Graziano & Raulin
Research Methods (9th edition)
Anthony M. Graziano
Current Activities
My current activities? Well, we should note that I have no faculty senate meetings in which to argue with colleagues, no departmental committees, no university administrative tasks to grouse about, no lab to run, no grant money to chase, no students to supervise, no required classes to teach, no lectures to prepare, and very few deadlines except those of my own making.
Such luxury comes to those of us who have survived the perils of academia, thereby reaching the status of Professor Emeritus. That's a quasi-Latin term that means "Now I can do whatever the heck I want to do!"
Since achieving this status several years ago, my life has been one of selecting preferred activities, like:
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teaching an undergraduate course that I particularly enjoy, Developmental Disabilities;
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presenting a few invited guest lectures to university classes and local agencies;
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serving on the Board of Directors of my favorite local agency, People, Inc. of Western New York;
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making several trips to England, Europe, and Africa and enjoying those boat trips down the Thames and Danube;
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taking in more live concerts and plays and great dinner parties than I had ever before imagined existed;
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enjoying leisurely walks around the quiet fields, woods, and streams (they are called "cricks" out here) of our old farm;
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discovering tennis--I'm not much good at it, but what a great game it is;
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discovering cooking--unlike my stabs at tennis, I'm rather good at this. My wife says that had she known I had such talent, she would have married me years earlier. In the17th century an Englishman, Robert Burton, wrote: "Cookery is become an art, a noble science, Cooks are Gentlemen!" Right on, Robert!
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Enjoying happy weeks with our grandchildren.
Not much of what I have listed so far seems very productive, does it? Ah, but that's the beauty of it all. However, I suppose a few "productive" items are called for. How about the time I built that 30-foot porch with the big roof, our new country kitchen, the back pantry, two new bathrooms, a genuine Rumford fireplace and chimney, a full third-floor study, a couple of patios-one small, one large—multi level walkways around the house, two driveways, the repair of a big old barn, and complete renovation of a 150-year-old country inn? That's productive. Swinging a hammer and sawing wood, by the way, is immensely satisfying.
Since the reason for noting all of this is to tell the readers of our Research Methods book something about its authors, I ought to end by saying just a bit about writing activities. Because it has been left to the last does not mean it is unimportant. Indeed, writing is now my most constant daily activity. Since achieving emeritus status I have completed, with Michael Raulin, the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and new Canadian editions of our Methods text and all of their associated components such as the Student Resource Website. In 2002 my textbook, "Developmental Disabilities: Introduction to a Diverse Field" was published by Allyn & Bacon.
Two of my recent books have little to do with academic psychology. La Bell'America (2009) is a historical and sociological study of Italian immigration to America, and a personal account of my family’s journey in the 1920s, their encounter with the Great Depression, and their eventual success. Its title is taken from their often-stated praise for this country and what it enabled them to do.
McKinley's Ghost and the Little Tin Truck (2016), a historical novel, follows a fictional family through the first third of the twentieth century. Their journey is one of sharp parallels with America today. It is a warning to beware the 2016 presidential election; it predicts the coming of our current deep xenophobia, relentless attacks on everything progressive, and our country's turn to what looks like the start of a new fascism.
My current book project is a novel: Teddy: The lives of a Young Man with Down Syndrome.
Many shorter projects also keep me busy; numerous op-ed and editorial newspaper articles, a dozen magazine articles presenting bits of Italian history for the interested reader, and a short stage play, Paper Flowers.
Finally, somewhere in this mess on my desk there is a rather long list of things to write – books and editorials and articles. I guess I'd better get busy.
Anthony M. Graziano, January, 2018