#8, part 2, late August
CONFUSED ABOUT WHAT TO WEAR?
Not to worry! Here are some hints from noted fashion advisor Ken Birenbaum of the Ladue, Missouri Garment District—along with photos of appropriate styles:
Max,
Regarding the dress code, it is:
Friday: Wig Wam casual. People could even dress up in clothes from the '60's.
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Saturday: Dress casual but really anything goes because it's not a "served" dinner. (Remember, it’s at the zoo.)
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Sunday: Ballpark casual (no game that day but what the heck, people may be going to the Ram's game or traveling after the event.
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I hope this helps those with taste. Anybody else will not care.
A slew of online questionnaire replies are newly in, continuing the awesome parade of them that tells of the rich and diverse life-paths that have unfolded for us in the past four decades. The most common theme I think I’ve read—as you will know, too, if you’ve been perusing our web pages—is “I had no idea how fortunate we were!”
Click the links below to learn of the continuing stories of:
Jo Ann Bierman (Black), Merle Cohen, Rennie Eisenberg, Alison Feinstein, Morrie Fleishman, Linda Framer, Joe Gelles, Tom Gerhard, Gail Goldman (Glenn), Gail Goldstein (Needles), Kaywin Goodman, Hanford Gross, Rob Harris, Arnie Jacobson, Terry Lynford, Ilene Pearl (Bannwart), Patricia Purzner (Barbeau), Sarajane Robinson (Schwartz), Steve Rovak, Barbara Ruback (McKitrick), Beth Rubenstein (Stone), Rick Schainker, Marlene Schwartz (Seidel), Steve Shedlofsky, Jay Shucart, Diane Stein (Graden), David Strauss, Mary Summers, Barbara Tenenbaum (Steinman), Renee Weinstock (Jiron), Mike Weissman, Louis Zarfas .
There are also new photos, here, here, and here! (those “heres” are links to 3 separate pages)
I may as well close, as usual, with a story or two. Here’s one told to me years back by Larry Willard, that came to mind in an e-mail correspondence this week. (Where is Larry, by the way?)
Larry was in a bar, I think Garavelli’s when it was down on Grand, and this guy was telling him that he, the guy, was an actor and had been sent to St. Louis for the sole purpose of hanging out there in order “to learn how to speak without an accent”.
The guy told Larry he was gonna be in a movie coming out, a science fiction movie. Larry didn’t know whether to believe him or not. Larry remembered the name of the movie, though: “Star Wars.”
And he remembered the name of the young man, Harrison Ford.
Barrie Sher’s “Confessions Of a Teenage Face Painter”, an issue or so back, brought to my mind memories of some of the terrible things I participated in doing to teachers. A lot of them were back at Hanley, just as Barrie’s story was about his Brittany days.
The last day of school one year, I remember students turning over the VW bug of an unfortunate (and seemingly nice) English teacher. I also recall several of us, during poor Mr. Krasser’s music class, going out into the wings of the auditorium, taking the parade-sized American flag and pole, off their pedestal, and marching back into the classroom like a drum-and-fife outfit, a Revolutionary War tableau come to life!
I don’t feel it’s my place to name any of the other perpetrators, who may be ashamed or amused, or both, by those old memories. I personally feel a mix of emotions. Mr. Krasser did not know how to set thekinds of limits some teachers did. My actions were disrespectful. But I remember them, rightly or wrongly, as hilarious, as well.
A few things I did in high school really bothered me, though, when I woke up out of my adolescent fog,and I’ve tried to make amends to the people I may have hurt.
This may be the last newsletter before the reunion. They’ve been a thrill to put together for you, as has
the website.
That all came about when I submitted my Questionnaire Reply online, nearly 6 months back, and asked Ken Birenbaum, “What’s gonna happen to them?”
Ken replied that he wasn’t sure, because no one knew how to update the website. And we didn’t really want to have to pay the webmaster of the class of ’65! Having had a few courses in web design (Forest Park Community College) when I was back in St. Louis for a couple years in the late ‘90s and having maintained my own website for a year or two, I volunteered.
Rarely in life have I found myself in a position more enjoyable than what soon began to develop. Thank you all for being so forthcoming with your…well, your lives.
I know I speak for Ken and for Gail Goldstein Needles, the other “web elf”, who has given immeasurably of her time, skill, and energy here for the past month or so, in saying that we’re grateful for having been able to share this wonderful adventure with you.
One that will continue soon, for many of us, in St. Louis.
painting by Alan Barth
(click to see more of Alan’s oil paintings)
Reader Poll: Will the guys recoil with horror from this online version of the newsletter, because of the new flower graphics that have replaced the asterisks as article dividers? Vote here.
