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2008

January

At Wed Jan 2 17:13:21 2008, D. J. (Adolfo) Rosete (djrosete2@yahoo.com) wrote:

early JANUARY 2008: D. J. (formerly Adolfo) Rosete Some of you may know me, though some of you do not, as my sole connection to your high school is through Asa Mercer Middle School, a place where many graduates of Ingraham High School pass through by way of the track given them by the Seattle Public Schools. Anyway, I just wanted to state that I’m still around, still alive as it were: the march of time goes on, and it seems the effects and ardors of life (and death) will catch up with us inevitably, whether we like it or not: looking about this Web site, I’m actually a bit surprised as to what has happened to several of you. I remember a good number of you who went to Mercer, from Tae, to April, Tali, Georgia, Troy, Billie, Richard Davies, Jessica, Elise, (Joby—who went somewhere else), Jason Wong and so on; I fondly reminisce about those years, 1984-86, when there was a large November blizzard in ’85—the worst snow storm in forty years!—with large flakes of the powdery stuff sticking to the ground, and we had snow days in the district, and some of you might recall that in the Eighth Grade we stayed in school until the Third of July because of it. I was thinking—dreaming is probably the more precise word—that we could have an Asa Mercer 25-year Reunion: No, really, I was thinking we could have a get-together, just to see each other again, with merely light refreshments and dessert; it doesn’t have to be a full-blown reunion, but we could reminisce by playing in the background music from those times, songs like “Nasty,” “19,” “Cool It Now,” “Mr. Telephone Man,” “West End Girls,” “The Conga,” “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go,” “Shout,” “Freeway of Love” and listen further to the then-new and faddish material by INXS (“Listen Like Thieves”) and Prince (“Take Me With You,” “Erotic City” and even the now seemingly passé “Kiss”), as played on K-PLUS and KRIZ; we could watch “The Terminator” or some other trendy movie, as we did in Mrs. Bodoia’s Spanish class; we might then take out a telescope, like the 6-inch Celestron Newtonian reflector Mr. Newton brought out, and see something in the night sky, like the planets and the moon, which one can easily spot (or Halley’s Comet, which last appeared in this part of the solar system around 1985-86, as some of you might recall; it won’t be back until 2061-62); we could rent out Mercer’s auditorium or lunchroom from the School District on a weekend afternoon, maybe a sunny one, where maybe we could recall the bake sales and candy grams and once again have the vast majority of the students boo at President Reagan. I suppose the only difficulty in having such a reunion would be the logistics to it, as to how it would be set up and to see if anyone would like to contribute their time or donate to the event. It was just a thought, Mercerites. You might remember some other Mercer alumni who went elsewhere, other than Ingraham, like myself: Ron Brown went to Franklin, where he became ASB President, and then on to Stanford, and last I’ve heard is currently doing something in the financial world, conceivably still aspiring to be a politician; Rosanna Dolan went to West Seattle, where she was Senior Class Vice-President, and right after graduating high school got married: presently, I believe she has two children and is in the Far East with her husband, who is in the military; Josie Weisbach went to Rainier Beach, where she was class valedictorian, and today is almost certainly a person of some consequence. As the years have gone by, I seem to have lost touch with all these people, including April Lau, whom I saw in college, when I called her up just to see what was going on, it seems not too long ago; if someone could tell her I’m looking for her and Tae (John) and these other individuals who I’ve just mentioned in this last paragraph, I’d appreciate it, feeling their friendships welcome ones. By the way, I personally attempted to transfer to Ingraham three times, but wound up stuck at West Seattle High School, to my general dismay. I almost got to go to Ingy the first time around, but alas, it was ultimately no go; it seems my life would have changed, perhaps profoundly, if I had. I went on to the University of Washington, where I received my Bachelor’s degree, in History, and was also briefly at the University of Wisconsin. So, as for the rest of you, those of you who may remember me and wish to contact me for some reason or other, feel free to do so however much time it may take out of your busy lives. Whatever may become of this message, at any rate many thanks Ingraham alumni, from an old friend who still maintains a certain camaraderie with you even though he went to a different high school, as if he came from some distant, forlorn tribe in search of its long, lost relatives, Ciao! D. J. (formerly Adolfo) Rosete

At Mon Jan 7 00:47:56 2008, Christian Santiago (christian5327@yahoo.com) wrote:

Some of the names that were mentioned on the previous posts are vaguely familiar to me. I agree with this person about the differences between West Seattle and Ingraham. Years later, I learned that the student bodies at both West Seattle and Chief Sealth represented an entirely different socioeconomic demographic than at Ingraham. The students at Ingraham tended to be lower middle to middle class whereas the students at the other two schools were mostly blue collar. I noticed a general sense of apathy at Chief Sealth amongst the student body there. In those years, the dropout rate at both schools was above 15%. The final two years of high school meant a dramatic shift from an upbeat white collar environment at Ingraham with generally intelligent individuals to a downtrodden 'let's get married and have children' blue collar attitude at Sealth. I only recall about a dozen students at Sealth in my graduating class entering the UW even though at the time it was easier to be admitted than today. Sealth attracted low income families spanning the entire ethnic spectrum of Seattle even though West Seattle the neighborhood was mostly caucasian. Obviously, none of my observations apply today since most of these blue collar families have been pushed out by skyrocketing prices and of course forced bussing no longer exists. People and places can be affected by change. One minute a teenager can be reeling from the fact that his father the lawyer was caught by the FBI arranging phony marriages and then the next minute be a law school graduate himself with the added confidence of 20 years of experience dealing skillfully with all types of individuals. I was too intimidated to call people on their egotistical nonsense in high school. Still, I miss the people at Ingraham and believe that the previouis post has a valid idea about a middle school reunion. However, it is important to note that at all levels of schooling people are just haphazardly thrown together which means that ultimately all end up going their separate ways in the long run. Otherwise, why would reunions be held in the first place if everyone always kept in touch?

At Wed Jan 9 23:26:55 2008, Jarrod A Robertson (maverick2115@yahoo.com) wrote:

What up yo? How is everyone doing. Sorry I was MIA for so long. Life has been fun, I cannot begin to tell ya how it is. Finally caught to my big sis Susie (Haymond) Barnes. I guess the short of it, been doing some fun stuf and finally decided to settle down a bit. Just about to finish my AA degree and ready to move on to the U. Coaching football (like that was a surprise). What else? Hmmm drop a line I got lots of fun stories, just like the rest of ya'll.

At Mon Jan 14 03:34:04 2008, Christian Santiago (christian5327@yahoo.com) wrote:

As I reflect upon the unique qualities that this class possesses, I have attempted to confirm that this is truly the case. Google searches into the existence of other class of 1990 sites from the remaining Seattle high schools leads me to believe that this is it. Not even Roosevelt or Garfield has had either a website or a reunion. A few days ago I uncovered a free version of classmates.com and to my surprise there were already several students from this class listed. As we approach the 20 year anniversary of this class, I now wonder how some individuals have the ability to maintain open lines of communication across a relatively significant span of time. At this point in a person's life(mid-30's), it is easy to see that one's identity during their teen years is still in a state of radical change. If this is the case, then why do high school reunions possess such a powerful hold on our society's consciousness? After all, the person that you were in high school was not even close to being the finished product of who you would become in midlife and beyond. Notice how college and graduate school reunions are either few or nonexistent. In the media, there have been movies such as Grosse Pointe Blank that poke fun at our seemingly unexplained need to reconnect with our high school past. As one classmate states to the main character Martin Blank, "It's as if some of these people think that you can't evolve....". In reality, it can be that you evolve so much that you see everyone in a different light. High School reunions have a virtual cult-like iconic status in our society. It is not unusual at all to see 40 or 50 year reunions of classmates that really have only known each other a brief period of time. Perhaps it is the old adage of the story of an actual event getting better upon each retelling. Selective memory allows us to romanticize an event that objectively speaking was forced upon us by big brother the State. Even the ones that enjoyed learning would be compelled to agree that had they been given free reign I am sure would not elect to rise before 7am every morning five days per week so that starting at 7:45 am they can hear an instructor lecture on a topic that could be learned through self study at the library during a later time of day. I suppose it is the memory of high school as we recollect it rather than as it truly was objectively which gives cause to these gatherings.

At Mon Feb 25 10:41:58 2008, Tessa () wrote:

Well, doesn't look like anyone's been on here for quite a while. Just checking in to see how everyone was. Doing good here. Started a new joba few weeks ago. baby boy is doing great. He's 7 months now. And I'm expecting again, in October. So that will be #2 and the final one. We're very excited. I'm hoping it's a girl, so it evens; out the house, but I'll be happy with whatever we get, as long as they are healthy. House is doing good. Doing little updates here and there. The market has lowered the value to $10,000 less than we bought it for though, which SUCKS! But there's not much we can do about that. Other than just hope and pray it goes up int he next few years before we sell. Anyhow, hope everyone's doing well.

At Thu May 1 15:04:03 2008, Layne Benofsky (laynebenofsky@gmail.com) wrote:

Howdy Folks! :) We're almost at 20 years. Holy Christ!

At Sat May 17 18:01:44 2008, Amy Thurber (Jackson) (amyjo72@msn.com) wrote:

Layne?!?!? How are you doing? What have you been up to? Great to hear from you!

At Fri Jun 6 10:33:56 2008, Greg Miller (Greg.H.Miller@live.com) wrote:

I just found this so I am chiming in. It looks like no one has been on for a while. Cheers. -Greg

At Mon Aug 25 01:42:35 2008, Paul A Fashaw (fashaw24@hotmail.com) wrote:

How is everyone doing? I am just trying to find out who is on the 20yr reunion committee. If you have the info can you e-mail me. Our school and class was the best hands down. P