Dear Tom , Been in China since 2006 . Came here to do ‘ humanitarian ‘ work .. making peoples lives better through the revelation of Truth ( worldview ) and empowering grace . FYI : Because of where I live some vagueness in details is better in this email . Met my wife here in 2007 , married in 2008 . She is what the locals call ‘ foreign born Chinese ‘ . Born in Malaysia , raised in Hong Kong , then family moved to Australia . Education is our mainstay ..mostly teaching English . She has A little background on me : after ND … USAF/ANG pilot , then lived in DC for a while , back home to Big D , real estate business there , age 31 my ‘ born again ‘ experience which radically changed my lifestyle and priorities . Opened my heart and mind up to a more eternal perspective rather than the temporal pursuits … the Big Picture . Was led to go to graduate school to study theology/psychology . Best ND buddies .. the Coyote (Dave Martin) by a long shot ( so blessed to have him as a loyal friend along with the lovely Jan and daughters ) , Dennis Withers , Chris Murphy , Rocky Bleier , Dan Harshman , Steve Anderson , Jay Jordan . Life is good ..asking the Lord for another healthy 20 years to do His bidding by loving Him and loving others . Thanks for your time ! mc
Reading of the most recent post Jay Schwartz added to his blog, One More Thing. . . (click on https://jayschwartzonthegrid.com/category/uncategorized/), prompted the Honorary Czech Consul General Richard Pivnicka to send a copy of ideas he has proposed to Notre Dame Magazine.
Hi Jay, Tom Figel just sent me your Blog… and I am sending him my thanks….Your blog is really very well done! Enjoyed reading several of the articles, particularly the plastic article.
Richard Pivnicka
Occasionally I email the editor of ND Magazine, Kerry Temple suggesting a few topics for the magazine since ND’s award winning magazine does not seem to take on tough, self-critical topics, like ND being the number university having “legacy students.” (Stanford at 15%, is half of ND). I think the most far out issue in recent times….but not by global standards …. was that fashion issue a few years ago that was criticized by some but I thought it was surprisingly interesting…up beat and fun. Pls see a recent exchange of emails with Kerry below. Perhaps with your credentials and moral authority you could encourage the ND Magazine to address some important hot topics of the day: 1. Concussions in all contact sports. Am aware that a startup, Hitcheck can diagnosis a concussion but have not heard of much about materially reducing concussions except for some rule changes. And Rene Torrado, who you know (ND ’69, Sorin basement) is a legal authority on the topic, and former President of the Chicago Bar, just retired. 2. Priesthood: what are the canonical and other objections to married men becoming priests (as they are trying to do in the Amazon) and ordaining woman as priests? (Think the latest version of Canon Law was 1983). 3. McCloskey (like in Tom) New Ventures Competition at the Idea Center. The best new ideas coming out of ND are among the 165 teams presenting in the annual McCloskey startup competition. Its in its 19th year with over $400,000 in prizes…and you never read about some potentially great achievements. 4. Why isn’t ND among the top 100 “green” universities in the country (considering GREEN is in its DNA) except for a recent article mentioning that this year ND is the second school in the nation to install the Emerson Electric Grind2Energy system which turns organic scraps into clean power. 5. Peace Institue at ND….what’s going on here? …..Originally funded by Ms. Kroc, the McDonald heiress. 6. My wife Barbara says ND should be awash with articles and an issue on how to solve the immigration crisis humanely considering it claims moral authority and was founded more or less for Irish Immigrants to go to college. She says ND could be internationally known for this topic… and, its ND’s to lose! Like at Michigan? 7. How about a rundown on Mayor Pete? But for these hotter topics, I think the ND magazine does a first rate but could use a topical update? Wow, do I feel so much better getting all this off my chest!:).
