Posted on May 1, 1998

A tradition returned to campus in March with the
rededication of W2UC, the College's amateur radio
station.

The station was rededicated in memory
of the late Ted Goble, professor of physics, who was
active in amateur radio most of his life and a strong
leader of W2UC. On hand was Goble's widow, Ethel, who
said “Ted would be very pleased” as she tried
out the new equipment.

The historical record of W2UC is a bit
sketchy, but there is little doubt that the static-filled
transmissions from the likes of Charles P. Steinmetz
nearly a century ago were among the first amateur radio
experiments in the country. The Union College Radio Club
was formed in 1915 (purchasing a complete Marconi
wireless set), and within a few months communications
were established with Cornell University, the University
of Pittsburgh, and the University of Michigan.

Station operation was limited during
the past decade, when equipment was housed at the
Schenectady Museum. Brian Macherone, a senior computer
systems consultant, was instrumental in bringing the
newest incarnation of W2UC back to campus and on the air
last December. Among the station's first experiments was
receiving a signal from a replica of Sputnik, which was
launched from the Mir space station in commemoration of
the satellite's fortieth anniversary.

“Amateur radio is many things to
many people,” Macherone says. “To some, it
represents public service, providing aid to disaster
victims and communications when traditional means fail
(W2UC has emergency power). To others it is an
opportunity for international cultural contacts. Others
prefer the cutting edge of technology, speaking with
space-based stations such as Mir or the shuttle
crew.”

(To the uninitiated, ham operators
bounce shortwave signals off the outer part of the
Earth's atmosphere, or off a fleet of communications
satellites. Hams transmitting with less power than a
fifteen-watt refrigerator light bulb can often
communicate with people on the other side of the world.
The revival at Union reflects a growing national
interest. The number of licensed ham operators in the
United States has grown from 497,000 in 1990 to 670,000
today, and that are an estimated 1.8 million hams active
overseas.)

The newly-restored Union station, with
$5,000 worth of new and donated equipment, is located in
Room N106 of the Science and Engineering Center.
“The station will be the voice of Union around the
globe and into space as well as a point of contact for
the many licensed amateur radio operators among
alumni,” Macherone says.

Station trustee is Robert Leiden '70. A
number of students and faculty are in various stages of
the licensing process.

More information about W2UC is
available on its Web site, http://w2uc.union.edu.

Posted on May 1, 1998

Taking as his theme “handing one
another along,” author and psychiatrist Robert Coles
thrilled a Founders Day audience with his wide-ranging
and spontaneous remarks about character.

Coles is the eminent teacher and
researcher of psychiatry whose numerous writings include
the five-volume Children of Crisis. Winner of a Pulitzer
Prize and the Medal of Freedom, he was awarded an
honorary doctor of humane letters degree by the College.
In his introduction of Coles, President Roger Hull
described him as a physician who teaches college
literature, a psychiatrist who rejects much of the
language of the field, and an academic who volunteers in
ghetto schools.

Also honored during the Founders Day
convocation were three secondary school teachers whose
work had special impact on Union students (see separate
story). It was this part of the convocation that inspired
Coles.

“I have never seen such a
ceremony, and I am glad to be here to witness what ought
to take place at all college campuses,” he said.

“I remember Walker Percy's novel,
The Moviegoer, in which, at the end, he talks about
'handing one another along.' This is what we witnessed
today.

“What we do in this world as
parents, as teachers, as human beings, in families of all
kinds — and this college is a family, too — is to hand
one another along,” he continued. “To bring
teachers back on behalf of their students is a remarkable
moment.”

Coles then told two remarkable stories
of “handing along.” Both, he said, “showed
us what it means to be free and decent and willing to
bear the burden for the larger good.” And both had
an influence on his writing style, which lets the people
he talks with tell their own stories in their own words.

One story involved a twelve-year-old
boy in Boston who was in an iron lung. When the boy said
he was worried, Coles reassured him — the
“gratuitous reassurance of the doctor,” as he
called it.

“But he said you don't know what
I'm worried about,” Coles said. “He was worried
about his brother, who would have to take his place in
the family. He was an athlete, and his brother wasn't,
and he was worried how his father would treat his
brother.

“Talk about being one's brother's
keeper.”

The second story involved Ruby Bridges,
whom Coles met when he was in New Orleans serving in the
Army. One day, Coles saw a mob in front of a school
building, with a little girl being escorted past that mob
by federal marshalls so she could get an education.

“Ruby wound up praying for that
mob,” Coles said. “She did this because she had
an education from her grandmother, who knew how to
remember what had been said in church buildings — words
to do with justice and compassion and moral indignation.

“Today, in our talk show cultural
world, Ruby would be described as being into
denial,” he said. “Well, she was into denial —
denial of malice and meanspiritedness, and into an
affirmation of the generosity of spirit.

“If it weren't for her, I would
have known so much less about human nature than what I
could have learned in schools and hospitals,” he
said.

He concluded by suggesting that the
audience “show a skepticism about knowledge and
intellectuality that is unconnected to the moral
life.”

Posted on May 1, 1998

The
Union Bookshelf regularly calls attention to books
written by alumni and other members of the Union
community. If you are an author and would like to be
featured, please send us a copy of your book or the
jacket as well as your publisher's news release. Our
address is Public Relations Office, Union College,
Schenectady, N.Y. 12308-3169.

Leo Boyd '48

The author states that
“America is symptomatic of a society that has lost a
common, coherent basis of morality. Reality Religion (A
Religion for Americans in the 21st Century) can serve as an antidote
to this condition.” In this self-published book,
Boyd offers his ideas on how the present organized church
can be changed and revived to bring Americans back into a
religious connection, preserving the sense of community
at the same time individual strengths are celebrated.
Boyd, a retired General Electric engineer, lives in
Campbell, Calif.

Harry Mazer '48

The
Dog in the Freezer is a collection of three novellas for young
readers about boys and dogs. “My Life as a Boy”
is about a dog who changes places with his master;
“Puppy Love” follows a boy named Lucas, who
finds two new interests, a girl and a dog, while spending
the summer with his uncle; and the title story folloiws a
boy in a New York City apartment who can't bear to see a
dead dog's body in the garbage and who goes through a
series of strange and scary experiences as he tries to
give it a proper burial The publisher is Simon &
Schuster.

Also for young readers is
Twelve
Shots, edited
by Mazer, a collection of twelve works of
short fiction. Described as “shocking, occasionally
funny, and often intensely sad,” the authors give us
a varied look at the effects of guns in our lives. The
publisher is Delacourt Press.

Mazer's earlier works for
young readers include Who is Eddie Leonard?, Snow Bound,
The Last Mission, The Island Keeper, and Someone's Mother
is Missing. He
also has cowritten several books with his wife, novelist
Norma Fox Mazer. The Mazers have four adult children and
live in Jamesville, N.Y.

Fred Frank '57

Iconoclastic
Departures: Mary Shelly after Frankenstein, edited in collaboration with
Syndy M. Conger, is a collection of essays honoring the
bicentennial of Mary Shelley's birth. The book is part of
the continuing scholarly reevaluation of Mary Shelly,
changing our perception of her from that of a passive
receptor of ideas from her parents, husband, and
husband's friends to that of an imensely talented,
intelligent, and nonconformist woman. The editors'
contend that Shelly's verbiage portrays a radical thinker
for her time in history.

Frank, of Meadville, Pa.,
is professor emeritus of English at Allegheny
College.Syndy Conger is professor of English at Western
Illinois University. The book is published by Fairleigh
Dickinson University Press.

Daniel Riesel '58

Daniel Riesel, a senior
partner in Sive, Paget & Riesel, P.C., in New York
City, is the author of Environmental Enforcement,
Civil and Criminal. Published by Law Journal Seminars-Press, the
book addresses the major issues involved in environmental
enforcement in a general way. The book is recommended as
a basic text for a person new to environmental law and
will be updated on a regular basis to remain current.

Riesel, who has been
involved in environmental law since 1970, has taught and
lectured widely and has been an adjunct professor at
Cardozo Law School. He is also an environmental columnist
for The National Law Journal.

Amos Badertscher '59

Amos Badertscher, a
photographer, gives us a compelling look into the world
of hustlers, drag queens, and runaways in a book
described as “the first collection of male nudes by
one of the fast-rising stars of the photography world
showcasing work that many believe to be among the finest
being done in photography today.” The sixty-four
page collection of black and white photos, titled Badertscher, will be available in April through
St. Martin's Press.

Badertscher is a resident
of Baltimore, Md. The book is the first of three
publications due out this year from him.

Posted on May 1, 1998

Day-to-day, year-to-year, Ann Nicholas Atanasio '78
is never certain where she will be.
A special agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation,
she now flies as a full-time commercial pilot after
having worked in narcotics, intelligence, terrorism, and
special operations all over the United States.

Atanasio says that her life “just
happens” without a plan, including joining the FBI
— and transferring to Union after two years at Fulton
Montgomery Community College.

“Coming to Union was one of the
smartest decisions I've ever made,” she says.
“After earning my associate's degree, I just didn't
know what I wanted to do.” A liberal arts major, she
asked a professor about opportunities after graduation.
He suggested she transfer to a four-year college and
recommended Union.

“As soon as I got to Union I fell
in love with it,” she says. The first of her family
to go to college, she says that the academic rigor and
the expectations that faculty members had for Union
students vaulted her to a higher level, where she found
new confidence and new dreams. She studied English and
classics at Union and subsequently attended law school —
once again because she wasn't sure what to do. “I
just walked in to take the LSATs with no preparation and
did very well, so law school seemed to be the logical
next choice,” she says.

After two years each at the University
of Minnesota and Delaware Law Schools, Atanasio faced
another turning point in her life as she contemplated a
career in law. Although she had been admitted to the Bars
in New York, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut, she didn't
feel ready to enter the legal profession. However, during
her last year in law school, she had clerked for the U.S.
attorney in Delaware and occasionally worked with an FBI
agent. He mentioned that the FBI hired lawyers, and she
was intrigued.

“I thought that he meant the FBI
hires lawyers to be lawyers, not special agents,”
she explains. Nonetheless, she entered the FBI Academy
and planned to spend two or three years with the Bureau
before practicing law. It's now been fourteen years, and
she still loves it. After graduating from the academy,
she worked in narcotics and general criminal matters in
Columbia, S.C., then transferred to New York City where
she was assigned to intelligence, terrorism, and special
operations. She subsequently served in the Washington,
D.C., office as a pilot, and was recently transferred to
Colorado.

Atanasio says that being an FBI agent
is interesting, challenging, and often exciting. “We
gather evidence, conduct interviews, put together cases,
and make arrests,” she says. “I've arrested
some pretty bad people, but I'm always prepared and I'm
never alone. I love my career because of the diversity
and because I know I'm doing something important.”

Atanasio will be eligible to retire in
nine years, at which time she hopes to devote herself to
her children and her writing. She takes creative writing
classes, has published short stories, and has won awards
for her writing.

Atanasio lives with her husband, two
children, and many animals on their forty acre ranch in
Colorado.

Posted on May 1, 1998

At a weak moment in 1989, Nicholas Matt '67 took a chance and “jumped off a
cliff,” as he puts it.

The chance he took was to leave his job
as president of Vicks Health Care Division of Procter and
Gamble and join his brothers and sister to buy out the
trust of the family brewery, now the Matt Brewing Co.,
Inc., producer of Saranac Beers.

Originally called the West End Brewing
Co., the brewery was established in 1888 by Nick Matt's
grandfather, F.X. Matt. Matt had worked in the brewery as
he grew up, but had not joined the family business after
graduating from Union. After spending three years in the
Navy, he went to Cornell for an M.B.A. and then joined
Vicks as a management assistant in 1973. From there, he
worked his way up to president of the health care
division.

So why take a risk and devote himself
to the struggling brewery? “I didn't want to wake up
at age sixty-two and ask, 'Is this all there is?'”
Matt says. Ready for a change and a new challenge, he
found it by returning home to the family business in
Utica, N.Y.

He discovered that the West End Brewing
Co. was in a very difficult strategic position,
struggling to compete with large national brands such as
Budweiser and Coors. “We were one of the last
surviving regional breweries,” Matt explains.
“What happened to us happened to many small
companies — we just couldn't compete with the big
guys.”

Like other small breweries, West End
was producing regular and light beers similar to those
produced by the large breweries. When Matt and his
siblings took over in 1989, they knew that they had to do
something different, but weren't sure what it was.
“I wish I could say that we had a grand plan, but
that wasn't the way it happened,” Matt says.
“We tried a lot of different things and fell into
something that worked for us.”

That something was the Saranac family
of beers — high end beers with distinctive flavors. In
1991, Saranac Adirondack Lager, then the only Saranac
beer they produced, won the Great American Beer Festival.
“That was evidence enough to convince us that the
consumer would recognize Saranac as a great product, so
we decided to focus on developing that line,” Matt
says.

At the time, Saranac constituted only
one percent of the brewery's total sales, but luckily the
decision by Matt and his partners mirrored the move of
consumers toward higher end beers. In the early 1990s,
the company's beers were distributed mostly to upstate
New York; today, they're available throughout the East
Coast. Saranac now constitutes fifty percent of the
company's sales (the other half comes from contracts with
small companies, exports, and Matt's and Utica Club, the
two original beers of the brewery that have continued to
do well regionally).

The brewery continues to introduce new
Saranac beers that have been embraced by consumers. One
of the company's most popular, Black and Tan, is much
more successful than they had expected, Matt says, and a
“Trail Mix Package” featuring a variety of
Saranac beers has also been a surprise hit. “We
introduced the Trail Mix Package because we weren't able
to get our beers distributed to bars where people usually
try new products, so we decided to distribute a mixed
product,” he says. “We had no idea it would be
so successful.”

And what is his favorite beer?

“It depends on what I'm in the
mood for,” he explains. “I just open the
fridge, which is usually stocked with all the Saranacs,
and choose what sounds good for the moment.”