Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

TODAY’S RESPONSE WILL BE ON SPRING BREAK WEDNESDAY, MARCH 10, THROUGH FRIDAY, MARCH 12. TODAY’S RESPONSE WILL RETURN MONDAY, MARCH 15.

Wait until Winnie the Pooh hears about this!

The MTSU Farm Labs and Dairy Science Club are sponsoring an eight-week beginning course in beekeeping starting Friday, March 19. Classes will meet Friday evenings from 6-8 p.m. in Room 106 of the MTSU Horticulture Center. Two early meetings will be required to install bees during daylight hours. You’ll learn the essentials to understand and practice successful beekeeping and honey marketing from instructors Ed Holcomb and Joe Dement. Class size is limited to 25, so early registration is advised. The registration fee is $350, which covers books and materials to construct your own hive, the bees to start your colony and all equipment to practice beekeeping safely. To register, provide your name, address, phone number, e-mail and registration fee (cash or check) to MTSU Dairy Science Club, Attn: Tim Redd, MTSU Box 5, Murfreesboro, Tenn., 37132.

Contact Redd at 615-898-2431.
tredd@mtsu.edu

Braces are for teeth, not for brains.

What is the best way to empower the next generation of thinkers? Dr. Phil Oliver, philosophy, says, “I’m always climbing up on my soapbox to rail about the reprehensible mental and emotional crippling of children through religious-ideological indoctrination. … Let’s give kids the tools they need to break out of unreflective conformism and watch what happens. The rippling effects of a relatively few enlightened parents, nurturers and educators taking the simple initiative of speaking honestly and plainly on this subject in public, in schools and in our homes could be astonishing and game-changing. Why don’t we try it and find out?” Oliver notes that a student told him of being led by a youth minister to draw images of himself in Hell at age 10. “If I learned that any adult had attempted to implant such horrific ideas in my daughters’ minds, at that or any age, I’m very sure ‘abuse’ would be one of the mildest epithets to come immediately to mind,” he says.

Contact Oliver at 615-898-2050.
poliver@mtsu.edu

God bless the child that’s got his own.

A study by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation finds that 53 percent of African-American households and 43 percent of Hispanic households use check cashers, payday lenders or pawnbrokers rather than banks. Dr. Jacqui Wade, social work, says, “Issues of language and other social barriers are probably afoot, which suggests that FDIC may want to conduct some social research to gain better insight on the plight of the poor in terms of the financial inequities in society.” Wade observes that, unlike banks, the businesses poor blacks and Hispanics use “make themselves so ‘available’—e.g., early and late opening hours, etc. The banks, of course, are mostly on a 9-4 opening time frame, which often does not accommodate the working poor!”

Contact Wade at 615-898-2477.
jewade@mtsu.edu

TR EXTRA

THE KURDISH CONDITION--Norman “Rick” Denny, Cmdr., U.S.N. (Ret.), will speak on the topic “Iraqi Kurds: Awaiting the Third American Stab in the Back” at 4 p.m. Tuesday, March 16, in Room 123 of the Cason-Kennedy Nursing Building at MTSU. This forum, sponsored by the MTSU Department of Political Science, is free and open to the public. Denny is a retired naval intelligence officer with more than 30 years of experience in the Middle East. He retired from his position as a civilian analyst with the Defense Intelligence Agency effective Jan. 2, 2010. For much of the last few years, Denny has worked as a Northern Iraq analyst serving in Baghdad and Kirkuk. Denny holds master’s degrees in public administration from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville and in military arts and science from the Army Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, Kan. Contact the Department of Political Science at 615-898-2708. For a color jpeg of Denny, contact Gina Logue in the Office of News and Public Affairs at 615-898-5081 or gklogue@mtsu.edu.

BOUND BY BOOKS--What better place to display new and innovative books than the James E. Walker Library? The MTSU facility is providing a showcase for student-created books sure to spark conversation and ignite the imagination now through Thursday, April 1, in the Special Collections area on the fourth floor. This is the second annual juried show featuring the work of MTSU’s Book Arts students. The Department of Art’s Book Arts Program offers classes in which students learn bookbinding techniques using both traditional and nontraditional forms and materials. Student works on display in Special Collections reflect individual creativity in expressing tributes to family or personal or humorous stories. Materials used include graphite, ribbon, rice paper, string, linen, cardstock, acetate, canvas, India ink, lithographs and leaves. The Special Collections area is open 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday. For more information, call 615-904-8501. For photos of the student art, contact Gina Logue in the Office of News and Public Affairs at 615-898-5081 or gklogue@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.” Go to http://mtsufire.ning.com for more information. To register, go to http://cte.mtsu.edu/gangs/new.htm.

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 today, 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.

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.