Click the link to find out which Spring 2021 book (or books!) from TCU Press you should read next.
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Click the link to find out which Spring 2021 book (or books!) from TCU Press you should read next.
TCU Press Book Club
Launching this Friday, April 3rd!
We're taking our book discussions online! Join the Facebook group and stay up-to-date with book selections and weekly discussions—as well as live videos with our authors—all from the comfort of your home.
For our first book club discussion, we’re thrilled to select Odd Birds, a novel by Severo Perez!
The year is 1961. Seventy-year-old Cosimo Infante Cano, a Cuban-born artist in need of inspiration, follows his lover to Texas in what was to be a temporary sabbatical from their life in France. Unexpectedly, he finds himself stranded in San Antonio, nearly penniless, with little more than the clothes on his back and an extraordinary pocket watch. His long hair and eccentric attire make him an odd sight in what he has been told is a conservative cultural backwater. Cosimo’s French and Cuban passports put a cloud of suspicion over him as events elsewhere in the world play out. Algeria is in open revolt against France. Freedom Riders are being assaulted in Mississippi, and the Bay of Pigs debacle is front-page news. Cosimo confronts nightmares and waking terrors rooted in the horror he experienced during the Great War of 1914–1918. His friends—students, librarians, shopkeepers, laborers, lawyers, bankers, and even a parrot—coalesce around this elderly French artist as he attempts to return to what remains of his shattered life. His new friends feel empathy for his impoverished condition, but his unconventional actions and uncompromising ethics confuse them. He creates charming drawings he refuses to sell and paints a house simply for the pleasure of making a difference. In the process he forever alters the lives of those who thought they were helping him.
Texas Monthly called it “a pitch-perfect picaresque tale,” and Kirkus named it one of the Best Indie Books of 2019.
Where to purchase:
You can buy directly from our distributor here. (Use code 3B at checkout and receive 30% off your order!)
Support your local indie bookstore by ordering through IndieBound.
Prefer eBooks? No problem! Grab the Kindle version here.
An Interview with Thomas Zigal
Warning: This interview discusses the on-going reports of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church.
TCU Press: Aside from the near-constant news reports that we’re seeing, most people think of the film Spotlight in connection to the sex abuse scandal(s) within the Catholic Church. How would you describe your forthcoming book in relation to this film?
Thomas Zigal: Spotlight was focused on the journalists and the details of their investigation and discoveries. As viewers, we follow the reporters the way we followed Woodward and Bernstein when they were unraveling the mysteries of Watergate. The Spotlight investigators were laypersons outside the Catholic Church hierarchy, of course, trying to crack through the mighty fortress surrounding the archbishop and his clergymen in the Archdiocese of Boston. Outcry Witness takes a different approach. It’s an insider’s view of how a cover-up works, exploring what happens behind closed doors in the board room of a bishop’s chancery.
My novel begins with a fictional murder case set in New Orleans in the mid-1980s, in which steadfastly moral characters—an aging priest and his loyal nephew—find themselves being drawn into the Church’s efforts to hide the truth about a dead priest who is discovered to have been a child sex offender. In the world of my novel, this is the first case of its kind in the city, the first time that the bishop and his staff must face a scandal that could destroy the Church’s reputation. How they respond is emblematic of how every Church cover-up would work in the future. Hush money, nondisclosure agreements, reassigning priests to other parishes, etc.
Although Outcry Witness is a novel, I relied on many informative sources to construct my narrative, including books, articles, documentaries, blog entries, online sites for victims who tell their stories, and conversations with experts on the front lines of these headlining outrages. My novel has a solid foundation of fact, but it’s a story. I’m not a psychologist, sociologist, scholar, journalist, guidance counselor, or authority on pedophilia. A reviewer once called my novels “page turners with a conscience,” and that’s what I endeavored to do in writing Outcry Witness—to shed light on this horrendous epidemic of abuses that have gone largely unreported and unpunished for decades.
TCU: Would you mind sharing your own personal history with the Catholic Church?
TZ: I’ve earned my stripes to write about Catholic issues. For starters, I went to 14 years of Catholic schooling, including the first two years of college. The Catholic faith was central to my family and to the families of all the kids I attended school with. I was an altar boy when the Mass was in Latin, and like most Catholic boys of my generation—we grew up in the 1950s and 1960s —I gave serious consideration to joining the religious life. I have many Catholic friends, including several I’ve known since the first grade and still stay in touch with, and none of them have ever disclosed that they were abused. It’s likely that the abuses taking place back then were happening on a much smaller scale.
TCU: Your last novel, Many Rivers to Cross, takes place in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. What made you decide to pursue this topic for your next book? How did you go about researching it?
TZ: Back in 1992, when I was living in New Orleans, a writer named Jason Berry published a book entitled Lead Us Not Into Temptation: Catholic Priests and the Sexual Abuse of Children. I had met Jason at a dinner party in the French Quarter and I knew who he was. His book was a superb investigation of a priest who’d been abusing boys in southwest Louisiana. It was possibly the first major exposé of clergy pedophilia, and it opened my eyes to a very dark corner of the Catholic Church.
Because of my Catholic background, I was profoundly disturbed that a priest was the focus of Jason’s criminal investigation. It was unthinkable to me that a man of the cloth had molested several children over a lengthy period of time. But the facts were irrefutable. And Jason reported that in the eight years prior to his book’s publication (1984-92), 400 priests had been accused of sexually abusing children across the United States. I couldn’t wrap my mind around that many pedophiles in the priesthood. I had been intensely involved in the Church throughout my childhood and teen years, and I was very fond of the nuns, priests, and brothers who’d taught me in school. In all those formative years, I had never encountered a pedophile.
Over the next 15 or 20 years after reading Jason’s book, I read as many newspaper and magazine articles about Catholic priests and the sexual abuse of children as I could find, making notes and conceiving the characters and plot of an emerging novel. I also talked to friends who’d become involved in supporting and counseling victims. Throughout the 1990s, the reported cases were growing in number and fitting familiar patterns.
I set the story in New Orleans because it’s a Catholic city and I knew it well. At some point around the year 2000, I began to write the book, then put it aside to write The White League, returned to Outcry Witness, and put it aside again to write Many Rivers to Cross. (Those are the first two books of my New Orleans trilogy.) It was an on-again off-again project, and I continued to learn more about the subject as new books and documentaries appeared.
TCU: Outcry Witness portrays the moral struggle between those who conceal these alarming crimes and those who resist a cover-up and strive to nurture and heal the victims.
TZ: There are two competing sides in the novel. One side is the bishop, his staff, his lawyers, and sympathetic law enforcement agents willing to help the Church hide a secret. The other side is a slowly awakening group that includes an aging priest whose faith is shaken but strong, a fervently Catholic married couple who focus on identifying and supporting the victims, and a New Orleans private investigator who talks like the musician Dr. John and provides the street smarts to find the boys who have been harmed. It’s not a dry treatise on morality, but a page-turning thriller about real flesh-and-blood individuals fighting for the soul of the faith they embrace.
TCU: After you completed the book, did you share the manuscript with any professionals who are familiar with these cases—therapists or psychiatric professionals—who could give you feedback or advice about the very sensitive subject of pedophilia?
TZ: I gave the manuscript to two friends my age who are former Christian Brothers (a teaching order) and who have counseled abuse victims and testified on their behalf at trials and depositions. They know that world extremely well. One of them had confronted the Church leadership in his diocese, exposing an abusive priest, and he eventually took his fight to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Both readers gave me detailed and invaluable feedback, and they both admire the book and said I got it right. I have their blessing.
TCU: Why should book lovers read this novel?
TZ: Concerned readers have been following headline stories about abusive clergymen for more than a decade, and the stories won’t go away. Every day there’s another revelation about the Church hierarchy covering up pedophilia in this parish and that parish. One thousand victims in the state of Pennsylvania alone. The pope and various bishops and cardinals are pointing fingers and assigning blame. If a reader wants to know how these crimes have been covered up for so long without coming to light, Outcry Witness will provide a compelling scenario. This is how it was done from the beginning—from the very first case to reach a bishop’s desk. The good news is, there are courageous men and women of faith who continue to demand justice and accountability. Many of them were victims themselves. This is their story.
Thomas Zigal is the author of seven novels and numerous short stories and essays. His novels have won the Jesse H. Jones Award for Best Work of Fiction from the Texas Institute of Letters, the fiction award from the Philosophical Society of Texas, and the Violet Crown Award from the Writers’ League of Texas. Outcry Witness is the final novel in his New Orleans trilogy, which includes the award-winning Many Rivers to Cross (TCU Press, 2013). He lives in Austin, Texas. Outcry Witness will be released in February 2019.
El Otro Lado
I was raised in a family of ten children in the border town of Laredo, Texas. As we were growing up, my parents and grandparents inculcated in each of us a deep appreciation of the confluence of cultures we experienced, and the beauty of the contrasting worlds we were positioned between along the Rio Grande. With generations on my father’s side having lived in Mapimi, Durango, and generations on my mother’s side in Tejas before it was transferred to the United States, our elders always emphasized that our Mexican and American traditions were not contradictions of heritage, but celebrations of our diversity; this gave us not only a deep appreciation of our historical legacy, but also an unwavering self-confidence in our multicultural identity. Eating tortillas and pancakes, speaking Spanish and English, and celebrating both el 16 de septiembre and July 4th, our family seamlessly integrated the best of both worlds. Having the opportunity to keep such memories vibrant and current is what Hispanic Heritage Month means to me.
In particular, what I recall most vividly right now is how going to the other side meant crossing over the international bridge at the end of each summer with my siblings to spend summers at my grandparents’ house in Nuevo Laredo, el otro lado. As my grandmother would drive us back home, I remember how my physical world changed as her car drove past the Mexican flag depicting an eagle perched on a cactus, devouring a serpent. It was so unlike the American Eagle with the E Pluribus Unum scroll in beak I observed as we crossed the boundary. My father once told me how important it was to always remember what the Latin words meant: Out of many, One. It made me feel just right, the way he said it with such conviction back then, and still fills me with pride now, so many years later as I share this memory with you.
Barbara Gonzalez Cigarroa, author of A Mexican Dream and Other Compositions, was raised in a family of ten children in the border town of Laredo, Texas. Notwithstanding graduating from public schools in one of most poverty-stricken areas in the US, Cigarroa graduated summa cum laude from Harvard College and earned a joint JD-MSW degree from Washington University School of Law and the George Warren Brown School of Social Work. Admitted as an Attorney General’s Honors Program graduate, she has worked as an immigration attorney for the government both in New York City and in El Paso, Texas, and was recently selected by the Department of Justice to serve as an immigration judge.
The Search for Identity
In his brilliant work The Labyrinth of Solitude, Octavio Paz offers an insight which, for those who think writers have all the answers, may seem startling. “There is no meaning,” he states. “There is search for meaning.”
I agree, but I would amend the statement, if only slightly. The search is the meaning. For it is in the journey, the quest – whether it is to become a better society or a better human being – that we realize ourselves. Yet that odyssey, as Paz demonstrated, is often more difficult for minorities because of the confusing labels society imposes upon us. We may not know who we are, much less who we want to be.
In her lovely short story, Eleven, our own Sandra Cisneros depicts this lurch toward self-identity. She describes a girl whose birthday is ruined by an experience which, for the reader, is both heartbreaking and infuriating. The girl sits at her desk, focusing on her studies, when another child discovers a sweater one of the other youngsters must have lost. It is an old, raggedy sweater, a glorified dust cloth, and the teacher assumes it belongs to the 11-year-old.
Why it must belong to her. After all, she is a Latina, and only a Latina would wear such a dreary garment. The teacher never says that, not in those words, but her message is clear: The 11-year-old is not worthy of wearing anything but a rag.
The girl insists the sweater does not belong to her; the teacher insists that it does. Guess who wins. The child finally accepts the sweater, a sweater she does not want. So, while the teacher has given her something, she has also taken something away – her pride.
In this display of authority, we see a subtle form of racism, subtle because the teacher never calls the student a “wetback” or a “greaser” or a “beaner.” She does not have to, because the bigotry is no less pernicious for being subtle. By forcing her to accept the garment, the teacher is imposing an identity on her. You are not who you think you are, the teacher is saying. You are who I think you are. You are someone who wears a ratty, old sweater, someone who is not fit to wear anything finer. Happy Birthday.
In The Last Time I Saw Junior, the tough, gritty short story by Dagoberto Gilb, we see a kind of bias that is even more insidious because it comes from within. In the story, the narrator helps a buddy who is threatened by a thug. The narrator intimidates the intimidator, and his buddy marvels at his courage.
"You were great!" he tells the narrator. "You were one scary Mexican."
And he was. He was one scary Mexican. And he feels terrible about it. He feels terrible about it, because it means he has lived up to the stereotype. Or down to the stereotype. He has confirmed the image.
It is the same in the classic memoir Down These Mean Streets by Piri Thomas. The young Piri wonders why he had to be born Puerto Rican, why he had to have dark skin and “thick, spiky” hair. And he wonders why people have to stare at him, burning holes into his soul, whenever he ventures from Spanish Harlem.
"I don't care what you say, Piri," Jose, his brother, tells him. "We're Puerto Ricans, and that makes us different from black people."
"Jose, that's what the man's been telling the Negro all along, that 'cause he's white he's different from the Negro, that he's better 'n the Negro or anyone that's not white."
In Aurora, a dazzling short story collection by Rafael Castillo, the author portrays a character with so much self-loathing that he tries to pass as “white.” Demeaned by others, he now demeans himself. The short story is entitled, appropriately enough, “Guero” (light-skinned).
In all these books or stories, the marginalized seek acceptance. And yet, as Paz stated, there is no meaning; there is only search for meaning. The journey toward acceptance is so powerful – in some cases, so all-consuming – that minorities – Latinos, African Americans, Native Americans – sometimes see scorn as acceptance. For when the larger group derides you, it often provides you with cache in the smaller group.
We saw this dynamic with the “pachucos” in post-World War II Los Angeles. With their zoot suits and slicked-back hair, the pachucos invited condemnation from polite society, but the condemnation felt like praise to these young Mexican-Americans. It gave them an identity, something they could be proud of.
In the case of my father, the search for identity took a twist. Chester Seltzer was an Anglo scorned by other Anglos. He loved Mexico, and he took solace in joining another group of marginalized people, Mexicans and Mexican-Americans. They were outsiders, as he was, but by becoming “one of them,” the outsider became an insider. He wrote short stories, and when he married my mother in 1950, he adapted her maiden name as his pen name – Amado Muro.
When he changed his name, he also changed the subjects of his stories, writing about Mexicans and Mexican-Americans throughout the Southwest, including my hometown of El Paso. The stories were lyrical and passionate, and the man who wrote them, you would swear, was as Mexican as pulque or champurrado.
My beloved grandmother always said he was born an American – although she used the politically incorrect term “gringo” – but would die a Mexican. And when he did die, in 1971, his ruse died with him. Literary critics discovered he was not a Mexican at all, but an American, born and reared in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of a powerful journalist.
Whether he died an American or a Mexican, as my grandmother said he would, my father found his true identity when he changed his name to Amado Muro. Cultural appropriation? Perhaps. But I prefer to call it cultural appreciation. Chester Seltzer became who he wanted to be. He wanted to be Amado Muro.
I am sure he is out there, somewhere, celebrating Hispanic History Month with passion and enthusiasm.
~Robert L. Seltzer
Mr. Seltzer is the author of Amado Muro and Me: A Tale of Honesty and Deception. A native of El Paso, Texas, he earned a journalism degree from the University of Texas at El Paso. He has worked for newspapers such as the Houston Chronicle, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and the San Antonio Express-News. He has won state and national awards for his news, feature, and sports reporting.
Making the Most of Your Time Abroad
I’m so excited that you have chosen to study abroad! I know that you are, too.
Studying abroad is full of so many opportunities. There are all kinds of things to see and do. It’s an adventure!
Any adventure, at its core, is about going new places, meeting new people, and doing new things. And by simply going to a new place—abroad—it seems inevitable that you will get to do these things. But what I’d like to suggest is how you go about doing these things, and how you interpret what you find is where the real opportunity for adventure lies.
So, I’d like to give you some advice about how to live your study abroad adventure.
Keep an open mind. This is the single most important piece of advice I can give. As you already know, there are many new things about your new home—undoubtedly, that is why you are excited about going. But sometimes new things are also frustrating, confusing, or downright irritating. In choosing to go somewhere new, where things are not the same as home, you need to be open to embracing all differences, not just the ones that are cool, fun, or quaint. A great thought to keep in mind is, “When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable.” (Clifton Fadiman)
Be curious. When you come across those differences, seek to understand more about them. Don’t judge or stereotype, but seek to learn more. I like to say, you go abroad not just to see different things, but to see things differently. To practice doing this, check out my website, Change your LENS.
Look for opportunities to do local things. It’s fun to sightsee, but to really understand your host culture, try doing some of the things they like to do. Where do they shop, hang out, or go for fun? What sports teams do they support? Who are their favorite actors and movies? In taking part in these activities, you’ll not only learn more about their culture, you’ll also have a better chance of becoming friends. To find opportunities like this, check out local arts & culture sites, like TimeOut.com or livelikealocalguide.com.
Break out of your usual groups. It’s easy to make fast friends with the other study abroad students and to develop a close circle that you’re always with. But push yourself to meet new people. Even doing something with other study abroad students beyond your closest friends can help you learn new perspectives and see different things. Try to meet local people—through language partners, classmates, or by doing your favorite activities with locals (like sports, games, or hobbies). Be aware that there may be cultural differences in friendships. If your attempts to be friendly seem to be rejected, don’t give up. Some cultures are just slower to warm up than others.
Try new routes, and get off the beaten track. Once you find a route that is familiar, it’s easy to stick to it; it’s what helps your new home feel like home. But challenge yourself to try going a different way—walk, take a different form of transportation, or go a little bit out of your way. Go to new neighborhoods from time to time. You’ll discover new things about your city while also broadening your navigation skill set.
Stretch your boundaries. Do things that are uncomfortable. This doesn’t mean do things that are unsafe, but rather, do things that feel awkward and unusual. This may be trying new foods, talking to new people, or attending new entertainment venues. Remember, exploring is more than just physically going someplace different—it is trying new approaches to familiar things. You may have heard, Life begins at the end of your comfort zone (Neale Donald Walsch). Now is a great time to stretch your comfort zone!
Become knowledgeable about something local. Whether it’s a food, an artist, a beloved hero, or a sport, find something that piques your interest and go deeper in your learning. Ask people’s opinions. Find out where and how you can learn more. Take classes, go to activities, and visit sites that help you learn more. Watch videos and read resources that add to your knowledge.
Seek to learn, grow, and transform. Friends who’ve gone before you have probably said, I learned so much from studying abroad! It was transformational! And it’s true, it can be a transformational experience. But for that to happen, you have to be open to being transformed. You have to be willing to make mistakes and learn from them. You have to be willing to reflect on your experiences and make meaning from them. You have to consciously look at yourself and think about how to adapt, change, and grow, and seek to understand and learn from your hosts. For lots of ideas on how to do this, check out my book, Learning Through a PRISM.
As you head out on your adventure, I hope this advice will help you to make choices that broaden your horizons and transform you. In doing so, you will make study abroad the most life-changing experience possible!
Tracy Rundstrom Williams is the associate director of the Center for International Studies at TCU, where she oversees the Global Academy. Her study and teaching abroad experiences span the globe, and her research on intercultural learning, including the “Change Your LENS” process for understanding intercultural encounters, has been widely adapted.
Sports Makes You Type Faster
Somewhere along the way when I was trying to decide what to call this book I knew I couldn’t go with my working title, A Mortal Lock and the Hungarian Grip, which is a piece in here about a ballplayer with a gambling habit. It was too many words. It would break a publishing rule.
Dr. Lorraine Sherley, my creative writing professor at TCU, a sweet lady and a lot of fun for an intellectual, told those of us who aimed to pursue a career in typing for food that a title can never be more than five words. She may have based this on A Tale of Two Cities, a novel written a while back by a fellow named Dickens.
I knew she couldn’t have based it on anything Proust wrote. You only try to read Proust if somebody has a gun pointed at your head.
Then it was during my senior year that Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea came out to gushing literary acclaim, and I quickly pointed out to Lorraine that the title was six words. One too many, right?
To which she said, “But it’s Hemingway, isn’t it?”
The class laughed. I fondly think of it as the day I took one for the team.
The title I’ve selected for this work had been sitting here staring at me all along. It was looking at me with affection, like my lovable dog, as opposed to the humorless aunt on my mother’s side who was always telling me where to sit.
Sports definitely makes you type faster. Especially if it’s a night game or an event on the wrong side of your time zone, or if you work for one of these modern news organizations that demands content and product every thirty minutes—the beast needs to be fed constantly. Quality now lives somewhere near Budapest.
Sportswriting is nothing like writing a novel, where you have time to dwell, contemplate, curse, kick, and drink coffee. Or simply sit and wait for the muse.
Deadlines have been my life since my first day on the Fort Worth Press when a wise old ink-stained wretch said, “Kid, stick this in your hat and keep it there. The first obligation of a daily newspaper is to come out every day.”
This collection slowly came together over a period of time. Each piece was inspired by a real life occurrence, or a personal experience, or fascination with a historical episode. In an attempt to entertain as well as enlighten, I’ve hurled humor, satire, farce, and truth at you with intermittent showers of fact. The book deals with all the sports Americans follow. Pro football, college football, golf, basketball, baseball, tennis, prizefighting, track and field, ice hockey, soccer, winter sports, car racing, foxhunting, horse racing, even dining, which today’s trendy chefs have turned into a competition. Everything but polo. I thought of having a word about polo but I found out it was invented by Persians.
Overall it concerns itself with the games people play and watch, but it also has its way with those fans who often mistake their favorite sport for a religion.
The vast majority of these pieces are brand-new. But everything in here is new if you consider that the scant few that were previously published have been updated, overhauled, revised, rewritten, and retitled within an inch of their lives.
But only after I took each one to dinner and a movie first.
~from Sports Makes You Type Faster by legendary sportswriter Dan Jenkins
Looking for your next engrossing beach read? Try one of these critically acclaimed books!
The Girls of the Golden West, a novel by James Ward Lee
James Ward Lee “has a penchant for composing books like this one that tickle, titillate and tantalize readers. It’s his first novel, a floral potpourri of a Western flavor, a faux memoir, a romance, a thriller and a meander down literary lane.” –Dallas Morning News
Sins of the Younger Sons, a novel by Jan Reid
“Tempering harsh events, Reid also fashions scenes depicting the warmth, beauty and charm of daily life in Basque country. Sins of the Younger Sons invites the reader to dwell for a while within its unique world, to suffer and celebrate with its unforgettable characters. It’s a trip that, if taken, is well worth the effort.” –San Antonio Express-News
Many Rivers to Cross, a novel by Thomas Zigal
“Zigal’s latest novel is an absorbing, fast-paced story of a New Orleans family bent on survival and reunion in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Zigal’s talent is for blending a keen literary voice with commercial appeal.” –Kirkus Reviews
Dateline: Purgatory, a true crime investigation by Kathy Cruz
“Kathy Cruz’s book is not only a masterful piece of investigative reporting, it’s a beautifully written narrative, filled with characters that seem to come straight out of fiction. The twists and turns in this saga still remain utterly riveting.” –Skip Hollandsworth, Texas Monthly
Use code 3B at checkout and get 30% off your purchase!
Hurrying Things Up
You hear it said that baseball is lost on today’s youth. It’s too slow, too boring. Baseball is not alone in this. Music with a tune has been lost on youth for quite a while. So has dancing, which today looks more like jumping up and down. Also lost on youth are movies in which people talk to each other instead of exploding. But I’m basically here to give baseball a helping hand.
I hope these suggestions will appeal to young people:
It’s not a single unless the batter can whip the first baseman in a Taekwondo match. Brings more physical contact into the game.
Do away with one outfielder. This will increase scoring and at the same time eliminate so many easy outs.
No more relief pitchers. The pitcher who starts the game must finish the game regardless of the score, unless he is hit in the face with a line drive more than once. If he’s any kind of pitcher, he should be able to finish a game like Red Ruffing, Carl Hubbell, and Robin Roberts used to.
Three strikes are not out if: The hitter is someone you’ve heard of, a hometown favorite, or a person with a chance to win the game, provided he’s not threatening to break a record held by Joe DiMaggio.
Double plays are left to the discretion of the press box. A double play may not count if it brings an abrupt halt to a crowd-pleasing rally and is carried by a two-thirds vote of the baseball writers.
Outlaw extra-inning games. Nine innings are already three too many. In case of a tie score after nine innings, stage a footrace around the bases or a homerun derby.
No consultations on the mound. The pitcher must not be addressed by a manager, coach, catcher, or infielder during the game. It’s time-consuming, and they never discuss anything involving the game anyhow. It’s more on the order of, “How was that redhead who hit on you last night?”
“Kill the umpire!” Make this more than a threat. An umpire may be killed in whatever manner seems fit by the players or fans whenever the replay proves the umpire not only wrong but a complete imbecile.
No more batting helmets. Put fear back in the game.
No more batting gloves. If Ted Williams didn’t need them, why do you?
Outlaw the bunt. It only confuses casual fans, rarely produces a score, and most often accomplishes a needless out.
No more celebrities throwing out the first pitch. It’s embarrassing. Too often it reveals their true gender.
Stolen bases. No base can be stolen unless the bag is actually picked up and loaded into a vehicle and taken to a pawnshop and the receipt is returned to an umpire.
Change the name of the World Series. It should be known as the United States Series anyhow. Outside of Japan, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico, the world doesn’t give a hoot about it.
Do away with the first-base pickoff try. Want to talk about time-consuming? Nobody ever gets picked off. Maybe once every five or six years.
Rethink scheduling. All games in the regular season, the playoffs, and the United States Series must be completed before the first big college football weekend in September.
No more organ music. This might be the most important suggestion of all. Institute and promote Organ Night at the ballpark. Here would be an evening at which fans will be encouraged to haul organs from home, church, or a music store, stack them up in a pile in the infield, and have a gala bonfire after the game.
~from Sports Makes You Type Faster by legendary sportswriter Dan Jenkins
The Zebra Follies
Pro football’s replay official, the “electronic zebra,” who sits upstairs in the stadium and decides the fate of the world, inspires a TV series that would send a network’s ratings through the roof of a domed stadium, if not through the top of a sportscaster’s ego.
In the pilot episode, a fumble is scooped up by a defensive player who carries it into the end zone for a touchdown. Two zebras signal a score, but two others throw their flags.
The referee calls a meeting.
In real life, you can’t hear what goes on in these meetings, but that’s the charm of the TV show.
We watch the ref say to the umpire, “What have we got, Charley?”
“Touchdown, defense.”
The ref turns to Eddie, the back judge.
“No touchdown,” the back judge says. “The guy was down.”
The ref calls in the field judge. “How’d you see it, Fritz?”
“See what?”
“The play. Fumble or no fumble?”
“Frank, I don’t know. I was watching the Dallas cheerleaders. Hot.”
“We better ask upstairs,” says the ref.
Gavin, the replay official, is sipping champagne and spreading caviar on a bite of party rye when he hears, “It’s Frank on the field, Gavin.”
“I hear you,” Gavin says. “What is it this time?”
The ref says, “How do you see the play?”
“The field goal was good.”
“What field goal?”
“The one the Dolphins kicked.”
“What game are you watching, Gavin?”
“Dolphins-Broncos. What game do you think I’m watching?”
“Well,” the ref says, “we were sort of hoping it was the Cowboys-Giants.”
“All anybody has to do is tell me.”
Down on the field, the referee again addresses the back judge.
“Eddie, are you sure it wasn’t a fumble?”
“The ground can’t cause a fumble.”
“Wait a darn minute,” says the ref. “You’re telling me, a man who’s worked eight Super Bowls, that when a ball-carrier is tackled, hits the ground, and loses the football . . . that’s not a fumble?”
“Frank, the ground can’t cause a fumble.”
“Well, that’s the gallderndist thing I’ve ever heard,” the ref says. “Back when I played, the ground was the main thing that could cause a fumble.”
The head linesman asks for calm.
“Gentlemen,” he says, “we should consider what a touchdown would do at this point. It would put the Cowboys up by fourteen and a half. Is that really what we want?”
The umpire steps in again.
“Good point,” he says. “My next door neighbor has the Giants and ten. Right now, he’s ahead. He’s a great guy with a nice family. I don’t want to sway anybody, but he’s hoping to buy his wife a new Samsung fridge with an ice cube dispenser for her birthday. This game could do it for him.”
“Oh, really?” the back judge says. “Well, my next door neighbor is a great guy too. Me and him have the Under today and I’d like to sew it up.”
The referee says, “I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear any of this. . . . Gavin, is that you on the line?”
Gavin says, “Frank, I’ve looked at the replay five times.”
“Good. What do you see?”
“I can’t tell.”
“You can’t tell? Jesus, Gavin. It’s your job.”
“Don’t snap at me, Frank. I’ve looked at it from every angle. I think you can call it a fumble if you like, but I think you can get away with calling it no fumble. It’s up to you.”
“Listen to me, Gavin. You’re calling it no fumble. The ground can’t cause a fumble.”
“Since when?”
“Just do what I say, okay?”
“Hey, whatever, Frank. You da man.”
The episode ends as Gavin takes a sip of champagne and switches his TV over to the Discovery Channel to watch a tuna boat fight its way through a storm.
~from Sports Makes You Type Faster by legendary sportswriter Dan Jenkins
Boyhood Heroes
Count me among those who dabble in college football trivia, which, I’ve learned the hard way, is better than dabbling in college football parlays.
That said, it pleasures me to discuss a trivia jewel I dug up a while back, one that brought a tender smile to my face. It involves two of my boyhood heroes who constantly hurled touchdown passes of every known variety—bomb, bullet, shovel, fade—and did it for my dear old alma mater.
Dear old alma maters are particularly dear when the football team wins a bunch of games for you.
Slingin’ Sam Baugh and Davey “Slingshot” O’Brien were the guys who did it for TCU in my growing-up years.
The trivia jewel: What Sam and Davey accomplished in the seasons of 1935 and 1938 marked the first time in modern college football history that two quarterbacks followed each other back-to-back at the same university and made first-team All-America while leading their teams to national championships. A Double Double.
The feat has only happened on three other occasions since.
Doug Kenna and Arnold Tucker did it for Army with the Glenn Davis-Doc Blanchard teams of ’44,’45, and ’46. Next was Maryland in ’51 and ’53, when Bernie Faloney followed Jack Scarbath at the controls. The most recent is USC in 2002, ’03, and ’04 behind the passing arms of Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart.
Sam Baugh, the rangy six-foot-two, 180-pound “Sweetwater Six-Shooter,” did it in his junior season of ’35. He led the nation in passing and punting, and with help primarily from a multi-talented halfback, Jimmy Lawrence, Baugh guided TCU to an 11–1 regular season and a victory in the Sugar Bowl over a powerful LSU team that came into the game with a 9–1 record.
TCU’s one loss was the 20–14 heartbreaker to SMU in the Game of the Year, a battle on November 30 for the Rose Bowl bid. It brought to Fort Worth the country’s best-known sportswriters and sportscasters. College football historians still rank the game among the ten greatest of all time.
That day about forty thousand fans crammed into a TCU stadium that held only thirty thousand. Temporary bleaches were erected in both end zones, and an auxiliary press box was built on top of the east-side stands. Here were two loaded teams with 10–0 season records punching and counter-punching each other throughout the afternoon, and they were tied 14–14 with only seven minutes to play.
SMU’s winning play came on a daring fourth-down gamble. It was a forty-eight-yard pass from Bob Finley out of punt formation to Bobby Wilson, the Mustangs’ All-America scatback. Wilson streaked down the sideline to the northeast corner of the field, outleaped two Horned Frogs to make a circus catch at TCU’s four-yard line, and whirled himself across the goal.
Baugh still had time to pull it out, and came close. He passed the Frogs to within breathing distance of the SMU goal, but time ran out. Grantland Rice put it this way in the story he wrote from TCU’s jampacked main press box:
“Baugh’s passes were eating up ground as the final whistle blew and Mustang supporters were in a panic from his deathly machine-gun fire.”
The share of the national championship didn’t come to TCU until after the bowl games, which calls for a pause to explain the way of the world then.
Shocking as it may seem to the present generation, there was no Bowl Championship Series then. The AP Poll was yet a year away from starting up, and since the middle twenties fans had accepted as gospel the syndicated arithmetic wizards who decided No. 1.
At the end of the ’35 regular season, Minnesota with an 8–0 record received the Boand, Helms, and Litkenhous awards. SMU at 12-0 received the Dickinson and Houlgate awards. Princeton at 9-0 was given the Dunkel award.
But the Williamson Rankings and Maxwell Survey waited until after the bowl games to make their decisions. That’s where TCU’s win over LSU in the rain and mud of New Orleans by the baseball score of three to two, coupled with SMU’s 7-0 defeat at the hands of underdog Stanford in the Rose Bowl, gave TCU the Williamson and Maxwell crowns.
As for that Sugar Bowl, it was good of Slingin’ Sam to save one of his greatest games for LSU. All he did was:
Punt a water-logged ball fourteen times for an average of forty-eight yards, hold the ball for fullback Taldon Manton’s winning field goal, intercept three LSU passes, make two touchdown-saving tackles near his own goal, and rip off the game’s longest run of forty-four yards right at the end that was stopped near the LSU goal, after which in a display of sportsmanship he allowed time to run out instead of trying to score. And Sam played the whole sixty minutes. After the bowls, Fort Worth fans relished a headline that said: “Dallas Laughed First, Fort Worth Laughs Last!”
~from Sports Makes You Type Faster by legendary sportswriter Dan Jenkins
An Excerpt from Dan Jenkins’ New Book
History has it that the sport of soccer was invented in England in the eleventh century as a game called Kicking the Dane’s Head. The Dane has never been identified by name, nor is it known whether he donated his head to the sport before or after he was done in by a poleaxe or a crossbow.
What we do know is that soccer is responsible for more fatalities than any other sport, especially among the passionate fans in Latin America. Down there, soccer riots and the sport’s poorly constructed stadiums have knocked off more people than all those who’ve perished from terrorist activities, military coups, border skirmishes, drug wars, guerilla attacks, voodoo doctors, and suicides inspired by the musical Evita.
This is of interest when you consider that a growing number of mothers in the United States are trying to guide their sons toward soccer instead of football in the belief that soccer is a safer game to play.
Soccer is safer in America in one sense. Our fans are seldom known to kill each other at sports events. The American fan deals with a loss by punching a fist through a wall or diving headfirst into a vat of whiskey.
Mothers in the US might change their minds if they’d read the sports sections of the newspapers with more care. They might find an eye-opening story tucked away in a corner of an inside page.
The story would concern the riot at a soccer match in Montevideo that killed 118 fans and injured hundreds of others. The riot apparently started when a visitor was drawn into an argument with a fan of the home club on why bacon is added to a chivito, the national sandwich of Uruguay, when it already includes steak, ham, and cheese. Or, an eyewitness said, it could have been something less serious.
~from Sports Makes You Type Faster by legendary sportswriter Dan Jenkins
Flower and Book Pairings
It’s that time of year again: the season of flowers and chocolates, and most importantly, the season of love. Instead of gifts that can either wilt or be eaten, why not give the long-lasting gift of a book instead?
Here are six pairing recommendations courtesy of TCU Press! Instead of giving that special someone flowers that will wilt, give them one of these books they can cherish forever.
Dearest Virginia by Gayle Hunnicutt
Flower: Red Rose
Red roses symbolize passion and love, which can be found in the letters Lloyd Hunnicutt sent to his wife while deployed in the Pacific during World War II. Relaying military life while continually declaring his love for her, Lloyd had a way with words that will make your heart soar.
Crossing the Line by Linda Valdez
Flower: Jonquil
Symbolizing sympathy and affection, jonquils pair well with this book, Valdez’s real-life story about the complexity of her marriage. Valdez, a middle-class American woman, met her husband while traveling in Mexico. He was from an impoverished family, but they fell in love and married. This memoir details their navigation of immigration laws and language barriers, while their love continues to shine through.
The Girls of the Golden West by James Ward Lee
Flower: Carnation
Following a ninety-five-year-old man in the 1970s, this story reveals that no matter your age, the pangs of a crush are still palpable. The pink carnation means “I’ll never forget you,” which provides a striking comparison to the romance that spans decades in this novel.
Many Rivers to Cross by Thomas Zigal
Flower: Gerbera
Meaning “you are the sunshine of my life,” the Gerbera pairs easily with this story as Zigal tells an emotional tale of a father searching for his daughter in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. This book is laced with both familial and romantic love amidst the hurricane’s devastation.
Sins of the Younger Sons by Jan Reid
Flower: Rhododendron
Symbolizing danger, the Rhododendron is the perfect fit for Reid’s story, which follows Luke Burgoa, an agent on a mission to infiltrate a Basque separatist organization in Spain and take down its military commander. Along the way, Luke falls in love with the commander’s estranged wife, and the story follows a plot of intrigue, romantic passion, and risk.
Purple Hearts by C. W. Smith
Flower: Sweet Pea
Symbolizing bliss and departure, the sweet pea is a perfect pairing for Purple Hearts, another book set during World War II and loosely based on events that occurred in Beaumont, Texas, in July of 1943. George Karacek meets Sylvia, and the two begin a relationship before he goes off to war. An emotional tale, this book blends romance and history.
Instead of a tie, how about a book?
In the Rough: The Business Game of Golf by David Hueber
Plum Creek by W. W. McNeal
Shots of Knowledge: The Science of Whiskey by Rob Arnold and Eric Simanek
Sins of the Younger Sons by Jan Reid
Amado Muro and Me by Robert L. Seltzer
Use code 25A at checkout and get 25% off!
Why You Should Intern at TCU Press
Hello, Taylor here! My year at TCU Press is coming to a close, but before I go, I wanted to share my thoughts about why YOU should apply to be an intern at the TCU Press.
First, the people are amazing! The entire experience of interning at the press was awesome. The staff was so friendly and encouraging and very easy to work with. They produce an average of 20 books a year, which is impressive when you consider their team consists of only five people: the director, Dan Williams; the editor, Kathy Walton; the editorial assistant and office manager, Molly Spain; the production manager, Melinda Esco; and the marketing coordinator, Becca Allen. They are all so knowledgeable and were always happy to help me and listen to any new ideas I had. By the end of my year at the press, I felt I’d become a part of a new family. I will miss them so much, so consider yourself lucky if you get to work with them!
Second, there is so much to learn! During my time at the press, I learned so much about publishing. Whether at staff meetings or simply in passing conversation, there were so many opportunities for me to learn and ask about every facet of publishing. Especially at a small university press where everyone has a hand in each project, there was so much knowledge to be gained about the elements that go into making a book successful. I especially recommend this internship for anyone interested in the editing and publishing fields, but anyone planning to work in a position that involves writing could benefit from the skills developed through an internship like this one.
And third, there is simply so much opportunity to grow! If you are self-motivated and have an eye for detail, this internship can help you take your skills even further. At TCU Press, you have an opportunity to hone your editing and writing skills, and moving forward you have a solid experience through which you can show future employers the talents you have to offer. The TCU Press staff is happy to help you identify assignments to explore whatever your interests may be, and working with them is a fantastic opportunity to grow in communication and teamwork.
I'm so grateful for the experience my internship afforded me and for the skills it has allowed me to develop as I look for my next step. Know that if you decide to apply for this internship, it’s going to be hard to leave!
-Taylor Santore, intern
Judging a Book by Its Cover
So far in this series, we’ve talked a lot about the editorial aspects of the publishing field, but in this month’s installment we’ll be focusing on book design, the more artistic side of the publishing industry. While everyone has heard the adage “don’t judge a book by its cover,” publishers will readily admit that book design is an essential element of the publishing process. And it isn’t just about the cover—book design also includes the internal layout of the book including choice of fonts, margin size, and organization of any in-text images.
At TCU Press, we outsource most of the book design work that goes into our publications. There are some excellent graphic designers whom we collaborate with fairly often, including Bill Brammer with FUSION29, a local boutique design shop. He has more than twenty years of experience in book design, so I decided to ask him a few questions about the field and his career path. Without further ado, here is what he had to say!
Q: How did you get into graphic design? I’ve been an artist for as long as I can remember. I went into college with the plan to become some kind of artist and, luckily, my drawing professor told me about ‘commercial art’—an industry where I could do art and get paid. I soon realized everything around me was some form of commercial art—books, records, posters, logos, signage. I was hooked. I studied Visual Communication at the Art Institute of Dallas, Sprague Center, and the University of North Texas.
Q: Can you tell me a little bit about FUSION29, your graphic design studio? FUSION29 is a small boutique design shop. I collaborate with writers, photographers, illustrators, and videographers and work on a wide range of design work—from branding packages and websites to designing books and editing videos. FUSION29 has been in business for sixteen years. Prior to starting FUSION29, I spent a few years working at various design studios and ad agencies in Dallas where I worked on everything from Interstate Batteries to Frito-Lay, and from Gatorade to Pangburn’s. I also spent eight years working as a book designer for Harcourt Brace.
Q: Do you have a consistent process you follow for designing a book? Or does your approach change depending on the project? The process is pretty much the same for every book I design. I get a basic overview of the subject of the book. I review the table of contents, cover copy, and the any other material from the manuscript that is available. I also review the photos if any are available. With this basic info and the trim size (the final size of a book’s pages) I can usually get a rough idea in my head for basic style, tone, and feel.
Q: What skills are necessary to design a book? The technical skills you need to design a book include understanding the printing process, pagination, and the design software. But these skills don’t really make you a better book designer, they just make you a more efficient book designer. The design skills you need include understanding grids for page layout and typographical hierarchy. Book designers are typography lovers.
Q: What is the trickiest part of designing a book? I think the trickiest part of book design—which is the same for any graphic design project—is that when you start the design process, there is never one perfect solution. There are numerous right answers, but you have to trust one right answer and see it through. Don’t get hung up on the perfect solution, because there isn’t one.
Q: What is the most enjoyable part of designing a book? Bringing a book to life is exciting. Books are permanent. I always try to keep the design simple so it doesn’t look dated. For some books you can get away with a trendy look/feel, but for most I stick to the basics—classic fonts and a clean layout. The words on the page are the hero, not my design.
Q: What advice would you offer someone looking to pursue a career in book design, or graphic design in general? Most book designers will start out by being a graphic designer. Book design is a category of graphic design. My advice for someone wanting to be a book designer is to immerse yourself in books. Look at good book designs and study how the designer can send you from page to page without having to add arrows to point you in the right direction. My advice for someone interested in a career in graphic design is to start by looking at different design schools and universities that offer a graphic design major. Look at the work the students are creating and research the department staff. So much of a designer’s core knowledge will come from their school experience. Being a graphic designer is more than just making things look nice, it's a profession where you use the power of design to make people take action.
Q: Can you tell me a little bit about your collaboration with graphic design students at TCU? I have been an adjunct professor at TCU in the graphic design department. I taught Package Design and Publication Design. Teaching design students is rewarding and I think that most of the students appreciate a designer teaching their class. I am currently assisting Bill Galyean in his Visiting Designers Class. The class is for junior and senior graphic design majors, and local designers visit the class and assign the students a design project. The local designer provides them with valuable feedback on their project. I was honored when Bill Galyean asked me to take part in his class.
Q: Are you working on any other projects that you are particularly excited about? I am working on a coffee table book for POET Ethanol. POET is the largest employer in South Dakota and 2017 marks their 30th anniversary. This will be a fun project full of historical images.
To learn more about Bill Brammer’s design studio, FUSION29, click here. If you would like more information about book design, a great place to start is “The Book Designer.”
~Taylor, intern
We Love Libraries!
Going to the local library back in my hometown in California was one of my favorite childhood traditions. I got my first library card when I was in first grade and remember the sense of awe I felt during those first visits. I have so many fond memories of summers spent wandering through the quiet aisles, discovering my favorite sections and the best reading nooks. Being in the library was like visiting Narnia; I never wanted to leave. I always had so many books stuffed in my book bag by the end that my mom would have to ask me to put half of them back! But sometimes I'd get lucky and my favorite librarian would let me go a book or two over the check out limit.
~Taylor
Going to the library is a full-body workout. First of all, I always seem to get the farthest parking spot from the building. Steps. Once in the library, I always feel the need to honor the authors on the inconvenient top and bottom shelves, and so I spend a great deal of time stretched out and twisted up in challenging positions. Flexibility. Then, I never can choose a reasonable amount of books, so I end up toting about forty-eight of them back to my car. Biceps, triceps, grip, and a surprising amount of ab work. Then I read the books. Concentration, excitement, frustration, joy, empathy. Sometimes I want to crawl inside them and thank them but sometimes I want to fling them across the room. They are my personal trainers, pushing me to think and move and be a person. But they are only my personal trainers until I return them to the library, hauling all forty-eight of them from the farthest parking spot to the building. More steps.
~Hayley
Libraries are delightful places. Of course, the primary reason for that is the books: fantasy, adventure, memoir, autobiography. Countless other worlds can be explored, and all through a small plastic card. That much access to information is as good as any spell, especially considering the tangibility of books over magic. Yet books are only the tip of the iceberg. Libraries offer summer reading competitions, tax help, and community programs like the origami class I went to for a summer. Libraries also provide friends in sage librarians and refuges in quiet nooks or on worn-in couches. Belle sang about finding adventure “in the great, wide somewhere,” and libraries bring that adventure close to home.
~Kaylee
From all of us at TCU Press, happy National Library Week!