Performing arts center designs approved
Tuscaloosa News – Nov. 6
The chair of the University of Alabama theatre and dance department predicts the new $60-million performing arts center planned for the historic Bryce campus will have an immediate impact on students as a cutting-edge learning center, while also providing a more inviting venue for theater-goers. “I mean, every aspect of the facilities will be more accommodating both for the audience and the performers,” chair Bill Teague said Nov. 3. The University of Alabama System board of trustees on Nov. 3 approved the architectural designs for the 130,088-square-foot center that will connect to the north side of historic main Bryce Hospital building, which is being renovated for use by the department as offices, rehearsal space, gathering areas and other support space.
WIAT-CBS 42 (Birmingham) – Nov. 4 and 5
WVUA 23 (Tuscaloosa) – Nov. 4
University of Alabama science program pairs students, researchers
Tuscaloosa News – Nov. 4
Jayla Frazier is a junior at Central High School, but on Friday she took on a new role as a lab assistant at the University of Alabama, albeit for one day. Shadowing professors at UA’s Science and Engineering Complex, Frazier observed breast cancer cells on a microscope and saw how they interacted in different environments. “This is all very new to me,” said Jayla, who takes advanced placement biology at Central. The day was part of an initiative at UA called “Scientist for a Day,” in which local students follow professors during the day as they work in research laboratories. During the day, five science professors showed five Central students what work they do. The students were picked by their science teachers to take part in the program.
Gadsden Times – Nov. 6
‘Low information voters’ are a crucial part of Trump’s support
Washington Post – Nov. 7
Donald Trump’s campaign will be remembered for many reasons, not the least of which is his tenuous relationship to the truth. PolitiFact has repeatedly documented Trump’s unprecedented rate of false claims and in 2015 named him the recipient of the Lie of the Year Award. Despite this, Trump’s support remains high in many states even as some of the most important Republican leaders have turned their backs on him. This has left many experts puzzled. Why do so many people continue to support Trump in the face of these false claims? (Richard Fording is professor of political science at the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa and Sanford Schram is professor of political science at Hunter College, CUNY. A full-length analysis of the research reported here is available here.)
University of Alabama students perform musical ‘Falsettos’
Tuscaloosa News – Nov. 6
The term falsetto is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as an artificially produced singing voice that overlaps and extends above the modal register. It’s used by singers to break out and hit vastly different, higher notes, singers such as Smokey Robinson, Prince, Frankie Valli, Jeff Buckley, and Phillip Bailey of Earth, Wind & Fire. The musical “Falsettos,” written by William Finn, revolves around a group of people who try to follow narrow paths, but end up breaking out of the norm.
UA Student Veterans Association holds Run for Veterans (Live Interview)
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – Nov. 4
There’s a chance to get out and take part in a 5K run tomorrow in Tuscaloosa. The money raised goes to support veterans. Terri Brewer joins us now live from the West Alabama area to tell us more about that. Hey there, Mike, we are in downtown Tuscaloosa at Government Plaza. I am with Alex Bynum of the University of Alabama, also Eric Pruitt from Shelton State Community College. You guys are going to be part of the first Tuscaloosa Run for Veterans tomorrow. Alex, tell us if somebody wants to be a part of that, how can they do that?
Tuscaloosa Run for Veterans set for Saturday, Nov. 5
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – Nov. 5
The first Tuscaloosa Run for Veterans is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 5 at 8 a.m. The run will begin and end at Government Plaza, which is located behind Tuscaloosa City Hall. On-site registration is available starting at 7 a.m. Saturday. The run is hosted by veterans associations for Shelton State Community College and The University of Alabama, along with the West Alabama Chamber of Commerce Veterans Affairs Committee.
NBC 5 (Memphis, Tenn.) – Nov. 4
Wastewater Design Conference
NBC 12 (Montgomery) – Nov. 6
Rural communities throughout Lowndes county are in need of updated systems for disposing wastewater. A group of scholars and community leaders met this weekend to help solve a dangerous issue in that county…Teams from Michigan State, Georgia Tech and The University of Alabama were included in today’s presentation. A representative from the United States environmental protection agency was also in attendance.
The Hurts Family
KHOU-CBS (Houston, Texas) – Nov. 6
A football family is finding it harder and harder to stay out of the spotlight. It’s a story that’s based around three stadiums, starting with this one 600 miles away from Houston, Bryant-Denny stadium at The University of Alabama. The second one takes us back to Houston. It’s the BBVA Compass stadium, home of TSU. But, the story of this family, the Hurts family, starts here at Channelview High School.
The Phenomenon that Is the Denny’s Twitter Account
PRSSA – Nov. 7
When it comes to a company’s online presence in the modern era, I’ve found two things to be true. The first is that a majority of companies are now using social media as a tool to advertise products or services. The second is that Twitter provides the most opportunities for interaction. The platform provides both consumers and organizations access to a public arena where two-way communication runs seamlessly. (Emily Hillhouse is a sophomore majoring in public relations and international studies with a minor in Italian at The University of Alabama (UA). She is the secretary of UA PRSSA, the communications director for the Alabama International Relations Club and the social media director for UA’s CMA EDU chapter. She enjoys Hamilton, Kanye West, unsweet tea and politics. Find her on Twitter @em_hillhouse.)
‘Karl Marx: Greatness and Illusion’ shows a man ahead of our time
Irish Examiner – Nov. 5
AT A TIME when capitalism is facing a new crisis, and we are all living with the repercussions of how deeply unstable and socially damaging it is, a new biography of the man who saw clearer than anybody else in history its contradictions and inherent injustices could hardly be more timely. The insights, analyses and warnings that Karl Marx bequeathed to us have arguably never been more relevant; that is why interest in Marx and Marxism has revived, and why it is more important than ever to distinguish between Marxism and the shocking perversions and aberrations of Leninism, Stalinism, and Maoism, and their appalling consequences, which were constructed in his name … By this he understood, as Professor Russell McCutcheon of the University of Alabama, “religion to be a pacifier that both deadened oppressed people’s sense of pain and alienation while, simultaneously, preventing them from doing something about their lot in life, since ultimate responsibility was thought to reside with a being who existed outside of history”.
Alt-Right Nativists Launch Witch Hunt Against Chobani Yogurt Founder For Helping Refugees
Reason.com – Nov. 6
Not to put too fine a point on it, but in the libertarian moral universe, liberal government programs are bad and private charity is good. In fact, one of the core libertarian arguments against government aid is not just that it is wasteful and inefficient but that it displaces private acts of philanthropy. Over time, this erodes a functioning civil society that thrives on voluntary altruism that Alexis de Tocqueville praised as the true and unique spirit of America … All of this is not just laudable, but entirely in keeping with America’s pre-welfare state tradition in the early 20th Century when fraternal organizations of various ethnic groups funded by members provided insurance and other social services to new arrivals, as University of Alabama libertarian economist David Beito has richly documented.
UA art history students lay out plans for medieval cathedral on UA’s quad
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Nov. 4
Some University of Alabama art history students offered passers-by a taste of medieval times this morning on the UA Quad. Students from several classes showed how designers blended art and math to construct a famous cathedral in France. Simple tools such as mallets, stakes, strings and mason squares were used to lay down a scale model of the cathedral’s plans.