Halloween Traditions
Trunk or trick? How Halloween traditions are changing in Alabama: Al.com – Oct. 30
… “If we’re not limiting it to Halloween night, they don’t have to be mutually exclusive,” said Robert Laird, professor and chair of the Department of Human Development and Family Studies at The University of Alabama, and a Tuscaloosa resident who says trick-or-treating is “one of the few times we see some of the neighbors” during the year… Michael Altman, a professor of religious studies at The University of Alabama, said he has seen the trend as more churches open their parking lots for a trunk-or-treat activity as a way to promote their evangelism. He said it’s a change from years ago when more conservative churches viewed Halloween as a pagan holiday that embraced evil and images of the devil.
James Webb Telescope
New infrared photos of the ‘Pillars of Creation’ from the James Webb Telescope reveal star-creating cosmic dust and massive galaxy clusters: Business Insider – Oct. 31
… This image of galaxy pair VV 191 includes near-infrared light from Webb, and ultraviolet and visible light from Hubble. NASA, ESA, CSA, Rogier Windhorst (ASU), William Keel (University of Alabama), Stuart Wyithe (University of Melbourne), JWST PEARLS Team, Alyssa Pagan (STScI)
MSN
Yahoo! News
Curriculum Changes
Proposed curriculum changes at University of Alabama draw fire after professor’s viral tweet: Tuscaloosa Thread – Nov. 1
A series of proposed curriculum changes at The University of Alabama is drawing fire online after a professor criticized them in a Tweet last week. As background, the University created a task force in 2018 to examine its General Education curriculum requirements — the classes all students at UA are required to take, regardless of their majors and minors. The 12-member task force committed to reviewing and revising what the UA community expects all graduates to gain from their time as students and last Thursday, they published their recommended changes.
Red Rook Press
Student-run publishing house Red Rook Press prepares to print student work: The Crimson White – Nov. 2
At a Sept. 6 informational meeting — crowded to the point of there being standing room only – —students interested in publishing were introduced to The University of Alabama’s first-ever student-run publishing house: Red Rook Press. The crowd was a surprise to the assistant director of creative writing and the press’ faculty advisor and assistant director of creative writing Paul Albano, who had expected the number in attendance to be much lower.
Clark Hall
The stunning building in Tuscaloosa, Alabama that looks just like Hogwarts: Only In Your State – Nov. 3
Alabama boasts many beautiful buildings with lots of history and that are quite stunning. One of these buildings in particular is Clark Hall in Tuscaloosa. For information about Clark Hall, including what makes it truly unique, and the city of Tuscaloosa, take a look below.
Gun Rights
The shoddy conclusions of the man shaping the gun-rights debate: The New Yorker – Nov. 3
… Recently, in an interview after the Uvalde shooting, Senator Ted Cruz cited Lott’s research to argue that such incidents are rare in the United States relative to the rest of the world. Adam Lankford, a criminologist at The University of Alabama, had closely inspected Lott’s data, and discovered that Lott had inflated the world’s figures by including “attacks by terrorist organizations, genocidal militias, armed rebel groups, and paramilitary fighters.” The data even contained a slaughter directed by the President of Nigeria, in which soldiers killed as many as two hundred civilians. These were not comparable acts of violence to Uvalde, Buffalo, or, say, the 2017 music-festival shooting in Las Vegas.
Día De Muertos
Student, faculty display celebrates Dia De Muertos: Tuscaloosa Patch – Nov. 4
An ofrenda featuring tributes to prominent UA figures along with poetry by UA students is on display at the Student Center through Nov. 8.
Formerly Incarcerated Voters
Florida’s voter fraud arrests are scaring away formerly incarcerated voters: Al.com – Nov. 4
… Confusion and fear among the formerly incarcerated because of frequent changes and variations in voting laws across states is a longstanding obstacle. As a result, these people often remain de facto disenfranchised even when they are legally eligible to vote, according to Richard Fording, a political science professor at The University of Alabama. “People in that situation are often reluctant to come forward,” he said. “They don’t know how to investigate this on their own, there’s a lot of stigma, to ask for help you need to identify yourself as someone with a felony conviction.”
NPR Miami
NPR Tampa
Diwali
UA Indian Student Association of Tuscaloosa celebrates Diwali: The Crimson White – Nov. 4
The Indian Student Association of Tuscaloosa hosted the annual celebration of Diwali in the UA Student Center ballroom on Friday, Oct. 26, where they provided Indian dishes, music and performances. “Diwali brings back some of my fondest childhood memories, of family gatherings, smell of delicious food, sweets and lighting diyas. With the ISAT team, we wanted to make this Diwali celebration memorable for years to come,” said Aditya Upreti, a doctoral candidate in physics…