Some neighborhood

The first thing that popped in my mind this morning was what a great time I had yesterday. Yes, I worked a ton, but in the middle of it I had a wonderful lunch with some friends. I'm not at all unique, but since I moved to Arlington I've become close to a lot of people who have kids in elementary school. We're parenting with kids at similar stages in school which means we have a LOT in common. And to move through life together with a bunch of people who share many experiences with you IS ALSO like being in school together.

The particular delight yesterday was having lunch hosted by a neighbor who's a good cook and a perfectionist. I could tell that we could never live in the same place for very long (I'm much too messy and laid-back), but the occasional visit is quite wonderful. It was a bit of a special lunch: my neighbor Angela was saying goodbye to an older Indian woman, Bah, the mother of a another parent of school-age kids in the neighborhood. Bah, who was retuning to her home in Colorado, had ingratiated herself with many in the neighborhood by her easy-going style and her great Indian cooking. Angela responded in kind with a lovely asparagus risotto, home-made bread and a great little green salad. Bah's daughter in law (another friend of mine) was the fourth person to share in the meal.

At that meal, I witnessed love and caring between friends, participated in an open and lively conversation, and enjoyed a really nice meal -- with a strawberry shortcake dessert. "Oh, it was easy," Angela protested when I threw her a compliment. But like many gifts in this neighborhood, the execution might have been easy, but the thought, the generous intentions, the uplifting atmosphere . . . that was truly special. And not easily duplicated.

Short biography, 1987-2012

Mark Rennella short biography for Amherst College 25th Reunion

After graduating from Amherst, I lived in France for two years – the first year on a Rotary International scholarship and the second teaching English at the University of Tours. It was the best time of my life up to that point! I also fell in love with a French woman whom I eventually married at the tender age of 25.

After France, I moved to Miami (my home town) where I received a M.A. in English. I was thinking about getting a Ph.D. in English, but the state of things in grad school for a lover of literature was grim. Literature wasn’t literature any more, I learned – it was philosophy. That was not for me. So, I decided to get a Ph.D. in American Intellectual History (at Brandeis) where I could study texts in their historical context (without making excuses), which I loved doing as an American Studies major at Amherst (inspired by Bob Gross).

The Ph.D. took a while – ten years until I eventually finished the dissertation. In the meantime, my French wife left the marriage for greener pastures. Two years later, I married a woman from Massachusetts who had studied at Northeastern. While I was earning the Ph.D., I lived in Lowell, Massachusetts (my wife’s home town), where rent was cheap! I taught as an adjunct here and there until getting the best adjunct job I could think of – as a lecturer at the History and Literature Program at Harvard. I spent six years there, earning my Ph.D. in the middle of my stint there in 2001. That was also the year my first boy, Davis Henry Rennella, was born. My second boy, Benjamin Emmanuel Rennella, arrived on August 19, 2004 (see photos).

In the early 2000s, seeing that prospects for teaching in the humanities were not too promising, I searched for a career change. I credit one of my dissertation readers from Brandeis, the very prolific and insightful Morton Keller, with giving me a nudge in the right direction. Keller was a business historian and knew that Harvard Business School employed all kinds of people as Research Associates – which was a way to shift towards the business world. I was wary at first having learned about how evil business was in my previous education in the humanities. But, I got over that fear and began working for a marketing professor who was interested in cultural history. It was a good match. I eventually worked for four years at HBS. During that time, I published my dissertation (The Boston Cosmopolitans) and became a co-author of a business book on leadership called Entrepreneurs, Managers and Leaders. (Soon after the second book was published, one of my co-authors became Dean of HBS, a stroke of good fortune I’m still trying to exploit!)

Life being full of surprises, my second wife left our marriage for her own set of greener pastures in 2007. In 2008, I moved from Chelmsford, Massachusetts, to Arlington, where I live with my sons today. After HBS, I stayed in business and worked for an executive education firm starting in 2007 for about three years. Most recently, I went back to Harvard where I now work for Harvard Business Publishing, which is a great combination of the academic and business worlds.

Looking to the future, I’m hoping to write some fiction – just for fun, and maybe for profit. I’m also thinking about combining the work of my two books to write about the emerging field of “Global Leadership.” I’ll also be following the progress of my two sons whose loving natures and open minds have brought so much joy to my life (see photos). Lately, they’ve become creative collaborators, working together on a series of comics called “Adventures of the Snuggle Buddies.” It’s sort of like Star Wars meets SpongeBob. Ask me about how they’ve progressed at our 30th reunion!

Writing, writing

I went to my college's 25th reunion this last weekend. It was strangely and truly gratifying to see people from 25 years ago. I connected with some old classmates that I hope to stay in touch with, which was the best takeaway from this meeting.

One surprising result of the reunion was getting good feedback about my writing. Everybody from the class of 1987 was asked to write a biographical statement of sorts. Some wrote a lot, some wrote a little, but it ended up being a pretty big and beautifully put-together book (kudos to Keith Laezza for putting it together!). To my surprise, about a half dozen people said something nice about my six paragraph piece. They either said it was the best written biography in the book (some especially liked its humor)or enjoyed its refreshing honesty. This spontaneous response reminded me: "I need to write." I put off writing because of big goals (I want to write a pseudo-memoir or historical novel) or because of the time required to realize those big goals. In the end, I end up not writing at all. But, as a writer, if you don't write, you're not doing anything. So, I'm going to use this blog again to get started with writing. I hope to develop my voice this way as well as open up some possible avenues for bigger projects. But I hope to write -- more.

It's funny how this blog supplies a backdrop for this chapter in my life. The earlier entries come from the nadir of my separation from my now ex-wife Karen. I stopped writing when I could finally see some progress towards some happier times. I credit my family, my beautiful Arlington neighborhood and friends, and my dogged perseverance. I may be a lot of things, but not a quitter. Seeing my old classmates recently gives me hope for a bright future (perhaps it reminds me of the dreams I had for a rich life ahead in 1987) and inspires me to use writing to cultivate that life.

So here we go. See my next post for the short biography.