Inspired Voices

MENDING REALITY

BY COHEN MILES-RATH, MSW ’19

Mending Reality, a memoir by Cohen Miles-Rath, MSW ’19, will be published in June 2025 by Simon & Schuster. The memoir tells Miles-Rath’s transformational journey of overcoming a reality-shattering mental illness to becoming an advocate for mental health.

While an undergraduate student (at another college), Miles-Rath, an elite runner and first-generation college student, attacked his dad with a knife. He thought he was saving humanity by killing Satan. However, he was deceived by mania and psychosis, and, soon after, was arrested at gunpoint.

Miles-Rath’s love for his dad couldn’t stop mental illness from nearly destroying their lives. But he discusses in his book how effective intervention could have. He had been hospitalized twice before the attack. What went wrong? Through this page-turning narrative, Miles-Rath shares how he has managed schizoaffective symptoms and substance misuse, confronted his painful past, and obtained a social work master’s degree at Stony Brook University to become the mental health advocate he is today.

To learn more about Miles-Rath’s journey, visit cohenmilesrath.com.

POINT / CLOUD

BY DAVID CROWELL, PHD ’24

Composer and Instrumentalist David Crowell’s latest album Point/Cloud was released in May 2024 by Better Company Records. In a review in The Guardian, John Lewis said of the album, “Crowell’s minimalism is wonderfully rich and harmonically complex: busy arpeggios sketch out dense, extended chords that constantly mutate and move in unexpected directions… Throughout, Crowell constructs geometric structures that have a rare sense of kinetic energy: this is music that glistens, sparkles, and dances with joy.” The Guardian also included the album on its “10 Best Contemporary Albums of 2024.”

Crowell, who graduated with a PhD in composition, is currently on the music theory faculty at Montclair State University and Third Street Music School.

For more about his work, visit davidcrowellmusic.com.

THE WIZARD OF OZ: THE OFFICIAL COOKBOOK

BY ELIZABETH FISH

Follow the yellow brick road with Dorothy and the gang and enter into a culinary world of more than 70 delicious dishes inspired by the all-time classic film The Wizard of Oz! Elizabeth Fish, a long-time staff member in the Department of Psychology, created many of the recipes for this fun celebration in honor of the film’s 70th birthday. Learn how to make Over the Rainbow Crepe Cakes, Lollipop Guild Meringues or an Emerald City Quiche, among many other appetizers, entrees and desserts.

In addition to her role at Stony Brook, Fish is a recipe developer and caterer with more than 45 years in the food industry. Having lived in London, Istanbul and NYC, her love for food has gained her a community wherever she goes. Her interest in developing recipes started as a food columnist and cooking instructor for expats, teaching them how to make foods they were familiar with but using locally available ingredients.  To learn more about the book, check out its listing here.