Tag Archives: 1960s

Ithaca Diaries Fall update: reviews, event, video

Glen Haven, NY, Historical Society Hosts Ithaca Diaries Discussion

Glenhaven16The Glen Haven Historical Society (GHHS) held a discussion of Anita HARRIS’ new book, Ithaca Diaries, in Homer, NY, on August 19. Organizers Marilyn REINER Levine, ’68, and Lauren REINER Jastremski, ’64, are Milne School graduates and sisters who realized that Anita, ’66, and her sister, Laura HARRIS Hirsch, ’68, also went to Milne when they (the Reiner sisters) started reading the book.

The Milne School, in Albany, New York, founded in 1845, was a campus laboratory school of what is now State University of New York at Albany until Milne closed in 1977). 

Lauren is secretary of the Glen Haven Historical Society. Diane BAKKE Tennant, ’64, vice president and trustees’ chair of the GHHS, also helped organize the event.

Joyce CAREY Methelis, ’66, attended; she reports a lively conversation that brought back vivid memories of college in the late 1960s–which is what Ithaca Diaries is about. More information and links to interviews, reviews, and video relating to the book are available at https://ithacadiaries.com.

–Anita M. Harris

“Ithaca Diaries” Cornell Memoir Now on Amazon

Book Cover-Cambridge Common Press is pleased to announce that an advance edition of Ithaca Diaries ,by Anita M. Harris, is now available for purchase in paperback and kindle formats via Amazon.com.

Ithaca Diaries, is a coming of age memoir set at Cornell University in the tumultuous 1960s. The story is told in first person from the point of view of a smart, sassy, funny, scared, sophisticated yet naïve college student who can laugh at herself while she and the world around her are having a nervous breakdown. Based on the author’s diaries and letters, interviews and other primary and secondary accounts of the time, Ithaca Diaries describes collegiate life as protests, politics, and violence increasingly engulf the student, her campus, and her nation. Her irreverent observations serve as a prism for understanding what it was like to live through those tumultuous times.

An official launch is slated for mid-January, 2015.

Millennials Support Ithaca Diaries Kickstarter

Kickstarter campaignfor Ithaca Diaries is going well–just $400 from goal, at this writing!  I want to thank my twenty-something friends for their support–

Alex Tomasi, a 2014 Boston University communications grad (and race car driver!)  has offered this beautiful, whimsical poster as a new reward.  (c. Alex Tomasi)

anita-poster-legalsmall
Copyright 2014

You can meet Alex and other 20-something supporters– Erin Euler, Eric Morris (Cornell 2012),  Grant Randall  and Ben Whiting  via their brief You Tube videos…

Any and all contributions welcome–including $1 and $5.  Every little bit helps–and also raises projects in the kickstarter rankings and attracts more views. It would also be great if you’d’ share this email and the kickstarter link on social media.

Here’s the kickstarter link:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1639099206/ithaca-diaries-coming-of-age-in-the-1960s.

It does look like we’ll reach the goal soon…which means that Ithaca  Diaries will be available for holiday gift giving. Additional $$ will allow a Kirkus review to let bookstores and libraries know it’s available–and still more will go toward an interactive Web site.

Many many thanks,
Anita M. Harris

Ithaca Diaries featured as “staff pick” on Kickstarter

Book Cover 6x9 9-13-14 - CopyI’m excited to report that shortly after Ithaca Diaries opened for business on kickstarter, I received an email saying that someone on the staff “loved” the project and had chosen it for highlighting on the kickstarter site!
I’m hoping to raise $3500 to bring the book to life.  The writing and editing are done, but it still needs an index and some publishing tweaks. I’m secretly hoping that people will contribute more money so that I can add interactivity to the Ithaca Diaries site…and you can tell YOUR story.  Any and all contributions would be appreciate. Here’s a link to the kickstarter site. Many thanks–Anita

Anita M. Harris is a communications consultant, blogger and author based in Cambridge, MA. She is managing director of the award-winning Harris Communications Group, blogs at New Cambridge Observer, and the author of Broken Patterns, Professional Women and the Quest for a New Feminine Identity.