Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

And the music goes round and round and it comes out here.

Martin Fisher, manager of recorded media collections at MTSU’s Center for Popular Music, will put his special talents with wax cylinders on display again this week at the 22nd annual International Folk Alliance Conference in Memphis. Steve Ramm of the Michigan Antique Phonograph Society says, “Using a large recording horn attached to an Edison spring-powered phonograph, Martin makes a recording which lasts two minutes. That was the limit of the wax blanks. He then transfers the recording to digital files and then processes the files to clean them up. He also records the session using an electric microphone. He then compiles all the recordings on two CDs. One is the electrical recording, and the other is the acoustic wax recording. All those who are recorded get both CDs of ALL the performances of all the artists. Martin preserves the cylinders.”

Contact Fisher at 615-898-2449.
wmfisher@mtsu.edu

Responsibility—what’s your policy?

Author and educator Hilde Hein will speak on “The Responsibility of Representation” at 3:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 19, in Room 304 of MTSU’s James Union Building as part of the Department of Philosophy’s annual Applied Philosophy Lyceum. This event is free and open to the public and will be followed by a question-and-answer session. Hein will discuss the ethics of museum representation, the role museums play in constituting the objects they seek to exhibit and the possible consequences of this role for the educational value of museums. Hein has served as curator for numerous exhibitions and has written several books on museum theory and practice. Her current project seeks to reassess the basic teaching of western philosophy in the U.S. in light of feminist theory and practice.

Contact the Department of Philosophy at 615-898-2907.

If his ringtone is “Your Cheatin’ Heart,” watch out!

Twenty percent of teenage students use their cell phones to search for test answers on the Internet, according to a survey by Common Sense Media. Fifty-eight percent warn friends about a pop quiz with a phone call or text message. Laura Sosh-Lightsy, assistant dean of student life, is concerned with academic integrity as part of her job at MTSU. She says instructors should have specific policies on cell phones in the classroom. “I also think it is important to have clear and precise language in the syllabus prohibiting cheating in any form,” says Sosh-Lightsy. “It is important to talk to students early in the semester about your expectations AND your knowledge. I talk about the various ways that students use their cell phones to cheat so that they understand that I know what is possible.”

Contact Sosh-Lightsy at 615-898-2750.
llightsy@mtsu.edu

TR EXTRA

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. on Saturday, 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.

WHERE YOU LEAD, I WILL FOLLOW--Do you have a mentor? Do you know how mentors can make a difference in your life? The Office of Intercultural and Diversity Affairs and INROADS are sponsoring a mentorship panel for students at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 25, in the Hazlewood Dining Room of the James Union Building. Food will be provided. RSVP BY THURSDAY, FEB. 18, to vavent@mtsu.edu or lsankey@inroads.org.

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 Saturday, 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.