From “Best Books of 2024”: “Bruce Ducker’s latest book Stemming the Flow is a sparkling collection of poems. In early reviews distinguished poets and academics have called them ‘witty,’ ‘trenchant,’ ‘touching,’ ‘funny,’ ‘piercing,’ and ‘deeply poignant.’ Best known for his prize-winning fiction, eight novels including Lead Us Not into Penn Station, and a book of stories, Bruce Ducker has more than 100 poems and stories in leading journals, including The New Republic; the Yale, Southern Sewanee, Literary, and Hudson reviews; and Poetry Magazine.” Jim Marlow and Rick Roesch grew up in Aberdeen, South Dakota, famous for the pheasant sandwiches their mothers made for soldiers on the passing troop trains in WWII. Jim’s recent murder mystery, The Death of Emile Two Arrows, captures the tense family relationships that come from living too close together in small towns. The story is based on a real murder as told to Jim by the victim’s son when he was 8 or 9. The murderer was identified by a Sioux hunter who smelled human blood. Dick Ossen is still getting settled in and hasn’t found time to visit any of the beaches yet, as he spends most every day with Pat. But Dick received a message from another Delray Beach, Florida, classmate, Bill Jerome, who left after sophomore year to study dentistry in Michigan. Bill found Dick because he reads our newsletter. They plan to meet during the summer and catch up. Bill Richmond reports from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, that he still plays golf, although not well, and has lived with second wife Jan for 30 years. Jan does a lot of amateur theater and between them they share six kids in New England and four great-grandchildren scattered across the country. Finally, from Tony Roisman’s point of view: “Dartmouth got good responses for how it handled the opposing student views on the Gaza war. What if instead of filing a trespass complaint against the two students who pitched a tent in front of Parkhurst the president or dean had brought a tent and sleeping bag and sat down to discuss the issues. That’s what Thad Seymour would have done. Sic transit gloria.”

—Sid Goldman, 78575 Avenida Ultimo, La Quinta, CA 92253; (305) 849-0475; sidgoldman@gmail.com