Diane Dankner:
CLASS OF 1970
Tappan Zee High SchoolClass of 1970
Orangeburg, NY
Diane's Story
My parents told me that I'd meet the man of my dreams in college, get married, and life would begin. I guess I didn't sleep enough in college.
High school was not the academic inspiration for me as it was for others. I didn't know how to study, thought I was "not very smart, and was lucky that RCC was required to take everyone. After beginning there, I found out that learning was interesting and I did know a thing or two. After one year there, I transferred to U of Buffalo, and managed to finish college in 3 years.
I started travelling when I was in college..the Europe thing. Backpacking, camping from Ireland to Holland, England, Scotland, Italy, Greece. Greece was particularly interesting since we camped on the island of Poros for 5 weeks, and really got to know the people there. It was not a tourist stop, which made the experience all the more enriching. Who could sit down to an 8 course meal, for $1.50? If we tried to leave more money, they gave us more food. The last stop on this particular island chain was where Leonard Cohen lived. Tourists were heading there and passed us by.
Now what? I wasn't married and didn't have a Plan B. Went to Florida and lived with friends from UB (married with children). It would have been easy to stay there, beautiful home, nice friends, but I realized that everyone was married. I was not living my own life. What to do?
AHA!! (I had AHA moments before they were fashionable.)
Travel.
The only problem was, no one that I knew had the same wanderlust that I did. They had "jobs," were looking for jobs, had never thought of travelling anywhere except to sit on a beach. So.... I went alone. To Israel. Why?
Because Ron Goodale was an idiot. In 1967, when the 6-day war broke out, he turned to me, probably the most insecure and shyest student in the class, and asked me, "who do you think is going to win the war?" Who did he think I was? A Middle East analyst? All the odds were stacked against Israel. I know that now, I knew nothing then. So, I said, "Israel." That is all I said. I don't recall if he asked me anything else.
it was 1974 and the Yom Kippur War had just ended. Israel had almost lost that war, and I wanted to see the country for myself. I went for six months to live on a kibbutz in a ulpan progam. You...Expand for more
work half a day and learn Hebrew the other half. After that program ended, I moved to Tel Aviv and lived there for 3 years. I lived in the same neighborhood as Golda Meir; shopped in the same market. She is one person I wish I'd met. The only reason I came back here in '78, is because my father told me that he would pay for my Masters degree (I was about to start in Israel), if I did it in the US. Then, I got caught up in projects here.
Ron Goodale made me think history was dull, boring and not to be bothered with. After 3 years in Israel, I became a history teacher.
Adjusting to the USA was hard after living in the Middle East. In Israel, our news casts came from all over the world. In addition to knowing what was happening in the Middle East, I knew what was happening in Europe, Africa, and the US.
When I came back here, I went straight to Boston for school. It was only 1977; What a different world. The girls were getting their nails done, wearing deisgner jeans. I had sat on the couch of a Sheikh in Gaza (with a firend who knew him), and been served a frozen banana slushie by one of the women who, in full burkha, scurried around tending to the men. It was hard to relate.
A history professor at BU told me one of my questions about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was ridiculous. He thought the guy in our class from Tufts was brilliant. In Israel, the people I questioned about events, politics, and history, found my questions insightful, thought provoking. In America they were ridiculous. Hmmmm. I came back to NYC and began teaching. After 15 years, I left and went into computers. Five years after that, I went back to teaching, with the intention of consulting in computers. Never did that. Did a lot of travelling throughout these years. Asia...Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, and Singapore. Europe, Israel... Had a great time.
Then I was 40. The alarm clock rang. Off to the cryobank. Have a wonderful son who turns 16 on June 21, 2010. Took him to Israel when he was 3. Spent most of the summer there. When he was 4, Disney World. We've also been to Canada, Mexico, spent a day in Prague. We've been to between 30 and 35 US states. I promised him we'd get to all 50 before he graduates high school. He's a junior in September. Gonna be busy.
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