Alumni News
From Court to Kitchen
Mikaela Cowles ('08) was recently featured in a local news story by Suzie Iventosch in the Lamorinda Weekly.
Joann Kerns, '78, earns B.S. in Nursing
Joann Kern, Class of 1978, continues to use the education and skills gained from the Integral Program in her professional and personal life. For 20 years, Joann has worked for the city and county of San Francisco in the Child Protective Services Division. In May, she completed the B.S. in nursing program at San Francisco State and is looking for work. Joann was married from 1977–1994 to Michael Romeyn '78 and remains good friends with him. They have six children, ages 20–30, and two grandchildren, 7 and 18 months.
Rita Spillane '76 Receives St. Thomas More Award
From her work as a community prosecutor for the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office to her dedication to faith formation of lay leaders, Rita Spillane has shown integrity in the practice of law, leadership in the community and faithfulness to Gospel values in her personal and professional life.
That’s why she was selected as the member of the legal profession to receive the St. Thomas More Award, which will be presented to her on Oct. 8 by Coadjutor Bishop Jaime Soto at a dinner following the Red Mass at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament.
Former Poet Laureate Laments War and Imagines Peace
In a speech marking the 50th anniversary of Saint Mary's Integral Program, former U.S. poet laureate Robert Hass '63 argued that themes from Homer's Trojan War epics are as relevant as ever given the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
"Mythmaking begins with the celebration of masculine warrior culture," explained Hass, a UC Berkeley professor and an Integral Program graduate. "We see it in the Iliad, the Bhagavad-Gita and the Book of Kings in the Old Testament. We prefer the dead lion to the living lamb."
Fast-forward several thousand years, Hass says, and societies still find the idea of war ennobling. He suggested that U.S. political leaders appealed to this notion to gain support for an invasion of Iraq, which he called a "stunning and appalling victory of the war party in Washington."
Denis the Kelly
At a recent retirement dinner, Tutor Denis Kelly ('60) was feted and honored with a poem by guest Willis Barnstone