Alabama summit planned to help veterans transition to civilian life
Al.com – Feb. 12
A meeting is being planned at the University of Alabama to improve the transition to civilian life for military veterans. The two-day event is called “Service Member to Civilian: A National Summit on Improving Transitions.” It’s being held at the Bryant Conference Center starting April 16. Assistant nursing and social work dean Karl Hamner says the meeting will explore ways service members, veterans, their relatives and others can improve the change from military to civilian life. More than 2.6 million veterans have returned home in the 13 years since U.S. troops first deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
NBC 13 (Birmingham) – Feb. 12
Washington Times – Feb. 12
ABC 33/40 (Birmingham) – Feb. 12
Athens News Courier – Feb. 12
CBS 12 (Chattanooga, Tenn.) – Feb. 12
WAAY-TV (Huntsville) – Feb. 12
Seymour Tribune (Ind.) – Feb. 12
University of Alabama researchers to lead 3-year Gulf Coast oil spill study
Al.com – Feb. 12
Two biological sciences professors at the University of Alabama are set to lead a three-year, $1.5 million study on the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The study is intended to help improve responses to future oil spills, according to a UA release. “Gaining full comprehension of the impacts from both the Deepwater Horizon spill and the subsequent clean-up efforts, including the use of dispersant, will take many years,” Behzad Mortazavi, UA associate professor of biological sciences, said of the study. “Ecosystems are fragile and yet, at times, they can be extremely resilient. We want to continue looking at how the area’s biodiversity may have contributed to its resiliency.” Mortazavi will be joined by Patricia Sobecky, associate provost for academic affairs and professor of biological sciences.
Alabama’s constitutional crisis over same-sex marriage, explained
MSN – Feb. 12
Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore on Sunday evening tried to block probate judges from marrying gay and lesbian couples in the state … Joseph Smith, a judicial politics expert at the University of Alabama, told the New York Times that Alabama Chief Justice Moore’s stance today is very similar to Wallace’s back in the 1960s: “It’s a very similar strain of ideology: the state’s rights, resisting the national tide, resisting liberal movements in policy.”
President Obama, the National Prayer Breakfast, and Slavery
History News Network – Feb. 9
by Joshua D. Rothman
The controversy over President Obama’s remarks at last week’s National Prayer Breakfast is a strange one. Noting the horrors carried out by the so-called Islamic State and others around the globe claiming to be acting in the name of Islam, the President asserted that American Christians might want to reflect with some humility upon their own past before they condemn an entire faith based on the actions of its most twisted adherents. After all, he observed, “slavery and Jim Crow all too often was [sic] justified in the name of Christ.” The speech enraged former Virginia governor Jim Gilmore, who claimed Obama’s comments were “the most offensive I’ve ever heard a president make in my lifetime.” Somewhat less heatedly, Richard Moore, the president of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, took issue with Obama’s historical characterization, insisting that “the evil actions that he mentioned were clearly outside the moral parameters of Christianity itself and were met with overwhelming moral opposition from Christians.” (Joshua D. Rothman is Professor of History and Director of the Frances S. Summersell Center for the Study of the South at the University of Alabama. He is the author, most recently, of “Flush Times and Fever Dreams: A Story of Capitalism and Slavery in the Age of Jackson” (2012)
Child Development Resource Center to host lullaby concert
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Feb. 11
The University of Alabama Child Development Resource Center will host a lullaby concert on Thursday. The free event allows parents and children, newborn to 5-years-old, to enjoy music and reading together. Entertainment will include the Stillman College Choir, a musical petting zoo, and a planetarium.
Rick Bragg speaks at lecture event
Crimson White – Feb. 12
Pulitzer-Prize winning author and University of Alabama professor Rick Bragg told stories to a crowded gathering of friends and fans at a lecture event hosted by Alpine Living magazine Wednesday evening. The event, which draws a large crowd every two years, serves as one of the student-run travel magazine’s biggest fundraisers. Bragg, author of several books, focused his story-telling abilities on that of his most recent book, “Jerry Lee Lewis: His Own Story,” a biography of one of Rock and Roll’s most influential piano players and most colorful characters. “He was crazy,” Bragg said of Lewis, “and not even a good crazy. But he really was in on the birth of Rock and Roll.” Bragg told stories of Lewis’s talents and his flaws, his triumphs and his failures. Fielding questions from the audience, Bragg spoke in detail about Lewis’s complicated but important relationship with Elvis Presley and his clashes with rock-great Chuck Berry. “Professor Bragg has been so gracious to offer his time again for Alpine Living’s benefit,” said Anne Rae Gwarjanski, Alpine Living’’s Managing Editor and a graduate student in the department of journalism.
Sonic Frontiers Workshop Series continues tonight with saxophonist’s work at Grocery in Northport
Al.com – Feb. 11
The University of Alabama’s Sonic Frontiers Workshop Series at The Grocery continues Wednesday night at 7 p.m. At the second workshop in the series, Andrew Raffo Dewar will introduce saxophonist and composer Anthony Braxton’s music and lead attendees in a guided improvisation using Braxton’s Language Music conducting system as a lead-up to the MacArthur fellows week-long residency at the University of Alabama Feb. 18-25. The workshop is free and open to the public. Previous musical experience is not required, but you’re encouraged to bring an instrument if you have one. The Sonic Frontiers Workshop Series is presented by The Grocery in partnership with the Sonic Frontiers Concert Series at the University of Alabama. The Grocery is an artist-run studio, exhibit, and performance space located at 900 Main Avenue in Northport. Learn more. Workshops in the Workshop Series occur on the second Wednesday of each month. Visit the Sonic Frontiers website or Facebook page to keep up with upcoming events around town.
Students showcase films at Black Warrior Film Festival
Crimson White – Feb. 12
University of Alabama student filmmaker Tanner Lee Robbins, a junior majoring in telecommunication and film, spent months creating his short film thriller, “Syzygy.” The film, which debuted at this year’s Campus Movie Fest finale event Jan. 29, explores themes of peer pressure and immorality. “Filmmaking is hard work, and I rely on a great team of crew and actors to help bring the vision to life,” Robbins said. As a winner of CMF’s Jury Award, Robbins will have the opportunity to attend CMF’s Hollywood Student Film Summit. With more than 1,000 student filmmakers from 60 college campuses, Robins will participate in professional film workshops, networking and
industry advising. “It is incredible how this opportunity will affect my future,” Robbins said. “Being a part of CMF’s Hollywood Film summit will expand my network of contacts, enhance my industry experience and help me grow creatively as a director.”
SLIS Annual Book Sale
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Feb. 11
The annual children’s and young adult book sale runs through Friday. The book sale takes place in the Gorgas Library on The University of Alabama campus from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. today and Thursday. On Friday, it’s from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Proceeds from this fundraiser of towards the National Latino Children’s Literature Conference.
Professor Erevelles promotes campus social justice
Crimson White – Feb. 12
Nirmala Erevelles, a professor of social and cultural studies, has done more than just teach since joining The University of Alabama. “There are many attributes of Dr. Erevelles that make her both unique as a professor and central to the teacher education process,” said Paul Landry, a doctoral candidate in the College of Education. Erevelles teaches a variety of courses at the University, including Multicultural Education, Social Cultural Studies, Critical Race Theory and her favorite, Education and Politics of the Body. She joined the University in 2001 after teaching for three years at Auburn. She received her undergraduate degree in mathematics from her home country of India. “India didn’t have any type of degree in education,” she said. After moving to the U.S., she earned her master’s and doctorate degree in special education at Syracuse University. “Going to school as an outsider, I could see segregation happening in schools,” Erevelles said.