Update 4-6-09

Hi,

Let's begin with a preliminary note from Booker Gibson:  I have been so flattered and appreciative of the gifts given to me by the class of '65 and its friends.  As  you mentioned in last week's newsletter, with the present economy, people can't do what they used to do.  Since this wonderful scholarship idea started as a way to remember Vince Tampio, I  think it's a great idea just to continue with the award honoring Vince.
        Every month, I  try to visit South for an Alumni Association meeting, and I can't stop looking at the two  plaques which list the students who've been given the music and theater scholarships.  That's so much thanks for me.  From the beginning, I've thought of  five, ten, or fifteen other former faculty members who should be honored in some way, and I think you and some others may have thought along the same lines.  Because of that, I'd be perfectly happy to let the scholarship in my name go after the present five years.
   
    [Rich -- Booker sent me that note last Tuesday morning, and as I wrote him back almost immediately, there's almost no way we're going to let either scholarship end before the initial ten years we've committed to.  And I said that before I knew what was going to happen over the next four days.
        Starting with Wednesday's mail and ending with Saturday's, checks came in for $450 of the $750 we need to raise this year.  Another $100 came in this afternoon, Monday, leaving only $200 more to raise, and I'm confident that's already in the mail.
        That makes the response even faster this year than last, when it took merely two weeks to raise the scholarship money.  Part of the reason may be explained by the following three notes, the first of which was modestly requested to be run anonymously.]
   
    From a former South student:  The worse the economy is, the more people there are who need help, and the more the help is needed.  Giving a student a scholarship, for any amount, is a very good thing.  I am fortunate to be able to contribute.
   
    From Shirley Hess Deutsch, '66:  It was wonderful to have reconnected with Booker Gibson because of your class' weekly newsletter, and I'd like to contribute to his scholarship fund in honor of my very musical family.  That includes players of:  guitar, banjo, mandolin, piano, French horn, and many other instruments.
   
    From Judy Hartstone, '65:  Booker Gibson deserves to be honored year after year and to be remembered for the excellence and joy he brought to teaching.  The depth of musical appreciation he instilled in his students is an everlasting contribution to our community.  I have fond memories of his class that return whenever I hear music from La Boheme, Rigoletto, Pagliacci, etc.
   
    [Rich -- Also, comments from two other people, who I'm sure would give permission to run these words but whose notes came too late for me to ask.]
   
    The first, class of '67:  Great man, Mr. T.
   
    The second, class of '69:  Things are difficult at the moment, truth be told, so only 'cause it's Vince.
   
    [Rich -- I suspect the present South students who get these awards would rather have the money, but I'd rather read these comments.  I'm guessing Booker will be pleased, and I'm as sure Vince would throw something heavy at me for making him the center of attention.
        Just in case you need this information again -- checks should be made out to:  Rich Eisbrouch and sent to me at:  23030 Dolorosa Street, Woodland Hills, California  91367.  In the bottom left corner of your check, please indicate which award you're supporting or if you want your contribution split between the awards.]
   
    In other news, a mystery, which started with a note from Cathy Wilson's husband, Jim Reynolds:  I continue to get your weekly newsletter but not being a South alumni usually don't have much to contribute.  But I will offer this suggestion to Stu Borman, if you would like to pass it on.
        I almost mentioned this a couple of weeks ago, when you were discussing photo storage, but decided to "butt out," as most people find their own way of doing stuff on the Internet and don't need input from a complete stranger.  Still, I see from this week's newsletter that Flickr limits the number of photos you can store for free.
        As an alternative, I have used Shutterfly.com for many years and have literally 85 albums with over 2,000 pictures online.  The site is free, and as far as I can tell, there are no volume limits.  I maintain a couple of web sites and link those sites to the appropriate Shutterfly album rather than use space within my site.  When you want to share pictures in an album with other people, Shutterfly will actually make a web site for that album.
        One area you should be aware of is that once users connects via a link, they can only see the album associated with that link.  I don't believe they can jump around in my account to see my other albums, which is fine because some of those other albums are none of their business.  To get around that, you could put multiple links on your reunionclass65.blogspot.com, for example, one for "Class Photos," another for "Judy Hartstone's Pictures," a third "Stu Borman's Snapshots."  You can test the not being able to look at other albums by going to my album, http://25thanniversaryvietnammemorial.shutterfly.com, and seeing if you can get to any of my other albums.  I hope not, because family photos can be embarrassing.
        Anyway, Stu may want to check out Shutterfly.com.  There are many more features available, like allowing others to add photos and viewing slide shows.  If he wants to chat about Shutterfly via e-mail, please feel free to give him my e-mail address.  Or he may feel like, "Wow, after I've already done Flickr, I'm not uploading all that stuff to another site."  Been there, done that myself, so I understand.
        Best to all, from Cathy and me.
   
    [Rich -- I forwarded Jim's note to Stu, and here are the answers and the mystery.]
   
    From Stu Borman 1:  I wouldn't at all mind trying the Shutterfly site.  I've printed out the site's help page, and I'll experiment to see if users can click through to multiple albums instead of just being able to access a single album.  If one can only see a single album per link, I think that would be a problem, but I don't think that's the case, since each Shutterfly site has an album thumbnails view available.  So it may just be that Jim Reynolds hasn't set up his site for multiple albums.  I'll tell you what I discover.
   
    From Stu Borman 2:  Instead of using Shutterfly, I decided to use Picasa, a Google site.  I've ported the whole photo site to Picasa, and I'm currently using less than 1% of the capacity allowed (1 GB).  The address to give the group is the following:  picasaweb.google.com/SouthHS65   I don't think capitalization actually matters in that address, but the address is easier to read with three capital letters in "SouthHS65".
        The Picasa site works much better than the Flickr site did.  For example, captions are displayed in the Picasa slide shows, whereas they were not in the Flickr slide shows.  Also, instead of the site's address and tagging being so closely identified with me, as was the case on Flickr, the Picasa site's address and identity is associated with the South High School Class of '65, which I'm more comfortable with.
        I deleted the entire Flickr site after establishing the Picasa one.  Only afterwards did I realize that people might still be looking at it, based on last week's newsletter.  So I apologize about having deleted the Flickr site prematurely, but it did not occur to me that this might be a problem until after the deed was done.
        (NOTE:  The South photos were moved to yet another Google site at a later date.  So please don't look for them at the site mentioned here.  Look for the newer link.)
   
    [Rich -- First of all, thanks, Jim.  Second, as I wrote Stu:  It's okay.  We can explain the mystery of the vanishing site to everyone next week.  Meanwhile, thanks again for all your work, and I'll send more pictures and more work for you soon.]
   
    Finally, there are several more notes, but let's not push the limit of spam filters and our attention.  This last one note is related to the ones immediately above.
        From Betsy Fels Pottruck:  I loved all the pictures on the web site.  Such memories.  Does anyone know whatever happened to Valerie Nelson -- she was in the pictures of Marc Jonas' Bar Mitzvah, and she lived a few doors down from me in Green Acres.
        Also, I just returned from Florida this week, where I was visiting my mom.  I went to a dinner for Jackie Drucker's dad, and Stu Marshall and Sheila Erasmous Marshall were there.  I graduated with Sheila and have not seen her since 1967, so it was lots of fun catching up.
        Again thanks for the pictures.  They were really great.
   
    The South '65 blog (class of '65 e-mail addresses):  reunionclass65.blogspot.com
   
   
    Rich