Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Billy Taylor composed "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free" in 1952.        
The song, with its stately melody and strong gospel roots, was embraced by leaders of the Civil Rights Movement as a message of peace and dignity.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Watch for drone displays to replace fireworks.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Volodymyr Zelenskyy is a hero.    
Glory to Ukraine.

  🇺🇦   🇺🇦   🇺🇦

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

He made a run for it, into North Korea.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Einstein was once traveling from Princeton on a train when the conductor came down the aisle punching the tickets of every passenger. When he came to Einstein, Einstein reached in his vest pocket. He couldn't find his ticket so he reached in his trouser pockets. It wasn't there. He looked in his briefcase but couldn't find it. Then he looked in the seat beside him, but it wasn't there.

The conductor said, "Dr Einstein, I know who you are, I'm sure you have a ticket. Don't worry about it."

Einstein nodded appreciatively. The conductor continued down the aisle punching tickets. Ready to move to the next car, he turned and saw the great physicist down on his hands and knees looking under his seat.

The conductor rushed back and said, "Dr Einstein, Dr Einstein, don't worry, I know who you are, I'm sure you have a ticket."

Einstein looked up at the conductor and said, "Sir, I know who I am. What I don't know is where I'm going."

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Do penguins have knees?

Larry Metnick

I I    I had breakfast this morning with Coach Burkel (seated right) Coach Armor(seated left) , Coach Foerch(seated middle). Standing left to,right, Darrell Kerbel, me, Steve Rochel and Ed Raymond, all former Niles West gymnasts.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Wow❗️  Lookin' good❗️

Rosalle Stemer

What a great picture, Larry

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

We do not inherit peace nor can we hoard it, we do not borrow peace nor can we sit on it.      
We make peace.        
with attribution to Dorothy Day

Fancy Miss Nancy (Novak)

Mark your calendars for the 2024 Twist & Shout, taking place from February 28th to March 3rd at the Crown Plaza Chicago O'Hare Hotel and Conference Center. We have secured an incredible room rate of $115 per night. This event will feature top-notch instructors, thrilling competitions, mesmerizing Fashion, Costume and Stage Shows, a grand Awards Banquet, and fantastic Jam and Vendor Rooms. To register, visit https://www.balloonconvention.com/
Should be lots of fun!

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

   It's a  H O T  day in Milwaukee,

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

   and it's  h o t t e r  tonight.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

       
           "He who laughs

       at himself never runs

     out of things to laugh at."     
 

             - Epictetus -

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

      "An arrogant person considers

     himself perfect. This is the chief

  harm of arrogance. It interferes with

        a person's main task in life -

        becoming a better person."        
 

                    - Leo Tolstoy

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Just as Robert Frost was at a point of divergence ("two roads diverged in a wood"), we are there:      
Where will our steps take us?        
Which road is ours?        
Which road will make all the difference?

Donn Pearlman

Hello to my 1964 classmates! It's been many moons since I last posted in this forum. 

Unless you skipped a grade or two, most of us either already are or will be 77 years young this year. Many of you have (hopefully, happily) retired. I have not yet by choice. It took me nearly 30 years to do what I always intended to do, and I'm not ready to give that up. I had a wonderful career in broadcasting, including 25 years with WBBM-CBS/Chicago, and voluntarily left in January 1996 to finally fulfill my original goal of becoming a public relations/marketing executive. 

That interesting career has taken me across the country and overseas. (The photo was taken at the 2019 World's Fair of Money.)

Best wishes to all!

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

   Hold fast to dreams    
   For if dreams die 
   Life is a broken-winged bird
   that cannot fly.          
   Hold fast to dreams      
   For when dreams go      
   Life is a barren field   
   frozen with snow.        
 -- Langston Hughes

Thanks, Donn, for cheering on the dreamers. Dream well.

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Daily concern about COVID-19 had faded from my life. Three grandchildren are now back at college; a classmate of my granddaughter has a sore throat and tested positive for COVID. Yes, it's just an anecdotal clue that the virus is making a comeback.        
For the general public, another anecdotal sign came on Monday evening, when FLOTUS Jill Biden tested positive for COVID.

Holly Semiloff (Ciotti)

Well, hello to anyone still hanging around.  Retire?  What's that???  So long as kids are still using passive voice and putting commas between two independent clauses, and telling me that the theme of a novel is "What goes around comes around," -- well, I'm still needed.  It's my 39th year teaching, and I'm not quite ready to hang up my red pen yet.  Teenagers is teenagers, and they are the energy and delight of the future -- if only we can corral them long enough to beat some sense into their nascent brains.  I've also developed the quirky habit of favoring the First Amendment, and so long as some injured parent is screaming that we should not teach To Kill a Mockingbird because a few instances of naughty language offends her dear teen's delicate sensibilities -- well, I'm there arguing that to oppose a piece of literature one should actually have READ it.

I could go on.  And I might, but it's Friday at 5:30 pm, and I'm out of candy, the coffee is bitter this late in the day, and it's time to go home and feed the cats (Shakespearean names of course: Cordelia -- King Lear, and Beatrice -- Much Ado about Nothing).

holly

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Holly, you are a delight; it's wonderful to know you are touching the future.          
Look forward to hearing more about your students (and your cats).
Janis

Linda Goebelt (Thompson)

I rarely,if ever, open the site.   I did today to find some refreshing posts from others than the repetitive one person "blogging ".  Thanks for sharing new news about your lives (which I thought was the purpose of this).  I am so impressed with those still working and enjoying it   I've been retired but have been oil painting again to sell which has been great   After all the kids and friends only need so many  I live in Mesa,Arizona and lived through the hot hot summer   It would be wonderful to hear what is going on with others from our class  Does anyone live in the Phoenix area?   

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

Linda, no one is happier than I am to hear from our classmates.      
Thanks for posting; it's good to know you lived through the hot hot Mesa summer and that you're oil painting to sell. Why not, like Sharry, post some of your paintings on our website?
All best wishes from the repetitive "blogger."

Janis Kliphardt (Emery)

"That's one of the problems with getting old: Your most deep-seated characteristics become more pronounced. Like aged wine, the things that make you distinctive become more developed and obvious. A lot of people age not just into their character but into their caricatures."        
-- Jonah Goldberg

Scott Mermel

My most interesting trip in the past 9 years was to downstate Illinois in 2017 to view the total eclispse of the sun which occured on my 70th birthday.  Nice present, huh?