While the look of the gray lady — The New York Times — might have changed in the digital world, the presence of articles by or about members of the Colgate community has remained constant. Three pieces with Colgate connections appeared in The Times the past three months. A nice streak, no?
Mel Watkins ’62, NEH professor of the humanities at Colgate, wrote a review of the new book Furious Cool: Richard Pryor and the World That Made Him. It appeared in the Times January 5.
Pryor had been a catalyst for Watkins’s interest in African American humor and how it reflected and shaped society, a topic that Watkins explored in his seminal book On the Real Side: Laughing, Lying and Signifying — The Underground Tradition of African American Humor That Transformed American Culture.
In December, a glowing review of a collection of former Colgate professor Frederick Busch’s short stories ran in the Times. Katie Arnold-Ratliff, a senior editor at O, the Oprah Magazine, said that The Stories of Frederick Busch will, “with luck, make more people see Frederick Busch for the master he was, one whose talent for subtle impact was downright maximal.”
The collection was edited by Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Elizabeth Strout, a former visiting professor at Colgate, and features a selection of short stories that focuses on interpersonal relationships between family members.
On November 27, an op-ed piece by Pamela Druckerman ’91 was published. Titled An American Neurotic in Paris, Druckerman reflects on her 10 years living in Paris, and wonders if it is time for her to return to America.
The former Wall Street Journal reporter is the author of Bringing Up Bébé: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting. The book stirred a good deal of debate over parenting when it was released, and was widely cited in different media outlets.
DID YOU KNOW?
Watkins majored in art and art history at Colgate. He was the first African American editor at the New York Times Sunday Book Review after having started at the paper as a copy boy.
Druckerman majored in philosophy at Colgate. In addition to authoring three books, her writing on cross-cultural issues has appeared in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Vanity Fair France, The Guardian, The Financial Times and many other publications.