Gary D Hermann

Joe:

Boswell, Indiana is where Mr. Burnett grew up.    I'm not sure that he left Shaker because of a different spirit. Instead, I believe he returned Boswell so that he could take care of his aging mother.   I visited him in Boswell when I was stationed at Fort Benjamin Harrison while in the Army.

Lesley Dormen

Jim Bresnicki goes at the top of my Most Memorable Teachers list. I adored him.

(Dr. Dormen)

Brenda Siegel (Cohen)

Mr. Bresnicky (I thought it was spelled this way, with a 'y') was my absolute favorite teacher at Shaker.  Philosopher, life observer, dreamer and all around good guy. 

Judi Bachman (Holtze)

Wanted to respond earlier but been busy. OFf to italy tomorrow.

David...her name was Mrs. Spier.....where the name came from I have no idea.  Her twin sister taught PE at Shaker.

Someone mentioned the day Kennedy died.  I was in civics  class.  SUper old geezer ( my mother used to claim she had him).  When the announcement came he CHEERED and expressed how happy he was. We would  not be allowed to leave, class would  continue!  Absolutely obvilious to the silent shock and tears of his students. Whenever I am asked " where were you when Kennendybwascshot?" That awful  memory comes rising up.  Whether one likes the person or not the office must be respected.

Listening to Trump telling people to take up arms iif Hillary wins is the same line of thought.  And creates possibilities for unimaginable scenarios.

Dan Lesnick

Judi et al,

Coincidence – Cherie and I are off to Italy later today! Going to see friends in Florence, do (very little) business, but mostly just wander and ???

Re Irv Seidman (aka "Earl", "Earl the Pearl", and "Duke of Earl"): A young man on a mission, from which so many of us benefitted. He was a major inspiration to me to go into teaching and become a college prof – medieval & Renaissance Italian history. Does anyone else remembering him talking about Dante and his Italian lit. teacher at Oberlin, Andrew Bongiorno.

He got me to look at Oberlin. I'm still not sure whether or not it was the bank check I brought to my interview, but I somehow got accepted. I ended up attending Oberlin on what I like to call "The Seven-Year Plan".

Fond memories of times with him and Linda. during high school and after. Spent some time with them  when they were in Palo Alto and I, in S.F. and Berkley, summer of '66 or '67.

We lost touch after that until I wrote to him (much like you, Chris, and maybe around the same time) in 2004. He'd been in my thoughts all those years since Shaker days. I wanted to let him know what he'd done for me, to give him a little personal update, and especially to thank him. He wrote back... even more himself than the young Irv Seidman.

Judi Bachman (Holtze)

David..we will be in florence wed- sat...maybe we can connect..my danish tel is +4540596964

Presenting half way between florence and sienna visiting friends.

William K Dickey

Mr. Breznicki was one of the most memorable and respected of my teachers.  Fortunate to have him two years.  Who else recalls his giving us our homework assignment over the weekend of the Cuban Missile Crisis:  "If we are here, your assignment is to translate...."   A strong memory of mine from that time!   Bill 

Alaina Weisman (Zachary)

Re: Cuban Missle Crisis - who remembers that the Cleveland morning paper inserted a pamphlet with instructions on how to build a bomb shelter?  It was the first major arguement I had with my father.  I had also just read On the Beach by Nevill Shute...... 

Alan M Cohen

Gary D Hermann

Judy:

i hesitate to defend Trump, but I hate to see someone misquoted and I'm quite sure that he never advocated that people take up arms if Hilary is elected.  He did make a comment which some people in the media, as usual, totally distorted, in which he asked people to consider what might happen if Hilary wasn't protected by all of her armed bodyguards.  Some media types wanted to imply that Trump was advocating that Hilary be assassinated even though the comment, when taken in the context of his other words, was really about gun control and Hilary's alleged hypocrisy on that subject.  Specifically, in the same paragraph where he asked what might happen if Hilary wasn't protected by her armed bodyguards, he pointed out that Hilary advocates gun control which would prevent ordinary citizens from having the means to protect themselves in their homes. In other words, guns for protection of the elites, but not for ordinary people.  You might disagree with his point, but he was hardly advocating that people take up arms if Hilary is elected.  My point:  too many of us are influenced by media distortions of what politicians say, and would be better served to review the actual remarks.  Unfortunately, few of us have the time to do that, so we need to take media claims as to what someone said with a grain of salt and recognize that media people with an agenda (which we see too often) lead us to erroneous understandings of the facts.  Though I have serious reservations about Trump, I have seen multiple instances in which media have distorted his remarks.

Kenneth H Johnson

Friends,  I haven't been checking the Message Forum, although I do get the emails with the short form of the messages.  When I saw Dr Dickey (and others) mention Mr Bresnicky, I had to write.  He was just wonderful!  It was great to see many of you at the Reunion, and hope we can get together again soon.  -- Ken (Dr Johnson, now actually for real -- though just PhD)

Howard Reid Bell

I'm responding to Gary's note to Judy. I have no doubt that the media takes Trump out of context and distorts his statements. The issue for me is that Trump is so provocative, the crap about building a wall for example. He did say that, did he not? Now in office he would have to modify his approach. He may already be doing it. Whether it's thought out before hand or simply part of his gene code, he is a provacator extraordinaire.  Does that bother you? Cheers. 

William K Dickey

Dr Ken, or Dr Johnson, thank you for summing up Mr Bresnicky so well:  "wonderful".  It was good to see you at reunion.  Bill (Dr Dickey was my father)

Joseph G Blake

I am a lifelong Republican and can easily count the Democrats I have ever voted for on one hand and never for president. But Trump has so many warts including a mouth out of contro that he wll not get my vote this time.That is based on close observations made of him in dealings years ago . In the age of the media you have to choose your words carefully. What makes watching leaders like Robert Gates express opinions is how measured and rational he is. The way you deliver is important to encouraging debate, discussion and agreement . Surely Mr Burnett would have said as much. 

In an earlier post I included a link to a 1944 campiagn talk deliverd by FDR about his dog Fala. He was a master of when to be funny and when to be serious. Ronald Reagan also knew how to be liked even by his opponents. Its a crtical virtue in leadership.

Gary D Hermann

I actually agree with you Howard.  The guy went to an Ivy League school, so he should be smart enough to understand that his statements could be construed as provocative, Even though, in some cases, it seems that he was simply being sarcastic, it shouldn't have been hard for him to figure out that the media doesn't do sarcasm--they take everything literally.  I also agree with your comment about the builidng a wall.   Though I believe that we should generally enforce the immigration laws, building a wall seems to be a collosal waste of money and, of course, it does not solve the problem of what to do with those who are illegal, but have been here for years.   Of course, a true solution would require compromise and neither party is capable of doing that these days.

William H Gerak

Howard, Joe, OK - I didn't come in willingly but you forced me - "Generally enforce" immigration laws? I say that if you have a law then you enforce it - you don't want to enforce it or want to selectivly enforce it then get rid of it, legally change it or whatever and enforce the revisions  - until you decide that you don't like the revisions and want to change the law again. We are all old enough to remember the days when you stole a car (mentioning no names) - you were charged with auto theft - now, thanks to our legal system, you may be charged with "entering" a viehicle ​without the owner's permission, "starting" a viehicle without the owners permission, "driving" the vehicle without the owners permission and ultimately "intentionally taking" the automobile without the owners permission. Everything today is by miniscule degree due to the legal system we have assepted and grown accustomed too. Water the law down, make it more "confusing," more "fair" and ultimately you have no law - same goes with our border my friends - you either have a border or you do not. A wall or a fence is not going to do it alone (not a bad start) unless you enforce the laws we have now or we eventually become like Europe - not something I look forwart to for my kids and grandkids. You may get it that I'm not a liberal or progressive and I will end with the fact that I'm not a Trump fan - I just have no other choice because I can't vote for someone that has absolutly no ability to tell the truth - male of female. Sorry for using this forum for my political opinion. 

Ken LaVetter

Like.  Wise.

Jack S Webster

Amen Bill. I enjoy reading all you guys have to say, always interesting. However, like Bill, I felt compelled to respond. As a retired law enforcement officer, and a current resident of the state of Arizona, to me it is critically important that we secure our borders and enforce laws as written and stop compromising our country.

Gary D Hermann

When I said we should  generally enforce the immigration laws, I meant that enforcement should be the general rule.  The only possible exception may be with respect to  illegals who have been here for many years, have raised families, and are not violating laws (except for the immigration laws)  I think we have to be pragmatic and, depending upon the circumstances, allow some of them to stay, but without the rights of citizenship (possibly guest worker status). We do allow non-citizens to legally stay in this country, but it needs to be a standard that can be agreed upon.  It  is a difficult issue.

William A Sokol

Please, guys, can't this be the one place on the web that I enjoy going because I do NOT have to read and listen to political diatribes of any persuasion.....

Andrew Inglis

I'm with you, Bill. 100%  I figure that at this stage of our lives, there are probably very few of us who are on the fence about the upcoming election, as weird and fascinating as it is.  I have many to preach to in my personal choir, without having to resort to the Message Forum of my high school.  I enjoy reading the Message Forum, for reasons other than political.

William K Dickey

I join Bill and Andrew in their sentiments regarding the message board and the wish it would not be a forum for our political opinions.  Much more interesting topic was the discussion of some of our favorite faculty!

Christine Adler (Phillips)

I'm with the Bills and Andy. Let's keep the division of politics out of this one space in our lives... It has invaded all the other spaces! 

George Divoky

Like most things one encounters as a teenager, I did not appreciate the quality of the teachers at Shaker until years later when I realized how much of what they had taught me had stayed with me and influenced my adulthood.  A few years back an East Coast liberal arts college asked me to give a lecture on my bird research in Arctic Alaska. Not wanting the talk to be too dense with data and also wanting to acknowledge the importance of a good liberal arts education, I thought of mentioning that my high school English teacher, Mr. Snavely, unintentionally encouraged my long-term connection with nature by having us read Walden.  Mr. Snavely’s in-depth discussions of the observations and insights Thoreau obtained by immersing himself in nature meant a great deal to me as I was just starting my lifelong relationship with birds and the habitats they live in.  I also wanted to mention that if Mr. Snavely could see how I have spent the last four decades, living for three months every summer in a small cabin on a remote Arctic island, he would likely think I had taken those discussions a bit too seriously.

Just minutes before the start of my talk I thought of an additional comment I felt was somewhat risky but might be appreciated by liberal arts students.  So after thanking Mr. Snavely for having us read Walden I mentioned that, since I clearly was an impressionable young man in the early 1960s, I also wanted to thank him for not having us read Mein Kampf instead of Walden, since if he had I would now likely be an aging skinhead rather than an aging ornithologist. Luckily the line worked.  

Brenda Siegel (Cohen)

I guess I'm in the minority --- I was enjoying the political comments and they seemed thoughtful and well reasoned.   I liked seeing what my classmates who are my age with the same regional background and the same educational foundation are thinking. 

Regarding political discussions and opposite opinions, does anyone remember a course called "American Problems?"  I think that was its name, basically a civics/government class from what I can remember.  I took this in my senior year and remember three things. 

1)  It was for this course that Dana Shepard and I wrote a paper with a title something like "The Problem of Pigeons in America".  This was a most enjoyable collaboration from the two of us. 

2) "Glittering Generalities".  That's it, all I remember, but the allilterative phrase has stuck with me all these years.  Had something to do with advertising or political ads, I think.  Maybe someone who was actually paying attention could explain further.

3) Poliltical disagreements between Mr. Mooney (sp?) and Asa Voak.  Mr. M was a democrat and Asa was a staunch republican.  To his credit when arguments came up Mr. M gave Asa the floor and allowed him to explain his beliefs.   I was surprised that Asa could so clearly and passionately articulate his thoughts.  In my mind Asa held his own and won every one of their "debates".