Update 7-15-14

 

Hi,

 

First, a tech note from Stu Borman:  I had some trouble for a while with the South High photo site.  I foolishly joined Google+ and didn't realize that meant the South photo site would get sucked into my Google+ account.  When you went to South photos, Google switched the URL to my Google+ site and included some of my personal pictures that didn't belong there.  When I realized this, I immediately quit Google+, which I didn't use anyway, and fortunately the South site reverted to normal.  But then I had some permissions problems, so the new Barnet Kellman folder with the mug wasn't visible to anyone but me.  I've fixed all that now, so hopefully the site's little travel excursion is over.  Sorry about the delay.

 

[Rich -- Again, thanks, Stu, for your diligence.  And I checked the site, and it's definitely working properly.  Though I should have sent Stu a bigger photo.  Presently, the thumbnail's larger than the picture that opens.  I'll correct that soon.]

 

Second, related to Mildred Dikeman's closet at Forest Road School, Robert Fiveson again asks:  Does anyone remember Rocco Mango's locker in the back of his shop class at South?  It was positioned so that when the door was open, he could throw you in while the door acted as a block.  It may not have been a closet, but it was definitely memorable.  

 

[Rich -- As I wrote Robert:  See, I can't remember Mango at all.  He must have taught ceramics, but I have his face mixed with Kruskol's.  He taught printing.  Who taught metal shop, and was there a 4th component to make up 2 years?  I have a copper ashtray I finished, and I tossed out a finished steel or tin blotter rocker.  That never had any purpose since ball points had been invented.  I also remember making a really ugly ceramic ashtray which I never finished, but Andy Dolich made a cool one.  And I printed business cards for my dad.  I don't remember wood shop, which would have been useful for me though I didn't know that in junior high.  I slowly made a pair of pine bookends in 5th or 6th grade and the teacher, Mr. Walsh, nicely advised me not to work with my hands for a living.  Not clairvoyant.]

 

Robert replied:  There also was a plastic shop.  I can still smell the plastic smell from when we buffed our projects.  I think Mango taught metal shop. I  remember making a napkin holder.  He was a genuine brute, though, oddly enough, his class tended to behave.

 

Some quick canine advice from Zelda White Nichols:  There's a list on PetPlace . com  (please remove the spaces) of medications you should never give your dog.

 

Some human advice from Barbara Blitfield Pech:  I met a friend last night who's going to his 50th reunion from Oceanside High.  They've booked 130 people for a weekend venue at one of the big, post-Sandy-refurbished hotels in Long Beach.  They turned down Hauppauge because their last reunion there was a bust -- poor hotel amenities, bad service, and general loud noise.  I'll get more details.

 

[Rich -- Thanks, but when we first considered hotels, we were advised against the one in Long Beach.  The son of one of our former classmates had done business with the owners and said they weren't to be trusted.  Also, the room rate was far more expensive than the ones in Hauppauge -- and there are several large hotels in Hauppauge.  And maybe the Oceanside group was there the night of our 37th reunion, and we were the ones making the noise.]

 

Finally, a bit of patriotic humor forwarded to me too late for July Fourth:

    I’m over 60, and the Armed Forces thinks I’m too old to track down terrorists.  You can’t be older than 42 to join the military.  They've got the whole thing backwards.  Instead of sending 18-year-olds, they ought to take us old guys.
    For starters, researchers say 18-year-olds think about sex every 10 seconds.  Old guys only think about it a couple of times a month.  That leaves 86,400 extra seconds per day to concentrate on fighting.
    Young guys haven’t lived long enough to be cranky, and a cranky soldier is a dangerous one.  My back hurts, I can't sleep, and I’m hungry.  We’re bad-tempered and impatient, and maybe letting us chase some morons who are shooting missiles at us will shut us up for a while.
    An 18-year-old doesn’t even like getting up before 10 AM.  Old guys are always up early – to pee.  So since I’m up, I may as well track some fanatical son-of-a-bitch.
    If captured, we couldn’t spill the beans because we'd forget where we put ‘em.  In fact, name, rank, and serial number would be a real brainbuster.
    Boot camp would be easy for old guys.  We're used to getting yelled at and like soft food.  They could lighten up the obstacle course though.  I’ve been in combat and have never seen a single 20-foot wall with rope hanging over the side.  Nor did I ever do push-ups after basic.  Running’s a waste also.  Ever seen anyone outrun a bullet?
    An 18-year-old has the whole world ahead of him.  He's still learning to shave, to start a conversation with a girl, and hasn't figured out baseball caps have a brim to shade his eyes, not the back of his head.
    Let us old guys track down those terrorists.  The last thing they want to see is a thousand pissed off old farts with automatic weapons.  And hey!  How about recruiting menopausal women?  Put them on border patrol, and they’ll secure the perimeter the first night.
    Now send this to all of your senior friends in Big Type – so they can read.

 

The repeated upcoming reunion information:

 

The class of '64 reunion:  Friday, October 10, 2014, 6 to 11 PM.  $70 per person, cash bar.  Hyatt Regency, Hauppauge, 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