UPDATE FEBRUARY 2012
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OUR CLASS WEBSITE HAS A NEW HOME on the Internet. Our webmaster and Class Committee member, Paul Snell, contacted several website hosts and finally found one that he decided will be best for our website. The software that Paul used to build the new website will allow people to access the website through a regular computer as well as a smartphone or digital tablet. At the bottom of each page of the new website is a link to a new Facebook page that can be used by classmates who have Facebook and want to communicate and receive information through Facebook. Please be sure to bookmark the following new website address on your computer so that you will have it handy whenever you want to visit:
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OUR CLASSMATE JUDY AMES BRADFORD lost her sister, Mary Beth Ames Palyash, who passed away from a heart attack on Friday, February 10, 2012. From the WHS Class of 1968, Mary Beth accompanied Judy to the July 2011 reunion that our class sponsored for all WHS classes from the 1960s. Many of us will recall that their father, Sheriff Ames, was the law enforcement officer for many years in Security. Please join me in extending condolences to Judy over the loss of her dear sister. As periodically noted in my updates to our classmates over the past three years, it is important to keep in perspective that we are at a point in our lives when death will be a frequent visitor. The recent death of Judy’s sister needs to be viewed in that context. If any of you would like to extend condolences to Judy, one option is to do so via email in care of this WHSclass1966 email box. To respect the privacy of Judy, her contact information will not be stated in this update nor will it be posted on our website that is accessible to anyone in the public.
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OUR CLASSMATES PAUL SNELL and BRUCE McALEXANDER are in the recovery stages after having their respective surgeries over the past month. Paul continues his recovery from a major hernia surgery, and Bruce continues his recovery from a knee-replacement surgery. Please join me in keeping Paul and Bruce in prayers and well wishes. If you wish to communicate with Paul and Bruce, please obtain their email addresses in the “Contact Us” page of our class website.
If other classmates ever have a health challenge or other type of challenge they are facing, and they would like to be remembered by our classmates, please notify Class Committee member Paul Snell or another Class Committee member. The email addresses of committee members are listed in the “Contact Us” page of the website.
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FEEDBACK FROM READERS includes the below-listed entries that were submitted in response to information contained in previous updates.
Gillie, thanks for forwarding the December newsletter update. Thank Donnie for all his efforts in providing us with classmate news. I especially appreciated his comments regarding Christmas salutations.
-- Nils Wikner, Class of 1963
Donnie, thank you for the colorful articles that you write. I like reading about all that has happened since the reunion. Very well written.
-- Danielle Andres, Class of 1966
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THE 2012 OSCAR NOMINATIONS are the focus of my essay, which is enclosed herein at the tail-end of this update immediately after my farewell remark “I don’t care what people call me, just call me.”
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OUR CLASS COMMITTEE consists of several classmates who volunteer their time, at one point or another, regarding issues pertinent to our class. Our Class Committee members are: Gillie Walker; Bruce McAlexander; Marcia Hagans Allin; Meg Hulsey Mailo; Ron Petty; Donnie Collier Martinez; Paul Snell; Mike Adragna; Bruce Brian; Linda Nolin Weber; Ken Loveless; Roy Manuszak; Mary Ellen Brada Manuszak; Jerry Moyers; Barbara Billingsley Massarano; Warren Knight. Other classmates are welcome to be part of the Class Committee.
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WE ARE VOLUNTEERS. Please do not ever take it personally if you do not hear from the Class Committee or the Website Committee right away. As volunteers, we have only so much time within which to do our volunteer work as well as tend to other aspects of our personal lives.
Delays in my replies, in particular, are due to me not being awake very much anymore as sleeping long hours is the only time period during which there is total relief from my neurological illness for which there is no cure. It is now seven years that I have had massive nerve damage. With this neurological illness continuing to take center stage in my life each day, there cannot be very much so-called normal or routine activities on my part as long as a state of normalcy has not been returned to my life.
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This update was prepared by me.
Respectfully submitted,
Donnie Martinez, WHS Class of 1966 Committee
Known at WHS by stepfather’s surname Collier
Martinez is my birth certificate and legal surname
a/k/a Butch, family nickname since childhood
a/k/a Don, presumably the adult version of Donnie
a/k/a Primo (Cousin) to dozens of my Martinez cousins
a/k/a El Aguila (The Eagle), a version of Gillie’s name for me.
I don’t care what people call me, just call me.
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THIS YEAR’S OSCAR NOMINEES
by D. Martinez (February 2012)
Just as I have done for many years, my picks for the Oscar Awards are now once again shared with friends, relatives, activists, neighbors and people with whom I went to school. It is now seven years of my ongoing neurological illness for which there is no cure, yet my spirits continue to be lifted whenever my health challenges allow me to get out to a movie theater.
BEST-ACTRESS NOMINEES this year are: Glenn Close; Viola Davis; Rooney Mara; Meryl Streep; and Michelle Williams. Noticeably absent from the list is Charlize Theron for her fine performance as a professional writer whose alcoholism and immaturity expose her as a pathetic person in the movie “Young Adult.” Ms. Close does very well in her role as a woman who disguises herself as a man in order to get a job as a hotel butler at a time in the 1800s when women were not allowed to work, as conveyed in the film “Albert Nobbs.” Ms. Davis does very well in her role as a maid in the true story “The Help.” Ms. Mara does very well in her role as a talented investigative reporter whose counterculture appearance reflects her survival as a psychologically damaged victim of repeated rapes by her adult male guardian in the well-done suspense film “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.” Ms. Streep does very well as British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher at various adult stages of Thatcher’s life in the true story “The Iron Lady.” Ms. Williams does very well in her portrayal of 1950s actress Marilyn Monroe in the true story “My Week With Marilyn.” All of the nominees are deserving of the award, but my choices are Ms. Davis, Ms. Close and Ms. Mara. More than likely, Ms. Streep or Ms. Williams will get the award and that would be great, too.
BEST-ACTOR NOMINEES this year are: Demian Bichir; George Clooney; Jean Dujardin; Gary Oldman; and, Brad Pitt. Noticeably absent from the list is Leonardo DiCaprio for his fine performance in his portrayal of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover at various adult stages in the true story “J. Edgar.” DiCaprio at least got deserved recognition as a best-actor nominee at the recent award ceremonies of Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild. Mexican actor Bichir does very well in his role as an undocumented worker who works as a gardener for wealthy families while trying to keep his son away from gangs and trying to give his son the opportunities he never had, as conveyed in the very well-done movie "A Better Life." Clooney does very well as a lawyer whose wife is in a coma and whose family members are descendants of one of Hawaii's first white land-owning families, as conveyed in the film “The Descendants.” French actor Dujardin does very well in his role as a 1920s silent-film star in the black-and-white silent movie “The Artist.” Oldman does very well as an undercover agent who is terminated when a secret operation fails during the search for a traitor in the British Intelligence Service, as told in the very suspenseful and well-done movie “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.” Pitt does very well as a baseball team’s general manager whose assistant uses computer analysis to draft players in the true story “Moneyball.” My choice for the award is Demian Bichir, but more than likely the award will go to Clooney or Dujardin.
BEST-SUPPORTING ACTOR NOMINEES are: Kenneth Branagh; Jonah Hill; Nick Nolte; Christopher Plummer; and, Max von Sydow. Branagh does well in his portrayal of British actor Sir Laurence Olivier in the true story “My Week With Marilyn.” Hill does well in his role as a baseball team’s assistant general manager who uses computer analysis to draft players in the true story “Moneyball.” Nolte does well in his role as a recovering alcoholic in a troubled family with two adult sons striving to be boxing champions. Plummer does very well in his role as an elderly man who comes out as gay after being in a longtime straight marriage in the film “Beginners.” Von Sydow does very well in his role as an elderly man who claims he cannot talk and accompanies a young boy in the boy’s search for a lock that matches a key left behind by his father who died in the 2001 terrorist attack on the U.S., as conveyed in the true story “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.” My choice for the award is Christopher Plummer. Given that Plummer is the main character in the film “Beginners,” he should have been in the best-actor category instead of the “supporting” category.
BEST-SUPPORTING ACTRESS NOMINEES are: Berenice Bejo; Jessica Chastain; Melissa McCarthy; Janet McTeer; and, Octavia Spencer. Ms. Bejo does well in her role as a strikingly-pretty dancer and fan of the 1920s silent-film star in the black-and-white silent movie “The Artist.” Ms. Chastain does very well in her role as a white housewife who is married to a wealthy businessman and who secretly hires a maid in the true story "The Help." Ms. McCarthy is hilarious in her role as one of the bride’s maids in the comedy “Bridesmaids.” Ms. McTeer does very well in her role as a lesbian who disguises herself as a very-masculine man in order to get a painting job at a hotel at a time in the 1800s when women were not allowed to work, as conveyed in the film “Albert Nobbs.” Ms. Spencer does very well in her role as a maid in the true story “The Help.” Janet McTeer and Octavia Spencer are my choices for the award.
BEST-PICTURE NOMINEES are: “The Artist”; “The Descendants”; “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close”; “The Help”; “Hugo”; “Midnight in Paris”; “Moneyball”; “Tree of Life”; and “War Horse.” Because of a rule change requiring films to receive a certain number of first-place votes, the best-picture category has only nine nominees rather than the 10 that were in the running the last two years. “The Artist” is a well-done black-and-white silent film (accompanied by music) about the rise and decline of a silent-film star faced with deciding whether to pursue talking movies or to remain with silent films. "The Descendants" is a good film about a lawyer whose wife is in a coma and whose family members are descendants of one of Hawaii's first white land-owning families. “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” is a good film about the real-life situation of a young boy’s search for a lock that matches a key left behind by his father who died in the 2001 terrorist attack on the U.S. “The Help” is a good film about the real-life situation of a white woman who writes a book detailing the perspectives and experiences of African American maids in the 1960s. "Hugo" is a good film about an orphan who lives behind the walls of a Paris train station and is preoccupied with the mystery related to a broken mechanical male figure that the boy's clockmaker father worked on before he died. "Midnight In Paris" is an excellent film about the midnight excursions of a U.S. young man when he and his fiance visit Paris, where the man's late-night experiences transport him back in time to meet up with 1920s famous celebrities such as Cole Porter, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Salvador Dali, Josephine Baker, Gertrude Stein and Pablo Picasso. “Moneyball” is an okay film about the real-life situation of a baseball team’s general manager whose assistant uses computer analysis to draft players. “Tree of Life” is a lousy film about a troubled family in the 1950s. The film could have been good if its focus would have remained on the dynamics of the 1950s family, but the film tries to connect the family’s situation to the origins of the universe complete with ridiculous psychedelic-type images of swirling nebulae and dinosaurs fighting one another. “War Horse” is a good film about a young man who joins the British military in order to search for his horse that was sold to the cavalry in World War One. For me to enjoy a movie, it must almost always have two main qualities: (1) it reveals events of a historical era unfamiliar to me, or (2) it is set in a geographic location or situation unfamiliar to me. Because they were set in locations unfamiliar to me and they had many historical details that I did not know until seeing the films, “Midnight In Paris” and “The Help” are my choices for best picture.
“Hell And Back Again” (about a U.S. soldier’s transition from war to civilian life) and “If A Tree Falls (story of the Earth Liberation Front militants who set fires to protest environmental issues) are my choices for best documentary.
My pick for best foreign-language movie is the very well-done Iranian film “A Separation,” which handles well the multiple themes of separation facing a family, separation between middle class and the poor, and separation between devout and non-devout Muslims. Although they received Golden Globes nominations and were not nominated for the Oscar Award, two other foreign-language films I liked very much were “In the Land of Blood and Honey” (produced by actress Angelina Jolie, it is the story of war-torn Bosnia in the 1990s) and “The Skin I Live In” (produced by the talented Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar).
ABC will televise the Oscar awards on Sunday, February 26, 6:00 p.m. Colorado time.
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