While we were never close friends, and indeed he and I were very different people in high school, but I got to know Jonathan through 2 years of Physics classes with Mr. Quail. I was continuously impressed by his intellect, and his ability to not only understand complex math and physics, but to link them to philosophical theories. He also had a very esoteric sense of humor, that found a rare outlet among the very small (I think there were 6 of us) group in that 2nd year Physics class. My favorite memory of him, though, was when he ran against me (and a bunch of others) for senior class president as a gag/protest against the whole popularity contest nature of the event. In his speech (those of you who knew him are probably having a hard time envisioning him giving a speech at a podium in front of hundreds of his classmates) he grew impassioned and actually took off his shoe and pounded it on the podium. It was awesome. May he rest in peace.
Jonathan was a bit of an eclectic character, with a wry sense of humor---often giving Dr Englert a run for his money, in Calculus class. I recall one "incident", where Jonathan, somewhat sheepishly corrected Dr Englert about the answer to a rather esoteric problem. Dr Englert bellowed, "Mr Schulman (!!!!) . . . You are absolutely correct. Well done. As you were." . . . Jonathan was beeming, for the better part of a week. He also was quite the wiz, at Physics, and was wicked-capable, at Chess. While much of his personal expertise was not all that "cool", relative to mainstream high school existence, those that "knew", knew that Jonathan was sharp as a tack, and commanded great respect for his intellectual prowess. May you go in Peace, Jonathan---as you are remembered, and will be missed.
I remember my first impressions of Jonathan Schulman. He just showed up one day at lunch: a goofy kid with straight blond hair, staring straight ahead, feet planted firmly on the floor. Sort of like a new character brought in to enliven an old comic strip. It seems to me that he just sat there for several days before anyone spoke to him. His lunch consisted of a chocolate bar, which he extracted each day from his binder. He drew pictures of turtles. We eventually became good friends, but throughout high school, I always found him a bit distant. He had his own internal life, and in those days we wouldn't intrude. Schulman (we rarely called him Jonathan) was the first of my friends who had genuine adult interests. He loved Buckminster Fuller, knew something of philosophy and of higher math. At the time I read nothing but science fiction, so his ideas were a revelation to me. Schulman played the violin, and at one point he translated the digits of pi into base 12, assigned each number to a note, and played this composition for us. I'm glad that Josh remembers the pounding the podium speech! Schulman used to write speeches now and then which seemed to be about everything and nothing. Each speech began: "Throughout the ages, man has raised and re-raised the question..." The podium pounding was written into the speech as a stage instruction. We were very surprised that he had the courage to speak in front of the whole class -- we were a very shy bunch! Schulman also surprised us when he joined a basketball team (led, I believe, by Bob Chaikin). He was not very good, so this too took courage. In the one game I saw him play, he took a shot which entirely missed the backboard. A player on the opposing team was impressed. "He wants to shoot bad," he said. "Real bad!" My little crowd also played tennis, and Schulman was a reliable player. Well, no worse than the rest of us.
I only saw Schulman once or twice after we all graduated from college. He moved to Boston, and I moved to Berkeley. I saw him last in Boston in the 90's. He seemed much more open -- the 'distant" thing was gone -- but alas, after a handful of emails about personal ups and downs, we fell out of touch.
Jonathan was one of very few people I could relate to in high school, back before I learned to talk with people -- we shared a love of math, and a general bewilderment about the world, which we expressed through humor that was sometime surreal, sometimes mocking. But we really appreciated one another. I am very sad that I won't see him again.
Thank you to the guys who submitted your beautifully written, honest memories of Jonathan and your time together in high school. I, too was shy in high school and think I had a crush on Jonathan. We may have known each other through our parents so had seen each other sometimes outside of school. The rest is fuzzy. But I do remember also seeing him once in the 90's in Boston and really feeling we had a connection. From your descriptions of him, I see I would have really appreciated him as an adult and am sorry I didn't reach out to see him more in Boston where I have lived for 30+ years. It was sad to see that he had passed. Funny how we often learn more about people once they've died. Well, anyway, nice to see the few memories here. Thanks again for posting and bringing back some memories of my own.
I ,too, appreciate the memories posted above. Jonathan was one of my few close friends in high school. My memories of him also include the many lunches we shared together (beyond the candy bar, he usually had a bag of celery and carrot sticks.) He was a thoughtful listener, and an active participant in the mathematical discussions which were above my head. I, too, remember his enthusiasm for Buckminster Fuller, and his admiration of his father, who taught English at John Hay, had thousands of books, and told his students after reading Thoreau’s Civil Disobediance that if they really had read and understood it he would not blame them if they walked out of class in protest. I too remember his opening line for all papers, and also remember that after neither of us had started the assigned reading of Moby Dick, he responded to Dr Rehor’s pop quiz question “Who was Ishmael?” with the bold statement “ quarterback of the 1923 Cornell football team.” I remember talking with him in college as he made the decision to switch from Case to Bennington, where he hoped to find a more rounded liberal arts experience. And I remember getting together when he was in grad school in math at Brandeis, and deciding that a doctorate would not be for him. We got together several other times over the years to play basketball, or go to a concert, and I vividly remember running into him on the subway 28 years ago as I was heading for surgery on my hand. I took it as divine intervention that this old friend, who had been such a wonderful friend in high school, was able to offer me the reassurance I needed that day. And I regret that we were not in touch over the last decade so I could repay the favor a bit as he went through his own medical struggles. My thoughts are with his wife in Boston and his mom in Cleveland.
Josh Lindsay
While we were never close friends, and indeed he and I were very different people in high school, but I got to know Jonathan through 2 years of Physics classes with Mr. Quail. I was continuously impressed by his intellect, and his ability to not only understand complex math and physics, but to link them to philosophical theories. He also had a very esoteric sense of humor, that found a rare outlet among the very small (I think there were 6 of us) group in that 2nd year Physics class. My favorite memory of him, though, was when he ran against me (and a bunch of others) for senior class president as a gag/protest against the whole popularity contest nature of the event. In his speech (those of you who knew him are probably having a hard time envisioning him giving a speech at a podium in front of hundreds of his classmates) he grew impassioned and actually took off his shoe and pounded it on the podium. It was awesome. May he rest in peace.
Bob Seekely
Jonathan was a bit of an eclectic character, with a wry sense of humor---often giving Dr Englert a run for his money, in Calculus class. I recall one "incident", where Jonathan, somewhat sheepishly corrected Dr Englert about the answer to a rather esoteric problem. Dr Englert bellowed, "Mr Schulman (!!!!) . . . You are absolutely correct. Well done. As you were." . . . Jonathan was beeming, for the better part of a week. He also was quite the wiz, at Physics, and was wicked-capable, at Chess. While much of his personal expertise was not all that "cool", relative to mainstream high school existence, those that "knew", knew that Jonathan was sharp as a tack, and commanded great respect for his intellectual prowess. May you go in Peace, Jonathan---as you are remembered, and will be missed.
Daniel Plonsey (Plonsey)
I remember my first impressions of Jonathan Schulman. He just showed up one day at lunch: a goofy kid with straight blond hair, staring straight ahead, feet planted firmly on the floor. Sort of like a new character brought in to enliven an old comic strip. It seems to me that he just sat there for several days before anyone spoke to him. His lunch consisted of a chocolate bar, which he extracted each day from his binder. He drew pictures of turtles. We eventually became good friends, but throughout high school, I always found him a bit distant. He had his own internal life, and in those days we wouldn't intrude. Schulman (we rarely called him Jonathan) was the first of my friends who had genuine adult interests. He loved Buckminster Fuller, knew something of philosophy and of higher math. At the time I read nothing but science fiction, so his ideas were a revelation to me. Schulman played the violin, and at one point he translated the digits of pi into base 12, assigned each number to a note, and played this composition for us. I'm glad that Josh remembers the pounding the podium speech! Schulman used to write speeches now and then which seemed to be about everything and nothing. Each speech began: "Throughout the ages, man has raised and re-raised the question..." The podium pounding was written into the speech as a stage instruction. We were very surprised that he had the courage to speak in front of the whole class -- we were a very shy bunch! Schulman also surprised us when he joined a basketball team (led, I believe, by Bob Chaikin). He was not very good, so this too took courage. In the one game I saw him play, he took a shot which entirely missed the backboard. A player on the opposing team was impressed. "He wants to shoot bad," he said. "Real bad!" My little crowd also played tennis, and Schulman was a reliable player. Well, no worse than the rest of us.
I only saw Schulman once or twice after we all graduated from college. He moved to Boston, and I moved to Berkeley. I saw him last in Boston in the 90's. He seemed much more open -- the 'distant" thing was gone -- but alas, after a handful of emails about personal ups and downs, we fell out of touch.
Jonathan was one of very few people I could relate to in high school, back before I learned to talk with people -- we shared a love of math, and a general bewilderment about the world, which we expressed through humor that was sometime surreal, sometimes mocking. But we really appreciated one another. I am very sad that I won't see him again.
Dan Plonsey
El Cerrito, CA
Lynn Eisentstein (Dreyfus)
Thank you to the guys who submitted your beautifully written, honest memories of Jonathan and your time together in high school. I, too was shy in high school and think I had a crush on Jonathan. We may have known each other through our parents so had seen each other sometimes outside of school. The rest is fuzzy. But I do remember also seeing him once in the 90's in Boston and really feeling we had a connection. From your descriptions of him, I see I would have really appreciated him as an adult and am sorry I didn't reach out to see him more in Boston where I have lived for 30+ years. It was sad to see that he had passed. Funny how we often learn more about people once they've died. Well, anyway, nice to see the few memories here. Thanks again for posting and bringing back some memories of my own.
John Adams
I ,too, appreciate the memories posted above. Jonathan was one of my few close friends in high school. My memories of him also include the many lunches we shared together (beyond the candy bar, he usually had a bag of celery and carrot sticks.) He was a thoughtful listener, and an active participant in the mathematical discussions which were above my head. I, too, remember his enthusiasm for Buckminster Fuller, and his admiration of his father, who taught English at John Hay, had thousands of books, and told his students after reading Thoreau’s Civil Disobediance that if they really had read and understood it he would not blame them if they walked out of class in protest. I too remember his opening line for all papers, and also remember that after neither of us had started the assigned reading of Moby Dick, he responded to Dr Rehor’s pop quiz question “Who was Ishmael?” with the bold statement “ quarterback of the 1923 Cornell football team.” I remember talking with him in college as he made the decision to switch from Case to Bennington, where he hoped to find a more rounded liberal arts experience. And I remember getting together when he was in grad school in math at Brandeis, and deciding that a doctorate would not be for him. We got together several other times over the years to play basketball, or go to a concert, and I vividly remember running into him on the subway 28 years ago as I was heading for surgery on my hand. I took it as divine intervention that this old friend, who had been such a wonderful friend in high school, was able to offer me the reassurance I needed that day. And I regret that we were not in touch over the last decade so I could repay the favor a bit as he went through his own medical struggles. My thoughts are with his wife in Boston and his mom in Cleveland.