Update 10-12-10

Hi,

To start off lightly, from Marc Jonas:  My vote is for fiber as the next reunion class health topic.  I knew that time was passing when cocktail party discussions embraced the highs and lows of dietary fiber.
    All of this is, of course, not intended to be serious, including my vote.

[Rich -- Too late.  And now, back to our previous medical discussion about eye surgery.]

From Zelda White Nichols:  This for Barbara Blitfield Pech.  I will be calling my eye doctor this week as I started developing cataracts several years ago.  I have been on a lot of medication this year, and it has affected the cataract in my right eye much more so than in my left.
    To answer your questions, Barbara, my left eye is very cloudy; it’s as if I’m looking through fog, and it's now affecting my peripheral vision.  I’ve had terrible vision since third grade and have always worn glasses, not contacts.  I tried contacts and had no problem wearing them; I just couldn’t get the blasted things in my eyes.  At this point, my left eye is making up for my right eye for distance and driving.  When reading in bed, I have to take my glasses off.

From Mark Perlman:  I also have the beginning of a cataract problem, but as yet it doesn't give me too much trouble.  Still, I do have glaucoma.
    It's the narrow-angle type of glaucoma and is operable.  I had surgery on my left eye last Monday and will have the right eye done in a couple of weeks.  The surgery was not a big deal.  The alternative, no surgery, wasn't an option.
    I have a friend who had cataracts and opted for the two different eye strengths for far-sighted/near-sighted correction, and he regrets that he ever did it that way.  He says that things don't look as clear at a distance as he thinks they should.  It makes me think that when I have to have cataract surgery, it will be both eyes, with a near-sighted correction.

From Jane Ruzow Tiell:  I had cataract surgery in 2004, in both eyes, four weeks apart.  I had a new procedure called "crystal lens," and it corrected my sight in both eyes, making one predominately for reading and the other for distance.  I've never had any problems, and my sight is perfect.  This is especially notable because, previously, I was almost blind without glasses.  The crystal lens approach is much more costly than the regular method, but in the long run, it's definitely worth it.

Not about eyes, from Lynn Nudelman Villagran:  Happy 80th birthday to Booker!   Have a great celebration.

[Remember that Booker Gibson’s 80th birthday is being celebrated on Thursday, October 14, 2010 at the Bordeaux Wine Bar.  7 PM.  324 Sunrise Highway, Rockville Centre.]

Again not about eyes, but about another important body part, from Barbara Blitfield Pech:  During a recent sabbath service prayers for healing, my congregation rabbi was somewhat taken aback when he stopped before me and heard me whisper my own name for prayers.  I later explained that I am healthy but facing one of the most difficult weeks of my life -- when I wake up Tuesday, I will have outlived my father by one day, and, to “celebrate” the anniversary of his funeral, I am having a mammogram, hopefully to celebrate thirteen years of being breast cancer free.
    Many of you know that I am in the third generation of women on the maternal side of my family who have been diagnosed with breast cancer:  my grandmother, aunt, mother, and I.  My aunt, Eva Brownman, was just 44 when she was diagnosed, and she lost her battle at 47.  My family also recently lost my sister-in-law, sweet Elena, at 44, leaving two heartbroken children and my devastated brother.
    There is no cure for breast cancer.  I am in remission, but the cancer can come back, anytime.  You do not have to have a family history.  Once you are diagnosed, you start your family history.  Breast cancer is ageless, sexless, ruthless, and not confined to women.  Men also need to check themselves, and if you don’t know how, ask.
    I am presently blessed by excellent doctors, a positive attitude toward life, and, most of all, early detection.  Losing a breast, breasts, or your hair is an easy trade-off to losing your life.  Today, I have been cancer-free for thirteen years, and I look forward to the day when I no longer have to count the years or have any concern that anyone else will ever have to, either.

On an as serious but less immediately threatening subject, a note from Ryki Zuckerman, sent two weeks ago:  Speaking of banned books, there's a movie opening in New York and Los Angeles -- definitely not in my neck of the woods -- about Allen Ginsberg's "Howl" trial.  There are animated sections to the film, and a book of the art from the movie is out as a graphic novel of the poem.  Here's a link to the site about the graphic novel:  drooker.com/books/howl.html
    I thought it odd that James Franco was cast as the young Ginsberg.  After all, not long ago, Franco played James Dean.  But in the still shots for the film, with the black-rimmed glasses on, Franco does bear a resemblance to the young Ginsberg.

Also about banned books, from Jan Blake Dickler (who -- last week -- I foolishly decided to rename Jan Dickler Blake):  We were lucky at South not to encounter much censorship, although I was unable to find a copy of the Communist Manifesto in the school library -- in 1963 or 1964.  I wanted to read it after a discussion in Clara Hoogenboom’s 10th grade social studies class and had to get it from the public library in Valley Stream.  When I brought the book to school the next day, Hoogie was being observed by her department chair, and I know I got a funny look for mentioning what I'd been reading.  That same year, Hoogie let Ryki Zuckerman and me opt out of an air raid drill -- remember sitting in the hall? -- because we said that “Peace is our only security.”  Clara Hoogenboom was my favorite teacher at South.
    As a librarian in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, for fifteen years, I haven’t encountered much objection to any title in our collection.  Years ago, a close friend in Jacksonville, Florida, used to receive a list of challenged and restricted books each year for her school media center.  The list came with instructions like “This book is to be kept at the librarian’s desk and given only to fifth and sixth graders,” and “This book requires parental permission.”   Some of the “objectionable” titles in her library were Father Christmas by Raymond Briggs, because it offered a non-standard interpretation of Santa, and In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak, because Mickey is naked.  At one point, librarians around the country were asked to draw diapers on Mickey.

[Rich -- And that's "All the News that Fits," as, I think, Mad magazine once parodied.  There's also a long article about Deborah Oppenheimer from Variety, but this can be its trailer for next week.
    Also, the point of this update, when it started, about nine years ago, was to reconnect old friends.  That job's been made easier, first by Classmates.com and then by Facebook.  But last week, despite the presence of those and other sites, we still managed to do the job ourselves, reconnecting two former neighbors from the land once known as Green Acres.]

The South '65 e-mail addresses:  reunionclass65.blogspot.com

The South '65 photo site:  picasaweb.google.com/SouthHS65


Rich