‘Sesame Street’ asks University of Alabama professor for help
The Tuscaloosa News – April 2
A University of Alabama professor recently received the rare honor of being asked for advice by none other than the curators of “Sesame Street.” Jamie Naidoo, an assistant professor in UA’s School of Library and Information Studies, got a call from the legendary children’s TV show in early February to assist the show in reaching out to the growing Latino population in the United States. Naidoo’s research interests focus on the representation of minority populations in print and non-print media for children and young adults. He directs the National Latino Children’s Literature Conference, which he co-developed in 2007, and also runs “Imagínense Libros!”, a review blog of Latino children’s and young adult literature. Rocio Galarza, the show’s senior director of content planning and design for outreach, emailed Naidoo after reading some of his research and his blog.
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – April 2
Nonprofit UA organization loaning out funds to entrepreneurs
Tuscaloosa News – April 1
Katrina Rollins faced an uncertain future in the weeks after the April 27 tornado. The Curl Shop, an Alberta beauty salon she operated for 28 years, was destroyed. A lone worker who was at the salon when the tornado hit was seriously injured. And Rollins said she was shocked by the destruction and suffering all around her. It took some time but she knew she had to get back in business. “I just started back up going from house to house” to serve customers, she said. Getting back into a permanent location though was much more difficult — at least until last week. That’s when Rollins received a $3,500 unsecured microloan from Forza Financial, a relatively new nonprofit student organization at the University of Alabama. Rollins will use the money to bring a building up to city codes so that she can use it for her beauty salon…David Bailey, Forza’s student CEO, said the idea of setting up a student-run microlending bank at UA started about two and half years ago. He recalled he and two others students were talking about how they could help people in Tuscaloosa and the Black Belt. “It was very informal. The three of us just got together,” said Bailey, a junior from eastern Tennessee who is majoring in finance and entrepreneurship. The three students’ conversation turned to microloans and, in time, more students became involved. Today, Forza has 26 student members…The students set up Forza and got it recognized as a student organization. This semester, UA’s Honors College offered a course on microlending that allows the students to earn credits for the work they do in Forza. “This is something that was started by students and is run by students,” said Lou Marino, a UA professor of management and entrepreneurship and a Forza advisor. Marino, who also teaches the microlending course, said the students volunteer their time at Forza and run it like a business…
‘Shaq’ to direct PSA in Tuscaloosa
The Associated Press – March 30
Former NBA star Shaquille O’Neal will be at the University of Alabama on April 6 to direct a short video aimed at curbing binge drinking. The university said O’Neal will work alongside students on the public service announcement for the anti-binge drinking initiative LessThanUThink. O’Neal recently attended film director’s school and partnered with the Century Council to work with college students on producing videos that address binge drinking. University of Alabama students submitted storyboards for the public service announcement, and O’Neal selected one by Crystal Deuel, an advertising major from Hartselle. The university said Deuel will join O’Neal for the video shoot.
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – March 30
CBS 8 (Montgomery) – March 30
UA Panhellenic Easter Egg Hunt draws hundreds ready with baskets (photos)
Al.com – April 1
The President’s Mansion lawn and its towering trees generously provided a little shade at the University of Alabama Panhellenic Association annual community Easter Egg Hunt on Sunday. Children up to age 12 were invited to participate in the hunt, which saw thousands of colorful plastic eggs scattered across the lawn. Filled with all sorts of candy, the slightly hidden eggs were no match for the eager young participants ready to manually hatch their loot. Parents had their cameras ready to shoot as their young ones, many dressed in their Easter best, scampered in the green grass. UA Panhellenic members and other sorority members were on hand to oversee the event and paint children’s faces in front of the President’s Mansion.
Chancellor to search, select, oversee president
Crimson White – April 2
Among Robert Witt’s first duties as the new chancellor of the University of Alabama System will be recommending a replacement for himself as president of the University of Alabama. The chancellor is responsible for recommending “to the Board, after an appropriate search process, the appointment and compensation of Presidents,” according to the UA System Board of Trustees Manual. The system has three presidents, and each is responsible for administering one of the system’s three campuses. In addition to the University of Alabama, the system includes the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Chancellor Witt will be responsible for conducting the search process and making a final recommendation for the appointment of a new UA president to the board, said Kellee Reinhart, vice chancellor of system relations.
Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity returns to campus
Crimson White – April 2
An international fraternity is hoping to add to the UA greek system this year by reactivating their Tuscaloosa chapter. The returning fraternity, Sigma Alpha Mu, already has an established group of members and is recruiting new members for this semester. “Anyone can join if they are looking to make the fraternity a successful endeavor,” said Harrison Leibow, the national educational leadership consultant of Sigma Alpha Mu. The UA chapter was once well-established until it was deactivated in the early 1960s. Nick D’Addabbo said he is determined to change that and reactivate the chapter. D’Addabbo transferred from Boston University this year and has been looking for fraternal brotherhood at Alabama. His dream is coming true this semester, he said. “He’s driven to make it happen, so he’s making it happen,” Leibow said. D’Addabbo, Sigma Alpha Mu’s president, said it offers the new members an opportunity to create their own legacy and a tradition that complements the rest of UA greek life.
Arts Company shares joint photographic journey in ‘Old Havana’
The Tennessean – March 30
“It took a week to realize I was in the right place at the right time,” photographer Chip Cooper says of a trip he made to Cuba in 2008. He’d been personally invited by Eusebio Leal Spengler, the city’s official historian and director of the Old Havana restoration project, and paired with that office’s photographer, Néstor Martí. After the two photographers spent time shooting together in the historic quarter of the city, Cooper realized he had a unique opportunity to create a book showcasing a collaborative project between an American and a Cuban. Cooper will sign and discuss the resulting book, Old Havana: Spirit of the Living City (University of Alabama Press), from 2 to 4 p.m. April 14 at The Arts Company. The “Salon Saturday” event is free, but reservations are required. Old Havana includes work by both men — around 135 images each culled from 2,000 images between them. The book’s text and captions are in English and Spanish, just as the photographers’ images are paired on the pages. Over the course of 3½ years, Cooper made 10 trips of 10 to 15 days to Havana. He and Martí shot together and separately to capture the city’s architecture, people and spirit.
Unemployment down in state, Morgan
Individual.com — March 31
Unemployment dropped in the state and in Morgan and Lawrence counties last month, according to figures released Friday by the state Department of Industrial Relations. “The decline in unemployment rate — for both Morgan County and the state — was due to both a slight increase in total employed and a decline in civilian labor force,” said Ahmad Ijaz, an economist with the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Alabama. “Statewide, if the civilian labor force had not dropped, the unemployment rate would have been slightly higher at around 8 percent.”…”The state’s economy is growing and adding jobs, just not at the pace we would like to see,” Ijaz said. “The rest of the states are in the same condition.”The automotive industry is helping the state’s numbers, Ijaz said. “Alabama has done slightly better than other states mainly because of the automotive manufacturing sector, which has steadily added workers since the end of the recession in mid-2009,” Ijaz said.
The ‘Resurrection’ of the ‘Ten Commandments Judge’ in Alabama
Yahoo.com – April 1
At a conference meeting of the Alabama Political Science Association at Auburn University, participants discussed the “resurrection” of the Ten Commandments Judge Roy Moore, who seems poised to recover his old job and exert more controversy in Alabama and perhaps beyond…The implications for Moore’s anticipated victory this fall, and his impact thereafter, is very important. University of Alabama professor Bill Stewart said that due to legislative party caucus dominance and weakened Alabama gubernatorial position means that “only the courts seem capable of providing any reform.”
Republicans to tweak questionable parts of immigration law
Florence Times Daily – April 1
A Decatur legislator says proposed changes to the state’s immigration law will clarify and strengthen it. Rep. Micky Hammon and other Republicans said no one should expect an overhaul of the controversial law that was designed in part to make illegal immigrants “self deport” themselves from the state…Samuel Addy, an economist and director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Alabama, predicts the law will lead to a huge departure of immigrants from the state, leading to a dramatic reduction of demand for goods and services. This would shrink the state’s gross domestic product by between $2.3 billion at $10.8 billion annually, and cost up to $264.5 million in lost tax revenue and between 70,000 and 140,000 jobs, the Associated Press reported earlier this year.
Florence Times Daily – April 1
OPINION: The steward turned spy
New York Times – March 30
During the last weeks of March 1862 some 121,000 troops from the Army of the Potomac — the Union’s largest military force — began arriving on the Virginia Peninsula, the first step in what Northerners hoped would be a successful jab at Richmond, the Confederate capital. For over three weeks, hundreds of boats transported the men, 14,000 horses and incalculable tons of matériel southward down the Chesapeake Bay to Union-held Fort Monroe on the peninsula’s tip. The colossal amphibious movement was carried out with well-designed efficiency and seemed to spell impending doom for Richmond, and possibly the end of the war. Though the strategy was Gen. George B. McClellan’s, the troops were there largely because of a free black man named William Ringgold. Glenn David Brasher is instructor of history at the University of Alabama and the author of “The Peninsula Campaign and the Necessity of Emancipation: African Americans and the Fight for Freedom.”
OPINION: Communists rarely conceded power willingly
Tuscaloosa News – March 31
The 20th century was not only the “American century,” which witnessed the triumph of capitalism and democracy, it was the century that communism triumphed across much of the world. The two political, economic, social, and ideological systems clashed often as their champions struggled to dominate their own countries, and, indeed, the world. At the end of the 20th century, the old Soviet Union, led by Russia, broke up, and the tearing down of the Berlin Wall symbolized the collapse of the world wide center of communism. It survived in China, and is still the official political organization of that vast country, but the capitalist way of life is rapidly changing China from monolithic communism to a hybrid state. (Larry Clayton is a professor of history at the University of Alabama.)
EDITORIAL: The anniversary of a mistake
The Anniston Star – April 2
Thursday marks the one-year anniversary that the Alabama House of Representatives passed HB56… According to the Center for Business & Economic Research at the University of Alabama, the cost of Alabama’s anti-immigrant folly was steep — an annual loss of $2.3 billion and reduction of at least 70,000 jobs….
Opera Theatre to perform Broadway favorites
Crimson White – April 2
The University of Alabama Opera Theatre will perform musical theater, pop songs, solos and duets Tuesday night as part of “One Night Only: An Evening of Our Pop and Broadway Favorites.” Paul Houghtaling, director of Opera Theatre and assistant professor of voice, is anticipating an excellent evening for his students and the audience alike. While admission is free, he urged students to arrive early due to limited seating. “It’s overwhelmingly popular, which is why we do it every year,” Houghtaling said. “It brings incredible wealth . . . it brings beauty, joy, art and culture to the community.” In particular, the event has been known to serve as a showcase for the versatility of the University’s opera singers. “We sing it all. We’re versatile, young American artists,” Houghtaling said. “We’re thrilled every year to be able to do this for the community and [to have] an opportunity for our students to perform repertoire that’s different from the music we usually perform.”
PixelCon
Crimson White – April 2
Gamers, cosplayers and masses of self-proclaimed nerds flooded the Ferguson Center Saturday for the third-annual PixelCon, a gaming convention put on by UA’s ABXY Gaming Network. PixelCon Live! kicked off Friday night, featuring student performances of video game music and remixes. This led into Saturday’s slate of live-action games, video, board and card game tournaments, panels and an assortment of free-play games throughout the Ferg. Music filled the Ferguson Ballroom, broken only by the sporadic sounds of virtual gunfire and the “Ohs and “Ahs marking a particularly dramatic on-screen turn of events. Home to the main tournaments and free-play area, the heart of PixelCon’s action took place in the ballroom.
Moon-bouncing used as fundraiser
Crimson White – April 2
Eight Alabama students broke the Guinness Book of World Records longest continuous time moon-bouncing this weekend at the Tuscaloosa Air Show. By rotating in 15-minute intervals, the group jumped throughout the night to raise money for the Bama Mocha Club. Bama Mocha Club is a nonprofit organization that raises funds and awareness for different service projects in Africa. “This particular fundraiser was to help build water wells and provide clean water for people in Ethiopia who do not have any access to clean drinking water,” said Will Scogin, president of Bama Mocha Club and a junior majoring in chemical engineering.
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – April 1
UA Relay for Life raises $32,000
Crimson White – April 2
The American Cancer Society and the University of Alabama hosted Relay for Life on Saturday at the University soccer fields. The organizers and participants succeeded in raising more than $32,000 out of their $45,000 goal for cancer research in just the three weeks leading up to and including the event. The overnight event began at 6 p.m. and ran through the night, attracting more than 100 participants. Many of the teams in attendance were made up of student organizations on campus. Delta Zeta sorority and Gamma Phi Beta sorority, combined, donated half of the funds raised by all participants in the event. Delta Zeta raised $8,425 for the event, and Gamma Phi Beta raised $7,760 in the weeks leading up to the event.
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – April 1
HCA helps clear hiking trail in Lake Lurleen state park
The Crimson White – April 2
Even as every day seems hotter than the one before, 15 members of the Honors College Assembly endured the heat Saturday to cut out a new hiking and biking trail at Lake Lurleen State Park. The West Alabama Mountain Biking Association, Tuscaloosa’s chapter of the Southern Off-Road Bicycle Association, works directly with Lake Lurleen State Park and Munny Sokol Park to create and maintain bike trails. Adult volunteers from WAMBA led five teams of three students into the forest to propel the development of a new four-mile trail within the Lake Lurleen area. “We wanted to create a new trail that was more family-friendly,” said WAMBA trail work coordinator Joe Fuller. “The other trails within the area have steep inclines, and we wanted to make one that was more accessible for young kids on their bikes.”
Perseverance with the Pen
Aspen Daily News – March 30
It took Kathryn Stockett five years of writing and 60 rejections from literary agents before one finally said “yes.” Now, those five dozen people are probably kicking themselves in the ass. Stockett’s novel, “The Help,” has been on the New York Times bestseller list for more than two years and its adaptation to screenplay was recently nominated for Best Motion Picture of the Year. Not too shabby for a debut novel…Stockett graduated from the University of Alabama with a degree in English and Creative Writing.
Former Tide player helps abused children
Crimson White – April 2
Imagine a little girl who thinks nobody in the world wants her. A little girl whose father throws her against a wall and would choose drugs over her. A little girl whose mother isn’t there anymore because cancer took her life years ago. A little girl who just wants to be loved and cherished. “Please give me a chance,” the girl wrote in a letter. John Croyle, founder and executive director of Big Oak Ranch, gave that girl, and thousands of other hurting children over the years, a chance. Big Oak Ranch is dedicated to finding abused and neglected children and bringing them to a safe place they can call home. Croyle’s vision for a better life for children has become a reality with the Boys’ Ranch, located in Gadsden, Ala., and the Girls’ Ranch in Springville, Ala. He has housed more than 1,800 children since 1974. Croyle is a Gadsden native who played football under Paul “Bear” Bryant at the University of Alabama. However, when the National Football League came knocking on his door, he turned down a career in professional football in favor of starting a home for abandoned and abused children. Croyle may have had all the tools he needed to be successful in the NFL, but he said he preferred to be used as a tool himself for a higher calling.