Laurie Foos '88 has published her fourth novel, Bingo Under the Crucifix (Coffee House Press, 2002). "Bingo Under The Crucifix puts the fun back into dysfunctional!" reads the publisher's description. "Chloe, a chain-smoking doll maker renowned for her line of Bingo Ladies, learns from her equally eccentric parents that her Spiderman-obsessed adult brother has reverted into a newborn at the news of his impending fatherhood. Now it's up to Chloe to deliver him back into the world of grown-ups. Meanwhile, the local homecoming queen is headed for her royal crowning -- right after she makes a pit stop in the locker room to pop out a bouncing ten-pound baby boy, who promptly disappears. This satire strikes at the bittersweet heart of our real-world responsibilities gone haywire."

Foos' previous novels include Ex Utero, Portrait of the Walrus By a Young Artist and Twinship, all published by Harcourt Brace. In addition to teaching at a host of colleges and writers' conferences and workshops, she has published numerous short stories in literary magazines. One of them, "What I Know About Woody Allen," was nominated for a 2000 Pushcart Prize. Foos wrote a tribute to Binghamton University Professor of English Gayle Whittier in the summer 2001 issue of the Binghamton Alumni Journal.

Wendy Leeds-Hurwitz '75 has published Wedding as Text: Communicating Cultural Identities Through Ritual (Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., 2002) . The book's publisher describes it as "a distinctive study of those who have accepted cultural difference into their daily lives and how they have managed to do so successfully. As such, it is suitable for students and scholars in semiotics, intercultural communication, ritual, material culture, family communication/family studies, and will be valuable reading for anyone facing the issue of cultural difference."

Leeds-Hurwitz's other books include Communication in Everyday Life : A Social Interpretation (Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc., 1989: Social Approaches to Communication (Guilford Publications, Inc.,1995) and Semiotics and Communication: Signs, Codes, and Cultures (Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., 1993).

Robert Mooney, MA '83, has published his first novel, Father of the Man (Pantheon, 2002), a story set in 1982 in a close-knit community of Irish-Americans in Binghamton. It includes references to the carousel horses in Recreation Park, the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer on Main Street, the Crest theater, the "granite arch marking the border between Johnson City and Binghamton," and countless other local landmarks. "Mooney adds an unusual twist to the usual hostage standoff plot in his debut novel, a solid effort in which a dispirited, deranged bus driver from Binghamton, N.Y., hijacks his vehicle and demands to see his son, a Vietnam vet who has been MIA for a dozen years, in return for the release of the seven passengers on board," reads a review in Publishers Weekly.

Mooney is the director of the Creative Writing Program at Washington College. He has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and has published short fiction in many journals and magazines. He lives in Chesterton, Md.

Nathan Naparstek '77 has published Successful Educators: A Practical Guide for Understanding Children's Learning and Mental Health Issues (Greenwood Press, 2002). "There is always a good reason for a student's lack of success in school," wrote Naparstek. "Successful Educators has a four-component model that will guide you to a better understanding of why children are not succeeding in school and what can be done about it. With this model, educators will be made more aware of how conditions such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Depression, Anxiety and Learning Disabilities impact on a student's learning and how they can be addressed in today's schools." The four components of Naparstek's model are: (1) the student's capacity to pay attention; (2) the intellectual and academic abilities needed to be successful in school; (3) the student's desire to put forth the effort needed to be successful; and (4) the organizational skills that the student needs in order to complete his or her assignments.

Naparstek is a school psychologist for the Schnectady City School District, as well as a licensed psychologist in private practice.

Shari Lawrence Pfleeger '70, PhD, and her husband, Charles P. Pfleeger, have published Security in Computing (Prentice Hall Professional Technical Reference, 2002). The publisher's description reads: "Security in Computing is the most complete and up-to-date college textbook now available. Enlivened by actual case studies and supported by more than 175 exercises, the book covers viruses, worms, Trojan horses, and other forms of malicious code; firewalls and the protection of networked systems; E-mail privacy, including PEM, PGP, key management, and certificates; key escrow - both as a technology and in the "Clipper" program; evaluation of trusted systems, including the Common Criteria, the ITSEC, and the OrangeBook; standards for program development and quality, including ISO9000 and SEI CMM; administering secure installations of PCs, UNIX, and networked environments; and ethical and legal issues in computing. A modular, layered structure makes Security in Computing ideal for classroom use as well as a reference for professionals." Shari is a senior information scientist with the RAND Corporation, where she works on strategy and public policy in the public interest.

Steven Ratiner '69 has published Giving Their Word: Conversations with Contemporary Poets (University of Massachusetts Press, 2002), a collection based on a series of interviews he conducted over three years for the Christian Science Monitor. Included in the book are conversations with twelve of the most influential poets writing today, including William Stafford, Mary Oliver, John Montague, Charles Simic, Seamus Heaney, Donald Hall, Maxine Kumin, Carolyn Forché, Mart’n Espada, Marge Piercy, Rita Dove and Bei Dao. "Their comments are wonderfully detailed, refreshingly honest, and provide the sort of intimate introduction to both poet and text that readers are rarely privileged to enjoy," noted the publisher.

A review in the Library Journal, which dubbed the book "highly recommended," reads: "This compilation of conversations serves as a source of biographical information about the writing lives of 13 leading contemporary poets while offering instruction and inspiration to writers of all kinds. Each conversation captivatingly interweaves the life of the poet with the writing process and the creativity that his or her poetry represents. Consider even the chapter titles -- "William Stafford: Opening the Moment," "Carolyn Forché: The Poetry of Witness," and "Donald Hall: The Work That Makes a Home" -- which not only reflect each poet's body of work but also hint at the superb content of each of the interviews Ratiner (himself a poet) has compiled. Commenting on his interview process with Forché, he notes: 'The story seemed to just tumble forth, gaining momentum like a river coming down from high ground.' This could also describe Ratiner's expert interview process and the publication of this book, which is an absolute pleasure to read."

Ratiner also published two chapbooks of his own poetry in 2002. At Binghamton, he edited Clarendon and studied with both Milton Kessler and John Vernon. His own works of poetry include a retrospective collection from the Pudding House Greatest Hits series and Dead Bodies and Other Poems.

Susan Seligson '76 has published Going with the Grain: A wandering Bread Lover Takes a Bite Out of Life (Simon & Schuster, 2002). "I didn't know that anyone could write a good zippy book about bread, but I was wrong," wrote Norman Mailer about her book. A review of it in the Library Journal reads: "Freelance journalist Seligson (coauthor of Amos: The Story of an Old Dog and His Couch) shares her love of bread and travel in this account of her search for indigenous breads at home and abroad. Seligson renders the simple art of bread-making enthralling. Here she takes us to a Saratoga Springs bakery where the pain au levain is baked in a $27,000 oven and where a five-pound loaf sells on the Internet for $20. In contrast, there is the Wonder Bread Bakery in Biddleford, ME, the world's largest bakery. Seligson writes of Acoma Pueblo Indians making bread in a horno oven and matzo preparation in a bakery in New York City's Hasidic enclave. She also visits the famed Ballymaloe House in Ireland and the U.S. Army Bread Project. Accompanying each essay is a simple bread recipe of the region. Seligson's breezy, lighthearted style, enlivened by bakers and other ancillary characters, makes this a fun yet informative read."

Seligson is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic Monthly, Redbook, Outside and Allure. She is a contributing editor at Health and the co-author of several children's books written with her husband, Howie Schneider. She lives near Provincetown, Mass.

Laura Simms '67 has published The Robe Of Love (Codhill Press, 2002). The Robe of Love is a unique collection of traditional tales about passion, longing, love and sacred union," wrote Simms' publicist, Amy Kolker. "The tales, drawn from a rich tapestry of cultures, reveal the human being's amazing capacity to envision a world of love." A review of the book in Publishers Weekly reads: "Writing in the spare, poetic style one would expect from a gifted storyteller, Simms allows the ancient human essence of these diverse stories to work their magic. Ranging across times and cultures, from the Caucasus to Ireland to India to Korea to Tibet to Morocco, none of these tales are about love in the usual sense. 'Rather, love is what breaks open within the reader as the stories come to life in the invisible chambers of the heart,' she explains in an introduction. 'Love is what is always waiting within us to ignite into the fire of longing for union.' In the title story, a young girl longs for the 'Robe of Love.' Through a series of surprising and beautiful twists and turns, she comes to possess it only to lose it. The girl learns that she must make a long journey to claim her heart's desire. Readers will savor every step of the journey that Simms creates in this work. She accomplishes the same quiet miracle she achieves in performance."

Simms is an internationally renowned storyteller, author and recording artist. To find out more about her and her many projects, visit her website at www.laurasimms.com .

Jessica Utts '73 and her co-author, Robert F. Heckard, have published Mind on Statistics (Duxbury Press, 2001). "Mind On Statistics is designed to help students learn statistical ideas by encouraging them to actively think about those ideas," reads the publisher's description. "By focusing on ideas instead of mathematical formulation, this book generates student excitement, motivation, and understanding. Using a wide variety of applications, the book clearly demonstrates the relevance of statistics. As students master the material, they see how statistics influence their daily lives. The text also helps students develop statistical intuition and learn how to interpret the results of statistical studies."

This is Utts' second textbook on statistics: In 1999, she published the second edition of her popular book, Seeing Through Statistics. Utts is a professor in the department of statistics at the University of California, Davis.

Alison Wylie, MA '79, '82 has published Thinking from Things: Essays in the Philosophy of Archaeology (University of California Press, 2002). "No other work in this field covers the history of important conceptual issues in archaeology in such a deep and knowledgeable way, bringing both philosophical and archeological sophistication to bear on all of the issues treated," wrote reviewer Merrilee Salmon. "Wylie's work in Thinking from Things is original, scholarly, and creative. This book is for anyone who wants to understand contemporary archaeological theory, how it came to be as it is, its relationship with other disciplines, and its prospects for the future."

Wylie, a professor of philosophy at Washington University, is the coeditor of Critical Traditions in Contemporary Archaeology: Essays in the History, Philosophy, and Socio-Politics of Archaeology (1989; 1995), Ethics in American Archaeology (2000), and Equity Issues for Women in Archaeology (1994).