Update 7-4-06

Hi,

Happy Fourth, of course.  Hope you're all doing something exciting.  And, yes, the principal job of an editor is to differentiate between words like principal and principle, which I managed not to do last week.
   
    Also after last week's newsletter, Emily Kleinman Schreiber wrote with this concern:  Please don't print many excerpts from the Memory Journal since I want alumni to join and get their copies of it.  If they can read it in your class' newsletter, they have no reason to send in their dues.  Maybe you could encourage those on your list to do that.
   
    [Rich -- To which I replied:  As the newsletter said, I was planning to run the journal entries through the summer.  It should only encourage people to join the Alumni Association, to get a hard copy of the book.  Most people toss their e-mail as soon as they read it anyway, so that won't give you competition.  Besides, the book has pictures.]
   
    Emily also wrote:  Fun things are happening this summer.  Alumni have some good ideas, and I'd like to share one with you.  Arlene Ainbinder Lynn sent me a list of all the Town of Hempstead and Nassau County concerts, which will be taking place starting on July 1st.  I know that I'll definitely be at as many as I possibly can since I love a good time.  Hope to see you all soon.
   
    [Rich -- Attached to Emily's note was the list of events.  But I figure if you live in Nassau County and are interested in its cultural events, you can easily get access to that list, so I won't include it here.  Though a cultural event that involves a South alumnus seems of merit, which explains the following.  It's from Bern Cohen '60, whose acting career took off when he hit sixty.]
   
    From Bern Cohen:  Now that we've had a rehearsal of Faces of War, I can tell you more about the play.  First, it's a staged reading rather than a full production.  Many people in the audience will be industry folk, and the hope is to get financial support for mounting a full New York production.  The reading will be held on the upper west side at Makor, a Jewish arts and culture organization affiliated with the 92nd Street Y's cultural series.  The theater is a three-hundred seat cabaret-styled room, meaning good, reasonably priced food is available.   The play focuses on a Jerusalem family during the intifada.  I play a retired Israeli army officer, a battle-experienced guy who loses two sons to the fighting.  The author has flown in from Los Angeles to be with us at rehearsals and to discuss the play with the audience.  Following is part of the press release:
        The highly dramatic play, Faces of War, a provocative look at the Israeli-Palestinian crisis seen through the lives of two friends raised together but now on opposite sides of the war, will be given its New York premiere July 10th as part of BIMA-NY's monthly staged reading series. It was written by award-winning television writer Stephanie Liss, who won a Writers Guild Award for her teleplay, Hidden in Silence, and it is being directed by Harriet Spitzer-Picker.
        Faces of War was inspired by a true story, but it gives an insight from the Israeli perspective of what that country has endured, which many recent plays and movies have not represented.  Liss completed the play after doing underground research in the Middle East with the PLO and Hamas.  BIMA-NY is a new theater dedicated to contemporary Jewish issues through education, theater, and workshops.  Since we are observant of the Sabbath, there are no performances on Friday or Saturday.  The play will be presented at the Makor/Steinhardt Center of the 92nd Street Y, 35 West 67th Street, New York, 10023.
   
    A quick follow-up to last week's Memory Journal entry, from Amy Miller:  Also, Walter Stem moved back to his native Stroudsburgh, Pennsylvania after he left South High.  I read his obituary about ten years ago in our local Allentown paper.  Stem was a big shot coach and Little League supporter, and there are quite a few other Stems in Eastern Pennsylvania who are coaches.  But no other who I know chewed tobacco.
   
    And another follow-up, from Joanne Shapiro Polner, who forgave me for misspelling principal in her entry:  That was a nice surprise, reading my Memory Journal piece again and knowing it was sent out to even more people.  I have my copy of the book, and after the open house at South this past March, I read from a good part of it on our drive home to New Jersey.  My brother Peter has an entry, too, and we may the only brother and sister who both contributed.
        I went to Queens College with three of my South '59 classmates, Marion Minsky, Barbara Pincus, and Barbara Cutler.  I am still in touch with all of them, and we found out years later that Andrea Harris '58 attended the college, too.  My brother is still friends with Larry Polner '62, whose brother Alex '58 I married in November 1964.  I didn't even know Alex when we both were in high school, though lots of couples met spouses and lifetime friends when attending South.
        Have a great summer! 
   
    A compliment from someone who likes to remain anonymous:  That was a perfect newsletter.  Thank you.  I pass these little gems on to friends.
   
    The link to a website that I think we've been made aware of before, this time courtesy of Claire Brush Reinhardt and Lanie Statsinger Shahar.  Someone also noted:  This is a fascinating way to view and listen to 60's music.  And wait till you see some of those 60's cars:  http://oldfortyfives.com/TakeMeBackToTheSixties.htm
   
    [Rich -- Finally this week's weird news from California:  I just bought a new printer.  As I was checking out, the store manager asked if I wanted to buy an extended warranty for it.  I said, "No."
        He said, "But the drum will wear out after two years, and that will cost you a hundred and twenty dollars.  The warranty will only cost thirty, and then you can bring the whole machine back saying it's broken and get a brand new one."
        It took me a moment to absorb that.  "But the drum's supposed to wear out after two years.  It's like tires on a car.  And you're telling me that after two years I can get the equivalent of a new car because the tires have naturally worn out."
        "Yeah," he said grinning, sure I would sign.  But I couldn't.  It didn't seem right, and I explained why.
        "Well, you gotta protect your karma," said a saleswoman standing nearby.]