Class Note 1957
Issue
This lazy time is perfect for remembering that most of us are still interested in what lies beyond our own hammocks. We’re probably one of the last generations to learn what’s going on from newspapers. I have a hunch that Dick Duncan (formerly of Time) and Dick Burch (formerly of Newsweek) would agree that both magazines are not what they were, and the evening news has become half news/half fluff. But we still count on newsprint and ink to give us the world. So I asked online what newspapers we grew up reading.
It’s amazing that Bruce Bernstein’s family had time for anything but reading: the New York Post, Hearst’s Journal-American, the World-Telegram, the short-lived but outspoken PM, the Brooklyn Eagle and the good gray Times on Sundays.
In those days both morning and afternoon papers flourished, so Jay Greene’s “conventional” father rode the Long Island Rail Road into the city helped along by the New York Herald-Tribune, and then rode it home accompanied by the New York Sun. All of these papers—and more—were competing for readers at the same time.
Bruce Sloane’s family took the Times and the Trib, but as a kid he found the Times boring—no comics. He recalls that, “My mother did the Times crossword puzzle every day, no matter what.”
Dave Keith grew up on the Boston Globe and the Boston Herald. Bob Shirley’s family also took the Herald as well as the Christian Science Monitor. Both Dave and “Meats” remember Bill Cunningham, a Dartmouth alum who was always mentioning the Big Green’s football prowess in his sports column. Meats adds, “My kids read the Boston Globe but I am content with the Herald.”
Gary Gilson, who made a career in journalism, writes, “Murray Kempton was so much my favorite columnist that I would race into the street at 9:30 a.m., while a student at Columbia journalism, to grab the first run of the New York Post and read his stuff before the ink was dry. He brought so much context and wit to his subjects that I found him irresistible.” Kempton’s name appears on the listserv from time to time as a highly regarded political columnist.
A lot of these notes came with great anecdotes too long to include. There’s always time for others to pitch in, especially about other papers.
Gordon Bjork’s retirement consists of eight grandchildren and a lot of tennis after 42 years of teaching, mainly as Lovelace Professor of Economics at Claremont McKenna College.
Another classmate who’s discovered the classroom since retiring as director of engineering for ITT Industries’ Cannon unit, Ron Read teaches now and then in the UCLA and University of Wisconsin-Madison technical management programs. The goal is to help engineers successfully move into leadership roles.
More next time on newspapers, teaching and whatever comes through the transom or under the door. Does anybody still have transoms? Do your grandkids even know what they are?
—Michael Lasser, 164 New Wickham Drive, Penfield, NY 14526; rhythm2@frontiernet.net
July - Aug 2010
This lazy time is perfect for remembering that most of us are still interested in what lies beyond our own hammocks. We’re probably one of the last generations to learn what’s going on from newspapers. I have a hunch that Dick Duncan (formerly of Time) and Dick Burch (formerly of Newsweek) would agree that both magazines are not what they were, and the evening news has become half news/half fluff. But we still count on newsprint and ink to give us the world. So I asked online what newspapers we grew up reading.
It’s amazing that Bruce Bernstein’s family had time for anything but reading: the New York Post, Hearst’s Journal-American, the World-Telegram, the short-lived but outspoken PM, the Brooklyn Eagle and the good gray Times on Sundays.
In those days both morning and afternoon papers flourished, so Jay Greene’s “conventional” father rode the Long Island Rail Road into the city helped along by the New York Herald-Tribune, and then rode it home accompanied by the New York Sun. All of these papers—and more—were competing for readers at the same time.
Bruce Sloane’s family took the Times and the Trib, but as a kid he found the Times boring—no comics. He recalls that, “My mother did the Times crossword puzzle every day, no matter what.”
Dave Keith grew up on the Boston Globe and the Boston Herald. Bob Shirley’s family also took the Herald as well as the Christian Science Monitor. Both Dave and “Meats” remember Bill Cunningham, a Dartmouth alum who was always mentioning the Big Green’s football prowess in his sports column. Meats adds, “My kids read the Boston Globe but I am content with the Herald.”
Gary Gilson, who made a career in journalism, writes, “Murray Kempton was so much my favorite columnist that I would race into the street at 9:30 a.m., while a student at Columbia journalism, to grab the first run of the New York Post and read his stuff before the ink was dry. He brought so much context and wit to his subjects that I found him irresistible.” Kempton’s name appears on the listserv from time to time as a highly regarded political columnist.
A lot of these notes came with great anecdotes too long to include. There’s always time for others to pitch in, especially about other papers.
Gordon Bjork’s retirement consists of eight grandchildren and a lot of tennis after 42 years of teaching, mainly as Lovelace Professor of Economics at Claremont McKenna College.
Another classmate who’s discovered the classroom since retiring as director of engineering for ITT Industries’ Cannon unit, Ron Read teaches now and then in the UCLA and University of Wisconsin-Madison technical management programs. The goal is to help engineers successfully move into leadership roles.
More next time on newspapers, teaching and whatever comes through the transom or under the door. Does anybody still have transoms? Do your grandkids even know what they are?
—Michael Lasser, 164 New Wickham Drive, Penfield, NY 14526; rhythm2@frontiernet.net