Feb 28, 2013

War Museum

Dear Empehi Alumni,

I am the Education Director at the Livingston County War Museum/Dal Estes Education Center in Pontiac IL. Our museum was founded by my father, Dal Estes, in 2004 to honor local men and women who have served our country from World War I to the present. My dad landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day and was wounded at the Battle of the Bulge.

He took a flag from a German bunker in Normandy on that historic day and exactly 50 years later my father and I returned it to a small museum on Omaha Beach in France where he is known today as "Private Ryan's Sergeant". I served with the 25th Infantry and the 101st Airborne Division in Vietnam before returning to teaching for my career.

I invite all Empehi 65 - 67 alumni to visit the museum. I would love to show you around and talk about our days in high school.

We are located 100 miles south of Chicago at exit 197 on I-55. Follow the signs to downtown (2 miles) where we are located in the Old City Hall building. Just take the elevator to the third floor.

We are accessible to anyone in your group requiring a wheelchair.

Admission is free and free parking is available across the street in the city parking lot. Hours are Monday - Saturday 10 - 4 and Sunday 12 - 4. Pontiac is also home to the Illinois Route 66 Museum and the Pontiac-Oakland Car Museum, so we get plenty of car clubs here.

Looking forward to seeing some Empehi grads here!

David Estes - Empehi Class of June 1965

Education Director

Livingston County War Museum

Dal Estes Education Center

321 N. Main Street

Pontiac IL 61764

(815) 842-0301

email: lcwarmuseum@yahoo.com

blog: www.warmuseum.blogspot.com

Jobs Jobs Jobs

We had some excellent comments on the topic of jobs we had held back in 2004. If you would like to join in the discussions click and join:

groups.yahoo.com/group/EmpehiReunion

Hearing Ron Veenstra talk on the MPHS Forum about his newsstand at 111th St, reminded me of Sunday mornings when I would sell newspapers at 95th and Western, walking up between lines of cars at the stop light, hawking papers in the style of cold beer at Comiskey Park. (my spell checker just tried to change Comiskey to Comdisco. My how times change) I remember how hard I worked to make an extra buck. Even my regular Daily News paper route, 6 days a week, paid only $12 per month - 50 cents a day.

One of my first inside jobs was busing tables at the restaurant in the Evergreen Plaza. I don't remember how much I got paid, but I would have worked for free just to eat the steamed rolls with butter.

I'm wondering what jobs, especially those considered odd by today's standards, the you all might have worked? How about the ones that were considered really good jobs at the time. I remember Bob Hart used to work at County Fair and then did construction during the summer. How much did you earn doing those jobs, Bob?

Will Hepburn, CFP
The Prescott Center for Adaptive Market StrategiesTM

805 Whipple St, Suite C, Prescott, AZ 86301
Voice 928.717.0007, Toll Free 800.778.4610
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As a high school kid I had jobs that sucked very similar to the ones that you had, Will. There were the usual lawn mowing jobs. Then I delivered Chicago's American in Mt. Greenwood every afternoon after school - I think it may have been six days a week - for about what you made. I took over the route in January, just after the Christmas tips which the other guy got, and had to learn the route while pushing my bike on foot through the snow. I quit when I started H.S. in the fall of 1963, so I never did get any Christmas tips. Later my mother and I took on a Sunday morning delivery route in her old station wagon, which ended when a drunk guy chased me down the street waving a gun.

Sometime in H.S. I bussed tables at the Martinique Restaurant. Went in right after school and worked till about 11 PM with no breaks of any kind, and no food except for the uneaten rolls that I filched from the roll basket. I can't say the rolls were that fabulous. All this for 65 cents an hour plus 10% of the waitresses' tips, which amounted to about $1.00 an hour. In the week and a half that I lasted I had moved halfway up the busboy seniority list - and there were a LOT of busboys. At that rate, had I lasted another week and a half I might have been one of the head busboys!

Finally, due in part to the fact that my father worked for A&P, I got an after-school and evening job as a stock boy and bagger at the A&P store on 95th Street, somewhere west of Kedzie. That paid somewhere around 2 bucks an hour. Unfortunately, Myron Stevens (Empehi '68 and a baseball player) also got a job there because HIS father also worked for A&P, and Myron worked faster than I did so he got more hours while my hours got cut. I was never much of a "hustler".

Summers while in college brought me work "purging" files in the vast Social Security offices in downtown Chicago, and unloading railroad cars (55,000 - 60,000 lbs./day on average) at the A&P warehouse at 44th and Kildare.

Fortunately, my Ivy League degree finally afforded me such marvellous job opportunities as washing trays in a bakery in Valparaiso Indiana for $1.75 an hour, pumping gas and changing oil in a service station for the same hourly rate (remember full-service stations, where while the gas tank was filling you checked and filled ALL the fluids under the hood, checked and filled the tires, and washed ALL the car's windows? I was a bit of a "hustler" on that job), mowing lawns for a developer under the benign supervision of Keven Westendorf's father for the princely sum of about $3.50 an hour, and exterminating for about $4.00 an hour. By that time - in December 1974, I probably was STILL not making as much as Bob Hart earned working construction in high school.

John W
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Marlene Walko could fill a book with all the jobs - odd, interesting or normal - that she has done! How about it, Mar?

Sounds like a fun topic, Will. - I'm anxious to hear the various contributions.....

Marie Stazzone
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OK, Marie, I guess I have changed jobs more than a lot of people! When I hear someone say they've worked somewhere for 20-30 years, I'm totally amazed and can't even fathom it! However, a lot of it has to do with working in the travel industry...Lord knows, the changes that industry has faced in the last 10 years, especially after Sept.11, 2001. My longest stint with an airline was with the original Midway Airlines from 1981 til they went out of business in 1991. I would have been happy to retire with them, but unfortunately they went bankrupt!

Since then I've worked for Lufthansa (boy, those Germans were very STIFF and RESERVED compared to the family-type culture of Midway Airlines!), America West Airlines, Auto Europe, Disney, and Spirit Airlines as an Outside Sales Manager calling on travel agencies.

Here's a perfect example of how uncertain the travel industry has been for me...I quit as Regional Sales Manager with America West to take a job with Disney Parks & Resorts. I was happy with both my job and boss at America West, but thought that Disney offered far more stability than an airline! Even my boss at Am. West seemed envious of the great opportunities at Disney when I gave him my notice. Well, a couple days before I started with Disney, I heard on the news that Disney was going to lay off 4000 employees!! That news didn't set too well with me, but I figured I would hope for the best. HA, 3 months after I started with Disney I was laid off! True, they offered me the same Sales Manager position in several other cities, but I figured why move and have the same thing happen again!!

As proof there is SOME continuity in my professional path, I have been working as an Adjunct Instructor of German at Moraine Valley College for 12 yrs. and just started teaching English as a Second Language there as well. I really love it and wish I could do it full-time!

Marie, didn't you work one summer at the Custard Stand across from Mt. Greenwood Park???

Marlene W
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yeah, Mar, I worked at Russ's Ranch (the custard stand) - the end of the summer of '71. ... After graduating from DePauw that same summer I went to work in Stowe, Vermont as a waitress in a summer resort - not far from the Von Trapp Family Lodge. Vermont is beautiful but I wasn't happy with some of the people I had to work with - one of the cooks would throw things at me and call me "Wop" -and the maitre d' Walter, was a strange old Austrian with an accent like in those German war films who accused me of stealing the tips guests would give me - (I was supposed to turn them over to him )..so I left and came home. I took the Civil Service Exam because I wanted to be a social worker in the Spanish-speaking district of Chicago. I passed the test and was put on the waiting list but took the job at Russ's Ranch to earn something in the meantime. Then in the fall, I moved down to Lafayette, Indiana and started working as assistant psychometrist in the Psychological Testing Lab at Purdue U which is where I met Luciano -

The oddest job I had was the summer I worked as a taster for Nabisco - near Midway Airport - I had to taste all the products BEFORE they were baked - and write down if I liked the color, consistency, smell,... One of my first jobs when I was a kid was selling silk flowers - They were pink, lilac and yellow sweet peas set in white plaster in a white glass pot... My dad got them from some Chinese man who made them - and I remember loading our wagon and going around the neighborhood door to door - I also remember selling Christmas cards door to door one year-

My big pay job was playing the organ at St. Christina's - 2 masses every Sunday - at $2 a mass, $4 every Sunday, $16 a month! That was big bucks for a teen-ager!
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I think Jane Jezuit Grable holds the record for working the longest for one company. Jane started working for US Steel when she turned 18 years old. She just retired from there on December 31, 2003. Way to go Jane!!

Congratulations on your retirement.

Anita Tap
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This is amazing. I don't know how anyone could have made it through the downturns, cut backs etc, etc with the steel mills. I worked for Republic Steel for several summers during college and had a great job and still hated it.

What is interesting is that her company bought out my company during the merger era of the 80's. Not good for either one. But in the last two years they US Steel split off Marathon Oil. I was force to sell all my US Steel stock since we were no longer part of parent company. Well, the low of USS was 10 last year and now is in the 30's as Will can attest to. Would like to wish her the best of retirement and would to know what she did for USS.

Ron Veenstra
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Most of these job stories are fascinating and amazing. I can't believe I've been teaching/coaching at the same high school for 30 years. I always thought my short attention span would make it impossible for me to stay in one place so long, but I guess it just kept me unaware that I HAD been working there that long.

Other jobs I've had include working on a wholesale meat truck (when I noticed that dogs were taking quite an interest in me), working in the Peter Pan peanut butter factory on 47th and Christiana (when I realized I was being stalked by squirrels), and bartending at Ed's Olde Times bar on 111th Street (when I became more popular with humans because the owner was never there so we gave away a lot of free drinks).
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Marie's mention of dodging things thrown by her Vermont chef reminded me of a mundane job I had that turned into great fun each night.

I was a dishwasher at a restaurant on 95th St, somewhere by Throop street. I don't remember the name. I would drag myself down there after swim practice every day (talk about long days) and wash dishes until about 10 pm. About 9:30 the bus staff would break down the buffet, and a lot of the fruit was over the hill, so we would stand at one end of the kitchen and throw fruit at the stainless steel wall coverings in the dishwashing corner. Huge fun! I can't imagine what the remaining customers thought, because I remember a lot of hooting at the bigger splats.

Another thing I remember was going to a club downtown somewhere, perhaps near North, that had a "frustration room". They would stack their empty bottles of all sorts under the concrete ramp to the upper story parking garage where they had hung a sheet of steel at the other end about 25-30 feet away. On the way out to your car you could stop and throw bottles at the steel. Sanctioned mayhem. I loved it.

Will Hepburn
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Ron, as a 17+ year employee of Republic, I can appreciate your statement, "I had a good jod but still hated it". Nastiest job I ever had, and I was management, also with a cushy job. Many of my co-workers went through retraining under JTPA(Job Training Partnership Act) and are working in various careers. Now and then I run across someone in the Loop or on a college campus.

Tom Schildhouse
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My first job, when I was 15 in the summer of '63, was as a caddy at Ridge CC. I lived within walking distance and thought it would be fun. WRONG! The "caddy master" (slave master?) was Paul Mucco (sp) a one armed tyrant who picked his favorite caddies for the good rounds and I was one of the invisible caddies he seemed to never see. The pay was low of course and the tips were not too hot usually. I gave it up fairly quickly. Anybody else caddy at Ridge?

Jim Dart
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This is the first time I have ever written in. James and I had a
great time at the reunion last year. IT was wonderful.

My first job was at Belmont Foods (or The Institution as Dennis Carlson calls it). My sister Joanne and I were checkout girls along with Linda Rich. Those were the days of the manual cash registers and we worked very hard. It was a busy store. Art Schueneman was the owner and he was one of my families best friends. My Dad, Don Weis owned The Hale Pharmacy across the street from Belmont and Art was his best friend. My brothers Rick and Donnie also worked at Belmont as did Steve Tello. My worst day at Belmont was being held-up at knife-point. Also I always had to work when Morgan Park Football games were going on because Linda Rich was 1/2 of the school mascot Mustang with Karen Speropolus. It was very hard watching the victory parades go by while I was working. Well, that's it. Bye and Hi to everyone.

Jan (Weis) Dart
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Craig

I have had some strange jobs. I worked on my Uncle's ranch in South Dakota in the summers while at MPHS. Riding horses and tractors, working cattle. It was great. Yippee Yea, Kai Yea!! Bought my hot rod Model A Roadster and drove it back to MPHS.

modelahullinger.blogspot.com

I worked in the inner city of Norfolk for a year after MPHS in a volunteer social work assignment. All the scoop on that job on the blog:

popv.blogspot.com

I then worked for the Marine Corps for 4.4 years. I set one record - I had 100 days of mess duty which I think is a record.

While in the service we worked for a few days in a carnival getting people to throw rings to win prizes. Few people ever won.

I worked for an ambulance company that was owned by a funeral company. We were a full service provider.

No Bull

We have far ranging and interesting conversations on our Yahoo Group. You can join us at:

groups.yahoo.com/group/EmpehiReunion

The conversations jump around a bit. This one started about political conventions which jumped to Bull___ which morphed into why ranchers castrate. I worked on my Uncle's South Dakota ranch during my summers at MPHS so I was able to answer.

________________

Marie asked why ranchers castrate.

Louise answered correctly. A cattle herd typically has only one bull for every 20 or 30 cows. They are able to take care of business quite nicely, although they say very busy.

Sounds kind of like male heaven.

Of course the castrated guys might not think so. But then, their destiny is meat.
____________________

Speaking of political conventions and castration, I am reminded of another western South Dakota story.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, a neighboring rancher came over to tell me that one of our bulls was on his ranch working his way with the rancher's cows. Most of the cattle then in South Dakota were Herefords, white faces with red bodies. The rancher's cows were Herefords and our bull was a Black Angus, and I guess the rancher was opposed to mixed marriages.

I was 16 and had no idea what to do about this situation. So the rancher who was older then dirt (younger then us now) took me back to his ranch. The bull was near a lake, so we approached on foot to move him away. The bull began to paw and prepare to charge and I thought I was toast. But the old rancher knew what to do - at just the right moment he jumped and waved his arms and yelled and spooked the bull who bolted off.

Then we got in the ranchers old pick up truck. The bull decided to fight the truck and butted his head against the front of the pickup. The rancher knocked the bull back several times and bull decided discretion was the better part of valor.

The bull then walked off - kind of like a strutting tough guy - I am leaving but I am not scared of you.

This ticked off the rancher, who accelerated, and hit the bull in the back. The Bull's butt (but?) was driven up on the hood of the pickemup truck, with the bulls front feet madly running to keep from falling, and his rear quarters perched prettily on the hood, with his back feet nicely tucked under his posterior on top of the truck hood.

The rancher backed off. The bull was now briskly running, and not as cocky as before.

The rancher accelerated faster, and:

BOOM!! - BIG BODACIOUS BEAUTIFUL? BALLED BULL BUTT (BUT?) BOUNCED BOUNTIFULLY up the over the BUMPER again, deeper on to the hood, almost to the
windshield.

Bull was now in high gear as we backed off, heading for somewhere else fast. Not very cocky any more and not nearly as full of fight.

For the third time the rancher took after Mr. Bull, this time shifting up to second gear and this time Bull Butt did almost reach the windshield, spattering the windshield with what Bulls produce under extreme stress, BULLS_______.

Which is what reminded me of political conventions. Butt, I digress.

Bull was now in full panic mode, running faster then would seem possible.

BULL BOLTED the BARBWIRE BARRIER & BEAT it, never to return.
____________________

But at least he was not castrated.

Craig Hullinger MPHS 66

MORGAN PARK WELCOMES DR. CAROLYN D. EPPS, PRINCIPAL

On February 20, 2013, the Morgan Park High School Local School Council entered into a four year Principal Contract with Dr. Carolyn D. Epps. We are delighted to welcome Dr. Epps to Morgan Park and look forward to working with her in continuing the Tradition of Excellence this IS Morgan Park. Thank you to the entire Morgan Park Community for your support. We anticipate Dr. Epps joining us at Morgan Park within the next few weeks.

Keep updated by visiting website @ www.morganparkcps.org

Rochelle Sims, President

MPHS - PTSA 59 years old-- Founded 11/17/1952

Morgan Park High School Parent, Teacher,

Student Association

Our goal is to promote/support the parent, teacher & student relationship.

Join the MPHS PTSA!!

E-mail: mphs_ptsa@yahoo.com for a membership application.

E-mail if you would like to be removed from our mailing list.

Feb 27, 2013

What American accent do you have?

What American accent do you have?

This is very interesting... What part of and where in our country is your accent from?

Try this just for fun. It diagnosed me perfectly- it knew I was Inland North and estimated Chicago.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/spl3/american-accent-quiz.html

Movie Stars

Click for an interesting program that shows the faces of the older movie stars

The Grand Canyon in Street View

The Grand Canyon in Street View

Street View can take you to some pretty exciting places. Few places conjure up a sense of grandeur than the Grand Canyon. Through our latest addition to the Street View family, Trekker, we’ve released thousands of beautiful, immersive images of this amazing place. From Google Maps.

Learn more

Feb 26, 2013

MPHS Alum Astronaut

Eating Chocolate

Great Books We Recommend

The books below were recommended by our fellow alumni on our MPHS Yahoo Group List for political discussions. Join us if you like lively political arguments. Occasionally we get angry, but proper decorum is ensured by corporal punishment - ie, pushups, situps, running laps, etc. Given our age punishments are virtual reality.

groups.yahoo.com/group/mphsforum

We also received contributions from the readers of our EmpeHi Reunion Yahoo Group - which stays away from the sometimes divisive political food fights.

groups.yahoo.com/group/EmpehiReunion

Ken Zalga

Right now I'm in the middle of the Vince Flynn series of agent Mitch Rapp... Fighting terrorism, CIA, etc.... Real page turners..

amazon.com/American-Assassin-Thriller-Vince-Flynn/dp/141659518X/ref=cm_lmf_img_1

Before that I read Ken Follets new books which are part of a trilogy..."Fall of Giants" and "Winter of the World"

If your into some really heavy reading I recommend the JJ George Martin Fire and Ice Series. 5 books of a continuing story about 5,000 pages. "Game of Thrones" which is his first book, a mini series which has been running on HBO .

Waiting on his 6th book

I got a Nook for my last Birthday... I recommend the Nook to any avid reader..
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Will Hepburn

My favorite book of all time is probably Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pillars_of_the_Earth
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Pillars of the Earth was a good read. I didn't like the sequel.

Marie Stazzone
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Ron Veenstra wrote:

I have read many of Fylnn's books up to several years ago. Mitch was fun to follow. Fun reads.

I have gotten into more audio books to fit my life style and that has been nice. I actually listen to Pillars of the Earth that Will talked about two times. The disadvantage for me with the audio books is that I get distracted by something and miss a whole chapter.
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Excellent book... How the Cathedrals of Europe were built...

Read that years ago..

Favorites for me are Atlas Shrugged and Enemy at the Gates...By William Craig...

They made a movie out of this book, but it was only one chapter.. I've read both of these books twice.... Enemy at the Gates was most excellent..The battle of Stalingrad from beginning to the last German and Italian Soldiers released from the Gulags in the 1950's...
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Craig Hullinger Jan 66. Books I recommend include:

The Journey of Man - a Genetic Oddysey by Spencer

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Journey_of_Man:_A_Genetic_Odyssey

Our Inner Ape by Franz De Waal

nytimes.com/2005/10/09/books/review/09grandin.html?_r=0

The Third Chimpanzee - Jared Diamond

Reluctant Warrior by my Marine friend Mike Hodgins amazon.com/Reluctant-Warrior-Michael-Hodgins/dp/0804111200

The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan

The Last Catholic in America by the late John Powers - A Must Read for a Soutsider - About Mt Greenwood

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_R._Powers

Raventross by my Marine friend John Wilkes

amazon.com/Raventross-ebook/dp/B0068FVC9E

Class Reunions by our own Taffy Cannon MPHS 66. The book reminds me of our MPHS Reunions.

taffycannon.com

I was on a roll reading David Baldacci books, and I highly recommend any of them, if you are into an espionage type of plot. I would not have considered myself to be someone that would enjoy this sort of read, but I can tell you that

I found myself jumping from one book to another. And to think, all of this started from a book I picked up at a garage sale. The woman in charge saw me looking at her books, and she highly recommend Baldacci to me. Heck, what did
I have to lose for a couple of bucks!?

davidbaldacci.com/books/books/

Enjoy!

Joan Pettavino '66

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Posted by:

"Will Hepburn" hepburncapital
Some classics like Lord of the Flies are talked about like they were required reading in school, yet like Marie's list, I've never ready any of them. I know I took it as sport to see how much required stuff I could avoid in school, so that may be why.

What of the classics were we required to read in school?

Will\

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I have rediscovered the "classiccs" and this past year read:
"Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck,
"The Bridge of San Luis Rey" by Thornton Wilder
"Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger.
All three are exceptional , but one of my all-time favorites remains "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee.

Marie

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Posted by Judy Willingham

Joan Pettavino wrote - I was on a roll reading David Baldacci books, and I highly recommend any of them, if you are into an espionage type of plot. I would not have considered myself to be someone that would enjoy this sort of read, but I can tell you that I found myself jumping from one book to another.
----------------------------------------------------------

The same thing happened to me years ago with Robert Ludlum -- in the space of a few weeks or a month, I devoured everything he had written.

I'll try David Baldacci on your recommendation, Joan. Thanks.

Judy

P.S. I just finished "Nineteen Minutes" by Jodi Piccoult. It was excellent and so timely, unfortunately.
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Posted by: "Joan Pettavino" hokeydork
Ahhh, I never even thought of the classics, Marie. Thanks for bringing them up. I'll have to give them a try - Joan

We spend precious hours fearing the inevitable. It would be wise to use that time adoring our families, cherishing our friends and living our lives! Maya Angelou
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Posted by: Tom Schildhouse

Although tame by today's standards in both sex and violence, the original Ian Fleming Bond books will always rank as favorites of mine. The literary Bond was a good counterpoint of Connery's portrayal of him. More rugged than
handsome, scarred and weathered but the kind of man who drew attention when entering a room. Never quite knew why women found him intriguing but never questioned the fact. Always "en garde" and never caught off-guard, he was
an unusual hero, as written, and a far cry from the more sophisticated and suave actors who went on to portray him through out the years. The books opened a interesting and always complex character.

Anything with Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, not a fan the more recent literary incarnations, but some of the tv and film adaptations, especially the modernized versions are interesting, although I find myself informing Karen, far too often of why Irene Adler, Moriarty, Mary Morsten, etc. are mis-portrayed or mis-represented.

Tom Schildhouse
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Joanie - if you enjoy espionage, try Vince Flynn (correct genre, I believe). Love, love, love his books and once I start one, I just want to sit and read it straight through.

Pam
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Posted by: Ron Veenstra

I must say, that we all seem to have similar reading interests. Most of the authors mentioned I am very familiar with and also like my long lost cousin, Will, I avoided most of the classics other than the comic book type for reports. Looking forward to someday having the time to reading them.
Good discussion you all,
Ron V
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Judy Halligan Willingham

Marie -- your post did not appear in my digest, and I cannot access it on this site for a reply, but I wanted to say that I've been tempted to re-read some of the classics as my granddaughters reach high school and are assigned them.

Several of them love to read, two others "not so much" but all are bright and capable of a good book dissection...oops, sorry, discussion!

Thanks for the idea.

Judy Halligan Willingham '66
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Tom Schildhouse

Of course, good books are memorable and enlightening in many ways. We frequently remember things we have read or experiences we hope to enjoy one day. Some of the books that brought back memories were (of Course) westerns and I loved anything about diving and Jacques Cousteau because the sea and its
depths have intrigued me since childhood.

I remember that, although best known for martinis, shaken not stirred, James Bond said on more than one occasion that Campari was the world's only civilized drink. To this day Campari is my number one drink of choice, I do love that Italian aperitif. Even though most Americans would rather imbibe cough syrup. And martinis, bleu cheese olives and ice cold and served "up"
are another life-long passion. And I have down WAY more than my share of beer and other spirits along the way. On our trips to the Caribbean, I can always count on Campari being readily at hand on any beach bar.

Joanie - if you enjoy espionage, try Vince Flynn (correct genre, I believe). Love, love, love his books and once I start one, I just want to sit and read it straight through.Pam
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From: Joan Pettavino

I was on a roll reading David Baldacci books, and I highly recommend any of them, if you are into an espionage type of plot. I would not have considered myself to be someone that would enjoy this sort of read, but I can tell you that I found myself jumping from one book to another. And to think, all of this started from a book I picked up at a garage sale. The woman in charge saw me looking at her books, and she highly recommend Baldacci to me. Heck, what did I have to lose for a couple of bucks!? Enjoy!

Joan P. '66

We spend precious hours fearing the inevitable. It would be wise to use that time adoring our families, cherishing our friends and living our lives! Maya Angelou
___

Gaye Marcus

I agree with Joanie, Baldachi is excellent. Also like Phillip Margolian (same genre). Have devoured Ludlum and Clancy too. Also like James Peterson's Alex Cross books. For something really different try Diana Gabaldin's Outlander series. Seems a bit far fetched at first, but she is such a good author that it doesn't take long to get into the storyline, For you Swedes out there, my friend Jerry Hunsicker wrote 3 books so far in a series called Axe of Iron. It is about how the Vikings settled in the New Land. Great insight into their culture, and also a good read. Would also recommend our own Taffy Cannon's mysteries. There are dozens of other authors that I read but these are the top ones. Happy reading!!!

Gaye in PA
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Joan Pettavino

Oh, by the way, I also read the whole series of the Jean Auel books, Clan of the Cave Bear, etc.. Though she is somewhat wordy, shall we say, in her descriptive style of writing, the stories are very good and highly interesting in depicting how the clans in caves probably lived. I am on the last one right now The Plains of Passage, but I had to put it down before the holidays and have not been able to pick it up since. One of these days.......!

We spend precious hours fearing the inevitable. It would be wise to use that time adoring our families, cherishing our friends and living our lives! Maya Angelou
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Philarealist gayemarcus

I agree with Joanie, Baldachi is excellent. Also like Phillip Margolian (same genre). Have devoured Ludlum and Clancy too. Also like James Peterson's Alex Cross books. For something really different try Diana Gabaldin's Outlander series. Seems a bit far fetched at first, but she is such a good author that it doesn't take long to get into the storyline, For you Swedes out there, my friend Jerry Hunsicker wrote 3 books so far in a series called Axe of Iron. It is about how the Vikings settled in the New Land. Great insight into their culture, and also a good read. Would also recommend our own Taffy Cannon's mysteries. There are dozens of other authors that I read but these are the top ones. Happy reading!!!

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I enjoyed her books also (Auel).

Anyone read anything by Abraham Verghese? I've read My Own Country and Cutting for Stone. Cutting for Stone I found difficult to get into,
but persevered and around page 250 or so, like Judy, I found myself so engaged, I didn't want to put it down.

Pam

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I was switched to the high school this year. Books that 11th graders are reading now in class are The Great Gatsby, the play Fences by August Wilson, Night by Elie Wiesel, Neither Wolf Nor Dog by Kent Nerburn (a MN author and a great book- non-fiction) and others. I have to come home every night and read besides doing other school work. I have not read this much in years. Reading The Circuit right now - memoirs of a Mexican immigrant family. Author is now a professor in California. Also a very good book although very short.

Anita Price

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I'm curious, Anita. Do you think these books are age-appropriate for 11th graders? Will they appreciate them as much as you, an adult?

Marie Stazzone
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Anita Price

I think they are age appropriate but not understood fully like they would be as an adult. Another book read by 11th graders in many school districts is the book called The Things They Carried. It is made up of memoirs from the Vietnam War. I had my husband read it too so he could help me explain things. They talk about a P-38. I actually brought my husband's to school to show the kids. It is a can-opener hung around their necks with their dog-tags. This is my first year of teaching in which I have read every foul word ever written. The last time I taught high school was in the 70's and I taught math. Now I am at HS supporting special Ed students in English classes.

Curriculum has sure changed since we were in HS.

Anita Price

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Blog News

Taffy is now participating in two group blogs on a regular basis: Thalia Press Authors Co-Op Blog and Get It Write (Perseverance Press).

Taffy is featured in the new anthology San Diego Noir!

San Diego Noir, the latest in the popular series from Akashic Books, features Taffy's unforgettable short story, "Instant Karma." The popular Noir series has circled the globe, stopping at last at this city better known for sunshine than darkness.
"When it's done right, noir is a darkly delicious thrill: smart, sharp-tongued, surprising. The knife goes in at the end with a twist... One highlight is from Taffy Cannon, who conjures a revenge-gone-bad story from a support group for the terminally ill."
—San Diego Union-Tribune Book Review
"These regional gems give us a chance to sample new stories from writers who know the dark sides of their cities... It is delightful to find Taffy Cannon included."
—Library Journal

Now Available for Kindle!