52 pp; softcover; self-published; 2004; $7.95 (including S&H) from the author, at 248 Seville Drive, Rochester NY 14617.

Summary
A serio-comic memoir of 1950s college life over-shadowed by the concurrent war in Korea, its threat of mass-drafting undergraduates, and the related student guilt over "rich boy" deferments. Privately published for a special Holy Cross College alumni event.

Excerpt
"Within our own little sophomoric circle, a lesser scandal cast its shadow across our campus path: (two 2) GIRLS on the grounds after hours. Unescorted girls. Uninhibited girls. Unrelated-to-us girls. Under-our-dormitory-window girls.

"That anomaly surfaced in the afterglow of the Holy Cross win over Boston College. Room-mate Al and I hadn't been able to get to that away game but wanted all the more to celebrate. With the campus virtually vacant, however, and without automobility, our happy hearts and idle minds in the early darkness of early December welcomed the audacity of those rarest of verboten visitors. How their trespass had escaped the vigilance of Old Tom the campus cop (singular) remains beyond explanation.

"To be brief about it, though, two young ladies,on a Saturday night impulse, had driven the 25 miles from State Teachers College in Fitchburg, wandered about our unfamiliar turf a while before drawn to the fluorescent light outlining our first-floor window.

"Their beguiling giggles captured our lonely and eager ears.

"Not to make too much of our chance rendezvous, I'll say only that the rest of the evening proved innocent enough--at least by today's standards--as Al and I offered them (one was Ruth; I've forgotten the other's name) a nocturnal tour of the grounds. The adventure of it all led, predictably, to holding hands, pairing off, and some furtive smooching, concluded by honoring the co-eds' discretion and escorting them back to their 1948 Studebaker awaiting them under the lonely lamp at the Linden Lane gate.

"Using a euphemism of that era that's still applied in this: Nothing happened."

Reviews

• "A great pleasure to read." (a non-alum professor of Business Law)
• "The reading was quick and, as usual, nicely done." (younger graduate of another Jesuit college)
• "What a great tribute to your alma mater!" (a professor emeritus of a major university)
• "It brought back many happy memories." (widow of author's classmate)
• "Like a weekend reunion in print!" (classmate)
• "I read it last night and appreciated it for the substance and the humor." (Jesuit historian)

A MARINE CORPS BOOT IN COLD-WAR PARRIS ISLAND

(Written under the name of Chris Madeira, Jr.): 244 pp; softcover; Infinity Publishing, Pennsylvania: 2003; $16.95 + $4.50 S&H from Buy Books on the Web.

Summary
Along with the routine rigors of look-the-other-way training during the Korean Crisis of the 1950s, college-boy Chris must confront the hometown grudges of his Commanding Officer. Letters from dream girl "Irish" provide some relief from the perils of that Carolina hell-hole but not from the midnight calamity created by an out-of-control Drill Instructor.

This biographically based novel is believed to be the only work of fiction dealing with that era's notorious USMC boot camp.

Comments

• "I confess I started reading it out of a sense of duty to a friend, BUT [his caps] I continued to read it out of genuine interest and pleasure." (Schoolmate and New York City prep-school teacher of Literature)
• "Your book blew us away." (School director and spouse)
• "The gritty realism of Marine Corps boot camp language" (enlisted-man contemporary of the author)
• "What a love story, too!" (former business publisher)
• "A neat blending of Vonnegut, Heller, and e.e. cummings." (Professor Emeritus, poet, and former university English Department Head)
• "Are you writing a sequel? I sure hope so!" (retired community college English professor)

Review
(December 11, 2003 on Amazon by Bill Stark of Spartanburg, South Carolina)

"As famous ex-Marine Art Buchwald stated: 'You cannot make up anything anymore. The world itself is a satire. All you are doing is recording it.' Indeed, Parris Island was (is?) a hell-hole, and author Chris Madeira, Jr., records that fact. Other books by authors like Zell Miller focus on how marines gain human values at boot camp, but Madeira records the reality of the follies that have occurred there. I think this is a 'must read' for any leatherneck, parents whose children are contemplating a tour of duty in the Corps, and for the rest of us to develop an understanding of what being a U.S. Marine really means."

Excerpt
Chris Writes His Virgin (To Him) Pen Pal

17 June 1954

Dear Irish,

No, sorry, no war stories for you this time. Not much fun stuff either, unless you count going to chapel. Never thought I'd consider that one a breather, but compared to our workaday workout, church time is a break; even non-Catholics go to Mass on Sunday! One of them is Leon who claims to be a communist and--naturally-- an atheist. He was brought up a Lutheran but says whatever church he's in, he can doze off in one just as easily as the other.

He said that back in 1950 when we were losing bad in Korea, a Pittsburgh boy named Dominic joined up. He was only 17 but real gung ho and mainly wanted to avoid the draft, put in his two years, then go into the seminary and become a priest. His record here at PI was tops and because he was so sharp and squared away, they gave him a plum for a duty station--the US embassy in Cairo.

On his own time over there, Dominic studied the Bible, took up color photography, and worked out with weights. He mixed well with his brother Marines, too. Maybe too well, because when they found out he was a virgin (pardon my language), they decided to do him a "favor" for his 18th birthday.

What happened was, after a rainy 12-hour watch one night, Dom dragged himself into the locker room to change into a dry outfit. Once inside, he was greeted by two surprises. One was the slamming of the door's outside bolt; the other jolt was Bassana, an older and--using Father's words--very inviting brunette. Dominic's buddies had hired her to be his birthday present.

The upshot of that practical joke? Dominic lost his chastity and his vocation. But that wasn't all. A few months later, on another rainy midnight in Cairo, Dominic, who never used to drink, was speeding along on the highway with a belly full of beer and skid-crashed his illegally borrowed Jeep into a bridge abutment at 70 mph.

On the double-death seat next to him lay--guess who?--Bassana, half naked.

Hope this story isn't too raunchy for you, Irish, but since it came from church, it's kind of pre-censored, n'est-ce pas?

Anyways, good luck with your job hunt and say hello to your roomie Gloria. Lights out now, so got to close. Write soon!

Warmest regards
and Semper Fi,

Chris

ESL LITE: ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE FOR TEACHERS OF OTHER STUFF

35 pp; 8.5 x 11 inches; softcover; non-exclusive publication rights granted to ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center), Springfield VA; 2002; $15.20 (no S&H).

SUMMARY
An educator-friendly insight into the challenges facing New Americans in their struggle to master the difficult language of English and the intricacies of the American way of life.

FOREWORD
"Teachers of English as a Second Language talk too much. To themselves. And I'm as guilty as any of them--maybe more. But now that ESL is here to stay, I submit this manual for mainstream teachers and their administrators as a means of de-mystifying this still-new field of instruction.

"Toward achieving that objective, this material provides educators with information and techniques they can start using "Monday" -- filling out their bag of tricks needed in helping our newest citizens make sense of a most difficult language and an unfamiliar culture.

"This body of professional insights surfaces from the source I know best: my own experiences as a kindergarten-to-adult practitioner, none of which would have any validity except for the approval of my classroom colleagues and acceptance by our in-common uncommon department heads and principals. Along the collegial path of teacher-to-teacher sharing, they have kept me from getting completely turned around and lost. To those (it.) simpaticas and (it.) simpaticos, I dedicate ESL LITE, hoping that its sign-posts will guide other searchers in finding their own way, too."

Excerpt
CHAPTER ONE

You're nine years old. It's June and you've just finished fourth grade, feeling great about passing with flying colors. Besides, you've finally made friends with most of the kids in the class you joined in mid-year, and now you're looking forward to a summer of fun before returning as a fifth-grader in September.

Then--bummer--everything changes. You have to move. Dad is getting transferred and we have to move. Again. This time it's to some old place called Vuladivoo-something-or-other.

"Vuladivoosok?" you practically scream at your mother when she breaks the news. "Where on Mars is--how do you say it--Viladivok?"

"That's Vladivostok, dear: Vla-di-vo-stok. It's in Russia, darling; we're friends with them now, you know, and Vladivostok is in the eastern part. So far east it's closer to Tokyo than to Moscow."

Is that supposed to cheer me up? you wonder. To your young and uncomplicated mind, the more you hear, the worse it all sounds.

"Your father," continues Mom, "got himself a promotion, and the company is sending him to open up a branch office there. Isn't that exciting?"

Who's she trying to kid, you scoff inwardly: me or herself?

"He'll make lots more money, sweetie, and won't it be fun to see that part of the world? Besides, it's only till he gets things set up; probably only two or three years is all."

Only two or three years! Gads, you think with a groan, might as well be forever and a day.

Flash-forward now, skipping the hurdles and the hassles of selling the house, the car, and the van. Storing the furniture. Holding a garage sale for things the family can't bring along. Packing and labeling boxes for the new and much smaller apartment. Switching credit-card companies. Transferring bank accounts. Getting tax questions cleared up. Writing and mailing 100 change-of-address cards. The countless other nitty-gritty things that come with inter-continental relocation.

But that kind of stuff is only for grown-ups. Yours is worse. You have to go through the pain of goodbyes. Goodbye to your best friend Fiona. Goodbye to your other buddies. Goodbye to your cousins. Hardest of all, the heartbreak of finding a new home for Two Face, your tabby animal companion for as long as you can remember.

Then, after all that rigmarole, there's the jet lag of trans-Pacific airplanes and the confusion of airports, the scary bullet train from Kobe, waiting for inter-city busses, and the sea-sickening choppy ocean ferry from Hokkaido across the Sea of Japan to . . .

"Here we are, everybody," father announces, forcing a smile that no one but mother manages to return. "Our new home--Vladivostok, Russia!"

Ugh.

Then comes an instant bummer: nobody here speaks English. Not a single person, not a single word! And making matters worse, you're just as ignorant of Russian. Seeing your given names in Cyrillic letters, you can't even tell whether they're in the proper order. Your address? Forget it! At least your apartment number, 424, is regular "American," but the street sign on the corner? that's a total mystery to you.

More great news. Your school (with an unreadable and unpronounceable name) sets you back to third grade, but because some teachers wanted you to start you out in second grade--sheesh--you're actually grateful for this lesser demotion.

Later that first morning, before meeting your teacher of RSL (Russian as a Second Language), you notice her/his name spelled out on your admission paper, but--gads--how can I tell: is that a woman or a man?

Welcome/Privyet, new girl from America. Welcome to the labor of learning a strange and difficult language. Welcome to the task of fitting in with the odd (to you) culture of everyone around you. Sure, the teachers are nice and the most of the other kids are friendly enough, but--Help!

How do you say "bathroom" in Russian?

THE E.S.L. LOCATOR: Resource Organizations Serving English as a Second Language and Bilingual Education

(2nd Edition of ALL ABOUT ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE): 89 pp; 8.5 x 11 inches; softcover; distributed by TESOL Inc., Alexandria, VA; 1993; $12.00 (out of print).

CONTENTS
Membership associations,government agencies, research groups, embassies, ethnic societies, advocacy and re-settlement centers, graduate schools, overseas teacher-employers, publishers, technology and media, testing sources.

INTRODUCTION
"As the revision of ALL ABOUT ESL, this reference book remains the only comprehensive directory to the national resource organizations servicing the teacher and administrators of this young profession. Like its 1991 predecessor, this version construes Bilingual Education to be well within its scope because, in concept and in objective, these two dolmans continue to parallel each other as closely as ever.

"In its 20% larger length, this work identifies some 1,200 USA-based organizations whose names, addresses, and telephone numbers compose the raw material of this action oriented text.

"In addition, LOCATOR adds four completely new categories for instant desktop retrieval: captioning services and sources, state-by-state offices, language lab manufacturers, and desegregation-assistance agencies.

"While no volume--whatever its size or format--can ever comprise every single aspect of a new and growing discipline, the ESL LOCATOR's plethora of data comes closest to achieving that most global of goals."

ALL ABOUT DEAFNESS: WHERE TO TURN FOR ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS ABOUT HEARING LOSS

69 pp; softcover; 5.5 x 8 inches; self-published; 1995 (up-date sent to all purchasers in 1997); $6.95 + $1.00 S&H.

Contents
Names, address, telephone/TTY numbers, and related category information on 450 American deafness-dedicated organizations, government agencies, schools, colleges, interpreter sources, membership associations, producers, publishers, and research centers.

Introduction
"The objective of ALL ABOUT DEAFNESS is to direct concerned parents, professionals, and late-deafened adults to often hard-to-find organizations committed to serving individuals who have a hearing loss.

"For reader-friendly reasons, the entries within this guidebook represent most (but by no means all) such sources of information, an editorial decision based on the William Wordsworth premise, 'Less is more.'

"Please note that this directory does not--in and of itself--provides answers or advice. Instead it aims to supply readers with first-step access to the agencies or companies most deeply involved in particular priorities, allowing clients or their decision-makers to make comparative choices in the most informed way possible."

ALL ABOUT ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE: A BASIC GUIDE TO ESL AND BILINGUAL EDUCATION

79 pp; softcover; 8.5 x 11 inches; map and graphics; distributed by TESOL, Inc., Alexandria VA; 1991; $7.95; no S&H.

Summary
Self-descriptive.

Contents
The names, addresses, and telephone numbers of nearly 1,000 USA-based service and membership organizations, publishers, producers, and immigration/resettlement agencies related to the needs of New Americans.

Introduction
"As its subtitle suggests, ALL ABOUT ESL is a comprehensive directory designed to provide teachers and administrators with desk-top access to national centers of information and materials for the linguistic and cultural needs of ESL learners.

"As such, this handbook construes Bilingual Education to be a natural and legitimate segment of that special population, a position becoming more and more justified as these two domains--formerly competitive--continue to parallel one another in concept as well as cooperation."

AMERICA FROM A to Z: THE LANGUAGE, LIFE, AND LANDMARKS OF THE UNITED STATES

119 pp; 26 full-page illustrations; softcover; American English Publications: Staten Island; 1989; $12.95 plus $2.00 S&H.

Summary
A cultural reader for ESL students from early high school to adult education.

Preface
"Language doesn't exist in a vacuum. "We native speakers of English, in first finding our new tongue, needed to be surrounded by the raw material of real-life lessons.

"Over the years, linguists have recognized the validity of this concreteness factor but have given it different names: context, semantic input, auditory ambiance, or cultural literacy. Whatever the terminology, AMERICA FROM A to Z honors the practicality of the premise expressed and, catering to the symbiosis between communication and culture, attempts to bring the two together to accommodate our intermediate - advanced learners of ESL."

Contents
Twenty-six essays on an alphabetically themed series of particularly American elements such as: Baseball, Dollars, Coca-Cola, Fourth of July, Hamburgers, Martin Luther King Jr., Niagara Falls, Rock 'n' Roll, Washington DC, and ZIP codes. Each of the 26 segments includes exercises for reading and writing that include "Watch Words" featuring synonyms and opposites, plus questions for discussion on comparative cultural practices. The full-page illustrations are suitable--and encouraged--for duplication as stimuli or prompts. Includes an Index of Activities and Special Concepts.

Also compatible with the general language objectives of Deaf Education.

WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE: CAPTIONED MEDIA FOR LITERACY

89 pp; softcover; 6 x 9 inches; illustrated; TJ Publishers, Silver Spring MD; 1986; $10.95 plus $1.50 S&H.

Summary
Details the production, acquisition, and utilization of subtitled video/films for Deaf and ESL students toward their mastery of subject matter and proficiency in reading.

Contents
The process; the difference between open and closed captions; sources of free materials; and other helpful non-profit organizations.

Introduction
"Yes, you can--literally--watch your language. Whether with or without the faculty of hearing, you can watch your language in the form of captions on film or videotape as Deaf people have been doing, at this writing, for more than 30 years. And, a few generations ago, your elders used to do the very same thing in enjoying the subtitled silents of Charlie Chaplin, Lillian Gish, and the Keystone Cops.

"You've watched your language, too, every time you saw it super-imposed on a Fellini, Truffaut, or Kurosawa feature. So do millions of Americans when tuned into the closed (or optionally hidden) captions of prime-time TV.

"That same technology is the impact tool that this book introduces to educators as well as entertainers seeking to reach out to new and larger populations of viewers.

"Let WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE help show you the way."

FILMS EX LIBRIS: LITERATURE IN 16mm AND VIDEO

283 pp; hardcover; illustrated; index of titles and of authors-on-film; McFarland & Company, Inc., Jefferson NC; 1980; $16.95 plus $1.50 S&H.

Summary
Itemizes and describes 1400 productions less than an hour in length, based on the Bible, drama, novels, short stories, poetry, fables, fairy tales, biography and other non-fiction.

Introduction
"Who was it that said, 'To be able but unwilling to read is no better than being unable'?

"He or she was perfectly right, because today's alternatives to reading--specifically, films and television--should be treated not as competition to reading but as stimuli, as newer ways of stimulating and adding to the appreciation of literature, and to bridge the gap between the ability to read and the willingness to do so."

Reviews

• "A fascinating directory" (Lifelong Learning, Feb. 1981)
• "conveniently arranged" (RQ, Spring 1981)
• "a useful guide for literature teachers and others who want to know, 'Is there a film version of this book?'" (Wilson Library Bulletin, Jan. 1981)

SUPERFILMS: AN INTERNATIONAL GUIDE TO AWARD-WINNING EDUCATIONAL FILMS

354 pp; illustrated; several indexes; hardcover; Grolier/Scarecrow Press, Inc., Metuchen, NJ; 1976; $19.95 plus $1.00 S&H.

Summary
Categorizes and describes 1,500 better-than-average nontheatrical films based on their successes at film festivals in the United States, Europe, Asia, Australia, and South America.

Contents
Alphabetical film descriptions and competitions won; festival locales; programming guide; subject index; company-title index; abbreviations and addresses of film companies.

Preface
"The purpose of SUPERFILMS is, not to make decisions for film users, but to provide an objective starting point for selection, with that objectivity based on the judgment of festival evaluators whose credibility stems from the diversity of their opinions, by the public scrutiny of their results, and by the usually annual continuity of their competition.

"What are the alternatives to such judgments by group? One, hours upon hours of separate and independent viewing of hundreds of films; two, reliance on individual "experts" with their own personal tastes and distastes to be considered; and three, reliance on the unfortunately self-promoting claims of the film-makers or distributors themselves.

"By process of elimination, the solution to your quest for quality lies in your hands, the hands that hold SUPERFILMS in your grasp right now."

FILMS--TOO GOOD FOR WORDS: A DIRECTORY OF NON-NARRATED 16MM MOTION PICTURES

209 pp; hardcover; indexed by title and subject; producer/distributor addresses; The R.R. BOWKER COMPANY, New York; 1973; $12.95 plus S&H.

Summary
A compilation of 1,000 nonverbal educational films such as The Red Balloon to stimulate reading, writing, and speaking for students of limited language skills.

Contents
Includes descriptions and sources of productions on the arts, nature, science, values, war and peace, fantasy, world literature, other countries and their people.

Preface
"The objective of FILMS--TOO GOOD FOR WORDS, the only guide of its kind, is to provide a starting point in the search for quality non-theatrical films. With tens of thousands of titles on the market, film users need a preliminary process to help them narrow down the bewildering and almost self-defeating abundance of choices."

Review

• "A model of what a reference book should be and do." Dr. Diane Ackerman, Chicago

THE AUDIO-VISUAL ADVISOR

(co-authored by Dolores Frates Parlato) 76 pp; softcover; 10 x 7 inches; multiple illustrations and graphics; self-published; 1964; $1.50

Summary
A teacher-oriented guide to the utilization of films, filmstrips, overhead projectuals, audio materials, and related A-V equipment.

Contents
The comparative characteristics of each of the newer instructional media, with step-by-step techniques for presentation. Includes major sources of material, equipment, information, research, and service.

Foreword
"The revised edition of this worthwhile little reference work retains all the values of the 1960 version, and brings up to date other timely information, including the ZIP-coded address of 180 organizations. It is a thoroughly accurate compilation." Paul C. Reed, Editor/Educational Screen and Audiovisual Guide magazine.

One prospect is my mega-memoir, 101 ICONS, an anecdotal photo-chronicle of encounters and connections with such great Americans as Eisenhower, JFK, Billy Graham, Olivia DeHavilland, Jackie Robinson, Susan Sontag, Cesar Chavez, Horowitz, Jesse Jackson, Mark Russell, and Philip and Daniel Berrigan.

Also on my hard drive is a biographical reference book on hard-of-hearingness, NEITHER HEAR (sic) NOR THERE, now under revision for a major university press.

Another manuscript is a field-tested booklet, FINGER RHYMES, using verse to teach manual communication to children, along with DIGIT-TALK, a parallel version for adults.

In various stages of development are the working titles of "The Spirituality of Silences," "The Sociology of Bumper Stickers," and "The Great American English Test," a constantly growing collection of journalistic and academic language bloopers (I'm sure I've made my share of those!).

Commercial/professional inquiries are invited. But... without testing my political preferences.