The NPHS Reunion Interview with Howard Polskin, Class of 1969

Rocky mountain hi! Howard Polskin, 2015,
the Continental Divide just beyond Aspen, CO

Describe your career

I’ve been in the media business my entire life.  I can trace the beginning of my career to producing audio promotions for a few school dances with Randy Reay that ran during the morning

announcements. My professional career started in 1974 when I became editor of The Plainfield Times (free weekly).  I headed to the bright lights of NYC in 1976 (picture the gritty New York of HBO’s “The Deuce”) and landed a job as a staff writer at TV Guide, at the time the largest magazine in the world.  I transitioned to public relations in 1992 and became head of CNN’s NY communications office.  I also worked for Sony, the magazine industry trade association, and then in 2013, I opened my own boutique communications firm serving clients including J.K. Rowling’s London-based company, New  York Magazine and others in the media sector.  I dabble in creating digital media.  One example (besides this blog that you’re reading): I launched TheRighting a year ago to track what right wing media outlets are saying.  It’s designed mainly for mainstream and liberal audiences but many readers who lean right are also reading it.  (You can make my day by subscribing for free here.)

Where do you live now?  Where have you lived since graduating (name cities)?

Lived in Ogunquit, ME, for three months after graduating college.  London for four months after that.  Then the belly of the beast: Manhattan (since 1977). 

Who were your friends back in high school?  Are you still in touch with them now?

I hung with Ned Fitzgerald, Jeff Tobey, Bob Riggs, Mark McLeod, Albert Misko, Steve Miksis.  

Do you have any regrets about your experiences during your high school years? 

I wish I paid more attention in 7^thgrade Shop class.  I’d pay good money to have those lessons now.  I have no talent for home repair.  I wish I would have snuck into home economics classes.  I like to cook but I need to expand my repertoire.  The most useful course was typing.  I have been a fast typist since 1968 and it’s a fundamental skill for anyone who uses a computer.  

What is your fondest memory of your years at NPHS?  

Watching the Saturday afternoon football games and going to canteen Saturday nights always rang the bell.  American traditionalism at its best.  Plus, the pungent smell of burning leaving in the crisp autumn air added an extra element of pleasure (sorry Mother Earth).  

What was the craziest or stupidest thing you did in high school?  

There were times in high school where, let’s just say, I wasn’t quite a choir boy. But I did nothing that would disqualify me for the Supreme Court.  (Glad to provide details at the reunion….)

What was your proudest accomplishment in high school?  

Winning a statewide journalism award for my Tunlaw column in my junior year.  (Organization that awarded it went bankrupt my senior year.)

Who was your favorite teacher? 

 Ethel Abrams tops the list.  A big influence in my life.  Paul Sincavage made history come alive, and

his theatricality and humor helped keep my adolescent mind from wandering too far from the lesson of the day. One of the Widen twins was in my class and when Paul would call on her, he would address her with this phrase:  “Pat or Pam…..doesn’t make a difference….You both get the same grade.”  I still get a smile on my face when I remember that.  

What was your worst class? 

Geometry.  If you’ve ever had to apply the principles of the isosceles triangle to your personal or professional lives, raise your hand.  That’s what I thought….no one.

Howard Polskin 2016
Carmel, CA

What is your most powerful or haunting memories during your years at NPHS?

My first junior high dance in November 1963 when I was a pencil-neck geek in 7^thgrade.  We wore jackets and ties and the cool guys wore Beatle jackets with no collars and black leather trim.  The eighth graders towered over the puny students of seventh grade. The older girls had fully defined curves, swaying hips and high heels.  The boys had deep voices and cocky swagger.  Some were even going steady.  I can still recall the couple from the class of 1968 who led off the slow dance of a popular Beatles tune. They were completely entwined in each other’s arms in the darkened center of the gym floor (glad to tell you who the couple was if you email me).  It was the raciest thing I had seen in my young life.  I didn’t miss a high school dance after that.  I can’t hear a slow Beatles song without seeing that dance.  

How did growing up as a child of the 60s – and all the social baggage and impact that it may have entailed – impact you at the time and in your young adult years? 

The late 60s were a confusing time to be in high school. As classmates may recall, smoking pot was just not a recreational pursuit, it had political connotations – it suggested you were against the war.  So did growing your hair, wearing bell bottoms, driving a VW, and listening to FM radio.  I’ve carried those ideals of the late 60s throughout my life to some degree. Yep….I’ve left granola crumbs wherever I’ve gone for almost seven decades.  

Random recollections:

The Park Gentry….Surprise Store….The Varsity Shop….Crossing Route 22 in the middle of the highway to get to Steer Inn after a dance. We often stood on the thin median waiting for a break in the traffic….Carrying the American flag in the school assembly the day after Bobby Kennedy was shot….Our 8^thgrade science teacher mocking Dinos Tony by calling him Dingo.  To this day I’m ashamed that I didn’t tell the teacher to stop tormenting him…VFW dances….Trying to tune in WMCA-AM radio on my balky analog car radio in my 1961 Chevy Impala….The radio ads on  WABC-AM for Route 22’s Dennison Clothes (open 24 hours).  Listen here….Bob Riggs’ tiny four-speed Opel Cadet.  He drove it like a Porsche…..My first pair of bell bottoms that I began wearing in March of 1969.  I found them in the trunk of a Chevy Impala I bought for $75….Cheapest gas in NP: Shop-Rite.  About 26 cents a gallon (by Rock Ave. on Route 22).  And you got a free glass with it….Sunday afternoon touch football games in back of  Jeff Tobey’s house at Greenbrook Park with my guys….Grunning’s (Park Ave., Plainfield) hot fudge sundae with mint chip ice cream.  My mom sometimes took us there on the last day of school…The creepy bridge linking North Plainfield to Plainfield on Sycamore Street.  Like something out of a Stephen King novel….The urban myth about a secret tunnel from the Drake House to some undetermined location in North Plainfield….The wonderful location of the NPHS.  Route 22 was and still is an eyesore.  But the school is flanked by the rolling hills of the Watching Mountains to the north, the gently gurgling brook to the east, and the soft carpet of grass flowing to Greenbrook Road.  And that gives NPHS its majesty and beauty.   It was true then.   It is true now.  

Paris 1972.  That's bark from a tree in his mouth.  

The NPHS Reunion Interview with Grace Richie Ostrum, Class of 1968

February 2018: Grace at the Kitson Arts Alliance Valentine's Day celebration
where she serves as board secretary.

Please describe your career.  

I am semi-retired as of early 2016. I was a customer-service representative for eight years for TMG Health, an internationally known provider of back office operations for the Medicare/Medicaid health plan industry. Previously, for 17 years I was a news reporter, photographer and copy editor for several daily and weekly newspapers in Northeastern Pennsylvania. I received 10 individual and team first- and second-place awards from the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association during that time. I also taught high school (German and earth science) for 11 years. As board secretary of the Kitson Arts Alliance (KAA) in Tunkhannock, I produce written copy for our website, tourism publications and a newsletter. I’m also listed with KAA as a Native American beadwork artisan and traditional Native American Storyteller and freelance multicultural educator. (My family is of Lenape descent; I am affiliated with the Accohannock Wolf Clan of the Delmarva Peninsula.) I sell my beadwork and tell stories at Native American cultural festivals in Pennsylvania, Virginia and Maryland, and vend at area craft shows. I also use my writing skills volunteering for the Wyoming County Emergency Management Agency, on its public information team and its Local Emergency Planning Committee.

Where have you lived since graduating?

 I live in Tunkhannock PA, the county seat of rural Wyoming County, northeastern Pennsylvania. Previously I lived in several small rural towns in Luzerne County PA, the home of the infamous “Kids for Cash” scandal involving corrupt Luzerne County juvenile court officials in 2009. I actually had moved there right after graduating from Wilkes College – just in time to lose everything in the 1972 flood caused by Tropical Storm Agnes. I also lived for a summer at a resort in Kent County, southeast England, participating in an international work exchange program, and used my foreign language skills as a German and Russian interpreter. .

What was your sense of community in your class/in the school at NPHS?  
I enjoyed working with the faculty and staff in many capacities with school publications, stage productions and office work, but wasn’t too close to many classmates.

What experiences in high school, positive or negative, helped to shape you as a person? 

It feels like a miracle that I even survived my terrible toxic teens, both at school and at home, thanks to harassment by certain classmates about things that were none of their business. Continually laughing at or picking on someone is a form of abuse and bullying, which can leave lasting scars on a person’s soul. People who are “different” do not “deserve to be picked on.” I have also learned to be strong, that to be “different” is not a mortal sin, and those who tormented me had absolutely no idea who I really was or what I had to survive. Some of these experiences helped make me a more understanding teacher and very much more aware of how students’ personal lives affect their school work. And I learned to speak up for myself.

What is your fondest memory of your years at NPHS?  

I saw education at NPHS as an intellectual buffet restaurant.I really enjoyed having so many opportunities to take a wide variety of courses and participate in the many extra-curricular activities: Drama Club and dramatic honor society (National Thespians) productions, both on stage and backstage; the Senior Play with a small character part and as assistant student director along with Cathy Lynd; National Honor Society; producing the news segment of “Canuck Corner” (the school radio show on AM radio station WCTC) during my junior year; many positions withTunlaw and the NPHS News Service, published in the Courier News; the literary magazine Canuckling; office assistant; reading the morning announcements and the German Club.

What was the craziest or stupidest thing you did in high school? 

Now it can be told: in 8^thgrade,a friend who shall remain anonymous and I set off a bunch of small string-mounted “popper” firecrackers in front of Ms. Hanson’s classroom door during change of classes. We then disappeared into the crowd in the hall and never got caught.

Official graduation photograph from Wilkes College in 1972

The NPHS Reunion Essay by Laraine Cox Reedy, Class of 1968

My connections to North Plainfield span many decades back to the 1920's when my maternal grandparents emigrated from the Tuscan region of Italy.  They found a quiet cul-de-sac in North Plainfield that later opened up to the now dubiously famous and often dreaded Route 22!!

My mom, now 92, with a strong heart but a mind sadly robbed of short-term memory continues to live (with the help of a wonderful caregiver) in my childhood home in the East End side of town.  Netherwood Avenue had a number of "kids" from the class of '68:  Mary Jamin (our houses faced each other), Bruce Brokaw (a stone's throw away), Steve Barrett and Jimmy Sileneck. Our street also had a number of '67 grads that included Cliff Christenson, Eric Berger, Richie O'Brien and others.  Ours was a street of one-car garaged homes with plenty of kids who used it as a playground or a place to gossip until a car would momentarily cause us to scatter and then return to the pavement. Today visits to my mom are always punctuated by poignant memories.

I had a head full of dreams and a heart full of hope as we prepared for graduation.  I remember sitting in the sweltering heat with hundreds of people crammed into the gym while dripping in sweat with our maroon-and-white caps and gowns.  Although I never verbalized

Laraine Cox, 1967

it, I considered myself outwardly compliant but inwardly defiant often wondering how on earth the information in school would truly be of benefit to my future life.  Learning new things was exciting but studying was not my number-one priority.  My teenaged self looked like a distracted daydreamer who could have and should have been more seriously dedicated to academics but was more concerned about life after 3:18 p.m.

There were a number of occasions when stupid or crazy could define my actions.  Gerry Garatino Burns was usually a witness or co-conspirator who valiantly tried to rein me in with her concern and rational wisdom.  Senior year sometimes found me stretching or distorting the truth much to my parents' chagrin.  However, I couldn't hide the time when I (with Adie Jacobs Graubard as my front seat passenger) drove dangerously close to Mickey Dilonardo's car in the school parking lot after dark.  I watched helplessly as I sheared off his front passenger door and saw it fall to the ground!  To my horror Mickey drove to school the next day with a rope stretched across the vacant space where his car door was once attached.  I was so embarrassed and wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry!

Ethel Abrams was most influential in my life and career choice.  Former students mention her often as a favorite teacher and she cared deeply for us and our futures.  We became friends after high school and I was grateful that my children got to know her as she joined in some of our family gatherings.

There was a day in our sophomore English class when a student was in extreme emotional distress to the point where things could have become violent.  Some teachers might have immediately alerted Mr. Messer to handle what many would consider to be a discipline or behavioral outburst.  Ethel, in her graceful and composed manner, showed no fear but only compassion and empathy for the student.  She calmly handled the situation much to my amazement.  Decades later I asked her about the incident and she gently reminded me that everyone has a story and we may not fully understand the pain and suffering one may be experiencing that is part of their story. I would also like to note that Mike Parlipiano and Mike Watson were sitting close by in the class and I felt safer by their mere presence.

I loved (still do) the music of the 60's which was sometimes silly, carefree, romantic but also carried a socially conscious tone and message that colored my perspective and sense of the world.  I'm sure that my moderate hearing loss began in the summer of 1964 when my sister and I went to our first rock concert in Atlantic City featuring the Beatles.  The screaming audience was deafening and we could not really hear the Beatles sing!!

Being part of several singing groups in high school allowed me to find my voice (figuratively and literally) when I lacked confidence and was too unsure of myself to speak up in class for fear of making a mistake.  A long overdue thanks to Joe Lombardi for his absolute genius in creating the NPHS Singers and Stage Band.  And Harry Lewis, if you are reading, I still love Rhapsody in Blue and think of you whenever I hear it being played.  Those past musical experiences gave me the courage to audition for a college a capella group.  I was thrilled to tour the east coast singing as part of my junior year in at Upsala College.

The Breaking News of the 60's was the war in Viet Nam, the assassinations of John Kennedy, Martin Luther King and then Bobby Kennedy as well as the growing social and civil unrest.  We were not immune to its effects as Newark and Plainfield exploded in anger, rioting and death in 1967.  My summer job in 1967 happened to be in Plainfield as a long-distance telephone operator at New Jersey Bell Telephone.  During the riots we were shuttled to and from the job by the National Guard who drove us in police cars while their rifles were poised out of the car windows in case of sniper attacks.  With gunfire piercing the hot summer nights and tensions growing high it was a summer that made me very aware of injustices, social inequities, and human rights.

During college I became interested in psychology and social work, and felt drawn to working in a field where I could help others and make a difference.  I met my husband Tom when we were graduate students.  I have transitioned from my career of 45 years that allowed me to have a "front row seat" as a counselor and psychotherapist.  I was fortunate to work in a

Laraine and husband Tom: 1979

variety of settings, a private practice, mental health facilities and most recently just ended 19 years as an elementary school counselor.  I have loved this vocation that I call a "work of heart."  Elementary Counselors did not exist in the 1950's but the world has dramatically changed and the need is great as children present many complicated lives that benefit from the TLC of parents and other supportive adults.

My husband and I have two adult children (my daughter is currently an elementary school counselor also). In the earlier years of our marriage we experienced several pregnancy losses including our son Sean who was stillborn.  We are grateful for our faith, family and friends (including Ethel Abrams) who were an important part of our healing journey. We also were able to work with couples who suffered similar losses.   For the time being we live in New Providence (not Providence, Rhode Island) so we are able to assist my mother when needed.

A huge and very special THANK YOU to Howard Polskin who has been encouraging us to tell our stories.  I have been touched by the sharings of others.

And as we know.....

No matter who we are....

Where we have traveled....

Or what we have done with our lives.....

We all have our own unique story to tell....   

Blessings,

Laraine

Sister act: Laraine (right) and Claire in 2016.
They attended a Beatles concert together in 1964 at the Jersey shore.