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An oboe for the brain
What do U-M profs, technology start - ups, and brain probes have in common?
Sweet!
Photo highlights from the 2012 Sugar Bowl.
- Exactly how much housework does a husband create?
- U-M top U.S. public university in World University Rankings
- The Doors' disaster at Michigan
Too sweet!
A U-M study shows that kids + TV - supervision = unhealthy snacking.
'Hugo' and the history of movies
More than a fine family film, 'Hugo' is Martin Scorsese's homage to early movies -- and part of a tradition of films about film.
Surprise reunion
From Ghana to Michigan, a teacher and student meet again.
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Alumni books and arts
Innovation for the 21st Century
In recent years, innovation has been threatened by the United States legal system. Much of the blame can be attributed to the antitrust and intellectual property laws. "Innovation for the 21st Century" seeks to reverse this trend, offering ten revolutionary proposals, from pharmaceuticals to peer-to-peer software, to help foster innovation. Rutgers law professor Michael Carrier (UM Law ’95) discusses how antitrust law could lower prescription drug prices. He explains how copyright law could be changed to create the next FaceBook or YouTube. And he proposes a system that would result in better patents.
The Great Bordello, a Story of the Theatre
"The Great Bordello, a Story of the Theatre" is the heretofore unpublished work of Jazz-Age playwright Avery Hopwood (1882-1928), benefactor of the Avery and Jule Hopwood Awards Program at U-M, his alma mater. Hopwood was the most successful playwright of his day, with four hits on Broadway at the same time, and other hits peppering other seasons. Although Hopwood amassed a fortune writing these Broadway entertainments, his chief goal was to write a significant novel. "Something," he once told a newspaper reporter, "which an intelligent man can sit down and read and think about."
A roman à clef completed only days before Hopwood's early death, "The Great Bordello" was rumored to be "the most devastating exposé of the American theatre as an institution imaginable." The story plays out in the early decades of the twentieth century, portraying the life of aspiring playwright Edwin Endsleigh, Avery Hopwood's fictional counterpart. After graduating from the University of Michigan, Edwin heads for Broadway to earn his fortune and the security to pursue his one true dream of writing the great American novel. Shaping Edwin's ambitious journey is his love of three women: the strong-minded Julia Scarlet; the haunting Jessamy Lee, and Adelina Kane, idol of the American stage; in the company of Edwin and his loves are a dramatic array of thinly veiled representations of theatrical personages of the time, amongst them Daniel Mendoza, the powerful impresario; the worldly-wise veteran of the stage, Ottilie Potter, who has gotten where she is because, "Men had what I wanted, and I had what they wanted"; and the huge, manlike Helen Sampson, chief among theatrical agents. In the end, "The Great Bordello" provides a deeper understanding of the human desire to accomplish something of enduring value amidst commercial success and ruthless realities of life.
Jack F. Sharrar is author of "Avery Hopwood, His Life and Plays" (UMI Press), and has adapted two of Hopwood's plays, "Fair and Warmer" and "Just for Tonight." He is Director of Academic Affairs for the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, and is a graduate of the University of Michigan, and holds a Ph.D. in theater history and dramatic literature from the University of Utah.
The House at the End of the Road: The Story of Three Generations of an Interracial Family in the American South
In defiance of his middle-class landowning family, a young white man named James Morgan Richardson married a light-skinned black woman, Edna Howell. It was 1914 in south Alabama. Together they eventually built a house at the dead end of a road in a rural black community. If you came there to do the Richardson family harm, you faced Jim Richardson's rule of justice, represented by a double-barreled shotgun. And at the end of the road, there was only one way out. "The House at the End of the Road: The Story of Three Generations of an Interracial Family in the American South" examines how one pioneering interracial couple developed a love and a racial identity that carried them defiantly through the Jim Crow years. Through interviews and oral history collected from both sides of the Richardson family's racial divide, as well as archival research, The House at the End of the Road probes into the core of the issue of race in early twentieth-century America. At the same time, it takes the lessons of the past and places them under the scrutiny of a contemporary world adjusted to DNA ancestry testing, a more flexible sense of racial and ethnic identity, and a tolerance and acceptance of the racial ambiguity that laws prohibiting Jim and Edna Richardson's marriage sought to eliminate.
The Nimble Men
A bit of ancient Scottish folklore attributes the Northern Lights to a mythical tribe of creatures called the Nimble Men. "The Nimble Men" is the tale that myth inspired, one that weaves the colorful spirit of golf with the equally colorful legend. It's a golf story. But like any good golf story, it's about more than just golf. When a woman in a broken marriage enters an antique shop on a rainy day, she ends up getting more than she bargained for. Depressed and searching for answers, she hears the tale of two Scottish golfers from rival clans locked in mortal antipathy, and how a mythical being helps to reconcile them. She leaves the shop determined to seek a reconciliation of her own. It's a story of love and hatred, friends and enemies, conflict and resolution, hope and magic. "The Nimble Men" is the first in a new series of golf stories: "Golf Is No Ordinary Game."
Cyber Styletto
Super hacker Yvonne Tran, part of a secret government agency called CyberCom, is brought in to investigate a malicious network attack that caused the deaths of eight innocent people. She and her team follow the trail to Hong Kong and Afghanistan, and they must pinpoint the source before the next attack, which has the potential to kill hundreds of US citizens. It is for sale at cyberstyletto.com, where U-M grads can receive a discount coupon.
Dancing in Puddles
Jacob Feldman is a senior at the University of Michigan and is desperately searching for meaning in his life. He delves into religion, science, philosophy, and sexuality in an attempt to make greater sense of the world. Jacob's inability to live a carefree life leads to his taking real risks. His first bold move results in his working as a nude model. Jacob begins to question his relationship with his long-distance girlfriend. She's his first real love, and Jacob wonders about his lack of experience and need for other women. His best friend, a self-described nihilist, causes Jacob to think about life without her. Following graduation, Jacob moves out to Massachusetts to teach English. Even though the school is less than an hour away from his girlfriend's apartment, he refuses to live with her. Jacob soon grows tired of his life in suburbia and heads to San Francisco to meet up with his best friend. It is there that Jacob finds his life's real meaning.
Silence: The Impending Threat to the Charitable Sector
Charity malfeasance is an addiction of epic proportions. Charity leaders and regulators, by their silence and denial, are enablers. Because the misdeeds were kept secret, there was no public outcry. The secrets are now being exposed. The sector needs a new paradigm, and "Silence" makes numerous suggestions as to how to turn it around. This exposé is based on the largest repository of charity fraud anywhere. Many trusted leaders are exposed including board members, presidents, superintendents, chief executive officers, accountants—and more. They embezzled, forged, extorted, and falsified records; they self-dealt, negligently managed assets, and had multiple conflicts of interest.
Maze in Blue
All Denney Silber wants from her senior year at the University of Michigan is to enjoy sorority parties, football games, and concerts - plans that go awry when she discovers her best friend, Helen, dead in the office of the faculty member Denney most despises. Compelled to solve Helen's murder, Denney quickly realizes that her own life is in danger. She can no longer trust friends, teachers, or even the cutest guy in Poetry 331.
The Power of Paradox: The Protean Leader and Leading in Uncertain Times
Leaders' actions can have consequences opposite to those they intend. These unintentional results are difficult to detect, understand, and change. Consequently, leaders' actions tend to persist resulting in further unexpected outcomes. This can create a vicious cycle of leadership failure. Unaware, these leaders self-sabotage and sabotage others, no matter how hard they try. "Understanding the Power of Paradox" can empower leaders in uncertain times, giving them room to breathe and time to think, to become more resilient, adaptive and flexible, so they can create the consequences they intend.
Separate Kingdoms
Set in Russia and the U.S., these are stories of fractured, misplaced characters moving beyond the borders of their isolation and reaching for the connections that will make them whole. Reviewer Adam Eaglin calls it "a taut, beautiful book," and Alan Cheuse hails its "fine craftsmanship and powerful insight."
Suyama: A Complex Serenity
George Suyama began his architectural practice in Seattle in 1971. Over time, he developed an architecture characterized by a search for minimalist simplicity, a paradoxical architecture of intense, even exciting, tranquility. Suyama's quest to eliminate what he calls "visual noise" has yielded not visual silence but a kind of visual music. "Suyama: A Complex Serenity" introduces the man and his work, and twenty of his built and unbuilt projects that illuminate the development of his remarkable art and craft.
Grant Hildebrand ('57, MA '64) is professor emeritus of architecture and art history at the University of Washington, and author of seven books on architecture.
What is Life?: To Live A Controlled, Realistic, Happy Life
Concise and to the point, What is Life? by James C. Lin, MD calls on his vast medical experience to point readers in the right direction to live their life to the fullest. With the goal to help others rediscover the real power of life, he offers this intelligent self-improvement guide that breaks the mold in empowering readers to apply a number of esoteric teachings to their lives so that they might become healthier, happier humans. In forty-six chapters he teaches the importance of daily "self-care" initiatives that directly lead to self-preservation and spiritual harmony. Beginning with understanding the need for change and the nature of life and living, the author's "facts of life" unfold. With chapter titles like "Understand the Purpose of Life-to Live as Well and to Last as Long as Possible" and "How Can We Look Nicer, Feel Better, and Live Longer?" he leaves no stone unearthed in providing an invaluable doctrine of well-being in the modern world.
On The Other Guy's Dime: A Professional's Guide to Traveling Without Paying
Do you want to live the kind of life most people only dream about? Do you want to travel? See the world? Live and work in exotic locales without having to quit your day job? And do it all on someone else's dime? Well, you can. For the past three decades the author has been doing just that on what he calls working vacations–short-term overseas assignments that do not require you to sell the house or quit your job. In this book he provides the reader with invaluable "how to" information such as locating the best working vacation opportunities, negotiating terms, renting your home, securing housing in the host country, traveling safely with young children, and much, much more.
The Campaign of Fear
The newly formed US Department of Advanced Technology, working in cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security, has stepped up emphasis on advancing bomb detection. Why? To counteract the growing terrorist threat by elusive al Qaeda operatives around the world.Renowned scientist Bradford Tully, striving tirelessly alongside his brilliant and beautiful partner, Zenica Lang, hopes to develop the ultimate defense against the radical framework of jihad, its Campaign of Fear. They will stop at nothing until they have bestowed a greater sense of security upon the people of the Free World by bringing al Qaeda to its knees.
How Warm it was and How Far
This is an Anne Frank story with a happy ending; the author recounts his youth in Holland, a Jewish kid being pursued by, and hidden from, the Nazis. He finds himself orphaned at war’s end, his father having perished in a camp and his mother having succumbed to cancer, He is raised by an indifferent family, losing a leg in the process. At age twenty he leaves Holland for America where he has a successful career in chemistry (Michigan PhD 1961) and medicine.
Amortals
The very best person to catch your killer—is you. Matt Forbeck arrives as the new king of high-concept—with a blockbuster action movie in a book. In the near future, scientists solve the problem of mortality by learning how to backup and restore a persons memories into a vat-bred clone. When Secret Service agent Ronan "Methusaleh" Dooley is brutally murdered, he’s brought back from the dead one more time to hunt his killer, but this time those who wanted him dead are much closer to home.
Don't Touch Me
World renowned pianist Donna Coleman has just released "Don't Touch Me," comprising the complete solo Danzas Cubanas by the great Cuban composer Ignacio Cervantes, who lived in Havana, Paris and New York between 1847-1905. The music can be described as Cuba's answer to Frédéric Chopin in sultry, habañera-infused miniatures that play like the precursors of Scott Joplin's rags. Thirty-seven tracks that unfold like episodes in a steamy romance novel, steeped in Afro-Cuban rhythmic verse, Chopin's pathos, Bach's contrapuntal detail and voice-leading, sumptuous French harmony, and sensuality redolent of rum, cigar smoke, sea air, sweat, and tears.
Men CAN
How have American families changed over the past generation? Who does what at home? How? Why? For what benefit? At what cost? "Men CAN" tells the stories of a half dozen families—of varied ethnicities, geographical locations, and philosophical orientations—in which fathers are either primary caregivers or equally sharing parents, personalizing how Americans are now caring for their children and illuminating the ways that popular culture both reflects and influences these changes in family roles.
A New York Memoir
"A New York Memoir" is about a life lived in New York City over a period of thirty years. The memoir begins in 1975, with author Richard Goodman's arrival in New York, an intimidated newcomer. It follows him through the years as he encounters some of the remarkable people one meets in New York, while harkening back to the inspiration the city provides, especially for artists and young writers. The memoir follows the author as he witnesses tragedies and then ruminates on growing old in New York. It tells of the joys and the difficulties of living in this remarkable city. "A New York Memoir" is, essentially, a long love letter to the city. Like all great loves, this volume reflects passion, promise, hope, pain, regret and, ultimately, the author's pride.
Fine art by Scott Redmond
Scott Redmond was born in Michigan and works from his studio in Kalamazoo. He holds a B.A. from the University of Michigan, studied Law at Michigan State University and pursued an M.B.A. in Finance at Wayne State University. He studied art at The Kalamazoo Institute of Arts and Western Michigan University and is currently pursuing an MFA at Academy of Art University in San Francisco, California. Redmond captures the feeling or mood created in a landscape, and he explores the relationship between the natural elements God has created and elements of human creation including buildings, docks, boats, and lighthouses. His work typically involves a sentimental or emotional theme intended to evoke memories in the viewer, or transport the viewer to the emotional state of the artist. He is intrigued by the technical aspects of painting, presented by combining color and brush strokes to generate the appearance of texture, light and shadow. Redmond completes his work on a variety of substrates including cotton and linen canvas, canvas and wood panels, and hand crafted art papers. For more information or for commissioned abstract and landscape work in oil and acrylic.
Island Light
In the third volume of the Snow Island trilogy, Katherine Towler returns to her fictional setting off the New England coast, continuing the saga of two generations in two island families and her chronicle of the impact of war in the second half of the 20th century. "Island Light" is set in the fall of 1990, when the Snow Island community includes a Vietnam veteran, an aging lesbian, and a photographer seeking to redefine herself and her art, an unlikely trio who find their lives unexpectedly linked. Though the island remains a world away from the mainland, it is not immune to the effects of war. Old wounds and new uncertainties come to the surface as the United States prepares to go to war again, this time in the Persian Gulf. In the silence of a New England winter, former residents and prodigal wanderers return to Snow Island in search of refuge from wars both private and public. Through a rich collection of characters and a tightly-woven story, "Island Light" traces a path from the scars of the past to the promise of the future. This taut tale of love and perseverance evokes the isolation and connection at the heart of every community.
My Beautiful Leukemia
Jan Lucas-Grimm was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia in 2005. After undergoing traditional chemotherapy, she went into remission for a short time, then relapsed and underwent a stem cell transplant in 2006. A down-to-earth description of diagnosis and treatment, this is a realistic portrayal with equal measures of humor and hope, despair and fear. My Beautiful Leukemia unravels the intricate fabric of the illness and reveals the very bare, human fibers that remain. The book also contains some of the color illustrations that the author did while in hospital. The book is available online and in bookstores. More information at