Class Note 1957
Issue
January-February 2021
Let’s get to the news: raging wildfires, Covid-19, old age, dementia. Good grief! No wonder my in-box is leaking depression. I’m going to take a page from Johnny Mercer’s songbook while I write this. It’s an “accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative” kind of time. “Latch on to the affirmative” with me. Let’s give it a go.
“You’ve got to accentuate the positive.” We join Bert O’Neill in Redwood City, California, praying for the safety of his grandson, who is bravely serving on the fire lines with Cal Fire. Prayers, too, for Paulina and Jay Greene, who were forced by the deadly Glass Fire to evacuate their beautiful home in downtown St. Helena, California. It’s inspirational to note that Jay continues to Zoom with winemaker friends to discuss climate change and efforts to protect the quality of Napa Valley wines during this tragedy.
“Eliminate the negative.” Using Arizona State University’s political and global studies faculty, Herb Roskind has created an organization to encourage recent graduates, unemployed due to Covid-19, to start a new business or service. And Mike Lasser conducts weekly Zoom sessions with friends, including classmates Bruce Bernstein, Larry Lubow, Gary Gilson, and Bill Gershell, to discuss songs from the great American songbook.
“Latch on to the affirmative.” In a return to normalcy, Rod Hinkle is back with his weekly musings on our listserv, John Roberts has returned to the air every Sunday morning with This Week in Palestine, and Happy and Clark Griffiths have restarted their celebrated third Friday luncheons in Lebanon, New Hampshire.
“Don’t mess with Mister In-Between.” We are hearing from classmates not heard from in years. Staff Krause checked in by phone from his front porch in Tucson, Arizona, where he was viewing the saguaro-covered mountains and enjoying his “blues harmonica.” Chip Corely wrote from his home in Lookout Mountain, Tennessee, where he still goes to the office each day at his family business, which makes machinery and control systems for sawmills.
So how did we do just when everything looked so dark? Still depressed? Think “Jonah in the whale. Noah in the ark.”
—John W. Cusick, 105 Island Plantation Terrace, Vero Beach, FL 32963; (772) 231-1248; johnwcusick@aol.com
“You’ve got to accentuate the positive.” We join Bert O’Neill in Redwood City, California, praying for the safety of his grandson, who is bravely serving on the fire lines with Cal Fire. Prayers, too, for Paulina and Jay Greene, who were forced by the deadly Glass Fire to evacuate their beautiful home in downtown St. Helena, California. It’s inspirational to note that Jay continues to Zoom with winemaker friends to discuss climate change and efforts to protect the quality of Napa Valley wines during this tragedy.
“Eliminate the negative.” Using Arizona State University’s political and global studies faculty, Herb Roskind has created an organization to encourage recent graduates, unemployed due to Covid-19, to start a new business or service. And Mike Lasser conducts weekly Zoom sessions with friends, including classmates Bruce Bernstein, Larry Lubow, Gary Gilson, and Bill Gershell, to discuss songs from the great American songbook.
“Latch on to the affirmative.” In a return to normalcy, Rod Hinkle is back with his weekly musings on our listserv, John Roberts has returned to the air every Sunday morning with This Week in Palestine, and Happy and Clark Griffiths have restarted their celebrated third Friday luncheons in Lebanon, New Hampshire.
“Don’t mess with Mister In-Between.” We are hearing from classmates not heard from in years. Staff Krause checked in by phone from his front porch in Tucson, Arizona, where he was viewing the saguaro-covered mountains and enjoying his “blues harmonica.” Chip Corely wrote from his home in Lookout Mountain, Tennessee, where he still goes to the office each day at his family business, which makes machinery and control systems for sawmills.
So how did we do just when everything looked so dark? Still depressed? Think “Jonah in the whale. Noah in the ark.”
—John W. Cusick, 105 Island Plantation Terrace, Vero Beach, FL 32963; (772) 231-1248; johnwcusick@aol.com