Monday, April 30, 2007

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Cyberslime

There are as many disadvantages as advantages to the permanence of information, correct or incorrect, in cyberspace. Dr. Larry Burriss, journalism, suggests that we try the following: “Do an Internet search for your own name. Look at how many people have exactly the same name as you. Then look at how much information has your name attached to it. It is not about you. That is information anyone could assume is about you, and they can do with it whatever they want, including spreading scurrilous stories about you that you have absolutely control over. It used to be that the only sure things were death and taxes. Now you can add to that list wrong information about anyone and everyone, including you.”

Contact Burriss at 615-898-2983.
lburriss@mtsu.edu

Lock your door. Take your keys.

Why do some college students have a more cavalier attitude toward safety than they did when they were living at home? Sarah Sudak, executive director, MTSU Housing Administration, says, “We consistently remind them that their residence hall room should be treated like their parents’ house. If they wouldn’t leave Mom’s or Dad’s front door unlocked when they ran to the store, they shouldn’t leave their residence hall room door unlocked either. We try to emphasize that we have provided a number of security features for their safety, but they are only as effective as they make them. If they don’t use them, they won’t work.”

Contact Sudak at 615-898-2860.
ssudak@mtsu.edu

There’s good news and bad news.

Confidence among Middle Tennessee consumers is in a slump. The overall Middle Tennessee Consumer Confidence Index from the MTSU Office of Consumer Research (OCR) fell from 319 in February to 278 in April, largely due to rising gas prices. “Even though it is expected that some consumers will forego smaller purchases (like eating out at restaurants), it remains to be seen if consumers will forego larger purchases, like cars and homes,” says Dr. Tim Graeff, director of the OCR. “Most local consumers (90 percent) expect their personal financial situation to remain the same or improve in the next 12 months, and perceptions of the local job market are strong and stable. In addition, those saying that the Middle Tennessee economy will be better in the next six months increased to 35 percent from 32 percent.”

Contact Graeff at 615-898-5124.
tgraeff@mtsu.edu

TR EXTRA

SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT--Your musically talented youngster could produce his or her own CD before he graduates high school. Ryan York, a 21-year-old MTSU student and teacher of guitar, bass and drums lessons, continues his recording workshops for kids ages 12-17. For a fee of $125 per student, the kids will be introduced to cassette four-track recording, digital eight-track, computer recording, and electronic music. All proceeds will help pay for the equipment. The next workshop classes are slated for May 10 through June 17 on Thursday evenings and Sunday afternoons in the John Bragg Mass Communication Building at MTSU. Registration for these classes is in progress and will continue through April 30. The recording workshops are sponsored by the Youth Culture and Arts Center, a function of Youth Empowerment Through Arts and Humanities (YEAH!), a nonprofit Murfreesboro-based organization. For more information about the workshops, contact York at bororecording@gmail.com. To learn more about the Youth Culture and Arts Center, go to http://www.youthculturecenter.org.

WE PAWS FOR THIS MESSAGE OF INTEREST.--MTSU’s Office of Student Organizations & Community Service will present the second annual See Spot Run at 8 a.m. Saturday, May 12, on campus. The 5K run/walk will give humans and their canine companions a chance to exercise at the same time. All proceeds, including entry fees, admissions, and sponsorships, will go to Habitat for Humanity. The goal is to raise the $50,000 necessary to sponsor a “blitz build,” an intensified construction effort, on campus. The entry fee is $15 before May 1 and $20 thereafter. Entry fees include T-shirts to the first 250 participants. Registration will begin at 6:30 a.m. on race day at Peck Hall. Also, registration is available at http://www.mtalumni.com or 615-898-5812.

ALL THAT JAZZ--MTSU faculty and student ensembles are slated to perform at JazzFest 2007 May 4 and 5 on the public square in Murfreesboro. More than 20,000 people attended last year’s event, which is free and open to the public. Seven high school jazz bands from Rutherford County will entertain in the Friday evening segment. Middle and high school bands from Murfreesboro and Nashville also will play Saturday on the second stage along with rising saxophone sensation Chris West, an MTSU jazz studies graduate, and the Music City Swing Band. Louis Hayes will cap the festival Saturday with his Cannonball Legacy Band, reviving the great sound of the Cannonball Adderley Quintet, with whom Hayes performed fro 1959-65. For more information, call 615-8995-1887 or go to http://www.mainstreetjazzfest.com.