First of all, relax. Bel Kaufman, author of Up the Down Staircase, that 1965 bestseller about being a new teacher at a New York public school, is very much alive. In fact, she just celebrated her 100th birthday. Sholem Aleichems granddaughter is still cracking jokes with a Yiddish nutcracker and remains quite a character, according to a New York Times profile published last month.
This year, the irrepressible Kaufman broke another sound barrier by teaching a course on Jewish humor at Hunter College, where she graduated in 1934. At an age when most people have already left this world and the rest are accumulating physical ailments like pet hairs on a living room pillow, Kaufman is ascending steps of possibility. How does she do it?
She came to the US at the age of 12 from Russia, where dead bodies were frozen in peculiar positions on the street, she told the Times. Doesnt every child step over dead bodies? Ididnt know any different. Kaufman earned her MA in literature from Columbia and taught in the public school system for 20 years, which formed the genesis of her novel.
Obtaining teacher certification proved difficult for this new American who wasnt new anymore. Once she was asked to interpret a poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay. Poor interpretation, deemed the examiners, who denied Kaufmans license. So Kaufman sent a letter to the poet herself and asked for her evaluation of her analysis. Millay judged it a better explanation than anything she could ever offer. The embarrassed examiners let Kaufman reapply for certification.
Up the Down Staircase was named after one of the endless memos Kaufman received as an overworked, underpaid educator: Dont walk up the down staircase. A case of administrators with too much time on their hands? You bet. But Kaufman used the absurd to craft the incredible.
At 100, Kaufman mambos and tangos at a local school. But how she made it to this age with her immense vocabulary, humor and verve intact is no big deal, she told the Times. I feel no different than I felt at 99, 98 or 97. Her second husband, Sidney Gluck, is 94. He likes older women, she laughs.
The real secret of Kaufmans productive longevity is beyond the comprehension of its owner. But if we have enough time and lucidity, were more than willing to find out even if we go up the down staircase a few times on our way to such a high and lofty standard.
Copyright © 2011 by the Intermountain Jewish News
