Monday, May 5, 2008

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

The Occidental tourist

On a recent trip to Japan, Dr. Larry Burriss, journalism professor, discovered that the Japanese and American cultures are not as far apart as you might think, and the media have a lot to do with that. “Western popular music is strong in Japan, along with jazz and blues,” Burriss says. “There are also many Japanese songs sung to the accompaniment of Western musical instruments.” On a visit to a karaoke bar, Burriss says, “Patrons sang American standards and rock-and-roll hits in front of a video screen projecting images from American movies that had absolutely no connection to the song. Try to visualize a young Japanese businessman singing the 1977 Barbra Streisand hit ‘My Heart Belongs to Me’ in front of a scene from the 1993 hit movie ‘Jurassic Park.’ To Western eyes, the juxtaposition just doesn’t work, but no one seemed to mind.”

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

What’s the attraction?

There’s more to magnetism than those doo-hickeys that fasten your child’s artwork to the refrigerator door. Refrigerator magnets rely on paramagnetism, a form of magnetism that results in the attraction of atoms or molecules towards any magnetic field. Dr. Preston MacDougall, chemistry, says, “…paramagnetism can also save memories of business conventions in Las Vegas as password-protected jpeg files in your computer’s hard drive. That’s because the materials that are used to store bits of information in hard drives contain billions of isolated magnetic domains that have a high density of strongly paramagnetic atoms within each domain. Originally, the same iron-containing compounds that were used in cassette tapes were also used in both hard and floppy drives in computers. But other elements, such as cobalt, in exotic chemical combinations are currently being used in ever smaller devices that hold more and more memories.”

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

Bringing it up to par

The National Advisory Board for the Scholars Academy at MTSU presents the first annual Diversity and Multicultural Golf Outing on Wednesday, May 28, at Gaylord Springs Golf Course in Nashville. Founded in 2005, the Scholars Academy was developed to support bright and talented college students who may be underachieving. The Academy generally serves minority and other underserved students who benefit from a culturally rich learning environment. Throughout their collegiate careers, students are mentored and their development enhanced in the following areas: academics, psychological, social, bio-physical, and careers. All students remain in the program until college graduation.

For sponsorship, golfer packages, or more information, contact Jerry M. Whitmore, Jr., in the Office of Institutional Diversity at 615-898-5975.
whitmore@mtsu.edu

TR EXTRA

THE PAPER CHASE—The James E. Walker Library and the MTSU Department of Art are joining forces again this year to raise student awareness of paper usage through an imaginative project that will be on display in the waning days of the spring semester. The “Paper Rewind” project will remain in place through Wednesday, May 7. While students are studying for final exams and preparing research papers, they will be surrounded by paper animals, trees and people created by Professor Thomas Sturgill’s 3D design classes. In fact, students might find themselves sitting next to a paper person or look up to see a paper person sailing a paper airplane off the fourth floor balcony. “Students are printing 6,500,000 copies a year from computer printers, and this art project is intended to raise awareness on the part of the students to conserve natural resources and think before they print,” says Bill Black, library professor in charge of administrative services. Contact Black at 615-898-8378 or wblack@mtsu.edu; contact Sturgill at 615-898-2460 or sturgill@mtsu.edu. For more information, go to http://www.paperrewind.com.

WOOF!—The See Spot Run 5K Run/Walk, a fun event for people and their dogs to support the MTSU Habitat Blitz Build and Rutherford County Habitat for Humanity will take place at 8 a.m. on Saturday, May 10, at MTSU. Registration will begin at 6:30 a.m. at Peck Hall. The entry fee is $25. The first 200 participants will get T-shirts, and the top age group finishers will get awards. To register, go to http://www.active.com/event_detail.cfm?event_id=1489959. For more information, contact the Office of Leadership and Service at 615-898-5812, or send an e-mail to Meagan Flippin at camporgs@mtsu.edu.

WHERE YOU LEAD, I WILL FOLLOW--The June Anderson Women’s Center will present its final Career and Professional Development Brown Bag lecture of the semester at noon tomorrow, May 6, in the Hazlewood Dining Room of the James Union Building. Meagan Flippin and Leslie Merritt will discuss “The Leadership Challenge.” The event is free and open to the campus community and the public. Take a brown bag lunch and join the discussion! For more information, contact the Women’s Center at 615-898-2193.