Letter From

It’s been more than a year since I left the comfort of the bluff for the uncertainty of New York City…

“Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam” (“For the greater glory of God”) still resonates some 43 years after graduating from LMU and living overseas since 1981 in Japan, where Jesuit St. Francis Xavier spread the Word of God.

I haven’t worn deodorant in four months. And forget about makeup. My sense of vanity — and perhaps my sense of smell — were flung to the wayside when I started hiking 3,000 km across New Zealand with my dad.

When I graduated, I left LMU with a triple major and no idea what I wanted to do. Imagine that. I started a Santa photo program at a mall, where kids come to get their photo taken with Santa and parents come to complain. Unfortunately, that gig lasts only two months every year. So I had to figure out what was next.

Forty-one years ago, I left the gentle ocean breezes and sunshine of Westchester to live and work in Sacramento — cold, damp, foggy Sacramento; government-town Sacramento; tomato-and-rice farming Sacramento. Goodbye, civilization. Hello, “cow town.”

After graduation in 2006, I moved back to Las Vegas, my hometown, and earned my law degree from the University of Nevada Las Vegas. What I find amazing since graduation is that my LMU experiences continue to impact my life.

DEAR LMU I never would have guessed that I’d be living in the Mile High City — so far away from my Bay Area home. Peg Dolan, R.S.H.M., always said that our God is a God of surprises! After all,…

DEAR LMU Who would have thought I’d leave sunny California and LMU’s amazing view from the bluff for the fast-paced life of New York! After graduation, I headed east to pursue a master’s degree in social work at Columbia University….