Richard Kostelanetz

STEPHEN KATCHER was the funniest guy I ever knew, especially in ping-pong games that we couldn’t complete, having collapsed to the floor in hysterics inflicted upon each other.

LESLIE HEYE was my girl friend in ninth grade whose presence before me I still find compelling at our high school class reunions twenty-five and forty-five years later.

WILLIAM STOTT is a high school classmate who less than two decades after our graduation got me my first full time university teaching position, albeit for only a single semester away from New York. Writing a strong book about 1930s photography and literature earned him tenure at the University of Texas.

GAIL ALEXANDER, more culturally sophisticated than most in my high school class, I didn’t know as well as I should have during high school. Nor at our subsequent class reunions.