Update 3-20-12

Hi,

First, our scholarship fundraising is done for the year.  Three weeks.  That's terrific.  We now have five-hundred-and-five dollars in the Booker Gibson fund and five hundred dollars in the Vince Tampio fund.
    I'll carefully protect the extra five dollars for a year, along with any money from any other checks that drift in.  But please stop sending me money.  I love saying that part.
    And I'll send the two checks to South when Liz King Giordano gives me the students' names.  That will probably be in a month-or-so, and I'll let you all know who the students are then.

Next, some fairly useless information for most of us about Valley Stream / North Woodmere:  my mother recently mentioned that the old supermarket at the rear entrance to Green Acres / Millbrook -- that would be the entrance on Rosedale Road -- is becoming a supermarket again.  I guess for a long time it's been a women's clothes store, Annie Sez.  My sister recently called it a former Daitch, and I kind of remember it being that or a King Kullen or part of some other chain.  But I wouldn't bet on the order or if any of those things are true because I rarely went in there.
    If I was sent on my bike for something, I preferred the closer Safeway, at Sunrise Highway and Mill Road, or the Grand Union, at the near end of the shopping center, or even the First National, at the far end of the shopping center.  That had the advantage of being right next to Schlucker's and the deli, so I could grab something sweet for a snack.  And I know there was a candy store next to whatever supermarket that was on Rosedale Road, but using that candy store would have meant being disloyal to Leo and Molly.  Besides, that owner was even nastier about us reading comic books from the shelf than Leo and Molly were.

In other Green Acres / Millbrook news:  Doug Kiviat and his wife Jane are moving after thirty-four years of living at 5 Forest Road as a married couple.  Growing up, Doug was my next-door-neighbor, and he's a couple of years younger than I am, which makes him maybe sixty-three.  I know his family was already living in Green Acres when my family moved there in the summer of 1953, so there's a chance Doug could have lived in the same house most of his life.
    His parents were Myrna and Bob Kiviat.  His grandfather was Myrna's father, and the old guy -- who was probably less than sixty-five then -- was known to me only as Mr. Bernstein.  He helped my father finish our basement, and I suspect he helped other people in the neighborhood do the same kind of carpentry.  He lived in the basement of the Kiviat house in a bedroom and living room he probably helped finish, and he was probably a very nice man.  But I mainly remember that he didn't much like Jeff Levin and me running across his backyard as a short cut between Jeff's and my back doors.
    Doug and Jane are moving to San Diego.  Their house -- originally a six-room ranch -- was expanded upstairs into two additional bedrooms, a bathroom, and a rec. room, and out back to a larger kitchen and a family room.  Reportedly, the house sold two hours after it went on the market, under the supervision of Linda Kettering.

And as long as we're exploring the past, here's Barbara Blitfield Pech's link-of-the-week, for people who are so starved for Coney Island square knishes they need to buy them online:  store . gabilas . com  (please delete the spaces).

Next, some more filler from that 1957 Southern Belle:

"Scads Of Fads 'N' Fashions" by Pat Schaffzin
        Spring has sprung,
        The grass is riz;
        I wonder where
        The boidies is?
    Well, I don't know where the birds are, but I do know that Spring has arrived at South.  The halls are bright with the colorful fashions of Spring.
    Dresses, in pastel shades mainly, are very popular this year.  Most of them are flare, with yards and yards of crinolines worn underneath them.  In the skirt department, Ivy League still rates high.  Plaids in red and green, gay stripes, and solid colors are all being worn.  Many of these skirts have matching blouses or blazers, which combine with them to make a very smart outfit.
    "Sailor, beware!"--the Navy has landed.  Junior officers in the South High Navy are Joyce Wolovick, Margie Preisman, and Sherry Gordon in white middy blouses with red tie and crest.
    One fad seen around South which served a dual purpose were the tags worn by the participating classes in the One Act Play Contest.  This advertising gimmick was also used by the Freshman Class to publicize their semi-formal dance, "Hello, Young Lovers."  Another gem thought up by some bright Publicity Committee was the red sleeping caps with yellow pom-poms and writing advertising the Junior play, "Sleeping Dogs."

Related, "Things 'n' Such" by Ginger McLardy
    Hello to you once more, fellow inhabitants of this establishment of learning.  (Knock it off!)  What season is this?  Oh, how smart you are today!  And what do we think of when we say spring?  (I trust we all agree that this is spring.)  We think of birds, and when we think of birds we may think of brains, and when we think of brains we think of work, and then, naturally, school, and the teachers.
    Because this is my last article of the school year, I thought I'd write about a subject dear to the hearts of all of us, vacation.
    But, we still have a few more weeks to go, so let's talk of the happy events which are in store for us, and perhaps reminisce about some of the past events.
    The last two months of school seem to have had different effects on teachers and students.  Did you ever notice the different reactions of the teachers?  For example, those in the English Department invariably come up with some novel ideas for work, such as making their classes write delightful little compositions about summer vacation plans, or maybe, why they like spring, the latter topic naturally causing everyone to wish the season never existed.

[Rich -- But Spring does exist, coherently, and not only is this the first day of that season, it's also my mother's birthday.  She's eighty-four, she's still living on Forest Road, and DePalma's still delivers her flowers.  So Happy Birthday, Mom.  Many more.]

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

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

You know -- take out the spaces.


Rich