Dec 2018 (17)

Bits &Pieces GNN ‘62 Issue #17, April, 2013 ~ December, 2018

Dear Classmates ~

I began this B&P five years ago…. And find it hard to believe that I never finished it. I guess it was a case of life getting in the way. I know that there many more of you sent news and presumably the emails exist…. However, I’d like to get this out and perhaps find the old news.

That being said, I’m going to send this out and will look forward to more news from all of you.

Yes….it has been a long time since I put together an issue of Bits & Pieces. Too many times I have written to you about the passing of one of our classmates and I realize that we need to hear some positive news. I’m going to try and find all the emails that you sent the last time I requested news. If I have forgotten any, please feel free to send again. If you have news to share, I’ll try to be a better correspondent.

And, as per each issue, there is a list at the end of email addresses that are no longer valid and “missing” classmates that we are still trying to locate. Remember, please send any updates.

4/30/2013 - From Rima Gitlin Faber

As Chair of the Dance Task Force for the National Coalition for Core Arts Standards, I want to inform all who are involved in education or the arts that the Core Arts Standards for PreK through High School will be released for Public Review this summer (for Dance, Music, Theatre, Visual Arts ad Media Arts). Those of you in who wish to be actively involved and comment on or make suggestions about the proposed Core Arts Standards are invited to take part in the public review process. Parents, grandparents, and general public are welcome to do so as well as teachers and artists/arts educators. You will be able to access the review on the National Coalition for Core Arts Standards website: http://nccas.wikispaces.com.

The Core Arts Standards are being developed in response to the national call for Common Core Standards for core academic disciplines in American public schools. They are slated to be released in March 2014. The project coalition consists of: National Dance Education Organization, National Association for Music Education (formerly MENC), Association of American Theatre Education, Educational Theatre Association, National Association of Arts Education, The College Board, Arts Education Partnership, Partnership for 21st Century Skills, Kennedy Center, Young Audiences, and the State Education Agency for Directors of Arts Education.

5/21/2013 – From Jeff Stein

Here's a little blurb for my new novel, Keeper of the Planet: J.J. (Jeff) Stein writes: My new novel is finally out. It’s called Keeper of the Planet. You can check it out on my website www.jeffryjohnstein.com and see the many venues for getting hold of it. Here’s a quick synopsis:

• An anthropologist is called to journey down rivers of legend in Amazonia to discover the source of the most enigmatic object on Earth only to realize he has been drawn inescapably into league with an assortment of deadly characters because of his own need to find a cosmic purpose. Keeper of the Planet combines action-adventure with magical realism as it divergently impels human hubris to come face to face with Nature’s creative judgment.

Anne Williams, author of Unconditional Means: The Dreams Down Under, says, “Stein weaves a new myth out of the fabric of old ones about the perils of our ultimate obsessions. Keeper of the Planet is a book for our age.”

Check it out with a couple of free chapters on my website www.jeffryjohnstein.com. Next up, maybe, a future fantasy about our 100th reunion. Sign up now! (Sounds like a possibility, but I have a few books in the works prior to that.) Read on!

12/12/2013 – From Richard Seldin – seldinr3@verizon.net My sister, CR Seldin-Bolinski (class of ’66) and I have co-authored and just published a book of poems, “Pearls Beneath The Rind.” The book invites readers to enter the world of an older brother and younger sister of vastly different character and lifestyle. Although “Pearls Beneath The Rind” does not deal with our relationship or relationships between siblings, it demonstrates the divergent ways in how two siblings have experienced themselves and the world. In a way, the book also toasts a brother/sister relationship that has improved considerably since our Great Neck years. We hope those who are curious will enjoy it.

The book can be ordered directly from my website, Richard Seldin, writer, the link for which is http://richardseldin.blogspot.com/p/home-page.html It also is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and local bookstores.

12/31/2013 – From Clarke Olsen - colsen@taconic.net

I probably don't know how to retire: the closest we have gotten is to take only jobs we like. For Ria, my Belgian wife of these last 40 years, that means fewer translations; for me, it means new furniture and/or houses. Here are 2 pics: a house that I designed & built, but have not sold, and a table, also unsold, but easier to keep.

1/6/2014 – From Jane Addelson Cook

Still living on St. John in the Virgin Islands. Classmates coming this way are welcome

to get in touch. While my memory for anything prior to last month (last week?) is suspect, I would be happy to have GNN alumni visit.

1/16/2014 – From Mellon Gregory Tytell

Mellon sent a link to an interview conducted this past August.

Photographer Mellon Tytell talks about the Beats, Dalai Lama, music and her travels around the world : Mellon Tytell: Outside The Comfort Zone

http://blues.gr/profiles/blogs/photographer-mellon-tytell-talks-about-the-beats-dalai-lama-music update: 5/9/2017: My husband is on his 53rd year of teaching at Queens College. On May 1st his latest book was published, mostly letters that he wrote to me from Oaxaca when he won the National Endowment for the Humanities, and I was his young wife in the city trying to launch my own career in photography. We are having our 50th anniversary on May 28th, but have really been together for 52 years! I'm not even 52! Haha...how could this be?

3/13/14 - From David Maxwell

Dear Friends, Drake University is truly remarkable: an institution that lives its values and its mission, a place where very special things happen, where students launch themselves on the path to making their dreams come true with the enthusiastic support and guidance of committed faculty and staff. Maddy and I recognize with great appreciation how truly fortunate we have been to be part of this community for the last 15 years.

We’ve also recognized that the time is drawing near to embark on the next stage of life’s adventure—whatever that turns out to be. Thus, I informed the Drake University Board of Trustees at the January meeting that I will be retiring on June 30, 2015 (no, that’s not a typo—2015). I wanted to provide the Board—and the University community—sufficient notice to ensure that there is plenty of time to conduct a search for my successor in a focused, thoughtful, and strategic manner.

Needless to say, this was not an easy decision, and one that was made only with a great deal of reflection and introspection. Ultimately, it became clear that 2015 will be the right time for our family. I will be 70 years old at the end of this year (no, that’s not a typo either); I will have had the privilege of serving in this position for 16 years; and Maddy and I will be grandparents for the first time this coming May.

Perhaps more important is that my retirement next year will be the right time for Drake. We will have completed the distinctlyDrake campaign and be about to begin discussions surrounding the next round of fundraising, and we will be approaching the time when the visioning process for the next strategic plan should begin—the ideal time for a new president to come on board.