Thursday, August 13, 2009

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

No greater Love

Greghri Love’s mother was a prostitute. His father was a convict. Both parents were addicted to drugs. With Greghri’s father in prison, the boy’s stand-in father was his mother’s pimp. After Greghri was shuttled off to foster care, his testimony sent his mother to prison. In spite of all this, Greghri earned college degrees in art education and special education. He became a teacher and an advocate for child abuse awareness. MTSU alumnus Greghri Love will tell his story to Gina Logue at 7 a.m. this Sunday, August 16, on “MTSU On the Record” on WMOT-FM (89.5 and wmot.org). Greghri Love is the author of There is an Urgency, the compelling, yet often horrifying chronicle of the physical and sexual abuse he endured throughout his childhood and his ordeal to overcome its impact on his psyche so that others could benefit from the lessons of his struggle.

Contact Logue at 615-898-5081 or WMOT-FM at 615-898-2800.

Central Kast-ing

Lt. Col. Tharrel “T.K.” Kast is the newest professor of military science at MTSU. The Pensacola, Fla., native is the former operations officer in the 1st Theater Sustainment Command at Fort Bragg, N.C. On Aug. 7, Kast presided at the department’s commissioning ceremony, one of his first official acts on the job. He told those attending that under his leadership, he hopes to keep MTSU’s ROTC program among the nation’s elite and continue the string of general officers from the MTSU cadet corps. “These are the future Army leaders,” Kast says. ”We have cadets here who will be in the National Guard, Reserve and active duty. With my past experience in all three components, I think I can talk to these guys and tell them where they’re at.”

Contact the Department of Military Science at 615-898-2470.

Let freedom tweet

Iran tried to shut off social networking sites during violent government crackdowns on demonstrators in June, but messages got through to the rest of the world and were uploaded onto the Internet through cell phones. Twitter became a news source. Dr. Larry Burriss, journalism, says, “One of my favorite philosophers and media pundits, Princess Leia Organa, once said, ‘The more you tighten your grip, the more they will slip through your fingers.’ In the past, it was fairly easy to literally cut communications lines, take over radio stations, and stop newspaper presses. But the Internet and the myriad of social networking sites are now making such control impossible. And, what may perhaps be even more important, when governments try to implement such measures, it simply generates more and more news.”

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

TR EXTRA

SOLID AS A ROCK BLOK—Registration is open now for this fall’s Rock Blok workshop at MTSU. Young musicians ages 10-17 can learn music, make friends and form a band at the workshop, which is slated to begin September 5th. “When a student signs up, he or she is assigned to a band with other students,” says Ryan York, executive leader of Youth Empowerment through Arts and Humanities (YEAH!) and workshop leader. “Each band has two professional musicians as volunteer teachers. The students then spend two hours each Saturday learning music, working up a set list, making merchandise for their band, recording an album and writing music.” At the conclusion of the workshop, the bands will perform in concert. The fee is $40 a month ($120 total). For more information, go to www.YEAHintheBoro.org, send an e-mail to info@YEAHintheBoro.org, or call 615-849-8140.

PRESSING ON--The legacy of MTSU’s working replica of an 18th century printing press will be explained through photos and prints as part of an exhibit at the main branch of the Nashville Public Library, 615 Church St., through Sept. 27. The exhibit is titled “Telling the Story: Letterpress Printing and Community.” The university’s segment will include the story of letterpress printing at MTSU. The works of current MTSU art students; alumni; visiting artists; faculty; elementary, middle- and high-school teachers and students who printed on the James E. Walker Library’s unique device will be highlighted. A reproduction of the English common press used by Benjamin Franklin in the early 1700s, the printing press was handcrafted in 2004 and 2005 out of chestnut and white oak wood from a 100-year-old house in Virginia. Contact Kristen Keene at 615-898-5376 or kkeene@mtsu.edu.