Letters – Spring 2014
Deadly Eruption
Wow! I just read the Coloradan from cover to cover. Great articles! I found everything very interesting and want to read more about the volcano eruption [in the story “Deadly Eruption” on pages 27-30 regarding anthropology professor Payson Sheets’ (Anth’67, MA’69) work].
I love “Colorado” sports and like to hear the local news, but the articles that you presented in the last edition were very, very interesting. I thought there must have been a change in attitude in what to publish, and if so I want to encourage more of the same. If not, I want to encourage more of the same. Also, note that I was a “jock” in high school, played after work for years and bicycle now due to “aging,” so I like sports but am also interested in what is happening academically at the university. I live in California. My wife has a doctorate from UCLA. Colorado is now partnered with Berkeley, Stanford, UCLA, etc. and Colorado has really grown academically. I love it.
Keep up the good work. Looking forward to the next edition.
Jim Wagoner&Բ;(Բ’65)
Woodland Hills, Calif.
Glad to Receive the Mag
I received my Winter 2013 copy of the Coloradan yesterday and immediately sat down and read it cover to cover, as usual. I think you and the Coloradan staff are doing a fantastic job. I look forward to every issue. The fall issue I shared with a friend who is a Kansas State grad with many fond memories of Tulagi and The Sink.
The only thing better than getting four copies a year would be getting six! Thanks for all you are doing. Go Buffs!
Steve Mongelluzzo (Hist’ 74)
Portland
Um, Class Notes?
I really enjoyed the winter Coloradan, especially the story on Al Bartlett who gave his population speech during my first week of school in one of my classes in 1982.
However, while I am old I got the 50s, 60s, 70s notes rather than the 80s I am part of. Not sure if my record in the database has changed or if there was a variable printing error.
Alex Passett&Բ;(Աٱ’86)
Overland Park, Kan.
[Editor’s Note: Because of a printing company error, every alum received the wrong Class Notes section in their edition of the Winter 2013 Coloradan. While you may not be aware of this, we create three versions of each magazine and send you the version with Class Notes segmented to when you graduated. The segments are those who graduated in the 1970s and 1960s and earlier; 1990s and 1980s; and 2000s. We regret this error and have included the December Class Notes from your graduation era in this issue as well as new ones.]
Moneyless in Moab
You have to be kidding. You ran a feature article on a bum from Moab [“Moneyless in Moab” on pages 15-18]. Great, he has a CU degree. This is the type of graduate that should be shameful. Let’s feature productive people, with good jobs, goals, ambition. A bum with a CU degree — awful.
Paul Stanton&Բ;(Dz’84)
Washington, D.C.
Now and Then
I got my winter Coloradan yesterday and was thrilled to open it to pages 2-3 and see the house I lived in my senior year! My girlfriend and I lived on the second floor. Entry was up the stairs in the back. The bay window on the front was the living room, and the window on the side was the bedroom. Kitchen was on the west side. It was gray when we lived there. I like yellow better!
The top doorjamb to the bathroom lined up with my forehead. It only took five or six smacks in the head for me to learn to duck! It was probably my favorite abode in Boulder.
Glad we didn’t have to deal with floods. My heart goes out to all that have had to go through that.
Douglas Dinsmoor&Բ;(ʰ’77)
Lakewood, Colo.
There is an article titled “Then February 1968” on the last page of the Winter 2013 edition. There is a reference in that short article to “the ruthless general who led the North Vietnamese guerilla army…” This sentence struck me as particularly biased and ignorant. Would your paper refer to MacArthur, Eisenhower, William Westmoreland or other U.S. generals as “ruthless” even though they employed carpet bombing, dropped napalm on civilians and unleashed massive and fairly indiscriminate bombing campaigns during World War II and Vietnam? No doubt that General Giap was the head of an army that killed lots of people, including U.S. soldiers, in the period of time that Vietnam threw out the French colonialists and, later, the United States Army. But calling him “ruthless” when you would never use that word for an American general shows unnecessary bias.
The second reference is to the “Vietnamese guerilla army.” The North Vietnamese were a trained force, just like the United States and French armies and the South Vietnamese force. The North Vietnamese used both conventional and “unconventional” tactics, but the use of the word “guerilla” doesn’t really mean anything other than to imply in my mind that the North Vietnamese were a bunch of ragtag hillbillies.
Words matter and I hope you will use them more carefully in upcoming issues.
Phillip D. Barber&Բ;(’79)
Boulder
Tulagi Memories
Bill Wardwell’s (A&S’68) photo of Tulagi on pages 65-66 in the September Coloradan brought back fond memories. I hashed next door at Robinsons Boarding House from 1952-56. The Berggren, Brictson and Dever brothers all held forth on a regular basis at Tulagi. Bill Bernie was back from the Marine Corps and Korea. Charlie Butcher was the undisputed chug-a-lug champ. Down the street at Ed Pudlik’s Sink, J. Edgar Black Dog sipped his beer from a saucer at TGIF. A few years later I served in Panama with Lou Kurt, one of the Sink’s bouncer/dog handler/bartenders.
Dick Marx&Բ;(ʴDZ’56)
Newnan, Ga.
Correction: On page 43 of the Winter issue, we listed the recipients of the 2013 Alumni Association Annual Awards but inadvertently left out the Leanne Skupa-Lee Award given to former Alumni Association board member and volunteer extraordinaire Doug Nelson (Anth’77). The editor is particularly embarrassed about this error and is begging Doug’s forgiveness.