Update 2-1-11

Hi,

Someone wrote in that "reading last week's newsletter was like studying some sort of cheat sheet for those of us headed toward Alzheimer's."  Yeah, there is that element.  Though I wrote back saying it was also like James Joyce recreating Dublin in Ulysses, a book I've only read in crib notes.  Joanne Shapiro Polner has another take on it, but more about that shortly.  First, a series of other notes:

Jerry Bittman writes:  We as a nation can reduce the price of oil and gas simply by driving more efficiently.  People should try to reduce their mileage by 20 miles per week.  That's roughly the equivalent of just 1 gallon of gas.  Instead of going out every time you need something, keep a list, and group your errands.  You'll be surprised how quickly you'll save those 20 miles.

Allan Bendel writes:  Many citizens have no idea that members of Congress specifically exempt themselves from many of the laws they pass, while ordinary citizens must live under those laws.  The proposed 28th Amendment to the Constitution states, "Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of the United States that does not apply equally to the Senators and/or Representatives, and Congress shall make no law that applies to the Senators and/or Representatives that does not apply equally to the citizens of the United  States."  If each person who reads this will forward it, many people in the United States will get the
message.

Marc Jonas quotes from the January 26th New York Times, "A state oversight board has seized control of Nassau County's finances, saying the wealthy and heavily taxed county had nonetheless failed to balance its $2.6 billion budget despite months of increasingly ominous warnings.  It was only the second time a county had been taken over by New York State."

Marc Fishman forwarded some very funny observations from his brother Steve, about myopic French diplomats.  But they're probably not tactful enough to pass on here.

Robert Fiveson pointed out that the story he sent about the drinking water shortage in Panama at the time was breaking news.  Now -- happily -- it's more an historical event.  But if you're interested, the still-active link is:  http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=383421&CategoryId=14088

Bernie Scheidt writes:  I just saw this documentary on PBS, which, in a lot of ways, mirrors Booker Gibson's story, with a Mr. Bell replacing Mr. Gibson.  The story takes place about 5 years later than when we were all at South and has a similar ending, but the trip was different because of the time and place.  Everyone in our class should really appreciate it.  http://www.pamelapeakproductions.com/colorblind/

Bernie also writes:  Please change my e-mail address to:  berniescheidt@gmail.com

Jan Dickler asks that we change her e-mail address, to:  jpdickler@yahoo.com

Betsy Fels Pottruck writes:  It was I who mentioned the house on Riverdale Road with the horses.  It was the old Getnick house -- Richard, Kenny, and Nancy -- and their mom Helen used to substitute at South.  The remodeling of the house is just so awful, it's unbelievable.  The Getnicks would die if they saw it.  My old house, number 86, is not too bad.  Actually, it looks pretty much the same.  It is fun to take a drive through the old neighborhood, and I try to do it every couple of years, when I go back to New York.

Ellen Sue Brody Pilger recalls:  My first memories go back to age 4, when my family would travel from Sheepshead Bay to watch our new home in Green Acres being built.  My mom was concerned that we were moving to the "boonies," as there were still potato and duck farms nearby.  Dad planted thin, baby trees on the property, most notably a willow in the front yard, and its high-up limbs became my sanctuary for reverie. What became "the shopping center" was still a natural space, with rubble from the old airfield that once existed.  Kids would conjur up imaginary adventures while spending time there.  My sisters and I knew everyone on Darewood Lane and the blocks nearby.  We freely visited, consumed snacks, and played until dark at neighbors' homes, until we heard Mom calling us home with a shout from the front door.

Emily Kleinman Schreiber writes:  By the way, we haven't had an Alumni Association meeting since November.  Hopefully, we won't have another blizzard on February 10th, when our next meeting is scheduled.  As usual, everyone is encouraged to come to the meeting, which starts at 7:15 PM.

Next, as promised, to Joanne Shapiro Polner, who writes:  Some of us have a new game that we think others would like to play.  It's called The Valley Stream Nostalgia Stores Game, and the idea is to locate where a particular store was on Rockaway Avenue between Merrick Road and the Long Island Railroad tracks along Sunrise Highway.
    We've already started a list with remembered places from about 1955 to 1965.  Many of the stores existed before then and some still exist, though they may have moved along the street.  As I don't have a web site to post the already gathered information, if you're interested, please e-mail me at:  jocem@juno.com, and I'll send you what we have so far.  That's an ABC listing of the stores people have remembered, and a map which shows Rockaway Avenue and some of the present businesses on the seven blocks of  "town."  There are also spaces for you to add what you know.  Eventually, we hope to give an "historical document" to the Valley Stream Library and to the Historical Society. 
    I can also tell those of you who still live on Long Island how to use specific, old, Nassau County phone books in the library there.  Those books can help us confirm many things we think we remember.  Also, please don't -- in the best intentions -- copy this introduction onto Facebook, as I don't want this e-mail address to be posted there.  I have a separate one for that site, but I need a more direct route for us to share this information, and I prefer we do that through our personal e-mail addresses.  Finally, please write me if you have any questions, and confer with each other.  It's amazing how much you can remember collectively.
    The following sites aren't helpful in regard to naming retail businesses in Valley Stream or in the Green Acres Shopping Center, but they are interesting to glance at. You might especially like to see the map I remark about at one site, and the Valley Stream Historical Society article on the founding of the society:
http://www.superpages.com/bp/Valley-Stream-NY/Valley-Stream-Historical-Society-L0002700506.htm ;
    See this old site and the map!  Be shocked at the name of a little pond at the west.  See old streets where elementary schools were set. http://www.nassaulibrary.org/valleyst/vshist.html ;
    Pagan-Fletcher House today.  Library telephone number.  Historical Society telephone number.  You can read some house history below the photos.   http://www.nassaulibrary.org/valleyst/vshistpagan.htm  

[Rich -- Now, see, once you get around the perhaps-historically-correct-if-racially-insensitive name for the pond Joanne mentions, you also get to see Rum Junction listed as the original name for what I think became the business district of Valley Stream.  As I've mentioned before, I've always wanted to have grown up in Rum Junction instead of Green Acres, Valley Stream.]

And another of those collective memories Joanne mentions, from Barbara Blitfield Pech:  Some more remembered stores -- Escar Shoes and  Itken's.  And I didn't mean the gym store was Itken's.  That was the Morris Shop, and another department store that carried sporting attire, Lane's, was owned by the Lane family.  That store was on the same side of the street as the library.  The other ice cream store across the street from Mitchell's was Itken's.  I know that Barenberg's Bakery was next to Air Flex -- across the street from Barenberg's -- because the owners were friends of my father's.  My dad did their legal work, and when I was dragged along, I became intentionally antsy very quickly, so they "kicked" me into the bakery to sugar me out.  Also my doctor, Jerry Zuflacht, had an office across the street, in the pink brick medical building, and after every visit, my mom rewarded us with cookies.  That was on the way to the 5 & 10, for more "stop crying" penny toys.  There was a wonderful toy store further down the street, where I got my first Ginny doll, and, next door, was a children's clothing store -- Master & Missy -- where my mother got fashionably creative and bought me a turquoise spring coat with a matching straw hat and purse.  I looked just like my Ginny doll, but I was the most miserable 8-year-old in town.  How dare Mom think my white bunny fur Polly Crockett hat didn't match my coat!

[Rich -- Barbara and Joanne have since further refined this memory, but that seems to be part of the fun:  guessing and re-guessing until you've finally got the right store on the right block in the right year.]

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

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


Rich