Letters

The magazine’s epic redesign with our Spring/Summer edition generated a volume of comments rivaling that of a Star Warssequel.

BEAUTIFUL!

Congratulations on the beautiful redoing of Santa Clara Magazine. It’s awesome. The artwork and the stories—it’s really, really beautiful, light-years ahead of the previous magazine.

Bob Brown ’70
San Jose, California

Congratulations on a beautiful redesign! I love the simple and clean layout—it’s very easy to scan and read, and it translates well to the screen. I was surprised to see that you chose an Austin design company, but when I read that it was DJ Stout and Pentagram, I understood—they did great work for me, too, some years back when I was living in Austin working for Texas Monthly magazine.

Sara (Schulten) McCabe ’87
Brooklyn, New York

I recently received a copy and am blown away by the design. I really enjoy the size, the illustrations and photos, the fact that it is on recycled paper, and also the content of the stories. I read every one. An article I would enjoy reading is a presentation of Fr. Junipero Serra’s contributions to society—good and bad.

Mary Anne Plano ’03
Mountain View, California

Thanks for the kind words.—Eds.

What a great publication. It is equal to Notre Dame Magazine. Congratulations to all. Are you receiving adequate funding from recipients? The magazine should make many friends for SCU.

Michael E. Fox Sr.
Saratoga, California

Note: Mike Fox, who’s a member of the advisory board for the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, comes by the Notre Dame reference honestly—that’s his alma mater. We think they publish a first-rate mag, too. As to whether we’re receiving adequate funding, readers take note: There is still room at the honored table of benefactors—and even a Web link: santaclaramagazine.com/give —Eds.

As an alumnus of Santa Clara, and as a citizen of the 21st century, I would be totally remiss in not writing to send kudos for the utterly amazing job you have done in putting together the new Santa Clara Magazine. The magazine is awesome.

You have created in this new version a magazine that not only represents the University but does it in a way that truly reflects the world at large—in all aspects. You give credence to the Jesuit ideals and education so dear to us all without denigrating other points of view. It is at once historical and forward-looking.

On a more personal note, I would also like to express my gratitude for the way the magazine handles the passing of our former classmates. In a magazine that is so relevant to today’s university and to today’s world, you have not forgotten to take the time to reverently mention our dear classmates and the lives of those who have gone before.

Jeff Record ’76
Lincoln, California

Really enjoyed the new format and the information in it. I learned a lot about SCU of which I was unaware. I am a member of Save the Redwoods and had no idea of its early association with SCU. I worked 15 years for FMC Corporation and am not sure I ever knew that Al Wolf ’40 was an SCU graduate.

Anyway, congratulations on the new format. I do have one request: Please do not make the lettering smaller. Some of us older graduates need larger print.

Alvaro “Al” Reis MBA ’73
Santa Clara

BUT NOT PERFECT

The good: The stories are interesting. The writing is excellent. Pictures are plentiful.

The bad: The font is too small. Sidebars in brown are less legible than sidebars in black. Margins should be restored along the central spine. Many reproduced photographs are too small. Some illustrations occupy entire pages for no legitimate reason. There should be considerably more text with fewer pictures.

Overall: The magazine is unapologetically, unabashedly, and shamelessly designed to win awards for visual impact. It aspires to be a glossy travel brochure rather than a classy alumni magazine.However, I think, in many cases, words are so much more meaningful than pictures. Please see the Atlantic Monthly or The New Yorker.

George Chen ’93
Los Gatos, California

The magazine could use some tweaks—some more serious than others.

Issue ID: The only place I could find it was in very small print at the top of page 2.

Picture/text connection: Many times it was difficult to understand how the picture shown was related to the text (see page 8, “Malala and Kailash”).

Binding stiffness: Because of the way it’s bound and the material used, it makes it almost impossible to read the right-hand column on page 34 and beyond. It won’t flatten under any conditions. I really either had to tip the magazine or struggle with both hands to see the text next to the binding.

Bill Zachman MBA ’71
Groveland, California

A GOOD BASEBALL MAN

I enjoyed your well-written story about Charlie Graham. My father, Robert F. Keefe, graduated from SCU in 1902. Known in baseball as “Bobby,” he was the star pitcher when Charlie Graham was catcher. As to the reason Graham left Boston, according to my dad, it was because of the earthquake; he was concerned about his family. No other reason was ever mentioned. When I was a student at SCU after WWII, I visited the Graham sisters at the family home near campus. When my brother and I were kids we visited the Seals Clubhouse, and Charlie Graham treated us to ice cream. Graham wanted my dad to become the secretary of the Seals organization, but the bank intervened and insisted upon having one of their own people for the job.

John Keefe ’48
Sacramento

Thank you for your excellent article concerning our grandfather. The treatment of your research and the “family lore” captured the most essential thing about our grandfather: He was a very good man living a very public life in the first half of the 20th century. He was a credit to Santa Clara, to his family, and to baseball.

Fran Smith, S.J. ’56 and Mike Smith ’54
San Mateo and Santa Clara

SILICON VALLEY STORY

Thank you for such a fresh perspective on the hidden history of Silicon Valley. It is deeply satisfying to imagine SCU graduates influencing our modern world. Of course, there would be a technology community without SCU. The question is: Would this community of innovators be turning their vast resources toward resolving the injustices of our world without the influence of SCU? I don’t think so.

The trend toward impact investing and triple bottom lines also blooms in Santa Clara Valley, along with new inventions, and I don’t think that’s an accident.

Cynthia (Schmae) Nimmo ’92
Sausalito, California

Amen. And it’s no accident our last edition featured the newly named Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship, whose programs include impact investing: scu.edu/millercenter. —Eds.

READY ALL, ROW!

I was on the crew 1964–68. As I recall, we ordered our first racing shell—from George Pocock in Seattle—in December 1964, and it was delivered (or we picked it up) in March 1965, in time for our first race.

The price was $2,000, with a set of oars (eight plus one spare) costing $400, for a total cost of $2,400. Our coach told us in December that we all had to raise $100 each; anyone not doing so would not row (we all did). I’m afraid I can no longer remember whether that first year we used the tried-and-true Catholic school method of selling candy bars, or whether it was raffle tickets (I know that in later years it was raffle tickets). We also staged car washes.

During my four years on crew we paid for our equipment, uniforms, and travel costs. The coaches were paid nothing at all. Just the reverse—it cost them their own money to be coaches on crew.

David Cumming ’69
Toronto, Canada

HAVANA NOW

I enjoyed reading this piece about fellow alum and classmate Eric Lane ’73. The featured image—A Busy Street in Cuba—left me wanting to see more. How fitting it would be to showcase Lane’s work at de Saisset Museum with a Cuban-themed opening with authentic music, dancing, and food that make Cuba and its people so vibrant.

Elena (Berto) Toscano ’73
Sonoma, California

DIAL M FOR MEMORABLE

The Letters section of your Spring/Summer issue brought back a special recollection of Alfred Hitchcock’s graduation address. Toward the end he said, to paraphrase: No one has ever truly died laughing—the subtle suggestion being to keep a sense of humor and you will live forever! Memorable advice from a 52-year-old graduation address.

Ernie Giachetti ’63
San Jose

ERROR OF FAITH

Although this error most likely does not change the underlying message, I thought I should point out that in your piece on “Malala and Kailash” (2014 Nobel Peace Prize winners, Spring/Summer 2015), Malala Yousafzai is a Muslim, not Hindu, and Kailash Satyarthi is a Hindu and not a Muslim.

We all must share their struggle regardless of our faith or ethnicity or geographical location. Thank you for publishing this important story.

Javed Iqbal
Granite Bay, California

Multiple readers pointed out this unfortunate blunder of ours, which resulted from some last-minute moving about of words. Thanks for reading, and reading closely. —Eds.