Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Let your conscience be your guide.

Some of the black elected officials in the Democratic Party who supported Hillary Clinton during the primary season are being vilified in certain circles for not supporting Barack Obama from the outset. Dr. Sekou Franklin, political science, says, “The most troubling thing I’ve seen about this election is that many African-American leaders—(Ohio Congresswoman) Stephanie Tubbs Jones (who died in August), (Texas Congresswoman) Sheila Jackson Lee—who have been long-time advocates of favorable social policies for marginalized African-Americans –when they decided to support Hillary Clinton, they were lambasted. They were challenged. Their race authenticity was brought into question. They were called Uncle Toms. They were called sellouts.” Franklin says they should not have been targeted, and such tactics could reduce healthy debate in the black community about the best strategies to pursue.

Contact Franklin at 615-904-8232.
franklin@mtsu.edu

Active cultures

MTSU student Steve Sibley recently toured a yogurt factory in Bangladesh as part of his continuing education about how Nobel Prize-winner Muhammad Yunus is trying to lift his people out of poverty. The factory is a social business, a partnership between Danone, a French company, and Yunus’ Grameen Bank. Sibley writes, “By definition, a social business exists not to maximize shareholder wealth but to solve specific social problems. The Grameen-Danone partnership was created to address the malnutrition of the poor children in the rural villages of Bangladesh. The business was conceived to produce vitamin-and mineral-fortified yogurt, which is sold at cost to the villagers. Grameen and Danone, after a period of time, are to recoup their initial investments but take no profit.”

Sibley is the recipient of the Kawahito Scholarship for Experiential World Poverty Studies. To learn more, call Dr. Kiyoshi Kawahito at 615-898-5751.
kawahito@mtsu.edu

People pot pies

MTSU Opera, under the musical direction of Dr. Raphael Bundage, MTSU choral and opera coordinator, will present three performances of the Stephen Sondheim stage musical, Sweeney Todd, at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 30, and Friday, Oct. 31, and again at 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 1, in the Hinton Music Hall of the Wright Music Building. In addition to the three main performances, a matinee will be performed Friday, Oct. 31, for several local school groups. “I couldn’t think of a more appropriate time to mount such a production as over the Halloween weekend,” Bundage says. The title character, Sweeney Todd, is the “Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” a vengeful man who tries to murder as many people as he can. Together with his accomplice, Mrs. Lovett, they successfully sell the victims in meat pies.

General admission is $10 per person. Tickets also will be available at the door. For more information, call Tim Musselman at 615-898-2493.
tmusselm@mtsu.edu

TR EXTRA

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.

DEMOGRAPHIC DEBATE--Dr. Jason Reineke, journalism, will present “Age, Gender, Race and Religion in the 2008 Presidential Election and How These Factors Are Covered in the Media” at a brown bag lecture from noon to 1 p.m. today, Oct. 28, in Room 129 (Gore Center conference room) of the Todd Building. This event, which is free and open to the public, is organized and hosted by the MTSU School of Journalism with the support of the American Democracy Project. For more information, contact Dr. Jim Williams at 615-898-2633 or jhwilllia@mtsu.edu.

ABSOLUTELY THE LAST PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE--Americans for Informed Democracy will host “Student Debate 2008” from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. tomorrow, Oct. 29, in front of MTSU’s Keathley University Center. It’s a structured debate between supporters of Barack Obama and John McCain about relevant issues and opinions. For more information, contact Catherine Broemel at crb3f@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.

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 615-898-2633 or jhwillia@mtsu.edu.