Wednesday, September 5, 2006

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Yo! MTV reeks?

When the most replayed clip from MTV Music Video Awards is from former Vice President Al Gore’s lecture on global warming, it almost makes one nostalgic. Once upon a time, MTV was considered decadent enough to make your parents cringe. But, after the most recent awards ceremony, critics are beginning to say that the cable channel has lost its edge. Dr. John Dougan, recording industry, says, “After all, the VMAs have as much to do with celebrity as good music; it rewards style more than substance. Co-opting the Grammy format is a bad idea (too boring and predictable), but is is possible that the VMAs (and MTV in general) are running out of steam as it desparately continues to reinvent itself?”

Contact Dougan at 615-898-2578.
jdougan@mtsu.edu

The Crocodile Hunter, R.I.P.

The untimely death of Steve Irwin, better known as “The Crocodile Hunter” for his close encounters with the aquatic reptiles, has led Dr. George Benz, biology, to ponder how competitive the world has become. “Twenty years ago, it would have been ‘good enough’ to just film stingrays or crocodiles from the safety of a boat,” Benz says. “Today, however, the media, its advertising financial supporters, and the public demand a lot more. Mr. Irwin merely chose to compete at a high level. I personally think Irwin connected a lot of folks with nature, if even through activities that some might feel displayed a form of illegitimacy. Certainly, the persona that Irwin displayed on TV made it seem that he would be happier dying on the end of a stingray’s barb than getting hit by a bus or dying while sleeping in bed.”

Contact Benz at 615-898-5021.
gbenz@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.
mjbarr@mtsu.edu

TR EXTRA

RUN FOR THE VETERANS--Pay tribute to the MTSU faculty, staff, alumni and students who lost their lives while serving in the armed forces by taking part in the MTSU Veterans Memorial Run/Walk at 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 17. There will be individual and team awards for top finishers in all age and gender divisions. Each pre-registered entrant will receive a race T-shirt. Early registration is $15, and online registration will close at 8 p.m. Central time Friday, Sept. 15. All proceeds will go towards construction of an on-campus memorial to military personnel. Media welcomed. For more information, contact Maj. Chuck Giles at 1-888-682-7682 or cgiles@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

PROTECT YOURSELF--A series of six Rape Aggression Defense (RAD) classes will be offered at no charge beginning THURSDAY through Thursday, Oct. 12, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the MTSU Public Safety Training Room, located at 1412 East Main Street. The classes will be open to all MTSU students, faculty and staff, as well as the general public. A workbook/training manual will be provided to each student. Enrollment is limited. RAD is a comprehensive course for women that begins with awareness, prevention, risk reduction and avoidance and progresses to the basics of hands-on defense training. For information or to enroll, call Officer David Smith at 615-494-8855.

AGRARIAN ART—“The Upper Cumberland Collection: The Plateau Years” is on display at the Baldwin Photographic Gallery in the McWherter Learning Resources Center through Sept. 8. These photos are by Jack Stoddart, who began his career photographing a disappearing culture between 1971 and 1974. The gelatin silver images became a mainstay of future exhibits chronicling the last vestiges of an agrarian lifestyle that still existed in rural north central Tennessee. There will be a lecture by Stoddart at 7:30 p.m. TONIGHT in Room 104 of the John Bragg Mass Communication Building. A reception will follow in the gallery. Exhibitions are free and open to the public Mon.-Fri. 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. and Sat. Noon-4 p.m. For more information contact Tom Jimison, curator, at 651-898-2085 or tjimison@mtsu.edu

BLOOD SPORT--MTSU vs. Tennessee Tech: It’s the Thursday, Sept. 14 football game and Sept. 12-13 blood drive. MT athletics and the Student Government Association are
fully behind the Red Cross blood drive that will be held from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. both days. Anyone 17-and-over with a valid ID can participate. MTSU will compete against its longtime Ohio Valley Conference rival to see which school can “pump up” the most blood. For more information, call Jennifer Kirk, KUC event coordinator, at 615-898-2590.

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. Thursday, Sept. 14 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