Talking at UGA

Eliminating Health Disparities

2008-05-04T18:58:00.000-07:00

Health disparities in the United States will not be eliminated until a broader and more relevant understanding of race and community is achieved, said Dr. Robert Robinson.

Robinson, the associate director for health equity in the Office of Smoking and Health, took aim Tuesday at research programs for their “over-simplified” definitions of different racial communities.

Robinson said researchers need to look at issues of history and culture, context and geography to understand community. These primary concepts are dynamic and change over time.

“Until some agency does in fact take responsibility for community development, we are going to be living with these disparities for the rest of our lives,” Robinson said while speaking to UGA students and faculty in the Complex Carbohydrate Research Center.

From 1990 to 2001, the rate of decrease in smoking by African Americans was twice that of whites. Robinson attributed this “tremendous victory” to communication campaigns and “Pathways to Freedom,” an African American quit-smoking guide.

Robinson said that a successful campaign has an initiative and correctly defines the parameters of its targeted population based on historical, contextual and geographical experiences.

The history of slavery needs to be considered when studying an African American community as well as the location in which they are living, Robinson said. An African American living in Harlem is going to be different from an African American living in a rural area.

“Until we introduce this kind of critical thinking into our work, our work will be good, but it will ultimately be insufficient to the problem we are trying to solve.”

Black Gay Men in the South

2008-05-04T18:57:00.000-07:00

From drag queen to minister, hairdresser to actor, Dr. E. Patrick Johnson shed light on the lives of gay black men living below the Mason-Dixon Line, sharing their emotional stories about religion, coming out and transgenderism.

Johnson said the South has generally been perceived as an inhospitable place for gays. Johnson spent two years examining this myth by asking 70 gay, African American men, ages ranging from 19 to 93, about their experiences living in the South.

In a dramatic performance Friday, this Northwestern University professor acted out six of the face-to-face interviews he conducted between August 2004 and September 2006.

“The South is a complicated place, but within that, there is grace,” Johnson said.

The sassy, yet soft-spoken professor said he was most surprised to find that many of the “flamboyant men” he interviewed were so incorporated and accepted into small town life. Living in a smaller community gave these men a familiarity and safety larger cities would not have been able to offer them.

Johnson’s performance was based on his book “Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South -- An Oral History,” which will launch Labor Day, or Black Gay Pride Day.

Playing on the name of southerners’ favorite ice-cold beverage, Johnson said “tea” is another word for gossip in gay vernacular.

Johnson said he loved “pouring the gossip” and hoped his performance had helped anyone who might be struggling with their sexuality.

The Global Impact of Yoruba Culture

2008-05-04T17:30:00.000-07:00

The impacts of the Yoruba culture on the global state are undeniable, said two Yoruba guest panelists in a discussion Wednesday afternoon.

Harrison Adeniyi from Nigeria and George Alao from France were both dressed in native African attire at the panel discussion, a part of the APERO Africana Brown Bag Lecture Series.

The professors spoke about four main areas in which Yoruba has greatly impacted the world: cultural artifacts, education, art and social areas.

Yoruba refers to an ethnic group from Africa, primarily Nigeria or West Africa, and the language they speak.

The "vast kingdom" of Yoruba consists of between 25 and 40 million native speakers, said Adeniyi, a professor at Lagos State University in Nigeria.

Because of the slave trade, "Yoruba were transported across the Atlantic to the new world," Adeniyi continued, "so Yoruba people are scattered all over the world. There are not just pockets of Yoruba. There are masses of people."

Alao talked about his recent trip to Burkina Faso in West Africa, where speaking Yoruba is commonplace.

Yoruba actually is the second most recognized language in African universities, second only to Swahili, said Alao, a professor at INALCO, a language institute in Paris.

"Not only is it present, it's present in force," Alao said in his final remarks to the audience of thirty in Adrinkra Hall, a part of the African American Cultural Center at UGA.

Ex-CIA agent Valerie Wilson Tells Her Story

2008-05-04T14:03:00.000-07:00

Valerie Plame Wilson listened intently to an audience member's question Wednesday evening at the Chapel: Would she consider running for vice president under Barack Obama?

The packed audience roared -- for the fifth time during Wilson's speech.

Wilson explained her side of the highly publicized story about the CIA leak scandal that revealed her identity in 2003.

"This isn't a democratic issue. It isn't a republican issue. It's a national security issue," Wilson said emphatically shortly after welcoming the audience.

The recurring theme of the evening: Wilson's struggles as a government agent, struggles indicative of the government's lack of taking responsibility for their actions and their words.

This, Wilson explained, was one of the reasons for writing her book Fair Game.

The other was a more personal reason -- through writing this book, she was able to process the whole experience for herself.

Many of these struggles stemmed from sexism. She spoke of the surprising responses she often received after telling someone she worked for the CIA. Wilson also divulged that she was the best shot at "The Farm," the training facility for CIA operatives.

"This changed the dynamic of my marriage," Wilson jokingly remarked.

Wilson described the bizarre aftermath of July 14, 2003, the day in which her then covert CIA identity was given away by columnist Robert Novak.

"We would read about these people, Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame, and they had nothing to do with us," she said.

Wilson spoke of the obstacles she faced when attempting to publish her book, which arose because of the secrecy agreement she, and all other CIA operatives, signed. Once again, she felt betrayed.

She concluded her speech powerfully, urging the students to still pursue a career in public service despite what happened to her. She ended with her favorite quote by Thomas Jefferson.

"When the citizens fear their government, that's tyranny. When the government fears their citizens, that's democracy," Wilson said as the the crowd gave her a standing ovation.

Pouring Tea: Lecturer "spills" about homosexuality, racism and religion in the South

2008-05-01T06:58:00.000-07:00

Martin Luther King, Jr. didn't mention homosexuality in his "I Have a Dream" speech, but maybe he should have.

On April 4, 2008, the day of the 40^th anniversary of the MLK, Jr. assassination, Dr. E. Patrick Johnson performed excerpts from his new book on issues of race, sexuality and tolerance at the annual Andrea Carson Coley Lecture.

The lecture, which brings scholars in the field of lesbian and gay studies to speak at UGA, is sponsored by the Women's Studies department and is in memory of a former student, Andrea Carson Coley.

Johnson is a professor of Performance Studies and African American Studies at Northwestern University. His forthcoming book, entitled Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South- An Oral History, examines the intersections of multiple identities in the mostly small towns of the Bible Belt.

"The South is complicated," Johnson explained. "But within that space is grace. We can be the most racist and homophobic folk, but we do it with grace."

For his book, he interviewed 77 black gay men from the South. For the lecture, he performed excerpts from the book, spliced together with audio clips from his actual interviews.

"I hope (the book) affirms the lives of the people that are named within. Just asking about their lives meant a lot."

The lecture, attended by the Coley family and about 75 others, took place in the Georgia Museum of Art. Members of the audience were both touched and humored by Johnson's excerpts about six lively men from all over the South. Some were even moved to tears.

Issues in the lecture covered most of the themes in Johnson's book-- struggles between one's sexuality and one's religion, family, and race.

Interviewees varied from "straight-acting" college students to transgender hairdressers to drag queen preachers. In his interview, Johnson found it surprising that the most flamboyant people in Southern small towns were actually deeply incorporated into town life and society.

"People are being fierce down here in Vidalia and Macon just like they are in the South side of Chicago."

When asked by an audience member about the relationship of the African American and gay communities, he said he didn't like the stereotype that blacks are homophobic.

"Blacks are not more homophobic, but are homophobic for different reasons," he said. "We've got other things to be dealing with without throwing people out of homes because they're gay."

The lecture was the first time he's done a performance of "Sweet Tea" in the South. His publisher wanted him to wait for book release, which is planned for Labor Day weekend in Atlanta during a gay pride celebration. As of yet, he has not performed in front of any of his interviewees..

The diversity and tolerance dissected in Johnson's lecture were focused on "intersections around multiple identities." No matter if it is one divisive issue like race, or more complicated identities mixing sexuality and class, he has found words of wisdom from a transgender coiffeuse from the small town of Hickory, North Carolina:

"The only time something threatens you is because you were unsure of how it worked. (People) have a fear of what they don't understand."

Global Diseases – The Vision for a Universal HIV Vaccine

2008-04-27T18:21:00.000-07:00

The world is sick – and has been since 1983. But the cure is within reach, said an expert in immunoinformatics Tuesday.

Dr. Anne De Groot, researcher at the Institute for Immunology and Informatics at the University of Rhode Island, spoke about the need for an accessible, global HIV vaccine.

The AIDS/HIV epidemic is getting worse, especially in the developing world. In 2007, 2.5 million people died of HIV and 5 million more were infected. Some 95 percent of those infected live in developing countries, De Groot said.

HIV is a retrovirus. It carries RNA which essentially becomes a part of the infected host cell’s DNA. This makes HIV very hard to eradicate and very hard to prevent.

Also, complicating the issue further, HIV is continuously evolving, both within an individual and a population. This means that isolating a single strain for vaccination is nearly impossible. It is like a chameleon.

“You can’t make a vanilla vaccine and expect it to prevent against chocolate,” said De Groot. And that is the biggest problem today.

Most research today focuses on a single strain. This research is worthless. HIV evolves much too rapidly for the vaccine to have any positive effect – and in many cases it actually has a negative impact, De Groot said.

The reality is HIV is a global problem – researchers must stop focusing on clades, or specific populations, and consider the entire world. A proposed solution is the GAIA vaccine, which does just that.

All the various sequences of different AIDS strains were compiled into a computer. Using immunoinformatics, these strains were compared to isolate a single common strain – a universal vaccine to protect against all strains. All flavors.

Even a vaccine not 100 percent effective can eradicate AIDS, however. Data show that people with lower viral loads live longer. Data also show that a lower viral load lowers transmission rate.

If this viral load drops below the magic number, transmission stops and AIDS is eliminated.

“If we don’t make a decision now, the vaccines in the pipeline will never bear fruit,” said De Groot.

One vaccine, from start to finish, costs 20 million dollars. Over 500 billion dollars have already been spent on the War in Iraq, De Groot said.

Physical Inactivity – The Biggest Public Health Concern of the 21st Century

2008-04-27T18:12:00.000-07:00

America needs help – from a treadmill and weight set.

Physical inactivity has become a leading contributor to morbidity and mortality rates in the American population, said an expert Monday.

Dr. Steven Blair, professor of exercise science and epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of South Carolina, spoke to students, staff, and the local Athens community about the impact of physical inactivity on health.

Systematic research on physical activity and health began in the latter 20th century, with the introduction of the field of epidemiology.

The Cooper Clinic, the main data source, examined more than 80,000 patients between 1970 and 2005, each physician seeing only three patients a day. Patients were classified by fitness levels.

Death and disease was more common in both men and women with low fitness, as compared to those with both mid and high fitness.

Perhaps the most startling evidence though, was the large discrepancy between low fitness and mid fitness levels. But, there was only a small margin of benefit between mid and high levels.

The significance is that even moderate exercise helps – tremendously, in fact. A little goes a long way.

Yet the problem continues to get worse. And convenience seems to be a large part of the problem.

“Who’d of thought 20 years ago that you could go to an Exxon and buy a hot dog or a full meal?” Blair said.

The influxes of fast food restaurants, ride-on lawnmowers, and even drive-through carwashes created a lazier America. In fact, an increased emphasis on convenience and comfort during the last few centuries directly correlates with a decrease in physical activity, said Blair.

“Everyday we are presented with lifestyle tasks – and we can do it the sedentary way or the active way” Blair said.

The Consensus Public Health Recommendation for Physical Activity advises all adults get at least 30 minutes of exercise per day, enough to produce a moderate fit.

America was founded on the principle of preserving life. To continue this, America must make a change. America must take the active way – the fit way.

Former CIA-agent tells her story

2008-04-27T13:50:00.000-07:00

A government’s obligation to its citizens, national security, and the importance of no matter what the consequences are, and no under matter what circumstances speak the truth.

These were the key points former CIA-agent Valerie Palme Wilson emphasized in the lecture organized by UGA Union she held in a full Chapel Thursday night.

It took five years to come here and tell her story, Plame sa

id when the applaus eventually faded away after her entrance on stage. Many have told it for her, she said, but now it’s her turn to do it herself.

In July 14, 2003 when the morning paper landed in her bed, a new life landed as well. Overnight she went from being a highly private person to a public figure. Robert Novak had revealed her identity in a column, and the leak, he said, came from “senior administration officials.”

Plame knew her career within CIA was over. But it was first in 2006 she finally resigned, and started to write her book - “Fair game: My life as a spy, my betrayal by the White House”, which sold out in a flash of the light outside after the lecture.

It started in February 2002, when the CIA headquarters got a phone call tipping that Nigeria sold uranium to Iraq. On quest from CIA, Plame’s husband Joe Wilson, with 20 years of work experience in Africa, started an investigation. What he found didn’t support this claim.

With this in the back of her head, Plame was shaken when General Paul said the reason to declare war against Iraq was uranium trade with Nigeria – based on the information from a German scientist known to often be faulty. “This was the first time I had my head out of operation,” Plame said.

Her husband wrote the Op-Ed “What I didn’t find in Africa” that was published in New York Times July 6, 2003. He wrote “I have little choice but to conclude that some of the intelligence related to Iraq's nuclear weapons program was twisted to exaggerate the Iraqi threat.”

This started a binder on Wilson and she finds it incredible how a government who is in the middle of fighting a war can spend all that time

to survey a debater, Plame said. She and her husband sued the administration, because they think it is important how the taxpayer’s

money is used – a statement that again evoked large applaus from the audience.

“Despite what happened to me,” Plame said, she suggested a career path in public service for the audience consisting mainly of students. The democracy needs non-patriotic citizens with a goal larger than themselves.

Discussion on women, hip hop, and social change

2008-04-27T13:43:00.000-07:00

The half-nude women are looking out over the audience from the projector screen. One is spreading her legs wearing shiny, red boots, another one is laying flirtingly on the beach.

“What’s going on?” The moderator for the panel and open discussion Thursday evening Daleah Goodwin’s question is sincere.

The discussion evolved around the many different ways we talk about women and hip hop. This is one of the ways female hip hopers are profiled, and one can argue whether she is empowered, and in control of her body, or oppressed.

The event was hosted by the Institute for African American Studies and the Institute for Women’s Studies, and room 171 in SLC was half full. On a question from the speaker, it was revealed that the main part of the audience was into hip hop music, and they participated passionately in the open discussion.

The panel consisted of scholars in Women’s Studies and students from University of Georgia, all involved in hip hop in some way.

These women are using the means they know sells, and sex sells. They use their bodies as a way through in the music branch, said Dawn Hazelton, M.Ed. student at UGA.

It is not just about hip hop, said. Dr. Aisha Durham, visiting assistant professor of Women’s Studies at UGA. “As a woman from the business (hip hop)” she can tell that one has to understand how the economic system and how the capitalistic society works to understand how sex is selling.

Consumer has responsibility to make changes, Christopher Daniel, associate editor of CRUNK! Magazine, an independent hip hop publication out of Atlanta, said. If we don’t buy music from artists who use sex appeals to sell, the trend will take another path.

The guest speaker for the night, Dr. Layil Phillips, was talking along the same lines about “conscious consumerism” and the importance of creating a discourse around hip hop.

Before the panel discussion, the associate professor of Women’s Studies and associated faculty of African American Studies at Georgia State University, held a speech entitled “There are many ways to talk about women and hip hop, and they are all true”, and explained that hip hop is both misogynist and feministic in the same time.

Hip hop is a social movement that reacts against problems in society, Phillips said. To most people who just know hip hop through the radio, it is only about music. For her, and people involved in the branch, it is an era.

The point she wished the audience to bring with them from her speech was that hip hop has the possibility to bring love in the world and that it is an unstoppable force.

Pulitzer Winners Speak About Southern Influences

2008-04-26T12:22:00.000-07:00

In a lecture centered on diversity in the media, two Pulitzer Prize winning writers discussed how Southern influences have impacted their writing.

Isabel Wilkerson, the first woman to ever win a Pulitzer Prize, and Cynthia Tucker, a highly syndicated columnist who is featured in more than 70 newspapers around the country, both led the lecture Wednesday evening.

Wilkerson is currently writing a book on the first migration of African-Americans from the South to the North, and the recent return of many migrants to the South during the 21^st century. To think about writing her book without ever having lived in the South made her nervous, Wilkerson said.

“I never could have understood what they left,” said Wilkerson, “I needed to see the crepe myrtles in bloom. I needed to feel how hot the summers could be.”

Both Pulitzer Prize winners list Southern-minded writers such as William Faulkner, Alice Walker, and Toni Morrison as people they are most likely to emulate in their own writing styles.

Tucker centers her column on politics and social policy, but still finds that Southern influences have shaped her writing.

“It is interesting to have a point of view that is center left in a state that is wide right,” said Tucker. “I am always thinking through a subject, or range of subjects, and trying to come up with a way to approach them in a new angle.”

Zaller’s Theories Thwarted By McCain Nomination

2008-04-26T12:06:00.000-07:00

To the untrained eye, endorsements and campaign finances may seem to be the driving force behind every presidential candidate’s campaign, but one expert in politics and mass opinion polling says otherwise.

John Zaller, author and co-author of multiple books dedicated to politics and political theories, said that political parties today have just as much power over controlling presidential nominations as they did several decades ago.

Despite the common belief that their power is weakening in light of the rising number of independents in today’s society, Zaller said it is indeed groups like parties that control nominations for office and not “silly little things” such as endorsements or money.

“The person who has the favoritism of the party insiders is going to win it. All the candidates have enough money,” Zaller said when asked about the importance of finances in determining support of the politicians.

The theories that Zaller gave during his speech on the inner workings of presidential nominations were straightforward and simple.

“Groups and their demands determine party alignments,” Zaller said. “Parties, not self-starting candidates, control nominations for office.”

But even Zaller admitted his theories didn’t match up with the current presidential campaign and nomination of John McCain by the Republican Party.

“I do think the only exception to my theory is the nomination of John McCain,” Zaller said after mentioning to the crowd that he believed this was the first time in history that Republicans had ever allowed themselves to have “no acceptable candidates.”

“McCain is an entrepreneurial politician who wangled his way into a nomination,” said Zaller. “A guy should be punished for that.”

Outed CIA Agent speaks to University Student

2008-04-26T08:32:00.001-07:00

It's been five long years, but on Wednesday night, former CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson was finally able to tell her side of the story that made her a household name and landed a White House aide in jail.

Plame WIlson spoke to a crowd of about 250 students and community members about her career with the CIA, her husbands criticism of the Iraqi war, and the article that blew her cover and changed her life forever.

She meticulously described the chronological progression of her entire career, from the intensive and sleep=deprived training at the CIA's "Farm," to her work in the Counter Proliferation Division and her rise to a senior management position within the agency.

Plame Wilson then started discussing the series of events that led to the article which identified her as a CIA operative. She and her husband Joe WIlson, a former ambassador to some African countries, were watching then Secretary of State Colin Powell's presentation to the UN regarding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq when her stomach just dropped.

"Complete dissonance from what I knew," said Plame Wilson. What Powell was saying didn't match up with some information she knew and she said her was relying heavily on unreliable sources.

However, this was only the beginning of the deception that she and her husband would face over the next months.

After Powell's speech, Joe Wilson began to further investigate some sources ad allegations Powell had made, including one about uranium that Saddam Hussein had bought in Africa. His research didn't match up with what Powell had said and he was inspired to write an opinion piece for the New York Times entitled, "What I Didn't Find in Africa."

Shortly after Wilson's op-ed was published, a Robert Novak column published in the Washington Post identified Plame Wilson as a CIA agent, ruining her covert stature.

"Joe just walked in, threw the paper on the bed and said, "Well, the SOB did it"," said Plame Wilson. "I lost network assets, I was worried about the safety of my children, and I lost a career I loved."

After three years of lawsuits and appeals, Scooter Libby was charged with leaking her name to the press.

Plame Wilson now lives in New Mexico with her family and has just published a book of her experiences.

Former congressman speaks on government accountability

2008-04-26T07:32:00.000-07:00

Congress has imparted too much power to the president due to a lack of oversight in the U.S. government, creating a lapse in government accountability, said former Congressman Lee Hamilton.

The most ingenious form of accountability in the U.S. system is checks and balances. Congress should have tough, continuous oversight of the executive branch.

“How is congress doing? Not well enough. That’s the short answer,” Hamilton said when addressing a crowd of 100 people in the University of Georgia Chapel Wednesday afternoon for the third annual Getzen Lecture on Government Accountability.

Hamilton represented Indiana in Congress for 34 years, serving as chairman for multiple foreign affairs committees. He is the co-chair of the Iraq Study Group and former vice-chair of the 9/11 Commission.

Although he maintained a severe tone throughout his speech, Hamilton managed to evoke laughter from the audience on multiple occasions, yet portray his passion for accountability in the American government.

The chapel was silent as Hamilton spoke, when a phone rang. The audience laughed as he joked that this was the problem. People do not care anymore, especially in Congress.

For the first time since 1952, no president or vice president is asking for votes. This election is not an exercise of accountability for the president’s or vice president’s record.

According to the Constitution, Congress has the power to declare war, but the U.S. has sent troops around the world without Congress’ approval. Congress also has the power of the purse, but the real budgeting debates take place in the White House. The Bush administration has too much power.

Hamilton references the work of his favorite figure in American history, James Madison. As cited in Federalist No. 47, Congress holds the president accountable. Madison was cognisant and fearful of too much power in the U.S. government.

“The people are deeply distressed when the government fails in a task, and no one is held accountable,” Hamilton said. When something goes wrong people blame the president, but what about Congress?

When 16 percent to 18 percent of the U.S. population approves the work of Congress, the U.S. is not a representative democracy, Hamilton said.

The hardest job in politics is to build a consensus. It is a political skill to walk into a room with differing opinions and bring people together. That is what Congress should do.

America needs a strong president and a strong Congress. Out of that tension emerges great public policy, Hamilton said.

“George Washington wouldn’t recognize what we do today,” Hamilton said. Washington understood oversight as it was written in the constitution. Congress must have a voice when working with the executive branch.

Dr. Steven Blair speaks on high risk of physical inactivity

2008-04-26T07:20:00.000-07:00

Dr. Steven Blair shatters the widely accepted belief that weight is an accurate measure of health, saying that levels of fitness are crucial determining factors for mortality rates.

Physical inactivity and low fitness are the biggest health problems in America’s toxic environment. We can buy food anywhere. We can click a button from a recliner to change the TV station.

Blair, president and CEO of the Cooper Institute, professor of kinesiology and award-winning researcher, addressed a room filled with 200 people Monday afternoon in the Masters Hall of the Georgia Center for Continuing Education Conference Center and Hotel, explaining the high risk of physical inactivity.

A man who smokes, has high cholesterol and has high blood pressure, but falls in the moderate or high fit category, has a lower mortality rate than a low fit man. Low fit men have the highest relative risk of death, as “low fitness is a powerful determinant of mortality,” Blair said.

Fitness levels are determined by integrated testing, using maximum exercise tests on the treadmill along with integrated oxygen uptake in the lab. Anyone can informally test himself by walking around the block and checking heart rate, then repeat. With time, it should take less time and the heart rate should lower.

To get out of or stay out of the low fit category, adults should walk 130 to150 minutes a week or jog 90 minutes a week. Taking three 10 minute walks five days of the week will move a sedentary adult out of the low fit category, or keep an active adult at the moderate fit level.

In moving from low to moderate or from moderate to high fit levels, a person of any age is cutting his mortality rate in half with each move up the latter. It is never too late to take up exercising.

Not only does a high fit 80-year-old have a death rate half that of a low fit person 20 years younger but he or she also has a fifty percent to sixty percent lower risk of becoming senile with age.

The same statistic is true for body fat and BMI. BMI is not important. Whether or not you are fit is what matters.

It is better to be fat and fit than it is to be a normal weight and unfit in terms of mortality predictors. You cannot determine how fit someone is by looking at them.

By always choosing the active of walking up the stairs instead of taking the elevator, parking in the first spot you come to and standing rather than sitting when talking on the phone, a person can burn 8,800 extra kilocalories of fat a month, which equals 2 ½ pounds. The little things can make a difference.

Blair ends with one piece of advice: “Remember to walk the dog every day, even if you don’t have one.”

Photojournalist Kael Alford tells her story from Iraq

2008-04-25T14:36:00.000-07:00

Faces of the mourning, dying, and angry adorned a screen in a darkened room, the photographs telling more of the Iraqis’ pain than words ever could.

These photos are the work of Kael Alford, a photojournalist who has worked with such publications as Time, Newsweek, and Vanity Fair.

Alford presented Thursday some of her photos and spoke on behalf of the Georgia Review, in which her work was published.

Alford worked in Iraq just before the start of the war and during it in 2003 and 2004. She covered the daily lives of people, the destruction, and the stories of opposition fighters in Iraq.

Alford was living in Europe at the time the United States began to speak of the war on terrorism. She said she saw how the US media rallied against Iraq and Saddam Hussein.

“It was numbing to see the drumbeats of war,” she said. At the same time, she felt the views of Iraq were extremely out of proportion with what was really going on.

Part of her reasoning in going to Iraq as an American journalist was to show the lives of the Iraqi people and dispel the stereotype that they are “not like us.”

Many of Alford’s photos show sites of bombings where civilians had been killed, including one of a little girl being mourned by several men, their faces haunting in their grief.

Alford said she wanted to show the destruction caused to so many lives, as well as highlight the denial of responsibility coming from the Pentagon.

Alford was not a journalist coming straight from America, and her views on the war were the complete opposite of most Americans at the time.

She was often confronted by anger at bombing sites where civilians had been casualties.

“Is this democracy?” Iraqi men yelled at her.

Alford also broke the norm by interviewing resistance fighters and asking why they were fighting against the US. She believed it was her duty as a journalist to help people understand their beliefs and reasons.

One of the last stories she did was about women in Iraq, her photos showing the pervasive fear throughout the population.

Women were afraid to be photographed for fear of being kidnapped if they were seen in the Western media. Women were even afraid to go into salons because it could be seen as going against Islam.

Alford wanted to show what Iraq looked like before war broke out, and did this with a photo of several young women in a café. They looked normal, wearing makeup and “Western” clothes, and were university students. However, Alford made it clear that to be such a woman in those times was dangerous.

“Women often get targeted in times of warfare,” Alford said. She said women were particularly afraid during the war, with many hiding in their rooms and depression becoming more common.

Alford’s photos are a deeply personal inside look into the lives of Iraqis during warfare. She said she wants her work to express her opinion that there is no justifiable reason for the war.

“Media is a powerful thing,” she said.

Alford now has a book out, called Unembedded, which is reflective of what she and other journalists experienced in Iraq.

Pulitzer Winning Females Discuss Careers

2008-04-24T16:33:00.000-07:00

Two influential black female journalists spoke Wednesday about their experiences breaking into the journalism field and gave advice to aspiring journalists at a lecture series hosted by the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Cynthia Tucker and Isabel Wilkerson are both Pulitzer Prize winning journalists with similar backgrounds. The lecture was more of a question and answer session with a moderator fielding questions for the women.

Tucker, the editor for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's opinion section, and Wilkerson, who is currently writing a book, began by describing their career paths. Wilkerson stressed the importance of internships, while Tucker spoke more about why she chose journalism, citing the unpredictable nature and excitement that each day brings.

The 80 people in the audience ranged from excited middle aged women who were literally on the edges of their seats, quietly agreeing with everything said, to disinterested students, clearly there for the blue card.

Both women gave tips to journalism students about numerous topics, from checking the validity of leaks, to describing what makes up the signature voice so many young journalists strive for.

"Any story we write is a compilation of the little decisions we make," said Wilkerson. She credited decisions such as which quotes to use and word choice as some factors that define ones writing voice.

The two authors also spoke at length about their personal relationship. While they rarely lived in the same city, they were able to maintain a supportive relationship based upon their quiet encouragement of each other, and they both recognized how important such a relationship was for both of them.

Computer program helps anxiety disorders

2008-04-24T07:47:00.000-07:00

An effective treatment for people with anxiety disorders may be, quite literally, just a click away.
Nader Amir, a former University psychology professor, said in a lecture Monday he and his colleagues at San Diego State University have created a computer program that could help people treat anxiety issues.
Amir told an audience of about 30 that the program has yielded encouraging results in clinical trials.
Participants in the trials received “training,” as Amir called it, twice weekly for four weeks. Training consisted of using the computer program for a 10-minute session.
The program uses images of either two different words or two faces with different expressions that affect a person’s anxiety level. One word or face is neutral, and the other is negative.
Amir said the program has been tested in three studies with success rates ranging from 50 to 70 percent.
The statistics are surprising for a non-medicine-based treatment program.
“One of the things I love about this is nobody ever says, ‘It was because of your program,’” Amir said.
“Everyone believes they were in the placebo program [that was used as the control group in trials].”
In the near future, researchers hope to develop a way for participants to have online access from home instead of having to go to a lab.
They also are looking at whether the program could be useful in treating veterans from Iraq with post-traumatic stress disorder.
“It seems like [the program] might have some real clinical impact,” Amir said.

Yoruba Spreading to Become a Global Cultural

2008-04-23T23:15:00.000-07:00

The Yoruba culture of Africa has steadily emerged into a culture that has greatly influenced much of the world.

In a discussion given Wednesday, a panel of men discussed the sociocultural and economic implications of Yoruba emerging as a global culture.

“The Yoruba Diaspora is all over the world,” said Dr. George Alao of The National Institute of Languages and Easter Civilizations.

Over the years, Yoruba has had major religious, educational, sociocultural and economic impacts all over the world.

The language itself has also had a major influence on other cultures.

“If you went through the Brazilian dictionary,” said Dr. Akinloye Ojo of The University of Georgia. “You would be amazed at how many Yoruba words are used in Brazilian Portuguese.”

The use of the Yoruba language, the practice of its culture and the understanding of the Yoruba worldview have transcended beyond being Nigerian-based, Dr. Ojo added.

Dr. Harrison Adeniyi of Lagos State University pointed out the three categories of Yoruba culture that have driven this impact: recent immigrants, individuals involved in the trans-Atlantic slave trade and those who were affected by the partitioning of Yoruba in the late 1800s.

The Yoruba culture has gone beyond its renowned boundaries and continues to have its impact on a global, historical and contemporary level.

“Not only is Yoruba present,” said Dr. Alao. “It is present with force.”

Modification of Attention Bias: A Novel Treatment for Anxiety Disorders

2008-04-23T09:59:00.000-07:00

Anxiety and stress is something that everyone faces. Reactions to stressful situations can be normal but can often overwhelm a person and interfere with daily situations.

Dr. Nader Amir, an Associate Professor of Psychology at San Diego State University, spoke to students and professors Monday about current treatments for anxiety at the Student Learning Center.

Amir also discussed his research focus at the University. He founded the Center for Understanding and Treating Anxiety (CUTA). CUTA conducts research aimed at understanding excessive anxiety, said Amir.

“We believe that anxiety disorders are treatable and that no one should have to live with excessive anxiety.” said Amir.

Some treatments use attention bias. For instance, patients with anxiety disorders show increased attention to threatening faces in studies using the dot-probe paradigm.

The form of research measures reaction time. Reaction to threatening stimuli measures and helps treat the anxiety case of the patient.

CUTA offers free treatment for individuals who are troubled by a number of different disorders. General Anxiety Disorder, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Social Phobia are all areas of focus for the research.

Attention bias studies allow doctors like Amir to better treat cases of these anxiety disorders.

HIV vaccine offers hope for the future

2008-04-23T07:45:00.000-07:00

In the battle to gain control over HIV, hope lies in a vaccine.

This was the message delivered in the final speech of Grady College’s “Global Diseases: Voices from the Vanguard” lecture series Tuesday evening.

After the failure of a recent HIV vaccine attempt, research funding is down to a “mere trickle” and many experts see the whole vaccination effort as futile.

But GAIA Vaccine Foundation Director Dr. Anne De Groot said that such a vaccine could potentially save millions of lives and is well worth the fight.

Dr. De Groot pointed out that finding a vaccine is a difficult and time-consuming task— up to 25 years to create a vaccine—because the HIV virus has been able to escape immune responses and develop different strands of the disease in different parts of the world.
“It’s like taking all the different dialects of the French language and picking out individual words that are conserved throughout all of those various dialects,” De Groot said of searching for an effective worldwide HIV vaccine.

De Groot’s company, EpiVax, uses computer programs to search through the various strands of HIV to find links in the virus’ makeup that may prove to be an “Achilles’ heel” for the disease worldwide.

But with short funding, De Groot acknowledged researchers face an uphill battle.

De Groot told the crowd of just under 100 that coming up with a timeline for a working vaccine depends entirely on funding, and when it comes to funding, it’s all about the money.

“It costs $20 million to develop an AIDS vaccine,” De Groot said, “and while this is large sum of money, it is nothing when compared to the $5 billion that our government has spent on the war effort.”

Statistics show that roughly 2.5 million people died from HIV/AIDS in 2007 and if the pattern continues, this number could rise to nearly 120 million deaths in 2010.

As overwhelming as these staggering figures are, De Groot and her colleagues compare the ongoing AIDS epidemic to the successful campaign against the polio virus that once left so many children crippled.

While few alone can make a huge dent in the funding effort, De Groot pointed to the power of public support and the hope found in the government through politically active supporters.

“I think we will one day have an HIV vaccine,” De Groot said, “We just have to decide as a group that we want it and go get it.”

For more information on the campaign for a vaccine, visit www.GAIAVaccine.org.

Blair focuses on physical inactivity in Ramsey Lecture

2008-04-23T07:42:00.000-07:00

Walk your dog everyday, even if you don’t have one.

While it may seem outlandish, this idea was the basis of the Ramsey Series Lecture on Monday that focused on physical inactivity as the biggest public health problem in the 21^st century.

Dr. Steven Blair, an acclaimed expert in the areas of exercise science and epidemiology, warned that the sedentary lifestyle many Americans enjoy is the root of the obesity epidemic of this age.

“I believe that physical inactivity is the biggest problem in public health and I think it’s getting worse!” said Dr. Blair.

Speaking to a crowd of more than 350 people at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education, Dr. Blair used a variety of examples to point out the many health benefits of moving from a “low fitness” classification to a “moderate fitness” level.

He went on to explain the ease with which such an improvement can be accomplished.

Incorporating a plan that involves just thirty minutes of cardiovascular exercise, such as walking, five days-per-week is sufficient to accomplish this jump in fitness levels and improve one’s overall quality of life.

According to Dr Blair, improving one’s activity level and overall fitness just one level can cut the risk of dying in half.

Dr. Blair also pointed to trying to reduce the number of sedentary tasks each day as an essential aspect of a lifestyle change.

He provided examples such as mowing the lawn with a push mower instead of a riding mower, or walking to work as opposed to driving, as easy changes that can reduce a person’s mortality rate.

And while Dr. Blair said that he himself does not even own a dog, he takes the time to go “walk the imaginary dog” as a simple means of improving his own cardiovascular health.

While the capacity crowd, composed largely of exercise science-related majors, responded with laughs to the professor’s joke, it seemed that the point really hit home.

And though physical inactivity may indeed be a tremendous problem for this generation, Dr. Blair was adamant that through small steps and everyday changes, there is hope for improvement.

Scientist Discusses AIDS Vaccination Progress

2008-04-22T09:18:00.000-07:00

HIV is a global problem and we as scientists need to think outside the box to solve it, said Anne De Groot in a speech Tuesday concerning the outlook of AIDS vaccination research and testing.

De Groot, an immunologist and founder of the GIAA Vaccine Foundation, spoke at the Chapel as part of the “Global Diseases: Voices From The Vanguard” about why previous vaccination trials have failed and what scientists are currently working on to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS epidemic.

She cited the HIV virus’ ability to mutate into different strains according to immune system reaction as to why the method of making common vaccines like those for polio or HPV will not work for the HIV virus.

“You cannot make a vanilla vaccine and then expect it to protect against chocolate,” De Groot said. “It just will not work and that is what all of the previous vaccines have attempted to do.”

The next step in developing a vaccine is to find a way to lower the amount of the virus in a person’s system, she said. A lower “viral load” has been identified in people who have contracted HIV and lived without complication or illness.

She acknowledged that this type of vaccine will not eradicate the disease completely but it could help to make transmission from person to person more difficult and make HIV a more manageable disease like diabetes.

“ A less than perfect vaccine has to be okay,” she said. “We might not be able to stop all infection but only halt the spread of the disease.”

The ideal vaccine, according to De Groot, would work on all types of HIV around the world, be low-cost or free and be developed in collaboration with developing world scientists.

“What we have to do as a group is first decide that we really want an HIV/Aids vaccine,” De Groot concluded. “It takes years and years to develop it and if we don’t decide to do it now it will never bear fruit.”

Fate Of Democratic Party At Risk?

2008-04-22T09:06:00.000-07:00

The Democratic Party has gone so far in the fight between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama that they may not win the general election because of it, a UCLA Professor said Thursday in a lecture about the role of party insiders in presidential nominations.

John Zaller, an American politics and public opinion expert, spoke about the history of political party insiders’ influence on nominations and the effect it has on modern elections as part of the George S. Parthemos Lecture series sponsored by the Department of Political Science.

He discussed his theory of why political parties exist and how interest groups control the beliefs and actions of their chosen party and that party’s presidential nomination.

“Group centered parties are not the humble servants of democracy, they are a vehicle for people to get what they want done,” he said in SLC Rm. 214. “They are constantly pushing the limits of what voters will tolerate and exploiting the advantages of an organization to get policies they want.”

He cited the presidential campaign dropout of Mark Warner, who he considers a “much stronger candidate than Clinton or Obama,” as an example of changing party insider views and aspirations based on length of time the party has been out of office.

“The longer the party has been in the wilderness the more they move towards the political center,” Zaller said. “Imagine if Bush was elected four times and then he was followed by Cheney; as a democrat you are dying for someone electable.”

The Democrats have only been out of office for what will be two full terms and have recently won the House majority after support for the Iraq war plummeted. Because of these factors the party insiders decided that it would be highly possible to win the general election with a candidate who is more liberal than the previous party favorite, Warner.

“They are trying to get away with as much as they can if they win the election,” he said. “They would have been better off figuring out who [Clinton or Obama] was a better candidate long before now; but, they haven’t been out of office that long and are not as desperate.”

Zaller also explained the reason many voters do not understand the vast amount of influence that interest groups within parties have to be because of credit claiming politicians.

“Politicians crave media attention and like to claim credit while parties and groups do not,” he said. “The politicians are the ones out in the open claiming all the credit for something and we [voters] don’t see anything else.”

Valerie Plame Wilson: Her Words, Her Story

2008-04-21T21:44:00.000-07:00

Valerie Plame Wilson had a story to tell, and she made it known.

“So many people have spoken about me and for me, but I’m here to tell you my story,” Plame said to the 400 + audience gathered at the University Chapel Wednesday evening.

Her story began like so many others. Plame was a dedicated career woman whose passion for public service had been instilled in her by her family.

Her career as a CIA officer began through a strenuous process involving months of interviews, physical examinations, psychological testing, and intensive training.

Wilson was assigned to the Counter Proliferation Division of the CIA’s Operations Unit and was responsible for collecting extremely confidential intelligence.

All this would change in 2003.

Plame’s husband, Joe Wilson, a retired U.S. diplomat, had been sent by the CIA on a covert mission to Africa in 2002 to discover whether Niger was selling yellowcake uranium to Iraq to use in the production of WMDs. Wilson found nothing of the sort.

In January 2003, President George W. Bush gave his State of the Union address, stating that “significant quantities of uranium” were being exchanged between Africa and Iraq. Colin Powell followed this address a week later in his brief to the UN Council, affirming Bush’s claims of a uranium sale.

Plame was shocked.

According to Plame, Powell’s claims “did not match up to the intelligence to which I was privy… I was hoping that someone higher than my pay grade” had intelligence to support Powell’s “extravagant claims.”

In July 2003, Joe Wilson wrote an article “What I Didn’t Find in Africa” detailing the findings of his trip a year earlier and discrediting the claims of Bush’s administration.

A week later, Plame’s covert CIA identity was broadcast to the world in a Washington Post written by a reporter who claimed senior administration had leaked her name. The U.S. governement had vindictively betrayed Plame and her family.

Plame’s first thoughts as she read the article were “my network of assets, the safety of my children, and the career I love is over.”

She said it wasn’t just a personal betrayal; it was a betrayal of our national security.

The years that have followed have had “some very dark times.” Plame announced that she and her husband have filed a civil suit against Dick Cheney, Carl Rove, and Scooter Libby. Plame said it is our obligation, as Americans to make sure men such as these “do not abuse their positions as public servants.”

The crowd applauded in agreement.

Plame has since published a book documenting the details surrounding her story. Plame and the CIA are in a legal dispute over the content of her book.

As for life after the scandal, Plame has moved to Santa Fe with her husband and twin boys. Life has moved on and she assured the audience that the betrayal that happened to her was “mere inconvenience compared to what the households of public service men and women go through everyday.”

Despite her circumstances, Plame encouraged the predominantly college aged audience to strongly consider a career in public service. She left the audience with one final thought, as she quoted Thomas Jefferson.

“When citizens fear their government, you have tyranny. When government fears its citizens, you have freedom.”

The standing ovation she received served to prove that the audience agreed.

"Where is Congress?"

2008-04-21T21:34:00.000-07:00

Who is responsible for the political plight of America? The answer lies in the Constitution, according to former Indiana Congressman Lee H. Hamilton.

A system of checks and balances is “woven into the fabric of our republic” and responsibility for political failures and successes does not solely rest on one branch of government. Or at least that’s how the founders had intended it.

“Today, no one can sustain the argument that Congress is a co-equal branch of government,” Hamilton said. “No one.”

And if anyone knows, it’s him.

With a decorated 34-year Congressional term to support his argument, Hamilton told his audience of 100 that the future of our political system depends on one simple factor: government accountability.

Government, according to Hamilton, exists to respond to the hopes, desires, wants, and needs of the people. The American public is highly “distressed” when government fails and no one is held accountable. That’s where the system of checks and balances comes in.

“It is appalling what happens in the shadows of government. Appalling. Congress’ role is to turn the spotlight on—make the executive branch defend and articulate its programs.”

Congress has the tools to do it, too. And not only should Congress be rigorous in overseeing its fellow branches of government, it must for the sake of American democracy.

Hamilton cited numerous examples of Congressional shortcomings in the last presidential term: the War in Iraq, the growing budget deficit, and the gross underestimation congressional bills.

When the Bush administration informed the public of the presence of WMD’s in Iraq, Congress had the same access to information and intelligence reports yet failed to educate themselves and the American public about the cost of the war.

“Some blame the President, but where is Congress?”

Congress passed a bill on Medicare and the following day announced it had initially underestimated the bill by $100 billion.

“Who underestimates something by $100 billion dollars? Someone’s not doing their work.”

Hamilton cited several reasons for Congress’ inability to oversee the executive branch and its readiness to cede power: shorter congressional workweeks, a lack of willingness of Congress to the “tedious” tasks, and lack of media interest in pressuring government.

Oversight by no means is “glamorous,” Hamilton said. But the solution to the current political situation requires that Congress “reclaim its Constitutional powers” and “take a seat at the table of policy making, not just be reactive.”

And it is our right as Americans to demand so.

Buddhism and Baptism Believers

2008-04-21T16:55:00.000-07:00

Are two religions better than one? Dr. Jan Willis certainly believes so, as she is an active follower of the fusion faith of Baptist-Buddhism.

Willis, a professor of religion at Wesleyan University, spoke to an audience of about 75 Wednesday afternoon at Sanford Hall and discussed animatedly her “hybrid hyphenation.”

“We don’t know what we believe until we are forced to act,” Willis said. “When the time came to act, I found myself practicing both Baptism and Buddhism.”

Willis’ background of Baptism began as a child in Alabama during the Jim Crow Era. She participated in marches held directly with Dr. Martin Luther King J.R. and Willis admired his approach to non-violence peace.

During her college experience at Cornell University, Willis discovered Buddhism and in doing so, she found many similarities to King’s inspirational beliefs and sermons.

“Dr. King, like Mahatma Gandhi, knew how he must imagine the world before creating it,” Willis said. “Both could see a world of peace.”

Willis uses King’s work to reaffirm many Buddhist practices. Especially important is the friendship of King and a Tibetan monk, which Willis’ uses to symbolize the union of both religions.

“I really feel that one enhances the traditions of the other,” Willis said. “You don’t need to feel as if you’re giving up one for another.”

Biography Reveals Subject and Author

2008-04-21T12:14:00.000-07:00

Writing a biography can be easily motivated but is not a path to be taken lightly, said Dr. Patricia Bell-Scott, an author and Professor of Child and Family Development and Women’s Studies at the University.
During her lecture Friday afternoon, Bell-Scott urged her audience of around fifty to “consider the full canvas” of their subject and not simply reconstruct someone’s life in one dimension. Bell-Scott referred to Virginia Woolf, who said of the thousands of “selves” an individual has, a biographer can consider his or her work “complete” if six or seven are captured.
Bell-Scott explained that one should not be surprised to find contradictions in their subject, and the biographer must explain why their subject thinks this way.
Bell-Scott focuses on black feminists, in particular Hilda Andrea Davis and the Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray.
Davis, a bi-racial woman who could pass for white, always identified herself as a “negro woman.” Bell-Scott spent over a decade collecting information and interviewing Davis to write her biography. Unfortunately, Davis’ failing health led the writer to take off her “scholar’s cap” and become the “surrogate daughter.”
The friendship Bell-Scott built with Davis demonstrates one of the lessons the speaker’s learned in her writing: the author is often exposed to the regenerative power of friendship.
Another lesson includes the parallel often existing between events in the subject’s and author’s lives. Bell-Scott said the death of her father occurred while writing about the death of Murray’s aunt.
Murray, the first woman to become an Episcopalian priest and who earned three law degrees – one from Yale University – originally intimidated Bell-Scott. While described as having “powerful personality with a no-nonsense attitude," Murray did show her vulnerable side through her emotional poetry. Bell-Scott even formed a friendship with Murray, despite never meeting her.
Writing about the death of Murray’s aunt worried Bell-Scott that her voice had been “too loud” and had focused more on her own emotions.
This is another aspect of writing a biography: the importance of knowing who’s speaking; however, it’s only natural for an author to talk about herself while writing about someone else.
Overall, Bell-Scott stresses that this journey of writing can be a bumpy one. Yet a passion for what she does allows Bell-Scott to conquer these hills.
“I’ve always felt pulled even when my commitments force me to put my time elsewhere.”

Less Leisure, More Work

2008-04-20T11:56:00.000-07:00

“What happened to the American dream?” Professor Benjamin Hunnicutt asks his classes, and if anyone can answer correctly he will give them an A+ in his course, no questions asked.
At the Georgia Museum of Art Thursday afternoon Hunnicutt, a professor of leisure studies at the University of Iowa, posed the same question to UGA students and faculty.
As the leading historian in the field of leisure studies, Hunnicutt has spent much of his career researching the relationship between the idea of progress and the number of hours in the average work week.
On average, beginning in the early 19th century all the way up to the 1940s the number of hours in an average work week have decreased said Hunnicutt. That’s because “progress meant shorter hours and higher wages.”
However, that number is now on the rise.
“Americans are working five weeks longer than they did in 1976,” said Hunnicutt. And while the work week has been increasing, “there has been no increase in leisure time seen since the end of World War II.”
With the introduction of advertising and government policy that promotes capital expansion, consumerism has won out.
“Americans have chosen luxuries over leisure,” said Hunnicutt.
The passion of expanding freedom, that first started with the Declaration of Independence and continued all the way through to the civil rights movement, is at risk with this new perspective, says Hunnicutt.
“Have we simply forgotten the dream or substituted another?”
Americans expect and depend on the economy to continue to expand forever and ever. Productivity has doubled since WWII yet, so have the sizes of homes, cars, and financial expectations.
But perpetual economic growth is not feasible nor is it necessary said Hunnicutt. Human needs are not infinite.
Hunnicutt believes in order to spread the “skills of freedom” we need to reach a point where we get enough [consumerism], and we move on.
“Why do we have to think of enough in terms of bigger SUVs and more money? Why can’t enough be spending time with family?” said Hunnicutt.
By working and working to achieve something materialistic that someone else told you, you had to have, is losing sight of life’s real pleasure, leisure time, time spent “feeding your soul,” said Hunnicutt.
“Experience the world not as a necessity or people as competition,” said Hunnicutt. “But rather as freedom.”
He quotes Walt Whitman, “Let the money remain unearned…Let us have time to read and be fully human.”
America’s dream has strayed from life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness to the pursuit of monetary wealth through constant work.
So “pick your Utopia,” said Hunnicutt. Celebrate or compete.

Ramsey Lecture Discusses Decline in American Leisure

2008-04-18T22:14:00.000-07:00

Americans have traded in leisure for luxury and forgotten how to live life to its fullest, says Dr. Benjamin Hunnicutt.

Hunnicutt, a professor of Leisure Studies at the University of Iowa, makes the study of free time his career. He spoke Thursday for the 2008 Ramsey Lecture.

Hunnicutt, whose white beard and rotund figure are reminiscent of Santa Claus, gallantly delivered his speech despite a technological glitch that prevented him from showing his PowerPoint presentation.

Hunnicutt focuses on the fact that work hours for Americans had declined by half before the Great Depression as people chose to spend more time with family and pursue more leisurely activities instead of spending the majority of their weeks at work.

After the Depression, Hunnicutt says that working hours stabilized, and then began a steady climb upward to the 40 to 50-hour workweek so common today.

Hunnicutt offers three explanations for this disregard for leisure: consumerism, politics, and a loss of the “American Dream” ideal.

Work was a means to an end, but now it is perceived as the end itself.

Leisure is also seen today as used only by women who spend all their time shopping instead of working, according to Hunnicutt.

Hunnicutt has also done extensive research on the poetry of Walt Whitman, who he believes understood the importance of living life past the competition of work.

Hunnicutt says that Whitman’s poetry expresses a true belief in the higher authority of time to oneself, or spending time to better understand oneself.

Hunnicutt also holds that what was once a discipline of freedom and expression, the liberal arts, has become nothing more than another means to gain luxury.

“We have corrupted the institution by transforming the liberal arts into a working discipline,” Hunnicutt says in a deep Southern drawl.

He also says that the modern idea of work is unrealistic and utopian. The popular belief is that the economy will perpetually expand, and that everyone will find a good job.

In reality this is not the case.

“It is easier to believe in the resurrection of the body than eternal economic growth,” he says with a laugh.

Hunnicutt’s self-described mission— inform Americans that the “soul needs attention.”

Valerie Plame Wilson tells her story

2008-04-18T14:22:00.000-07:00

Valerie Plame Wilson, former CIA operations officer and author of Fair Game, spoke to a packed Chapel on Wednesday night of her infamous betrayal by government officials and the important lesson she subsequently learned on democracy.

As Americans witness “the erosion of our civil liberties” it is more important than ever for them to keep tabs on their government and hold it accountable for its actions.

Wilson became aware of this on July 14, 2003 when well-know right-leaning journalist, Robert Novak, leaked her name in his column revealing her covert CIA identity.

Upon learning of the leak, Wilson’s first thought was of safety.

“I first thought of my covert ‘assets’. Then I began thinking of the safety of my children. And finally, that the career that I loved was over,” said Wilson.

“It was a surreal experience,” Wilson said. “Like being on a train and not knowing what was going on around the next corner.”

Wilson resigned from the CIA in 2006 when she realized she could no longer do anything covert overseas and it was clear that her career was over.

After much investigation and attempt to compromise, Wilson sued the CIA last summer and has filed a civil law suit again Vice President Dick Cheney, Karl Rove and Lewis Libby.

“A well-respected TV journalist said this is just politics as usual,” Wilson recalled of the media attention surrounding the case. “Well, I beg to differ. I think this was treasonous.”

It took Valerie five years to tell her story but now that she has, she is not going to stop talking.

“Through writing a book and speaking about it [her betrayal], I have been able to process some of what has happened to me,” Wilson said.

According to Wilson: The Government must be held Accountable

2008-04-17T19:14:00.000-07:00

Former United States CIA Operations Officer Valerie Plame Wilson spoke Wednesday about her clash with the Bush administration and the lies surrounding the war in Iraq.

Wilson’s cover was blown after her husband, former ambassador Joe Wilson, criticized the White House about the Iraq War. He said President Bush made exaggerated claims that Iraq intended to purchase uranium from Africa to support his administration’s decision to go to war.

“He just wanted to hold the government accountable,” Wilson said about her husband’s actions to a packed auditorium of 400 people at the Chapel on North Campus. He felt it was his obligation as a citizen to reveal the truth.

“I went from a being a very private person to, literally overnight, becoming a very public person,” Wilson said about her exposure as a CIA spy. Most of her friends did not even know she worked for the CIA. Wilson and her husband were unprepared for the chain of events that would follow her revealing.

Wilson said she felt betrayed by the government when her name was leaked to the press. According to Wilson, it was only through writing her book, “Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House,” and speaking to the public that she was able to process what had happened.

“It was inconceivable that our government would manipulate our intelligence to such an extent,” Wilson said about Colin Powell’s speech to the United Nations concerning the Iraq War. The information Powell used did not match with the intelligence Wilson had seen. According to Wilson, his claims were “extravagant.”

“You want to hope whatever lands on the president’s desk is devoid of any taint, but that is not true anymore,” Wilson said about the information the White House receives from the CIA.

The crowd broke into applause when Wilson said public servants should not abuse their power and it is important for citizens to hold the government accountable for its actions.

“This is indicative of a larger pattern in the government,” Wilson said about her dispute with the Bush administration.

Wilson also said what she had gone through following her exposure is nothing compared to what the families of those in Iraq go through everyday.

Wilson reminded the audience of the necessity to always hold the government responsible for its actions, no matter what the consequences may be.

Colorblind, Post-feminist, but Gender Essentialist

2008-04-17T13:33:00.000-07:00

Instead of instilling in children the falsity that the world views gender and race equally, teachers and parents need to expose children to the reality that this is not the case, Dr. Barbara Risman concluded from her recent psychological study. Risman spoke Wednesday to a group of around 50 faculty and students in the Student Learning Center about her study of middle schoolers' views on gender and race.

Risman called the culture in which the current generation of children are growing up “colorblind, post-feminist but gender essentialist.” Risman and her colleagues studied 43 middle schoolers in the public school system—boys and girls, Caucasians, African-Americans, and multi-racial students—in order to reach this conclusion.

As the Head of the Department of Sociology at the University of Illinois Chicago and having written her own book on gender issues, “Gender Vertigo,” Dr. Risman knows what she is talking about when it comes to sociology.

Risman and her colleagues asked these middle schoolers about peer influence, cliques, their friendship groups, and even an alien question—What would you do if an alien came into your room one night and you woke up differently? Black? White? Gay?

Middle schoolers today are taught to be colorblind—they aren't allowed to act as though they see race, Risman concluded. They have distinct opinions on gender, however.

Girls are very much “undoing gender,” Risman said, except in regards to image. Girls can do anything boys can do, and that has become normal. When it comes to clothes, makeup, and dieting, however, these middle schoolers act very much like girls.

Boys, on the other hand, have no room for error. They must constantly act masculine to appease the constant policing of gender. There is a homophobia attached to boys that does not pertain to girls, Risman said.

When asked the alien question, Risman received contradictory results. In non-white students, 11 of 15 said no one would treat them differently, but they would be a different kind of person. Half of caucasian students thought no changes would occur at all and denied seeing race, while the other half admitted life would be more difficult if they woke up a different race.

Overall, these students have been taught a colorblind rhetoric. Caucasian students are afraid to admit seeing race, while students of other races talk freely.

“Kids are robbed of a language to describe what they think,” Risman said. They are past the feminist era, but gender issues are still essential, as are those of race.

Children are having equality drilled into them, which merely confuses them when they see the inequalities that do exist in the world, Risman said. They are denied words and concepts for inequality and they have come to expect equality, when eventually they will be disappointed.

“We have to have a different kind of open conversation,” Risman concluded from her study. Instead of telling children that gender and race will always be viewed equally, teachers and parents need to discuss how this is not the case and then what to do about it.

Voices from the Vanguard

2008-04-17T13:28:00.000-07:00

Anne De Groot, M.D., promoted “out of the box” thinking in addressing the issue of the overhwleming spread of HIV and the conspicuous lack of a cure. Anne's out of the box thinking helped her relay the intensity of the HIV problem to her audience of around 100 in the university chapel on Tuesday.

In countries all over the world but particularly in America, many have adopted the complacent attitude towards HIV that those most susceptible are not around them. “We need to rid ourselves of this thinking,” said Patricia Thomas, who provided the introduction for De Groot.

De Groot had no problem conveying the gravity of the AIDs problem. As if her prestigious background in medicine and research did not speak for itself—a physician who also studied as a fellow at the National Institutes of Health and established the immunoinformatics company EpiVax, among many other accomplishments—the statistics De Groot threw at her audience spoke volumes.

AIDS killed 2.5 million people in 2007 and 5 million more became infected. There will be more than 120 million dying of AIDS in 2010 if this rate continues, De Groot said. The developing world is home to 95% of this total.

HIV is a disease that attaches onto “T-cells” in the body, De Groot said. Once this happens, these cells become factories, reproducing more of the virus. While this process is constantly changing, the virus is also mutating and prohibiting the immune system from functioning, she said.

De Groot thus illustrated the difficulty in creating a vaccine for such a virus. If the virus is constantly changing and growing, it is extremely difficult to find a way to suppress it, she said. De Groot discussed the many failed attempts to create vaccinations for HIV.

In light of all of this depressing information, what should we do?

“We need to abandon failed approaches and start new ones,” De Groot said. Belief in the possibility for an HIV vaccine, a strong desire to create this vaccine, and focusing on the variability of the disease are the first steps, De Groot said.

The solution to the HIV problem involves the reduction of the chance of transmission through a search for the “Achilles heel” of the virus, De Groot said. The virus has a weak link, and De Groot is determined to find it.

When asked how long it would take to create this vaccine, De Groot answered that it all depends on funding. Political activism could spur the creation of a vaccine very quickly, De Groot believes . Everyone in the world with AIDS could be treated with $4.4 billion per year. De Groot put this number in perspective—that is only $20 per person in the United States per year.

“Hope is a vaccine,” De Groot said. She wants this cure so badly, she works on her project as a nonprofit endeavor, in hopes that one day there will be a cure that is not only globally relevant but globally accessible.

Valerie Plame Wilson tells her story

2008-04-17T10:58:00.000-07:00

Valerie Plame Wilson spoke at the University of Georgia Chapel Wednesday night to “tell her story”.

Wilson, who worked as a CIA operative, had her cover blown in what would become a huge scandal for the government and the press.

Wilson’s husband, a former ambassador, wrote an op-ed piece for the New York Times that questioned the Bush administration’s claims that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Wilson said she believes that she was vindictively outed as a warning to anyone else that might speak out against the administration.

“This is not a Democratic issue. This is not a Republican issue. This is a national security issue,” Wilson told the packed house.

One would never assume that the pretty blonde, dressed in a stylish pantsuit and red lipstick was the best AK-47 shot in her CIA training class. Her toughness does show in her strong voice and in her resolve to tell her story, despite the “dark times” she has endured.

Wilson says that her husband did not think about his op-ed piece as anything more than holding the government accountable for its words and deeds. He even turned off his cell phone and went to play golf the day it ran in the New York Times.

As a result of the naming of Wilson as a CIA operative, several White House administrators were taken to court, including Vice President Dick Cheney and Scooter Libby.
Wilson said, “It is important that public servants paid for by our tax dollars do not abuse their positions.”

There are suits working through the court system that resulted from Wilson’s experience that Wilson feels sure will reach the Supreme Court level because of the important issues they address.

Wilson stressed to the mostly-student audience that despite what happened to her, she encourages young people to consider a career in public service.

“Do it for something larger than yourself,” Wilson said.

The overall message of Wilson was summed up in the quote she chose to end her speech with by Thomas Jefferson.

It said, “When the citizens fear their government, that’s tyranny, but when the government fears their citizens, that’s democracy.”

De Groot says "Hope is a Vaccine"

2008-04-17T10:54:00.001-07:00

Dr. Anne De Groot encouraged the audience to be “politically active” in a speech about her work on an AIDS vaccine Tuesday evening at the UGA Chapel.

“It is important for all of us to be active and to demand improvements in healthcare,” said De Groot.

It would only take $20 from each person in the United States to treat everyone in the world affected with HIV for an entire year.

In 2007 alone, 5 million people were infected with HIV and 2.5 million people died as a result of the disease.

De Groot stressed that for the global problem of AIDS, “hope is a vaccine”. In sub-Saharan countries, condoms often cost as much as a meal, and people choose to eat.

A vaccine is the best way to end the AIDS epidemic.

De Groot described how the problem is that HIV is a retrovirus, meaning it mutates very quickly. There are several different variations of the HIV virus, which makes it hard to create a globally effective vaccine.

In addition, most virus vaccines are based on antibodies, but HIV is resistant to antibodies. HIV also destroys the very immune systems needed to fight the virus.

Recently, clinical trials for a vaccine developed by Merck were stopped because the vaccines were shown to harm more than they helped.

Not only were the vaccines ineffective at preventing HIV contraction, they actually made recipients of the vaccine more susceptible to contracting HIV.

Hope for a cure is not lost, though. De Groot is working on a different type of vaccine that she hopes will be globally effective and low cost, if not free.

Named the GAIA HIV vaccine, it identifies the “Achilles heel” of the virus—the pieces of the virus that stay the same as the virus mutates. Advanced computer programs are used to find these sequences in the codes of HIV viruses in databases.

The GAIA vaccine is in the very preliminary stages, but there has been some success in trials with mice that have immune systems similar to humans.

De Groot stressed to the audience that funding is what is currently needed. The U.S. government spends only $759 million per year on the development of an AIDS vaccine, whereas the war budget amounts to $1.4 trillion.

Citizens need to get behind researchers financially if a vaccine is going to be made. It only takes $20 million dollars from start to finish to create a vaccine, according to De Groot.

“We need a March of Dimes for AIDS,” said De Groot. She also suggested the audience push politically for more government spending on healthcare, so that one of the biggest global health problems can be solved.

Baptism and Buddhism: An untraditional mix

2008-04-17T08:21:00.000-07:00

“Uhh….,” “Teka Hai,” were the noticeable mutters of Dr. Jan Willis yesterday as she delivered her speech on Buddhism, Non-Violence and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King.

Fifteen minutes into her speech Willis finally paused to explain her unusual mutters, “Uhh… is used for a pause in Tibetan, Teke Hai means ‘Okee Dokee’ in Hindu” she explained, stopping once to legitimately mutter “Uhh…” to herself.

Willis, Professor of Religion at Wesleyan University, spoke to an auditorium of around 60 people at Sanford Hall about her experiences with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights movement in correlation with her religious beliefs.

“I refer to myself as a Baptist-Buddhist” said Willis, “It’s not a theological position; it’s a genuine reflection of what I feel inside my true self.”

Willis grew up in Docena, Alabama during a period of segregation and was confronted with harsh racism from a very young age.

Willis recalled her past, telling the audience of her march through Birmingham, Alabama with Dr. Martin Luther King while in the tenth grade.

“I happened to live through this time so I know something about it” said Willis.

While in college, Willis discovered Buddhism and traveled to India ending up at a Tibetan Buddhist Monastery where she was welcomed and taught much about the religion that she now practices in correlation with Baptism.

“My father was a Deacon at the Baptist church. I found Buddhism in college” said Willis, “It comes deeply from a feeling. Uhh…I’m not trying to dilute either tradition” she explained to help clarify her combination of beliefs.

Willis explained that Dr. King was so successful because among many things “he was incredibly imaginative, he could see a world of peace” and he “knew how to practice love. Teka Hai.”

Dr. Jan Willis has published five books and is currently a Professor of Religion at Wesleyan. Time magazine named Willis one of six “spiritual innovators for the new millennium.”

HIV: Global Epidemic

2008-04-17T08:19:00.000-07:00

According to Dr. Anne De Groot, in the year

2010, 1.2 million people will die of AIDS if the

HIV infection continues to spread at its current

rate. Currently, the virus claims 250,000

Africans each month.

“HIV is a global problem” said De Groot speaking before a group of approximately 125 people at the University Chapel Tuesday. She emphasized the importance of the world to continue to work on a vaccine for the HIV virus.

In her speech, De Groot highlighted the current stall of efforts on an HIV vaccination due to the recent Merck vaccine debacle, in which the vaccine actually increased the risk of infection in some patients.

“We should stay on course and work to develop a new vaccine” said De Groot. “The Virus evolves the moment it enters the body,” said De Groot who spent much of her time explaining the intricacies of the virus to the audience. “Each virus mutates to attack the immune system of its host most efficiently” making it incredibly difficult to create a vaccine.

Currently, EpiVax, De Groot’s immunoinformatics company, is working on a new vaccine for the virus, but the project has been slowed due to lack of funding from government cutbacks.

“It costs 20 million to develop one vaccine from start to finish” then “it takes ten years to get a vaccine through trials” said De Groot in an effort to display just how inexpensive, yet time consuming it is.

“We want to develop an HIV vaccine that is effective worldwide” said De Groot, “We want to make it low cost if not entirely free.” She explained that EpiVax goal is not to make profit from a vaccine, but to completely eradicate the world from the epidemic.

Dr. Anne De Groot is the founder and director of Epivax and GAIA Vaccine Foundation. She is Adjunct Associate Professor of Medicine at Brown University Medical School and has helped to establish and operate HIV/AIDS clinics in sub-Saharan Africa.

Valerie Plame Wilson--Next Vice President? UGA May Think So

2008-04-16T21:22:00.000-07:00

Facing an age-diversified audience who filled the chapel and spilled out into the aisles, the former CIA agent stood at the wooden podium in brown stiletto heels, smoothed her blonde, feathered hair, and announced, “My name is Valerie Plame Wilson and I have a story to tell you.”

Plame, best known for being identified publicly as a covert CIA operations officer, told her story Wednesday evening to a large crowd at the chapel at the University of Georgia. Students, professors, Athens residents, and various others packed the building in order to hear Plame’s views on the incident and her past profession.

“I didn’t grow up thinking the CIA was a viable career opportunity,” Plame said. She chose the organization for two reasons—it sounded exciting and it was a way to serve her country.

And it was exciting. Plame learned many skills most never acquire in a lifetime, such as how to execute a J-turn, how to operate an AK-47, and how to survive trudging through a muddy swamp with a 20-pound pack on her back.

“I loved my job,” Plame said, staring wistfully past the audience. But Plame resigned in January of 2006 due to pressure and several accusations. What Plame refers to as the “dark days” stemmed partly from an article her husband, Joseph C. Wilson, wrote in the New York Times.

In July of 2003, Wilson, a former U.S. ambassador to Gabon, composed an Op-Ed piece entitled “What I Didn’t Find in Africa.” It discredited what President Bush and General Powell had said earlier in the year about Africa’s involvement in selling uranium yellowcakes to Iraq. Uranium yellowcakes can be used in creating nuclear weapons, but Plame believes the said transactions were from an unreliable source.

A week after her husband’s piece was published, journalist Robert Novak leaked Plame’s identity to the public in a news column. Plame believes it was revenge for her husband’s words. She continued to work for the CIA for a few years before her final departure.

“It was clear my career was over,” she said.

Plame is currently planning to appeal her suit against the CIA involving the organization’s insistence she remain silent about any dates or affiliation with them before January 2002. She suggested students in the crowd consider a career in public service to rid the government of possible corruption.

A member of the crowd spoke into the microphone. “Would you be vice president to Barack Obama?” Plame did not address the question, but the audience still met her with a standing ovation.

World still in need of HIV vaccine

2008-04-16T17:51:00.000-07:00

The importance of creating and implementing a successful HIV vaccine, despite recent media attention of failed vaccines, remains at the top of the medical to-do-list, according to Dr. Anne De Grott, founder of the GAIA Vaccine Foundation.

The final speaker from the “Voices from the Vanguard” series addressed about 200 students and faculty at the University of Georgia Chapel on Tuesday on AIDS, the global epidemic which killed 2.5 million people in 2007 alone. Through GAIA, or the Global Alliance to Immunize against Aids, De Grott aims to help end the disease.

“I am here to inform and inspire you,” De Groot said. “I think everyone should be active and demand healthcare improvements for everyone, whether in the United States of Africa.”

De Groot, an associate professor at Brown University Medical School and CEO of EpiVax, is currently collaborating with scientists from all over the world on an HIV vaccine with GAIA.

Whereas previous HIV vaccines failed to create a successful antibody that could block the virus and did not address the variability of the different strains of the virus, the GAIA vaccine promises to be different.

“You can’t make a vanilla vaccine and expect it to work against chocolate,” De Grott said as she explained in simplistic terms about previous vaccine failures.

GAIA uses computer programs to find the Achilles’ heel of the virus, or rather, the segment of the virus that remains the same in each different strain.

The goal of the vaccine is to prevent infection, prevent disease and prevent secondary transmission. Likewise, the vaccine will hopefully be effective to all strains of HIV, low costing or entirely free, low risk and scaleable to be produced at any location, according to De Grott.

Currently, scientists are testing the vaccine on mice and determining its effectiveness in the laboratory as they wait for more in funding in order to mass produce the vaccine.

De Grott worries that the GAIA vaccine may suffer from the backlash of the failure of the Merck HIV vaccine. During the unsuccessful trials, subjects who received the vaccine were more likely to come down with HIV creating the “worst possible outcome.”

However, De Grott seems confident that scientists can defeat this disease, which is expected to kill 120 million people in 2010.

“Let’s go back to basics, let’s try a different approach and let’s get an AIDS vaccine,” she said enthusiastically to the crowd.

Journalists reflect on friendship

2008-04-16T17:31:00.000-07:00

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists Cynthia Tucker and Isabel Wilkerson passed off compliments as often as they passed the microphone Wednesday while recounting their diverse, yet often coinciding careers as black female writers.

"Our relationship is one of admiration and inspiration for one another," Wilkerson said.

Wilkerson said she met Tucker in the reference library of the Atlanta Journal, where Wilkerson was an intern and Tucker was a "rising start."

After that, Tucker said they kept crossing paths at news events because of their common ground as minorities in journalism.

"At that time, white editors only hired African Americans because they realized they needed someone to cover the riots and disquiets in the inner cities," Tucker said. "And for that they hired males."

Racial disparities in the industry hardly intimidated Tucker in Wilkerson, who spent the next several years channeling and cultivating their talents into two very different breeds.

"Cynthia writes with a policy perspective, arguing the case for the circumstances of the people I write about," Wilkerson said. "I spend time in the trenches, writing a sort of narrative, or ethnography."

Each woman said she couldn't imagine doing the work of the other.

"If you gave me five years to write a book, I don't know what would happen," Tucker said of Wilkerson's work, which usually entails 6,000 words or more.

"I can't imagine the amount of research that goes into pushing public opinion, Wilkerson said of Tucker's work, which usually tops off at 500 words.

When asked about winning the Pulitzer Prize, both women said they initially felt relieved. Tucker said this was an emotion that only Wilkerson and other Pulitzer Prize winners could share, because the pressure of being a finalist is so great.

Another common thread the two women shared was the role of their mothers in their development as writers.

"My mother was not only the one keeping me on the right track," Tucker said, "but she was also the one who stroked me during the disappointments, which are inevitable."

Wilkerson said her mother was always her first teacher and editor. "My mother is really touch," she said. "She wouldn't be afraid to say, 'I don't know, I just don't get it' when I read her my work."

Wilkerson said after her mother first read her work that would later win a Pulitzer Prize, she said, "That story is going to win a Pulitzer."

The two women said they still generate ideas in conversation with each other that may later take form in their writing, continuing their long-standing relationship of mutual inspiration.

Globalist urges inexpensive meds

2008-04-16T17:19:00.000-07:00

Seven pills a year means peace for billions of people suffering from tropical diseases worldwide, according to a lecture Tuesday.

Self-proclaimed "pill roller" Dr. Frank O. Richards said this dosage, dubbed "the poor man's vaccine," alleviates and can cure the incapacitating symptoms of tropical diseases including onchocerciasis, lymphatic filariasis and schistosomiasis.

Richards, a director at the Carter Center, said local governments in infected countries do not perceive these diseases as immediate threats because they are not fatal and are omitted from governmental health care efforts.

"We hope that by bundling the treatments into an annual dosage of pills, we will set up a system that will continue into perpetuity," Richards said. "And politicians will realize its importance and take on the job."

Richards said bundling was a system that provided treatments for the three diseases in one yearly dosage of pills. Symptoms from the infections include blindness, severe skin irritation and elephantitis.

He said mass distribution was the most effective way to curb and eventually eradicate the diseases.

The Carter Center has utilized bundling to deliver treatments to more than 100 million people with donations from pharmaceutical companies.

"What is incredible about this program, is how cheap these drugs are in relation to the drugs we pay for in America," journalism professor Patricia Thomas said.

Richards said the average cost of the pill treatment is $3, but with the pharmaceutical companies' help, it ends up costing only 50 cents.

Richards said the Carter Center set this system up for success by weaving traditional African relations into the distribution process.

"The treatment can be delivered on bicycle by locals - illiterate people can do this," he said. "Also, by engaging people at that level, you can eliminate the issues of paying people to distribute the drugs."

This is the only practical form of transportation to and from these villages, he said, and natives are motivated to voluntarily transport the drugs because of their familial ties to village residents.

Lecture director Daniel G. Colley said he hoped Richards' lecture would enlighten students to the wealth of ways available in their own career paths, considering Richards' background as a pediatrician, medical researcher and health activist.

Hope is a Vaccine

2008-04-16T14:38:00.000-07:00

In 2007 alone, AIDS killed 2.5 million people and infected an additional 5 million.

If the AIDS epidemic continues to expand the way it has, it will kill an estimated 120 million people in 2010, said Anne De Groot in a Tuesday evening lecture. De Groot, the founder and director of EpiVax, Inc., and the GAIA Vaccine Foundation, spoke to a group of about 100 students in the University Chapel about the necessity of developing a vaccine for HIV.

Of the people infected with HIV, 70% live in sub-Saharan Africa and an overwhelming 95% live in developing countries. De Groot emphasized that while HIV is a global epidemic, the majority of cases are in the world's poorest countries, which is why one of her main goals in developing a vaccine is that it must be extremely cheap - if not free.

The problem is that the people infected with HIV in Africa don't have access to vaccines, doctors, or clinics, let alone ways to prevent the further spread of diseases. "In these villages, a condom costs as much as a meal - and most people choose to eat," De Groot said.

According to De Groot's research, developing a global treatment would cost $4.4 billion per year. This would be equivalent to a cost of only $20 per year for each person in the United States to treat everyone in the world.

After asking the audience if this seems like too much to spend, De Groot pointed out that the United States has already spend $500 billion in Iraq alone for the war effort - making $4.4 billion seem like a small price to pay for worldwide treatment of HIV.

In developing a vaccine for HIV, there are three main goals - to prevent infection, to prevent the disease, and to prevent secondary transmission. While there has been research done in each of these areas, some seem more feasible than others. The vaccine De Groot is currently working to develop would be the second kind, which aims to contain the disease and make victims' lives more bearable.

There have been many unsuccessful attempts at developing a vaccine for HIV, including Merck's attempt in 2007. One of the the biggest issues in past failed HIV vaccines has been developing something that would be able to treat all of the different clades of the virus across the world. Each clade, or variation of the virus, also has hundreds of different strains associated with it, which makes globalized treatment difficult.

Despite all of the complicates with treating an HIV vaccine, De Groot insists that with the proper funding, the development of an effective and accessible vaccine is completely feasible. "People need to realize that the Merck vaccine isn't the end of this story," De Groot said, "we need to abandon this failed approach and start funding a new one."

HIV VACCINE DIFFICULT BUT POSSIBLE

2008-04-16T08:18:00.000-07:00

With the failure of the latest HIV vaccine in 2007, it seemed that the virus’s devastation had no end in sight, however one Brown University professor said Tuesday that her vaccine was reason “not to abandon the quest.” Dr. Anne De Groot, Associate Professor of Medicine at Brown University and founder of the GAIA Vaccine Foundation, spoke about the HIV virus and why it is so hard to make an effective HIV vaccine to about 60 people at the University of Georgia Chapel.

De Groot said that the biggest problem in creating a HIV vaccine is that the virus “has a special trap door” to get in and infect cells. This “trap door” means that antibodies, which a majority of vaccines rely on, cannot protect cells.

Antibodies are used by the immune system to plug cells so that viruses cannot get in. However the HIV virus is so small that it can get around the antibodies and inflect the cell.

De Groot said that another problem with creating a HIV vaccine is that HIV is a virus that evolves. The virus does this by mutating.

Therefore “if an immune response occurs,” said De Groot, “the virus mutates away from the response.” So the virus escapes the immune system altogether.

According to De Groot, it is this mutation that caused the most problems for HIV vaccines. Since HIV is a world wide virus, its mutations are worldwide as well. So in different regions of the world, there are different variants of the virus.

De Groot explained “You can’t make a vanilla vaccine and expect it to protect against chocolate.” That is the problem with a virus that mutates.

De Groot called the vaccines that are currently going through trials “vanilla vaccines” that scientists know will not work.

Such was the case with the latest HIV vaccine to fail the clinical trials, the Merck vaccine.

De Groot said that the Merck vaccine clinical trials had “the worst possible outcome.”

Not only did this “vanilla vaccine” not prevent or contain the virus, but the people who received the vaccine were more likely to contract HIV after they had vaccine.

Though the results of the Merck vaccine damaged the reputation of future HIV vaccine trials, De Groot was convinced that “the Merck vaccine is not the end of the story.”

The GAIA HIV vaccine she and her team are working on shows a promising future.

De Groot is convinced that the GAIA vaccine can control HIV “no matter which flavor” the virus is.

Her research showed that virus had an “Achilles heel.” This weakness was there were pieces of the virus that remain the same despite the virus mutating. The vaccine would attack these pieces, making the HIV virus a manageable one, like diabetes.

The goal of the GAIA vaccine is to have people “live with the disease instead of being killed by it.”

The GAIA vaccine is currently being tested in mice, but with proper funding would go to human trials soon.

De Groot said AIDS funding has dwindled in recent years, and without it “the vaccines in the pipeline will never bear fruit.”

Since the GAIA vaccine is a non-profit endeavor, De Groot stressed that everyone in the world needs the vaccine.

To treat everyone in the world who has HIV or AIDS, De Groot said it would cost $4.4 billion dollars.

This may seem like a large number, but De Groot also said that in 2008 alone the world spent $1.4 trillion dollars on war.

$711 billion dollars of the money spent on war in 2008 was spent by the United States.

HIV Vaccine is Global Concern

2008-04-15T22:20:00.000-07:00

While recent news has cast a shadow over the search for an HIV vaccine, one Associate Professor at Brown University Medical School firmly believes this global issue must be continued.

Dr. Anne De Groot, founder and director of EpiVax, Inc., told a crowd of 100 or so Tuesday evening that finding a vaccine for HIV, even one not entirely effective, could save millions of lives.

Last year alone, 2.5 million people were infected, and by 2010 that number is expected to rise to 120 million in that year alone.

More and more children are being affected by the HIV disease, as well. In 2007, 20 million children were counted as AIDS orphans, going beyond the scientific world to create what De Groot calls a “social disaster.”

And despite common opinion, treatments do exist, De Groot said. In Brazil, a treatment was distributed to the population that actually saved money in the long run.

The main problem, De Groot said, is “the need for treatment outstrips available funds.”

While billions of dollar sounds astounding once divided, the per capita cost is a mere $20 per person annually to pay for treatment worldwide. De Groot compares this to the $500 billion spent in Iraq by the United States alone.

De Groot acknowledges that money is not the only thing preventing scientists from discovering a vaccine. The virus itself also presents problems.

HIV is a retrovirus carrying RNA that can make “mistakes” or changes during replication. As a result, the virus can take many different forms, called clades. This occurs both on a global and individual level.

Therefore, a single vaccine can not respond to all the mutated forms that it was not made to fight. De Groot offers a flavorful analogy to explain.

“You can’t make a vanilla vaccine and expect the vaccine to work for chocolate.”

An even bigger problem concerns the proteins released by the HIV virus. This process occurs in such a small space, or “trap door,” that no antibody has been discovered that’s small enough to prevent this exchange, De Groot said.

While certain vaccines have been produced, most have failed. The most recent occurred with trials with the Merck vaccine. These studies actually showed that those exposed to the Merck vaccine were more likely to become HIV positive.

“This is the worst possible outcome,” De Groot said.

Yet, hope still remains.

While this GAIA founder admits that “a huge amount of work” remains with vaccine trials, the Global Alliance to Immunize Against HIV is attempting to produce a therapeutic preventative vaccine. This would contain the infection so the virus could not harm an individual with HIV.

GAIA also hopes to make a vaccine targeting the “Achilles’ heel” of all the clades of HIV – select epitotes that can’t be altered – thus offering protection from any form of HIV.

De Groot again stressed the importance of funding to this cause, noting that government investments for AIDS are less than 0.1% in the United States.

“We have to decide that we want an HIV vaccine. If we don’t make a decision now, these vaccines that are in the pipeline will never bear fruit.”

Speaker Declares "Hope is a Vaccine"

2008-04-15T21:44:00.000-07:00

Vanilla or chocolate. The choice between the two undoubtedly poses a difficult decision for ice cream lovers. However, when considered through scientific means and related to HIV/AIDS, these alternatives take on entirely different meanings.

Annie De Groot, professor at Brown University and successful scientist, spoke to a few hundred students at the University of Georgia Chapel Tuesday night. She discussed the importance of not abandoning the quest for a vaccine against the AIDS virus, despite past setbacks.

In 2007 alone, AIDS killed 2.5 million people worldwide. Among these victims were people of all ages and ethnicities. It is statistics like these that drive scientists to keep working toward finding a mode of treatment.

AIDS is a rotavirus that mutates once it infects its host, creating multiple variants of the disease. This evolution makes it difficult to create an antibody to fight it.

The variants, also referred to as clades – or the flavors of the virus according to De Groot – are not the same within each host. They also differ among populations in different parts of the world.

“In every infected person’s body, HIV evolution is happening,” De Groot said. Because the virus constantly changes, it persistently escapes the immune responses of the body.

This poses a great challenge to scientists working to create a successful vaccine as past experiments had negative outcomes.

“HIV is a global problem and we need to think outside of the box,” De Groot said. Her new vision hopes to draw from similarities in the AIDS viruses found all over the world to create a universal antidote.

The best hope for HIV prevention is a vaccine and even if it isn’t completely effective, one could ultimately save millions of lives.

In all, De Groot, in collaboration with developing world scientists, strives to discover the many flavors of HIV to create one effective, low cost – if not free – and globally relevant vaccine.

Fitness: A Powerful Determinant of Health

2008-04-14T13:19:00.000-07:00

According to Steven Blair, a professor of exercise science at the University of South Carolina, physical activity may lead to additional health benefits beyond weight loss.

“Fitness is the most powerful determinant of mortality,” Blair said to a packed auditorium of 200 people at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education. He also said the mortality rate is nearly cut in half for people who exercise regularly.

Blair based his findings on research completed at the Cooper Clinic and Research Institute, where he is president and CEO. Blair’s study examined patient’s health in relation to their level of physical fitness.

Blair also said physical activity reduced the risk of contracting some illnesses such as senile dementia. Many of the Cooper Clinic's patients who exercised regularly saw additional health benefits including an increased survival rate for breast cancer.

According to Blair, many doctors overlook the importance of fitness by focusing on body mass, blood pressure, and cholesterol. Physical fitness is a powerful predictor that doctors need to consider in their analysis of a patient’s health.

“You can’t tell just by looking whether someone is fat or fit,” Blair said. He presented a study that proved over-weight men who are fit have a lower mortality rate than thin men who are not fit. According to Blair, it is better to be over-weight and active than thin and inactive.

Blair said a large portion of America’s health problems can be blamed on fast food and remote controls. Everyday people are faced with many physical tasks; and everyday people choose the elevator over the stairs. They choose what is easy and fast.

A person can simply engage in physical activity by washing their car, taking the stairs, or even shopping at the mall. By choosing the active way, one can burn up to 10,000 calories a month.

Blair said to become physically fit, all adults should accumulate at least 30 minutes of moderately intense physical activity each day.

“Just walk the dog everyday,” Blair said as his final advice. The audience laughed when he joked that he doesn’t even like dogs.

According to Blair, regardless of all other health factors, being active is beneficial for everyone.

Professor Discusses China's Rising Inflation Rate: Causes and Implications

2008-04-09T21:56:00.000-07:00

China’s rising inflation rate is not only affecting China’s economy; it is affecting economy around the world.

“Any time an economy goes through transition – there is going to be winners and losers,” said Dr. Myra Moore in front a campus organization called the Georgia China Alliance Wednesday in the Student Learning Center.

Moore, who received a PhD from the University of Georgia in 1994 and teaches Economics at Georgia, began the lecture by asking what the Georgia China Alliance’s mission was. The Alliance desires to spread awareness of Chinese culture and business and help those who desire to work there, said a member of the group.

Moore made the point that inflation is not necessarily a bad thing. Granted, all global economies desire a moderate and predictable inflation rate over a high and unpredictable one, but inflation for China may make for higher household incomes which will directly affect the United States, she said.

“Our years of partnering with China for cheap labor may be over,” she said. “This will lead the United States to look elsewhere for services considering 16 percent of our imports come from China.”

The United States particularly relies on toys, footwear and clothing from China. The fear is that the trade deficit could decrease which may lead to stagflation.

Moore focused on the obvious point that when one thing changes, another is directly and often aversely affected. Some changes can be beneficial over time, but rapid change is leaving China and its main trading partners such as the United States question its trading future.

President of Preservation North Carolina predicts historic movement's future

2008-04-09T18:54:00.000-07:00

Never been to an historic house museum? Well, unless you are planning on going soon, don’t get your hopes up.

In a speech given in the Chapel Tuesday night, J. Myrick Howard said that house museums are endangered and predicted that they will grow closer to extinction within the next 10 years.

“When colonial Williamsburg is selling property, you know there is trouble,” said Howard, executive director of Preservation North Carolina, a non-profit organization that works to preserve historic sites in the state.

Originally, people sought to preserve historic homes because they either genuinely cared about the threat to history or because they saw it as an opportunity to turn a “bad,” neglected neighborhood around.

“The energy and the money are no longer there and the neighborhoods are okay now,” Howard said.

For years museums have been an entry point for people who are involved in the preservation movement.

“People are usually interested [in the preservation movement] because they went to museums when they were little,” he said.

Howard also spoke of the historic preservation as being a “social capital”— an economically profitable social network.

The preservation encourages diversity and community “in a time when there are not a lot of opportunities to bring people together.”

Professor Emphasizes Significance of Physical Fitness on Life Span

2008-04-08T19:43:00.000-07:00

Overweight? Don’t dig an early grave yet. You might not have to worry as much as you may think—that is, if you’re physically fit.

Being fit, according to Dr. Stephen Blair, professor of exercise science at the University of South Carolina, means having the ability to run on a treadmill for a certain length of time, tailored to height, weight, and age. It also takes heart rate into account. It does not, however, necessarily signify weight in a healthy range.

Blair faced an audience of about a hundred, crammed into a small room in UGA’s Georgia Center for Continuing Education Monday evening. The listeners were either casually dressed college students or elderly men in sports jackets and ties. Both age groups were interested in what Blair had to say concerning physical health.

“When I started running,” the professor said, “I was short, fat, and bald.” Laughter erupted from the crowd. Blair’s bare head, barely visible from above the podium, gleamed from the lights in the ceiling. His broad, round shoulders suggested a rotund figure hidden behind the wooden box. The audience leaned in; Blair had them in his grasp.

Blair presented several studies produced by Cooper Clinic, which performs extensive physical examinations on its patients. The data revealed the fit, overweight individuals lived longer than those who were thin and unfit. Factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and waist circumference had no significant effect on life span if the person was fit.

“Low fitness is a powerful determinant of mortality,” Blair said. “Exercise is medicine.” He showed several spreadsheets of activities characteristic of an active lifestyle, including getting up to change the channel, standing during phone calls, doing 30 minutes of ironing, or washing the car.

But Blair had special advice of his own. “Get your sweetie a walking lawnmower. She’ll love it,” he told the men in the crowd. “Remember to walk the dog everyday even if you do not have one. I hate dogs. I walk my imaginary dog.” His advice was met with thunderous applause.

Physical Activity Beneficial in any Capacity

2008-04-08T14:55:00.000-07:00

Leaving the audience with some final advice, the speaker at Monday’s Ramsey Lecture instructed students and adults alike to walk their dog everyday, even if they do not have one.

University of South Carolina professor of exercise science and epidemiology and biostatistics, Steven Blair, spoke to hundreds of attendees concerning his belief of inactivity being the biggest health problem in today’s society.

Experiments have shown that, for both men and women, there is a large gap between the average death rates of those who fall within the moderate and low fitness levels.

“There is a huge benefit to getting out of the low and into the moderate fitness level in all situations,” Blair said. For this reason, he suggests a little vigorous physical activity is good for everyone, no matter how big or small.

“When I come back to the University of Georgia I expect there to not be any seats in here,” Blair joked about Master’s Hall. He explained how sitting is hazardous to society’s health and something as simple as standing instead of sitting helps people become more physically fit.

Each day the public is faced with the choice of completing tasks one of two ways: the sedentary way or the active way.

Simple activities such as talking on the phone, cutting the grass or shopping can be used to burn calories simply by walking while talking, using a pushing lawnmower or actually going to the mall instead of shopping online.

Blair – although he ran three miles Monday morning and tries to run everyday – refers to himself as short, fat, and bald. He laughed as he explained that people, “can be both fat and fit.”

It has been proven that overweight men with obesity have less than half the chance of dying than unfit men who are normal.

Studies portray how just by being active and fit can reduce the chance of death for smokers, diabetes patients, the obese, breast cancer fighters and healthy individuals.

Blair laughingly referred to the moving sidewalks in the airport as an abomination as he sees no need for able bodied people to use them. Walking is a much better alternative than riding.

Therefore, the next time you find yourself using a computer for example, place it on top of a box on a table and stand up – maybe even on one leg. It will burn twice as many calories than sitting to surf the web.

Author Shares Narratives of Black Gay Men to Inspire Others

2008-04-06T23:20:00.000-07:00

The South has long been a hospitable place and home to many people over the years, including black gay men.

Dr. E. Patrick Johnson of Northwestern University intends to spread that message with his forthcoming book of narratives. The stories in his book were collected from black gay men between 2004 and 2006.

In a talk given Friday, Johnson explained that his book contains testimonies from black gay men ranging from nineteen to ninety-three years in age. All of them were born, raised and continue to live in the South.

“I hope that this book affirms the lives of these people,” said Johnson. “The other thing that I hope it does is help somebody else that might be struggling.”

In promoting his book, Johnson has also utilized his theatrical skills by putting together a staged performance based on excerpts from his book.

“I want for people to focus on their stories and the content,” said Johnson. “You’ll see how all of these identities are intersecting.”

With each story that Johnson reenacts, the tales of vibrant, brave and unique individuals come to life.

“One of the things that surprised me were that these people were living right here...and I didn’t even know,” said Johnson.

Though he admits that changing the way people view homosexuality is a long way in the making, Johnson hopes that his work will make an important step in inspiring all people to understand gay culture, its beauty and how it affects a variety of demographics.

Lecturer embodies black gay men to tell their tales of hardship and triumph

2008-04-06T21:45:00.000-07:00

Johnson, “a man of many hats”, currently serves as Professor, Chair, and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Performance Studies and Professor in African American Studies at Northwestern University.
He is currently promoting his forthcoming book, “Pouring Tea: Black Gay Men of the South Tell Their Tales”, which the content for his performance lecture was taken from.

It has been 40 years since the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the university honored his memory Friday afternoon with a lecture by a man who “represents everything that Mr. King stood for”.

Dr. E. Patrick Johnson, an expert lecturer in the field of gay and African-American studies spoke at the 14^th annual Andrea Carson Coley Lecture in Women’s Studies on tolerance and acceptance of black gay men living in the South

Johnson introduced himself by filling the M. Smith Griffith Auditorium at the Georgia Museum of Art with his strong, dynamic voice singing the refrain of an old slave song.

And the excitement never let up.

From the moment Johnson took the stage, the 50-person audience was engaged by his passionate discussion and insight into the lives of the black gay men he met and interviewed.

Johnson told the stories of six black gay men, from the ages of 19 to 93, who were all born, raised, and continue to live in the South.

His performance included:

Freddie on "Growing up in the South"- a story of neglect and mistreatment in early childhood. Freddies' intense counseling helped him realize that most of he and his partner [of 40 years] problems were stemmed from his parents problems and that he had to stop the cycle of hate.
Michael on "Coming Out"- a story about telling his family he was gay and learning that "being gay never changes who I am".
Chaz/Chastity on "Being Transgendered"- a story of a man who chose not to go through with surgery to change his sex due to moral and spiritual reasons.
"Countess Vivian" on "Coming of Age in the 1920s and 30s"- a story of a 93 year old black gay man living just one block away from Bourbon St. in the French Quarter of New Orleans and what it was like being gay during prohibition and the Depression.
Stephen on "Masculinity and Peer Pressure"- a story of a man who tried to deny being gay for many years and convince his family he was 'masculine' until he finally stopped "ignoring the fight" within himself and became comfortable with himself as a gay man.
Duncan Teague on "Being a Southern Diva"- a story of a proud black gay man who is not afraid to take a stand and have an influence.

Johnson narrated each story in the authentic voice and personality of the person whose story he was telling and made the very different characters come to life.

From “Southern Diva” Duncan Teague to transgendered Chaz/Chastity, Johnson says he hopes his book and performances helps to reaffirm the lives of the men he interviewed.

“I want to debunk the myth about the South not being a hospitable place for black gay men,” Johnson said when asked about his motivation for the book.

“I hope my book helps somebody who is struggling with their sexuality.”

The Andrea Carson Coley Lecture series is presented by the Institute for Women’s Studies and the Georgia Museum of Art, and each year brings to campus an outstanding scholar in the field of lesbian and gay studies.

Johnson’s book is set to launch on Labor Day weekend, and while he hopes to begin touring below the Mason-Dixon line in the summer, Friday was the first performance Johnson has done in the South.

“One of the men from my book, Chaz, is ready to go [debut the book],” said Johnson, “He calls me three times a week asking if we are going on Oprah yet.”

Johnson says he is excited about the impact his book will have and that he hopes these men will benefit from “seeing their lives on stage”.

Open "Mike" draws small numbers

2008-04-03T19:55:00.001-07:00

Photo Credit: Nick Passarello

Even with all of the University’s recent problems, President Michael Adams managed to see UGA’s current status through rose-colored glasses during an “open-mic” forum Wednesday.

“Open Mic with Mike,” an opportunity for students to talk candidly with President Adams, was held in the Rooker Hall Fireside Lounge at East Campus Village.

Having rushed from an Honors Day ceremony event minutes earlier, the President seemed tired when fielding questions, asking for a glass of water 15 minutes into the forum and sitting down after half an hour.

Adams was not the only one who seemed tired. The small crowd was less than enthusiastic.

“This is the most placid group I’ve seen in a while,” Adams tried. No response.

The Fireside Lounge was not even half full and had rows of empty seats. About 25 people were in the audience. Less than half were students.

“I was kind of disappointed about the turnout,” said Nick Passarello, a sophomore and photographer with The Red and Black. “It seemed that all of the people there were there on official duties, either for SGA or the press.”

When asked which areas the University has most and least improved upon this academic year, Adams paused.

“I’ve never been asked that before, actually.”
As for positives, Adams reflected on the academic accomplishments of UGA students.

“There are a lot of good signs,” he said. “But the most important thing is the improvement in the intellectual climate and the academic environment…with all due respect to the basketball and football teams,” he joked.

As for the negatives, which he said the Red and Black slightly sensationalized, Adams voiced his concern that the University needs to implement cultural changes to insure the proper treatment of students. This concern summed up many of the questions asked that afternoon, from problems with sexual harassment to gender discrimination to issues of diversity.

SGA President Connor McCarthy, who introduced Adams, asked several questions, starting with the University’s response to the recent discussion to lessen gun control on campus. Adams responded that he saw no place for guns on campus. The University plans to continue to oppose any such a bill in the legislature.

Junior SPIA Senator Chris Chiego asked about the small number of professors available for SPIA majors, a number that has grown smaller after recent sexual harassment episodes. Adams assured students that positions will be filled and added that the University has hired more additional professors to SPIA than to any other school at UGA.

Freshman Josh Delaney, a Franklin Senator, asked Adams whether the University would support a voting precinct on campus, an issue that is currently being discussed in Athens-Clarke County government. Adams responded, with the help of Vice President of Student Affairs Rodney Bennett, that the University is open to the idea, is interested in increasing student political participation, and has even talked to the NAACP about the issue.

The general tone of the event was mild and cordial. Only one student disagreed vocally with what Adams had to say.

Natalie Blackburn, active member of the Lambda Alliance, asked why UGA did not have gender written in its official anti-discrimination policy. Adams said the University does not tolerate discrimination towards gender in hiring. He also said that that “at some considerable legislative risk,” UGA has extended some benefits to partners of gays receiving them.
Blackburn argued that any benefits that have actually been extended to the LGBT community were not “hard benefits” and that these policies don’t cover cases of “gender expression.” Adams responded that some benefits like retirement and pension aren’t in the hands people at UGA but controlled by the government.

“What is done legally in this state is beyond me,” he said.

Other information shared at the forum by President Adams

• In March, money for the medical school initiative, a research library and professor salary raises was approved.
• Legion Pool will be open for the summer
• The numbers admitted in the new Freshman class has increased again.
• The new group of accepted Freshmen has 26 percent minorities. There was an 11 percent increase in African American applicants and a nine percent increase in Hispanic applicants.

Eliminating Health Disparities Between Races

2008-04-01T19:54:00.001-07:00

From 1990 to 2001, the smoking rates of blacks have decreased twofold, marking the first time the health disparity between blacks and whites has been eliminated.

Historically blacks smoked more than whites, until finally in 2001 the number of black smokers dipped below the number of white smokers, said Dr. Robert Robinson. Robinson, the associate director for health equity in the Office of Smoking and Health and the Center for Disease Control, lectured Tuesday to a group of about 100 students in the College of Public Health about the racial disparity in smoking.

While working at the Fox Trace Cancer Research Center, Robinson developed "Pathways to Freedom," a guide to help blacks quit smoking. He said this guide was "twice as successful as traditional materials," because it reached out to many different outlets and was the first guide booklet to involve prayer.

Robinson was also involved in coalitions to remove from the market certain menthol cigarettes that were targeted specifically towards blacks, including the brands "Uptown" and "X." Uptown cigarettes were removed from the market within 13 days, X within a month.

Robinson identified several problems which have caused the health disparities between races and which need to be remedied in order to fully solve this problem. People have a very limited way in which they understand race and communities, and tend to rely on social determinants. This goes hand in hand with the way people try to solve problems, which is "by reductionism rather than by trying to eliminate them."

While this reductionist approach may help people figure out what to target in interventions, it tells little about how to actually develop the interventions, and therefore does nothing to actually eliminate problems.

Until people conducting mainstream public health initiatives take diversity into account, these efforts will not make any progress. A comprehensive initiative has been necessary to help maintain progress in the black community relative to the white community, which explains the breakthrough elimination of this disparity.

Commited to a Cause: Disease Erradication Worlwide

2008-04-01T13:17:00.000-07:00

In 2000 the United States was declared totally eradicated of measles; in that same year measles was named the 4th leading cause of death to children less than five years of age world-wide.

“Disease eradication is the ultimate gift from our generation to future generations,” said Dr. Walter Orenstein.

For a great deal of his career, Orenstein, the director of vaccine and policy development at Emory University, traveled through India helping eradicate small pox outbreaks. Orenstein shared his knowledge Monday evening in a lecture at Paul D. Coverdell Center on the University of Georgia campus.

“Small pox is the only disease that has been eradicated world-wide,” said Orenstein. “We can say that because there have been no cases of small pox in the last 30 years.”

Eradication implies the disease will never resurface.

Much of the success with small pox was due to the development of a freeze-dried vaccine. This allowed vaccinations to be administered in hard to reach places in the developing world.

However, with diseases such as the measles and polio the administration processes is not as easy. For instance, in Afghanistan, where polio is the most common cause of disability among children less than 15 years of age and measles still accounts for 25 percent of infant mortality, political truces often have to be arranged before officials will allow the administration of vaccines.

“The major barriers to eradications are political,” said Orenstein.

Orenstein believes social mobilization is the answer. Social mobilization is a mass campaign of vaccine administration that brings vaccinations to the people who need it the most.
In the developing world these campaigns are called National Immunization Days and they have been particularly successful in raising population immunity.

With continued research and support Orenstein believes future eradication is possible world-wide.

Pulitzer winners share friendship and insight

2008-03-28T09:47:00.000-07:00

Two Pulitzer Prize winning journalists joined forces Wednesday evening to share laughs, stories, and insight into their careers as African-American, female writers.

Isabel Wilkerson and Cynthia Tucker spoke at the Grady College sponsored lecture series “Women’s Voices” about everything from winning the Pulitzer, to gardening and their close friendship.

“We gravitated quickly toward one another,” Tucker said laughing, “There just weren’t that many black women in the business.”

The respect ran deep for both Wilkerson and Tucker as they spoke in the Psychology- Journalism North Auditorium of their similarities and differences in both writing and life. The student and faculty audience of about 75 was engaged by their teasing and admiration of one another.

“Our friendship is symbolic of the different trajectories that one can take in this business,” said Wilkerson, “We cover similar topics in totally different ways, and [the stories] compliment each other.”

Wilkerson’s career has focused on narrative writing and she is currently working on her first book on the migration of African Americans from the South to the North and then back again to the South.

Tucker is currently the editorial page editor for the Atlanta-Journal Constitution and a syndicated columnist but has worked in many aspects of journalism through the years.

The pioneering women’s hard work and talent paid off when they won Pulitzer Prizes for their work, Wilkerson in 1994 making her the first black female to win, and Tucker more recently in 2007.

“More than anything I was just so relieved,” Tucker said on winning her Pulitzer, “There is this incredible expectation that comes once you are a [Pulitzer] finalist.”

Isabel Wilkerson also knows what that “torturous experience” of waiting for the winner to be announced is like. The Emory University graduate was the Chicago bureau chief for The New York Times when she won and remembers the same anxious anticipation.

Both Wilkerson and Tucker say their moms have been their biggest inspiration, and Wilkerson describes her mother as being “extremely honest” when it comes to evaluating her writing.

“When I first read my [winning] story to my mom she said to me, ‘that story is going to win you a Pulitzer,’” Wilkerson said, “And it did.”

Wilkerson and Tucker agree that winning the Pulitzer has opened doors for them in their writing and that they are continuing to develop and appreciate their own unique ‘voice’ as women and as journalists.

Pulitzer Prize Winners Discuss their Voices in Journalism

2008-03-27T09:24:00.000-07:00

Although the Pulitzer Prize-winning Cynthia Tucker and Isabel Wilkerson may not agree on everything, they both agree that finding their voices as journalists was not an easy journey.

“From the moment you find out you’re a finalist, it’s a torturous experience,” Wilkerson said about her Pulitzer Prize nomination. After finally winning their awards, Tucker and Wilkerson said they felt relieved. The audience laughed when the women realized they both called their mothers immediately after they had won.

Wilkerson, who spoke to 75 people along with Tucker for more than an hour in the North Psychology-Journalism Auditorium, was the first black woman to win a Pulitzer Prize in 1994 for her coverage of the Mississippi River floods. She is best known for her ability to immerse herself into stories and to provide a unique perspective.

Tucker also won the Pulitzer Prize in 2007 for her column in The Atlanta Journal Constitution. Tucker’s weekly column “As I See It” is very popular and well known. Her commentary appears in more than 70 newspapers around the country.

Wilkerson and Tucker entered the profession of journalism when, according to Tucker, “there just weren’t that many black women working in journalism.” The two friends instantly connected when they met. Wilkerson describes their friendship as, “one of admiration and inspiration.”

When asked how she found her voice as a journalist, Tucker answered, “I think that it is perhaps only in the past six or seven years that I have been certain that I even have a voice.” Tucker said developing one’s voice is not easy and takes time. According to her, the idea of having a voice is not encouraged in most entry level reporting positions.

Wilkerson agrees with Tucker that finding her voice as a journalist was difficult. She also said there is a certain expectation of having a voice once a journalist begins to write narratives or feature stories.

Both women said the goal of any journalist is for someone to pick up a story, read it, and know immediately who wrote the story without reading the byline. This is when a journalist knows he or she has found a voice.

“Most Americans don’t even know what the press is,” Wilkerson said about society’s perception of the media today. She said that the transparency of the press has injured the reputation of journalism. According to Wilkerson, journalism has a lot of work to do to rebuild its reputation.

Even though these women have won the Pulitzer Prize, they both feel there is still much to be accomplished and many more exciting opportunities that lay in their futures.

Rabies Control in China: A Matter of Science or Policy

2007-12-11T07:47:00.000-08:00

In the summer of 2005, the threat of rabies in China became a reality to one University professor when he met a 19-year-old male, who, only two days after rabid dogs attacked him, began to experience spreading numbness in his arm and shoulder.

“Three days later, he died,” Fu said. “It happened very quickly.”

For the past four years, Zhen Fu, professor of veterinary pathology at the University of Georgia, traveled to China to investigate the exponential increases in rabies cases. Professor Fu shared his insights about his research in a lecture in the Paul D. Coverdell Center Auditorium Tuesday afternoon.

Today, most human rabies cases are being reported in the south and southeast regions of China in areas such as Guizhou and Guangxi, which are the “most densely populated [regions] and have the greatest economic development,” Fu said.

The sad truth of the matter is that “human rabies is an almost completely preventable disease,” Fu said. “This is not rocket science.” The Chinese government is just not educated about how the disease can be properly prevented.

In order to slow down and eventually stop the spread of this fatal disease, Fu urges China to “follow in the footsteps of other countries (such as the United States)” and control the source of the infection by implementing animal control and vaccination policies. Because most Chinese dogs are either free-ranging pets or are used by rural inhabitants for protection, less than 3% of Chinese dogs are currently immunized.

Fu believes that in as little as 15 years, this overlooked disease could finally be controlled. By beginning in the larger Chinese cities (such as Shanghai and Beijing) with “strict vaccination policies, animal registration policies, and centers for animal disease diagnostics,” five years from now the government could then begin to implement these policies on medium-sized cities and then finally on the rural provinces, with the help of the health, agricultural, and police departments.

In the end, however, “the initiative has to come from them, the central government,” Fu said. “If they have the initiative, then we can help.”

Interactive Media's Role in the Fast-Paced World of Advertising

2007-12-10T18:24:00.000-08:00

As technology grows at the speed of light, the world of advertising is quickly moving from offline, traditional media to interactive media found on the web.

Scott Prudhomme, a Senior Interactive Media Planner, gave a behind-the-scenes look Tuesday night of the workings of the largest independently owned direct response agency in America.

“People (Advertising Agencies) are putting more money in online [advertising] because they can track people,” Prudhomme said. In an age of DVR recorders and hectic schedules, rarely do people watch television—or if they do, it’s most likely in the background. This progression towards minimal television and maximum internet usage draws advertisers’ attention to the web.

As interactive media planners become better at targeting audiences for online advertising, questions about privacy have inevitably been raised. The biggest concern is that advertisers are getting more information than they should about a person. According to Prudhomme, this fear is a big misconception.

“The fact that 84 percent of Americans use search engines online means that people know what they want,” Prudhomme said. “We try to focus on that and target you based on what you are searching for.”

In this way, “interactive media is out grossing all other media because we are able to track and we are able to message people,” Prudhomme said.

As technology progresses, interactive media planning will become a huge part of advertising worldwide, especially as mobile marketing, gadgets and widgets, online gaming, social media, and feeds such as blogs begin to replace traditional media formats.

The Landscape Comes to Life

2007-12-10T11:05:00.000-08:00

The Georgia Museum of Art is redefining work of artists from the first half of the last century, and rediscovering links between art and artists here and abroad.

In their current exhibit, “Redefining the Modern Landscape in Europe and America, circa 1920-1940,” the Museum pairs works from America and Europe alike, and examines their impact on one another.

Giancarlo Fiorenza, the Pierre Daura Curator of European Art at the Museum, led a guided tour through the exhibit Sunday.

“There are a couple of different ways that I could hang this, but it was basically just the idea of juxtaposition, looking at how different artists are responding to eachother and getting away from eachother,” Fiorenza said.

“There were a few pieces that sparked this idea and a mutual interest (between Fiorenza and Paul Manoguerra, the Museum’s Curator of American Art) in landscape and nature and then we kind of jumped right in from there.”

The Museum’s Web site says, “Twentieth-century artists used landscape and nature to comment on the effects of technology, to elicit reflection on human authenticity, and to meditate on the human environment.” But Fiorenza pointed primarily to the works of European painters like Cézanne and Pierre Daura as greatly influencing the undertakings of Americans like Georgia O’Keeffe and Thomas Hart Benton, and inspiring them to create something new and original.

“American artists were going to Europe, Europeans are coming to America. There was a lot of cross-fertilization of ideas,” he said.

“There were even exhibitions of European artists in New York, so everyone knew what was going on. Artists wanted to be distinct and set themselves apart, but it wasn’t just individuals, it was certain American groups that wanted to make something distinct and American.”

Despite its roots seemingly coming from the personal interests of two curators, the exhibit features a variety of landscapes, from brightly-colored watercolors to much darker oil paintings.
“We wanted to see how artists responded to landscapes and to the environment,” Fiorenza said.

“We just thought of it as a way to look at a certain section and learning more about it.”The in-house exhibit will be on display at the Georgia Museum of Art until January 27 of next year and is free for the public.

University Students Simulate Genetic Activity in Bacteria

2007-12-05T17:00:00.000-08:00

As human power continues to exert its power further and further over the formerly untouchable world of microscopic science, a group of University students have discovered the basis of a method to simulate genetic activity in bacteria.

Dr. Anna Karls, a professor in the Department of Microbiology at the University, revealed her collaborative findings with the help of students in her lab, in a seminar Wednesday.

Karls has created a method for using DNA recombinases, described as tools used to modify genes and chromosomes, to control how genes are expressed in certain bacteria.

Karls expressed her excitement in finding a way to use these “tools” to mimic the functions of transposases, which are naturally occurring enzymes that alter the function of genes in DNA.

“We can now start to get a clue as to how these transposases are carrying out their process,” Karls said.

The specific set of recombinases Karls and her team chose to work with are found in the Piv/MooV Family, with the chemicals for experimentation being taken from the eyes of humans and cows.

Karls credited University students John Bruhner, Chandra Carpenter, Brian Higgins and Adrienne Cottrell for their assistance in lab work that helped uncover these findings.

Throughout her lecture, Karls went out of her way to highlight the contributions of students at the University, mostly undergraduates, who assisted in these findings.

“This is phenomenal,” Karls said of one of the slides in her presentation depicting the process of precise excision of genes from bacteria. “This is all based on work by a former student of mine, Christine Spaulding.”

Applying this process to a normal household bacteria, such as E. Coli, the team of genetic researchers was able to prove that a certain part of the genetic code in bacteria could be “precisely excised” and replaced by a synthetic chemical to perform the same task.

The Genetics Seminar, part of a lecture series in the Life Sciences Building by a different faculty member each week, was the last of the semester.fd df

American pieces defy standards at local art show

2007-12-05T06:51:00.000-08:00

The Georgia Museum of Art reached the midway point of its winter exhibition Tuesday as American and European artists showcased locally historic trends.

Titled “Redefining the Modern Landscape in Europe and America, ca. 1920-1940,” the presentation emphasized the disparate takes on expressive, abstract art—and most importantly, how to distinguish each individual artist from a sea of competitors.

Giancarlo Fiorenza, the Pierre Daura Curator of European Art at the museum, led viewers through the early twentieth century pieces, often pointing out differences between the European giants and their American counterparts.

“American scenes stand in opposition to European themes,” he proclaimed to a small group of onlookers in one of the elaborate showrooms. “The goal was to create something uniquely American, to produce an American aesthetic.”

Though both European and American artists worked extensively with abstraction in painting, the latter used much simpler images and exercised a much more limited tonal range in contrast to the loud and recognizable works of Picasso and other well-known European artists.

The museum has a large collection of in-house pieces and those on extended loans, from which the curators will carefully select to create an exhibition such as this.

“Redefining the Modern Landscape” will continue to circulate until January 27th, 2008, with free admission.

University Researcher Uncovers Women's Contributions to Highlander

2007-12-02T09:30:00.000-08:00

For a school that has been near the forefront of many important social changes in the 20th century, the Highlander Research and Education Center is overlooking an important part of history - its own.

According to Colleen McDermott, a Ph.D. student at the University, the roles of women in helping to found the Highlander Center have been overshadowed throughout the center's 75-year history.

The school, located in New Market, Tennessee, that taught one of the most influential women of the Civil Rights Movement, Rosa Parks, had obscured many of the contributions from other females.

"When I looked, I found there hasn't been much research on women (at Highlander) at all," said McDermott.

McDermott's lecture outlined the contributions of some of the key females who helped in the construction and expansion of the Highlander Center, despite the low-level jobs thrust upon them because of their gender.

Estelle Thompson, who ran a national presidential campaign, was hired as a cook and later became one of the first female architects in the country, building the Highlander day care center.
Zilphia Horton played the accordion and incorporated themes of social movement into popular songs of the day to teach laborers.
Bernice Robinson was a beautician who taught African-American adults at the Highlander First Citizenship School to pass the literacy test and be able to vote.

McDermott infused her lecture with a modern-day slant applicable to the mostly female audience listening to the final lecture in a series presented by the Institute for Women's Studies.

"I think (these women) are a great example of having this female role thrust upon them, but breaking out and being able to do extraordinary things," McDermott said.

Even in social movements, women reformers are often overlooked

2007-11-30T10:51:00.000-08:00

Even in groups focused on reform and equality, women and the reality and importance of their impact can often be overlooked, University Ph.D student Colleen McDermott said in a speech Friday.

The Highlander Research and Education Center, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary, is one aimed at “changing economic and social structure of the South,” and even in such an open-minded, change-oriented organization, McDermott said women have often been overlooked as the force behind revolution.

“Women would come in and be assigned a role and break out of it,” she said. She detailed the story of Estelle Thompson, who was hired as a cook in 1947, but stayed in that role for only a day before taking on a variety of tasks while at Highlander and elsewhere, building a day care center (literally building it brick by brick), labor education, and later attending Yale and becoming one of the first female architects in the country.

“Despite often still being really constrained by societal experiences, they were still empowered to break out and do extraordinary things.”

In the early days of the center, McDermott said women played more traditional female roles, like cooking and cleaning, but this hospitality is what helped shape Highlander and make people feel welcome.

“That was a key contribution of women to Highlander and the country,” McDermott said. “To make people feel welcome so they come back.”

McDermott also spoke of Bernice Robinson, a beautician by trade, who helped organize and teach people in a small town in South Carolina to read and be able to pass literacy tests then required to vote. Between 1956 and 1963, McDermott said, almost a million people were registered to vote because of Highlander’s programs.

“It’s one of the most significant things that has happened in our country that is not really known about, and a woman did it,” McDermott said.

One of the main thrusts of Highlander’s mission is “the idea of coalition building across issues,” an idea that McDermott said largely began with the center’s two most recent leaders, both women.

“‘This is our contest and all these other things are going on and now we have to address all of them,’ that (attitude) is what’s unique about Highlander and what they bring to social movements. There’s not another school like Highlander in the country.”

U.S. Congressman Creates Dialogue with University Students

2007-11-29T05:08:00.000-08:00

Congressman Paul Broun of Georgia’s 10th congressional district met with University of Georgia students Wednesday evening to discuss hot political issues facing both the nation as a whole and the immediate Athens area.

In little over 20 minutes, Broun outlined major issues affecting Georgia, from the water crisis to illegal immigration, leaving the remaining time for a thorough discussion of students' questions and concerns.

Broun, a principle conservative, strongly advocates limited government, low taxes, and little intrusion in the lives of the American people.

His stance on any issue spurs from an extremely strict interpretation of the Constitution. Any bill he votes in favor of passing must meet four criteria of morality, constitutionality, necessity, and affordability—a list so important to him that it hangs in his office as well as in the offices of his staff.

“I will live and die politically on that document [the Constitution],” Broun said.

Newly elected to Congress, the first bill he introduced was the Sanctity of Human Life Act of 2007 (H.R. 4157), which provides a right to life upon the moment of fertilization—not conception—and the formation of a one-cell zygote. He intends to continue introducing the bill as his first priority each term until it passes.

“God cannot and will not bless America as long as we’re killing 4,000 babies everyday,” he said of his stance on abortion.

When asked about illegal immigration, the congressman cited lack of enforcement as the nation’s primary problem. The Bush administration, he said, as well as the past three administrations, are responsible for "ignoring the law."

In closing, Broun strongly encouraged students to vote Republican in the next elections.

“Lord help us,” he said, if the Congress does not regain a Republican majority.

By: Beth Farrar

Professor of biology proves that 'evolution' does not necessarily equate to 'flying spaghetti monster'

2007-11-28T23:16:00.000-08:00

For some, citing belief in the theory of evolution is a sign of modern scientific understanding. For others, it is a declaration of non-belief in a Supreme Creator.

For Kenneth R. Miller, the study of evolution does not preclude involvement by the religious; in fact, it encourages a stronger faith in a more complex God.

"Dogma, not faith, is the biggest barrier to evolution," said Dr. Miller, professor of biology at Brown University and co-writer of a series of very successful high school biology textbooks.

In this year's Charter Lecture at the University, Miller spent an hour and a half disproving the scientific merit of 'Intelligent Design' theory, a theory whose proponents claim accounts for the so-called gaps in the theory of evolution by providing divine providence as a solution.

In his discussion to a packed Chapel audience, the distinguished professor used digital slides and film clips, including one of himself featured on The Colbert Report, to educate the audience on what the theory of evolution states and why it should be taught over other alternatives in high school classrooms.

Miller also related his time spent on the Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District case, in which he served as the plaintiff's lead witness to persuade the judge of evolution's merits as a scientific theory, defending it even from stringent cross-examination.

Though he described the acceptance by some of 'Intelligent Design' and literal Creationist theories as a "threat to scientific rationalism," he had positive advice for those on all sides of the discussion:

"The most important rule is to do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

One can only hope that his opponents embrace his position with the open, measured approach with which he embraced theirs.

Cheap, flawed French films responsible for beauty of today’s cinema

2007-11-28T13:43:00.000-08:00

Briskly walking into an apartment building, a man knocks on the doors of the third floor, the ones with balconies overlooking the busy Parisian streets below.

The man is Louis Malle, searching for a hospitable apartment dweller to let him capture the perfect scene to close his movie, The Silent World. Eventually, Malle got to the balcony for that final shot in his 1956 film, which later won an Oscar for Best Documentary and the Best Film prize at Cannes.

Malle, along with the other French New Wave filmmakers of the 1950s and 1960s, lived a life of chance, spontaneity and exceedingly low budgets. New Wave filmmakers spearheaded the thought of “just go with it,” but wound up legends beyond their own time.

Professor Richard Neupert enlightened students in the Honors Program on Wednesday, saying that “it’s indeed a hectic kind of way to make movies.” Night scenes relied completely on lighting from store signs and stoplights, while daylight scenes were shot on location in natural sunlight.

“What this did was create an intriguing and wholesome picture,” Neupert said, one that resulted in directors just out of college winning Oscars and gaining fame, not waiting around to work their way up the high ladder of massive production companies.

Neupert also showed a number of clips from the films he mentioned. A jolty and unsteady sequence of scenes projected across the room as students watched, occasionally giggling at the random and discontinuous jumps from one take to another.

“Despite their little distortions, these films have grandeur,” Neupert said. “Find that in modern cinema, but expect with it a list of computerized techniques and gimmicks.”

Neupert annually hosts the International Film Festival at Tate Center, showing classics from all corners of the globe. “These productions are timeless and simple, but intensely profound under the surface.”

Filmmaker discusses racism within an Anglo-centric society

2007-11-28T01:07:00.001-08:00

Racism is subtle. It can look good in disguise and according to documentary filmmaker Lee Mun Wah – he could get away with it in any institution in this country.

On Tuesday, Lee presented his documentary “The Color of Fear” and lectured on the ramifications of racism at the Student Learning Center.

“In this very hour, there are 2,042 incidents of European Americans saying this, ‘you chink, you nigger, you Jap, you redneck, you Indian, you gays, you faggots, go back to where you come from. This is my country,’” Lee said.
“The Color of Fear” documented a two-day discussion between nine men of Asian, Latino, Caucasian, and African descent as they confronted each other on their biases.

Each of the men, the Caucasians in particular, experienced personal revelations as they faced their own intolerance and naiveties on various race issues.

According to Lee, a multicultural nation will not exist as long as people continue to ignore or sugarcoat the problems with an Anglo-centric society.

“Multiculturalism will only happen when we stop celebrating it,” he said. “We'd rather celebrate than actually work to have it.”

For Lee, the saddest aspect of racism is that many things have not changed since the Civil Rights.

“Almost 13 years and 160,000 people later, this film is as relevant today as it was 13 years ago, as it was 50 years ago and it will be as relevant, as real, and as sad 50 years from today. It is a film that is playing itself out every single day.”

In conclusion, Lee encouraged the audience to take the first steps towards tolerance. To facilitate dialogue, he directed the audience to form partners and discuss their cultural fears.

“We are not the founders of racism, but we each hold the cure,” Lee said. “Realize how many people’s lives are in danger. The intolerance, the inability to embrace difference lies here today – unless we prevent it."

Biologist Supports Evolution and God

2007-11-27T21:35:00.000-08:00

“The college students here probably already hate me,” Dr. Kenneth Miller said to a crowded audience as he revealed his responsibility for the Biology textbook many students used in high school.

Professor of biology at Brown University, Miller spoke Tuesday on America’s continuing problem with evolution, in a University of Georgia sponsored Charter Lecture.

Miller, who testified in Federal Court over in the trial over the Cobb County evolution sticker as well as another trial over evolution in Pennsylvania, discussed how theories in science explain facts and that people tend to view theories as the polar opposites of facts.

He described how the Pennsylvania trial brought the collapse of intelligent design as a scientific theory. Creationists use intelligent design as their primary argument against evolution, Miller explains, with God designing and creating everything the way it is now.

He went on to discuss how modern molecular studies have confirmed human shared ancestry with other primates.

Miller’s underlying theme of the lecture was simply that science in no way inhibits religion, so why should religion inhibit science?

For example, Miller sited the head of the Human Genome Project, Dr. Francis Collins, is not only a highly regarded evolutionist but a devout Christian as well.

Miller explained that although evolution has gained large evidence and support there are still people who ignorantly speak out against it, and they are whom Miller argues against.

“The father of genetics, Gregor Mendel, was also a father in the priesthood,” Miller said in support of the coexistence of evolution with religion.

Miller quotes the founder of evolutionary theory, Charles Darwin as concluding his book, Origin of Species, with the theory of evolution offering a life of grandeur giving humans pride as to how far they have come as a species.

“And those are words I live by,” Miller concludes.

Evolution is Creationism – God and Science not Mutually Exclusive

2007-11-27T21:22:00.000-08:00

ATHENS, Ga. – In Dr. Kenneth Miller’s opinion, the presumption of conflict between science and religion is an illusion that exists everywhere in today’s society and makes the theory of evolution a national issue in every respect.

“People have a real hunger for addressing this intersection of faith and scientific evidence,” said the Brown University cell biology professor to the audience that more than filled the University of Georgia Chapel on Tuesday.

A staunch Catholic and one of the nation’s foremost experts on evolution and the theory of Intelligent Design, Miller has forged his image as a “common ground” spokesman as a result of his own need to reconcile the two pillars of his belief system.

“I believe in a God who was so clever that he set a self-perpetuating process in motion that governs the laws of science and gave rise to everything on this planet,” Miller said. “If you believe in pure Creationism, then across the nation are museums filled with evidence of hundreds of God’s mistakes – fossils of extinct animals. I have a higher opinion of God than that.”

In laymen’s terms, Miller described how he participated in a Dover, Pa. trial whose result was the collapse of Intelligent Design as an acceptable scientific theory. Essentially, he debased the theory’s main claim that the simplest components of organisms cannot be explained by anything other than “special creations” by demonstrating that its building blocks may once have had unique functions that were combined in “novel ways” to become more complex.

Quoting a fellow scientist, Miller expounded that “evolution is God’s, or Nature’s, method of creation.” He also cited dozens of profoundly religious figures across history, including the present Pope, St. Augustine, Gregor Mendel, John Calvin and others who have embraced the merger of science and faith.

Miller also excused the “scientific inaccuracies” found in the Bible by sharing his view that it was written in an unscientific age and that its writers needed to make it understandable to people of the times.

“Trying to explain science into the Bible misinterprets the reason that the Bible was given to us at all and disregards the importance of its message of salvation,” Miller said, paraphrasing a favorite quote. “Science and the Bible are both gifts from God. It’s dangerous for believers to make ignorant statements about science – the scripture may be laughed off by association with its purpose debased.”

Biologist Merges Beliefs in God and Evolution

2007-11-27T19:07:00.000-08:00

Kenneth Miller does not believe in Intelligent Design, but he believes in a God who “gave rise to everything on this planet...you and me, maybe even Bill O’Reilly.”

In a talk given Tuesday as part of the University Charter Lecture, the cellular biologist and textbook author showed the audience a clip from an interview between Stephen Colbert and him on the Colbert Report, where he contends that the existence of God and the theory of evolution are not mutually exclusive.

“Intelligent Design is ‘designed’ to provide a view of evolution and faith in conflict with one another,” he said. It claims that “living organisms were produced in acts that could only be called ‘Special Creation,’ or in other words, ‘creationism.’ The debate then shifts to a debate over the existence or non-existence of God.”

Miller cited the recent events involving the Cobb County School Board’s decision to label his biology textbooks with a sticker that said, “Evolution is a theory, not a fact,” among other comments. As a lead witness in the trial to remove these stickers, he explained his disagreement with its text.

“Theories and facts are not necessarily separate things,” he said. “The atomic theory is called so because it explains hundreds of thousands of explicit facts about the nature of matter. Theories in science explain facts.”

He referenced several testable points where Intelligent Design and evolution differ and, removing most of the scientific jargon, explained the results of the experiments, which pointed to evolution as a more plausible explanation.

He does not believe one must separate faith in God from in the theory of evolution and referenced religious icons such as Pope Benedict XVI who wrote extensively on the merging of these two entities.

“What it amounts to, is I have a higher opinion of God than the people who favor intelligent design,” he said in the clip from the Colbert Report. “My view is this is a guy who was so clever that he set a process in motion that gave rise to everything on this planet.”

Speaker Studies Young Women with Breast Cancer through Myspace

2007-11-19T05:26:00.000-08:00

Dr. Stephanie Burwell is not the typical researcher conducting her work in stiff, sterilized conditions—in fact, she does much of her research, centered on young women with breast cancer, through Myspace and other networking opportunities.

Burwell, who has her doctorate in family therapy, spoke at the university to a group of students and faculty Friday on the subject of how young women with breast cancer and their families are affected by the illness.

According to her research, in which younger women are considered to be those age 50 and younger, these women experience a greater disruption in their quality of life when diagnosed with breast cancer due to their stage in life.

“We don’t expect to get sick when we are young,” Burwell stated. “These women experience detrimental side effects which lead to feeling marginalized and powerless over their bodies and the disease.”

These side effects are those like fatigue, disfiguring surgery, and others that they see as potentially affecting their career, their ability to date, relationships with partners and children, and their sexuality, which are all important aspects of younger women’s lifestyles, according to Burwell.

Through Myspace, Burwell said she remains close to the women she has studied, and many continue to send her messages on their progress, problems, and new experiences which help give her further insight on the effects of breast cancer, in addition to the information she has already collected.

In every study Burwell has conducted on the issues these women deal with, the most problematic element for women was communication with their families on the subjects of death and dying, the future, and explaining their illness to their children.

The most effective way of coping was found to be cognitive restructuring, or forcing oneself to think positively, and being introspective, often making important changes in their life that they may have been putting off before the disease.

“It really makes you take stock of your life,” said Burwell.

Local Author Encourages Family Records

2007-11-15T06:04:00.000-08:00

Terry Kay remembers the exact moment in 1947 when his home was first powered with electricity—his older sister flicking the light switch on and off as the family of 14 stood awestruck in the middle of the room.

It is from one such striking moment, he said, that an entire book is created, but publication was not among the advice Kay delivered to the small crowd of Jackson Electric Membership Corporation (EMC) retirees Wednesday.

“I never wrote [“To Dance With the White Dog”] expecting to be published. I wrote it for me; I wrote it for my family,” said Kay about his most popular novel.

Kay prefers to call himself a translator, rather than a creator. His brand of fiction is derived from the farm where he was raised, the time period in which he lived, and the childhood sweetheart that got away.

He encouraged his audience to do the same—to translate their own experiences into the language of a new generation by granting an interview or compiling a memoir to be given to a son, daughter, or grandchild.

“The idea of community is dissolving; the idea of family is dissolving,” Kay said. “And if you want to hold your family together, you have to keep all the stories interwoven from sister to nephew to father to great grandmother.”

Any good fiction, Kay said, attempts to color the bare facts of the author’s own history, and this, more than anything else, is what will be important to the generations that follow.

Terry Kay has won several awards for his Southern literature and was most recently named as the recipient of the 2007 Stanley W. Lindberg Award for his lifetime of contributions to the literary culture of Georgia.

By Beth Farrar

Cornell art professor lectures on reconstructing books as art

2007-11-14T05:28:00.000-08:00

Books aren’t just for reading anymore – they are for freezing, pouring plaster over, and cutting into the shape of female genitalia.

An artist literally using literature as his medium, the things Buzz Spector has done to his books are the stuff of a librarian’s nightmares.

“It was a matter of great distress to my parents that all the money that had been invested in my education had culminated in a son that tore pages out of books,” Spector said.

Now an art professor at Cornell University, Spector lectured Tuesday afternoon at the Student Learning Center about books as an aesthetic art as well as a literary one.

From stacking his library into the shape of waves to encapsulating the complete works of Sigmund Freud in two blocks of ice, the 59-year-old professor structured the talk around the various exhibitions of his 30-year career.

According to Spector, his interest in reconstructing books stemmed from his love of literature. For him, a person’s library tells more about that person than looking through his or her underwear drawer.

“It’s a socially-sanctioned form of voyeurism,” he said. “It is the basis for a new bond and emotional attachment to that person.”

Ultimately, Spector said that his book art serves as a study in the power of words and texts. It is his attempt to rearrange and enhance one’s perception of an old art.

“The task of all artists is not to make new,” he said, “but to revive what is present, to find what life still remains in what we previously thought exhausted.”

Expert Reveals the Heart of Environmental Ethics

2007-11-12T23:09:00.000-08:00

Environmental ethics are hot topics in today's world but environmental experts urge that personal morals and ethics are the heart of the issue.

This was the plea expressed by Dr. Holmes Rolston during a lecture on Monday afternoon. Rolston explained that environmental ethics are still relevant today, but that they must be viewed in light of self values and morals if change is to occur.

Rolston says that it is very difficult for people to focus on the issue at hand and begin to develop a plan for change. He said that people are only equipped to deal with the short term.

"How do we face a question we've never faced before?" Rolston asked the crowd.

Rolston referred to humans as the most unnatural, natural creatures who struggle with over-consumption.

"Local goods accumulate into global bads," Rolston said.

He feels that all people believe they have a right to self-abundance, but it is this abundance that is killing the planet. Rolston notes that humans can do so many things such as fly planes and "surf" the Internet, yet these feats are no excuse for continuing to live in excess.

Rolston knows that society tries to be humane and that means putting people ahead of the environment. However he feels that areas of reserve and environmental contention should be given more consideration even if it means they contain hungry people.

Rolston calls upon society to change its goals. He says people must see the Earth as a form of life support and not just something to value.

Korean actor was prepared for unexpected

2007-11-12T18:53:00.000-08:00

He interpreted a fellow student’s teasing literally, and a future architect became a prolific actor.

“When the time came to make a decision (on my college major), my friend made a joke: ‘let’s go to the film department’,” Shin Yang Park said. “He made a joke, but my life changed completely.”

Park, now well-known for lead roles in Korean television dramas and movies, stressed the importance of ‘expecting the unexpected’ in his talk Monday night in Room 101 of the University of Georgia’s Student Learning Center.

“When I look back, the most important events in my life occurred when I wasn’t prepared,” Park said. “That includes choosing my major and meeting my soul mate.”

Coming from a family of engineers and architects, Park felt it his destiny to study a science and undertake a similar profession. But he took his classmate’s sarcastic suggestion seriously, and signed up for the theatre arts major at Dong-Guk University in Seoul.

“My professor told me I had to do voice training,” Park said. “It (my voice) was a serious problem.”

The task of developing an acting voice normally takes three or four years, but Park made it his obsession for a decade. After obtaining his degree from Dong-Guk, he studied in a Buddhist temple and earned degrees from two Russian acting schools.

“To me, acting was like a religion,” Park said. “It was something I had to do with my life.”

After completing his studies in Russia, Park returned to Korea in 1996 and starred in his first film, Yuri. Since his first role, Park has been in 10 movies and five wildly popular drama series broadcast in Korea, including Lovers in Paris and Money is Warfare. He has married and has a daughter.

But it’s all part of a career that started with something totally unmediated.

“What’s come to me with such power and intensity is so different from all the things I’d planned to do,” Park said.

Informative Publication Turns Heads, Shows Novels in New Light

2007-11-12T06:05:00.000-08:00

In bright hues and bold lines, the illustrations of distraught passengers, frantically conversing via bubble captions, fill the cartoon panels representing the two flights headed toward the Twin Towers on that infamous day.

The tragedy of September 11th is now being told through a publication resembling comic books, an innovative medium known as the graphic novel.

On Friday the UGA Honors Program welcomed novelist Sidney Jacobson to speak on the direction of graphic journalism as well as the process behind the creation of cartoon-like scenarios for informative purposes. Jacobson strongly advocates a new rise of comic books and illustrated novels so that both current events and classic works can become accessible to all.

“Give this medium a chance to inform you about that which you should know,” urged Jacobson. He went on to discuss his most recent project, "The 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation," which was co-created by colleague Ernie Colón.

Jacobson and Colón completed the novel on opposite ends of the country, sending e-mails back and forth from Los Angeles to New York City over the course of about a year. Together, the pair spearheaded what came to be a #1 Bestseller in 2004.

Currently, Jacobson is working on three more graphic novels, one on the war on terrorism, one on the biography of Albert Einstein, and one on the findings of the Department of Defense. These are expected to debut in the next few years.

The progression of this “comic book” style of non-fiction is, according to Jacobson, steady and promising; the impact has the potential to be monumental. “We wouldn’t dare do this 15 years ago.”

Jacobson firmly believes that the possibility of this graphic illustrations medium, with a fresh perspective on scenery and interpretation, is limitless. “No one has paid attention to it until now,” he concluded. “And I wholeheartedly hope it continues.”

Bestselling author sees comics as the textbooks of tomorrow

2007-11-11T13:41:00.000-08:00

Sid Jacobson believes in the power of comics.

The former CEO and executive editor at Harvey and Marvel Comics, respectively, spoke Friday about his bestselling book "The 9/11 Report-A Graphic Adaptation" and the introduction of graphic novels as an educational medium.

Jacobson’s book, illustrated by Ernie Colón, is a graphic adaptation of the official 500+ page "9/11 Commission Report".

“When you see George Bush and Osama bin Laden speaking with comic balloons above their heads, you will better remember and understand what they said,” Jacobson said.

Jacobson said that the original report was too dense for the average citizen to break down, and that he and Colón aimed to make it more accessible to readers by depicting it graphically.

“There’s no better way to show someone how to brush their teeth than to do it in comic form,” Jacobson joked.

In a prepared speech, Jacobson gave a brief history of comics in the newspaper, the phenomenon of “yellow journalism,” and his own career in comics.

Jacobson said that the entire process of deciphering the original commission report, writing, and illustrating took him and Colón about a year to complete. He is currently working on three new graphic novels, one documenting the history of the war on terror, a biography of Che Guevara, and the story of “Vlad the Impaler.”

“Please don’t call these comics,” Jacobson said regarding his graphic novels, “give this medium a chance to inform you better than words on a page.”

By Melanie Wagner

A Case of Murder

2007-11-07T22:01:00.000-08:00

The First Amendment is a victim of murder, at least according to Julia Wallace.

Wallace, the Editor-in-Chief of the Atlanta Journal Constitution believes that the rights of this country as established in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution are being killed, but the question is, by whom?

Wallace spoke to a crowd of over 100 people Wednesday in a program known as the McGill Lecture, a Grady College presentation which each year invites one of the top journalists in the nation to speak at the University honoring the progresive journalist and former AJC Editor Ralph McGill.

Referencing McGill in her opening statement, Wallace read excerpts from a column he wrote after an Atlanta Jewish Temple was bombed.

“This is the harvest, the crop of things sown, the result of what we have planted,” she said.
She believes that the current status of the First Amendment, particularly freedom of the press and access to public records, is the result of the work of many culprits the past few decades.

“Who is killing the First Amendment and why?” She asked. “The suspects are everywhere. Federal, state, and local governments, technology, lower and upper education, and even the press itself.”

Wallace said officials on the state and city don’t believe in letting the public know what is going on even though the public not only has a right, but needs to know.

“When a vibrant press is informing citizens of what is happening or not happening,” she said, “the press is doing its proper work and the First Amendment is upheld.”

Who is Killing the First Amendment?

2007-11-07T20:41:00.000-08:00

The First Amendment has long been a guarantee of freedom in both speech and the press, but, according to a prominent newspaper editor who spoke at the university Wednesday, those freedoms are currently deteriorating.

Julia Wallace, the first woman editor at the Atlanta Journal Constitution, spoke to a gathering of students, professors, and journalists in the Student Learning Center about her concerns that society is forgetting or perhaps uninterested in the importance of the freedom of the press and freedom of speech.

The blame for the decline of these essential freedoms is not limited to one group, according to Wallace, who cited the federal, state, and local governments as well as technology, the education system, and the press itself as all having a hand in “killing the First Amendment.”

Wallace asserted that, along with change in civic education and the government’s openness with public records, the press must also make changes in order to retract its part in the decay of our freedoms.

“We focus too much on ourselves and not enough on our readers,” said Wallace.

Wallace believes that this, coupled with increasing errors of fact, haste, and bias in journalism are blurring the line between truth and story, which in turn causes readers to be less trusting and less supportive of the press and the press’s freedom to report, adding to the cynicism that is growing with regard to First Amendment rights.

With the news system’s rapidly increasing shift to new media and technologies, Wallace stated that journalism must act to retain its important founding freedom, even in the face of change and challenges.

“The economic model is changing for how people get their information,” said Wallace, “and news will have a difficult fight in the new world of technology.”

This fight depends on a continued freedom of the press to report, and report fairly, so to begin repairing the damage, Wallace stated that the free press must fight for its citizens and must, above all, maintain the key values of journalism: truth, accuracy, and transparency.

Speaker Compares Plot of Popular Film to Historical Reality

2007-11-07T20:15:00.000-08:00

ATHENS, Ga. – Universal Pictures’ popular new movie, “Elizabeth: The Golden Age,” is based far more on fantasy than actual history.

“The film is a work of pure fiction,” said Henry Kamen, a noted historian whose research focuses particularly on Spanish history and generally on early modern European history. “It is a highly delightful piece of cinema, but it provides only a reflection of the truth.”

Kamen takes issue with a number of misrepresentations in the film, such as the display of the words “Peace and Prosperity” across the screen at its conclusion. He emphasized to the audience nearly filling the room in Park Hall that peace in England following the defeat of the Spanish Armada took 15 years to arrive – and at the same time all the great early writings on poverty and England’s first of the great Poor Laws were being drafted.

Another problem with the plot mentioned during Kamen’s session of playful, yet respectful, mockery on Wednesday, was the vilification of King Phillip II of Spain. Kamen used examples of the many wrongs committed under Elizabeth’s rule, including mass murder of nobility, as a contrast to the more respectable actions of Phillip’s regime.

“You name him, he lost his head,” Kamen said, referring to important British nobles of the time.

Kamen also explored the complex history between England and Spain that forced King Phillip to unleash his Armada at a time where he was actually protecting England. The exclusion of Ireland, Wales, and Scotland, countries with which England had disputes, the invention of an assassination attempt, and the exaggeration of the role of the Spanish Inquisition were also discussed. When asked to comment on specific departures from or omissions of historical fact in the film he found to be particularly shocking, Kamen said the question was an impossible one to answer:

“You see, the charm of the movie is that is it a fantasy story – everything is wrong. Words fail you when see, for example, a Spanish admiral praying to a rosary rather than leading the charge when his fleet is about to attack. No admiral would ever do such a thing.”

While he objects to “Elizabeth: The Golden Age’s” content, he says he really did enjoy the film and wouldn’t want to “put [anyone] off” from seeing it – though he feels it is unfortunate that none of all the truly positive things to come out of Elizabeth I’s reign appear in the movie.

Kamen also explained that he would never make any serious academic attempt to compare Queen Elizabeth to King Phillip, but would, as he did, make a “joking comparison.” At least one serious historian seems to disagree with the age old adage that history is nothing to laugh at.

Ancient footpaths reveal social memory

2007-11-07T18:39:00.000-08:00

A University of Colorado archaeology professor believes linear anomalies identified by remote sensing in Costa Rica are actually ancient footpaths used by generations of native Central Americans in their repeated trips to and from cemeteries.

“I never thought a footpath could tell so much,” Dr. Payson Sheets said. “Now I think we might be able to convince a jury.”

Sheets, a Mezoamerican archaeological expert, spoke Wednesday night in Room 248 of the University of Georgia’s Student Learning Center. After intense research along the coast of Lake Arenal at the base of the Arenal Volcano, he believes he has come to an important conclusion about social memory, and well-worn trails are the key.

The footpaths were discovered using several of NASA’s remote imaging tools affixed to aircraft. Infrared pictures showed “linear anomalies”, which upon further investigation involving stratigraphy (the process of taking cross-sections of the earth and examining the layer composition) and archaeology, proved to be trails used by several civilizations to reach their cemeteries over a span of at least 1,000 years.

“I think they reoccupied the villages in order to use the same footpaths to cemeteries used by their ancestors,” Sheets said. “That says to me this was something of extreme importance to them.”

Numerous eruptions of the Arenal Volcano have partially filled in the indentations of the trails, which had no construction except the repeated footfalls of the people. But because of their location on slopes and the process of erosion, Sheets and his crew were able to verify their claims with cross-sections of the earth.

“We’re the first people to ‘walk’ on these things since a couple thousand years ago,” Sheets said.

Geography Professor Discusses the Many Dimensions of the Concept of Hunger

2007-11-04T19:10:00.000-08:00

Though hunger is considered a debilitating status, experts, upon analyzing the intricacies of hunger, see the power it has to produce change and evoke emotions in people.

Throughout history oppressed groups have used hunger strikes as a means to gain attention and dramatic change for their cause. After citing these examples of hunger strikes, the question UGA geography professor Dr. Nik Heynen posed on Friday is how the idea of hunger has gained such power and why is it such an invisible idea to the well-fed members of society.

"Hunger strikes have long been a powerful political tactic and non-violent form of protest," Heynen said. He believes that hunger strikes are so effective because of the ingenuity of the action.

"By resisting hunger in response to one's government stands in contrast to one's own life," he said. Strikers expect to gain the empathy of people.

Even more so than the question of hunger's power is the question of how it is such an invisible problem to the non-hungry members of society. Most of society does not know what it feels like to truly be hungry. Heynen said that it is because those who could honestly tell the world about their hunger are too busy trying to find their next meal.

Yet, before change can occur people must realize the many dimensions of hunger.

"I strongly disagree that the power of a hunger strike stands on its own merits," Heynen concluded.

Dancing Degeneres, radical Rosie and popular entertainment

2007-11-04T07:08:00.000-08:00

When it comes to “popular entertainment” no one beats Nemo’s loopy sidekick Dory. Or, for that matter, daytime talk TV’s dancing host Ellen Degeneres.

“When she dances, she certainly does revel in it,” said Dr. Peach Pittenger in her Friday afternoon lecture about Degeneres, Rosie O’Donnell and popular entertainment.

Pittenger, a professor in theatre and film studies, outlined the two comedienne’s careers before and after each “came out” and told the public she was a lesbian, Degeneres in 1997 and O’Donnell in 2004.

“Everything that [a TV network] does is building a commodity,” Pittenger said, “what is being sold is the performer’s persona.”

For both women, coming out put a damper on their career. Luckily for Degeneres, she was able to get hers back on track by “playing it safe” with Disney’s Finding Nemo and her daytime talk show.

O’Donnell’s career is still a “work in progress” according to Pittenger, especially after her entrance into the political scene on the issue of gay adoption. She is now seen as a more radical persona, compared to the popular Degeneres.

“You can make incremental change through popular entertainment,” Pittenger said regarding the current difference in the two women’s careers, “and I think that is significant.”

Speaker discusses stigma surrounding mental illness

2007-11-02T16:37:00.000-07:00

Prejudice and discrimination have been recognized issues for the American public for quite some time, but a stigma surrounding mental illness is an issue that is just recently getting researchers’ attention.

“There has been an increase in stigmatizing of mental health issues,” said Dr. Bernice Pescosolido during a lecture held this afternoon.

Pescosolido’s research, in 1996, discovered that in the past 30 years people with mental illnesses have become increasingly associated with terms such as violence and danger.

These negative associations have also created an increasing social distancing and prejudice throughout the American public, although 60 percent of people studied agreed that psychiatric medications are effective.

“Although Americans believe psychiatric medications are effective, they have no intention of taking them,” Pescosolido said.

Pescosolido presented the results of her own research from 1996 and discussed her current research project in front of a crowd of roughly 50 people in the Student Learning Center at the University of Georgia.

After conducting another study in 2006, Pescosolido found that after only a decade there was no significant change in America’s view of mental illness, despite the increased efforts by the government and media to generate greater awareness of the issue.

Pescosolido’s lecture was sponsored by the Institute for Behavioral Research as a part of their William A. Owens Lecture series. The lecture was also filmed for WSB TV.

Professor speaks on the democracy of today

2007-11-01T17:35:00.000-07:00

The 1st Constitutional Convention and the Federalist Papers were some of the first defining moments of America’s democracy, but that democracy is not the one portrayed by today’s media.

“Public life as the image of the founders is quite different than it is today,” said Michael Schudson.

Michael Schudson, a Professor of Journalism at Colombia University and a Professor of Communication at the University of California-San Diego, spoke this afternoon at the inaugural Peabody-Smithgall Lecture.

The overall theme for this year’s Peabody Smithgall lecture series is “The Media and Public Life,” and Schudson’s lecture focused on the meaning of democracy in today’s media world and in public life.

“Public life is more than what takes place in the legislature,” Schudson said.

Schudson also said that universities played a significant role in public life as subjects of public discussions, as addressers of public issues, and as models for the way public life should be in general.

Around 40 people attended the lecture, held in the Chapel on the University of Georgia’s North Campus, to listen to Schudson talk about the effects of new media and the changes that have occurred throughout history regarding the public life and the view of democracy.

Program Discusses Society’s Take on Masculinity

2007-10-18T23:31:00.000-07:00

An interactive program discussing social, cultural, and media influences on masculinity took place Thursday night at the Student Learning Center.

Larry Gourdine, Relationship and Sexual Violence Prevention Coordinator of the Office for Violence Prevention, put on the program appropriately entitled “Rethinking Manhood and Masculinity” where only men were allowed to attend.

“What makes a real man?” Gourdine asked at the beginning of the lecture.

Gourdine continued on to explain that from early on in development society puts pressure on boys to act more like a ‘real man.’

He went on to say that the media has becomes a powerful tool for influencing the way society views masculinity by associating men as being powerful, strong, independent, and tough.

Gourdine explained that there are both positive and negative effects to society’s interpretation of masculinity and although society still values morals and the positive ideas of manhood, the media’s representation often trumps what society often holds dear.

A lot of negative aspects of society’s interpretation of masculinity correlate with bad stereotypes of men. Men are often associated with violence, sexual abuse, criminal activity, and negatively objectifying women.

Gourdine pointed out that society has created an idea of pride associated with masculinity so that if a man’s pride is threatened he must defend it.

“No man is going to admit to getting beat up by a lady,” Gourdine said.

He continued to explain that men are pinned in a “gender box” by society that makes them unable to develop their own appreciation of what a ‘real man’ is.

“We put on a ‘tough guise’ to mask our vulnerability,” Gourdine explained.

Society, he explained, still puts value in the idea of a ‘real man’ as an economic provider, a hard worker, a role model, and a hero who makes sacrifices.

He concluded the program telling the small audience of purely men to “ask yourself ‘Am I a ‘real man’ in society’s and media standards or am I a ‘real man’ in my own idea.”