Update 5-27-14

 

Hi,

 

I spent a little time last week looking at South history, twice removed.  Someone recently asked if I had all the updates, and I said, "Probably."  Other people have asked if the updates were searchable, and I've had to say, "Unfortunately, no."

    There's no reason to remember, but I had some computer problems in June 2005 and lost all the updates before then.  But some people in the class had most of them saved, and I pieced together almost all the missing ones.  Still, I hadn't looked at the early ones before last week, when I had a chance to convert them from Mac format

    I've always thought the first year was the most interesting -- rebuilding 2/3s of the class, September 11th, the push to the 37th reunion, and all the related letters, gushing stories.  I also thought maybe that was an  illusion, and if I went back and reread the newsletters, I'd be disappointed.

    Nope.  The excitement is there.  The shock and sadness after September 11th.  The urge to get together.  But I had some things wrong.

    The push to the reunion started almost immediately.  The first update I have -- dated June 6, 2001 --mentions that after a week-and-a-half, I'd heard from 60 people, and there were still 15 on Classmates.com who hadn't written back.  That same update ends, "As for a reunion:  this is a democracy.  When we have enough people, we can vote."

    The voting cracks me up because in later updates, we voted just as politely as we did last month for the hotel, and I don't know how much of that is my fault:  I've spent most of my career working collaboratively, and while there were times a producer or director simply made a decision, most often, it was a team effort.

    So I had the initial date wrong -- I thought it was late June -- as well as the genesis of the reunion.  I also didn't remember that by September 5th, 2001, we'd contacted 205 of the nearly 300 people in our former class.  There are maybe 70 we never did find, and after we reached another 25, we've lost track of 85 over the past dozen years.  The newsletter now goes to about 150 former class members and 50 other South folks.

    By the second newsletter -- 6-11-01 -- Peggy Cooper Schwartz was already collecting names for a reunion, and we'd called for our first vote.  By the sixth letter -- 7-24-01-- Peggy had been joined by Michele Cohen Collins and Irene Saunders Goldstein, and I'd started posting people's letters in the format we're used to.  I may be missing newsletters for 7-10 and 7-17, but by the time they pick up again on 7-24, we'd jumped to 168 people from 108 on 7-5.

    The reason it might be important to make the newsletters searchable is we've begun to repeat hunts for information.  One of the earliest letters mentions that Carol Krakow had died in 1993, and last year, when one of her college friends asked if I could confirm Carol's death, it took us several weeks to rechase that information.

    I don't like to live in the past, except when I'm doing design or writing research, so I'll spare you more of the details.  But there are lots of funny stories here.  There are also about 675 of these letters -- almost 13 years -- and I'll eventually find a way to share them more permanently and make them searchable.  But not now.

 

Returning to the present, in new letters:

 

From Robert Fiveson to Mary Sipp-Green: I am so proud and happy for you.  I am also envious.  Why?  Because I chose a form of expression in my career in a venue described as a shallow money pit where good men die like dogs (or something like that) and the lead time from conception to execution is a year on a fast track (when an idea is even accepted).  Anyone in the arts (plastic or musical) is able to express themselves relatively quickly directly and without the ubiquitous committee.  I also had one of Mary's works as my wallpaper on my computer for a long time.  Why?  Because it put me into a transcendent state of mind and from my limited understanding that's one of the essential byproducts of a true artist.  As regards any copyright infringement that may represent -- hey I'm in Panama, the new Barbary Coast.  Catch me if you can!  Seriously, major kudos and congrats to you. Mary.  You deserve your success.

 

From Allen Moss:  I called the hotel to reserve a room, but they had nothing on the books listing our reunion reservation.   What is it under, and what is your confirmation number, so I can get my reservation associated with the group?

 

[Rich -- As Allen quickly figured out, we don't have anything reserved as a block because -- as I wrote last week -- I'd have to personally guarantee $2400 worth of rooms, and the cost per room is about the same without a block -- $143 vs. $139, plus all the taxes and fees.  But this is a good reminder that I should explain again that people simply need to go online, search out the hotel, and make reservations that way.  Thanks, Allen.]

 

Allen also wrote:  Beginning Thursday, May 29th, at 9 PM EDT, CNN is going to be running a 10-part documentary called "The Sixties."  It will cover all sorts of political, economic, social, and cultural areas and was co-produced by Tom Hanks.  That's a pretty good indication that it will be a quality production.  Looking at my schedule, it looks like there are two parts per night, but it might be just a back-to-back repeat of each program.  Hope all is well.  Have a great summer, folks!

From Ed Albrecht:  Just thought I would mention how delighted I was to view Amy Kassak Bentley's video of Valley Stream.  It brought back many good memories, especially of Mill Pond, where I took black-and-white photos of my son, Justin, and my wife, Louise, another lifetime ago.  Actually, I ended up using my son in an ad on a rocking horse, after someone important saw the black-and-whites.

    Thanks, Amy, for your hard work and dedication, from one who kind of knows what you went through (I have co-authored 3 books on advertising, marketing, and public relations, have executed television commercials, and have won over 100 advertising awards.)  So I do have an idea of the depth of research you had to do to come up with the video.  Again, great job!

 

From Art Halprin:  Neil Guberman and I have made reservations at the Hyatt in Hauppauge from 4/24 to 4/26.  We are in.

 

The class of '64 reunion:  Friday, October 10, 2014, 6 to 11 PM.  $70 per person, cash bar.  Hyatt Regency, Hauppague, New York.  Committee phone numbers:  Tom McPartland  570-223-2577.  Ken Silver: 631-463-2217.  Bette Silver: 631-463-2216.

 

The class of '65  50th Reunion:  April 24 through April 26, 2015, Hyatt Regency, Hauppauge. 

 

The South '65 e-mail addresses: reunionclass65 . blogspot . com  (remove the spaces)

 

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

 

 

Rich