Message Forum

Hello all,

Sorry I have not been here much as I have been heaps busy. But I want to wish you all a happy Easter this weekend.

The reason I have been so busy is that I am helping my friend as he is swamped with work this coming weekend with tons of activities going on. Who is this friend who is so swamped with work this weekend? Here is a picture of us:

Ahhhhhh......now you see?? *hehehe* GOTCHA!

04/23/17 03:38 PM

#416

Hello again all,

Did you know that our class is at the greatest age right now because we are in the center of generations above us and below us. In other words, how many of you still have parents and also grandparents living, and how many of you have kids and even grandkids? So that is 5 generations we may be privy to and we are smack dab in the middle. Let me tell you, there are some very awesome and also such wacky observations you can take from that. For example, how many of us have had those conversations with our children that revolved around “how good they have it now” as we had to go through some serious hardships they never went through. Here are a couple we can tell them: "When I was your age......I had to get up and walk to the TV to change the channel and adjust the volume", or "When I was your age, I had to learn how to read road maps when we were planning trips". I know you all can come up with other examples of our hardships our kids never had to deal with.

But the funny thing was that our parents did the same thing to us, and their parents did the same thing to them. I can imagine things said like "You had it so easy....when I was your age I had to milk the cows before school", or "I had to crank up the car to start it", or “I didn’t have a bathroom inside the house” and I am sure we heard this one "when I was your age I had to walk XX miles to school, I never had a bus to take me". Do any of you have other items you can offer here? I would like to know what other hardships the previous generations would tell their kids they never had to endure.

So........when my daughter does her "I am an adult now, stop treating me like a kid" and I do my "you have it so easy, when I was your age.......", I will realize that she will have to do the same dialouge with her kids one day and I imagine she will also do the "you kids have it so easy now, when I was your age....."

So, I thought of a couple of things she would say to her kids, like:

"I had to learn how to drive a car!"

"I had to remember pin codes and passwords!”

Can any of you think of some other things that your kids will have to say to their kids when they get to those "your generation has it so easy" discussions?

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I think my sense of humor and being able to embrace the wackiness of the world around me stems from my reading of items at a young age like Mad Magazine (and their paperback books featuring Don Martin, Dave Berg, Sergio Aragones, etc), Cracked magazine, National Lampoon, Not Brand Ecch (marvel comics spoof on their heros and villians). Which helps me to better post my stories here.

Do any of you remember the issue of Mad Magazine that had the cover that "illustrated" that they were the "#1 magazine"? That issue came out when we were at Lane. If you did, then you know what was so funny/controversial about it. (Hint: Some newsstands refused to sell this magazine issue). I actually had that issue in my possesion along with many other issues when I was growing up.

04/27/17 10:01 AM

#417

Kris says there's a Lane gals' meetup Saturday - when & where please?

Thanks!

04/27/17 01:35 PM

#418

Maja... it's this Saturday afternoon. We have about a dozen and a half women who have officially responded and I expect several people to just show up. 1:00-4:00 at O'Donovans on Irving. Super casual.

04/28/17 02:01 PM

#419

Okay I think I can make it for a bit!

04/29/17 04:09 PM

#420

Kris Ericson (Hallowell)

Yay. Go, you can say hi to people for me. I'll male the next one.

04/30/17 09:09 AM

#421

Andrea, Micky and Marie... this proves that good things CAN come from a margarita-infused afternoon. What a fun day! If anyone else has pictures, please share but here's the few I have from our Girl Power Reunion.

04/30/17 12:29 PM

#422

Robert Hashimoto

This is my first post and I am no Ken Ortiz. This does not have anything to do with Lane or our educational experiences but the day I had yesterday.

Volunteering’s Hidden Meaning

I started yesterday by attending a Nisei (second generation Japanese in the United States) Family veteran’s event for the establishment of the National Museum of the U. S. Army. This event was an outreach to the families of the veterans of the 100^th Battalion, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, and the Military Intelligence Service from WWII. The U. S. Army has decided to establish a national museum at Fort Belvoir, Virginia and has dedicated a space to honor the Japanese American unit that served from the internment camps during WWII. My interest in this is rooted in the fact that my uncles served in these units while their families lived in the internment camps.

The benefit of attending this was to meet General Shinseki. He was the Army Chief of Staff in 2003. For those who do not know what that means, he was the one in charge of the entire U. S. Army at that time. He opened up his remarks by stating that he was from Hawaii and grew up a Red Sox fan. He also said that his aunt was a Cubs fan and that he watched her cry over the years. He said that he was amazed to see the team that the Cubs became last year, but was quite pleased to announce that his Red Sox beat the Cubs on Friday, the day of his arrival and had to share that with us. He as well as all the speakers emphasized the point that they needed artifacts for the Nisei unit story for the new museum and were seeking donations.

I later volunteered to work at the Jesse Brown Veteran’s Administration (VA) Hospital in Chicago, with some Nisei veterans from the units I discussed above. They have been doing Bingo with the VA for about 40 years from what I am told.

Returning home after these events is where the adventure begins. Of course it was a dark and stormy afternoon (cue in dramatic music). Leaving downtown was backed up with traffic (even on Saturday). After leaving the Eisenhower and getting onto the Reagan toll road I thought I had it made. Suddenly the vehicle in front of me swerves out of the way and a large object appears. I look around and there are cars on both sides of me and I cannot stop. I did hit and run over a box spring. Now I drive this stretch frequently and have seen signs for Deer Crossing, but never have I seen anything for Mattress or let alone Box Spring crossings. So immediately there’s a loud noise followed by the impending blowout and the struggle to get across all the lanes to pull over to the shoulder. So there I am changing a tire while cars in the right lane are driving by and splashing me in their wake. Did I mention it was storming out? I changed the tire and got back into the car, soaked through my jacket to drive home. Now there’s that wonderful smell of wet dry cleaner wafting around like dead fish in the car (violins start playing) the rest of the drive home.

Now I could sit here and write how upset I am at the events that unfolded, but I won’t. I was fortunate enough to deploy and return intact. I was privileged to take time to spend with our veterans in the VA hospital, but more privileged to spend it with my WWII Nisei veteran friends that are the real role models. Sometimes you have to dig to find the meaning of things, but not today. The important part was that I got to see the end of the Cubs game and they beat the Red Sox 7-4 and take that General Shinseki!

So the lesson for the day; teach your box spring to look both ways before crossing and Cubs Win. Now I need them to win the rubber game to save face.

05/01/17 12:19 PM

#423

found in the (extensive) "sent emails" bin:

Looking back into Lane's doings only half as far as Ron Grossman ("Life in the Lane lane", Trib, 30 November 2008), I believe most of my experiences were more taxing than his. For example, the first year there, we had to wear sleeveless snap-front, one-piece, light blue gym "suits", the bottom elastic bloomer-style that ended far above our knees. Someone took pity on us by sophomore year, and we were allowed t-shirts and shorts like the boys had always worn.

My best friend from grammar school went to Lane too. We had division together, but not one class in four years. We both made other friends but keep in touch to this day.

If what counts toward nerdiness is lettering in something that wasn't a sport, I have Ron Grossman beat. I was given my "L" at the end of senior year, leading me to sew it on my sorority jacket at UICC (what says "nerd-ette" better that that?) I like to say I lettered in library and Student Council!

The guys were all frustrated at having to swim nude. The athletically-inclined girls like me were frustrated at not being allowed into the pool at all, because the boys "had" to swim naked! If I'd had to rely solely on the Chicago Public Schoools, I might never have learned to swim. Good thing there was summer camp out of state.

Even attending a technical school, I couldn't talk to my father (the late structural engineer Frederick P. Wiesinger), but thanks to Lane I could still take driving instruction, have a teacher who knew of Poe and other poets, and learn to work with tools.

-Maja Ramirez

Lane Tech, class of '76

05/02/17 11:09 AM

#424

June K Hori (Yamasaki)

I don't remember being allowed to wear t shirts and shorts for gym class! I would've gladly worn those instead of the bloomers, which I thought we had for all our four years there. I know it changed after we left, don't know exactly when, but I remember thinking how lucky these later classes of girls were, not having to wear those ridiculous bloomers.

05/02/17 03:22 PM

#425

Patricia Hodge (Hanes)

June, many times a fire drill would occur during my gym class and we would have to go outside in those horrible uniforms! It was so embarrassing and the guys were merciless!

05/02/17 07:13 PM

#426

So humiliating... and impossible to iron...but we rocked our tube socks!!!

05/03/17 09:40 AM

#427

Robert Cole

In warm weather we guys used to climb out the windows of Mr. Rafer's drafting class, sit on the roof of the auto shop and watch the girls' gym class outside! Good ol' Mr. Rafer! He also used to let us play football on the hall with a few rolled up old gym socks!

05/03/17 03:33 PM

#428

I thought it changed after a couple years...

Maybe because Alexsandra Popovich and I were soccer goalies and it was just for us?

Losing my memory, GGAAHHH!

05/03/17 10:08 PM

#429

Donna M. (Aka "Ria") Majeske

Hello all,

I really enjoyed the messages posted the last several days and also seeing the pictures of the "Girl Power" meet.

One thing that makes us "Lane-ites" unique is that we chose to go outside our comfort zone to attend a school farther away (having to take buses, trains, cars, other modes and even combinations of them to get there), where we were starting from scratch academically, with very few classmates we knew from our grade schools. Then to get thrown together with classmates of many different cultures, nationalities, social-economic classes, etc. But I know it did wonders for me and my personal growth to be exposed to and be able to relate and make friends with all these different classmates and it really helped me in my future endeavors.

The first several classes of females to attend Lane, to me, demonstrated much courage and perserverence. I can only imagine what your personal experiences were in regards to the acceptance and/or resistance of your attending Lane at that time. I can say that the introduction of female classmates caused Lane Tech to undergo a (insert catchy corporate term here:) "Paradigm shift".

So I will continue to welcome and enjoy all posts that any of you have to offer. I have learned so much by hearing about all of your stories, news and experiences, even if they are not Lane related. To me, no post is too trivial or mundane. With the many diverse classmates we have spread out all over, involved in many different acitvities, and experiencing things I have not experienced, I know I gain more insight with your postings.

05/03/17 10:50 PM

#430

We were definitely stuck in bloomers all four years, and I still vividly recall my dread of fire drills/bomb scares during gym class!

05/04/17 01:06 PM

#431

June K Hori (Yamasaki)

I'll say this about those bloomers: they were the Great Equalizer during those self-concious adolescent years. You could be stunning and gorgeous, but at least in gym class you looked as ridiculous as everyone else.

05/04/17 08:31 PM

#432

I think for the next "Girl Power" get together bloomers should be mandatory

05/05/17 08:59 AM

#433

Andrea M Adam

Hmmm, Be careful Ken. If the girls wear their bloomers then the boys have to wear the designated swim attire- simply a swim cap. Yikes!

05/05/17 10:45 PM

#434

Robert Cole

Andrea, we were TWO items to swim class... a swim cap and a smile!

05/06/17 02:56 PM

#435

Well the smile is a given!

And all I will bring is a swim cap........just placed in a "strategic" area.

By the way, I went thrift shopping at one of the local thrift stores around my area and lookie what I found:

Pretty cool, hey? I just took a picture of it though, I did not buy it. Maybe I should have.....

05/06/17 06:55 PM

#436

John Todesco

The boys were only frustrated because they wouldn't let the girls into our swim class with the same swim attire. ;-)

05/12/17 05:04 PM

#437