UMich Retirees Podcast

"A kinder, funner usage guide to the ever-changing English language and a useful tool for both the grammar stickler and the more colloquial user of English, from linguist and veteran U-M Professor Anne Curzan." "Our use of language naturally evolves and is a living, breathing thing that reflects who we are. Says Who? offers clear, nuanced guidance that goes beyond “right” and “wrong” to empower us to make informed language choices. Never snooty or scoldy (yes, that’s a “real” word!), this book explains where the grammar rules we learned in school actually come from and reveals the forces that drive dictionary editors to label certain words as slang or unacceptable."

The Phone Booth at the Edge of the World is a poetic novel about a real telephone booth in Otsuchi, Japan, a rural town decimated by the 2011 tsunami. Known as the “Wind Phone,” the disconnected rotary telephone allows grieving family members to speak, in a way, to loved ones who have passed on.

Andrew G. Shuman, MD, FACS, HEC-C Associate Professor in the Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery Chief of the Clinical Ethics Service in the Center for the Bioethics and Social Sciences in Medicine (CBSSM) Dr. Shuman is a cancer surgeon and bioethicist at the University of Michigan and the VA Ann Arbor Health System. He is internationally recognized as a thought leader in ethical issues arising within the field of surgical oncology. His greatest impact involves applying his perspective as a practicing surgeon and clinical ethicist to bioethics research. He has a portfolio of publications in leading journals in the fields of ethics, oncology and otolaryngology including The New England Journal of Medicine and JAMA. On Wednesday, March 22, 2023, Dr. Shuman testified before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee at a hearing, titled "Drug Shortage Health and National Security Risks: Underlying Causes and Needed Reforms". During his testimony, Shuman discussed his experiences dealing with drug shortages in his work and how they affected his patients, explaining the complex decisions physicians and other medical professionals face when confronted with drug shortages.

The story follows four Europeans stranded at a Tibetan lamasery for several months after their plane is hijacked and flown into the Himalayas. With time, they learn that not everything is as it seems at this Utopian lamasery. Hilton's magnum opus was a timely novel, written in the wake of WWI and amidst the Depression. It was a much needed escape for all sorts of readers. But more than just an escape, this book is also a careful dissection of Western and Eastern cultures.

Dr. Elizabeth Birr Moje, Dean of the U-M Marsal Family School of Education, George Herbert Mead Collegiate Professor of Education, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor in the School of Education, and Faculty Associate, Institute of Social Research Faculty Affiliate in Latin/a Studies, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts Dr. Moje will discuss the challenges facing education, their implications (the. pandemic, teacher shortage, trauma, disinvestment, etc.) and how K-12 education and teacher training are evolving to transform education and society. Dr. Moje joined the U-M faculty in 1997. She has served as dean since 2016. Moje teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in secondary and adolescent literacy, cultural theory and research methods. She was awarded the Provost's Teaching Innovation Prize with colleague, Bob Bain, in 2010. A former high school history and biology teacher, Moje's research examines young people's culture, identity and literacy learning in and out of school in Detroit, Michigan. Learn more about her work and background here.

West with Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge takes you back to 1938. The Great Depression lingers. Hitler is threatening Europe and the world-weary Americans long for wonder. They find it in two giraffes, who miraculously survive a hurricane while crossing the Atlantic. Woodrow Wilson Nickel, age 105, feels his life ebbing away. But when he learns giraffes are going extinct, he finds himself recalling the unforgettable experience he cannot take to his grave. What follows is the story of a 12-day road trip he took in a custom-built truck to deliver these wonder creatures - California's firs giraffes - to the San Diego Zoo. Behind the wheel is the young Dust Bowl rowdy, Woodrow. Inspired by true events, the tale weaves real-life figures with Fictional ones, including the world's first female zoo director, a crusty old man with a past, a young female photographer with a secret and assorted reprobates as spotty as the giraffes. It's part adventure, past historical saga and part coming-of-age love story. West with Giraffes explores what it means to be changed by the grace of animals, the kindness of strangers, the passing of time and a story told before it's too late.

Dr. Earl Lewis, founding Director of the University of Michigan Center for Social Solutions and  the Thomas C. Holt Distinguished University Professor of History, Afro American and African Studies, and Public Policy. Recipient of the National Humanities Medal in 2023 awarded by President Biden. This talk centers on a handful of moments in world history that invite us to think about our own journey and our own means of combining grace and repair. In 1779, an Anglican cleric and poet named John Newton penned the lyrics to a song that has accompanied many moments of travail and trauma. The song languished in relative obscurity for several years until rescued by American Baptists and Methodists, who fueled a religious revival, called the Second Great Awakening, during the period of years from 1790 to 1820. Yet its most poignant moment may have come in 2015 when President Barack Obama offered the song as a salve to a grieving nation following the racist murders of Black parishioners attending Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston, South Carolina. What many people don't know is the song's birth sprung forth from the horrors of the transatlantic slave system. Before becoming a clergyman, Newton had been a sailor and slaver. A near death experience led him away from the sea and the slave trade. It took him several years to find the grace to repent and to seek repair by becoming an abolitionist. Learn more at Earl Lewis | U-M LSA Center for Social Solutions (umich.edu).

"Ruth Reichl, world-renowned food critic and former editor in chief of Gourmet magazine, knows a thing or two about food. In Garlic and Sapphires, Reichl reveals the comic absurdity, artifice, and excellence to be found in the sumptuously appointed stages of the epicurean world and gives us - along with some of her favorite recipes and reviews - her remarkable reflections on how one’s outer appearance can influence one’s inner character, expectations, and appetites, not to mention the quality of service one receives".

Dr. Zetian Mi's is a Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Michigan who is focused on the investigation of semiconductor nanostructures and their application in electronic, photonic, clean energy, and quantum devices and systems. A new kind of solar panel, developed at the U-M, has achieved 9% efficiency in converting water into hydrogen and oxygen—mimicking a crucial step in natural photosynthesis. Outdoors, it represents a major leap in technology, nearly 10 times more efficient than previous solar water-splitting experiments of its kind. But the biggest benefit is driving down the cost of sustainable hydrogen. Currently, humans produce hydrogen from the fossil fuel methane, using a great deal of fossil energy in the process. However, plants harvest hydrogen atoms from water using sunlight. As humanity tries to reduce its carbon emissions, hydrogen is attractive as both a standalone fuel and as a component in sustainable fuels made with recycled carbon dioxide. "In the end, we believe that artificial photosynthesis devices will be much more efficient than natural photosynthesis, which will provide a path toward carbon neutrality," said Zetian Mi. Dr. Mi will describe the innovative research in his lab and discuss overall progress towards developing clean, sustainable energy.

Beekeeping basics with novices Patty and Steve Bebee and experienced beekeepers Amy and Beau LaFleur. They provide a short overview of getting started as a hobbyist beekeeper and share our experiences getting started, hive components, life inside the colony, the different jobs of honeybees, and a year in the life of a beekeeper. Equipment, clothing, costs, time, and what about getting stung? If time permits, we can talk about honey harvesting/benefits of honey. They finish with a panel discussion on how and why we started beekeeping.

Dr. Mark Clague -- Associate Dean for Collaborations and Partnerships, Professor of Music and Director of the U-M Gershwin Initiative and Co-Editor-in-Chief MUSA -- talks about the University of Michigan Gershwin Initiative is an ongoing scholarly examination of the Gershwins' music, in which U-M scholars in collaboration with peers from across the nation and globe, document and analyze—note-by-note and word-by-word—the treasure trove of works featuring music by George Gershwin and lyrics by Ira Gershwin—including Porgy and Bess, often considered America's greatest opera—as well as the celebrated instrumental works by George Gershwin. Professor Clague will share the current findings for these analyses and discuss how the Initiative is contributing to student education and the international music community.

New York Times best-selling author Mary Roach was a hit columnist in the Reader's Digest magazine, and this book features the articles she wrote in that time. The quirky, brilliant author takes a magnifying glass to everyday life, exposing moments of hilarity in the mundane. Insightful and hilarious, Mary explores the ins and outs of the modern world: marriage, friends, family, food, technology, customer service, dental floss, and ants—she leaves no element of the American experience unchecked for its inherent paradoxes, pleasures, and foibles.

Tiya Miles is the recipient of a 2011 MacArthur Foundation "genius grant" and is a professor at the University of Michigan in the departments of American culture, Afro-American and African studies, history, women's studies, and in the Native American Studies Program. She lives in Ann Arbor. "Extracting seemingly lost lives from sparse records to recover the humanity of people regarded as property, Tiya Miles exposes the tenacity of slavery and forced labor, both black and Indian, in multiethnic and multicultural Detroit during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries."

Professor Mary Gallagher is the Amy and Alan Lowenstein Professor of Democracy, Democratization, and Human Rights, Professor of Political Science and Director of the International Institute in the College of Literature, Science and the Arts at the University of Michigan. She is also a Research Associate Professor at the Center for Political Studies for the Institute for Social Research also at U-M Mary is an expert in Chinese politics, law and society, and labor politics. A U-M faculty member since 2000, she directed U-M's Kenneth G. Lieberthal and Richard H. Rogel Center for Chinese Studies from 2008 to 2020. She also taught at the Foreign Affairs College in Beijing, was a Fulbright Research Scholar at East China University of Politics and Law in Shanghai, and, in 2012-13, was a visiting professor at the Koguan School of Law at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Professor Gallagher is the author of Authoritarian Legality in China: Law, Workers and the State, and Contagious Capitalism: Globalization and the Politics of Labor in China. She also co-edited three other books: Chinese Justice: Civil Dispute Resolution in Contemporary China; From Iron Rice Bowl to Informalization: Markets, Workers, and the State in a Changing China; and Contemporary Chinese Politics: New Sources, Methods, and Field Strategies. Additionally, she has published many articles in academic and non-academic publications, including World Politics, The Washington Post and The New York Times. Dr. Gallagher is a member of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations and has consulted for the World Bank, the U.S. State Department and Department of Labor, and many other international organizations. In 2018, Professor Gallagher received a U-M Faculty Recognition Award for her contributions to the understanding of China and autocratic regimes, her teaching, and her leadership.

The Thursday Murder Club is an intelligent mystery about a group of senior citizens who find themselves in the center of a murder investigation.

Janet Macunovich, owner, author, and landscape architect at Gardens A - Z in White Lake, Michigan, talks about the best techniques,  and timing, as well as the do's and don'ts, as you begin your fall gardening chores.  You will also learn how to protect your plantings, and at the same time create fall/winter landscapes that are visually enjoyable until new growth appears in the spring.

The End of Miracles is a twisting, haunting story about the drastic consequences of a frustrated obsession. This emotionally gripping novel is a suspenseful journey across the blurred boundaries between sanity and madness, depression and healing.

In this fascinating biography, Marshall, himself a Lakota Indian, creates a vibrant portrait of Crazy Horse, his time and his legacy.

Chris Kolb is the Vice President of Government Relations at the University of Michigan. Prior to accepting this position, Kolb served as Governor Whitmer's State Budget Director. Vice President Kolb led the Michigan Environmental Council for ten years. He is a former member of the Michigan House of Representatives serving from 2001–2006 and he served over six years on the Ann Arbor City Council, and as Mayor Pro-term from 1994 - 2000. Kolb is an alum of the University of Michigan.