Mackenzie reunion weekend

I admit it – I’m hyped. Last night I attended the kickoff event for my high school reunion, after writing about it in an advance article last month. (You can read it here.)

It’s now (yikes!) 36 years since I graduated from William Lyon Mackenzie Collegiate Institute in 1974, and the school is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

The program last night was fun – speaker Jeanne Beker, host of CTV’s Fashion Television and a 1970 alumna, reminisced about her Mackenzie days, including protests over the fact that girls weren’t allowed to wear pants to school.

And the combined school/alumni band was a highlight, with a spirited rendition of the school song, led onstage by Karen Mock, née Greenberg, Thornhill’s federal Liberal candidate and the song’s co-writer.


Full disclosure – I have friends in the band. But the truth is, I don’t remember that kind of school spirit in the ’70s.

The band also played Memories of Mac, composed for the occasion by 1973 graduate Jack Gelbloom (far left, with former music teacher Michael Cole) and dedicated in memory of John Krongold, his fellow alumnus, who died in March.

Tonight, David Eisner and Avery Saltzman, co-artistic directors of the Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company, will speak in the school library. Nathan Shuster, their former drama teacher – I still think of him as Mr. Shuster – will introduce them.

Last night I sat beside Mr. Gregg, my former Latin teacher, but I neglected to tell him that I still remember the difference between alumnus (masculine, singular) and alumna (feminine singular), and their plural equivalents, alumni and alumnae. And now I get to use them all in the same blog entry.

Looking forward to the main event tomorrow night.