There are a number of reasons I do what I do for a living, and one of them is that, generally speaking, I get on better with the written word better than the spoken one. This is by way of excuse for the fact that, at church this Sunday, I unintentionally tuned out right after the Gospel (Luke 18:9-14) and it wasn’t until we were at the announcements that I really surfaced again. (The chair of our landscaping committee was inviting us to the fall clean-up and “the perfect joy of yard-work among happy Episcopalians.”) Now this is no one’s fault but my own: Week in and week out at All Saints, we can rely on a cracking good sermon and a compelling liturgy – and you’re certainly all most welcome to join us, any time.
I did surface at least once from my reverie, though, and it was to hear Father summing up the sermon I’d apparently just missed: “God wants us to recognize what we owe to the people around us.” Not to join the Pharisee in his noisy fasting and philanthropy, but my thoughts had been roaming to some good purpose, then: I was actually busy numbering in my head the college publications currently crossing my desk and counting our blessings in the shape of the alumni contributors and other friends who are helping us get them across the finish line.
In particular, this weekend, I was aware that, a couple of hours from campus, Paul Nicolaus ’05 was putting the finishing touches to the top pages on which the new library website will depend. Nearer at hand, Kim (Lopas) Sullivan ’95, who just signed off on the Honor Roll of Donors, was now working through the proofs of the first catalog the college has ever published in association with a gallery exhibit. (“Howard Pyle in Wisconsin.”)
Mike Dauplaise ’84 is a stalwart of the magazine – I think he has contributed to every magazine in my ten years here – and just lately he’s been writing for the Campaign St. Norbert newslettter, too; Gerry Diaz ’04 is a regular with particular experience in sports and Melanie Radzicki McManus ’83 in travel writing – and I can call on another established travel writer in Kevin Revolinski ’90. You don’t have to be an alum to contribute to our publications, and we work equally closely with other valued professionals who feel just as much part of the publications family. But it’s a matter of some pleasure for us that we have been able to rope in so many of our own – and we certainly couldn’t manage without them. Peace be with you!
