Easy Money, Hard Lessons
This is the best article [“Missteps to Mayhem,” Summer 2011] I have read concerning our current financial situation and the hard choices that must be made. Human nature ignores the truth when it involves hard decisions and sacrifice, but Dr. Burry eloquently argues that we must heed the call.
James P. Schuengel, BA’80
Louisville, Ky.
Terrific article. I’ve bookmarked it under “Best Posts about the GFC [Global Financial Crisis]” and am forwarding it to everybody I think will pay attention (a short list, sad to say). Michael Burry’s sentiment—“I worry about the future of a nation that would refuse to acknowledge the true causes of the crisis”—causes me despair because it’s true. Our future is bleak unless there is some miracle. And I don’t believe in miracles.
Clark Thornton, JD’95
Old Hickory, Tenn.
I Survived Kissam Hall
I wonder how many “survivors” of the original Kissam Hall [The Campus, “College Halls Moves to Kissam,” Summer 2011] are left besides me. I lived there in the academic year 1945–46.
Donald Kraft, BA’49, MA’49
Northbrook, Ill.
Editor’s Note: Learn much more about Kissam’s history here. We invite readers to post their recollections of Kissam at the end of the article.
Our Brothers’ Keeper
Andrew, I am so touched by your words [S.P.O.V., “A Vineyard Not My Own,” Summer 2011]. Thank you for reminding us who we are, where we came from, and where we are going. What an eye-opening article. Keep on keeping on, brother.
Lea Ann Kellum
Crockett, Texas
Pathfinders in Biology
Terrific article [Collective Memory, Summer 2011], Dr. Collins—thank you! I worked in Buttrick Hall myself as a grad student in the late 1960s/early ’70s, but had no idea such seminal research in molecular biology had taken place in the building.
Peter Oates, PhD’75
Gales Ferry, Conn.
Editor’s Note: We ran an outdated and inaccurate biographical sketch of author Dr. Robert Collins in the Summer 2011 issue. Vanderbilt Magazine regrets the error and apologizes for any confusion it may have caused. To set the record straight, below we are printing the correct biography Dr. Collins had provided to us:
Dr. Robert Collins, BA’48, MD’51, has been on the Vanderbilt faculty since 1957. Teaching medical students how to solve problems was his focus for 40 years, during which time he and his wife, Elizabeth Cate Collins, BA’50, welcomed generations of students and faculty into their home. His second career, begun in 1999, currently encompasses writing, collaborative research and teaching residents microscopy. He has written four books: two in his field of hematopathology, the third a biography of Vanderbilt scientist Ernest Goodpasture, and the fourth titled Ahmic Lake Connections, The Founding Leadership of Vanderbilt University.