You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
From the Archive<br />
SPS Writes its History,<br />
One Author at a Time<br />
There is something about this school and<br />
writing.<br />
One founding math teacher, Orel<br />
Phillips, Jr., co-wrote a textbook,<br />
and long-time teacher, Lou Liberty,<br />
published several books including the<br />
school’s history, Constant Possum: the<br />
History of Sandia Preparatory School<br />
and its sequel, Transition and Legacy:<br />
SPS at 50. Her latest work Pappy Shell<br />
And The Jenny Mule, is available as an<br />
ebook, also (http://louliberty.net/).<br />
Ron Briley, resident writer and teacher,<br />
presents papers at Cooperstown,<br />
published five academic books, essays,<br />
and writes locally for public radio and<br />
newspapers. His latest book is The<br />
Baseball Film in Postwar America: A<br />
Critical Study, 1948-1962.<br />
Valerie Nye ’89 co-edited True Stories of<br />
Censorship Battles in America’s Libraries<br />
with Kathy Barco in 2012. The Library<br />
Director at Institute of American Indian<br />
Arts, she previously was librarian at<br />
Santa Fe University of Art and Design,<br />
successor school to the College of<br />
Santa Fe. In addition to scholarly works<br />
published earlier, she co-wrote with<br />
Kathy Barco, Breakfast Santa Fe Style, a<br />
New Mexico Book Award (NMBA) 2007<br />
guidebook finalist and Breakfast New<br />
Mexico Style which won the NMBA for<br />
best travel book in 2009 (https://sites.<br />
google.com/site/librarycensorship/<br />
about-us).<br />
From the start, our School has embraced<br />
every method to encourage kids to write.<br />
We’ve had a literary magazine, yearbook,<br />
and a student newspaper most years.<br />
Nowadays the locations to engage in<br />
writing-for-an-audience have increased.<br />
Blogs reach audiences of all ages.<br />
Elena Saavedra Buckley, ’14, featured<br />
on page 15 of this magazine, wrote an<br />
internationally recognized classical<br />
music blog (http://neoantennae.<br />
blogspot.com/).<br />
Until his death in 2010, Harry Willson,<br />
(http://www.amadorbooks.com/amwho.<br />
htm), former Sandia Prep teacher and<br />
co-founder of Amador Publishers,<br />
wrote a blog and a column for a weekly<br />
paper – in addition to writing books of<br />
fiction, satire, social commentary and<br />
philosophy. He often stopped on campus<br />
when he had a new book so I could buy a<br />
one from the trunk of his car.<br />
Above: Harry Willson, publisher and<br />
writer, visits Sandia Prep on Career Day<br />
in the early 1990s.<br />
Photography teacher Steve Ausherman<br />
has won awards for his book of poetry,<br />
Creek Bed Blue, which came out in<br />
2013. (https://www.facebook.com/<br />
CreekBedBlue?ref=stream). English<br />
teacher Todd Kelgard’s book for midschoolers,<br />
Outside In, came out in 2001<br />
(http://www.amazon.com/Outside-<br />
Todd-Kelgard/dp/0880925671).<br />
Writing for an audience has always<br />
been a tool in our teachers’ toolkit. Lou<br />
Liberty had her students write journals,<br />
as if they were living in the period they<br />
were studying in history.<br />
Charlotte Balcomb ’74 Lane published a<br />
couple of Florida cookbooks in the 1990s,<br />
(http://www.amazon.com/Charlotte-<br />
Balcomb-Lane/e/B001KCKXX6) and<br />
her journalism gigs included restaurant<br />
reviews in Florida and New Mexico,<br />
writing Albuquerque’s last “bold-faced<br />
names” column. She works now in public<br />
relations.<br />
Pari Noskin Taichert ’75 has published<br />
one series of books set in New Mexico,<br />
the Sasha Solomon series, and started a<br />
second series, although she is not to the<br />
stage of publishing it yet (http://www.<br />
parinoskintaichert.com/).<br />
Swati Avasthi ’89, published two fiction<br />
works. I got to see her face when she<br />
brought a copy of her first book to Sandia<br />
Prep for Ron Briley to read. (Working<br />
at a school has many rewards.) www.<br />
swatiavasthi.com Her latest book<br />
Chasing Shadows has been getting great<br />
reviews, as it debuted (during Spirit<br />
Week at Sandia Prep) Sept.24, 2013.<br />
Former art teacher Ed Haddaway is<br />
now a well-exhibited sculptor, who has<br />
also started a separate webpage for his<br />
writings, one of which, about his beloved<br />
dog, made its way into my email and my<br />
heart (http://www.edhaddawayredux.<br />
com/2013/09/the-best-dog-in-theworld/).<br />
Melissa Besante Dineen ’97 and I would<br />
love to gather all of the books written by<br />
alumni and faculty – to fill bookshelves.<br />
We’d settle for having a list. Please tell<br />
us of your publications and your friends’<br />
and classmates’ writings. Send to:<br />
swalton@sandiaprep.org or mdineen@<br />
sandiaprep.org.<br />
- Susan Walton ’72<br />
1942 1987 2004-2008 1984-2013
Change language