Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

The remains of the day

The scientific director of the Joint POW-MIA Accounting Command-Central Identification Lab (JPAC-CIL) will speak at 7 p.m. tonight, Oct. 15, in the State Farm Lecture Hall of MTSU’s Business and Aerospace Building. Dr. Thomas Holland will present “The Recovery of the U.S. War Dead” as part of the William Bass Lectureship Series. JPAC-CIL has helped identify remains from the 1983 Marine barracks bombing in Beirut, a 1987 missile attack on the U.S.S. Stark in the Persian Gulf, and the Sept. 11, 2001 crash of an airplane into the Pentagon. This event is free and open to the public and is sponsored by MTSU’s Forensic Institute for Research and Education and the Distinguished Lectures Committee.

Contact Dr. Hugh Berryman at 615-494-7713.
mailto:615-494-7713.berryman@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, which begin tomorrow, Oct. 16, at 7:30 a.m., in front of the James Union Building, is online at www.mtsu.edu./~amerdem.

For more information, contact Williams at 615-898-2632.
mailto:615-898-2632.jhwillia@mtsu.edu

Every breath you take

If the lack of substantive information coming from political candidates frustrates you, take into consideration that technology has made the environment in which they operate more transparent than at any previous time. The candidates are so guarded, in part, because they never know who is taping their remarks at any given moment. Beverly Keel, director of the John Seigenthaler Chair for Excellence in First Amendment Studies, says, “Politicians are learning what celebrities have already discovered—nothing can be kept secret anymore. Just as fans with cell phones and video cameras are ready to capture Beyonce when she falls onstage or Michael Richards when he launches into a racist tirade at a comedy club, politicians cannot assume they are off duty anymore.”

Contact Keel at 615-898-5150.
mailto:615-898-5150.bkeel@mtsu.edu

TR EXTRA

THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE BALLOT BOX--Dr. Jane Marcellus, journalism, will present “With Liberty and Justice for Whom?” today, Oct. 15, from noon to 1 p.m. in MTSU’s Gore Center conference room (Room 129 of the Todd Building). Marcellus will look at the 1920 ratification of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote. Tennessee was the 36th state to ratify the amendment, and both the Nashville Tennessean and the Nashville Banner worked to influence the outcome of the vote. This is the latest of the “Campus Conversations about American Democracy in the 2008 Election,” a continuing series of brown bag luncheon discussions led by professors in the College of Mass Communication. For more information, go to http://frank.mtsu.edu/~amerdem/conversation.pdf.

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 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. tomorrow, Oct. 16, at the June Anderson Women’s Center, which is Room 206 in the James Union Building; 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.

PUTTING IT TOGETHER--“Pulled Resources,” a sculptural collaborative by artists Dan DeZarn and Thomas H. Sturgill, is on display now through Friday, Oct. 17, at MTSU’s Todd Gallery. The artists have a shared interest in exploring the concerns of contemporary human culture. In the past, they have focused on material usage, commodity, nature and people, and how those ideas intersect, says Eric V. Snyder, gallery curator. “They quickly found that they could construct impressively large, labor-intensive projects in relatively short periods of time and with fairly modest budgets,” Snyder says. Located on the first floor of MTSU’s Todd Building, the Todd Gallery is open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays and closed on all state holidays. Admission is free. Exhibits are open to the public. Contact Snyder at 615-898-5653 or esnyder@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 Monday, 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.