Letters – Fall 2014
Caffeinated
Thank you for your excellent work with the Coloradan. I very much enjoy reading it. The article on coffee is very good: “Are We Over-Caffeinated?” [Summer 2014 issue]. It is comforting to read that my four cups a day limit of coffee is within normal limits.
Geary Larrick&Բ;(ٲѳܲ’84)
Stevens Point, Wis.
What a fantastic article. Thank you Christie Sounart (Jour’12) for the introduction to Murray Carpenter’s (Psych’85) fascinating book. It completely opened my eyes about where caffeine is “made.” I never thought that a vast amount of caffeine was synthetic. When I read that Monsanto created it back in the 1940’s, I threw my magazine across the room.
I look forward to each issue of the Coloradan, so please continue to bring us such fascinating articles.
Sandra Roach&Բ;(’90)
Winnetka, Calif.
Study Abroad Talk
The Summer ’14 issue of the Coloradan magazine had an article in the Campus News section about the increase in (CU) students going abroad [Hindsight is 2020, Spring 2014]. And those coming to CU to study. This is great news in an age where less understanding and tolerance of different cultures and views seem on the increase.
I hope that CU is “walking its talk” internally, because when I was accepted to the CU 1983 year abroad in Japan program, I had just been admitted to the CU business school. To my astonishment, the b-school would not entertain retaining me as a business student while abroad in ’83, despite Japan being the second largest free-world economy. So I dropped business as a major and instead focused on Japanese language. Retention and graduation rates are also tied to broader views and tolerance.
Tim Thomas&Բ;(’85)
Durango, Colo.
Peace In Sight
Thank you for your article “Peace in Sight” [Summer 2014 issue]. I enjoyed reading about my friend Jordan Campbell (Comm’91). We worked together at the REI store in Westminster around the turn of the century.
I climbed Mount Holy Cross with him shortly after he came back from Nepal. He was not feeling well mentally, physically and emotionally. I like to believe the successful climb helped him recover from his affliction.
Sounds like he’s doing well now.
Bob Eckhardt&Բ;(ѷ’59)
Loveland, Colo.
Rocky Flats Memories
Your short feature “Then – June 6, 1989” in the Summer 2014 issue about Rocky Flats took me back to the day we were there. Four CU graduates from one family: Dan Gale Sr. (Edu’51, MA’60), Margaret Ann Venditti Gale&Բ;(ѱձ’50),&Բ;Dan Gale Jr. (Phil’77) and Jane Gale (Soc’77). Dan’s scrapbook had the page [of photos from the event] identified as “Ring Around Rocky Flats,” 10-15-83.
Col. (Ret) Daniel Gale (Edu’51, MA’60)
Pueblo, Colo.
JFK’s Assassination
Paul Danish (Hist’65) and I were staffers on the babyֱapp Daily in the early ‘60s and his column, “History’s First Draft” [Summer 2014 issue], brought back vivid memories of that terrible Friday, especially his reference to teletype bells in the Daily newsroom.
I was a newbie working in the Denver bureau of United Press International the morning the world turned upside down. I was assigned the desk filing state news to our radio/TV clients in babyֱapp and Wyoming, including weather, crop and livestock reports. All around me were the incessant five bells announcing another grim bulletin from Dallas. Then came the five-bell flash that JFK was dead. It was at the end of a long, gut-wrenching shift that I was informed I had been filing all of yesterday’s state news — and in the chaos no one had noticed (or really cared) except the bureau manager.
Paul, John Mitchell was right (he was seldom wrong): Despite your initial reservations, you were obliged to put out that extra, warts and all. I’m sure you took some heat because of the mistakes, but that’s how we learned. I hope you framed that broadsheet extra and hung it in a prominent place. I wish I could have framed my lapse amid the ringing bells; it might have avoided some more to come.
The clattering teletypes are gone now, but their bells that day still haunt a generation of Unipressers.
Jack Dryden&Բ;(dzܰ’63)
Casa Grande, Ariz.