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Alumni Authors


 

Charles A. Burden ’59
The Village and the Turnpike: A Whimsical Cedar Mountain Historical Adventure from Then to Now (Cedar Tracks Publishers) is a comprehensive whimsical history of a small community that lies between DuPont State Recreational Forest in North Carolina and Caesars Head in South Carolina.

 


Billy Cate ’66
The Farm – A Family’s Relationship with its Land (Congaree Land Trust) details the relationship Cate and his family have with the land that makes up their family farm, chronicling the landscape changes from the end of the Civil War to present day.

 


Liz Newall ’70
You Don’t Have to Tell Everything You Know (Dudley Court Press) centers on Isamar Woods Jones McGee, born one month after the Civil War ends, who tells her story about unsettling times, family dynamics and the human condition through journal entries.

 


Bobby Conrad ’80
John Fisher and Thomas More: Keeping Their Souls While Losing Their Heads (Tan Books) chronicles two sixteenth-century English figures who were executed by Henry VIII, incorporating elements of faith, law, politics and conscience.

 


Michael Puldy ’84
Himalaya Memories (Puldy Partners) is a hardbound, cloth-covered coffee table book containing a collection of photos taken by Puldy (a former TAPS and The Tiger editor and photographer) in 2012 and 2013, when he journeyed to Nepal and Bhutan in what became a physical and spiritual adventure.

 


Caryl Lynne Plasket Honea ’86
Mountain Mouse Makes a Difference (Balboa Press) welcomes children into the adventures of a mountain mouse and the lessons she learns along the way, including how she can make a difference and be kind. The adventures continue in I Am Counting at Cades Cove! and That’s Not a Mouse House!

 


Austin Bond ’99
Brookgreen Gardens (The University of South Carolina Press) is a coffee table book that celebrates the iconic gardens of Murrells Inlet, South Carolina, featuring contributed photography by Bond and others that showcases Brookgreen’s stunning landscapes and works of art.

 


Antwan Eady ’12
Nigel and the Moon (HarperCollins/Tegen) is a picture book following a Black boy who, with the help of his parents, celebrates his dreams of the moon and discovers his voice in front of his peers.

 


Shelley Burchfield M ’14
The Earth Remains (TouchPoint Press) follows South Carolina farmer Polly Burgiss in her struggle to protect her land and slaves while grappling with the murders of her brothers and the evils of slavery, all in the shadow of the Civil War and its ugly aftermath.

 


David Van Lear, professor emeritus of forestry
Turning Points in the Life of a Fisherman (Amazon) is a Kindle book in which Van Lear reflects on his lifelong fishing journey alongside his career in higher education, using the sport as a coping mechanism for his self-diagnosed cyclothymia, a mild version of bipolar disorder.

 

Alumni Story: Alumni Spring Break

We all know there’s something special about coming back to Clemson.

Sure, campus has changed. The Wilbur O. and Ann Powers College of Business and the new Samuel J. Cadden Chapel are breathtaking. There are new athletic fields and facilities scattered across campus (and this Columbus resident particularly relishes a few of the Ohio State tombstones in the football “graveyard”). But when you get to experience moments with old friends in a place full of memories, time stands still, and your world does a little, too.

Enter Clemson Alumni Spring Break 2022. The weekend of March 25-27 was packed with campus tours, activities, a golf outing, and a concert that featured Clemson favorites Rough Mix and Cravin’ Melon. Alumni traveled from all over to take in the sights and the sounds of their favorite town and reminisce with old friends and classmates.

On Friday night, this Tiger walked into Tiger Town Tavern and found the same large friend group sitting in the same spot where we used to meet in 1985. Memories flow easily at an event like this. And from a distance, you’d think you were watching just a bunch of college kids enjoying a night on the town. You were, but the kids were a little older, their experiences a bit greater.

For a weekend, time turned back. Dear old Clemson greeted us with open arms and made us feel like we were home. It was a fantastic stroll down memory lane and a perfect three-day opportunity to meet up with old friends and make some really great new ones. You can bet I’ll be back next year and every single year after.