Mission Statement

Cooking with Class - Recipes for Life was conceived with the participation of all Park High Class of '77 classmates* in mind.  Its purpose is to compile in faux yearbook format "original" family recipes, short stories, photographs, poetry, and quotable quotes into a comprehensive "feel good" coffee table/recipe book for national and international publication with franchising of the "Cooking with Class" concept at a later date as a stated goal.

The premise of our book is that we, who came of age in 1977, are separately and together quite unique, even without realizing it; for we are, to put a name to it: "The Bridge Generation."  We have a rareness of insight and sensibility that very few other generations can claim.  We use computers, we play video games, we listen to iPods, we text and call on our cell phones, and yet, we can remember with total color and clarity a simpler less complicated time; in many ways, a far better time.  We understand the world around us for all of its glories and its pitfalls; we praise and fear them equally for we have the wisdom of age.  Yet, we are still filled with the often blind and ignorant hope of youth, to achieve, to change, to make better...

This book is a connection to our past - our beginnings - our family dinners around the table, our playing in the street, our drinking from the tap, our mowing the neighbor's lawn; but it is also very much a mirror image of who and what we have become – our present – managing an ever-faster-paced life, individual microwave dinners, bottled water and landscapers for hire.

This book is a clarion call to the generations that follow us to listen and learn from us.  To examine our mistakes, to emulate our triumphs, to pay heed to our observations and to strive to become better human beings; for the youth of today is our world's future and we are rapidly becoming its past.  These "recipes for life" are our legacy to them.  We owe them our best effort to get it right.  As the Park High Class of '77 that is our mission, our task, and our responsibility.





*To include any person or family member chosen by our deceased classmates' families with only one person or family member per classmate.  In effect a "de facto classmate" with privileges, and responsibilities identical to actual classmates.  The decision of to whom funds are to be paid shall be designated by the deceased classmate's family at the time of the "de facto classmate's" selection by the family.

Details

Goals	How to Participate	Ways to Participate
Seen through the eyes of a rational middle-aged adult many of these items may seem to be unrealistically lofty or even quite unattainable. Of that there is no argument. However, an equally indisputable argument can be made that with every deliberate success throughout history, that they too, appeared impossible or improbable when the path to success was first set upon. So, with that in mind, these are the goals of this project*: To make the New York Times Bestseller List. To be selected by Oprah’s Book Club. To be, as a class, featured guests on the Oprah Winfrey Show and to be, as a class and/or independently, on other television/radio/news/internet shows for the promotion of the book as determined and/or required. To have excerpts of the book read by Garrison Keillor on a live broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion. To donate 10% of the net profit to a non-classmate-affiliated charity or charities as decided by the majority of the participating classmates. To improve humanity by imparting our collective insight, advice, and humor to future generations as drawn from our own separate life experiences, observations, successes, and failures. To leave a tangible legacy for our children and our children's children through the value of the book's content and the monetary benefits (royalties) into perpetuity. To establish the Park High Class of '77 Scholarship Fund. To establish a Park High Class of '77 Retirement Fund. To fund all future class reunions. To make additional income. To franchise the "Cooking with Class" moniker and concept to other classes. To produce a 30-minute "Cooking with Class" infomercial/cooking show to promote a surge in original and franchise book sales. To promote, at the correct time (@ two to five years after last "franchised" book release), the "Cooking with Class" series on PBS pledge drives. To simply make a difference and have fun in the process! *Where monies are involved and not yet specified, percentages assigned to follow at a later date as the project progresses.	Email Stacy Clark with a short message that you want to contribute to Cooking with Class. Or, sign the guestbook with a short message that you want to contribute to Cooking with Class. Either way you do it, please provide your personal email address - NOT your WORK email address! Stacy will send you an invitation to join the project at Projjex.com. Projjex is a project management site being used to keep track of all the recipes and stories and all the to-do items to accomplish on the way to being published. Sign up, learn your way around the project site (easy), and contribute your recipe/story.	Contribute family recipes along with stories that amuse or inform, but have something worthwhile to impart. Help find a publisher. Help keep the project site organized and up-to-date. Ghost write with classmates who have something to tell but don't feel they could write it well enough themselves. Contribute seed money. Contribute art work. Tell Oprah! Get your people with her people!

Buzz from the Guestbook

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Time	From / Message
11/24/2008 01:51am	Stacy Clark - Class Project "...I peeked over and saw Stacy quietly tapping his fingers on the table almost as if some song that was locked in his mind had to be released from his soul. I had to smile." CLASS OF '77 - CLASS PROJECT In my drive to work I spend daily about an hour on the road each way. This is the time where I do most of my thinking. This is and idea I've been kicking around since the first suggestion of a cookbook a few months ago. Admittedly it's a bit grander than simply a pamphlet to share among the class at the next reunion. But I believe you will see it will be well worth the effort. First however, I must revisit the time period just before I left for, and my time spent in, Bethel, Alaska (The Alaskan Bush). I promise to get back to the point.... One day in my home in California before I left for Bethel I was putting on my socks to get ready for work. I was alone and happened to have the local country radio station on. I was listening to the DJ read a letter from a young boy to his mother. It was very heart warming and full of truths uncommon for a boy of nine years-old and for that matter a person of any age. You see, it was a letter from a dying child to his mother. He was worried that she would not do well after he had gone. He told her not to worry, that he "knew" he was going to a better place - and that he would be alright. And though I cannot possibly do the letter justice here, suffice it to say that it brought me to almost uncontrollable tears, as it did too for the disc jockey. At that very moment I got on my knees and made a promise to God and that boy that I would do something. The letter, and many more, was read as part of an annual fund drive for a group called "Country Cares" for St. Jude Children's Hospital and if you listen to country music I'm sure you’ve heard of it. I donated soon after (as pure coincidence would have it I’m wearing the t-shirt I got for donating as I write this). Anyway, fast forward to Alaska. I went to Alaska as many people do to unplug from life for a while. I had had a personal rough patch for quite a while and it was my way of soul searching, if you will. But, I never forgot about that boy and my promise. I originally thought of kayaking back to California to raise money for the charity. I soon found that to be impractical. Then I struck upon the idea of building a plane and flying it clear across North America from the Alaskan bush to Memphis, TN where St. Jude is located. Any plane wouldn't do however. It had to be a 'seat of the pants' kind of plane and endeavor. It had to be almost impossible so as to reflect what St. Jude does everyday. It had to reflect what these children and their families go through everyday. It had to be a complete and total Do or Die operation. I bought the Pietenpol kit for around $2500.00 including shipping (if I remember right) about nine months after I arrived in Alaska. For those who are not airplane savvy the Pietenpol was originally designed in 1929 by a Bernard Pietenpol of Cherry Grove, Minnesota. Yes, a Minnesotan! It was designed around the use of an automobile engine, the Ford Model A [B engine] to be exact. It is constructed of wood and fabric with a few metal pieces here and there. The "Piet" is the grandfather of ALL experimental/homebuilt aircraft and it holds a place of honor at Oshkosh. So I rented a part of a hanger conveniently by the tower where I worked for $500.00 a month and began to build the aircraft piece by piece, cut by cut on my breaks and off time. Keep in mind I was not a licensed pilot but I sure as hell had to be by the time I left. Unfortunately, during this time I worked for an absolute asshole. As we were in the Alaskan bush (surrounded by hundreds of miles of wilderness in any direction) think M.A.S.H. with an abusive, evil, and bipolar Frank Burns in charge and nowhere to get away from him. We were all, our entire crew, collectively attached at the hip and we all hated it; six-day 10-hour-a-day shifts, one day off, shared cars, houses, lives, two additional part-time jobs, separation from our families, etc. After almost two years of working with the son-of-a-bitch I’d had enough. I (we) drove the proverbial bus over him with my company but our director at the home office was absolutely spineless (coupled with the fact that we were already extremely undermanned) and didn't fire him. Also during this time I had been communicating with Country Cares and St. Jude at the national level. Though their representative out of the Seattle office tried very hard on more than one occasion to push the idea with 'national' it came down that no events involving physical activity, not even walk-a-thons were permitted because of liability! Such is our world today! I put in for a transfer soon after. I packed up the pieces of the Pietenpol and shipped it and myself back home to California. By the way, I figured a work-around for the liability issue and the SOB was fired about a year after I came home.... The Pietenpol arrived a couple months after I got back to California. The Conway Freight driver unloaded it and I sent him on his merry way. It was only after unpacking it completely that I noticed that not one, but both, fuselage sides were deeply gouged and for all intent and purpose were very expensive firewood as they could not be repaired because it directly affected the structural integrity of the aircraft. Then of course, back in the rat-race again, life got in the way in a hurry and my promise hangs over my head to this day. I also unintentionally hurt a couple of good friends who were very supportive (non-monetarily) of my efforts and a certain grade school class in Inver Grove Heights. In any case, I refuse to go back on my word but I need the vehicle to get there. That is where this class project comes in and why I personally want to do it. Here's the idea: First off, not to sound mercenary but this idea is a "for profit" endeavor with part of it (I'd recommend 10%) specifically going to charity; the rest with a couple of exceptions to be shared equally among the participants. Reality is, I am your standard middle-class American. Very few of our class I suspect are any different than myself judging by many of the posts recently. Some of us are worse off and some of us are better off, but this place, this 'Notalot,' has always been a place of equal footing. And neither success nor failure is a mark against any person here. Our lives are our lives. They are what we have made, or not made of them. But for most of us, here's a way that we collectively, and separately, can cushion the financial blow many of us have felt over these past few years - or - are just starting to feel. It ain't goin' away any time soon. It is also a way for us to collectively, and separately leave a legacy to our children, our children's children, and to the children (and adults) of any who will listen. As with all things of value however it involves true work and dedication to achieve the desired end result. This project is a recipe book, yes, but it is so much more. It is a book about life. I believe we have with our combined intellect, our separate abilities, our business savvy and connections, our collective life experiences, and literally the ends of our fingertips the wherewithal to create a true bestseller. I'm talking NY Times bestseller. I'm talking Oprah Book Club bestseller. I'm talking worldwide bestseller. We have the opportunity to influence humanity and by default our children's future. And the beauty of it is it's all that stuff they ignore when it falls out of our mouths (...Did I just sound like my father?). You know, the stuff that usually gets the "yeah dad I know," the "but you don,t understand," the "it's different now," and so on. But put to paper, they will most probably listen and hopefully learn. They will at the very minimum come away with a few good recipes and perhaps a pointer or two. There is a book that came out a few years ago somewhat along the same lines. I recommend you read it. It’s called The Complete Life's Little Instruction Book by H. Jackson Brown Jr. It's a compellation of simple quotes from a father to his son. One of the quotes says: "Don’t live with the brakes on." That is what I'm asking you to do. That is what 'I' need to do again. We are fortunate we grew up where and when we did. We thought nothing of it at the time. But we were very fortunate. We as Minnesotans were given a great gift in our education. I have seen this time and time again as I have met and known people our age from other states and countries. Perhaps it's time to pay that back. This project will not be easy. We will have to come out of our comfort zones to do it well. The kind of writing I'm talking about here is what you would say to your daughter on her wedding day or your son on your deathbed, albeit not limited to that. But it can be done no other way. Our Class of '77 is at an age where each of us has been around the block a few times. We have valid insights to share with the younger generation. We are now 'semi-officially old' but we are also still young. We have a small window of opportunity to tap into that. We are what I like to call "The Bridge Generation." We use computers, we play video games, and use cell phones but we also remember a simpler, slower, and often better time. We have a unique perspective that no other generation has had since the beginning of time. I say let's put it to good use: COOKING WITH CLASS - RECIPES FOR LIFE 'A compellation of recipes and sage advice through the combined life experiences of the Park High Class of ’77, Cottage Grove, Minnesota.' - Yearbook format* - About our Cottage Grove - Each Classmate has their own section containing: - Deep and true letter(s) to our children and grandchildren - Accomplishments and failures - Dreams and hopes - Family recipes - Our life’s and towns now - Various class/family pictures – then and now (collage format) - In Memoriam *Faux book signings throughout with words of wisdom, thoughts on life, etc. In closing, my hope is that we, each one of us, choose to do this thing. My greatest fear is that it will split us apart. That is why it is absolutely imperative that we lay some ground rules first. Also keep in mind, even in the best of circumstances we won’t be able to quit our day jobs, but perhaps, just perhaps it might put a nice dent into our mortgages or a cabin by the lake. 1. All Class of '77 classmates notified by mail and valid effort made to connect with those who are lost through accepted legal means (i.e.: via publisher's legal department). 2. Publishing firm with no connections to any one of us or our families. 3. Definite 'Do or Die' date for response and submissions. 4. Legally binding contract between all participants and publishing company. 5. Charitable donation of 10% to a charity with no affiliations to any one of us or our families (to be selected by majority vote of Class). 6. Scholarship fund of 5% established for descendants of Class of '77. 7. 0.5% set aside for 2012 Class Reunion and future reunions. 8. 9.5% set aside for our own retirement fund to be administered by a company with no ties to any one of us or our families. 9. Remaining monies and royalties split evenly between all participating classmates. Well, that's my two cents. I'll be the one in a Killkeny, Clark tartan kilt in 2012.... Stacy
11/26/2008 10:17am	Stacy Clark - Class Project CLASS OF '77 - CLASS PROJECT Just keeping this up top in the chat so it doesn't get lost as we add posts. I've tweeked it a bit. Sean, once this gets going we might have to add a separate page. Would that be a problem? Whomever is reading this for the first time see my post on 11/24/2008 for the original concept and futher background information. THIS IS A FOR PROFIT ENDEAVOUR (i.e.: YOUR profit). Hop onboard! All suggestions welcome and encouraged! COOKING WITH CLASS - RECIPES FOR LIFE 'A compellation of recipes, sage advice, and humor as seen through the combined life experiences of the Park High Class of ’77, Cottage Grove, Minnesota.' - Yearbook format* - About our Cottage Grove (with pics from our era) - Each Classmate has their own section containing: ...Letter(s) and anecdotal observations (targeted towards our children and grandchildren's generation. Humorous, a plus but not a requirement) ...Accomplishments and failures ...Dreams and hopes ...Family recipes (perhaps 5 each person. They don't have to be from Le Cordon Bleu. 'Minnesota simple' is actually an asset...) ...Our life’s and towns (countries) now - Various class/family pictures – then and now (collage format) - In Memoriam *Faux book signings throughout with words of wisdom, thoughts on life, humor, etc. Stacy
11/26/2008 10:35am	Stacy Clark - Class Project Regarding the CLASS PROJECT, this is an example of the kind of stuff I'm talking about (though not limited to it). This is from one of my adventures from a few years ago A Person I Truly Respect By Stacy Clark, 2007 A few years ago I did a bicycle ride for charity completing about 600 miles in eight days. Being naturally a bit on the "non-athletic" side I had to build-up to go that distance. As such, I trained for about four months using the American River Parkway in Sacramento, California as my training route. I became quite familiar with the trail and all of the parks along the way using them as rest stops from time to time. One day, while taking a break I stopped into a wooded park that sits by a bend in the river next to a bridge that crosses it. I found a picnic table in the shade and laid across its top. Adjacent to me was a group of severely mentally and physically handicapped people occupying a couple of tables. Obviously they had been on a picnic. In the parking lot about twenty-five feet from this group was the 'short bus' that had taken them there. Keeping to myself, I had just begun to relax when the group started to get up and walk (and wheel) toward the bus. This took about fifteen minutes with the caregivers aiding those that needed extra help. Yet one girl, a woman actually, probably in her late thirties or early forties had refused to budge from the table. The bus now loaded except for this one holdout, a male voice came from the back of the bus suddenly and loudly demanded: "Mon Pamela, mon, mon Pamela, mon!" (Come on Pamela, Come on!). Obviously, this voice was the self-appointed ringleader of the passengers and wanted to get going. During this time the caregivers did nothing. They just stayed by the bus's door. I suppose they knew what was going to happen.... I watched in amazement as Pamela began to stir placing her tripod cane in front of her. She struggled up alone from the bench using the tabletop, seat, and the cane to hold herself steady. This took a full three to four minutes. Now up, the concept of "up" being a relative term here as she had to set her forehead on the cane's handle for support. She took her first step, a shuffle being a better description, her head never leaving the cane's handle, then another, then another. She stopped. Out of breath, she waited for what seemed like an eternity to regain her strength. Again she stepped forward. Again three hunched paces and stopped. The voice from the bus once again commanding, "Mon Pamela, mon, mon Pamela!" She stirred again. Then stopped, and stirred again, then stopped, and again forward she went; pausing intently every three paces; all the while the voice from the bus echoing "mon Pamela, mon!" It took Pamela a full twenty minutes to walk those twenty-five feet. But she did it. And she did it with full intent and awareness. You see, it was her silent statement through graphic physical example that shouted "THIS MUCH OF MY LIFE I HAVE CONTROL OVER!" I have no doubt that it is the same reason she chose to use a cane rather than a walker. Though Pamela could not do many of the things we as the "lucky people" take for granted, when it came to determination she was better than most, if not all of us. Six-hundred miles with my butt on the seat of a bike was a piece of cake compared to what she did everyday of her life. In the end, I dedicated the ride to her. There's more like this at my Myspace site under my blogs. If you're interested simply click the Myspace icon by my class picture. Stacy
11/30/2008 10:51pm	Stacy Clark - Class Project To The Class - After speaking with Sean it looks like we may not be set up to handle the project on this site, which is certainly understandable. So, I'm going to set up an email SPECIFICALLY for ENTRIES ONLY. I'll post that in a day or two. About the best I'll be able to do is bind them together and send them off to 'publisher unknown' when it gets to that point. I'm Bandaid and bailing wire here folks. What WE DO NEED TO DO NOW is to get the word out to all our Class of 77 classmates. Reunion Committee (Cindy :-)) that would be you (thud!), sorry. How many total classmates are there (including deceased)? We'll have to have a 'response' head count in fairly short order to get the wrtting ball rolling and then try and find the lost ones. How long do you think you'd need? We definitely don't want any backlash of 'I never knew.' As such, after we've done all we can do as far as contacting the legal department of 'publisher unknown' would have to carry that ball. Let me know what help you need. Dan, know anyone from your Yale days you can subtley start dropping the bug in their ear? The bigger publishing house the better (i.e.: better shelf placement/exposure). We'll need marketing/PR too... Remember, we have to get on Oprah (and I'm not kidding on that)! I say we set a tentative publishing date of September 30, 2009 (Think good thoughts here and we can make it happen). This would get it out just in time for Thanksgiving/Christmas 2009 (Hell, by that time a large portion of the population may need to buy it just to keep the fire in the oil drum burning...). To non-classmates that have already visited here on a regular basis - I definitely want you in the book. It would not be right to not include you since you've added so much here. That being said, we cannot add an entire extra class (profit cut in half, harder to 'compile' [see Sean I can learn :-)], harder to edit from the publisher's pov, etc. So Shhhhhh!!! We must consider something to do for the families of our deceased classmates. Is the scholarship fund idea enough? Or should we perhaps let a parent/spouse/child of our lost clasmates stand in their stead? That would be a nice touch (not to mention the right thing to do). Regarding the overall layout I believe we can do no more than one page per classmate (i.e.: one piece of paper has two classmates on it, back/front). Perhaps, depending on the size book/size font we might even be able to squeeze two per page (four total per paper). In that way, based on number of classmates, we'll roughly know how big the book will be (adding some for intro/outro, pics, etc.). I think we should keep the writing loose, in the sense of no themes. In this way I believe we'll get a much richer and more eclectic end product. That being said, submitting "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and a recipe for Rice Crispy Treats won't cut it. As long as it's heartfelt, personal, and makes a point or gives a good chuckle it's valid. Keep in mind too, it can't be War and Peace ('note to self'). We will need yearbook pics and pics from the era and area (ourselves, Cottage Grove, etc.) as well as 'now' pics. (Yearbook pics probably have copyright, BTW. A matter for the 'publisher unknown' when the time comes). Mark, keep those recipes comin'. You're the King of Cajun! I hope I haven't offended anyone by seeming to bark out orders. That's certainly not my intent. But, I know I can be interpreted that way sometimes (especially in writing). You should hear what they say about me in person :-) Stacy P.S. Please excuse my misspelling of 'Compilation' on the book cover.
12/1/2008 11:17am	Stacy - Class Project Hello all, I need everyones email address that they would like to use for correspondence regarding the book project. Please respond by clicking "Stacy - Class Project" above. Please title it "PARK EMAIL." I have started a project worksite for the book at Sean's suggestion - it's free. (Thanks Sean). At this point I still need to teach myself how to use the site so I can help you sign-on/use it when the time comes. But in the meantime I can start plugging in your email addresses so you'll be able to submit to the site. Make sense?
12/3/2008 03:13am	Stacy Clark - Class Project IMPORTANT: Any lawyers in the house? We need one ASAP... On another note, I have added the classmates to the Cooking with Class worksite that have responded to me so far. Thank you. I will have further information for you in a couple of days. I will pass it to you via your email. In the meantime start thinking about what you want to contribute to the project as far as recipes, stories, original quotes, etc. PLEASE DO NOT POST THEM HERE. They'll get lost in the shuffle. Dan - I like that gettin' over the mountain bit. That was a good one! Kathi - Italian food, one of my favorites! Sean - I know I thanked you already but wanted to do it here too. Great front page!
12/3/2008 11:52am	Stacy Clark - Class Project Couple quick things before I'm off to work: 1. Please DO NOT use your work email address to be included in the Projjex site. We cannot use it. Sean, can you reword the frontpage regarding emailing to reflect that? Thanks. 2. Please only use the email address in my name above (hover over it with your mouse and you'll see it). My "Lycos" address which is on many of my older posts is what I use for junk protection and if you send to that email it may be accidentally deleted. Thanks Folks, Stacy
12/14/2008 06:41pm	Cindy Pabst Teal - Class Project Hey Stacy, I was playing around in the projjex.com website and trying to figure out how to put in a recipe for the class project. I am not the most savy computer person and I will bet many of you are not either, so I don't feel like a complete idiot by asking the question: How do you put your recipe and/or story into our book? I have a feeling I was onto something while playing around on the site, but thought I'd come here and ask the question. It doesn't look too tough but I was not able to see other recipes that were sent in and I felt like I was in the middle of the desert without a bottle of water.
12/14/2008 07:28pm	Cindy Mione (Meyers) - Class Project I would be happy to contribute a recipe and a memory from high school. Let me know what I need to do... GOOD LUCK
12/15/2008 06:37pm	Stacy Clark - Class Project To all that have decided to participate I have received your email or I have seen your entry here. Thank you! Just to update you, the Projjex site is almost done. I ran into a few things that I have to revamp for the turtorials before opening the site to everyone but it's getting close. I will have more in a day or two. Thanks for your patience and support. Stacy
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Featured Recipe and Story

Mr. Sirr (Bob) was an English teacher at Park Senior High School; later he taught at Woodbury Jr. High as well. He taught English of course, but he also ran a group home for adolescent boys in Cottage Grove. The group home opened in 1972 and took in adolescents until about 1977 or so. It was on the corner of 80^th St. and Hemingway Ave. right across the street from the Police Station (how appropriate).

Bob extended his hands in aid to many and I was one of them for almost 3 years. The group home's name was "The Island", taken from John Donne’s poem:

Bob would sit and talk many hours a week with each of us individually about how we were feeling and what was going on. He would constantly be seeking new ways to bring order and structure to our lives and never seemed to tire.

In 1974 he loaded up his 1973 Chevy station wagon with a bunch of us and took us for a 2-week trip to the West coast. Each of us got to bring a friend, I asked Dano Buckley, he gladly accepted. During one of the many hiking experiences I became trapped in a box canyon in Arizona, Dano came to my rescue and helped me to get out (my hero). We toured many National Parks and camped every night. It was a wonderful experience for all of us, which I will always remember.

Bob taught me the meaning of respect, care, and that adults really can and do care about children, as I came from a home where it was almost non-existent. If it had not been for Mr. Sirr, many boys would have taken the wrong road early in life. For me, he was the saving factor. Sure, I still did what almost every teenager was doing at that time, but I learned that there was a choice in the way to live one’s life.

Bob taught me how to drive, cook, wash and iron clothes, as well as how to clean a house. I left The Island in April of 1976 and I still see and talk to him often. He lives in a house he built himself in 1979 near Park High School with his wife Polly. They were married on June, 5^th 1976. I consider Bob & Polly to be my parents and love them dearly.

Thank you Bob & Polly.