UNC, Chapel Hill 78-9

August 26,1978

Dear Family,

A hearty uptempo greeting to all! I am two days into classes and greatly enjoying myself.

On Wednesday, my flatmate, Erwin Jarvis, moved in. He is a 25(?) yr. old, radio-TV majoring senior. He has a working car and stereo. Objectively he has displayed relatively desirable characteristics: He works full time as a cook at Pizza Hut and is thus rarely here and never uses the kitchen. On Wed. I also registered for my courses and as of now it is basically geared to achieve the first goal: passing the first year general exam. My courses are Micro (ECON 200) and Macro (ECON 202) Economic Theory, a Decision Science (BA 300) course dealing basically with linear programming problems, and probably a 2nd year course on Financial Institutions and Markets taught by Willard Carleton.

Wed. night I attended a "get-together" given by 2nd yr students Dave and Pam Peterson. I had gotten the mimeographed invitation that morning. They had magnanimously offered to supply popcorn and soda "(limited)." They are both in Finance and each ride their own motor cycle. This party was for the (new) finance people.

I met there all the other new people, including my officemate, Larry. There are 4 new finance Ph D students. Larry and Jeff (?) are both 5 years out of high school coming from Acctg, Larry at U of ND and Jeff at SUNY Binghamton. Neither is particularly well adjusted or qualified. Nick, the other 1st yr student, is 30 and is coming from a state regulatory agency in Florida. Thus far he has not demonstrated any particular competence. Larry is in Graduate Student Housing and Nick and Jeff and his wife arrived at the last minute. The 2nd year people seem a little more credible, as do the 3rd yr students. The faculty have their valuable members. I am currently slated to work for Aging (69?) star Henry Latane. The relationship will require finesse on my part in addition to the sophisticated programming ability that I will have to develop.

Wed I also acquired a third Brown bookcase (for my bedroom) and a Gray 1’ x 3 " X 5' utility shelving unit for hallway space by the bathroom intended for a washer/dryer. I also have 6 bracketed she1ves and a bracketed plywood surface that I hope to use for study, though, I am currently using the kitchen table. Also at that time 1 purchased a Four wheeled deluxe model Sear's shopping cart which made Thursday’s “large" ($52) supermarket visit manageably tolerable.

I have been riding my bicycle to campus, barely a 10 minute effort. The problem is that the campus is as advertised, on a hill. I'll probably ride it there in the morning: and take the bus home and back for lunch and then ride my bicycle home in the night when the buses have stopped (after 6 PM and weekends). The Taxi service is good, with nightly and Sunday reserved faires 25-75¢. The campus is fairly large and a bicycle is a real necessity to shrink it to manageable size. Next to the campus, Shoney's restaurant has a $1.60 all-you-can-eat salad bar lunch. ($1.80 after 3 pm.). I can hardly beat this and may abandon my salads.

Thurs. night I attended the orientation meeting of the student run radio station. I was very enthused to hear that they are trying to broadcast 24 hr per day and are looking for D.Js. The hassle is that they enforce the FCC mandate that all DJs have a 3rd class FCC licences. I am motivated enough to study for the FCC test and maybe (dreamlike) I'll have that career awaiting me in radio broadcasting. They have a complete and strong rock library, good equipment, and high ranking Jews.

Last night I attended the first Hi1lel shabbat Supper of the year and walked away with the phone number of Paula. a 1st year Med Student and a dinner commitment from Nadine, a freshman.
Be well.


August 27, 1978

Another day has passed and as I have still not mailed this, another page seems in order. Let me begin with the most recent past of last night. The Hillel mixer began at 9:00 PM.. It lacked the intimacy of the Supper and as such was less rewarding. I had also been invited to a "wild party in the country," but lacked the motorized transport. I made a big salad for the event and determinedly I finally met someone at the mixer who was also ready to try the party, 2nd yr Med Student, Mark Shapiro (?) from Queens. We picked up my salad and arrived around 11:30 PM. The affair was actually quite tame and I befriended an interesting woman, Leslie, leaving with my empty salad bowl at 2:45.

This week I got a basket in the gym and have begun a running schedule. I am gradually learning the available dirt paths through undeveloped neighboring land. The track is a wide newly resurfaced 400 meters and the numerous proximate humongous intramural playing fields are so lush and clean that one can run for long stretches with eyes closed, quite carelessly. It certainly has the potential for helping concentration. A basket is defined here as a total gym outfit and towel less shoes. All the used clothes are washed and replaced with each request of the basket from the basket room. I have a little extra room in the basket for shaving and shampoo needs and talc. My only complaint is that not a single sauna exists for the University community and the brand new Phys Ed Intramural Complex will not have one either. At least in the summer, my storage shed doubles as a sauna here.

I have been meeting many pleasant and interesting people. Eli, the 2nd yr Fin PhD student from Israel is from Haifa and his wife from Naharia. He too is worried about a job. People seem happy and reasonably successful. The Sunny lush climate helps.

The Jaynes Book, The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bi-cameral Mind1 has had to be abandoned with the onslaught of classes, but I do plan to return to it at the first available moment. It is quite profound and reasonably relevant.

Tomorrow the “C" bus route (Carrboro) begins again. The net effect to me is that I now have two alternatives to choose from when traveling to and from campus by bus. I’ll probably end up leaving my bicycle on campus, utilizing the bus and taxi.

My only available reading list as of today is from ECN 200 and I have thus far read the first 100 pqges of articles for it, most of it dealing with Milton Friedman's conception of "Positive Economics." I am very anxious to get the Sunday NYT back on my breakfast table. The :Washington Post does draw very interesting columnists to their Op-Ed page. The free campus daily, The Daily Tar Heel, should be adequate for local news (and Doonesbury, should I give up the WP)..

I am getting Pita Bread from a local natural food store, where I also purchase my Almond-molasses Granola, fried cashews, and barbeque flavored dry roasted soy beans. Vegetarian restaurants and dishes abound, though no one I have yet spoken to thinks highly of the town's dining establishments. I have certainly tasted good light chocolate ice cream here, a far cry from the Israeli Strauss Choc Chip or Mocha. The habit that Reuven did inculcate in me is Hershey's Syrup and whole milk.. The produce price and quality is good. but at this seson of the year I would not expect much less.

Almost all of the UPS packages have arrived but three days have passed and I am waiting for a few more. I have not heard yet from Greyhound that my stereo got to Durham.

Judy arrives here Thurs. night for a 10-day stay. Her ride will hopefully return with my stereo for her. I greatly look forward' to the time that we will be able to spend together.

September 6, 1978

Dear Family,
.1 greet you with the heavy heart that. befits my deep sense of bereavement over the loss of our dear Grandma Emma. The void of our loss can only be born by the memory of her purity and goodness. With this loss love, we again become less total.

My classes have begun and they seem acceptable thus far. Micro Econ Theory looks to be neither particularly rigorous nor exciting. Macro Econ theory should be the opposite. Both classes are about 25(?)students, largely the same, 1st yr Econ students. The Grad. Library's back periodical holdings are proving barely accessible.. My. Oper Research course should pose little difficulty in the foreseeable future. In the Fin Mkts course, I am to deliver a critique of a paper tomorrow, 1 of 3 students (5 total in the class).

I will be working for Dr. Latane this semester. His first request of me was to write a program to employ fundamental decision criteria on equity selection, an ironic assignment as I too asked this of my research asst at Morris. My RA gave me no results. I will obviously have to perform much better.

By now you should have noticed the cleaner type of this letter. This is due to -the fact that I am using Judy's electric typewriter. '1 also utilized it to type requests to session participants of the. recent AEA/AFA/ES meetings for copies of their papers. The convention was held last week in Chicago and I certainly would have enjoyed attending. This year's other major meeting (even more important as it occurs later in Oct), of the Fin Mgmt Assoc, will be held in Minneapolis.

More importantly, I introduced Judy's typewriter to evidence her stay here. We are having nothing but the best of times together, physiological ailments, aggravated by hay fever, aside. I bought her a pair of Brooks Villanova and Bierkenstock sandals. We have been running quite regularly. We attended the opening Ph D in BA reception and there I met the fifth entering Fin Ph.D student, Dick Stimpson. He is over 45, and coming from Fla. I. have not seen him around because he teaches full time at High Point College, 70 miles away. I have difficulty envisioning his successful completion of the program.

Judy and I saw the movie "The Buddy Holly Story," and agreed with the generally quite favorable reviews. His life became more real to me. At the shopping center I also picked up LaFayette and Sears catalogs for R&E and aquarium supplies for myself. Sat. morning. we attended a nearby farmer's market for an interesting if not particularly "fruitful" endeavor.

Today we joined the Labor Day festivities at the nearby NC Botanical Garden The pristine and lush 340 acres border the campus and should prove to be a year-round resource. The elevation and geographical location allow the Gardens to support a whole host of native and imported fauna. The absolutely litter-free trails were an immensely pleasing experience. We also encountered Barry and Renee Greeneberg and a few other people that 1 recognized, there.

Last week I mistakenly thought that Don's name is "Jeff". His wife is Sue. Tomorrow, Ann Rakes, a senior in English from Winston-Salem, is eating supper with Judy and I. On Wed. Judy and I will hear a lecture on "International Accounting" in Carroll Hall, preceded by supper at the Hillel Deli. Thurs. night Leslie is joining us for supper and on Firiday Judy leaves for NYC.

She is getting along fairly well on my raw vegetable/ highly cut up salads with an occasional hot dish. She is quite adventurous with my cookbook and came up with a delightful buttermilk-wheat-raisin coffee cake.

We are managing to get around fairly well with the bus system and shared-ride-taxis (SRT). Our time together has been only too short.


September 10, 1978

Dear Family,

Greetings on a hot and muggy Sunday afternoon. Life here is beginning to take on a routine nature. I am well and in good spirits.

Judy's visit ended Fri. morning as she parted with a ride to Wash. D.C. and the Natl. Gallery's East Wing on the way to NYC. We had dynamite times together and I realize that all it would have taken for you to have shared the good time was a cassette recording unit. I'll not let this thought passed unfulfilled.

She got to know the town, my trailer, and routine fairly intimately. Her running capacity was quite impressive for a woman in her circumstances. We swapped many stories and philosophies. The guessted supper went as well as the Hillel Deli. Importantly, she was able to finish her grant/independent study project and it emerged as a very credible piece. I was glad to be able to offer some last minute payroll tax info. We had few formal cultural inputs, but suffered little for it. I will be able to provide her with a business library, stereo, and curtains.

My classes are progressing well. Micro Econ and Bus Dec Meth are proving not to be too stimulating or challenging. Macro Econ and Fin Mkts will certainly be challenging, if not overwhelming. I will not be suffering from a lack of textual course material to read. My Officemate is getting the daily WSJ and I try to buy the daily Wash Post, in addition to the acceptable Dairy-Tar Heel.

Dr. Latane has left for 9 days in Europe, so I am on my own. I have a few all ready written programs that I am trying to run. I have an inordinate amount of programming to learn ahead of me. I received my first paycheck on Fri. and on every subsequent second Fri I'll get this check of $222.22.

Enclosed you should find two maps, one of UNC and the other, of the N C Botanical Gardens. Franklin St. is the town’s main drag and between Columbia and Henderson alone I can conduct 90% of my intown commercial transactions, from products to services. A path exists all the way from the Garden trails to the campus border of undisturbed beauty. Within 45 minutes I can ride from the gym, in my locker-room issued clothes, to the Garden paths and run around there and return. As you know, the Bus. School is in Carroll Hall.

The Hillel is proving to be a real enjoyable source of food and potential friendship. This morning’s brunch, the one out of four that features the sumptuous all-you-can-eat bagel and lox, featured Mark Halperin speaking on Jerusalem's roots. I am meeting new men and women at every occasion. I expect to attend the Wed night Deli, Shabbat Supper and Sunday brunch fairly regularly, though I will probably not repeat wed night's Kosher Corned Beef, as the meat, the first in a while, was not particularly well received and left me feeling tired and sluggish. I'll stick to the Gefilte Fish.

I have not made any truly deep friendship's since arriving, but I am far from discouraged and am having problems only in managing to fit social time with study time. I'll have to develop a more disciplined schedule.

Rick Grossman came over earlier this evening with what he was kind enough to bring down gear from Cleve. We had a good time catching up with one another's summer and we should be getting together, if not regularly, at least sometime soon.

Thursday night I am to have dinner with Nadine.


September 18, 1978

Dear Family,

A day's late greetings! I simply ran out of time last night and an 11:30 P.M. 45 minute talk with Judy got the community in me.

The week torrid pace of Monday is over. Last week I resolved to drop Micro Econ and-take Dr. Latane's Capital Mkt (Finance) Theory, Bus Adm 380. My rationale is that the Micro, an uninspiring course, is barely related to my general exam at the end of the year. Dr. Latane's course will require only marginally more effort, as both 380 &388 have the basis of a grade, the term paper. I expect that the same paper will serve both, hopefully something in the area of 'Depository Interest As a Cost of Money'. More fundamentally, banking represents an Israeli marketable skill.

Other aspects of my existence are progressing in varying rates. Socially, I have associated with most of the Jewish circles and nothing particularly exciting has occurred. Saturday night was the Jewish Singles Group pot luck dinner. a 35 person affair at the home (apt) of Jane Gavin. My salad represented one of the few wholesome forms of sustenance brought. I did meet an interesting clinical psychologist working with Children in Durham, Rick (?) Roth, whose first book is to be published by McGraw-Hill in Jan. The manuscript is an elaboration of a test he performed on children to determine their degree of societal adjustment with his results highly correlated with the children's teachers. The test was a simple one, asking a child to recall its earliest memory. The three factors to be recorded and valued are: how the child felt, how the incident was resolved, and most importantly, how the parent (superego) figure felt.

Friday night I cooked supper for the Hillel. The following was served to 17 people: A casserole of 4 cans of tuna, 3 cans of Cream of Mushroom soup, 2 cups of assorted beans, 1 pound of rice, cashews, and fresh mushrooms and string beans; a humongous PCL salad (with a broiler pan full of leftover); 18 half ears of corn; 3 cans of apple juice; bananas; and a watermelon cut into quarter slices. (Paranthetically, I suppose this is an appropriate point to thank my knife and Mrs. Ko for making unbelievable salads possible.) Most people were pleased and I was able to do it, including shopping in under 3 hours.

Last night I attended a Jewish Graduate Student open house at Hillel, a very uninspiring affair, as far as nubile young women went. Preceeding it I saw Lenny Bruce in a New York 1964 Night Club Act, an hour length flick that I had previously caught at the Hts Art Thtr. It rang as true and beautiful as ever.

My trailer existence is satisfactory. I have a working aquarium with 5 fish and this past weekend I fumigated my kitchen and bathroom (water sources) to combat the roaches. Recommended Diazinon has a fairly good kill rate with only a fraction of the population remaining. I also lost a significant portion of my living room plant to aphids before I exterminated them with Diazinon.

Saturday the basket room was closed so that I had to run in my bare feet. Earlier in the week I had lost my left contact down the drain and I cannot run in this hot weather with my glasses on. So I started on the track and it took only one lap for the track to rip patches of skin off the bottom of my feet, which are finally blistering over. A new contact lens has been ordered.

Father has kindly offered to pay for my ordered portable cassette recorder, digital watch/stopwatch/calendar, and briefcase.

The only real disappointment of the week is that I have not gotten my programming act onto the road.


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Sept 24, 1978

Dear Family,

I trust that this output finds you all in the best of health. My assistantship duties entail mastering of empirical data analysis on computer. To that effect I have been at this terminal often this week. Unfortunately most of what I have learned will go to naught, as I have the wrong mode and language. I am beginning to understand what I will have to learn.

Otherwise the week has passed uneventfully. The big news, which was really quite unpleasant was that the cat hanging around my trailer had both his back legs broken, presumably being run over by a car. As with all natural evolution, the weak die and thus did this cat. The gross aspect was that he died under our trailer. When the smell became intolerable and rank, Erwin, who used to work with a man who cut up dead horsed, fished out the remains (‘Nothing but a furry bag of maggots by this time) and placed it in two plastic bags for the garbage. On the whole, a distinctly unenjoyable affair.

This week i was able to get into something of a study routine, staying...

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October 8, 1978

Dear Family,

I trust that this type is heavy enough for everyone to read. This means of communication and duplication appears to be useful and feasible. I am in good spirits and health and I trust that the new year finds everyone else likewise.

The weather has beome quite cool here, with nights dipping into the upper 40’s. Running is quite pleasurable under these circumstances and so my times and distances are improving measurably. This week I managed 3 miles in 20:54.

My social week was not as active as originally planned but pleasurable nonetheless. Marinella Dado, an economics peer, joined me for a salad supper on Thurs. Between illness and the new year, Robe, a Duke resident, could not make it over. Dina, a physics majoring senior, had her sister’s wedding, which precluded her dining with me. I expect to entertain these ladies in the future. This area has so many intelligent and enthusiastic women that I look forward to my nightly cab rides home for the opportunity to meet some.

And then there is Nadine. After the shabbat dinner on Friday we went to see and hear the Paul Winter consort, a jazz and mime troupe. We both had a good time and enjoyable conversations throughout. She replies with a very endearing “and you?” to my virtually incessant probing of her. The problem that I see with the relationship is that 4 hours a week does not define very much. She is desirous of this commitment level, so this is where it will stand until she deems otherwise.

I am headed for NYC on Wednesday 10/11. I will be taking a 4:00 p.m. bus to Wash DC where I will be spending Thurs at the FCC taking the third class license test, the Amer. Bankers. Assoc and the Fed Reserve hdqtrs seeking information for my research and at the Hirshorn (for the Saul Steinberg exhibit) and National Gallery. Wednesday night, Donna Potempkin, Ellen’s cousin, has kindly volunteered to put me up. I hope to be in Brooklyn by Thurs. night.

The Washington Post is proving to be an adequate daily substitute for the NYT. They are currently featuring many interesting pieces on Israel. Additionally I can read daily of Cleve, teacher’s strike capital of the nation and now the new capital of Saudi Arabia. This week I also finished reading Nora Ephron’s latest collection of Esquire columns on the media, entitled Scribble, Scribble. I find her quite enjoyable.

This week I began writing fiction and managed to produce a page a night. I imagine that this first effort will end up as a short story. I am reasonably pleased and may try to do something with the work.

I again wish you a healthy happy and peaceful new year.
Be well.


October 12, 1978

Dear Family,

Greetings from one of the greatest citys in the world (actually, one subway stop away) NY, NY. The trip up has also been exciting. Before that were 3 quite intensive days in Chapel Hill.

On Mon. and Wed. in 380, I discussed a paper and I was supposed to discuss one in 388 on Tue, though, we never got past Dr. Carleton's paper. On Wed, I also had a big problem set due in Macro. A busy three days. The papers were no problem but I am less confident about Macro. I did not crunch a lot of matrix algebra before his eyes as others did.

I trust that on that Wed., everyone had a sanctimonious, meaningful, and fulfilling Yom Kippur. To me, the holiday's essence is a cyc1ical purging of the soul. Nevertheless, I traveled to Wash. D.C. That evening, leaving on Trailways at 4 and arriving at Donna's apt at 1752 Corcoran (at NH, by the Dupont Circle Red Line Metro Stop) by 10:45. She and David were very hospitable to me and her carpeted living room floor was quite adequate. They both love DC, and I can see why, it is a bureaucrat’s dream.

On the trip up I had read the FCC 3rd Class License handbook and in the morning; I reviewed it and tried the sample questions. 75% correct answers on a multiple choice, 80 total questions, examination were required. At 10:30 A.M. I passed it. I then proceeded down 19th to Constitution where the Fed Res is located. On the way I profitably stopped in at the IMF and World Bank Hdqtrs, my discovering them having been unexpected. The Fed Reserve Bank Hdqtrs proved to be something of a gold mine, if not something of a mother lode. From here I walked away with books as well as material to be mailed to me as at the WB & IMF.

At the IMF I discovered the employee's exercise room. Crossing the street to the mall at 12:30, I was literally besieged with lunchtime joggers. Dad would have had a field days pointing out the various species. The mall itself befits the nations capital and right now as the trees turn color, it rivals London and Jerusalem for inspiration. The only truly manicured garden I saw was at the Smithsonian with an exquisite Victorian format. It did have smellable roses, always a refreshment to my senses. It also had a plant bearing the first copyright (patent) infringement warning on the asexual reproduction that I had ever seen.

Awaiting; me at the Hirshorn were the ink and other media of Saul Steinberg. The collection was inspiring and along with I B Singer's Nobel, one can never stop quite wondering how much fuller the world would have been if any one of a number of others ( let alone 6,000,000 ) could have lived to enrich us ( The mind particularly longs for a more mature Walter Benjamin ). The standing gallery with permanent collection works is always interesting. The postcard selection was not particularly fruitful.

I cannot ecall having ever been in the main building of the National Gallery, so I tried it today, after the Hirshorn. Three rooms of French Impressionism and the two Garden Courts were about all that I could stomach. The Museum's stock of postcards and reproductions were quite adequate. I closed the sightseeing at the NG East Building where I heard the day's first Hebrew conversation and thankfully had a few galleries closed to me.

Leaving DC on the 6:10, I pulled into Penn: Station at around 10:00 and into Grandpa's apt shortly thereafter. The weekend ahead should be grand



October 17, 1978
Dear Family,

My time here in NY is about to end and so I would like to savor these last few hours here and share them with you. The weekend was fun-filled, educating, and enervating.

Friday morning and afternoon I toured the Avendon exhibit at the Metro (Newsweek 10/16) and dashed through the Whitney. I have decided to throw a pre-Halloween Toga (optional) Party and at the Met I was able to pick up postcards of toga clothed statues that will make perfect invites. The Whitney had quite an extensive exhibition on early Abstract Expressionism as well as their credible standing collection. I rushed out at 2:15 to make it to Supper at the Grandparents in Rockaway at 4:00, and barely making it. Their ocean breeze and kindly hospitality are always refreshing.

That night I again returned to the Upper and Mid town East Side as I cruised through the 15 recommended Singles' Bars around 1st and 2nd Ave between 59th and 86th St. It turned out not to be such a choice time, as the Yankees are currently locked in battle with the Dodgers and a World Series game on TV (at virtually every bar in screen's up to 7 ft) attracts EVERYONE's attention. I had spoken to my friend Neal Lucas, a systems analyst with Arthur Anderson & Co., earlier in the evening and met him at a bar. Afterwards we strolled up to his new apt at 82 and 2nd and listened to the new Neil Young on his new stereo.

I have read in a work of fiction that the best place to meet single nubile women in this city is at the cookbook counter at Bloomingdales. In desperation I tried this locale and predictably, the joke was on me. Strolling down the E 50's, I purchased some prints and Decent Interval at Barnes and before I had to pick up my contact lens prescription and bring it downtown to be filled. (It fits fine and I am back to the confidence-enhancing (vain) glass-less reality.

Sat. night I remained in Grandpa's apt. with him as we celebrated his 85th birthday. We talked and saw a BBC special on Israel that was well done. I only hope that I can report at 85 that life has not neglected me.

On Sun. at 2 I went to a computer flea market at 49 and Lex. It was not much of a bargain for the dollar admission fee. I did find out that Radio Shack is coming out with a FORTRAN compiler next spring for their home unit. In the morning while taking a walk on the Bkln Eesplanade with Grandpa, local labor star Victor Gotbaum came jogging by in a "NY needs Vic" sweatshirt. After the flea market, I took in the MOMA. Their current exhibitions of PROJECTS, Russian Art 1917-27, and works by an architect and a landscape photographer (both of whose name I forgot) were all interesting. The showcase for me was their standing second floor of Post- Impressionism. It rivals any collection of that period (Leaving the museum in high spirits, I cruised through Central Park and saw my true superstar of the day, Chevy Chase. He was nattily attired like the other young professionals in the park, in denim jeans, tweed sport coat, and sweater. He was naturally accompanied by an attractive young woman.

Yesterday (Sun.) evening Neal and I were to see jazz pianist Keith Jarrett at the Lincoln Center Metropolitan Opera House. We did not buy tickets in advance and the concert was sold out when we arrived at the box office 2 hours before the show. Neal treated me to a crepe dinner and then we browsed through Marlboro Books, where I made some stupendous buys. Following this, we saw Bread and Chocolate a pleasant if somewhat lifeless Italian ironic comedy. The evening closed-with a Black Russian at the Hilton cocktail lounge.

Today the pace slowed quite considerably as I read finance most of the day. During the afternoon I got Grandpa out for a meal, though it was the predictable Chock-full-of Nuts. My flight home is in 6 hours at 7:30 A.M. Back to the grind.


October 22, 1978

Dear Family,

I am doing well and I trust that all of you are likewise. My week was somewhat typical and usual, so I suppose anything that I might relate pales by comparison with the joyous news from the holy city. A New Life! Noa Chen Levinson (Noa Levinson)

A New Beginning' Oh, how blessed are we. I am overcome with rapture. I could not imagine of a better couple to bring into this world a crucial part of our future. My joys and thoughts are with them and the longing to share these moments poignantly heartfelt. Next year in J'm.

Grandpa kindly footed my airfare bill so that I was back home Tue. morning at 9:45. The week progressed well academically. I discussed a paper in Carleton's BA 388. I have read about 150 pages for my term paper in this course and I am pleased that in selecting my topic I did not "bite of more than I can chew", my topic might not have enough of a literature to support a full-blown survey paper. I might have to introduce empirical testing. For my assistantship and research paper for Dr. Latane, this week I got some honest-to-goodness output, a very small first step. In BA 300, my test score was raised from avg. to above avg. because I successfully brought to the Instructor's attn. that it was his statement that supporting work must be shown only "If you think you are wrong" that convinced me that I need not demonstrate the second-order conditions, for which he had previously docked me points. In Bcon 202, Macro, I got my first problem set back with a 29 and a class avg. of 32.9, not so hot, Quite passable and above what the other Bus Adm Ph D students are doing, but obviously nothing "to write home about."

My social life is not fairing so well. While I do not wish to sound whiny, complaining, or depressed, it could be better. I have not really established a dialog with anyone in particular. While I really respect and enjoy Nadine's purity of emotions and beliefs, our level of intimacy is zilch. Alas, I fear the ultimate femme fatale, passivity.

In an effort to rectify the situation, I am throwing a toga party next weekend. Oct. 28 unfortunately happens to be a very popular night for parties. I can only hope that I catch people in a party hopping mood. I have made a fairly substantial effort to generate a decent crowd by distributing invites to all the graduate housed single women and to the single women in a nearby apt. complex.

The weather has been enjoyably temperate. Days get into the high 60s and the trees are alive with color. People take off for the mountain on weekends in significant numbers. Today I finally got the 3 miles back under 21 minutes and weight to 137 lbs. I am soaking up as much time as I can spare at the Botanical Gardens. Even my main southern-exposure kitchen window borders on panoramic Technicolor.

Sat. night was a Jewish Singles Group (JSG) party in Durham. Ervin kindly volunteered a ride (actually after being asked) to me, the 7 mile distance. The affair was thoroughly congenial and pleasant. Party and general name solicitation went well and I departed to Mr. Harvey's Bistro afterwards with two psychologists and two law school students (f,m,f,f).

The prices were outrageous (we had just coffee and dessert as they were closing at midnight on Sat), atmosphere thoroughly cosmopolitan, and the owners Jewish. They joined us and we schmoozed away an hour.

Today I heard Neal Murphy speak of his year at Tel Aviv U in a visiting fellowship in Banking. I asked him for specific topics to study and he could only speak of the radical difference between the US and Israel1 systems. I'll have to be there.

I am thrilled about yesterday's final breakthrough to a foreseeable Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty. Everyone has so much to gain.

The depressing renewed realization this week was that if I desire a Zionist wife, she is probably in Israel; fairly certainly not here.

My plants and fish are doing well and send their regards.


October 29, 1978

Dear Family,

An uneventful mid-term greeting to all of you. The week had many lively encounters but nothing particularly notable in retrospect. I'll try not to bore you with routine.

A highlight was certainly the acquisition of a pair of Brooks Vantage Running Shoes. That day, Fri., I broke my two mile record, clocking 13:10. They may be a triffle large and the adjustment process was painful for my left heel, they are a real improvement though, and overall I am quite pleased. The price was $24, 20% off retail. I would even consider hard surfaces with these.

My party last night went reasonably well for the 18 guests who showed. The crowd was quite tame except for Sue (Don's wife) who consumed more of the "special" (1.e. grain alcohol) mixture that her husband brought along with other delicacies and they thus had to retire early. The other colleagues and wife showing were: Dave and Pam Peterson, Eli and Tsipora Talmour, and third year student Steve Sears. No previously unknowns appeared.

I was satisfied with my spread, as I limited the baking to quickbreads (banana and ww/btrmlk) and choc chew-ies and served cheese and crackers as well as salad and half pitas. I bought a gallon of Chablis, which is still 60% full, a six-pack of Shaeffer, and a four pack of Guiness Stout. I kept one Stout at the correct 60oF and it came in handy as my BA300 Instructor showed and expressed a preference for it. Barely 1 loaf of each bread was consumed. Only one other person, Carol Sherman, came dressed in a toga explicitly for this party.

Rick Grossman was in attendance and I attended a pumpkin carving party at his home on Thurs. His party was very interesting in the sense of a sociological study of a 3rd yr law school class. He relates that: "..interestingly, most people are going back home". A fairly closed knit society, at least it provides some sort of community.

Rick, a friend since 1969, is headed back to a job in Cleve and will probably arrive with girlfriend of 2 years, Janet Benson. He will probably live somewhere near C.H., though possibly in Lakewood.

This was the week of fall for Chapel Hill according to all the lay "leafologists" that I have encountered. The mammoth, massive, and majestic trees are so colorfully vivid as to make an indelible impression on the memory. The Minnesota tundra pales by comparison to the splendor of fall in this scenic environment.

Professionally the week went passably. I completed the first part of my initial work assignment for Dr. Latane. Seven Balance Sheet and Incomr Statement criteria (as devised by Ben Graham) were applied to a sample of 3,000(?) of the largest companies for the period 1956-75. 50 stocks passed all 7 tests, 30 coming in 1974. I could go on and on and. I am hoping that there is an article in this (for possibly Better Inv.). The academic paper for him is not progressing as well. I am moving more expeditiously on Dr. Carleton paper. I have a problem set due in Macro on Wed that is under reasonable control and a test in BA 300 on Fri.

This coming Thurs. I am invited to a Coat and Tie dinner and reception for Andrei Voznesensky, a visiting Russian Dissident Poet. Getting invited merely entailed signing up and I am enthused.

In preparing for the party I vacuumed the living room rug and “goomied" the remaining floor space (though with a sponge on a stick with a remote control squeezer) as well as put up the posters acquired in NYC and DC. The Chagall "Rabbi of Vitebsk" looks solemnly and mournfully across the corner of my bed to the street map of J’m.

Be well.



November 5, 1978

Dear Family,

How are you all? I sincerely and truly would like to know. A posterity perspective is an unfortunate side effect of duplication. Similarly you read of a version of my reality that is censored to "PG" standards. But I am thinking of you singly and collectively. You folks give me a vibrant and relevant set of values that I turn to. Most likely, as with much of my reality, fantasy plays a role here. This contention is supported by the recent written empirical record

Despite my cantankerous opening, I am in relatively good spirits. Physically, I am finally over a chest cold that I caught while toga clad. My running speed and weight have not changed radically, being practically the same person I was since last week.

My classes are under control and while superlative performances are few, competency and progress are being registered. For my finance seminars, I have begun punching the data onto cards and hope to employ the SAS canned regression procedure shortly. The Carleton paper is the more ambitious as I'll be looking at 15 money market interest rates with a particular interest in Federal Funds. The feedback from BA 300 and ECN 202 is unfortunately of a passing mediocre competence.

The best professional news is of the recent write-up that I made of the Ben Graham criteria research that I do for Dr. Latane. Basically I employed the test offered in Better Investing June 1978, the article after mine. The generally poor performance warrants comment in those pages, I hope. Tomorrow I will have it duplicated and submit it to Dr L and maybe some others for comment.

My two finance seminars will become less demanding in the classroom for the semester's remainder, while BA 300 will stay the same and ECN 202 increase its demand on me. This week was something a relative maximum. By Thurs. I was ready for the Voznesensky dinner and reception. Ironically, he did not make dinner for the reason that I think concerns the mistake I made last week in describing him. He is not a dissident and made no for-the-record political statements while here. He evidently spoke much at his demanding book store schedule and agent planned appearances for he was fatigued at his abbreviated stop here.

At any rate, I was at the dinner (of approx. 15 students) because I had filled out the 6 line request. This was in response to a 2 week long notice in the Daily TH early in the semester. I elaborate on this solely because I was the only student in 20,000+ who had tried. I missed the actual performance as I fell asleep in my office after the processed dinner.

The reception following was fairly high brow and urbane, if not cosmopolitan. I befriended Pam there, and she is expected for dinner here on Wed. I drank Teacher's Scotch and dipped raw cauliflower in an avocado spread. My ride home was a philosophy graduate studying Comp Scl.

Fri. night a Hillel "dinner minyan" could not be raised, even though (because?) I volunteered to cook. I skipped the meal and later finished the salad in my refrig, which I then defrosted yesterday and today. Last night I attended a congenial and rowdy party near campus and befriended Melanie, who is to have dinner here Thurs. On Fri, Rick and Janet are expected and tentatively so is Ellen Siegel, a Hillel member from Durham. Despite this seemingly busy social schedule, I still await truly interesting and interested sincere dialog from CHers.


November 11, 1978

Dear Family,

I trust that this letter finds you in the best of health and spirits. Per usual, I take this on faith, having no written confirmation.

My week had a number of highlights, which I am pleased to recollect. The notable physical endeavor is easily summarized in my three mile time of 19:42 (6:22,6:36,6:59). This was achieved on Tue. and I rapidly returned to the acceptable 20:40. I have scaled the heights and expect to be back.

As expected, I submitted my manuscript" The Empirical Record and Implications of Ben Graham's Investment Recipe, to Profs. Latane, Carleton and Rice for their comments and they all reacted quite favorably. I therefore, sent the piece to Thomas E. O'Hara, editor of BETTER INVESTING. I of course hope for the best and expect the worst.

Coursework and term papers are progressing satisfactorily. For my Federal Funds paper, for 388, I punched the weekly rates for 15 money mkt instruments for 223 weeks.. Having the data and something of an interest and an idea as to functional form, I seriously lack the econometric expertise to tie all these loose ends together. Something credible will inevitably coalesce into a coherent statement, however profound. For 380, I am to present my paper development thus far in class on Wed. I expect to deliver a credible presentation of Robert Merton's "Firm Investment Under Uncertainty". I am to have a dress rehearsal on Mon. BA300 Instructor, Lou Moore went out to LA for a week's conference. A problem set is due on Thurs. in ECN 202.

Typically, the week's social events proved to be less meaningful than hoped (fantasized). Pam was here on Wed. and stayed a tota1 of 1.75 hours. Melanie called today and left a message with my roomate that she would be unable to attend, unbeknownst to me as I asked my neighbor Lenka for a rose from one of her many and still blossoming bushes. She graciously responded with 8 pink Victorian Buds. Lenka was out transplanting her geraniums to pots for indoor life through the winter. I may take these beauties to my 380 presentation.

The social highlight was Rick and Janet for dinner last night. Having another eater (i.e. male) at the table was in and of itself enjoyable. They came with spinach quiche and burgundy. Incredulous as I find it, they are truly bound for Cleve. They were sincerely heart-warming and inspiring company. Janet's approval of my fictional effort thus far will hopefully help motivate me to finish it. (What remains to be plotted are a convincing sexual encounter between the male and female protagonist, a subject in which my literary prowess has no values to draw on, and an ending (purpose) to the tale. I am on the verge of solving the above problems and hope to wrap it up soon.

This weeks cultural highlight, and for most weeks hereinafter, will come tomorrow around noon when I purchase the Sunday NYT. Civilization. The daily NYT arrives here 1 day late and is 1 mile further and 7¢ more than the WP so somewhat shockingly, at least to myself, I may stick with the Post, The "SUnday NYT on Sun is incomparable, at even 175% of the WP.

Fall is still here in Chapel Hill. Green leaves on trees are still quite common and we have had only 1 night of frost. This week has been wet though, so I expect a turn for the cooler soon. Sobering fun fact of the week that I discovered about Chapel Hill is that its residents are No 1. in the
USA (#2 in the World) in per capita. beer consumption. (86 gallons per capita per year)

I am currently reading Metropolitan Life by Fran Lebowitz, a. hilariously zany collection of pieces originally appearing in Mademoiselle and Interview magazines.

This week I got my satisfactory $2 (+$1 tip) haircut.

On Wed. I will be preparing dinner for Hugh McGiaughlin, a 4th yr. student now an Asst. Prof. at Indiana, back to "wrap up" his dissertation.

November 19, 1978

Dear Family,

Time flies as I am here again with you and have transcended so much in the past week. Though I have not heard much from you, you are always with me. I trust that your thoughts are stress-free and that I occasionally enter them. Currently I have no other tangible motivation for life.

Progression has been made on many fronts. I gave my presentation for the semester in DrL's 388 on Wed. He was impressed. The level of abstraction was great and my mastery of the material barely specious so that I lost most of the class early in the discussion. In my 3-piece blue suit with shirt and tie red dotted with white and Lenka Victoriah Rose in my lapel I felt confident. The best news from the course is that I have completed virtually all that will be required of me. The work is proceeding satisfactorily.

On Tue DrC broke the news to me that I'll be teaching BA 186 next semester, the undergrad Investments course. This is quite a coup as the last PhD student who did not have to teach 180 (Fin Mgmt, a required course) is now an Asst Prof here (Mike Rice). My year in the field was evidently quite well received. The rub is that it meets at the same time as the 2nd semester Micro Econ Thry, a course fairly integral to my education (though a course I have had many times before) and the maximum enrollment is 75. I am also in something of a quandary for a text, but I will probably go with the familiar Fndtns of Fin, over the currently used Invstmnts by Wm. Sharpe even though it is more dlfflcult.

My performance otherwise has been satisfactory plus. My 380 paper is beginning to coagulate. I hope that I have come up with a meaningful and testable hypothesis. The key data should be arriving next week from the St. Louis Fed and I hope to run the tests after I return from Thanksgiving break. I think that I performed satisfactorily on the last ECN 202 problem set.

To make up for the missing course next semester, I'll probably sign up for a Research Seminar (BA399) with Harold Black a new Prof from, most recently the Office of the Controller of the Currency (OCC). The course will be something of an institutional study and the class size will probably not exceed 3. It has great pre-dissertation possibilities.

The social side of life advanced passably this week. On Tue I attended a staff meeting for WXYC and there befriended Janet Harvey, a freshman interested in TV communication. We shared (I paid) supper on Fri at a neighborhood organic eatery, Pywackut and both had the specialty of the day, Manicotti in crepes and split a carafe of Paul Mason Chablis. Dessert was ice cream at Babes. The evening was pleasant, down to the traditional parting half loaf, but I have give up predicting how my love life is going to go.

More tangible evidence arrived last night at the Jewish Singles Group party in Durham. I met Rose Shalom, a 1st yr Med Student at Duke, and we rescheduled previously postponed dinners for 12/2. I also saw a 2nd Yr Duke Medical Resident in Family Practice, Jessica Schorr (Daniel's niece), as at a previous JSG affair and hope to entertain her for dinner shortly. The rest of the crowd was generally uninspiring, down to the near group watching of the show that everyone's talking about, Saturday Night Live.

Culturally, THE TIMES IS BACK, bigger and better than ever, of course. I am in a real quandary about what to do, the NYT is a block further, and a day later, and 7¢ more than the Post, but even with sucha handicap it is practically tied. The logical result is that I have been buying and reading both papers, a situation that cannot last. If the daily NYT gives one a 15th Century man's knowledge of a lifetime, you can imagine my reaction to today being Sunday.

Two of my mainstays, running and eating, were performed satisfactorily this past week as was the more mundane watering the plants and feeding the fish. I am still hovering around 20:30 for 3 miles though my weight is creeping slowly upward. Temperature in daylight ranges into the 70s and the night is a mild 50. I have been running less at the Botanical Gardens because the paths are leaf covered and I have strained my ankle more than once on hidden roots.


December 3, 1978

Dear Family,
I have been back from the Cleve Hts homestead for a week now and still its traces linger on. Encountering lifetime values always seems to distort my immediate present. I expect that I have overcome any residual listlessness and will be able to finish the semester with a flourish.

What remains to be done is 1 final in Macro Eoon and a term paper in Carleton's class. I got my first above average (40/40) score on a Macro problem set this past week and answered the two Quant. Mgmt. mid-term questions correctly. I am hoping that I am virtually through with my active association with Dr Latane, as instructor and employer. The paper is beginning to shape up as I have 10-15 pages worth of notes for the institutional (historical) and functional aspects of the Federal Funds and Repurchase Agreements Market and hopefully an empirical hypothesis worth a few pages of discussion.

The weather remains quite hospitable with daytime highs on the low side of 60 degrees F. It has taken me a week to get my 3 mile running time back down to 20:30. The N.C. Botanical Garden provides a pleasant path as usual, but the leaves camouflaging irregular ground surfaces prevent reckless abandon when running so my enthusiasm is naturally dulled somewhat. Fall is still arguably here, though the rain has definitely come.

Socially the week was fairly active as I shared meals with two charming women, Zoe Widdell and Rose Shalom. After dinner Sat. Rose and I attended a surprisingly lively JSG party. This is basketball country, though, and so a UNC-Duke game followed by the irrepressible SAT NIGHT LIVE drew many potential "socialites".

Be well.


January 3, 1979

Dear Family,

I am back in touch with you by mail after a wonderfully reaffirming and reassuring visit (with the sad exception of the crucial link) together. I cannot begin to express my gratitude and affection to you for making an enlightening vacation enriching.

After a sincerely painful airport send-off of Judy and Ellen, New Year's (Gregorian calendar) weekend in NYC was somewhat anti-climatic. The exhibits that I saw before Chanukah, notably Matisse at the MOMA and Stiglitz photographing, O'Keefe and a particular curators (whose name escapes me) collection effort at the Met, dwarfed the Broooklyn and Jewish Museums. I made some pleasing purchases in a collapsible luggage carrier ($9.95), Arnerlcan Food. Processor at A&S ($37 w tax), sweaters and corduroy pants for $4 and $5 at habitat, 120 postcards (qualifying for a 10% discount) at Untitled, and Grandpa Moe gave me a tie to travel home with to keep my neck warm.

Sat. night with Neal Lucas and I saw the movie "We Are Arab Jews in Israel.' Canby had. given it a rave review in the Thurs NYT. and the small theater sold out. I got there early, to my good fortune. The interview documentary style evocatively revealed the underutilization of the country's majority Oriental Jewish population in its relation to the Arabs. An enlightening yet sympathetic portrayal of the Israeli dilemma. The following dinner in Chinatown and cruising of Upper East Side singles' bars was less fulfilling. A wet New Year's Eve viewing the Central Park fireworks and Martin Steinmetz's video game attachments to his TV /( a decidedly CHRISTMAS gift) in his Upper West Side Apt. (closet) was also less than overwhelming. The trip's pleasant conclusion was an apt.-warming dinner at cousin Ronda & Ronnie's.

Returning is always something of a letdown. I really did not want the moments to pass. I have one week to prepare for the next semester's onslaught, particularly my 45+ Investments students.

The course that I was most worried about, I will receive an acceptable P (only because P- is not available); this being Macro Economics. I have evidently still not learned what it means to be a student. My courses for next semester are still tentative, though Research Seminars in Time-Series Analysis, Fin Inst. and Mkts., Multivariate Stat, and Fin Mthds in Fin seem likely.

The big bombshell dropped in my lap is a 2d year Fin Student peer, Abolhassan Jalilvand, an Iranian. His wife is leaving him and I did not object as the logical choice for him to lean on. I have thus been spending lots of time with him.

As I am sure you (USA) have experienced, winds from the NW have caused a temperature plummet. I cannot seem to put up enough polyethylene insulation. Otherwise the mobile home is in good shape. I hope to have the roaches routed shortly and keep the mouse a past memory.

My upcoming social calendar should be pleasant with Jewish parties the next three weekends. As always I approach these events with both skepticism and hope. I used my food processor this evening to make a weekly salad. The resulting mixture is much too finely chopped and dense for my tastes. I evidently overused it and will have to learn the appropriate utilization.

Upon returning, all my fish and plants were intact and alive. A chore that I must soon undertake is the changing of the dirty aquarium water.

I will be changing the art in my office as well as bringing in files to fill the recently acquired file cabinet. The machine typing this will probably now permanently move there.

Be well.

January 9. 1979


Dear Family,

Greetings on a Tuesday night, probably the last one for the next four months. Tomorrow it's batter up! No mind. I am with you now in a peaceful and expansive mood as I eat a festive tuna kiche and Zuchini in Lenka's trailer. She has one semester to go until her MBA and has recently discovered that her dream job is unlikely to be offered to her because of Realpolitik Yugoslav (her nationality) Worldbank relations. She feels depressed about ending up in NYC or Chi. I should be so unlucky.

Last night I ran out of heating oil. Today, following an outlay of $86.71 and some wrench turning the trailer temperature is again under control. No sweat, only cash. I have toyed with leaving and am somewhat unsettle1 by Erwin’s continued absence since my return. though his mother did call here today looking for him. Plus I am just not prepared to move. I still have Erwin's deposit and a commitment to May. Bills do amount inordinately. I am content to sit here on line at a desirable location, Glen Lennox. (I keep trying to end this paragraph at a line's end. Ah! Done

I am very enthused about this semester and yet have that pleasant vacation-induced ambivalence. I tave about polished off two Chi Mercantile Exchange Fellowship applications (Grad Student Research and Grad Stud Summer Intern), due next Mon. Socially I have been satisfied The dance last Sat was fruitful and enlightening.' I will be attending next Sun's birthday celebration of Israeli returning Debra Kay with J,' Gale Hashar, an IBM employee on "Rape Call" that night whom I met at the dance. This Fri I will be attending Stephanie Carleton's gallery opening with Joan. Plus parties galore on the horizon.

My previously mentioned courses are fairly set, though I just have to drop one, what with teaching and the Ph D qualifying exam. 75 students have enrolled in my Investments (BA 186) course. It will certainly not be an intimate gathering. I do have high expectations all around; typically easier resolved than accomplished.

I do so enjoy the turn of the calendar year, particularly in these inflationary times. Price level increases always get me thinking higher. I cannot imagine what life at "0" will be like, having experienced only 2, and the last one so long ago. Also amazing are rising prices with every….

My grade report was an acceptable 2 "P”s and 2 "H” s.

In general I have enjoyed this past week enormously. I read Teddy Kolleck's To Jerusalem, a pleasantly engrossing saga. As a group, Zionists certainly do make a remarkable group identity "leap of faith". Psychologically. As always, however, Viva La Difference! I have resumed a daily 3 mile run. I am still days away from the pre-vacation 19: 42 at today’s 21: 18 My minimum 20 minute intensive cardio-vascular exercise is as always gratifying when completed. Rain and cold prevent straying from the track.

It is now 1/10 and classes begin in a measly few hours. I must leave your fate in doubt.

1/11

Thursday night; the week's major efforts completed.

Classes have assuredly begun. As of now, I will be switching from Psych 132 to Ecn 272. They cover similar topics but the later is closer to the orientation that I wish to have. I still may not add one of my research seminars. Routine has still not yet set in. Next Tue is the WXYC semester planning session and I expect to secure a slot at that time.

And now for the BIG news. Having not heard from Thomas E O'Hara since I submitted my Latane research results write-up, I ca1led the Natl Assc of Invstmt Clubs. O'Hara, editor of their BETTER INVESTING, answered and responded to my query that my manuscript was published in the January issue and my complimentary copies were on their way! I am extremely pleased about how easy the whole operation went, particularly my editing.
I have recorded 3 new enjoyable albums since returning with my new tapes, Neil Young "Comes A Time". Rolling stones "Somre Girls". and Talking Heads “More songs...M. Jagger's tribute to NYC is touching.

January 16, 1979

Dear Family,
Surprisingly, greetings on a Tue. night. The hour is late and I am “academiced” out, having begun my day at 6:00 A.M. I am in the throes of a demanding schedule with tertiary demands also of my time. Actually, I am typing to you because I am also recording the new Elvis Costello off of WXYC and I can do little else while listening to conscious demandlng music.

The notable adverse recent development is that Erwin has split out on me. Flat mate prospects are dim. A rate structure reflecting bedroom size may solve the problem.. He has yet to pick up his gear and settle his debts. He said to me when I called his home in Ashevi11e that he is not desirous of making a second trip here for his stereo, so we may bargain over it

The 8:00 A.M. Investments (BA 186) course that I teach probably has less than 60 students because of the hour (and/or rigor?). The crowd is still formally large and unwieldy. People fall asleep on me left and right. A seating chart will help me benignly note these offenders and kindred souls. Today was an institutional and statistical introduction

The tentative schedule of my classes will probably be reduced. I am not sure" yet what I will drop but I have plenty of time to decide. All of them are enjoyable and relevant.

The fiancée of Larry, my office mate, graduated from UND in December and moved back with him before New Year's. She was in Computer Sci and today landed a $16,000/yr job at GTE in Durham, their SE Hdqtrs. I will be entertaining them for dinner on Sat. night.

I have given up on any national daily other than the free and mailbox delivered WSJ. After digesting the weekly Sun NYT I do not feel too much the worse for wear. Doonesebury comes in the Daily Tar Heel. Events in Iran (and France) do not bode well for the future of the West and particularly in these turbulent times, the barometric Jews. The Shah's first exile step to Egypt seems appropriate, as one Moslem leader on the margin to another

As usual, my social life this past weekend was more fantasy and disappointment than reality. Stephanie Carleton's gallery opening was moved from Fri night to Sun afternoon because of inclement ice. Even finding out the hard way, with Joan, the evening was pleasant, if not productive. Gale Hashem came down with a flu and last-minute stand-by Ruth Miller copped out because she just learned. to drive and the 30 miles from Raleigh was too formidable. Debra Kay has a male friend, Henry, a Jewish Assoc Prof of Comp Sci, no less. So, once again I am alone and disaffected. Fear not, love breeds eternal.

I am somewhat eager to view this Sun.'s $300,000 /minute annual personification of the U. S. psyche, --- THE SUPERBOWL. I trust that this year' contest will not arouse me to the point where I leave because of the uncomfortability. I have urged my students to view this marketing extravaganza.

By using the slicing bla1e of my American Food Processor, the weekly salad preparation has become easier. The resulting slice size allows the vegetables to retain their water and distinguishability. I am generally eating less and enjoying it. Even after consuming 1/3 of a Choc chewies recipe, my weight today, after a 20:30 3 - mile, was 134.25 1bs.

1/18

Another week is through and nary a moment too soon. Tomorrow I commence my regular WXYC slot, 9-Noon on Fri. I am quite enthused and hope to input some creative ideas, notably a quiz show.

In this land of the casually attired academics, I am generally dressed quite formally. Positive notice is finally and appreciatively being called to my attention, particularly by the desired opposite sex.

Tomorrow is also the first Hillel Shabbat supper of the semester and I am in charge of the salad, up to $15 worth. Optimally I will assemble and prepare it in my kitchen with the AFP. As it must be Parve, I may can the idea. The expected crowd size is 25.30.

Today I ran a new cross-country course with Lee Adler, a new Med-student friend. Afterwards I shared my standard salad lunch with him. The weather has been quite pleasant with daytime temps. lingering in the 50s. As with most wooded areas around here, the net effect was quite relaxing.

I have parties to attend, unfortunately unescorted, both tomorrow and Sat

Be well.

January 23, 1979

Dear Family,

I guess that I spoke too early, as once again I am writing you from a Tue. night. A "186" performance at 8:00 A.M. virtually drains me for the entire day. By 10:00 P.M. I can concentrate no longer. Ditto on Thurs. At any rate, I trust that you are well and weathering the winter in good spirits. Life heah in the South is real f-i-i-i-ne. Temps. are quite civilized

Preparing the Hillel Shabbat salad was a gratifying experience. I decided to donate a Chinese knife (cleaver) from my inventory to the Hillel and used it to prepare the $9 salad. We (Jim Meyers and I) purchased the vegetables at a nearby produce retailer, Perseverance. I'll be purchasing my produce there, henceforth, as their selection and price compare favorably.

Notably Banananas are 19¢/lb. Suprisingly (?) 25 people did not get through 8 lbs of spaghetti, 4 gallons of sauce including 5 Ibs of meat, and a salad of 3 heads of lettuce, 2 of cauliflower, 1 Ib of carrots, and assorted lesser quantities of other vegetables. The salad was well received. The meal was free to the public and cost Hill about $l/person.

Afterwards I attended the best party of my NC tenure. It was best because the large, boisterous, and reasonably intellectual crowd stayed until the booze ran out at 1 AM. An oz of #s helped. My hosts were Jerry, Alan, and their roommates of 231 McCauley, a residence I have had my eye on since I arrived. Its central and proximate location and their academic friends and community members drew in many fringe types. I made many new acquaintances, and received future party invites.

That Friday started well with my first regular DJ slot. I was technically quite sloppy but otherwise satisfied with my effort. The station is a step up from KUMM because of the many people involved. I miss collecting, editing, and announcing the news, and having weather dials of current conditions. More staff, particularly in production, and a wattage increase from 10 to 400 more than compensate. Their library is slightly more complete though a room away as opposed to at my back at KUMM. One less platter also does not help. Still, this Fri I have a date with a kindred "freshman", jock Martha Greene. Nothing in Morris was remotely interesting.

As you might have surmised, I spent most of Sat. recovering and putting forth a marginal academic effort. The JSG party that night was generally uninspiring. I left early with Jon Amdursky in the rain to attend another party that I never found. Jon is 29, from Rochester, and Mktg Mgr for GTE in Durham. He is one of the closest relationships to friendship that I have here. The two "oh" good life is his with his condo and Volvo.

Sunday's Superbowl was overall a disappointment. Subliminal seduction in advertising was notable in its absence it seemed. While last years ad rate was prominently noted, I found no reference to what sponsors paid this time.

Today was fulfilling. From 12:30-1:30 PM an Israeli visiting prof offered to lead a discussion group on Israel. Today was the first meeting. In addition to the prof and his wife and me, Ron Meir the Hillel director, Harlan, a 1st yr Grad History student, Nadine, and Debra Kay showed. I am not too expectant as the structure is unorganized and the participants knowledge of the subject limited. The encouraging development was that Debra's relationship with Henry is becoming increasingly tentative. She is quite remarkable from her counter culture awareness to her Zionism. I am also not alone in bearing witness to her attributes. Currently any delusions of intimacy that I harbor are, as usual, fantasy. This afternoon I ran a 19:48.54 three-miles. Continual effort from the first step makes all the difference.

Recent new music acquisitions include the "CA Suite" jazz theme album and Ian Dury's "New Boots and Panties". I greatly appreciate the station production room's cassette deck. Felicitous editing is greatly facilitated.

Entertaining Larry and Kim for Sat night dinner was uneventful. I found out that Larry's parents live in a double-wide mobile home.

No news to report on finding a flatmate. Erwin is presently here and leaving soon. We have yet to settle.


January 28, 1979

Dear Family,
A familiar Sunday night greeting. I would rather start my week with a clean slate and my letter on its way to you. I am in good spirits and trust that you are likewise.

The big news of the week is that Erwin is moved out as of tomorrow and Avraham Shupeck is moving in. Tue. Erwin settled all his debts and I acquired his Harmon Kardon 330B and 2 small Advent speakers notably for Judy. He is departing to a possible Pizza Mgmt position. Avraham is practically off the plane returning from a 4 year stay in Israel. The last 1.5 with his parents who made aliyah to Netanyah. He will be directing the Purim play at Hillel and plans on a sustaining wage through FORTRAN tutoring.

Last Wed. after the Hillel Deli I attended the initial organizing meeting for the UNC Student UJA campaign led by scholarship recipient Debra Kay. Zionists cannot afford to remain cynical all the time, I perceive the probably effort of 6 hrs training and 10 hrs on the phone as a worthwhile effort. Mercifully the time demands end at the end of Feb.

186 is moving and passably manageable. Class size is down to 36 and I moved us to a smaller room. A permanent seating chart should help. On Fri. I received 40 lbs of requested information to distribute to them from the Chi Merc Exch. I am planning a Fri. afternoon reception for them in a few weeks. It can fair no worse than my personal social affairs.

My other classes (the ones that I take) are all still interesting and demanding. Of the four in the Time Series Seminar including my office mate Larry, my background is weak. I am relatively better prepared in Introductory Econometrics. The demands of my Finance seminars are more elusive. Dr Carleton' s Quant Methds is exciting and dynamic. Dr Black’s Issues in Bank and non-Bank Competition suffers from the informality and lack of structure. It may have to go.

My Fri morning slot went reasonably well with only one major faux-pas. lifting the needle off of an album cut being broadcast. Fortunately I can do my gig and split, abstracting from station politics and to a small degree, responsibilities.

That evening I made supper and spent the time with fellow DJ Martha Greene a junior in English Ed. from Winston Salem. She has good taste in music, a dynamic presence and a capacity for my abrasiveness. A pleasant evening of conversation ended too soon.

Sat after studying, I shopped and baked. I forgot the baking soda in the banana bread and undercooked the chewies, not a particularly efficient effort Gale Hasher never made it here and so Jon and I attended a local party, where I befriended Shirley McMillan. Afterwards for variety, I spent the night at Jon's condo for a taste of the good life.

Today I marked student papers, studied, ran, read the Sun. NYT and cleaned up some for Avraham's arrival. He professes to be quite neat and plans on using this as his base for operations. I desire to start out as concerned as is reasonable over order, neatness, and cleanliness.

My colleague Don Chambers has set his wedding day for April 14. Larry will be married at the end of this semester in Bemidji. Minn. A fellow 1st year PhD student introduced his newly met fiancee to me Fri. I am truly happy for all of them.

I ran 16 miles this week with today's 3 mile clocking at 20:57. The weather has been varying greatly in temperature depending on whether or not clouds are present to retain some of the air heat from rising. The clouds unfortunately generally bring precipitation with them. I ran through the NC Botanical gardens this week for the 1st time since New Years. While wet in spots and wintry barren, the experience was still soul gratifying. Be well.


February 4, 1979

Dear Family,

A Sunday morning greetings. The day ahead will be demanding and my departure imminent so a letter's commencement if not completion is called for. I trust that you are well in health and spirit.

The academic week progressed uneventfully. Two class sessions were cancelled because of the Instructors absence. I am starting slowly but not far from the norm. Basically I have to get paper topics together and start generating some ideas. I am enjoying everything and will be strapped for enough time as preparation for the 1st yr. Qualifying exam gets underway.

My 186 class has stabilized at 34. Interestingly, the women chose to sit disproportionately in the front and back rows and below random in the middle. Drop-Add ends on Thurs. The potential topic coverage is broad. The text covers the theory adequately so that I can feel comfortable about lecturing on the institutional and empirical. Some of my students have more “hands-on" experience and. market savvy than I do. Most have lived the insulated sheltered existence as expected. The faculty reception is scheduled for a tentative 2/1

The social end of my week was a mixed endeavor. I lost a friend through a common PCL flaw, sticking my ego in my mouth, bypassing the brain and preempting the foot. A selfishly adolescent intonation was sufficient to motivate Martha to walk out of my dinner. My shell-shocked inappropriate express of being "impressed” probably destroyed any hopes of a future relationship, let alone intimacy. I'd like the easy lesson of embitterment and rationalizing a projected over sensitivity on her part, but of course life's lessons are not as accurately characterized as they appear and occur. .

On a. positive note, my friendship with Debra and Shirley registered positive notes. Debra and I shared a conversation in which I learned how another Penn graduate of 1975 (from Birmingham Ala.) could have lived a more fulfilling existence since then than I. We lived 1 block apart during the summer of'73. I am most enthused about our mutual Zionist convictions, though another veteran of Hospitable Acctg. always comes in handy in a funding pinch. The UNC Student UJA campaign for this year more or less kicked off for me tonight (it is now 1/5 12:56 A.M.) for our solicitation training session. Parenthetically, I was pleased to add Nadlne Honigberg to our understaffed corral. This morning at the Sunday Hillel brunch, I was asked by Rock, the director(?) to make the post-brunch announcements and introductions. Bruce Baer, my student T.A. is student Pres. of Hillel. Also I knew the UJA campaign plans and the SE Regional Rep. from the UJA, having met her this morning (Naomi Plotkin). Her 10 minute spiel was historical and dispassionate, not at all inspiring to me, though she was integral to this evening's effort. I added a more emotional plea as well as a. personal expression of skepticism, justified and borne out by tonight's bare minyan.

Last evening I offered standard PCL fair to Shirley McMillan, an electronics student at Durham Tech. She has a rare combination of graciousness, sensitivity, and fulfillment befitting an artist turned scientist. I cannot remember the last woman out side of family who ever gave me anything of lasting tangible value. I look forward with anticipation to next Sat. and her version of Sweet N" Sour Chicken.

Physically, I am quite close to peak condition as I hit a post-junior high weight low of 133 Ibs on Thurs and my fastest time of 3 miles, 19:43.18, today. I fear that feeling healthy and fit may be at the expense of feeling productive, the currently more germane measurement of accomplishment. I could lose another 5-10 Ibs and barely feel it mentally in a detrimental sense by eliminating the nuts and soybeans that I keep in my desk. I'd also have more effective study time as the blood would not have to leave my brain to go to the aid of stomach digestion. Speaking of office productivity, a 5¢ copier was placed 50 feet from my office making this communication and dissemination to you an easier process. Carroll Hall is dry and I now realize why I have trouble keeping my eyes open, particularly at the weekly seminar: my contacts dry out. Prof Mike Miles is also a contact wearer and pained to keep his eyes open. An additional impetus to removing the contacts would be to utilize the ever-present cup of coffee or tea.

Be well.


February 12, 1979

Dear Famlly,

A late night greeting, a fitting gesture to this laborious week. I trust that you are well and committed to surviving the dead of winter. Conditions here are at a 9-year low, with a 5 inch snowfall that the city has barely recovered from 5 days later. People around here are for the most part not prepared to deal physically or mentally with the snow.

It has cramped my style by increasing the variability of service schedules and keeping the ¼-mile track snowed over. The inability to run for 5 days has contributed to my full 138 lbs. Only today were the paths clear enough to bicycle on.

The UJA campaign is in full swing. Tues. night the fliers and pledge card were sent out. Wed night was the Hillel Deli. Thurs night was our keynote speaker, Rev. John Grauel, a history-making walking UJA campaign. I shared dinner with him, Debra, Henry Fuchs (decidedly still her male friend), Paula Kreitzer andJon Amdursky. He was a commander of the Exodus and has raised 25 children in his J'm home. The turnout was relatively abyssmal, with 8 campaign workers, 3 Antagonistic Arabs and a Methodist sympathizer, 4 Christians who ,walked out during the presentation, and an assorted 9 others from whom we got 2 potential campaign workers and a small sum of money. His speech was extemporaneously topical and political which at times implied military, antithetical to the UJA fund usage, for which Debra registered formal criticism at tonight’s session. I enjoyed his remarks. Next weekend is the phoning effort and a closing celebration is being tentatively set for the last weekend in Feb.

Classes are manageable though I am behooved to commence my paper topics for the Time Series Seminar and Quant Meth in Fin. I am fairly certain that Harold Black's Issues in Bank and Non-bank Competition will be dropped. I cannot conceive of getting motivated for it. Currently I spend more time on Econometrics than anything else, though I could easily up my study time on any of the courses.

I spoke to Fritz Russ, the Asst Ph D Dean and in charge of the 1st year Qualifying exam. I feel comfortable with our conversation and his assurances that a lowest common denominator is looked for and an expectation that student will pass, as evidenced in last year's 13/14 doing so. Tentative date is approximately May …

I am spending more of my "free" time talking with people, mostly students, though also with a wider circle of acquaintances. Effective studying time has dropped, with no correction on the imminent horizon. A memorable low in hours slept AND productivity accomplished was garnered this past week.

My Investments course is proceeding smoothly if somewhat disjointedly. As I received pleas for sympathy on an overloaded test week, I moved my 1st mid-term to one week later, next week. The academic reception will be held Fri. afternoon, 2/16, 3:30-5:00. Quite an assortment is expected including Mother and Father, who will be here until Mon.

After 2 weeks of life with Avram, a working relationship appears possible. Hts lonliness borders on schizophrenia at times. He is clean enough but he is unemployed and expectant that a "break" will be "cut" his way. He has rounded up a barely sufficient cast for his Purim play.

My social life is back to the drudgery of reality with the realization of how ephemeral and intangible most of my current relations are. The only possible exception is Shirley who cooked a literal Chinese feast for our supper last night. She was snowed in most of the week and ended up making egg rolls and almond-mushroom dumplings in addition to the sweet N' sour chicken. The result was the most tasty Chinese meal this side of London. Emotional closeness does take longer and for this I am willing to work and wait for. (I was also reminded of London dining on Thurs when I had the House (Aurora) specialty; Curried Fish)

Other excitements in store for next weekend are a Bus. Ph D party, and a JSG party. With the parents stay, your next issue maybe late.


February 20, 1979

Dear Family,

A hearty greetings from a renewed existence. A weekend with the folks has come and gone, with an extra night to boot.

The earlier part of the week is something of a blur as a torrid and debilitating 5 inches of snow hit Chapel Hill on Tues. night, curtai1ng all running. By Fri it had all melted and I picked up the parents in 56° weather. The reception that afternoon went passably if only for my academic peers and friends. Both the faculty, because of a rescheduled meeting and my students for various unknown reasons were notable in their absence. It was somewhat reminiscent of the second mid-semester respite that I gave at UCLA. The spread was adequate, focusing on shredded cheese and Cleve Bagels. I have resolved to give up trying. to befriend my students. Collectively they have no respect for me, so I am afraid that the feeling runs two ways. I'll try and do my job well, but that is where my efforts end.

On Erev Shabbat we had a Hillel dinner of Fellafel and a mousaka-like spread and heard Joel Amon, the Israeli consulate general of Atlanta, speak. He was sobering and realistic if somewhat depressing. His English was reasonably eloquent. The news out of Persia is certainly discouraging.

On Shabbat we walked around the campus and watched the gymnastics team work out. The pace was leisurely and the stops liberal in number. Dinner at the Aurora was tasty and reasonable; the hassle being a 40 minute wait until seating. Two parties that evening were fun. The first, a Bus PhD group, was predictable and congenial. Jon Amdursky also hosted a party, for the JSG. Mother and Father were greatly interested and impressed with Jon's condo. The crowd here was also as above. Saddening to hear was Rose Shalom's expression of pessimism as to a medical profession for her in Israel. Otherwise she enjoyed her Israeli tour.

Sunday launched our UJA telephone campaign and also witnessed the worst snowfall here in 52 years. The temperature dropped to 11° F and we were blanketed with 10 inches of snow. I made it to the Bell offices with Nadine and Avram and met Jon there. The campaign is going fair, with pledges above $2,000 collectively. As a first effort I am pleased. I just may get to Israel next winter as the CH representative of the Univ. program. Arriving back at 2:30, I stayed with the folks in the Trailer until Mon. morning.

We made it into campus yesterday and got a good workout at the gym. Mother learned how to use a Universal and Dad suited up in issues from the basket room. Shirley joined us for dinner at the Peking Gardens for dinner and the movie "Renaldo and Clara" (2 hr version) afterward. She kindly chauffeured us around as we turned in the rented car. All of us agreed, along with 7 of 8 Village Voice critics, that the movie was an artistic failure. His ego and contempt for women glare blatantly. The concert footage was only fair as he did not even play his most powerful tunes.

This Monday night togetherness was sponsored by the snow grounded airlines, I trust that all memories of the weekend will glow and linger. Good times were had all around.

It seems that I will be here over spring break as my academic assignments and research interests will not permit otherwise. I may have come up with an empirically oriented topic for 387. Today I got got something of an anxious shock when I encountered resistance from Dr. McEnally in my request to drop Issues in Bank and Non-Bank Competition. The Time-Series seminar looks to be manageable. Econometrics is demanding and interesting.

Father kindly purchased for me a toaster-oven baker-broiler and some new fish and plants for my aquarium. Life here is quite comfortable, though Avram is at times an unmanageable drag. I'll keep smiling and I hope you do too.

Be well.


February 27, 1979

Dear Family,

As the enclosed card attests, I was set to forsake you this week for convenience and self doubt. However, uncertainty worth nothing has been resolved. I trust that the two delayed days were no more than suspenseful.

My new Pinto is so far, so good. Having an enclosed carriage on a highly mobile motorized driven four wheels is a "Godsend." The attractive brown exterior is virtually immaculate. On my first night, last, I drove with Shirley to visit Jon and Rick Grossman. We also stopped in on her father. One chore to be done over break next week is to tune it up and change the oil and filters. No fuss, no muss. Just press on the gas and go.

Academically, I was permitted to drop H. Black's course. It took the moral weight and presence of Dr. Carleton to get Dr. McE. to acquiesce. The only remaining cloud is deciding on a paper topic for DrC's course. The material is enlighteningly enjoyable but more rigorous than last semester. At times the accessibility of its mathematical essence is strained. I will probably be analyzing the Treasury bill rates price movement for the Time Series Seminar for potential profit as well as fun and professional interest.

The UJA campaign is basically wrapped-up here at UNC for 1979 (5739?). At $3,000, we are all pleased. Jon particularly shone with $l,000 of pledges garnered. My efforts were administrative and telephoning and was fairly integral to the campaign. Debra was undeniably charismatic, though in the end, not the marketer that Jon was. The greatest hassle was the flack received from individuals whose consciousness (or lack thereof) was pricked by our unprofessional less-than-soft-sale methods. Hillel people received the complaints. It seemed that out-of staters (FL and NY-NJ) and Grad. Students were the better givers, as expected.

Retrospectively, a crucial uncertainty resolved was my relation with Shirley. Sat. night I was invited to dinner by Stephanie and Bill (“Dr") Carleton. The repaste was sumptuous and the company delightful, artists and academics. Shirley and I arrived on time and took in their inspiring deck view. The appetizers began with homemade sesame crackers and Homous. Of the 13 total in attendance, the Petersons and H. B. were the others in Fin. The meal began with celery and cashew soup and spinach hors d’oeuvres in a layered dough. Entrees (buffet style) of brussel sprouts and cashews, spinach noodle and pecans, and tomatoes with bread crumbs were topped off by fruit and yoghurt cake, and tea. The only disappointment was the huddling around the tube for the The NC Basketball "crucial" final game by all the non-joggers present. H.B. left and Stephanie and I chatted in the dining room. Shirley and I departed at that point and talked awhile.

I am more sure of my feelings for her at this time. Sincere appreciation takes awhile with me as I am wracked with mutually non-exclusive values, goals, etc... She is interested and interesting, kind and intelligent, not to mention graceful and attractive. Tomorrow we are to view part of the Hillel film series, this week on "Israel and the Middle East" and we will be having dinner together a fair amount.

The Tues. Israeli discussion group luncheon has deteriorated to Yehoshua Gitay and his wife, Ron Meier, an elderly woman student of Gitay, and myself The Gitay's are thorough source people and our topics over the past two weeks have greatly aided my understanding of Women and Art in Israel.

Carolina is finally becoming Carolina again. The sun's effect of tanning and lightening my hair are becoming evident. Running shirtless is a pleasure. 3 mile time and weight are 20:15 and 137 Ibs. The neighborhood paths will hopefully be sun dried for some of my vacation time next week.

Next week I also plan to read the three back issues of the NYTBR that have piled up. I would also love to do some casual periodical reading. '

Today in the mail I received from Dr. Weston a thoughtful congratulation on my second article and an expression of hope for the fruitfulness of my studies.


March 4, 1979

Dear Family,

Vacation has begun! I trust and send you a hearfelt hope that Spring has come your way. Carolina in March is m-a-a-ghty pretty. Purple and yellow buttercups are springing up around my home door and kitchen window. Bird- chirping fills the air and we saw the first black Monarch butterfly of the year today. Spring is on its way'. Life does begin anew.

I am in good spirits and health as I find my way into an academic, physical and psychic groove. The two tall order/requests of this coming week are to begin reviewing for the May 22 comprehensive and to make some significant progress on my 387 (Carleton) paper. The warm weather draws me to the trails and track with appreciable pleasure and results; unfortunately nothing publishable has come from my running zen.

My psychic condition is reasonably robust and content as Shirley and I fit into a groove with one another. Wed. night we viewed the Hillel series of flicks, these on "Israel and the Mid-East". Of the three 20 minute films, two dealt with Israeli's coping with the death of war and the realities of its aftermath, not a particularly light or joyous subject. I was moved to tear-filled eyes. The third was a lighter general intro to Israel. Attendance was a sparse 7. C. H. er's are evidently motivated to stay for the Deli ("Nitrate Special") only. Thurs night we viewed the current offering at the Center Gallery, an Intl. Postal Art exhibit, where one woman solicited entries via magazine ads. Most of the responses came from SF, LA and NYC. Most of the exhibition was local people supplying entries. It was only fair and would have benefited from a loan of my postcard collection.

Last night I cooked us dinner and experimented with a fruit-and-rice pudding and a "Savory Onion" Quiche. Both were out of the Small Planet recipe books and were something of an unmitigated success. The homemade quiche crust turned out well as did the swiss cheese filling. We had them again this morning as we hosted Rick Grossman and his womanfrlend Janet Benson for breakfast at Shirleys. This afternoon the four of us took a pleasurable stroll through the NC Botanical Gardens.

This evening Jon Amdursky invited me to his condo for a steak and wine dinner. Not having eaten steak in about 2 years (?) I decided to give it a try and while it could not be called "savory", it was gratifying, though tiring to digest as expected. Tonight I was able to get some Fin reading and NYT reading done. I am almost caught up with the NYTBR!

This weekend the radio station was on a volunteer basis and I felt like getting on the air, so I put in 6 hrs yesterday, including 9-Midnight with Shirley. Virtually all students have left for the week break or were transfixed to their TVs for the ACC tournament championship match between UNC and Duke (won by us, 71-63 insuring us an NCAA championship berth). Regardless, as always, I had tons of fun and with Shirley's assistance managed to record 3 albums that I sought.

My Pinto is doing OK as I spent Fri and Sat tuning it up. A self-service garage type of organization exists here and I will probably take my car in tomorrow to raise it on their lifts and use their tools to time it. I hope to get it truly road worthy so that Shirley and I can gallery hop in DC, Phila, and NYC and meet Judy in NYC the weekend of 3/15-18. My art appetite is whet with anticipation. The art offerings here are simply not cosmopolitan.

In the estate aggrandizement sphere, I received my mail order from Spencer Gifts (appreciatingly LL MC financed) this week with my 88¢ gifts: house socks/slippers, printing sets (see the return address (?), suitcase wheels, drawer divider, magazine filer (for my modest collection of published pieces), and cassette racks. These will be used and distributed at whim.
With the UJA campaign well over, thank you notes to workers and telephone suppliers should have gone out by now with Debra derelict in this duty, I may have to take the initiative.


March 11, 1979

Dear Family,

Vacation week is over and I am unambiguously older; wiser and enriched only slightly more doubtful. On the professional front, I added three paragraphs to my 387 paper of last quater and submitted it for a student session for the Fall Fin Mgmt Assoc meetings in Boston, 10/13-6. The available $259 UNC subsidy is motivating. I have settled on a Topic, Mgrl. Compensation, for Dr. C.'s course. Progress is slow and I will be broaching the idea to him tomorrow for the first time. For the Time Series Seminar, I have employed the two subroutines that constitute the course. The first subroutine identifies the process (moving average, auto-regressive, or some combination thereof) and via the Yule-Walker eqtns, the parameters. The second subroutine utilizes a non-linear least squares iterative process (?). My particular series is the weekly price quotations of the 3 Month U. S. T-Bill rate. In the futures mkt, this particular contract requires only a frighteningly small margin, $800 to control a $1,000,000 contract. It's now empirical testing time. This week’s effort on Econometrics and Qualifying preparation were disappointing.

The Pinto took a good share of my time as I tuned it up, changed the filter and oil, and scouted out some radials. I also became officially legal as the owner which in NC means a minimum of liab. ins. Rates are fixed here with traffic offenses playing the major impetus for higher rates. I am with Aetna and paying $162/yr. Most of the "futzing" with it was done at the cooperative garage in town, Manifold Destiny. I would have been totally lost w/out the advice of people there. It's owner, Randy Danzinger is heir to a measurable amount of Chapel Hill and is in Avram's play, which is why and how I found out about MD.

Most immediately pleasurable of the moments I spent last week were with Shirley. I never part from her having regretted the time spent. Her consciousness and intellectuality continually facilitate my questioning of my values. As the first relationship of any value in quite some time, I was ill prepared for the seriousness of her response. Differences of religion and 7 years leave me trepidatious of a 50+ year commitment. I nevertheless hope and expect to retain an intimate friendship.

I ran 20 miles this past week, 3 days on the 4-mile trail thru the NC Botannical Gardens. My times 3-mdle time was barely under 21 minutes, due possibly to my 136+ weight.

Last night Shirley and I ate dinner at the trailer of a Colleagae, Don Chambers, His wife Sue served Welsh Rarebit (basically a cheese sauce) over an English muffin and slice of tomato. The salad was sincere, as were they.

I also spent some time last week looking for a new place to live. With a car and a parking spot, I can be more flexible in both undertaking a move and my abode location. My landlady called today with the announcement of a $5 per month rent increase arising from C. H. realty charging her that much more. Avram's abrasiveness and inconsideration are intolerably grating. At the least, I will raise his rent $10. I should find out this coming week whether I got the summer internship at the Chicago Merc Exch for the smmmer.

Tue. is the performance of of Avram's play, and I have a non-speaking role as an evil-plotter (what typecasting you must be thinking). The performance lasts one half hour and is one act basically telling the megilla of Esther for Purim. I am frankly more enthused about the cast party.

As always with Mid-East developments, I am cautiously reserved on judgment at this time, of Carter's bold undertaking. I thought it was a typical JC, half-baked, half-brained, half-assed undertaking, but he may salvage that elusive peace out of it yet.

I am sure that you are all well aware of my disdain for basketball, but today I was doubly glued to my car radio as I listened to the favored UNC Tar Heels play the UP Quakers in the NCAA Eastern Regional semi-finals. Gol derned if the Quakers didn't hang on to a one point victory, 72-71. St. John's upset Duke for their semi-final upset.


March 19, 1979

Dear Family,

A hearty late night greetings to you! I trust that your spirits and health have perked up with Spring's arrival. I am hoping that Chapel Hill has seen its last frost of the year, with today's high of 65°F. Considering the excess that I have put my body through in the last 24 hours, I am well.

The week's highlight was the play. Enclosed you will find. the only review. It appeared in the daily Chapel Hill paper. As an evil plotter, I wore my blue sandals and suit, my purple bow-tie and shirt, and gray double-breasted trench/rain coat. The script in copying the Original biblical version called for two plotters, but an insufficient cast precluded a cohort for me. My bit part consisted of unobtrusively slipping behind a chair with a sword and a scene later of being dragged upstage by two guards and skewered to death. Thereafter I was dragged to the edge of the stage and rolled myself "dead" down the three foot drop to be dragged out the door.

The cast party was held at Randy Danzigar's cavernous abode. He has put a lot of time and money into his "country" home and the result appealingly shows with lots of exterior wood beams and glass. Ira owns and manages a natural food store and brought cheeses, crackers, and Tehini, made by watering down a butter that he sells. I am now hooked on it. The only unfailing assistance that Avram got from HiIlel was $25 for the party. We also had champagne, beer, and pizza. Afterwards, I drove Barbara back to Duke and she got us lost en route. She must have been very trying for Director Avram.

The audience of 50 was mostly Christian. Avram has unfortunately few friends in the Jewish community. The problems associated with living with him increase unabated. The play never underwent a full dress rehearsal. Stage lighting and props were still being assembled by Randy and the volunteer lighting technician Tim as late as 5 minutes to showtime. The extensive spotlight system hastily and laboriously constructed went for naught. Avram has radio or TV recording hopes for it.

The social news of the week is dismal at best. Shirley has broken off all but written communication between us amidst a sea of ambiguous emotions and some not unhealthy self-assertiveness. I can no longer accurately assess how fluid or tenuous our friendship is. Debra has broken off all but oral communication between us. In brief, she is very interesting, but not at all interested. If the commitment and response that she gave me was at all indicative of her concern for her boyfriends, I can understand how and why they all were unfaithful. CH remains full of interesting women; nubile prospects are another story. As always, dinners and parties remain on the horizon.

The academic week progressed satisfactorily as I tested more US T-Bill data for my time-series project. I also started amassing notecards of information and quotes for my Carleton "Managerial Incentives" paper. Econometrics was somewhat slighted during the week. I may be able to make a presentation of my T-Bill work at the NC Investment Institute meeting held here semi-annually With the conference meeting one month away, I may be dreaming. I called the Chi Mere Exch about my summer internship and research funding as the Ides came and went with no word from them. Evidently, absolutely no decisions have been reached. I will call again in two weeks.

This past week I jogged 22 miles, four days on the track and three in the Gardens where the ground is finally drying. I anticipate Spring's foliage with intense longing. My times and weight were mediocre.

Friday night I attended a party whose whereabouts I read of on the WXYC bulletin board. As at my similarly advertised party, no other staff person showed. After Friday's uninspiring agglomeration, I can understand why. The hstess was a tall and attractive Catholic student, Maura. My cheese and
3G wheat thins were the only refreshments provided other than the kegof beer.
Last night and today was WXYC's second birthday. I attended both the fillel coffehouse and concert at the local Mad Hatter last night. At 5 A.M.
I made it to station manager Gary Davis' apt for the celebratory champagne
breakfast, returned. to my bed at 7 relatively inebriated, and made it to the
Hillel brunch at 11 A.M. I was compensated for staying awake today by the fact that Penn made the final four in the NCAA basketball playoffs.

Be well.

March 25, 1979

Dear Family,

Greetings from a new typewriter ribbon and a renewed resolve. I am well and enjoying the amenities of spring. Everything is coming into bloom. from the buttercups to the women. I trust that this season brings you spring's renewed sense of life. NC does.

Academically, progress was made in studying for the Ph DQualifier and on DrC's paper. I started reviewing my Micro Econ, specifically Henderson & Quant's Micro Econ, an old friend.. I hope to begin Org Beh and Mgmt this week with the book of readings (and its most important objective test bank and answers) that I used in Morris. For the paper, I assembled 6 notecards and have some ideas. Thus far the material Is positivistic and institutional, marginally the desired orientation. As for the Time-Series course, the week’s progress was intangible. Instr Lou Moors is narrowing his employment choices for next year to a $20,500 Asst. Prof. here and a $26,000 to $28,000 offer with Gen Dynamics in Clearwater/Tampa FL. I motivated our four student class to down a few pitchers of beer with him in a congratulatory gesture. I would like to see him stick around as he is accessible and easy to work with. Econometrics is under control as I am in the middle of a not-particularly-difficult problem set with a test 2 weeks away. Per usual, I enjoy the subject matter.

DrC obligingly read my Federal Funds revised manuscript and advised me against submitting it for consideration for the student session at this year's Fin Mgmt Assc meetings. Since I have copies all ready made, I leafed through the general Periodical Index under "Business and Economics-Banking and Finance" and will probably submit it to the magazines (all monthly): Tarheel {NC} Banker, Southern Banker, and Independent Banker. None of them has circulation over 6,000 but they all sound credible. I concur with DrC's recommendation as the paper is highly descriptive and theoretical works are being sought.

On the inter-gender relational picture, few details were sketched in this week as two nubile prospects shattered their candidacies upon close scrutiny. Fri. night's dinner of soup and salad with Holly Riddle was a veritable stereotype. As with most of the Christian women I have dated here, she has dated many Jewish men (from Lon gIsland; no less). She felt comfortable about chatting and I felt comfortable listening. She has sincerely altruistic motives in pursuing a Master's in Special Ed, but a total lack of theme or purpose in life. Last night I had Laura Kreindler here for leftover soup (with 8 oz. of yogurt added) and a new batch of salad, plus Banana bread both nights. Laura, a WASP I met at the Israeli discussion group and Sun Hillel brunch is from Chappaqua and the daughter of a Wall Street Law partner. A 1979 Volvo-driving junior transfer from Skidmore majoring in Art, she is bright and attractive. Again though, a themeless pudding,

After dinner we went to this semester's second party at 230 McCauley. This one will also be indelibly etched in my memory as a "famous" affair. The hosts spent $110. including 52 zs. Misplaced values left them short of food by midnight and the selection was fairly scanty generally. The 80 or so dynamic people more than compensated. I have made lots of friends through these guys. We arrived at 9:40 P.M. and I left at 2 AM, head buzzing with the dance floor and merriment blazing away.

I guess the really big news of the week is that Avram moved out. He courted Cathy Hess for two days and then gradually moved in with her. I am still uncertain as to what my summer plans are, but I may move into a summer sublet with a fall apt. opening expectation. I will call Chi Merc Exch tomorrow if the mail brings no" decision.

On the first day of spring I went bicycle riding with a friend, Terry. He bikes seriously for exercise and showed me much beautiful surrounding countryside. I was also able to run 5 days. My only source of health disappointment is the Good Life, which finds me currently at a blimpie 140 lbs.

April 1. 1979

Dear Family.

An April Hello. with a dosage of the seasons to come I trust that you are well, up and about and contentedly adjusted to our warmer weather. The elements are never very far from me here at 26 RBTC.

A recipient of a few of these letters queried me as to their formulating process. I conceive of them as a two way process. I write them for personal foresight, insight, and hindsight. I also write them because you folks are relevant to me and I desire for you to remain so. The "lon1ies" certainly hit me, possibly because of my single purposeless status, but I imagine they may grab you also. If my thoughts touch you and make life at all more enjoyable or fulfilling, I am honored. At any rate, even if I do not hear from you (the point of this paragraph). you'll continue to get these.

The week went passably well. The biggest academic event was the test that I gave my students. Out of 50 possible points, the average was 25 and S.D. 10. I imagine that I will be giving out 15-20,% "A" 30-40,% "B" and the rest “C" and "D"s for final grades. Sadly, somewhere between the time they "learn" basic statistics and my tests my students have forgotten it. In no way did I intend for my test to drive one woman student to tears.

The courses I take all passed fairly uneventfully. I am trying to get a summary of my US T-Bill work together to send to the Chi Merc Exch Ed. Dir. as it could be consequential in securing the summer fellowship and the choice of 8 from 72 applicants wll1 not be made for another 2 weeks. Lou Moore the Instructor who wl1l be here as an Asst. Prof. next year is helping but we are currently stymied by an inability to duplicate the actual empirical forecasting (as opposed to fitting) equation from the canned program's results. The pace of progression on my DrC paper was unacceptably slow. My Econometrics "mid-term" will be 4/10, two weeks before the term’s end.

On Wed. I did manage the year's 3-mile record of 19:45. That night, I befriended Elli Luski, whom I am to have for dinner on 4/5, while sending off pledge bills for the UJA campaign concluded. Suprlsingly, she is the cousin of friend Rose Shalom. I hope to go to the UJA campaign coordinator conference in Atlanta 4/27-9. We shall see.

Sat. night as usual was the week's social highlight. I was invited to dinner by Mary and and Dick (Prof. of Chem.) Buck, a couple I had met when dining at the Carletons'. I was quite flattered to be informed that my presence was the go/no go of the affair. The Carletons and two other couples were the other invited guests. The meal was a tasty buffet of green beans, scalloped (?) potatoes and roast beef. The table wine and music were impeccably classical and the conversation and hence evening was enjoyable throughout. We did not sit down until after 9 P.M so I was late in leaving for the party of the evening at 11 :30.

The party was 5 miles out into the country but enjoyable once arrived at. A campfire and pond were both present as well as the requisite loud music. The crucial element of nubile young women was less present. On the drive back at 2.30 A.M. as I pulled into my driveway a sheriff stopped me on drunken driving suspicion. The incident was resolved with a warning. but I'll take it in good stead.

Spring fever comes pretty hard to NC. The temp reached 80°F this week as thoughts drifted elsewhere. Reassuringly. I discovered that mine were not the only with such inclinations. Still I must buckle down quite seriously these next two months. I am going to try cutting down to 6 hours of sleep per night.

Life alone in the trailer is fairly comfortable albeit expensive. Last week’s local classifieds were not overwhelming in their offerings of alternatives but I will keep trying. I have applied for a group living situation at a few very acceptable houses and am keeping my fingers crossed. I do enjoy being able to come home to a quiet home in the evening for a relaxing meal before returning to the office for some night’s work.
Be well.


April 8, 1979

Dear Family,

A full-fledged and nearly final Spring greeting from this once railroad-tie-capital-of-USA. Trees are in bloom, all the birds are back and so the time has come for me to fly this coop.

Yes, I have found a house and possibly even a temporary home. I will be sharing a 2 bedroom house (with adjacent apts. added on) with Chip, a 30(+) yr old beginning PhD student in Poli Sci. He has been paying rent for 6+ year's but on the road quite a bit in political campaigns. The second floor consists of his bedroom. The first floor is my bedroom, a living room, ktch, dining room/currently unruly storage area, and storage/utility room equipped with washing machines. Chip's assets parallel my own with my stereo complementing his dishwasher. The first floor also has a screened in porch.
The address is 46 Circle Dr.. Chapel Hill NC 27514. (919) 929-7635. It is situated on 6 acres of Pine forest 2 miles south and 1 mile west of my office. I have now married my car but the engagement has been short and sweet. A bicycle is not a viable alternative as the “Hill" and narrow pavement make for an unpleasant fairing. I'11 probably begin moving in in two weeks but will be paying rent here through May.5. This is an inopportune time for me as everything is beginning to become due and I have less and less time for personal matters so I am not exactly sure of when I wl11 spare the time to relocate my physical presence. The housing market has no heart and deems now the time to trade residence opportunities. So. I move. Overall I am very enthused about the situation that I will be going to.

Spring is in full swing here with leaves returning to trees and the wilted daffodils replaced by red and yellow tulips outside my kitchen window. The wooded runs are becoming green again. We had a frost though, two nights ago. Ir may rent a city garden plot of 25 X 50 ft.

For the Passover Seder this coming week, I helped kosher the Hillel kitchen and shop with another volunteer for implements and food. The crowd is expected at 130, down from a 200 norm.. For the 3/30 Shabbat dinner, I made two Onion quiches and salad to 7 there. This past Shabbat the fish casserole was baked by a woman community member. These dinner's are notable only insofar as they are the first two of the semester after years of them occurring every week.

The academic week went well with effort devoted to sending off my preliminary Time-Series analysis to the Chi Mere Exch in consideration of my internship application. The day after tomorrow is my Econometrics mid-term and from now until then will be high gear in that direction. I am not overly..

Socially the week-turned out surprisingly pleasant. Elle Luski forgot about our dinner engagement. On Thurs. Hugh McGlaughlin gave his dissertation defense and a reception was held for him afterwards at the home of the Carleton’s, he being the committee chairman. Interpretations of the propriety of their presence was varying among the Fin PhD students. I, possibly beause of my relationship with the Carletons, felt no qualms about attending with Martha Greene. As always in their presence, the time spent was delightful. They have an uncanny capacity, facility. and inclination to extend a sincere hospitality and warm regard. The document passed the actual formal ritual relatively benignly but not without apt DrC "If you torture the data long enough, it will confess to anything.” I was unable to attend the entire unfortunately.

I had expected the weekend to be a dud, not so much as all studies as no parties. Thurs., Larry invited me for dinner for Sat. Fri morning while on the air, a new friend, Paul Feldblum, from Long Island was visiting me and invited me to a party that night. It was fairly tame, but he is a controlled enough zany to make the effort enjoyable. Dinner at Kim's (Larry’s fiancée) was pleasant and sincere. I have only sympathy for their dearth of social graces. They will be married around July 4. Don Chambers is to be married next weekend in upstate NY.

Classes end here 4/26 and my one final is 5/7. Pre-registration is this coming week. Next fall I may take: Ecnmetrics, Theory of Finance (as a Research Seminar) and two Israeli oriented courses, Intl Economics, and an Intl Fin Seminar. If I am here this summer, I may take a L Moore Simulation.

I took a nasty bicycle spill on Mon that I am still nursing.


April 15. 1979

Dear Family,
A final greeting from 26 Rocky Brook Tr Ct. The move is tp be next Sun. Friend Randy Danzigar and colleague Bob Might both have pick-up trucks and acquiesced in my requisition of them kindly and willingly. The major bulk consists of the bookcases I assembled that I am loathe to take apart. Otherwise, as comes with the life of a wanderer, my reality can be boxed in and into my Pinto (which incidentally gets 18 miles/gallon in city driving). I am still excited and enthused. 10 days ago I-ran out of heating fuel oil and have not refilled the tank. Waking to a cold house is not all that bad as I do not linger or dally in the morning.

3 weeks to go until my Ecnmtrcs final and my papers in BAJ99 and 387 are due. Ideas are starting to gel and study is progressing adequately. This week I outlined Mktg Mgmt onto index cards by reducing chapter and subject categories to their crucial first letters, a la Harry Lorraine. I was immensely aided by Abol, whose book it is and who had underlined critical passages. I also filled up about 6 more index cards worth of info for my 387(DrC) paper. In my Investments course I gave out the culminating computer assignment, a mutual fund risk evaluation. I also handed out mailing labels to the top MBA schools and Fortune 500 companies. I also decided to have the class over for dinner on the last day of class, 4/26, 4 sessions from now. Student evaluations should be rolling around any day now.

The first night of Passover I was at the seder at Beth-El Synagogue in Durham, catered by yours truly in part and other UNC students, and, served basically to a Duke and Beth-El audience. Preparation was more enjoyable than the event itself. The Hagaadah was a 1966 Conservative edition with all the inherently troubling group and individual values and identities. The Duke undergraduates at our table were JAPS and emasculated males.

The power structure at Hillel is in a shake-up as Rock and possibly Jim will be leaving this year. The problem seems to lie with Director Ron, who is somewhat unimaginative, generally absent, and demandingly abusive of his employees. He is a strict "company man."

I am still unsure of whether I am going to Atlanta 4/27-9 for a UJA SE college campaign chairperson conference/retreat. At the Seder, the Duke chairperson Anne Sloan related to me that they had collected $2500 and that she was not going and no one had exhibited interest in being next year's chmn. Deborah is also not going. I am fairly confident that I will be heading the effort here next year with the joyous reward of a tour to Israel for 3 weeks in Dec/Jan.

This week the Student Union sponsored the showing of the BBC production, "The History of the Beatles", an hour long collage of concert and other film footage. It was on the latest-technology 6 foot screen and so fabulous that I sat through it twice. As every week, I heard and learned of some good new music through WXYC. I’ll certainly DJ through the summer.

Also as every week (on Thurs.), the Graduate Library gets a wall-full of new books that are a pleasure and luxury to browse through. I am amazed and impressed that every week topical Judaica-arrives.

The week's social highlight was a typical party Sat. night. It being a Sat. night party was the typical aspect, not the people in attendance. Most moving was the relating to me the hell of taking shrapnel from the knee to shoulder in a North Vietnamese ambush of an l8 yr old GI with his helocpter flown in paratrooper unit. The ambivalence induced by anti-war protesters repressed this cold-sweat inducing memory and it was only after reading Dispatches that this could be vocalized and discussed with a wife and now me. The unifying thread was today's Cosmic Croquet match.

Participants came from as far as Wash. to play croquet like billiards, using the head of the mallet. The event was camp and spacey and enjoyable to a point. Most of the out-of-towners are journalists by trade.

I ran 25 miles this week, albeit generally at a lackluster pace. Wt=139.

Be well.


April 23, 1979

Dear Family,

Greetings from a new typewriter in a new setting. Alas, I am not in Jerusalem but as with you, my spirits are. Actually I am sitting in my new living room working at a Smith-Corona Coronomatic 2200. I trust the type is large enough. My new Shangri La has its limitations as well as attributes, notably sound proximate neighbors with a taste for beer and rock n' roll (i.e. volume). The 6 wondrously beautiful acres is worth it. The dishwasher needs repair.

The move went well and quickly as Bob Might showed with his large pick-up and I borrowed the Carleton' s Station 'Wagon "Boat, and we basically hauled it all in one run taking about 1½ hrs of his time. As you could imagine, I have devoted the better part of a week to the task and I am not yet done. My four bookcases are in my bedroom and stacked on their top shelf are all my boxes of books. Evidently the only books that suffered marked damage were, predictably, my art books. Filling up the shelves will have to wait for an academic break.

This past weekend was an active one for Chapel Hill with the Springfest Concert drawing 18,000 and the Apple Chill Fair drawing 25,000, not to mention the ACC Track & Field Championships, a local 12,000 meter run and numerous bands jamming. With one week of classes left, my excitement was the numerous yard sales and a party Sat. night. I acquired numerous bargains including a floor vacuum cleaner, a gigantic carpet, 6+ pairs of perfectly fitting pants (from 3 different owners), a radio, assorted other clothes, and a Raoul Dufy print. Sat. night's party was again courtesy of Paul Feldblum. He is getting an MPH and this affair, like the other, was that crowd.

In the end, I'll not be going to Atlanta as the conference was cancelled.

I have still not heard from Chi. on the decision of my internship application. I will call later in the week if nothing turns up. I am not hopeful only anxious for a disposition of my case.

I am making progress on my DrC paper and may have it done by the end of finals. Qualifying preparation slowed because of the moving time demands. In Ecnmtrcs I got my midterm back with a grade of ½ standard deviation below the mean. My tentative final grade is a "P.”

My 186 Investments course is also winding up to a conclusion. We will tackle Ch. 8 tomorrow and not get to Ch. 9. I am pleased with their progress and I hope that some of them are also. The farewell dinner is still planned for Thurs. night with my guest lecturers Eli, Pam (and spouses), and Gary Parr, also slated to eat with us. I handed out the general student evaluation form last Thurs. and tomorrow I hand out the important one, nominating ballots for outstanding teaching Doctoral student, a $250 award.

The weather has finally turned truly warm staying above 55°F, at night. Flowers and bushes are exploding in blossom all over the place. Pine Tree shade keep our house nice and cool.

I had a good Passover as I trust you did. During it, Rick invited me over for supper dining on Matzoh Bry, Latkes and other assorted goodies. His lease of the bottom half of a Shaker Hts duplex began last week. The owner lives above him. It is right on the rapid line. No definite job offer has yet materialized for Janet, but I expect that something will be offered and she'll be living with Rick. (What I interpret as) Ominously, she bought him a puppy. The evening's conversation with Rick's roommate. another Jewish peer, and Rick's sister was unmemorable.


April 28, 1979

Dear Family,

Greetings from a relieved and unburdened Paul. I trust that this (U.S. Spring Daylight Savings week finds you rested and enthused. My sense of relief comes from the perennial ending of classes. My first year of Doctoral courses are over with.

The week went fast particularly as I spent all of Thurs. preparing for my class's arrival for dinner. I provided Kosher chicken (purchased from and cooked at Hillel), corn on the cob, cut strawberries, and other assorted food. Around half the class showed as well as guest speakers and spouses. A mass quantity of beer was brought and consumed. Everything worked out quite well. The news of the evening was that Eli's wife Zippora is pregnant with child. They are ecstatic and I am happy for them.

My students also enjoyed my last lecture on PCL's philosophy of life. Unfortunately it was delivered after all the ballots were in and I won no teaching award. I have still not heard from the CME (speaking of awards) and hope the expected nix will come this week.

My new residence is working out well. Chip (Adon Smith III) has been putting in long hours on some voter computer analysis and travels to Wash DC so no friction has arose. He is close to a political job on Florida Sen Dick Stone's reelection campaign, which means' for me that I may very well be looking for a housemate in the fall. The prospect should be worldly different from previous attempts. The living room picture window views a manicured lawn with picnic table and behemoth Pine trees in the front yard surrounded by brilliantly white and red azalea bushes. I hope to get the Sears repairman out here this week to look at the dishwasher.

Next year's entering Finance PhD class looks to be very similar to this one, with 4 White males, one Jewish. As the day for this year's Qualifying approaches my colleagues are growing more apprehensive. My study is going OK but the subject matter expected to be mastered is diverse and nebulous so I too am somewhat worried.

Life goes on here. With the end of the school year I am saying farewell to some relatively intimate acquaintances. Notably my TA Bruce got a job with the Memphis Hdqtrs of the Off of the Controller of the Currency as a Trust Examiner. I am very happy for him. In a different and more tragic dimension, my former roommate Avram is not getting along well with his girlfriend, with his unemployment exacerbating their relational tensions. The reason Avram came here was because of Ira Levin, a fellow HU Mechina student. This week Ira was in a horrid auto accident and emerged with only a crushed left ankle.

This past week we wrapped up Hillel affairs for the year and planned for fall. The diffident nature of the UNC (& USA symptomatic) Jewish experience truly transcends any plans we might formulate but we'll try anyway. I may be attending a summer training institute, partially subsidized by the local chapter, in late August. Today we interviewed a candidate for Rock's position and over my reservations a generally favorab1e consensus on him emerged.

My planned housewarming party is still on schedule. I attended two parties this weekend to drum up a crowd. Friday night's was loud and boisterous as Sat.' s was dull and uninspiring. Around here the caricature of Undergrads at parties as drug-addicts and Grad students as dull is not far wide the mark.

This coming week I will turn in my Time-Series project, which has not much advanced since I sent the results off to Chi. My Ecnmtrcs final is 5/7 and I would like to have my DrC paper done by then so I can sprint into the Qualifying 5/16-7. At that time I will probably head for DC and then Ohio before returning east for 5/27. These plans are still highly tentative. On Fri 5/4 I will be attending a Gallery opening with Shirley of Stephanie's work, among 11 others. Shirley and I are to have dinner together beforehand and I am veritably ecstatic

The weather here has been highly variable but no real cause for complaint. What has limited my time on the track has been all the meets here this past week. With green in full bloom the paths take on a unique dimension, so I have been somewhat mollified. My weight hovers at 138 but at least my daily 2 sets of 25 push-ups seem less of a burdensome strain.

I have basically moved all of my gear out of the trailer with the finishing effort to come this week and rent paid through 5/6. Existence in it now seems like a somewhat stranger-than-truth dream-memory. I'll miss little of it.

Be well.

Monday, May 7, 1979 5:40 P.M.

Dear Family,

YAHOO! YAHOO! Yahool yahoo' Phew! Finished.

My academic summer partially begins. I finished the Ecnmtrcs exam 2 hours and 20
minutes ago and a subsequent 4 cross country miles rid my system of the day's caffeine.
I feel so invigorated. Unfortunately I have also missed the day's post. Sincerest apology. The DrC paper remains to be written though I am confident it will be done well before his July departure for a 5 month London author-editorship sabbatical. Otherwise everything is OK. Yet to be encountered lay the 2-day PhD qualifier, next WED and Thurs. Review begins tomorrow. The rest of today I will catch up on my NYT and other periodicals.

As you know, four days hence is my party. I have distributed over 200 invites. I'll hope for 50 and expect 25. A good time is planned for all. The living room may be the dance floor with LOUD music if the demand seems apparent. I'll rig up additional lighting for the front lawn with the keg and food. The backyard is adequately lighted. Food will include: Twice-food-processed mixed cheeses, tahini butter, a yogurt dip, various crackers, cauliflower, carrots, celery, bananas, strawberries, and whipped cream. A good time could and will be had by all, from ages 18 - 60.

Last weekend's two exhibition opening's attended with Shirley were enjoyable. Stephanie was in both as one of 12 and one of 3. Her work is quite impressive for a Carleton third year student. This summer I hope to sketch some of the views here around the house. Shirley is as inspiring and fun to be with as ever. Considering the one-way minimal communication we have had since we last spoke, our rapport was sincere and intimate.

One of the big leftovers that I had from the party was a lot of salad, 14+ meals worth, which is what I solely ate for the next week. I also prepared 16 8 oz. yogurt servings, incredibly easily by boiling the water then adding the milk powder and cooling it to 117° F, then adding the yogurt culture and dividing into groups of 5, 5, and 6. Combined with ½ priced apples (because of their aged softness) and an egg in the blender, this concoction is healthy filling and relatively cheap.

On the last day of class, I offered to race any challenger from my 186 class for a grade difference up, if they won, or down, if they lost, on their final over a neutral or my cross-country preferred 2 to 4 mile distance. I had no takers. The final that I gave them last Friday was difficult and lengthy (I guess). Not too many particularly excelled. Quite a bit of that must result from my ambitious but confusingly unorganized teaching. In the end I gave out 4 “A"s, 12 "B”s, 12 "C"”, 3 "D”s, 3 Passes, 2 Incompletes, and 1 Absent. The letters could and did have suffixes of “+" and "-“. 1 of the Passes was worthy of failure but I just did not have the heart. From this class I now have friends
in London and Tanzania.

This past instant I have gotten off the phone with Jean Wright. She is evidently not going to refund any of my deposit as the roach fumigation and the refrigerator clean-up of mold done by her mother (while I was still renting it and intending to do the final clean-up) combined with mowing the grass was deemed by her as valuing $165. Oh well.

Travel plans commencing 5/18 are beginning to shape up as follows: 5/18 Chapel Hill
to Columbus; 5/21 to Cleve Hts; 24 to NYC 28 to Phila and 5/29 back to Chap H with a possible stop in Wash DC. The brevity relative to standard PCL agendas is due to the 5/21 commencement of summer school. Unbelievably I still have not heard from the CME.

The front lawn bordering azalea bushs have wilted in the rain. Exquisite purple
and yellow iriss have compensated. For the party I will set out standing trays and chairs. During the warm days, as today got into the 80's, this house hovers around 65 thanks to our shady pines.

Today I received my second rejection of my Federal Funds piece, coming from Ind. Banker. Earlier Southern Banker did likewise. My third choice, Western Banker, as it turns out, did not exist. I will try one more round of send-offs, this time to Tarheel Banker and NY Banker. If they too give it the ax, it will die an ignoble death.

This coming summer will probably be much like the academic year just past. During
June and July I plan on doing reading in finance and possibly move some data around in addition to the above mentioned paper completion and Lou Moore's course. I imagine that
the social life will not be as great as Hillel is formally closed and the town informally so.
I my travel some weekends to the mountains or beach or DC, but I will save most of my
vacation urge for August when I have the first three weeks off and will probably be with you folks at that time. In any event, I will see you soon.
Be well
May 13, 1979

Dear Family,

Greetings from my calm before the storm. Three days until TEST time.

I trust that Spring is in full bloom with you, the winter’s ravages a distant memory. The woods here are alive with winged chirping visitors. I put birdseed in the feeder in front of my living room window and gratifyingly today I had my first diner.

On Tues. Rick came over for a final conversation; (and lunch). He is far from overwhelmingly happy about returning to Clave. What he is grateful for is a job. A Wharton grad in his class with decent grades still has no job offer. It will be the Shaker rapid every morning for him.

My party went fairly well. I offered ½ keg (15.5 gallons) of beer, ½ case (20 Ibs) of bananas, 1 gallon of topped strawberries, grated cheeses, tahina butter, homemade labaneh (Israeli "white cheese" made by draining yogurt through cheesecloth for 3+ hours), assorted stoned ground crackers, salt-free Sea Toast (a la M.H.L.), whipped cream, and chopped carrots, celery, and cauliflower for eating and dipping. A little wine was brought. The crowd flow was probably around 50, with 30 here at anyone moment. Most of the attendee's were predictable, either from my program or Hillel. Of the faculty, only Chris Handel, the prof. I am working for this summer, and
Dr McEnally showed. The leftover bananas and other stuff does not bother me as I'll eat it all. The mis-estimation I do chide myself on was not getting a "pony" (7½ gallon) keg as I emptied t of the 15.5 gallons afterwards. Lots of disappointing no-shows, but far from unusual. Attendance by virtually all my colleagues was gratifying. Disappointing was the party’s movement
into Chip's bedroom and an NBA semifinal game on the tube at 1:15 A.M.

The week's major hassle was foreign matter on my right contact lens. In unsuccessfully trying to move it off, I irritated my eye and ultimately ripped the lens. My NY optician, Group Contact Lens, went out of business with my record and so I had to go to an optometrist for an examination.
While there, the optometrist noted to me what may be distortions of my cornea to adjust to the contacts. I am going to have to go "cold turkey" for three weeks to let my eyes regain normalcy and then return for another exam.

Speaking of examinations. the time spent this week on activities not covered above were fairly forthrightly directed toward my exam 5/16-7. Each day the session is two three hour halves, broken by a 1 hour lunch break. This week I tried to brush up on all the areas, Organizational Behavior, Operations Mgmt, Quantitative methods, Acctg, Finance, Micro and Macro Econ, and Marketing. I feel prepared but could always use another week.

Travel plans are- still as itinerated (?) last week. Everything seems to be go with my NYC and Phl1a hosts. I have more or less been in Chapel Hill for the past six months and am quite enthused about this vacation and seeing you

Today at Hillel a second candidate for the programming job here was interviewed. He is Jerry Rosen, current director of the CWRU Hillel. I, and the general consensus, was even less favorable toward him than to the previous candidate. He berated the Clave Jewish community and I am afraid he is in for a big disillusionment if he thinks this place is less apathetic.

Somewhat amusingly, two hours before the party began, impending-storm winds must have felled a tree around here .somewhere as a power line went down. Other than refrigeration I was most concerned about the music. Fortunately power came back at 8:20, just in time.

Today was UNC graduation and tonight Bruce Baer and sister (who wll1 be here in the fall) came by for a farewell chat. He starts his GS-5 OCC road job 6/15. He is irreplaceable to Hillel.


June 3, 1979

Dear Family,

I have returned to you with a renewed vim and v1gor. Nothing compares with a touch of the “real" world and loved ones in putting seemingly intractable questions into a manageable perspective. I take it as a personal effort to see our family reunited. Returning always highlights how mundane my basic life is.

Judy returned with me to NC. On Mon. Memorial Day, we caught the show and galleries at the MOMA and host Neal treated us to a crepe lunch. We split for Phila. at 2 P.M., following a post-lunch saunter through the Marboro near Neal at 86th and Lex. I was unable to reach the party I sought in Phila so Judy and I consoled ourselves on Cheesesteaks w/onlons at Jim's. I drove all night, pulling into a rest area for a 3-hour nap. Arriving back here at '7 A.M. we slept until noon.
Her time here was spent quite enjoyably as my life here is quite enriched since the Sept. visit from a car and house to a generally more fulfilling existance. For practically the first time in 5 years, my summer is not being spent on worrying about where I will be in the fall. We were able to hear some local live music and enjoy the natural beauty of the Chapel Hill environment. We dined at the exquisite Chez Condoret, a first for me.

She repotted some of my plants and combined with the accompanying mess, I was inspired to do other repottings and hangings and generally cleaned up the screened-in porch. I daresay it was long overdue. Today I carried that spirit into my bedroom and made a credible effort at organizing the haphazard randomness. Task completion is in sight.

As for the professional reality that I returned to, the first year comps have not been graded. I felt that I did satisfactorily. I was most pleased that I wrote and read and re-read fairly continuously throughout the available time. Breakfast and lunch both days was a yogurt-raw egg-apple blender concoction and a 10 minute session of standing on my head. I demonstrated competence and a possible streak of brilliance as was expected of us.

My grades were as expected, 3 Passes and an Incomplete, DrC's paper. Having no "High Pass’s” is not a particularly good sign. I should finish the paper within two weeks as I am virtually through reading and have merely to write. I am hopeful that the topic, Managerial Compensation, is of interest outside Finance, with a concomitant journal audience. I am pleased and content with the effort thus far. My Fed Funds piece is now officially dead.

I have still not received notification of a decision from the Chi Merc Exch so I am into the academic summer here. I am to be research asst. to Chris Handel. He is still working on his dissertation so the demands on my time will not be excessive. Much to my chagrin and reservation, I will be taking 386, Investments on the PhD level, with Dr Latane this summer. I have many reading interests in the field but the current order of business is to finish my pending paper.

The weather has taken a drastic turn for the warmer and generally more humid. The effect on my running in the form of heat dissipation inhibition has reduced my three miles to a lumbering lethargic 22:30. Nevertheless, returning to a familiar turf and going over 500 miles for the academic year thus far made running tolerable this weekend.

As of now I am scheduled for two DJ slots, Mon and Wed morn 9-Noon. I expect a replacement to be found for one of the shifts. I hope to add some livliness to my show by referring to and citing the day's historioal inoidents.

Stephanie and Bill Carleton will be in Charleston SC tomorrow night thru Wed and I will be "Manning the(ir) fort" in their absence, mostly to watch over a son with Mono. I am honored and it should be pleasant, as well as remunerative.

It seems that Chip got the coveted staff job with Sen. Stone and will be leaving 7/1 or 8/1. He is currently on a two-week fishing-drinking vacation.

So far I am not singing the social-life blues but stay tuned.