Thank you for the article on Tony Conrad [“Out of the Studio, Into the Streets,” Fall 2016]. I had the pleasure of taking several of his classes at UB and will never forget his style of teaching. I look at media differently now because of him. 

I received my MAH in media studies in 1996 and had the privilege of getting to know Tony Conrad while working as a media tech at UB and in the classroom. He was the top of the pyramid for me.

Excellent article on “The Science of Addiction” [Fall 2016]. It is always refreshing to read about studies on addiction and to understand how to begin to help those who are addicted, especially as parents hoping to prevent our children from that fate.

Many thanks for remembering one of the most tumultuous years in the country and at UB [“The Year That Was: 1967,” Fall 2016]. Other memories of that time include Ralph Nader and Timothy Leary speaking at Norton Student Union, and hippies playing orchestral music on the architectural pipes in the Student Union.

Way to go with your story on the Hayes Hall reopening [“Back to the Future,” Fall 2016]. The building makes me proud to be a UB alumnus.

I worked one day as an extra in “Marshall” [“Marshalling Cars for ‘Marshall,’” Fall 2016]. I was on set at 8 a.m., and my scene was called at 5:30, giving me the whole day to take in the enormity of this major motion picture. As one of the production assistants told me, “This is the real thing—this is Hollywood.” I was proud to be one of the many UB alumni connected to the film.

I enjoyed the interview with Marc Leeds (PhD ’87) [“Everything is Connected,” Fall 2016]. I think I read almost all of Kurt Vonnegut’s books when I was in college, and his thoughts and style still seem new to me.

Marc Leeds is spot-on in his choice of quotes from Vonnegut and in his assessment of Kurt’s writing and attitudes, as you would expect from someone who has made such major contributions to Vonnegut scholarship.

The photo in the article “Reading the Sky” [Fall 2016] is not of a king protea, as captioned. It is probably a variety of pincushion. We have had the largest protea farm in the U.S. here on Maui for 18 years.

We were delighted to receive this photo from Dimitri Facaros (BA ’06) and Amanda Dermady (JD ’13), both captains with the JAG Corp, he with the U.S. Army, she with the Air Force. That’s our summer ’16 issue being held aloft at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan. Dermady is a native of Watertown, N.Y., where Facaros is stationed at Fort Drum, but the two hadn’t met before their forces were jointly deployed to Afghanistan.