Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Better fantasy, better ads, Papa John’s!

Fantasy football leagues aren’t just marketing tools for the usual suspects such as the NFL and ESPN. To mark the start of the new season, Papa John’s Pizza is inviting fans to register to win a fantasy football draft party with food delivered by former NFL star Cris Carter. Another Papa John’s contest in which fantasy league commissioners will register their leagues to be judged and rated offers a grand prize of a trip to the real 2011 NFL Draft. Dr. Don Roy, management and marketing, says, “Marketing opportunities can be relatively easy to spot in a sense; after all, it is not a stretch to see the connection between eating pizza and watching football. The challenge is developing creative tactics that allow a brand to take advantage of the connection. In this case, if Papa John’s only bought advertising on a fantasy football game site, it would be missing an opportunity to make more meaningful connections with fantasy football players.”

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

We can be heroes just for one day.

How much mileage can Presidents of the United States get out of recognizing ordinary citizens as heroes in speeches? Dr. John Vile, dean of the University Honors College and Constitutional law scholar, says it depends on the skillfulness of the particular chief executive. “It is not surprising that a president like (Ronald) Reagan, who was generally good at communicating, used the mechanism much more effectively than a president, like George H.W. Bush, who generally was not,” says Vile. “The effectiveness of the practice is influenced by many factors, including, but not limited to the appropriateness of the honoree or honorees in the context of the time, the perceived sincerity and skill of the president utilizing the practice, and the reaction of the individuals being recognized.”

Contact Vile at 615-898-2596.
jvile@mtsu.edu

Giving them the business

Dr. Jim Burton, dean of MTSU’s Jennings A. Jones College of Business, has attained the status of “Certified Director” from the John E. Anderson School of Management at the University of California at Los Angeles. The designation represents a higher level of endorsement that entitles him to sit on corporate boards of directors and participate in the corporate governance of major companies throughout the nation. “There are a number of schools of business in the country that offer training programs for directors,” Burton says, “but this is the only one that I’m aware of that has any sort of certification process at the end of it.”

Contact Tom Tozer in the MTSU Office of News and Public Affairs at 615-898-2919.

TR EXTRA

THE WRITE STUFF--The Margaret H. Ordoubadian University Writing Center will hold an Open House from 2-5 p.m. tomorrow, Sept. 1, at its new location in Room 362 of MTSU’s James E. Walker Library. A cross-curriculum tutoring service, the UWC offers writing help to any student on any writing project. Our staff of graduate and undergraduate peer tutors works with students individually and in groups to recognize patterns of weaknesses and determine long-term strategies for writing improvement. For more information, call the UWC at 615-904-8237 or visit the website at www.mtsu.edu/uwc.

IF YOU YEARN TO LEARN—“Adventures in Learning,” the annual mini-school for adults age 50 and above, will take place from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Sept. 13, Sept. 20, Sept. 27 and Oct. 4 at First United Methodist Church, 265 W. Thompson Lane in Murfreesboro. The purpose of the event, which is planned by an interfaith coalition, is to provide a program by and for older adults in which they can shore knowledge, talents and skills for lifelong learning and personal growth. As usual, retired and active MTSU faculty will play prominent roles in the event. A highlight will be “Mount and Mountain,” a dialogue between Dr. Rami Shapiro, adjunct professor of religious studies and an ordained rabbi, and Dr. Michael A. Smith, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Murfreesboro. This class will be based on online conversations Shapiro and Smith conducted about the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount. To register, or for more information, contact Mary Belle Ginanni at 615-895-6072.

THE LUNATIC IS ON THE GRASS.--“Us and Them,” a Pink Floyd tribute band, will perform Pink Floyd’s most commercially successful and best-selling album, “Dark Side of the Moon,” at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 4, at The Blue Rooster on the public square in Murfreesboro. The performance is part of a benefit for Autism Speaks, a nonprofit organization. MTSU Department of Recording Industry professors Dale Brown, Bill Crabtree and Cosette Collier and Computer Information Systems professor Amy Hennington are members of the band. Recording Industry professor John Merchant will be the sound engineer. There will be no cover charge for the benefit event, but donations for Autism Speaks will be appreciated. Contact Brown at 615-898-2454 or djbrown@mtsu.edu or Steve Holeman at 615-995-6013 or steve@steveholeman.com.

A BREAK IN THE ACTION--MTSU will be closed Monday, Sept. 6, for the Labor Day holiday. No classes will be held and all offices will be closed. Classes will resume at their regularly scheduled times Tuesday, Sept. 8. All offices will be open from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.

Monday, August 30, 2010

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Selling the dwelling?

Home prices in Tennessee remained in a downward slump in the first quarter, according to Tennessee Housing Market, a publication of MTSU’s Business and Economic Research Center. “Average home prices, including sales and refinanced mortgages, fell 4.8 percent over the year for Tennessee, less than the U.S. average decline of 6.8 percent,” TCM states. “Clarksville, Chattanooga and Knoxville experienced declines substantially lower than the state average, while Nashville’s decline was about the same as the state. Larger declines occurred in Memphis and the nonmetro portions of the state. Price declines lower than the state average occurred in Johnson City (-1.1 percent) and Kingsport-Bristol (-2.7 percent).”

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

Oh, Canada!

Our neighbor to the north is the focus of an Advance Studies in Comparative Politics Course being taught this semester by Dr. Amanda DiPaolo, assistant professor of political science at MTSU. “The Politics of Canada” provides an overview of the major political institutions of the Canadian regime. Students will examine the Canadian Constitution, the concept of Canadian federalism, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, political parties and the electoral system, and Canadian foreign policy, as well as concepts such as regionalism and the place of Quebec within Canada. No prior knowledge of Canada is required, but this course will be a challenging intellectual experience. Attendance will be mandatory, as will active participation in class discussions.

Contact DiPaolo at 615-898-2708.
dipaolo@mtsu.edu

Malaysia, Truly Asia

Dr. Sean Foley, assistant professor of history at MTSU, will embark in mid-September on a 10-month research excursion in Southeast Asia after winning the third Fulbright Fellowship of his career. Foley will work and study primarily in Malaysia, where he will examine religious links between Southeast Asia and the Arab-dominated Middle East region under the auspices of International Islamic University Malaysia in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur. In addition, Foley’s study and lecture itinerary will take him to India, Thailand and Brunei, an experience he will chronicle with periodic columns in The Tennessean.

Go to www.seanfoley.org for more information about Foley’s work.
Contact Foley at sfoley@mtsu.edu.

TR EXTRA

IF YOU YEARN TO LEARN—“Adventures in Learning,” the annual mini-school for adults age 50 and above, will take place from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Sept. 13, Sept. 20, Sept. 27 and Oct. 4 at First United Methodist Church, 265 W. Thompson Lane in Murfreesboro. The purpose of the event, which is planned by an interfaith coalition, is to provide a program by and for older adults in which they can shore knowledge, talents and skills for lifelong learning and personal growth. As usual, retired and active MTSU faculty will play prominent roles in the event. A highlight will be “Mount and Mountain,” a dialogue between Dr. Rami Shapiro, adjunct professor of religious studies and an ordained rabbi, and Dr. Michael A. Smith, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Murfreesboro. This class will be based on online conversations Shapiro and Smith conducted about the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount. To register, or for more information, contact Mary Belle Ginanni at 615-895-6072.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Buy now or bye-bye.

The home buyers’ federal tax credit sent Tennesseans rushing to take advantage in the second quarter. Home sales rose in Nashville, Memphis and Knoxville, according to Tennessee Housing Market, a publication of MTSU’s Business and Economic Research Center. It states, “The pattern of sales during the past three quarters resembles a sawtooth as buyers react to the tax credit. On balance, second quarter sales in Memphis reverted to about the same level as in the fourth quarter of 2009. The second quarter bounce for Knoxville was somewhat lower. Inventories fell somewhat in Nashville and Memphis but rose in Knoxville.”

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

Getting back into the swing of things

Now that Tiger Woods’ divorce is final, and his ex-wife is telling her side of the story in People magazine, how should he move forward? His golf game clearly has suffered since last year’s Thanksgiving Day incident, and he needs a good performance to merit being chosen for this year’s USA Ryder Cup team. Realizing that hindsight is 20/20, Dr. Mark Anshel, health and human performances, says, “Instead of hiding out, I would have confessed very quickly to infidelity, received personal and family therapy and moved back to golf rather quickly.” That said, Anshel adds, “He may also want to find some spiritual way of coping with recent life events, as was the case with so many other well-known individuals whose integrity was publically compromised, and, finally, to surround himself with people he trusts and will not allow him to repeat mistakes.”

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

You can’t make me! Nyah!

Employees grouse about noncompete contracts, and they have varying lay opinions about the pacts’ enforceability. Drs. Patrick Geho and Stephen Lewis write in Proceedings of the Academy of Entrepreneurship, “With the lack of a uniform federal statute concerning noncompete agreements in general, states have crafted legislation of their own. Some states look at noncompete agreements as creating an undue restraint of trade and, therefore, against public policy. Other states consider noncompete agreements enforceable in relation to a condition of employment and where limited in scope, typically referring to time and geography language in the agreement.”

Contact Geho at 615-898-2745 or pgeho@mtsu.edu.
Contact Lewis at 615-898-2902 or slewis@mtsu.edu.

TR EXTRA

IF YOU YEARN TO LEARN—“Adventures in Learning,” the annual mini-school for adults age 50 and above, will take place from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Sept. 13, Sept. 20, Sept. 27 and Oct. 4 at First United Methodist Church, 265 W. Thompson Lane in Murfreesboro. The purpose of the event, which is planned by an interfaith coalition, is to provide a program by and for older adults in which they can shore knowledge, talents and skills for lifelong learning and personal growth. As usual, retired and active MTSU faculty will play prominent roles in the event. A highlight will be “Mount and Mountain,” a dialogue between Dr. Rami Shapiro, adjunct professor of religious studies and an ordained rabbi, and Dr. Michael A. Smith, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Murfreesboro. This class will be based on online conversations Shapiro and Smith conducted about the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount. To register, or for more information, contact Mary Belle Ginanni at 615-895-6072.

“A HEALTHY STATE ENCOURAGES MANY VOICES—AND LOTS OF LISTENING.”—HHS SECRETARY KATHLEEN SEBELIUS--Expressions of confidence, faith, defiance, togetherness, satire and sobriety characterize the second edition of Voices We Haven’t Heard, a publication of MTSU’s June Anderson Center for Women and Nontraditional Students. The latest Voices is larger than last year’s edition, and it includes feminist poetry and prose nestled between glossy, colorful covers. Center Director Terri Johnson says the magazine empowers students by providing them with a creative outlet for their observations on racism, sexism, classism, homophobia and other forms of oppression. Voices We Haven’t Heard is free and available from the June Anderson Center in its new home, Room 320 of the Keathley University Center. For more information, call 615-898-5989 or go to www.mtsu.edu/jac.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Metro matters

The five percent increase in sales tax collections in the Nashville Metropolitan Statistical Area over last June are consistent with job gains in retail and wholesale trade, says Dr. David Penn, director of MTSU’s Business and Economic Research Area. Penn presented the latest economic indicators for the Nashville MSA to the Nashville Apartment Association on Aug. 17. He says May was cool as housing construction declined. Single-family housing permits are down from a year ago, reflecting the whipsaw of the home buyers’ tax credit. How the activity will go in the absence of the tax credit is uncertain. In addition, the unemployment rate is down more than a point since January. However, the labor force is 12,000 lower than when it was at its peak in Oct. 2008.

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

Great review!

The Princeton Review recently placed MTSU in the “Best of the Southeast” section of its website feature “2011 Best Colleges Region by Region.” The education-services company asked students to rate their schools based on the accessibility of professors, the quality of food and campus life in general. The company’s staff also based the evaluation on the quality of academic programs and observations during visits to campus over the years. Collectively, the 623 colleges named “regional best” constitute about 25 percent of the nation’s 2,500 four-year colleges. MTSU also won the honor in 2008. Forbes magazine ranked MTSU as the number one public institution in Tennessee, as well as one of the Top 50 higher-education “Best Buys” in the nation and one of the top 100 U.S. public universities, in its 2009 “America’s Best Colleges” listing.

Contact the Office of News and Public Affairs at 615-898-2919.

You gotta believe.

Irony of ironies, an e-mailer with an attitude recently accused Dr. Rami Shapiro, adjunct professor of religious studies and an ordained rabbi, of being a “nonbeliever.” Shapiro replies, in part, “A nonbeliever is simply a person who doesn’t believe as you believe. There is no absolute standard for belief or nonbelief, and labels such as ‘believer’ and ‘nonbeliever’ are relative to the particular standard held by the person doing the labeling. The only value such labeling has is to make the person doing the labeling feel a bit more secure in her position. It is totally self-serving and without any objective truth value whatsoever. The whole thing saddens me. I would like to retire the words ‘believer’ and ‘nonbeliever’ in favor of ‘different believer.’”

Read Shapiro’s blog at http://rabbirami.blogspot.com/.

TR EXTRA

IF YOU YEARN TO LEARN—“Adventures in Learning,” the annual mini-school for adults age 50 and above, will take place from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Sept. 13, Sept. 20, Sept. 27 and Oct. 4 at First United Methodist Church, 265 W. Thompson Lane in Murfreesboro. The purpose of the event, which is planned by an interfaith coalition, is to provide a program by and for older adults in which they can shore knowledge, talents and skills for lifelong learning and personal growth. As usual, retired and active MTSU faculty will play prominent roles in the event. A highlight will be “Mount and Mountain,” a dialogue between Dr. Rami Shapiro, adjunct professor of religious studies and an ordained rabbi, and Dr. Michael A. Smith, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Murfreesboro. This class will be based on online conversations Shapiro and Smith conducted about the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount. To register, or for more information, contact Mary Belle Ginanni at 615-895-6072.

“A HEALTHY STATE ENCOURAGES MANY VOICES—AND LOTS OF LISTENING.”—HHS SECRETARY KATHLEEN SEBELIUS--Expressions of confidence, faith, defiance, togetherness, satire and sobriety characterize the second edition of Voices We Haven’t Heard, a publication of MTSU’s June Anderson Center for Women and Nontraditional Students. The latest Voices is larger than last year’s edition, and it includes feminist poetry and prose nestled between glossy, colorful covers. Center Director Terri Johnson says the magazine empowers students by providing them with a creative outlet for their observations on racism, sexism, classism, homophobia and other forms of oppression. Voices We Haven’t Heard is free and available from the June Anderson Center in its new home, Room 320 of the Keathley University Center. For more information, call 615-898-5989 or go to www.mtsu.edu/jac.

I’M PLAYING WITH MY BOOKS, MOMMY.--“Books and Children in the 19th Century: A Small Portrait” is the theme of an exhibit on display now and throughout this summer in the fourth floor Special Collections area of MTSU’s James E. Walker Library. The purpose is to show the variety of ways children and the adults around them engaged with books in the 1800s and early 1900s. The works available for viewing are indicative of the children’s book as an object of moral and educational value. The idea behind the books is to teach values and build character. Entertainment techniques are employed strictly to attract the children and hold their interest. Highlights include several movable books, which are books that contain text or illustrations that the child can manipulate. Pop-up books are one such type of movable book. Many items in the display have never been exhibited previously. Call the James E. Walker Library at 615-898-2772.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

The numbers game

Dr. David Penn, director of MTSU’s Business and Economic Research Area, presented the latest economic indicators for the Nashville Metropolitan Statistical Area to the Nashville Apartment Association on Aug. 17. Penn stated that nonfarm employment is nearly level over the year, down 0.4 percent in June from last June. Retail trade, wholesale trade, temporary employment and health care sectors are up. Manufacturing, construction, information and financial activities are down. Total employment is higher over the year, up 1.3 percent from last June and up 12,000 since January after seasonal adjustments. Sales tax collections are up five percent from last June. Penn says households are beginning to buy again.

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

Their native tongue

In the shadow of the largest Kurdish community in the nation, MTSU will become one of a mere handful of American universities offering Kurdish language courses in the fall 2010 semester. “The reason we think we can do it here when other places can’t is because we have the support of the Kurdish community,” says Dr. Kari Neely, assistant professor of foreign languages and a member of the working group that helped devise the classes. Estimates of the number of Kurds living in Nashville range from 11,000 to 14,000 people. Kovan Murat, senior political science major and co-founder of the Kurdish Students Association (KSA), says they arrived in three waves—in the 1960s, in 1992 after the infamous poison gas attacks staged by Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq, and from 1995-1998 with the help of nongovernmental organizations.

Contact Neely at 615-898-2981.
ksneely@mtsu.edu

Memories are made of this.

Studies show that our memories often don’t get the details right. But Dr. Larry Burriss, journalism, says perfect recall isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, either. He notes, “Everyone has a camera phone that can take both still and motion pictures. Those images are then stored away pretty much forever and are, in a manner of speaking, set in cement. Those images will become our memories. They will document almost every aspect of our lives, but do we really want that much certainty? Personally, I like my memories the way they are. At some level, I know things weren’t quite like I remember them today. … But, in a few years, all of these new photographs, the documentation, may rob us of some of our humanity by creating an indelible, unchangeable image of the way things were.”

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

TR EXTRA

OUR VINES HAVE TENDER GRAPES--Students from the MTSU College of Agribusiness and Agriscience, including students from the Plant and Soil Science Club, will press 200 pounds of grapes at 2 p.m. today, Aug. 23, at the at the Tennessee State Veterans Home, 345 Compton Road in Murfreesboro. The red, seeded grapes were grown in the university’s experimental vineyard on the north end of the Rutherford County Extension Office property at the corner of Gresham Lane and John Rice Boulevard. The vineyard was made possible by a 2005 agreement establishing it as the only joint Tennessee Board of Regents/University of Tennessee system experimental agricultural venture. Dr. Tony Johnston, associate professor of food science and agribusiness and enology consultant, says the students will use a small table-top press that can accommodate two gallons of fruit. The residents of the veterans’ home will use the juice to make jelly. Media welcomed. For more information, contact Johnston at 615-556-1495 or johnston@mtsu.edu.

IF YOU YEARN TO LEARN—“Adventures in Learning,” the annual mini-school for adults age 50 and above, will take place from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Sept. 13, Sept. 20, Sept. 27 and Oct. 4 at First United Methodist Church, 265 W. Thompson Lane in Murfreesboro. The purpose of the event, which is planned by an interfaith coalition, is to provide a program by and for older adults in which they can shore knowledge, talents and skills for lifelong learning and personal growth. As usual, retired and active MTSU faculty will play prominent roles in the event. A highlight will be “Mount and Mountain,” a dialogue between Dr. Rami Shapiro, adjunct professor of religious studies and an ordained rabbi, and Dr. Michael A. Smith, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Murfreesboro. This class will be based on online conversations Shapiro and Smith conducted about the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount. To register, or for more information, contact Mary Belle Ginanni at 615-895-6072.

“A HEALTHY STATE ENCOURAGES MANY VOICES—AND LOTS OF LISTENING.”—HHS SECRETARY KATHLEEN SEBELIUS--Expressions of confidence, faith, defiance, togetherness, satire and sobriety characterize the second edition of Voices We Haven’t Heard, a publication of MTSU’s June Anderson Center for Women and Nontraditional Students. The latest Voices is larger than last year’s edition, and it includes feminist poetry and prose nestled between glossy, colorful covers. Center Director Terri Johnson says the magazine empowers students by providing them with a creative outlet for their observations on racism, sexism, classism, homophobia and other forms of oppression. Voices We Haven’t Heard is free and available from the June Anderson Center in its new home, Room 320 of the Keathley University Center. For more information, call 615-898-5989 or go to www.mtsu.edu/jac.

I’M PLAYING WITH MY BOOKS, MOMMY.--“Books and Children in the 19th Century: A Small Portrait” is the theme of an exhibit on display now and throughout this summer in the fourth floor Special Collections area of MTSU’s James E. Walker Library. The purpose is to show the variety of ways children and the adults around them engaged with books in the 1800s and early 1900s. The works available for viewing are indicative of the children’s book as an object of moral and educational value. The idea behind the books is to teach values and build character. Entertainment techniques are employed strictly to attract the children and hold their interest. Highlights include several movable books, which are books that contain text or illustrations that the child can manipulate. Pop-up books are one such type of movable book. Many items in the display have never been exhibited previously. Call the James E. Walker Library at 615-898-2772.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

EDITORS: Be advised that beginning this week, Today’s Response will be issued on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday only. As usual, Today’s Response will not be issued on official university holidays.

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

The wolf is knocking at the door.

Past due mortgages continued to rise in Tennessee in the first quarter. According to Tennessee Housing Market, “Past due mortgages rose to 10.8 percent in Tennessee from 10.5 percent in the previous quarter. Tennessee typically experiences a higher past due rate than the U.S. average; this continues to be the case, but the United States is gradually catching up with Tennessee, as past due mortgages reached 10 percent during the first quarter. The number of new foreclosures started during the quarter is nearly one percent of all mortgages, not much different from the average of the past four quarters and somewhat lower than the U.S. average. The big difference is that Tennessee continues to experience a much lower inventory of foreclosures, 2.41 percent in foreclosure in Tennessee during the first quarter compared with 4.63 percent for the United States.”

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

Car tunes

The extent to which Tennessee’s economy depends on motor vehicle manufacturing cannot be understated. According to an analysis presented to the Tennessee Gas Association in June by Dr. David Penn, director of MTSU’s Business and Economic Research Center, Tennessee had 40,000 jobs in transportation equipment manufacturing as of 2008, including vehicles and aircraft. Thirty-two thousand of these jobs were in auto parts manufacturing. Some supply Nissan, but many supply manufacturing plants in other states. Penn’s analysis stated that auto manufacturing was doing better and that manufacturing employment in Tennessee has stabilized, but is not much different from last fall.

Contact Penn at 615-904-8571.
dpenn@mtsu.edu

Media mutilation

Some newspaper readers have complained lately that photographs from Afghanistan showing mutilated women are too graphic to be printed. Dr. Larry Burriss, journalism, agrees that many of the pictures are disturbing. However, he says the fact that the mutilations took place is even more disturbing. “What these letter writers need to understand is that the media do not create tragic events throughout the world,” says Burriss. “In fact, if anything, the media routinely under-report tragic events. Ask yourself, for example, whatever happened to the millions of starving Rwandans we heard so much about a few years ago? Or whatever happened with the genocide in Darfur? Are all of those problems solved? I don’t think so.”

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

TR EXTRA

IF YOU YEARN TO LEARN—“Adventures in Learning,” the annual mini-school for adults age 50 and above, will take place from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Sept. 13, Sept. 20, Sept. 27 and Oct. 4 at First United Methodist Church, 265 W. Thompson Lane in Murfreesboro. The purpose of the event, which is planned by an interfaith coalition, is to provide a program by and for older adults in which they can shore knowledge, talents and skills for lifelong learning and personal growth. As usual, retired and active MTSU faculty will play prominent roles in the event. A highlight will be “Mount and Mountain,” a dialogue between Dr. Rami Shapiro, adjunct professor of religious studies and an ordained rabbi, and Dr. Michael A. Smith, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Murfreesboro. This class will be based on online conversations Shapiro and Smith conducted about the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount. To register, or for more information, contact Mary Belle Ginanni at 615-895-6072.

“A HEALTHY STATE ENCOURAGES MANY VOICES—AND LOTS OF LISTENING.”—HHS SECRETARY KATHLEEN SEBELIUS--Expressions of confidence, faith, defiance, togetherness, satire and sobriety characterize the second edition of Voices We Haven’t Heard, a publication of MTSU’s June Anderson Center for Women and Nontraditional Students. The latest Voices is larger than last year’s edition, and it includes feminist poetry and prose nestled between glossy, colorful covers. Center Director Terri Johnson says the magazine empowers students by providing them with a creative outlet for their observations on racism, sexism, classism, homophobia and other forms of oppression. Voices We Haven’t Heard is free and available from the June Anderson Center in its new home, Room 320 of the Keathley University Center. For more information, call 615-898-5989 or go to www.mtsu.edu/jac.

I’M PLAYING WITH MY BOOKS, MOMMY.--“Books and Children in the 19th Century: A Small Portrait” is the theme of an exhibit on display now and throughout this summer in the fourth floor Special Collections area of MTSU’s James E. Walker Library. The purpose is to show the variety of ways children and the adults around them engaged with books in the 1800s and early 1900s. The works available for viewing are indicative of the children’s book as an object of moral and educational value. The idea behind the books is to teach values and build character. Entertainment techniques are employed strictly to attract the children and hold their interest. Highlights include several movable books, which are books that contain text or illustrations that the child can manipulate. Pop-up books are one such type of movable book. Many items in the display have never been exhibited previously. Call the James E. Walker Library at 615-898-2772.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Second quarter qualms

Looking at the second quarter of 2010, the recovery continues to be sluggish. In the latest edition of Tennessee Housing Market, Dr. David Penn writes, “The recovery inched along during the second quarter, producing job growth but not at a pace that will reduce the unemployment rate to a reasonable level anytime soon. While employment improved, the housing market did not, as the expiration of the home buyers’ tax credit caused home sales and construction to wither. It remains to be seen whether the housing market can achieve stable growth without help from policymakers. Tennessee job growth accelerated somewhat during the second quarter with nonfarm employment rising by 17,000 from the first quarter after seasonable adjustments.”

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

The high price of free speech

Deborah Andrews, an employee at a state psychiatric hospital in Connecticut, claimed she was punished for reporting unsafe working conditions. Christopher Aubrecht, a Pennsylvania state trooper, claimed he was retaliated against when he reported that his supervisor told him he must issue a certain number of tickets each month, a violation of state law. Both employees lost their court cases. David Hudson, adjunct political science professor and First Amendment Center scholar, says, “It has become much more difficult for plaintiffs’ attorneys to mount effective First Amendment lawsuits based on any speech that relates to the workplace. … It is indeed depressing that many public employees have no First Amendment right to complain or speak out against corruption, illegality or unsafe working conditions.”

Contact Hudson at 615-727-1342.
dhudson@fac.org

The way it was ain’t the way it is.

The next time you watch a television news anchor, consider how much that person’s role has changed in the first few years of the 21st century alone. Dr. Bob Pondillo, electronic media communication, writes in the Encyclopedia of American Journalism, “News anchors are no longer idealized journalists, reporters steeped in the hardscrabble newspaper tradition that spoke truth to power and gave voice to the disenfranchised. They are instead TV celebrities, archetypes of the status quo, corporate faces used to attract advertisers and promote network news ‘products,’ such as high revenue-producing morning television and prime time ‘news magazine’ programs.”

Contact Pondillo at 615-904-8465.
pondillo@mtsu.edu

TR EXTRA

IF YOU YEARN TO LEARN—“Adventures in Learning,” the annual mini-school for adults age 50 and above, will take place from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Sept. 13, Sept. 20, Sept. 27 and Oct. 4 at First United Methodist Church, 265 W. Thompson Lane in Murfreesboro. The purpose of the event, which is planned by an interfaith coalition, is to provide a program by and for older adults in which they can shore knowledge, talents and skills for lifelong learning and personal growth. As usual, retired and active MTSU faculty will play prominent roles in the event. A highlight will be “Mount and Mountain,” a dialogue between Dr. Rami Shapiro, adjunct professor of religious studies and an ordained rabbi, and Dr. Michael A. Smith, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Murfreesboro. This class will be based on online conversations Shapiro and Smith conducted about the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount. To register or for more information, contact Mary Belle Ginanni at 615-895-6072.

“A HEALTHY STATE ENCOURAGES MANY VOICES—AND LOTS OF LISTENING.”—HHS SECRETARY KATHLEEN SEBELIUS--Expressions of confidence, faith, defiance, togetherness, satire and sobriety characterize the second edition of Voices We Haven’t Heard, a publication of MTSU’s June Anderson Center for Women and Nontraditional Students. The latest Voices is larger than last year’s edition, and it includes feminist poetry and prose nestled between glossy, colorful covers. Center Director Terri Johnson says the magazine empowers students by providing them with a creative outlet for their observations on racism, sexism, classism, homophobia and other forms of oppression. Voices We Haven’t Heard is free and available from the June Anderson Center in its new home, Room 320 of the Keathley University Center. For more information, call 615-898-5989 or go to www.mtsu.edu/jac.

I’M PLAYING WITH MY BOOKS, MOMMY.--“Books and Children in the 19th Century: A Small Portrait” is the theme of an exhibit on display now and throughout this summer in the fourth floor Special Collections area of MTSU’s James E. Walker Library. The purpose is to show the variety of ways children and the adults around them engaged with books in the 1800s and early 1900s. The works available for viewing are indicative of the children’s book as an object of moral and educational value. The idea behind the books is to teach values and build character. Entertainment techniques are employed strictly to attract the children and hold their interest. Highlights include several movable books, which are books that contain text or illustrations that the child can manipulate. Pop-up books are one such type of movable book. Many items in the display have never been exhibited previously. Call the James E. Walker Library at 615-898-2772.

Monday, August 16, 2010

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Grousing over housing

After five quarters of growth, home construction declined during the second quarter in Tennessee. According to the latest edition of Tennessee Housing Market, a publication of MTSU’s Business and Economic Research Center, “The decline was undoubtedly due to the expiration of the new home buyer’s tax credit. Single-family permits dropped from 13,600 to 12,700 for the second quarter, a 6.4 percent decrease. However, permits still are considerably higher over the year, up 14 percent from the second quarter of 2009. By comparison, construction activity dropped much more in the South (-13.2 percent) and the United States (-14.7 percent) from the first quarter. The South and the United States also produced a much smaller over-the-year increase in single-family permits as compared with Tennessee.”

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

“If everybody was satisfied with himself, there would be no heroes.”—Mark Twain

It’s not unusual for presidents to refer to specific Americans as heroes in their speeches. Sometimes it’s helpful for the presidents to try to bask in the citizen heroes’ glory. However, the practice is not without pitfalls. Dr. John Vile, dean of the University Honors College and former chair of the Department of Political Science, writes, “When presidents honor living individuals, they cannot always be sure how they will react or subsequently behave. Although at its best the public might perceive such a gesture as magnanimous, George H.W. Bush discovered that it can be particularly dicey to recognize, and thus give a potential platform to, individuals who represent rival political views. Individuals, especially young people, who presidents honor may embarrass the president or nation by later being discovered in dishonorable behavior.”

Contact Vile at 615-898-2596.
jvile@mtsu.edu

Cussing the caucus?

Do African-Americans feel a connection with the Congressional Black Caucus? Dr. Sekou Franklin, political science, and co-authors Richard Seltzer and John Davis, write, “While a cohort in the black community feels close to the CBC and view it as useful for articulating policy preferences, especially when compared to white congressional leaders, some blacks feel detached from the Black Caucus. … Surprisingly, we found very little differences across socioeconomic lines and among those involved in and alienated from the political process. The most significant variables that were able to connect the black electorate to the CBC were political ideology and party allegiance.”

Contact Franklin at 615-904-8232.
franklin@mtsu.edu

TR EXTRA

“A HEALTHY STATE ENCOURAGES MANY VOICES—AND LOTS OF LISTENING.”—HHS SECRETARY KATHLEEN SEBELIUS--Expressions of confidence, faith, defiance, togetherness, satire and sobriety characterize the second edition of Voices We Haven’t Heard, a publication of MTSU’s June Anderson Center for Women and Nontraditional Students. The latest Voices is larger than last year’s edition, and it includes feminist poetry and prose nestled between glossy, colorful covers. Center Director Terri Johnson says the magazine empowers students by providing them with a creative outlet for their observations on racism, sexism, classism, homophobia and other forms of oppression. Voices We Haven’t Heard is free and available from the June Anderson Center in its new home, Room 320 of the Keathley University Center. For more information, call 615-898-5989 or go to www.mtsu.edu/jac.

I’M PLAYING WITH MY BOOKS, MOMMY.--“Books and Children in the 19th Century: A Small Portrait” is the theme of an exhibit on display now and throughout this summer in the fourth floor Special Collections area of MTSU’s James E. Walker Library. The purpose is to show the variety of ways children and the adults around them engaged with books in the 1800s and early 1900s. The works available for viewing are indicative of the children’s book as an object of moral and educational value. The idea behind the books is to teach values and build character. Entertainment techniques are employed strictly to attract the children and hold their interest. Highlights include several movable books, which are books that contain text or illustrations that the child can manipulate. Pop-up books are one such type of movable book. Many items in the display have never been exhibited previously. Call the James E. Walker Library at 615-898-2772.

Friday, August 13, 2010

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

A good education—priceless

It’s often said that money can’t buy happiness. G. Jeffrey McDonald, a Protestant minister, writes, “The pastoral vocation is to help people grow spiritually, resist their lowest impulses and adopt higher, more compassionate ways. But churchgoers increasingly want pastors to soothe and entertain them.” Dr. Phil Oliver, philosophy, says, “I’m not a churchgoer, but substitute academic for pastoral, students for churchgoers and professors for pastors, and you’ve got a telling vocational parallel. Not all of my teaching colleagues would agree that it’s our job to improve our students and wean them from the depredations of life in consumerist America, and even fewer of my administrative colleagues would. But that’s how I still see it. … It’s not merely about emerging after four years to join the workforce and start accumulating lots of stuff. There are important dots to connect here, between happiness, simplicity, and an education worth stretching for. If we don’t at least try, we fail.”

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

Express yourself!

Tom Joyner, the host of the popular nationally syndicated “Tom Joyner Morning Show,” uses his program as a platform to promote voter registration, healthy living and historically black colleges and universities. In 2002, Dr. Dwight Brooks, chair of the MTSU School of Journalism, and co-author George L. Daniels used the radio program for a case study. They found the success of Joyner’s show to be indicative of how “media businesses can be profitable in providing nonentertainment services to competitive commercial marketplaces. This is significant in addressing the historical tension between the media’s public interest mandate and financial performance. It is our hope that the case of the TJMS serves as a reminder to media industry executives and policy makers of the importance of media companies’ responsibility to serve the public interest and contribute to a more democratic and active public sphere.”

Contact Brooks at 615-494-8925.
dbrooks@mtsu.edu

Spanning the globe

Dr. Steven Livingston, political science professor and editor of Global Commerce, will be Gina Logue’s guest on this week’s edition of “MTSU on the Record” at 8 a.m. this Sunday, Aug. 15, on WMOT-FM (89.5 and wmot.org). Livingston, who recently visited Israel, will discuss international markets for goods produced in Tennessee and how they are faring during the current economic slump. In addition, Livingston will talk about his work on a web-based interactive learning video of Congressional rules and legislative procedures. To further this work, Livingston received the 2009-2010 MTSU Instructional Technology Grant, which is presented each year to a faculty member to assist in the areas of computer technology, telecommunications and instructional and research support.

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

TR EXTRA

“A HEALTHY STATE ENCOURAGES MANY VOICES—AND LOTS OF LISTENING.”—HHS SECRETARY KATHLEEN SEBELIUS--Expressions of confidence, faith, defiance, togetherness, satire and sobriety characterize the second edition of Voices We Haven’t Heard, a publication of MTSU’s June Anderson Center for Women and Nontraditional Students. The latest Voices is larger than last year’s edition, and it includes feminist poetry and prose nestled between glossy, colorful covers. Center Director Terri Johnson says the magazine empowers students by providing them with a creative outlet for their observations on racism, sexism, classism, homophobia and other forms of oppression. Voices We Haven’t Heard is free and available from the June Anderson Center in its new home, Room 320 of the Keathley University Center. For more information, call 615-898-5989 or go to www.mtsu.edu/jac.

I’M PLAYING WITH MY BOOKS, MOMMY.--“Books and Children in the 19th Century: A Small Portrait” is the theme of an exhibit on display now and throughout this summer in the fourth floor Special Collections area of MTSU’s James E. Walker Library. The purpose is to show the variety of ways children and the adults around them engaged with books in the 1800s and early 1900s. The works available for viewing are indicative of the children’s book as an object of moral and educational value. The idea behind the books is to teach values and build character. Entertainment techniques are employed strictly to attract the children and hold their interest. Highlights include several movable books, which are books that contain text or illustrations that the child can manipulate. Pop-up books are one such type of movable book. Many items in the display have never been exhibited previously. Call the James E. Walker Library at 615-898-2772.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

War and the courts

Zones of Twilight: Wartime Presidential Powers and Federal Court Decision Making, a new book from Dr. Amanda DiPaolo, political science, examines military detentions, warrantless wiretaps (dating all the way back to Lincoln tapping telegraph communications), the confiscation of property and free speech cases. DiPaolo explains the courts’ handling of cases involving presidential power during times of national security emergencies. Zones of Twilight also puts into historical context more recent cases stemming from the war on terror, showing not only how the debates and concerns have a long history, but that recent decisions rarely depart from historical precedent.

Contact DiPaolo at 615-898-2708.
dipaolo@mtsu.edu

Can you compete?

Is a noncompete agreement really enforceable? Drs. Patrick Geho and Stephen Lewis, in Proceedings of the Academy of Entrepreneurship, say many states apply a test of reasonableness in determining whether to enforce the document. They say reasonableness is defined by three criteria: “1) Is the restraint reasonable in the sense that it is no greater than necessary to protect the employer in some legitimate interest? 2) Is the restraint reasonable in the sense that it is not unduly harsh and oppressive on the employee? 3) Is the restraint reasonable in the sense that it is not injurious to the public? … Although there are a few states that hold noncompete agreements as prima facie void, most state courts will rule for partial enforcement.”

Contact Geho at 615-898-2745 or pgeho@mtsu.edu
Contact Lewis at 615-898-2902 or slewis@mtsu.edu.

When bad news is a good thing

ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” recently aired an expose on the lack of food safety at many major sports venues in the U.S. and Canada. Dr. Don Roy, management and marketing, says these venues can turn lemon into lemonade if they use the information uncovered by ESPN as a catalyst for change. Roy says, “In the case of sports food service, the ESPN expose should serve as a call for companies to review all aspects of their operations, including hiring, training, food preparation processes, and the quality of products offered by their suppliers. … Sports venues have expanded their food service options to more upscale (and higher profit margin) fare, but their efforts may be more fruitful with a focus on a quality, consistent and healthy experience for their patrons.”

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

TR EXTRA

THE FISCAL FUTURE--Dr. David Penn, director of MTSU’s Business and Economic Research Center, will be one of the participants in a panel discussion on “Nashville’s Economic Forecast” at 3:30 p.m. today, Aug. 12, at the Hermitage Hotel in Nashville. Other scheduled participants include Doug Brandon, managing principal, Cassidy Turley, and president of the Leadership Middle Tennessee class of 2010; Rob McNeilly, president and CEO, SunTrust Bank; and Christopher Parks, co-founder and CEO, change: healthcare. This discussion, which is co-sponsored by the Nashville Business Journal and Colliers International, is part of NBJ’s “Shaping a Greater Nashville” series. To register, go to http://nashville.bizjournals.com/nashville/event/27811.

GRITS ARE GOOD FOR YOU.--The GRITS Collaborative Project and MTSU invite you to participate in their 2010 forum from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. today, Aug. 12, in the Tennessee Room of the James Union Building. The keynote speaker will be Lee Rennick, executive director of the Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce’s Business Education Partnership. Her address is titled “Standing on the Shoulders of Giants.” Guest speaker Donna M. Inch, newly appointed Chairman and CEO of Ford Land, will discuss the importance of attracting and retaining women in the engineering and science pipeline. GRITS stands for Girls Raised in Tennessee Science. Its collaborative project brings together organizations and individuals committed to informing and motivating girls to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The registration fee is $10. Students may attend for free. Contact Dr. Judith Iriarte-Gross at 615-904-8253 or jiriarte@mtsu.edu.

“A HEALTHY STATE ENCOURAGES MANY VOICES—AND LOTS OF LISTENING.”—HHS SECRETARY KATHLEEN SEBELIUS--Expressions of confidence, faith, defiance, togetherness, satire and sobriety characterize the second edition of Voices We Haven’t Heard, a publication of MTSU’s June Anderson Center for Women and Nontraditional Students. The latest Voices is larger than last year’s edition, and it includes feminist poetry and prose nestled between glossy, colorful covers. Center Director Terri Johnson says the magazine empowers students by providing them with a creative outlet for their observations on racism, sexism, classism, homophobia and other forms of oppression. Voices We Haven’t Heard is free and available from the June Anderson Center in its new home, Room 320 of the Keathley University Center. For more information, call 615-898-5989 or go to www.mtsu.edu/jac.

I’M PLAYING WITH MY BOOKS, MOMMY.--“Books and Children in the 19th Century: A Small Portrait” is the theme of an exhibit on display now and throughout this summer in the fourth floor Special Collections area of MTSU’s James E. Walker Library. The purpose is to show the variety of ways children and the adults around them engaged with books in the 1800s and early 1900s. The works available for viewing are indicative of the children’s book as an object of moral and educational value. The idea behind the books is to teach values and build character. Entertainment techniques are employed strictly to attract the children and hold their interest. Highlights include several movable books, which are books that contain text or illustrations that the child can manipulate. Pop-up books are one such type of movable book. Many items in the display have never been exhibited previously. Call the James E. Walker Library at 615-898-2772.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

The sounds of success

Three MTSU recording-industry students are getting some financial support for their creative visions as the latest recipients of the prestigious API Visionary Scholarship. Taylor Bray, a junior from Columbia, S.C., and senior Jay Yaskin of Las Vegas received $2,000 each, while Nashvillian Ben Poff, who is working toward his Master of Fine Arts degree in recording arts and technology, received $1,000 from Jessup, Md.-based Automatic Processes Inc. “The people at API said they could tell that our faculty were proactive in encouraging our students to apply,” says Professor Daniel Pfeifer, who teaches audio course and coordinates the undergraduate and graduate audio internships for the RIM department. “This was the first time we were eligible to apply. It’s very unusual for a manufacturer to do something like this. The altruism on their part is awesome.”

Contact Gina Fann in the Office of News and Public Affairs at 615-898-5385.
gfann@mtsu.edu

To your health

The Center for Health and Human Services at MTSU has produced the fourth edition of Allied Health in Tennessee: A Supply and Demand Study 2010. Academic institutions, as well as employers and students, have come to rely on this publication as the source for allied health supply and demand information in Tennessee. This publication, by offering a compilation of academic programs and their locations in Tennessee, as well as pertinent information about each field, should be of great value to potential students, educational planners and state officials. It is funded by a grant from the Nashville Career Advancement Center and the Tennessee Hospital Association’s Center for Health Workforce Development in Tennessee.

For more information, contact the Adams Chair of Excellence in Health Care Services at 615-898-2904 or 615-494-8919.

Protons, neutrons, adjectives and adverbs

In his book The Language Instinct, author Steven Pinker defines a root word as a “syntactic atom” because neither the word in question nor the atom can be split without losing its meaning. Dr. Preston MacDougall, chemistry, says it’s an apt metaphor. He says, “While the sizes, shapes and functionalities of molecules are infinitely variable, just as a mouthful of words can be strung together for form a two-word matrimonial confirmation or a dizzying long soliloquy, there are rules of bonding that constitute a molecular grammar. For instance, ‘I do!’ and ‘Do I?’ will elicit vastly different emotional responses, but ‘He do’ is not allowed.”

Contact MacDougall at 615-898-5265.
pmacdoug@mtsu.edu

TR EXTRA

THE FISCAL FUTURE--Dr. David Penn, director of MTSU’s Business and Economic Research Center, will be one of the participants in a panel discussion on “Nashville’s Economic Forecast” at 3:30 p.m. tomorrow, Aug. 12, at the Hermitage Hotel in Nashville. Other scheduled participants include Doug Brandon, managing principal, Cassidy Turley, and president of the Leadership Middle Tennessee class of 2010; Rob McNeilly, president and CEO, SunTrust Bank; and Christopher Parks, co-founder and CEO, change: healthcare. This discussion, which is co-sponsored by the Nashville Business Journal and Colliers International, is part of NBJ’s “Shaping a Greater Nashville” series. To register, go to http://nashville.bizjournals.com/nashville/event/27811.

GRITS ARE GOOD FOR YOU.--The GRITS Collaborative Project and MTSU invite you to participate in their 2010 forum from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. tomorrow, Aug. 12, in the Tennessee Room of the James Union Building. The keynote speaker will be Lee Rennick, executive director of the Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce’s Business Education Partnership. Her address is titled “Standing on the Shoulders of Giants.” Guest speaker Donna M. Inch, newly appointed Chairman and CEO of Ford Land, will discuss the importance of attracting and retaining women in the engineering and science pipeline. GRITS stands for Girls Raised in Tennessee Science. Its collaborative project brings together organizations and individuals committed to informing and motivating girls to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The registration fee is $10. Students may attend for free. Contact Dr. Judith Iriarte-Gross at 615-904-8253 or jiriarte@mtsu.edu.

“A HEALTHY STATE ENCOURAGES MANY VOICES—AND LOTS OF LISTENING.”—HHS SECRETARY KATHLEEN SEBELIUS--Expressions of confidence, faith, defiance, togetherness, satire and sobriety characterize the second edition of Voices We Haven’t Heard, a publication of MTSU’s June Anderson Center for Women and Nontraditional Students. The latest Voices is larger than last year’s edition, and it includes feminist poetry and prose nestled between glossy, colorful covers. Center Director Terri Johnson says the magazine empowers students by providing them with a creative outlet for their observations on racism, sexism, classism, homophobia and other forms of oppression. Voices We Haven’t Heard is free and available from the June Anderson Center in its new home, Room 320 of the Keathley University Center. For more information, call 615-898-5989 or go to www.mtsu.edu/jac.

I’M PLAYING WITH MY BOOKS, MOMMY.--“Books and Children in the 19th Century: A Small Portrait” is the theme of an exhibit on display now and throughout this summer in the fourth floor Special Collections area of MTSU’s James E. Walker Library. The purpose is to show the variety of ways children and the adults around them engaged with books in the 1800s and early 1900s. The works available for viewing are indicative of the children’s book as an object of moral and educational value. The idea behind the books is to teach values and build character. Entertainment techniques are employed strictly to attract the children and hold their interest. Highlights include several movable books, which are books that contain text or illustrations that the child can manipulate. Pop-up books are one such type of movable book. Many items in the display have never been exhibited previously. Call the James E. Walker Library at 615-898-2772.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

The fiscal future

Dr. David Penn, director of MTSU’s Business and Economic Research Center, will be one of the participants in a panel discussion on “Nashville’s Economic Forecast” at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 12, at the Hermitage Hotel in Nashville. Other scheduled participants include Doug Brandon, managing principal, Cassidy Turley, and president of the Leadership Middle Tennessee class of 2010; Rob McNeilly, president and CEO, SunTrust Bank; and Christopher Parks, co-founder and CEO, change: healthcare. This discussion, which is co-sponsored by the Nashville Business Journal and Colliers International, is part of NBJ’s “Shaping a Greater Nashville” series.

To register, go to http://nashville.bizjournals.com/nashville/event/27811.

The paper chase

It has been a truism of American journalism for the past several years now that the newspaper, at least in its current format, is dying. But Dr. Larry Burriss, journalism, says newspapers are still very popular in Japan, home of so much of the technology that spurred the digital revolution. Why? Burriss says, “Japan’s dailies do better than ours because they put more news in their newspapers. They are more reader-friendly and fair. They are more polite in their editorial comments or criticisms. … Over the years, more and more American businesses have come to adopt Japanese theories of management and productivity. Maybe we need to take a look at Japanese newspapers, as well.”

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

Drink responsibly as you ogle.

Strip clubs that don’t serve hard liquor? A federal appeals court ruled recently that a Virginia law banning strip clubs from serving mixed drinks is not at odds with the First Amendment. The idea behind the state law is that serving mixed drinks could lead to more heavily intoxicated clients and, therefore, more crime. David Hudson, adjunct professor of political science and First Amendment Center scholar, says, “The clubs contended that the state had failed to show empirical proof that the drinking of distilled spirits at the clubs led to greater crime. But the Fourth Circuit said that didn’t matter, writing that ‘we disagree that empirical support is needed for the perfectly sensible legislative proposition that someone drinking liquor at a strip club will get more intoxicated’ than someone drinking beer and wine.”

Contact Hudson at 615-727-1342.
dhudson@fac.org

TR EXTRA

GRITS ARE GOOD FOR YOU.--The GRITS Collaborative Project and MTSU invite you to participate in their 2010 forum from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 12, in the Tennessee Room of the James Union Building. The keynote speaker will be Lee Rennick, executive director of the Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce’s Business Education Partnership. Her address is titled “Standing on the Shoulders of Giants.” Guest speaker Donna M. Inch, newly appointed Chairman and CEO of Ford Land, will discuss the importance of attracting and retaining women in the engineering and science pipeline. GRITS stands for Girls Raised in Tennessee Science. Its collaborative project brings together organizations and individuals committed to informing and motivating girls to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The registration fee is $10. Students may attend for free. Contact Dr. Judith Iriarte-Gross at 615-904-8253 or jiriarte@mtsu.edu.

“A HEALTHY STATE ENCOURAGES MANY VOICES—AND LOTS OF LISTENING.”—HHS SECRETARY KATHLEEN SEBELIUS--Expressions of confidence, faith, defiance, togetherness, satire and sobriety characterize the second edition of Voices We Haven’t Heard, a publication of MTSU’s June Anderson Center for Women and Nontraditional Students. The latest Voices is larger than last year’s edition, and it includes feminist poetry and prose nestled between glossy, colorful covers. Center Director Terri Johnson says the magazine empowers students by providing them with a creative outlet for their observations on racism, sexism, classism, homophobia and other forms of oppression. Voices We Haven’t Heard is free and available from the June Anderson Center in its new home, Room 320 of the Keathley University Center. For more information, call 615-898-5989 or go to www.mtsu.edu/jac.

I’M PLAYING WITH MY BOOKS, MOMMY.--“Books and Children in the 19th Century: A Small Portrait” is the theme of an exhibit on display now and throughout this summer in the fourth floor Special Collections area of MTSU’s James E. Walker Library. The purpose is to show the variety of ways children and the adults around them engaged with books in the 1800s and early 1900s. The works available for viewing are indicative of the children’s book as an object of moral and educational value. The idea behind the books is to teach values and build character. Entertainment techniques are employed strictly to attract the children and hold their interest. Highlights include several movable books, which are books that contain text or illustrations that the child can manipulate. Pop-up books are one such type of movable book. Many items in the display have never been exhibited previously. Call the James E. Walker Library at 615-898-2772.

Friday, August 6, 2010

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Fourteenth Points

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has called for hearings on whether to rescind all or part of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution to prevent the children of undocumented workers from becoming automatic citizens. Dr. John Vile, dean of the University Honors College and a Constitutional law expert, says, “The Fourteenth Amendment overturned the notorious Dred Scott decision of 1857 and has long been regarded as the Constitutional provision that incorporated the affirmation of equality in the Declaration of Independence. An amendment would represent the first major change in either the Bill of Rights or the Fourteenth Amendment. Such an amendment would require a two-thirds vote by both houses of Congress and approval by three-fourths of the states.”

Contact Vile at 615-898-2596.
jvile@mtsu.edu

A place to pray

The Anti-Defamation League is one of the groups opposed to the construction of a mosque and Islamic center (Cordoba House) on a privately owned site two blocks from Ground Zero in New York City. Dr. Rami Shapiro, adjunct professor of religious studies and an ordained rabbi, says, “I know Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf, the leader of Cordoba House. I have taught with him, dined with him (and his wife), and argued with him about the Middle East. And I am proud to call him a friend. I believe we need more ventures like Cordoba House, not less. I believe it is long past time for progressive clergy to come together and support one another and condemn and actively oppose the work of those hate-mongers in all faiths. And I am saddened that the ADL lacked the guts to do so in this case.”

Read Shapiro’s blog at http://rabbirami.blogspot.com/.

Not-so-eminent domain

Drs. Amanda DiPaolo and Karen Petersen, political science, will spend the next year conducting statistical analysis of a concurring opinion in a U.S. Supreme Court case. They intend to explore Associate Justice Robert Jackson’s concurring opinion in Youngstown Sheet & Tube v. Sawyer. According to their abstract, “This paper seeks to test Jackson’s theory in Youngstown that suggests the federal courts look for approval of Executive decisions by the Congress when making … rights-based national security decisions. We will examine the Supreme Court cases where issues concerning military detentions are brought before the federal courts. We will also look at the issue of wireless wiretapping.” The majority opinion held that President Truman did not have the authority to seize private property absent Constitutional or statutory permission.

Contact DiPaolo at 615-898-2708.
dipaolo@mtsu.edu
Contact Petersen at 615-494-8662.
kpeterse@mtsu.edu

TR EXTRA

HEALTH CARE—GOOD FOR WHAT AILS THE ECONOMY--Dr. Murat Arik, assistant director of the MTSU Business and Economic Research Center, will explain his recent study assessing the impact of the health care industry in Nashville at 8 a.m. this Sunday, Aug. 8, on “MTSU on the Record” with host Gina Logue on WMOT-FM (89.5 and wmot.org). The study, which was unveiled at a July 7 news conference, shows one in eight Nashville workers to be employed by health care providers. Furthermore, more than 250 health care companies have operations in Nashville, which ranks it above 13 other similar cities, including Atlanta, Birmingham, Dallas, Denver, Indianapolis and Louisville. “The findings of this study underscore what we’ve always known to be true—that Nashville’s health care industry is unique to other markets, especially in the creation of jobs, both locally and globally,” says Arik. Contact Logue at 615-898-5081 or WMOT-FM at 615-898-2800.

GRITS ARE GOOD FOR YOU.--The GRITS Collaborative Project and MTSU invite you to participate in their 2010 forum from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 12, in the Tennessee Room of the James Union Building. The keynote speaker will be Lee Rennick, executive director of the Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce’s Business Education Partnership. Her address is titled “Standing on the Shoulders of Giants.” Guest speaker Donna M. Inch, newly appointed Chairman and CEO of Ford Land, will discuss the importance of attracting and retaining women in the engineering and science pipeline. GRITS stands for Girls Raised in Tennessee Science. Its collaborative project brings together organizations and individuals committed to informing and motivating girls to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The registration fee is $10. Students may attend for free. Contact Dr. Judith Iriarte-Gross at 615-904-8253 or jiriarte@mtsu.edu.

“A HEALTHY STATE ENCOURAGES MANY VOICES—AND LOTS OF LISTENING.”—HHS SECRETARY KATHLEEN SEBELIUS--Expressions of confidence, faith, defiance, togetherness, satire and sobriety characterize the second edition of Voices We Haven’t Heard, a publication of MTSU’s June Anderson Center for Women and Nontraditional Students. The latest Voices is larger than last year’s edition, and it includes feminist poetry and prose nestled between glossy, colorful covers. Center Director Terri Johnson says the magazine empowers students by providing them with a creative outlet for their observations on racism, sexism, classism, homophobia and other forms of oppression. Voices We Haven’t Heard is free and available from the June Anderson Center in its new home, Room 320 of the Keathley University Center. For more information, call 615-898-5989 or go to www.mtsu.edu/jac.

I’M PLAYING WITH MY BOOKS, MOMMY.--“Books and Children in the 19th Century: A Small Portrait” is the theme of an exhibit on display now and throughout this summer in the fourth floor Special Collections area of MTSU’s James E. Walker Library. The purpose is to show the variety of ways children and the adults around them engaged with books in the 1800s and early 1900s. The works available for viewing are indicative of the children’s book as an object of moral and educational value. The idea behind the books is to teach values and build character. Entertainment techniques are employed strictly to attract the children and hold their interest. Highlights include several movable books, which are books that contain text or illustrations that the child can manipulate. Pop-up books are one such type of movable book. Many items in the display have never been exhibited previously. Call the James E. Walker Library at 615-898-2772.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Cut grass, not yard signs!

Governments should stop trying to put restrictions on election yard signs. That’s the view of David Hudson, adjunct political science professor and First Amendment Center scholar. Some laws prohibit homeowners from displaying more than two or three signs on their property. Others limit the duration of display to from 60 days before to 60 days after an election. Hudson says, “First, the law selectively regulates a specific type of speech on the basis of (its) content—political campaign speech. In free-speech law, content-based laws are viewed with much greater skepticism than laws that treat speech equally—so-called content-neutral laws. Second, political speech represents the core type of speech the First Amendment was designed to protect. For-sale signs, lawn-cutting ad signs and other commercial signs shouldn’t receive more protection than signs suggesting who should be our next leaders.”

Contact Hudson at 615-727-1342.
dhudson@fac.org

A kiss to build a dream on?

Building permits issued for single-family units in the Nashville Metropolitan Statistical Area rose to 401 in June 2010 from 275 the month before. However, according to the figures from the MTSU Business and Economic Research Center, only two permits were issued for multi-family units. That’s a decrease from 18 in May. The collective value of those June single-family units is $69,850,582, and the collective value of the June multi-family units is $50,000 for a total value of $69,900, 582. So far in 2010, February has been the best month for housing permit issuance in the Nashville area with a total of 654 permits. May was the worst month with only 293 permits issued.

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

Toothless Tiger?

Here we go again. Tiger Woods has gone seven tournaments without a victory, the longest start to a season without a win in his professional golfing life. At a news conference yesterday on the eve of the Bridgestone Invitational at Akron, Ohio, Woods said he hadn’t been able to practice as much as he has wanted to because “people have been wanting more of my time.” One of his best friends, Notah Begay, let the cat out of the bag last month—Woods is going through a divorce following several acts of widely reported infidelity. Dr. Mark Anshel, health and human performance, says, “Playing golf at the highest level is what he must do and stop reflecting on what other people think. With time, this sad episode will be minimized (not forgotten) in importance. If his wife files for divorce, that’s their business. He’ll have to deal with that separately, but hopefully, with family therapy, things can improve.”

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

TR EXTRA

HEALTH CARE—GOOD FOR WHAT AILS THE ECONOMY--Dr. Murat Arik, assistant director of the MTSU Business and Economic Research Center, will explain his recent study assessing the impact of the health care industry in Nashville at 8 a.m. this Sunday, Aug. 8, on “MTSU on the Record” with host Gina Logue on WMOT-FM (89.5 and wmot.org). The study, which was unveiled at a July 7 news conference, shows one in eight Nashville workers to be employed by health care providers. Furthermore, more than 250 health care companies have operations in Nashville, which ranks it above 13 other similar cities, including Atlanta, Birmingham, Dallas, Denver, Indianapolis and Louisville. “The findings of this study underscore what we’ve always known to be true—that Nashville’s health care industry is unique to other markets, especially in the creation of jobs, both locally and globally,” says Arik. Contact Logue at 615-898-5081 or WMOT-FM at 615-898-2800.

GRITS ARE GOOD FOR YOU.--The GRITS Collaborative Project and MTSU invite you to participate in their 2010 forum from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 12, in the Tennessee Room of the James Union Building. The keynote speaker will be Lee Rennick, executive director of the Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce’s Business Education Partnership. Her address is titled “Standing on the Shoulders of Giants.” Guest speaker Donna M. Inch, newly appointed Chairman and CEO of Ford Land, will discuss the importance of attracting and retaining women in the engineering and science pipeline. GRITS stands for Girls Raised in Tennessee Science. Its collaborative project brings together organizations and individuals committed to informing and motivating girls to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The registration fee is $10. Students may attend for free. Contact Dr. Judith Iriarte-Gross at 615-904-8253 or jiriarte@mtsu.edu.

“A HEALTHY STATE ENCOURAGES MANY VOICES—AND LOTS OF LISTENING.”—HHS SECRETARY KATHLEEN SEBELIUS--Expressions of confidence, faith, defiance, togetherness, satire and sobriety characterize the second edition of Voices We Haven’t Heard, a publication of MTSU’s June Anderson Center for Women and Nontraditional Students. The latest Voices is larger than last year’s edition, and it includes feminist poetry and prose nestled between glossy, colorful covers. Center Director Terri Johnson says the magazine empowers students by providing them with a creative outlet for their observations on racism, sexism, classism, homophobia and other forms of oppression. Voices We Haven’t Heard is free and available from the June Anderson Center in its new home, Room 320 of the Keathley University Center. For more information, call 615-898-5989 or go to www.mtsu.edu/jac.

I’M PLAYING WITH MY BOOKS, MOMMY.--“Books and Children in the 19th Century: A Small Portrait” is the theme of an exhibit on display now and throughout this summer in the fourth floor Special Collections area of MTSU’s James E. Walker Library. The purpose is to show the variety of ways children and the adults around them engaged with books in the 1800s and early 1900s. The works available for viewing are indicative of the children’s book as an object of moral and educational value. The idea behind the books is to teach values and build character. Entertainment techniques are employed strictly to attract the children and hold their interest. Highlights include several movable books, which are books that contain text or illustrations that the child can manipulate. Pop-up books are one such type of movable book. Many items in the display have never been exhibited previously. Call the James E. Walker Library at 615-898-2772.

August 4, 2010

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Health care—good for what ails the economy

Dr. Murat Arik, assistant director of the MTSU Business and Economic Research Center, will explain his recent study assessing the impact of the health care industry in Nashville at 8 a.m. this Sunday, Aug. 8, on “MTSU on the Record” with host Gina Logue on WMOT-FM (89.5 and wmot.org). The study, which was unveiled at a July 7 news conference, shows one in eight Nashville workers to be employed by health care providers. Furthermore, more than 250 health care companies have operations in Nashville, which ranks it above 13 other similar cities, including Atlanta, Birmingham, Dallas, Denver, Indianapolis and Louisville. “The findings of this study underscore what we’ve always known to be true—that Nashville’s health care industry is unique to other markets, especially in the creation of jobs, both locally and globally,” says Arik.

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

“I can believe anything provided it is incredible.”—Oscar Wilde

Philosophy and faith are both at their best when lit by experience, according to Dr. Phil Oliver, philosophy. “Too often, though, they’re reduced and diminished by an attempt to declare a winner,” Oliver laments. “The issue is much more important than that. … We don’t summon strong memories, yearn for our children’s positive futures, or credit the consciousness of our peers on a shaky wing and a flimsy prayer. ‘Our experience in the world’ counts for a lot more than that, and the tendency of philosophers to differ sharply and passionately amongst themselves is a measured reflection of just how much more. The mealy agnostic conclusion is not the ‘winner’ here.”

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

Planting the SEEDs of success

Ashley Rambo of McMinnville has completed a summer full of scientific research through Project SEED (Summer Educational Experience for the Economically Disadvantaged). Sponsored by the American Chemical Society, SEED gives high school juniors and seniors a chance to work with mentors in research projects in industrial, academic and federal laboratories. MTSU chemistry professor Dr. B.G. Ooi was Rambo’s mentor. She says of her experience, “I came here not knowing anything. I learned a whole lot more than I ever dreamed. It’s different here doing labs than in a high school lab.” Ooi says, “Ashley has carried out research in developing chemistry-based experiments for demonstrating to young students and investigating the pretreatment of cellulose to make it more readily digestible by the cellulase enzyme to produce sugar.”

Contact Randy Weiler in the MTSU Office of News and Public Affairs at 615-898-5616.
jweiler@mtsu.edu

TR EXTRA

GRITS ARE GOOD FOR YOU.--The GRITS Collaborative Project and MTSU invite you to participate in their 2010 forum from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 12, in the Tennessee Room of the James Union Building. The keynote speaker will be Lee Rennick, executive director of the Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce’s Business Education Partnership. Her address is titled “Standing on the Shoulders of Giants.” Guest speaker Donna M. Inch, newly appointed Chairman and CEO of Ford Land, will discuss the importance of attracting and retaining women in the engineering and science pipeline. GRITS stands for Girls Raised in Tennessee Science. Its collaborative project brings together organizations and individuals committed to informing and motivating girls to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The registration fee is $10. Students may attend for free. Contact Dr. Judith Iriarte-Gross at 615-904-8253 or jiriarte@mtsu.edu.

“A HEALTHY STATE ENCOURAGES MANY VOICES—AND LOTS OF LISTENING.”—HHS SECRETARY KATHLEEN SEBELIUS--Expressions of confidence, faith, defiance, togetherness, satire and sobriety characterize the second edition of Voices We Haven’t Heard, a publication of MTSU’s June Anderson Center for Women and Nontraditional Students. The latest Voices is larger than last year’s edition, and it includes feminist poetry and prose nestled between glossy, colorful covers. Center Director Terri Johnson says the magazine empowers students by providing them with a creative outlet for their observations on racism, sexism, classism, homophobia and other forms of oppression. Voices We Haven’t Heard is free and available from the June Anderson Center in its new home, Room 320 of the Keathley University Center. For more information, call 615-898-5989 or go to www.mtsu.edu/jac.

I’M PLAYING WITH MY BOOKS, MOMMY.--“Books and Children in the 19th Century: A Small Portrait” is the theme of an exhibit on display now and throughout this summer in the fourth floor Special Collections area of MTSU’s James E. Walker Library. The purpose is to show the variety of ways children and the adults around them engaged with books in the 1800s and early 1900s. The works available for viewing are indicative of the children’s book as an object of moral and educational value. The idea behind the books is to teach values and build character. Entertainment techniques are employed strictly to attract the children and hold their interest. Highlights include several movable books, which are books that contain text or illustrations that the child can manipulate. Pop-up books are one such type of movable book. Many items in the display have never been exhibited previously. Call the James E. Walker Library at 615-898-2772.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

GRITS are good for you.

The GRITS Collaborative Project and MTSU invite you to participate in their 2010 forum from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 12, in the Tennessee Room of the James Union Building. The keynote speaker will be Lee Rennick, executive director of the Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce’s Business Education Partnership. Her address is titled “Standing on the Shoulders of Giants.” Guest speaker Donna M. Inch, newly appointed Chairman and CEO of Ford Land, will discuss the importance of attracting and retaining women in the engineering and science pipeline. GRITS stands for Girls Raised in Tennessee Science. Its collaborative project brings together organizations and individuals committed to informing and motivating girls to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The registration fee is $10. Students may attend for free.

Contact Dr. Judith Iriarte-Gross at 615-904-8253.
jiriarte@mtsu.edu

“R” is for recovery.

Economists are prone to ask themselves whether the economic recovery will be a “V” shape (sharp rise upward) or an “L” shape (weaker, more of a plateau without further downturn). In an economic outlook presented to the Tennessee Gas Association in June, Dr. David Penn, director of MTSU’s Business and Economic Research Center, said the most likely scenario would be a “check mark” shape with rapid decline followed by slow growth. Penn said a “W” shaped economy, indicative of a double-dip recession, is less probable, but the likelihood is rising. But here’s good news for people irked about American jobs going overseas. Penn writes, “Some manufacturers are discovering foreign plants are not the cost savers they once were.” He says this is attributable to quality control problems, intellectual property rights issues, transportation costs and a labor strike in China.

Contact Penn at 615-898-2610.
dpenn@mtsu.edu

A lifetime extension on your 15 minutes

Actress Lindsay Lohan was released from jail in Los Angeles early yesterday morning after serving 14 days of a 90-day sentence for probation violation. She is required now to spend at least three months in rehab. Dr. Larry Burriss, journalism, writes, “What’s interesting here is that no matter what they do, people who are famous today will continue to be famous, even if they try to escape their fame. Suppose, for example, that Lohan decides to figuratively drop off the face of the earth. Suppose she gets a real job and just goes to work each day like the rest of us. You can be assured that will generate a lot of news stories. After all, wouldn’t you think it interesting someone as rich as she is would work at a regular job?”

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

TR EXTRA

“A HEALTHY STATE ENCOURAGES MANY VOICES—AND LOTS OF LISTENING.”—HHS SECRETARY KATHLEEN SEBELIUS--Expressions of confidence, faith, defiance, togetherness, satire and sobriety characterize the second edition of Voices We Haven’t Heard, a publication of MTSU’s June Anderson Center for Women and Nontraditional Students. The latest Voices is larger than last year’s edition, and it includes feminist poetry and prose nestled between glossy, colorful covers. Center Director Terri Johnson says the magazine empowers students by providing them with a creative outlet for their observations on racism, sexism, classism, homophobia and other forms of oppression. Voices We Haven’t Heard is free and available from the June Anderson Center in its new home, Room 320 of the Keathley University Center. For more information, call 615-898-5989 or go to www.mtsu.edu/jac.

I’M PLAYING WITH MY BOOKS, MOMMY.--“Books and Children in the 19th Century: A Small Portrait” is the theme of an exhibit on display now and throughout this summer in the fourth floor Special Collections area of MTSU’s James E. Walker Library. The purpose is to show the variety of ways children and the adults around them engaged with books in the 1800s and early 1900s. The works available for viewing are indicative of the children’s book as an object of moral and educational value. The idea behind the books is to teach values and build character. Entertainment techniques are employed strictly to attract the children and hold their interest. Highlights include several movable books, which are books that contain text or illustrations that the child can manipulate. Pop-up books are one such type of movable book. Many items in the display have never been exhibited previously. Call the James E. Walker Library at 615-898-2772.

Monday, August 2, 2010

Today’s Response
Middle Tennessee State University

Your tired, your poor, your huddled lawyers, yearning to earn fees

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer is appealing U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton’s decision to block parts of the controversial immigration law Brewer signed into law. Brewer contends the state had to take action because the federal government has not done its job in stemming the flow of undocumented aliens over the border. Dr. John Vile, dean of the University Honors College and Constitutional law expert, says, “There is a chance that the (Bolton) decision will backfire, actually increasing concerns for undocumented immigrants among those who are voting for individuals running for state and federal offices and thus leading to even more repressive legislation. Federal courts will ultimately have to decide whether Congress (in pursuit of its power over interstate and foreign commerce and naturalization) has completely occupied the field in regard to immigration issues or whether it intends for states to play a subsidiary role.”

Contact Vile at 615-898-2596.
jvile@mtsu.edu

“I never ride just to ride. I ride to catch a fox.”—Sargent Shriver

After the slandering of U.S.D.A. employee Shirley Sherrod, liberals squandered an opportunity to discredit one of their most nettlesome enemies—Fox News. That’s the view of Dr. Robb McDaniel, political science. McDaniel says, “The conservative movement long ago took a structural approach to battling liberalism: attack the institutions of liberalism and of rational discourse and you weaken your opposition. Hence the endless attacks on unions, universities, Social Security, the establishment media, etc. It doesn’t matter if the complaints are true; just repeat the grievance and eventually the narrative will sink in. Liberals, maybe because of their greater ideological sympathy for pluralism, free speech and fair play, haven’t had much stomach for reciprocity in that kind of battle.”

Contact McDaniel at 615-904-8245.
rmcdanie@mtsu.edu

Turning the turntables

Some turntablists, the hip-hop DJs whose varieties of scratches on turntables are part of the music, seek to be taken seriously as artists, just as vocalists or musicians are considered serious artists. One way turntablists seek legitimacy is to through the notation of their scratch styles. Dr. Felicia Miyakawa, music, writes, “Tablists and their music are relatively obscure even within hip-hop culture, and few musicians outside of hip-hop culture equate turntablism with musicianship. The novelty here is the search for an audience who will better appreciate turntablism because it is written down. Indeed, despite their different approaches to notation, these DJs share central assumptions about the power of notation to legitimize the instrument and reach out to new audiences.”

Contact Miyakawa at 615-904-8043.
miyakawa@mtsu.edu

TR EXTRA

“A HEALTHY STATE ENCOURAGES MANY VOICES—AND LOTS OF LISTENING.”—HHS SECRETARY KATHLEEN SEBELIUS--Expressions of confidence, faith, defiance, togetherness, satire and sobriety characterize the second edition of Voices We Haven’t Heard, a publication of MTSU’s June Anderson Center for Women and Nontraditional Students. The latest Voices is larger than last year’s edition, and it includes feminist poetry and prose nestled between glossy, colorful covers. Center Director Terri Johnson says the magazine empowers students by providing them with a creative outlet for their observations on racism, sexism, classism, homophobia and other forms of oppression. Voices We Haven’t Heard is free and available from the June Anderson Center in its new home, Room 320 of the Keathley University Center. For more information, call 615-898-5989 or go to www.mtsu.edu/jac.

I’M PLAYING WITH MY BOOKS, MOMMY.--“Books and Children in the 19th Century: A Small Portrait” is the theme of an exhibit on display now and throughout this summer in the fourth floor Special Collections area of MTSU’s James E. Walker Library. The purpose is to show the variety of ways children and the adults around them engaged with books in the 1800s and early 1900s. The works available for viewing are indicative of the children’s book as an object of moral and educational value. The idea behind the books is to teach values and build character. Entertainment techniques are employed strictly to attract the children and hold their interest. Highlights include several movable books, which are books that contain text or illustrations that the child can manipulate. Pop-up books are one such type of movable book. Many items in the display have never been exhibited previously. Call the James E. Walker Library at 615-898-2772.