Vincent Cresanti '50, M.S. '64, Some of My Favorites!! (2009)

Cresanti, who sings and plays the keyboard, has released his third album, Some of My Favorites. The album’s song list includes tracks written and performed by Cresanti.

Cresanti tours nursing homes in his area and other local functions in Amsterdam, New York.

Annette Nina Romano De Simone '64, Coffeehouse Meditations (Kitsunebooks, 2010)

Coffeehouse Meditations is Romano’s second bound poetry collection, inspired by her observations about life while sitting in coffeehouses. Using language that is both lyrical and concise, she infuses ordinary situations with wit and wisdom.

Romano, lives and writes in South Florida.

Anthony Di Renzo, Bitter Greens: Essays on Food, Politics, and Ethnicity from the Imperial Kitchen (SUNY Press, 2010)

In his newest collection of essays, Di Renzo cooks up an intimate and colorful portrait of the Italian American experience and its rich culinary culture. Part history, part memoir, part travel guide, part cookbook, Di Renzo uses food as a springboard for discussing the intersections between ethnicity, memory, and identity.

Di Renzo, a self-proclaimed fugitive from advertising, lives in Ithaca, New York, where he teaches professional writing at Ithaca College.

Richard Faria '87, The Horse with the Lavender Eye: Piano and Chamber Music (Chandos, 2009)

The Horse with the Lavender Eye features clarinetist Faria performing a kaleidoscope of creative compositions by Stephen Hartkeon with members of the Los Angeles Piano Quartet. This inventive assemblage of sounds, inspired as much by medieval court music as the blues, is lively in its rhythm and playful in its melody.

Faria is a professor of clarinet at Ithaca College.

Kim Hughes '02 (pen name Kendare Blake), Sleepwalk Society (PRA Publishing, 2009)

Sleepwalk Society, Blake’s first novel, is a coming-of-age story centered on four collegians in the summer after 9/11. It focuses less on young love and more on the pain and poetry of self-development, with an emotional edginess that has garnered it comparisons to countercultural films of the sixties like The Graduate.

Hughes lives in Cambridge, Minnesota.

Terri Levine, M.S. '79, Sell without Selling: Lessons from the Jungle for Sales Success (Morgan James Publishing, 2009)

Sell without Selling is a book for people looking to improve their selling strategies and businesses. It includes tips that can teach the reader how to sell and help the seller teach customers to buy.

Levine resides in North Wales, Pennsylvania, where she works as a business coach and speaker.

Richard Margolius '69 (performing as Ric Zweig), Running out of Time (Nice Records Hollywood, 2010)

Running out of Time is Margolius’ s third album. The CD, which stems from the rock and adult-contemporary genres, is a collection of 10 original songs performed by Margolius.

Margolius is a senior circuit judge for the Eleventh Judicial Circuit in Miami-Dade, Florida.

Tracy Mayor '83, Mommy Prayers (Hyperion, 2010)

Mommy Prayers is a witty collection of rants and ravings related to motherhood. Each one-paragraph “prayer” (or hilarious cry for help) is written in first-person from the perspective of a young mother and playfully pokes fun at the everyday frustrations and joys of raising little children.

Mayor is an editor at Brain, Child Magazine and a contributing writer for a number of other publications. She lives north of Boston.

Ian McLeod '87, Swimming Anatomy (Human Kinetics, 2010)

Swimming Anatomy gives an inside look into the muscles behind the maneuvers of swimmers. With detailed descriptions and attractive illustrations, this user-friendly guide provides all the necessary anatomical information one needs to know in order to improve performance and muscle strength while staying safe as a swimmer.

McLeod is a certified athletic trainer and massage therapist who has worked with Olympic athletes as well as with sports programs for various universities. He lives in Tempe, Arizona, with his wife and two children.

Alex Meixner '98, Seamus Kennedy: Sidekicks and Sagebrush (Gransha Records, 2009); Stay All Night (Meixer Music; Productions, 2009); Polly Maynard: All Day Fun with Miss Polly (Moonbird Records, 2009)

These three recently released albums are recordings of Meixner’s energetic polka performances. Seamus Kennedy: Sidekicks and Sage-brush is an album of old western-style tunes that Meixner worked on in collaboration with Kennedy and his producer, Brad Hayford. All Day Fun by Miss Polly features Meixner’s first appearance on a children’s album, where he plays polka with folk musician Maynard. Stay All Night is a dizzying collection of Meixner’s fast-tempo polkas, alongside waltz and ballad performances, that showcases his current band.

Meixner lives in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and performs as a solo artist with numerous touring ensembles. He also co-leads several musical groups that perform for public and private functions throughout North America.

Mark Ramsay '91, The Good Neighbors’ Store and Award (Strategic Educational Tools, 2010); The Good Neighbors’ Cheese Feast (Strategic Educational Tools, 2010)

These are the first two books in Ramsay’s new series of educational math books called The Good Neighbors Math Series.  These interactive fiction picture books use literature and oral storytelling as a way to teach math concepts to kids.

Ramsay has worked as an elementary special educator for over a decade in the Sweet Home Central School District in Amherst, New York. He founded Strategic Educational Tools in 2009, a company that specializes in the development and publication of educational materials.

Mark Ramsay '91, The Good Neighbors’ Store and Award (Strategic Educational Tools, 2010); The Good Neighbors’ Cheese Feast (Strategic Educational Tools, 2010)

These are the first two books in Ramsay’s new series of educational math books called The Good Neighbors Math Series.  These interactive fiction picture books use literature and oral storytelling as a way to teach math concepts to kids.

Ramsay has worked as an elementary special educator for over a decade in the Sweet Home Central School District in Amherst, New York. He founded Strategic Educational Tools in 2009, a company that specializes in the development and publication of educational materials.

Doug Rausch '03, Rausch (Rausch,  2009)

Rausch is Rausch’s full-length debut album. His music combines pop sensibilities with progressive rock beats. The rhythm of each song is playfully peppered with melodic guitar and keyboard sounds that have a powerful effect. Trying to stray from the three-chord go-around that characterizes most pop songs, Rausch creates what he calls “the interplay between intellectual and emotional.”

Rausch lives in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. 

Susan Royal '77, The New Lyric Flute (Centaur Records, 2008)

The New Lyric Flute features Royal’s luscious vibrato and impressive command of the flute. The recording showcases works written for the flute but includes collaborations for guitar, piano, oboe, cello, and harp.

Royal is a professor of flute and chair of woodwinds at SUNY Fredonia. She has been a concerto soloist with several renowned symphonies and regularly performs with the Buffalo Philharmonic.

Daniel Smolen, Tailoring the Green Suit: Empowering Yourself for an Executive Career in the New Green Economy (AuthorHouse, 2010)

Tailoring the Green Suit is a useful guide for entrepreneurs, executives, and environmentalists that offers concrete advice on how to develop a successful executive career and promote environmentally friendly practices. With a well-organized and user-friendly structure, it covers everything related to careers in green or sustainable industries, from job-seeking strategies to lists of actions for change.

Smolen is president of the executive search firm Dan Smolen Direct Search and founder and managing partner of The Green Suits, a green business career empowerment resource. He lives in Stafford, Virginia.

Sherry Widmer, Wild Animal Kid Songs (Sherry Widmer, 2010)

Wild Animal Kid Songs is an album of original educational children’s songs. Combining a variety of styles, including folk, jazz, calypso, and children’s rap, Widmer composed the songs for a child’s vocal range. Her lyrics are sung by children and include basic facts about wild animals.

Widmer lives in Canandaigua, New York, and owns Sherry Widmer Piano Studio.

Joe Yang '99, Those Things (BookSurge Publishing, 2009)

Yang’s first book is a collection of four short horror stories and a novella, written in first person through the eyes of a young girl. Yang intends to thrill and entertain readers with humorous characters such as a couch potato who turns to murder when his cable fails and a flirtatious young woman with a trail of dead ex-boyfriends. 

Yang lives in Madison, Wisconsin, where he teaches Argentine tango and reviews foreign films. He is working on a novel.

Joseph Zarzynski '73, Wooden Bones: The Sunken Fleet of 1758 (Pepe Productions, 2010)

Wooden Bones is a full-length documentary that weaves the history of a submerged fleet of British warships in Lake George, New York, with the contemporary investigation of these shipwrecks by Bateaux Below underwater archaeologists. The film reveals new insights into how warships were used during the French and Indian War and explores why past efforts to study these vessels have been mysteriously sabotaged.

Zarzynski lives in the Saratoga Springs, New York, area where he works as an underwater archaeologist and as executive director of Bateaux Below, a team that has studied Lake George’s sunken fleet of 1758 for the past 23 years.