Talk Back: Responses to Our January|Feburary 2014 Issue
{January | February 2014}
Robots
Our cover story on robots at UT appeared to win over a few curious kids—we’re confident they’ll become Alcalde readers for life.
Gary Susswein says, “Look what my 9-year-old Liora is reading on a family trip. She was drawn in by the robot Dreamer, who she met on a field trip last year.”
Marjorie Randolph, MPA, BBA ’01, also sent in a photo of her sons Mason and Travis devouring the article in their kitchen.
The Witnesses
UT journalism professor Dennis Darling’s arresting portraits of Holocaust survivors struck an emotional chord with readers.
N. J. Gaunt, BA ’97, says, “Championships fade. Stadiums empty and crowds go home. But when we run ads saying we prepare Longhorns to change the world, forget the gridiron. Send them right here.”
Hyman Penn, BA ’76, says, “I am so proud that a UT professor is capturing evidence of this terrible time … My mother and grandmother were also survivors of Terezin.”
Sarah Escamilla, BS ’02, says, “It’s so important to share the survivors’ stories and to never forget. Yet another reason to be a proud UT alum!”
Maggie Bowles, MA ’12, says, “Dennis is the best. It was an honor to study under him.”
Operation Diplomacy
Caroline Hamilton, Life Member, praised Robert Hutchings and Jeremi Suri’s argument for more U.S. diplomatic resources around the globe. “My daughter, Adair Hamilton, BBA ’92, is a Foreign Service Officer and has served in Mali and Greece and is on her way to Mozambique,” she says. “I have visited her on each tour and have seen how diplomacy works and makes a difference.”
The Way Back: Pushball
Alicia Dietrich’s story on pushball—a long-defunct campus sport played with a 6-foot leather ball—resonated with Mark Smith, BA ’89, Life Member.
“In the spring of 1986, pushball was revived by one of the campus fraternities,” Smith recalls. “I can assure you that the description of the 1920s game in the Alcalde was exactly as I remember it in the ’80s … By the end of the day, I was covered in bruises, torn clothes, and strawberries, and I could hardly walk, but it was a complete and total blast. [The article] brought back a lot of great memories!”
