MIXED MEDIA

OUR BOOKS AND CREATIVE Milestones BY KARA PETERS

Creative Voice

Long Live the Love Letter

Inspired by a trunk of letters from the early 1900s that Nina Sankovitch, J84, found in her backyard shed, Signed, Sealed, Delivered (Simon & Schuster) is a love letter to old-fashioned letter writing and its unique potential for forging tender, intimate, and lasting connections. Sankovich told Tufts Magazine:

“When I think of the people who still write to me, they are people who are creative in all aspects of their lives. They’re people who understand the importance of taking time to do something besides being on the computer. Studies are now showing how that kind of downtime opens you up to creativity. When you write a letter, you think about crafting interesting sentences; you think of metaphors that you might not have used in other settings. I think it does make you more creative.

Writers and artists of the precomputer era wrote a ton of letters. The self-expression of letter writing fed into other areas. Georgia O’Keefe and Alfred Stieglitz wrote thousands of pages of letters to each other, and they were incredibly productive.

I hear from young people in college who tell me that they get together and write letters—it has a kind of retro cool factor about it. It can be a great way to communicate with teenagers about difficult subjects, because you avoid the awkward face-to-face that can be so hard for them.

A good letter is any letter. I think that if people are weighed down by the idea that their letters have to be masterpieces, they won’t write them. Even a dashed-off letter shows you took the time to make a real connection with someone. For some people the prompt to write letters happens when they get some really beautiful stationery. Or you can just grab some scrap paper and see what happens.”

Fiction

Green On Blue: A Novel (Scribner)

Elliot Ackerman, A03, F03, a decorated veteran and author of this issue’s “A Few Good Men and Women”, is a deeply empathetic writer. His new novel is the first to interpret our recent wars from the perspective of a soldier in one of Afghanistan’s U.S.-sponsored tribal armies. Afghan narrator Aziz loses his parents in an insurgent attack, and his brother, Ali, is brutally wounded in another. Driven by nang (honor) and badal (revenge), Aziz joins the Special Lashkar, a U.S.-funded militia. As he rises through the ranks, he begins to question his place in a tangled, morally complex conflict that seems to have no end in sight.

Horton and the Kwuggerbug and More Lost Stories by Dr. Seuss (Random House)

Charles D. Cohen, D87, is a dentist by trade and a Seuss scholar in spirit. He owns the most comprehensive private collection of Seussiana in the world, and here he shares four “new” stories—featuring beloved characters and settings like Horton the Elephant, the Grinch, and Mulberry Street—that originally appeared in Redbook.

A Sister to Honor (Berkley)

From Lucy Ferriss, G93, this riveting and timely novel tells the story of Afia Satar, the devout daughter of a well-off Pakistani family. When Afia travels to America to attend Smith College, her brother, Shahid, is entrusted to protect her. But when a photo surfaces of Afia holding hands with an American boy, Shahid is called to erase the shame she has brought on the family.

Devin Rhodes is Dead (Charlesbridge)

Jennifer Wolf Kam, J94, captures the turbulence of adolescence through the story of best friends Cass and Devin and the mysterious events leading to Devin’s death.

Tomorrow is Too Late (Netherworld)

Perrin Pring, A08, presents the second installment in her sci-fi adventure series, The Ryo Myths—the successor to Appointment at the Edge of Forever.

All That’s Missing (Candlewick Press)

When his ailing grandfather lands in the hospital, eleven-year-old Arlo sets out to find his only other family member—a grandmother he doesn’t remember meeting. Sarah Sullivan, J75, ponders the meaning of “home” and “family” in her touching debut.

Poetry

Broom (Bordighera Press)

Joelle Biele, J91, chronicles the first years of her two children’s lives in verse that vibrates with perceptive, intimate intensity.

Selected Poems (FutureCycle Press)

Christopher Bursk, A65, has authored twelve books of poetry, from which he draws this rich collection teeming with surprising observations on family, the passage of time, and the puzzles and rewards of a full life. A recipient of Guggenheim and NEA fellowships, he writes, “I owe much of my beginnings as a writer to my studies in the English department at Tufts.”

NONFICTION

Aspiring Adults Adrift (Chicago)

To follow up their acclaimed study of undergraduate learning, Academically Adrift, Richard Arum, A85, and Josipa Roksa present unsettling data from the same cohort of undergraduates as they haltingly transition into postcollegiate life.

Open Secret: The Global Banking Conspiracy that Swindled Investors Out of Billions (Portfolio)

Erin Arvedlund, J92, offers a gripping insider account of the 2008 LIBOR (London Interbank Offered Rate) scandal, revealing how the corrupt manipulation of “the world’s most important number” hurt ordinary investors.

Round the Circle: Experienced Doulas Share What They’ve Learned (Hale)

Julie Brill, J92, gathers the wisdom of twenty-three doulas, professionals who support women and their partners through pregnancy and birth. Aspiring doulas will glean advice on encouraging the mother-baby bond, supporting spiritual practices, marketing a doula business, and much more.

All The Truth is Out: The Week Politics Went Tabloid (Alfred A. Knopf)

In 1987, Senator Gary Hart, of Colorado, seemed to have the Democratic presidential nomination in the bag until one fateful week when rumors of marital infidelity—and the unprecedented media frenzy that followed—destroyed his political hopes forever. Matt Bai, A90, a veteran journalist, weaves together the various technological and cultural threads—including the advent of electronic news gathering and mobile satellites and a new generation of reporters hungry to expose the next Watergate—that turned what once would have barely registered as a minor private scandal.into a major political paradigm shift. From this point on, every corner of a politician’s life would be fair game to a media eager to sate the public’s appetite for 24-hour “content.” The ironic result, laments Bai, is that our leaders, barricaded behind armies of political consultants and carefully calibrated comments, are more unknowable than ever.

Iran-Contra: Reagan’s Scandal and the Unchecked Abuse of Presidential Power (University Press of Kansas)

This meticulously researched history by Malcolm Byrne, A77, revisits a murky episode of American history—the covert sale of arms to Iran, which illegally funded Nicaraguan “Contra” guerillas—and calls into question our system’s ability to check the abuse of executive power.

The Moment You Can’t Ignore (CFAR)

Barry Dornfield, A80, and Mal O’Connor point to culture as a key to organizational success. Their book looks at how successful enterprises can navigate the clash between entrenched ways of operating and rapidly changing forms of work, communication, and technology.

The Reject: Community, Politics, and Religion After the Subject (Fordham)

Through close readings of deconstructionists like Derrida, Cixous, and Jean-Luc Nancy, Irving Goh, a fellow at the Center for the Humanities at Tufts, traces the role of the reject in contemporary French thought. Goh also co-edited Nancy Now, a collection of scholarly writing on Nancy’s contribution to continental philosophy.

Who’s Paying For Lunch? (Verve Business Books)

Focusing on the challenges unique to businesses in the United Kingdom, Tamara Holm Howard, G81, provides a hands-on guide to setting up a sales department and taking it to the next level.

Mango (University Press of Florida)

Award-winning recipes like Mango Eggs Benedict, Lamb-Mango Curry, and Mango Pie earn Jen Karetnick, J90, her nickname of “Mango Mama.”

Agency Change: Diplomatic Action Beyond the State (Rowman and Littlefield)

John Robert Kelley, A96, argues that diplomatic relationships are increasingly driven not by institutions but by individuals competing for power. Governments, he says, must retool their diplomatic efforts to deal with nonstate actors while leveraging state strength.

True Yankees: The South Seas and the Discovery of American Identity (Johns Hopkins)

After the American Revolution, the United States took advantage of its flag to explore various ports of call in the Pacific and Indian oceans. Drawing on private journals, letters, ships’ logs, memoirs, and newspaper accounts, Dane A. Morrison, G83, demonstrates how these journeys helped Americans understand what it meant to be an independent nation.

War is Not a Game: The New Antiwar Soldiers and the Movement They Built (Rutgers)

Nan Levinson, lecturer in English at Tufts, tells the story of Iraq Veterans Against the War and their quest to educate the country about the real meaning of “supporting the troops.”

Emerging Africa: How Seventeen Countries Are Leading the Way (Penguin)

Africa is regarded by many as the last frontier in the global economic landscape. Kingsley Chiedu Moghalu, F92, deploys philosophy, economics, and strategy to explain why realizing its potential will require the total transformation of the African mindset.

Intertwingled (Semantic Studios)

Everything is connected, from code to culture, says Peter Morville, A91, in this collage of information architecture, systems thinking, Buddhism, quantum entanglement, and volleyball. Far from simply designing software, information architects are actually intervening in ecosystems—and in the information age, we’re all information architects.

The American Plate: A History of the United States in 100 Bites (Sourcebooks)

If you’ve been craving an American history lesson you can sink your teeth into, look no further. Libby H. O’Connell, J76, chief historian for the History Channel and A&E, serves up a delectable assortment of facts about the individuals, cultures, and recipes that have shaped both our national palate and our character. From Native American pemmican (a blend of dried buffalo, berries, and fat) and English eel pie to the “chop suey” introduced by Chinese railroad workers and the meatloaf popularized to maximize rations during World War II, O’Connell offers insight into how the tastes of our shared past can nourish our future.

Donor Cultivation and the Donor Lifecycle Map (Wiley)

Deborah Kaplan Polivy, J69, introduces a new framework for raising funds and building, maintaining, and growing effective relationships with donors. Her companion website features practical tools and step-by-step guidance.

Mr. Franchise

As the founder/CEO of some of the world’s most successful franchises—including Mr. Donut, which was purchased by Dunkin’ Donuts—David Slater, A56, A84P, A85P, A91P, provides the inside scoop on franchise ownership.

Out of Nazi Germany in Time, a Gift to American Science (American Philosophical Society)

B. David Stollar, a professor emeritus at Tufts University School of Medicine, traces the journey of the Jewish biochemist Gerhard Schmidt out of Hitler’s Germany to an eventual position at Tufts. Stollar’s related article, “A Way Out of Germany,” appeared in the Winter 2014 issue of Tufts Magazine.

Critical Knowledge Transfer (Harvard Business Review)

Walter Swap, former dean of the colleges at Tufts, and his wife, Dorothy Leonard, emerita professor at Harvard Business School, look at steps companies can take to preserve the expertise of departing engineers, scientists, and managers.

The Bee: A Natural History (Princeton)

It’s no secret that bees are dying at an alarming rate, but Noah Wilson-Rich, G11, wants us to know just how much we’ll lose when they’re gone. This gorgeously photographed volume is an ode to the planet’s 20,000 bee species—how they live, work, communicate, and reproduce; why they’re disappearing; and how to get started in beekeeping. There’s even a section on the symbolic roles they’ve played in religion and politics. Rich is the founder and chief scientific officer of Best Bees, a beekeeping service and research organization in Boston. See his TED talk at bit.ly/bees_TED and his recent appearance on Ask This Old House at bit.ly/bees_TOH.

TV

John Greco, F88, a producer at Rocket Media Group, wrote and produced Thinking Money: The Psychology Behind Our Best and Worst Financial Decisions, which premiered on PBS in October. The documentary uses a mix of humor, on-the-street interviews, and expert insights to explore the field of behavioral economics—how our brains conspire with the marketplace to make us spend or save.

Web

Hillary Frank, J97, a This American Life contributor, hosts The Longest Shortest Time, a blog and podcast about the surprising struggles of early parenthood. The December episode, “Love Yurts,” recounts the quirky romance of Perry Tancredi, A96, and Caitlin Gorman, J96, Tufts sweethearts who eloped, divorced, and reunited after Perry quit his job to build a yurt and teach classes at Boulder Outdoor Survival School.

Oprah Winfrey’s network, OWN, recently announced a digital content partnership with theSkimm. Started by Danielle Weisberg, A08, and Carly Zakin, theSkimm is a daily e-newsletter that delivers a fresh spin on top news stories. OWN hopes to capitalize on the younger audience theSkimm attracts. Users can access exclusive video content at Youtube.com/own, where Weisberg and Zakin will editorialize on topics featured in their newsletter.