E.M. is the backdrop for baby-boomer book

Two former East Meadow residents have not seen each other in 46 years, but this will not stop them from co-authoring the book “Once Upon Our Times (Because Life isn’t a fairytale).”

Sharon Sultan and Cookie Horowitz both moved with their families from New York City and to East Meadow at a young age. While they were merely acquaintances in high school, the baby boomers both graduated with 776 students from East Meadow High school in 1965.

East Meadow was sheep farms and potato fields, Sultan recalled. Growing up there were three stations on our black and white TV that took three minutes to warm up, she said. She also remembers the cookie-cutter developments; 250 houses of the same exact size and shape. “The only difference was the color of the shutters. Now each house is unbelievable customized.”

Looking back on high school with fond memories, Sultan decided to attend her 45th reunion by herself. “I didn’t know who was going,” she said. “I’m just going to go and announce I’m writing a book.”

Sultan’s first reaction was to write a book about East Meadow with an emphasis on the class of 1965, but within a few weeks, Horowitz would send Sultan a Facebook message that would change their lives.

“Cookie wrote to my Facebook page and she asked, is there anyway I can help?” said Sultan.

“I got a note from her asking for a mock-up for a cover,” said Horowitz. As a painter, she took the invitation as a good way to practice her graphic art.

Soon after, Horowitz encouraged Sultan to turn her small book into a more cohesive book about the baby boomer generation using East Meadow as the backdrop, and with this change, Horowitz became her co-author.

“We became investigative journalists,” explained Horowitz. The women were not just chronically students from their graduating class, they were writing about the Vietnam War, protests, assassinations, growing up homosexual, secret divorces, bomb shelters, communism, the sexual revolution and many other historical moments throughout the decades.

“The American family was so different when we grew up,” said Sultan. The mother’s baked, everyone met at the general store and TV was born. Similarly, Horowitz said, “We could leave our houses as 10 a.m. and come back at dinner. There were no cell phones. It was just a whole different world.”

Horowitz admits she idolized her childhood and said, “I didn’t realize it was less than ideal until I started writing. It wasn’t all Howdy Doody and wax lips and hula hoops.”

While the women chose East Meadow as the backdrop of their book because of familiarity, Horowitz said, “East Meadow is a perfect example of a suburb who grew up in the shadow of a major city.”

Sultan spent a majority of her life studying the baby boomer generation and seniors and used her way with facts to compose book chapters on the ways in which boomers are changing aging, health care, politics, volunteering and living longer.

Simultaneously Horowitz would paint with words and compose chapters like “Against the Norm” and analyze the generation from a sociological perspective, she said.

“Anyone who wants to know who they are, they have to look back,” said Horowitz. In high school she thought she was average, but people from her past remember her as popular and pretty.

Horowitz also learned from an anonymous source that her father, a dentist, used to fit boys for braces who were so against the Vietnam War they considered leaving the country. They were under medical care so they would not pass inspection, she said.

Sultan was always interested in what happened to her classmates. Horowitz was not. Sultan lives in Chicago. Horowitz lives in Los Angeles. These two women lived different lives but came together for a purpose and will now be lifelong friends.

“We love each other; we’re like sisters,” said Sultan.

The first-time book authors are self-publishing and expect a small initial printing in November. However, they are hopefully that people from all generations will appreciate this book.

The visually-stunning book contains half text with many interviews by former and current East Meadow residents as well we photographs, illustrations and ads reflecting everything from “horrendously unpopular wars, hippies and political corruption,” said Horowitz to fashion trends, toys and memorable television shows.

“We managed to survive everything we went through . . . and we’re going to make people appreciate who we are,” said Sultan. “It’s going to be something everyone’s going to want to read.”

To learn more about the authors and the book or to preorder your own copy visit http://www.onceuponourtimes.com.

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