April 16, 2007

BEECHER'S BOSWELL. Bravo! Hats off to Debby Applegate (Amherst class of 1989) who today won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Biography, for her study of Henry Ward Beecher (Amherst class of 1834): The Most Famous Man in America (Doubleday).

BEECHER STATUE, AT AMHERST COLLEGE

A profile of Applegate appears in the most recent issue of Amherst, the college alumni magazine, as does a profile of yours truly (in which the inimitable Frank Ward managed to fire off this shot, without totally embarrassing me...) Beecher, in fact, cuts a much more commanding figure. And has way better posture.... And dig that oxidation.

PHOTO BY FRANK WARD

TUESDAY'S CHILDREN. At a book-signing at the Jeffrey Amherst Bookshop last fall--the day I met Applegate, in fact--I encountered a woman from Long Island involved with Tuesday’s Children, who showed me snapshots of kids, all of whom had lost parents on September 11, as they benefited from interacting with other youngsters like themselves. The organization’s philosophy, in a nutshell: “Only another kid like me truly understands what I’ve gone through.”

According to its Web site, Tuesday’s Children is “a non-profit family service organization founded by family and friends of September 11th victims [that] has made a long term commitment to safeguard the health, happiness and future of both individual and family. With a focus on family resiliency and strength through community, Tuesday's Children, in partnership with recognized leaders in the fields of child development, family advocacy, and mentoring initiatives has developed an innovative platform of programs designed to address the ongoing needs of thousands of children coping with one of the worst tragedies in the history of our nation.” One can only applaud an organization like this on a day like today, when some 31 students were slain in a senseless attack at Virginia Tech.

HANDSCHUH INSPIRES US ALL. I'm reminded of the pronouncements of David Handschuh, staff photographer for the New York Daily News, who managed to escape with his life, even though he stood at the foot of the World Trade Center on September 11, shooting upwards, as the building cascaded down on top of him. Says Handschuh (pp. 353-4 of Watching the World Change),recalling his experiences covering the attacks at Colorado's Columbine High School in 1999:

"I'd seen thousands of homicides and nobody opened up. Journalists were keeping stuff in. Photographers rarely discussed feeling guilty for sticking their camera in people's faces. But with Columbine, it was like the sun and moon and stars lined up. Journalists started talking with each other about their emotions. It opened the floodgates.

"I remember seeing a photographer covering one of the [Columbine] memorials. He started crying inconsolably. He was deeply religious, had two smaller kids, and was just broken down. I said to him, 'Man, you need to get yourself together now to take pictures, but when you get home you've got to talk to someone.'"

Soon thereafter, Handschuh, by then the president of the National Press Photographers association, became instrumental in establishing stress and trauma counseling programs for colleagues, through the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma, not fully realizing how such assistance would become vital to his own career and recovery, after 9/11.

Prompted by my talks with Handschuh while researching Watching the World Change, I decided to donate a portion of the proceeds of the book to the Dart Center, which is affiliated with the University of Washington, Seattle.