Friday, February 26, 2010

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

G-L-O-R-I-A

Feminist author and activist Gloria Steinem will be the guest at 8 a.m. this Sunday, Feb. 28, on “MTSU on the Record” with host Gina Logue on WMOT-FM (89.5 and wmot.org). Steinem is scheduled to deliver the keynote address for MTSU’s celebration of National Women’s History Month at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 2, in the Tennessee Room of the James Union Building. Steinem, co-founder of Ms. magazine, also helped to found the Women’s Action Alliance, a national organization dedicated to nonsexist, multiracial children’s education, and the National Women’s Political Caucus, a group that strives to increase the numbers of pro-equality women in elected and appointed offices at all levels of government. A 1956 Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Smith College, Steinem is collaborating with her alma mater’s Sophia Smith Collection on a project to document the grass roots origins of the U.S. women’s movement.

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

A warm welcome

Of all of the misunderstandings about the Middle East, one that remains thorny is the belief that Americans traveling there inevitably face hostility. Dr. Allen Hibbard, English professor and director of the Middle East Center, says, “Certainly, events of the past decade make it more difficult to travel in the region—psychologically, at least. Certain boundaries and borders have become more difficult to cross. The last time I went to Syria I was asked a hundred times, ‘Aren’t you afraid of going?’ I was asked so many times that I began to wonder, ‘Should I be afraid?” The collective cultural fears in our own culture began to affect me. Once I was on the ground, however, I felt at home and was reminded of what I consider to be one of the greatest values of the region: hospitality. It is engrained into the fabric of the culture and is genuine.”

Contact Hibbard at 615-494-7906.
ahibbard@mtsu.edu

The gang’s all here.

The Forensic Institute for Research and Education (FIRE) and the Tennessee Gang Investigators Association will present the 2010 Youth Gang Organized Crime Symposium March 11-13 in MTSU’s Business and Aerospace Building. This symposium will examine contemporary gang issues involving (and distinguishing) youth and adult gang members. The subject matter will be of interest to law enforcement, business and education professionals and community leaders. The training is being provided free to attendees with scholarship support from the U.S. Department of Justice. Scheduled topics include “The Impact of Youth Gangs on Our Communities,” Ethnic Youth Gangs in the Community: How Are They Different?,” “Not Just Sex, Drugs and Firepower—The Anatomy of a Gang;” and “Hispanic Gang Identification and Officer Safety Issues.” The deadline for registration is Thursday, March 4.

Go to http://mtsufire.ning.com for more information. To register, go to http://cte.mtsu.edu/gangs/new.htm.

TR EXTRA

HAPPY HISTORY DAY!--MTSU’s College of Liberal Arts and Department of History will co-sponsor the annual Middle Tennessee District History Day Competition on the MTSU campus today, Feb. 26. The daylong event is one of four district competitions in Tennessee that lead to a statewide competition in April and culminate in a national competition each June at the University of Maryland in College Park. This year’s event is expected to attract more than 200 middle- and high-school participants from as many as 30 area counties. Judging will be conducted from 10 a.m.-noon in the James Union Building (JUB), the Keathley University Center (KUC) and the Tom Jackson Building’s Cantrell Hall with a 2:30 p.m. awards ceremony for students in the KUC Theater. Exhibits will be open to the public for viewing in the JUB until 1 p.m. Media welcomed. Contact Dr. Rebecca Conard at 615-898-2423 or rconard@mtsu.edu.

HELP FOR HAITI--“Restoration Haiti,” an informational benefit concert planned and performed by MTSU students to help the victims of the Jan. 12 earthquake, will be held at 7 p.m. tomorrow, Feb. 27, at MTSU’s Wright Music Hall. Admission is $10 for non-students and $5 for students with all proceeds going to the American Red Cross. In addition, MTSU student Ertha Luma, a Haitian native, will share photographs and stories of catastrophic conditions in the Caribbean nation. As of Feb. 11, the official death toll stood at 230,000. Some one million Haitians have been rendered homeless by the quake. Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive estimates it will take 10 years to rebuild his country. The concert is the brainchild of MTSU junior Jasmine Pratt, a 20-year-old English major from Atlanta, Ga. For more information, contact the Office of Leadership and Service at 615-898-5812 or contact Pratt at princess.jasmine213@gmail.com.

MAKING A FASHION STATEMENT--MTSU’s Eta Kappa Chapter of the Gamma Sigma Sigma national service sorority will present its second annual Prom Dress Collection Drive from through tomorrow, Feb. 27. Drop off your prom dresses at Holiday Cleaners, 911 Memorial Blvd. in Murfreesboro, for distribution in March to high school junior and senior girls in Rutherford and Williamson counties who are on the free/reduced lunch program. Dresses must be from 2002 to the present, must be dry-cleaned and on hangers, and must be prom dresses, formal gowns or fancy party dresses. Garments that were purchased before 2002 or have not been dry-cleaned, wedding dresses, casual or semiformal clothing and tuxedoes are unacceptable. To make an appointment for dropping off a dress, or to make a monetary donation, contact Claressa Johnson at 615-427-1816 or claressa0467@hotmail.com.

LEARNING FROM THE LANDSCAPE--MTSU history students produced the exhibit “Listening to the Landscape: The Stories of Stones River National Battlefield,” which is on display at Linebaugh Public Library, 105 W. Vine St. in Murfreesboro, through March 9th. The exhibit highlights the changes that occurred on the battlefield landscape prior to the Civil War through the present. One of the four exhibit panels highlights the African-American community known as “Cemetery.” It formed around Stones River National Cemetery after the Civil War. Linebaugh also will feature books that are related to the exhibit. “Listening to the Landscape” is sponsored by Eastern National, the Public History Program at MTSU, the Tennessee Civil War National Heritage Area and Stones River National Battlefield. Contact the Tennessee Civil War National Heritage Area office at 615-898-2947 or the MTSU Department of History at 615-898-2536.

SOMEDAY YOUR PRINTS WILL COME.--The Todd Hall Art Gallery will present “PRINTS: Through the Collector’s Eyes,” an exhibition that brings together a wide variety of original prints, through Sunday, March 4. Among the works that will be displayed are wood engravings, etchings, lithographs and screen prints, all of which are primarily from area collectors. “Included are prints from the 17th to the 21st centuries with work by famous artists as well as those who are less known,” says Christie Nuell, exhibit curator and MTSU art professor. The gallery is open 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Thursday and 9 a.m.-noon on Fridays. Call Eric Snyder, gallery curator, at 615-898-5653 or esnyder@mtsu.edu.

HOME IS WHERE THE VOLUNTEERS ARE.--MTSU students are building a second Habitat for Humanity home for a Rutherford County resident. Building dates will include Wednesdays, Fridays and some Saturdays. There will be two shifts per day—in the morning from 8:30 a.m. to noon and in the afternoon from noon until 4 p.m. The home dedication is tentatively scheduled for Thursday, March 25. The Office of Leadership and Service is rounding up volunteers from student organizations for this humanitarian effort. The future resident’s family also will be helping to build their home, and Central Middle School and Jason’s Deli are pitching in. Media welcomed. Good photo opportunities throughout the construction process. For more information, contact Jackie Victory at 615-898-5812 or mtleader@mtsu.edu.