LAURINDA KEYS LONG

It's nice to catch up over so many years. I did get to have the career I dreamed of, being an international news correspondent, and have worked in or visited more than 150 countries. After graduating from USC I worked for several local newspapers, including the Pasadena Star News and L.A. Daily Journal. I joined the Associated Press in 1973 and was posted to bureaus in Los Angeles, San Diego, New York, South Africa, Sweden, Germany, Singapore and India, where I have lived the past 11 years, and where I met my husband, Peter Long, an Indian raised by American missionaries. Traveling from all those places I got to see and report on many of the major news events of the past few years, including the freeing of Nelson Mandela from prison, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the war in Bosnia, and the Nobel prize ceremony in Stockholm. Through all of this God has protected me and I have never been shot, injured or had anything horrible happen to me personally though I have tried to convey some of the things I have seen in my reports, the wonderful and the horrible. For the past five years I have been the editor of a magazine published by the U.S. Embassy to help Indians understand America. You can see it at http://span.state.gov to see some of your tax dollars at work. My husband and I enjoy spending time at our local church in New Delhi, where I head the Sunday School and teach the Bible. I hope to hear from those of you who remember me.

At Covina High, from 1965-69 I enjoyed working on the school newspaper, and also working as a teen correspondent for the San Gabriel Valley Tribune. We also had a lot of fun putting on skits at a couple of the All Girl Revues. Many of my closest friends were in the casts and we had a good time though we never won top prize. My favorite teacher was Mr. Callahan, who taught creative writing and always told us (and wrote in my year book) "It's not writing; it's all rewriting."
My sisters Sharon (class of '68) and Colleen (class of '70) attended at the same time I did. We used to work in the school snack bar to earn extra money. My brothers Holland (class of 73, who died at the age of 23) and Cameron (class of 74) all attended Covina High. Colleen and I used to enjoy walking from our house on Center Street (which burned to the ground last year) to the football games, which were held on a field close to us, not at the school campus. I really loved studying and learning and even got more credits than I needed to graduate because I loved attending summer school. I also enjoyed being in the service clubs and was pleased to have learned archery. The not-fun but now funnier than they were then memories include having swimming as my first period class in my freshman year so that I started my high school career with my hair wet every day, and never recovered from the social stigma; having some of my male classmates rough up my little brother who came to campus wearing a box over his body to advertise for one of my campaigns for a school board position; he ran home scared to death. But I've forgotten which guys those were and I know we have all matured now.