Gateway First Four Years and More - 1969 and onward

Since October I have been writing again. I was encouraged by my wife Patty, and inspired by my old cohort, Jack Wiler. His blog and poetry stirred things deep within me, and all of a sudden they came pouring out, and I've surprised myself on more than one occasion.
I received Jack's book of poetry, "Fun Being Me", from my sister as a Christmas gift in 2007. I started reading it on Christmas Eve, and I had trouble putting it down. All night long I kept writing poetry in my dreams. I got up earlier than everyone else and wrote down a few of the verses I could still remember.

In 1984 my younger brother Carl died. The following year my favorite cousin Charlie died on the Fourth of July, my brother's birthday.
I decided that I would fulfill a dream the three of us had and I would travel to as much of the western part of the United States as I could, taking in the land of the cowboy and visiting the natural wonders of the area.
Patty and I traveled from 1985 to 1995, marveling at our nation's natural beauty. I fell in love with the solitude of the desert southwest, and I could go for some New Mexican cuisine right now.

In 1969 a group of students got together and decided to change the Polaris, our school newspaper.
We decided to report on what was happening out in the real world as well as what was going on within our classroom walls. Students would write opinion columns, and we hoped to encourage ideas from across the spectrum. Our school paper was going to be different, and we were going to raise some eyebrows.

Do you have a favorite place that you have visited a number of times over the years?

Why not add a story to the site about a place that you would like us to know about.

A visitor to the site wrote:

My wife wants to know the meaning of the site name. Do you mean the first four graduating classes? School opened in '64 so she's confused and will make my life a living hell unless I get an answer.

My answer is:

Sometimes people have more luck watching a video after it has been converted to youtube's format.

Woodbury Heights on the stairs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6Iwd-PSVv0

Wenonah on the stairs - video from the stairs - I am trying to say "at a Press Conference"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaDttRIqT98

I watched it as it rose up from Mr. Rizzuto's field, the field he didn't like us to play in. I watched as they tore down the trees of the woods that were my worlds of imagination. High school in my own back yard! No more eight-tenths of a mile walk, I can be there in three minutes flat, a short walk down Egg Harbor Road. I won't have to stay for lunch, I thought, finally I can come home! No such luck, we had to eat in that God forsaken cafeteria.
How would I cope separated from my Woodbury Heights classmates? Walking down hallways every hour or so, trying to find my way around.

Okay, so it wasn't a landmark year. And it was inexpensive. But bunches of us showed up and were we all too cool for school. Also we were a talkative bunch. Yakkety, yakkety, yak. I'll throw up some photos and post a bio and I encourage all of you to send Bob and I photos and content. It was a wild night and we're hoping to put together a bigger bash, either next year or the year after for all of us knuckleheads. I mean we were too cool for that school and we were the ones who made it what it was. How nice we didn't all turn out to be losers.