John McCubbin

      My Dad will always be in my mind all about Baseball, Boy Scouts, BBQs, and the PTA. He coached my brothers and I in baseball, and when we were through he headed up the Ridgewood Baseball Association (RBA) for a year. One of his favorite mementos was the paper weight they gave him for his long years of service. He was an Eagle Scout himself and encouraged us all to do the same, though only my older brother, Peter, made it to the same lofty plane as he did. He loved to BBQ and the site of him flipping burgers on a summer evening was an annual ritual. His friendship with Dan Daly, the principal of Willard School, set the tone early on regarding the importance he placed on education. His participation at the PTA meetings after he had been at work all day in NYC further showed us that working hard at school was something he expected. We will be spreading his ashes next week at Arlington Cemetery. No service will be held as per his request.

RHS Alumni Art Show at Carroll Gallery

     This is taken from the Ridgewood High School web site. I wanted to put it up as a tribute to one of my favorite teachers and someone who remains a friend. He now lives in Asbury Park and is continuing his good works with the Asbury Park Chamber of Commerce. Call for Entries: Fourth Annual RHS Alumni Art Show The Ridgewood High School Department of Art and Design is seeking RHS grads to participate in its annual Alumni Art Show, to be held in the RHS Carroll Art Gallery, Room 135, from December 19-January 9, 2009. Interested exhibitors should contact the Department of Art & Design at 201-670-2803, or e-mail the department supervisor, Chris McCullough, at cmcullough@ridgewood.k12.nj.us. A public reception will be held for the artists on Tuesday, January 6, 2009, from 3-5 p.m. The gallery will be open during school hours for the duration of the show. History "The Carroll Gallery was opened in 2002. It is in room 135, located across the hall from the art studios. It is open all during the school day and for many events after school hours. Numerous exhibitions and installations are on view throughout the school year. Students and staff are welcome to visit. The gallery is named after Dennis Carroll, whose work in Ridgewood as an art educator and supervisor from 1967 to 2002, leaves a tradition of high level artistic vision that elevates the learning experience for students, and provides a nurturing, intelligent, thoughtful process for making art. His passion for art and teaching has given countless students the courage to take creative risks and make personal discoveries beyond the classroom. The gallery is dedicated to the work of future students who will serve as daily reminders of the legacy of an exemplary educator, Dennis Carroll."

Charlie Brown Christmas

 

 

      It wouldn't be Christmas for me if I didn't comment on Charlie Brown. I always watch in real time on TV, though I could certainly buy or rent or steal it off the Internet. By watching it on network TV the old fashion way without Tivo, it seems to give me a sense of reassurance in what is certainly an anxious time for us all financially. I don't know if this is a better ritual than a more modern one but it does allow me to reflect upon something that has not changed, and that is the wonderful lessons which Charles Schultz taught us with his Peanuts gang. One of the most prescient lines is uttered by Lucy when she says that all she really wants is Real Estate for Christmas. I suppose that for the last 40 years this was a good thing, but I wonder if this is what Lucy would be asking for today. My favorite lines are uttered by Linus, one of the more underrated characters in my opinion, who is wise beyond belief for always carrying his security blanket with him. Who among us wouldn't want to carry one of those into a job interview or have it with them when they had to make a speech or presentation? His matter of fact declaration that he could tell Charlie Brown what the real meaning of Christmas is, always helps me keep things in prospective during this mega shopping season. 

 

 

RHS Council of Elders

     The idea I want to put forward is this: The Ridgewood Public Schools need a Council of Elders comprised of RHS alumni. As an example I propose something along the lines of a collegiate Alumni Council which offers advice to their presidents and trustee members. In this case the purpose would be to provide a forum for alumni to discuss with public school officials current policies and practices. These discussions would be grounded in the longer historical perspective which the Elders possess. The Council would serve as a sounding board which could assist current RHS administrators in making informed decisions. As an example of how it might work, the Council of Elders might weigh in on how the current debate regarding the Mathematics curriculum compares with previous debates on the same subject. There are plenty of other examples of how the current generation is attempting to re-invent the wheel so to speak, and could profit from a little prospective. 

     What I am offering is not some new idea. There are plenty of groups seeking to increase the level of grassroots citizen engagement in order to build more vital communities. This would be a prime function of the RHS Council of Elders. Who knows, it might even make Ridgewood a more enjoyable place to live in, and one that people no longer fell compelled to leave once their children have graduated. I think the technology exists to make this idea happen, though what is currently lacking is the experience to use if effectively and in a non-threatening manner. There are plenty of avenues available for criticizing, for instance, via the PTA, the newspaper, and various blogs, not to mention the good old fashion phone call or face to face meeting. What I would like see is advice offered as a guide to action and conduct; nothing which would sound too paternalistic or patronizing. Time will tell whether this is a practical suggestion but I did want to go on record as saying I think it might be useful one day.

Tic Toc

     I'm convinced to this day that my love of the theater began in Ridgewood upon first attending a performance given by Tic Toc. They have been entertaining children for almost 50 years. This is from their website: TIC TOC Theatre & Art is a volunteer organization which was established in 1960 and presents fine and performing arts experiences to students in Ridgewood, Glen Rock, Midland Park, Radburn in Fair Lawn and Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey, USA.

$355,500 for Bathrooms at Veterans Field

      These bathrooms probably sounded like a good idea before the recent turmoil in the financial markets. "BE IT ORDAINED by the Village Council of the Village of Ridgewood, in the County of Bergen, New Jersey that the sum of $47,000.00 is hereby appropriated from the Capital Fund Balance to supplement ordinance 2828 in the amount of $197,000, and ordinance 3014 in the amount of $111,500 for the construction of restrooms at the Kasschau Memorial Shell." I guess the fields at Vets are used so much these days that using the bathrooms in the library and the police station are no longer options. Too bad when they were recently expanding both of these facilities they couldn't have made allowance for some extra bathrooms. If I might pontificate for a moment: these new bathrooms are just a symptom of our current economic malaise, and will be seen in quite a different light when the inevitable budget cuts occur in the village budget. People on the council don't seem to realize that layoffs are the order of the day on Wall Street and that many Ridgewood residents are going to lose their jobs. Tax receipts from Real Estate levies will invariably be less than planned. I remember the recession of 1973-74 which coincided with the first Oil price shocks. In my family we were all warned not to ask for too much as times were going to be tight for a while. There were no real cutbacks in our household expenses, but there was a renewed sense of the need to watch our pennies. Hopefully, the same spirit exists today and the cutbacks won't be too deep. Though I can't imagine how anybody 35 years ago would have thought these bathrooms were a good idea. Just my 2 cents.

A Room With A View

     Our old house on Glenwood Road was adjacent to Willard School. From my bedroom I could see the school yard and tell what sort of sporting events were taking place. Whether this was sledding in the Winter, baseball or stickball in the Summer, football or basketball in the fall, I could glance out and decide whether to get involved. If it was summer this was a no-brainer as we didn't have air conditioning installed until I was in high school. 

     The rest of the year I would usually just go out even if I wasn't old enough to play with who was competing. I liked to watch and learn from the older kids. When it was time to come home for dinner my Mom would invariably stand on our back porch and bellow out our names. She likes to tell this story on herself, and throw in the part about the kids in the school yard who would bellow back if we weren't anywhere on the field. I guess this sort of thing is done now with cell phones and GPS devices. Those electronic devices would have just slowed us down in my day, or gotten lost or stolen. I tell this story because I revel in the implied idea of community which it reveals. People in the neighborhood were looking out for one another. I prefer to believe this was a better idea than the current situation where it requires two wage earners in many cases to pay the mortgage for a home in Ridgewood which is largely empty Monday through Friday. 

      It seems to me that something is missing now in everyone's lives in suburbia, not just Ridgewood. This has happened as a matter of course and can't be reversed. Nobody wants to go back, or can afford to go back, to a simpler time and a less complicated existence. It was an era when school teachers and postal carriers could afford to live in Ridgewood. Their proximity provided an extra level of security to our neighborhoods, and made it that much harder to get away with childish shenanigans. Don' get me wrong, the time I recall had its own disadvantages, too. My Dad wouldn't wish his old 3 hour roundtrip commute to Wall Street on anybody, even if it did allow him to send 3 sons to college and graduate school. All I'm pointing out is that things are different these days, and I believe less inviting for people considering a move to Ridgewood. The tree lined streets remain largely the same but the people inside the houses appear to be strangers to one another, and not as cognizant of what is happening right next store to them.

Social Networking

     To say I had an end result in mind when I created this blog would be a stretch. It was created out of my interest in Social Networking and for the use I thought the blog might oneday add to our lives. In other words, the blog just is and has no ulterior motives like trying to steal identities or bombard people with spam. I thought since the capability for interaction existed, people might find this a convenient way to reconnect with their old pals. I also hope this becomes a repository for our memories and photos. There were good times that we should dwell upon and recount to one another, if only to keep us from dwelling too much on the embarrassing moments we all had. Those should only be recounted in person, and at Reunions, and only after the proper restoratives have been consumed. ;-) In any event, there are other avenues for Social Networking. The latest one I have been investigating is LinkedIn. There is even a group for people who graduated from Ridgewood High School. It may not mean much right now, sorta like this blog, but I do believe it will pay dividends in the future in terms of helping with the planning of Reunions. I can only imagine how hard it must be to plan a reunion. Our 25th was a smashing success because of some very dedicated people. My hope is that the next time a reunion for the class of 1977 is being planned that they will use the Internet even more than they did last time. By this I mean using a blog, a web site, and conference calling with a digital whiteboard. This last one is basically a conference bridge with the capability for people to share a computer screen as well as speak to each other in a group setting. We use them all the time in my consulting practice and I think they could be put to good use by a reunion committee. When the time comes I hope to have opportunity to demonstrate.

Election Day

 

 

      I subscribe to the Willard School News, a regular email list which provides news and information regarding my old elementary school. It sometimes provides fodder for this blog, so it came as no surprise when I received the news that Willard would do all it could to maintain the safety of students on Election Day. This is all good. Though I don't believe for a moment that the children are any less safe than I was some 40 years ago. Back then they also had concerns and told us not to accept candy or rides from strangers. 

     The Willard News went on to say that, "there would be parent volunteers monitoring the hallways, as we usually do any time voters are in the building." We used to call these volunteers stay-at-home Moms. They were usually on-hand anyhow because they had to deliver their contributions to the bake sale. The big difference between now and then was the news that there would be a police officer in the building for the entire day. This I don't remember ever happening, though I could be mistaken. Is the presence of the Police unnecessary? No, I think it's a good thing since there isn't a Safety Patrol to cross students during what will be a very heavy polling day. Please don't misunderstand me, I like the paid crossing guards! Though in terms of learning about Civics, I just prefer the large number of patrol men (I used to lead 14-16 classmates), as we called them, who were at their stations before and after school (rain or shine). They may not be as professional as the seniors who patrol the streets these days but they did do a huge service to the community. 

      Lest we forget, in those days, children went home for lunch so the safety patrol also crossed students at those times, too. Please indulge me as I tell my all-time favorite safety patrol story. It was Spring 1970, and I remember my 5th grade class being asked to lead a safety patrol for an entire week while all 4 classes of 6th graders went to Science Camp. You see, there had been a freak spring storm and two of the classes had their week at camp canceled. The principal of Willard School, Dan Daly, then asked my 5th grade class to fill-in for an entire week while all 4 6th grade classes attended camp. They usually went two classes at a time. To make a long reminiscence short, it rained most of that week and we had to do 4 shifts a day. Please tell me how many students these days would do the same? What's more, how many parents would let their children do this sort of work? Back then it was just accepted as normal civic duty. As an FYI, I still have the Honor Squad pin they gave me for being the Captain of this patrol and one the following year. I also still champion to this day the use of Safety Patrols. There is a web site and a tradition dating aback to 1920, which you are kindly asked to check out.

Schweinfurth Florist

      When I was planning my wedding in 2001, I went and visited The Upper Ridgewood Community Church where I had been confirmed, as a possible venue. They told me that former members of the church, as a rite of passage, invariably came back to get married. I was quite pleased at this coincidence and proceeded to book my forthcoming marriage and reception at my old church. Much to my delight when I asked who they recommended to do the flowers, they suggested an old classmate of ours who owned Schweinfurth Florist, Chet Douglas. When my wife and I went to visit him to plan the floral arraignments he couldn't have been more charming and professional. He even went as far as to suggest that the flowers for my Saturday wedding could be used at the next day's services, and that he would credit the church for these flowers. Chet is a very cool guy and an astute businessman. I hope this serves as a long overdue thank-you.

RHS Class of 1976

 

I always liked the RHS Class of 1976. They had their flaws like every class, but I always respected the genuine way they went about making their mistakes. It wasn't an easy time with the Vietnam War winding down the year before and a bad recession in 1974. They exhibited a raucous comradeship none the less and gave people in the class following them some things to wonder about. Please visit their reunion website and marvel at all the pictures they have collected. Truth by known, a member of the class of 1977 helped them with their site. 

Jack O'Neill 

  Jane Bitzer

 

 

  

 

A tribute to Jackson Browne. Notice RHS 1977 members Sam Cermack and Mile Connolly. 

  ≈  

Sandy Chapman.              Blythe Reis

It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

 

 

     I could wax poetic about Charlie Brown all day. When I was in 2nd Grade our teacher suggested we tell our parents that we should be allowed to stay up until 8:00pm to watch the premier of "It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown." This was the follow-up to the hit "A Charlie Brown Christmas" which premiered the year before (1965). Being that it was a simple request and one honestly presented, my parents agreed that if I went to bed at 7:30 PM and managed to keep my eyes closed until 8 PM, I could then watch the show. To make a long story short, I complied with the request as best I could and fell in love with Peanuts. I marvel to this day at how naive we were in this age before video games and Reality TV. As Linus so aptly said, "There was nothing but sincerity for as far as the eye could see."

Raking Leaves

      Before there were leave blowers and the ubiquitous landscaping companies, we raked leaves. We would rake them until our hands had callouses and all the leaves had been deposited neatly at the curb for the town to pick up. I also remember burning leaves. This was much more fun than raking and we would even do it for free! It would fill the neighborhood with a scent which screamed out that autumn was here. It would also fill the neighborhood with smoke, which is probably why they passed a long banning it. Being a city dweller these days I don't have to rake leaves anymore. I don't miss it and prefer to honor the season by admiring leaves instead. As kids growing up in Ridgewood, we would admire the leaves as they initially changed colors. But this was always before it had occurred to us that it would soon be time to rake them. Children growing up in Ridgewood these days are mostly deprived of rituals like leave raking and mowing the lawn. These jobs are now usually contracted out to landscaping companies who swoop in like a swarm of locusts and finish the job in a fraction of the time it took us. It's too bad because these jobs taught us to recognize that work is difficult, strenuous, and sometimes it's done without adequate compensation. Hard work also made us slowly realize that without an education we might end up working in a similar type of job all of our lives.

Looking Backwards and Asking Why

     This blog is about returning to a place in my mind (Ridgewood in the 1960s and 1970s), and commenting upon how it seems some 30+ years later. The poem cited below by Joyce Sutphen describes this process and alludes to one of the best poems of a Romantic period poet to illustrate the point. You don't have to know the poem to understand what she is saying about returning to place which you once regarded as being larger than life, and seeing it now as being much more manageable than you previously believed. I guess that is what's called being a grown up. The Wordsworth Effect by Joyce Sutphen Is when you return to a place and it's not nearly as amazing as you once thought it was, or when you remember how you felt about something (or someone) but you know you'll never feel that way again. It's when you notice someone has turned down the volume, and you realize it was you; when you have the suspicion that you've met the enemy and you are it, or when you get your best ideas from your sister's journal. Is also-to be fair-the thing that enables you to walk for miles and miles chanting to yourself in iambic pentameter and to travel through Europe with only a clean shirt, a change of underwear, a notebook and a pen. And yes: is when you stretch out on your couch and summon up ten thousand daffodils, all dancing in the breeze.

Bob Lefsetz on 1960s Music

     If I happen to quote a fellow blogger you all will have to understand that this is the nature of the medium. I regularly read Bob Lefsetz because his observations on the music scene strike a cord with Baby Boomers. I will take the liberty of quoting him here: "Will we ever revisit an era where acts as diverse as Louis Armstrong, the Four Tops and the Beatles can coexist on the airwaves, the music of all emanating from the same station, so dominant that everyone knows the licks? I don't think so. That's a bygone era. We don't even have a new "Bonanza", and there are many more records than TV shows." Subscribe to his email list and you will regularly receive his analysis of the current music scene and how it contrasts with the era which this blog seeks to explain and better understand. If all this makes me sound like an old fogie who likes to say it was better in the good old days, then I am fine with it. In the case of popular music, to me, there is no question as to how far our tastes have degenerated. Where is the harmony in Rap? I try to be open minded about Rap and all the tripe which passes for popular music, but it seems a little contrived to me and lacking in the reflection which I hold to be important to all art. I realize this makes me sound like the people during the 60s and 70s who couldn't understand the long hair and bell bottom jeans of people who listened to the music I seek to immortalize here. I am fine with this and am proud to be as old as I am.

Election Day 2008

     No partisan politics in this blog, just a simple reminder that all votes are meaningful because they are proof of your citizenship and your commitment to the commonweal. I always liked Election Day during my days in Ridgewood. This mostly had to do with the bake sales which usually accompanied the voting, and my sweet tooth. Even with my stay-at-home-Mom always was baking for us, the Election Day bake sale gave me one more chance to indulge my passion for sweets. To this day I cannot walk by an election polling place without wondering if they are having a bake sale, and if there is anything that might tempt my palate.

Ridgewood All Time Lists for Track & Field and Cross Country:

 

 

A tip of the cap to Jacob Brown for maintaining this site for the Girl's Cross Country and Track and Field teams. To say he is dedicated to Cross Country and Track and Field would be an understatement. He even offers two week-long running camps during the summer through the auspices of the Ridgewood Community School.

Graydon Pool 2 February 1931

 

 

      This one is courtesy of Aljian Studio and was located on the Village of Ridgewood Web Site. I don't know that they skate on Graydon any more but there was a time before we became such a litigious society that people would get together like this and enjoy a cold winter's day. I will continue to pay homage whenever I can to attempts to promote better understanding through the study of history. In other words, I like old pictures of Ridgewood and what they tell us about ourselves.

Ridgewood Wildscape Association

      This organization is one which was started when my family still lived in Ridgewood in 1976. I hadn't ever heard of it until today. No question it is a fine idea for a town which prides itself on it trees and on being an idyllic suburban setting. Most of the 6 semi-wild natural parks they feature I knew well, and the next one they plan to add, the Habernickel property, was one of the first parks I explored as a youth. It was located nearby to where we lived and my friends and I use to go there to look at and sometimes capture the wildlife. I have fond memories of us bringing back turtles, much to the dismay of our parents who were then tasked with helping us keep them alive.

Ridgewood Class of 1960 50th Reunion

     In the spirit of bonhomie I've added a link to the Ridgewood Class of 1960 50th Reunion web site. They have come to the same conclusion that many of us have that it is much too expensive to organize reunions via the US Mail. I was also glad to see that the Ridgewood Public Schools web site has stepped up efforts to disseminate information regarding upcoming reunions. The link is not easy to find but certainly worth a look. There is even an organization which I was unaware of called The RHS Alumni. It is a volunteer organization of alumni which provides graduates with information on how an individual or a class may continue to support the Ridgewood Public Schools. Phone: 201-612-6245 Email: RHSAlumni@ridgewood.k12.nj.us

Ridgewood Historical Society

 

 

 I've added a link to the Ridgewood Historical Society. It is open on Saturdays 1:00--3:00 p.m., Sundays 2:00--4:00 p.m., and Thursdays 1:00--3:00 p.m. Donation is $5 for an adult, $3 for a child, and $10 for a family. info@ridgewoodhistoricalsociety.org I remember The Ridgewood Historical Society when it was called the Paramus Historical and Preservation Society. The Ridgewood Historical Society came into existence as a result of a name change in 1996. They operate the Schoolhouse Museum building, formerly one of the first public schools in Ridgewood. According to their website, their mission is to preserve the building, as well as maintain, interpret, and exhibit the collection of artifacts representing the history, culture, and lives of ordinary people from Ridgewood and the surrounding area from the period of Native America to the early 20th century in a consistently innovative way. The Schoolhouse Museum is located at 650 E Glen Avenue in Ridgewood, NJ., directly across from Valleau Cemetery and adjacent to the Paramus Reformed Church.

Ridgewood Teacher Retires After 40 years

     This is one of those stories you don't read about on the front page of the paper, though we probably should as it is uncommon these days. It's hard for me to imagine working 40 years for one company, and I am sure most people now feel the same way. Changing jobs is just too easy to contemplate and company layoffs are even more commonplace occurrences. In any event, let's give praise where praise is due and congratulate an Orchard School teacher who is retiring after 40 years. This snippet is from the Ridgewood Public School enews:

On Wednesday, September 17, one of the Village streets will have a new name. Demarest Street, outside Orchard School, will be renamed "Barbara Schineller Way" in honor of the beloved teacher who taught and Orchard School for over 40 years. Ms. Schineller retired at the end of the past school year. The sign's public unveiling will be held on Wednesday, September 17, at 3:15 p.m. The public is invited, and former Orchard school family members are particularly encouraged to attend.

      It's times like these I wish the Ridgewood Public Schools would pay more attention to their own history and maintain an archive about their teachers. I would like to know how long all of my teachers taught in Ridgewood and when they retired. Call me a history junkie if you want but it would be an interesting list to ponder and reminisce about at our reunions. Update: They only put a sign up in honor of Ms. Schineller as they wanted to save the residents of Demarest Street the trouble of having to change all their legal addresses to this new name.

Community Church at Upper Ridgewood

The name has changed but the memories remain. Here is the link to my old neighborhood church. I just noticed they added a web site. http://www.ccur.org/index.html We knew it as the Upper Ridgewood Community Church.

 

  

 

 Since my time 30 odd years ago they have renovated the church and made the classroom and group meeting space much brighter and inviting. My wife and I were married and had our reception there in 2002 . It was a great day for our wedding with temperatures in the 70s in late January!

 

 

     Following up on Paul’s post celebrating iconic architectural elements on older buildings, I thought I would drop in another couple cents. Ornate prominent elements such as towers and cupolas are common on older buildings. Often they served a specific function; the cupola on RHS almost certainly housed a school bell at one time. Old fire stations often included ornate towers in which hoses were dried, such as this one in Brooklyn:

    

     Sometimes an iconic element is used to mark a prominent crossroads. This sort of thing only works if the neighbors exercise some restraint. Imagine how the impact of this tower, at the corner of Ridgewood Avenue and Broad Street, would be diminished if there were three or four other towers on nearby buildings. 

 

      

     Likewise, a college campus wouldn't be nearly as well served if all the buildings sported fancy clock or bell towers. Better to have one that gives a specific identity, or as we fancy designers say, "a sense of place." At Clemson, it's Tillman Hall, which sports a statue, flag pole, grand stair, brick arch, and combination clock and bell tower, all on the same axis: 

       Indeed, the confusion that spreading out too many such elements can cause is demonstrated in this picture of RHS. As graduates, Paul and I both know that the main entry is under the bell tower. But I wonder how many first time visitors are drawn to the clock tower instead, only to find themselves in a stairwell? 

 

     All that being said, Ridgewood High School certainly is a beautiful building. It sits there, perched on a hill, almost majestic in its dominance, and symbolic of the value Ridgewood places on education.

New Cupola

Ridgewood High School has a new Cupola as of yesterday. It's clearly a close replica of the original. 

  

 I always thought the Cupola of Ridgewood High School provided a bit of style. I don't want to tread on Kurt's bailiwick of architecture but it does seem that these ornamental structures are usually omitted in new construction today; all in the hopes of saving money. In my perfect world I would prefer if a little more attention were paid to how things looked. I don't propose wasteful flourishes but I do like structures which make me want to pause and look at them. Like this picture of Old West at Dickinson College: 

 

This is a bit of the background to Old West and its Cupola:

West College, which became known as Old West in the early 20th century, traces its roots to February 1803, when Dickinson's nearly completed main building burned to the ground. In a bind, college trustees asked Benjamin Latrobe, recently appointed architect of the U.S. Capitol, to draw up plans for the new college hall, which he did free of charge. The 200th anniversary commemorates the date when the cornerstone for the building was laid. Old West did not host its first classes until November 1805 and housed its first undergraduates in 1810. Future U.S. President James Buchanan, class of 1809, was one of the earliest students to study within its walls.

Another Ridgewood Education Memory

      In the 8th grade I was offered a choice between Metal Shop and Cooking For Boys. It was a no-brainer for me as I hadn't any great success in either of the usual young man tracks, namely, Wood Shop and Mechanical Arts so I chose cooking. It was the first time that George Washington Junior High (GW) had offered cooking for boys and in hindsight it was a natural offering as the majority of Chefs are men. It was a decision that has ultimately proven to be one of the best I ever made! The recipes we learned were basic baking skills like bread, muffins, popovers, pizza dough, and pie crust. To my continual amazement I still use the techniques I learned and have through the years grown to be a very competent chef, with baking still being my favorite cooking skill. I also find it amazing that my first cooking teacher, Mrs. McCabe, still works at GW and my nephew who lives in Ridgewood had her as a teacher.

A Ridgewood Education

     Following up on Paul's post regarding the value of mathematics in education, I was shown just how good a job the Ridgewood school system did with this when I got to college. As an architecture major, I was required to take two semesters of mathematics my freshman year, including one of calculus. I had taken pre-calculus my junior year in Ridgewood, and probability / statistics my senior year. Imagine my surprise when, after purchasing my college-level calculus book, it became apparent that 90% of the course work would be concepts and calculations that I had already learned in high school pre-calculus. It was only the last two weeks of the course, when we got into differential equations, that the course advanced beyond what I had learned at Ridgewood High School. My second semester of my freshman year, I took probability and statistics to fulfill my college math requirement. It was a 400-level, or senior level course. Again, approximately 50% of the work had been covered by Mr. Zitelli at RHS. About halfway through the semester, a group of students, all seniors, went to the professor and complained that the course work was advancing too fast for them to keep up. He replied that he didn't think that was the case, since the highest average in the class was being maintained by a freshman. Boy, did I get some dirty looks. The RHS curriculum also allowed me to breeze through two semesters of both physics and english composition. My RHS education allowed me devote more time to my architecture studies, and continues to serve me well to this day. Now, if only I had taken some auto shop, which is no longer even offered, I would be better off maintaining my cars!

Why We Study Math

     Ridgewood has once again taken up the debate regarding what is the best type of Math curriculum to teach their children. This is a very healthy debate and one that thankfully re-surfaces every generation. 

     The irony of the debate is that kids will ask the same question no matter who has authored the books: "Why do we need to study Math?" This was as common when I went to school as I am sure it is now. It is the answers that the children are given which to me remains the most important consideration. I remember three good Math teachers during my 13 years in the Ridgewood School System: Gene Ricci, George Reck, and Kenneth Humiston. There were many other good ones but these three were memorable because they were all champions of Mathematics and had no trouble telling us why we needed to continue studying Math all our lives. 

     The best of the three was Gene Ricci. He taught advanced Math to us in the 6th grade at Willard School. One day I clearly remember he spoke about Base 2 and Base 8. For those of you who don't remember, Base 10 includes the decimal numbers 0-9. Base 2 is the binary numbering system, and Base 8 is the Octal counting system. I mention this because before he had gone too far along in his explanation he saw in his students' eyes the age old question: what were we going to use this for. His answer was quite astounding. He admitted he don't know yet but was sure it would be useful to know someday. This actually satisfied us, I believe, because it was honest and looking back on it all very true! You see, Base 2 is used internally by all modern computers. Gene Ricci may have been teaching it to us in an age of rotary phones but he was spot-on to show us this Math and all its potential. I owe my current career in Computer Networking to Binary and Octal Mathematics and am thankful we didn't discourage Gene Ricci from teaching these concepts to us. 

     It was true that nobody knew back then how computers would one day become so omnipresent, and I'm sure the same is true of Mathematical concepts yet to be authored. So why do we need to study Math? In a phrase, because it allows us to be of use. If I was in a Math teacher's shoes that is what I would tell my students. It may not be the most clever or thoughtful answer but it does come to the point. If that wasn't enough for them I would ask them to Google the question and have them look for this: "The special role of mathematics in education is a consequence of its universal applicability. The results of mathematics--theorems and theories--are both significant and useful; the best results are also elegant and deep. Through its theorems, mathematics offers science both a foundation of truth and a standard of certainty. In addition to theorems and theories, mathematics offers distinctive modes of thought which are both versatile and powerful, including modeling, abstraction, optimization, logical analysis, inference from data, and use of symbols. Mathematics, as a major intellectual tradition, is a subject appreciated as much for its beauty as for its power. The enduring qualities of such abstract concepts as symmetry, proof, and change have been developed through 3,000 years of intellectual effort. Like language, religion, and music, mathematics is a universal part of human culture."

Childhood Dreams

If you haven't seen this lecture, then do yourself a favor and Google it: Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams It will be well worth your time.

Very Sad

Tragedies:

Four people have died and three vanished within two days at beaches in New York City and on Long Island.

      How terrible. People love to swim, but unfortunately dihydrogen monoxide is fatal when inhaled. Meanwhile, in bucolic Ridgewood, Graydon Pool has hosted its third drowning in thirty years. This has prompted hysterical calls to pave over the pool:

this is something that would have never happened if it wasn't a brown bottem (sic) pool. If they made thins (sic) a REAL POOL!!!!

We've lived in Ridgewood for 9 years and don't take my kids to Graydon because of the dark water. It's not worth the risk. I won't go until they change it to a cement bottom with clear, chlorinated water.

I live in ridewood (sic), and i agree that what happened was really upseting(sic) and i am very sorry that his family and friends have to go through this situation. i think this tragidy (sic) could have been prevented. They spent over 30 minutes looking for the boys(sic) body in the merky (sic) discusting (sic) water. If the pool was clear and clean they would have rescued him in only 4-5 minutes and his life would have been saved.

      Sigh. As tragic as any premature death is, one cannot design all risk out of life. Replacing Graydon with a concrete, clear water pool will simply replace the dangers of lake swimming with the dangers of filtered water swimming. What will happen when the first “little villager” (as we guards liked to call the young swimmers) gets his hand stuck in drain and can't get back to the surface? Or a child slips while running and lands on a concrete deck instead of a sand beach? Or somebody gets pushed off the edge and lands in 15 feet of water instead of a gentle sand bottom 12" deep? As far as the performance of the lifeguards, I would like to offer some perspective. It is astounding how quickly and quietly a swimmer can go from “okay” to “gone.” I remember sitting on the stand on the dock one afternoon. Two girls jumped in succession from the high dive, and came up. Seeing them safely on the surface, I turned to watch some youngsters swimming from the dock out to the deep water raft. While I watched those swimmers, the two girls from the high dive both became frightened, embraced each other, and slipped silently under the water within feet of the ladder. Luckily, the guard sitting over on the west bank was watching, blew the emergency whistle, and tragedy was averted. Graydon is a swimming pool, and as such carries inherent dangers. Changing the pool from sand to concrete will change the nature of the risk, but won’t eliminate it.

Cost of Living 1977

     This isn't an original idea for a post but one I thought would help keep the blog in prospective: How Much things cost in 1977: Yearly Inflation Rate USA6.5% Year End Close Dow Jones Industrial Average 831 Interest Rates Year End Federal Reserve 7.75% Average Cost of new house $49,300.00 Average Income per year $15,000.00 Average Monthly Rent $240.00 Cost of a gallon of Gas 65 cents Bikini$9.00 Renault Gordini $6998,00 BMW 320i $7990.00 Minimum Wage = $2.30 Gallon of Milk = $1.67 First Class Stamp = $0.13

Larry Coyle

     As some of you may know, Larry Coyle taught English at RHS and was Head Coach of both the Men's Cross Country and Spring Track teams.

     I often think about the last words he said to our team in 1976, before he took his family to England for a sabbatical:

     "Dare to be good."

     Not that it was some world-changing utterance, but it was and has remained to me a gentle reminder to try hard at all endeavors no matter how humble they might seem.

     I know he meant it in the immediate context of our next race, but I also always felt he had a eye on developing us as human beings, too. As a former athlete himself he knew how quickly the glory would fade and how important it would be for us to have something to fall back upon other than medals and ribbons achieved in athletic competition.

      He offered us these words to make us think, and hopefully to inspire us when there wasn't a big meet to hold our attention and make us excel to our fullest potential. I always meant to ask what he meant but our paths didn't cross too many times after that and this philosophical discussion never took place. I suspect if we had spoken about it he would have offered me a modest smile and his customary encouragement. It was never his way to draw attention to himself and I think he probably would have blushed to think that I would remember his words and that I repeat them to people from time to time.

The Longest Days of the Year

Since I work for a living it requires more effort than when I was younger to see the longest days of the year are also the best days of the year. As a child this necessitated very little effort. As you well know, it is in June that school ends for most, and the prospect of a summer full of free time presents itself. This always made me regard this period as one filled with possibilities.

To reflect upon what we did back then in the age before cable TV, The Internet, DVDs, I-Pods, and all the other gadgets we tell ourselves we cannot live without, is to ponder a world which cannot be re-created, except through extraordinary efforts. Who would willingly give up the technology of modern life? I certainly would not, least of all because I am a technology consultant.

In all seriousness, I wouldn't give it up because I can see the possibilities of modern technology and it makes me feel like a child in June. Yes, I am still a believer, despite all evidence to the contrary that our interrupt-driven society is turning us into a bunch of coach potatoes. I remain hopeful that once the novelty of always being connected wears off and we learn to look at our email less, and drive without having to make cell phone calls, that we will use the "modern connectedness" to renew the ties which once bound us together as a group. That is part of the purpose of this blog, not just to serve as a diary for memories, though that is a fine use for a blog. I believe the use of blogs like this one will help revive our long lost connections to one another; the associations which are so easy to let slide and fade away.

I trust you all will give this some thought and see if it applies to your situation. We will be here to help where we can. Cheers!

Kasschau Memorial Shell

"Kasschau Memorial Shell-50 Years of Free Summer Entertainment Under the Stars"

This was the title of a post on the Ridgewood Blog.
It seems rather quaint to think we used to gather on Veteran's Field during the summer and sit in lawn chairs and on blankets to watch movies. They weren't even first run movies but we gathered all the same. Today we can watch movies on our laptops while flying at 30,000 feet in an airplane. Though it's not the same as you well know.

I remember seeing movies accompanied by my parents and brothers, and later while in high school by a young lady. It makes me smile just to think how much things have changed yet remain the same. The band concerts and performances that are still being held every summer would seem very familiar to someone living 100 years ago. Most towns had a band shell like Ridgewood does or at least a public square where these sort of events would occur. People 100 years ago I imagine would also have understood that public performances tend to make everyone feel less isolated from and threatened by their neighbors. They may not have stated it as such, but it is worth mentioning in an age where people entertain themselves in their homes much more than they did even a generation ago.

1977 - The Year in Music

From Wikipedia:

January 26: Alice Cooper enters rehab for his alcoholism, after ten years of drinking a pack of beer a day.

February 14: The B-52's make their debut at a party in Athens, Georgia

February 27: Royal Canadian Mounted Police raid Keith Richards' Toronto hotel suite while he is sleeping and seize 22 grams of heroin, 5 grams of cocaine and narcotics paraphernalia. Richards is arrested and charged with possession of heroin with intent to traffic, and possession of cocaine.

April 25: During a concert at the Saginaw, Michigan Civic Center, Elvis Presley makes what would turn out to be the last recordings he would ever make.

July 24: Led Zeppelin perform in Oakland at their last ever concert in the United States.

August 16: Elvis Presley is found dead at his home Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee.

October 20: A plane carrying Lynyrd Skynyrd crashes in Mississippi, killing songwriter & vocalist Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines and background vocalist Cassie Gaines.

December 14: Saturday Night Fever appears in theaters, igniting a new popularity for Disco music.

Here are the 1977 albums I remember getting a lot of exposure at RHS parties:

Aja - Steely Dan
Bat out of Hell - Meat Loaf
Foreigner - Foreigner
I Robot - The Alan Parsons Project
JT - James Taylor
Love Gun - Kiss
My Aim is True - Elvis Costello
Night Moves - Bob Seger
Rumours - Fleetwood Mac
Running on Empty - Jackson Browne
Slowhand - Eric Clapton
Songs of the Wood - Jethro Tull
The Stranger - Billy Joel
Street Survivors - Lynyrd Skynyrd
Terrapin Station - Grateful Dead

Man, that list brings back some memories. I will probably end up dropping a hundred bucks going retro at iTunes tonight.

I dug around my archives and managed to come up with a picture of the aforementioned Paul Ferraro during his Graydon Days.



That's Paul, first row on the far left. How many of these other characters can you name? Here's the best of my recollection:

Back: Dick Flechtner, Jeff Yearing, Don Holsten, Mike O'Hara, Tim Daly, Jan Koper, Jim Livingstone
Middle: Chrissy Wesnofske, Leslie Kersting, Barbara ??, Ann Tarvin
Front: Paul Ferraro, Jim Van-Something?, Harry Shortway, Jon Vinroot, Doug Hendrickson, Your Humble Blogger

Strange Names (North New Jersey's Got 'Em)

Back in the early 80s, while a student at Clemson University in South Carolina, I got into a musician named Steve Forbert, who had a hit with Romeo's Tune. In the intervening years I forgot about him, but recently heard that he has a new song: Strange Names (North New Jersey's Got 'Em):

RHS Athletic Hall of Fame: Paul Ferraro

Mission:
To honor the athletic achievements of RHS student athletes, coaches, teams, and individuals who are deemed to have had a major and lasting impact on the athletic program at RHS. The Hall of Fame recognizes these individuals’ accomplishments as beacons to others, that they may clearly see and be inspired by the outcomes of lives lived in love of sport and competition.

Here is the link to the RHS web site for Paul Ferraro, son of another Hall of Famer Mario Ferraro:
http://www.ridgewood.k12.nj.us/index.cfm?sid=6&nav_id=10478&sub_nav_id=10602&ArticleID=29106

"Acknowledged as one of the greatest two-way football players in the school’s history, he was acknowledged as a first-team All-Decade linebacker for the1970s by The Record and was a two-time first-team linebacker on the All-County, All-Suburban and All-NNJIL all-star teams. He was the first single-season 1,000-yard rusher in school history and held the single- season rushing record of 1,079 yards (accomplished in nine games) for 28 years."

RHS Athletic Hall of Fame: Becky Deetz

Sports were always a big part of my life and certainly deserve a number of entries to this blog. To keep things rolling here is an article about Becky Deetz being inducted into the RHS Athletic Hall of Fame. This is the link to the Ridgewood Public Schools web site:

http://www.ridgewood.k12.nj.us/index.cfm?sid=6&nav_id=10478&sub_nav_id=10665&ArticleID=29655

"She held the Bergen County indoor and outdoor high jump records for 23 years, the state outdoor standard for 8 and the indoor for 10, with leaps of 5-feet 8 inches outdoors and 5 feet 8 ¼ inches indoors. She won the 1975 Bergen long jump and high jump titles and the 1976 long, triple, and high jump titles in the group meet. "

More Graydon Pool

As Paul noted, my Dad ran Graydon for all of my childhood. It's interesting to read Paul's perspective on Dad's management style and remember Dad's thought processes during those years. First, some thoughts about Graydon. As Paul observed, during the time Dad was in charge, there were no fences at all. There it sat, acres of natural swimming pool, in the middle of a town of 25,000, in the middle of a county of several hundred thousand. Now think about that: you can't put a 15'x25' pool in your yard without a fence, but Graydon was surrounded by nothing but sandy beaches and grassy banks, in the midst of as dense a population as one might find west of the Bronx. Well, Dad took his responsibility for the safety of Graydon swimmers very seriously. He was responsible for everybody on that piece of property, and he had very little control over who wandered onto the grounds. I remember one day a small child fell off the wall and under the water, while his mother chatted on the beach. Dad scooped him up, but came home haunted by the fact that he had seen it happen before the child's mother. That was the nature of the time, and Dad accepted the responsibility. But it also forged his adherence to rules and regulations. Ironclad rules were his mechanisms for accepting responsibility for a big swimming pool in the middle of town. Later on, when I became a lifeguard, I learned to appreciate Dad's approach to rules. It removed the arbritary nature from the job. Rules are rules, and nobody can throw sand, not even your buddy from school. I learned a lot about leadership, responsibility and consistency from Dad. I learned many years later from other former guards that he taught the same lessons to just about all that passed under his leadership at Graydon. (As an aside, one summer I also learned to decline the advances of an "older," probably mid-20s, married woman - wheee!!) At RHS, Dad merely demonstrated and administered his authority. At Graydon, he took the opportunity to teach it. I wish more people could have known the teaching side of Dad. All that said, I do have other Ridgewood stories, so I promise my contribution to this blog will not become a tribute to Dick Flechtner!

Graydon Pool

We used to go to Graydon Pool quite a lot up until the time I was in the 6th grade. It was an all day affair with various set routines. We arrived in the morning and always sat on the "shaded side" with the big trees and where my Mom would meet up with her friends for an all day chat. Us kids would then swim until lunchtime and after a sandwich the Moms would have us religiously wait one half hour before we went in the water again. Nobody wanted us to cramp up and drown was their stated reason. In the afternoon there was always a visit to the ice cream truck and the gum ball machines and then we went home. Going to Graydon was an activity which used up all our daily allotment of youthful energy. I'm sure the Moms appreciated it because there would then be less trouble getting us to go to bed. It's funny reflecting back on all of this and thinking how different things are today. Women then didn't have to explain to anyone why they were housewives. Today they would have to explain why they aren't working at some career. Times certainly have changed. One other memory of Graydon: the Head Lifeguard, Richard Flechtner. His word was law and there were few who would dispute it. If they did they were usually given a stern lecture and might even be escorted off the premises. This was in Graydon Pool's heyday. Before the cheesy looking fence was put up, before everyone had a pool of their own, and when Graydon was a place to meet one's friends. It was a considerably more difficult place to manage than it is today. For one thing you can tell by looking that fewer people use the pool and there are more people on hand to maintain order. Though when I used to go there was always one man who maintained order among the pool goers and the lifeguards and that was Mr. Flechtner, Kurt's Dad. I never crossed him then and I kept this up when I met him once again at Ridgewood High School where he was the Athletic Director. He was the sort of person I didn't want to argue with because I knew he was going to be right and I had seen so many try and fail in this fruitless endeavor. It was always better in my mind to cut him a wide track and marvel at the efficiency with which he managed the pool.

Acid Trips

     I have two vivid memories from the late 60s: Walking across the bridge over the Ho Ho Kus Brook from the Graydon parking lot, there were several naked stoned-out teenagers lying in repose in the brook. Dad told me they were "very tired." I learned later that they had been to Woodstock. My dad came home from RHS, disgusted that he had to spend his lunch hour "guarding" the faculty coffeepot. It seems the RHS Principal was afraid the students might "spike it" with LSD. I am glad I missed out on THAT nonsense!

Hi Folks

Tis I, co-blogger Kurt Flechtner. I know many RHS grads from the 70s probably remember my dad, Richard Flechtner (AKA "Dick").

Ridgewood was, and still is, an amazing place. I hope I can bring a new perspective for you all as I drag out my father's memories and augment them with my own.

Thanks to Paul for starting this blog, and I hope I can help him draw more RHS grads in to remember our special time there.

Two New Links!

I've added a co-blogger, Kurt Flechtner, a link to his blog, and a link to the Molly Ahearn blog. Both of these fine folks are members of the class of 1978 and have excellent blogs of their own.

I hope you check them out and enjoy their contributions to the Blogosphere.