By Kami Batchelder, Associate Director

In the fall of 2016, The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute on the Jupiter Campus submitted a proposal to Healthier Jupiter for a grant of $2500 to engage the Jupiter community in creating innovative approaches to diabetes prevention and management.

Funds available through mini-grants will allow not-for-profit and civic organizations to obtain the needed funds to pilot ideas that will improve our collective community health in one of three focus areas:

1. Increasing access to affordable healthier food choices;
2. Helping individuals become more physically active on a regular basis; or
3. Promoting awareness of diabetes risks and accessing necessary medical care.

Healthier Jupiter is a community initiative addressing health and quality of life issues starting with diabetes. We selected diabetes because promoting healthy lifestyles can lower diabetes risk and complications as well as many other chronic diseases. Healthier Jupiter is funded through a generous grant from The Palm HealthCare Foundation.

The proposal consisted of three lectures on the topic of diabetes, which will be held in the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute Complex. The first and last lectures will be presented by the diabetes department in Jupiter Medical Center.

Siobhan Gross, R.N., B.S.N., C.D.E.

The first lecture, “Becoming Healthier Together Through Diabetes Awareness, Prevention and Management,” presented by Siobhan Gross, R.N., B.S.N., C.D.E., will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 28 at 9:30 a.m. This one-time lecture will focus on becoming healthier through awareness, prevention and control of diabetes. The role of healthy lifestyles as a key to better health will be promoted. Information and support for families and caregivers will also be provided to increase their understanding of this disease and how to provide care/support for those living with diabetes.

Mark Heyman, Ph.D.

The next lecture, “Health Care or Self-Care? Using Technology to Manage Diabetes,” presented by Mark Heyman, Ph.D., will be held on Tuesday, Dec. 5 at 9:30 a.m. This one-time presentation will talk about the ways that technology is giving people the tools they need to manage diabetes in ways that doctors in offices cannot. Digital tools, with a human touch, can help provide information, tools and support to people with diabetes, wherever they are, whenever they need them, empowering people in their self-care.

Yolanda Torres, R.D., C.D.E.

The final lecture, “Nutrition For the Prevention of Prediabetes and Management of Diabetes: It is Not Just About Sugar!” presented by Yolanda Torres, R.D., C.D.E., will be held on Tuesday, December 12 at 9:30 a.m. This one-time lecture will discuss healthy eating and exercise and how these are two major components for the prevention of prediabetes and management of diabetes.

Each lecture is free and open to the public. For more information visit www.fau.edu/llsjupiter.

To register for “Becoming Healthier Together Through Diabetes Awareness, Prevention and Management,” presented by Siobhan, Gross,R.N., B.S.N., C.D.E., click here.

To register for “Health Care or Self-Care? Using Technology to Manage Diabetes,” presented by Mark Heyman, Ph.D., click here.

To register for Nutrition For the Prevention of Prediabetes and Management of Diabetes: It is Not Just About Sugar!” presented by Yolanda Torres, R.D., C.D.E, click here.

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By Sandi Page, Member, FAU LLI Jupiter Marketing Committee member

Taylor Hagood, Ph.D., was the 2013-2014 Lifelong Learning Society Distinguished Professor of Arts and Letters and is Professor of American Literature at Florida Atlantic University.  Receiving his Ph.D. in United States Literature and Culture from the University of Mississippi, where he was the Frances Bell McCool Fellow in Faulkner Studies, Professor Hagood has authored four books: “Faulkner’s Imperialism: Space, Place, and the Materiality of Myth”; “Secrecy, Magic and the One-Act Plays of Harlem Renaissance Women Writers”; “Faulkner, Writer of Disability”; and “Following Faulkner: The Critical Response to Yoknapatawpha’s Architect.” In 2009-2010, he was a Fulbright Professor in the Amerika Institut at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich, Germany, and was awarded the 2010-2011 Scholar of the Year Award at the Assistant Professor level.

Dr. Hagood, for the 2017 fall semester at Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at FAU, Jupiter, you will be presenting a one-time lecture delightfully titled “Hagood Reads the Phone Book: Key West” on December 11.  Last fall, you did “Hagood Reads the Phone Book: Ripley, Mississippi” so your Key West lecture is the second in this series.  How did you come up with the Phone Book concept and how do you structure these presentations?  Do you have any more cities in mind for future lectures? 

The idea hit me while I was lecturing back in the winter of 2017. I noticed that people seemed to enjoy the moments when I would interrupt whatever I was lecturing on and tell personal anecdotes—I fear most of those anecdotes these days have something to do with my nephew. I thought maybe it might be fun to do a one-time lecture just with those stories. I loved the idea of going through a phone book, as it were, and pointing out different names and telling the stories about them, either stories I experienced or heard about growing up. It seemed to go over well, so I got to thinking that maybe I could do the same thing again, except with other locations. I have long been fascinated with Key West, where there have been so many interesting people—some well known, some not so well known—so Key West made sense to look at next. In the winter, I plan to look at Nashville, Tennessee. So far, I am looking at cities with which I have had some kind of connection or experience. So, if people keep enjoying this kind of event, then maybe I’ll talk about Memphis, Munich, Pittsburgh, Charleston. We’ll see after that.

You will also be presenting a four-week class on two Southern writers, Eudora Welty and Flannery O’Connor, from November 13-December 4, 2017. Your lectures are always so thorough that students don’t have to read in advance the books and short stories that you discuss in order to enjoy the classes but for those who prefer to have a reading list beforehand, what works would you suggest for your course on these two writers? 

Both of these writers are at their best in the short form, in my opinion, so I recommend O’Connor’s Complete Stories, especially “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” “Revelation,” and “Good Country People” at the very least and Welty’s Collected Stories, especially “Why I Live at the P.O.” and “Petrified Man,” as well as her lovely fairy-tale like novella, The Robber Bridegroom.

In the fall catalog, you have listed some truly intriguing titles for these classes:  Flannery O’Connor’s Good Folks; Flannery O’Connor’s Not So Good Folks; Eudora Welty’s Funny Dark Stories; Eudora Welty’s Funny Dark Novels.   What genre of writing are they each best known for? 

Although O’Connor wrote a few longer works, her reputation largely rests on her world-class short stories. Welty, too, is well-known for her stories, but she wrote a number of novels, and we will look at a couple of the latter, especially the one I mentioned above, The Robber Bridegroom.

Neither Eudora nor Flannery ever married.   Given the modern times we live in, I challenge you to come up with a Match.com dating profile for each of them that might have attracted a suitable beau!!! 

Oh my . . . . this might be a challenge. I’ve never written a Match.com profile for myself! After doing a little research in order to answer the question, I’ll try the following: Flannery O’Connor—I love peacocks! If you like exotic colors, then you like me. I am more retiring than a peacock, but with my sharp wit I give you all the riveting colors and distinct outline of that bird. I’m serious about my work, and I will always keep you on your toes challenging you to think and laugh. If you like being challenged, you will love me. Eudora Welty—Genteel and quiet, I am the kind of lady who is always observing and recording my thoughts about things. I am a great conversationalist, raised on the aristocratic habits of Jackson, Mississippi. I’m looking for the intellectual type who also has a heart. Loud-mouths can pass on by; I’ll take a good gardener who loves to read.

What are the books that you have enjoyed reading the most this year?   What books are still waiting to be read? 

I have greatly enjoyed reading the work of Louis Bromfield, who wrote fiction but also impassioned nonfiction on the topic of agriculture in the United States in the mid-twentieth century. After being part of the 1920s expatriate crowd in Paris, he returned to Ohio to buy a farm in the 1930s; his friend Humphrey Bogart married Lauren Bacall at that farm. I read his book From My Experience back in the winter and am reading Malabar Farm now. I’ve also been reading the writings of Edmund Wilson, one of the great literary critics who wrote for the general reading public before literary criticism became almost exclusively academic. Other readings I’ve enjoyed were The Phantom Ship, by Frederick Marryat; Reassembling the Social, by Bruno Latour; and That Half-Barbaric Twang: The Banjo in American Popular Culture, by Karen Linn.

 You yourself are the author of four books.  What is your writing routine?  Computer? Legal pad and pen? Early morning? Late at night? Absolute silence or background music? 

I tend to do my best writing in the morning between 7 and noon. Sometimes it takes me all day to get focused and I write in the afternoon or evening. But under normal circumstances, I write in the morning. Sometimes silence is best for me, but other times I like the sound of running water. Some kinds of music help, especially Vivaldi’s Viola d’Amore concertos or many of the Bach concertos that have a mesmerizing quality. I usually write first drafts on the computer, print the draft, and then expand on it with a pen, adding in pages when needed, and then typing in all the additions and revisions. I then print that draft and revise it with a pen, repeating that process until it is finished, or at least as finished as these things ever are.

While imprisoned in the Bastille for almost a year for writing a satire about the French government, Voltaire wrote his tragedy Oedipe.  Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir spent a good part of their days writing at two of my favorite Parisian cafés, Café de Flore and Les Deux Magots.  Marcel Proust wrote and edited much of his In Search of Lost Time in bed at night and slept during the day, lining his walls with cork to keep out the Parisian street noises.  If you had a free year and an unlimited budget to write another book, where would you choose to write it?  How do you deal with distractions while writing?  

This is an interesting question. I do think there are some places that are just good to write in. Hemingway thought so, claiming he had certain places that were good for him. In a way, this is a difficult question to answer. On one hand, I like a place with minimal distraction, and I suspect that is probably the healthiest place for writing. Anytime I have moved to a new place where I know no one, I tend to get a lot more reading and writing done. At the same time, there is so much to gain from being in a place where ideas, art, writing, reading, and other nutrients are available to feed the writing effort. When I am in New York or Boston, I find myself challenged constantly, for example, and I loved living in Munich where I could go every Sunday afternoon to the art museums. So, there’s an interesting dilemma there—to find a place with little distraction but with “nutrients,” as it were. As an essentially rural creature, I am drawn to rural places or islands. There’s an island in Lake Erie I visited once called Kelley’s Island, and I always thought that would be a good place to retreat to in the summer to write. There’s a quiet little island off the coast of Italy not far from Rome named Ponza that I love very much and where I think someone could do very well writing. Also, I find appealing the idea of the Herrenchiemsee Palace of King Ludwig II, which is a replica of Versailles on an island in a lake in Bavaria. Probably, though, given the time and money you mention, I suppose I would enjoy just being in Rome itself for a year, writing in the morning and just experiencing the city in the afternoon and evening. As for where I would not want to write, I’m not sure there is such a place because the general rule is that one has to make do with one’s situation, and I have written in plenty of places that were not especially hospitable to writing.

Do you have a new book in the works? 

I am working on a couple of new projects, but I’m not sure I’m quite ready to talk about them. Do stay tuned, though.

 Many writers maintain a long correspondence with other writers.  Which writers, living or dead, would it be, or have been, an intellectual or emotional pleasure for you to correspond with? 

It is very true that correspondence with other writers can be important. I value my correspondence with the writer Robert Michael Pyle, even though we’ve not been in touch much recently. Robert Antonín has been someone I’ve enjoyed being in contact with. That said, writers can be very aloof and suspicious of other writers, and often they are so busy trying to write books, articles, etc. that they may not have much time for correspondence. I can say that the writers I often spend the most time studying are not ones I would have wanted to correspond with. I do not think I would have had much luck corresponding with Faulkner, certainly not Hemingway. It would have been nice to get a letter from Fitzgerald, on the other hand, and I have always wondered what a letter from Djuna Barnes would have been like.

Before asking you my last question, I know you join me in wishing a Happy Halloween to all our readers! You were pleased to know that this interview would be posted on the blog today as Halloween is your favorite holiday.   I pass no judgment (!) but that really cries out for an explanation!  Does this love of Halloween stem from happy (or macabre) childhood memories?!  How do you celebrate it now as an adult?  Any traditions that you would like to pass down to your beloved young nephews?

Haha, well . . . . part of my love for the holiday comes from my father. When I was seven or eight years old, he put together a haunted house, complete with a head talking on a table, a gruesome surgery room, and a grand finale in which a woman transformed into a gorilla who came tearing out of a cage. As a magician, he would get these catalogs from a company called Morris Costumes, and I was always fascinated with the costumes in it—I’ve always loved dressing up and theatrical make-up (both of my parents were involved in theater), and I would look at the photographs in it, utterly rapt. Also, my parents would decorate the house just as much for Halloween as Christmas, and I find some kind of magic in the glow of the orange lights. For a long time, my parents would actually put up a kind of Halloween tree, with orange and yellow leaves, and my sister and I would get a visit from a goblin named Harkus, who would leave us candy and/or a little gift. Halloween was redolent of Houdini (who died on Halloween) and the general imagery and trappings of magic (as I mentioned earlier, my father was, and is, a magician, among other things). I remember my father watching some of the old films such as The Haunting of Hill House and The Elephant Man and Freaks, which scared me to death as a child. I think also that I just love autumn (one of the things I miss as a resident of south Florida), with its change of temperature and leaves and fashion. As Halloween approaches, to this day, my mother might recite James Whitcomb Riley’s “Little Orphant Annie” with that line, “And the goblins will getcha if you don’t watch out,” or his poem, “When the Frost is on the Pumpkin.” Finally, I have a terrible weakness for B horror films, especially those old Hammer movies or pretty much anything with Vincent Price.  And I love Halloween parties and dressing up and being someone else for a little while. As an adult, I have a few things I do to celebrate. I usually decorate with old-fashioned decorations I’ve collected over the years. I always enjoy carving pumpkins in elaborate designs. I invariably watch the Bela Lugosi Dracula, The Haunting of Hill House, and other films. I reread Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” (one fall, I visited there!), some of Poe’s poems and stories, and maybe a story by Hawthorne or some other writer who loves to write of the gothic or macabre (Ray Bradbury being another example). And every year I attend at least one party where I dress up (last year as an automaton Giacomo Casanova). Also, last year I got to take my nephew trick-or-treating and loved it, so I’m thinking to do that more.

Taylor Haywood, Ph.D., Fall 2017 lecture and course at FAU Osher LLI, Jupiter:
Hagood Reads the Phone Book: Key West
Monday, December 11, 2017, 12-1:30 p.m.
To Register:  Click here.

Eudora and Flannery
Mondays, November 13, 20, 27, December 4, 2017, 12-1:30 p.m.
To Register:  Click here.

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By Kami Barrett-Batchelder Osher LLI Associate Director

William H. Chafe, Ph.D. will be a special guest lecturer at Osher LLI on Thursday, October 26, 2017 at 9:30 a.m. This one-time lecture will focus on how personality helped shape the politics of many of our modern presidents. Dr. Chafe will be concentrating on the presidencies of John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, dealing with issues as varied as the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam War, Watergate and the Clinton health care bill.

William H. Chafe’s professional scholarship reflects his long-term interest in issues of race and gender equality. He received his Ph.D. in 1971 and his M.A. in 1966 from Columbia University. In 1962, he received his B.A. from Harvard University. The former dean of the faculty of arts and sciences at Duke University, he is the Alice Mary Baldwin Professor Emeritus of History and a co-founder of the Duke-UNC Center for Research on Women, the Duke Center for the Study of Civil Rights and Race Relations, and the Duke Center for Documentary Studies.

A past president of the OAH and a recipient of the OAH Roy Rosenzweig Distinguished Service Award, he is the author of several books, including “Bill and Hillary: The Politics of the Personal” (2012); “Civilities and Civil Rights” (1979), which won the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award; and “Never Stop Running: Allard Lowenstein and the Struggle to Save American Liberalism” (1993), which won the Sidney Hillman Book Award. He is also a co-editor of “Remembering Jim Crow” (2001) which won the Lillian Smith Book Award.

As part of his presentation, he will discuss President Kennedy’s time in office and the Cuban Missile Crisis. Click here to watch a short video of Dr. Chafe discussing the Cuban Missile Crisis at the Massachusetts School of Law at Andover.

William H. Chafe, Ph.D.
The Modern Presidency from Kennedy to Trump: The Intersection of Politics and Personality
Thursday, October 26, 2017
Time: 9:30 – 11:00 a.m.; Book-signing: 11:00 – 11:30 a.m.
Fee: $25/member; $35/non-member
To register, click here.

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By Sandi Page, Member, FAU OSHER LLI Jupiter Marketing Committee member

Kurt F. Stone, D.D. is an ordained rabbi and college lecturer, teaching courses in political science, American history, and cinema.  Since 1995, he has also worked as a medical ethicist, first for the Cleveland Clinic Florida and now for Schulman Associates Institutional Review Board (IRB).  Schulman Associates is considered the leading independent Institutional Review Board dedicated to safeguarding the rights and welfare of clinical research participants. They have reviewed studies in pharmaceutical, bio-pharmaceutical, device, behavioral and data collection research.  Schulman Associates was even selected, in March 2016, as the national IRB for the Cancer MoonShot 2020 program.

Dr. Stone, what exactly is a medical ethicist?   How did you decide to become one?

From my perspective, a medical ethicist is one who explores, contemplates, and ultimately protects the rights of subjects in medical research protocols.  It is our task to ensure that not only are the tests, procedures, and research both medically and ethically justified, but also that subject participants are fully and freely able to give informed consent. The need for medical estheticians to oversee research protocols arose as a result of the “Doctors Trial” at Nuremberg in 1946, when an American military tribunal opened criminal proceedings against 23 leading German physicians and administrators for their willing participation in war crimes and crimes against humanity.

In Nazi Germany, German physicians planned and enacted the “Euthanasia Program,” the systematic killing of those they deemed “unworthy of life.” The victims included people with severe psychiatric, neurological, or physical disabilities. Further, during World War II, German physicians conducted pseudoscientific medical experiments utilizing thousands of concentration camp prisoners without their consent. Most died or were permanently injured as a result. Most of the victims were Jews, Poles, Russians, and also Roma (Gypsies).  Sixteen of the doctors were found guilty. Seven were sentenced to death. They were executed on June 2, 1948.

Needless to say, the world was outraged; something had to be done to ensure that such medical atrocities never occurred again. Eventually, the field of medical ethics came into being; its three core principles – respect for persons, beneficence, and justice – became codified in the “Belmont Report.”

How I “decided” to become a medical ethicist is a quaint tale.  In the late 1980s and 1990s, I spent a lot of time as a patient.  At one point, I was hospitalized for more than 3 months.  As a result, I became rather close with a handful of physicians and surgeons at the Cleveland Clinic, Florida.  One doctor, a gastroenterologist, and I became particularly close and often went to baseball games together.  At one game, he mentioned that he thought I would make a great addition to the clinic’s “Institutional Review Board,” of which he was committee chair.  He explained that my role would be to translate informed consent documents – to turn “medicalese” into readily understandable English.  He was confident that I could make a contribution.  Well, I went to the first meeting the next week, at which he announced his retirement from the board!  He was replaced by my favorite surgeon, who also happened to be a congregant.  And so, a new career was born.

What types of people are on your Review Board? Doctors, lawyers, researchers, for example?  Do you serve in your capacity as rabbi?  

By law, an IRB must consist of physicians and surgeons, bio-engineers, scientists, nurses and at least one, maybe two “community representatives.” Whenever we are called upon to deal with an area of research for which none are expert, we call upon a specialist to go over the research protocol in question. The latter are frequently culled from the worlds of law, academia, and religion.  I do not serve in my capacity as rabbi.  Rather, my fellow board members (there are 7 of us) look upon me as the group’s thesaurus; the one person who views everything through the eyes of a literate, compassionate patient. Doctors and scientists frequently speak in a language which only they understand; my job is to make it understandable.  In order to handle anywhere between 3 and 8 or 9 research protocols a week, I have to do an awful lot of studying.  As my mother would say, “My son the doctor” is a doctor in every sense of the term… it’s just that he can’t diagnose or write prescriptions.”

Do you work as a team or do you each submit your individual opinion on a proposed clinical research study?  How much of your final evaluation is subjective?  

We work as a team.  We use a program which permits all of us to see the comments, questions, redactions, or objections of our colleagues in real time.  Then, at our meetings (which are done via teleconference), we go over everything we’ve put together individually, present the primary investigator(s) with our findings and either fully approve, conditionally approve, put on hold or, in very rare instances, disallow.  Our mandate leaves little room for subjectivity…even though medicine is both an art and a science.

Medical advances would be difficult without volunteers participating in clinical research.  How do you proceed when the proposed research participants are children?  Are subjects without a capacity to consent ever used in clinical trials?

No child may participate in medical research without parental consent and patient assent.  These are embodied in separate documents.  Children aged 7-17 are given assent documents written in simple to understand English – or, if needed, in translation into their native language.  In some cases, research necessitates using subjects who are not completely compos mentis. In this instance, ethics permit the informed consent document may be signed by an “LAR,” a “legally authorized representative.”

If your IRB disapproves a proposed study, can your client submit it to a second IRB?  What are the ethical ramifications of that?

Absolutely not!  Any application to any IRB includes the question “Have you submitted this proposal to any other IRB?”  Should the research sponsor or investigator lie and check the “No” box and it were to be discovered (not such a difficult thing to do), they could be in big, big trouble – not only in the research/scientific community, but with the National Institutes of Health Office of Human Subjects Research Protections (OHSRP).

When I worked in Paris, I had several clients in the pharmaceutical research field, including a brilliant Greek researcher with whom I had lengthy discussions on the subject of ethics.  He told me that just because he could develop a certain drug didn’t mean that he should do it from an ethical viewpoint. He said that in his home country of Greece, “Ethics” was a required subject in high school on a par with History, Literature, Mathematics, and Science.   Do you think Ethics should be taught in American high schools?

If I were in charge of creating high school curricula, I would definitely make room for at least one mandatory class in Ethics.  It is both intellectually and academically justifiable.  However, politically, it would be a struggle; there are simply too many people who “know” that what they believe is ethical and moral, but that anyone who has a different point of view is both unethical and immoral. It’s in the same realm as teaching evolution versus creationism.

How has becoming a medical ethicist changed the way you think?

Having spent the past 23 years as a working member of 2 separate IRBs has greatly increased my wonderment at how brilliant some people are, and how terribly difficult and time-consuming it is to bring a new drug, a new surgical procedure, or a new diagnostic tool to fruition.  I am simply in awe of my colleagues.  At Schulman Associates, I am proud to report, the vast majority of board members are women…and quite young.  Indeed, at many meetings I am the senior citizen!

Is it possible to be ethical without being religious?

Yes indeed.  One of the most important lessons I ever learned in my rabbinic studies was this gem of ethical wisdom: “In a place where people aren’t acting like human beings, you strive to be an ethical person.”

An even more difficult question: Is it possible to be religious without being ethical?

Most regrettably, the answer, again, is yes indeed.  In science, we speak of phenotypes and genotypes: the former is the set of genes in our DNA which is responsible for a particular trait; the latter is the physical expression, or characteristics, of that trait. In simple terms, one can have deep blue eyes (that’s your phenotype – what is apparent) but still have brown-eyed children (because genotypically, you carry genes for producing brown-eyed kids).  In terms of your question, one can go to church or synagogue, pray like the dickens, and eat kosher food (that’s your phenotype – what you see), but can nonetheless lie, swear, cheat on their taxes or spouse, and be a bigot (that’s your genotype – what you truly are).

The best thing I can say about working on an Institutional Review Board is that it gives me the feeling that I’m making a difference.  And in this world of ours, it’s a truly rare feeling.

Kurt F. Stone, D.D. –  Fall 2017 film appreciation course at FAU LLI Jupiter:
Making Heroes Out of Humans…and Humans Out of Heroes
Mondays, October 16, 23, 30; November 6, 13, 20, 27; December 4, 2017, 7:00-9:00 p.m.
(Full 8 weeks or Last 4 weeks option available)
To register for the full 8 week course, click here.
To register for the last 4 weeks of the course, click here.

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By Sandi Page, Member,  Osher LLI at FAU Jupiter Marketing Committee member

Robert P. Watson, Ph.D., is Professor of American Studies at Lynn University, Senior Fellow at the Florida Joint Center for Citizenship and the political analyst for WPTV 5 (NBC).  He has published 41 books and hundreds of scholarly articles, book chapters and essays on topics in American politics and history, been interviewed by hundreds of media outlets across the U.S. and internationally and has served on the boards of numerous scholarly journals, academic associations and presidential foundations.  Professor Watson has won numerous awards, including the Distinguished Professor of the Year awards at both FAU and Lynn (three times) and the Faculty Service awards at both FAU (twice) and Lynn.  His recent book, “America’s First Crisis: The War of 1812,” received a 2015 “IPPY” Award for book of the year in U.S. history and his book, “The Nazi Titanic,” was featured at a dozen book festivals.  His book, “The Ghost Ship of Brooklyn,” has just been released and has received advance critical praise.

Dr. Watson, we are delighted that you are back at Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at FAU, Jupiter for the fall 2017 semester to give two highly anticipated lectures: “Hamilton: Man, Myth, Musical” on October 19, 2017 and “The Ghost Ship of Brooklyn,” with a book signing immediately after the lecture, on November 13, 2017. 

Our last in-depth interview with you appeared on our May 6, 2016 blog post (The Professor’s Corner: Dr. Robert P. Watson), right before you left Osher LLI Jupiter, after years of teaching here, to pursue other projects.  So many of us have felt like political orphans with your absence in a year that has been fraught with political mayhem.  We’ll be discussing that a bit later in this interview, but, for now, let’s turn to your accomplishments this past year.  First of all, the hardcover version of your book The Nazi Titanic: The Incredible Untold Story of a Doomed Ship in World War II came out at the end of April 2016 to excellent reviews. (Congratulations, also, on the paperback version which has just been released). You embarked on a promotional tour and book signings last year for this book, a rare luxury for you, as your many professional obligations had prevented your doing any extensive touring for your other books.  How did you enjoy the experience? 

 It has always been both an honor and delight to lecture at Osher LLI, and I think I have said as much just about every time I step on the stage at the Jupiter campus! I have so many friends in the audience and I enjoy speaking to such enthusiastic, inquisitive, and sharp folks. So, it was a difficult decision to step away from Osher LLI after so many years. I did so largely for two reasons, one of which was to devote more time to family matters—I never like to miss my kids’ musical performances or sporting events. The other was that I enjoy visiting historic sites, museums, and universities as a “visiting scholar” and wanted to try to be a part of some book and literary festivals. I needed to carve out the time for these passions and goals. Happily, both recent books have been a part of several festivals and I had a number of visiting scholar invites… and was able to accept most of them. It is hard to pick a favorite, but I particularly enjoyed being at the new Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia to discuss The Ghost Ship and at Hebrew Union to talk about The Nazi Titanic.

When I lived in Paris, I regularly bought bilingual professional books, necessary study tools for me to support the many and varied projects of my French clients.  At a book festival, I purchased one such book from a French business author, well known for his bilingual French/English works.  He kindly dedicated it for me.  Here is his exact quote: “To Sandi, Enjoy my book! It is English as it should be spoke.”  My jaw dropped and my heart sank as I realized I had just bought a book which could now reasonably be expected to contain many other such errors.  I looked up and saw the twinkle in his eye and we both burst out laughing.  He told me that several people had asked for their money back after reading that same dedication because they hadn’t realized that he was the ultimate jokester!
What is the most outrageous dedication you have ever written (or wished you could have written) during one of your book signings? 

 Well, the two new books are in foreign language editions, so when folks send them to me for a signature, I try to write a blurb in the language in question. I am not multi-lingual (only a basic understanding of Spanish and French), so I am sure I inadvertently ended up signing “May you Mama dog-face to the banana patch” by mistake! However, I do admit to a few naughty dedications. For instance, I signed a handful of copies of my book Affairs of State (which is about the history of mistresses and misbehavior in the White House) as follows: “I hope you enjoy the sex as much as the presidents did…”

 Your latest book, The Ghost Ship of Brooklyn: An Untold Story of the American Revolution, which you will be talking about in your November 13 lecture, was released on August 15, 2017.   It has received many glorious reviews, including those by two Pulitzer Prize winning authors, The New York Times, and even Senator John McCain (R-AZ), a former Navy pilot and Vietnam POW, who wrote, “The Ghost Ship of Brooklyn brings to life the hell on water that thousands of prisoners were forced to endure during the American Revolutionary War.  Through these untold stories, Robert Watson recounts the horrors inflicted aboard the HMS Jersey, remembers the courageous spirit of its captives, and ensures the memory of these American Patriots will never be forgotten.”
What was the catalyst for your writing this book?  Does discovering such horrors and writing about them haunt your dreams at night?  Will you be embarking on another promotional tour for The Ghost Ship of Brooklyn this fall?

 As was the case for The Nazi Titanic, it was a difficult book to research and write. What motivated me throughout the process was the notion of “lest we forget…” Twice as many Americans died on this one wretched prison ship than died in combat during the entirety of the Revolutionary War, making the struggle aboard this ghostly ship by far the bloodiest of the Revolution. Yet, the story has been lost to history. Forgotten. Any school child can tell you all about Paul Revere’s midnight ride or the Boston Tea Party, but we have forgotten the sacrifices of so many prisoners of war. This is, tragically, also the case for so many other wars.

Yes, I have a busy fall and winter. I will be speaking about the book at a number of historic and Revolutionary War sites. I think there are a few discoveries in the book that will help to change the way we think about the Revolutionary War. This is something I have discussed with some prominent historians and look forward to more of those conversations at these venues. One of my talks will be at the Brooklyn Historical Society, where a handful of artifacts from the “ghost ship” are kept! Part of the historical process involves a healthy debate among historians, researchers, and the museums that “present” history to the public. I love this facet of my job and can’t wait to hit the road!

Also, happily, The Ghost Ship has been accepted at a few literary festivals. I am particularly excited about being a part of the Miami Book Fair (it is my “hometown” festival) and the Brattleboro Literary Festival, as that part of Vermont is lovely, especially in the fall.

You recently had the honor of being asked to be the 2017 Commencement Speaker at Lynn University where you are a Professor of American Studies.  Lynn’s President Kevin M. Ross said, “Dr. Watson has made a significant impact on our students, through his teaching, scholarship and community outreach.  A prolific author and gifted storyteller, he was a natural choice for our 2017 commencement speaker.”  Dr. Ross praised you even more highly when he introduced you at the commencement ceremony but then, unexpectedly, he threw you a curveball by way of a hilarious challenge seconds before you were to start speaking.  What was that challenge and what was your reaction?

 It was, of course, a great honor to give the commencement address. It is also quite a responsibility and I didn’t want to give the “usual” address filled with empty clichés. I wanted to offer the graduates words of advice that they actually could use and would remember. I tried to do that through what is still the best pedagogical tool – storytelling; and I boiled their lessons down to one bit of advice.

We are fortunate at Lynn to have as our president not only someone who is very innovative and entrepreneurial but also who has, as I discovered, a great sense of humor. Yes, President Ross threw me a major curveball. The comedian Will Ferrell gave the commencement at USC and it was hilarious. If you have not seen it, do so… Among other things, he sang “I will always love you” in falsetto. Our students were still talking about it the day of our commencement, so the president introduced me as the speaker and then challenged me – on the spot — to sing, or better yet, rap my speech. He wanted people to be talking about our commencement rather than USC’s. Now, I have never been accused of being shy… but, for the first time in my life, my heart skipped a beat and my mouth went dry. I will talk about anything with anyone, but I didn’t want to rap in front of an auditorium full of graduates and their proud parents! But how do you back out of an invite like that? So, I rapped the opening of the musical Hamilton. I am pretty sure it will be the first (and last) time a professor rapped a commencement address!

What was the most important piece of advice that you gave the graduating class during your speech?

 Well, you’ll have to watch the speech on YouTube to find out the details (the consolation is that it will likely come in handy if you are having trouble sleeping!)…  I emphasized the need for civility. It is the one thing that can help us solve any problem facing us today. We need to respect others and carry ourselves with dignity and humility.

You also addressed what you called the “Three C’s of the Constitution.”  I found it fascinating.
Could you share with our readers what you mean by that? 

 Yes, when the Framers set about trying to forge a new type of government, they knew it would be very difficult. There were egos and passions involved, and they wanted to frame a system that checked power. The answer to both questions of how to get along and how to form our government was… the three C’s, which are cooperation, compromise, and consensus. These constitute the conceptual framework of our system of government, yet all three principles and guidelines are being ignored today. In fact, many of our leaders boast that they will “never compromise.” They shun cooperation in favor of bullying and see consensus as a sign of weakness. They couldn’t be more wrong!

 As I said at the beginning of this interview, you, and your lectures, have been sorely missed this past year at Osher LLI.  We needed to hear your take on the crazy roller coaster ride that the U.S. has been on since the tumultuous 2016 presidential campaign, the debates unlike any that have come before, and the surprising, no matter how one voted, results of the November 8^th election. We are dealing with a coarsening of political discourse and revelations each day that would sound preposterous had they been written about in any political or spy novel. Bigotry, racial divides and xenophobia have once more reared their ugly heads.  In the midst of all this, you have launched “Project Civitas.”  Could you tell us about that?

 Civitas is the Latin term for civility and citizenship. I have been shocked and deeply disturbed by what has been happening in politics… but also on television, in the entertainment industry, in business, in sports, and so on. There is a coarsening, as you correctly note, in society. Is it now alright to make fun of the disabled, scapegoat immigrants, blame the victim and excuse the perpetrator…?  Absolutely not! I created Project Civitas to promote the values of civility and citizenship on campus. I believe it is one of the most important lessons we can pass on to our students — we expose our new students and our student government to these values through workshops, host speakers to reinforce the importance of dialogue and respect, and even asked our students to take a civility pledge. Anything goes and all opinions are welcome, as long as they are civil. While violence and bullying are on the rise across the country and at college campuses, our campus is a “hate-free” zone… and the students are taking ownership of that!

What do you feel are the biggest challenges that we in America are now facing?  Is there an answer to facing these challenges or are we in uncharted territory?   Are you optimistic or pessimistic?

Well, I always point out that we survived Millard B. Fillmore and the Civil War, so we’re pretty darn resilient. That said, the sheer scope of the problems today are disconcerting and, when one considers that everything is shouted to the world through social media, the situation is unique. The two biggest concerns I have are the incivility and lack of critical thinking in society. Fear has replaced fact and paranoia has replaced civility. Millions of Americans do not believe in evolution, climate change, or vaccinating their children. We have a president who declares the real news to be fake and the fake news to be real. It is Orwellian. People are as susceptible to bold-faced lies and propaganda as we always have been, and we don’t ever seem to learn the lessons of history!

We are all looking forward to your upcoming lecture on “Hamilton: Man, Myth, Musical.” I hope we will be as lucky as your Lynn University students and that you will be rapping part of your speech!

Speaking of Founding Fathers, I have one last question for you.  Do you think Hamilton, Washington, and the others are spinning clockwise or counterclockwise in their graves?

 Well, politically speaking, Washington, Adams, and Hamilton would go to their left, while Jefferson and Madison would go to their right. Ben Franklin would figure out a way to spin both ways! One thing is sure – their leadership and wisdom are needed.

 Robert P. Watson, Ph.D., fall 2017 lectures at Osher LLI at FAU, Jupiter:
Hamilton: Man, Myth, Musical
Thursday, October 19, 2017, 7:00-8:30 p.m.
The Ghost Ship of Brooklyn
Monday, November 13, 2017, 3:00-4:30 p.m.; Book-signing: 4:30-5:30 p.m.

To register for Hamilton, click here.

To register for The Ghost Ship of Brooklyn,  click here.