Joseph G Blake

Alaina, Jim is right. The sketch is great and may we wish that something like that would be their fate. But maybe they could be  sent to work behind the front desk at a Hilton in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Jared has connections there. Ivanka would be hard to identify in a burkah.

I lived there in the 80s and knew the Hilton well. 

I hope you will do more and share them with us. 

And may we all be able to meet again in 2024 for a 60th reunuion.

Thanks.

Joe

Alaina Weisman (Zachary)

Joe, your attentiveness is remarkable. YOu've been the glue that has mostly held us together!  And thank you for your kind words. It's so crazy to find my niche after all these years.  I am in the writer's room for a live comedy sketch show out of LA called This Week This Week which is part of the Open Fist Theatre.  I am neew to the room which is filled with smart young minds.  They perform every Thursday night in LA and I will get out there to meet them.

The Ivanka/Jared sketch appeared in last week's show with a bit of editing and I submitted two sketches (one in collaboration) for this week's show.  If my Kellyanne Conway skit makes it in, I will post it here for your amusement.

Isn't is remarkable to still feel so grateful fo that handful of teachers who influenced me and were kind?! Mr. Ellis, Miss Paradiso, Mr. Barnes! The best thing to be at 75 is CURIOUS.

Joseph G Blake

Thanks Alaina for the kind words.

Actually what you say about curiosity is so important as we age. It helps to keep the grey cells engaged and to energize us. There is always more to enquire about and to know. 

Ironically, Herbert Hoover of Depression infamy lived to be 90 and he told a friend near the end of his life that he was still interested in the future and all it promised. Perhaps it helped that he also lived in New York City where there was always something happening.

Your sketches are a big plus and no doubt the young people there add to the creativity for you. Years ago I learned to avoid the old guys in the YMCA locker room. All they did was complain. Ugh!!  Who needs that!.

I have taught finance as an adjunct professor at a local college. I have had a chance to mentor a few young people and that too is very satisfying to see. Also to hear their expectations is also engaging, I am sure the young staff at This Week do that for you.

I hope you will share a few more sketches with us. Wish we could see them. 

Keep us up to date in this space. 

Joe

John A Hrones, Jr.

I appreciate your ideas about new things and the future. I have two passions that I pursue - tournament bridge (mostly online these days) where the average age is late 70s - and children's track and field where I direct a 4 season program for 400-600 kids and where I have a staff of 50 teenage counselors with an average age of about 16.  Playing bridge helps the brain from decaying and managing the track program keeps me (somewhat) physically fit and abreast of things important to the teen generation.  I enjoyed seeing some of you guys at the 50th reunion and perhaps I'll make the 60th if one is held.

Alaina Weisman (Zachary)

Joseph! Here ya go. This one did NOT make the cut but I am very happy with it: I feel very lucky to have learned that curiousity keeps us here! Cheers!

Deal or No Deal by Alaina Warren Zachary

Kellyanne Conway, Whoopie, Joy Behar, Michael Smerconish, Nerdy, Fair Official, background.
INT - TV STUDIO - DAY
Kellyanne is seated at The View table.
WHOOPIE
Kellyanne Conway is here to talk
about her book Here’s the Deal. It debuted at #1 in the New York Times Book Review and in its second week has already plummeted to #4. So Kellyanne, what’s the deal?
Kellyanne launches, spewing quickly, unintelligibly and defensively as hosts try to ask questions.
KELLYANNE
Framis blodgett usursa myfawthy
falemda wee woo lordis flodgett.
JOY BEHAR
Kellyanne, is that smile spray painted on your face? It never
moves.
KELLYANNE
Well Joy, falamatt urby tooleed
arganthula behozing... (she speaks nonsense with a frozen smile and unflappable enthusiasm.)
JOY BEHAR
You need to get your eyes done.
Audience starts to boo.
WHOOPIE
She is welcome to express her view
here on The View.
AUDIENCE Boo boo!
KELLYANNE
Was that directed at me?
AUDIENCE Eat crap and die.

 WHOOPIE
Thanks Kellyanne Conway for this
revealing scree that will never suffer a reprint. Or a tee shirt.
INT - TV STUDIO - DAY
Smerconish on CNN interviews Kellyanne.
SMERCONISH
Kellyanne, tell us about the first
time you discovered that your husband George Conway trashy-mouth tweeted about President Trump. Where did he sleep that night?
KELLYANNE Smerconish, do you even have a
first name? Bladeedoo ramma delee delaa falemma... etc.
SMERCONISH
I see I’m getting death threats so
we’re going to have to cut this short.
KELLYANNE (interrupts always smiling)
shmaraggy donoooda relebba... Etc.
SMERCONISH The book is called...
KELLYANNE
Karrratta bedonk palatta etc.
SMERCONISH
My first name is Michael and no one
cares about you or your book. I predict your book is going to be shredded to make sorely-needed fertilizer. We need that shit more than this shit.
DISSOLVE TO:
Kellyanne continues to babble with a frozen smile. DISSOLVE TO:
2.

 INT - RADIO BOOTH - DAY
Nerdy, face-scratching kid interviews her for his college radio station.
NERDY
Wow. It’s really you. I can’t
believe we got you on the Animal Husbandry Show here on WKKK at Berry College in Mount Berry Georgia, home of the Mount Berry Mall. At this hour.
KELLYANNE
I wrote a book. Here’s the Deal.
NERDY
Is it on the curriculum?
KELLYANNE Here’s the Deal.
NERDY What’s the deal?
EXT - CAMDEN COUNTY FAIR - DAY
DISSOLVE TO:
Kellyanne is seated at a table with several pies. She holds up her book.
Folks mill past the table, ignoring her.
KELLYANNE
Hi! I’m Kellyanne Fitzgerald
Conway, former Blueberry Pageant Princess of 1982. Former Champion for Packing the Most Blueberries in 1987. I wrote a book.
FAIR OFFICIAL Who reads.
KELLYANNE Here’s the Deal.
FAIR OFFICIAL
And now you’re the Queen of
Alternative Facts and your Grandad was a mobster from New Jersey.
3.

 KELLYANNE
I thought you didn’t read.
FAIR OFFICIAL Shut up and judge the pies.
BLACK OUT

Joseph G Blake

Thanks John and Alaina for the messages. 

John

I will always admire people who play bridge or do crosswords. I can do neither. I have known a few wo could do the NY Times puzzle in pen and ink. That skill passed me by,

Glad you both are finding a way to give back and growing in the experience. Keep at it. Poor Kellyanne. She is such an easy target. So glad I am not a celebrity.

Joe

Dana Shepard (Treister)

Oh my, where to begin, where to begin...

Alaina, I have been in awe of your keen script-writing chops ever since our senior year, when I was honored to receive a draft copy of a play you wrote in 1963 or '64 with characters "loosely-based" on some of the most "memorable" of our SHHS classmates...  which draft copy I returned to you only a year or so ago, when you told me you had no idea what ever happened to YOUR copy of the still-as-yet unperformed script!

I think you have honed your skills even further in the intervening years!

(AND I love the "Baby Alaina" in christening gown in overstuffed chair photo as well...)

............

Reflecting on how to avoid "acting one's age" at all costs, and keeping one's mind sharp:

1.  My 106 year old cousin Ellen Cooper is my role model, and I only wish I could see her more often!  She lives ALONE in the Watergate apartments in DC, with a housekeeper who comes in once a week to clean. She reads and absorbs the NYTimes and Washington Post daily.  She is totally computer-literate, she emails me well-written and insightful updates and questions; she has no problem opening photos or other links I attach!  (IF only she were a blood-relative and not the widow of my mother's first cousin...)

2.  Joe, I DO do the NYTimes crossword puzzle daily, IN INK - although - full disclosure - often only Mon-Tues-Wed...  truth be told...  But, hey -- it's better than not doing any, right?!

3.  I have been taking ballet class for the past 46 (FORTY SIX!!) years, and not an age-appropriate "ballet exercise for seniors". I take a 90 min Advanced/ Professional class at least 2ce a week, with a pianist in the studio, and a nationally-respected teacher -- where my fellow students are in their 20s + 30s, with some in their 40s!  No, I can no longer do everything the young'uns can, but I am also not prepping to audition like they are!   And it keeps my mind and body fresh to have to be reacting in real time to specific counts and steps.  Also just being with people that age is a breath of fresh air.

4.  I've also been involved on the board and committee level for decades with Joffrey Ballet here in Chicago, and in a lesser way with American Ballet Theatre in NYC.  I've become friends (rather than "acquaintaces") with dancers from both companies over the years - hanging out over lunch or dinner or a walk to the Zoo or going to a performance with my 30-something friends is so different than participating in the same activity with another 70-something!  Even my formerly-young dancer friends who are now in their 50s - totally different social dynamics than my friends in their 70s + 80s!

5.  AND  - last, but for sure not least -- my fabulous family keeps me young - my 47 and 51 year old sons and their same-age wives, AND my 22-22-and 19 year-old grandchildren!

And for good measure, I'm attaching a photo taken of Michael and me Sat June 18 2022 - on our 55th anniversary!

;    ))

Alaina Weisman (Zachary)

OH Dana! What a life you've led!  Some of the wonder is your unswerving devotion to ballet.  Brava.  Beginning in March 2020 (beginning of the lockdown) I began studying comedy writing seriously, which is funny all by itself. It has kept me present! And now, I am one of the writers among reallly smart and young ones, for a live revue. So my week now has a shape and my heart beats faster because I have something at stake! Pitching my ideas in front of talented colleagues. We pitch tonight and  I want to write a sketch about RGB coming back to earth as part of the Justice League. She comes back as Wonder Woman and also wakes up her old pal Antonin who, having seen the error of his ways, is now a liberal. He appears as Superman and they bring along Prince as Batman to save us..

Betsy Dennis (Frank)

Alaina, I love the idea. And if I remember correctly, RBG and Scalia were friends  

Dana Shepard (Treister)

Alaina - RBG and Scalia - in a comedy - I LOVE how your mind works!!  And how rewarding it must feel to be holding your own "in the room where it happens" with the young'uns.  Keep it up!

The SHHS connection I neglected to mention regarding my life on the edges of the world of ballet:

My earliest ballet classes were after school at Lomond elementary - taught by the ballerina-mom of Tracy Marshall, who was a year ahead of us - so it was that after-school teacher who initially ignited that spark.  Then in high school I took dance to fulfill our PE requirement (I probably would have chosen just about ANYTHING that did not require me to throw or catch a ball!)  Truly, I don't recall having any other formal dance classes between Mrs Marshall and SHHS.  So I guess I do owe the initial exposure to the Shaker school system.

Alaina Weisman (Zachary)

Betsy - Scalia and RBG were besties. Shopped, went to opera, traveled and their families spend New Years Eve together. They were the "Odd couple" of the SCOTUS.

Dana - as long as I've known you, ballet has been an important focus of your life. I remember seeing y ou on one of your NYC sojourns and you were off to take classes with??? The Joffrey?

Can hardly keep up with the news anymore.  As though we need to wear news shields so as not to be overwhelmed!

Joseph G Blake

Dana Shepard (Treister)

Ha ha - no 106-year-old Cousin Ellen and her late husband were still in Manhattan in 1972!  Moved to DC later to be near their only child. 

And wouldn't it be a hoot, Alaina, to mount the WORLD PREMIERE of your C. 1963/4 play in the actual setting of Shaker Heights, on the occasion of our 60th reunion?!

Cheryl Kushner (Lane)

Joe, I do the wordle every day!  Dana, I am so happy to see and hear good things about you!

Joseph G Blake

As I noted I cannot do word games. I am better at Jeopardy but never get the word ones which are too clever.

Years ago I traveled to Hong Kong several times a year for a client, HSBC. I would stay at their guest center. The lady who managed it was a great at crosswords. She was not a university gra but she explained to me that the creators of crosswords had a system and once you understood how the creator thought you coud figure them out. 

I subsequenlty sent her books of the NY Times crosswords. I do not know how she fared. She generally did cross words in the major British newspapers which were then readily available to her in Hong Kong.

Perhaps those of you who do them may be able to comment if she was right.

Alaina, just an idea. When you do another script maybe you could have Scalia come back like Marley and haunt Thomas in a version of the Christmas Story. 

Thanks

Joe

Dana Shepard (Treister)

Dana Shepard (Treister)

I just tried my 2nd WORDLE, thanks to Joe's challenge - so now I guess I'm hooked.  First game of any sort I've ever done online, rather than on paper - but fingers crossed this willl not be my entry drug into the world of "gaming"!

Jan Whittemore (White)

Hi, guys!  I've been doing Wordle for about three months now (97%), but for those of us in the choir, there is also Byrdle, for choral singers.  All words from or about choral music (one answer a few weeks ago was "warble" ;0)).  Twice the fun, with two games.  Cheers, jan

Betsy Dennis (Frank)

Dick and I do Wordle and Nerdle together. At our age takes two brains or should I say a half a brain each!

Joseph G Blake

Ladies,

Great to see how talented you are with the word games. As I said, I admire those skills. My mother was good at determining what words meant because she had studied classical Latin and Greek.Bill Buckley's columns of old were the ones she sometimes needed a dictionary. 

I suspect that you are all well read which helps too.

Well done. 

Joe

Cheryl Kushner (Lane)

Latin helps!  Thank you!

Joseph G Blake

Years ago my son was at the Hill School (Donny Trump was there as well but that is another tale) for three years. They had him take Classical Greek for three years. Very small class but he excelled at it. It trained his mind along with advanced Math.The two teachers were larger than life characters as well.  He now runs a hedge fund. The two seemed to have helped prepare him for college and grad achool. 

My one daughter had Latin for four years and she now has a column in the LA Times. I would like to think it helped.

All four of our children had this one English teacher in 8th grade who was a stickler for grammar. That two helped make them good writers. I thought about Burton Randall and Mr Burnett at the time. My Shaker experience shaped my expectations for schools for my children as I am sure they did for you. 

Joseph G Blake

I recently was looking at data for the high school and were students go to college.

I am attaching these two lonks which may be of interest.

One is a summary of the last four years.  In our day the high school was grades 10 to 12 and our class was around 600. This was duing the post war baby boom and the golden age of US economic dominance. The period between 1961 and 1968 saw average real GDP growth of 5%.  This has never been excedded since that time. That was the longest period of sustained growth after WW2. In the 80s and 90s average growth was well over 3%. I offer those comments to uderstand how much the world has changed other than just the demographics.

Shaker today is 55% white and the high school is 59% minority enrollment. The difference reflects the large number of school age students who attend private or parochial schools ( there are three private schools north of Shaker Blvd since 1930 and two parochial schools in or adjacent to the city.) This is has always been part of the reality of Shaker Heights. 

Of note the city population has increased 1,000 between 2010 and 2020 (29,000) census. The populaton has been in decline since 1970, most notably between 1970 (37,000) and 1980 when the city lost 10% of its population and another 5% in the 1980s.

Academic and college data for the years 2019 to 2022. You might want to cut and paste the links.

chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.shaker.org/Downloads/SHHS%20Profile,%20Class%20of%202022.pdf

https://www.shaker.org/Graduates.aspx

https://docs.google.com/document/d/18mpGF2IvMAkg_gE8OwST4KttxFjovOEA9SiolsRj2RY/edit

Hope you may find of interest.

Betsy Dennis (Frank)

Thanks, Joe. Very interesting data. As always Shaker grads do well. 

Joseph G Blake

Friends

 

I am sending this along in the event you may have an interest in a  talk I am giving for the Shaker Library on on October 19 at 7PM EDT. It will be virtual via Zoom. 

The topic will be the work and achievements of Justice Harold H. Burton. He was Mayor of Cleveland and US Senator from Ohio (1941 to 1945). His chidren and grandchildren attended Shaker schools. Our classmate Christine Adler Phillips was his granddaughter. 

Registration on line is now open and there is room for 100 attendees.

 

Here is the link.  I hope you will be able to attend.

 

https://events.shakerlibrary.org/event/9665034

 

Shaker resident Harold H. Burton was Mayor of Cleveland, U.S. Senator and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. His father Alfred accompanied Peary to the North Pole and his sister was the children’s author/illustrator Virginia Lee Burton.

Historian Joe Blake will explore Burton’s political career and his legacy, including Burton’s tenure as a Republican Mayor during the New Deal, and his Supreme Court appointment just as the Court began to reexamine judicial support for segregation.

Again it will be on October 19 at 7PM EDT. It will be virtual via Zoom.