v5-14--RHS Graduation 2025
Watch It On YouTube!
The Ridgewood Maroon Vol. 5… No. 14
Saturday, June 28, 2024
“Bringing us all to a place we don't want to lose."
Observer: 2025 RHS Graduation
Macky’s New York: Sprinkles In The Morning Sun
William Peay: Tales From The Wood…
Coach Years: 1976 GW vs BF Faculty Basketball
RHS Arrow: The Online Home For RHS Arrow Yearbooks
Ridgewood Moving: Less Clutter, More You
Mark Porro: A Cup Of Tea On The Commode
M + A NYC: Mighty Are We As One
James Stroker: Hope Coach
Jim Schoneman: Rock Hound
Howard Liverance: On The Up & Up In Ridgewood
Kathy & Ross Petras: You’re Saying It Wrong
RHS Graduation 2025: Watch It On YouTube
Observer
RHS Graduation 2025
I wasn’t able to attend RHS Graduation 2025. From all accounts this annual “Tradition Of Excellence” went off without a hitch, There were no streakers to interrupt this send-off of Seniors into a night of parties and fond farewells or rain to cause the ceremony to be moved indoors. It was simply a beautiful day with inspirational speeches from local dignitaries exhorting students to seize the day.
While nobody remembers exactly what was said, unless they watch it on YouTube, every boy can recall how it felt to wear a rented tuxedo and dress shoes made from cardboard. I know it was my first time wearing a tuxedo and when it was over I was a little surprised the shoes were still intact!
After the parties were concluded sometime around dawn, the days activities are supposed to conclude with a swim at Graydon Pool & then a trip to the Jersey Shore for the day. My friends & I decided to skip the dip at Graydon and proceeded directly to the Jersey Shore. No sleep.
While I was the designated driver I did enjoy my first ever legal beer (18 years old) under the bright sunshine on Long Beach Island. The bottle of domestic beer tasted great and didn’t fill me up at all.
When the day was over and I had dropped my friends off at their respective homes, it dawned on me that I would never again be feted in such an over-the-top manner again. It rained on my college graduation and we endured a sweltering heat & humidity that wasn’t present as I sat and waited on the RHS football field for my name to be called. At my appointed moment I gathered myself and made the stroll without an incident past my classmates with diploma in hand.
I saw film of the day taken by my Dad and it showed a sea of white dresses & tuxedos. Though if you looked hard you could also see a plume of cigarette smoke hanging over us at my classmates lit up congratulatory smokes on the football field in seeming defiance of all our former authority figures. Nobody in the audience cared on this day and the prime directive to launch us into the world was completed in style.
Macky’s New York
Matthew Cortellesi Photography
June 25, 2025 - Washington Heights
Sprinkles In The Morning Sun
The heat was still stuck to the pavement from last night as the sun rose over the hill to my right but that never stopped a little kid and her dad from having fun.
Shot on 139th street just west of Broadway looking north.
Time 9am
William Peay
Tales From The Wood…
Very amusing…
Coach Years
1976 GW vs BF Faculty Basketball Game
At GW. Jeff Yearing, John Campion and Joe Lizzi.
I think we won.
RHS Arrow
The Online Home For RHS Arrow Yearbooks
A collaborative effort by Ridgewood High School and the Ridgewood Public Library. The Arrow Yearbooks from 1898 through the 2024 are now online.
Ridgewood Moving
Mark Porro
M + A NYC
M + A is a Lifestyle brand known for handcrafted, ethically made, modern home decor and wearable accessories. Artisanal | Small Batch | Designed in NY
James Stroker
Jim Schoneman
Rock Hound
A friend found this rock in the Harrison Hills area and gave it to me. It’s a really nice piece of brecciated jasper. “Brecciation” is a geological process where rocks break down into fragments and are then cemented back together somehow.
Brecciated jasper is formed when fragments of jasper are "glued" back together by small particles of quartz. I have no idea how that happens, but in my mind I imagine a process similar to Superman squeezing a piece of coal in his hand and turning it onto a diamond.
The Harrison Hills area is along the terminal moraine of an old glacier, so there are a lot of very cool rocks there.
Howard Liverance
Kathy & Ross Petras
A compilation of musings to motivate and inspire readers in need of a quick pick-me-up. We all want to be the person who marches into a meeting brimming with self-confidence, unbothered by what others think of them right before making a killer speech. But all too often, crippling self-doubt creeps in. This book is a self-esteem boosting collection of pocket-sized pep talks from successful people in a multitude of fields, including Serena Williams, Stephen King, Helen Keller, Julia Child, and so much more—that will give readers a strong dose of self-assurance.
The RHS sister-and-brother bestselling writing and editing team, with over 5.2 million copies of their work in print. They are the authors of many word-oriented books like New York Times bestseller You’re Saying It Wrong, That Doesn’t Mean What You Think It Means, and Awkword Moments, and they do a podcast cleverly (!) titled "You're Saying It Wrong" — about English, etymology, grammar, and language peeves — with NPR affiliate KMUW.
Ross & Kathy’s podcast: You're Saying It Wrong looks at what we get wrong—and what we sometimes get right—when it comes to this English language.
2025 Ridgewood Graduation
Watch It On YouTube!