Homecoming Float

Homecoming Float
Originally uploaded by ( Jennifer )

Jennifer (Brewer) Bruce posted this photo and sent it to our Flickr group. It's the Senior Class of 1989 Homecoming float, but neither myself or Jennifer really know or can remember anything about it.

If you know anything about this float - what it is, exactly, what it was made of, who worked on it...any of that, please post comments to this blog and jog our memories.

Class butterfly proudly wears our numbers

Our classmate Harold Greeney is an owner and director at Yanayacu Biological Station and Center for Creative Studies in Ecuador. As part of his research, he takes photos of bugs. Sweet, gig. Don't you think?

He came across this photo of a butterfly and calls it our "Class Butterfly". Can you see why? Notice the "89" pattern on its wing! Apparently, this is a Callicore type of butterfly from the nymphalid butterfly. According to my good friend Wikepedia, species in this genus area often called "88s" because of the characteristic design on the underside of the wings. However, this particular butterfly is obviously more unique, a little more special - just like the Class of 1989.

Thanks, Harold!

Please submit your high school videos

Jeff Garstecki posted a video on his Facebook profile that will really jog your memory about the inside walls of Rochester High School. Starring Eric Kaupilla as the classic "nerd", Garstecki and other Rochester High School alumni from the Class of 1989 made the video "Lunch Money". Yes, tell your kids, we did have video cameras in the 80s.

The video was made right after "the new part" of Rochester High was opened up. See the now 20-year-old carpeted halls, the lockers, the "mall" and even the parking lot....before the scene changes to other locations in Rochester.

Do you have a video from high school featuring '89 alumni? Please post your video to YouTube and send me the link. I'll blog it and keep our records of our alumni history all in one place. Then, we can all come back to the blog and enjoy for years to come. Also, your videos might give us fodder for our reunion event presentation. Please help out!

Kristen Harrell remembers Taco Hell, best friends and high school

Kristen Harrell
Originally uploaded by pinkfunktruth

Does the term robocop ring a bell? Can you remember Mr. Hawes and his loafers? Do your kids ask you if you were a nerd in high school?

Reminisce with Kristen Harrell by reading her first blog post - The History of Harrell a.k.a Leroy

And, for future reference, she now has her blog URL posted on her Facebook profile.

Her stories of sports plays and even driving to Troy just to get some Taco Bell will jog your memory in a heartwarming way.

You know my story: How we carry each other's history

70s birthday
Originally uploaded by pinkfunktruth

I don't know about you, but I have found that my recent burst of activity on Facebook with fellow RHS alumni has been somewhat of a getting-back-to-my roots experience.

From Kindergarten stories shared with some of you in messages to prom pictures posted on our Flickr group, I am just now realizing the history we have with each other - that each one of you carry some piece of my own history with you - to different degrees of course. And vice versa. Here are some examples:

Laura Carelton Bagley and I (Sylvia Dana) have found that we have the same picture in our baby books. Turns out, we lived in the same apartment house on Oak Street in Rochester, Mich., for a time, until she moved to the apartment across the street. (Pictured here is Laura's birthday party. She must have been turning 3 or so. (Who knows why my mom still made me sit in a high chair...ugh) Dylan Roginski - who moved away before we graduated - is also pictured; he lived in the same apartment house as Laura. Amberly Ervin told me I was her first friend when she moved to Rochester at age 5. She was even able to describe the stairway in my apartment.

It was my Facebook interactions with my 1989 classmates that helped me make these specific discoveries as I dig out old pictures and the resurrected memories start filling in the blanks. It's truly a gift.

I'm not sure whey I never really made these connections - or at least any that stuck - in junior high or high school. Perhaps it was because I went to 12 different elementary schools, only attending McGregor for part of Kindergarten and part of first grade. When I returned to Rochester from 7th grade on, it took me a while to feel like I fit in. In fact, I don't think I felt like one of you until our junior year. Now, I'm so grateful for the opportunity to reconnect to part of my own history with all of you.

I hope you are enjoying the treasure of this experience too. I know some of you are...Harold Greeney wrote and said that if I would have asked him a month ago, he would have told me he didn't care much about the reunion or about high school. But now he's appreciating being able to reconnect online, even though he lives an exciting life in the jungles of Ecuador.

Have you discovered any high school strangers that were actually childhood friends? Are you making new friends with old classmates?

High school stereotypes, where they are now and memorabilia

Mock Elections..._RHS Talon_Pg.30
Originally uploaded by pinkfunktruth

I found our senior edition of "The Talon", Rochester High School's newspaper. We called this issue "The Invincible Senior Class of Nineteen-Hundered and Eighty-Nine" with a sub-head of "Forever Young" (must have been our class song). Well, I think we have all learned that we're not invincible. And while we're still at the tender age of around 37, we're finding that getting old pretty much sucks.

I've begun to scan the news magazine and post its pages to our Flickr group. (If you have a Flickr account or want to make one, please feel free to send your pictures to the group, too!)

Anyway, one of my favorite, laugh-out-loud pages in the senior issue was the Mock Election page when we voted Ben Wu as the one Most Likely to Overthrow a Government.

It's true, Ben Wu was a mystery to many. When I met Ben Wu in 7th grade, we were in a math class together. He was Asian, had a slight Chinese accent (or method of speaking) and therefore, I assumed, was the smartest person at school. People would tease him...or maybe he teased everyone else...about being a communist and something about "Red China."

But according to his Facebook profile it appears his true primary activities revolve around marriage and family life, including changing diapers, refilling bottles and running around in circles. And, he and I share a favorite book, "The Count of Monte Cristo".

Still, the vote wasn't too off....Afterall, another of Ben's favorite books is "War and Peace", his main interest does appear to "strategiery..." (whatever that means) and one of his favorite quotes is "I don't want the whole world, I just want your half".

By the way...I love our Facebook group.
I'm having such a good time talking to all of you and learning about who you are now...and I'm wondering "Why didn't I get to know you better in high school?"

No time for regrets....it's simply reunion time. Yeah...that just happened. Cheesy, I know..it just came out.

A-ha moments for 80s music lovers

Are you ever jonesin' to hear some 80s music? Are you hoping to hear your high school music favorites at the 20-year reunion?

Try my newest favorite Internet toy - Pandora's Radio. It's free and will play the kind of music you want to here by entering a song title or artist. Pandora compiles a play list based on the musical style of that artist or song.

For example, I found my favorite pluralist to hear everything 80s when I typed in "Take on Me". (Of course you remember a-ha and the coolest video or maybe most memorable MTV music video ever). The "Take On Me Radio" station on Pandora takes me back. Here's a sample of the artists/songs that show up on this play list: Roxette, Genesis, Human League, Depeche Mode, Electric Avenue, Flashdance, Wham, Talk Talk, Madonna - just to name a few.

You can see what I'm listening to and more of my stations on my Facebook profile.

Whether, it's Boy George or Red Hot Chili Peppers. Miles Davis or Chopin. Pandora will play a selection of what you want to hear when you want to hear it. Did I mention it's free!?

P.S. Post a comment or email us your music requests for the reunion at 89rhsreunion@gmail.com