BEGGARS NIGHT

Beggars night was a tradition in our Skokie neighborhood while I was growing up. When you mention this to people from other parts of the country they hadn't heard of it. We would dress up in costume and get a jump on the treaters who followed the traditional timeslot. As we were often rejected by traditionalists we had to resort to tricks. Nothing too maliscious but the dog poop in a flaming paper bag on the front porch was a classic.
Last night Dolores and I took the train to Palatine to go to dinner with Rod Bartels and Jan Jacobs Warsaw. We met Var and Carol Lordahl at Biagis and had a very nice dinner. Back on the train revelers in costume dominated the ride in very colorful costumes, heading to the city for parties. They were still sober and harmless and we could only hope that their evenings ended in safety, although we did hear of a couple of party-related tragedies.

INTERNATIONAL LAW

Today I sat in a class on International Law at Northwestern University School of Law. I didn't know what to expect since I hadn't been in a classroom or lecture hall for over 40 years. This was a smaller lecture hall with tiered desks and comfortable leather chairs. There were about 20 people there mostly early 20's, one dude in his 50's and me. They discussed hate speech vs. freedom of speech. US law didn't classify hate speech as illegal whereas the European community did. They brought up the illegality of denying the Holocaust. About half of the students participated with 3 doing most of the talking and I sat there with my muzzle on trying not to say anything. This was quite enjoyable and I plan on doing it at least once a week. Next will be The School of Medicine.
At the start it took the professor 10 minutes to find a time to have a cancelled class made up. He chose 15 different dates until he found one where all but 1 student could attend. Sounds like our committee meeting planning.

NOTHING

I got nothing today but I'll write anyway. They're selling an apartment in my daughter's building for $40,000.00. It is bank owned but this devalues all of the other apartments in the building.
I walked to Office depot this morning and bought a filebox to store our papers. Woohoo
I talked with my friend in Las Vegas. He is a professional gambler. He told me he is playing $1-$2 no limit holdem. He buys in for $100.00 and that is the most he might lose. He plays about 10% of the hands and waits for the good one. We will visit him and his wife wile we're out in Palm Desert.
Dolores is volunteering at The Anti-Cruelty Society dealing with adopted dogs. I told her not to come home with 2 dogs under each arm (our building doesn't allow dogs). She also is volunteering at S.O.A.R. (Streeterville Organization for Active Residents). I have to look into doing something. When our reunion is over I will have even more open time. I can only walk so far in a day before my feet fall off.
Haven't heard from Donna Miller Hitchins in quite a while, hope she's OK.
I hope this has enlightened you today, let's hope tomorrow is more exciting.

GHOSTS ON THE STREET

As we walked home from the train on Saturday evening we would move at a brisk pace to cover the 2 mile distance. I was carrying a take home bag from our dinner with Lloyd and Joan. Silently we would be approached by a homeless person who would ask for the carryout. I felt bad in denying him (in fact several hims) and for selfish reasons. I wanted that sweet and sour pork for lunch the next day. They would ask and then fade into the crowd to ask another. Sometimes I would turn around after denying them and they were gone. This homeless phenomenom is not uncommon to any major city or even smaller cities. I would like to stop and talk with them to find out what had caused their paths to be lost but I'm afraid that would be a waste of time. They probably don't know why they are there or what led them to this place in their lives. I do know one homeless person, John, up in Waukegan who was a quality control engineer until alcohol took over his life. He lost his wife, his job and his home in a short period of time. When I see a homeless person I think of John.

A CENTURY

This morning I went for a walk on the lakefront. What a beautiful morning it is with temperatures reaching to 77 by noon. My sister (Lynne Anderson Valentine '59) and I are taking a bus to Humboldt Park today and having our picture taken in front of Leif Erickson's Statue. Our grandfather (A.I. Peterson and his brother E.I. Peterson) stood in front of that statue exactly 100 years ago and I will post both pictures on the website this afternoon. I wonder if I'll feel the vibes while standing there.
The warmup party in Southern California went quite well from all reports with 14 classmates attending. Chuck Scharf is sending me pictures and names soon. Gotta go and meet my sister, more later.

I'm Back

I know it has been over a year since my last blog. Plenty has happened since then. We formed committees for the 50th reunion and have held 4 or 5 meetings. The list of found classmates has grown to over 850 with less than 70 on the lost list. We settled on a venue, The Standard Club in Chicago, and we instituted a donors club to assist with the extra costs surrounding the event.
Dolores and I put our Northbrook home on the market and much to our surprise it sold on a week. This precipitated our move into retirement sooner than expected. We moved downtown to our tiny loft and gave up most of our furniture. Going from a 5 bedroom, 3 bath home with 2 cars to a 1 bedroom, 1 bath loft with no cars has been an adjustment. We walk and take buses and trains everywhere. We took a 1 month trip to visit our son, Bret, in Seattle and left him with our last car and flew home. We are planning a 3 month stay in Palm Desert, CA to avoid the Chicago winter for the first time in 67 years. When this reunion is completed I will have to find another hobby to fill up the time regularly spent on the computer running the website. I had lunch with classmate Steve Schada the other day and he mentioned that this will probably be the last opportunity to have a large reunion from our class. I'll try and write more often.