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B-Movies a Blast

It was good to read "B-Movie Mayhem" [News on Campus, summer 2006] and see that the annual B-movie festival is alive and well. The first press the B-Fest ever got was when the Associated Press wrote a feature, complete with a photo of Dennis Doubleday [GMu79] of our A&O film board looking at a reel of film. Dozens of newspapers around the country picked it up.

The B-Fest was a brilliant if cockeyed notion: People who wouldn't make the effort to see one bad movie will fill the place up if you give them a full day of laughable nonsense. (I remember my disappointment when realizing that my choice,
I Married a Monster from Outer Space, wasn't half-bad.) I did notice the festival no longer sticks to exclusively showing low-budget sci-fi and horror movies. But I guess, after that many mad scientist movies, a mutation was inevitable.

Dave Cohen (J85)
Cherry Hill, N.J.

 

Ask the Experts

I read with interest the news item "Attention Parents," a summary of Jane Rankin's Parenting Experts book [News on Campus, summer 2006]. It is true that many self-purported parenting experts' advice is based on personal opinion and not research.

However, I would like to point out that there is much research that supports the practice of attachment parenting, which Dr. William Sears and his wife, Martha, write about in their series of best-selling child-rearing books. This style of parenting encourages parents to follow their instincts and listen to their children rather than the so-called "experts" and "baby trainers." I am a volunteer for Attachment Parenting International, a nonprofit organization that promotes nurturing parenting practices with the underlying goals of preventing child abuse and societal violence.

Joan Estes DeMeyer (McC92)
O'Fallon, Mo.

 

Super Summer Issue

As a 1954 graduate, I just wanted to compliment you and your staff on the superlative summer 2006 issue.

It's a most professional journal, equal to the very best commercial magazines published today. Keep up the good work. I look forward to future issues.

By the way, I attended Northwestern when our football team didn't win a game all season. My, how times have changed.

James E. Wise Jr. (WCAS54)
Alexandria, Va.

 

Burton Had Vision

The moving portrait of Ron Burton ["The Burton Legacy," spring 2006] was a perfect description of this extraordinary man. I was at his funeral, and there were hundreds of people, most of them young, marching by the open casket in the Framingham, Mass., church. Later, I visited the family at the Ron Burton Training Village in Hubbardston, Mass., and was shown around the facility.

I have to admit that I was one of the many who tried to discourage Ron from buying the land back in the 1980s. It was a time of low expectations and poor real estate sales. Today, of course, is a different reality. But I'm glad Ron ignored our advice and went ahead, using his own money. He had a vision that the rest of us lacked, a vision to help young people. He was a great man and a great Boston alumni leader. His love and warmth is sorely missed in today's world.

Jack Nusan Porter (G69, 71)
Newton, Mass.

 

Double Duty

As a combat veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, I salute those men and women graduates of Northwestern, highlighted in "On Duty" [winter 2005], who chose to postpone a lucrative career in order to serve their country.

In tribute to them I am doubling my annual gift to Northwestern University.

Donald B. Williams (C55)
St. Paul, Minn.