My old boyfriend from 1952, with whom I am still in touch, invited me to join him in a Bensonhurst group. I find, as I do with most things now, that I am one of the oldest involved. It's kind of empty, like one hand clapping. I left Bensonhurst 70 years ago. What is nostalgia to the other members is like yesterday to me, and I was long gone then.

I was also saddened by many of the members inability to write a complete and proper sentence. Ooopidstay. What happened to education somewhere down the line?

I shouldn't be surprised. The average for women entering Brooklyn College in 1955 was 90. Thirty years later, all you had to do was know how to read.