Deven Black Research Notes 2/26/2000

Greetings --

    I have been suffering a bit of insomnia lately. Upon awakening at 2:45 this morning I decided that searching the web for traces of information about some of the "old gang" might be just the tonic I needed to put me back to sleep. It wasn't, but I did find some interesting stuff. For example:

    There is an Al Bennick mentioned at  www.thespoon.com because someone by that name, who was an old friend of the parents of the person writing, 20-years-ago brought some couscous to a pot-luck attended by the correspondent who then asked for the recipe and, eventually, provided same at the above mentioned web site.

    There is a Myron Bassman who appears frequently on the site of the  Society to Advance Judaism . No mention of Shiela.

    Martin Brod has become a village in Bosnia, near Bihac [ED: expired link was to highway-adventure.com/letter.htm].

    A Martha Dudman is on the Board of the  National Association of Broadcasters , probably through her being the President and General Manager of WDEA, WWMJ, and WEZQ in Ellsworth, ME. This Martha Dudman, who may or may not be ours, is also the President-Elect of the  Bangor, ME Rotary Club [http://209.222.202.109/organizations/rotary/ link now dead].


    On a previous sleepless night I did a search for Amy Kaplan (oddly reminiscent of sleepless nights many years ago caused by dreams of Amy Kaplan, but we will not explore this too deeply) and found one who is an author on a web-site aimed at women. I contacted her to inquire if she were the same one who grew up on the Upper East Side, went to Dalton, and who, at the ago of 15, worked on the McCarthy campaign. She weren't, though this one was also an ardent McCarthy supporter, grew up in Brooklyn, went to public school, and was a mere 13-years-old in 1968. I asked permission to print our correspondence on the McCarthy site, and offered honorary old gang membership as an inducement, but I have not heard back yet. As more than a week has passed I doubt I ever will. Isn't it eerie how Amy Kaplans keep slipping my grasp?