BREAKING NEWS!
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A Thought for Today
Brotherhood is only love by yet another
name.
When it comes to investigative
reporting Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein (aka Woodstein), the Washington
Post reporters who first broke the Watergate story, are probably at the
top of the totem. Today, however, we're proud to introduce a new team
who have gone to extraordinary lengths to uncover the truth about a
subject that has puzzled a lot of our readers over the years.
Blackie and McKuen (aka BlackMac) reveal for the first time the story
behind the naming of Sister Mark Sandy! Their methodology was breathtaking
in it's complexity; they simply wrote and asked her to explain!
On a more serious note, Sister Mark has played an important role in Rod's
personal and professional life, as evidenced by this extract from a past
Flight Plan:
My first book, "and autumn
came. . ." was published in 1954. A friend, Bill Henderson, paid for it to
be issued by a small vanity press. I met Bill through a really close chum,
Bea Sandy. Well, she was more than a chum, I had a crush on her that to
this day has never ended. Alas for me, but good news for the poor,
downtrodden and disenfranchised, she chose Christ as a husband. That is to
say, she became a nun. Talk about competition, I never had [pardon the
pun] a prayer...
Sister Mark is to this day a close friend and confidante and but for her
prayers and advice I'm sure I would have strayed more than I have. And God
and Sister Mark know I've strayed as much as some and more than most. She
always believed in me and spread the word and so thanks to her and Bill,
just as I was finishing boot camp at Fort Ord, "and autumn came" was
published.
- First published in the
Flight Plan of August 30, 1998
Rod and I have both received a
lot of mail enquiring how Sister Mark came by a masculine name. I
occasionally correspond with her but felt I didn't know her well enough to
pose such a personal question so I asked Rod if he could shed any light on
the subject.
Surprisingly he couldn't but forwarded my letter to the good Sister who
was kind enough to send the following reply:
Curiosity killed a cat!
In 1965 when I finished my Seminary (novitiate) year and received the
Daughter of Charity habit, I was among one of the first bands (groups) to
be allowed to ask for my name.
First choice was Sister Beatrice - but at the time there were already 8 of
them, and I was told no. Second choice was Sister Sandy - in Europe
Sisters often go by their last names - but I was told "we don't do that
here." Third choice was Damaris, a convert of St.Paul's and a holy woman
about whom nothing more is known that what is stated in the Acts of the
Apostle, and I figured if that was all anyone knew about me when I died I
could consider myself very lucky. I was a convert through a Paulist father
at the Cal Newman Club, and it just seemed appropriate. But, at that time,
it still had to have a saint's name to go with it. So I went through all
the one syllable names. Liked Ann but we had dozens of them in one form or
another already, and Mark Damaris just sounded like it went together. So I
asked for Sister Mark Damaris.
There's another story about the famous Sister who took our requests, that
I won't try to tell here, but her response to my request was "You don't
want all that - you look like a Mark." And when we received our names on
the day we officially received the habit...I became Sister Mark.
In the 70's we were allowed to go back to our baptismal names if we wanted
to, but I'd watched the problems in changing your name at a large hospital
where everyone knows you, and didn't think it was worth the confusion -
then, and for years after as people tried to remember who you were/are,
and what your name was or had been.
So I'm still Sister Mark. My family and OLD friends, those who knew me
before I became Sister, still call me Bea, but to everyone I've met since
Sep.1963, I'm Sister Mark.
Hope satisfaction brings it back!
Thanks for the input, Sister
Mark, and love & prayers to you. If BlackMac make it to the Pulitzer's
we'll be sure to let you know.
I'll be back next week with
another in our "This One Does It For Me" series. If you have a favorite
McKuen song, poem or story you'd like to share, drop me a line at
kenb@mckuen.com and I'll make sure it
gets an airing right here one Wednesday soon.
- Ken, Johannesburg,
November 2
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Click on the links below for new details
(posted 09/28/2002).
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