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Institute in New Orleans, received the 2019 Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ (AZA) Excellence in Marketing Award for the institute’s “Audubon Zoo Lights presented by Children’s Hospital 2018” campaign. The award recognizes excellence in marketing campaigns developed and executed by AZA member facilities. The campaign created an unprecedented amount of buzz for the new multinight Audubon Zoo Lights event, generating 70.5 million impressions with an earned media value of $1.6 million, 229 news stories and more than 1,000 social media mentions in November and December 2019.
Will McGrath ’98, author of the award-winning memoir, Everything Lost is Found Again: Four Seasons in Lesotho
A Love Letter to Lesotho
W
HEN WILL MCGRATH’S cultural anthropologist wife, Ellen, suggested that they spend a year in Lesotho, he had never heard of the tiny landlocked country entirely surrounded by South Africa—– or its unenviable status as the site of the second highest prevalence of HIV/AIDS on the planet. Nevertheless, McGrath embraced the idea and took a job as a high school teacher in Lesotho while Ellen researched the impact of the AIDS crisis on Lesotho’s residents. During their stay, the award-winning journalist—– who has written for The Atlantic, Foreign Affairs, Guernica, Pacific Standard, Roads & Kingdoms and other magazines—–fell in love with the ruggedly beautiful mountain kingdom and its inhabitants. His Will McGrath ‘98 memoir about the experience, Everything Lost is Found Again: Four Seasons in Lesotho, was published in January 2019. “I’m excited to have this book out in the world, and I wanted to pass the information along to the Loyola community,” he says. “I’m proud of the book but, beyond that, the publisher has agreed to donate 15 percent of all sales to a tiny Lesotho orphanage that is featured prominently in the book, so the more readers it reaches, the better.” Early in the book, McGrath made his intentions clear. “I can say one thing with certainty,” he wrote. “I did not come to Lesotho to find myself. There is nothing more tedious than white people venturing into foreign territory in search of self-knowledge, in search of authenticity—–which must be among the language’s emptiest words. There is something deeply unsettling about people who collect the essential stuff of someone else’s existence for exotic furniture in their own small-scale dramas. I did not come to Lesotho for set dressing; I came to learn about the different ways that people live.” Described by Kirkus Reviews as “a memorable love letter to the remote African kingdom that stole his heart,” McGrath’s memoir has won numerous awards, including the Dzanc/Disquiet Open Borders Book Prize, which celebrates works that express diverse points of view and global ways of thinking and being. To learn more about McGrath’s books and publications, visit willmcgrath.net. 4
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LOYOL A M AGA ZINE
Haroula R. Spyropoulos, aka Haroula Rose—–a musician, screenwriter and former Fulbright scholar—–directed “Once Upon a River,” a coming-of-age drama that was screened at 30 film festivals in Fall and Winter 2019. Rose told the Pioneer Press that she’s now working on a documentary about gun violence.
1999
Matthew A. Cherry—–see story on page 17 Juan M. “John” Garcia ‘99—–see story on page 18 Terence P. Heffernan was named assistant offensive line coach of the Buffalo Bills in January 2019. Previously, Heffernan served as the associate head coach and offensive line coach at Eastern Kentucky and as the assistant offensive line coach and quality control coach for the offensive line for the Detroit Lions. Michael A. Salvatore, owner and CEO of Heritage Bicycles, Chicago’s original bike cafe, set up the Heritage Initiative, which collects donations from customers for coffee and food delivery to essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2017, Salvatore expanded his operation to include Heritage Kitchen at the bike cafe’s Lakeview location. Dr. Elizabeth A. Stoll ‘99—–see story on page 20
2001
Rev. Robert F. Carlton ‘01—–see story on page 22 Christopher G. Howland married Maryam Sara Faridian in June 2018 at the Nicklaus Club in Monterrey, California. Groomsmen
