In each issue, we like to highlight what some of our members are up to. Please keep us up to date with your activities. You can send information at any time to the editor: Kay Knickrehm at knickrkm@jmu.edu.
Emeritus journalism professor Mike Grundmann contributes human-interest feature stories for the Harrisonburg Citizen, a local news website. His subjects have included Rock-Steady Boxing for Parkinson's patients, the art of fire spinning, a maker of cigar-box guitars, a church in a barn, bats in the Arboretum, firefighters rescuing cats in trees, and the practice of water witching. He's always hungry for good story ideas.
John and Terry Knight moved to Richmond to be near their daughter's family and became grandparents to twin boys in May. Their daughter Jackie was able to take 14 weeks for maternity leave. They spend a lot of time at her house — mainly feeding the little guys. Their older brother, Kai, is 4 years old and is also a delight. I have attached a picture of the whole Wilt family.
Josh Bacon has recently published a book: Discipline Eats Everything. He writes, "There are only two things you can control at any given moment: what you are focused on and what you choose. Discipline Eats Everything teaches you to progressively grow your discipline to focus on what matters most to you and to make the right choice in the moment. Not the easy choice or the comfortable choice but the choice that will lead you to becoming the person you want to be. Through stories and practical challenges, you will learn to develop the tools to practice discipline with big decisions and in your everyday life and conquer anything in your path. Learn to block out distractions and be consistently disciplined by completing a 20-day discipline reset. These 20 days can change the rest of your life. Book is available on amazon for just $6"
Tom and Kay Arthur just returned to Evanston from spending the summer at Charleston Lake, Ontario. They went to Dubai last winter and got out just before the shooting started. (Whew!) Kay volunteers at a non-profit home decor resale shop where she prices artworks. She has been secretary of our condo board for three years. Tom writes a Substack blog and has been contacted about a second edition of his book on actor Melvyn Douglas. Kay is finishing an article on women's literacy in a Florentine Renaissance convent. Needless to say, the Arthurs enjoy a lot of theatre.
Lee Congdon has recently published two books:
- Warrior-Writers of World War II. New York: Routledge, 2025.
- A Cultural History of Thomas Mann and the Hungarians. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan/Springer Nature, 2025.
During a period of radiation and recovery this summer, Lennis Echterling made use of the down time by beginning work on a new edition of his book, Thriving: A Manual for Students in the Helping Professions, which will be published in the spring. His co-authors include FEA members Bill Evans and Anne Stewart, in addition to current faculty in the Counseling Program at JMU. Last year, Lennie and a former graduate student wrote a new edition of his textbook, Crisis Intervention: Building Resilience in Troubled Times, which was published in the spring of 2025.
In addition, Bill Evans, has also published a memoir. In Meaningful Moments by retired South Carolina UMC pastor William F. Evans, 40 reflections drawn from the author’s own life as pastor, chaplain, counselor, and professor guide readers through four seasons of human experience to reveal how meaning can be found not only in triumph but in the quiet ordinary moments we so often overlook.
After he retired from JMU in 2017, Tim Louwers and his wife Renata started Months to Years (MonthsToYears.org), an online literary journal exploring grief and loss (we both lost our first spouses to long-term illness in 2014).They publish creative non-fiction, poetry, original artwork, and photo essays. In celebration of the tenth year of publication, next year they will be publishing an anthology of our best published works from the past decade.
John Stone has one new book out called A Treasure Trove of Trivia [about 200 pages of FUN STUFF]. He also has a new novel coming out this spring called THE OTHER SIDE OF THE TRACKS; MORE THAN A METAPHOR. It is a socio-psychological novel about getting out of "poor" by getting an education.
Chapman Hood Frazier recently received the following awards and in addition, and completed the following publications of his poetry.
Awards from The North Carolina Poetry Society Contests, 2026:
- Easton Award for Sonnets/ Traditional Form: 2nd Place, The Moth, 2026.
- Carol Bessent Hayman Poetry of Love Award: 1st Place, Our 50th Solstice, 2026.
Poetry Publications:
- Frazier, Chapman Hood (2026) “Leaving the Garden,” Comstock Review, Vol. 40.
- Frazier, Chapman Hood (2026) “Oral Lake,” Naugatuck River Review, Sumer/Fall Issue.
- Frazier, Chapman Hood (2026) “What is a Vessel between Friends?” “Sign of the Crab in the Night Sky,” “A Recalibration of Living,” “Opacity of Water,” “In the Wide Space of a Moment.” In The Inflectionist’s Review, Issue 22. Here it is: https://www.inflectionism.com.
- Frazier, Chapman Hood (2026) “The Moth,” The Hampden Sydney Poetry Review, Issue 51.
Bob Bersson is currenlty exhibiting his artwork Flag Series: Light to Dark at the Hotel Madison through October. Below is a description of the work:
"Beginning in the mid-1990s, I have created artworks based on the American flag. As visual form and symbol, the flag became a way for me to express thoughts and feelings about our society. The first two works in the show convey feelings of ease and flow, graceful movement and serenity. The title of each work is “In the Breeze.” There is a lightness about these works that subsequently led to a spinoff series centered on the American Dream. Featuring fragments of the flag and magazine advertisements from circa 1960, the three mixed-media compositions show Americans living lives that are carefree and secure, filled with material abundance and pleasurable activity.
Moving in the direction of the elevators, the second section of the show begins with the “Vote Flag,” urgently calling on us to do our patriotic duty to maintain and further our democratic society. The next two paintings, “Divided Flag,” and “Torn Flag,” speak to the present divisions and conflicts that beset our nation. Other tensions are evoked in the “Graffiti Flag.”
Closest to the elevators, the final section starts with a drawing and mixed-media piece that center on thoughts about and sensations of imprisonment in the broadest sense. The viewer might consider this condition of imprisonment to be personal, social, or institutional—something to break out of.
In conclusion, a BIG “Thank You” to Hotel Madison and the Arts Council for supporting art, music, and cultural activity throughout the year. Hotel M is, for me, “The Times Square of the Shenandoah Valley,” a melting pot and mixed salad of people and events—a true American Dream.
Any questions or comments on the show are most welcome. Contact me at rdbersson@gmail.com/."
Marina Favila has several stories coming out this fall, one in Mythaxis, and two in anthologies: These Dreaming Hills, and a Flame Tree Press Christmas Collection mixing classic authors with contemporary ones.
Pamela Hamilton’s (Director, Adult Degree Program, School of Professional and Continuing Education) first cozy mystery was published by Woodbridge Publishing in September 2026. “Santa Got Run Over by a Reindeer” is set in a small Virginia town during the holiday season. Albie Pedersen takes on the job of amateur sleuth and wades through a parade-sized crowd of suspects to determine who really killed the town troublemaker. Pam is hard at work on the second book in the series. Her children’s picture book, “Snow Day,” was published in 2011.
