Theatre & Dance
The show must go on: How UA Theatre and Dance is ‘making a way out of no way’: Crimson White – Nov. 29
Aidan Nettles, a University of Alabama dance instructor, is passionate about the intense art of dance. But teaching through a pandemic has proven to be one of the biggest challenges of her career. COVID-19 forced instructors like Nettles to teach virtually, and it turned students’ living rooms into stages and audition spaces for shows. Since August, The University of Alabama’s dance and theatre department has had to transition from rehearsing in big groups to small groups, and even virtually.
Hodges Meteorite
On This Day in Space! Nov. 30, 1954: Meteorite falls on woman in Alabama: MSN – Nov. 30
At first, the townspeople weren’t sure if the object was a meteorite. Some even speculated it might be a Soviet Union aircraft. A crowd of people descended on the Hodges house. Feeling a bit overwhelmed, she went to the hospital to get checked out. Hodges had a nasty bruise, but was otherwise unharmed. Scientists quickly confirmed the rock had fallen from space. Hodges eventually donated the meteorite to a natural history museum. To this day, she is the only person in recorded history to have been struck by a meteorite…Ann Hodges…donated it to The University of Alabama’s Museum of Natural History in 1956.
The Weather Network
Yahoo!
Tinsel Trail
Tuscaloosa’s Tinsel Trail brightens up holiday, even during pandemic: Tuscaloosa News – Dec. 1
Outdoors, self-guided and open 24-7: Tuscaloosa’s eighth annual Tinsel Trail lights up holiday nights even through a pandemic. … The creative competition remains fierce as always, with fanciful designs coordinated and carried out by groups, schools, businesses and individuals. While many reward close-in looks, some settings catch the eye from afar, such as: … A draped T-Rex from The University of Alabama Museums.
Everglades Foundation
The Everglades Foundation ForEverglades scholarships and fellowships announced: Miami’s Community Newspapers – Dec. 1
The Palmetto Bay-based Everglades Foundation recently announced that it will be awarding a total of $125,000 to recipients of 2020 ForEverglades Scholarships and Fellowships. This year’s class includes seven graduate students at four research universities who are pursuing innovative scientific and economic research to advance restoration and protection of America’s Everglades…Zhuoran Yu from The University of Alabama will be awarded $12,500 for research on “Determining the Biotic and Abiotic Drivers of Methane Emissions for Freshwater Marshes of the Florida Everglade.”
Alabama History
When the textbooks lied, Black Alabamians turned to each other for history: Montgomery Advertiser – Dec. 3
School was the last place Tonea Stewart expected to learn about the past… Alabama History for Schools, a 1961 textbook, presented what was a typical white perspective on history at the time. Written by University of Alabama history professor Charles Grayson Summersell, Alabama History for Schools acknowledges “drawbacks” to slavery, noting laws against educating enslaved people, and the shorter lifespans that enslaved people experienced. None of this upsets the historian’s false narrative of white paternalism… “It should be noted that slavery was the earliest form of Social Security in the United States,” Summersell wrote.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
‘Much to be done’: How Caitlyn McTier and DEI are trying to make up for lost time: Crimson White – Dec. 3
Amid renewed national conversations about diversity, equity and inclusion, some members of student government are hoping to repair the organization’s image. … “We still have a very, very long way to go,” McTier said. She said she’s proud to look back at her last four years here at The University of Alabama and see how much progress has been made each year. “But then I also have to take a step back, out of my current UA student self, and realize that it took until 2017 for us to start having conversations about needing to have diversity at the forefront of our conversations, and that by itself is problematic alone,” McTier said. “So, I think there is still so much to be done.”
“Heaven’s Gate”
New Heaven’s Gate docuseries on HBO Max has link to Alabama: Al.com – Dec. 3
Viewers probably won’t catch a glimpse of Denny Chimes — or any other landmark at The University of Alabama — in “Heaven’s Gate: The Cult of Cults,” a new documentary series on HBO Max. But the four-part series, which focuses on a UFO cult that ended with a mass suicide, does have a link to the school in Tuscaloosa. Marshall Applewhite, the cult’s co-founder and leader, was a music instructor at UA in the early 1960s, about 12 years before he founded Heaven’s Gate with a co-believer, Bonnie Nettles.