The Future of the NGHS 1986 blog

Regardless of the book issue (see previous post), I'm not sure if it makes sense to keep going with this until the next reunion.

I could keep it up on the web so that people can check in.
I can take it offline until a year before the next reunion (25 year in 2011?). I do think this would be a great way to publicize and plan for the next reunion. I know that most people really enjoyed the reunion, but many didn't hear about it, and a lot of folks thought the venue was too small and the time allotted was too short. So those planning the next one could use this site as another way of broadcasting the details of the event. In any case, we do have an updated email list.

I could keep it up as more of a community bulletin board, making it easy for others to post questions and comments. Perhaps a listserv would be better, but then people get inundated with emails. The bulletin board issue is that I would probably need to keep track of possibly inappropriate postings.

I could turn it over to someone with more time than me to keep it going in whatever format.

Regardless of the future state of the blog, I think it has already had its intended effect of letting everyone know what we have been doing, and in many cases getting some folks back in touch with each other. Not to mention clearing up some of the Northgate Mysteries (though much still remains murky!).

So let me know in comments what you think.

-Jeff

The Reunion Book

Hi everyone,
I know it's been awhile since I've posted, but now that the semester is over I can think about this site again.

I was recently sent a copy of the Reunion Book. I was wondering if you think I should post some things from the book, from people who haven't sent in their info. My guess is that most people by now have heard about the site but haven't emailed because they are not willing to have their personal info on the web.

On the other hand, they did publicize their current (as of 2006) status.

I have had a few requests to take down information, and I have complied with every one, even if the info was already someplace else on the web.

I could scan and post the book as is, but the quality isn't that great to begin with. I could post the bios of the folks who have not yet posted. I could ignore it altogether.

So, for those of you who check in occasionally, let me know what you think.

Inland Empire

Northgate-related trivia of the day: the main character in the David Lynch film "Inland Empire" is named Nikki Grace.

Kurt Arnlund update

I am a video game programmer living in Irvine, CA: Double Helix
is the name of the company I currently work for, and Silent Hill:
Homecoming is my latest game that was just released Sept 30th.

Kevin Plazak

We had some sketchy details about Kevin earlier, but he wrote in to comments and I'm posting them on the main page with his permission:
************

In answer to your invoked "spill" -- first wife didn't take (11 years-- it was a good run), currently living with my fiance -- making it official soon. There was a gap in there where I was unattached -- we shall call that Kevin's age of bad, bad choices and eventual enlightenment. "No kids that I am aware of" as the poets say.

I currently go by the handles of "Pilaf", "Bert", "Ernesto", "Kevicchio" and "Veeks". Never had a nickname until the last two years -- been an interesting two years.

I am learning to cook from a chef friend in his restaurant -- it is a cultural shock -- a lot of fun too. I have about 2000 gallons of water in my basement full of fish. I own my own business selling the aforementioned fish. I am working on trying to garden (first year mostly a bust) but a few veggies did okay.

I lecture on tropical fish throughout the west coast, write articles for tropical fish magazines every few months, consult for folks with tropical fish businesses and generally know too much about teleosts from tropical climes.

Got a degree in Biological Conservation, living in Portland, Oregon (excellent food, wonderful culture, fairly good beer, perfect weather), starting to become not awful at frisbee golf and enjoying myself nearly every day. Been happy for a couple of years and I think I am going to stick with it.

Nicole (Mathewson) Scott

Nicole wrote in today. Many thanks for the photos and the update!
************
Here's my story:

I earned a BA (Int'l Business/Finance) at Howard University in Washington , DC . I stayed in DC after college working and traveling for a professional association. At the same time, I opened a coffee house/art gallery with my husband-to-be (Bruce). We closed the store in '96, but I am still working in IT consulting. I'm an Oracle DBA, but also design and implement data warehouse/business intelligence solutions.

I've been married 13 years and have a 10 year old daughter.

Photography has always been my passion. In 2005 I had an exhibit in the Governor's gallery at the state capitol in Santa Fe , NM and I do some freelance work when time allows. I loved taking photos for the school yearbook and have great memories of Mr. Schwerin's photography class. He seemed to have a perpetually full coffee cup in his hand and threw erasers when he was angry (usally when kids kept exposing whole rolls of film and tossing coins in the fixer).

I've attached three photos: one of Kim Vietch (circa'85), another of me, Sydney Abram and Jeff Keys at graduation, and one of my daughter a few years ago when we were overrun by millions of cicadas.

NGHS ‘86 Connections:
· I have kept in touch with Kim Vietch Hauxhurst by snail mail for years.
· Sydney Abram Taylor earned a BA at Rice and MBA at Michigan . She's moved around the country, but currently lives in Atlanta with her husband. She works for Coca Cola. She keeps in touch with Connie Gonzalez who I understand is married with 2 kids and living in Vacaville .
· Jeffery Keys did undergrad at Berkeley and earned his MBA at UCLA. He's been working in finance between LA and NY. Currently manages a private equity fund in NY and lives in NJ with his wife and 3 kids.
· I caught up with Kathleen McAuliffe probably 8 years ago in Charlottesville , VA where she was living at the time. She was an Episcopal minister; married with an infant son.

Interestingly two of my daughter's teachers have had a NGHS connection. One is Sandhya Rajan (‘91??) and the other is not a NGHS grad, but is a good friend of Bart Hummer. I've seen Shawn White ('85) and Kim Lassair (’87) each a couple of times. Shawn lives in North Carolina with his wife and kids. Kim is here in DC.

Thanks again Jeff for doing this!

Best Wishes,
Nicole

Bernd Martini

Hi Jeff!

I happened to come across the NGHS86 site purely by chance. I wasn’t even trying to look up anything NGHS, Walnut Creek , etc, related, yet some how I ended up there. I have to say it’s been a blast reading all the posts from everyone. Thanks for the memories!

Just a quick summary of my life the past 22 years.

After high school, I also ended up at UC Berkeley (along with 40 or so other people from our class, none of which, ok there were 3 or 4 exceptions, I ever ran into during my time there). In 1991 I graduated with a BA in Political Science. About a year after graduating from Berkeley , I ended up working in a town just north of Venice, Italy. My dad knew the managing director of a company that manufactured fractional horsepower motors (the kind that operate washing machines, dishwashers, etc) and he suggested that I write to him to see if I could spend a year working there. Well, I ended up working for the financial controller looking through ream after ream of printouts trying to pick out anomalies in the data.

At the time I thought I’d just spend a year in Italy and then go back to the Bay Area but as my year in Italy drew to a close, I decided to go teach English and German in Central Europe. Having studied Political Science, and since it was the early 90’s, Central Europe was too hard for me to resist. So, I ended up in Budapest teaching English and German at a technical high school. At the time most schools in Central Europe were transitioning from mandatory Russian lessons to English or German. It wasn’t that the school I worked for was looking for qualified teachers to teach English but rather that they wanted somebody that the Russian teachers, who were being retrained to become English and German teachers, could practice with. Although I did have a full class load, I can’t say that I was a very effective teacher for the kids. Couple the fact that I was not a qualified teacher (and didn’t speak much Hungarian at the beginning) with the fact that during this transition period, the grades the kids earned in English or German didn’t get calculated into their GPA’s (ie, most, not all, didn’t really care about whether they learned something or not)…..well, you get the idea.

Again, I thought that I would spend a year in Budapest and then go back to California , but as the year drew to a close I decided to pursue an MBA in Hungary. I ended up studying at the Budapest University of Economic Sciences (formerly known as the Karl Marx University of Economics) for 2 years and had the time of my life. I met an exchange student from the Netherlands while in Budapest and after my time at the university was over, I ended up moving to the Netherlands to be with her.

So, I lived in Amsterdam for about 11 years. While in Amsterdam I worked for a company called Trane where I did inventory management and ended up traveling throughout Europe . This lasted for about 6 years, the last year of which I spent shutting down about 13 warehouses and, surprise!, I worked my way out of a job! (Yes, I did see that coming!) I then ended up working for a San Jose based company called Novellus Systems where I also did the European inventory management. Both jobs were a blast and I learned a lot about logistics during that time.

After about 10 ½ years living in sin my girlfriend and I finally got married. Prior to getting married we were already contemplating our next step and finally, after considering many different places (yes, including the Bay Area) we finally decided that we would move to Australia . We have now been in Brisbane , Australia for a year this month and don’t regret coming here. …….and all I ever wanted to do was to go to Italy for a year!

I don’t see many people from high school and the ones I do, I don’t see very often nor have contact with very often, but contact we do have on occasion. When we do see each other it is like the years in between just melt away and that we haven’t been apart at all. They know who they are and should know that I miss them dearly.

Well, that’s part of my story. It’s been amazing to read all of yours and to read about where you have been and what you have done over the years. I see that at least 1 other person from our class is in Australia. Are there any others?

If you ever find yourself in Brisbane , Australia please drop me a line. berndmartiniATgmail.com I’d be happy to put you up for a few nights. Or just to meet up with old (class)mates and have a few stubbies one arvo!

Regards,
Bernd Martini

Caryn Gribbon

Hi! Yes, I am in Real Estate and I did make it to the reunion! It was a
great time and so nice to see everyone. I think it is great that you
started this Blog and thank you to Elizabeth Bacher for notifying me of
it! (and unfortunately, I am one of the mystery kids in the Castle
Rock, Mrs. Glenn's 4th Grade Class! scary!)

Everyone Googles Themselves Eventually

According to Mike S., "Everyone Googles themselves eventually." Based on this axiom, I'm going to bore everyone by posting the names, all 255, of those alumni who possibly do not know about this site. Perhaps they will also search terms such as:

Northgate High School, Walnut Creek, Class of '86, Class of 1986, Mrs. Thiele (kidding)...and then find us that way.

Remember, anyone who wants me to delete non-publicly available information from this site is welcome to send me an email.

Site Stats: We have 95 updates posted. There are 12 people who have either emailed or posted in comments but haven't sent in an update yet. There are about 7 who have posted on the NGHS Classmates.com site, but not here.

Of the remaining ~250 alums, I have email addresses for about 41, snail mail addresses for about 190, and no information whatsoever for about 25. Of those 25, I know at least one was at the reunion. I know a lot of people who have posted here are in contact with these folks, so I'm sure there are many who are not really interested in this, or at least prefer to stay behind the scenes, as it were.

Rebecca ABEND, Sydney ABRAM Taylor, Michael ALPHIN, Kris ANKAITAS, Holly ARNOLD Ehrhart, Barbara ASTER Washington, Anthony AVANSINO, Kevin BALLEW, Steve BANDUCCI, Beverly BEHM, Andrew BELL, Leslie BELL Regos, Deanna BENEDICT, Steve BERG, Mike BILUND, Mike BORKE, Louise BRADFORD Sloan, Andrea BRAIDMAN, Kerry BREEN, Nicole BROOKS, Joe BROWN, Kathleen BRUEMMER, Shanon BRUMFIELD Pascoe, Maria BULARAN, Bob BYLAND, Brian CALLAHAN, Dan CANTRELL, Steve CARROLL, Greg CASE, Rodney CENTENO, Ted CHAMBERS, Mary CHATSWORTH, Becky CHENG, Lesley CHIU, Nancy CHOI Hwang, Cristella CHU, James CLARK, Erin CORRIGAN, Karolyn COVIONE, John CRITES, Karyn DALE, Kris D'AMELIO, Mark DANIELS, Lora DEILY, Martina DENARDO, Jim DOSS, Laura DULL, Robert DUNBAR, Janelle DWINELL, Andreas ECKLEMANN, Karen EILER Roach, Monica FABIAN Lowney, Jay FALLON, Jill FARRENKOPF Kramer, Patricia FEGAN, Shelia FITZGERALD, Mike FLAMINIO, Christy FOK, Renee FOUST, Bill GASS, Evgenia GEORGE, Christopher GILLIS, Mike GIOMI, Steve GLASS, Connie GONZALEZ Hall, John GOOCH, Seth GOODMAN, Garth GOODRICH, David GRAJEK, Jeff GREEN, Pamela GRIFFITH, Jeffrey GRUBB, Jim GUENTHER, Ken HAAS, Jim HACKETT, Melanie HAGERSTRAND, Lisa HALL Tyrell, Audra HALLQUIST Morucci, Lisa HAMANAKA, Bert HAN, Jason HANCOCK, Kirsten HANSEN Foehr, Robert HANSFORD, Mark HARRIS, Tim HARRIS, Milton HARTOGH, Susi HAUG, Felicia HAYES Ponce, Jeffrey HERMAN, Amelia HERNANDEZ Vallejo, Mike HESS, Kristin HICKS, Lynn HODGES Thompson, Tiffany HOGAN, Ann Marie HOLM, Brian HOLMES, Michael HOUSE, Amie HUANG Aslami, Caren HULT Bodiot, Bart HUMMER, Mitch HUNTER, Martin Iglesias, Amira Issa, Jill JACOBS, Charlotta JOHANNESSON La Via, Tom JONES, Karen KANESHIGE Cortez, Linda Keating, Carolyn KEMPKER, Michael Kendig, Jeff KEYS, Martin KINDNESS, Rebecca KINZLER Fredrickson, Robin KNAPP, Eric KNIEP, Chris KNOX, Jennifer KRINER Herbert, Sylvia KUNG, Gerilynn KURPINSKY Borghelli, Dawn LAWSON Byrd, Angie LECAS Borgwardt, John LEE, Laurie LENTZ, Dave LINCOLN, Victor LOCASIO, Tracy LONG, Kimberly LOOMER, Clive LUI, Paul MACHI, Linda MACLEOD Mcdougal, Mike MANNIE, Neda MANSOURIAN, Kurtis MARTINEZ, Bernd MARTINI, Cara MASON Wilfong, Kristin MATHEWS, no MATHEWSON Scott, Jody MATTHEWS Buie, Kathleen MCAULIFFE, Karen MCCARTHY Macdonald, Jim MCCRACKEN, Barbara MCDONALD Mathis, Larry MCDONOUGH, Maureen McGhee, Jennifer MCGILLIVRAY Byrom, Jim MCMANUS, Colleen (Kelley) MESSEX, Katie Messner, Monty MILANO, Matt MONACHELLO, Danny MOORE, Laura MORAN Wilber, Jeffrey MORGAN, Jessica MORGAN Kinsey, Scott MUNCER, Kathleen NEUMAN Shipp, Mike NEVILLE, Mary Kay NIELSON, Karen NIESS, Lane OCHIKUBO, John O'CONNOR, Rudy OEST, Kelly O'KEEFE, Jeff ONDECK, Mark PAPINA, Bill PARIS, Lisa PATTERSON, Karen PAYNE, Jennifer PAZ Galligani, Lars PENDLETON, Kathy PERZEL, Natalie Pfeiffer, Scott Phillips, Kristine PLACHY, Michelle PLOURDE, Paul PLUMMER, Laura POTTS Page, Courtney POWELL, Chris Power, Leanne POYNTER Hile, Greg PROPHET, Jeff PROSSER, Michelle PUSICH, Krag RASMUSSEN, Martin RASMUSSEN, Tami RATHJEN, Don REEVES, Adam RICE, Christi RICHARDSON, Brian RILEY, Karen ROBIE Ivankovich, Bill ROGERS, Peter ROONEY, Leah RUBINSTEIN, Chris RYMER, Ludwig SALVADOR, Diptendu (Bobby) SAMANTA, Brigit SANDERSON, Jonathan SCHEELE, Heidi SCHEXNAYDER Goodman, Melissa SCHRAEDER, Colleen Sharapata Huber, Victoria SHARP Fiske, Greg SHAW, Flora SHY Pinnella, Cynthia Silldorff, John SNYDER, David SPERLING, Dave STAFFORD, Michelle STASHYN, Tracie STEPHENS, Reid STEVENS, Mark STIEFVATER, Justin STOREY, Joann SUGIMURA Wyman, Joyce TAN, Greg (Morgan) TAYLOR, Julie TAYLOR, Anthony THIELE, Tom THORPE, Joe TONDA, Kim TORKINGTON, Gayle TORNBERG, Tim TRICE, Carrie TUBB Fair, Patricia TURNER, Debbie VAN SLAMBROOK, Doug VELIKAN, Laura WAKEFIELD, John WALKER, Libby WALKER, Lynn WALKOWIAK Morphew, Celia WANG, Pam WATROUS, Scott WEBB, Katherine W., Jennifer WEED, John WEISEL, Kristin WHITE, Raquel WHITE, Darren WHITTAKER, Wendy WILK Spence, Karen WILKIN, Spencer WILLIAMS, Chrissy WINSLOW Anderson, Arnold WONG, Eric WRIGHT, Christine Yee, Lisa YEE, Andy YEN, Karen ZAWADZKI, Kim ZITTER Nunn, Brenda Zugar, Mark GRAHAM, Charlotte NG, Kelley MEER, Kathryn JOHNSON, Carmie ANDERSON, Teri ROSS, Deborah Hellman

Kevin Herney

Thanks to Google, Kevin found the blog. From comments:

I own a small contracting company. I have been married for 20 years. My wife Dana and I have two beautiful daughters, Amelia and Sophia. (11 and 9)

Chris Weiss

Chris Weiss writes in today, with bonus info on Pete Rooney and Gregory Morgan Taylor, among others...
***********

Post Northgate, I meandered around trying to find my path, trying a
bunch of classes at DVC and generally pissing my life away. In a fit
of "getting my shit together", I went through the quick & dirty
educational path of technical school for electronics and got in early
as a game tester for Maxis. I spent 7 years there, working on games
like SimCity and the Sims and such, then on to Palm for 7 years
working on their handhelds and then a short stint at an industrial
chemical testing software company. I'm currently a producer at
Expresso Fitness, making interactive cardio bikes sold into places
like 24hr, Crunch, YMCA, and corporate gyms and living in San Jose.

I've fully embraced my inner geek and am a big social networking-web
2.0-lifecasting whore. You can find me on Facebook, FriendFeed,
LinkedIn, Twitter, Flickr, Pownce, and just about any other "look at
me!" site out there either under my own name or as "stickyc". I'd say
'check out my blog', but it's not been updated in years.

I still keep in touch almost daily with Pete Rooney, Andrew Bell, and
Jon Hastings. Pete married Shannon Deverman (NGHS class of '88) and
works for San Joaquin College of Law (incidentally, Shannon became
a teacher who taught at Northgate for several years before moving
to Clovis with Pete where she teaches now). They live in Fresno with
their 5 year old redheaded son, Sean. Andrew Bell lives in San
Francisco and works for WestEd, writing standardized tests for school
systems in Kansas. He got married this June to a co-worker, Megan
Andrew. Jon's already posted here.

I keep in touch less regularly with Gregory Morgan Taylor. He lives in
Livermore with his wife, Tony and their 4 kids. As far as I know, he's
still working for FedEx and acting as a real-estate agent on the side.

Some asked about Jay Fallon - the last I heard of him, he was working
for an ISP in Walnut Creek (he.net?) as a customer service rep, that
was maybe 8 years ago.

It's awesome seeing where everyone's lives have taken them
--
-Chris

Interesting Yearbook Quotes

Some of my favorites.

Doug Alessio: "The time has come to crush the mouth that bites the hand that feeds it" -Spiro Agnew (Spiro Agnew???)

Barbara Aster: "And now for something completely different." -John Cleese

Chris Bowhay: "When it gets dark enough you can see the stars." -C.A. Beard

Don Dornblaser: "If you have been measuring the temperature of the water in your three test cups, you should have enough data by now." (who was this? Tippary?)

Brian Duckering: "You can lead a duck to water but you can't make him sink; which shows you can't keep a good duck down."

Seth Hansell: "As a circle of light increases, so does the circumference of darkness surrounding it."

Jon Hastings: "It's hard being bean."

Anneliese Hopwood: "There are universes begging for Gods...yet he hangs around this one looking for work."

Andrea Lee: "I move my feet to the pop tart beat." -Kellogg's

John Lee: "Yes, I am a Senior!!!"

Mike Sela: "Hey, wait a minute! This is grass! We've been eating grass!!" -Gary Larson (pasted into the book, see below)

Ted Wait: "NO BRAINS NO HEADACHES" -Mazz (the music teacher, Tony Mazzaferro).

Raquel White: "Twelve years of schooling are coming to an end...come to think of it, I'll have a Heineken."

Some of the authors/groups quoted:

Music (yes, it was the '80s!):
Prince, Billy Joel, Grateful Dead, Pink Floyd, The Who, David Bowie, The Doors, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Monkees, Altar Boys, Steve Miller, Simple Minds, Asia, Bryan Adams, Flock of Seagulls, Hall and Oates, Styx, Judas Priest, David Lee Roth, Shriekback, Van Halen, Led Zeppelin

Politicians:
Spiro Agnew, Ben Franklin, Adolf Hitler (Tell me, they wouldn't let Mike Sela quote Gary Larson, but this one got in???)

Did Steve Scholz and Mark Schmidt really choose the same quote by Aristotle, or did the yearbook staff mess it up?

I remember being surprised that so many people chose Bible quotes.

Best Yearbook Photos

My picks, give yours in comments. I'm not addressing peoples looks (or haircuts: Dan Cantrell!), but looking for a quality of style or humor. Though I do question some of the decisions of the particular photography studio that was used...

Deanna Benedict: So overcome with sadness at the end of high school.
Diana Bertoldo: In a tux, with a red bow tie.
Jon Hastings: In a tux, with a white scarf and sunglasses
Matt Irvin and Jennifer Weed, who each have two photos for the price of one
and the winner is:

Paul Hohlt, with a crazy jacket, a green mortarboard cap, and a rose in his mouth!

Valle Verde 6th Grade

Megan sent me this awhile back. NG '86ers include:

Row 1: (1) Nerissa Taguba, (2) Chris Weiss, (3) JoAnn Sugimura, (4) Mike Borke, (5) Megan Smetzer, (7) Kathy W.

Row 2: (2) Joe Tonda, (3) Brigit Sanderson, (5) Robin Knapp, (6) John Crites, (7) Libby Walker, (8) Rudy Oest

Row 3: (1) Lisa Yee, (2) Blair Stientjes, (3) Nicole Mathewson, (5) Gayle Stansfield, (6) Dave Lincoln, (7) Gayle Tornberg, (8) Mike Giomi

Row 4: (1) Chris Knox, (2) Dan Moore

Posts With Recent Comments

For your convenience, I have set up a list of links to OLDER posts with recent comments. I won't put up the recent comments on recent posts. You'll find this on the right side of the blog. When comments are made, I get an email and can see them easily, but you might not be constantly revisiting posts from a few months ago that may have a new comment.

Comments welcome!

And take a cue from Elizabeth Bacher, who sent emails to her friends who might not have heard about this site. Also, encourage those who haven't written in to send an update. Thanks Liz!

The Principal

Is this true? The movie "The Principal" (starring Jim Belushi and Lou Gossett, Jr.) came out in 1987...so filming must have occurred within a few years of '87, or right around the time we were there. Maybe it was filmed right after we left, during the summer? Does anyone know anything about this?

From the Northgate Wikipedia Page:
The movie The Principal was partially filmed at Northgate High School. Northgate was chosen for the interior design of the school, having five foot walls around the classes creating an open environment. Northgate's former drama teacher, Ed Meehan, attended Northgate as a student at the time the movie was shot, and can be seen in the film during the classroom scene in the beginning of the movie. Another former drama teacher, Jack DeRieux, was also in the movie during a staff meeting scene at the beginning.[citation needed] Another teacher, Ms. Spring, can also be seen in the 5th scene of the film.

TAGLINE: At a high school where the students major in arson, extortion and assault, one man just might be crazy enough to turn things around...

What Was That Event

OK I have vague memories of an event, possibly off-campus, that was hosted or emceed by Mike Sela and Amy Doub. Was it a talent show? An awards ceremony? I remember some girl singing a Billy Joel song...

let me know what I'm vaguely remembering....

Rob Perkins

Another NG doctor ("not a Ph.D., but the kind that helps people" -anon.).

Robert Perkins went to med school at Ohio State University and did a residency at Riverside Methodist Hospital. He works at Riverside and some other hospitals in the Columbus, Ohio area. His specialty is physical medicine and rehabilitation.

Julie Tobias-Pancoast

In comments we had confirmation that Julie runs a catering business. I found her at "Toast Catering & Private Chefs" in Lafayette, CA:

"We cater parties based on your budget & style, private chef capabilities."

Greg Dockus

Here's a new update (and it's about time!):
*********************

Oh my gosh....what a find I made today!

This is Greg Dockus, class o' 86. What an awesome, awesome blog you have. I seriously couldn't wipe the smile off my space as I read it.

So...yea...me:

I'm living in downtown Columbus, OH and I am operations manager for a logistics company. I've been in Ohio for 2 years now following a few years in St Louis, MO. After Northgate I attended DVC and then San Jose St where I studied broadcast journalism and am not putting that education to any use at all.

I'm a pretty serious poker player...I played in several World Series of Poker events last year and intend to do so every year moving forward. No kids, unmarried....I may be a but too much of a hedonist to settle down :)

I'd love to hear from any and all fellow Broncos.....please feel free to post my email address.

thank you for a great blog.....

Greg Dockus
gdock AT columbus.rr.com

Your Finest Moment

I was reminded today of a speech I gave in my Senior year English class, and thought, in retrospect, that it might have been my finest moment of high school. Well, at least one of my favorite moments...It was better than being on trial, in my Junior year English class, for practicing witchcraft because I listened to the Grateful Dead. I think we must have been reading Arthur Miller's "The Crucible" at the time. Don Reeves made a formidable prosecutor.

This might seem a bit strange, but for me one of my favorite events was giving a talk on George Orwell's essay Politics and the English Language and then using one of Ronald Reagan's speeches to demonstrate all of the ways that Reagan violated Orwell's rules. It's one of those things that, looking back, I'm proud of.

Can you believe that Reagan was the President from the time we were finishing 6th grade (1980) until we were halfway through college in 1988?

In comments please post your own favorite moments of high school that were related to academics or the school experience in some way. Especially those moments that you might not have known at the time would stick with you. Going to see Van Halen at the Cow Palace on their "1984" tour does not count...

Blog Update

The main reason I started this was to get people back in touch, and to find out what everyone was doing these days. Particularly for those of us who didn't make it to the reunion.

At this point, the people who have a strong web presence have been found, and the people who responded to my emails have responded. We have entries for 91 different people. About ten people emailed me but didn't send in a post. Mark Graham, Charlotte Ng, and Kevin Herney have Classmates.com entries. There must be a bunch of people with Facebook pages (Erin Corrigan? Reid Stevens? Mollee Murphy?), Friendster (Chris Weiss?), MySpace (Caryn Gribbon?). Maybe someone who is on these sites can find them and send them the link.

We might get a few more who find the blog through a search engine. Someone suggested we open it up to various discussions about NG, but I'll have to think about whether I want to moderate that.

We could also keep it dormant until the next reunion, as this could be a central location for information and spreading the word. Several people wrote and said they didn't know about the reunion, but we have tracked down more people since then.

We (who is "we" by the way?) have some leads on people, but we can't be sure they are NG folks, even if the name is the same.

For example:

Is Mike Flaminio a brewer in the midwest?
Does Julie Tobias have a catering company?
Is Jill Farrenkopf a librarian?
Is Mark Stiefvater a detective in Pleasant Hill?
Does Karen Eiler work in the Fresno County probation department?
Is Karolyn Covione a pool player in Clayton?
Is Cristella Chu a student at Alliant International Univ.?
Does Bart Hummer run a restaurant in Truckee?
Does Caryn Hult breed dogs in Concord?
Is Caryn Gribbon in real estate?
Does Mary Chatsworth work for a non-profit organization in Massachusetts?
Does Victor Locasio work for Intel in Sacramento?
Is Larry McDonough selling mortgages in Aptos?

So many questions...

1976: 3rd Grade Party

Megan sent another photo, this one of a birthday party from 1976. I assure you we will get back to High School items soon (as soon as you send me stuff!)

Back row: Kathi W., Lisa P., Krissy K. (I think went to YV), Kerrie M.
Front row: Gayle Stansfield, Andrea Lee, Carolyn Kempker, and Meg Smetzer.

There's Something About Mary

Does anyone else remember Mary O'Brien? Alas, an early crush of mine. She lived near the DeVoe's close to Castle Rock Elementary...She must have moved away after 7th or 8th grade. After Megan sent the Happy Daze photo I found a small picture she gave me, I'm guessing in 6th grade. Do you remember exchanging your school photos? I guess these days they just "friend" each other on Myspace. So what ever happened to Mary?

Happy Daze

Megan Smetzer sent me this Foothills photo. (BTW I have absolutely no memory of this event. Can someone elaborate?). Megan says:

Cast photo. I also have an audio tape of the show, perhaps I can dig it up and put it up as an mp3 one day to hear our squeaky voices.

Please forgive my bad eyes and memory. I may have spelled some names incorrectly. Some names are on the tip of my tounge but I can't place them. [In brackets some of Amato's guesses]

Back row:
Matt Burris, Kevin Reimer, Beth Marlow, Gretchen Schmidt, Lisa Wolters, Akshai Ghandi, Mike House, Mike Sela [OUR FUTURE VALEDICTORIAN], Blair Stientjes, Rudy ____

Middle Row:
Adam Miles, Greg McKinney, Meg Smetzer, Tiffany Worboy, ?,[Kelley O'Keffe?], Mike [Flaminio?] , Greg Dockus

Front Row:
Kathy -_____, Laura Wakefield, [Mary O'Brien--?], ?, Cari Tubb, ?, Jackie _______