Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Selling your dwelling

The housing market in Tennessee might be reaching a turning point. An analysis from the MTSU Business and Economic Research Center states, “Figures from the second quarter offer additional evidence that this is indeed the case. For example, single-family permits rose 7.3 percent from the first quarter, the second consecutive quarterly increase. … Multi-family permits continued to decline, however, but total permits (single-family plus multi-family) broke even with the first quarter. Tennessee’s single-family permit growth outdistanced that of the South (2.0 percent gain) and the United States (3.3 percent increase). Total permits for Tennessee are unchanged from the previous quarter, compared with a 1.7 percent decline for the South and a drop of 2.1 percent for the United States.”

Contact the Business and Economic Research Center at 615-898-2610.

Don’t take the brown acid.

Today marks the 40th anniversary of the final day of the Woodstock Music and Art Fair, the freedom festival that came to characterize the counterculture of the 1960s. Dr. Larry Burriss, journalism, says, “Today most members of Woodstock Nation are more than half a century old, and most of us look back with mixed feelings at the summer of peace and love. It was filled with controversy (the war in Vietnam), a sense of promise (that walk on the moon) and a thrill of hope (Woodstock itself). But now the bongs have disappeared as coffee table accessories, the embroidered gauze shirts and tie-dyed tees are in the back of the closet and the psychedelic posters are fetching high prices on eBay. But we can still sing along with Crosby, Stills and Nash, even if they are playing at a nearby casino instead of Yasgur’s farm, and we can still look back with fondness at the innocence and promise of that not-so-long ago era.”

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

How sweet it ain’t!

The sweetness index of aspartame is 160, which means that a mixture of aspartame and water will taste 160 times sweeter than an equally concentrated mixture of sugar and water. However, not everyone can consume aspartame, which is known by the brand name Nutrasweet. Dr. Preston MacDougall, chemistry, says, “Digestion of the tiny amounts of aspartame that are in diet soft drinks produces harmless amounts of methanol, but it also produces the phenylalanine it was made from. This can cause health problems for people who have the genetic disorder called phenylketonuria, or PKU. Inherited in a recessive fashion, affected people lack the enzyme needed to break this amino acid down to smaller molecules.”

Contact MacDougall at 615-898-5265.
pmacdoug@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 http://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.

FOOTBALL FESTIVITIES--The MTSU Rutherford County Alumni Chapter’s annual Pigskin Pre-Game will be held on Saturday, Aug. 29, to kickoff the football season. The event will be held at Marymont Mansion in Marymont Springs, 1140 Rucker Lane in Murfreesboro. “Last year, almost 500 people attended Pigskin and we were able to raise almost $10,000 toward the scholarship fund,” says Paul Wydra, assistant director in the Office of Alumni Relations. Tickets for the event, which will run from 6:30 to 10:30 p.m., will be $35. Attendees must pre-pay and reply by Wednesday, Aug. 26, to secure their tickets. The ticket price includes food, entertainment by Danny Lowe, beverages, door prizes and more. On-site parking will be available. Call 1-800-533-6878 for more information.