Update 9-8-09

Hi,

Let's begin with some cheerful news.

From Mary Sipp-Green:  Hi, everyone.  Here's my news.  I did speak with Joe Jochnowitz on the phone for a long time a few weeks ago.  He is just as smart, informed, re-lative, creative, and hip as I remember him being when he was an art teacher at South.  I was more than happy to have found  him, so thanks to anyone who helped me do that.  Bye for now.
   
    Then, some quick business from Booker Gibson:  Hello, everyone.  I'm returning to my first e-mail address, at least, I believe I am.  It's:  bgibson@optonline.net   Thanks.
   
    Next, from Paulinda Schimmel:  Thank you so much for putting in the reminder about the Walk / Run.  I
    really appreciate it.  Stop by and say "hello."  There will be a health fair with lots of giveaways.
   
    [Rich -- Which is just another gentle way to remind those people in Los Angeles that the Walk / Run is this coming weekend, Sunday, September 13th, starting at 8 AM at CBS Studio Center, 4024 Radford Avenue, in Studio City.]
   
    Some thoughtful news from Zelda White Nichols:  My heart goes out to all those being affected by the fires in California at this time.  In the six years we lived in the mountains east of San Diego, we were in three major fires.  The feelings of terror and helplessness do not go away after the news stories end.  It takes years to rebuild homes and lives, and trees remain blackened forever.
        Fire fighters lose their own homes to save others, and the suffering of wildlife in the forests and domestic pets who are killed provides unending heartbreak.  The deaths of people are even more horrifying, often because many did not have to die, but they refused to leave their homes when told to evacuate.  The aftermath is like a war zone, and the press compared the air of one fire I was in to that of a nuclear winter.
        For those who wish to donate -- and donations are desperately needed -- do not send money to the Red Cross.  Instead, call the local community centers and churches to see which ones are accepting donations.  The money will reach the victims much more quickly, and when you have lost everything, everything is needed, from warm coats and blankets to cooking utensils.
        On a far more pleasant subject, I wish to announce that my husband and I drove to Florida this past week to help my mother celebrate her 95th birthday.  She is involved in life, although in a wheelchair now, but she does still remember many of my old classmates.
   
    [Rich -- First, seeing we all seem to be creeping so close to death lately, perhaps some of us would prefer to be referred to as "former" classmates, not "old" ones.
        More seriously, another quick fire report from Los Angeles, news many of you may be aware of from the media:  The fire is reasonably contained, the skies are beginning to clear, and -- since the fire is mainly burning undergrowth that needs to be cleared -- it's, again, being softly spoken of as a "good fire."  The reason for the whisper, of course, is the two firefighters who died.
        By the way, the fires that I saw burning so relatively near to the Freeway last week were back fires, successfully set to keep the blaze away from towns like Altadena.  Like me, a lot of people didn't realize that until we saw the news the next day.]
   
    Some cultural news, from Joanne Shapiro Polner:  Hello, friends and acquaintances from South High.  I wish all of you were able to visit this.  Meanwhile, best regards to everyone.
        The Presbyterian Church at Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, 730 Franklin Lake Road, is hosting a photography show in its art gallery for the month of September 2009.  Twenty works by local resident Joanne Polner will feature iconographic images from the island of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.  Twenty-one works by photographer Jackie Hill, presently of York, Pennsylvania, and formerly of Wayne, New Jersey, capture the colors and forms of flowers admired throughout a lifetime and include several portraits from travels abroad.  The art gallery hours are:  9 AM. to 3 PM, Monday to Friday, and 9:30 to 11:30 on Saturday mornings.  In addition, people attending services on Sundays will have further opportunities to admire the fine works of these two women.
        How does an island capture the heart of a visitor?  It speaks through the details of life at the ocean shore and at the ponds -- and of the breadth and warmth of sunsets.  An island is also known more intimately by the marks of the human hand upon the land.  One can appreciate the vigorous energy of farmers, mariners, home-and-boat builders, educators, artists, and shopkeepers.  One can understand the visitor at play and at ease, enjoying the fruits of the land and the sea.

        Print film artist Joanne Polner began her photography experiences in childhood with a Kodak II camera, taking pictures of her family and of scenery and historic places from Virginia to Maine and in Canada and Arizona.  After a thirty-year hiatus devoted to other creative arts, Joanne Polner bought a Canon EOS point-and-shoot unit that has served her very well since the early 1990s.  For many years, she has celebrated friends' and families' milestones of life with her personal greeting cards.  For eight summers, she has sold her photo cards on Martha's Vineyard.

    Next, from Eric Hilton to Joanne, by way of a note forwarded by Joanne.  She adds, “Here is the nice reply I received from Eric Hilton, with whom I have talked photography a little bit."

        Eric writes:  Hi, Joanne.  I would love to see your photo exhibit, and I'd come if I wasn’t living in Sarasota Florida.  Is there a link to see the images online?

        I miss print film.  I still have my medium and large format cameras, but I don’t have a good local lab to print from them, so I'm shooting digital.  I, too, am having an exhibition, but it's in Tel-Mond, Israel.  Also, a few months ago, I was one of the first place winners in the Sarasota Sister Cities International Photo Contest.  We are also having an exhibition at the Ringling School of Design in November.  My images were boat, tree and beach related, all of our town, Sarasota Florida.  Again, good luck and kindest regards.

    Joanne also adds:  Eric has a web site and does great and interesting work. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the link handy, but I think he's listed it here before.  As unfortunately, I have no web site of my own.

    [Rich -- It would be so nice if I could search the back updates and instantly produce Eric's web site link.  But I just tried and was given the dates of maybe five dozen updates Eric's contributed to during the past five years.  And I don't seem to have the technology to search each of these for the words "Eric," "Hilton" "web site" and "link."  If anyone can tell me how to do that, it would be appreciated.  Meanwhile, Eric, could you send us the link again?  Thanks.]

    Additional cultural news, this one with an immediate link, from a friend of mine, Eric Johnson:

        Here's something you might find entertaining.  Throughout August, I've been working with some friends on creating an animation for an online challenge sponsored by the Fox network.  There's a cash prize and also a possible development deal.  The public jurying lasts a month. 
        Naturally, we'd like everyone to look at our animation and write something positive.  So if you'd like 3 1/2 minutes of entertainment, the link is:  www.aniboom.com/competitions/Fox/393741/The-Von-Vamps/

    Finally, thanks for the kind thoughts about my mother-in-law.  Something I didn't mention last week was her sister-in-law's full name was Clara Belle Puckett Orndorff.  You know where that always took me.

    The South '65 e-mail addresses:  reunionclass65.blogspot.com
   
    The South '65 photo site:  picasaweb.google.com/SouthHS65
   
   
    Rich