Friday, November 7, 2008

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

It’s Turner’s turn.

Dr. Jack Justin Turner, author of the newly released The Foxes and the Hounds, Volume One, Big Medicine River Days, will present a free and open reading from the novel at 6 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 10, at the MTSU Foundation house, 324 W. Thompson Lane in Murfreesboro.A political science professor at MTSU for 35 years, Turner is a native of Maytown, Ky. Called the “Kentucky Gone with the Wind” and “the great Kentucky novel,” The Foxes and the Hounds follows the lives of young people who set out to make their way through Kentucky during days of upheaval. A reception will be part of the Nov. 10 event, which will include a book signing. An interview with Turner about his book can be heard at http://frank.mtsu.edu/~proffice/podcast2008.html. Click on “October 26, 2008.”

To request an interview with Turner, contact Lisa L. Rollins in the Office of News and Public Affairs at 615-898-2919.
lrollins@mtsu.edu

Beyond the Verizon

Dr. Larry Burriss, journalism professor and First Amendment expert, is all for freedom of speech. However, he is fed up with people who let technological communications devices get in the way of face-to-face communication and common decency. “I ran a little experiment a while ago,” Burriss says. “I stopped answering my phone and waited for people to leave a message. Fewer than half did. That means that if I had picked up on the other calls, it probably would have been a waste of time. … At home, it’s like e-mail doesn’t exist. Anything can wait until the next morning … Technology is to serve us, not the other way around, and I’ll be hanged if I’m going to let someone use my e-mail and my cell phone number to run my life.”

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

Sign, sign, everywhere a sign.

Don’t put those political yard signs in the trash! Donate them to the Albert Gore Research Center at MTSU. The center collects political signs for exhibits and educational purposes. If you have regular-sized signs (two-feet square) for a candidate or election issue from this or previous elections and would like to make contributions, please drop them off at the Gore Center in Room 128 of the Todd Building on the MTSU campus. Signs should be in good condition. The center does not need the support posts. Unfortunately, the center does not have the staff to retrieve signs from your home or office. The center also collects bumper stickers, buttons, fans and other political memorabilia. Samples are on display in the hall outside the center.

For more information, contact Dr. Jim Williams, director of the Gore Center, at 615-898-2633.
jhwillia@mtsu.edu

TR EXTRA

TERRA FIRMA--Dr. William Canak, MTSU professor of sociology, will discuss the Tennessee Employment Relations Research Association (TERRA) at 7 a.m. this Sunday, Nov. 9, on “MTSU on the Record” with host Gina Logue on WMOT-FM (89.5 or wmot.org). TERRA is slated to hold its 11th annual conference Nov. 19-21 at the Lakeside Club and Wingo Inn at Arnold Air Force Base in Tullahoma. A chapter of the Labor and Employment Relations Association, TERRA encourages labor relations practitioners and academics to share their knowledge about industrial relations and human resources for the betterment of both the workplace and the community. Contact Logue at 615-898-5081 or WMOT-FM at 615-898-2800.

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.

GET YOUR KICKS ON ROUTE 66.--Noted photographer Tom Mallonee’s exhibit, “Evidence of Passing: Vanishing Points along an American Road,” opened recently and will be displayed until Dec. 4 in the Baldwin Photographic Gallery in MTSU’s McWherter Learning Resources Center. Tom Jimison, electronic media communication professor and gallery director, says Mallonee “has pursued large-format black-and-white work since 1979 and often has chosen subjects which stray from conventional notions of western landscape, yet still embrace decisive composition and meticulous printing techniques such as this 14-year project of bypassed sections of Route 66.” Exhibitions are free and open to the public. The gallery is open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, from noon to 4 p.m. on Saturdays and from 6 p.m. to 9:45 p.m. on Sundays. The gallery will be closed Nov. 27-29. For information, call 615-898-2085.

FOLLOW THE SUN—Dr. Eric Klumpe, physics and astronomy, will talk about “The Solar Cycle” in the First Friday Star Party at 6:30 p.m. tonight, Nov. 7, in Room 102 of MTSU’s Wiser-Patten Science Building. Outdoor telescope viewing will follow the lecture if weather permits. This event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Klumpe at 615-898-2483 or Dr. Charles Higgins at 615-898-2483.