PUBLISHED FOR THE ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF BELLARMINE COLLEGE PREPARATORY
The Power of the
Internet and Politics
Bellarmine
Gets Wired
SPRING 2005
Technology in
the Classroom
F R O M
PUBLISHER
Office of Advancement
SENIOR EDITOR
Tom Alessandri ‘69
EDITOR
Estelle Hayes
DESIGN DIRECTOR/
PRODUCTION
Alexander Atkins ‘79
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
John Callan, Jr. ‘89
ADMINISTRATION
Gerald T. Wade, S.J. ’55
Interim President and Chancellor
Mark Pierotti
Principal
Chris Meyercord ’88
Assistant Principal
Tom Gorndt
Controller
Jeff Shilling
Vice President for Advancement
Pat Wahler ’85
Development Director
V. Ronald Pine, Esq. ’57
Sr. Counsel for Planned Giving
T H E
E D I T O R
W
elcome to the second issue of the re-imagined Bellarmine magazine: Connections. Many thanks to those of you who shared
your reactions to the first issue. A selection of your reflections
can be found on this page.
The focus of this edition of the magazine is “The Power of the Internet and
Politics.” In the wake of our most recent national election, how has this new
technology reshaped the political discourse among our citizens? When applied
to electioneering, does the Internet invite wider participation, or does it dangerously stretch the recognized standards of communication? An amalgam
of both? For most of our history, presidential
campaigns only really began in earnest after
Labor Day; to what degree has this new
technology guaranteed that a presidential
campaign actually begins in cyberspace
only minutes, not years, after the previous
contest declares a winner?
Our anchor interview features the wit and wisdom
of two alums: Tony West ’83 and Jude Barry ’80 —
shedding some fascinating light on cyber-politics. A new
feature with this issue will be our first “Point - Counterpoint”
section, in which two alums, Adam Lauridsen ’97 and
Jack Krouse ’00, square off concerning whether the
Internet needs regulation. This issue’s alumnus focus
concerns Paul Harrington ’78 and his efforts to bring
Bellarmine to the forefront of educational technology
use. Finally, two of our faculty, Casey McCullough
and Bill Colucci ’82, share their experiences with
Internet use in the classroom and the current
climate of student interest in the political arena.
Once again, please feel heartily encouraged to share
your thoughts and reactions to Connections — after all,
our goal is to encourage you to re-connect with and feel
rejuvenated by Bellarmine. Let the journey continue…
TO M A L E S S A N D R I
John Callan, Jr. ’89
Alumni Director
Estelle Hayes
Communications Director
JOIN US
Insofar as Connections hopes to
include as many voices as possible
on a wide range of issues,
please feel duly invited to write
back to us with your reactions
to our format and opinions
about what you read in
these pages.
Please send letters to: Editor,
Bellarmine College Preparatory,
960 W. Hedding Street, San Jose,
CA 95126-1215 or via email at
[email protected].
VISIT THE MAGAZINE
ON THE WEB
www.bcp.org/go/connections
Connections is published twice a year by
Bellarmine College Preparatory. ©2005 by
the Board of Trustees of Bellarmine College
Preparatory. All rights reserved.
Printed in the U.S.
The diverse opinions expressed in Connections
do not necessarily represent the views of the
editor or the official policy of Bellarmine
College Preparatory.
Letters
Working Toward Social Justice
Your Winter 2004 article “Hope for the
Homeless” proved interestingly apt for this Bell
grad studying the Middle East at Georgetown
University. Here in Washington these days, the
mantle of U.S. foreign policy underlies itself with
the mantra that every human aspires to be free
and live in liberty. Surely, these are necessary and
admirable values, but are they the values that
should ultimately dictate our actions?
What struck me most about the interview
was the unstated theme of the article: the responsibility to work toward social justice in our communities. This value pervades Jesuit thought.
Indeed, Bellarmine taught me that the one attribute that all humans share is their sense of dignity
and the worth of their lives.
The article on homelessness was ultimately
about serving one’s local community. Americans
also have a responsibility to take action in the
world based upon a respect for human dignity as
the highest value one can hold, and the conscious
belief that together we can help establish social justice at all levels of human life, the local and global.
SOHRAB GHASSEMI ’98
Washington, D.C.
A Magazine with Pizzazz
Many thanks for giving Bellarmine a magazine
worth reading. I can’t tell you how impressed and
surprised I was with Connections. What can I say?
The improvement is nothing less than miraculous/
revolutionary. The magazine has pizzazz and really
gives the reader a good feel for what's going on
today at Bellarmine. Great job, and you have
raised the bar very high for subsequent issues.
FR. STEPHEN PRIVETT, S.J.
President, University of San Francisco
SPRING
2005
FEATURES
14
Bellarmine Gets
Wired
Paul Harrington ’78 spent months working
through the night and over the weekends
to wire Bellarmine for a high tech future of
teaching and learning.
16
Point-Counter Point
COVER
STORY
The Power
of the Internet
and Politics
Since graduating from Bellarmine in the early
80’s, both Jude Barry and Tony West have navigated
diverse careers in the political arena. They
recently returned to campus for a conversation
with Tom Alessandri about the impact of the
Internet on the political process.
6
Cover: photo illustration by Alexander Atkins ’79
Jack Krouse ’00 and Adam Lauridsen ’97
argue the merit of the Internet evolving as
the primary source for political information,
opinion and organization.
18
Technology in the
Classroom
Bill Colucci ’82 and Casey McCullough use
the Internet in their Bellarmine classrooms
every day. Both teachers talk about the pros
and cons of the technology and the access
to information on campus.
DEPARTMENTS
2
CAMPUS NEWS
24
DEVELOPMENT NEWS
26
ALUMNI EVENTS
28
CLASS NOTES
32
WHAT WE ARE READING
C
A
SERVICE:
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Solidarity Dinner Raises $6,000
for Kindergarten Students
Gifts Grow
Under Family
Giving Tree F
his past Christmas season
marked the fifth consecutive year that Bellarmine
students, faculty and staff have
contributed to the Family
Giving Tree, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the yearround needs of underprivileged
children in Northern California.
Members of the Bellarmine
community secured 225 of the
more than 55,000 Christmas
gifts that were given this past
holiday season.
Plaza Maria, a low-income
housing facility in San Jose, was
one of the 180 social service
agencies that benefited from the
program, thanks to the suggestion of Bellarmine junior Bobby
Moon, who was instrumental
in connecting the children of
Plaza Maria with the Family
Giving Tree. His efforts brought
Christmas gifts to 70 children,
many of whom Bobby and a
group of Bellarmine students
have been tutoring three days
each week for the past
three years. ❚
T
or kindergarten students at Agua Escondida in El Salvador, the
next school year holds a dream that would remain mostly unfulfilled were it not for the generous contributions of the Bellarmine
community. Since the summer of 2000, the Bellarmine Immersion
Program has visited the school’s sister community, Agua Escondida,
bringing with it the support of the entire Bellarmine community to
make the education of their children more than a faint hope.
This year, the Annual Solidarity Dinner raised more than $6,000
to keep the dream of continuing education alive for the kindergarten children and to prepare them to move on to first grade.
Funds from the annual dinner have contributed to a new classroom,
paid for school desks and chairs, and provided a full-time, qualified
teacher for the community.
With the guidance of Mothers’ Guild Chairpersons Pat Dürnhöfer
and Eileen Watley, a crowd of almost 700 attended the dinner of
beans and rice in Liccardo Center. Hosted by Larry Lauro ’66,
Immersion Program coordinator, the evening included prayers
and reflections of the trip by each of the delegation’s members.
Attendees watched a video presentation of the immersion trip prepared by Molly Fumia, and ended the night with the blessing of
those who will make immersion trips in the coming year and the
singing of “De Colores” led by faculty member Chris Wolf. ❚
GEOLOGY IN
THE BELLARMINE
CLASSROOM
W
hen viewed from the perspective
of a human lifetime, the mountain
ranges flanking the Santa Clara Valley
appear stable and permanent. But the
rocky guts of these ranges reveal a different story — one that is wrought with
sweeping, dramatic, and sometimes violent change. This saga is one of many
that Bellarmine College Preparatory students taking Geology investigate as they
learn about the materials and dynamic
processes that have formed the Earth
throughout the span of geologic time.
Blood Drive
Draws Record
Turnout
very two seconds someone in
the United States needs
blood. In response to this
ever-present need,
Bellarmine ASB has
sponsored an annual
Blood Drive for the
past 12 years. This
year’s blood drive brought
in 163 units from faculty, staff
and students – compared to last
year’s total of 137 units. For the
past five years, the drive has
provided blood to the Stanford
Blood Center and seen a grad-
E
ual increase in participation.
The Bellarmine community is
truly answering the call to work
as men and women for others
by giving the vital gift of blood.
One single blood donation
can help save the lives of up to
four patients. If the blood
does not pass the screening test, it is still used
for research at one of
Stanford’s research labs
or at Stanford’s School of
Medicine.
This year’s Blood Drive was
chaired by Justin Lam ’06 with
help from Josh Espejo ’07, Mark
Pan ’07, Ananth Srinivasan ’06
and Anand Desai ’07. ❚
Through a special arrangement with
San José State University, Bellarmine
students taking Geology receive college
credit for the course. Students explore
topics related to the formation and evolution of the earth including volcanism,
earthquakes, plate tectonics, glaciers,
landslides, energy and mineral
resources, and climate change. The
course emphasizes the geology of
California, and students participate
in an all-day field trip to explore the
geological history of the Santa Cruz
Mountains and local coast. ❚
Dr. Richard J. Nevle,
Science and Mathematics
Departments
The JW House Becomes
a Reality
ave you noticed the blue
wristbands around campus? Bellarmine faculty
and students, in support of
classmate Jan-Willem Knapen,
have made donations of nearly
$11,000 by purchasing wristbands, selling water at dances,
singing in a benefit concert and
donating lunch money in support of the dream of this young
man for others.
JW was a 14-year-old freshman at Bellarmine when he was
diagnosed with inoperable brain
cancer. In spite of his diagnosis,
JW focuses on his
dream of building a
legacy that will serve
children like him and
their families in the
future. He plans to build
a home away from home
for families of patients
who are being treated for serious illnesses at Kaiser Hospital
where he is being treated.
Now 16, JW, with his oncologist and friend, Dr. Alan Wong,
has inspired a large group of
friends determined to help
make his dream a reality. Over
the past seven months, from
donations of $5 to $20,000,
close to $450,000 has been
contributed through events
from simple bake sales to an art
show at the Triton Museum
where works by JW were auctioned. Recently, Kaiser Hospital
indicated, with a letter of intent,
that they are willing to provide
H
a long-term lease of land for
the JW House on their new
hospital grounds in Santa Clara.
A physicians group has also
agreed to provide net operating
costs for the house. All that is
needed now is to find builders
to start putting up walls.
JW continues to fight his
disease. He still faces many
challenging complications. The
cancer has spread to his spine
and he has been weakened by
additional seizures, but his
spirit remains strong. His fight
inspired a group of physicians
and nurses from Kaiser
to run in his name at
a recent marathon. He
was given a proclamation by the City of
Santa Clara in January
for his outstanding
community contribution. And he was honored again
by Jim Beall ’70 in the County
Supervisors’ offices as an outstanding citizen.
From Bellarmine moms providing meals for the Knapen
family, to Fr. Dick Cobb’s visits
at all hours of the day and
night, to generous contributions
from Bellarmine alums, teachers and classmates, hundreds
of gestures of kindness and
support are coming together to
make a better place for families
that will face the challenge of
serious illness in the future.
Visit www.jwhouse.org for more
information. ❚
Bellarmine Welcomes
its Next President
n early January, Bishop Patrick J. McGrath and
members of the Bellarmine College Preparatory
community welcomed the school’s future presi-
I
dent, Fr. Paul Sheridan, S.J. Fr. Sheridan will join
the school in January 2006, but at the start of
spring semester he spent several days on campus
meeting students, faculty members, staff, alums
and the Board of Trustees.
He will remain at St. Louis University High
School, where he has served as president since
1997, until the summer to help complete a capital
campaign and aid in the orientation of his successor. Following a sabbatical, Fr. Sheridan will join
Bellarmine, allowing current Chancellor and
Interim President Fr. Jerry Wade, S.J. ’55 to focus
on his role as chancellor.
Fr. Sheridan will bring a history of strong
leadership skills, kindness and spirituality to
Bellarmine. In 1976, he founded and served as
executive director of Boys Hope/Girls Hope, a
residential education program for abused, neglected
and abandoned children, which includes 39
homes around the world. He also started Loyola
Academy of St. Louis, a Nativity School, and
continues to serve as a board member. ❚
Above (l-r): Bellarmine Chancellor and Interim President
Fr. Jerry Wade, S.J. ’55; Board of Regents Chair Thomas
Spieker ’71; Fr. Paul Sheridan, S.J.; Bishop Patrick J.
McGrath; Principal Mark Pierotti; and Board of Trustees
Chair Antoinette Sarraille during a breakfast meeting
welcoming the next Bellarmine president.
Spring 2005 | Connections
3
C
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Bellarmine Hosts Bay Area High School
Premiere of Dead Man Walking
ellarmine College Preparatory students and
young women from other
local high schools took on the
controversial issue of the death
penalty in Bellarmine’s production of Dead Man Walking last
fall. Bellarmine, along with
other Catholic universities and
schools, was given exclusive
performance rights to the play
by actor and playwright Tim
Robbins and Sister Helen Prejean.
“I welcome you as collaborators with me on this creative
endeavor,”
said
B
Robbins in a letter
to students participating in the play.
“On completion of
the project, I will
take into account
your experiences
and suggestions as I
write the definitive
version of the play
for publication.”
Robbins asked that the participating school communities
host activities to raise awareness
of death penalty issues and concerns. As a result of that request
and to help students and faculty
prepare for the fall drama, several events were planned. In
September, Delbert Tibbs, a former Florida State Prison death
row inmate, visited campus to
speak with students about his
experience as a wrongfully
accused inmate on death row.
Tibbs was on death row for
three years before his case
was overturned for lack
of evidence. The col-
lege graduate, poet and writer
then spent five years trying to
clear his record and receive some
acknowledgment from the state
of Florida of his wrongful arrest.
He told students that as a
religious man, he feels that he
was meant to go through his
experience so that he could
become a spokesperson for the
hundreds of men and women
on death rows across the country.
The following month, many
students from the Dead Man
Walking cast took a special tour
of San Quentin State Prison and
experienced an up close and
personal look at life behind bars
– even eating lunch in the prison’s
cafeteria. Later that month,
Sister Helen Prejean visited the
Bellarmine campus and spoke
to the student body about her
experiences ministering to death
row inmates and her opposition
to the death penalty.
Sister Helen, whose biography is the basis for the
movie Dead Man
Walking, spoke before
an overflow crowd in
Leontyne Chapel after
visiting several
art classes.
S
Larry Lauro, Bellarmine’s
Immersion Program coordinator
who also helped arrange for her
visit to the school, introduced
Sister Helen to the packed audience of students, faculty and
guests. She spoke of her personal journey accompanying
five death row convicts to their
executions. She spoke of the
humility she gained from this
journey and her need to acknowledge the evil and sin of these
acts and the wrong done to the
victims and their families. She
also related the latest facts that
show the arbitrary and capricious application of the death
penalty and the fact that poor
people are far more likely to be
given this fatal sentence.
After her talk and a few
questions, Sister Helen met with
Peter Canavese ’92, director of
Bellarmine’s Dead Man Walking
production and the cast of the
show. She shared a few suggestions about playing her character. “Don’t make me too frumpy,”
she cautioned. She was intrigued
with the idea that the production was being done in-theround, saying that to her knowledge, Bellarmine was the only
school staging the show that
way. It was a rare experience
for actors to meet a real-life
counterpart. ❚
(l-r) Larry Lauro,
Bellarmine’s Immersion
Program coordinator,
Sister Helen Prejean
and Fr. Jerry Wade,
S.J. ’55.
STUDENTPROFILE
Dead Man Walking: A Student
Actor’s Perspective
BY DAN COOK ’06
t the beginning of Dead Man Walking, Sister Helen
Prejean states that when she began writing letters to
inmates on death row, she did not have any intention
of becoming involved in “one of the most explosive and
complex moral issues of our day.” Rather, she was just an
“ordinary person” who became a part of “extraordinary
events.” Now as a junior at Bellarmine College Preparatory,
I typically shy away from comparing myself to an ordained
nun. However, after some reflection, I can relate to what
Sister Prejean is saying. When I first considered trying out
for Bellarmine’s production of the play, I never contemplated the effect that the show itself would have on an audience. While it would be naïve to say that the show was an
“extraordinary event,” its success deserves some recognition.
The beauty of the play is that it does not try to impose
any specific view of the death penalty. Instead, it presents
the intricacy of the subject by providing perspectives from
all angles, in both the visual and auditory sense. Part of
my personal challenge throughout the show was to see the
matter through the eyes of a parent who had lost his or
her own child: a perspective that gives capital punishment
a whole new meaning.
However, the main goal is to keep people aware. If
society is going to choose to take someone’s life as punishment, then it should be a choice made consciously. In
other words, Matthew Poncelet should not just be another
faceless inmate whose execution fills a 30 second interval
on the local news.
This stage version of Dead Man Walking did an excellent job of educating the audience about the benefits and
drawbacks of the death penalty and, at best, it helped
people form their own opinion about it. Certainly, there is
no way to determine whether or not capital punishment is
truly right or wrong, but if there is to be any dead man
walking, then society should not be sleep-walking at the
same time. ❚
A
Above: Merlin Huff ’05 played Matthew Poncelet in Bellarmine’s
production of Dead Man Walking.
Bellarmine Student Connects
to a Forgotten Heritage
uring his junior year at Bellarmine College Preparatory,
Yung-Jae Chen immersed himself in intense Speech and
Debate competitions. He honed his filmmaking skills with
the Independent Film Club; and he continued to express himself
through music – playing both piano and cello. School work and
hobbies aside, it is Yung-Jae’s passion for shedding light on human
rights atrocities experienced by his ancestors throughout the
Japanese occupation of China, prior to and during World War II
that keeps him busy.
As a member of the group Rape of Nanking Redress Coalition,
Yung-Jae helped organize a youth conference last year aimed at
educating young people about events during the Japanese occupation of China. Some reports estimate that more than 30,000 women
were kidnapped and forced into sexual slavery. Millions of civilians
were also tortured, forced into slave labor and subjected to biochemical experiments.
Through his work with the coalition, Yung-Jae attended the
Global Alliance for the Preservation of the Truth about the SinoJapanese War conference in Beijing last year. He
delivered a speech in Mandarin to hundreds of college professors, students and members of the media
about the atrocities in Nanking.
“More than 12 countries participated in the conference,” said Yung-Jae. “It’s not just a Chinese/
Japanese issue – it’s a global humanitarian issue.”
Yung-Jae doesn’t see enough young people
involved in this issue and believes it’s partly because
many history books often omit this part of history.
Recent protests have taken place in China and
Korea over the issuing of flawed textbooks to secondary schools throughout Japan. The protests
may gain attention, but Yung-Jae believes there
are better ways to educate people.
“I’m concerned with recent Chinese protesters
in China. Only through peaceful demonstrations
and negotiations can pure and real peace exist,” said
Yung-Jae. “As an organization, the Rape of Nanking
Redress Coalition, embodies the principle of racial
embracement. The organization was, in fact, cofounded by a Japanese American.”
For his part in sharing the message, Yung-Jae is
working to turn his filmmaking hobby into a career
and eventually plans to direct a movie about the
‘Rape of Nanking.’ ❚
D
Spring 2005 | Connections
5
★
POWER
THE
OF THE
Winter Solstice, the end of 2004: a day for conversation with two well-known Bellarmine graduates. Jude
Barry ’80 has made a life in politics since his graduation from Holy Cross in 1984. After a stint as a journalist for the
National Catholic Reporter while still in college, he worked on two
presidential campaigns in 1988 (Gary Hart and Dick Gephardt)
before returning home and getting involved in local politics. He
most recently served as the California director for Howard Dean’s
campaign. Barry is the founder and CEO of Catapult Strategies, a
An interview with
media consulting firm. Tony West ’83 has been
writing about or working actively in politics since
Jude Barry ’80
his days in junior high. He graduated from
& Tony West ’83
Harvard University in 1987 and Stanford Law
School in 1992. Tony has worked as an Assistant U.S. Attorney and
in the Justice Department under Janet Reno. He is currently in
private practice. ★ Both of these alums joined me for a conversation about the impact of the Internet on political communication,
especially in light of the last two general elections. Many pundits
have argued that what we are witnessing is nothing short of a
watershed, not unlike FDR’s revolutionary use of the radio in the
30’s and JFK’s use of television in the 60’s. The difference is that the
Internet might just represent the most far-reaching of all previous
innovations. ★
BY TOM ALESSANDRI
PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAVE MONLEY
6
Connections | Spring 2005
INTE
ERNET POLITICS
Spring 2005 | Connections
7
Tom Alessandri: Many thanks to both of you for sharing
your time. Perhaps the best way to begin is to ask your
reaction to this: most of the research on this topic suggests we are on the verge of creating “E-democracy.” What
does that mean?
Jude Barry: I think it means a variety of things. First of all, it
is about information becoming power. And what we saw in the
2004 election is that many people took ownership of their communities and their country and tried to do something about our
leadership. You saw people giving money online and going further. People deciding to travel to Ohio or Florida for both the
Republican and Democratic candidates to try and make a difference in the election. These decisions were spurred by the Internet
as a communications tool and as a community-building tool.
Tony West: At its most practical level, it means responsive government — especially local government. People now have access
to government services that they didn’t have as easily before.
Something as simple as making an appointment at your DMV
instead of waiting in line. Practical matters. But there is also
something larger about it: the Internet is really Thomas Jefferson’s
dream come true. It gives anybody with access to the Internet
the opportunity to participate in political discourse. Anybody can
be part of this national conversation we have — and need to
have — as citizens. So, small voices can become large. The
Internet is also an antidote to the merging of corporate and state
power, such as the cozy relationship between media networks,
corporations and the government. The Internet has leveled the
playing field with bloggers and others who aren’t afraid to challenge so-called official information outlets, sometimes upsetting the apple cart in the process. And in an international
way, the Internet is revolutionary for bringing democratic
impulses to parts of the world that do not have democratic
traditions.
You mentioned the notion of community. There are
those worried about the kind of communities the
Internet builds at the expense of more traditional types. Traditional communities are made by
geography, family ties, and ethnic ties. Cybercommunities are looser and more ephemeral,
aren’t they?
JB: Sure they are, but that misses the
point. The value of the Internet is that it
eliminates time and space. I can communicate with a group of people anywhere in the
world who have an interest similar to mine. That’s a
positive thing. It does not replace my need for family, church, and friends. In fact, some of the best
uses of the Internet are like MeetUp.com, where
people find each other online, but then they go to
Starbuck’s and converse in person. In the Dean campaign this was happening monthly with something like
100,000 people all across the country. People are using
the Internet to find each other. So the Internet eliminates
time and space, but also allows you to build local communities.
Will the Internet’s impact on politics destroy the traditional two-party
system?
TW: I think it alters the nature of the conversation more than the
institutions. In many ways the Internet is evolutionary, not revolutionary. It reinforces traditional tenets that are necessary for
success in politics anyway. For example: money. The Internet,
as Jude demonstrated in the Dean campaign, allows candidates
to tap into a far greater and far more inclusive donor base. It
allows you to amplify your message and carry it into places
where it might not otherwise be heard. And, as Jude pointed
out, it allows you to organize masses of people in ways they
have not come together before. But Internet politics, just like
the traditional political process, is based on shared interest
among people — that hasn’t changed. And there has to be a
message worth signing on to.
So the parties would continue to exist as an organization focus?
TW: That’s right. This is not the end of the two-party system,
but it means the two parties are more open to different types of
organization, outreach, fundraising — and, therefore, reform —
than they would otherwise be.
JB: I’ll take a little different tack on this than Tony. I
agree it may not mean the end of the two-party system,
but this may become the tool that allows a third party,
or at least an independent candidate to rise much
more quickly and effectively than ever before. Each
of the two major parties have institutional advantages:
fundraising and organization . But the Internet
could allow a charismatic politician from the
Republican, Democratic or Independent
folds to unite anyone from Iowa to San Jose
to New York City instantly, cheaply, and
effectively because of this tool. The Internet’s potential to do so is even more
powerful than TV and radio combined
because the Internet is interactive.
Political Internet guru Joe Trippi wrote in a
recent article that we “are just at the baby
step” of understanding ramifications of this new
technology. And several, including him, have likened
2004’s use of Internet in politics to FDR’s use of
radio in the 30’s or JFK’s use of television in the
60’s. Are we at a similar watershed?
Tony West ’83
8
Connections | Spring 2005
JB: The major difference between radio/TV and the Internet is
the interactivity it allows and, to some degree, requires. TV/radio/
newspapers are passive media you get information broadcast to
you. The Internet broadcasts too, so the message is important.
But, there’s another important dynamic. Once the message gets sent
out via cyber-space, the audience begins talking to one another
and back to the source. That does not happen with TV/radio, and
this is where the Internet is completely unique. The analogy of
the “web” really works: information resonates from the center to
the ends and back to the center and throughout the structure.
The initial message-receivers become message-senders themselves.
But does this web of two-way communication open up the possibility
of ever more tremendous miscommunication and misinformation?
New potential for demagoguery? When we asked students in our
TW: I think most people still go to network television for political
information; they go to the Internet to affirm what they think
they know or political opinions they already hold. Or they will
use the Internet to learn discrete pieces of information about a
candidate — when you go to a candidate’s Web site you are looking not so much for the truth as you are looking for their take
on a particular issue. Look at the most successful blogs in the ’04
race: the ones that got the most notice were the most irreverent,
the noisiest, most discordant — with blogs it is all about view;
it’s all about opinion. Be fiery, be exciting, and be controversial.
Tony, you mentioned TV news as a source for political information,
but when we asked our Bellarmine students “if you had only one
source for information for a month which would you choose?” They
responded “the Internet” by an overwhelming majority of 69 percent.
The Internet is really Thomas Jefferson’s dream
come true. It gives anybody with access to
the Internet the opportunity to participate in
political discourse. Anybody can be part of
this national conversation we have — need to
have — as citizens.
recent survey if they felt that political information on the Internet
was reliable, 56 percent responded “yes;” 44 percent responded
“no.” But when I asked about how reliable they felt the Internet info
was for entertainment/sports or academic-related matters, they
responded “yes” well over 90 percent of the time. Your reaction?
JB: I am not surprised. Just last month I conducted a series of
focus groups for a group called Baseball San Jose, about bringing major league baseball to our town. When you present the
issue as a mission statement, there is general agreement with the
cause. When you present the same information as a ballot statement, there is a visible change in tone and body language in the
way the people in the focus group read the document. People
are hard-wired to be skeptical when information is transmitted
in a political form.
But isn’t such skepticism healthy?
JB: Skepticism is healthy as long as it doesn’t cross over to cynicism.
Is the trend among future citizens going to be that traditional media
outlets will be used less and less?
TW: That’s right. Even in television right now you are seeing a
shift away from traditional networks to cable, because cable
serves many of the same functions for people as the Internet. It’s
got more interactivity, for example with on-line polls conducted
during a cable newscast. Cable outlets are very demographicsdriven; you know exactly what you’ll get when you go to a
particular cable station. Cable has figured out how to be more
responsive to the end user. And, the Internet is the same way.
It is exactly what you ask for; it is self-selecting.
JB: There’s a longitudinal study of the Internet done at USC’s
Annenberg School that shows increased Internet usage is taking
from TV time, something like 12.5 hours that they are now online
that they would have been in front of the TV. Interestingly, the
Spring 2005 | Connections
9
ntil Howard Dean began raising huge sums of money over the Internet and seemed poised to take the
Democratic establishment by storm, Tip O’Neill’s adage that “all politics is local” was the prevailing credo of
the day. Some time has passed since Dean’s fundraising bats filled his campaign’s coffers and George W. Bush
rolled out his own glitzy Web site, but it is important to understand what the Internet is and is not in the world of politics. To be sure,
the Internet has had a massive effect on politics, but it still has its limitations.
In the end, politics is still about person to person contact. In 2004, the Bush campaign proved this in Ohio. The campaign created
informal networks of supporters to knock on doors and talk to friends about the President. This proved extremely successful. This old
economy technique was both effective and subtle. It wasn’t until after the
election that Democrats had any idea about a GOP strategy that didn’t
employ the flashiness of Java, Realplayer or the latest version of Adobe
Acrobat. Democratic-leaning groups on the other hand, hired thousands of
paid, out-of-town canvassers armed with Palm Pilots to collect data and register
voters. We all know who won that battle and eventually the Presidency. Personal
contact with voters (or political proselytizing by neighborhood friends) is the most
effective way to garner support, and the sole reason why candidates travel constantly to kiss babies, attend pancake breakfasts and the
openings of community centers.
But, the Internet still has a number of important uses, and has certainly transformed the way we do our jobs in Washington and elsewhere. First, the Internet can be a great fundraising tool. America Coming Together, which hired thousands of canvassers at a cost of millions of dollars, used the Internet to raise a lot of that money. So did Howard Dean, and later John Kerry. Internet fundraising also reduces
overhead costs and can quickly vacuum huge amounts of cash which can immediately be spent on outreach and television and radio ads
— as opposed to hiring a staff to sit in an office counting checks all day. Most importantly, the Internet has streamlined everything in
politics, from organizing lists containing information on millions of voters to research and communications.
The lightning speed of information sharing that has built the technological industry and fortunes of the many firms whose offices surround Bellarmine in the Silicon Valley has infiltrated Washington. One day after a candidate says something inopportune on the campaign trail (think, “I voted for the $87 billion before I voted against it”), the opposing campaign can create an advertisement incorporating the gaffe and put it up on a satellite, ready to be beamed anywhere in the world with the click of a mouse.
The Internet makes this possible. What it can’t do is drive someone to their polling place or pose for pictures at the
county fair.
By Mark
Paustenbach ’97
U
Campaigning
& the Internet
Mark Paustenbach ’97 is a research associate at the Democratic National Committee and was a member of the rapid response team on the Kerry
campaign. He lives in Washington, D.C.
increase usage of Internet is not stealing time from book reading.
This is good news for all the English teachers at Bellarmine.
[audible sigh of relief]
TW: I wonder if that is due in part to the fact that your primary
way of interacting with the Internet is through reading as opposed
to watching.
Change of gears: who did a better job using the Internet in the last
general election?
JB: Here’s a typical high school senior English paper answer:
Yippee!
JB: Both. Each campaigns used the Internet effectively with
their core constituents. The Kerry campaign did something
that was historic — and dramatic — it raised more money than
its Republican counterparts. And I didn’t think we’d see the
Democrats have such an advantage in our lifetime. The Bush
campaign used the Internet in a much more hierarchical fashion. Information that went from top to bottom, with less inter-
10 Connections | Spring 2005
activity… not a lot of feedback mechanisms on their Web site.
But what they did effectively was organize — tremendous organization at the grassroots level — using the Internet as a tool.
Ultimately, I think Democrats and Republicans are, at this point,
fundamentally different in the way they approach use of the
Internet. Democrats like a conversation and don’t mind the chaos.
Republicans are much more orderly, much more disciplined.
TW: And from a “get out the vote” standpoint the Republican
version is more effective. I believe there are two interesting stories that came out of the recent campaign. One is the incredible
opportunity the Internet offered the Democratic Party to raise
money and be competitive with Republicans. Democrats, for
example, made good use of “527’s” to outsource many of their
field operations. The second story out of 2004 is that while the
Republican system was hierarchical it was also very local. As
opposed to flying people from all over the country into battleground states like Ohio, like the Democrats did, Republicans
COMMENTARY
did a better job of communicating with and organizing Ohioans
themselves, encouraging them to speak to their own neighbors
about President Bush. That is a far more effective on-the-ground
strategy at the end of the day. Where the Republicans won this
election was in the middle-class, upper-middle-class families
which Bush won over 56 to 43 percent. And that’s the biggest
single bloc of voters out there. And it’s a demographic that does
not, predominantly, use the Internet primarily for political discourse. So, using the Internet to have the conversation with
folks who are likely to be with you anyway doesn’t expand your
electoral pie — who are you conversing with? Are they people
who will go out and get you elected? Or are they like-minded
people you have already convinced? I think the Republicans
did a better job of using the Net as a tool to get those voters
who sat on the sidelines in 2000.
JB: I see the glass as half full. I think Tony’s right in his assessment, however, for the Democrats “the trend is our friend.”
There are more people going online, and in the future you will
see more people online. Especially the so-called “influential
citizens.” According to a George Washington University study,
49 percent of online citizens are Democrats and 29 percent are
Republicans.
TW: The question is, will there be a strategy, by either party, that
talks to those new users? In the ’04 campaign, the Internet was
something of a novelty, but it won’t be in the future.
JB: Let me use the Dean campaign, which I know from
the inside, as an example of the power of this new technology. Joe Trippi called me and asked if I would set
up a series of meetings for the governor of Vermont,
Howard Dean. I said sure, what’s he running for? He
said president. I said president of what? And he said
President of the United States. And I said, no
seriously, what’s he running for? Joe says:
no, he really is. Well, obviously no one
really knew Dean back then.
Clearly.
JB: So, I set up the meetings for
him and back then I thought, ok,
this guy has tremendous potential;
he’s been an effective governor
and he could go somewhere and,
perhaps, be successful in the New
Hampshire primary. For any dark horse you
need a good showing in Iowa caucus or New
Hampshire primary. Well, what happened was
dramatically different than that. A year before
Iowa, Dean took off. In other words what the
Internet created for Howard Dean was an early primary. An
unknown candidate from a small state can, all of sudden, become
competitive a year before, against better-known, better-financed
public figures.
Let me change direction again. I recently read
a book about the Tilden-Hayes election of
1876 — very similar to the election of
2000. And the author reminded me that in
most of the 19th century and a goodly portion of the 20th, national campaigns were
much abbreviated by comparison to now. The
candidates rarely spoke in public and their campaigns never began
until after Labor Day. As a result of the media revolution of the last
50 years, now including the Internet, are we in danger of election
cycles never actually ending?
JB: The answer is yes; it has already happened. In the past, a
candidate before declaring would set up a PAC (political action
committee) to explore interest and viability by raising big checks.
Now here is the equalizing effect of the Internet, someone can
begin to do that much earlier and do it with smaller checks.
Now, all of a sudden, 10,000 people each writing $100 checks
makes you credible as much as 10 people writing $100,000
checks. So you can start earlier. And even though Americans tire
of politics, I think it is fundamentally a good thing when you get
to see someone in the spotlight or on the campaign trail longer
— you see the pluses and minuses of a person’s character and
ability, first through the media and then in the public interaction. Short campaigns just don’t vet candidates as well
as long campaigns.
TW: I see it a bit differently. I am not sure the process starts
earlier, I see it more in terms of the fact that political discourse has changed and political machinations are more
transparent than ever. We have always had four-year
presidential races. It is just that you didn’t know
back then what was going on in that back
room. You never saw that part of the
process. With the Internet, politics has
become more transparent, more democratic with a small “d.”
Let me move into a related area. What influence does the Internet have in the area of fostering
public policy? Not electioneering — but its impact on
policy-making, law-making.
JB: Oh, it’s huge. The most incredible thing with
the Internet is, suddenly, when you’re an author
you have millions of editors online. When you are
a lawmaker, you have millions of critics, in the
Jude Barry ’80
Spring 2005 | Connections
11
past you had only hundreds. Let me give you an example: an
Oklahoma Congressman recently inserted into an appropriations
bill a clause allowing him or anyone on his staff to read IRS
returns. This was in an appropriations bill that was thousands of
pages long; no one reads all of it. Congressional staffers would
only read what was important to their own districts. But this
clause was picked up and fanned into a real flame by the Internet
so much so that Congress had to come back into special session
and excise that provision of the bill.
So someone was able to marshal enough online citizens to e-mail
their representatives.
JB: Yes. The Internet means that now literally millions of eyes
have an opportunity to check something, to read something, to
validate something. Or to challenge powerful people. You know
I read recently a reference to the world of bloggers. Apparently a
major news network, having been severely cut out by bloggers, angrily
referred to them as only “a bunch of people sitting at home in their
pajamas,” and so, now, the blogging community is referred to as the
“Pajama-hadeen.” They are a significant part of this story, no?
TW: Absolutely. Because the bloggers serve as the access-point
for so many people who want to be part of the political discourse. Another thing is that bloggers are completely irreverent,
so there’s no editor — no arbiter. It really is Jeffersonian; it is
“democrat” small “d” when it comes to what you read on those
blogs. Now, the drawback to all that is garbage in garbage out —
not everything (some would say most things) that you read in
blogs is accurate. For example, when the bloggers released what
turned out to be erroneous exit poll information on election day
A blog is no different than one of those 18th
century pamphleteers pushing their own particular point of view... some writers have left
their traditional publications to blog full
time and now have a larger readership.
the first “scalp” on the Internet may have been Trent Lott, the
majority leader in the Senate, just a few years ago. Lott made
inappropriate and racist comments at a Strom Thurmond birthday party. At first, it was missed by the national media. The blogging community picked it up and made it a story. So it got back
into play in the traditional media and that led to the downfall of,
arguably, the third most powerful politician in America at the
time. (A blog is an easy-to-use personal web site where you can record
all your thoughts and invite reaction from readers.)
TW: As we said earlier, the Internet eliminates time and space.
There is virtually no transaction cost to my communicating with
my representatives now, whereas before I’d have to sit down, get
materials for a letter, get postage, put it in the mail. Now it can
be just as easy as one click, like signing an online petition. So
clearly, communicating with decision-makers is much easier; it’s
a more efficient way to ensure that my voice is considered. Then
government becomes more responsive.
12 Connections | Spring 2005
this year. For a couple of hours, John Kerry thought he was the
44th president, and so did I.
JB: I looked up some information. Every 5.3 seconds a new blog
is created. Fifty-three million people have contributed something
online to a blog or have responded to a blog. Microsoft has a
blogging community… they organize their employees’ blog. It
has become a method of corporate communication. Some 500
Fortune companies pay people to be bloggers.
Wouldn’t the dean of the Columbia School of Journalism blanch at
the thought of all these writers creating without any adherence to
accepted ethical rules of conduct, of journalistic standards? Doesn’t
this mean that the Internet needs regulation? Or should it stay just
as raw as it currently is?
JB: It is about free speech. A blogger is no different than one of
those 18th-century pamphleteers pushing their own particular
point of view. Sure, people more and more need to be media
literate, media savvy. The Annenberg School at USC, in a fouryear study, shows that each year people today are becoming
more skeptical of sources on the Internet. They will tend to
gravitate to sites/sources that they can trust. You
know, some writers have left their traditional
publications to blog full time and now have a
larger readership than they had at the traditional publication. So, this is a tremendously
empowering medium, when people can, in
essence, have their own broadcast system.
TW: They can have their own voice. You know, what it’s like in
many ways is how any great novelist feels at the point he or she
feels free from the conventions of writing in a certain, accepted
style and finds his or her own voice, experiments with new ways
of communicating, like Joyce or Faulkner. Breakthroughs are
always made on the fringes first. Bloggers are engaged in a new
way to discourse about who we should be.
And now with the mention of Joyce, let me ask you both the question
that is now a tradition with these Connections interviews. What was
your “Daedalus moment” — that galvanizing point in your life when
the path you are on got chosen? Like Stephen on the beach in
Portrait of An Artist.
JB: Here, at Bellarmine, my senior year, I edied three publications. So naturally in college, I wanted to be a journalist, and in
my junior year I was working for the National Catholic Reporter
in Washington, D.C. My bureau chief suggested I get some experience on Capitol Hill. I applied to Senator Kennedy’s office
thinking my chances were slim because the competition to get
into his office was tremendous. So, I was pleasantly surprised
when I got the call. Then, I remember walking from the National
Press Building near the White House down Pennsylvania Avenue
toward the Capitol, knowing that next Monday I’d be working in
the Senate as an intern, and being very happy about it. I realized
I was literally walking from a life as reporter, or voyeur, to an
actor. From writing about laws being made to being actively
involved in laws being made. I remember that walk very distinctly;
it was 1983. I was literally on a new path, and everything I
learned at Bellarmine and Holy Cross was clicking in. My Jesuit
education had taught me that the status quo isn’t good enough.
TW: The thing I can always remember having was a love of
history. An awareness very early in my life that certain people
mattered and what they did mattered for the life of the country.
I had a fascination with Lincoln very early on. I can recall
watching President Nixon announcing his resignation from
office. But the moment I knew I wanted to make politics a part
of my life was in 1976, when watching the Keynote Address at
the 1976 Democratic National Convention. Barbara Jordan was
the speaker, and she spoke about the enduring American
principles articulated in the Declaration of Independence and
Constitution. And she said that the promise embodied in those
documents was her birthright, as an African-American and as a
woman, even though those documents didn’t include her when
they were written. That rang true for me — that those principles
were my birthright, too, and I wanted to be part of that process
in which people both impact and are impacted by the American
experience. And that’s politics in my mind.
Okay, time to act as prognosticators. Who will be the two candidates
for president in 2008?
JB: I think John McCain will be the Republican nominee and
John Edwards has the early advantage for the Democrats,
especially if Hillary Clinton doesn’t run.
TW: Won’t McCain be in his 70’s? The Republican side is hard
for me because there are so many people out there who could
be very viable candidates. But, depending how the next four
years go, I would not count out a Jeb Bush at all. Successful
governor of a Southern state. For the Democrats, I think Jude
may be right, but don’t count out Hillary Clinton.
Tony, Jude, thank you both so very much for sharing your time,
experience and expertise with all of us. ❚
CONNECT ONLINE
To read the full length interview with Jude Barry and Tony West,
visit Connections online at www.bcp.org/go/connections.
BOOKS
Campaigning Online: The Internet in U.S. Elections, 2003. Bruce Bimber,
Richard Davis. Oxford University Press.
Politics Moves Online: Campaigning and the Internet, 2004. Michael Cornfield.
Century Foundation Press.
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised: Democracy, the Internet, and the
Overthrow of Everything, 2004. Joe Trippi. Regan Books.
Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution, 2003. Howard Rheingold.
Basic Books.
We the Media, 2004. Dan Gillmor. O’Reilly.
WEB SITES
“Big Media” Meets the “Bloggers”: Coverage of Trent Lott’s Remarks at Strom
Thurmond’s Birthday Party. Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government
Case Study, February 2004.
http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/presspol/Research_Publications/Case_Studies/
1731_0.pdf
Spring 2005 | Connections
13
ALUMNUSCONNECTION
B E L L AR M I N E G E T S
WIRED
S
ome would say that Bellarmine College Preparatory alum Paul Harrington ‘78 is just wired
differently. He’s one of those people who just
“gets” technology and since graduating from Bellarmine,
Paul has had his hands in some element of high tech.
Whether it’s writing software or physically wiring the
Bellarmine campus with more than 2 million feet of
fiber optic and copper cabling, this alum is hard wired
for technology.
After doing some Internet infrastructure
work for the Sunnyvale school district in the
mid-90s, it occurred to Harrington that his
skills could be greatly used at his alma mater. The
school was falling behind in the technology revolution
and was ready for some significant upgrades. With generous help from a Bellarmine benefactor and with a
partial donation of his services and labor, the challenge
of wiring the campus for a robust Internet infrastructure was becoming a reality.
“I envisioned the potential for hi-fidelity Internet
dialog at Bellarmine,” explained Harrington, who is
now vice president of Network Architecture for BC
Networks. ”With the right infrastructure in place, the
Bellarmine community could connect not only to the
Web; the potential would be there to collaborate and
reach others with hi-definition video or audio content
and beyond.”
Harrington’s vision for Bellarmine was grand. He
saw the potential for students and faculty to communicate online and connect with a wider audience through
the power of the Internet. Eventually, he hoped to see
classrooms sharing lectures with younger students from
other schools or even connecting with college students
at Santa Clara University.
“At the time, fiber optic cable was unheard of,
but Paul pushed for it,” said Chris Carey, Bellarmine’s
technology coordinator. “He was building an incredibly
reliable and fast teaching tool that the entire Bellarmine
community benefits from today.”
Implementing the master plan required long nights
and weekends, where Harrington, volunteering much of
his time, could often be found on the roof of Old Town,
working away on his high tech maze of wires. In his
work,
he sees all the
potential contributions that technology
can bring to an education, but he is also keenly
aware of the dangers.
“Increasingly, there is a blurring between what kids
see and experience online and what exists in the ‘real
world,’” said Harrington. “Students need to be grounded in something real and sometimes they need some
help discerning the difference.”
The Bellarmine community may have room to grow
when it comes to taking advantage of the high-powered
and high tech infrastructure that Harrington helped
establish, but thanks in part to his work, the potential
is there for continuous growth. Students and faculty
members access e-mail, Web sites and a host of other
conveniences every day on campus.
“I am able to present information in a dynamic
fashion and I literally have at my fingertips, a wealth of
information that I can access," said Chris Meyercord,
Bellarmine’s assistant principal. “Additionally, this year,
I am having all of my students submit their papers
online. I have a TabletPC which I use to mark up their
papers, and then I send back that version with my
notes on it to the students. Therefore, my students have
a digital portfolio of all of their work.”
Every day, Bellarmine students are benefiting
from Paul Harrington’s gift of time and labor. He is
truly a ‘man for others.’ ❚
BY ESTELLE HAYES
PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAVE MONLEY
Spring 2005 | Connections 15
POINT!COUNTERPOINT
BY JACK KROUSE ’00
n revolutionary France, rabblerousing pamphleteers served up a
never-ending feast of scandalous rumors and philosophical treatises
to all who would buy them in the streets of Paris. They spared
no one the wrath of their satirical pens and routinely slandered
political figures in the interest of fueling revolt. In the midst of such
revolutionary fervor, every man could become his own philosopher
and thousands did, flooding the political arena and clamoring for
their share of the spotlight. While the liberalization of the French
social order was long overdue and resulted in part from such efforts,
the quality and tone of these dime-a-dozen publications left much
to be desired.
In twenty-first century America, the descendants of those pamphleteers are forging a revolution in cyberspace and toppling the
mainstream media almost as quickly as the Parisian mob brought
down the Bastille. To be fair, the “blogosphere” does shine light on
corruption and injustice, but the actions of its denizens have already
taken a toll on the quality of our national political discourse. Pushed
by the breakneck pace of the Internet news cycle and by the need of
amateur commentators to distinguish themselves online,
our political discussion is turning increasingly shrill, partisan, and unsatisfying. With so much shouting — on the
Internet, cable television, and the AM dial — it is no
wonder many Americans feel disillusioned enough
to withdraw from the political process entirely.
Unless one lived in a cave during last year’s ferocious
presidential campaign, the ascendance of the Internet as
the source for political information, opinion, and organization was clear. Who in America has not by now heard of the
“Deaniacs,” those Web-savvy foot soldiers who took
inspiration from Web sites like Meetup.com
when planning Howard Dean’s campaign
events? And who wasn’t glad to be in-theknow about political mini-scandals thanks to
the “Drudge Report,” the online purveyor of
political gossip maintained by a conservative
snoop with a penchant for exclamation points?
For many Americans, accessing the Internet is
already the primary method of stepping
into the political arena.
But as entertaining as blogging can be, further
encouraging the Internet to become our primary
source of political information would be a major mistake. In a country with a rich tradition of serious political
thought, whose founding documents and national ideals
are studied by democracies around the world, the cultivation
of intelligent, respectful, and well-reasoned debate about our
I
Point
government is terribly important. The Internet is a useful tool for
spreading information but it cannot yet be trusted to uphold democratic discourse.
Even a quick glance at popular blogs, both liberal and conservative, reveals the unapologetic crudity of online political commentary,
the raw partisanship with which such sites present their news, and
the sheer volume of unverified, rambling missives that ruin reputations and propagate inaccurate information.
Profanity is par for the course on major political blogs like
“Wonkette” and “Right Thinking from the Left Coast,” while salacious rumors about politicians and their families run wild on less
reputable sites. Berkeley-based “DailyKos” even calls its postings
“daily rants on the state of the nation.” Is this the level to which our
political discourse has sunk? Both sides of the political divide are
guilty, and as more of us turn to computers for the bulk of our information, the tendency to segregate ideologically will only persist.
Posting political information and opinions on the Internet is effortless and requires nothing more than a computer. Even French
pamphleteers needed a printer to support their cause. Unlike
the world of print, radio, and television media, there is no
vetting process on most of the Internet and like those
on the frontier of the Wild West who flouted the sheriff,
bloggers and amateur news sites operate free from the
constraints of mainstream journalism’s ethical and legal
framework.
When dealing with issues as important as our government, our leaders, and our foreign and domestic policies,
we ought to think critically, speak wisely, and act respectfully
toward those with
whom we share our democratic rights as
American citizens. Writing
of the more
radical French revolutionaries who
dealt in slander and libel to
achieve their aims, British
parliamentarian and philosopher
Edmund Burke said they “produce
something ignoble and inglorious”
when they “work with low instruments
and for low ends.” As inheritors of a
liberal tradition carefully articulated by
the Founding Fathers, we should be wary of rendering ignoble and inglorious our political convictions by
succumbing to the instant gratification and notoriety
offered by the online world. ❚
Jack Krouse graduated from Harvard in 2004. He interned
in the West Wing as assistant to Karl Rove and is currently a
speechwriter for the Department of Homeland Security.
Illustrations by Matt Sobel ’05
16 Connections | Spring 2005
ARGUE: If the Internet becomes a primary source of political information,
opinion, and organization, the quality of political discussion will be
jeopardized and or compromised.
BY ADAM LAURIDSEN ’97
ily Tomlin once observed, “Ninety-eight percent of the adults
in this country are decent, hard-working, honest Americans.
It’s the other lousy two percent that get all the publicity. But
then — we elected them.” The Internet has fundamentally
changed the face of political discussion by making it accessible to
Tomlin’s “ninety-eight percent.” Although throwing open the doors
to the previously exclusive domain of politicians and professional
journalists may lead to rough-around-the-edges prose and the occasional online shouting match IN ALL CAPS, it still serves the best
interests of democracy.
In a democracy, the marketplace of ideas runs on the currency
of information. The Internet has provided a flood of material to drive
forward the debate on which our system of self-government depends.
In the past fifteen years, government agencies have begun posting
the daily raw materials of democracy — from press conference transcripts to the federal budget — for any citizen to peruse. In late
2004, Google and numerous university libraries introduced a plan to
digitize for the public a portion of the schools’ collections, providing page by page access to anyone with an Internet connection. Making rich sources of information more affordable
and easily accessible for the average citizen can only
improve the diversity and intelligence of political debate.
There is a real risk of getting crushed in this avalanche
of information. Increasingly, however, the Internet has
developed its own mechanisms to make sure that people can sift through “spam” advertisements, pornography, and broken links to find what they need. Interest-based
organizations, from national political parties to local school
boards, scour the Internet for any helpful anecdote or opinion, then broadcast them via e-mail to their supporters. Nonpartisan publications,
such as the Washington Post,
employ political reporters to create
compilations of e-mail releases and
blog postings from all shades of
the political spectrum. These intermediaries provide citizens with manageable information to help them navigate
democracy’s difficult choices.
The Internet’s most radical effect on political
discussion has been the democratization of voices now
available. Blogs provide a digital soapbox for anyone to
stand upon. From the frontlines in Iraq to the backstreets
of your neighborhood, bloggers provide their take on the
L
state of the world. During the 2004 election, stories such as the
authenticity of documents concerning President Bush’s National
Guard duty and the lack of adequate armor for troops in Iraq originated
on blogs, only afterward gaining momentum in the mainstream
press. These bloggers followed leads ignored by the major media or
offered a unique perspective not available to traditional reporters.
The Internet broadened political discussion by amplifying voices that
would have previously gone unheard.
Blogging obviously has its drawbacks: the information may be
hard to verify, the author may be anonymous, and there’s no guarantee the opinion expressed contains the least bit of fact-based insight.
But the same checks and balances which protect traditional political
discussion also apply to the new field of digital authors. Those who
are caught fabricating the truth find it hard to regain the respect necessary to publicize their views. Those who develop a reputation for
truthful and insightful reporting get linked or “syndicated” by other
pages, exponentially expanding their influence. And while anonymous reporting comes with certain risks, it also ensures that an
idea or opinion can stand on its own merit. The open forum
provided by many Internet tools offers people an opportunity to strip ideas of associations with politicians or partisan labels that can often polarize debate. Blogging moves
discussion closer to the democratic ideal of a government
based upon the popularity of ideas, not personalities.
Even if most bloggers never break a major story or
have readers beyond their friends and family, the sense
of participation blogging creates and furthers a culture of
political engagement. Sites such as Meetup.com and
Townhall.com channel this energy, allowing people to
organize around causes at a previously unimaginable scale. In an age when nearly half the population still doesn’t bother to vote, the Internet
provides an increasingly powerful way to grab
the electorate’s attention and motivate them to
act. If we believe America is a country of decent,
hard-working, honest citizens, there should be
nothing to fear in pursuing broader,
more inclusive political discussion
through the Internet. ❚
Counterpoint
Adam Lauridsen ’97 received a degree in Social Studies from
Harvard University in 2001 and a Masters of Philosophy from
Cambridge University in 2002. He is currently in his final year at
Harvard Law School and plans to clerk for a federal judge in San
Francisco upon graduation.
Spring 2005 | Connections
17
CLASSROOMCONNECTION
Cyberspace Energizes the Class
n Economics and American Law, the two senior Social Science electives I teach, discussions of politics and public policy are necessary parts of
the curriculum. The Internet has been, and will continue to be, an incredible teaching and research tool that allows for our discussions to be meaningful, timely, historical, and, hopefully, accurate. While I am one of the few “neo-Luddites” on campus, the Internet has become a necessary arrow
in the quiver of teaching tools.
When teaching my American Law class, I can use current court decisions (sometimes that day or that week) since most courts now regularly post decisions on their Web sites. Students can access current and past decisions as well as law review articles and statutes on the Web.
One of the other benefits of the Internet is the ability to hear and sometimes see oral arguments made in appellate courts.
Students hear the arguments and questions and get a sense of the ebb and flow of an argument as well as hearing the arguments presented by an advocate before the court. Students are sometimes surprised by the complexities and nuances of an
argument and other times amazed by the fact that they think they could do a better job arguing than some of the lawyers.
The Economics course gives my classes the opportunity to read or review documents that may have been inaccessible or
difficult to find in the past. The Economic Report of the President written by the Council of Economic Advisors (located at
www.whitehouse.gov) provides students with the chance to see how the presidential administration views current economic
progress and what the administration’s goals are for the coming year.
On the investment side of things, students explore possible investments by viewing real time stock quotations as well as
reviewing annual reports of a company and economics-related news items. While some view the traditional print media (e.g.
business section of the newspaper, Business Week, Fortune, Wall Street Journal), many look to the Web to obtain business or
investing stories.
While the Internet is a wonderful educational tool, teachers need to be aware that students do need some guidance when it
comes to researching on the Internet as there are so many Web sites out there and students can be overwhelmed with the amount of information available.
The other problem faced by both teacher and student is whether a source is trustworthy and therefore credible in its criticism or advocacy of a particular
issue. We are blessed here at Bellarmine not only to use the information available on the Internet, but to discuss the proper use of this technology in the
classroom. – Bill Colucci ’82, Bellarmine Faculty
One of the benefits
of the Internet is the
ability to hear and
sometimes see oral
arguments made in
appellate courts.
Building a Better Web Site
pon being offered a position at Bellarmine teaching environmental science and computer science, I immediately asked if schizophrenia was covered under the school’s medical plan. Though both are important academic subjects in the Bellarmine curriculum, I had always considered them
diametrically opposed with respect to their evaluation of technology. Where the environmental science illuminates the harms imposed by many of
today’s prevailing technologies, computer science promotes the evolution of the most significant technology of our times. I feared that this dichotomy, combined with the standard stress of first-year teaching, would quickly drive me to ruin.
In a survival strategy developed during the early days of my teaching career, I continually sought out opportunities to demonstrate the positive potential of
technology. My most successful endeavor to date has been a Web site called Make a Difference, which was produced by students from my AP Environmental
Science classes (http://webs.bcp.org/sites/cmccullough/APES/MakeADifference/index.htm). I asked the students to analyze the environmental consequences of a particular aspect of daily life — the goods they bought, the way they got around, the food they ate. After conducting independent research, they
designed an effective way to present their information on a Web site. A comprehensive menu linked all of these student sites, serving as a clearinghouse for
individuals looking to reduce their environmental impact.
The site proved far more successful than I initially expected. A number of students, teachers and parents visited the site to see the work of a particular
student, but had found the project so interesting that they continued to explore. Some went so far as to mention changes that they were implementing in their
lives based on what they had learned on the site. My efforts were rewarded last year, when I received a National Semiconductor Internet Innovator Award.
With the increased interest generated by this unexpected publicity, the number of visitors skyrocketed.
If I have learned one lesson in my eight-year teaching career, it’s that there is no better way to learn something than to have to teach it to another. The
Make a Difference project required students to become teachers. They were asked to address an audience that was potentially worldwide in scope, and to
speak to them in a persuasive voice. In so doing, they helped their teacher to come to terms with his dual identity. Though I still view many technologies with
suspicion, I have come to view the Internet as a valuable teaching tool. – Casey McCullough, Bellarmine Faculty
18 Connections | Spring 2005
AT H L E T I C S C O N N E C T I O N
Coach’s Diary
BY MIKE HENRY
Our players begin training in January to face opponents in September. When the regular
season begins, we see opponents live, videotape their games, watch film, and practice on
the field four to five days each week. Most people would be surprised to learn that members
of the football team spend four to seven hours per week watching film, improving our athletic
strategies and skills by studying each play several times. We assess the merits of each player on
each play, his techniques, effort, apparent strengths and weaknesses. Then we do it all again
for each player on the opposing team. Time is always a factor, motivation another; injuries and
victories and fairness always matter. And why do we spend so much of ourselves on this endeavor? Because
there’s no classroom quite like the football field, and it’s probably the most fun we’ll have all year.
s a team we’re always teaching each other lessons,
rising above or falling below our circumstances and
expectations, stumbling, and sometimes coming
undone. But that’s football.
Believe it or not there are some schools where football players eat and drink — well — football, but at Bellarmine our kids
are serious student-athletes, committed to their academic pursuits as much as they are committed to their athletic pursuits.
They are thoughtful and generous young men who consume
more math problems, scientific data, essay questions,
spiritual dilemmas, and Spanish cognates than
football plays and drills. But that’s what makes
working with them such a pleasure. Generally, they
expect the best from themselves and their peers
as students and athletes.
We don’t get many athletes who will play big-time college
football on Saturday afternoons. We get average guys who are
drawn to football for a variety of reasons. Some of them thrive
on the physical and mental challenges the game presents; others just want to be part of a team. And some kids want to be
part of the Bellarmine tradition shared by their fathers, brothers
and uncles before them. Typical Bellarmine football players
have a clear sense that they belong to a tradition. By the end
of the season they know that the tradition belongs to them. At
three o’clock when some kids are leaving campus to meet with
friends, play video games or do homework, the athletes on our
varsity football team are about to participate in the most physically demanding part of their day — for two hours. After 14
years of coaching high school football, I am convinced that
Bellarmine football players love each other as much as they
love the tradition and the game itself. This love is evident in
the ways they support one another, in the way they react when
one of them is injured or is struggling to improve and make a
contribution to the team.
A
Preparing our players for the demanmds of high school football on Friday night is not easy. Sure, we do drills and rehearse
every conceivable situation on offense and defense, but we also
try to give them something to remember, something that still
makes sense when they’re out of breath and some tough kid
from another school is trying to knock them in the dirt. As the
defensive line coach, I try to share some piece of “football wisdom” from my playing, coaching, or teaching past — something
that’s true for them before, during and after the game — even
more true as they grow old and recall themselves
as young men on and off
the gridiron.
The week of the Saint Francis game
last fall, we were underdogs. The team had won only
three games, with two games remaining on our regular season
schedule, but we were still in the playoff hunt. On Monday of
that week, I told my small group of defensive linemen that no
matter what might happen throughout the game, we would
walk on the field as champions and we would leave the field as
champions. On the sidelines, it’s not unusual to hear kids
shouting, laughing, barking, and sighing depending on what’s
happening on the field. But on this night, because we were
facing the Lancers, there was more tension and a stronger sense
of urgency than usual. The kids were prayerful, hopeful. On
occasion, I’ve seen kids shed a few tears following a mishap,
but on this night our kids played their best game of the season.
We won that game by a single point.
Sure, experiences like this remind me that it’s great to be part
of Bellarmine football. However, working with such great kids,
those committed to athletic as well as academic excellence no
matter the score, is what keeps me coming back year after year. ❚
Mike Henry is a member of the English Department and a Varsity Football
Coach.
Spring 2005 | Connections
19
M O M S
C E L E B R A T E
50
for qualified Bellarmine students
M
ore than 1,600 people attended
Bellarmine College Preparatory’s
Y E A R S
Models wore current styles from
and the Financial Aid Endowment
boutiques and department stores
Fund. Financial aid at Bellarmine
including Eli Thomas, Macy’s,
helps to ensure a Jesuit education
Jessica McClintock, Caché, and
for 265 students each year.
Talbots. Meanwhile, dancers depicted
“This year’s fashion show cele-
retro looks and performed choreo-
“Golden Moments” the annual
brated 50 years of fashion, friend-
graphed moves reminiscent of
Mothers’ Guild Fashion Show for
ship, and fundraising, all to the ben-
decades past, including hip-hop,
Financial Aid, last November at the
efit of our wonderful Bellarmine
disco and do-wop.
Fairmont in San Jose. A sold-out
boys,” said Mary Danna, fashion
luncheon performance and a black
show chair. Co-chairing the event
has evolved from a grass roots
tie dinner dance featured student
with Danna were Mary Jane
fundraising and social event held in
models and dancers from Bellar-
Vitkovich, production chair, and
private homes along the Peninsula to
mine, Presentation, Archbishop
Arlene Hamacher, business chair.
a large-scale production featuring
In 50 years, the annual event
Mitty, Notre Dame and many other
local teenagers, singing, dancing
local high schools, as well as
and generally working the catwalk
Bellarmine faculty members and
at the Fairmount Hotel – all for a
mothers.
worthy cause.
A record-breaking $285,000 was
raised to benefit direct financial aid
Mark your calendar for this
year’s show, “Adventures in Paradise,”
on November 18.
20 Connections | Spring 2005
O F
F A S H I O N A B L E
F U N D R A I S I N G
Clockwise (l-r): Principal
Mark Pierotti and Chancellor
and Interim President Fr.
Jerry Wade, S.J. open the show
in the 1950s themed strut
down the catwalk. Bellarmine
moms Jaynie Neveras, Margo
Gorini and Patricia Mach.
Seniors Dan Couch,
Jonathan Singletary and
Chandresh Patel perform
during the opening dance
number. Mothers’ Guild
members Sandra
Mazolewski and Liz
Sullinger. Backstage prior to
the evening performance,
Arlene Hamacher, business
chair; Mary Danna, fashion
show chairman; and Mary
Jane Vitkovich, production
chair, share a moment before
going on stage. Bellarmine
mom Pari Nazar and faculty
member Carol Chapman
model formal wear with Fr.
Wade. Fashion show hosts
Tiralisa Kaplow, Kimberly
Ireland and Crystal Lanier.
Spring 2005 | Connections
21
S.S. BELLARMINE
SAILS TO
Asıa
The sights and sounds of Asian cultures shaped the 29th Annual Le Grande Golden Bell Auction this year. More
than 650 people filled a lavishly decorated tent attached to Liccardo Center for an evening of celebration and
fundraising. Amid exotic decorations including a giant Buddha, live Japanese Maple trees, bamboo, and a
Chinese fishing boat, the Bellarmine community joined together to raise a record $803,000 for the school.
22 Connections | Spring 2005
Captain Pat Wahler ’85, Bellarmine’s development director, ran a tight ship with help from Gina Wulff, Bellarmine parent and volunteer chair. Bellarmine students dressed in blue silk Asian jackets greeted guests and handed out gold-foiled chocolates in red
envelopes with Chinese fortunes inside. Fathers from the Dads’ Club ran the bars and moms from the Mothers’ Guild served appetizers. • Sixty oral auction items inspired applause, including two new cars parked in the tent, a seat at the World Series of Poker
Championships in Las Vegas, several luxury vacation getaways, and a catered private dinner for 20 with Fr. Wade. World Poker
Tour Champion Antonio “The Magician” Esfandiari was also in attendance. • For the first time this year, a “Last Person Standing”
item was included to help fund a new school bus. Auctioneer Don Tyson asked everyone who could give $100 to raise their
paddle, then he raised it to $250, $500, $750, etc. At $100, most couples in the room had their paddles raised and with each
increase people would stop bidding and once they were finished bidding they would fill out a ticket committing to their final amount.
• Around the $20,000 mark, the auctioneer asked those still in the bidding to stand so the room could watch the competition. Fr.
Wade stood up with a paddle as a proxy for an anonymous donor. At around $40,000 the second to last person sat down and
Fr. Wade’s anonymous donor won out – bringing the grand total for this one item to more than $200,000. The crowd was cheering throughout and eventually stood for an enthusiastic ovation.
Clockwise (l-r): Suzanne and
Dominic Cortese ’50 and Al ’50
and Betty Torres; John and Rena
Fumia with Fr. Jerry Wade, S.J.
’55; Assistant Principal Chris
Meyercord ’88 and Principal
Mark Pierotti; Steve Smith and
Abby Sobrato; Fr. Wade; and
Martha and David Martz.
At left (l-r): Bellarmine alum
Peter Kirwan ’77 and Anna
Teeples, students Valentin
Barsan ’06 and Michael
Gorshe ’05 and Bellarmine
parents Cyndi and Jerry Mix.
Spring 2005 | Connections
23
{Development News }
D.J.’s Memory Lives on at Bellarmine
A 19-year battle with
cancer claimed D.J.
Frandsen’s life last fall.
But with the loving
stories from friends
and family, it’s clear
that the legacy D.J.
leaves is not one of
sorrow, but one of
D.J.’s parents David and
character, kindness
Tracie Frandsen at the dediand courage. The
cation ceremony for a tree
and permanent plaque
1997 Bellarmine
installed in D.J.’s honor.
College Preparatory
alumnus is remembered daily in a
small but sturdy maple tree planted in
front of the Leontyne Chapel on campus. Its presence is a constant reminder
of D.J.’s life and the impact he made
throughout his 25 years.
“Even when he was sick he was an
example to all of us — helping us be
hope-filled individuals, wishing to
share with others what God has given
us,” said Fr. Jerry Wade, Bellarmine’s
chancellor and interim president. “As I
walk past D.J.’s young maple tree in the
center of our campus, I am reminded
of his positive and affirming spirit.”
D.J. spent most of his life adjusting
to “Plan B.” Just after graduating from
Bellarmine, his cancer came back and
derailed his plans to attend Loyola
Marymount. So he took a year off to
fight the disease and enrolled in Santa
Clara University, where he served as
team manager for the basketball team.
Upon graduation, he was offered a job
at Price Waterhouse Cooper when the
cancer returned again.
“I’ve never seen anyone handle so
much with absolutely no complaints,”
said Celeste Melehan, a close family
friend and neighbor whose son grew
up with D.J. “He would just switch
gears and move on.”
Fr. John Murphy, S.J., former
Bellarmine principal who came to
know D.J. well, remembers a young
man who truly understood and
embraced Bellarmine’s ideals.
“D.J. understood that being a man
for others meant more than just service
– it is about the context in which one
lives their life,” said Fr. Murphy. “To
him, being a Bell was not just something you did, it was something you
carried around with yourself. At his
very core, there was goodness and
humor and he was an extraordinarily
faithful friend and I was privileged to
have known him.”
D.J. was known for living each day
with the motto “never give up.” Friends
remember his relentlessly positive attitude throughout his personal struggles.
“It’s through his human frailty that
D.J. showed us the quality of life and
that is his legacy. He really lived until
his very last breath,” said Melehan.
An avid sports fan, D.J. loved to
watch younger brother Kevin Frandsen
’00 play baseball. Now Kevin dedicates
each game with the San Jose Giants
to his brother while wearing a red
bracelet in his honor.
D.J. will continue to be remembered
for the sport that he loved at the first
annual D.J. Frandsen Memorial
Basketball Tournament on December
22 and 23. Bellarmine students will
play against students from Los Gatos,
Leland and Burlingame high schools.
“D.J. loved basketball and he loved
competing in the right way,” said
Bellarmine basketball coach Patrick
Schneider. “It was a window into his
heart in which he showed his loyalty
and integrity.”
In recent months, close friends of
the Frandsen family have collected seed
money to launch the D.J. Frandsen
Endowment Fund for Financial Aid.
For information about the fund, contact Development Director Pat Wahler
’85 at (408) 537-9219.
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24 Connections | Spring 2005
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Campaign for Bellarmine Ramps Up for the
Home Stretch of Fund Raising
A Conversation with Bellarmine College Preparatory’s Vice President
for Advancement Jeff Shilling
What is the Campaign for Bellarmine and
how will it benefit the school and the
students?
In 2000, Bellarmine’s Trustees, Regents, and
Administration agreed to embark on a five-year
$35 million capital campaign to bolster the
school’s endowment. Great private schools
everywhere have strong endowments and the
school’s leadership believed it was
time to further build upon Bellarmine’s endowment.
An endowment is similar to a
permanent savings account where
you only spend a portion of the
earnings it generates. In our case,
we spend approximately five percent of the market value of the
endowment each year to offset the
costs of operating the school. For the current
year, that equates to a revenue stream of $1.7
million. Another way to say it is that because
of the endowment, each student’s tuition is
approximately $1,200 less than it otherwise
would need to be. That money goes a long way
in contributing to our student body’s overall
experience on campus.
How is the Campaign for Bellarmine different from other fund raising activities held
throughout the year?
We generally raise money for three purposes:
the operation of the school, special one-time
projects, and for the endowment. The primary
difference with endowment gifts is that they
provide a lasting income stream for the school.
The interest from gifts to the endowment helps
defray costs this year and forever. Like most private schools and other nonprofit organizations,
a strong endowment complements the other
development activities and events throughout
the year.
Even though the endowment contributes
nearly 10 percent of the revenue required to
run the school each year, that plus tuition revenue, still leaves a gap in the
operating budget. Filling that gap
is where, for example, the
Parents’ Fund, the Annual Fund,
and the Golden Bell Auction
make a real difference.
Can a donor contribute to a
specific aspect of the school
and ensure that particular
program’s future funding and success?
Yes. In a nutshell, Bellarmine’s endowment
is designated for three general purposes:
Financial Aid, Faculty/Staff Professional
Development, and Academic and Co-curricular
Programs. The Financial Aid portion of the
endowment helps pay the tuition for academically qualified students whose families’
finances would otherwise not allow them to
attend Bellarmine. The Professional Development portion of the endowment provides funding for teacher training so they keep current in
their fields and up-to-date on recent trends in
teaching. The Programs portion of the endowment provides funding for many of our academic and co-curricular programs, including
our information technology infrastructure. So
from Campus Ministry to the English Department
to the water polo team, you can provide per-
manent funding for nearly any program on
campus through this campaign.
Does it help to make a pledge today, but pay
it over several years?
Due to the magnitude of this campaign and
the dollars associated with it, we are asking
donors to consider “stretch” gifts. The size of
a stretch varies from family to family. The one
constant is that a stretch gift is easier to make
over the course of several years. Most of the
time when talking with alumni and parents, we
suggest they consider making a pledge they
would be willing to complete over the next
three to five years.
If we are in the home stretch this year, are
you confident that Bellarmine will reach its
goal of raising $35 million?
Well, I am an eternal optimist, so yes, I am
confident, but we have a ways to go. We have
currently raised just over $31 million and so
we have another six months or so to raise the
final $4 million. Bellarmine has a hugely loyal
group of alumni and parents. For this campaign
to conclude on time and on budget, we will
need all alumni and parents who have the
interest and the ability to step forward with a
commitment. Once they have, we will have taken
another great stride in securing a Jesuit education for our current students and the generations to follow.
For more information about the Campaign for
Bellarmine and the advancement of the school, contact Jeff at (408) 537-9281 or [email protected]
Spring 2005 | Connections 25
a l u m n i
35th Annual Athletic Hall of Fame
Enshrines Six New Members
he 35th Annual Bellarmine
Athletic Hall of Fame drew
more than 200 alumni, parents,
friends and faculty to this year’s
induction ceremony. The induction class included Larry Lauro
’66, Mike O’Donnell ’82, Greg
Troupe ’85, Rob Wendell ’89,
Kevin McMahon ’90 and the
1983 national champion water
polo team directed by Larry
Rogers.
Larry Lauro ’66 (Special
Category): A defensive starter
on Bellarmine’s 1965 undefeated football team (9-0) under
head coach John Hanna, Lauro
was an All Northern California
Catholic selection as well as a
member of the All WCAL
Defensive First Team. His senior
season, the varsity football
defensive unit did not allow a
single point. Following his playing career, Lauro was a coach
on all three BCP football levels
beginning in 1967 and ending
in 1999, a span of 33 seasons.
T
26 Connections | Spring 2005
Mike O’Donnell ’82 (Football):
An outstanding quarterback
who led Bellarmine to its first
CCS title under Hall of Fame
coach Walt Arnold. The 1981
CCS Football championship was
Bellarmine’s first-ever CCS
team title. A three-year varsity
letterwinner, he went on to play
at Cal Berkeley. He still holds
three school records, including
best completion percentage in
the WCAL, best pass completion percentage in a game and
fewest interceptions in a season.
He was a First Team All WCAL
selection as a senior while
earning Second Team All CCS
accolades.
Greg Troupe ’85 (Soccer): A
two-sport star at Bellarmine,
Troupe was a member of the
baseball and soccer programs.
He played four seasons on the
varsity soccer team, including
the longest playoff game in
WCAL history against St.
Ignatius his freshman year (307
minutes). A tremendous goal
e v e n t s
scorer, Troupe finished his
Bellarmine career with 40 goals,
including 18 as a senior. He was
voted WCAL Offensive Player of
the Year as a junior and senior,
while leading Bellarmine to the
school’s first WCAL soccer title
in 1983-84. He accepted a combined baseball/soccer scholarship to Santa Clara University.
He was also a three-year varsity
letterwinner in baseball helping
the Bells to the 1985 CCS
championship.
Rob Wendell ’89 (Tennis):
A gifted tennis player, Wendell
is only the second athlete in
the history of the sport to be
inducted in the school’s Athletic
Hall of Fame. The other is
Clyde LeBaron ’69. Wendell
helped guide the Bells to three
CCS titles in his four seasons,
holding down the No. 1 singles
position for three years. He
captured the CCS Doubles
championship as a freshman
with teammate Gary Lane and
finished his Bellarmine tennis
career with the CCS Singles
Championship by defeating
Monterey’s Derek Del Rosario
6-1, 6-0. He left Bellarmine
to attend UCLA on a tennis
scholarship.
Kevin McMahon ’90 (Track):
A two-sport athlete at Bellarmine, McMahon earned varsity
letters in football and track.
Upon his graduation in 1990,
McMahon established school
records in the shot put (59' 01'')
and the hammer throw (219'
03'') which is still in place 15
years later. A two-time
Olympian in the hammer-throw
(1996 & 2000), McMahon went
on to compete for Georgetown
University. He is also a two-time
U.S. Champion (1997 & 2001),
a four-time World Championships
Team member and holds the
distinction of being a USA
Junior champion (1991).
1983 Water Polo (Team): The
1983 Water Polo team finished
the season a perfect 33-0 under
head Coach Larry Rogers and
claimed honors as State and
National Champions. The team
was later selected as the Team
of the Decade by Cal Hi Sports.
Two members of the team have
already been elected into
Bellarmine’s Athletic Hall of
Fame (Obi Greenman ’84 and
Tom Popp ’85) with several
more under consideration. Many
members of the team were in
attendance, including John
Lally ’86, Jeff Lally ’84, Steve
Peters ’84, Nick Matarangas ’84,
Brian Burke ’84, Obi Greenman
’84 and John Mix ’84, while
career Navy men Paul Savage
’84 and Tom Popp ’85 sent representatives as they were unable
to attend.
For more information regarding the Bellarmine Athletic Hall
of Fame or to nominate someone for inclusion, please visit
the Athletic Hall of Fame Web
site at http://alumni.bcp.org/
AHOF or email stayconnected@
bcp.org. ❚
a l u m n i
e v e n t s
Reconnect with Alums Online
Alumni Continue Call for Service
ack in 2001, then Bellarmine President Bill Muller, S.J. ’62
challenged the Alumni Council to remember the school’s
mantra of “Men For Others” and how the council could incorporate the ideal into future projects for the school s alumni.
Spearheaded by Mike Bonacorsi ’70 and Steve Douglas ’64,
the Alumni Council created the Alumni Christian Service
Program mimicking the successful school based operation run
by Steve Pinkston and Anne Maloney. The group started with
just a few alumni working on several projects with the Santa
Clara County Parks Department and Second Harvest Food Bank.
This year, the ACSP has grown exponentially under the
leadership of Vic Giacalone ’64 as the program now consistently
works with several agencies including Second Harvest Food
Bank, the San Jose Family Shelter and Sacred Heart Nativity
School. A key highlight is working hand-in-hand with current
students and getting an opportunity to share experiences.
B
This summer, Bellarmine will unveil the new Alumni Community
— GoBells.org. There are no dues to pay, and membership entitles you to a host of benefits that include invitations to VIP
events and much more. Log on to GoBells.org and you’ll enjoy:
• Locating friends from Bellarmine through the online directory
• E-mailing friends
• Catching up on alumni news and notes
• Registering for VIP events
• Making business, job and mentoring connections
• Posting and searching resumes and jobs
• Chatting online
• And much more!
MARK YOUR CALENDAR FOR
Grand Reunion
Weekend
Whether it is tutoring the young men of Sacred Heart or serving
meals for the San Jose Family Shelter, the alumni continue to
learn from the Bellarmine experience. In all, more than 80
South Bay alumni have participated in ACSP events this year.
The group continues to look at ways to expand their efforts
as they build on the good work they learned first as students
and now as alumni. For more information regarding ACSP
events or to volunteer, please contact the Alumni Office at
[email protected]. ❚
September 16-18, 2005
Celebrating the classes of 1960, 1965,
1970, 1975, 1980, 1985, 1990, 1995
Please join us for a fun-filled weekend with your fellow
classmates, family and friends. Weekend activities include:
Friday, Sept. 16
Saturday, Sept. 17
Sunday, Sept. 18
Golf Tournament
Classes Without
Quizzes
Reunion Mass
Alumni Tailgate
(Bellarmine vs.
Jesuit HS –
Sacramento)
Campus Tours
Class Dinners &
Receptions
Brunch
Minority Alumni
Luncheon
For more information, visit www.bcp.org beginning June 1 or contact the
Bellarmine Alumni Office at (408) 294-9224, (888) 462-3557 or at
[email protected].
Spring 2005 | Connections
27
CLASSNOTES
N E W S
A B O U T
30s
1933
Henry J. Richard and his wife, Margery,
celebrate their 65th wedding anniversary this summer.
50s
Y O U R
B E L L A R M I N E
pathology since retiring as a Colonel
in 2001 following a 30-year Army
pathologist career. Bill made a sevenisland Circle Micronesia trip in 2004.
Jim Wiechers, a former PGA Tour
golfer, is the new head coach of the
Napa Valley College men’s golf team.
1963
Fr. Bob Curran, S.J. is a civic attorney.
He lives and works in San Francisco
and provides free legal work for the
elderly and the poor.
1952
Marv Teixeira, former two-term mayor
of Carson City, Ca., won the mayoral
election again in 2004.
1964
Steve Douglas is finishing his second
year as president of the 30-member
Bellarmine Alumni Council.
1956
Larry Atwell and his wife, Connie,
celebrated their 40th anniversary with
a two week bicycle trip down the
Danube. They live in Cheyenne, WY
where Larry is the president and
CEO of the Greater Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce.
1965
After spending 23 years at Lockheed
Martin, John Callan began his second
career as a financial planner in 2004
with former Bellarmine Alumni Director
Joe Guttadauro ’80 at JMG Financial
in Willow Glen.
Dennis Kennedy won re-election as
mayor of Morgan Hill in 2004, for a
fifth two-year term.
60s
1960
Pete Ferraro and Patrick Rogers
have been hosting events for the class
of 1960 for the past three years. The
next event will be a golf outing followed by a BBQ. For more information, please contact Patrick Rogers
at [email protected].
1962
Bill Goodhue, M.D. was reappointed
to a four-year term as
first deputy medical
examiner for the
city and county of
Honolulu. He has
practiced forensic
28 Connections | Spring 2005
1966
Larry Lauro was inducted into Bellarmine s Athletic Hall of Fame on April
15, 2005. He was honored for more
than 30 years of coaching at
Bellarmine.
70s
1971
John Glaspy is a professor on the
faculty of the UCLA School of
Medicine, where he holds the Estelle
Sanders Endowed Chair in Cancer
Research. John lives in Los Angeles
wife Christine, and four children.
1973
John Riley joined the administrative
office of financial investments for
Fisher Investments.
C L A S S M A T E S
Rememb
er When
?
Ah! The
school, a class of 1979 —
large ego roguish collectio a lively bunch. I
n
n
students s of the faculty ( of them decided the last week o
w
in
to
h
o
in
h
tr
a
amural
d just cele tweak the ove f
Students
foo
r
b
“champio concocted an an tball, basketball rated beating th n
e
a special ns” gathering a ouncement abou , and softball).
t
t
y
th
a
e
a
ll
e
r
n
fa
b
orthwest
ook photo
culty
said “sm
co
,
down on ile,” four garbag and when the Ca rner of the gym fo
e
r
fa
il
escape ro culty heads. T cans of water ca lon photograph r
h
off the ro ute even included e student plan w me cascading er
field. Th of, and a waiting gloves and a rap as so complex th
e
e teacher
p
s could o truck on the far elling rope to ge ir
t
nly rema
side of th
in — all
e baseba
ll
wet.
1976
Richard Overhouse is a property
manager in Property & Facilities
Management for the federal government.
1977
James D. O’Shea, M.D. is a physician
practicing oncology and hematology
in Nashua, New Hampshire. His wife,
Dana, is an internal medicine physician and they have three children —
Delia, 10, Conor, 8, and Aidan, 6.
1979
Bob Comstock, his wife, Monika, and
their two sons just celebrated their
12th year living in Singapore. Bob is
the managing director of Compass
Foods, a biotech related food additive
company. While serving as a member
of the Singapore American School
board, he met Peter Horie, Bellarmine
alum from the class of 1979.
David Noel is a customer service
manager at Aeroflex Cupertino.
80s
1980
York Gorzolla is a manager of Environmental Programs for the City of Union
City and lives in San Jose with his
wife, Iris.
1983
Joel M. Santos welcomed the birth of
son Dylan on June 24, 2004.
Tony West was named to the Board
of Directors of the University of
California, Hastings College of the Law
last year. He will serve a 12-year term.
1984
Tony Santos is the head football
coach at Westmont High School.
1985
Chuck Ebertin welcomed the birth of
Jack Thomas on November 30, 2004.
Chuck is a partner with Skadden Arps
Slate Meagher & Flom LLP., specializing in intellectual property litigation.
Robert Gagliasso was made a partner with the law firm Bustamante,
O’Hara and Gagliasso in January.
Alistair Jeffs, his wife, Joanna, and
daughters Lily, Amelia and Marianne
are moving back to California after
eight years of working and living in
Europe. Alistair has been working in
product development for Internet,
mobile and telecommunication companies in London, Amsterdam and
Madrid.
Vincent P. Morello is living and working in Sidney, Australia.
Kelly and J.P. Scandalios welcomed
the birth of daughter Anna in
November 2004.
C
Lorri and David Zamzow welcomed
the birth of son Nathan in October
2004.
1986
Audra and Steven M. MacCorkle
were married in the St. Catherine of
Alexandria Church on September 25,
2004 in Avalon on Catalina Island.
Mick Markham and his wife, Mithet,
welcomed a daughter, Pritika, in
2004. Mick passed the first level CFA
test, designed for analysts in the
investment industry.
1987
Kael and Rick Loftus are working on
an historical novel, set in the 1870s
in Kham, Tibet and in California, at
the New Almaden mines. It’s about a
pair of 10-year old twins who are reincarnated lamas being hunted by a
demon. Rick also has a medical book
coming out from Cambridge University
Press late this year, called “The Nerd’s
Guide: A Medical Student Manual for
Looking Smart While Feeling Stupid
on the Wards.”
1988
Adam Castellanos was promoted to
executive chef of Virgin Airways Clubhouse at San Francisco International
Airport. He has worked for Sodexho,
which provides food for Virgin Atlantic
Airways Clubhouse, for three years.
Ian Champeny won a gold medal at
the 2004 Powerlifting State Championships.
Carlo Teresi and his wife, Shauna,
welcomed Ryan Chastain on November 22, 2004.
Larry Klamecki recently joined Kaiser
Permanente’s corporate planning
group in the Oakland, CA headquarters. The group provides financial consulting, planning, and analysis to
Kaiser’s leadership and executive
team, as well as financial and strategy
planning for the Kaiser regions across
the country.
1989
John Callan and his wife, Jennifer,
welcomed the birth of their first child,
Brayden Thomas on October 22,
2004.
David Koppel completed his first year
as director and producer of Dramatic
Arts at Sacred Heart Cathedral
Preparatory in San Francisco. He
L
A
S
S
N
O
produced the play 12 Angry Jurors
and the musical Cinderella.
Jeff Rhodes, a Bellarmine varsity
soccer coach, and his wife, Paula,
welcomed the birth of son Keagan
Lucca on March 2, 2005. Keagan
joins older siblings Jake and Sierra.
Matt Walker is a senior vice president
of Hotel and Resort Development for
Lowe Enterprises. He and his wife,
Emily, live in Pacific Palisades, CA with
their two children, Joe, 7 and Will, 1.
90s
1990
Adam Kingl finished his MBA at
London Business School in July 2004.
He is a development director at an
entertainment agency in London,
producing television and licensing
projects. He and his wife, Elizabeth,
live in London, England.
Ronan O’Flaherty and his wife,
Jessica, welcomed Cormac John on
February 12, 2005.
John D. Saunders and his wife,
Shannon, welcomed their first child,
Lucy Olivia on April 13, 2004.
Jeffrey Schubert and Victoria Brown
were married October 4, 2004. They
live in San Jose. Jeffrey completed a
Master’s Degree in computer science
from Santa Clara University in 2003.
1991
John Conniff is a sportfishing captain/owner with Islander Sportfishing.
He and his wife, Juliet, were married
October 12, 2002 in San Diego and
welcomed son Christian Maxwell on
September 19, 2003.
E
S
> A L U M N I
Kyle Krpata and his wife, Lara,
welcomed a baby boy on February 2,
2005. Lucas Camden joins older
sister Maya Cade.
John Owens welcomed the birth of
Jaclyn Beverly on October 26, 2004.
John is a federal prosecutor in San
Diego.
T
P R O F I L E
’96 Grads Team Up For Military Exercise
tarting June 29, 2004, forty ships from the United States, United
Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Japan, South Korea and Chile began
testing their capabilities in a show of international presence in the
global war on terrorism. Nearly 18,000 military personnel participated,
including two from the Bellarmine community.
Marine Corps 1st LT Mike Lupient ’96, who joined the marshalls
after graduating from Gonzaga University, was ready to go to sea for
the first time. He had orders to report to USS TARAWA (LHA-1), an
amphibious assault ship docked in Naval Base Pearl Harbor. While
onboard, they would integrate with
their Navy counterparts, or “squids,”
as an augmentation unit.
Meanwhile, TARAWA’s Aviation
Stores Division (S-6), both dreaded
the arrival of Marines or “jarheads,”
a nickname termed due to the
shape of their haircuts. S-6 did not
have a good working relationship with their Marine augment on their
2003 Arabian Gulf deployment, so there were expectations of disrespect and low morale. S-6’s new Division Officer, LT Vince Fonte ’96,
was not worried. Having graduated in 2000 from the Naval Academy,
which produces both Naval and Marine Corps officers, he knew that
those previous Marines were the exception to the rule. He told his
division “Every service has their bad apples, but most of the Marines I
know are true professionals.”
Leave it to two Bellarmine alums to make things work. Mike and
Vince immediately recognized each other and were shocked to learn
Mike would not only be onboard TARAWA, but assigned to S-6 as well.
“I had no idea Mike was in the service. I thought I knew all our 1996
classmates that went in the military: Jon Shaffer, Joey Gaona, Chris
Cummings, Scott McKay, and Jim Lally. I saw his name on the list of
Marines we were getting but it didn’t register until I saw him.” Though
not particularly close in high school, the combination of shared experiences as Aviation Supply Officers, as military brothers in arms, and
as classmates at Bellarmine, quickly turned the two into fast friends.
Together, they provided material and logistical support to all embarked
helos, achieving outstanding levels of efficiency as evidenced by the
squadrons’ excellent Mission Capable ratings.
Though busy for much of the deployment, working side by side
afforded many opportunities to talk about their paths into the military,
future plans, and of course reminisce about their time on Hedding and
Elm Streets. Freshman orientation, Señor Wolf’s Spanish 2, riding the
train to school, JUGs, Kairos, community service, and old classmates
were among the fond memories discussed concerning their days as Bells.
Both men intend to be career military officers but it is unlikely
Mike and Vince will get to work together again, or even be stationed
in the same area. The two plan to remain in contact and are thankful
they could catch up. But in the rare event they cross paths in the
workplace a second time, it’s expected that this jarhead and this
squid will get along just fine.
S
Spring 2005 | Connections 29
C
Fred Ebrahemi is temporarily working
in Hong Kong as an attorney with
Morrison & Foerster LLP. He will
permanently relocate to Southern
California in April 2005.
Shawn Hammett and his wife,
Courtney, welcomed Sullivan Thomas
on February 19, 2005.
>ALUMNI
P R O F I L E
Paul Caputo ’80 was voted “Trial
Lawyer of the Year” by the members of the Santa Clara County
Trial Lawyers Association for
2004. He was honored for his
relentless work on behalf of a
permanently disabled woman
who had to sue the Santa Clara
Valley Transportation Authority
(VTA) to get lifetime medical care
as a result of VTA’s negligence.
Caputo represented Maria
Borja of Stockton, California for
more than two years in her case
against VTA, spending more than
$75,000 out of his own pocket
to fund the case. In August, a
jury came back with a $2.1 million dollar award, finding that VTA
was at-fault for the permanent
injuries suffered by Borja, a former Court Clerk and Santa Clara
County Volunteer of the Year.
VTA would not acknowledge
responsibility for Borja’s permanent injuries and limitations that
left her incapable of caring for
herself and offered a settlement
that did not come close to the
lifetime care her doctors said
she needed.
“Caputo has been the bright
light in my darkest hours,” said
Borja. “Without his assistance
there is no way I could have
afforded legal help to fight
someone as big as VTA,” added
Borja. “To be honored with an
award for representing people
who truly need help is a humbling experience,” said Caputo,
who continues to represent Borja
as VTA has appealed the jury’s
verdict.
30 Connections | Spring 2005
L
A
S
S
1992
Michael Allen joined MacDonald,
Hoague & Bayless as a paralegal
specializing in business immigration
law, after returning from missionary
work in Israel. He now lives in the
Seattle area.
Robb Jones joined Pacific Inland
Home Mortgage of Soquel as a
mortgage consultant, following a
seven-year career as a financial
analyst/securities trader.
Troy LaCoursiere married Saliha Kenyon
September 25, 2004
in San Diego. Troy is
a project engineer
with Swinerton and
Walberg. They live in
San Diego.
Garrett Wade was promoted to
senior manager in Ernst and Young’s
Business Risk Services group in
October 2004, marking his five-year
anniversary with the company.
1993
Brian Paulson welcomed the birth
of son Ethan on July 28, 2004. Brian
lives in Willow Glen and works as a
marketing program manager at
Juniper Networks.
1994
Phil Andonian married Julia J. Duncan
August 14, 2004 in Andover, MA.
Both are graduates of Santa Clara
University Law School, and live in
Washington, D.C. Phil is a clerk for
Robert Morin, a Superior Court judge,
and Julia is a policy analyst for the
American Trial Lawyers Association.
Connal Hughes opened a graphic
design firm in San Francisco called
Cabbage Design Company. He
specializes in branding and identity
projects.
1995
Mariah and Patrick Flanagan were
married at the Santa Clara University
Mission Church on July 24, 2004.
N
O
T
E
S
Michael McAllister ’96, Joseph Minardi
’96, and Will Pohle ’97 attended the
ceremony.
1997
Michael Hoa earned a Doctor of
Medicine degree from Boston University last year. After completing a
residency at Wayne State University
in Otolaryngology, he plans to pursue
an academic career in the same
specialty.
1999
Brian Rhodes recently finished a
year in Boston in the Jesuit Volunteer
Corps and is now teaching at a school
for underprivileged children in Haiti.
Aaron Thompson competed for three
days on the television show Jeopardy
in December 2004.
00s
2000
Brian Halaburka joined the Peace
Corps and is in Nambia, where he will
teach math at a high school level for
two years.
2001
Following a year as student body
president at Harvard University,
Matthew Mahan plans to travel to
Peru for research on a Michael
Rockefeller Fellowship.
Brothers Jeff ’01 and Chris Dralla ’03
are both playing hockey for the University of Southern California. Jeff is
majoring in electrical engineering and
Chris majors in broadcast journalism.
2002
Sean Boyle enlisted in the Army as
a Private First Class. He began basic
training as an Airborne Ranger in
February 2005.
Matt Kettmann is freelancing for Time
magazine and living in Santa Barbara.
Vikram Gowrish, a student at
Berkeley, runs a nonprofit corporation
that gets donated computers, refurbishes them and gives them out to
needy schools.
1996
Jackson Hull married Aurelia Cottarel
June 26, 2004 in Brive, France. Alums
David Farkouh ’96, Martin Lee ’96,
Peter Jones is studying International
Business Administration at the
American University of Paris, in France.
In addition to singing opera at the
>ALUMNI
P R O F I L E
Three generations of the William
Del Biaggio family were named
donors of the year by the
Diocese of San Jose at its third
annual Scholarship Endowment
Fund dinner. Bishop Patrick
McGrath and Marian Stuckey,
superintendent of the diocese’s
30 K-8 schools, one middle
school and six college preparatory high schools paid tribute to
the family.
The family’s roots in the
Santa Clara Valley go back to
1891 when they began creating
their family businesses and started reaching out to Roman
Catholic educational institutions
and human service organizations.
William “Boots” Del Biaggio
Sr., who died in 1994, and his
wife, Catherine, were extensively
involved in a number of organizations, including Bellarmine
College Preparatory, Catholic
Social Services (now Catholic
Charities) and the Presentation
Sisters Guild. William Del
Biaggio Jr. ’58, one of their
three children, has been affiliated with the Assistance League of
San Jose, Bellarmine College
Preparatory, Catholic Charities,
Holy Spirit School, YMCA and
YWCA. William “Boots” Del
Biaggio III ’85, sits on the board
of San Jose’s Tech Museum of
Innovation, the Bellarmine Board
of Regents, the Finance Council
of the Diocese of San Jose, the
Silicon Valley Chamber of
Commerce and the Santa Clara
County Healthy Kids program.
Municipal Conservatory of Paris, he
is currently the editor of the school’s
business magazine, Keystone.
2004
Joey Henry ran the Los Angeles
Marathon on March 6, 2005 with
a time of 4:02:01. He also ran the
Carlsbad Marathon on January 16
with a time of 3:52:18.
O
B
I
T
Rich Freitas
Rich Freitas, a 1959 Bellarmine College
Preparatory alumnus, and also a former
Bellarmine faculty member, coach and
administrator,
passed away following a brief illness. After graduating from Bellarmine, Rich went
on to Santa Clara
University, where he earned a degree in
English. During his senior year at SCU,
he was an assistant baseball coach
under the late John “Paddy” Cottrell.
Following graduation, Rich returned
to Bellarmine, where he initially taught
English, and then moved into administration where he was vice principal, a job
that included the responsibility for discipline and student activities. He also took
over the reins of varsity baseball coaching
from Bellarmine’s legendary Bob Fatjo
’26. In 1980, Rich retired from Bellarmine
to move into the business world, where
he started R & R Properties, a property
management company. Rich also worked
as a football official for the PAC 10 for
more than 25 years. Rich leaves his life
companion, Cathy, and his two children,
John ’85 and Deedee and their spouses
and children.
U
A
R
I
E
S
•
I
A L U M N I
1926
J. Marty Boland
February 11, 2005
1931
Paul Melvin Roll
September 19, 2004. Brother of
the late J. Robert Roll ’28.
1934
David J. Buckley
December 30, 2004
1938
John Richard Zakis
January 1, 2005
1939
Andrew V. Arzino, Jr.
November 16, 2004. Father of
Richard A. Arzino ’61.
Your will or revocable living trust is
one of the most important documents
you will ever sign. Here are some
important things to remember when
creating a safe and lasting will.
• Act now
• Get help
• Consider all documents
• Keep it updated
• Keep it safe, but not secret
A charitable bequest can make a positive statement to family and friends
about your priorities in life. Please consider remembering Bellarmine as you
plan and/or update your will or trust.
For more information about establishing a will or revocable living trust,
contact V. Ronald Pine, Esq. ’57,
senior counsel for Planned Gifts at
(408) 537-9220 or [email protected].
M
E
M
O
Pauline Edith Adams
January 21, 2005. Grandmother
of Nicholas Adams ’03 and Jeffrey
Adams ’06.
Rose Margaret Britton
December 7, 2004. Mother of David
Britton ’69 and Richard Britton ’71.
Angie A. Cantando
November 16, 2004. Sister of
Joseph Antuzzi ’43.
Sadie Jane Copponi
March 2, 2005. Sister of Lucille
Polverino, former Bellarmine staff
member.
Wayne L. Culler
February 8, 2005. Father of
David M. Culler ’73.
Betty Claire Donati
September 13, 2004. Wife of the
late James E. Donati ’44.
1944
Robert Fahrner
December 6, 1995
Thomas A. Finnegan
September 25, 2004. Father of
Bryan T. Finnegan ’90.
1946
Harry L. Angelo
October 28, 2004
Pauline Fordice
February 18, 2005. Mother of Lt.
Comdr. James E. Fordice ’52 and
the late Joseph Fordice ’55.
1949
Patrick Joseph Dunne
February 10, 2004
1954
John Goicovich
September 24, 2004
1959
Bob Donald
October 19, 2004. Brother of
Fr. Jack Donald, SJ ’57 and the late
Jim Donald ’63.
1968
Judge Wray F. Ladine
October 25, 2004. Son of Jay
Ladine, former Bellarmine Registrar.
1972
David Rae Lussier
December 8, 2004. Brother of
Mark W. Lussier ’71.
1993
Jeff Schowalter
October 2004. Brother of Christopher
’90 and Bryan Schowalter ’91.
R
F R I E N D S
& F A M I L Y
1940
William C. Alexander
November, 2004. Father of
Matthew D. Alexander ’76.
1949
Michael Carrington Taaffe
February 2005
WHERE THERE’S A WILL,
THERE’S A WAY
N
George Eugene Fulhorst
November 1, 2004. Father of
Charles F. Fulhorst ’70 and Paul D.
Fulhorst ’77.
Paul George Gilles
November 4, 2004. Father of
Mark P. Gilles ’75.
Peg Lawrence Gunn
February 12, 2005. Mother of
Richard L. Gunn ’65.
Philippa Henderson
October 5, 2004. Wife of Robert J.
Henderson ’47.
Dorothy Mary Hughes
December 29, 2004. Mother of
Frank ’67 and David Hughes ’76
and the grandmother of Connal ’94
and Tynan Hughes ’00.
I
A
M
Virginia Moreno
January 31, 2005. Mother of
Angelo M. Moreno ’49 and grandmother of Steven A. Moreno ’80.
Jane Nunes
October 23, 2004. Mother of
Michael Nunes ’00.
Madge Overhouse
September 29, 2004. Mother of
Richard Overhouse ’76.
Leonard Priest, Sr.
February 19, 2005. Father of Mitch L.
Priest ’81 and Allan J. Priest ’85.
William C. Quast
September 10, 2004. Father of
Daniel W. Quast ’59, Michael Quast
’57, Patrick B. Quast ’62 and
Philip W. Quast ’56.
William J. Rahmer
December 5, 2004. Father of David J.
Rahmer ’66 and the late Paul E.
Rahmer ’64.
Edwin William Roodhouse
December, 2004. Son of Alan M.
Roodhouse ’62.
Karen Rowberry
August 1, 2004. Mother of Kris
Rowberry ’02.
Vincent Sanfilippo
February 12, 2005. Father of Todd
Sanfilippo ’84.
Alden James Schroeder
January 25, 2005. Father of Brother
Mark Schroeder, OFM ’70, Christopher
Schroeder ’67, James Schroeder ’62,
and Zachary Schroeder ’65.
Rudy Schulze
October 22, 2004. Former Bellarmine
faculty member.
Stephen C. Schwarz
October 5, 2004. Father of John H.
Schwarz ’90 and Mark S. Schwarz ’94.
Joseph L. Teresi, Sr., M.D.
February 2, 2005. Brother of Robert
G. Teresi ’59.
Robert George Verbica
February 24, 2005. Father of Peter
Coe Verbica ’78.
Elizabeth Ann “Betty” Kelly
November 16, 2004. Mother of Kevin Joan Peters Vogel
G. Kelly ’64 and Stephen M. Kelly ’66. December 29, 2004. Mother of
Bernard J. Vogel, III ’73 and William
James P. McEntee, Sr.
S. Vogel ’78, sister of Bob Peters ’57,
September 13, 2004. Father of
aunt of Bill Peters ’80 and Steve
Peter M. McEntee ’95.
Peters ’84 and grandmother of
Andrew Miller ’07.
Spring 2005 | Connections 31
What
we are
Reading
any people choose to teach because it
allows them to remain students, in a
sense. And one of the most significant
parts of any life-long learner’s regime is reading.
Here are some suggestions from the nightstands
of Bellarmine teachers.
M
Sue Atkinson, assistant to
the principal: Charming Billy,
by Alice McDermott, winner of
a 1998 National Book Award
and a New York Times bestseller, begins
with an Irish,
Catholic family
and friends gathered at a wake
for Billy Lynch
in a small Bronx bar to help
console his wife and to share
the many facets of Billy’s tragic and charming life.
Fr. Dick Cobb, S.J., English
Department: Eats, Shoots &
Leaves, by Lynne Truss. What
keeps this on the
New York Times’
bestseller list for
so many weeks?
Here is an
author who blends her incredible wit with a passion for
grammar as she bemoans the
destruction of basic punctuation. The Internet, e-mails and
“txt msgs” probably pushed
her over the edge. She had no
choice but to do her best to
save the apostrophe, comma,
dash and other elusive marks
that gave us high school night-
32 Connections | Spring 2005
mares. It’s easy reading and
you are guaranteed two chuckles and one guffaw per page.
Fr. Ron Clemo, S.J., Social
Science Department: Arc of
Justice by Kevin Boyle, a history professor at Ohio State.
This book won the 2004
National Book Award for history. I found this
book to be both
thought-provoking and moving.
It is the story of
an African-American doctor,
Ossian Sweet, whose successful practice enabled him to
purchase a home for himself
and his wife in Detroit in
1925. Dr. Sweet’s grandparents
were slaves. The essence of this
book is that Dr. Sweet broke
the established “color-line”
when he acquired a home in
a working class section of
Detroit.
Ed Sarrett, Foreign
Language Department: I’ve
been reading a lot of Ursula
Le Guin lately. She writes science fiction and fantasy with a
Jungian flavor and crafts
exquisite and elaborate stories
about wizards, witches, sorcerers
and dragons. In her Earthsea
series, Le Guin takes the reader
on fantastic journeys through
an incredibly rich landscape
of people and
events. If you
like Carl Jung,
fantasy, dreams,
trips into the
human psyche
and fine, evocative writing, you’re
sure to like Ursula Le Guin.
Fr. Ray Allender, S.J.,
Religious Studies Department
and Bellarmine Rector:
Ignatian Humanism by Ronald
Modras is an extremely interesting and perceptive book
that helps one to understand
“what makes Jesuits tick.”
Our Society has always been
described as a very human
and flexible group of people.
Now you can find out why.
Modras defines humanism and
traces it to Ignatius’ “Spiritual
Exercises.”
Specifically, he
focuses on five
great Jesuits:
Matteo Ricci,
Friedrich Spee,
Pierre Teillard de Chardin,
Karl Rahnes, and Pedro Arrupe.
I don’t think I have ever read
another book that helped me
more to understand why I am
the Jesuit I am.
CONNECT ONLINE
To learn more about the books
on this page, visit Connections
online at www.bcp.org/go/
connections.
THE LITERARY
BOOKSHELF
B Y A LEXANDER ATKINS ’79
F
or many of us, our education at Bellarmine introduced us to great works of
English literature and cultivated an appreciation and
understanding of their profound insight into the human
condition. To continue this
intellectual odyssey, The
Literary Bookshelf will feature
recently published books that
shed light on authors and
their work as well as feature
special anniversary editions.
Albion: The Origins of the English
Imagination, Peter Ackroyd,
Doubleday
The American Classics, Denis
Donoghue, Yale
The Annotated Waste Land with
Eliot’s Contemporary Prose,
Lawrence Rainey, Yale
Bound to Please: Essays on Great
Writers and Their Books, Michael
Dirda, Norton
A Fine Brush on Ivory, Richard
Jenkyns, Oxford
History in Literature, Edward
Quinn, Facts on File
The Illustrated Souls of Black Folk,
W.E.B. Du Bois, Eugene
Provenzo (ed), Paradigm
The Journals of John Fowles,
(Vol 1: 1949–1965) John Fowles,
Charles Drazin (ed), Knopf
K. (Kafka), Roberto Calsso,
Knopf
Leaves of Grass (150th
Anniversary Ed.), Walt Whitman,
David Reynolds (ed), Oxford
Love, Sex and Tragedy: How the
Ancient World Shapes Our Lives,
Simon Goldhill, Chicago
Mark Twain, Larzer Ziff, Oxford
One Matchless Time: A Life of
William Faulkner, Jay Parini,
Harper Collins
Shakespeare After All, Marjorie
Garber, Pantheon
Will in the World, Stephen
Greenblatt, Norton
The Wisdom of Rilke, Rainer
Maria Rilke, Ulrich Baer (translator), Modern Library
The Campaign for Bellarmine
Endow the Future
“ To desire to go on learning all through life –
that is what we must instill in our students.”
PEDRO ARRUPE, S.J.
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Support Bellarmine College Preparatory’s campaign
in the area of your choosing and help meet the goal
of securing a Catholic Jesuit education for today’s
students and future generations.
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Bellarmine Calendar of Events
June 4, Saturday
Class of 1955 50-Year Reunion
July 16, Saturday
Fr. Joe Costa, S.J. ’41 Bocce Ball Tournament
July 23, Saturday
Class of 2000 5-Year Reunion
August 23, Tuesday
First day of class
Bells at the Ballpark (San Francisco Giants vs. Philadelphia Phillies)
September 16, Friday
Alumni Tailgate
Bellarmine Football Reunion
September 16-18
Grand Reunion Weekend
October 10, Monday
Alumni Golf Classic
November 10, Thursday
President’s Club Dinner
November 18, Friday
Adventures in Paradise Mothers’ Guild Fashion Show
January 7, 2006, Saturday
Gala and Roast Honoring Fr. Wade
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