Dr. Stephen Cimbala calls to our attention the important articles on genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan being written by Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times. His article in the February 23, 2005 NYT includes four disturbing photographs from the thousands in a secret genocide archive being compiled by representatives of the African Union on the scene. Dr. Cimbala echoes Willy Loman: attention must be paid.
NYT is available online at their home web site http://www.nytimes.com or in the Factiva, and Academic Universe Library databases http://www.lias.psu.edu:80/alallpsu.html. A copy of this article was also reprinted in the Sudan Tribune website at http://www.sudantribune.com/article.php3?id_article=8204
1 in every 166 children has this disease - yet little is known about why or when it occurs, or how to treat it. The disease is Autism.
The current Newsweek issue (Feb 28, 2005) has a cover story about this illness. It is a truly devastating disease for the children (and parents) it afflicts. However, much of the problem arises with the fact that a diagnosis is not usually made until age 2 or 3, or even later than that. Scientists feel that being able to diagnose before age 1 would give them significant advances in being able to treat autism. "'If we had a way of screening for autism at birth and then could begin very early to retrain the brain, that would really be the ticket,' says Dr. Thomas Insel".
However, lack of funding keeps researchers from being able to develop methods of treatment and early detection. Learn more about this little known crisis in the article "When Does Autism Start" on page 45 of the February 28th issue of Newsweek, available in Vairo library or at the link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6994474/site/newsweek/
Harvard doesn't have enough bad publicity resulting from its president's recent remarks, it also has a recent graduate revealing problems about its academic programs. The March 2005 Atlantic Monthly has an article, "The Truth About Harvard" adapted from Harvard and the Education of the Ruling Class, a new book by Harvard alum Ross Douthat. Douthat takes on the grading policies, the core curriculum, the disinterested pedagogues, the lack of demand for quality work. Perhaps the most damning line in the article is, "I looked back and felt cheated." This article is a call for institutional introspection, not just at Harvard.
Stunning is one of the words you can use to describe Magnificent Mars a collection of photographs and maps that explore the red planet. The book is organized around four ingredients: earth, air, fire and water. It summarzies the evidence for and against life on Mars, and offers wonderful historical background on how our understanding of Mars has evolved with our technological advancements. This is a real page turner with each photograph an inspiration. (Vairo QB641.C76 2003)
If you have access to HBO, you'll want to catch Lackawanna Blues, a film adaptation of Ruben Santiago-Hudson's autobiographical one man show. It recounts his life growing up with his nanny is a rooming house of so-called "misfits and lost souls" who taught him about caring, loyalty, war and love. It also captures the sense of community that enabled him to grow and prosper, while the community itself dissolved. A great score and some wonderful film cuts just adds to the enjoyment. You can sample some of that at http://www.hbo.com/films/lackawannablues/
Andrew Shankman's new book Crucible of American Democracy: the struggle to fuse egalitarianism & capitalism in Jeffersonian Pennsylvania is a timely acquisition for the Vairo Library (JK2318.P5S43 2004) We read daily accounts of the various Iraqi interests trying to fashion a democracy in the Middle East. Shankman recounts similar struggles that took place just down the road from us in in the early days of our democracy. He particularly focuses on "the complex realtionship between democracy and capitalism" that made the country a"crucible of conflict" despite everyone's professed interest in building a democracy. Another episode in back to the future!
Following up on the Dean's suggestion to increase our understanding of brain development to improve teaching? You might want to check out the library's dvd collection for PBS' Frontline program, "Inside the Teenage Brain." (Vairo Library BF723..C5I56 2004) It explores what scientists are learning about brain development and what parents and teachers should do with that knowledge. If you have a high-speed connection, the same video is on the web at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/teenbrain/ .
If you want to explore more about the current buzz in the art world, go to http://www.christojeanneclaude.net/tg.html. This site has all the information about Christo's Central Park Gates Project, and links back to other projects by Christo and Jeanne Claude. It is very popular and slow to load, but worth the wait.
Dr. Wayne McMullen gives us a heads up about a local film fesitval:
Wilmington, Delaware--not usually thought of a film mecca--keeps itself on the map, filmwise, with its own film festival. For the last three years, the "Hearts and Minds Film Festival" has been showing some interesting features and documentaries that focus on socially conscious themes. The films' quality varies quite a bit, but this is to be expected at any film festival.
The schedule is posted online at:
www.heartsandmindsfilm.org
The festival runs March 2-6.
Perhaps you have seen the news reports on the Union of Concerned Scientists survey of the scientists working for the U.S. Fish and Game Commission. You can get their full report at http://www.ucsusa.org/. "More than half of all respondents (56 percent) reported cases where "commercial interests have inappropriately induced the reversal or withdrawal of scientific conclusions or decisions through political intervention"..." This report may offer an interesting example for discussion on bias, funding sources, integrity in research, and other ethical issues.
If today's campus celebration makes you want some good information on the Chinese Calendar and the animal traditions associated with it, you can visit http://www.chinapage.com/newyear.html. or http://www.educ.uvic.ca/faculty/mroth/438/CHINA/chinese_new_year.html
Dennis Ross, U.S. Envoy to the Middle East from 1988-2000, is author of The Missing Peace: the inside story of the fight for Middle East peace. At almost 800 pages, this is a very detailed account of the search for peace during both the first Bush and Clinton administrations. As we are in the launch phase of new Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, you may want to catch up with the history of previous efforts. Ross offers insights and background information concerning the knottly issues that have blocked previous peace efforts. We hope that these issues can be successfully negotiated in new talks. (Vairo Library DS119.76.R68 2004)
You'll want to read this article before you consider the issues that will be discussed in the upcoming budget debates. Fallows consults with military, terrorism and security experts and identifies what should be our priorities for improving homeland security, and what window dressing should be eliminated. His suggestions are based on the need to contain terrorism, and the reality that we cannot eliminate it entirely. The article appears in the January/February 2005 Atlantic issue available in paper in the Vairo Library on online to the campus community thru the Libraries ProQuest database subscription. http://www.lias.psu.edu/alallpsu.html
For Black History Month, the Schomburg Collection at the New York Public Library has made another exhibit of its holdings available on the web at http://www.inmotionaame.org/home.cfm. The topic is In Motion: the African-American Migration Experience. In text, maps and images, the site "presents a new interpretation of African-American history, one that focuses on the self-motivated activities of peoples of African descent to remake themselves and their worlds. Of the thirteen defining migrations that formed and transformed African America, only the transatlantic slave trade and the domestic slave trades were coerced, the eleven others were voluntary movements of resourceful and creative men and women, risk-takers in an exploitative and hostile environment. Their survival skills, efficient networks, and dynamic culture enabled them to thrive and spread, and to be at the very core of the settlement and development of the Americas." The site also has sample lesson plans for teachers. This is a wonderful site that helps expose one of the great library collections in African-American history; it would be helpful to students in a variety of disciplines, particularly history, sociology, and education. Let them know about it.
How often do you get to read a book by a man pronounced clinically dead from cerebral malaria? You can now; George Monbiot's Manifesto for a New World Order is available in the Vairo Library. The Manifesto puts forth very specific proposals for a restructuring of the global economy to assist development and enable democracy worldwide. A respected radical Monbiot proposes "a democratically elected world parliament; a democratised United Nations General assembly, which captures the powers now vested in the Security Council; and International Clearing Union, which automatically discharges trade deficits and prevents the accumulation of debt; a Fair Trade Organization, which restrains the rich while emancipating the poor." (p.4)Why the times are ripe for the implementation of these ideas is explained in the book; it's worth some time and thought. (Vairo Library JZ1318.M653 2004)
Given the recent controversy over the remarks by Harvard President Summers, it might be helpful to call to your attention a new book in the Vairo Library. We just received Simon Baron-Cohen's The Essential Difference: The Truth about the Male and Female Brain. The book is described as "neither politically correct nor politically oblivious."(Steven Pinker) and as "not only a surprisingly fresh look at gender differences in the brain but a genuinely thoughtful one." (Deborah Blum) Decide for yourself. (Vairo Library BF692.2.B37 2003)