Jack Edmund Bookwalter

Jack Edmund Bookwalter

Jack Edmund Bookwalter

Stewart Myrent

Paul, saw your post about the passing of Tom Hansen, your friend of 60+ yrs.  I don't remember Tom, but I'm pretty sure we had a graduating class of 450-500 students, & I'm sure I couldn't possibly have met everyone in the class.  I seem to remember having closer relationships with those who attended grade school with me, in my case Lincoln Hall.  One of the weirdest things about being in your early (mid?) 70's, is that, you can know a person for 60+ yrs.  The first thing I think of when I hear of a couple celebrating a 50th or 60th wedding anniversary, is that they BOTH lived long enough to reach that milestone.  My parents were married for 35 yrs., but my mother passed in 1976 (over 40 yrs. ago) from breast cancer, at age 53.  My father made it to 90.  I'm fairly confident my parents would have made it to a 50th or 60th anniversary, if my mother had survived.  Which is why I've been thinking for the longest time, that if you're in a long-standing relationship with another person, you would prefer to be the first to go.  At that point, any problems you had are done, over.  For the one who's left, however, it's a totally different story - any problems are still there, & you have to deal with the loss of this very important person in your life.  But, Paul, I really liked the story of Tom & his wife moving to Placitas, NM (wherever that is) & building a hacienda bed & breakfast - The Blue Horse (good name).  Sounds fairly idyllic to me.  So, he had a good life - and you & his wife & his 2 daughters are left behind to deal with this loss.  Sorry to hear about it, even though I don't remember Tom.

Stewart Myrent

After my last post, I realized some of you, maybe not many, have already reached, or are fast approaching, a Golden Wedding Anniversary, & are looking forward to a 60th.  Congrats!  You are truly blessed.  And, also very lucky, of course.   My marriage lasted 22 yrs. & I am still very close with my ex-wife.  She is one of the all-time great girls!  (Although she is 63 now - maybe I shouldn't refer to her as a girl.)  But, that's another story.  So, I started thinking about these long-standing marriages, 50 yrs. plus, & I started wondering, after the first 20 or 30 yrs., is part of it, in fact, habit?  I realize part of it, is acceptance.  None of us is perfect - even though we are looking for that perfect person (the one that has 0% chance of actually existing) & we finally realize that THIS other person, is as close as I'll ever find.  So, it's OK if they're 95% of my ideal.  I'll just have to accept them with their (few) flaws, or faults.  So, I am curious, first of all, how many of you have already celebrated, or will soon celebrate, a Golden Wedding Anniversary?  I would also appreciate any feedback on my thoughts about long-standing marriages.  I would be very interested to know.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Crossing the threshold - our children are messengers to a future we will never see.

Condolences to Tom Hansen's family and friends.

Nancy Doyle (Sudlow)

My granddaughter is a junior at Niles North and participates in several choral groups at the school.  Last night was their winter concert.  They ended the program with the Hallelujah Chorus just as we did at our winter concerts over 50 years ago.  It was wonderful.  Such good memories.

Beverlee Ann Arpan (Marshall)

Nancy,  I also remember our Christmas concert senior year when a member of concert choir, with Mr. McGee at the helm.  Funny what the mind retains. I remember singing with Snookie Perri, Pat Bateman and Janis Kliphardt in the alto section.  My twin brother, John, and Len Bennett sang in the base section, Kerry Kenney and Lee Miller we’re part of the tenor section, and Amy Gabriel, our best soprano, years later, sang with the Chicago Symphony.   Nancy Doyle and Holly Thompson accompanied the choir and orchestra on the piano.  The Hallelujah Chorus was the highlighted finale. Thanks for the fond memories, Nancy, who remains a close friend to this day.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

   What will money buy?

Paul Richard Hain

Some of us who were part of the Concert Band joined the Orchestra and Choir to perform the Hallelujah Chorus. I remember it well, the antiphonal sound and blends of voices and instrument. A few concert band members that come to mind are Jack Bookwalter, Nancy Novak, Scott Mermel and Mike Hansen. I'm sure I am missing others. That program was always a highlight for me each year.  Was it just my perception that Mr. Magee barely tolerated us band members?

Beverlee Ann Arpan (Marshall)

Anyone have a guess what Janis’s post of a banana duck taped to ? with the caption “what will money buy?” means?  I haven’t stopped laughing.

Scott Mermel

The "Hallelujah Chorus" will always be a fond memory for me (even though I'm Jewish!).  If you remember, we had band members in the balcony and along the sides of the auditorium, so the sound produced was incredible!  Every time I hear it played during the holiday season, I remember the times we performed it during the Christmas Concert at West.  It's become more poignant recently as when I hear it, I remeber recent the losses of Mr. Groeling and our classmate and trumpet player, Larry Burkhardt.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

    How do we place value on material goods?

    A banana duct-taped to a wall sold for $120,000 at Miami's Art Basel this week.

    Two of three editions have been sold, each for $120,000.

    The final edition is expected to go for $150,000.

 Why?

    What happens when the bananas start to rot?

    No problem,

    the art connoisseurs buy more bananas to duct-tape to the wall.

 Art is in the eye of the beholder.

    Facts are not.

    Neither is hunger.

Beverlee Ann Arpan (Marshall)

Yikes!  And, there is no accounting for taste.  

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Does anyone know?

Is the banana duct-taped to the wall a scam?

There's nothing new about fake news, it's old as time.

Things we think or wish could have been true are easier to believe.

Are these banana transactions plausible?

The artist claims he spent a year working on the piece (yes, he really said that), "agonizing over whether to make the banana resin or bronze"... but eventually woke up one day and said, "the banana is supposed to be a banana."

Paul Richard Hain

Very interesting explanation regarding the state of art appreciation these days, Janis.  Do you think the purchasers that paid $120,000 may have been contributing to a group that supports the arts?  I'll tell you a true story. In the summer after my sophomore year in college, I met a small group of art students.  One was a man eight or nine years my senior.  What some would call a perpetual student.  He complained how art students (like himself) struggle to make enough money for paint, brushes and canvases while Picasso was the wealthiest artist on the planet.  Couldn't he donate some money or even a pencil drawing to hungry art students so they could continue their education.  

The friends convinced him to put his request in a letter and mail it to Picasso, who at the time was living in the south of France.  He airmailed off his letter and did not think of it again.  One day the letter came back marked "return to sender."  On the back of the envelop, Picasso had drawn a pencil drawing of a horse and tree by a balcony and signed it, "Picasso."  What a surprise!  Picasso (unless it was his publicist) had slit open the envelop, carefully taped it shut and wrote "return" on the front.

The art student now had an original Picasso.  Would he sell it to buy art materials?  No way! He kept it!  That a letter with a picture drawn by Picasso made it back to the sender without getting stolen amazes me.  That is a true story and I would not have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself.

Stewart, I guess I am a lucky guy to have known Tom Hansen for 64 years.  He is not the only long-time friend.  Jack Bookwalter is a friend even longer than that by about a year and David Steinberg Noel is right about 60 years.  The Message Forum helped bring us back together after our lives diverged from high school.  Nowadays, life has changed from ambition to caring about people old and new.  Scott spoke true words about the large role Mr. Groeling played in the lives his students. As adults a few years before his passing, he would join our German Band reunion at Mermel's house and bring the music and laughter back again.  Let those good memories swell up in thought.  That's what matters.

Scott Mermel

The banana was eaten as "performance art"!!!  Read this article:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/performance-artist-eats-120-000-banana-duct-taped-wall-calls-n1097696?cid=public-rss_20191208

You couldn't make this up!

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

                        "Hungry Artist"  

a performance artist ripped the banana duct-taped to a wall from its delicately positioned perch, ate the banana, and called it "very delicious".

The gastronomical action was proclaimed "art performance" at Miami's Art Basel.

Gallery spokespeople said, "The art work was not destroyed by the performance artist."

"The banana is the idea."

The banana comes with "instructions" that "the banana should be replaced as necessary."

Scott's link, a click away:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/performance-artist-eats-120-000-banana-duct-taped-wall-calls-n1097696?cid=public-rss_20191208

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Carnivore: "I only eat meat."

Herbivore: "I only eat plants."

Omnivore: "Food is food."

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

We are all septuagenarians.  Some of our classmates will live at least 25 more years.

Some of our classmates have children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren(?)

This site gives us the opportuntity to celebrate our classmates and the memories we share, and to move forward in the company and with the perspective of dear friends and acquaintances, looking to the future.

Paul, as you share, the struggle of young artists is storied... crazy as the banana transactions are, if interest in the banana duct-taped to a wall could be measured in $$$, it seems there would be thousands for paint brushes, canvasses, tubes of paint for young artists and for art education.

Stewart Myrent

I just wanted to relate an amazing thing that I was part of this past weekend.  I had been invited to an engagement party for my niece, Emily (my brother's daughter) & her fiance Brendan at their bldg. in downtown Chicago, by Navy Pier.  The party started at 6PM & around 8PM, Emily's brother, Noah, made an announcement that we know you all think that you're here for an engagement party, but we're not going to wait to announce a wedding date, because we're going to do the wedding tonight.  There were probably 80-100 people there & everyone was shocked.  I actually thought that I hadn't heard him correctly, but I did.  My nephew had been ordained by Universal Life Church, to marry people in a specific state, for the nominal fee of $40.  They then read their vows, which I really liked when my niece mentioned, in her vows, how much they laugh together all the time.  The reason I really liked that, is that at the pizzeria where I work, with many young kids (late teens to early 20s), I have told quite a few of them, that when they are choosing a mate & deciding to settle down, the most important thing to find in a future partner, is a well-developed sense of humor, because they're going to need that down the road, to deal with the inevitable bad things, that will be coming their way.  I don't know if any of them got that, but I'm fairly sure, you all do.  Don't know if Noah's authority to marry people in Illinois is legal, or not, but they had gone to City Hall in Chicago the day before, & gotten married there.  Needless to say, everyone there were not only shocked & stunned, but had (of course) a great time.  Well, not everyone there were shocked & stunned, because my brother & his wife, Emily & Brendan, Brendan's parents & Noah & his wife, were all in on it.  There was one other person who knew, my daughter, Lauren, who is pretty close with Emily, & she never said a word.  I had picked up my stepmother in Buffalo Grove & my daughter (who moved to Bucktown in early August) on the way to the party.  I wound up putting on over 100 miles that day, but I didn't really mind, as it was the best wedding I was ever at.  After I got home around 11PM , I sent Emily, my brother & Noah texts, telling them all how much I loved what they did & how great the wedding was.  When I wasn't sure if I could get that night off from work, my brother told me that if I couldn't get that time off, they were going to have to tell me about the wedding plans.  But, I did get the night off & I'm so glad that I did.  I would have hated to miss the occasion & how horrible it would have been if I had to call my daughter on Sunday, to see how the engagement party went, only to find out that I had missed my niece's wedding.  I had NEVER been to a wedding like that.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Happy🎂Birthday, Fran.

Hope your day and the year ahead are filled with love and happiness and light.

For me you are a beacon,

you lead the way to a season that is a celebration of light.

Thanks always for encouragement and support as you beckon us forward...

Happy Birthday and all good wishes, Fran.

Janis

Stewart Myrent

Saw this article at Yahoo News yesterday & then heard this story this AM on the Drive radio.  "St. John Properties, a Baltimore-based commercial real estate property management and development company, provided a $10 million bonus for its 198 employees to split at its annual holiday party on Dec. 7."  'The [bonus] distribution was based solely on years of service.  It had nothing to do with a person's position in the company,' Larry Maykrantz, president of St. John Properties, told 'Yahoo Finance' in a phone interview."  "Individual employee bonuses ranged from $100 to $270,000...on average, each employee received about $50,000."  "One employee who has been with the company with 44 years received a $270,000 bonus, while a new employee who started earlier this week received a $100 bonus."  'What occurred that night exceeded my expectations tenfold', Maykrantz said.  'It was one of the most incredible experiences I've had in my 40 years of business experience.  It literally brought tears to my eyes to hear of all the great potential impact of what we did had on all 198 people.'"  By the way, the cause of the bonus was a company goal, set in 2005, to try to double the size of their portfolio from 10 million sq. ft. to 20 million sq. ft.  They anticipated it could take 40 yrs.! to accomplish, but they did it in 14 yrs.  Oh, Carol, I have seen the spelling of Hannukah & Chanukah (and I'm pretty sure  I've seen Hanukah & Channukah & I've probably seen it spelled w/o the final "h"), so I'm of the impression that it is a hard word to misspell.  The hard part in pronouncing "Chanukah" or "Channukah", is the guttural "ch" sound, that gives "Chanukah" its authenticity.  It's not a hard "ch", as in "cheap", or a soft "ch", as in "charlatan".  So, I guess what I'm saying is, I don't care how you spell it, but it might be hilarious to hear you pronounce it.  One more thing, Paul, the standard poodle in the photo - is that Maxwell or Marcie?  Just wondering.  

Jack Edmund Bookwalter

Jack Edmund Bookwalter