New York designer donates thousands of clothing items
Tuscaloosa News – June 7
Tuscaloosa women who lost their wardrobes in the April tornadoes will have the opportunity to replace some items, courtesy of New York based-apparel designer Alfred Dunner. Dressing Up! Tuscaloosa, a coordinated effort between Alfred Dunner, the University of Alabama College of Human Environmental Sciences, UA fraternity Zeta Beta Tau and volunteer organization MeetUp for Change, will open to tornado victims Thursday at 10 a.m at Central High School on 15th street.
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – June 6
Talk radio to the rescue
Mobile Press-Register – June 6
The series of tornadoes that swept through north Alabama in late April left massive destruction across a wide swath of communities. But the devastation from the storm “was only part of the story,” according to David Beito, a professor of history at the University of Alabama. Beito, in an op-ed published by the Wall Street Journal, wrote that Tuscaloosa “also became the scene of an inspiring, highly decentralized outpouring of volunteers and donations. Many of these arrangements could best be described examples of what Nobel prize-winning economist F.A. Hayek called ‘spontaneous order.’ As Hayek put it, spontaneous orders result from the countless actions of individuals, who coordinate their actions through extended systems of voluntary cooperation, rather than the design of a single planner.” Beito said much of the strength of Tuscaloosa’s mutual aid came from an unlikely source: right wing talk radio. “For more than two weeks after the tornado, the four Tuscaloosa Clear Channel stations preempted their normal fare of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and top 40 songs to serve as a clearing house for relief efforts,” he wrote. “The goal of the simulcasts was deceptively simple: Bring together givers and victims and allow them to exchange information,” said Beito. “This allowed givers to tailor their donations,” helping to connect emergency responders with tornado victims.
University of Alabama scholarship honors Loryn Brown, killed in tornado
WAKA (Montgomery) – June 6
A family devastated by the loss of 21-year-old Loryn Brown to the Tuscaloosa tornado continues to cope with their grief. Despite the challenges they face, they have found a way to give back and help other University of Alabama students. An EF-4 tornado ripped through Tuscaloosa on April 27th and claimed the life of University of Alabama student Loryn Brown…A memorial scholarship in her name is being created for students who are just as passionate about attending the University of Alabama as Brown was.
An Interview With Hank Lazer
Chronicle of Higher Education – June 4
Since 1977, Hank Lazer has taught English at the University of Alabama, where he has also served as assistant dean for humanities and fine arts, assistant vice president for undergraduate programs and services, associate provost for academic affairs, and director of the Creative Campus initiative. He has published 16 books of poetry and several books of essays. With Charles Bernstein, he edits the Modern and Contemporary Poetics Series for the University of Alabama Press. Lazer set out on October 8, 2006, to fill as many notebooks as could be completed during the time it took him to read Heidegger’s Being & Time. Working by hand in what might be called a concrete mode, Lazer took two and a half years to complete the first phase of the Notebook project, which led him through 10 notebooks of varying sizes and materiality. After completing Heidegger’s book, Lazer didn’t feel ready to abandon his “shape-writing,” and so he embarked on phase two, linked to a reading of works by Heidegger’s student Emmanuel Levinas. Lazer expects to complete the entire Notebook project this year or next…
Two Poems by Hank Lazer
Chronicle of Higher Education – June 6
In her previous post, Lisa Russ Spaar presented her Q&A with Hank Lazer. Below are pictures of two of Lazer’s Notebook poems along with transcriptions of those poems’ texts. Afterward, Spaar offers her interpretive notes…
Printmaking exhibit by Sarah Marshall comes to Walnut Gallery
Gadsden Times – June 7
Artist Sarah Marshall will present a series of prints, “Us to Them and Back Again,” from Friday to July 30 at Walnut Gallery. An opening reception and gallery talk takes place at 7 p.m. Friday. Admission is free and open to the public. Marshall will be present for a gallery talk and meet-and-greet. Marshall also joins the gallery as an artist in residence during June and July. She will conduct a community print project involving classes and workshops in which participants will help create unique art prints that will be displayed in the gallery as part of an evolving community exhibition. . . . The event is sponsored by the University of Alabama College of Art & Sciences. Marshall is an award-winning, nationally exhibited artist and printmaking instructor at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.