A movie that celebrates America — that I might see. I think that "Saving Private Ryan" was a movie that did just that. That's why it was a success.

Re: War Movies During Wartime: War is, at its most basic premise, an "us against them" proposition. And all of the "us's" believe they are doing the right thing and want to win.

Most of the films released recently seem to have more of a leaning towards "us" as being in the wrong, and wanting to quit as soon as possible as opposed to winning.

At heart, the American masses like a winner and want to be right.

Go figure.

Your War Movies During Wartime article (June 2008) was interesting and it was helpful to have the personal view from a Vietnam veteran. Hollywood made financial progress in Vietnam War movies by hitting on the theme of US soldiers murdering other US soldiers ("Apocalypse Now," "Platoon," "Full Metal Jacket," etc). For Iraq the same theme appears in the Desert Storm stories "Courage Under Fire" and "Jarhead," though for "Jarhead" it is accidental friendly fire. For the current Iraq War they have moved to US soldiers murdering and raping civilians and torturing the enemy. Maybe you should compare those themes with the movies of World War II. It could provide some help in understanding why people are turned off.

When you are discussing war movies (War Movies During Wartime, June 2008) you cannot ignore what I feel is the great anti-war ever made: "All Quiet on the Western Front." And then there was the famous movie in which Kirk Douglas was a French colonel. Forget the name but the film was unforgettable. "The Longest Day" also was a memorable film about WWII.

Enjoy MI Today. The photos of the peonies were stunning. Thanks

War movies made by filmmakers who denigrate American warriors while disdaining America are indeed a hard sell during wartime (War Movies During Wartime, June 2008). Indeed, filmmakers of the modern ilk fail to comprehend the necessity to fight evil and oppression.

Mr. Beaver needs to go back a bit further than Vietnam, when the "America is Evil" movement captured the soul of Hollywood. ar movies of the '30's and '40's that celebrated valor and victory where indeed well-received, else John Wayne would have remained an obscure Marion Morrison.

Where are the films that show courage, and compassion? Who will make today's "Battle Hymn"? There are a thousand Deacon Hess stories that can be told about our men and women in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, but an out-of-touch Hollywood sees soldiers as lobotomized robots who would renounce their calling if, as the scarecrow of the "Wizard of Oz," they would only find a brain.

America rejects today's "war movies" rightly as thinly disguised propaganda by those with an anti-American agenda. After all, America knows its sons and daughters, and know that Hollywood, well, lies.

Respectfully,

While I enjoy receiving Michigan Today in my email, I am routinely disappointed that there is never any news from the Flint or Dearborn campuses. These are also a part of U of M, not imitators. It is as if those campuses are treated like unloved stepchildren. True, the research and sports are in Ann Arbor, but the students and alumni of Flint and Dearborn have as much spirit and support as their Ann Arbor counterparts. So how about it, Michigan Today, are you willing to talk about the ENTIRE university?

I believe Professor Beaver missed a major point concerning recent movies about war in Iraq and Afghanistan and the war on terror (War Movies During Wartime, June 2008) — these movies portray America in a bad light. Americans are beaten over the head in the major news outlets about how bad America is and how we are to blame for all of the world's problems; they aren't going to pay money to view the same drivel on the big screen.

Americans are proud of their county — they see America as a shining city upon a hill. President Kennedy once said, "Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty."

Do these recent movies inspire Americans? Do they focus on positive events? Do they show our support for liberty as President Kennedy spoke? Do they show our love of Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness? Sadly, the answer to all of these questions is no.

Ms. Ray is NOT AT ALL the first to use the word "delish" (Eating words, May, 2008). In fact it's been around for over 40 years, maybe more. It is most definitely not a new word. Please do your research before you publish.

I'm surprised that "e-v-o-o" is attributed to Rachael Ray (Talking about words: Eating words, May, 2008). I feel certain that I've heard it used on other TV food programs before Ray was on the air.

Beside that, I would expect it to be written EVOO (or E.V.O.O.), since it is an acronym for a word phrase. I think the appearance of new acronyms tends to happen more frequently than that of new words. It's easy for anybody to take a common phrase and reduce it to a string of initial letters. I wouldn't put EVOO in the same category as the other words you mentioned in your article. The others are actually words, of sorts, while EVOO is not.

The video about commencement (May, 2008) was outstanding and I thank you for sharing it. What a superb idea to hold the graduation in the Diag - a lot of work, but very impressive. It is great to be a Wolverine, even in Buckeye Country. I represent the "Go Blue" spirit very well!!! Michigan memories last forever.

I belatedly read your article about dating in 1943 at U-M (Feb, 2008). The County was "dry" when I arrived in Sept 1940 and until I left in Dec 1942 - assume it was still dry in 1943....it made a big difference in student behavior and social life.

The article on brain-training (April, 2008) would have been more interesting and understandable if it had included an example of "brain training" or the "training exercises designed to improve...working memory." What is "working memory"? What test is being referred to in "direct practice of the tests themselves"? All in all, a very frustrating article. It seems to presuppose some knowledge of the research. You can include more helpful information, without dumbing-down the article.

What specifically were the fluid intelligence exercises? It would seem that active memory exercises with current events and research news would have a similar effect.

Having watched the video of graduation on the Diag (April, 2008), I wish that I had had the same opportunity. I can think of no better place to have graduation. Mine was in Crisler, and was pretty sterile. I would come back to Michigan just to attend a graduation ceremony on the Diag. How about a 40th reunion graduation for the class of '70?

Thank you for sharing the video of the preparations for and some views of this year's spring commencement exercises. Last year, when I heard that the U-M was planning to hold graduation at "our neighbor's house" (Eastern Michigan's stadium), I wept for the thousands in the Class of 2008. I felt they were being robbed of an experience I had the thrill of experiencing twice.

Thank you, U-M, for reconsidering. Thank you for choosing what perhaps was the best alternative. Thank you for making every effort to make graduation such a special day for the Class of 2008.

Go Blue!

When one's creative juices fail to satisfy the thirst of a search committee, it is a crushing blow to one's self esteem. I dedicated a lot of brain power to find a mascot for the U-M Flint. My choice: The Loch Ness Monsters!, which is totally unique among the nation's colleges and universities. And, in short conversation, the U-M Flint teams can be called "The Flint Lochs!"

Oh, yes now I know, why don't you put additional info on this brain exercise article (April, 2008). it would be interesting to see how we (60 & up) can increase our abilities...

I brought my daughter to check out U-M over her high school spring break while the Diag was being prepared for graduation (Once in a lifetime, April, 2008). It was amazing to imagine graduation in the true heart of campus. Thanks for sharing the video so we could see what the reality looked like -- What a lucky class!!

GO BLUE !!! I wish that forty years ago my commencement had been on the Diag (May 2008). Beautiful, nostalgic, ceremonial, and personalized, and indication that academic achievement is different from sports It's about time that the "Harvard of the West" did it right like the Harvard of the East.

I love this article about Keeping faith (April, 2008). My experience at the Art School seemed devoid of the opportunity to gain faith-based objectives. It was definitely a place where your faith needed to be entrenched, and at the time mine was not. I am glad to hear that Campus Crusade for Christ is there. I hope this continues to grow and the stigma that belief in Christ is not founded on intellectual concepts. One needs only to read Ravi Zacchariah to find intelligence and Christianity do go together. U-M can only benefit from God's Grace. The void of humanity on campus in the mid 80's was to me a symptom of neglect of faith. As a whole our country after 9-11 has become more aware of the need of God's Grace. This article gives encouragement for a new generation of U-M graduates.

Congratulations! May God Bless the school.

Re: Keeping faith (April, 2008): Does Michigan allow a professor or student to question Darwinian theory without fear of loss of job or failure to achieve tenure or receipt of failing grades? I would think that a college environment would allow free discussion and questioning of theories, including Darwinian theory. Or have prominent atheist scientists stifled the discussion and questioning of all theories except those that they espouse?

Re: Keeping faith (April, 2008): I cannot begin to say how much I appreciated my experience at UM-Flint and two brief semesters at UM in Ann Arbor.

I must note that I had no bitter experiences with any professor in either school. I was very outgoing in my Christian and charismatic faith, but found that students either were accepting of me or tolerated me without being offended.

I was so tremendously blessed to be active in the Chi Alpha Christian group on campus. This provided a great deal of support for me and left me with Dear Friends whom I will never forget. Chi Alpha was an outreach of the Assemblies of God to the secular campuses. Gregg Glutting was our campus pastor in Flint and Joe Sasyc was our Ann Arbor campus pastor. They were great!

My faith was strengthened at the University of Michigan and, I think, not only by Chi Alpha, but by the educational experience in Math-Computer Science as well. I viewed my studies as a matter of faith, also, and profited from them in many ways.

I thank God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ for the education and ministry which he has given me since leaving the University (Bible School, a Master's in Christian Counseling, a Master of Arts in Pastoral Ministry, and seventeen hours of work toward the Ph.D in theology). U-M helped prepare me for this beautifully.

Re: Keeping faith (April, 2008): My faith journey was strengthened and broadened through my excellent experience at University of Michigan through Campus Ministry. I was involved in the Campus Ministry program at the First Presbyterian Church of Ann Arbor for 4 years. Opportunities for involvement are vast on the Ann Arbor campus. I participated in and later facilitated several Inter-faith Trialogue Series. Students from the major 3 monotheistic religions met regularly to discuss differences, similarities, stereotypes, and just life on a regular basis. On a campus so diverse and complex, it was refreshing for me to experience new ideas and challenges to my faith. I took several religion courses including some textual criticism courses. Ralph Williams's course (The Bible as English Literature) was one of the best courses I took.

Having faith is a dynamic and deeply personal journey. Having doubts is part of having faith--it isn't a tangible, hardcopy, static object, although sometimes people misuse what they call their faith as if it were an object (that they want to hit you over the head with). Many people forget that God, faith, and religion are not the same thing. Religion and how one bears witness to her/his faith is a personal human construct deeply based in history, culture, and tradition. For people of faith, God is above and beyond what humans can imagine or divine. If you are looking for ways to deepen your faith journey in whatever tradition, there are plenty of ways to do this at the University of Michigan.

I read your recent article on housework and gender, and I'm confused - why do you say having a wife saves a man an hour a week? From your graphic data, that was last true in 1976, but from your text, you say it was true in 2005, where a married man is shown as working 3 hours a week more than a single man. Last time I checked, having to work three hours more wasn't a real time saver. Not to say I do my fair share of the housework, which seems to be one of your points, but I certainly do much more housework now that I'm married than I did before. So your data and my experience reflect the same truth - having a wife means more, not less, housework, although working a lower percentage of the total household housework time - which will be true until men do 100% of the housework - by that time the robot Romba will have evolved into a complete housecleaning automaton. Probably by some guy who doesn't want to do his fair share of housework.

Re: Keeping Faith (April 2008): My faith was reduced to Secular Humanism while at the University. While in high school I battled my doubts in the Christian faith as an altar boy when learning about evolution in ninth grade. I finally rebounded back to the faith after rationalizing a belief held as fact among South Indian Christians.

Then, again I faced this dilemma when I took "Introduction to the New Testament" at the University. Our professor informed us of all the inconsistencies of the Bible such as how many years the Gospels were actually written after the fact, how the books of the Bible were transcribed by scribes hundreds of times over, and how much of the original text was lost in translation to other languages. All the while I reasoned that this must be much like the game "Telephone" that we all played as children in which the initial statement evolves into a completely different statement.

In addition, I found that many of my professors ridiculed religion in outward forms such as anti-abortion views and creationism to which I nearly always agreed with the professor. Up until my third year of college I viewed myself as a liberal Christian who held some serious doubts in his faith. That year Time Magazine did a piece on the belief of St. Thomas coming to India. I had held the very existence of a God and Christ on this seeming fact that had been brainwashed into my skull. Time's article showed that there was zero evidence that St. Thomas ever came to India. My faith was ruined. How could I believe anything they said if Moses could not even get the first chapter of the Bible correct? We learned at Michigan (and in high school) that Creationism is not true; Evolution is.

Now I am a proponent of the belief that Religion is the root of most evil in today's world. 9/11, the Crusades, the Holocaust, the Middle East, etc. Likewise, I question the beacons of purity in their crusade of self-righteousness. Aren't these the same people with the highest divorce rates? Atheists/Agnostics with the lowest?

Religion now boggles my mind. How can someone believe that God created the world in seven days and that the Earth is 6000 years old? Blasphemy, I say. To this day I respect the teachings of Christ and try to live up to them each and every day to the best of my ability, but I am not sure that I believe he is the Messiah or God.

Maybe, one day my views will change, it sure was a happier and easier time having religion in my life.

It's fun to read about current word creations and comparisons to older contexts. My son's most recent soccer team went by the name ROFL Squad. The name was special in part for the need to explain it's meaning to the uninformed. When there's more discussion about these types of terms, the mystery evaporates and we can all enjoy them first hand. Thanks for the article.

Re: Exactly how much housework does a husband create? (April, 2008): Thanks for that information. I think us guys should save women all that pain and stay single.

Early classes at U-M often planted a memorial oak (Professor White's trees, April 2008), so I have been told. It would be nice to resurrect that tradition this year since commencement is on the Diag.

I enjoyed reading about Professor White's trees (April, 2008), a story about planting trees but also about optimism and looking toward the future. The account of his trip to Ann Arbor at the age of 79, just to check on the trees, touched me. For those of us who just took the campus trees for granted, it's a good lesson in the long-term effects of positive decisions.

Re: Us and Them (January, 2008): I grew up in the Irish Hills area of Michigan, which is widely known for its tourism and abundance of lakes (there are over 50 lakes within a 10 mile radius at one point.)

As more and more people migrated to the Irish Hills from such areas as Toledo and Detroit to purchase cottages on the lakes, we referred to such people as "lakers." I'm unsure of how the word was coined, but it was a reference to "city people" who come out to the Irish Hills for the weekends during the summer to enjoy the lakes, many of whom would party, throw beer bottles in the lake that we would cut our feet on while swimming, and then depart on Sunday afternoon, leaving a trail of garbage for the year-rounders to contend with after they'd gone. Not all lakers were this way, but certainly enough to warrant the stereotype.

Frank Beaver wrote a nice piece about Dudley Nichols (The Talkies' first great screenwriter, April 2008). However, next time, please spell Ms. Hepburn's first name right - it's Katharine.

I think the PSID Housework study (Exactly how much housework does a husband create?, April 2008)is a unfortunate piece of research politicized by the conclusions. I don't mind that the same variables show trends in households over time - to the extent that they really are the same variables. What gets me is the definition of housework, in a condition of ever-changing technology and behavior relations. I just not sure that people could consider the word "housework" as the authors define it, everywhere and anywhere standard at a time. Instead, what they have is a complicated index of activities. I think it lacks "construct validity," in other words. When that happens it's easy to say that that set of activities were chosen for the index to prove a point, which is ... bias.

Last night I fixed a serious problem with our kitchen faucet. This is hardly sour grapes because I like working around the house. But there are serious measurement issues here, serious enough to skew results, maybe even to change signs, and I'm not sure at all why the subjectivity? Is this for notoriety?

Signed, A Spouse,

The Talkies' first great screenwriter (April, 2008) was a very interesting article. I recognize many of the movies Dudley Nichols wrote the screenplay for. I'm usually trying to catch the author or the story.

My faith was definitely tested while I was at U-M (Keeping Faith, April 2008). However, I do believe it was my close proximity to home that kept me grounded as to what was right and wrong. True, it was over 25 years ago, but I can't imagine things have changed that much.

Re: Keeping Faith (April, 2008): I did lose my religious faith at U-M -- but it was 1969 and I was a graduate student. I've always been a bit slow. Another belated development was my returning to the (RC) church several years ago after having trouble with Buddhist type meditation and realizing I needed some additional structure and support to attain a degree of enlightenment. More power to those who can meditate clean without a tinge of religiosity. I couldn't do it.

Re: Exactly how much housework does a husband create? April, 2008: I must not have learned how to read a graph while I was at the university. I know it's a small graph, but it looks to me that the increase in the amount of housework done by married men versus single men was greater than the analagous increase for women. Also from the graph, I don't see how it can be said that having a wife saves a man from an hour of housework a week when the bar for married men is longer than that for single men. Could the colors of the bars be mixed up?

Just a quick email to let you know that I enjoyed Frank Beaver's article about his favorite courtroom films. I am a UM grad, twice over: Residential College 1971 and Law 1975. My first employment after law school was in Marquette, as assistant and chief assistant prosecutor, and I was fortunate to try many felony cases in the circuit courtroom where "Anatomy of a Murder" was filmed. It is an absolutely gorgeous courtroom, one of the most beautiful I've seen in my 32 years of trying cases in many different counties around Michigan. One fun fact, unknown to most, involves a scene in the movie where Jimmy Stewart and his side-kick are in the courthouse, open a door just down the stairs from the courtroom, and enter the "law library." In the real courthouse, the door leads to a men's room, and the library scene was filmed at the public library in Ishpeming. I have a short book called "Anatomy of a Motion Picture" by Richard Griffith, published in 1959, about the filming of the movie, with lots of local photos. Old timers in Marquette remember the filming fondly, as Otto Preminger and his cast (what a great bunch!) treated the locals with respect and without "Hollywood airs." The book is classic, and the movie did it justice.

Again, thank you for the article.

Bravo for the Great Plate (March, 2008)! The "food pyramid" was horrible replacement for the Four Food Groups.. The Great Plate promotes a healthy balance of food packed with nutrition, instead of the empty calories the food pyramid promoted. Our youth have learned very little about proper nutrition. The Great Plate is a wonderful visual teaching tool that almost anyone can emulate. I believe this will promote a healthy life style, while teaching people what is important to put in their bodies.

Congratulations on this great plan. I hope it is adopted nationally.

I realize the knee brace to generate electricity (March, 2008) is probably not fully developed, but I couldn't help but wonder how much energy my two dogs and I might generate on our daily 1-hour hikes. Would a dog version be feasible? Is there additional information available on use by humans?

The technology of this knee brace is still being developed, and a version that is light-weight enough for everyday use is still in the future. Technically, the device could be adapted for animal use, though we know of no plans to do so. As to future human use, we will have to wait while the engineers improve the technology--and, hopefully, find a way to bring it to production. --Editor

Re: Talking about movies: Courtroom dramas (March, 2008). I have been a trial lawyer since gradating from the Law School in 1971. In my old firm we had often talked about holding a Trial Lawyer's Film Festival. "Anatomy of a Murder" is my favorite, and a large part of why I became a lawyer. My father encouraged me to see the movie in 1959(?) even though it was "unrated" by the Cathloic Legion of Decency because they could not figure out how to deal with the issues presented.

After reading Dank (March, 2008) several times, I was still unclear as to its meaning. So I will refrain from using it for the time being.

However, I do remember the verb "to jane." It meant to hang out with, associate with your friends and essentially do nothing. As in: "What did you do this afternoon after school?" Reply: "Nothing, I just janed around."

Sadly, I don't use the term anymore. At my age I don't really have a place to jane. And I too busy keeping up with the new generations. As you can see, I'm reading MICHIGAN TODAY instead of janing around!

Keeping track of slang that is not your own is a tough assignment, and I applaud Professor Richard W. Bailey for taking it on Dank, March 2008.

Seeing some of the newer words, and recognizing they've been in circulation for a while, I wondered: Is the speed in which slang is disseminated, embraced by youth, and then discarded increasing? Will "dank" be so 2008, even as soon as 2009?

Frank Beaver, I remember from when I read it in the 1950s as a child that it was a minesweeper, not a destroyer that Queeg captained (Courtroom dramas, March 2008).

As a lover of words and one who recognizes their power to influence, I always cringe when I see "suffragette" used instead of "suffragist." (The mighty suffragette suffragist cookbook, March 2008). The first ending is demeaning; the second explicitly defines the activity without insult. So I of course cringed when I read the brief cookbook announcement. When will we become sensitive enough to honor those women who dedicated themselves toward insuring women's right to vote?

Your comments are duly noted and appreciated; several readers sent similar letters, and we've made the change. --Editor.

Of all the great writers who count themselves as alumni of U-M, Jim Tobin is among the most gifted (Fraternity War, March 2008). As a FIJI, he knows what he's talking about when it comes to fraternity trials and tribulations. Great work Brother Tobin!

Since when does a premiere research University publicize its campus security ranking from a survey by Reader's Digest magazine? In 2007, the U-M also touted an extremely positive health care provider evaluation from U.S. News and World Report, who was soundly criticized for its methodology in an annual review of U.S. colleges and universities. What's next, an evaluation of LSA by the Police Gazette? I'm for credible measurements, but let's ask the renown U-M Survey Research Center to participate rather than rely on two grocery-aisle magazines.

Sue Coleman is a one trick pony whose single agenda item is promotion of racial diversity. It is long past the time that she should focus on the quality of education provided at The University for all students of all racial and ethnic backgrounds. It is very dispiriting to witness the steady decline in The University's academic ranking while Coleman blindly pursues her personal agenda where ever in the world it takes her at Michigan taxpayer expense.

I checked out the PDF version of the Great Plate guide to healthy eating so I could read it better. What I didn't see addressed was combination meals such as casseroles’. How do they fit on the Great Plate?

The MHealthy staff writes: Combination foods such as lasagna, tuna noodle casserole, spaghetti and meatballs, and chili with beans, do not fit into one food group and cannot easily be divided on your plate. Some of these foods do not include many vegetables. Make sure these foods fill only half your plate so you have room for plenty of vegetables for the other half. You can also add more vegetables to these dishes.

As an out of state student at my undergrad school (Penn), I found the fraternity (Fraternity war, March 2008) to be a warm "home away from home," where I formed friendships with a diverse group of over 100 brothers. Much later, my daughter had a similar experience as an out-of-state student at Michigan, finding her sorority to provide a community of friends from diverse backgrounds. As an alumnus who travels back to Ann Arbor for many football weekends, I enjoy the enthusiasm and school spirit displayed at the fraternity/sorority pre-game parties - it is an important part of the game day experience.

In comparing the fraternities/sororities at Penn and Michigan, I found the "rush" system at Penn to be fairer, as it lasted the entire Fall semester, rather than being crammed into the first few weeks of freshman year. This led to far fewer surprises about who was going to be invited to join and who was not. On balance, I still see the Greek system at Michigan to be a positive force for the University.

The reference to suffragettes in the story about the right to vote for women (The mighty suffragette cookbook, March 2008) is ironic. Suffragettes was a derogatory term used by those opposed to suffrage. Those in favor of women's suffrage referred to themselves as suffragists.

If you take a look at your slideshow (The mighty suffragette cookbook, March 2008), you may notice that the term "suffragette" is not used. With good reason. In fact, that was the derogatory term coined by the opponents of woman suffrage to diminish and belittle the women who wanted to vote.

In English, "-ette" as a suffix tends to denote something small and weak.

The term the women and their supporters used was "suffragist." The suffix is one who promotes an end.

By using "suffragette" in your article, you have unknowingly chosen sides, and you have chosen the side that was in the wrong.

By the way, I owe it to LSA that I know this. The women's rights movement in the 5 years after the Civil War was the focus of my History Honors Thesis.

The current Michigan Today periodical has a Michigan heritage article about the manners of courtship in 1943 (How to date women - 1943, Feb 2008). Coincidentally I had just re-read a Michigan Today article dated March 1995 Vol.27 No 1. It was titled "The Suspension of Jam Handy". Jam Handy was my grandfather. As a 17 year old freshman he was also a campus reporter for the Chicago Tribune. He wrote about an Elocution class with Prof. Thomas C. Trueblood describing it as "a course in lovemaking" and said "Trueblood had dropped on bended knee to demonstrate how to make an effective proposal of marriage." He sent his article to the paper. It was published along with a cartoon which was obviously very embarrassing to Trueblood and U-M President James B. Angell.

Handy was immediately suspended for a year; and never returned to any university.

Today I read the 1943 article with a smile, as U-M students were being advised about proper courtship. Timing is everything isn't it?

Grandfather did not graduate; however, he became a two time Olympic medal-winner and a world pioneer in the commercial use of film.

The Handy family papers were purchased by the U-M Clements Library.

RE: We pay taxes to study worms?, Feb 2008: Nothing changes. When I was a graduate student in chemistry in Ann Arbor (1948-1953), I once saw a notice of an exam related to a thesis on "The Nitrogenous Metabolism of the Earthworm". I made a scornful comment about this topic, and was instantly laid low by a biologist friend, who informed me of the major role played by humble worms in agriculture and the environment generally.

The article Seeing our spouses more negatively might be a positive (February 4, 2008) is loaded with contradictions. Look at the last two sentences of the article:

"And we also know that older adults are more likely than younger people to report that they try to deal with conflict by avoiding confrontations, rather than by discussing problems."

"That may be another reason that negativity tends to increase over time in the relationship with a partner or spouse – when you're living together, it's a lot harder to avoid each other."

Is the contradiction not obvious?

The article fails to explain how the result of negativity is positive.

There is a contradiction between the claim that "For all age groups, including adults in their 40s and 50s, the spousal relationship was seen as the most negative and it tended to increase in negativity over time" and the claim that "At both points in time, older adults (age 60-plus) had the least negative relationships with spouses, children and friends."

Does anybody proofread this? Does something suddenly happen on a person's 60th birthday that reverses a 20 year trend toward more negative relationships with a spouse? Come on.

How about Birditt's plans for future research: "In future research, Birditt plans to study how the way we respond to negativity influences well-being. "How we respond to negativity in close relationships affects every aspect of our lives – at work and at home," she said. "In fact, it's likely that how we deal with it – not whether it exists – is what really matters."

That is as obvious and well known as anything in the social sciences. Any psychologist can tell you that. So can most people without a psychology degree or license but with common sense.

It would be a waste of money for anybody to support this research. I hope that my tax dollars and my contributions to the University of Michigan do not go to support this research. You might as well fund research to prove a new theory that the sun is at the center of the solar system.

Generally people in the social sciences get away with much less rigorous academic standards. This kind of gibberish would never survive peer review or even grant review in the hard sciences.

I agree with Dr. Colin Duckett that basic research is necessary (We pay taxes to study worms?, Feb 2008). However, the most effective treatments have focused upon nutritional, herbal, and related approaches that tap into the ways in which plants and animals stay healthy and resist disease. Linus Pauling and Roger Williams strongly advocated this approach. However, the medical profession and pharmaceutical companies often sabotage such approaches, and attack their best practitioners, such as Nicholas Gonzalez, who in a small study, extended the survival time for advanced pancreatic cancer from six months to more than 17 months (some of the treated patients were still alive at the end of the study).

We need more taxpayer funding of independent studies that are overseen primarily by persons unconnected to the pharmaceutical industry and who have a strong knowledge in nutrition and herbal medicine.

I thoroughly enjoyed Dr. Colin Duckett's "Talking About Science" article, We pay taxes to study worms? (Feb, 2008) extolling the many benefits of basic research, but I did feel moved to stand up and defend Green Tea Extract, whose virtues he demeans at the end of his essay. I cannot (yet) defend Green Tea Extract as a healthful thing to drink, but can speak up for it as a good thing to study.

The National Aging Institute has developed a multi-institutional consortium, the Interventions Testing Program, in which scientific experts are each year asked to suggest drugs or nutritional products that might prevent disease and extend lifespan in mice. The ITP employs a blue-ribbon selection committee to choose among the various interventions nominated, which are then evaluated in three laboratories, one at the Jackson Laboratory, one at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, and one right here in my own lab at the University of Michigan's Pathology Department and Geriatrics Center.

Each test takes about four years to complete. My colleague Dr. Duckett should note that a semi-purified Green Tea Extract was among the winning applications selected by our access committee for testing in the current year. A complete list of agents now under study can be found at the NIH website.

I suspect that Colin is still on safe grounds ridiculing shark cartilage, but we'll get back to you in about 3 years with the hot news on Green Tea.

Your piece on the new women's soccer coach (Former head coach of USA soccer team comes to Michigan, Feb 2008) revived memories of the early 1950s, when soccer was not a formally recognized sport at U-M, and women's soccer absolutely unheard of. Nevertheless, there was a soccer crowd on campus and I, as a recently arrived graduate student from England (where soccer was and still is football) tracked them down at their headquarters in a fraternity house on Hill Street.

I became a sort of self-appointed player-coach and, with no one to stop us billing ourselves as the U-M soccer club, several matches were arranged and played. I recall traveling to Indiana, Notre Dame and Oberlin. The procedure was to cram between a dozen and fifteen players into three cars, drive several hours on Friday or Saturday evening, play the following afternoon, and drive back before the weekend was over. We were a polyglot crew, about half American and the rest from around the globe. Given the team's informal structure, we did reasonably well, and I think we actually won one match.

But visiting other schools, we became aware that our opponents were better organized and even had some university funding and coaching. We wondered if U-M might not be persuaded to do likewise, so a couple of us asked to talk to the then Athletic Director, Fritz Crisler. Mr. Crisler received us in his office in the Yost Fieldhouse and treated us tyros with the greatest civility, but we were left in no doubt that university help would not be forthcoming in the near future lest it impinge, however slightly, on that other sport played before 100,000 spectators in the stadium across the road.

Gratifying to know that things have moved on, and I wish Mr. Greg Ryan every success.

I was captivated by the work of Dr. David Potter as outlined in this month's newsletter (David Potter: Do as the Romans did?, Feb 2008). Brava to the writer, Lynne Raughley.

As I stumble around antiquity here in the Eternal City, I am constantly inspired by the simple genius of Roman infrastructure. To know that a maestro has put it into pedagogical context makes me (yet again) proud to be an Alum.

I hope David and his students come over for a visit soon so I can show them the recently discovered Lupercale (shrine to Romulus and Remus)in the "wine cellar" of Augustus' crib.

Ciao from Rome

Editor's Reply: We can't vouch for the accuracy of this information, but here's what Wikipedia says about it: "Ballyhoo was a humor magazine published by Dell, created by George T. Delacorte Jr., and edited by Norman Anthony, from 1931 until 1939, with a couple of attempts to resuscitate the magazine (Now edited by Bill Yates) after the war between 1948 and 1954."

You can follow this link to read the complete Wikipedia entry, including some of the jokes and spoofs in the magazine. -- Editor

Yes, the late '60s (or--our college days) were intense (40 years of violence and revolution, Feb 2008). I slowly walked back to Strauss House, almost in tears,after seeing Bonnie & Clyde...

Very interesting article on Natural Flyers (Birds, bats, bugs and engineers, Feb 2008). It has been a curiosity of mine for years. Where can I buy the book?

Professor Wei Shyy's book, Aerodynamics of Low Reynolds Number Flyers, can be purchased through most bookstores, or ordered online via Amazon.com and other retailers. --Editor

Your article on Michelle Dresbold ((What's hidden in your handwriting, Feb 2008)and handwriting analysis was very interesting and entertaining. Thanks for including the reader in challenging our skills with the examples you provided (and with the answers right below)! While your handwriting suggests your charm, wit and "dazzling looks," what can be said about typewritten emails such as this? Precise, friendly and head-turning!? :) These days with email, we hardly know what people's handwriting looks like anymore. As they say, a lot of valuable information is lost in translation - and handwriting!

The fact that JFK stood on the steps of our union is very inspiring for current and future students (JFK at the Union, Jan 2008). It's a great feeling to stand in the exact position that JFK once stood. The sad part is that the University recently installed hand rails on the steps of the union, which run directly over the crest marking the exact spot where JFK once stood. So unless you have extremely long legs and straddle the pole, it's in fact impossible to stand in the same spot. Someone needs to move the hand rail, it's quite disappointing, and somewhat embarrassing.

I could have sworn I was at an E-town radio show in Ft. Collins and listened to the founder of the Peace Corp here at Colorado State Univ and it was not JFK (JFK at the Union,, Jan 2008)

The thing I remember most about that night that JFK spoke at the Union (JFK at the Union, Jan 2008) was that the school suspended its curfew for female students, the later Kennedy was. His remark about going to bed with Jackie did get a great response but so did the curfew suspension announcement. Of course within a few years, curfews of any kind became a quaint idea of the past (see The day in loco parentis died, Nov 2007).

Regarding Professor Bailey's Us and Them article (Jan, 2008), I was a weekend visitor to a cottage we own near Traverse City, and was often referred to as a "trunk slammer" due to the fact that I would arrive on Friday night, retrieve my luggage and leave Sunday night, both accompanied by, of course, the slamming of the trunk.

Similarly, I have been called a troll by persons living north of the Mackinac Bridge (because we live below the bridge). I have never heard it used as a compliment.

That breathless, soft voice introducing your audio piece about exercise (Finding the right motivation to exercise, Jan 2008) paraphrased, "from Ann Arbor" as if Ann Arbor were just about the most wonderful, special place on the planet.... very irritating. About as irritating as the polite, posh, friendly British announcer on Michigan Radio some years ago.

What's wrong with an ordinary voice.... perhaps even an ordinary Midwestern voice? Wisconsin Public Radio announcers do a fine job of sounding intelligent and yet not unbearably smart ("too smart by half" as the British themselves would say) and rooted in the place where most of their listeners live. I have never wanted to scream or rant when I hear them. One of the very best is Jim Fleming ("To the Best of Our Knowledge" host and son of former U-M president Robben Fleming).

If accessibility to higher education and culture is a value we hold dear, why not focus on speaking a common language in everyday, vernacular cadences?

I was very pleased to read that the Dalai Lama was coming to speak at the University . . . until I realized that 20 April is the first day of Passover. What a frustrating and sad conflict.

We cannot have a discussion of Michigan travel and residence labels (Us and them, Jan 2008) without including the word "troll." Those of us "under the bridge" are not offended, only amused!

One day I was discussing this same topic [local residents' terms for visitors, Us and them, Jan 2008) with a colleague who had recently moved to Ann Arbor from Chicago. Being from northern Lower Michigan I was explaining some of the endearing, but not necessarily friendly terms I heard in my home region, such as fudgies, yoopers (being from the Upper Peninsula) and trolls (being from the Lower Peninsula, or "under the bridge"). My colleague asked me if I'd ever heard the (much less friendly, as it turns out) term "FIP". Evidently my colleague had been referred to as a FIP during the summers when he and his wife spent summers at their Lake Michigan cottage in western Lower Michigan. As he put it, he eventually figured out that the "I" stood for Illinois and the "P" stood for people, but no one would ever tell him what the "F" stood for...

Thank you for the lovely photos of UM in the snow (Campus, Under a Blanket, Jan 2008). They brought back for me memories of snowball fights in the Arb and in the Law Quad, and made me nostalgic for the one thing I do sometimes miss out here in sunny California: the snowstorm that makes you drop everything in favor of simply enjoying a moment that is so purely beautiful.

I was very disheartened to read the article on the research stating that parents prefer teachers who make their children happy over teachers who strive for academic excellence (Parents want teachers who make children happy. Usually., Jan 2008). In my mind, especially in this global economy, to have citizens who are ready to be active participants in this economy rather that wanting to be liked by everyone they meet. This are not realistic or wise expectation, especially when one considers the notion that some "popular" teachers are doing students a disservice by not teaching them, and others are doing far worse, look at the recent headlines of teachers behaving inappropriately with their students. I quite certain these teachers were very popular.

I am so pleased to see an article which highlights the amazing things Lloyd Carr has done for the university and all of its students on and off the field (Saying goodbye to Lloyd Carr, Jan 2008). While I admired him as a coach on the field, I was also always phenomenally impressed by him as a man and what he gave even to those of us non-athletes at the University.

Lloyd Carr spoke at the School of Social Work Commencement in April 2005. While many students were initially puzzled by having the football coach as a speaker at a Social Work graduation, he could not have been a more gracious and fitting speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Carr, for being the teacher and role model you have been to so many of us at the University of Michigan and beyond.

Those living in the Upper Peninsula (aka UP-ers) are fond of calling some of us trolls. (Us and them, Jan 2008) According to them, we trolls are those less fortunate individuals living in the Lower Peninsula; that is, below the bridge.

People who live in the U.P. of Michigan call lower-peninsula residents "trolls" because they live under the Mackinac Bridge. (Us and them, Jan 2008) Northern Michiganders refer to anyone from south of about Gaylord as being from "down state." But where did the term "red neck" *really* come from?

My color images of the JFK visit to Ann Arbor (JFK at the union,Jan 2008) can be found in my collection in the Bentley Library.

As a transplant to northern Michigan from "downstate," I've learned a few other terms for outsiders over the last 14 years (Us and them, Jan 2008). The most notable, of course, is "yoopers" for residents of the U.P. Another less appealing one is "trolls" for all of us who live below the bridge. I confess to once being a "fudgie," now we all just snigger when we see all the "summer people" lined up at Kilwins or Murdocks for fudge.

As a teen-age male growing up in a summer resort in northern Ohio, I looked forward with great anticipation to the annual arrival of the summer people (Us and Them, Jan 2008), especially the summer girls!

It is now Christmas, a perfect time to reflect on integrity, hypocrisy and bad eyesight. I'm astonished by the recent publication of Student, citizen, soldier (Nov, 2007) in "my" Michigan Today—"mine" because I am an alumnus and I was once profiled there. But actually, I'm more astonished that I'm even capable of being astonished any more. Moral outrage and nausea welling up right next to each other. There is still hope.

Then I read Stronger, more humane, more efficient, a second article on the military! Two of the top three lead articles dedicated to the glorious partnership between the Armed Forces and U-M. These kinds of shadowy relationships between businesses have become so seamless and normal and above board that they serve as perfect examples of what came to be known as the banality of evil. No doubt the subject of many a sad book.

The new sad book would no doubt detail all of the attempts that officials use to justify these relationships as "natural," mutually beneficial, market-driven, irreversible, offering choice in a market atmosphere. The sad book would also point out that these advantages and considerations supersede the notions of virtue and integrity. Because, when you have a big budget and a clever PR firm, you can quite effectively cloak all of the above in the fake fur of morality [see current discredited American administration].

The sad book would further point out that the more the institution of learning claims to have learned from past experience and recent events, the more ironically and wrong-headed it manifests this acquired wisdom. The book may call the cozy relationships between an institution of learning and an institution of killing [I think immediately of the Fugs song "Kill for Peace"] "war profiteering" or merely the opportunism offered during times of (enhanced) fear, doubt, paranoia and ever less-charming employment opportunities—for many, the choice is either Wal-Mart or the Armed Forces.

In any case, the two articles are "puff pieces", print media cheerleaderism, or, more to the point: is it just flattery to keep the dollars rolling into U-M coffers?

I protested against an ROTC presence on the U-M campus in 1976-7 and, despite all of the clichés of a changing world you may try to gift wrap these relationships, they remain at base a shadowy enterprise made all the darker by the not-surprising lackluster or even criminal "performances" in Iraq (and elsewhere) of the very professional soldiers U-M advertises it trains. The recent sleazy stories involving military personnel and military/civilian contractors would certainly call into question the efficacy of the ROTC program on some level.

Business-savvy people in this realm must have any number of qualities including a level of sophistication that can properly disconnect one's actions and dealings from any notion of scruples or virtue. Cynicism doesn't hurt either. This allows pragmatic and financial considerations - all in the name of 9/11 - to open a dirty window of opportunity to make the most of fear, paranoia, and misplaced patriotism. An ability to ignore irony doesn't hurt either.

Case in point: While Michigan Today is publishing its ROTC puff pieces, the Bentley Historical Library [Website] presents "A Decade of Dissent" embodied in U-M scourge, anti-ROTC activist, founder of the White Panthers and state enemy no. 1, John Sinclair. I am guessing that few ROTC candidates will be encouraged by their professors to make their way over to the exhibit or check it out on-line. But who knows…

All of these sorts of maneuvers point out that the moral and intellectual duties I thought universities were there to uphold - I guess I AM naïve after all! - are fluid and always open to negotiation - and you can bet there ain't no Martin Luther King, no peacenik, no leading pacifist, no numbers-cruncher critic sitting in on any of these negotiations either! Furthermore, a university should, in part, be there to inform students about the differences between love of one's country and the patriotism-nationalism that is swung drunkenly like a bloody saber by the nation's swaggering leaders (including military) who use these concepts for oft questionable and/or nefarious ends.

In the end, the fact that the United States is currently in a deep moral and spiritual crisis has a lot less to do with gangsta rap and MTV than with the relationships documented in the above articles. Maybe it's simply an issue of vision versus blindness. One keeps you out of trouble, one gets you deeper into it. And once you've lost your way, as you blindly wield your saber, it becomes increasingly difficult to get on your knees and admit that you are looking for your corrective lenses in all of the wrong places.

I was a freshman the year "in loco parentis" died (Nov, 2007 issue) and there was an additional reason not mentioned in your article. During holiday breaks when relatively few of us remained in the dorms, we had a few incidents of non-university men scaring female dorm residents in the restroom stalls. That was also the year that several dark-haired women were picked up on campus and later found killed (by the nephew of the Ypsi Chief of Police, we later learned) so that security was an issue. I, for one, felt much safer with our male students allowed to accompany us back to our rooms if we were nervous.

I loved reading The day in loco parentis died (Nov, 2007), but have a few questions. Where are the experiences of the 50s? What about the doors left open for board members of political organizations to return, without question. How many bottles were snuck into dorms for Rosh Hoshanna (even by Christians!) How about all night card games? I have lots of memories, and felt totally free to come and go, within reason, and think my dorm was no different than the others.

I recall with great warmth my housemother, Mrs. Janet Tait. She managed Newberry when I lived there from September, 1961, until I had to move to Couzens in June, 1963, as did all nursing students at the end of their sophomore year. Mrs. Tait's door was always open. She smoothed many difficult moments with a fine pot of tea and shortbread from her native Scotland.

Thank you for covering the ROTC program in Student, citizen, soldier (Nov, 2007) and honoring those who will be serving and protecting our country someday.

Thank you for giving some brief attention to those students who make the sacrifices necessary to complete their education while earning a military commission (Student, citizen, soldier, Nov 2007). They are truly the “stars” on the U of M campus. Their dedication deserves much more recognition in your publications.

The picture of Hinsdale House in 1965 (The day in loco parentis died, Nov 2007) really brought back memories. I lived in Hinsdale House during my first two years at Michigan, beginning in Sept, 1963. I wonder if you have any pictures from that school year or the 1964-65 year. If so, is there a way to see those pictures? I certainly remember Mrs. Morris and a couple of the women in the photo in the article. A big concern was getting back into the dorm before curfew and what to do if one was a bit late, for very innocent reasons.

Thanks for the memories!

To whomever,

Do you think that this article, Student, Citizen, Soldier, will placate conservative Americans who love this great country ours, for what she stands for and her wonderful traditions? Do you think conservative Michigan graduates will be impressed by this one article?

Sorry, at least this one Michigan graduate is not impressed. Period.

As a graduate of Michigan in 1959, I was delighted to see the beautiful photos of A Michigan autumn in your e-newsletter. They brought back memories of my first fall ever. Special thanks to the photographers (especially of photos 4, 5, and 6) and to you for thinking of this lovely feature.

Thank you Mr. Tobin for a thoroughly enjoyable and well written look at one aspect of women and men's liberation in the 1960's (The day in loco parentis died, Nov 2007). Having attended school during an era of mixed hallways, I can scarcely imagine what it must have been like to have such restrictions on my behavior.

Answer to Chris Sederstrom's disappointing question, "[w]hy the focus on faith and the military? Disappointing": because our nation and our values are founded in religious faith and our way of life, including Chris' civil rights, are defended by the military. Come on people, educate yourselves.

(Re: Nov 2007 issue.) Why the focus on faith and the military? Disappointing.

Thanks for this excellent newsletter. I look forward to receiving it on a regular basis. A great networking avenue.

Having graduated before dorm rules were loosened (The day in loco parentis died, Nov 2007), I can only imagine how the profit margins for local florists plunged in the absence of "late-minute" rose sales.

Dear Dr. Ball,

Thank you for your stewardship at U-M and your recognition of the primacy of math (Above the math wars, Nov 2007). Please recruit, emulate, and acknowledge methods and curricula that foreign-born (Indian, Russian, Singaporean) teachers can and are willing to provide. My foreign students have fabulous stories of their elementary algebra and physics classes!

Loved James Tobin's look back on the "arcan" dormitory rules of the past (The day in loco parentis died, Nov 2007). I spent two and a half years in East Quad and I couldn't imagine life there without a diverse community at all hours of the day or night, seven days a week.

I unwittingly played a huge part in getting 24-hour open-opens (The day in loco parentis died, Nov 2007). A freshman in Hinsdale House East Quad in the fall of 1967 (there were no women in Hinsdale House until at least 1968; I was a charter member of the Pilot Program.) About a month into the semester, we had acquired alcoholic beverages and were partying in my room. As fate would have it, my window opened on to a flat corridor roof of the quadrangle. The roof continued over to windows in Prescott House, a female house in Residential College. They heard our party and climbed onto the roof and into our window. The girls had arrived. Unfortunately (or fortunately as it turns our), the Resident Director busted us for having women in the room after hours (the alcohol was gone), and we were sent to the student judiciary for trial.

Knowing that they were looking for a case to rule on the validity of Regent-imposed visitation hours, we pleaded not guilty because the Regents who made the current visitation rules had no student representation at the time. The judiciary acquitted us on those grounds (but we did empty dorm trash cans for a month for disturbing the peace).

Time moves on. I was elected President of Pilot Program and we moved to Alice Lloyd in the fall of 1968. The Regents, having seen the student judiciary ruling, added a student representative and decided to look into opening up visitation at a meeting that fall. I was invited to testify before them. I told them that the Pilot program (composed of an equal number of men's and women's houses) were ready and mature enough to give it a try. It didn't hurt that we were old enough to be drafted and die in Viet Nam but were still treated like children by in loco parentis. They voted to let the dorms set their own policies! I saw it happen.

(A small aside. The Michigan Daily reported the decision and my testimony the next day. Because the invitation to the Regents meeting came one day before it was held, I had not had a chance to poll the hall reps of the Pilot Program [who met weekly] before I appeared. Now the Daily heard about this, called me for an interview and instead of reporting the story in detail as it happened, ran a scandal article about it. I had not told the regents that any vote had taken place - but the Daily smelled headlines! Thank you, student reporter and editors, you knew even then that sensationalism garnered more readers than complete facts. Rupert Murdoch would be proud of you.) The regular weekly reps meeting arrived and after some original objections that I should have consulted that body first, they understood that I had had a one-shot opportunity to speak for students and voted to support the elimination of visitation hours in Alice Lloyd. I had read the tea leaves correctly and thus capitalized on a singular opportunity for students to control their own lives! Did the Daily ever go back and print the true story? Of course not...and to this day when a reporter calls, the first words out of my mouth are "Don't quote me!"

There's another good story in this tale. The Pilot Program was the first co-ed invasion of "The Hill," a traditionally all women's dorm compound. When the jocks from South and West Quads came over for their traditional panty raid that fall (1968), they had quite an unusual surprise....

I look forward to reading more about Prof. Danziger's work (What really affects poverty? Oct, 2007), but the article begs the question: at what point does kicking women off of welfare and into work actually change the material circumstances of the family? Placing poor women in a job that offers no hope of advancement, barely covers the basics, removes women from the home and prevents the possibility of continuing education is not good social policy. The welfare system from which I personally benefited as a young single mother allowed me to get a four-year degree while working and raising my daughter AND it provided adequate health care for both of us (Medicaid). "Welfare Reform" Clinton-style has simply ensured the availability of a large pool of desperate workers unable to improve their economic and social circumstances through education.

While Prof. Bailey is correct (and, as usual, interesting) about instances where the apostrophe is disappearing (What's the point? Oct, 2007), he ignores one instance where it is unfortunately proliferating: as a misuse in plurals. Part of me is suspicious that the New York Times, persistent in elegant constructions such as "the 1980's," has contributed to this, but I find the "apostrophe-ess" as a plural form so prevalent outside institutions such as the University of Michigan that I wonder if it will not be at least an accepted alternative for dictionaries within my 8-year-old son's lifetime.

Bully for Prof. Bailey! (What's the point? Oct, 2007)

Keep fighting for the apostrophe!!

I am not an academician, but there is no doubt that poverty increased with the increase in government intervention (What really affects poverty? Oct, 2007).

While one should not always assume cause and effect, I submit that it is precisely that in the case of poverty. After nearly 50 years of the "War on Poverty" we are paying the price of well-intentioned but failing government programs to curb poverty. Our failure to access the results of programs continues to block our ability to find solutions. I would submit that the emphasis on providing things to the needy rather than tools to learn how to improve their lives is at the root of the failure. What is so hard to understand about that? It is just easier to give handouts than look for real causes and solutions.

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) was founded in 1930, by which time "Woods Hole" was well established as the name of its host community. Thus WHOI had no apostrophe to lose. The larger point is that the apostrophe appears to have been an unstable feature of the place name, and something of an interloper all along.

Question: Does the disappearance of the apostrophe indicate something deeper with regards to possessiveness? Is this a move toward less emphasis on individualism, and more collectivism?

Question: Am I reading too much into this?

Oh what going to Michigan does to one's (or ones) thinking!-)