Retiree Report Comments: Creative Endeavors

Research, Papers, Editing, and Translation

• My writing of scientific articles has shifted to more popular papers in part because my neighbor has been so interested in joining me in the project. We have written papers on such topics as why blue minerals are blue, how the Vikings may have used natural crystals of calcite to navigate, how quartz crystals have been used to make high-quality monochromators, mineral inclusions in diamonds, and the nearly forgotten diamond's second cleavage and its importance in making diamond anvil cells for high-pressure research.
• I perform analysis of census data to provide insight on electoral results and analysis of baseball results to identify unheralded players.
• I do research and publication in the fields of folklore, medieval studies, Russian literature and history, literary theory, and philosophy.
• I research physics of quantum matter.
• I am still publishing research findings.
• I published papers in academic journals.
• I have written and published articles in academic and professional journals. I advised deans and program directors about academic and strategic challenges.
• I have done collaborative research resulting in a professional journal article.
• I research papers and book new editions.
• I wrote articles on water politics in Peru for publication in interdisciplinary journals. I wrote a chapter for "The Andean World" on water in the Andes.
• I have attended the Convocation of Academia Sinica every other year since 1994 when I was first elected to Academia Sinica. I am on the editorial board of the Journal of Chinese Linguistics, Zhongguo Yuwen, etc. I continue to publish in leading journals in Chinese historical linguistics.
• I have continued my academic work, which I view as creative, though it is not literature in the sense of being, for example, a poem or short story or novel.
• I have continued to write and publish in my connected fields of philosophy, law, history, and political theory.
• I am writing papers in my field—history.
• I am publishing a book about lesser known stories about Abraham Lincoln.
• I am working on a book on plants for gardeners and presenting it as talks at the Cornell Botanic Gardens. I do occasional commentaries for GMO Answers.
• I presented papers at professional conferences. I co-authored an article for an edited book.
• I have been working on multiple blogs. The Earl J. Arnold Advertising Card Collection original scrapbook is part of the Cornell University Library Collection.
• I do academic writing on Japanese Buddhist literature and translation of Japanese books and articles for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA).
• I have begun a few unfinished books and translated into Spanish an African folk tales text by A. Sakyiama.

Textbooks, Course Writing

• I write physics textbooks.
• I co-authored a SUNY online career development e-textbook.
• I am co-author of a textbook, scientific journal articles, and computer software.
• I wrote a textbook, which is published, and started a memoir, but could not find a literary agent.
• I have been slowly developing an online "book" for the course CS2110 (Object Oriented Programming and Data Structures) with over fifty videos, each two to five minutes in length.
• I am writing a blog for my MKMMA (Master Keys Master Mind Alliance) six-month personal development course. I also do oil painting, wildlife photography, and woodburning on shelf fungi of wildlife.

Local History, Family History, Memoirs

• I wrote and self-published a book in 2015 (Welcome to the Witherill) about the hotel in Plattsburgh, NY that my family owned and where I grew up. It was 200 + pages and heavily endorsed by the Clinton County Historical Association. I have gone there each year to give a presentation about the hotel. It was a landmark—hosting presidents and generals, etc.
• I am writing a CU department history and also a personal memoir.
• I am writing memoirs. I learned the Python programming language.
• I co-authored "Forever Faithful", a book celebrating the greatest moments of Cornell Hockey, published by Cornell University Press. I made various contributions to Cornell Sesquicentennial celebrations in Ithaca, New York, and Boston.
• I transcribed by father's letters home during WWII and made a book with them and photos from the family albums and his military notebooks. I've also undertaken some other projects related to family history. I have been repairing and restoring some family quilts made by my grandmother and great aunt. I created a fairly big garden.
• I have recently written a memoir book, currently in publication: "Open Doors. Memoirs of a Veterinarian Blessed Beyond Measure." I am currently working on a book on the history of our church, Bethel Grove Bible Church in Ithaca. I mill rough lumber on a sawmill, and occasionally produce finished lumber for tables, benches, shelves, etc.
• I write family histories; I do lots of photography—nature, mathematical colleagues, family, etc.
• I am writing memories of places we have lived. I designed landscaping for my property and did major and minor repairs of my home.

Fiction, Drama, Poetry

• I self-produced my play, Maize, in February-March 2018, at Risley Theatre. I belong to the Wolfs Mouth Theatre Collective as a playwright. My plays have appeared in the Spring Writes Literary Festival and will again this year (2019).
• I am a novelist and filmmaker.
• I am writing a screenplay.
• I write poetry.

Journalism, Essays

• I continue to write and publish essays. Essays of mine have recently appeared in Epoch, Kenyon Review, and Antioch Review.
• I have written a paid column for the last ten years. Many columns highlighted inspirational folks and projects affiliated with Cornell.
• I write six to eight opinion essays for the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (a Gannett paper) per year.
• I have had three articles published in a local magazine and continue writing for pleasure. I continue to enjoy arts and crafts for personal satisfaction.
• I write guest opinions and articles for "Leisure and Entertainment" for the Finger Lakes Times.
• I wrote an almanac for the Upstate Gardeners Journal twice.

Writing Across Many Genres

• I am now a published author of contemporary romance novels with The Wild Rose Press, Inc. publishing company; I engage in writing for various local newspapers on various human interest articles; I am an international traveler and travel writer; I have written various pamphlets, articles, and booklets about the History of Candor; and I assist various organizations with their press releases, etc. I have given many educational talks and workshops in regard to writing. I am a member of several national writing groups.
• I became editor of a journal published by a national educational organization; I have also researched and written individual historical nonfiction stories that have been published.
• I have been published in or submitted essays and a short story to various anthologies, including Chicken Soup for the Soul books. I have played guitar/bass guitar and sung in local bands. I have also written and recorded original songs. I directed a short documentary for Willow's Wings Animal Sanctuary, and I shot and edited a promotional film for an Adirondack community.
• I created a small children's book about ants for our granddaughter, using watercolor illustrations.

Writing (not specified)

• My writing has been published in the USA, Canada, India, Germany, Mexico, and Luxembourg.
• I've written several self-published books and have an active blog.
• I am working on a nonfiction book (I hope it will be a book).
• I'm writing a book and revising a published book.
• I published two books, in 2014 and 2018.
• I co-authored a book.
• I have a substantial backlog of unpublished writings; I am a woodworking hobbyist.
• I am blogging, writing books and articles, and doing wildlife photography.

• I've been making short videos for faculty to use as video abstracts for papers in journals and I've been posting some on YouTube. I've also been involved with the Internet First University making biographical videos of retiring faculty.
• I am doing a documentary on bird migration via Finger Lakes regions, where I document seeing millions of birds on occasions during migration. Also there are some documentaries about birds of Brazil and butterflies of Ecuador in the pipeline. I am also interested in Indian culinary art and uses of spices and their benefits. I gave a lecture in a class in Nutritional Sciences about the Indian spices. I hope to collaborate with one of the scientists on spice chemistry in the near future.
• I have served as a media producer on video projects that highlight effective career development practices for youth with disabilities.
• Some of my videos on YouTube have been popular; the video about honey bees has had over 200,000 views!

• I was an event planner for the athletic department, then for the president of Cornell University for all the events taking place in their home. People who knew me began to ask me to plan their personal events. I stopped because I was getting too busy! But I loved it.
• I joined the Tompkins County Amateur Radio Association. I earned an extra class license, helped with giving classes to would-be new radio operators, and did several events where radio communication was needed in case of an emergency.
• I provided material for a museum exhibit at the Museum of the High Desert (Bend, OR) on animal navigation. I provided original (from late 1960s) Emlen funnels showing a method of collecting data on the orientation of caged nocturnal migrating songbirds.
• Colleagues and I have continued with a very active exploratory project on re-imaging scholarly publishing. I've worked, perhaps as much as half time, for 14 years into my retirement.
• I commissioned natural resource studies of Minnegar Brook, a Class C stream in Minnegar Woods in Unique Natural Area 54, to identify hydroelectric-generation potential and to assess general wildlife health. Cornell Sustainable Energy engineering students performed site studies of Minnegar Brook for a course project, incorporating and analyzing my study data in their reports. I also experiment with a gravity-powered ram pump and fountain projects, fed by numerous waterfalls on the property, to explore and evaluate renewable energy potential and other possibilities. I construct hiking trails and resting areas to allow better access to the property.
• My volunteer work with Department of Defense is on a new facial recognition technology which removes clocking objects via spectral analysis.
• I'm working to understand, and try to solve, long-lasting problems in biophysics.
• I perform specific tests for food additives.
• I have many interests and have prepared original slide shows for the public using Powerpoint. I have also put together several displays for public educational programs. I write and revise brochures about various topics concerning funeral planning. I help collect data for and write an analysis of prices for services at funeral homes in Tompkins and surrounding counties.
• I write grants, create agendas for a church and a food cupboard, write for both, including year- end reports—narrative and statistical – and create data bases, etc.
• I post occasionally under a gender-nonspecific screen name. Recently someone commented that mine had been the best comment he'd read in 35 years on the internet. I didn't agree with him, but it was nice of him to take to time to comment.
• I don't know if you consider golf as a creative art. I have played and taken golf lessons.