Specific Gravity

A piece of sky
Flutters loose—a jay

Resolves himself before
A yellow flight of leaves,

Settles into them, absorbed.
His blood denser than water,

He lifts into motion
Lighter even than air,

Into which leaves turn
To light, then to wind—

How this longing
So precise, accepts

One answer: blood,
Muscle, bone knitting

A singular shape. My heart,
Anchored three-quarters up

In my body’s water,
Adrift, opens into

Brilliant wind, and leaves.

—Katharine Coles

Katharine Coles PhD'90, associate professor of English and director of the U's creative writing program, has produced her third book of poetry, The Golden Years of the Fourth Dimension. Part of the Western Literature Series, the book received the award for "best poetry book" in November 2001 from the Utah Center for the Book. The collection of 20 poems explores the intersections of science and poetry, time and space, within the context of daily life. The cover art, "Endangered Species," is by Maureen O'Hara Ure BFA'70 MFA'79, associate professor/lecturer in the Dept. of Art and Art History (2001; University of Nevada Press, Reno, NV 89557-0076; paperback, $12.00)

Jean Bradshaw Boyce BS’39 recently published Just like Home, her fourth book of light verse and the third to be illustrated by Bill Keane, whose cartoon series, “The Family Circus,” appears in 1,500 syndicated daily newspapers. Crowned “Utah’s queen of the four-line rhyme” by the Deseret News, Boyce finds inspiration in the common occurrences of daily family life. Her poems have appeared in various national magazines, including Good Housekeeping, Reader’s Digest, The Saturday Evening Post, and Family Circle. Boyce is married to Alma H. Boyce, a Salt Lake City attorney; they have four children (2001; Jean B. Boyce, distributed by Evans Book Inc., Salt Lake City, UT 84104; hardback, $12.50.)

The short stories in The Height and Depth of Everything, by Katharine Haake PhD’85, weave various elements together—the effects of place, the way lives converge in unanticipated ways, natural and human disasters, and the power of the narrative. Set in the western United States, the tales explore the relationship between the landscape and women protagonists who are forced to pick up the pieces of lives disrupted by natural as well as spiritual disasters. (2001; University of Nevada Press, MS166, Reno, NV 89557-0076; paperback, $17.00.)

Learning Together: Children and Adults in a School Community challenges the conventional notion of education as teachers transmitting facts and concepts to students. The book is a collective effort of Barbara Rogoff, professor of psychology at the University of Southern California at Santa Barbara, and Carolyn Goodman Turkanis BS’64 and Lee Bartlett, teachers in an Open Classroom (See Continuum, Summer 2000). An Open Classroom operates within a traditional school and requires three hours of parent involvement per week. The book theorizes that learning is a collaborative effort between the various components that make up a community, with participants engaging in purposeful activity and accepting mutual responsibility and shared decision-making. In this model, children as well as adults plan activities, and adults learn from the children they guide. The driving principle is that children and adults alike learn through active participation with other learners. (2001; Oxford University Press Inc., 198 Madison Ave., New York, NY, 10016; hardcover, $35.00.)

Leaders Working Together: Five Steps to Conflict Resolution, by Robert S. Adams BS'86, is based on research that Adams conducted for the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) Foundation. The book pro-vides a guide for five-step conflict prevention and intervention, using a problem resolution model, within nonprofit organizations. Adams is founder and president of Rocky Mountain Resolve in Salt Lake City (2001; American Society of Association Executives-ASAE, 1575 I Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20005; paperback).

Fire Road by Donald Anderson MA'79 was awarded the 2001 John Simmons Short Fiction Award, a national competition juried by the Iowa Writers' Workshop. Fire Road is a collection of vignettes that reflect on life, love, and the human condition. A former U.S. Air Force officer, Anderson teaches creative writing at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He is the recipient of a Creative Writers' Fellowship grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. (2001; University of Iowa Press, 100 Kuhl House, Iowa City, IA 52242; paperback, $15.95) .

The first novel by Nicholas Hershenow BS'85, The Road Builder, tells the tale of a young American couple, recently married, who attempt to build on their relationship while navigating the "mystical labyrinth of Central Africa." Filled with mystery, myth, danger, and romance, the novel draws the reader into the unknown world of Ngemba. Hershenow has been a Peace Corps volunteer in Africa, a whitewater raft and wilderness guide, and a teacher, and is now a U.S. Forest Service stream survey technician. He and his wife, Phoebe Juch Hershenow BSN'85, live in McCall, Idaho (2001; BlueHen Books, Penguin Putnam, Inc., New York, NY 10014; paperback, $25.95).

Art in the Park

The annual Sculpture in the Park show, held in the small town of Loveland, Colorado, draws artists from around the country eager to display their work. Each year the Loveland High Plains Arts Council (LHPAC) purchases a select few sculptures from the show for public display in Colorado's Benson Sculpture Park. "Circle of Peace," by Gary Price BFA'81 of Springville, Utah, was one of the 10 selected from the 2000 show.

"I've been attending the Loveland show for 10 years now and was honored to have one of my pieces purchased," says Price. "Circle of Peace" is a life-size sculpture of seven small figures—boys and girls, including a child with Down syndrome—from different ethnic backgrounds playing ring-around-the-rosy.

"The sculpture depicts children from all walks of life having fun together," comments Price. "The circle they form represents the continuum of humanity. Their clasped hands represent the interaction and cooperation that engender a humanity full of compassion and respect-respect for each other's uniqueness and compassion that bridges the gap between any indifference. Each and every child is a vital link."