Monday, October 20, 2008

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

A funny thing happened on the way to the forum

Candidates for the state House of Representatives and Senate in Tennessee will participate in a forum on higher education from noon to 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 22, in Cantrell Hall in MTSU’s Tom H. Jackson Building. This event is free and open to the public. “Since many of our students are first-time voters or have moved here from other parts of the state, they have never met the local candidates for state representative and senate,” says Dr. Jim Williams, director of MTSU’s Albert Gore Research Center and coordinator of the American Democracy Project, which sponsors the forum. There will be informal question-and-answer periods of 30 minutes before and 30 minutes after the forum for discussions on other topics. Media welcomed.

Contact Williams at 615-898-2632.
jhwillia@mtsu.edu

Who says you can’t have Heart?

“Who Says You Can’t Go Home?,” a duet by Jon Bon Jovi and Jennifer Nettles, has been played at Sarah Palin rallies. But Bon Jovi isn’t happy about it. Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart had the same reaction to the playing of Heart’s “Barracuda” when Palin was introduced at the Republican National Convention. But Ken Sanney, adjunct recording industry professor and licensed attorney, says McCain operatives might have erred in using “Barracuda,” even though they paid the licensing fee. “All of the media attention from the RNC’s use of their song has given them (Heart) the perfect platform to espouse their political beliefs and attempt to influence the election,” Sanney says. “I dare say that the RNC has given the members of Heart a much bigger platform from which to speak than they had before. More speech, not less speech, is the answer.”

Contact Sanney at 615-456-6502.
ksanney@mtsu.edu

Mind over matter

How can one explain the Large Hadron Collider in a few words? Dr. Preston MacDougall, chemistry, suggests we think about an old-fashioned TV set. He says, “In the case of the LHC, the particles being accelerated are protons—the much heavier and positively charged halves of normal hydrogen atoms. In your TV, the particles being accelerated are electrons—the other half of a hydrogen atom, much lighter and negatively charged. At the LHC, two proton beams will be accelerated to the speed of light and steered into each other with enormous electromagnets. Massive arrays of electronic eyes and heat sensors will be watching the millions of head-on collisions—each second!—hoping to shed light on our understanding of matter.”

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

TR EXTRA

RACE IN THE RACE--Dr. Sekou Franklin, assistant professor of political science, will discuss “Between Jesse Jackson and Barack Obama: Race Management, Electoral Populism and Presidential Politics” at 3 p.m. today, Oct. 20 in Room 106 of MTSU’s Paul W. Martin Sr. Honors Building. The presentation is the latest in the University Honors Lecture series titled “Politics and the Press: The Relationship Between Government and the Fourth Estate.” For more information, call the Honors College at 615-898-2152.

TALKING TURKEY--Dr. Ozkul Cobanoglu will present a lecture titled “Tradition and Transformation in Ottoman Folk Culture from 2:30 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. today, Oct. 20, in Room S260 of the Business and Aerospace Building at MTSU. Cobanoglu will talk to Dr. Sean Foley’s Survey of World Civilization II class about the social history of the Ottoman Empire between the 16th and 20th centuries. Cobanoglu is a full professor of Turkish and Comparative Folklore at Hacettepe University in Ankara, Turkey, and he is one of Turkey’s leading folklorists. His speech, which is sponsored by the Middle East Center, is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Dr. Allen Hibbard, director of the Middle East Center at 615-494-8809 or ahibbard@mtsu.edu.

THE KEY TO YOUR HEALTH--The June Anderson Women’s Center will present a Breast Cancer Keychain/Educational Awareness Workshop in observance of Breast Cancer Awareness Month from noon to 1:00 p.m. tomorrow, Oct. 21, in the Hazlewood Room of the James Union Building. Participants will assemble key chains to take home with them. The bead sizes on the key chains represent the various sizes of lumps found in mammograms and breast self-examinations. The key chains are offered by the Breast Health Initiative, a program of the Student Community Health Coalition at the Vanderbilt Center for Health Services in Nashville. The program is funded partially by the Minnie Pearl Cancer Foundation, the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center and the Tennessee Commission on National and Community Service. For more information, contact the Women’s Center at 615-898-2193 or jawc@mtsu.edu.

THE SHOT THAT HITS THE SPOT--With the cold and flu season fast approaching, MTSU Health Services will offer flu shots to the campus community at multiple locations on campus. This year, flu shots will be available from 8:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 22, in the conference room on the second floor of the Cope Administration Building; and from noon to 4 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 23, in Room 318 of the Keathley University Center. Only cash and checks will be accepted at these locations. From 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 21, Wednesday, Oct. 22, and Thursday, Oct. 23, shots will be available in the atrium of the Health, Wellness and Recreation Center. In the atrium, patients may pay by cash, check, Visa, MasterCard, RaiderFunds, or students may charge their shots to their MTSU accounts. The cost is $15 for students and $20 for faculty and staff. No appointment is required. For more information, contact MTSU Health Services at 615-898-2988.

NO NEED FOR THE TIM RUSSERT MEMORIAL DRY ERASE BOARD (FLORIDA! FLORIDA! FLORIDA!)—MTSU students will prepare and broadcast their own election night roundup live on MTTV, Channel 10, from 8 p.m. to 11 or possibly later, on Election Night, Tuesday, Nov. 4, depending on how close the tallies are. “It becomes more than just an organizational exercise, which is important,” says Dr. Bob Pondillo, who teaches “Electronic Media Production: Election Night News Coverage.” “However, it’s one thing to know how to make great television, but it’s quite another to know how to engage the community.” Although arrangements are subject to revision at a moment’s notice depending on the circumstances, the class is planning on three bases for live shots. The percentages in each race will be displayed at the bottom of the television screen through a black box Associated Press interface device. Contact Pondillo at 615-904-8465 or pondillo@mtsu.edu.

A WORD IS WORTH A THOUSAND PICTURES--“4 Women 4 Views with Text,” a new art exhibition in MTSU’s James E. Walker Library, features the creativity of three MTSU professors and an MTSU graduate in combining visual and verbal elements, treating visitors to an experience that is at once visceral and intellectual. The works of Assistant Professors Noel Lorson and Kim Dummons, Professor Janet Higgins and alumna Nance Cooley will remain on display through Thursday, Nov. 13, in the Special Collections area on the fourth floor of the library. Viewing is free and open to the public from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Susan Hanson, a specialist with the library, says the works on display are individual entities that emerged from the creative spark of the collaborative experience. “It starts with a word, and it begins to take on a life of its own,” Hanson says. Contact Hanson at 615-904-8503 or shanson@mtsu.edu.

THE GOSPEL TRUTH--Local gospel choirs who want to reach a wider audience are invited to try out for a role in a new independent movie, “The New, True Charlie Wu,” written and directed by Dr. Bob Pondillo, professor of electronic media communication at MTSU. Auditions are slated for today, Oct. 20, Wednesday, Oct. 22, and Friday, Oct. 24 from 6-10 p.m. each evening in Studio C on the first floor of the John Bragg Mass Communication Building. “”We’re looking for exciting, uptempo, soulful singers who can project a lot of energy,” Pondillo says. Pondillo is the creative force behind three independent award-winning short films, two of which were accepted at the internationally prestigious Cannes Film Festival in France. To make an appointment for an audition or for more information, contact Veronica Privett at 615-752-7024.

PROMOTE THE VOTE--MTSU students who want to participate in early voting in the 2008 election will be provided with free transportation to the Rutherford County Election Commission Office at One Public Square South in Murfreesboro via Raider Express on six different dates this month. “The American Democracy Project (ADP) registered nearly 1,000 MTSU students to vote in Rutherford County this fall, so now we are shifting our attention to education all our students about the candidates in this election and making sure that everyone who needs a ride to vote has one,” says Dr. Jim Williams, coordinator of the ADP. The schedule for the free rides, all of which embark from in front of the James Union Building, is online at www.mtsu.edu./~amerdem.For more information, contact Williams at 615-898-2632 or jhwillia@mtsu.edu.

MEDIA MANIA—“Give them information, and the people can govern themselves,” or so goes the Enlightenment cry that argues for a free, independent press. But does media practice distort the news that citizens need to make informed decisions? Dr. Bob Pondillo, electronic media communication, will examine that question in “News Media Conventions: Do They Harm American Democracy?,” a brown bag luncheon lecture, at noon today, Oct. 20, in Room 129 of the Gore Center conference room in MTSU’s Todd Building. This event is free and open to the public. It’s part of the continuing “Campus Conversations about American Democracy in the 2008 Election” series sponsored by the American Democracy Project. Contact Dr. Jim Williams at 615-898-2632 or jhwillia@mtsu.edu.