A Certain Je Ne Sais Quoi

For some reason, which to this day remains a mystery to us both, my good friend Patti Bailey and I were placed in an advanced French class upon entering Notre Dame Prep as freshman so very many years ago. Perhaps it was our grade school record that led them to make certain assumptions about our […]

The Age of Innocence

It’s getting harder to believe in innocence anymore. I’ve seen too many 6 year olds going on 16 and 16 year olds going on 30. What’s the hurry? The most popular TV shows among teenagers have titles like Pretty Little Liars, Gossip Girls, and The Secret Life of an American Teenager. Each has a plotline […]

Excellence By Design

‘Peer evaluation’. There’s a term that’ll send a shudder down the spine of any garden-variety neurotic: Employer questionnaire: Please evaluate your co-worker, Susie B. Employee answer: I’m so glad you asked. I’ve been wanting to bring this to your attention for some time now. I feel that Susie B. can be very insensitive (I wouldn’t […]

Penny Queen

Let’s face it; if you are or have a school age child, chances are you’ve been recruited to do more than your fair share of fundraising. I know this because, more than likely, I’m your biggest customer. Personally speaking, I have enough Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies in my freezer to open my own bakery […]

Dame Maggie Ward

Yes, this is a post about Maggie Ward, NDP’s drama coach for more than 30 years, but don’t expect something out of Glee. NDP is no William McKinley High School of TV fame (thankfully), and Maggie Ward is neither a Will Schuster-wanna-be, nor a diva in her own right. In fact, the only theatrics she […]

STEAMed Chicken

Back when I was in advertising and making TV commercials, I used to love to walk through the set and listen to the film crew as they worked. I’m talking about the grips and gaffers, soundmen and camera assistants. These are the guys who did all the technical work, which required a lot of heavy […]

We Want to Hear from YOU

Bluenote has been posting for 2 months now and from the looks of it, with over 10,000 reads so far, we’ve got quite a following! It’s been a lot of fun, we’ve got a thousand ideas for new posts, and we can’t write them fast enough. But…we also want to hear from you. What’s on […]

They Call Me Madame Governor: Youth & Government at NDP

I am continually impressed with how Notre Dame has evolved since I walked its halls as a student. While it’s always been a first class, college preparatory school, one that offered plenty of empowering and enriching extracurricular activities, it’s never been content to rest on its laurels. Thanks to its consistent, visionary leadership over the […]

NDP Gateway Homecoming & Reunion

If Open House at Notre Dame is all about looking forward into the future (who and what will next year bring to NDP?) then Gateway Homecoming Weekend is all about looking backward into the past (who and what came before today’s crop of bright young women?). But just like Open House – and almost everything […]

NDP Open House: The Joint Was Jumpin’

One of the things I am most impressed with whenever I visit Notre Dame is the joyful energy of the school. It’s always buzzing with activity and the kids seem genuinely happy and engaged. I’ve visited on many occasions over the years and my experience is always the same. I’ve even been back to film […]