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FALL 2011 . ST. LAWRENCE UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE 3
Fly Away ( Johns Hop-
kins University Press,
2010), co-authored by
Peter Rutkof ’64, Oden
Professor of American
Studies at Kenyon Col-
lege, probes the mass
exodus, over time, of
African-Americans from the rural South
to the urban North and West in the 20th
century, and the ongoing infuences of
that migration on American culture. Te
authors explore the reasons for this fight
and its impact on religion, language, music
and art as people strove to preserve their
identity in new and ofen alien environ-
ments, while endeavoring to adapt to those
new environments. “Today, much of the
global appeal of American popular culture,
religion, and democracy is a consequence
of the African-American migration to
American cities,” the authors conclude.
—NSB
Gerald Benjamin ’65,
distinguished professor
of political science and
director of the Center
for Research, Regional
Education, and Outreach
at SUNY New Paltz, is
co-author of Tales fom
the Sausage Factory: Making Laws in New
York State (SUNY Press, 2010). Accord-
ing to the publisher, the book shows
“how New York’s legislature was once the
nation's model professional legislature, and
how it might recover from its present level
of dysfunction.” Recipient of an Alumni
Citation in 2001, Benjamin served as an
elected member of the Ulster County leg-
islature (1981-93) and is a 1991 recipient
of the New York State/United University
Professions Excellence Award.
In her new book Te Memoir Project: A
Toroughly Non-Standardized Text on
Writing & Life (Grand Central Publish-
ing, 2011), Trustee Marion Roach Smith
’77 helps us tell our stories by suggesting
that we “forget all those
mindless writing exer-
cises and learn to write
for real,” through chap-
ters such as “You Must
be Present to Win,”
“Galileo in Wal-Mart”
and “Te Barbie-Bodies
Book.” She is the author of Te Roots of
Desire: Te Myth, Meaning and Sexual
Power of Red Hair and Another Name for
Madness, and has been a commentator for
NPR’s “All Tings Considered.”
Steve and Carl
are two cute (and
defnitely not dumb)
cartoon ducks who
accidentally get
the better of bully
seagulls who insist
on calling them Two Dumb Ducks (Ran-
domHouse, 2010). Tis simple story
written and illustrated by Maxwell Eaton
III ’04 is the kind of afrmative message
that children will respond to, and will be
easy for beginning readers to master. Te
clean lines of the drawings, cartoon text
balloons, simple vocabulary and child-
appropriate situations are very appealing.
—Barbara Tollefson Burdick M’87
Reamy Jansen ’66
is the author of the
memoir Available
Light: Recollections
and Refections of a
Son (Hamilton Stone
Editions, 2010). Tis
slim volume explores
family relationships and
congenital health issues in a way that most
people of our age can identify with. Jansen
is professor of English and humanities at
Rockland Community College, adjunct
professor of media studies at Fordham
University’s College at Lincoln Center,
and creative nonfction editor of both Te
Bloomsbury Review and Hamilton Stone
Review. He has published in an array of
literary magazines. —Mike Savage ’66
Te history of ski
jumping in the U.S.
and Southwest
Canada is the subject
of Jumping Trough
Time (Port Hole
Publications, 2010)
by Harold “Cork”
Anson ’51, who was on campus in June
for his 60th Reunion. Anson, who earned
degrees at both SLU and RPI through
the 3+2 engineering program and skied
for both schools, traces through extensive
research the evolution since the late 1800s
of jumping hills, style and technology,
Olympic competition and the arrival of
women in the sport. —NSB
Te e-book Cavi, a comic murder mystery
about a small town near Portofno on the
Italian Riviera by Laura Puccia Valtorta
’80, can be found at infnite-monkeys-pub.
com. Te frst four chapters are on the
site, and the entire novel is available as a
PDF download for a small fee. Valtorta,
an attorney in Columbia, S.C., is also the
author of Family Meal, a novel (Carolina
Wren Press, 1993), Start Your Own Law
Practice (Entrepreneur Press, 2006) and
Social Security Disability Practice (Knowles
Publishing, 2009).
Earle E. Kirkbride ’48
has turned the discovery
of a box of old letters
in his attic into a book,
Letters Home. Available
through Amazon.com
and www.lettershomeb-
yearle.com, it comprises
letters written by his late wife, Norma Jean,
regarding her work in Japan immediately
afer World War II. Te sole woman on
a team inventorying the Bank of Japan’s
vaults, her letters vividly describe Japan
and Japanese culture in the afermath of
the war. —NSB
Laurentian Reviews
By Macreena Doyle unless noted
By Our Alumni