Additional input from classmates

Gene,

Okay, three gems in a row is no longer an accident. I suspect Latin must be given its due credit for your proficiency as a wordsmith. But the inspiration for your sense of humor remains a mystery to me. You bring to mind J.D. Salinger and Holden Caulfield his fictional character, the protagonist and antihero of the 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye.
The boy himself is at once too simple and too complex for us to make any final comment about him or his story. Perhaps the safest thing we can say about Holden is that he was born in the world not just strongly attracted to beauty but, almost, hopelessly impaled on it.—Original book jacket copy, possibly partially written by Salinger.
All in favor of Gene Laskowski for Literary Laureate of Aragon Class of 1963****, by acclamation, should weigh in at the Blog that has been created for us by Joel P.

To prove your continued worthiness of this honor Gene, there will be the customary and periodic submission of your literary talent in the form of pre-released novels, screenplays, poems etc. As with novelist and playwright Harold Pinter and poet and painter Lawrence Ferlinghetti your politics will be viewed with indifference.

Sadly you and Jeri are 'Two for the Road'. I am friends with Capt. Smitty, party boat skipper of the Riptide out of Half Moon Bay who scatters ashes at sea. I know Point Lobos to be a befitting place of rest.

John

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John, I would be willing to risk a life of crime on the lamb to get a Joe DiMaggio SF Seals autotgraph. I'm wondering if you could attach a floor plan of your home with indication of where you keep that particular baseball and perhaps even some sense of when you and your wife are not home and whether or not you have an alarm system. Also it's good to know that your memory is fading along with the rest of ours: Larson was a Yankee (remember the photo of Yogi Berra leaping into his arms?). HA! This is the first and undoubtedly the last time I will have occasion redirect your memory, and this is particularly true since your memory of Aragon is razor sharp and mine is so muddled, although with a little prompting I could conjure up Jorgenson's shot from the top of the key. You who were athletes learned something about excellence and risk that I did not. We are off in a few hours to Carmel and, more importantly, Point Lobos. My sister died this past September and we will scatter her ashes there, and dedicate a bench in memory of my father whose ashes we also scattered there. Well, I will go iron my trousers for the trip and ponder whether I should wear them rolled.

Best,
Gene (Laskowski)


I was so lost, alienated, and fearful in high school that I could hardly find my way to Aragon, let alone to a prom. So it was not a Happy-Days-down-at-the- malt-shop-doing-the-bop experience, although had I had that experience I probably would have ended up a Republican. I did find myself driving by a certain young woman's house on occasion when I had my dad's Tempest V-8 convertible, hoping she would somehow be outside. The closest I can get to a prom is humming to my wife as we dance in the driveway when we get back from Showcase Cinema, although now that seems enough. Would that I had heard that music under these stars back then.

John (Evans), I too am a paper-route veteran although I retired early, and I think triumphantly, when we moved from Salinas to San Mateo. I came to think of myself as strong in middle relief, pitching fold-and-tucked copies of the "Salinas Californian" so that they exploded against the front doors of customers. This may be the genesis of my collection of autographed baseballs of great pitchers, the prized one being Johnny Podres from the '55 Dodger World Series victories--finally--over the Yankees. I thought perhaps the Tigers would contact me, given their troubles last summer, but Spring Training has opened and so far they haven't contacted me. Maybe I need an agent. Well, at least I bought a new mitt last summer...and a pitch-back. The sight of a 63-year-old adult throwing a baseball to a pitch-back may have the quality of the pathetic for some, but to me it's an aesthetic experience. Our Spring Break starts this Saturday and Jeri and I are off to Carmel and Point Lobos. We've had so much snow and gray in Ann Arbor that we're ready for anything that even borders on sunshine.