Saint Mary's College High School

 Mr. Michael Henning
Faculty Member Since 1993
Teacher of Mathematics
Saint Mary’s Dad
Born: Oakland, CA
Raised: Oakland and Orinda, CA

Quotable Quotes: 
“It is of great consequence that you should teach more by example than by words.” Saint John Baptist de La Salle. De La Salle (1651-1719), founder of the De La Salle Christian Brothers and the Church’s Patron of All Teachers of Youth, was himself a prolific author. His wide scope of writings include the Brothers’ Rule, meditations on teaching, a book on civility and decorum, catechisms, prayer books, school textbooks, a handbook for teachers and administrators, song-texts, and more. 

Why read?
“I’m not a fast reader. I like to look at the words and hear the words as I read. An author’s use of language is often very different from mine. If I can’t get the tone and cadence, I won’t know what’s really being said; I’ll miss the real beauty. And…I’m not just reading to get to the end.” – Michael Henning

My favorite library
Alameda’s new main branch and any Border’s Bookstore, where food is close by if I get hungry.

What I read on a regular basis
Aperture photography magazine, National Geographic

My favorite book(s)
All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy

Titles I’d recommend to Saint Mary’s students to enjoy this summer:
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (all five in the trilogy) by Douglas Adams
Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier (author of Cold Mountain)
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

Did you know?
Among the oldest publishing houses in the United States is John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Wiley has been a significant player in the publishing industry since it was founded in New York City two centuries ago in 1807, when Thomas Jefferson was president. Cambridge University Press in Cambridge, England is the oldest printing and publishing house in the world. Founded on a royal charter granted to the University by Henry VIII in 1534, it has been operating continuously as a printer and publisher since the first Press book was printed in 1584. One far younger but very familiar publishing house is Penguin, founded in 1935 and still one of the most recognizable brands in the world. The popular Penguin paperbacks were the brainchild of Sir Allen Lane, looking for something to read on the train to London, but discovering only popular magazines and reprints of Victorian novels. Lane decided that good quality contemporary fiction should be made available at an attractive price and sold not just in traditional bookshops, but also in railway stations, tobacconists and chain stores. Today, Penguin’s central office is in London, with offices in fifteen countries, including the U.S. (opened 1939, New York). The Association of American Publishers reported in May 2007 that U.S. book publishers had estimated net sales of $24.2 billion in 2006.

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Mr. Joe Adams
Director of Finance Since 2004
Born: San Antonio, Texas
Raised: Dallas, Texas and Berkeley, CA

Quotable Quotes: 
"If we encounter a man of rare intellect, we should ask him what books he reads." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Why read?
“You either read the source material for yourself or you let someone else read it for you and tell us what they think it all means. It is important to be able to read with a critical eye and be able to interpret information for yourself.” - Joe Adams

My favorite library
The Berkeley Public Library ― all of them! (There are six branch libraries in Berkeley.)

What I read on a regular basis
Wall Street Journal, Time, Newsweek, Business Week, San Francisco Chronicle

My favorite book(s)
The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936-1945 by John Toland

Titles I’d recommend to Saint Mary’s students to enjoy this summer:
Shogun by James Clavell
His Excellency:George Washington by Joseph J. Ellis
Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow

Did you know?
Scientific American is the oldest continuously-published magazine in the United States, begun in August 1845. Its early years focused primarily on the U.S. Patent Office, citing new inventions such as perpetual motion machines, an 1849 device for bouying vessels devised by Abraham Lincoln, and the “universal joint” which now finds a place in nearly every automobile manufactured. Harper’s Magazine is the second oldest, founded in 1850 in New York City as a general interest magazine about literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts. Harper’s web site offers subscribers online looks at editions of the magazine dating back to the first in 1850. 
Photo: Main Branch, Berkeley Public Library, Corner of Shattuck Avenue and Kittredge Street, built 1930.

The library is in the “Zigzag Moderne” style and was built on land belonging to Francis Kittredge Shattuck (1824-1898), one of Berkeley’s founders. The nearby Shattuck Hotel (1910) occupies the site of Shattuck’s former estate. In 1914, with an added annex, the hotel was the largest structure in any Bay area city. Shattuck came to California to seek gold. In 1853 he bought land in what would become Berkeley, and moved there in 1868, becoming its civic leader for a quarter century. Berkeley became a city in April 1878.

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John Michael Vlach
Saint Mary’s High Class of 1966

Professor, American Studies, Anthropology
Director, Folklife Program
Director, Graduate Studies for American Studies Dept.
George Washington University, Washington, D.C.

Why read?
“Among the virtues of reading is that the process allows you to go at your own chosen pace. Plus you can flip back to check on something you didn't quite understand the first time. And you can pause to think about something that strikes you as weird, amazing, or exciting without interrupting the whole process. You can stand outside of the events or circumstances being described for a bit and then jump back into the flow that the author has set for you. The Ipod, the tv, the video, the radio, don't let you be in charge of your progress in an equivalent way. A book is like a car you can drive at any pace and stop wherever you choose. And when you are in charge of your "journey," the recollections of the trip are likely to be long lasting.” - JMV

My favorite library
The Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. “It happens to be my neighborhood library, just a few blocks from my house. It’s got books (25 million give or take a few), photographs, maps, motion pictures, recorded sounds (tapes, cd’s, disks), and manuscripts. The reading room is one of the most beautiful rooms in the world. Go to www.americaslibrary.gov and check it out.” - JMV

My favorite book(s)
At the moment, my favorite is by one of my teachers; a study of the great singers and storytellers living in a small Catholic village in Protestant Northern Ireland:
The Stars of Ballymenone by Henry Glassie

Titles I’d recommend to Saint Mary’s students to enjoy this summer:
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
In Small Things Forgotten  by James Deetz
And one of my own books, Charleston Blacksmith: The Work of Philip Simmons by John Michael Vlach

Did you know?
Renowned poet and author Maya Angelou is the grandmother of Saint Mary’s alumnus, Colin Murphy-Johnson, Class of 1994. Dr. Angelou gave an eloquent address to the Classes of 1994 and 1944 at the graduation breakfast in June 1994. Famed author Terry McMillan is a Saint Mary’s Alumni Mom who spent a lot of time on the school track. Son Solomon Welch, Class of 2002, had a record-setting track and field career at Peralta Park and went on to do the same at Stanford.

For more than thirty years, John Michael Vlach has concentrated his scholarship on aspects of the African Diaspora by conducting field research in Africa (Ghana, Nigeria), the Caribbean (Haiti, Jamaica), and across the southern regions of the United States. His work has been called one of the most important contributions to the study of African-American folklore and the first thorough study of material folk culture that any folklore researcher has completed on African-American folk culture. Mr. Vlach recently donated eight of his titles to the Saint Mary’s High library. Among them is By the Work of Their Hands: Studies in Afro-American Folk Life (1991).

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Mr. Joseph Palladino
Faculty Member Since 2004
Teacher of Religion
Basketball Coach

Quotable Quotes: 
"I have always imagined that paradise will be a kind of library." - Jorge Luis Borges

My favorite library
University of San Francisco Library

What I read on a regular basis
New York Times, Newsweek, local newspapers

My favorite book(s)
Non-Violent Communication by Marshall Rosenberg

Titles I’d recommend to Saint Mary’s students to enjoy this summer:
Picnic Lightning – Poems by Billy Collins
Return of the Prodigal Son by Henri Nouwen (A must-read for those interested in Catholic spirituality. – JP)
War is a Force that Gives Us Meaning by Chris Hedges

Did you know?
The University of San Francisco was established as the City’s first iinstitution of higher education by the Jesuit Fathers in October 1855. Known first as St. Ignatius Academy, it was located on the south side of Market Street between Fourth and Fifth Streets, currently the Westfield Shopping Center. In 1880, the College moved to Van Ness Avenue on the site of Davies Symphony Hall. The 1906 fire and earthquake destroyed the college and all its laboratories, libraries, and art treasures. Today, USF, with its 55 acres, is San Francisco’s largest independent university campus, located on a hilltop near Golden Gate Park, and overlooking downtown San Francisco and the Pacific Ocean. 

In 1914, USF’s St. Ignatius Church (above) was dedicated at “Lone Mountain” which, from 1854 to about 1920 was the site of one of San Francisco’s several pioneer cemeteries. During the 1910s, City ordinances were passed to remove the cemeteries that were taking up too much valuable land and to relocate them to San Mateo County, primarily the city of Colma. Today, only two cemeteries remain within the city of San Francisco, at Mission Dolores, 16^th and Dolores Streets (right) and San Francisco National Cemetery at the Presidio. Mission Dolores was founded in 1776 and its cemetery is the final resting place of some 5,000 Ohlone, Miwok, and other First Californians.  It was featured in the Hitchcock classic film thriller “Vertigo” which has a wealth of gorgeous San Francisco area scenery.

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Robert San Souci
Class of 1964
Author and Illustrator

Born San Francisco, CA; Raised Berkeley, CA
In his career, Robert has collaborated on a number of titles with his illustrator brother, Dan, Class of 1966.
Robert worked on the Peraltan yearbook at Saint Mary’s.

 Learn more at www.rsansouci.com

Why read?
“As an author with nearly 100 published books for readers of all ages, my career has always been deeply involved with books and reading. I grew up in a family where books were treasured and reading was an everyday necessity. I loved to be read to -- and, when I learned to read for myself, I immersed myself in books of all kinds: folktales, fairy tales, adventure, history, ghost stories -- anything I could get my hands on. I decided very early on that my love of books and the writing process were combining to urge me to become a writer myself. I could not imagine a more gratifying personal achievement -- nor a more wonderful thing to give to the world -- than to create my own books: books that (I always hope) will provide excitement, laughter, insight, and inspiration in varying degrees. I am constantly on the lookout for new, worthwhile books to provide me everything from pure escapism to profound thinking on a variety of subjects. As a writer, I learn continually from reading good books how to improve my own writing and clarify my thinking and experience creative efforts that sweep me back to the dawn of time or parts of the world I have never visited or to the outer limits of another author's imagination. Reading has been a gift for all of my life. I can't imagine a world without books. I hope you share my enthusiasm.” - Robert San Souci

Titles I’d recommend to Saint Mary’s students to enjoy this summer:
The Highest Tide by Jim Lynch (Set in Puget Sound)
A Northern Light by Jennifer Connelly (A true murder mystery meets a girl's coming of age)
Rash by Pete Hautman  (Fictional commentary on safety, prisons, and civil liberties)
Zazoo by Richard Mosher  (A girl's grandfather's secrets from the war are revealed)
A Brief Chapter in My Impossible Life by Dana (Adopted families and a girl discovering her Jewish heritage)
Summer of Kings by Han Nolan   (A deeply moving portrait of love set during the Civil Rights era)
Uglies by Scott Westerfelt  (Set in a future where teenage plastic surgery is compulsory)
Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta (An Australian teenage girl struggles to fit into her new school, which has recently gone co-ed, while her brilliant mother battles depression.)
Dunk by David Lubar   (A troubled teen boy finds a way to use humor to help his best friend cope with illness--his friend survives, don't worry!)
13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson  (A 17 year old girl's summer trip through Europe connects her to her deceased aunt, who wrote her 13 letters before her death.)
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer   (Edward is the best thing since Mr. Darcy – the hero of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice)
Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer (A summer reading pick that the kids actually like!) 

Did you know?
Robert San Souci wrote the film story for Disney’s Mulan!

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Mr. Brian Thomas
Faculty Member Since 1999
School Librarian (beginning June 2007)
Teacher of English

Quotable Quotes: “Perhaps no place in any community is so totally democratic as the town library. The only entrance requirement is interest.” - Lady Bird Johnson

Why Read?
“Electromagnetic radiation having a wavelength between 700 nanometers to roughly 400 nanometers enters your eye. Your brain connects that sensation to patterns it has seen in early memories that we call letters and words. These letters and words are connected in our brains to sounds that are even older memories that are connected to concrete objects like ‘book’ and abstract ideas like ‘read.’ But why do this? You've already answered the question if you've come this far.” - Brian Thomas

My favorite library
My favorite library of all time and the one in which I always find myself is Borges’ Library of Babel, but since it is whole in the absolute sense, I'll tell you my favorite partial library: The Lafayette Library and Learning Center, a library still being built.

My favorite book(s)
Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Human All Too Human by Friedrich Nietzsche
Beloved by Toni Morrison
A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman

What I read on a regular basis
“Words, Words, Words,” Wikipedia, and Nietzsche’s “Schopenhauer as Educator” at least once a year.

What I’m reading now
Anything I can find on Library and Information Science to help me in my new position as School Librarian.

Titles I’d recommend to Saint Mary’s students to enjoy this summer:
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
The Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Shooter by Walter Dean Myers
Is This All There Is? by Annie Moore

Did you know?
Johann Gutenberg, of the German city of Mainz, is acknowledged as the first to perfect a metal moveable type printing in Europe. Gutenberg was a goldsmith who knew the same techniques of cutting punches for making coins from moulds as the Koreans adapted to their system. Over a ten year period from approximately 1435 to 1450 he developed hardware and techniques for casting letters from matrices using a device called the hand mould. Gutenburg's key invention, the hand mould, was the first practical means of making cheap copies of letterpunches in the vast quantities needed to print a single book. It was the essential piece of hardware that made the

moveable type printing process viable and profitable, and far more practical than producing handwritten manuscripts done by copyists. The impact of printing is considered comparable to the development of writing and the invention of the alphabet or the internet as far as its effects on society, with the ability to disseminate written information more effectively. Because of the printing press, authorship became more meaningful and profitable. Because the printing process ensured that the same information fell on the same pages, page numbering, tables of contents, and indices became common. The process of reading was also changed, gradually changing over several centuries from oral readings to silent, private reading. The wider availability of printed materials also led to a drastic rise in the adult literacy rate throughout Europe. In 1999, the A&E network named Gutenberg the most influential person of the millennium for his development of the printing press. Pictured: Gutenberg Printing Press

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Brother V. Kenneth, FSC

 Faculty member since 1999.
Teacher of Religion
Director of the Brothers’ Community
Principal Emeritus
Born: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

 Quotable Quotes: “In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through to you.” - Mortimer Adler, Co-founder, Great Books of the Western World and the Great Books Foundation

 Why read?
“Please refer to Clare McCormick’s statement about reading. I could not have stated it any better than she.” - Brother Kenneth

 My Favorite Library
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Main Branch

What I read on a regular basis
Catholic Digest, Reader’s Digest, National Review, Variety, National Catholic Register, Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

 My favorite book(s)
Swanson on Swanson by Gloria Swanson

 Titles I’d recommend to Saint Mary’s students to enjoy this summer:
Griffith by Lillian Gish
Sunshine and Shadow by Mary Pickford
Living in a Great Big Way by Kate Smith (at right)

 Did you know?
“Forty years ago, I worked in the now-defunct School’s Department of Carnegie Library’s main branch in Pittsburgh. My job was to go through old grammar school readers and textbooks to see which ones should be rebound and which ones should be discarded. I ran across so many wonderful old books like the Beatrix Potter series and the Dick and Jane readers! An incredible world was revealed with each turn of the page, and the clock on the wall ceased to exist!” - Brother Kenneth

Playbill is a monthly U.S. magazine for theatregoers, printed for stage productions and available by home delivery subscription. Playbill articles change monthly to reflect new shows and artists performing in plays, musicals or special attractions, and contain a cast list, cast photos, cast biographies, song lists, performers, and a list of scenes in the featured play. Opening Night Playbills are specially marked and are valuable collectors’ items. Playbill was first printed in 1884 in New York City for one single theatre on 21^st Street. Today, circulation is nearly four million, comparable to magazines such as Time, and is published for every Broadway show, many off-Broadway shows, and various productions around the country.

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Mr. Peter Imperial
Saint Mary’s Principal since 2005
Born: San Francisco, California

What I read on a regular basis
San Francisco Chronicle, Atlantic Monthly, Education Week

My favorite book(s)
The Civil War by Shelby Foote

Titles I’d recommend to Saint Mary’s students to enjoy this summer:

Black Hawk Down by Mark Bowden
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Did you know?
So why is Mr. Imperial here on the Pacific Coast an avid reader of the Atlantic Monthly?
In the mid-nineteenth century, New England intellectuals became preoccupied by something they called “the American idea.” The United States was less than a hundred years old, but its philosophers and poets were convinced that the New World was already producing a new kind of human being. Americans, they believed, were more than just transplanted Europeans. They were a distinct people, lacking in art galleries and opera houses but abounding in sheer exuberance and creative thinking. A nation built on the premise of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” needed a culture that was vast enough to hold its visions and ideals. With this lofty aim in mind, a circle of literary friends with Ralph Waldo Emerson (at right) as its lynchpin began meeting on Saturday afternoons in the early 1850s.  Sharing a table at Boston’s Albion Restaurant or Parker House Hotel, these literary luminaries read original poetry, condemned slavery, and pondered new ways to enlighten the masses. The Atlantic Monthly was born during such a gathering in the spring of 1857, published as a new journal of American politics, art and literature. The first issue featured poems by Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, John Greenleaf Whittier, and James Russell Lowell. It would be many years before the magazine expanded to include writers from the western states, among them Mark Twain. Today, The Atlantic continues to define and redefine the “American idea.” It celebrates 150 years in 2007. (Note: the tasty Parker House dinner roll originated at the Parker House Hotel in Boston, named above.)

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Mrs. Carla Harkness
Faculty Member Since 1995
Peraltan Yearbook Advisor

Quotable Quotes: 
“I have lost all sense of home, having moved about so much. It means to me now only that place where the books are kept.”  - John Steinbeck

Why read?
“The importance of reading is profound. Your vocabulary broadens, your writing improves, your mind expands. Reading opens the portals of imagination, adventure, philosophy, science, the arts, and history. It is the foundation of democracy and enlightenment.” – Carla Harkness

My favorite library
As a child, I spent every Saturday afternoon in the San Lorenzo public library, reading four or five books in addition to my school assignments. My current favorite is the North Berkeley branch library. I love its architecture, coziness, and access to all the Berkeley Public Library resources.  

 What I read on a regular basis
Health articles online from CDC, WebMD, JAMA
The New York Times, Newsweek, Money Magazine, Oprah Magazine

 My favorite book(s)
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison – one of the greatest American novels

 Titles I’d recommend to Saint Mary’s students to enjoy this summer:

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (“You learn more every time you read it!” -CH)
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (“An American classic of social justice.” -CH)
Any title in the Lucas Davenport mystery series by John Sandford (“Great beach reads for mystery fans!” -CH)

Did you know?
American Literature: America’s literary tradition begins linked to the broader tradition of English literature. Some of the earliest forms of American literature were pamphlets and writings extolling the benefits of the colonies at Jamestown, Virginia (1607) to both a European and colonist audience. Authors of “Colonial Literature” included Benjamin Franklin, William Penn, Cotton Mather, and Thomas Paine. Post-Revolutionary War literature followed, then the uniquely American style of literature by authors such as James Fenimore Cooper, Edgar Allen Poe (at right), Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Herman Melville, Walt Whitman, and Emily Dickinson. Mark Twain’s regional masterpieces changed the way Americans write their language: characters speak like real people and sound distinctively American, using local dialects and regional accents. 

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Ms. Catherine Mahoney

 Faculty member since 1996.
Teacher of French, English.
Advisor: Paradox, The Peraltan Newspaper

Born: Staten Island, New York
Raised: Riverdale, The Bronx, right near the Christian Brothers’ Manhattan College

Why read?
“Reading is the most important education there is. It teaches you to be more human because after reading, you have been more humans.” – Catherine Mahoney

My Favorite Library
It’s in Southeastern France, near the Italian border, in the chateau I’ll move into after I retire. It opens onto a lovely, sunny garden.

What I read on a regular basis
The San Jose Sharks’ home page! That’s it.

My favorite book(s)
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Titles I’d recommend to Saint Mary’s students to enjoy this summer:
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13-3/4 by Sue Townsend
The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul by Douglas Adams
Skinny Dip by Carl Hiaasen

Did you know?
In May 1853, five Christian Brothers moved their small Canal Street school to what was then known as Manhattanville, a section of New York City at 131st Street and Broadway.  Between 1853 and 1863, the school grew rapidly, adding college-level courses in 1859 and first using the name Manhattan College in 1861. Its first formal college catalog in 1863* stated its goals – to afford young people, especially those in need, the means of acquiring the highest grade of education attained in the best American universities or colleges. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Guiliani is a 1965 graduate of Manhattan College and of the Brothers’ high school in The Bronx, founded in 1851. The Christian Brothers began teaching in the United States at Calvert Hall in Baltimore, Maryland in 1854. *1863: Saint Mary’s College and high school are founded in San Francisco.

Ms. Mahoney is a graduate of Sleepy Hollow High School in Sleepy Hollow, New York; it is one of the “Public Schools of the Tarrytowns,” an area famous for the American classic The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving, and made even more popular by Johnny Depp’s recent film portrayal of the story’s unlikely hero, Ichabod Crane. Ms. Mahoney claims to have painted hoofprints ― purportedly belonging to the Headless Horseman ― at the front of the school as a spirit week prank in her youth. “Hoofprints” is also the name of the school newspaper, and the school’s sports teams are known as “The Horsemen.” According to Ms. Mahoney, the school never really had a mascot, because a horse and headless horseman were a little too difficult to pull off!

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Mr. Casey Filson
Faculty member since 1991.
Director of Bands (Emeritus)
School Counselor & Coach

Born: Richmond, California
Raised: West Contra Costa County

 Quotable Quotes: “One sure window into a person's soul is his reading list.” - Mary B. W. Tabor, New York Times

Why read?
“Reading:

• Improves mental functions.
• Provides a chance to use one’s imagination.
• Improves attention deficit in me personally.” - Mr. Filson

My Favorite Library
New York University Library

What I read on a regular basis
San Francisco Chronicle

My favorite book(s)
East of Eden by John Steinbeck

Titles I’d recommend to Saint Mary’s students to enjoy this summer:
Autobiography of Jackie Robinson
Autobiography of Abraham Lincoln
Autobiography of Malcolm X

Did you know?
The center of NYU is its Washington Square campus in the heart of Greenwich Village. One of the city’s most creative and energetic communities, the Village is a historic neighborhood that has attracted generations of writers, musicians, artists, and intellectuals. Beyond the Village, New York City becomes an extension of the University’s campus.

NYU Library,
Stanford White, Architect, 1894.

Mrs. Janet Hack
Faculty Member Since 1978
Director of College Counseling

Born: Fort Collins, Colorado
“Army Brat” until grade six, moving around the country.
Grades seven-on: Pleasant Hill, CA

 Quotable Quotes: 
“A book is like a man - clever and dull, brave and cowardly, beautiful and ugly. For every flowering thought there will be a page like a wet and mangy mongrel, and for every looping flight a tap on the wing and a reminder that wax cannot hold the feathers firm too near the sun.” - John Steinbeck

 My favorite library
Currently: Berkeley Public Library North Branch. Long ago: Pleasant Hill High School Library.

What I read on a regular basis
San Francisco Chronicle, Chronicle of Higher Education, Consumer Reports

My favorite book(s)
I have too many to name them all!

Titles I’d recommend to Saint Mary’s students to enjoy this summer:
The Englishman’s Boy by Guy Vanderhaeghe
Atonement by Ian McEwan
Into Thin Air by John Krakauer

Did you know?
His life rooted in the earth and people of California’s Salinas Valley, author John Steinbeck (1902-1968) achieved worldwide recognition for his keen observations and powerful descriptions of the human condition. He championed the forgotten and disenfranchised while affirming the strength of the human spirit. His life was as rich and provocative as the Salinas Valley he immortalized in his writing. Steinbeck drew his inspiration from this land and became known throughout the world, receiving the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962. Seventeen of his more than three dozen works were made into films. His stories are very familiar to high school students, and include The Red Pony, Tortilla Flat, In Dubious Battle, Of Mice and Men, The Long Valley, The Grapes of Wrath, Cannery Row, The Pearl, and East of Eden (1955 movie poster at left). Cannery Row in Monterey, California, now a popular tourist destination and home to the famed Monterey Bay Aquarium, was for years the site of more than two dozen sardine canning factories, and is the setting for Steinbeck’s novel Cannery Row. The National Steinbeck Center and museum is located in historic Old Town Salinas, California.

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Ms. Maryann Ferris
Faculty Member Since 2006

Congratulations on your June 2007 wedding, Ms. Ferris!

My favorite library
Arcadia Public Library, CA

 What I read on a regular basis
San Francisco Chronicle, New Yorker Magazine, Yoga Journal

My favorite book(s)
From childhood: Emily of New Moon series by Lucy Maud Montgomery
Presently: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
                God: Stories a collection by C. Michael Curtis

Titles I’d recommend to Saint Mary’s students to enjoy this summer:
The Alchemist by Paul Coehlo
I Am One of Your Forever by Fred Chappell
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

Did you know?
Among highly-published women writers are two on Ms. Ferris’ reading list ― Edith Wharton and Lucy Maud Montgomery. Wharton (1862-1937) was born in New York City and was a novelist, short story writer, interior designer, and renowned landscape artist. She was well-acquainted with many of the great literary and political figures of her time. In 1902, she designed and built “The Mount,” her estate in Lenox, Massachusetts, which exemplifies her design principles. 

Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874-1942) was Canadian, best-known for her delightful series of novels that began with Anne of Green Gables, set in the author’s own birthplace on Prince Edward Island. Like her stories’ heroine, Anne Shirley, Lucy was a teacher, and also wrote short stories and worked for Island newspapers. Anne of Green Gables was her first novel (1908). She had three sons, wrote twenty novels, seven in the Anne series, as well as numerous short stories and poems.

 The summer 2007 movie Nancy Drew is based on a beloved series of stories about a young amateur detective, first published in the 1930s. The pseudonym, Carolyn Keene, was used as the author’s name, but the books were actually written by various authors. The books have been in print continuously since the 1930’s and were updated in the 1960’s. Over 200 million copies have been sold worldwide and series sets are collectibles. The series has 175 titles, and Nancy Drew has been on the big screen five times and in two television series, first in the 1970s and then in the mid-1990’s. On occasion, Nancy Drew has joined forces with her male sleuthing counterparts, The Hardy Boys, in print and on screen.

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Ms. Fakhri Shafai
Saint Mary’s Science Faculty
Member since 2005.

Born: Altaloma, California
Raised: Foresthill, California

Quotable Quotes: “I go into my library and all history unrolls before me.” - Alexander Smith

My Favorite Library: The University Library at Cal Berkeley

What I read on a regular basis : Discover Magazine, “Fables” and “Y: The Last Man” Comic Series

My favorite book(s)
A Canticle for Liebowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr.

Titles I’d recommend to Saint Mary’s students to enjoy this summer:
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Did you know?
UC Berkeley holds some of the finest research collections in the United States. Library holdings include over 10 million print volumes. The Library’s collections are the oldest on the West Coast and include more than 400 specialized collections, recognized for their rare and unusual content, including historic Chinese monumental rubbings, thousands of photographs that document the history of California, and the country’s largest collection of Egyptian papyri. Of particular interest are the special collections of The Bancroft Library, incorporating unique collections of Western Americana, the Mark Twain Papers, and the Regional Oral History Office. A walk through the UC Berkeley campus ― especially the University (Doe) and Bancroft Libraries ― is a walk through history. Spend some time this summer visiting the educational gem so close to home. A $2.00 ride to the top of the 307-foot tall Campanile landmark clock tower built in 1914 is a must, for spectacular views of the Bay Area and a rousing, sometimes deafening, carillon concert. Check out Hearst Memorial Mining Building, the Greek Theater, Memorial Stadium (home of the Golden Bears), and a full-sized T-Rex skeleton in the Museum of Paleontology.

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Mr. Daniel San Souci
Saint Mary’s High Class of 1966
Book Illustrator
www.danielsansouci.com

Born in San Francisco, raised in Berkeley.

Attended School of the Madeleine and California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland. During his career as an author and illustrator, he has published nearly fifty children’s books, including thirteen with his brother, Robert, Saint Mary’s Class of 1964.

Why read?
“Reading is the key to developing the imagination. No matter what path you take in life, the person who is creative and imaginative will always be the one in demand. In an age filled with computer games, cell phones, and videos, it is extremely important to set time aside for reading. In my years at Saint Mary’s, we were always encouraged to read and I will always be thankful for this.” -Daniel San Souci

Titles I’d recommend to Saint Mary’s students to enjoy this summer:
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
Martin Eden by Jack London
My Life with Chimpanzees by Jane Goodall
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
Jack London: A Biography by Daniel Dyer
The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson by Mark Twain
How the Irish Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

Did you know? 
Jack London, at right, (as in the Square in Oakland) was born in San Francisco in 1876 and spent much of his youth on the Oakland waterfront, educating himself at the Oakland Public Library.  He was a writer, sailor, adventurer, gold prospector, and rancher in Sonoma County. He died in 1916 at age forty, having had over fifty of his books published, including White Fang and Call of the Wild. He was the best-selling, highest-paid, and most popular author of his time.

 One of Mark Twain’s most famous quotes (at least locally) is:
“The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco!”

Daniel San Souci on drawing: Before World War II, Daniel’s father worked in New York City as graphic artist. He was very talented and thought it was important for his son to have a good foundation in drawing. “In the evenings after dinner, my father and I would clear the kitchen table, and sit down and draw together. He really enjoyed teaching me and encouraged me to draw every free moment I had,” says Daniel. He illustrated his first book in 1978

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Mr. Jeff Rogers

Born: San Jose, CA
Faculty Member Since 1997 - Teacher of History, Cross Country & Track Coach

Quotable Quotes: "I find television very educating. Every time someone turns the set on, I go into the other room and read a book." - Groucho Marx

 Why read?
“Reading allows you to imagine, think, and get in touch with feelings and thoughts you otherwise would not have. It’s also very relaxing!!” - Jeff Rogers
My favorite library
The Oakland Public Library

What I read on a regular basis
San Francisco Chronicle, Time Magazine, Sports Illustrated

My favorite book(s)
Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls

Titles I’d recommend to Saint Mary’s students to enjoy this summer:
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

Did you know?
The Secret History is a 1992 novel by Mississippi-born author Donna Tartt. Set in Vermont, the story tells of a murder within a small, close-knit group of classics students at a small, elite New England college. Her first novel, it became a bestseller. A 75,000-book order was made for the first printing, as opposed to the usual 10,000 copies made for the initial print run of a debut novel. A passage of the novel was used as a sample reading selection on the June 2, 2007 administration of the SAT.  

The first true mystery story is considered to be Murders in the Rue Morgue written by Edgar Allen Poe in 1841, followed by The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins in 1860. Some of the most popular crime novels were published in the 1930s and 1940s and are known as “American Noir.” Many were made into films that remain classics today. The massive popularity of inexpensive fiction magazines known as “pulp magazines” only increased the interest in mystery fiction. A 1941 example is shown at right.

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Ms. Clare McCormick

Born: Oakland, California
Faculty member since 2004 - Teacher of Religion, English and the Service Learning Coordinator

Why read?
“Reading is one of the least expensive, most rewarding addictions in life! It lets me escape into another world while expanding my own. I can read for pleasure and entertainment or knowledge and information. Reading increases vocabulary and writing skills, while enhancing focus and creativity. It burns more calories than watching TV, and are NO commercials!” - Ms. McCormick

My Favorite Library
As a child, the Glenview Library, Oakland.
Today, the Alameda and Oakland Main Libraries.

What I read on a regular basis
Professional journals, The Oakland Tribune, The Catholic Voice

My favorite book(s)
Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb
Any book written by John Grisham

Titles I’d recommend to Saint Mary’s students to enjoy this summer:
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Black Boy or Native Son by Richard Wright
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez

Did you know?

Harper Lee was born in Monroeville, Alabama in 1926, the youngest of four children. Her father was a newspaper editor, proprietor, lawyer, and a state legislator. As a child, Lee was a tomboy and a precocious reader, and enjoyed the friendship of her schoolmate and neighbor, the young Truman Capote, on whom Mockingbird’s character, Dill, was based. Her mother’s name was Frances Cunningham Finch Lee. If you read To Kill a Mockingbird this summer, you’ll know why that’s a note of interest. The book is based on many of her own life experiences. Published July 11, 1960, To Kill a Mockingbird was an immediate bestseller and won Lee great critical acclaim, including the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1961. It remains a bestseller today, with over 15 million copies in print, and has earned a secure place in the canon of American Literature. In 1999, it was voted “Best Novel of the Century” in a poll conducted by the Library Journal.