When I first came to the community I began working under Mary Lou Kownacki, becoming a member of a staff that wrote: newsletters for Emmaus Ministries and AIM USA, PR releases for the community, and articles for The Mount magazine. Soon we added the Neighborhood Art House newsletter. Through these she taught me to write news articles, feature stories, proofread, and be part of the planning for all sorts of publications and projects---to become somewhat of a journalist. And then there was Pax Publications, the predecessor of Benetvision.
After 13 years "I moved across the hall" working more directly with Joan Chittister's office but, since there was great overlap in our projects, working with Mary Lou continued and that soon became 17 more years!
I am so grateful for the many things I learned from her, here are just three:
1) The ideas can ebb and flow freely, the planning can be somewhat flexible, but the precision and accuracy of the final product is vital;
2) Growing up in the suburbs of the 50s and 60s had its pros and cons, but growing up in an ethnic Polish city neighborhood in the 40s and 50s had a whole different set!
3) Hold most things lightly and choose your battles---saving those "battles" for the really, really important things in life--and figure out what those are for yourself first. (Those aren't her exact words, they are my interpretation!)
Thanks, Mary Lou---so many wonderful memories; we'll be reminiscing for years.
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