Thursday, May 31, 2007

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Lend me your ears and I’ll sing you a song and I’ll try not to sing out of key.

Forty years ago tomorrow, one of the classic albums of all time, “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” by The Beatles, was released. “We are still feeling the ripples of its splash into the popular music pond,” Dr. Paul Fischer, recording industry, says. “In the late 1960s, rock ‘n’ roll was morphing into Rock, a rapidly maturing genre of popular music that had pretensions to Art. [Sgt. Pepper’s], the first to include a full-length lyric sheet, exhibiting recorded complexities inspired in part by The Beach Boys’ ‘Pet Sounds’ LP, advanced that cause substantially. Using only two four-track recording machines (primitive by today’s standards), The Beatles looped sound, overdubbed, and phase-shifted their way well beyond pop moptop-hood.”

Contact Fischer at 615-898-5470.
pfischer@mtsu.edu

From horsey to healthy

What does equine cloning have to do with human prostate cancer? Well, Dr. Preston MacDougall, chemistry, tells us that some of the technical difficulties scientists encounter in equine cloning “are related to lower concentrations of calcium ions in cells and an associated slower rate of cell activity than is observed in many other mammals, including humans.” Dr. Gordon Woods and his team at the University of Idaho observed “in addition to low calcium ion concentrations, horses have a zero handicap when it comes to fatal cases of prostate cancer. In men, however, of all metastatic cancers, 13 to 14 percent are of the prostate. Woods wondered if understanding the chemical roles of calcium ions in cell activity, and reproduction in particular, might not lead to breakthroughs in treatment of prostate cancer.”

Contact MacDougall at 615-898-5265.
pmacdoug@mtsu.edu

Journalism by remote control

A newspaper editor in Pasadena, Calif., recently posted an ad in search of someone to cover Pasadena city government and politics—from India. The editor justified his action on the grounds that the Internet would enable the reporter to cover the meetings via streaming video and conduct interviews via e-mail. Dr. Larry Burriss, journalism, says, “Unfortunately, this is just one more example of the shambles the Internet has made of culture and communications. Most newspapers and many broadcast outlets still use what’s called a ‘beat’ system. A reporter is assigned to a beat—say, city government, the police, the school system—and is supposed to become really familiar with the issues and personalities in that particular area. You would have lunch or dinner with, maybe, the head of the school board. You would spend time at the police station or riding in a patrol car. The idea is you can’t really cover a story unless you know the people involved and are familiar with the background.”

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

TR EXTRA

LET THE ROCK ROLL--Time is running out to register your daughter for the fifth annual Southern Girls Rock & Roll Camp (SGRRC), a week-long music day camp for girls ages 10-17 slated for July 16-21 on the campus of MTSU. The final day of registration is TODAY. Volunteers will tutor the campers in vocals, keyboards, drums, guitar, and electronic music. The girls will learn about other aspects of the music industry through workshops in subjects such as photography, music journalism, recording, DIY arts and crafts, and songwriting, as well as panel discussions with industry insiders. Throughout the week, campers will form their own bands, write songs, and practice two hours each day with volunteer band managers. At the end of the week, the girls will show off their talents in a Saturday night showcase in Tucker Theatre. For more information, visit http://www.sgrrc.org/, call 615-849-8140, or send an e-mail to sgrrc05@gmail.com.

THAT’S A TAKE!--Don’t wait to give your child an exciting, fulfilling way to spend part of his or her summer! Registration runs through June 15 for another recording workshop for children ages 12-17 at MTSU. The workshop will be conducted from June 21-July 15 in the John Bragg Mass Communication Building under the tutelage of Ryan York, who also teaches guitar, bass and drums at Chambers Guitars and Musical Instruments in Murfreesboro. For a fee of $125 per student, York will introduce the youngsters to cassette four-track recording, digital eight-track, computer recording and electronic music. The workshop is sponsored by the Youth Culture and Arts Center, a project of Youth Empowerment through Arts and Humanities, a nonprofit organization. For more information, or to enroll, contact York at bororecording@gmail.com.

THE GRIDIRON GIRLS, WHOSE THEME SONG IS “THANK YOU FOR BEING AN END”--MTSU Head Football Coach Rick Stockstill and the MTSU football staff invite you to join them for the 2007 Ladies Football Clinic on Saturday, July 14 in Murphy Center. The clinic, which will feature seminars on strategy, equipment, training and rules, will run from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. with registration slated to start at 8 a.m. Ladies will be encouraged to take part in coaches’ drills and demonstrations. The goal is to provide a fun learning experience. Participants will receive commemorative T-shirts and lunch will be provided. The cost of the clinic is $25 dollars. For the children, the Rick Stockstill Youth Camp for rising 1st through 8th graders will be held June 4-7. For more information, contact Danny Lewis at 615-898-2311.

WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT, ALFIE?--Grades, standardized tests and a reward/punishment system of behavior modification can be hazardous to your child’s educational development. That’s the belief of education reform activist Alfie Kohn, who will speak at MTSU’s inaugural Positive Behavior Support Conference for teachers only June 2. “Kohn is a sometimes controversial and often irreverent speaker, but he always challenges us to look beyond the façade to the important issues affecting children and the quality of their education today,” Dr. Connie A. Jones, chairwoman of the Department of Elementary and Special Education, says. Kohn’s four-hour workshop, titled “Beyond Bribes and Threats: Realistic Alternatives to Controlling Students’ Behavior,” will begin at 8 a.m. in Room 221 of the Learning Resources Center. Other education sessions will be held up to the event’s scheduled 3:30 p.m. conclusion. Teachers may learn more and register by contacting Linda Copciac at 615-898-2680 or at lcopciac@mtsu.edu.

GET IT WRITE!--Thanks to generous matching grants totaling $90,000, MTSU soon will embark upon its third annual Middle Tennessee Writing Project (MTWP), an on-campus writing institute for select teachers of kindergarten through college students, on June 4-29, and three Youth Writer’s Camp sessions, which are two-week intensive writing camps held Mondays through Thursdays for students from Rutherford and other local counties. Michael Shoulders, author of V is for Volunteer, a book about Tennessee, will be the guest author at all three youth camps. The MTWP is one of 185 sites of The National Writing Project, a federally funded program launched in 1974 by professors at the University of California at Berkeley. For more information about the MTWP, including the Youth Writer’s Camp, access its Web site online at http://www.mtsu.edu/~mtwp. For youth camp registration information, contact coordinator Marcy Pfleuger of Eagleville School by calling (615) 274-6320.

FIT FOR LIFE--MTSU faculty and staff will be heading back to work this summer—work on their bodies and their lives in the third incarnation of the MTSU Faculty-Staff Wellness Program slated for June 4 through August 17. Dr. Mark Anshel, health and human performance, says overweight or obese employees should participate and, if they already exercise, their strength and cardiovascular fitness and cholesterol numbers should still see some improvement. The 100 participants will undergo fitness and flood testing during the week of June 4. In addition, they will have individual 30-minute consultations with a registered dietitian and a life skills coach on examining the barriers to improving a healthy lifestyle and ways to address those barriers. Post-program testing is scheduled for the week of August 13. Contact Anshel at 615-898-2812 or manshel@mtsu.edu.

HOME ON THE ROAD--The Middle Tennessee Association of Realtors has donated $1,000 to the Habitat for Humanity Bike Challenge in sponsorship of MTSU student Chris Sterling. Chris will ride the northern route form New Haven, Conn., to Seattle, Wash., this summer. Claire Covic and Morgan Goepel, also from MTSU, will ride the southern route from New Haven to San Francisco, Calif. Each route is 4,000 miles long. Riders are slated to begin on both routes and a central route June 2. Each student is being asked to raise $4,000. “Every night, the riders will give presentations and answer questions in churches and community centers, trying to increase Habitat's visibility, stimulate the formation of new chapters, and encourage donations,” according to http://www.habitatbike.org/. Profiles of Chris, Claire, and Morgan are accessible at that Web site. For assistance in locating the students, contact the Office of News and Public Affairs at 615-898-2919.