Until 2020, T’wina Nobles had no intention of running for the state Senate. She was doing work she loved as president and CEO of the Tacoma Urban League, and had just been re-elected to the University Place School Board. Community members and legislators had occasionally suggested she run for state office, and she would say, “Nope. It’s not my time.”
Michael Purdy ’76, M.B.A.’79 still owns a copy of his favorite book from childhood, Facts About the Presidents. He didn’t pursue a career as a historian, but he never lost his passion for presidential history. Now retired from a career as a procurement manager, he’s found the time to write extensively on the subject, including a 2019 book, 101 Presidential Insults: What They Really Thought About Each Other—and What It Means to Us. We asked him for perspective on the 2020 race.
Tom Perry ’98, a history major while attending Puget Sound, spent much of his professional life in positions related to hiring within the tech industry. Now, he’s is a professional career coach at Engaged Pursuit in Seattle, where he works with a variety of clients, including new graduates navigating life after college.
Robert McPherson ’91 has been singing since he was a very young boy. “I was a preacher’s kid. I grew up singing gospel,” he says.
Decades have passed since he performed his first solo, but McPherson’s passion for music is as strong as it ever was. Instead of singing traditional gospel tunes, he’s an accomplished operatic tenor. And even though the coronavirus has shuttered performance venues across the country, McPherson is still singing for his public, online.
Mauricio Mendez ’20 was 3 years old when he first experienced otherness, being pushed to the margins of a world that he had believed to be his own. Another child at daycare had spit in his face, and though he spoke no English, having recently moved to the United States from Mexico, Mauricio was determined to tell the teacher. “The lady didn’t understand,” he says. “The only other way to explain it was by demonstrating.”
