Notable books and media produced by faculty, staff and alumni

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By T.M. McNally

This book of short stories by T.M. McNally, associate professor of English, is primarily set in present-day Arizona. The narratives, rich with detail, introspection and dramatic tension, set the sparse desert landscape against tales of disconnection and discontent. Lovers disappoint, family members perish from terminal illness and suicide, and intimate bonds are severed by incest, abandonment and ennui. Still, there's a lighter side to many stories, much of it drawn from the internal strengths of the lead characters. The book is a winner of the Michigan Literary Fiction Award.

William Beaudine: From Silents to Television
By Wendy L. Marshall

Despite being one of the busiest men in the business (credited with working on more than 500 films and 350 television programs) and despite having an astounding 60-year career, William "Beau" Beaudine never received the credit that a director who worked with such silent era notables as Mary Pickford and Tom Mix deserves. Wendy Marshall ’03 M.F.A., a former newspaper reporter and editor who is Beaudine's granddaughter, highlights Beaudine's career triumphs and setbacks, from his start as D.W. Griffith's prop boy in 1909 to his later work on TV shows such as "The Green Hornet" and "Lassie."

Rapunzel’s Daughters: What Women’s Hair Tells Us About Women’s Lives
By Rose Weitz

Oh, the things women do to their ’dos: crimping, ironing, curling, braiding, straightening with a hot comb — some books on hairstyles read more like a treatise on cruel and unusual punishment than a beauty primer. Rose Weitz, professor of sociology and women’s studies, examines the cultural implications that hair has for women’s lives.

Based on her interviews with more than 70 women, ranging in age from 10 to 83, she discusses the ways in which hair is used by women and girls to create an identity, conform to cultural pressures, defy parental authority and signal attractiveness to potential mates.

Murder at the Sleepy Lagoon
By Eduardo Obregon Pagan

What do jazz, zoot suits, and young cultural rebels have to do with the death of a 22-year-old factory worker and a World War II race riot? Everything, according to Eduardo Obregon Pagan, associate professor and chair of the Languages, Culture and History department at the West campus.

Pagan deftly untangles the many strands of complex and contradictory evidence surrounding the “Sleepy Lagoon” murder case, as well as the so-called Zoot Suit Riot, which pitted white sailors against zoot-suit-wearing Pachuco youths in a melee five months after the Sleepy Lagoon trial ended in 1943.

Manpo-Kei: The Art and Science of Step Counting
By Catrine Tudor-Locke

Are you a couch potato? Tudor-Locke, who is an assistant professor in the exercise and wellness department, argues that you’re not alone, or even to blame. Americans today have far fewer opportunities for “incidental” exercise, or physical activity performed while doing another task.

A better strategy than simply committing to “exercise more,” she contends, is to integrate more movement into one’s routine, using the pedometer (an electronic step-counting device) as a motivational feedback tool. Writing in a breezy, conversational style, Tudor-Locke explains how readers can develop a realistic, sustainable program that is tailored to their individual needs.

The Untelling
By Tayari Jones

Aria, the main character of Tayari Jones (’00 M.F.A.) second novel “The Untelling,” is a survivor: she’s overcome the crushing imprint of a childhood car accident that killed her father and baby sister and she lives proudly in Atlanta’s gritty West End neighborhood, teaching at a literacy center.
But Aria has a secret that neither her boyfriend Dwayne nor anyone else knows — she’s pregnant. Or is she? The truth she discovers while preparing for her baby will challenge every assumption she has built her life around.

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