Class Note 1975
Issue
March-April 2021
Well, happiest of New Year’s to all of you. Let’s hope that 2021 progresses better than 2020! While many of us have hunkered down during the pandemic, news trickles in from Marty Kenner:“Patrick (my son) has been our biggest worry, since he lives in Manhattan, but he’s avoided the virus and yet been able to work enough to pay all his bills. His acting career has definitely gone on hold though! Abbi (my daughter) is doing very well—she works in healthcare on prescription management software, so has been able to work fulltime the whole time from home. She, her husband Steve, and my grandsons, Wyatt, 8, and Will, 3, all live just a couple of blocks from us, so we have included them in our family unit and have therefore been able to see them throughout the year. We’ve kept our sanity (so far) and our health, but definitely will be happy to see the year go away.”
Alan Fishbein also checked in from seclusion near Riverhead, New York. Like us, he has stayed isolated whereas he might normally be ensconced in his loft in Manhattan. He states that, “ ‘We’ is just me and my girlfriend Tracy; she can’t take the cold and goes to Florida for a month or two after the new year.” Clearly her blood has thinned, just as Eliza’s and mine. I still love that first snowfall, but I start to shiver at less than 50 degrees Fahrenheit now. Alan, try Galveston Island, Texas, sometime, way funkier than Florida!
Alan reminded me of his love of jazz, which led me to consider our class’ support for the Coast Jazz Orchestra. Just as an update, here is a note from Lon Cross on the subject: “The Coast’s guest residency program has been suspended this year. As such, we’re being asked to redirect our support. In lieu of funding guest resident musicians in the fall and winter terms, we will underwrite the purchase of technology that will enable the Coast Jazz Orchestra musicians to practice and perform together regardless of where they are physically located. I would imagine that this technology would include the ability to livestream the Coast’s concerts.”
Finally, I caught up with Sheldon Finch, who has graciously agreed to work on our website. He and his family now live in Austin, Texas. Apparently they are some of the California diaspora (like us) that has migrated to Texas for any number of reasons. The two of us never actually connected out there, although we lived within a stone’s throw of each other. I used to ride my bike through his community of Pescadero, which I miss. Perhaps we can find the time to connect in person (post-Covid) in Texas. Vox clamantis in Tejas.
—Stephen D. Gray, 3627 Avenue M, Galveston, TX 77550; (650) 302-8739; fratergray@gmail.com
Alan Fishbein also checked in from seclusion near Riverhead, New York. Like us, he has stayed isolated whereas he might normally be ensconced in his loft in Manhattan. He states that, “ ‘We’ is just me and my girlfriend Tracy; she can’t take the cold and goes to Florida for a month or two after the new year.” Clearly her blood has thinned, just as Eliza’s and mine. I still love that first snowfall, but I start to shiver at less than 50 degrees Fahrenheit now. Alan, try Galveston Island, Texas, sometime, way funkier than Florida!
Alan reminded me of his love of jazz, which led me to consider our class’ support for the Coast Jazz Orchestra. Just as an update, here is a note from Lon Cross on the subject: “The Coast’s guest residency program has been suspended this year. As such, we’re being asked to redirect our support. In lieu of funding guest resident musicians in the fall and winter terms, we will underwrite the purchase of technology that will enable the Coast Jazz Orchestra musicians to practice and perform together regardless of where they are physically located. I would imagine that this technology would include the ability to livestream the Coast’s concerts.”
Finally, I caught up with Sheldon Finch, who has graciously agreed to work on our website. He and his family now live in Austin, Texas. Apparently they are some of the California diaspora (like us) that has migrated to Texas for any number of reasons. The two of us never actually connected out there, although we lived within a stone’s throw of each other. I used to ride my bike through his community of Pescadero, which I miss. Perhaps we can find the time to connect in person (post-Covid) in Texas. Vox clamantis in Tejas.
—Stephen D. Gray, 3627 Avenue M, Galveston, TX 77550; (650) 302-8739; fratergray@gmail.com