Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Eye of the Tiger

Tiger Woods ran away with the BMW Championship on Sunday, besting second-place Jim Furyk and Marc Leishman by eight shots. Yet, Woods will conclude this year’s PGA season without winning at least one major tournament. What happens in the mind of a champion who so devastatingly dominates his sport when he enters a stretch when he is no longer dependably immortal, but merely brilliant? Dr. Mark Anshel, health and human performance, says, “An athlete like Tiger Woods performs at such a high level that it is impossible to maintain that same level of performance over time. The human organism is not perfect and must adapt to highs and lows, successes and failures. At the same time, competitive sport includes an opponent, and sometimes the high quality of performance by a competitor supercedes the performance level of any athlete, including a persistently successful and elite athlete like Tiger Woods.”

Contact Anshel at 615-898-2812.
manshel@mtsu.edu

Get the picture?

“Relics,” an exhibit by Brad Temkin, is on display at the Baldwin Photographic Gallery in MTSU’s Learning Resources Center (LRC) through Oct. 22. Temkin says of his work, “My approach builds on the sculptural foundation that integrates the object and the landscape. Remnants of humanity are abandoned amidst vast, empty and anonymous landscapes. These forms exude an energy that transcends originating intention, becoming beautiful and monumental ‘earth works’ in their own right.” Temkin will lecture on his work at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 21, in Room 221 of the LRC with a reception to follow in the gallery. Exhibitions are free and open to the public.

For more information, contact Tom Jimison at 615-898-2085.
tjimison@mtsu.edu

Fast forward past the commercials

"Advertisements are now so numerous that they are very negligently perused, and it is therefore become necessary to gain attention by magnificence of promises and by eloquence sometimes sublime and sometimes pathetic," opined Samuel Johnson in 1759. Has anything really changed? Are ads any less cheesy than they were when Speedy Alka-Seltzer promised us fast relief? Dr. Don Roy, management and marketing, says, “I agree to a certain extent with Samuel Johnson. There is some really bad creative work being called advertising today. But there are good and bad books, good and bad paintings, and good/bad works in virtually all art forms. The demise in advertising quality may be debatable, but the demise of advertising as a communication form is greatly exaggerated.”

Contact Roy at 615-904-8564.
droy@mtsu.edu

TR EXTRA

FREE TO BE YOU AND ME--MTSU’s Constitution Day celebration kicks off at 10:20 a.m. today, Sept. 16, with “Free Speech on University Campuses: The State of Play,” a lecture by Vanderbilt professor Bruce Barry in the Keathley University Center (KUC) Theater. At 11:30 a.m., Gene Policinski, vice president and executive director of the First Amendment Center, will present results from the center’s annual survey of American attitudes and opinions on First Amendment issues in the KUC Theater. “Freedom Sings,” a critically acclaimed multimedia experience featuring an all-star cast of musicians and an “only in America” story line, will be presented at 2:20 p.m. in Tucker Theatre. The event, which includes hit songwriters and Grammy Award-winning artists, features music that has been banned, censored, or has sounded a call for social change. All three of these events are free, open to the public and presented by the John Seigenthaler Chair in First Amendment Studies. More events are slated for Thursday and Friday. For a detailed schedule, visit www.mtsu.edu/masscom/events.shtml and click on the Seigenthaler Chair “scheduled events” link. Visit www.mtsu.edu/~amerdem for the American Democracy Project info.

DOWN ON THE FARM-MTSU’s School of Agribusiness and Agriscience is hosting a field day starting at 4 p.m. tomorrow, Sept. 17, on the new Agricultural Laboratory Farm at 3301 Guy James Road. “The primary focus this year will be on home gardens and innovative nursery ideas, but there will also be updates on haylage production and use by beef cattle,” says Dr. Warren Gill, director for the school. Other topics will be presented, including a report on the Switchgrass, Bluestem, Indiangrass and wildlife plots being done in partnership with the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture Extension Service. Students will present displays, guide tours and be involved in every aspect of the program. Dr. Jessica Carter, associate professor, will conduct a live animal demonstration with cattle from the MTSU angus herd. The event is free and open to the public. Contact Gill at 615-898-2404 or wgill@mtsu.edu.

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 Sunday, 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.

ART FROM THE HEART--The Todd Art Gallery at MTSU will present the art department’s 2009 biennial Faculty Art Exhibition through tomorrow, Sept. 17. “This exhibit will feature works of art by faculty members as a way to introduce their work to art majors, the broader campus population and the community,” says Eric Snyder, gallery curator, who adds that the artworks represented will vary in media and styles—from representational, abstract and non-objective to traditional media in a straightforward manner and mixed media with a “twist.” The gallery, which is located in the Todd Building on the MTSU campus, is open from 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. each Monday-Friday and is closed on state and university holidays. Admission is always free. Contact Snyder at 615-898-5653 or esnyder@mtsu.edu.