Richie-- I'm trying to keep my efforts focused, and on something achievable. It may be that more comes out of this later, but this is tough enough, thank you.

Meanwhile, flashbacks-- back when I was in grade school there was this girl who sat next to me from second grade through ninth (we both skipped twice). She had a typical Village background-- Jewish, both parents doctors, nicest kid you ever met. (Also the first girl I ever saw without clothes on, fourth grade, but that's another story).

Anyway, back in those days, of the three special high schools you could get into in the city (meaning you had to pass an entry test to avoid having to go to a school where you would get the crap beat out of you every day, like most of my friends did, and it would have been a whole lot worse for me at two years younger), Stuyvesant and (Brooklyn) Tech were all boys, leaving only Bronx Science for this girl to go to.

So I went to Stuyvesant, and she went to Science, and I never saw her again. I did hear she went to Columbia while I was busy flunking out of CCNY (quickly, and I do mean quickly, turns out they wanted you to study). I heard she got involved with Mark Rudd and SDS when they took over the campus, all that stuff.

Cut to years later. Out of nowhere, I see her name and photo in the paper-- it was her car they used in the Nyack shootout, she was the one who stood up in court and said you have no right to try us, etc. She ended up doing federal time (I heard some of it in leg irons), and when she came out, became Ron Kuby's expert in prison affairs (tough to get a law license when you're a felon).

Post script-- I ended up at a party some years ago for the publication of a book about that period, and somebody said, that guy over there is Mark Rudd. So I go over and tell him who I am and ask him about this girl, does he stay in touch, how is she. I never saw a guy clam up so fast-- presumably thought I was undercover.