A little birdie told me about a bird enthusiast in our class. This nugget of news from an unnamed classmate led me on an online gawking tour of some of the most beautiful wildlife photography I’ve had the privilege to see. Classmate Paul Morf may not have started photographing birds and other animals as art; in fact, he simply snapped photos of birds and insects as a reference so he could identify them later. However, these newly discovered talents in photography, as well as his deliberate efforts to focus deeper onto his subjects, morphed (yep, I went there) into a passion for capturing everything from the extraordinary species in the Galapagos to ordinary migrations of birds. On his website he notes that nature photography is “transformative” because its expression is interactive and alters the artists as well as the viewer. While Paul still views himself as a “hobbyist,” you will appreciate his artistry. Although I didn’t hear about this news from Paul, I hope he will share any news from his home in Ely, Iowa. Check out his website at Morfsylvania.com.

Mark Giordono shared an update from life in 2020 as, like many of us, his professional and personal life blurred and mutated over the past year. Mark is featured in a recent business article, where he discusses how he used his various life experiences to adapt in the work-from-home science experiment as vice president of development and alumni relations at the nonprofit For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST).

If any of you have children involved in the FIRST Lego League or FIRST Robotics competitions, you’re familiar with the widespread, STEM opportunities that FIRST provides for extracurricular exploration for students. Throughout this past year, in improvised workspaces and remote learning, Mark was uniquely positioned as a male executive in a primarily female organization to view and approach the organization’s mission. Seeing his coworkers as caregivers as well as professionals gave him new insights.

A self-described “bleeding-heart do-gooder,” Mark has a heart for service, as exemplified in his Peace Corps work in western Africa. Additionally, after graduating from MIT’s Sloan School of Management, Mark has worked in both the private and public sector. Mark lives in the beautiful college town of Corvallis, Oregon, with his wife and three children.

That’s all the news. Please send me an update for the next column.

—Laura Hardegree Davis, 520 Meadowlark Lane, Brentwood, TN 03755; lauradavis723@mac.com