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.