A&S in the News: February 11-17, 2018

Opera Theatre

Orchestra, opera team up for Valentine’s showTuscaloosa News – Feb. 12

As symbols of love, diamonds display facets. Like life, they derive from carbon, trapped under extreme heat and pressure, but once stabilized — metastabilized, in fact — to equilibrium, they’re among the toughest substances in the world … John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” also being performed in Monday night’s collaboration between the Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra and The University of Alabama Opera Theatre.

Terrific Tuesday

UA assistant professor to perform at concertTuscaloosa News – Feb. 13

A University of Alabama assistant professor of voice will perform at the Terrific Tuesday concert series at 1 p.m. at Shelton State Community College. Susan Williams has performed nationally and internationally in a wide range of leading opera roles and as a vocal soloist. Williams is a graduate of Birmingham-Southern College, earned a master’s degree at the University of Akron and a doctor of musical arts degree at the Cleveland Institute of Music. She has been at UA since 2013.

‘Vinegar Tom’

UA Theatre & Dance opens ‘Vinegar Tom’ tonightCrimson White – Feb. 13

UA Theatre & Dance is brewing up something entertaining this week through Sunday, Feb. 18. Starting tonight, Tuesday, Feb. 13, they’ll present “Vinegar Tom,” a play about the witch trials in 17th century England. The play will show at the Marian Gallaway Theatre in Rowand-Johnson Hall Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. with a Sunday matinee at 2 p.m. Inspired by the Women’s Rights Act of 1970, British playwright Caryl Churchill wrote “Vinegar Tom,” which is widely considered to be an exploration of gender and power during both the 17th century and the early and mid-1970s, when the play was written. The play follows primary characters Alice and Joan, a mother-daughter duo who are both accused of witchcraft. “Vinegar Tom” is the name of Joan’s cat. The plot thickens as Churchill’s feminist ideology permeates the story.
Tuscaloosa News – Feb. 17

Family Night at the Museum

Learn about oceans at Family Night at the MuseumTuscaloosa News – Feb. 13

Ocean exploration will be the theme of the eighth annual Family Night at the Museum this weekend on the University of Alabama campus. The free event, which is open to the public, will be held from 5-8 p.m. Saturday, with activities for children planned for all three floors of Smith Hall and the first floor of Lloyd Hall. The activities will be developed by students in more than 20 UA graduate departments.
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Feb. 15

Mass Shooters

U.S. has the most public mass shooters in the world, study showsABC 12 (San Antonio, Texas) – Feb. 14

On Wednesday, a mass shooting at a school north of Miami left numerous fatalities. The Valentine’s Day shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School was not the first mass shooting or even school shooting of the year — not even close … Those statistics prompted the University of Alabama’s Adam Lankford to take an in-depth look at this epidemic. He studied mass shootings in 171 countries from the years 1966-2012 and found that the United States has the most public mass shooters and more than 240 million more guns than the second highest country, India.
CNN (National) – Anderson Cooper 360 – Feb. 14

Crimson Clay

Crimson Clay brings ceramics fans togetherCrimson White – Feb. 14

Crimson Clay, a student-run organization, strives to bring students together through the love of art and clay. Amy Smoot, the current president of Crimson Clay, believes the act of expressing one’s self through clay has become therapeutic for many of the organization’s members.

Art History Instagram

Student-run art history profile gains national followingCrimson White – Feb. 14

Unlike most schools, Taylor Murray’s high school didn’t offer art classes – not even a humanities course. But a lack of art courses at Murray’s Wicksburg, Alabama high school didn’t deter him from pursuing his passion for art history. He focused his attention to schooling himself on art history facts for competing in academic trivia tournaments. Upon arriving at UA orientation before his freshman year, Murray discovered that he needed to add a minor to his advertising major. Art history immediately jumped out at him from the list.

CAREER Award

Studying the arms race between bacteria and virusesInfection Control Today – Feb. 15

Dr. Asma Hatoum-Aslan, UA assistant professor of biological sciences, was recently awarded a National Science Foundation CAREER Award to continue her work in discovering how bacterial immune systems ward off bacteriophages, or viruses that specifically attack bacteria.

Firearm Ownership Rate

Adam Lankford
Dr. Adam Lankford

Mass shooting expert: “It’s not a matter of opinion,” the United States’ “firearm ownership rate is the explanation for why we have far more public mass shooters”Media Matters – Feb. 15

Adam, you’ve looked into this. Michael said there’s no real answer to this because each thing leads you down to a dead end. Talking about HIPPA privacies, civil rights, et cetera, the Second Amendment et cetera, but in your estimation, from doing all the studies you’ve done, is that realistic or is there something that we can do to mitigate this now? Adam Lankford (associate professor of criminal justice at The University of Alabama): Well, to say there’s no easy answer, I think, is accurate, but to say that we don’t know what’s to blame, what the culprit is here would not be accurate. So in my study I looked at more than 40 years of public mass shooters around the world.
WLKY-CBS (Louisville, Kentucky) – Feb. 15
KPHO-CBS (Phoenix, Arizona) – Feb. 15
WCTV-CBS (Tallahassee, Florida) – Feb. 15
WXCW-CW (Ft. Myers, Florida) – Feb. 15
KNOE-CBS (Monroe, Louisiana) – Feb. 15

Black Panther

UA professor comments on Black  Panther movieWVUA (Tuscaloosa) – Feb. 15

And to the box office where a slate of superheroes heads to the silver screen. All eyes are on Disney’s “Black Panther” movie, set to hit theaters tomorrow. It’s a movie with a mostly black cast and an African- American director. This movie is about what it means to be black in both America and Africa. An associate professor of American studies and an expert in African- American art history at the University of Alabama explains all the hype.

The World’s Guns

Here’s who owns the guns around the world and what laws workMSNBC – Feb. 16

Ali Velshi breaks down gun ownership in America and Associate Professor at the University of Alabama’s Department of Criminal Justice Adam Lankford joins.
KNOE-CBS (Monroe, Louisiana) – Feb. 16
KAQY-ABC (Monroe, Louisiana) – Feb. 16
KPHO-CBS (Phoenix, Arizona) – Feb. 16
KKFX-Fox (Santa Barbara, California) – Feb. 16
KCOY-CBS (Santa Barbara, California) – Feb. 16

Clarence E. Cason Award

Trudier Harris
Dr. Trudier Harris

UA English professor earns writing awardDiverse – Feb. 17

Award-winning author and University of Alabama English professor Trudier Harris has been named winner of the 2018 Clarence E. Cason Award in Nonfiction Writing. She is a distinguished research professor in UA’s department of English. Her work focuses on the experiences and writings of women and African-Americans in the Southeast United States. Harris, a Tuscaloosa native, received an undergraduate degree from Stillman College and a doctorate from Ohio State University. She is the author or editor of more than two dozen books as well as the recipient of multiple awards in writing and teaching.
CBS 42 (Birmingham) – Feb. 17
Houston Chronicle (Texas) – Feb. 17
College and University – Feb. 17
NBC 12 (Montgomery) – Feb. 17
Durham Herald-Sun (North Carolina) – Feb. 17
WAFF 48 (Huntsville) – Feb. 17
Biloxi Sun-Herald (Mississippi) – Feb. 17
WLOX (Biloxi, Mississippi) – Feb. 17
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – Feb. 17
Belleville News-Democrat (Washington) – Feb. 17
Bradenton Herald (Florida) – Feb. 17
Island Packet (South Carolina) – Feb. 17
Idaho Statesman – Feb. 17
Kentucky.com – Feb. 17
Seattle Post-Intelligencer (Washington) – Feb. 17
San Francisco Gate – Feb. 17
Fresno Bee (California) – Feb. 17
Washington Times – Feb. 17
Seattle Times – Feb. 17