, Arizona, of all places!  Wonderful news.
        I've also finally conjured image of the teenage Al Raitano in my mind.  How little some of us knew about the non-academic life of our pupils!
   
    From Les Glasser:  I probably fall closest to the last category of former class members that was mentioned last week -- I'm happy to read the newsletter but feel no urgency to contribute.  Still, I should add something.
        I retired to Florida four years ago and now spend time traveling, washing my boat, and pulling weeds.  I also have the greatest grandchildren, and they give me the most pleasure.  I can assure you that as long as you all keep writing to the newsletter, I will be eager to read it.  I always thought the class of '65 was made up of very special people, and the fact that so many of us stay connected proves it.
   
    Two e-mail address changes:
   
    From Robin Singer Taylor:  You can change my e-mail address even though we were promised the old one would work forever.  My new one is:  rtaylor@restainohomes.com
        Today, it is spring-like in Madison, much to everyone's happiness.  After 100 plus inches of snow this winter, we deserve nice weather.
   
    From Jay Tuerk:  A new e-mail address to send the updates to:  JTuerk111@tx.rr.com
   
    A pair of links to entertaining web sites, from Barbara Blitflield Pech:
        Free Old Time Radio Shows from The Golden Age of Radio:    http://www.oldradioworld.com/   
        Amazing Old Photos of New York City:   http://rimsi.com/ny/new%20york%20in%20black%20and%20white.html
   
    A public service announcement on the dangers of the cold preventative Airborne, for those of you who take it.  A quick summary of the information -- Never take more than one tablet a day.  The full story --   http://purplekangaroopuzzle.blogspot.com/2006/01/airborne-cold-remedy-helpful-dangerous.html
   
    A note from Amy Miller about building reconstruction at South:  At the 50th anniversary celebration, we learned that there was a fire at South, and the new library resulted from that.  (That fire would be the arson that damaged the side of the building which faces what used to be called Harbor Road School.)
   
    [Rich -- Finally, the continuation of my notes from my trip east, now a month ago:
        The first official part of Ninth Grade Career Day at South was an introductory speech in South Hall made by Larry Levy '67, former writer for Newsday and present teacher at Hofstra.  Larry tried hard, but the maybe-250 kids looked just as bored as we might have in ninth grade at 8:00 AM.  After Larry finished, the large group broke into about a dozen smaller ones, each headed by two guest speakers.  Two sessions were planned, each the length of a class period.
        I was in one of the Arts/Communication groups.  There were two, the first headed by Larry Levy and Betty Hansen Silver '64.  The other was led by Jack Price and me.  Jack was about my age, but he hadn't gone to South, and we were a good match to address the students:  Jack had worked for one corporation for thirty-eight years; I'd pretty well freelanced my entire career.  Jack took a test at eighteen to start working at what was then AT&T and is now Verizon; I was lucky enough to be given my first teaching job after grad. school, but when I decided to flee the pork producing capital of Ohio after two years, I was on my own.  Jack's first salary at AT&T was $77.50 a week, and he thought he was in Heaven.  My first paying job after my newspaper route was in summer stock after freshman year of college.  I got fifty bucks for the summer and don't think I spent it all.  Obviously, the value of money has changed in forty years, but even explaining to the students that gas cost less than a quarter a gallon didn't put the salaries in perspective.
        One of the interesting things about the second period group is it included Booker Gibson and Claire Brush Reinhardt '62, who, I guess, came to hear if I'd tell stories about working in television.  I had to disappoint them on that as the things the students asked about didn't go in that direction.  But I did learn something again from Booker, if only that memory isn't what you think it is.
        Jack Price had brought several props for his presentation, among them two phone cables.  One was from the 60s and was the typical, maybe 1" diameter cable that many of us still picture if we think about phone cables at all.  It had maybe 200 insulated copper wires and, as Jack noted, was capable of carrying about 100 conversations.  Then, he held up a second cable the same diameter, only this was filled with fiber optic strands.  It was capable of carrying 100,000 conversations.
        The way Booker fit into this is, seeing the two cables and Booker at the same time, I immediately thought of the prologue to The Ring of the Nibelung.  Now, I think I've established that I don't like opera, but we did learn about it in eighth grade, and some of that stuck,  The Ring prologue, at least as I recall, has the Fates spinning two cords, one very thin and one extremely thick.  Every time the thin one breaks, which happens almost constantly, a mortal dies.  Every time a strand on the thick cord breaks, a god dies.  Except the cords on the thick cable are so tightly intertwined that a god almost never dies.  Then the thick cord snaps, and we get sixteen hours of screaming in German.  Or -- comparatively -- 100,000 lost conversations.
        When I mentioned this to the class, crediting learning the information to Booker, he said, "Nope, I never taught the Ring.  That was John Lechy's territory.  And he was very territorial."
        I never had Lechy, and I told Booker this.  I had someone who Booker identified as Payne, though I couldn't remember that or anything else about the class except that I liked Booker's better.  But I guess I did learn something in seventh grade music, and, after all these years, I'm still getting it wrong.
        In any case, it was fun seeing Booker in a student desk while I was quasi-teaching.  And he never once whispered to Claire or passed notes.]