Diana Abu-Jaber, PhD '86 has published a novel, Crescent (W. W. Norton and Co., 2003). The Kirkus Review describes it as "a timely fiction about Iraqi intellectuals in Los Angeles [that] blends the whimsy of Scheherazade-style storytelling with the urgency of contemporary politics." Abu-Jaber and her new book were highlighted in a Feb. 19 article in The New York Times, "Arab-American Writers: Uneasy in Two Worlds, Added Burdens Since 9/11," by Dinitia Smith. Smith wrote: "[Abu-Jaber] tells the story of Sirine, an Iraqi-American chef in a Los Angeles restaurant where the Arab customers watch television: the Kuwaiti shopping channel, Bedouin soap operas in Arabic and American soap operas with Arabic subtitles. Sirine falls in love with a professor at a nearby university who had campaigned against Saddam Hussein in his native Iraq and whose sister was murdered by Mr. Hussein's henchmen." A Library Journal review reads: "In this follow-up to Abu-Jaber's justly praised debut, Arabian Jazz, spinsterish Sirine lives to cook until a charming Arabic literature professor shows up in her restaurant."

Ronald G. Ehrenberg '66, professor at Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations and economics director of Cornell Higher Education Research Institute, has published Tuition Rising: Why College Costs So Much (Harvard University Press, 2002). A review of his book in the Library Journal reads: "Unlike businesses, which strive to keep costs at a minimum, universities must spend to make themselves as attractive as possible to their constituents. Ehrenberg . . . examines the factors influencing the spiraling tuition costs of the past decade: the need to spend money to have the best facilities, faculties and learning tools in order to attract the best and brightest students; the need to spend for athletics and other programs to keep alumni support strong; the self-governing nature of university faculty; and the increasing pressure to spend in order to increase ratings in external publications. Observes Ehrenberg, 'As long as lengthy lines of highly qualified applicants keep knocking at its door, no institution has a strong incentive to unilaterally end the spending race.'"

Ehrenberg shared his expertise with Binghamton students in a fall 2002 course on the "Economics of the University" -- a course taught simultaneously to students at Cornell and Binghamton University via two-way compressed video over the Internet. Delivering the course to Binghamton in this manner provided a way to pay Binghamton back for all that it did for him, Ehrenberg said in an article about the course in the Cornell Chronicle. It also enabled him to "illustrate how academic institutions within the same SUNY system can share resources to improve the quality of education," he said.

Donna Gaines '74 has published a memoir, A Misfit's Manifesto: The Spiritual Journey of a Rock & Roll Heart (Villard Books, 2003). "A Misfit's Manifesto is a rollicking memoir of rock and recovery, a musical journey for misfits, seekers and anyone feeling wild," reads the publisher's description. "[It is] the story of Donna's wild-in-the-burbs odyssey -- from Yeshiva student to street-punk sociology professor. . . . Wandering the craggy terrain of her native Rockaway Beach, Queens, Donna embarked upon her own path to enlightenment: sex, drugs, rock & roll, sociology, cosmetology, tattoos, science fiction, pizza, religion, guns, true love, comic books, surfing (by Web or by sea). Yet, no matter her troubles -- family, work, relationships, identity and addiction -- Donna found salvation in the music that defines and unifies us all. She proudly proclaims, 'Popular culture, my unholy redeemer.'"

"Donna Gaines has invented a new genre -- the socioautobiography, a book of enormous energy, caring and wisdom that proves, once again, that the personal is political and that women make history, but not under the conditions that they choose," writes Paul DiMaggio, a sociologist at Princeton University. "Gaines shines a brilliant light on American culture and folkways. Rarely has journalism possessed such depth of perspective or has sociology been so much fun to read."

Gaines writes that her book contains "some very amusing tales from my SUNY Binghamton years -- goat farms, moldy granola, early gay liberation, macrobiotic Lubavitchers and skiing down Bunn Hill Road to school."

The highly acclaimed author of Teenage Wasteland: Suburbia's Dead End Kids, Gaines, who holds a PhD in sociology, has written for Rolling Stone, Ms., The Village Voice, Spin and Newsday, plus numerous trade and scholarly collections. She has taught at Barnard College of Columbia University and at the New School University.

Glen Mazis '72, professor of humanities and philosophy at Soka University and associate professor of humanities and philosophy at Pennsylvania State University at Harrisburg, has published Earthbodies: Rediscovering Our Planetary Senses (State University of New York Press, 2002). "Earthbodies describes how our bodies are open circuits to a sensual magic and planetary care that, when closed off, leads to disastrous detours, such as illness, disease and toxicity," reads the publisher's description. "In doing so, it answers a variety of questions. Can we understand our bodies without understanding how they are part of a rhythmic flow with the rest of the planet? Will we ever overcome the stress of time speeding toward our death as long as we see time as a separate dimension? How can we decide how to treat the animals around us when we fail to realize the nature of our kinship with them? Without hearing the voices of the earth, rocks and ocean waves, how can we dialogue with the planet or understand ourselves? Why are we so fascinated with film versions of nightmarish ghouls and vampires? How can celebrities impact more on our lives than our own families? What kind of human connection can we expect from the Internet? How is it that some of our adolescent boys shoot down their schoolmates? Despite our apparent cynicism, is our culture overly sentimental? What kind of ethics would help us find a moral way to achieve an inclusive global community and cherish the environment?"

Mazis is also the author of Emotion and Embodiment: Fragile Ontology and The Trickster, Magician & Grieving Man: Reconnecting Men With Earth.

Thomas J. Morrissey '69, MA '71, distinguished teaching professor of English at Plattsburgh State University, has published a book of which he is co-author, Pinocchio Goes Postmodern: The Perils of a Puppet in the United States (Routledge, 2002).

"In Pinocchio Goes Postmodern, sociologist Richard Wunderlich and literary critic Thomas J. Morrissey trace the ways in which the revamped American Pinocchio has trivialized the real struggles of childhood depicted in Collodi's tale," reads the publisher's description. "Drawing upon an exhaustive collection of American Pinocchio publications, films, and stage performances, the authors show how the tale's innumerable transformations illuminate a period of great social and political change between the First World War and the postmodern present. An ambitious work of both literary criticism and cultural analysis, Pinocchio Goes Postmodern raises provocative questions about storytelling, adaptation and the cultural importance of children's literature."

Morrissey has published widely on children's literature, science fiction and Irish literature. He has also written several musicals, including Puppet Song, featuring the great granddaughter of Pinocchio. He and his wife, Arlene Vernick '67, live in Plattsburgh and are the grandparents of twin boys.

Steven Ratiner '69 has published two new poetry chapbooks: a small retrospective collection in Pudding House Press’ Greatest Hits series (Pudding House Press, 2002) and Button, Button (OpenEye Press, 2002), a collaboration with artist Marty Cain. Ratiner continues to work as a poet and poet-in-residence in schools around New England.

Elizabeth Eisner Reding '79 has published Adobe Photoshop 7.0 -- Design Professional (Course Technology, Inc., 2002). This how-to text "includes coverage of basic through more advanced skills such as how to make Photoshop graphics Web-ready," notes the publisher. Other features include dual platform instruction for both Macintosh and PC users, professional project files and instructors' resources. Reding is the author of many computer textbooks.

Matthew M. Roberson '90, assistant professor of English at Central Michigan University, has published a novel, 1998.6 (Fiction Collective Two, Inc., 2002), and a collection of essays he edited about writer Ronald Sukenick, Musing the Mosaic: Approaches to Ronald Sukenick (State University of New York Press, 2003).

The publisher's description of 1998.6 reads: "In this book about the complicated experience of pursuing a PhD, Matthew Roberson details the curious world of a group stuck between childhood and adulthood, idealism and surrealism, representation and reality. Roberson rewrites Ronald Sukenick's classic fiction of the sixties, 98.6, simultaneously parodying earlier experimental life and art, while exposing present day vacuousness and alienation. It's a hilarious send-up of American narcissism, wherein Roberson reveals video culture and the web-cam as nineties embodiments of metafictional self-fascination."

Musing the Mosaic: Approaches to Ronald Sukenick, selected for publication as part of the SUNY series in Postmodern Culture, "examines Sukenick's role in reshaping the American literary tradition," the publisher writes. "Prominent critics of postmodern and contemporary fiction and culture discuss the fictional and theoretical works of Ronald Sukenick, one of the most important American writers to emerge from the late 1960s. . . . Staying true to Sukenick's own creative style, one that takes the seams out of writing before re-stitching it in ways that are truly novel, the contributors examine how and why his writing comes closer to the dissolving, fragmentary nature of reality and its lack of closure than perhaps anything written before it."

Richard A. Solomon '82 has published Winning in the New York Small Claims Courts: A Simple, Step-By-Step Guide for Everyone (Rescue Media, Inc., 2002). "The rules and procedures of the state's small claims courts are included, along with sample forms used in litigation and actual case studies that highlight do's and don'ts," reads a review by Annamaria Mancini in the Long Island Business News. "I wrote this book for my clients," said Solomon in the article. "It's simple and easy to read. And I wanted them to be able to take it with them to the courthouse. It will help anyone litigate with confidence."

Robert S. Swiatek '72 has published Read My Lips Cookbook: A Culinary Journey to Memorable Meals (Buy Books on the Web.Com, 2002), designed as a humorous, semi-autobiographical book of good-tasting, easy to make, healthy and affordable recipes. For more information, check out Swiatek's website at http://www.bobcooks.com

Laurie Vickroy, PhD '90, associate professor of English at Bradley University, has published Trauma and Survival in Contemporary Fiction (University of Virginia Press, 2002). "In an exploration of how contemporary fiction narratives represent trauma -- that response to events so overwhelmingly intense that normal responses become impaired -- Laurie Vickroy engages a wealth of the twentieth century's most striking literature," reads the publisher's description. "Toni Morrison's Beloved and Jazz, Marguerite Duras' The Lover, Dorothy Allison's Bastard out of Carolina, Jamaica Kincaid's The Autobiography of My Mother and Larry Heinemann's Paco's Story, among others, are the sources of Vickroy's study investigating the complex relationship between sociocultural influences and intimate personal relations portrayed in trauma fiction and how those portrayals direct this difficult material to readers."