Alabama student taking ‘The Face’ to NBC’s Today Show
Tuscaloosa News – Feb. 21
In sports, fame is usually reserved for athletes and occasionally commentators, but one teenage Alabama basketball fan has been catapulted to celebrity status because of a phenomenon entirely different. It’s something that has been dubbed “The Face,” and its owner, 19-year-old Jack Blankenship said it all started in the seventh grade. “We created this exaggerated face, and it became a big joke with all my friends,” Blankenship said. Now a freshman studying engineering at the University of Alabama, Blankenship said he figured it would be funny to bring an oversized cut-out of his face to a Crimson Tide basketball game.
MSNBC – Feb. 21
Huffington Post – Feb. 21
CNBC – Feb. 21
Mashable.com – Feb. 21
AL.com – Feb. 22
WGAL-NBC (Harrisburg, Pa.) – Feb. 20
KGW-NBC (Portland, Ore.) – Feb. 20
WCNC-NBC (Charlotte, N.C.) – Feb. 21
WFLX-Fox (West Palm Beach, Fla.) – Feb. 21
WPMI-NBC (Mobile) – Feb. 21
WBBH-NBC (For Myers, Fla.) – Feb. 21
KSNW-NBC, (Wichita, Kan.) – Feb. 21
WRCB-NBC (Chattanooga, Tenn.) – Feb. 21
KRNV-NBC, (Reno, Nev.) – Feb. 21
WWLP-NBC (Springfield, Mass.) – Feb. 21
KMTR-NBC (Eugene, Ore.) – Feb. 21
KPVI-NBC, (Idaho Falls, Idaho) – Feb. 21
KTVZ-NBC (Bend, Ore.) – Feb. 21
UA filmmaker’s documentary chosen for SXSW festival
Tuscaloosa News – Feb. 22
Just as writers put their lives into words on paper and photographers view days through a lens, Andy Grace spent almost four years adapting his personal quest to get back to earth into the film “Eating Alabama.” “I’m a filmmaker, so everything I do, I’m always thinking of processing what I’m doing through a movie,” said Grace, who teaches in the Telecommunication and Film Department at the University of Alabama. He and wife Rashmi descend from farming families; he grew up in north Alabama before moving for college. While teaching themselves to cook in graduate school at the University of Wyoming, they realized technique was only a portion of the meal; fresh ingredients were crucial. “And I had a dual interest in sustainability issues, once I read that most food travels 1,500 miles from farm to table,” he said. “How could we have created a system where that exists?”
Politico managing editor talks to UA students about the modern news era
AL.com – Feb. 22
Bill Nichols, managing editor of Politico.com, urged University of Alabama communications students Tuesday night to remain positive about a future in media despite the demise of what he calls the “old order” of print media. “It’s been a painful fire to watch,” Nichols said, speaking to a crowd of more than 100 University of Alabama students about the transition from print to online news. “But I think something really interesting is going to rise out of the ashes of it.” He covered a brief history of Politico and his take on the Republican primaries but spent the majority of his lecture focusing on Politico’s news reporting.
Healthy down-home cooking is simple
Frederick (Md.) News-Post – Feb. 22
…The University of Alabama houses one of the largest collections of African American cookbooks in the country, dating back to 1827. View the complete list at www.lib.ua.edu/lupton/lupton.htm.
Instructor, author, DJ raises money for Tuscaloosa
Crimson White – Feb. 22
The classic, stereotypical college professor is an older man sporting a bowtie, quiet and reserved; and a fan of cigars, crosswords and reading Walt Whitman by a fire in his humble home after the kids are put to bed. Many instructors at the University stand in proud contrast to that image, but one of them, Brian Oliu of the department of creative writing, does this particularly well. Students familiar with Oliu have discussed Lady Gaga and cologne with him, partied as he DJed at clubs and bars across the city and, most importantly, witnessed his love and charity for Tuscaloosa since the tornado rocked the community on April 27…“In the days after the tornado, I collected writers that I knew cared about this city and told everyone to give me pieces about Tuscaloosa. Some were written before the storm, and some were written just after,” Oliu said. “Everyone played to our own strengths. I certainly can’t use a chainsaw, but I knew I could gather people together and assemble something.” Oliu assembled an e-book, a compilation of the works sent to him by the writers whose help he solicited. He titled it “Tuscaloosa Runs This” and released it for free with a feature that allowed people who enjoyed the book to make donations for the cause. The money the book raised, nearly $1000, Oliu donated to tornado relief.
Lawsuit suggests RMC sexual harassment policy was not followed
Anniston Star – Feb. 22
The sexual harassment policy at Regional Medical Center prohibits sexually offensive jokes and distribution of sexually offensive publications, and bans supervisors from punishing employees who report sexual harassment. None of that protected the hospital from being named in a lawsuit last week that alleged an Anniston city councilman harassed an RMC employee. But legal experts say it could be a defense for the hospital if the case winds up in court. “It gives you a certain defense to a claim,” said University of Alabama law professor James Leonard, who teaches courses on employment discrimination. “If you can convince a court that you have an adequate policy, then you basically have a defense against a monetary suit.”
Inquisition author Cullen Murphy to speak at Samford University, University of Alabama
Birmingham News – Feb. 21
An author and magazine editor who has researched the Inquisition will discuss his new book, “God’s Jury: The Inquisition and the Making of the Modern World,” tonight at 6:30 at Samford University. “We need to think of the Inquisition as an institution that has many modern echoes, rather than something locked in a medieval past,” said Cullen Murphy, editor-at-large of Vanity Fair, who will talk in the Bolding Studio on the third floor of Swearingen Hall, at the back of the Wright Center. Murphy will also speak at the University of Alabama on Wednesday at 2:30 p.m., in Room 205 of the Gorgas Library.