I am sitting here writing this on a lovely end-of-summer day. Hopefully you are reading this during a not-too winter-y winter. Here’s some news —
Dan Warren has just published a booklet of 50 interviews that he did with fellow Maine lawyers. He says it was “Lots of fun. Good way for me to bring my UMO journalism degree into the legal world.” Dan used to be a columnist (2017 – 2019) with the Maine Lawyers Review. All interviews were published in MLR but he published this booklet on his own. Let him know if you would like a copy. (jonesandwarren@gmail.com)
History major Bob Briggs G has written two books for Arcadia Publishers: University of Maine, a pictorial history in the College History Series; and University of Maine Ice Hockey, another pictorial history. He has also written The Constance Fisher Tragedy, a book about a Maine woman who committed double filicide in 1954 and 1966. Bob says, “I started off as a journalism major and regret that I did not finish!” But I don’t think he has anything to regret with these works!
The University of Maine’s Clement and Linda McGillicuddy Humanities Center, Alumni Association, and College of Liberal Arts and Sciences hosted a free public discussion about “The Future of Humanities” on Oct. 14 during Homecoming 2022.
The discussion about the role of the humanities in the current social, cultural, and political moment featured Heather Cox Richardson, professor of history at Boston College, and Brian Naylor ’04H, veteran National Public Radio correspondent. Richardson teaches nineteenth century American history at Boston College. Brian is a graduate of the University of Maine and recently retired from National Public Radio, where he worked for nearly 40 years as a Washington, D.C.-based reporter covering politics, Congress, and federal agencies such as transportation and homeland security. Brian worked as a newscaster on “All Things Considered” and filled in as host on many NPR programs during his career, including “Morning Edition,” “Weekend Edition,” and “Talk of the Nation.” While covering the U.S. Congress in the mid-1990s, Brian’s reporting contributed to NPR’s 1996 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Journalism award for political reporting. Brian currently serves on the advisory board of the McGillicuddy Humanities Center, and in 2013 he was the Alan Miller Fund Visiting Journalist in the Department of Communication and Journalism at the University of Maine. The Clement and Linda McGillicuddy Humanities Center supports excellent teaching, research, and public engagement in the humanities to deepen understanding of the human condition.
Dale T. Phillips was on two panels at the Killer Nashville Mystery Conference, where two of his novels were finalists for awards. A writeup and pictures of the event are at: tinyurl.com/2p8h4mjm.
Dale’s latest book is All The Fables and Fantasies: A Fifteen Story Collection and is available on Amazon Kindle.
Back in June, Shawn Yardley ’79 made the decision to retire as CEO of Community Concepts; however, he planned to continue to assist the board through the end of the year.
Hope to hear from a lot of you for the next issue! All news is welcome.