Recent Alumni Publications

	A Mother’s Book of Well-Being, by Lisa Groen Braner BS’91, provides a guide through the first year of motherhood. With a week-by-week format—52 different chapter titles—and using personal experiences and journal exercises, Braner details how a mother must pay attention to her physical, emotional, spiritual, and intellectual self as she cares for her child. Braner, a mother who has researched holistic health and motherhood, was a part of the Hambridge Center, a selective international artists’ and writers’ working residency program, in 2002 (2003; Red Wheel/Weiser, Boston, MA 02110; paperback; $15.95).
	In Rogues, Hoboes, and Entrepreneurs: Coping With the Great Depression, Cy W. Greenhalgh BS’39 MS’42 stimulates the memory of anyone who lived through the Great Depression and entertains those who know it only from history. Based on his own experiences of the “rogue” days of early childhood, he recounts the “adventures and misadventures” of boys reared in the Tintic Mining District of Utah, including stories from the 1920s when young boys were part of rabbit shoots and community celebrations and were fascinated with cars and finding ways to earn money. The “hobo” years recount tales of teenagers riding the rails from place to place looking for work and sharing the satisfying mulligan stew in the “jungle” (camping place) where each hobo added what he had to the pot. The “entrepreneur” chronicles the projects of those who thought it would be better to try something and fail than to do nothing. After graduating from the U, Greenhalgh worked for the Bureau of Mines investigating strategic mineral deposits in Montana, Nevada, and Utah, and helped to develop a silver mine in Idaho. After WWII, he managed a paper mill in Old Town, Maine, was executive director of the Maine Good Roads Association, and editor of its publication, The Maine Trail. Greenhalgh and his wife live in Sun City West, Arizona (2000; 1stBooks Library, Bloomington, Ind. 47404; paperback; $17.10).
	Following years of geological research and exploration on opposite sides of the world, two research geologists, Edward P. Erlich and W. Dan Hausel BS’72 MS’74, have combined their findings to write Diamond Deposits: Origin, Exploration, and History of Discovery. From 1951-1962, Erlich was considered the leading diamond geologist in the former USSR. He was chief geologist for a team from the Institute of Arctic Geology that discovered several diamond-bearing kimberlites (one of the principal host rocks for diamond) in northeastern Siberia. Erlich immigrated to the U.S. in 1983 and works as a consulting geologist on various diamond and gold projects in North America. Hausel, a senior economic geologist and research geologist with the Wyoming Geological Survey at the University of Wyoming, has discovered several kimberlites in Wyoming. He designed exploration programs for U.S. companies and led exploration efforts to find diamond deposits in other areas of North America (2002; Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration, Inc.; Littleton, Colo. 80127; hardcover).
	Michael Gills PhD’97 describes Why I Lie: Stories as a “comic novel-in-stories, about life and death, and the deepening mystery in between.” The book originated as ten individual stories tied together by a central character. As a collection, it won the Utah Arts Council’s 2001 Publication Prize. Gills, who teaches writing at the U, grew up in Arkansas. The thread through his stories, set in Southern environs, is Jack, a man whose family “ate roadkill” and for whom “being poor was a way of thinking, a mind-set you couldn’t outrun with a suitcase full of money.” Gills draws the reader into his world of heartbreak, love, anger, and obstacles, but lets it be known that through it all, life is good (2002; University of Nevada Press, Reno, Nev. 89557; paperback; $16.00).
	Complete with photographs and maps, Uranium Frenzy: Saga of the Nuclear West, by Raye C. Ringholz BA’49, is an account of the uranium boom experienced by the Colorado Plateau region in the 1950s. Spurred by the U.S. government’s need for uranium to supply its atomic weapons program, and further encouraged by Charlie Steen’s famous Mi Vida strike in 1952, there was a get-rich-quick frenzy among prospectors, stock promoters, and buyers from the Four Corners region to Salt Lake City. The book includes the story of nuclear testing and its consequences, along with the difficulties posed by extensive nuclear waste and the legal wrangling over its disposal. Ringholz has authored several books on the West and has had articles published in Field and Stream, Westways, and Utah Holiday. She lives in Park City, Utah (2002; Utah State University Press, Logan, Utah 84322; paperback; $19.95).
	In Body and Earth: An Experiential Guide, Andrea Olsen BA’70 MFA’72 writes, “Body is our first environment. It is the medium through which we know the earth.” The book is part workbook and part exploration, integrating “environmental science, biology, meditation, and creative expression” to lead the reader toward greater awareness of the body’s relationship to the earth. It includes photographs, “farm stories,” and detailed guides. Olsen is a professor of dance and a faculty member in the Environmental Studies Program at Middlebury College and has authored several books on the environment. She is the recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship to study in New Zealand in spring 2003 (2002; University Press of New England, Lebanon, N.H. 03766; paperback; $26.00).