South by Southwest Film Festival to premiere Tuscaloosa documentary on eating only Alabama food
Birmingham News – Feb. 15
A Tuscaloosa couple’s attempt to spend a year living exclusively on food grown or raised in Alabama is chronicled in a new documentary,“Eating Alabama,” which premieres at next month’s South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas. Andrew Grace, the filmmaker, and his wife, Rashmi, — both of whom were raised in suburbia — spent a challenging year that produced moments of comedy and episodes of adventure, but also some deep thoughts about the rapid pace of change and what may have been irrevocably lost in the rush to modernity. “I had an assumption when I started this project that what had been disconnected was my relationship with farmers,” Grace said. He assumed that, by tracing food back to its source, they would re-establish their connection to place, and people and to the seasons. . . . Grace teaches filmmaking at the University of Alabama and serves as the director of an interdisciplinary program called Documenting Justice. Ramshi Grace is now director of the Druid City Garden Project, a community-based nonprofit in Tuscaloosa that works to increase access to fresh, locally grown produce.
Earthquake simulator to be constructed at UA
Tuscaloosa News – Feb. 15
There aren’t very many rooms in the world that can successfully reproduce the devastating effects of an earthquake. But come May 1, a laboratory on the University of Alabama campus may be able to do just that. Work is under way to outfit the laboratory within UA’s South Engineering Research Center with what is called a shake table to subject building design codes and materials to nature’s wrath in a controlled environment. “In essence, the table is a large piece of steel that moves back and forth and represents the motion of the earth. This particular table is designed to be used to collapse structures,” said John van de Lindt, professor and endowed chair of UA’s civil construction and environmental engineering program.
UA professor’s dance celebrated at film festival
Crimson White – Feb. 15
The San Francisco Dance Film Festival selects 25 films to showcase each year. They receive submissions from all over the world, and this year, one of the chosen dance films hails from the University of Alabama. Assistant Director of Dance Sarah Barry received the notification last month that her film “There, Again” had made it into the festival. “It was very exciting to be accepted to be in the festival, which is quite prestigious,” Barry said. “To be one in 25 is quite an honor.” The piece she submitted was a film adaptation of the original stage performance of her piece “There, Again,” which was shown in ADRT in the fall of 2010. Almost immediately afterward, Barry began to draft an idea of how to translate the performance from on the stage to the camera. She gathered a team of dancers, videographers and other consultants to help her with the transition.
Alabama immigration law: Hundreds rally in front of State House, seeking repeal (slideshow)
Birmingham News – Feb. 15
A crowd of several hundred people rallied in front of the State House for about an hour today to ask legislators to repeal the state’s immigration law, known as House Bill 56 when it passed the Legislature last year. . . . Sharon Richards, president of the metro Montgomery branch of the NAACP, told the crowd, ”HB 56 has been and continues to be an economic disaster for Alabama.” She mentioned a recent report by Samuel Addy, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Alabama, that estimated the immigration law could reduce the state gross domestic product by $2.3 billion to $10.8 billion, or from 1.3 to 6.2 percent. His report assumed the law caused or will cause 40,000 to 80,000 unauthorized immigration workers to leave the state, no longer earning or spending income in Alabama.
U.S. Catholic – Feb. 15
NBC 13 (Birmingham) – Feb. 14
UA theater majors deliver valentine greetings in song
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – Feb. 14
In its second year, University of Alabama theater majors are lending their talents to show people’s significant others how they feel about them. “Justin wanted me to sing a song,” Miriam Brant walks into what she thinks is a typical meeting at the University of Alabama in front of these Valentine’s Day crooners, anything but typical. They were hired by her husband of 12 years, Justin Brant…
CBS 42 (Birmingham) – Feb. 14
UA’s Dance Alabama! spring concert opens in Morgan Auditorium tonight
AL.com – Feb. 14
The University of Alabama Department of Theatre and Dance will debut its 2011 Dance Alabama! Spring Concert tonight at 7:30 p.m. in Morgan Auditorium on the UA campus. Dance students will perform their student-choreographed concert four additional days this week, with shows at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday, at 5:30 p.m. on Friday and at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
Pulitzer Prize winner, Washington Post contributor to speak at UA
AL.com – Feb. 14
Former Wall Street Journal bureau chief and Pulitzer Prize winner Douglas Blackmon will visit the University of Alabama to speak about his award-winning book “Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II” on Feb. 23. The lecture will be at 6 p.m. in room 205 of Gorgas Library on the UA campus. The book won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for general non-fiction, the Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights Book Award and an American Book Award.
UA mentoring program to host Mardi Gras parade at McKenzie Court
AL.com – Feb. 14
The Al’s Pals mentoring program at the University of Alabama will host a Mardi Gras parade at McKenzie Court Community Center in Tuscaloosa on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. Al’s Pals is a youth mentoring program provided by UA students and is a new focus of the UA Community Service Center in the area of arts, youth and education. During the fall semester, about 150 UA students served as one-on-one mentors and student leaders providing an after-school program at the McKenzie Court Community Center. They helped with homework, reinforced reading and math skills and joined area youth in enrichment and recreational activities.
Fashion show celebrates all body types
Crimson White – Feb. 15
For aspiring models of every shape and size, the University of Alabama’s Health Promotion and Wellness Department is organizing their 4th annual Fashion Rocks and So Does My Body fashion show on March 1. The show is in recognition of National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, which lasts from Feb. 26 to March 3, in order to promote a healthy body image. In an attempt to dissipate society’s unrealistic image of an attractive physique, the show welcomes both men and women to rock the runway displaying pride for their bodies. The first half of the show involves the models strutting their stuff in their favorite jeans and a white top while an MC announces their favorite body part and trait, demonstrating “comfort in their own genes.”
British farce brings mayhem to the Tuscaloosa stage
Crimson White – Feb. 15
Theatre Tuscaloosa will perform their first rendition of “Noises Off” since 1992 at the Bean-Brown Theatre starting tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m., with six additional shows until their final performance on Feb. 26, at 2 p.m. “Noises Off,” a play written by Michael Frayn in which nothing can go right, presents the audience with a parody of a play within a play. And often, the pandemonium reflects the mayhem required behind the scenes. . . . University of Alabama graduate student and new actor Will Nevin will play the stuttering actor Garry Lejeune, who in turn plays the mischievous real estate agent Roger. Nevin said that he fell in love with the play after reading it in high school and eyed the December casting call for the Tuscaloosa production since the summer.
‘Bras for a Cause’ to be displayed at Power of Pink meet
Tuscaloosa News – Feb. 15
Fifty decorated bras will be on display at Coleman Coliseum Friday night during the annual “Power of Pink” University of Alabama gymnastics meet. The bras, which are adorned with everything from feathers to golf tees to Valentine conversation heart candies, are part of the “Bras for a Cause” contest that helps raise money for the DCH breast cancer fund. “It’s really amazing that people will look at a plain bra and come up with something great,” said Casey Johnson, special events manager with the DCH Foundation. “There is a story in each bra, a memory, a story about somebody or a time in someone’s life.” The public can vote on the best decorated bra for $2 per vote. Proceeds from the contest will help uninsured women in Alabama with mammograms and financial assistance for items like wigs and prosthetics, Johnson said.
Tips for preparing for graduate school
Crimson White – Feb. 15
For students preparing for the graduate school admissions process, research should extend beyond preparation for their undergraduate courses. Natalie Adams, assistant dean of the University of Alabama Graduate School, said students should prepare for graduate school interviews by researching the school they are applying for ahead of time. “Do your homework,” Adams said. “Graduate schools get hundreds, if not thousands, of applications and you have to make yourself memorable. You do that by showing you have thoroughly researched their graduate program. Learn about the faculty, what type of research and service they do, what is unique about their program and how their program fits your professional goals.”
Alabama’s International Relations Club holds Model UN conference
Crimson White – Feb. 15
The Alabama International Relations Club hosted their third Alabama Model United Nations conference last weekend on UA’s campus with more than 110 high school participants. “Model United Nations is just what it sounds like – a model of the United Nations,” said Becca Benning, the conference’s secretary general. “Students are assigned a country and debate current world issues from that country’s perspective. “There are many different committees that have specific agendas, but each committee has the ultimate goal of writing a resolution to solve the issues presented. Delegates collaborate, debate and create innovative solutions for pressing world issues.”
Chi Omega to collect prom dresses
Crimson White – Feb. 15
Operation Prom Dress and Fashion Inc. have teamed up to collect donated prom dresses to give to high school girls in the community that would not be able to afford them otherwise. For those who wish to help, bring old prom dresses to the Chi Omega house from 2 to 5 p.m. today. Fashion Inc., a student organization at the University of Alabama, and Operation Prom Dress, a local non-profit organization, believe that no one should miss out on the opportunity to experience prom. Their goal is to provide girls in Tuscaloosa with a prom dress. Both organizations strive to promote confidence and positive self-image for young women. They are seeking help from local organizations, businesses and students. If you don’t have a prom dress to donate but want to help out, they are also accepting shoes, jewelry and unused makeup.
UA alumna Mignon Smith leaves philanthropic legacy
Crimson White – Feb. 15
Mignon Comer Smith, an Alabama philanthropist and heiress who established a scholarship foundation for Alabama high school students, died Friday at the age of 81. Smith, born in Birmingham in 1931, was the daughter of J. Craig Smith, owner of Avondale Mills. According to a biography posted on the foundation’s website, smithscholarships.com, Smith attended both Briarcliff College in New York and the University of Alabama, where she studied journalism and political science.