Thursday, September 14, 2006

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Osama and Hitler

In recent weeks, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and President Bush have compared opposition to their approach to the war on terror to British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s attempts to appease Hitler and the extent to which the pre-World War II world ignored Hitler. Dr. Jerry Brookshire, history, says, “Bush’s and Rumsfeld’s comparisons are odd and misleading. They want their war on terrorism to include the U.S. attack on Iraq and the ongoing U.S. involvement in the chaotic Iraqi situation. Perhaps a better parallel is the 1956 Suez Canal crisis when (President Dwight) Eisenhower’s administration opposed Britain’s attempt to claim the ‘Munich appeasement’ analogy in painting (Egyptian leader Gamal Abdul) Nasser … as a Hitler who must not be appeased.”

Contact Brookshire at 615-898-2547.
jbrooksh@mtsu.edu

His name is Stratocaster! You got a problem with that?

A recent Christian Science Monitor article reports that musicians are encountering turbulence from airline officials who won’t let them carry their instruments, which often are old and worth a lot of money, onto airplanes due to new security rules. Dr. William Yelverton, music, says, “Guitarists often put their instruments in soft cases and carry them on; soft cases are smaller and easier to stow. I carry my lute on in a soft case; it is a very fragile instrument. I gave up trying to bring my guitar on board in its normal case except on transatlantic flights where the planes have a larger overhead compartment. Even on international flights, I have checked my guitar because I have such a heavy flight case.”

Contact Yelverton at 615-898-5623.
yelverto@mtsu.edu

Land sakes!

Seven high school Future Farmers of America chapters and the Rutherford County 4-H will participate in the Rutherford County Land Judging Contest that will be held from 12:30 until 2 p.m. TOMORROW at the Guy James farm, 3009 Halls Hill Pike. Dr. Warren Anderson, agribusiness and agriscience, says FFA members from Oakland, Blackman, Riverdale, Siegel, Eagleville, Smyrna and La Vergne high schools will compete. A number of MTSU alumni are vocational agriculture teachers for the local teams. Media welcomed.

Contact Anderson at 615-898-2480.
wanderso@mtsu.edu

TR EXTRA

LACE ‘EM UP!--There is more than one reason to lace ‘em up for THIS SUNDAY’S Veterans Memorial 5K Run/Walk at MTSU—and there’s still time to sign up! Awards and prizes will be issued for team entries of registered groups of five or more and individuals in each age division. Drawings will be conducted for door prizes totaling more than $1,000 in value. The Tennessee Titans and Nashville Predators are among the sponsors who have donated items for the runners. T-shirts are guaranteed to all pre-registrants on a first-come, first-served basis on race day. Not only will the runners and walkers win prizes. All proceeds will benefit the construction of an on-campus memorial to MTSU faculty, administrators, staff and students who perished while serving their country in the military.Contact Maj. Chuck Giles at 615-898-2470 or cgiles@mtsu.edu
For a color jpeg photo of MTSU alumni serving their country in Operation Iraqi Freedom, contact Gina Logue in the Office of News and Public Affairs at 615-898-5081.
gklogue@mtsu.edu

THE SWEET SMELL OF SCIENCE--Registration is open for the 2006 Expanding Your Horizons in Math and Science. The conference for girls in grades 5-8 will be held from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 28, across the MTSU campus. Open to the first 300 girls who register, EYH will be celebrating its 10th anniversary on campus. To register, visit http://www.mtsu.edu/~EYH. Look for the registration button on the left side. Complete, print out, and mail the form to: Dr. Judith Iriarte-Gross, c/o MTSU EYH, P.O. Box 161, Murfreesboro, Tenn. 37132. For more information, contact Dr. Judith Iriarte-Gross at 615-904-8253 or jiriarte@mtsu.edu

BRAIN POWER--The Student Activity Fee funds are making possible two free workshops that can provide students with the necessary tips to earn better grades. Plymouth, Mich.-based Jamie Nast, a nationally acknowledged expert on helping individuals organize their thinking, will lead the “Mind Mapping” sessions from 1-4 p.m. and 5-8 p.m. TODAY in the Hazlewood Dining Room of the James Union Building. In 1998, Nast and her husband founded NastGroup, a consultancy organization specializing in optimizing mind potential. Her first book, Idea Mapping: How to Access Your Hidden Brain Power, Learn Faster, Remember More, and Achieve Success in Business, is slated for publication Sept. 20. For more information, contact Dr. Carol Ann Baily, Adult Services Center director, at 615-898-5989 or cabaily@mtsu.edu

A LITTLE “FRESH AIR”--One of the media’s premier interviewers, Terry Gross, host of National Public Radio’s “Fresh Air with Terry Gross,” will lecture at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 19, in the Tennessee Room of the James Union Building. The talk is free and open to the public. “I think it’s a great opportunity to have a nationally recognized award-winning interviewer come here to talk,” Marc J. Barr, EMC professor, said. “She has come to be one of the best interviewers, if not the best interviewer, out there in media.” While the Tuesday night lecture is free, tickets are required for admission. Tickets that were issued for the original April date are good for Gross’ upcoming appearance, and those individuals will be allowed first entry. No new tickets will be issued. However, non-ticket holders will be allowed entry after ticket-holders based on available seating. For more information, contact Barr at 615-898-5118 or mjbarr@mtsu.edu