ALUMNI
News Notes Summer 2021 1976 Jeffrey Harrison A new poem by Jeff Harrison: THE LITTLE BOOK OF CHEERFUL THOUGHTS Small enough to fit in your shirt pocket so you could take it out in a moment of distress to ingest a happy maxim or just stare a while at its orange and yellow cover (so cheerful in itself you need go no further), this little booklet wouldn’t stop a bullet aimed at your heart and seems a flimsy shield against despair, whatever its contents. But there it is by the cash register, so I pick it up as I wait in line and come to a sentence saying there are few things that can’t be cured by a hot bath above the name Sylvia Plath. I rest my case, placing the booklet back by its petite companions Sweet Nothings and Simple Wisdom… but not The Book of Sorrows, a multivolume set like the old Britannica that each of us receives in installments of unpredictable heft and frequency over a lifetime. Copyright © 2021 by Jeffrey Harrison. First published in Poem-a-Day by the Academy of American Poets.
36 | CONNECTIONS
1960 Steven Schwartz writes: “Not sure how many of us are left, but my best wishes to all my 1960 classmates. As for me, I now live on Whidbey Island off the coast of Washington and am still very active as a Distinguished Consulting Faculty of Saybrook University, a BIAL fellow, columnist for the journal Explore, and editor of the daily web publication Schwartzreport.net. Since writing my last non-fiction book, The 8 Laws of Change, winner of the 2016 Nautilus Book Award for Social Change, I have started writing novels and have published three: Awakening – A Novel of Aliens and Consciousness (2017, winner of the Book Excellence Award for Literary Excellence), The Vision – A Novel of Time and Consciousness (2018), and this year The Amish Girl – A Novel of Death and Consciousness.”
1980 Lisa (Rose) Collins Lisa (Rose) and Joel Collins celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary in Angelfire, New Mexico. “July 29, 2019 we renewed our 35th wedding vows after riding up into the mountains on horseback in the Kit Carson National Forest. We also spent several weeks helping out at a horse ranch of a friend before returning to our new home in Scottsdale, Arizona. Life is a journey, not a destination and we’re loving it!”
1981 Dr. Marcus “Chris” Griffith Dr. Marcus “Chris” Griffith specializes in psychiatry and obesity medicine. He is Diplomat of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and the American Board of Obesity Medicine. Dr. Griffith is employed by the Southeastern Permanente Medical Group in Atlanta, Georgia and is a
clinical assistant professor at both Morehouse and Emory University Schools of Medicine. In addition to giving back to CCDS, he engages with local high schools in Atlanta through his non-profit, Purpose. “Purpose is a program designed to engage minority students in health professions by giving them mentors and internship opportunities in healthcare, opening doors to careers in the field they may have never known existed.”
1985 Warren Thune Warren Thune moved to Charlotte last summer to be the CEO of a global sports and gaming information business. “Everything was going great until pandemic, but we will be an important component of the business of sports bouncing back. Great to see such a great turnout from the virtual Class of ‘85!” Susan Miller After graduating from Smith College with a degree in elementary education, Susan Miller returned to Cincinnati to begin her teaching career and get her master’s degree from Miami University. “After being in the classroom for several years, I found myself helping Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy start a school in downtown Cincinnati to serve under-resourced families where I served as the principal for 11 years. That led me to a position in Charleston, SC in 2011 where I helped start two schools with the premise that a child’s zip code should not determine their educational opportunities. I have since relocated to Wilmington, Delaware where I am currently the Head of Lower School at Tower Hill. I am an adoptive mom of a 14-year-old daughter – the best decision I have ever made!” Laura Titus Tang: “Since 1985 I’ve been a teacher and a writer, and now I am teaching writing. I’ve lived on two sides of the globe with my bi-cultural family and, I am forever grateful for the comprehensive and insightful education CCDS gave me.” Mimi Orr Manzler (married to Scott Manzler ‘84): “I’m a retired English teacher these days and spend my time volunteering at a couple of animal shelters and also at the Shedd Aquarium. The pandemic has put a serious damper on those activities but hoping to get back to them soon. We’re in Chicago in the city, so if you are in town, give us a shout!”
