Quote:
Originally Posted by CaliNative
Just a small sample: Mayim Bialik, Adam Corolla, Nick Cassavetes, Bert Convy, Teri Garr, Cuba Gooding, Alan Ladd, Susan Sontag, Michael Tilson Thomas, John Williams
|
That's a great list,
CaliNative! I never knew about John Williams(!!), of whom I am a
huge fan.
I just checked this list:
Notable alumni
... and realized that I personally knew two of the people on it:
Brent Fischer, from whom I took music lessons, and porn star
Christy Canyon (who I knew by her real name, Missy Bardizbanian). I
kind of knew
Molly Ringwald (I actually knew her brother, Kelly), and while I used to see her at NHHS all the time, she's not on that list for some reason.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CaliNative
My memorable NoHoHS teachers from the late 1960s:
Lyle Wolfe, history. Very funny but a very good teacher. Retired a few years later and opened a bed & breakfast in Vermont with his wife, just like that Newhart show! Looked like Jonathan Winters and did a pretty good imitation of him.
Mr. Corbin, physics. His experiments were always fun.
Mr. Kazanznak & Mr. Lerner, math (Lerner was a part timer who taught calculus and made it easy).
Mr. Kennedy, biology
Mr. Doucette, English. When you gave the right answer or said something clever he would shout "Good man!". As funny as Mr. Wolfe, made literature fun. Like Robin Williams' Mr. Keating in "Dead Poet's Society". He actually said "Carpe diem!" often, 20 years before DPS was released in 1989. Maybe he was the model for Mr. Keating, although the film was set in a northeastern prep school.
|
I attended NHHS in the eighties, and most of the names on your list don't ring a bell with me. However, I
clearly remember
Mr. Kazanznak, who I had for homeroom.
I'll admit, I came to be not particularly fond of him. He had a previous student named
Kirk, who apparently was a real troublemaker. I guess I physically resembled Kirk, as it quickly became apparent that Mr. Kazanznak actually thought that I
was Kirk.
From the very first day I entered his classroom, Mr. Kazanznak would make it a point to harass and embarrass me in front of the entire homeroom class - all because he thought I was some guy named Kirk.
He'd say things to me like
“How are you going to screw up my class today, Kirk?” Sometimes he would greet me with
“I know it's asking a lot, but try not to be a total jackass today, Kirk!” And when he'd give us a stack of papers to take one and pass the others back, he'd say
“You think your simple mind can handle such a complex task, Kirk?” And then the entire class would laugh at me.
I told him
over and over again that I was
NOT Kirk, but it never stuck. He'd mumble
“oh yeah, sorry” - and three days later he'd start up with the “Kirk” insults again.
I was a shy, quiet student who never made a peep, so I could never understand how Mr. Kazanznak could repeatedly mistake me for some loud rabble rouser/class disrupter.
I complained about this to my counselor so many times that she finally switched me to another homeroom. Believe me, I rejoiced at her decision - it's not easy being in a class where the teacher routinely makes a public mockery out of you because he thinks you're somebody else.
My apologies for not having a more pleasant memory of the man,
CaliNative. I know it sounds like I'm carrying a chip on my shoulder but honestly, I haven't even thought of this stuff for ten or twenty years.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CaliNative
Did you also go to Walter Reed Jr. HS? Lots of famous alum there. Great Middle School.
|
I attended Walter Reed, it was such a beautiful school. Lots of good memories there, too!
And I'm still best friends with a guy I met there in eighth grade!