Watt Next?
I know the article “Watt Now?” by Carl Marziali (Winter 2008, p. 40) was about our growing need for more energy and what ways to get it with the least harm to the environment. My solution is stop population growth. If the world’s population wasn’t growing at such a fast rate, we wouldn’t need to find more sources of energy. Yes, we need to find more efficient sources and more environmentally friendly sources, but it would be much easier if population growth was slowed down and the need for bigger and better wasn’t the dominant theme in our society. Let’s face it – we are a greedy society and many have this great need for more, bigger and better. Eliminate poverty and population growth in poorer countries and we would all be better off.

Alice Goldberg ’49
SOUTH GATE, CA

I was disappointed that the nuclear energy option is not part of the focus of solving the nation’s energy shortage. My dream is that my 16-month-old granddaughter, Kate, and her soon-to-be-born brother (name not selected yet) would be driving electric cars. The power would be generated from safe, carbon-free nuclear plants. I don’t believe renewables (wind, solar, bio) could power an electric car nation.

In the article, Mr. Marziali indicates that nuclear energy is “tainted by public anxiety, high capital costs and proliferation fears.” The public anxiety is linked to lack of information about the cost and safety of nuclear power. Also, many legislators’ war chests are funded by domestic and international oil and gas producers. Any introduction of a national energy policy or legislation that included nuclear would seriously affect those relationships.

The high capital costs are a result of the burden placed on building the plants by state and federal regulators. Streamline the approval process, select one standard 1,500-megawatt plant design to be used throughout the country, and provide some financial incentives to investors. Be creative in removing the roadblocks to achieve energy independence. Some European countries successfully rely on nuclear power.

Give the nuclear option as much effort and focus as the fossil fuels and green options in your research. Change those “anxieties” through education and the system through legislative and policy work. Nuclear energy powers our great Navy. Why not our cars, homes and factories?

Brad Fielder ’72
WHITTIER, CA

It was rather sad when I received my Winter 2008 issue wrapped in plastic. Seems that a magazine featuring a “Green Energy” story on the cover could stand to be a little more green itself. All those plastic wrappers had to be manufactured, which takes energy, and then they just get thrown away. Conservation is just as important as researching new alternatives, if not more important.

Jenn Holsten ’00 MS ’03
SAN MATEO, CA

You’re correct, of course, and we’ve been called to task before on this issue (Mailbag, Autumn 2008, p. 8). We are in the process of researching alternative papers as well as alternatives to polyfilm for combining publications; and we are also researching the feasibility of offering an online version of the magazine that will be acceptable to alumni. Readers: Any other ideas?

Your magazine is great. The articles are well written on a large variety of subjects. I look forward to reading each issue and keeping informed of things at USC. I am an engineer (retired from General Dynamics Aerospace), so I particularly liked reading “Watt Now?” but I am curious about all things and enjoy reading on a variety of subjects, which you present so well.

Bill Ketchum MSSM ’75
SAN DIEGO, CA

KSCR ...
That was a nice article on USC’s KSCR Radio (“Don’t Stop the Music,” Winter 2008, p. 51), but I don’t believe the facts about its premiere on April 2, 1975, are quite correct. I was then a second-year law student and former college DJ at KUOP-FM, University of the Pacific, in Stockton. Due to the articles in the Daily Trojan preceding the KSCR opening, I paid very special attention that day at lunch as I sat in the Student Union Grill. I believe, on information and belief – as we were taught to say in law school – that the first song played was not “Beginnings” from Chicago but “Baba O’Riley” from The Who’s 1971 release, Who’s Next: “It’s only teenage wasteland...”.

Joseph Arellano ’76
ELK GROVE, CA

Bob Moore ’76, MA ’78, KSCR’s founding general manager (1974-75), replies: Well, while I do have the first hours on a reel-to-reel tape (with the chances of finding the tape well before I find a reel-to-reel player), and while I have yet to track down BJ Aguyo (the DJ on-air for the opening), I have always believed that the first song was “Beginnings (Only the Beginning),” by Chicago Transit Authority. However, it is possible, if someone had put money in the jukebox sometime during the opening segment, that in the Grill what was also heard was “Teenage Wasteland.” But in the studio, in Hancock Auditorium, my information and belief is that we were hearing CTA’s “Beginnings.”

... and KUSC
Your recent article about the current successes of KUSC (“Tuning into the Digital Age,” Autumn 2008, pg. 40), prompts me to write.

The first complete KUSC pledge drive after KUSC changed its musical format in the fall of 1996 took place in December 1996. That drive was a great success and was followed by a celebratory reception at the USC Faculty Center on Jan. 7, 1997. USC President Steven B. Sample attended and made a few remarks. He related that before the format changed in late 1996, the most complaint calls he received were about KUSC and not about the USC football team. He added that he was no longer receiving complaints about KUSC.

It seems like Brenda Barnes’ tenure at KUSC began only a few months ago. Yet she came on board in late 1997. It was my pleasure to say a few words of welcome to her at a reception on Nov. 6, 1997. Thanks to her for her steady, informed and very successful leadership.

We all owe President Sample and his team a huge vote of thanks that they had the courage and vision to stand behind KUSC and give it a chance to be resurrected.

Dave Stiller
COSTA MESA, CA

I missed the actual KUSC article, but read the letters regarding it in the Winter 2008 issue (Mailbag, p. 8). Thank you so much to Niki Rapattoni for singing Rich Capparela’s praises, as I, also a fan of K-Mozart, would not be listening to KUSC if not for his easy, witty commentary. I never write in on stuff like this, but couldn’t help myself on praising KUSC for recognizing Rich Capparela’s worth to the station.

Lucia Kapetanich Moskal ’61
GLENDALE, CA

Duke of Sequim
Well, thanks a lot, Abe Gruber MS Ed, MEd ’59, for blabbing about the John Wayne Marina in Sequim, Wash. (Mailbag, Winter 2008, p. 7). Here we are, trying to keep this place a secret, and you tell the whole world (well, the Trojan part of it, anyway) about the “breathtaking forest primeval.”

Now we’ll probably have a “rush of flatlanders” relocating here, and turning Sequim into Moreno Valley. Of course, who could blame them?

Some days when I get up, I think I’ve died and gone to heaven. And the only evidence to the contrary is the seagull droppings on my car’s windshield. It’s no wonder the Duke loved it up here. And Sequim loved the Duke.

Bill Dettmer MS ’82
PORT ANGELES, CA

Dynamic Duo
Carl Marziali’s “Empowering Innovation” article in the Autumn 2008 issue (p. 24) misses the opportunity to highlight one of the earliest and most successful USC entrepreneurial duos. Gavin Herbert, a USC pharmacy graduate, started a small chain of drug stores in the ’40s. He obtained the rights to an eye medication developed by a friend at USC and with that founded Allergan. His son Gavin Jr., a classmate of mine at Van Nuys High School, obtained his business degree at USC. Gavin went on to succeed his father as CEO of Allergan, expanding the corporation into a major Southern California enterprise. Gavin Jr. also served as a trustee of USC.

Robert W. Martin ’67, MBA ’69
RANCHO PALOS VERDES, CA

Happiness, Revisited
Regarding happiness and wealth (“What Price, Happiness?” Winter 2007, p. 40), I think there is something missing. [USC economist Richard Easterlin] failed to discuss private goods vs. public goods. His thesis seemed to be that we do not feel rich and happy even though we amass great wealth. But I feel that the reason for this is not the shortcomings of our own wealth, but the fact that public goods are not keeping up. For example, in small-town neighborhoods, no one has a $1 million house, but they all have the park and barbecue parties with their friends on public grounds, they go shopping and see everyone that they know, church is free, and there is adequate space for all (i.e., no lost time because of traffic jams).

Contrast that to a metropolitan community where you live in a $10 million house, but the minute you leave your driveway, there is a traffic jam, and it takes you half an hour just to drive to the store, where you stand in line waiting to pay for your groceries. For “entertainment” you decide to go to Vegas. Whether you drive or fly, the trip is a big hassle. When you drive down the street (or walk) there is graffiti everywhere. The streets are bumpy. Your mailbox gets vandalized. The air is dirty. I could go on – city water mains keep breaking, it takes two months to get a street light fixed, the sidewalks are always dirty, etc.

The difference is not your personal wealth, but the amount of public goods available. It is an incomplete process if we build only our personal wealth. The quality of life (and happiness) comes when the other side of the coin is completed too. It is up to our government officials to do upkeep on the environments that we cannot create ourselves, but use everyday.

There is nothing unsatisfying about getting rich. But everyone must do their part.

Lawrence E. Bartlett MBA ’79
ARCADIA, CA

Notice Board
The USC Rossier School of Education has embarked on a new strategic initiative to find and reach out to its vast alumni population across the country – and perhaps around the world!

As USC Rossier celebrates its 100th anniversary year, we hope to gather together the thousands of teachers, administrators and educational leaders who have earned USC Rossier degrees to help us build a dynamic and powerful networking community in the education field. Additionally, we welcome alumni input on new student recruitment, career opportunities, programs and resources.

If you are a USC Rossier alum, or know of one, please visit http://rossier.usc.edu/alumni/info-update.html or email me directly at carol.fox@cox.net for more information on how to get involved.

Carol Fox MS ’62
USC Rossier School Board of Councilors
CAMPUS

We need your assistance in preserving the heritage of our university. The USC University Archives exist to collect, preserve and make available records having permanent value in documenting the history of the university, its administrative offices and academic departments, and USC-related organizations as well as the activities of faculty, staff and students. Books, manuscripts, USC periodicals and newspapers, posters, photographic images, disc and tape recordings, and other archival items are available for research under supervised conditions.

Gifts of any item contributing to documentation of the history of USC will be greatly appreciated and carefully preserved.

Please contact me at (213) 740-2587 or czachary@usc.edu, or visit us at www.usc.edu/arc/libraries/uscarchives

Claude Zachary
USC University Archivist
CAMPUS

Etc.
I do enjoy “Last Word!!” My USC Trojan Family Magazine arrived on Saturday, so I had a delightful surprise when I opened my mail on Friday with your letter [saying I had won] and enclosing a Borders gift card. And from a recent study at that school in Westwood, it looks like searching for information on the Internet stimulates more brain activity than reading a book. So, from your Last Word geriatric members – another thank-you!

Marilyn Hershey Rudzik ’55
MARIPOSA, CA

The writer is producer/director of the Mariposa Storytelling Festival, www.arts-mariposa.org.

We welcome letters from readers although we do reserve the right to select and edit for space. Please include your name, address, e-mail address, degree and year of graduation, if applicable, with each letter and mail to: USC Trojan Family Magazine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-7790 or e-mail us at: magazines@usc.edu. Please note that, because of our production schedule, it might be several months before your letter appears.