Time of Our Lives

Great article. I totally agree with your conclusions based on my experience of being married over 20 years. We’re both white-collar workers and have three teenagers. One measure I would have been interested in, however: How does each gender prioritize personal-time activities vs. home chores? I highly prioritize exercise as an example, while my wife will push that down the list while doing something that I consider a low-priority chore, or something that can be pushed off to another day, or perhaps not even necessary at all.

Jeff Jamer ’89, Mendham, N.J.

Damage, Controlled

Thank you, Liam Farrell, for the article about the works of Ron Capps and his research on how creative writing can be a form of treatment for PTSD. Hundreds of thousands of vets can benefit from this creative expression of their thoughts. PTSD is a symptom of our amygdaloid hippocampus gyrus system on overdrive. It helps us survive a firefight during combat, but when it goes on overdrive it causes problems in daily living. Hypervigilance, anxiety, panic attack, fear of crowds, sudden noise, insomnia and relationship issues are some of the problems related to PTSD. Education and public awareness like these articles help everyone understand the special needs of veterans.

Dr. Owen Lee ’74, Newark, Ohio
Board member, Resurrecting Lives Foundation

I’m also a 2013 alum of Ron’s program. I participated in the prose workshop and found it to be the therapy I needed to address my PTSD and MST. Although I still struggle with large crowds, I’m able to step away, find a place of solitude, and write to relax my anxieties. Ron has been a literal lifesaver. Thank you, Ron, for giving your fellow veterans a way of holding on.

Clarissa Douthit

Documentation of an Occupation

Gordon Prange was hands-down the best professor I had at Maryland. Although I was an English major, he was the one who made learning come alive for me, with his personal stories as participant-observer to the history of the World Wars and their aftermath. I am so glad his collection is getting the attention and treatment it deserves.

Bonnie (Feldesman) Lefkowitz ’60, North Beach, Md.
Former editor in chief, The Diamondback

Monumental Change

This is groundbreaking scholarship by someone who knows the terrain intimately—the history of monumental sculpture in the Western tradition, of American art, of slavery, of African-American struggles, of collective memory, of all the complex issues that intersect in these monuments. Dr. Renee Ater initiated this research long before it became front-page news, and she approaches the topic with a balanced perspective rare in today’s divisive atmosphere. It should be mandatory reading in universities (and elsewhere) across the nation.

June Hargrove, professor emerita, art history and archaeology

I live in Virginia. Just about every county seat has a memorial in their courthouse square dedicated to its deceased Confederate soldiers. I have seen similar memorials to Union soldiers in front of courthouses in Pennsylvania and New York. They all had something in common: They were erected in the 1890s. Think of what was happening in that decade. The United States was moving past the Civil War, becoming a world power and expanding its presence around the world. Most Civil War veterans would have been deceased or aging without too many more years to live. The monuments were likely erected so that the tremendous sacrifices made my veterans on both sides would not be forgotten.

Chuck Woods ’70, Springfield, Va.

Did One of Our Moms Write This?

As a life member of the Alumni Association residing in Europe, it takes a while for my publication to reach me. However, I am most happy when it does! I just wanted to say that, in my humble opinion, the Winter 2019 publication (which just arrived today) is possibly the best edition to date. Frankly, I found it to be a compelling read, and I will keep this copy around for a long while. It’s been a good number of years since I have been to College Park, but I feel like I am right there with my Terp magazine. Keep up the great work!

Richard Steinberg ’70, Kosharitsa, Bulgaria