Thursday, July 5, 2007

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Inside the criminal mind

What kind of intervention works with criminals? Dr. Gloria Hamilton, psychology, says structured programs that are behaviorally-based and that target “criminal thinking” are most effective. Consider the criminal who says “don’t make me shoot you,” for example. Hamilton says, “Your attempting to resist is going to force them, in their way of thinking, to shoot you. Criminal cognitions are a different way of looking at things.” Hamilton also cites as examples of criminal thinking rapists who justify their actions by saying things like “I made her day,” “She asked for it,” or “She said no, but she really meant yes.” Hamilton says some other characteristics of the most effective programs are the employment of residential placements and a minimum of 300 hours over 26 weeks.

Contact Hamilton at 615-898-5745.
ghamilto@mtsu.edu

Watch and listen, you little whippersnapper!

A British retiree named Peter Oakley has become one of the most popular stars on YouTube. His video postings, usually just of himself talking about his life and times and encouraging the younger folks not to write off the elderly, are under the screen name "geriatric1927." His first posting has been accessed more than 2.5 million times! Is it surprising that this 90-year-old has become a rock star with the viral video set? Dr. Janet Belsky, psychology, says, “In so many places in our nation, disabled older people are totally missing in action (Although they do appear in cities, you never see them in places where the main mode of transportation is the car.). So the Internet has incredible potential to bring home the message to young YouTube users: yes, you do get old; and yes, older people do have incredibly valuable things to say.”

Contact Belsky at 615-898-5935.
jbelsky@mtsu.edu

Creative kids

Generation for Creation (GFC), a nonprofit visual and performing arts program founded in 2001, is based in Murfreesboro and housed in the local Boys and Girls Club facility. GFC’s founder, Monica Johnson, is a 1996 MTSU graduate with a B.S. in psychology and minors in speech and theatre and biology. Johnson says she created GFC to help talented children reach their artistic dreams with encouragement and positive motivation. GFC’s annual Children’s Benefit Talent Show, featuring children in the categories of art, dance, drama, music and modeling, will get underway at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, July 28, at MTSU’s Tucker Theatre. Miss USA 2000, Columbia native Lynette Cole, will host the event.

Tickets are $10 each with discounts available for groups. For more information, call GFC at 615-890-7116. To request interviews with Johnson or with child participants, contact Lisa L. Rollins in the Office of News and Public Affairs at 615-898-2919.

TR EXTRA

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.

ROCK, ROLL, AND RECORD—It’s that time again! Registration runs through July 13 for the latest recording workshop for children ages 12-17 at MTSU. The workshop will be conducted by MTSU student Ryan York in the John Bragg Mass Communication Building July 19-Aug. 12. 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.

TRUE GRITS--Openings remain for the Girls Raised in Tennessee Science in-service teachers’ workshop, which will be held from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m. Monday, July 9, in the SunTrust Room of the MTSU Business and Aerospace Building. The free workshop for teachers in grades 6-12 will “address the need of encouraging and motivating adolescent girls to seek further education and careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields,” said Karen Claud, assistant director of the grant-funded program that goes by the acronym of GRITS. The conference will be sponsored by a College of Continuing Education and Distance Learning public service grant. The College of Basic and Applied Sciences will provide lunch. To register or attend, contact Claud at 615-504-8587, or e-mail her at kclaud@mtsu.edu.