OCT. 1— OCT. 7, 2014
Literary Issue Q&A
Writer-in-Residence | Pg. 4 Inside UC sports tales | Pg. 8
Students’ literature | Pgs. 5-7
Literary Issue
October 1, 2014
ASK THE EDITORS
What’s the last story you read?
I’m currently reading the first volume of Norwegian author Karl Ove Knausguard’s “My Struggle.” Proustian in scope, it’s a hybrid of memoir and novel, telling with minimal realism and line-by-line honestly his own life story, but also exposing with finesse the stark beauty that lies beneath the ordinary.
I do the majority of my reading in bits and pieces these days: in between classes or on the shuttle to campus, so I’ve been getting into essay collections. I recently finished “Bad Feminist” by Roxane Gay and now I’m on to “Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays” by Zadie Smith. Two wonderful collections by two rad ladies.
ARTS EDITOR
ONLINE EDITOR
Zack Hatfield @hatzack
Courtney Stanley @Coot_Stanley
I’m more of a movieworm than a bookworm. I think I stopped reading regularly around the eighth grade when I discovered Spark Notes. I actually loved reading but as I grew older and obtained time-consuming responsibilites, reading became more of a method to quickly put me to sleep rather than a priority or leisurly activity. What I read most nowadays is full of drama, cliff hangers and plot twists: Twitter.
I just finished reading “The Woman Upstairs” by Claire Messud for my Contemporary American Fiction class. I also had the opportunity to hear Messud speak about the book as part of UC’s Visiting Writers Series. Now I’m about halfway through Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale.” My greatest loves are Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” and Rowling’s Harry Potter series.
NEWS EDITOR
COLLEGE LIFE EDITOR
Katie Coburn @_katiecoburn
Emily Begley @egbegley
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newsrecord.org/for_the_record
October 1, 2014
Literary Issue
‘The Maze Runner’ gets lost between book, silver screen Film adaptation cuts out major details, doesn’t do best-selling novel justice MARK EILERS | CONTRIBUTOR
“The Maze Runner” movie was not the book I have come to love. James Dashner’s best-selling novel revolves around Thomas, a teenager who is lifted into an isolated environment called the Glade with about 60 other boys. All of the characters’ memories have been wiped. The Glade is surrounded by a maze that constantly changes, in which deadly spiderlike creatures called Grievers roam. Things in the Glade begin to change upon the arrival of Teresa, the only girl in the group who arrives with a strange note. I was excited to see how Dashner’s overall storyline and characters — including daring main character Thomas, beautiful Teresa and humorous Chuck — would transfer onto the big screen. I felt hope that “The Maze Runner” director Wes Ball would create a film that lived up to the expectations the book demanded — but I was wrong. I am not saying the film was not a good movie; as a matter of fact, everyone I know who has seen the movie loved it. The quick-paced storyline sucked in viewers, causing them to wonder if Thomas would find the way out of the maze and into freedom while fighting off the terrifying Grievers. Fortunately for them, they had not read the book and were not able to see the movie for what it was: A sham compared to the complex and eerie story written by Dashner. When translating a story from book to movie, details will inevitably be cut from the final product.
The inhabitants of the Glade stare into the depths of the maze in “The Maze Runner,” the movie adaptation of James Dashner’s best-selling novel.
I understand that, as a filmmaker, it would be impossible to create a movie that adheres to everything in the book, while also keeping
the audience’s attention and making a product that isn’t too lengthy. With that said, the amount of detail the
I felt hope that “The Maze Runner” director Wes Ball would create a film that lived up to the expectations the book demanded – but I was wrong.
MCCLATCHY
Dylan O’Brien and Kaya Scodelario play main characters Thomas and Teresa in “The Maze Runner.”
newsrecord.org/for_the_record
director left out of the movie was appalling. Elimination of simple details, such as the beetle blades watching the Gladers’ movements and the absence of the false sky that gave consistent weather, was incredibly frustrating. In the novel, Grievers had a history with the characters; in the film, none of the characters had ever seen them before the maze. Expecting to see creepy parts included in the books, only to discover they did not make the final cut, was a major let down. After the film cut out significant plot points
MCCLATCHY
including: antagonist Gally’s storyline, the antidote to the Grievers’ deadly sting, the significance of the “Changing” and the Griever hole location, I wondered if this was the same “The Maze Runner” I had just finished reading only days prior. Inconsistencies between the book and movie, however, were not the only problems with the film. Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of all was the overall cheesy acting from some of the lead characters. For example, the end of the book left me in tears — the sadness and trauma Thomas experiences is simply heartbreaking. When the same scene occurred in the movie, I was expecting to tear up again. Instead I actually laughed at the terrible acting Dylan O’Brien (Thomas) displayed as he flung his hands around as he was dragged away, ruining the scene. I was thoroughly disappointed with “The Maze Runner” movie. The transition onto the big screen simply didn’t do Dashner’s book justice.
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Literary Issue
October 1, 2014
Q&A UC adjunct wins first-ever Writer-in-Residence NATALIE COLEMAN | NEWS EDITOR
For the first time, the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County has named a Writer-In-Residence: Kathy Y. Wilson. A published author, poet and adjunct professor for the University of Cincinnati, Wilson was awarded the residency at the Library Foundation event Sept. 24, an honor that comes with a $10,000 stipend. Wilson will hold the position through November, while conducting a writer’s workshop, speaking at community events and participating in library promotions. Wilson, a native of Hamilton, Ohio, guesstimates that she has published more than five million words in her lifetime, in various formats and publications. An avid visitor and lover of the public library, Wilson had a desire to write as a young child. “I knew the alphabet, and I would stand up in those stacks and try and figure out where Wilson would go,” Wilson said in a Cincinnati library press release. “I knew where the W’s were, and I would imagine where my book would be. The Library is the great equalizer of this community. I am so honored to represent this institution.” She is the author of “Your Negro Tour Guide,” a book published in 2004 containing many of her CityBeat columns by the same name and is also the writer of a collection of poetry “True Grits: A Short Stack on Food and Family in Over-the-Rhine,” published in 2006. Wilson is an adjunct professor of journalism and women’s studies at UC, a position she has held since 2006. She has even served as a commentary contributor for “All Things Considered,” a show on National Public Radio. TNR: What was the application process for the residency? KYW: The application process was extremely easy and nofrills, which is why I applied, honestly. Many literary contests and fellowships seem to use extremely difficult application processes as a way to weed out people from the gate. But all the library wanted was a [curriculum vitae], a recent writing sample and a cover letter outlining why applicants wanted to be the writer-inresidence. There were 70 total applicants that got weeded down to 24, then to 10 then to a final three. TNR: What did you receive for winning? KYW: Well, first and foremost I got validation for about 25 years’ work thinking about, loving, criticizing and being sometimes ostracized for writing about Cincinnati as only a woman who loves this city could. It made me weep because I am largely autodidactic and every writing-related opportunity I’ve ever gotten has been because a previous, ever-expanding body of work got someone’s attention. I will also get a $10,000 stipend. TNR: What makes winning this residency so deeply important to you?
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PROVIDED
Kathy Y. Wilson receives her $10,000 stipend alongside her partner and brother (left).
KYW: It’s actually a revolutionary act that an institution as staid and important as the library would give — for the first time ever — this type of award to a black, loudmouthed, lesbian writer with a non-traditional trajectory. It’s moving. TNR: How will winning and eventually fulfilling this residency affect you — as a writer, as a reader, as a library lover? KYW: I will wear this like an article of my favorite clothing and I will also have the license to tell under-served populations who feel disenfranchised from learning and literacy that it is their birthright to read and write. Civilized people should absolutely be able to articulate their days and times. This is a mantle I’ve been given. I am an ambassador. As a writer my life will change because for the first time since I’ve been writing I will have the financial means to work on my own stuff without having the anxiety and related depression of writing for money to pay bills. Ain’t that somethin’? TNR: What do you mean to the library? Are you a representative, a certified biggest fan? KYW: I am a former part-time struggling staffer (from 1989 to 1994) and an appropriate representative. TNR: Will you continue writing your column for CityBeat? If not, what will you be working on? KYW: I will continue with CityBeat so long as I can keep my great relationship with Danny Cross, my editor. And I will be writing a book I’ve been working on and thinking
PROVIDED
Wilson is a longtime supporter of the public library,.
about for 14 years. I don’t have a publisher but it will be published. I guarantee it. TNR: Do you feel that the Cincinnati Public Library is becoming more important to the community? Or has it always been very important to Cincinnati? KYW: The library has always been so important — it’s this city’s great equalizer turning away no one and answering all questions. And it’s done a stellar job pulling itself into the 21st Century with technology, programming, outreach and materials. TNR: Any last words? KYW: Tell students to stop being lazy and write like they mean it. This is not a glamour profession; it’s not for people without focus, stamina, ideas, a vocabulary and some fearlessness. Writing is hard work that never really pays off except for the hard-won, perfectly crafted sentence that makes perfect sense to everyone who reads it. Wilson’s work has previously been recognized by the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists, The Cleveland Press Club and the Associated Press Society of Ohio. She was twice named as a Fellow at the Knight Center for Professional Journalists at the University of Maryland and was a finalist for a National Magazine Award for her profile of radio talk show host Bill Cunningham. She is working on her next book, “Do You Know Who I Think I am? Curiosities of a Colored Woman’s America,” according to a library press release. Wilson resides in Walnut Hills and continues to write her column for CityBeat, entitled “(Not) Your Negro Tour Guide.”
newsrecord.org/for_the_record
October 1, 2014
Literary Issue
“yesterday” by Alexis O’Brien I felt something (how can I ever know what?) in freshly dead finches, bras that aren’t actually, and fingertips spray painted to look like circus tents, where Johnny Cash sang and someone else used his dentures to bite right into the double scoops— ahem, purple scoops— that were “accidentally” ordered. I heard an angel in the telephone (that I know exactly what to call) who told me how badly she wanted to jump off a high place and not to die because of it. You are already dead, I told her, and angels giggle! Did you know that? They also pretend to cry and promise to eat a lot of pesto, which they will do not only because they are angels, but also because, surprisingly, there is a shit-ton of pesto in heaven. And red too! The color. What Angel wants to wear. I saw love victorious in an answer to what I first thought was an impossible question but was
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Alexis O’Brien is a fourth-year English and journalism student. She reads a lot, likes French toast and blogs at alexisatbreakfast.com.
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belonged to your grandfather whom she had just mistaken for the bird poop she was so careful to avoid, splatted all over your right side-view mirror. It’s not her fault she didn’t know how he manifested only in praying mantises! And usually on Sundays. But a big-booted fireman stepped on it anyway. I tasted the prayer beads I ran away from work to buy as buttresses to my feelings but with which I’ll never actually pray. Seven times, and mostly because I was thirsty. Each go I held them in my mouth for only a moment but knew they’d save my soul forever and regardless, in the colors of sunset and symphonies of lull songs.
FOR RENT
THIS WEEK IN ATHLETICS
FOR RENT
actually just another bug caught on the wrong side of my iPhone screen. Wait. Are you the same bug, bug? The one with the heaviest wings in the world and that place on your back that somehow changes shape almost too slowly for anyone to notice? Oh lord. I told you to get that looked at! You are. You’re the one I loved, aren’t you? I see Blacky now and, oh yes, I will always love you. Hi. Because I won’t ever tell you hiya, you know. I smelled rain on the Soggy Bottom Boys CD that was split clear in two and left at the bottom of the United Dairy Farmers parking lot by the girl who smashed in that passengerside window. She ended up stealing your new car stereo because she knew you wouldn’t mind much (go you!), and saved those boys only because she thought they might’ve been your grandmother’s. Even though they really
SMU VS. CINCINNATI VOLLEYBALL - 7PM
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4TH MEMPHIS VS. CINCINNATI FOOTBALL - 7PM
FREE STUDENT TICKETS ARE STILL AVAILABLE AT THE UC TICKET OFFICE. ON FRIDAY AT NOON, 250 SINGLE GAME SHUTTLE PASSES FOR THE MEMPHIS GAME WILL GO ON SALE AT THE TICKET OFFICE FOR $10 EACH. IN PERSON ONLY.
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 5th TULSA VS. CINCINNATI VOLLEYBALL - 1PM
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Literary Issue
October 1, 2014
The Ohio Bookstore The Ohio Bookstore is brimming with history. Founded in 1940, it moved to its present location on Main Street in 1961, and its current
owner first worked at the shop in 1956. With five floors and an arsenal of over 300,000 books, it’s easy to get lost in the Ohio Bookstore’s literary and literal catacombs.
Joseph-Beth The local bookstore in Rookwood is perfect to buy contemporary literature, and it frequently
726 Main St.
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OST THE M ING DAZZL Y R LITERA IN SPOTS TY THE CI
ti Cincinna Public Library It’s the sixth country’s brary li st e si u b son, for a rea
luable and a va for resource Visit . ts n e d stu r fo page 4 ith w A & Q a ’s the library r-infirst write e. residenc 800 Vine
St.
Duttenhoff er’s Clifton’s b est bookstore is stocked w ith classics, b ut also has m any nooks and crannies, lik e
recruits famous authors for lectures and book signings. Beware though, new books aren’t cheap.
Waln u priva t Stree t’s t one e library of th in th e old is e e thou city. Ev st e g a me h it req n ui mbe rship res ,
2692 Madison Rd.
the foreign section or the pulp paperbacks in a display rack , which is alw ays worth browsi ng. 214 W McMill an St.
Another Part of the Forest Main Street’s used book and record store, adjacent to Iris Book Cafe, has an entire basement of dusty shelves,
it’s w o the a rth it for n colle tiquaria n c amb tion, qui et iance 19th and c furni entury ture that mak es like y you fee l o a Dic u’re livin g in kens nove l. 414 W alnut St.
as well as a fair supply of Penguin vintage classics and rare gems on the top floor for extraordinary pricing. 1333 Main St.
HANNAH SELLERS | LEAD DESIGNER
“Observance” by Amelia Mulder You congregate and laugh mock joke— rebuke his words with a passion stemmed from equivocal warrant. Brought together by united animosity of one another. When will you fathom the futility of striving to extinguish fire with gasoline? It’s just a game perpetually yielding the same result— hate.
Amelia Mulder is a fourth-year English student.
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“Count It” by Tony Johnson No better day than today. Pick up and leave. Do what you wanted to Yesterday. And the day before. Ever since you could remember thinking about it You were thinking about doing it. What’s stopping you? What’s holding you back? Smash lies, drown guilt itself, damn damnation, fly high, and Never Look Back. This is your life. It’s yours and no one else’s To make And mold And have And hold And love And find Wherever it may take you
Let it comfort you. And “never look back”, I said! Don’t look down And for the record And for God’s sake Godspeed to you, brothers and sisters! Seize what is yours! Deliver your dreams, conquer your fears, and Be a champion of chivalry A king of kindness A giant of joy And above all Make this place Make this time Make this one count.
Tony Johnson is a junior-level English major. He listens to the Wu-Tang Clan, prefers Rooney Mara to Kate Mara, and has perfected the art of concealing public flatulence.
newsrecord.org/for_the_record
October 1, 2014
“Apocalypsis” by Tony Johnson
Literary Issue
“Untitled” by Patrick Murphy
I When the world freezes over, The soft glow of the computer screens will leak against a sky-black universe. When everything goes on without us, Stop-lights and streetlamps will light the way. For all the people who don’t look there, The beast in the pit When the stores will always be empty, Vegas will seduce no one with her lights. A blinding light II Green-glow and blue-shine will cry out From their boxes in vain, to The glowing black-blue swirl of Cosmic magnificence. Humanity’s ancient projections will whimper and beg. The interstellar paradise ingentis so unexplored For desperate affection and faces, drooling. III When the bottom falls off… When the bell tolls for thee… When the plug comes out from the wall…. You will not look, You will stare. Eyelids - hanging like abandoned bridges Skin - blue with the afterglow still clinging to what it caught. Sweating through your bottom Until you expire, and – then, we will cower away from the great For thine… IV et misurent pulverem super capita sua et clamaverant flentes et lugantes dicentes vae vae civitas magna in qua divites facti sunt omnes qui habent naves in mari de pretiis eius quoniam una hora desolata est User error… user error… user error… user error… user error…
Tony Johnson is a junior-level English major. He listens to the WuTang Clan, prefers Rooney Mara to Kate Mara, and has perfected the art of concealing public flatulence.
newsrecord.org/for_the_record
At the breeze that meets the day’s departure, I took to wonder near ebbing water How graceful the world welcomed the weather; While golden geese glided hither and thither. Though whether I was there I could not say, For my mind’s tempest shuttered my skull’s bay From looking past shore to beauty akin; When the Earth decides to begin again. Shifting boats settled to a subtle wake, Restrained by their hemp lines above the lake. Plucking their pitchy tunes, I walked the dock To gain an airy key for my mind’s lock. A motion alive in the moving tide; Mayhap I may find what they did confide. Each wave raised and lost, but full of passion. Not tied, as my mind, like the line’s fashion. “I’ve sailed through rages, aware what I’ve lost, To know to stay tied ‘tis better than tossed. I’d give up gold feathers for wood and stone. Others can frolic; my peace is what’s known.” I watched the wadding ships pull against line; Some frayed, others strong, all efforts benign. There are thousands of strands that ropes contain, As thousands of thoughts that, to men, restrain. Musing, I missed sun’s last brilliant flair. Turning back, I had but night’s chilling air. “I’m safe,” I shudder, “I’m safe.” I wonder, “I must stay tied, else I be asunder.” The waves below crashed in violent mirth. A short, unknowing life, then back to Earth. Logic may safe me, but logic can’t feel; Knowledge can help me, but knowledge can’t heal. I returned for the morning’s rising rays And counted myself among brighter days. I witnessed the geese, I felt the fair wind, I honored not fear, but love, to defend. The logic or knowledge of wood and stone Is to shelter pain, than from pain be grown. Released from my woe I reach for sublime; By grabbing my rope, and cutting the line.
Patrick Murphy is a first-year journalism student and thinks his poem sounds better in a British accent.
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Literary Issue
October 1, 2014
Professor re-releases book about Bearcats basketball CLAUDE THOMPSON | STAFF REPORTER
Covering 10 coaching eras — from John Wiethe to Mick Cronin — Michael Perry’s “Tales from the Cincinnati Bearcats Locker Room: A Collection of the Greatest Bearcat Stories Ever Told” has been revised and will be republished Oct. 14. Perry, a University of Cincinnati journalism adjunct professor, has been writing since he was a freshman at UC in 1980. The original version of his book was published by Sports Publishing in 2004. During the winter of 2013, Perry received an unexpected call from Sky Horse, a publishing company out of New York, the company that bought the rights to Sports Publishing. Sky Horse asked Perry if he was interested in updating the original version after some impactful years for UC basketball history: the years of coach Bob Huggins, the one year of Andy Kennedy and the resurrection of the program of current coach Mick Cronin at his alma mater. Perry spent the spring tracking down former players, even tweeting and Facebook messaging some of them, to conduct interviews all over the world. Ultimately, 50 pages and roughly 20,000 words were added to the book and the cover was changed to a photograph of Sean Kilpatrick, former UC basketball player. In anticipation of the book’s re-release, The News Record sat down with Perry to discuss some of his motivations for writing it, his favorite UC basketball tales, and his goals for the book. TNR: What motivated you and made you believe that you were the one to write this book? MP: I had been connected in one way or another to UC since 1980. I’ve contributed to books before, but had never written a book before, but quite honestly, my motivation was I was trying to figure out how to start saving for college for my kids. I think in 2004 my kids were like 5, 2 and 2. I was thinking, ‘Is this something I can do on the side?’ Plus, it was just a challenge. I’m not sure everyone would have done the book the same way — you know, tracking down 75 former players and coaches all over the country, but that’s what I did and I thought it worked out pretty well. TNR: How far do your stories trace back? MP: Back to the 1940s. John Wiethe was the coach, a former NFL player, and I think that’s when it started when I was able to get people who knew, who still had the memories.
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TNR: What originally enthralled you into the world of sports?
sports. Then, 20 years later, I’m the sports editor at the Cincinnati Enquirer.
TNR: Tracking back to the 1940s and 50s, MP: When I was in high school and the how difficult did you find it to get the counselor told me that I should pick stories that you needed to go back that far? something that I can be passionate about and I can love every day when I go to work, MP: I contacted these people and I asked and I thought, ‘gosh, it’s got to be sports.’ them to just tell me what kind of memories There was no ESPN, I was just reading the that they had, the stories that they had, daily newspaper and I came to UC in the from when they would sit around and talk fall of 1980 and I thought, ‘Well, I’m here to to teammates and talk about the good old go into sports journalism.’ I walked into The days. What do they remember from the News Record and they said ‘Do you know locker room, pre-game and postgame? anything about soccer?’ I told them I was Funny stuff. Some guys had better captain of my memories than high school others, some guys team and they would remember told me that that they had a there was a good game, but soccer game they couldn’t and asked if remember I wanted to the details of cover it. it. I ended up So I went spending a lot of to this soccer time researching game, got in details to for free, got get the stats to watch it, going through got to ask microfilm library the coach and, now, it’s questions easy with Google. afterwards, At that time, I got to talk to was literally just the players, calling people and got to and asking write about people to tell me it. Loved their favorite that — I just memories, to kept going. I tell me their loved being favorite stories. able to ask the Some interviews questions. lasted 10 minutes I love to and you get off tell this story the phone and about a game you think, ‘I got at Louisville. nothing.’ And It was pouring some would down rain last for an hour. outside and Oscar Robertson PROVIDED my friends came down to the Sean Kilpatrick is featured on the cover of Perry’s book. were at the sports editor’s game, getting office and sat soaked. I’m in the press box with free food with me at the Enquirer and we talked. You being given to me, they’re coming to my get a chance to talk to all of the legends and spot to offer me Coke and hot dogs, handing all of the great guys — guys that I learned a me statistics, they’re escorting me down to lot about, so I was educating myself while I the locker room, talking to the players and was writing the book. coaches, and getting to write about it. Then I watched Sean Kilpatrick for four years I see my name in print and I just thought and had never spoken to him and we ended that I couldn’t believe that I could get paid up talking for 45-50 minutes like he’s to do this. I became the sports editor at The known me for years. He couldn’t have been News Record, then the Editor-in-Chief after a nicer guy. He was everything that you that and was able to write outside of writing thought you saw. I enjoyed the conversation.
He had some good stories. It’s funny when you get the coach telling one side of the story and you get a player telling their side and they don’t always match up. TNR: What is one of your favorite stories out of the collection? MP: Some of the early Bob Huggins stories from how he came on and set a tone for the program with those guys who went to the Final Four. First off, those guys are great storytellers: Tony Nelson, Terry Gibson, Courie Blount, Eric Martin. Those guys tell great stories. It’s always fun to hear about the things coaches do in practice that you’re not seeing. They were talking about a drill where the coach was upset that the players weren’t diving for the ball, so he would throw the ball out and he wanted guys to go dive on it, didn’t care if they got floor burns. They weren’t doing it to his satisfaction, so [Huggins] jumped to the front of the line and did it himself and the players got all hyped up. They were cracking up telling this story. All of the Crosstown Shootout stories are great. There is kind of a legendary story when a player threw a crutch at another player. TNR: What was your goal for the book? What would you want your book to accomplish for those who read it? MP: For those who read it, it is an anecdotal history lesson in the form of the voices of former players and coaches. I mean, you can’t beat that. Jack Twyman is personally telling me about how he almost went to a different school and how he came to UC. Being able to educate people that we had a Hall of Fame tennis player in the basketball program, a hall of fame baseball player, Sandy Kofax. I think being able to record the history through the voices of those people [was the goal]. More than a half dozen of these players have passed away — it’s in the foreword of the new book. I think it is important to get those people to tell their stories while they are still here. Now they’re captured forever, and that’s nice. I think we’re preserving the history of the program to some level. You can never get those stories again and some of them, if the book hadn’t told those stories, then we wouldn’t have them. So, I think there’s a value right there to preserving the history. The book can be ordered from Amazon, sportspubbooks.com or for a signed copy by emailing ucbearcatsbook@gmail.com.
newsrecord.org/for_the_record