Thursday, October 19, 2006

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Don’t fence me in!

The Israeli security fence and the U.S. border fence, if the latter is ever built, will not exactly be cut from the same spiral of concertina wire, so to speak. Dr. Karen Petersen, political science, observes, “Israel built a barrier to prevent terrorists from entering the country and carrying out suicide bombings. The political will within Israeli society to pay for the construction and maintenance of the barrier can be maintained because the threat is vital. That is unlikely to be the case in theU.S. in the long term. The cost estimates for the 700 miles of fence are inaccurate (at best). Based on the fence under construction in San Diego, the proposed section could end up costing over 6 billion dollars. Will U.S. citizens be willing to pay those costs and the costs to maintain, secure and patrol these areas in the long term?”

Contact Petersen at 615-494-8662.
kpeterse@mtsu.edu

Shaykh it up!

The MTSU Middle East Center will present the first in its brown bag lunch lecture series this Monday to spotlight faculty members with experience and expertise in the Middle East. The inaugural topic is “Shaykh Khalid and the Naqshbandiyya-Khalidiyya” by Dr. Sean Foley, history, at noon in the SunTrust Room of the Business Aerospace Building. Foley will focus on Shaykh Khalid’s socio-religious movement and his influence on Muslim thought and social movements. Foley has received both Fulbright and Fulbright-Hays fellowships for research projects in Syria and Turkey. He also is working on a book under contract to Lynne Rienner Press titled “The Arab Gulf States: When Oil is Not Enough.”

Contact Foley at 615-904-8294.
sfoley@mtsu.edu

Curry favor with a dance master

Sample some savory footwork with guest dancer Ivan Pulinkala next week. The director of dance at Kennesaw State University, Pulinkala will present a lecture on “The Sensuality of Indian Movement” from 9:10 a.m. to 10:05 a.m. Friday, Oct. 27, in the University Honors College Ampitheatre. The lecture is free and open to the public. Pulinkala will teach a modern dance class and work with members of the MTSU Dance Theatre to produce a show at 10:15 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 28, in Room 140 of the Fairview Building following a Dance Theatre class. According to his online biography, Pulinkala, a New Delhi native, has served as the choreographer-in-residence for Delhi Music Theatre and was named among the 25 Indian artists of the Millennium in the December 1999 issue of India Today magazine. Media welcomed.

Contact Kim Neal Nofsinger, director of MTSU’s dance program, at 615-904-8392.
nofsinge@mtsu.edu
To request interviews, contact the Office of News and Public Affairs at 615-898-2919.

TR EXTRA

HEALTHY CHOICE—Dr. Mark Byrnes, professor of political science, will moderate a panel discussion on Tennessee’s health care crisis from 7:00 p.m. to 8:45 p.m. TONIGHT at the Patterson Park Community Center in Murfreesboro. The event, titled “One Million Uninsured Tennesseans and Growing: How Do We Stop the Crisis?,” will be free and open to the public. Guests will include health care pfoessionals and some Rutherford County legislative candidates. For more information, contact Lori Smith at 615-227-7500.

DYNAMISM AND SENSITIVITY--Masaaki and Chikako Tanaka, two distinguished Japanese artists, will display their word through Friday, Nov. 3 in the Todd Gallery at MTSU. Receptions for the Tanakas are slated for 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Oct. 16 an from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 28, in the gallery. The receptions are free and open to the public. “(Masaaki Tanaka) is a master in the use of the paper stencil technique of screenprinting, the process by which colors and shapes are layered onto paper and coalesce, after many applications, into the finished image,” Dr. Lon Nuell, professor of art, says. By contrast, Nuell says Chikako Tanaka’s work is “fanciful, ethereal in some instances, suggesting the dream-like imagery of the surrealists.” Contact Nuell at 615-898-5653 or 615-898-2505 or lrnuell@mtsu.edu

A WHOLE NEW WORLD--Your children can be transported to Japan, China and Indonesia without flight reservations. A new exhibit at the Discovery Center enables youngsters to play dress-up with sarongs and kimonos, view animated superhero Astro Boy or learn about Japanese folklore on a 20-inch DVD player, construct their own colorful kites, make origami figures, work challenging tangram puzzles, stage their own hand puppet theatre and hold Japanese tea parties. The interactive exhibit is made possible by generous donations from Toshiba, Nissan, the Foreign Ministry of Japan and the Japan-U.S. Program of MTSU. The Discovery Center is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Saturday and from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday. Admission is $5 for anyone age 2 and up. Contact Steve Hoskins at the Discovery Center, 502 SE Broad Street, Murfreesboro, at 615-890-2300.

WHAT’S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT?--To dramatize how dating violence traumatizes the lives of young adults, the June Anderson Women’s Center and Women 4 Women, a student organization, will present “It’s Love, Isn’t It?” from 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 25, in the Keathley University Center Theatre. The original play, written and produced with ABC grants from Allied Arts of Chattanooga and the Tennessee Arts Commission and directed by Dr. Ayne Cantrell, professor emeritus, follows the travails of a female college freshman whose boyfriend has jealousy and anger management issues. “It’s Love, Isn’t It?” is free and open to the public and is part of Domestic Violence Awareness Month at MTSU. For more information, contact the June Anderson Women’s Center at 615-898-2193 or jawc@mtsu.edu