UA In the News — April 26

‘Glengarry Glen Ross’ shows pressure behind the art of the deal
Tuscaloosa News – April 26
Jackets on and the game begins: Always be closing. David Mamet’s “Glengarry Glen Ross” is focused on the world of real estate, in a Chicago office where four agents will do nearly anything to make a sale. The plot and its text are quick and rhythmic, with electrically charged pauses that heighten the pressure among the characters and the pressure to sell. Alpha Psi Omega’s Gamma Gamma Cast, the theater honor society’s chapter at the University of Alabama, will perform the play Tuesday and Wednesday evening in the Allen Bales Theatre. The play, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1984, is traditionally performed with a cast of all men, but student director Andrew Brown cast women in select roles, including Elizabeth Thiel as George Aaronow.

UA, Stillman Team Up to offer Senior Citizens Learning Opportunities
WVUA 23 (Tuscaloosa) – Apr 25
The University of Alabama and Stillman College are teaming up to offer senior citizens a greater learning experience. The UA Osher Lifelong Learning Institute is presenting a community forum at 6 p.m. on Tuesday at Stillman’s Wynn Center. The event is designed to help attendees get to know the OLLI Learning Program and everything that it has to offer….

Deep Soul: Cuba Pictured From Three Different Perspectives
Florence Courier-Journal – April 26
Troika is a Russian word for a team of three horses pulling a carriage or sled side-by-side, but it can also refer to any team of three. It’s such a fitting term for the team of three photographers — Julio Larramendi, a Cuban journalist, Chip Cooper a photographer and Karen Graffeo an artist — who examine Cuba from three different viewpoints. Troika: Cuba Soul Deep opens Sunday, May 1 at 1pm with a gallery talk at 1:30pm. Cooper, Graffeo and Larramendi will all be present to discuss their work at the opening. The exhibit runs through July 8. Julio Larramendi is an award-winning Cuban journalist who began working with photography in 1969 and first exhibited in 1985. His impressive resume includes photographer and executive editor for numerous publications. Larramendi was also a Research Associate at the National Museum of Natural History of Cuba and the founder and first president of the Department of Latin American Photography of the José Martí International Institute of Journalism. His work has been published all over the world.

For meteorologist James Spann, 2011 tornado hit home
Tuscaloosa News – April 26
On April 27, 2011, James Spann stood in front of a green screen at the ABC 33/40 studio in Birmingham for hours reporting about the tornadoes sweeping through Tuscaloosa and the rest of the state. However, it would be months before the popular meteorologist would make his way back to Tuscaloosa, where he grew up. When he finally did come, one of his first visits was to a heavily damaged area of 15th Street, where his broadcasting career first began in 1973. . . . pann said one scientist that has been crucial to this research has been Laura Myers, director and senior research scientist at the Center for Advanced Public Safety at the University of Alabama. In a story published Sunday in The Tuscaloosa News, Myers said it is not uncommon for people to become wary at the first signs of severe weather. “It is something I call the 9/11 effect,” Myers said. “There is a heightened sensitivity for a while. After 9/11, it was about two years there was a heightened sensitivity. After Hurricane Katrina, there was four to five years of heightened sensitivity.”

The Link Between Diet and Sleep
Daily RX News – April 26
Catching adequate ZZZs makes a big difference to your overall health, and it may be tied to what you do and do not eat. A review of multiple studies on the connection between dietary changes and sleep patterns showed mixed results. However, some of the studies showed that dietary changes could have positive effects on sleep quality and duration. Research is increasingly showing links between chronic diseases and sleep, according to the Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Chronic sleep deprivation has been linked to obesity, diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure. Sleep deprivation is also associated with an increased risk of mood disorders and decreased immune function. Adam P. Knowlden, PhD, led the review team. Dr. Knowlden is an assistant professor in the Department of Health Science at the University of Alabama. Dr. Knowlden and his colleagues evaluated 21 studies of people ranging in age from 18 to 50.

Discovering Modern Africa’s European Roots
StreetInsider.com – April 26
What would modern Ghana look like if European colonialism had never occurred? In “Java Hill: An African Journey,” academic psychiatrist T.P. Manus Ulzen shares a genealogical account of his family’s Dutch and Ghanaian ancestry and the role Dutch colonialism played in defining his native country. Ulzen explores the complex conflicts and relationships between Europeans and Africans in his hometown of Elmina, Ghana through the lens of his ancestors. He chronicles his family’s experiences from the 18th century onward, exploring the inhumanity of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, the onset of European colonialism and the challenges of post-independence Africa. “I was born in Africa with an uncommon Dutch surname that had been present for many generations,” Ulzen said. “My curiosity about my family’s historical origins spurred me on, and I found that with each generation, I learned more about the history of the modern nation of Ghana.” . . .  He has been on the faculty at the University of Toronto and East Carolina University and is now Professor and Chair of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine in the College of Community Health Sciences at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Ala., where he is also Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.

After Cancelling 2016 National Institute, ALSC Regroups To Serve Members
School Library Journal – April 26
The Board of Directors of the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association, recently voted to cancel its 2016 National Institute scheduled for September in Charlotte, NC. The cancellation was a response to the passage last month of North Carolina’s Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act (HB2), which repealed all GLBT-inclusive nondiscrimination ordinances across the state. . . . Actually, the Institute lineup already had several programs that are relevant to serving this community. Dr. Jamie Campbell Naidoo, associate professor at the School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Alabama, was to present on inclusive service. Another program focused on family portraits and picture books featuring all kinds of families.

Shelby spent record-breaking $11.8 million to win primary
Montgomery Advertiser – April 26
Sen. Richard Shelby’s campaign spent about $11.8 million to win the Republican nomination in March, a record for an Alabama Senate primary. The spending spree worked out to $23.26 per vote. That alone would have made the race among the 10 most expensive Senate contests in the country in 2014, based on a Brookings Institution analysis that included spending by all primary and general candidates in each state’s Senate race. . . . “It just shows how much money politicians can accumulate and how much money they are capable of spending whether they really need to or not in order to be re-elected,” said Bill Stewart, retired political science professor from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Shelby’s hometown.