Nancy Goldstein's Comments

ok now you have to tell me about donald. i knew the whole family.i emailed you a more accurate email for natalia

Thanks for the info....i will probably find out, even though i have a feeling that it isnt good. Hopefully it isnt as bad as Donald Pretto.
Its a small and crazy world...

nancy, i replied to your comment on the posted picture of our family. go to the picture to read.

great neck was a huge mis-step. sorry parents felt the need to move from kew garden hills. the culmination (and great neck directly involved/culpable) was my father's suicide (self-inflicted/gun) a year ago in his 12 million dollar house (TMI?)

ru, i am a music, literature and movie snob but because i am also from main st and my father who had no high falootin ways and always brought me back to the street, i also have a love for steven tyler, ac/dc and whatever other bad boys sing the blues. as for feelin like an odd jew out- how about being the only girl of my friends who went to hebrew school or the only white girl who tried out for the track team at john bowne hs and then was the only jew on the track team at queens college or the only jew to place in a swim race out in sag harbor and then i won't even get into my years ypsilanti, michigan back in the day. now i live in a suburban jewish enclave of privilege and status enuf to make you long for vleigh place, can u imagine!

nancy, re: 'the only white girl who tried out for the track team' reminds me of that short performance piece on Saturday Night Live about 20 years ago by the black girl who always wanted to be a white cheerleader.

i am a snob (although like slumming) and never had the "main street" tempering (i.e. your father). my father graduated Cornell at 19, grew up for generations with money as did my mother (her father was president of the sound division of RCA). in 1965 we moved from Kew Garden Hillls to a 3 acre house on the Long Island Sound with a tennis court and swimming pool in Kings Point. my parents always enjoyed the simplicity of Kew Garden Hills and actually sort of moved there to not be like their parents (my moter had a live in maid and chauffer in Scarsdale). ultimately they succumbed to what they thought they should do with their money. my father returned from a business trip to London and said, "my sales manager in England is living better than us, we're moving to Great Neck. it was all downhill from there: my father started having an affair with my mother's best friend and then married her and it got even worse and more bizarre after that. the moral being: Kew Garden Hills is very nice and no need to move on. and that might be why this site is so popular.

she liked the fact that the immediate neighborhood seemed "mixed" as compared to Great Neck (where we moved from Kew Garden HIlls in '65). in reality it was mostly jewish, but not 98% like most of Great Neck. (she grew up Scarsdale in the 30's and 40's where they were the only jews and always felt like a an odd duck and experienced some anti-semitism).

i am familiar with Bayside being somewhat of Main Street to Bayside not being a lateral move. and, after living for over a decade in rural massachusetts enjoy hearing "jewish geography."

not sure how visual you are, but if you haven't yet seen my new posted pic from Park Drive East and 73rd ave; 1957, check out under "photos." my across the street neighbor Joanne (Fox) Someck, also class of '65 has made it her screen saver.

glad you continue to communicate with me despite my stated previous affection for Aerosmith, which, admittedly is not as sophisticated as, i think "The Smithers" or whatever esoteric rock and roll you were talking about with someone else. i am somewhat un-intellectual in my musical tastes - enjoy middle-of-the-road stuff.

hi - just saw you live in Albertson. my mother lived in Searingtown for 20 years (til about 5 yrs ago) used to exit the Albertson station on The Diesel train (since changed to electric) and "change in Jamaica"when coming from nyc...her husband was too fancy to take it, used to drive to Manhasset. their address was Ridge Road off Searingtown Rd exit 36. I seemed to think only gentiles lived in Albertson??
btw, check out the (our) 1957 family image i just posted under "photos"
peter

No surprise. It's the writer's bible. That little blue book can turn an atrocious writer into a passable one, and a good writer into an excellent writer.
It won't help with organization. That's a whole other matter.
However, a person who follows the advice in that book will discover that writing is quite easy if you follow a few simple rules - agreement, use the active voice and be concise.
The "Elements of Style" is to writing what the "Bill of Rights" is to American society.
Favorite writers: Issac Singer, Robert Coover, Hemingway, Neil Sheehan, Halberstam, Robert Caro and Domenick Dunne. And I also like reading Stephen Ambrose's WWII histories: Band of Brothers, Citizen Soldiers, etc
Here's my recommendation for great summer reads:
They Marched Into Sunlight: War and Peace Vietnam and America October 1967 by David Maraniss
or
A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam by Neil Sheehan
The latter is a very long book, but well worth the investment. Sheehan's reporting and writing are spectacular.

Nancy, after trying to teach writing to my own children and as an journalism adjunct at SUNY-B, there's one simple approach that usually works. Have them begin with simple, declarative sentences. Train them to use "active" verbs. It won't be the most colorful writing, but it will enable them to master the basic skills and then advance to more a complex sentence structure.
When they master the simple sentence, then move on to more complex sentences with independent clauses, etc.
Some students will never get it. But many will thank you.
There's no better book on writing then Strunk & White's "Elements of Style." Have your students sleep with this book. Make them read it once. Make them read it twice. It's 80 pages of the best writing advice from the master himself.

it's wonderful that you can pinpoint the reason so succinctly. you must have been a good teacher.i try to teach writing to my students.it's the most abstract thing to teach. this summer i'd like to write up some journal articles and proposals for teaching.

Maybe. But the largest influence on my writing style was an editor/publisher I had while covering the 1980 Olympic Winter Games in Lake Placid. The guy was a gem, a wonderful mentor who could turn a phrase like a master. He was a little eccentric but he was a balls to the wall editor/reporter who was a great mentor. Lot's of reading also helped.

Looking forward to it. Good luck with your surgery.

Most bizarre combination of acts I ever saw:
Jerry Jeff Walker, backed by Dave Bromberg, opening for the Mothers of Invention at the Queens College theater. The place was one-quarter filled. Zappa had great stories about the Cara Mia restaurant.
After Siebel and Smither, my folk interest dies quick.

I'm sorry to hear about your mom too. I remember when your mom was into videography, long before video equipment became readily available. Glad to hear that your dad is well. I rember the year of the teacher's strike when he was tutoring everyone in the neighborhood. Sorry to hear about your surgery. Hope it goes well. I would love to meet for coffee. I have also seen Kenny Koppelman. His brother Paul lives in my neighborhood and belongs to the same synagogue, so I see Kenny on the holidays. Would love to catch up with you.

Also, I can't believe you follow chris smither. I have followed him since I saw him in college, probably about '74 or so. I've seen him about a dozen times over the past five years in Ithaca, here and a coffee house in Oxford, NY. In the mid-70's I took a reluctant gang of college friends to see him at a Boston coffeehouse, and they were won over.
He's unique. The only folkie I like better is Paul Siebel, who I also saw first in college at Syracuse, and then saw him at a village club - I think Gertie's folk city. He then fell off the face of the earth. Got disenchanted with the whole music business, and understand he became a baker near Baltimore.
Try picking up some old Paul Siebel stuff, if you like Smither, you'll also like Siebel, but he hasn't recorded stuff in at least 30 years. There's a compilation CD that's worthwhile. I still have his old records - two. Well known people have covered his stuff (maybe bonnie raitt too), especially a song called "Louise."

I had an exchange here with Jeff Marcus about Hebrew school. Look at posts from about six weeks ago.

Hi Nancy! Sorry I didn't write sooner. I was away but was very excited to see your reply. I have some fond memories of you and your family. I can't believe you live in Albertson. I live in Jericho which is probably about 10 minutes away. I have on occasion visited the old neighborhood and was amazed to see a synagogue where your house use to be. My mother passed away in 2001 and my Dad had died in 1985. I use to visit Kew Gardens Hills often when my mother lived there. Who are you still in touch with? I would love to catch up with you. What are you up to lately?

unfamiliar w/chris smither or that other name. i don't listen to anything new. i play a gig about once a month. my set-list has Randy Newman, Kinks, Joe Walsh, Thunderclap Newman, Beatles, Harry Nilson, Todd Rundgren, James Taylor, Petulia Clark (not 'Downtown" but "I Know a Place") Steely Dan, Little Feat, Stephen Foster, Scott Josplin, Duke Ellington, Gerhswin, Harold Arlen, Hoagy Carmichael - basically things i liked when i was 17 and standards.

i saw Patti Smith too (at the Fillmore after it was named something else in the late 70's). Iron Butterfly? that was a good group to see, but imagine they were a little boring with that long solo "Indagadavito." if you think of it, his voice is similar to Eddie Vedder's. They were too pretentious, even for me at age 16. we were impressed with long solos, like Ginger Baker doing "Toad" and stuff. some off-beat stand-outs were "Spirit" (not the original formation: Randy California their lead guitar just quit) at Franklin PIerce College, Keene, New Hampshire 1972. they received $2000 for the gig and it was advertised as "The Rock Group from California?" Also saw Buzzy Lindhart at "My Father's Place" in Roslyn. great 1st time with full group; a few years later his fortunes reversed, he got fat and bald, played solo and nobody was listening. think he opened for Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks. saw Buddy Guy about 1980 w/Junior Welles at that club in the city around Broadway or University and 16th (?) st. Robin Trower at the old Fillmore, John Sebastian opening for Steve Martin at Avery Fischer 1975. Carol King at Red Rocks in Colorado 1973.