The Penn Stater Magazine

The Art of War

June 10, 2010 at 4:58 pm Amy Guyer Leave a comment

The New York Times is featuring excerpts from combat artist Michael D. Fay’s blogs this week, as part of their Home Fires series. (The series publishes the writings of men and women who have returned home from military service.) Fay ’82 A&A, who retired from the military in December, has been blogging since Sept. 2005, and though he’s a pencils-and-paper artist by trade, he also paints the wartime scenery with his words:

Everywhere amongst the chaos were vaguely reassuring hints of normalcy. One almost expected to turn a corner and find a pick-your-own pumpkin patch and a warm mug of spiced cider. That is, until another round of gunfire, an explosion, or a frantic stream of radio traffic shattered the reverie.

We profiled Fay in the Nov./Dec. 2005 issue of The Penn Stater (you can read the profile here), explaining how he happened upon his field. Fay is currently working in Afghanistan as a military correspondent, so he’ll have plenty of chances to continue writing about war. He’s also working on a memoir. For now, you can read The New York Times series by starting with Part 1 here.

Amy Guyer, associate editor

Entry filed under: College of Arts and Architecture, Penn State alumni, Penn Staters in the news media. Tags: Afghanistan, combat art, Iraq, Michael D. Fay, Operation Steel Curtain, The New York Times, Ubaydi.