This issue is at: Send email to http://tinyurl.com/yh34ut
(gives you an email address), fax 781-723-3746, or call All communications are ASSUMED to be for inclusion, UNLESS otherwise indicated. # # # # # |
The daily site had 1,089 views last week; weekly site had 5 again. (Weekly site can replace Distribute!) 754 Jaspers are active on the Distribute Yahoo site. (Serves no purpose!) The site had 1,299 unique visits last week. 26 in LinkedInJaspers (http://tinyurl.com/yp6x2q). mcALUMdb is STILL off the air. # # # # # |
Wednesday, November 28 MC vs Fordham bball on tv? The # # # # # |
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- - Feldman, Aaron (1997) |
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- - Angel Estrella (2002) |
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-- Stephanie (????) |
- Unknown location |
- - Lynch, Chris (1991) |
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- - Brock (nee Klein-Smith), |
… … my thoughts are with you, and |
… … with all of you that I don't know about. |
Dona Nobis Pacem # # # # # |
Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and you will help them become what they are capable of becoming. - Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe |
http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/sugihara *** begin quote *** Chiune Sugihara (Japanese: 杉原千畝,
Sugihara Chiune; January 1, 1900 – July 31, 1986)
was a Japanese diplomat who saved thousands of Jews during World War II while
serving as the consul of the Empire of Japan to *** end quote *** Wow, the things you learn as you get older. *** begin quote *** Asked why he did it. Sugihara liked to give two reasons: one, that these refugees were human beings, and the other, that they simply needed help. *** end quote *** Stunning. In that day and time, “helping” could get you killed. Clearly, his deeds were punished by the Japanese Foreign Ministry. And, at least he received some recognition before his death. One can only wish that one has the moral courage to do the right thing in rough times. I can’t imagine the pressure he felt. Clearly, ordinary folks can rise to greatness in the moral dimension by just doing the right thing. He’s a example for me to follow. Although I hope my challenges are much much smaller. ? |
Reflect well on our alma mater, this week, every week, in any and every way possible, large or small. God bless. "Collector-in-chief" # # # # # |
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Hurley, D. Michael |
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1900 |
Castro, Luis |
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1944 |
Taylor, Francis B. |
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1950 |
Rienzo, Ignatius |
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1953 |
McEneney, Mike |
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1953 |
McEneney, Mike |
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1962 |
Corry, John |
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1966 |
Barnes, Patrick M. |
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1967 |
O’Neill, Joe |
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1969 |
O’Malley , V. Grady |
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1969 |
Quinn, Peter |
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1976 |
Hardardt, Mark |
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1983 |
Vegeto, Peter |
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1994 |
Frazier, David |
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1995 |
Gelsomino, Danielle |
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1995 |
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2006 |
McCarthy, Thomas |
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2010 |
Chan, Catherine |
JEmail01 (cited) |
2010 |
Monaco, Kellie |
JEmail01 (cited) |
2011 |
Atwell, Debbie |
JEmail01 (cited) |
2011 |
Rossettie, Diana |
JEmail01 (cited) |
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Locator |
2011 |
Atwell, Debbie |
JEmail01 (cited) |
1966 |
Barnes, Patrick M. |
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1900 |
Castro, Luis |
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2010 |
Chan, Catherine |
JEmail01 (cited) |
1962 |
Corry, John |
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1994 |
Frazier, David |
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1995 |
Gelsomino, Danielle |
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1976 |
Hardardt, Mark |
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???? |
Hurley, D. Michael |
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1995 |
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2006 |
McCarthy, Thomas |
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1953 |
McEneney, Mike |
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1953 |
McEneney, Mike |
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2010 |
Monaco, Kellie |
JEmail01 (cited) |
1969 |
O’Malley , V. Grady |
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1967 |
O’Neill, Joe |
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1969 |
Quinn, Peter |
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1950 |
Rienzo, Ignatius |
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2011 |
Rossettie, Diana |
JEmail01 (cited) |
1944 |
Taylor, Francis B. |
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1983 |
Vegeto, Peter |
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JASPER HEADQUARTERS: Men’s Basketball Stars Jamal Marshall And V. Grady O’Malley Among Those To Be Inducted Into Manhattan College’s Athletic Hall Of Fame http://www.manhattan.edu/news/news_releases/112007_1.shtml News Release Men’s Basketball Stars Jamal Marshall And V. Grady O’Malley Among Those To Be Inducted Into Manhattan College’s Athletic Hall Of Fame Inductees include baseball pioneer Luis Castro; track & field standouts Corry, Frazier and Rienzo Among the others to be inducted is baseball pioneer Luis Castro, class of 1900, who is widely recognized as the first Hispanic to play major league baseball with the 1902 Philadelphia Athletics. Joining Marshall, O’Malley and Castro in the Hall of Fame will be track and field standouts John Corry ’62, David Frazier ’94 and Ignatius Rienzo ’50, swimming and cross country star Danielle Gelsomino ’95, and former softball coach Paul Mazzei, In addition, the 1957-58 men’s basketball and 1977-78 men’s swim teams will be honored with outstanding team awards. For more information on the Manhattan College Hall of
Fame, please contact Grace Feeney, alumni relations officer, at O’Malley was the last player to ever score a basket in the
old Hailing from In his final year as a Jasper,
Castro had his best single performance, when he pitched a complete game with
on earned run on three hits. He showed his strength on offense and a hit a
triple, double and four singles, and recorded a stolen base in Corry led the two-mile relay team to 15 victories in 17
races and placed second in the other two. Coach George Eastment
called him the “finest leadoff runner in the country.” As part of one of the
most storied relay teams in As a walk-on freshman, Corry established himself as a key to victory and earned a scholarship for the rest of his college career. Respected by teammates, he was presented the Spiked Shoe Achievement Award. Also a strong individual runner, he was always a threat in the mile and won the outdoor Metropolitan AAU in 1960 with a time of 4:14. Frazier never lost a triple jump competition in the indoor or outdoor Metropolitan Championships during a four-year span, the only Jasper to accomplish this feat. Upon graduation, he held the indoor records in the triple jump (53’ ¾”) and long jump (24’ 11”), which broke two long-standing records. Frazier helped bring the College another IC4A Championship in 1992, for which he scored 18 of the Jaspers’ 64 points, won the long jump and placed second in the triple jump, one of the competition’s deciding events. Frazier marked victories in all the top competitions,
including the IC4As, Mets and Penn Relays. In 1993, he earned All-American
status for the indoor triple jump. He also set a meet record at Seton Hall
and a field house record at Rienzo won 45 medals, both individual and relay, for indoor and outdoor track and cross country. Known for his versatility, Rienzo ran the 440-, 600-, 880- and 1,000-yard races; one-, two- and four mile relays; and three and five miles in cross country. He set a school record at the IC4A Championships in 1947 for his time of 26:54 in the Varsity file miles. Those points helped the Jaspers win both the Freshman and Varsity Championships. Rienzo was leadoff man for the NYAC two-mile relay victory in 1946 and also won the Met IC4A indoor two-mile relay. Captain of the cross country team during his senior year, Riezno started his college career with a two-mile relay victory at the AAU, for which three freshmen completed the laps. He capped his career with an individual 1,000-yard victory at the Metropolitan AAU meet. Gelsomino was named MVP four times (twice each for swimming and cross country) and holds nine individual records and three relay records. Two of these records, the 500 freestyle (5:31.58) and the 1,000 freestyle (11:27.69) still stand. She had already set a record on the track when she ran 17:29 at the 1992 ECAC Championship. Gelsomino was named to the GTE CoSidea Academic All-American at Large Division I Team in 1995, and was a four-time All-MAAC Academic honoree (three for swimming and one for cross country). Known for her versatility in the pool, Gelsomino had record times in freestyle (100, 200, 500 and 1,000); backstroke (50, 100, 200); and butterfly (100 and 200). Among her victories were the 1992 MAAC Championship in the 100 freestyle and 1993 Met Championship in the 500 freestyle. Mazzei led the Lady Jaspers to their first winning season in history and improved the team’s record from 2-27 to 31-12-1. Under his leadership, they tied for the MAAC title in 1994 and capped three-straight, 30-plus winning seasons. During those three seasons in the early 1990s, the
softball team posted 94 wins, a record unmatched by any other Six members of the 1957-58 men’s basketball team are
already part of Entering the NCAA Tournament, the Jaspers were on a roll.
They had just defeated archrival Fordham on the Rams’ home court, shooting 65
percent from the floor. Already kings of the Bronx, the team continued to
shine at the NCAA Tournament against The 1977-78 men’s swim team had the best Jasper record
(16-1) in the history of The Jaspers, competing for the first time in Division II
rather than Division III, took third place at the Metropolitan Swimming
Championships, and gathered enough points to win eight silver medals and 10
bronze medals. Many Jaspers contributed to the victory with points even
though they did not take home medals. Several Founded in 1853, Manhattan College is an independent,
Catholic, coeducational institution of higher learning offering more than 40
major programs of undergraduate study in the areas of arts, business,
education, engineering and science, along with graduate programs in education
and engineering. For more information about #### |
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JObit: JASPER ACTIONABLE OBIT:
EXPIRES 21NOV07 http:// www.legacy.com /HartfordCourant/ DeathNotices.asp? Page=LifeStory& PersonId=98198015 *** begin quote *** D. Michael Hurley HURLEY, D. Michael The Honorable Judge D. Michael Hurley,
81, passed away on Thursday, (November 15, 2007) at While living in NYC, he worked for American Airlines as a
contract administrator where he was involved with the first commercial 707
jet production. In 1961 after Judge Hurley moved his family to While living in Judge Hurley was a loving husband, father and grandfather who treasured his time playing and traveling with his grandchildren; he will be greatly missed. His love for his family was ever increasing; on September 25, 2005, he married his best friend, Elizabeth Hall and instantly became a part of her loving family. Judge Hurley is survived by his loving wife Elizabeth Hall-Hurley of Niantic; sons David and Lisa Hurley of Ellington, Michael J. and Shirley Hurley of Ledyard, Peter J. and Clara Hurley of Granby; step-sons Steven Pemberton of Norwich, Alan Pemberton of Middletown; step-daughters Jean Smith, Brenda Stone and Judith Bell all of Norwich; his sister, Eileen; granddaughter Annalise; grandsons Steven, Evan, Benjamin and Mathew and 23 step-grandchildren. Calling hours will be held on Tuesday, November 20, 2007
from 4-8 p.m. at the Church & Allen Funeral Home, Published in the ***End Quote*** Guestbook for your comments is at: http:// www.legacy.com /HartfordCourant/ GB/ GuestbookView.aspx? PersonId=98198015 # - # - # Hurley, D. Michael (MC????) # # # # # |
JObit: ACTIONABLE OBIT: Francis
B. Taylor ‘1944 — TAYLOR-Francis B. on November 16, 2007, 82 years.
Professor Emeritus of Mathematics and Computer Science at ——————————————————————————– From: Mike McEneney [ 1953 ] Dear John, Sunday’s NY Daly News has an obituary (page 43) for Professor Frank Taylor ‘44. He was a Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science for many years at the College and a very nice man. I have a copy if you need it. May He Rest In Peace, Mike # - # - # Thanks, Mike. {JR: FYI to all hands: This illustrates the “eleventh commandment” — Thou shalt not trust search engines to be complete! } # # # # # |
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JNEWS: O’Neill, Joe (MC1967) New York Board of Trade (NYBOT) senior vice president of marketing http://cornandsoybeandigest.com/ September 1, 2007 ***Begin Quote*** Sell your cotton and buy calls. That’s a strategy that has been successful time and time again, says Joe O’Neill, New York Board of Trade (NYBOT) senior vice president of marketing. O’Neill has more than 30 years’ experience in watching cotton markets and market strategies for the former New York Cotton Exchange, which became part of NYBOT in 1998. He may have grown up in {Extraneous Deleted} ***End Quote*** # - # - # Dear John, I believe that Joe is a member of the Class of 1967. Mike (Thanks, Mike!) # - # - # O’Neill, Joe (MC1967) # # # # # |
JNEWS: Hardardt, Mark (MC1976) Senior Vice President of Sales & Business Development Ektron http:// www.marketwatch.com /news/story/ story.aspx? guid=% 7bACBBEF54- 6CA6- 4D80- 92D6- 0BDDBD9021ED% 7d& siteid=nbk& symb= Ektron Names Mark Hardardt Senior Vice President of Sales & Business
Development ***Begin Quote*** Hardardt brings more than twenty-five years of experience in sales, business and channel development to Ektron. Most recently, Hardardt headed a sales consultancy working with early and mid stage privately held companies to develop sales and go to market strategies. Prior to running a consultancy, he was the Vice President of Sales and Channel Development for GN Netcom, a market leader in wireless and mobile technologies, and helped grow the enterprise business over sixty percent. Hardardt also served as the Vice President & General Manager of Worldwide Partners and Channels for Novell where he led sales and go to market efforts with all business partners and channels. Prior to Novell, Hardardt was
Vice President for Sales and Channel Development of Elron
Software, a leading security software provider. Prior to Elron,
Hardardt oversaw a tripling of revenues as Vice
President of Worldwide sales at Openpages, Inc.
Earlier, during his more than 13-year tenure at Lotus/IBM, he held a number
of senior management positions, including Vice President for North American
Sales, Global Sales and Communications Products Sales, where he built,
recruited for, and managed sales organizations for both new and existing
offerings. Hardardt holds a Bachelor’s degree from “We consider ourselves fortunate to have Mark Hardardt join Ektron’s leadership team,” said William Rogers, CEO and founder, Ektron Inc. “Ektron has exhibited significant sales growth over the past two years, and we expect Hardardt to capitalize on the sales momentum and drive continued growth in the years ahead.” “I am pleased to join a rapidly growing company that is superbly positioned as a leader in the expanding CMS sector,” said Mark Hardardt, senior vice president, sales and business development at Ektron. “My appointment at Ektron will enable me to play a key role in generating business opportunities domestically and around the world,” added Hardardt. About Ektron Ektron’s web content management
and authoring solutions are affordable for any organization and simple enough
for anyone to use, yet offer webmasters, designers and developers all the
tools they need to create, deploy and manage interactive web, intranet and
extranet sites in one platform. With Ektron
CMS400.NET, companies can do what they want on the Web, including developing
rich sites for personal, two-way communication with visitors, building
community through memberships, blogs and forums, and attracting more repeat
visits using RSS feeds and web alerts to increase business opportunities. An
open API allows for easy customization and extension. Ektron
is headquartered in SOURCE: Ektron, Inc. ***End Quote*** # - # - # Dear John, I believe that Mark is a member of the Class of 1976. Mike (Thanks, Mike) # - # - # Hardardt, Mark (MC1976) # # # # # |
JNEWS: the recent remarks of Peter Quinn’s ‘69 at the MCNYC recent night out John - attached are Peter’s remarks… enjoy (again)… Have a great Thanksgiving. Take care, Tom Thomas A. McCarthy (MC2006) # - # - # I’m deeply honored to be invited to address this gathering of my fellow Jaspers… But as honored as I am, I’m not deceived. I know the primary reason I was invited. Joe Dillon wanted to get a humongous-selling,
internationally famous novelist who was also a Unfortunately…since my classmate James Patterson was otherwise engaged…he had to settle for an obscure writer of long historical novels whose annual book sales reach into the high double digits. Yet, despite some obvious differences, Jim Patterson and I share a good deal in common… While Jim was an English major and I was a history major, we were in the same rhetoric class with Professor Ronald Christ in 1966… We both graduated in 1969… And we both publish an average of two books… Jim averages two books a year… And I average two books every twenty years. Like Jim, I didn’t start out to be a novelist. After college, Jim pursued a hugely successful career in advertising. After college, I failed at several careers. First, I failed at advertising. I got a job as a media buyer at Compton Advertising the old-fashioned way—my girlfriend (now my wife) had a sister who worked in the personnel department. I was gone in six months, having set a standard for feckless ineptitude that remains unmatched to this day. Next, I tried teaching. I spent a year as an adult education instructor in VISTA
and then taught for another year at After that, I continued to add to my unbroken string of
illustrious unsuccess as a Wall Street messenger, a
court officer in Finally, at age 28, I did what lost, desperate people have always done… I went back to school to get a Ph.D. I chose an obscure institution in a remote backwater that most of you have probably never heard of… It’s called Given the school’s low standards and the extremely limited intellectual abilities of its student body, I was finally in an environment where even I found it impossible to fail… Well, almost impossible. Having completed all the requirements for a doctorate in modern European history except the dissertation, I was able to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory and achieve another unsuccess. The credit, however, belonged more to my parents than me. Whether out of a lack of foresight or sheer carelessness, they brought me into the world at a point that guaranteed my academic plans would end in a cul-de-sac. I was one of those baby boomers who was ready to leave graduate school just at the point where an ever-increasing glut of professors met head on with a rapidly diminishing supply of students. In his writings on the labor theory of value, Karl Marx describes such a situation as, quote, “among the inherent contradictions in the relationship between the intrinsic worth of labor and the extrinsic demands of the market.” My uncle Joe O’Brien, former night clerk at the George
Washington Hotel on “Peter,” he said, “you’re screwed.” I was thirty-two and facing permanent underemployment as an adjunct or, worse, the daunting prospect of finding yet another career at which to fail. Then, whether through luck, or fate, or the grace of God—call it what you will—I fell into a career as a speechwriter. Please note my choice of language. I said fell because in my experience no one has ever consciously set out to spend their career as a speechwriter. As far as I can tell, the only other highly skilled professionals of whom this can be said are hookers. Speechwriters and hookers share other similarities as well… Both professions involve highly personal acts performed for pay… And both are legal in Hookers, of course, are in far greater demand in I spent the next twenty-seven years as a speechwriter, working for two New York governors, Hugh Carey and Mario Cuomo, and five chairmen of a company known successively as Time Inc., Time Warner, AOL Time Warner and once again—at least until the next acquisition or break-up—as Time Warner. For a time I inhaled the sweet—and unfamiliar—smell of success. But unsuccess wasn’t finished with me yet. Before you could say “Titanic” or “Von Hindenburg”… Along came the AOL-Time Warner merger. In the ensuing debacle of what has come to be routinely described as “the most disastrous merger in American business history,” Time Warner vice-chairman Ted Turner went from a net worth of nine billion to one billion dollars. To paraphrase the late “a billion here, a billion there…and pretty soon you’re talking real money.” Although my raw totals for net worth were a shade or two less than Ted’s, I made the same proportional decline. I can’t say I wasn’t forewarned… Not by any of the visionaries, consultants and unindicted co-conspirators who swarmed everywhere as the dot-com bubble swelled ever larger… But by my wife, a level-headed Irish-American girl from A man less acquainted with unsuccess might have listened to such a siren call… Not me. I listened attentively to the chorus of certainty that insisted today’s hundred-dollar share price would soon be—was destined to be, had to be—two hundred, three hundred…the sky’s the limit. In the end, I have no one to blame but myself… I hung in there when the share price dropped to eighty…and from eighty to sixty…and from forty to twenty…all the way down to nine. To make a short story even shorter, I was rich once and I was young once… And will never be either again. My purpose in telling you all this is not so I can pass the hat and collect enough money to buy groceries for myself and my family. As Evita Peron put it, “Don’t
cry for me, Thanks to my old friend, steadfast financial advisor and fellow Jasper, Kevin Stapleton—who’s here this evening—and to generous pension and profit-sharing plans put in place in that now-vanished, never-to-return time when corporations imagined there was a benefit in retaining employees for their entire careers and rewarding their hard work and loyalty, I face a most comfortable retirement. After twenty-three years, I will leave Time Warner at the end of this year with the assurance that I’ll never be reduced to eating cat food and, if I am, it will be premium cat food. For me, the point is that while it’s crucially important to be able to provide for yourself and your family, the final determination of success—of not just how much money you have but how happy you are—is this: Are you doing what you want to do? Are you doing what you feel you were put here to do? There’s no one-size-fits-all answer to that question. Each of us has his or her own answer. In my own case, as long as I can remember my deepest ambition—although at times only vaguely felt and often seemingly out of reach—was to be a writer, to put my own stories down on paper. That I was able to fulfill it—to write and publish my own
books—is in no small measure due to the De LaSalle Christian Brothers and My association with them goes back fifty-six years…to the fall of 1951, to be precise…when my father took my brother and me to the 25th reunion of his engineering class of 1926, which is the first time I remember being on the Manhattan campus. Four years later, in 1955, when I left the second grade in
St. Raymond’s and passed from the Sisters of Charity in the new school
building on There’s been plenty written and said about parochial education in those distant, pre-Vatican II days. At one extreme, they’ve been romanticized in “Going My Way” fashion as idylls of piety, tranquility, and obedience. On the other, they’ve been criticized to the point of parody as educational concentration camps that would have done the North Koreans proud. They were far from perfect, that’s for sure. At St. Raymond’s, the smallest class I was in was 45 kids. We came from a wide range of economic backgrounds and represented a spectrum of abilities that went from gifted to what today would be diagnosed as learning disabled, and even mentally challenged. Some of the teachers I had didn’t belong in a classroom; others were dedicated and incredibly hard working. I remember one in particular, Brother August—we knew our teachers only by their religious names in those days—who was probably all of 24 or 25 when he was put in charge of 48 or 50 seventh-grade boys. Brother August taught us math. I was—and am—terrible in math. Brother August was endlessly patient, understanding and encouraging. He was a living embodiment of the concept of “no child left behind,” and by the time he was finished with us, we all had skills we didn’t have before we entered his classroom. From the brothers at St. Raymond’s, I went on to the brothers at Manhattan Prep. In some ways it was the worst of all possible worlds… A two-bus, hour-and-fifteen-minute trip from the east
Bronx to the west Manhattan Prep was a no-frills, no-nonsense, no-excuses kind of place. Yet if I had a few lemons for teachers—and one layman who was a certified sadist—I had some truly amazing men whose influence has stayed with me the rest of my life. The most influential was Brother Aquinas…or “A.Q.” was always referred to him. As I would later discover, A.Q. was born John McNiff. He was from a large working-class Irish family (as many of the Brothers were in those days) and was the first in his family to go to college. In his early thirties when I encountered him, A.Q. was incredibly well read, wonderfully open minded and absolutely down to earth. He was a teacher of extraordinary ability who like all truly great teachers didn’t merely convey facts or explain theories but instilled in students his passion and love for the subject matter and for the process of learning itself. Not insignificantly, he only used force as a last resort, which—to put it mildly—wasn’t the case with all the Brothers. In my senior year, for instance, as well as teaching me English, he supervised study hall. His usual practice was to stick his head in a thousand-page Russian novel and warn us not to talk and, if we did, to do so softly and not disturb him. Unused to lax supervision of this sort, some of us would almost invariably push the noise level to the point where A.Q. would look up from his book and, in a half-pleading, half-minatory tone, issue a final warning. Most of us recognized that as the red light it was intended to be. But occasionally, there’d be some foolish soul who’d drive right though and soon discover A.Q. could also stand for “annihilation quotient.” Along with awakening in me a love of literature and helping me understand better than any teacher before or since what goes into making a sentence come alive, A.Q. told me two things that influenced the rest of my life. First, he told me that he thought I had the makings of a writer and that if I had the persistence to pursue it as a vocation—and that’s what he called it, a vocation, not a career—I had a chance of success. I wasn’t the only one he encouraged this way. I know for a fact he encouraged Mike O’Hara in the same fashion. Another graduate of the Prep and College, O’Hara went on to write a number of successful made-for-TV movies, form his own hugely profitable film-making company—O’Hara-Horowitz Productions—and is now living in Malibu, rich and happy and trying his hand at novel writing. Second, at one point when I’d broken my wrist in gym, A.Q. let me give an oral book report. I forget what the book was. All I remember was that instead of reading it, I read the classic comic version or skipped over the Cliff notes confident I could do a sufficiently convincing snow job to skate by. A.Q. listened to my presentation without comment or interruption. Several of my classmates gave me thumbs up when I was through. They were certain I’d pulled it off, and so was I. After a few seconds of silence, A.Q. looked at me and said five words I’ll never forget… “Quinn,” he said, “you’re full of shit.” He ordered me to go back and read the book. Talk about an “ah-ha moment”… The shock of hearing that unadorned, down-to-earth
pronouncement from a black-robed authority figure with a collar in the shape
of the tablets of the Ten Commandments was like the voice Paul heard on the
road to It cured me at an early age of the illusion that I could fake it…that I could get by without doing the necessary work…that sounding like you know what you’re talking about is just as good as really knowing what you’re talking about. How many times over the ensuing years, in countless meetings and corporate retreats, seminars and pow-wows, listening to the latest theories on the future of the media or the next sure-fire, can’t-miss business notion, have I wished A.Q. was in the room to puncture the pretense and bring the proceedings back to earth? In fact, it seems to me that in his blend of scholarship
and street-wise intelligence…in his freedom from intellectual snobbery and
love of great literature…in his religious commitment and sophisticated
appreciation for creative expression, A.Q. was representative of the best
traditions of the Christian Brothers and Over the years, I worked with any number of graduates of
the so-called elite universities. Most—but certainly not all—were intelligent
and good at what they did. But never once did I feel that I was put at a
disadvantage by having gone to More often than not I felt the opposite…that I had the advantage. The great books curriculum in place during my years at the College offered me a grounding and context for the study of history and literature that few other schools provided. Teachers like Harry Blair, Brother Patrick Stephen McGarry, Alfred De Lascia, and Fred Schweitzer were as commanding, demanding and knowledgeable as could be found anywhere. It’s been said, of course—most recently in a New York
Times piece about a certain Jasper running for president—that It is true that we were disadvantaged by a lack of women but many colleges in those antediluvian days were single-sex institutions. It’s also true that a majority of us were the descendants of Irish-Italian immigrant families, but the differences between those two groups were still pronounced—to the point, Irish-Italian nuptials were often referred to as “intermarriage.” Yet if we weren’t exactly a United Nations of human variety, still, we represented an astounding geographical diversity. It was at from places that sounded like
they could have been Shirley Temple’s hometown …Woodside…and Sunnyside…and I had classmates from as far south as We even had a contingent of international students from
the Left Bank of the Previously, everyone I’d gone to school with was from the
parishes of the Bronx, Now I got to interact firsthand with people from Despite our differences, we were united by the experience
of It didn’t fashion itself as a training school for a self-referential elite or pump us up with notions of our own self-importance…it left that to Jesuit institutions… But it changed us. It engaged our intellects, opened our minds, and grounded us in the essentials of what it means to be an educated person. It didn’t shove religion down our throats, but gave us the chance to gain a greater appreciation of our heritage and deepen our faith, or reject it. So much of what is good in my life, of the success that
I’ve enjoyed and the unsuccess that I’ve endured,
learned from and gotten past, I owe to Along with a first-class education, they gave me the understanding that the meaning of life isn’t in just doing a job, playing out the clock and filling the time between the womb and the tomb with whatever toys and distractions are most readily available or pleasurable. From the perspective of a professional writer, they helped me develop the one asset that separates people who talk about writing from people who actually do it… Discipline. Outside those whose tastes run toward S&M, discipline doesn’t appear to enjoy much currency these days, and the reasons aren’t entirely regrettable. Too much discipline can be as bad as too little. The latter can engender license and aimlessness, while the former can stifle creativity and lead to numbing conformity. But the job and vocation of writing is impossible without the capacity to isolate yourself in order to sit for long periods of time, to grind out sentences and paragraphs, to write and re-write, day upon day upon day, and to stick with it despite distractions, depressions, heartaches, headaches and hangovers. How the idea that being a writer is a glamorous profession ever arose, I don’t know, but I didn’t come from writers. As the great sportswriter Red Smith remarked when someone told him how “effortless” his writing seemed, “Sure it’s effortless, all I do is slit open an artery or two and bleed on the page.” Early on, I discovered that if I wanted to write my own books, I had to face these facts. I was working a hectic schedule as the chief speechwriter at Time Inc. with one child in hand and another in the works, and I had this idea for a novel rolling around in my head but no time to write it. I turned to the one friend I had who worked fulltime as a novelist and playwright, and spilled my guts. After listening politely to the same refrain several times, he said, “Make the time.” I was annoyed by that reply—pissed off, if you want to know the truth. My friend was divorced, his children were grown and he had no responsibilities except his own writing. The very smugness of his words—make the time—kept rankling me until the third or fourth time he repeated them to me and the truth of what he said penetrated my cast-iron Irish skull. He was right. If writing my novel mattered as much to me as I insisted it did, I was going to have to carve out the space I needed to make it not something I did when I felt like it or could steal the time, but an obligation as basic and routine as eating or getting up in the morning. Although I’d never been an early riser, I became one. I started getting up at 5:30 A.M.—the same time that in my bachelor days I’d often went to bed—and arrived at work two hours early. There were days when I was ready to give up. I was writing without an agent or a book contract. There were mornings it was dark and cold, my back was out, and I wasn’t sure where the story was going, when I thought to myself, “I’m spending all this time and energy worrying about people who never existed in a book that may never be printed. Maybe I should give up writing and try psychotherapy instead.” I discovered, however, that my years at Manhattan and the instruction I’d received at the hands of teachers like A.Q.—their insistence on doing the work and not trying to skate by—had developed in me a capacity for disciplined endeavor far deeper than I’d ever imagined. I stuck with that schedule of getting up at 5:30, five days a week, and working at my own writing for two hours for the next 17 years… And it made all the difference… It allowed me to write and publish two historical novels, Banished Children of Eve and Hour of the Cat—a total of a thousand pages of fiction—and a long list of personal essays and historical pieces which became the basis for Looking for Jimmy. I am entirely indebted to Manhattan for the life I’ve had and the immeasurable satisfaction that comes from having done—and continue to do—what I want to do, and what I feel I was put here to do. Obviously, It went co-ed a few years after I left, a change I’m sorry I missed. “Foreign exchange students” is no longer a term applied to
arrivees from Long Island and where the ratio in my day was 80% commuters and 20% boarders, it’s now the exact opposite. More and more, the student body reflects the magnificent range of colors and cultures that is making this city of ours the global capital of the 21st century. Yet some things haven’t changed… Manhattan is still a place of unpretentious learning, a school of no illusions that does it’s best to turn out graduates who are neither elitists nor nihilists…but women and men who along with valuing material success know the importance of creating meaning in their own lives as well as seeking some measure of improvement across this wounded planet of ours. Jaspers come in all hues and genders… Some are young…and some not so young… Some are pretty… and the rest…well, we do the best with the little that we have… On a personal level, To that old and often asked question, then, “What the hell is a Jasper?… I can say with great pride and gratitude, I am a Jasper. Thank you for listening. # # # # # |
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MNEWS: the Institute in Catholic Identity at http:// www.c-n.com/ apps /pbcs.dll/ article?AID= /20071119/ FRONT01 /71119018
***Begin Quote*** To be held from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Topics to be covered include: effective media relations, using blogs and multimedia to ramp up your website, as well as appealing to Generations X and Y. There will be an opportunity for questions and answers. Sr. Carol Cimino, SSJ, who served for 17 years as executive director of the Catholic School Administrators Association of New York State, will be the keynote speaker. A Sister of St. Joseph of Rochester, Sr. Carol currently
serves as a national consultant for the William H. Sadlier
Co. She has been a teacher and an administrator on all levels of Catholic
education and was a development director for three Catholic high schools. In
addition, she co-directs the Institute in Catholic Identity at The workshop is open to all principals, pastors, marketing
teams, development professionals, board members, and interested parents in
Catholic schools throughout the state of For information or to register, contact the Diocese of
Metuchen’s Office of School Development at ***End Quote*** # # # # # |
MNEWS: Joseph J. Fahey, a professor of religious studies
at http:// www.boston.com /bostonglobe/obituaries/ articles /2007/ 11 /19/ rev_ed_boyle_headed_diocesan_labor_guild?mode=PF Rev. Ed Boyle, headed diocesan Labor Guild ***Begin Quote*** Respect for workers was a moral matter for the Rev. Ed Boyle, who early in life stepped away from what could have been a lustrous career in management to champion those who toiled for the smallest paychecks. “The Christian community has always held suspect the
tendency in As director of the Labor Guild of the Boston Archdiocese, Father Boyle spent years emphasizing the hyphen in labor-management relations. The sides needed to work together, he believed, for the good of workers and bosses. But there was no question where his heart lay. “There are, of course, some wonderful businessmen,” he told the Globe in 1983. “But I don’t think business has a creed that is ennobling.” Father Boyle, who earned an Ivy League MBA before finding
his calling as a Jesuit priest, died of renal cancer Tuesday at the “He was so dedicated to his mission to social justice and supporting the dignity of workers,” said Thomas A. Kochan, the George Maverick Bunker professor of management at MIT’s Sloan School of Management. “He really believed this was the way that God spoke through him - he said it that way.” Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley issued a statement saying that through his work with the Labor Guild, Father Boyle helped support “working families during nearly four decades in the area of labor relations. . . . We will miss his energy, knowledge, and passion for the ministry he was called to do by God.” The call did not come until Father Boyle was living in The second of six children, Edward F. Boyle grew up in After three years as a Navy officer stationed in “As he said, he came to the conclusion that he was on the wrong path going 100 miles an hour,” Kochan said. “Ed marched to a different drummer,” said Father Boyle’s older brother, Jack of Charlestown. “He was an intensely committed person - to his studies, to his friends, on playing fields. He put that aside with the Jesuits, and this is a very significant thing. He was a real power guy. Handsome, strong, bright - a compulsive hand-shaker. He put all of that aside to follow Christ.” Father Boyle entered the Jesuit novitiate in 1958 and was ordained 11 years later after lengthy studies in theology and philosophy. During those years, he met the Rev. Mortimer Gavin, who directed the archdiocese’s Labor Guild. Gavin and Father Boyle, who succeeded his mentor as
director, both were known as “the labor priest” in After he was ordained, Father Boyle taught high school for
a year before beginning his ministry with the Labor Guild in 1970. There,
too, accomplishments came as swiftly as they had on the playing fields at “Father Ed was a very humble man despite the many things he did to quietly improve labor-management relations,” Kochan said. “He was always quick to credit everyone else for whatever good came out of his efforts. Even when asked about the Labor Guild, he always referred to the executive board and others to whom he attributed the success.” Robert J. Haynes, president of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, called Father Boyle “one of the nicest people in the world” and praised his “unwavering commitment and dedication to the struggle to create a more fair and just workplace.” Said Father Boyle’s brother: “He always somehow had a feel for the poor guy that was getting hammered. I think he really, really sought equality. I mean, he’s a real democrat - all capitals.” Diagnosed with cancer several months ago, Father Boyle continued to speak about the need to remain focused on how society’s financial disparities hurt the most vulnerable, according to a tribute written by Kochan and Joseph J. Fahey, a professor of religious studies at Manhattan College. The two quoted from Father Boyle’s last Mass, which they said was “fittingly televised on Labor Day Sunday”: “The labor market climate in almost all sectors continues to deteriorate; the gap between work and manager, between rich and poor, threatens the very moral foundation of society,” Father Boyle said. True to his humility, Father Boyle asked that he not be eulogized. Years ago, when he faced heart bypass surgery, he had penned a statement to be read at his funeral. “I simply want to say thank you, not only to the Lord who rescued me in 1958 while I was working in New York City, but to all of you who loved and supported me in so many, many ways - some of which I suspect I was so insensitive as to not even notice - these many years,” he wrote. “My life in the priesthood was so full of blessings; so too in the Society of Jesus, and in the ministry of the Labor Guild. I ask your forgiveness for any and all wounds I may have inflicted, and I pray that God will bless each of you with an ever growing sense of His attending presence and peace til he calls you into the mystery of everlasting life.” In addition to his brother, Father Boyle leaves three
sisters, Suzanne Doherty of A funeral Mass will be said today at 10:30 a.m. in St.
Angela Merici Church in Mattapan. Burial will be in
the cemetery at the Jesuit community’s # # # {JR: Maybe he should have been a Jasper. Sounds like he’d have fit right in. } # # # # # |
MNEWS: Robert Geraci, assistant
professor at the department of religious studies at Religion News Service “Barchu et Adonai
ha-m’vorach” (Bless the Lord, who is to be
blessed), David said, speaking into the microphone attached to his computer
in his From a laptop in “I’d like to hear you say it nice and slow,” Goodman said, his voice booming through the speakers on David’s computer. “Point to the words as you read it.” The year-old Web site is among several Internet venues for religious students to receive instruction amid increasingly hectic schedules for parents and youngsters. QuranReading.com and Islamicity.com provide connections between Muslim students and their teachers, some of them on the other side of the world. {Extraneous Deleted} Robert Geraci, assistant
professor at the department of religious studies at “It is too early to tell whether it will encourage long-term identification with the Jewish people,” Geraci said of online programs. “I fear it will not because this kind of study discourages both parents and child from being a part of their local community.” {Extraneous Deleted} (Christopher Dela Cruz writes
for The Star-Ledger in LOAD-DATE: November 21, 2007 # # # # # |
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From: Mike McEneney [1953] Dear John, I know
that we have not been reporting on Sports in the weekly post but I thought
that the accomplishment of this seasons Manhattan Women's Swim team should be
recognized. (The fact that my Grand daughter, Catherine Chan, a Sophomore, is
a member of the team has not influenced me!). Until last Friday night (11/16)
they were undefeated at home. Friday nights victory marked Coach Walter Olsewski's '68, 100th Victory as The last home meet of the Season was
Saturday (11/17) at the Riverdale Country School Pool. I went to the meet. In
order to get to the pool one must descend 60 stairs - not a mean feat for
some one in my shape! (I also had to climb back up!). It was a double dual
meet with As a result
The team and the Coach should be congratulated for a great season! Mike McEneney, '53 {JR: And, you for making all the steps! Great report from our biased but “youthfully enthusiastic” field reporter! Now back to your desk in the Virtual Jasper Jottings Newsroom. He’s the model of a “Jimmy Olsen”.} # # # # # |
From: Mike McEneney [1953] Dear John, This is one of the nicest events that the College puts on. It is a great night and I recommend it highly! Mike ----- Original Message ----- From: Reinke's Jasper (mc68alum) Persona http://www.manhattan.edu/news/news_releases/112007_1.shtml News Release Inductees include baseball pioneer Luis Castro; track & field standouts Corry, Frazier and Rienzo # - # - # {JR: Can only inform and encourage! } # # # # # |
From: Thomas McCarthy [2006] John - attached are Peter's remarks... enjoy (again)... Have a great Thanksgiving. Take care, Tom Thomas A. McCarthy # - # - # {JR: Much appreciated! } |
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JFound: Vegeto, Peter (MC1983) (on LINKEDIN) REPORTING FROM THE LINKEDIN DESK http://www.linkedin.com/pub/1/332/255 Vegeto, Peter (MC1983) ***Begin Quote*** Program Director at Philips Medical Systems Past Education Industry ***End Quote*** # # # # # |
JFound: Patrick M. (1966) Barnes (on Plaxo Pulse) REPORTING FROM THE PLAXO PULSE DESK Pat Barnes ***Begin Quote*** Working as a consultant for ***End Quote*** Barnes, Patrick M. (1966) # # # # # |
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MFound: Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor http://www.simplyhired.com/job-id/bn7gfoooqm/civil-and-jobs Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor ***Begin Quote*** The Civil and Environmental Engineering Department is
seeking to fill a tenure-track position at the assistant or associate
professor rank beginning with the Fall 2008 semester. Please send a statement
of interest and professional goals together with a detailed curriculum vita
with names of three references to: Dr. Moujalli Hourani, Chairman, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Department, {Extraneous Deleted} ***End Quote*** # # # # # |
MNEWS: Assistant Professor - Chemical Engineering http://www.simplyhired.com/job-id/apjc274xp4/assistant-professor-jobs Assistant Professor - Chemical Engineering ***Begin Quote*** The Department of Chemical Engineering at {Extraneous Deleted} ***End Quote*** # # # # # |
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{NOTHING} |
My list of previously reported Jasper Bloggers here: http://jxymxu7sn5ho9d.wordpress.com/about/jasper-bloggers/ # # # # # |
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Control your own subscription: (1) Send a message from your old email account to Distribute_Jasper_Jottings-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com saying that you’re switching. (2) Send a message from your new email account to Distribute_Jasper_Jottings-subscribe@yahoogroups.com with your name and class year. To keep me from spamming you, Yahoo only permits me to invite and delete people. I can NOT just ADD your email address. AND you’re done. With zero extra work for the CIC! :-) http://www.jasperjottings.com/boilerplate.htm# # # # # |
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http://www.lewrockwell.com/reese/reese403.html *** begin quote *** Another cliché is "you can run but you can't
hide." Osama bin Laden has disproved that, and indeed there are
literally thousands of fugitives in the *** end quote *** And, why do we think that the government cares about anything other than it’s own lusts? Lust for power, lust for money, lust for popularity. It ain’t Mother T! Please care for the poor. Government is a terrible charity. Give me the Salvation Army anytime. See that’s why the citizens must take great care what they ask government to do. It can’t do it. There are always unintended consequences. And, if it does get anything done, it probably cost an order of magnitude more than it should have! ! !! |
And that’s the last word. Curmudgeon # # # # # |
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