A funny thing happened on my way to writing this editor’s column. I knew the theme would be life moving on. But where to start?
I couldn’t decide if I should open with Chuck Lennon’s retirement this summer after 30 years as head of the Alumni Association. I could point readers to Dick Conklin’s affectionate farewell and express my own admiration for someone who has meant so much to the Notre Dame family.
I could then introduce the association’s new director, Dolly Duffy ’84, who has been associate director since 2008. A South Dakota native, Duffy and her husband, Dan Fangman ’84MBA, had owned their own business for 17 years before coming to South Bend.
That a woman will head the alumni organization seemed perfectly natural, hardly noteworthy — until I remembered the University was male-only for the school’s first 130 years, and that women long felt like interlopers when Domers gathered to cheer revered traditions.
My other option for opening this “life goes on” theme was the magazine’s forays into 21st century communication. The magazine, first published in 1972, launched its website in 1996, providing online what was available in print. The menu expanded over time, but not much.
For the past year or more, however, the website has significantly expanded its offerings. Thanks to Carol Schaal ’91M.A. and John Monczunski, the magazine’s website gives online readers lively content not found in our print quarterly, with new postings almost daily.
Alumni, faculty and staff write regular columns for us about a variety of topics. Many others contribute reflections and opinion pieces. Michael Molinelli’s Molarity crew can be seen in historic black-and-white cartoons and in all-new full-color episodes. If you’d prefer to hear magazine stories or audio clips relating to stories or campus happenings, check out the magazine on iTunes. Connect to us on Facebook, or scan our “Networthy ND” feature that gathers Notre Dame-related stories from various sources.
Or join the conversation by sending, sharing, friending, responding and writing.
While we’re as devoted as ever to our print edition, we also understand the new appetites for information exchange. So we’re now going mobile and making that familiar Notre Dame Magazine conversation available in a digital magazine and e-reader format, and planning to expand the menu as time goes by.
Life does go on.
But here’s the funny thing that happened the day I set to write about the march of time.
As I thumbed through our winter 2000-01 issue looking for something else, I found an essay on page 96 by Beth Apone Salamon ’90, entitled “I Have Become the Center of the Universe,” in which she writes about motherhood and the “two creatures [who] look to me to meet their every waking need.”
An hour later, reading proofs for this issue, was another essay, again on page 96, about motherhood by Beth Apone Salamon. It’s called “The Death of Me,” and it’s about her children having reached the age when they have outgrown her. She laments being cast aside while her kids charge into adolescence.
Time does move on. But some things never change.
Kerry Temple is editor of Notre Dame Magazine. Email him at ktemple@nd.edu.