'Wisconsin's Own' CollectionFinds H ome in Lan e Library Ripon's Own Share Their Varied Stories in Recent Book Releases

Wisconsin's Own Library,a colleccionof nearly 5.000 , ·olumes, each of which was wrinen, edued or compiled by a peoon who was born in Wi,con,in or dtablisheJ residencehere, has a new home in c.heSouth Reading Room of l a ne l ibrary.Th e collection is own ed by ,:he General Federacionof Women's C lubs of Wisconsinand comes to Ripon , hrough a new parrnersh1p wi1h lhat organ ization,

The idea for a library of books, limited to thosc by write rs Wisconsin can claim as its own, waso riginaceJ in 1949 by }.fat') ' Rennebohm, wife o f Oscar Rennebohm , th e scate's32nd gm e rnor, It was housed in th e Execucive Residenceunt il i, outgrew its home. Mrs.Rennebohm persuadedrhe Wisconsin Federalion o f Women's Clubs ro become t he con tributing spo1,sor

The collection was loca<edin a secti on of the State H istoricalSociety Librar)' in Madison from 1967until April 1980. It then wasmoved to the U niversity of W1sconsin,M1lwaukee. Sc hool of li brary Science. In 1986, the Co llection""'' placed in the Beloit College Library.In J une 2006, the collection wasmoved to Ripon Co llege

Booksin th e collec, io n a re available for checkout <o th e Ripon Co llege community a nd Friends of Lane Library Those ou,side of the College community can accessmaterials rhrough interlibrary loan a t th eir home libra ries.

A few of ,:he featured a uth ors include:

• AueuscDerle, h ( I 909,I 9i l. Sauk City) , h istorical a nd detective fiction,

• Zona Gale (1874-1938, Portage), no,·els. short stories and plays.

• H amlin Garland (1860-1940, West Salem). novels, short fiction, essays.

• Ke,•in Henkes (1960,, Racine), chi ldren's works,

• A ldo Leopold (1887-194S, Madison), e1wironmentalethics and conservation.

• John Muir ( 1838- 1914, Portage), wildernesspreservation,

• Laura Ingalls Wilder ( 1867-1957, Pepm), h istorical llction,

• Thorton Wilder (1897- 1975, Madison), playsand no\'els.

• Frank Lloyd Wright ( 1867-1959 , Richland Cente r), architecture.

'' It is nice to ha"e booksby Wisconsin authors altogether in one collection," saysRipon L,brana n Vale n e \ l1ers."'Ir's\'ery c o nvenie n t thac \vay. Th e re's been a lot of interest. Our checkout sta ti ~tic.s have been , ·er)' good, and we receh·ea lot of interlibrary loan requests,"

Ripon's Own

Ripon College a lso h as many rublished authors among its own alumni H ere are some with recent efforts:

• War hero LL CoL James Megellas ' 42 of Co l, lei·ville. Texas, is on a new book-signing tour and recently made trips to Afghanistan a nd lraq cogi"e thousandsof signed copies o f his 2003 Wo rld War II memoir, All ck Wayco Berlin , to troops stationed o,·e rseas. The book highlights his experiences para· chuting behind enemy lines in Holland du r· ing ~ration Marker Ga rden Those e\'ents a lso were featmed in Hollywoodmo"ies such as A BridgeToo Far U.S. Rep To m Petri, R, Fond du Lac, introduced legislation m 2007 to award Megellaswith the Co ngressional Medal of Honor rhe nation's h ighest mili, ta ry honor. Megellasis t.he most decorated , __, officerin rhe h istOI') ' of the 8 2nd A irborne f: Division, receivingmore than 10 medals includ- ing rhe Discinguished S«, ·ice Cross, cwoS,h-er Stars, t\\ 'O Bron:c Starsandl\\\)

Purple Hearrs, "I al\\'a)'sfelt I had a SCOI')' to tell about World War II - rhe human el•mt nt about the men who did rhe fight ing and d)'ing," Megdlas says. "They \\'ere no t num bers. They ,vere ou r buddiesand some mother's son They were youths in the primeoi rheir lives, Th a r was a st<>!')'I had ro relL"

Jamtt Meg, IJ., '4l

Writing t.he book wam'cdifficult, bm 11 ""' 1i1ne,consu1ning, ~legt>llas.says.The projrct cook five years.

Afcer I \\'To ten , it beca1netherapeutic," he says. "Things I had carried deep inside of me for years , OO\\' they \\'ere 0 1, pape r and released. "

All the Way coBerlinis in its se,·emh princing and soon will be in its eighth. It's had five rarerback printings. i; on CDsa nd c assetces , h.is b..-entranslateJ in Dutch al\d is a best-seller in H olla nd, a nd soon will be translated into German.

'"The response from people who read tt is o verwhelming," Megellas >ays."TI,e bookhas resonated \\' it.h re o rle \,·ho a re interc-.stcd in the human side of h istory. It 's h ad a big impac r."

• The desire ro leave a legacy for his sons led Jack Sneesby ·47to write a memoir o f h is expe· riencesas a prisoner of \\'ar during World Wa r IL

Sneesby, \\•h o lives in South Milwaukee, Wis., and teaches at larquette University's Schoolof Dentistry,sen-ed wi, h ,he 338th Infantry Regiment, Company I. H e was h eld for se \·en months as a Ger, n1anpri)(lner of ,,iar.

J><lt Sn,....by '47 Kreig,g</cmga1<n11250208

My \'Xlar~ recounts his exrc · rie-nce.s,the origin o f one 's ,,·111ro survi\'e and how one can ca rry on after reac hing a breaking point .

~she \\'aS \\'tiling the boo k , ma n y people, includmghisstudents, became interested in ir So he self-published ,he book thn, ugh Vanwge Press.

'"l'\'e had \·e11 • f'OSHivereactions,'' Sne-esby ,ay; ... Ewrylxxly that reads it is a ma,ed a, my memory. My memory wasaugmented b)' a diary \\·h e n I \\'as in pr ison camp and lette rs home fron, lhe uar. I h a d son1e interesting exreri .. ences, and !hey niakc good read ing."

He has sold a few hu nd,eJ copies of the book hinisdf. and it also is avai lab le o n Amazon.com. He sayshe ·'absolmely" is happ1· \\'ith th e way the bookturned our.

"I l'W te the book mainly for my boys so ,hai ,hey wouldkn ow wha t it was all about as far as I ,,·as concerned," he says. "Ocher people \\' C'rC' imeresied so I had 1l publi!hed."

• Carol Gran t Troestler '60 o i Pra irie du Sac, \Xii;.,ascont inuing her series of booksbased nn the livesofhet grea, -grandmoth c rs with I owa Born an..1 Bred.

" It's historit'<llfiction based on th e life o i my great-grandmoth er," Trocstler says. ''M y fir,t no\·e l, Flo« ·on Su'tc{ i'<.fi.~souri,\, as based on th e life of ano, he r grea t -grandmother. I intend to write about all of th em some day.''

IowaBornand Bredis ran hiswrica l novel, pan memoir and pan biog· rarhy of hN grandfathe r, who invented 1hings like the e lectronic shx k quota .. tions board and tele pho ne e-4uip1nc-nt.

Before r etirin g in 1999, Troe. tier was a social worker and " role se,·eral n, ate ri a ls concerning dru g a nd alcoho l abuse, life,rhreaiening 111· n es.scs an d si1nilar t opics .

C..irol Grant Troei tl er '60

With fiction, you have t o do di a log. use you r in1aginacion, make up a lot/' she says. "\Vhen I do [fictio n] with m1 • family. I have the characters se,and use the deia ils o f the ir (i,•esfor t he plot. h's a li tr le easier rhan if I \\'rite pure ficti o n. I have a lot of the t hings dedded for me "

She a lso h as been wo rking for three )"earson a book abo ut the Cuban J.lissile C risis, based o n he r experiences. 1ho.e of h er pilot husband Tom Trocstler '59 and those of o the r pilo ts in his squadron

"People have been emhusiast ic abou, tt," she says. "It is a lot of re..<earch,but I (o , e to do research. T o me it was enjoyable. Being published has raugh t me more about ho w to get pubh~hcJ ll1a11I 1.;oukl4-cvt;rrt.!(IU(lbool. l 'v4; mN a lot o f auth ors and keep in touch with t hem o ver c.he In ternet, a nd they ' ve become priceless friends So that networking o f auth o rs has really been a great expe.rience ." I

• Afte r a 23-year career in ,he military, retired USAF Colone l Merline Thoma Lovelace '68 of Ok laho ma C. ry launched a high ly successfol second career - as the be.tselling a uthor o f con1ance nove ls.

" I love books," ,he says. '·Readin g has always been a passion for me. At one point, I ih ought I wou ld becon1ecl librarian."

Whil e she was rnns id· ~f crlinl? Thoma Lo, dacc '68 eri n g \,·rit ing a boo k, she a tt en d ed a \\'Titer's con ference \\•here she met ,vriters, aspiring \\·rilcrs. agcnLSa nJ e<litors 1 a nd launche d a "'h o le n e\ \' c a reer.

'' I' d ne,·er been exposed to writ ing before, except for college papers and Air Force repo"' - al th ough some o f ,he se migh, have been ere• a ti\'e fic t ion," Lo\'elace says .

H o,vew r. ,he soaked up a ll ,he inforrnauo n ,he cou ld and dec ided co use her military expe· nences to t ry her hand a t \vrit1ng.

'·( tho ught, ·rnwriie a book - h ow hard can ir be?'" she says. " I'll te ll you - it's hard!''

But her fresh , ·oice and convincing details brought he r alrno~tiruitant.succ~s.

Lo,·elacehas published more rhan 70 nowls, with more than 10 million copies o ih er works m print in 30 different count ries. He r latest book is MatchPk,y.publishe<lby Silhouette RomancicSuspense m February 20..'18.

She bases many of her tales on her experiences in the military. and aho docs a great deal of research lo ensure acc ur.~cy.He r ho nors include Romance \Vriters of A n,erica 's pri'-°Hi" gious RITA awarJ an d being named th e Univer· sity of Oklahoma's 1998Writer o f the Yea r, Join ing rast Hterary lunn nanes such as Louis L'Amour and Tony Hillerman.

"It'sbe.:n a \VOnd.:rfulS<'cond ca ree r." Love lace says.

• Mary A Kane '74 of Oconomowoc, Wis., i> a pro lific freelance journalist, \\Titer,photographer and ed1torwh ()Sework a ppears in newsr•pers. maga:ines, t~hnical publications, tele"i · sion a nd public r~lations \'ehicles natiOn\\·ide. Her book Oconomouoc,published in Ocrnc.,r 2006, is part of Arcadia Publishing'snationwide PosrcarJ Hi,tory Series.

" I'm r arricularly happy about rhe book for t'\\'O re;;1&0ns,"K rine roys. "The roytl l ttes go co the-Oconomo,\'OCArea Fouru.iation.as a tnean s of my exp ressing gratitude for ha, ·ing Oconon,o\\'OCas a homerO\\TI that ,,·asa very special place u,which to grow up Secondly, I "·adedthrough a lot of information and disin, formation ro rut toget h e r \\'hat son1e o f Oconomowoc's most hyrer-cr it ical and kee nly ale rt oc togenarians find to be th e most factual hi s.tory done on the city.'' uln ,·ie\\' of o ur contemporary culnue and the diminishing regard for the printed word, paradoxica lly, writing a book rerhap:; is the n,osl re,,·ardingoutle t a gee :er suc h as n,yself could find," Kane says.

She says resronse to OconomoU'ochas been "exceptio na l,'' with the book selling well in sw res a nd boutiques. She al'() does readings and booksignings.

For Kane, Ocono1nouoc is part of a co ntinuum th at began in Ripo n when she worked with A1neric.an Associationof Uni\'ersir~r\Vo 1ne-n members to produce \Vhen a Woman Wills,a 1981hi<torybooka nd accompanying s lide pr~s.cntation .

"Th is book came alx,ut through a sen.<eoi quiet dri\'e that e,·en scares me - at the same time th at I hdd out io r the types of sym rg is tic work thar a llowed me to achie,·e my goa l.

"Belie\'e me, when I say 'support sy,tem.' I don't mean a steady stn.~arn o( g irlfriend lunch dates and women's circle's d,shes-ro-rass. Someti1ncs the suprort can con,e- from encounte ring the Zj th anni"wa ry edit ion of The Gif1:Creari,i1yand the Artist in ,heM odem World,by l ewis Hyde, or simply ha,.ing , he reassuring rhrase ' cultural creati\'e' come one's way for purposefulconremrlar ion and reflection ar a meaningful n1o ment .'"

Spirit:Procm Spirincali,yin a Relarional\Vorld,rubli<hed by P&FPressof Claremont, Calif in 20L'\6The book is ,o ..v;nnen h~·the Re\•, Canon Paul $ . Nancarrow '78 of Eden Prairie, Minn : Joh n B. Cobb Jr. a nd Bruce 0 Erperly.

"

• TI,e theo logy oi spiritual practice from a processpoin t of ,·icwis foarurcdin The Callof the Re,·. CanonPaul S. N .a.nc:arr°" '($

The book is about an approach co Christian sp iri.. tual,ry, particu larly seen th rough the lens o f process th e-ology,''N ancarrO\\'says. '1Process theo l ogy is an arproac h ro rheological rhmking based largely on the rhiloS<.1phy of Alfred North WhiteheaJ and Charles Hartshorne. Thi s philosophy looks a, ,he world m remu of processnot things so it re;.lly focuses on h o\\' things rtlatc to each othe r anJ ho\v the realith:s."·e experie nce arlse ou t o i relationship. ''

There are nine es..<ays in th e book t hree by each au tho r, that rro, idc conc ret< examples of spiritual prac t ices for indh·iduals and groups. ~anc.arro,,'schaptersar~u ded ··eon,n1u n a l Spiritual Practice in Ce remo ny and Liturgy,""A Spirituality of Discemn1ent" and •(Co1npa..(SiOn 1nCommun ion."

The introduction to the book states: "These nine essays iorn1an integral "·hole, co ,nb ining 3 carefol a na lyslSof relational dynanucs w1th \'ery prc1cticalsugge-stions (or roerwna l and con,n,una l y,·ayso f in tensify ing our spirituality. The c-ssays flow fro m t he wellspringsof spirimalicy in each of our author.; they arc 'li,·ed' essa)'s,and not simply cheorerical discu$.Sions.To read the es..<a\ '5, then, is to be invited into the privilegeo i !eCinghow th e call of t he S pirit has lx>en ans\veredin eac h o f ,he~e th ree li ves."

Nancarrow is rector of St George's Episcoral Ch urch in St. Louis Park, ~!inn He taugh t a sumn,er courseat LutherSe n1inaryin Sc. Paul in Ju ly anJ will reach Reading th e World as Sacred Texl: Some Quesuo ns. in Science and Re ligion" in the srring at Un1ted Theo logical Sern i nary of the T,\·in Cittes. He has \\ ritt<'n a nd published numen1usessaysand arricles in theologica l journals, so the writing o( this book wasn't d ifficult for him, he says.

··The\' are the kinds o( things I tend w think about a ll the r in1e o n my o,\·n an y\\·ayi"he says.

"Those who have seen i:he book like it and find it helpful, but it was rubhshed by a small press so it hasn't had a ,·ery wide distribution. It's amacted attention largely from people who already know about process theology.''

He would like to see wider distribution to introduce the book's subject to other people, as well.

• Wisconsin's involvement in the Underground Railroad is rhe focus of \Vind Alongthe Water, a

2006novel self-published by J enni fer Brengle Giedd 'i9 of Beaver Dam,Wis. It tells of an elderly nursing honleresident '"hoshares 1ith r,,·ogirlsherstO()'o( their small Wisconsin commun1cy'ssecre, invol\'e, ment in the Underground Railroad. When the woman is diagnosed with Alzheimer'sd1;ea:;e,the girls"·orkto unCO\'ertheir tl">,,·n'sn1ystenous hist Of)', t

GieJ..1!3YS the swry was "floating around in my head," and she wanted to share it. The ficliu11 Fttll \\.U ~~i.:1 fut l1 t:1 a 1.1Jlook about ~i'I'. months to complete. The non-fiction pan, doc, umenting the facts through actual historical n1aterials 1 took about three years and required trips co rhe Federal Archives in C hicago, the State Archives in Madison, the Nau o nal Free, dom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, and libraries locallyand at Ripon College.

"When you're going to be in print, you want to make sure you've checked )'Ourresources," she sa)'s."It probablyw·a.shundreds of hours of looking at o ld microfilmand o ld documenrs."

She says that while there is a lot of docun1entationto go through, researchstill is dif(j. cu lt becau:;ethe subject had to be extremely secretive for thore invol\'ed. The fine for being caught was$1,01.',0,which at tha t time would ha\'C wipedout a family.

Giedd say, the book has been well-receh·ed locally and has prompted numerous inv itat ions for her to speak at conferences and othe r , ·enues around the state. She is a member of the Wisconsin State Underground Ra ilroad board of directors and teaches Title l in the Randolph School District. H,·r son, Michael, is a junior at Ripon, and h er daughter, Elizabeth '06 is attend, ing law school in Washington. D.C.

• Fomm Ripon a« maJ<"Charlie Scheips '81 of New YorkCity sti ll considers himselfan art perS..)n,but he a lso has h ad major contacts in fashion o,·er the cour:;eof his career. Both these sub, jem figureheavily in his three published books.

John Rawlings:30 Years in Voguewas published in 20C,0and is out-of-print. It features the Voguephotographer from the 1940s a nd '50s, and "preny much relaunched his teputa · tion," Scheips says. Sche1pswas d irect or of the CondeNast Archi\'e for more than a d,-.:adeand discovered Rawling.s'y,·orkthere.

Andy \Varhol:The Day rheFactoryDied was published by Empire Editions in 2006 on ,he 20i:h annive rsary of Warhol's deai:h.The focus is photograph s capruring New York's elite taken by Christophe \'OOHohenberg at Warhol's memorial service at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New Yo rk Apnl l , 1987. The book incl udes essaysand letters written by cultural and society figures

*'It's a complete time capsule o f an era and has just gone into ilS second prinring," Sche ips says.

Americm, Fashionwas published by Assouline for the Counci l o f Fashion Designerso f America in October 2007. The coffee tab le book tu....ludc:s250 i ll usllalions (elcl,1at i11g l11c \\·o rk o f more than l 00 An1erican fashion designers from the 1920s through 2007.

"l aprroached the fashion book as an an I histo ry project," Scheips says."It was really a celebration o f American fashion, not a c ritical study It's had enormous press."

The book's lau nch party was held dur, ing Fashion Week in New Yo rk. and BergdorfGoodman featured it in a ll of its \\'indov,:sduring the enti re \\·eek. At a book signing there, Scheips signed 300 books in two hours. and Enreruli,unent \Xfeeklyde scribed the book as one of i:he top I O coffee table books of the year.

He OO\\ ' is in negotiationsfora major book about the New Yorkart world.

Scheips a lso was an assistant to artist David Hockney in the 1980,. The m:ent rctrospec· tive, Datid Hockney:Pormlirs.that trave led to ,he Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, i:he L.A. County Museum of Art and i:he Nati o nal Por, trait Gallery in London, included three portraits of Scheips. One of them. "Self-Portra it with Charlie," recently was purchased by the Nationa l Pomair Gallery in London for its rer· manenc collection.

Scheips current ly is Worldwide Director of Phmographs for Phillirs de Pury & Co.and a freelance curato r. He credits Ripon art profes, sors Erwin Breiihaupt, Ol)'mpia Olgilvie and James Thompson as being importa nt influences 1n his artistic life.

"As long as I can remember, I was interested in the visual world," Scheips says. "World history ca n be seen through the lens of an. Fortunes come a nd go, but th e things tha t remain are the artifacts. I don't think histo ry is just abo ut \\'ars"·on a nd lost. Art reflects the culture o f the 1ime and place from \\'hence it came."

• B radley AUwin Mc Donald '88 of Milban k , S.D., writing as ''Olaf Danielson," released ,he second nove l in hi s Def<~,ders of theEarthseries in October 2007 No Peace in fa;le is the sequel to Marks of w Forbidden,bot h published b)·Savage Press. Th, Ice Trolls1s set for publica• tion th is fall or next spring McDonald was born and ra ised in the SwedishAmerican community of Fa lun (near Grant$burg) in n orth\,·es.tem \Vi scoru in. This, he says, instilled in h im a n inte rest in history and Nor.e mythology.Combi ned with his o ther passions - tra\ ·el , archaeoJogyand sci~ ence ficuo n - his no\'els take readersaround the \vo, ld ns he uses olten,nt i, •e hi.story and n s lightl y alternate paradigm of hum an existence.

McDonald is the CEO o f\V apu i Medtcal Group, all emergency room group which en1ploys 160 phy~iciansin fi\·e sl a te.s,and he starred\\'Tiringas a Ne\\' Year's resolu rion ro ber, 1er himself, h e says.

"A s I s tarted doing resear ch a nJ read ing about n1yfan1ilyhistory, th is story so rt of popl)<'dout and wrote itself." he says.

His ideas come from odd. interesting e-·ents fro m through out histo ry and how 1.heyaffected the world.

"I h ave more of a pro blem for lac k of time 10 \\'Tirethan lac k o f things ro \\·rice about,'"'he says."Tr)'ing 10ba lance the problemsof work, fam1lya nd ot he r e,·ents is tough. There are o nly so n1any hc..lursin ,he day."

~lcDotlald likes writing because o f its c rea tivity a nd the ability to se t his o\l;n rules. He especially appreciates how wming has orened up his world He has tra\'eled to new places, taken Swedish lessons, tried d1fferemfoods and had other experiences he never would h ave before.

"It's been very rewarding," he says. ''E\'en 1f the book doesn't sell any more cor,ie,, I'd be satisfied because o f th at.' 1

• Th e future of compute r data protectio n is h ighlight ed in DigitalOma lnugrity: the E,,ol111ionfrom P<l$51t'tPror,cnon to Acri,'<' .\fonag,m,m, co-written by O ussama E I-H ilali

'89

an<ltwo othe r authors

The book was published last summe r by Wiley & Som.

El-H ilali is a sen io r director of engineering for Symantec, a company offering tnterpn5c ~ft \\"3.re products for availability <?ussama andsecon t\'· I-le v:orksv.•ith "I H 'l 1"69 ' 0 • 1 • 1 the NetBackllp product line, a flagship proJuc t for the company which la rge co n1panies use ro back up their data.

"There is a movement ill the backup indus· try tha t is suggesting that bac kup alone is no t sufficient, " EI-Hilali says."\Ve sh ould be manag, m g , he dat a instead of just protecung it. The book talks about h ow tha t movement is goillg to ha ppen and ho\\' to plan your fururestrategy."

Thi s is EI-Hilalt's fust book, a nd he called \rritin,git ..a nighunare."

'"Th ere are tv.·o di(ficu1ties."he says. "Th e re are actua lly three of us who collaborated on this. \Ve normally ha\'e very, , ery busy 14-hour Jays. To finJ th at cr~a,ivc time afte r i·ou'vc worked 14 hours IS difficult to do, but we did manage to find time here and ,here where our c re-n ti v e jui ce-.s ,verli.!'' 'l'lrkin g.

''Then , U\ose of us in executi\'e posit io ns are rrainedto s\lmn,arizerhe datain a-'fe,,, ,,·ordsas ross ib le. The book is the exact oprosi te. You v.-ant to say everything as \'er~ely as you can.~

He does pla n co write more books, bur nor immediately

"It is ,·ery gratifying to be able to share some o f chat inforn1r1rion p ubli cly,,. he says. 1' (c is technology that is fascinat ing and it is satisfying to ta lk about th ese topics in a n open forum like this "

• Amie A. Dought y ·9zo f Oneonta, N.Y., published her firs, book, FolkUtlesRerold:A Crirical

Own •ieu•of StoriesUpdaud fcrrChildren,in the summer of 2006.The publis he r is Mc Fa rland an d Co.

Doughty, an English pro, fe..,sorat the State Um,·er· s it)' of New York in Oneonta, s.ays,";\1y research are<1is children's literature The book examineshO\\ . co n ren)poral)· autho r. of ch ildren 's hte rarure ta ke tradit ional folktales and reshape them so th a t modern audiences can beue r understand them \\'it h modem sensibilities ."

Amie A. Oought)''92

The c hapters "arc snap,ho ts of how different am hors approach children's literature and folk, tales,"Doughtysays."'It'sgeared towarJeJucators \\clntingbackgroundinfomlation, not a theoreu~ c~Ibookon children's literature.h's an overview anJ accessibleto the lay reaJer, not juIt the acaden1ic.I ha\'e a relaxedityle oi \vriting:•

She bec.imeinterested in chi ldren's literature by accident. \Vhen she " ·as working°" her master'sdegree at Indiana State Uni\'ers1ty,an office mate\\·anted to ceacha course on children'sliter..ature and ..l kind of got dragged into it," Ooughtl' says.She \\'aS tappedat her next univeniity to teach 1.hesubject again, and ''since then rhat's "hat l\ ·e been doing. 1lo,·e . it now,"she says.

" I love to reaJ all som of stuff, but thtre's a joy in languageplay in children's literarure that l don't see in adult literarure, parricularly the adult literature that we're suppoS<.'<.i to read."

The book starred as presentations for conferences of the Popular Culture Association,and Doughty ""as approached to expand them into a book. She worked on it over a couple of years, but it \\.'asn•rdifficultfor her, she says.

"It's what I do," she says."The proce;s of \\'filing it "·asjust a Olattc!rof fi1,di11gtl,e tin'le-.' 1

• Bringingphilosorhy and insight inro the world of the general public is the goal of 0<3n Ko"•alski '92,assistant pro· fessorof philosophyat th e Uni\'ersity of Wisconsin· Waukesha.His book, The Philosophyof 'The X-Fik,; ., ca 1ne ouc in September 2007and analy:es the underl1·ingphilosophyof che popular science fiction television series.

" If you're a fan of the 'XCna.nKo~,aJ~ki'92 Files/ you have an fmrnedi, ate interest in the topic,11 Kowalskisays."Youcan better relate to what it is the philosophyis trying ro get acr=. It does philosophyin a medium that's already enjoyed by people."

Kowal;kiwrme a few of the chapters and edited th= writren by other teaching philosophers.

"Philosophy is nor just something to do in a clamoom," he says.··Philosorhyhas applications outsidetheclassroo1n,andn1oteapplications than what people mighr rhink. Youcan do philosophywhile watching your favorite TV show."

Kowal;ki'ssecond book with Kentucky Press. The Philosophy of Srewn Spk!krg, 1sdue out m September It exploresSpielberg'sfilms. ftom Jaus to Munich,for their philosophical significance. He also is wrning an ethics textbook, Mor<1JTheoryandMotionPicruw, using popular films to intn..'lducescudenls to importanl rhilo, sorhical problemsand theme$.

"The two most difficult things [about \\Titing a book! are being organizedso you don't o,·er• look any important deadlines or forget to add those last,minutc revisions, and .sintplysticking \\ 1ith the projec, to its con1pletion; 1 Kov.·alski says. "There is a sort of grind chat goes with publishing a book. It's not the sort of grind that one h as ,\·orkingan the salt mines day 1n and day om, but 1t is something that you have t0 work on C\'eryday. If \'Ou don't, it's like!\' that you'll never fin ish!'

• Derek Rivard '93 of Nevada, Mo., has taken a childhood lo\'c of King Arthur and

Robin Hood ro being a rub li;hed aut hor. His first book, Blessingthe \\'lorld:Ritualand Lay Pieryin M,d,ei,a/Religion, will be released b)' Catholic Univc.·rsityof America Press in No\·ember. R i\'ard recently was awarded tenu re and rromoted to associa[e profes, Omk Ri,swl •93 sor of history a t Coney College, a rwo-year liberal ans college for women. H e had continued his childhood interest as a teenager \\·i,h his.rori, ca l board games and role-playinggames like "Dungeons and Dragons,"and then rurned thosechildhoodinterests into an interest in medie\'al European history.

"When I cameto Ripon, I haJ in mind already I wanted to be a medievalist," Rivard says. ''\Vhen I first began srudy of it, it was the greater role of faith in people 's life, and the power of re ligion and spiritual beliefs th at drew me to this period and its heroes. In liking King Arthur, I ah,-a1·sthought knights were fa.<cinatingand cool, as well as arn1ors, \\·eaponsand the arts of the period.

"One other thing that was really fun was that the people who lived in rhat time choughr \'ery differently than we do. It's fun to think 1·outself into a different way of seeing the world and see \\•here lhat takes you!'

He pre\'iously published four articles in scho larly journals, and the book is a revised manuscript of his doctoral dissertation Rivard envisions \\'riting tv.·oor three 1norebooks, although this first one was difficult to comrlete.

" It was a produceof eight years of graduate schoo l education," he S3\'$. " It took many years, and I recei\'ed se,-eral grams to complete it. It has gone through mote revi,ions than I can easily courn, and I had difficult experiences with publishers,which de layed it even mort. But it ,\·as\\'Orth1t." R

Since the rerroristattacks of Sept. 11, 2001, ,here has been a heightened e1nphasis on natio nal security in U.S. imerests around th e wor ld. To add ress chis new focus, Ripon is offering a national security minor, and alumn i in the £ield say the