Reunions, Facebook and Other Social Diseases

That's right. I'm attending my 40th High School Reunion tonight.

I'm sure I will regret doing so. We had an enormous graduating class and something like 300 people will be attending. I pray to Jesus Christ that they won't be bringing their horrible spouses with them.

My best friend went to high school with me. Every so often, I'm in touch with people I know from years ago. Being a prominent blogger and the cousin of Dr. Barbara Hirsch, the Eminent Endocrinolist from Great Neck, people can find me with a simple internet search if they really want to find me. Like everyone else who went through the anti-war movement in the 60s, I'm nostalgic enough and like seeing old friends.

On the other hand, do you really want to meet people you haven't seen in 40 years? You probably would have kept in touch if you really had that much in common.

Sometimes it is best to have fond memories based on youthful enthusiasm and naiveté. Why ruin those memories?

A lot of middle-aged people are now on Facebook. This way, they can renew friendships with people they haven't seen in 10, 20, 30 or 40 years. This is just another example of the virtual replacing the real. Why revive a past you've left behind because it is easy and takes on no risk when done from the comforts of your keyboard. It is the virtual replacing real friendships, friendships that are often difficult and contradictory, friendships that can involve real, not virtual emotions. In real relations, you can't just take someone off your friends list and move on.

The venue for the reunion is the Laguardia Airport Marriot Hotel:

Doesn't that say it all?

- Joe Dressner 6-6-2009 12:03pm

hallelujah

posted by putnam 6-6-2009 10:21pm

I think you would love facebook, actually.

posted by Pleiades 6-8-2009 9:26am

I don't think so

posted by Joe Dressner 6-8-2009 10:44am

reunion

I had been planning to come to the reunion after much persuading by D. Fox and R. Danziger. Though I never got to know you that well, I always considered you a sophisticated intellectual more so than the others in our group of regulars.

On Tues May 26 2 days before I was going to leave for NYC, I wound up in the hosp ER and was quickly diagnosed with a brain tumor. The size of a golf ball they removed it 3 days later.

I am still undergoing diagnostic tests. They believe it probably migrated to the brain and have a finding of a melanoma, which is neither here nor there. So the tentative plan is for radiation to the brain and when the other results come in see what is most appropriate.

I've been advised by friends to get on the Medical Marijuana program here if I should need it. Luckily we have that. Our governor signed it into legislation around the time I moved out here. The program in Calif is the best managed around. Feel bad that you don't have that option in NY. Though my friends out here would rather see it approved for recreational use, the way say wine is.

Anyway taking one day at at time.

Hope you are enjoying France.

Keep in touch. Let me know if there' s anythng I can help you with. I work in a med frield pharmacy. Though not back to work for a while.

Best Regards,
Lisa L

posted by Lisa Levy 6-17-2009 5:58pm

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Joe Dressner - Captain Tumor Man!

Hi, I'm Joe Dressner the famous wine importer and I have brain cancer!

I already have a wine blog and frankly wine is such a luxury business that I hate to mix my cancer problems with my wine observations. I think it would be a general downer for the lifestyle crowd out there.

Furthermore, we in the wine trade always claim there are tremendous health benefits to drinking wine. I've already had cardiovascular bypass surgery over eight years ago and now I got a tumor aggressively rattling in my brain. My colleagues in the glamorous wine industry want me to keep it quiet.

So, I've started this wonderful new blog to discuss wine, brain tumors, my life and to give you hot tips on handling the cancer stricken around you. There will also be practical wine/radiation pairings when I start radiation therapy and chemotherapy next week.

Having brain cancer means I might both physically and intellectually decline. So, I will be using this blog as a venue to pursue petty vendettas against relatives, acquaintances and people in the wine trade.

I might also lose touch with reality and say things that are not true or are only half true. The important thing is to have fun and enjoy this rare and precious time in my life.

One of my pet vendettas is my cousin Dr. Barbara Hirsch. Dr. Barbara Hirsch is a very important Great Neck Endocrinologist, who was raised and nurtured by my parents. Dr. Hirsch waited until my father was near death and my mother was suffering from a rare neuromuscular disorder, to write them a seven page letter denouncing them for being horrible to her for the entirety of her life! Despite my concerns, Dr. Hirsch still refuses to apologize.

Last night, I drank a beautiful bottle of Bourgueil Clos Sénéchal 2005 from Pierre Breton. It was sublime and reminded me that I used to be healthy. Not only that, the vineyard used to be there before I existed. It exists independently of my having cancer and will continue to exist. You ought to buy some.

August 2009 Postscript: Not only does it exist independently of my cancer, it also exists independently of Louis/Dressner Selections. After 18 years, they have dumped us for Kermit Lynch. Oh well. At least I'm alive!

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