David W. Shaner--a Remembrance

David W. Shaner--a Remembrance  

I loved him. He had a tremendous impact on my life--not sure I would have turned out as well without him. He was a WWII veteran of the Pacific theater, a gentleman, a class act, a perfectionist, and a strict disciplinarian. He was the most beloved...and hated...teacher at Riverside. I took every course he taught and had to learn how to knit and play chess to play Anne Frank's mother, sang and danced my way through Mame and Dolly, and was Maria in The Sound of Music. We remained close throughout the rest of his life--when my family and I moved to Orlando in '86, he bought a winter home in the Villages and we got together often. In 2005, I was one of the last to speak with him in his final days and was very surprised to have been one of 8 former students named in his will. I was asked to write a remembrance of DWS which was published in the program for the dedication of the auditorium in his name. 

He was my "Professor Higgins"--he took this scrawny teenage girl from an alcoholic home and opened my eyes and my heart to the realization that I could achieve my dreams. He held the bar far higher than we thought we could ever reach --and when we did, we gained the confidence and the character to reach further, jump higher, and we took that confidence out into the world. In his final speech to us before opening night of The Sound of Music in 1973, he said, "The perfect way is the only way, and the only way is the perfect way."  It was that philosophy which caused many to hate him, all of us to fear him, but it was also the magic that transformed many of our lives!  His impact on my life is immeasurable. 

Thx

I have issues with the word "Thanks" aka "Thanx."  

It's curt, brusque, insincere,

leaving the recipient in the wake of the speaker's speedy exit. 

It says, "I'm not grateful enough to give you more than a syllable or an extra second of my time."  

It's the vocabulary of entitlement. 

The phrase, "Thank you," is a bit better. 

It requires a turn of the cheek, 

     a moment of eye contact, 

     an extra breath to acknowledge the giver of the gift for their 

      Thought    effort     time. 

But best of all--"I am so grateful for you"..."I appreciate you"

Feels like a warm embrace, 

heart to heart engagement 

of both parties.

Dear Cleveland Plain Dealer,

Dear Senior Editor of the Plain Dealer, You are disappointing two of your loyal readers more and more these days. Tell me please--to what story is this headline attached?  

No story. 

Sheer speculation. 

No substantiation. 

Seriously?  

In the last year, it has become evident that you rely more on image than text to communicate the news, or should I say,  your spin on events impacting our community, our country, the globe. 

Gone are the days when assumptions and hype were taboo. 

Now, your editorial decisions are based on what headline and image will sell more papers than on the depth and accuracy of reporting. 

Even the reading level has dropped two levels. 

Your paper used to be written at a 7th-grade reading level--

now 5th grade--

and that's the classified section!  

Full page color photos have replaced the excellent writing of former columnists and beat reporters, many of whom were Pulitzer Prize winners!  

And your Customer Service department, well, don't get me started!!!  

Quite honestly, it's only because of 

Crankshaft and 

Bizarro and 

John Funk and 

Ted Crow and 

a sentimental attachment to newsprint and ink that keeps us subscribing.  

Sincerely yours... 

Katherine Szerdy & Steven Szerdy, 

loyal subscribers 

The Harris Sisters

The Harris sisters both married Hunkies and both had two boys but then one had a surprise and both love Jesus and reading the Bible and healthy eating and walking fast and Christmas and cabbage rolls and church potlucks and girly tea places and quiet time and wouldn't be seen out of the house without lipstick and hair perfectly coiffed and both sent two kids to the sandbox to serve their country more than once and once, all at once...  Katherine Szerdy and Linda Rusnak

Making Macabre Now Trumps Making Merry!

I've noticed in the past few years that Halloween has become nearly as big a celebration as Christmas.  It seems that more people decorate for Halloween than put up Christmas trees.  Installing dazzling light displays with flashing black lights and special effects that even Tim Burton would envy, our neighbors convert entire front yards into graveyards. 

The stores love it, too!  Beggar's night has become quite an industry--an entire season rather than one fun night wearing homemade costumes going door to door, little vagabond voices chiming, "Trick or Treat," holding out pillow cases in which to gather the sweet loot!  I remember well how long it took, how many doorbells we had to ring to collect a pound or two back in the day when candy was doled out a piece at a time. If you lived in the country, you were screwed. 

Target devotes a huge section of their store to Halloween right after the school supply lists are filled. These days, making macabre supersedes making merry. Yikes!  The average cost of costumes in the stores today are the same as a decent pair of shoes. Star Wars storm troupers ($40 @ Target) are most popular this year in honor of the release of the new Star Wars blockbuster on Dec 18. Brilliant marketing!?!  Hmm.  At least it gives a boost to big box stores' profit margins and the sagging Chinese economy.   And we have plenty of Storm Troupers crisscrossing our neighborhoods to intimidate us into obeisance. 

And more big kids are getting into the action today as over half the costumes sold in stores are adult sizes. When I was a kid, 14 was the max, the year we all dreaded as being too "old" to step out the door in costume.  It's a new millennium, however!  Millennial Trick-or-treaters aren't growing out of it these days--they go door to door with their kids in costume but linger with the neighbor's opting for a toddy over a treat!  Halloween parties litter our iCals for the entire month! 

I still say homemade is best, however.  This year, when my niece Chrissy asked her little 4-year-old Emma what she wanted to be this year, she replied, "A clock."   LOLOL!!!  I challenge you to find a clock costume in the stores!   So not wanting to disappoint her simple request, Grandpa and Chrissy got busy with a little old-fashioned felt and glue and it turned out adorable!  One of a kind--and one she can wear over her coat!   And little Emma comes away from this Halloween with much more than a felted timepiece--she is blessed with memories of treasured time with her Grampy. So much better than post-traumatic flashbacks of Target trips to grab the latest trend in mass-marketed Chinese-made cellulose and plastics destined for a post-Halloween trip to a landfill near you!