Fresh Loaf

Emory University’s student newspaper, The Emory Wheel, has a great story looking back at LGBT relations on campus in advance of next weekend’s Atlanta Pride Festival. The story begins in the mid-1980s. While there were LGBT people and organizations on campus, visibility was low.

That all changed with one simple act.

In December 1991 an incident occurred that helped propel the development of the presence of an LGBT community at Emory: Undergraduate students Alfred Hildebrand and Michael Norris kissed in Thomas Hall and were consequently harassed by other students because of their homosexuality.

“[The other students] said things like, ‘Die f—–s’ and ‘You’ll burn in hell,’” Hildebrand recounted in a 1991 issue of Southern Voice, Atlanta’s LGBT newspaper that launched in 1988.

(more…)

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Amount of carbon dioxide, in metric tons, Atlanta’s city government emits every year: 540,000

Amount of carbon dioxide, in metric tons, the city will emit in 2012 if it meets its carbon-reducing goal: 502,200

Percentage of the city’s carbon footprint that comes from Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport: 28

Number of energy-efficient light bulbs that will be distributed to West End homeowners as part of a pilot program: 26,041

Amount, in dollars, the bulbs will save homeowners in energy costs: 2.3 million

Atlanta’s rank, nationwide, among cities with the highest number of energy-efficient buildings: 3

Percentage of Emory University’s transit system powered by recycled cafeteria cooking oil: 50

Atlanta’s rank, out of 50 cities, in terms of air quality: 42

Atlanta’s rank, out of 50 cities, in terms of metro street congestion: 45

Source: Sustainable Atlanta inaugural report, SustainLane

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From Emory’s press release:

Salman Rushdie, Distinguished Writer in Residence in the Department of English at Emory University, will consider the process by which one art form is “translated” or “migrates” into another form and, by extension, the way people of one world are transplanted  or “translated” into another.

It’s an appropriate subject (if a bit obtuse sounding) for a man who was forced into exile in the late 1980s for his representation of Mohammed in The Satanic Verses. Cultural clashes drive much of Rushdie’s writing as does contemporary pop culture.

Curt Holman noted in his feature on Rushdie last year: “If journalism is the rough draft of history, Rushdie at times treats pop culture like the rough draft of mythology. ‘I’ve grown up with rock music, movies, TV, and see no reason not to use them as familiar reference points in my work. Once upon a time, a reading audience would be familiar with references to mythology that would now be somewhat arcane, but we have a shared storehouse of film and musical knowledge that fills that gap.’”

Rushdie spoke last July at the Carter Center about his latest book, The Enchantress of Florence. That event sold out early, so plan ahead for this one. The following evening, Rushdie will appear again at Emory to introduce Luchino Viscont’s The Leopard, as part of the university’s Great Novels and Great Films series.

“Adaptation.” Public Lecture by Salman Rushdie. Sun., Feb. 22, 5 p.m. $5-$10. Glenn Memorial Auditorium, Emory University. www.emory.edu/events.

The Leopard Mon., Feb. 23, 7:30  p.m. Free. White Hall 208. 404-727-6761, www.filmstudies.emory.edu.

(Photo by Beowulf Sheehan/PEN American Center/Opale)

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Dr. Charles Nemeroff

Documents released in a U.S. Senate Finance Committee hearing in September suggest that Emory University officials tried to downplay the controversy surrounding an esteemed but embattled faculty member.

Dr. Charles Nemeroff, one of the nation’s leading depression researchers, is under Senate investigation for allegedly failing to disclose $1.2 million he received from pharmaceutical companies from 2000 to 2007. In some cases, Nemeroff gave talks or published research that bolstered the companies’ products.

In July 2006, the Wall Street Journal published an article stating that Nemeroff failed to disclose payments he received from a company, Cyberonics Inc., whose product he wrote favorably about in a prestigious medical journal where he served as editor. Nemeroff later said he submitted a detailed disclosure about his relationship with the company, but it didn’t make it into print.

The day after the WSJ story ran, Nemeroff received an e-mail from Claudia Adkison, executive associate dean of the Emory University School of Medicine. The e-mail was released several weeks ago by the Senate committee:

“In working on handling the reporter, I tried to make this story go away because Emory’s name is in the middle of it. I have been grateful that the reporter was not sophisticated enough to ask all the right questions.”

Adkison also wrote that the reporter “was mostly right. He just doesn’t know all the facts.”

(more…)

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TED KENNEDY: Helps kick off the Democratic National Convention with a rousing speech, despite his terminal brain cancer.

GUSTAV: Hurricane gains strength in advance of hitting Haiti. Tropical Storm Fay’s remnants continue to soak Atlanta today; the storm destroyed only about 8 percent of coastal Georgia’s sea turtle nests, though, which was less than feared.

FRED CRANE: The actor who played a beau to Scarlett O’Hara and spoke Gone With the Wind’s first line has died at the age of 90.

HOT MANTA: The Georgia Aquarium brings in a manta ray rescued from fishing nets in the Indian Ocean.

RUSTLE: A raccoon that’s been terrorizing a judge and others at the Richard B. Russell Federal Building downtown has been captured.

WONDER WAAL: Emory primate researcher Frans de Waal has demonstrated that generosity is rewarding to capuchin monkeys, who prefer “prosocial” behavior over pure self interest.

CLAYTON WITH BATED BREATH: SACS is expected to announce this week whether it will strip Clayton schools of their accreditation, since the Sept. 1 deadline falls on Labor Day.

STATE PARKS: Could be closed due to the statewide budget crisis.

QUILTERS NEVER WIN: The Gee’s Bend quilters from Alabama have resolved their lawsuit against an Atlanta art dealer whom they had accused of cheating them out of earnings.

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1) Hairball continues at Alcove Gallery.

2) The Kickin’ Pickin’ Bluegrass Party plays at Chastain Park.

3) The Tabernacle hosts Sevendust, Alter Bridge and Soulidium.

4) Nubian Dreams: Images of the Sudan is on display at Emory.

5) Wednesday Wind Down at Centennial Olympic Park.

(Image by Jeremiah Ketner)

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ABRIDGE OVER STUBBLED WATER: Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin is instituting Razor-Free Fridays, asking male ag employees to conserve water by skipping shaving.

BAT SIGNALS: A graduate student’s research uncovers an unknown population of about 900 Rafinesque’s big-eared bats living in South Georgia bottomland forests; scientists had previously spotted just 17 of the bats in all of South Georgia and thought they lived only near the coast.

ECO LOCATION: The Golden Isles are popular with ecotourists.

CLAYTON: Embattled Clayton Sheriff Victor Hill has responded to a former employee’s election-season lawsuit by filing a flurry of 30 defenses. Also, the county school board will outline at a meeting Friday why SACS shouldn’t revoke the school system’s accreditation. Read more about Clayton’s panoply of problems in this week’s CL cover story by Thomas Wheatley.

A FEATHER IN THEIR CRAP: Stephen Colbert called Canton, Ga., “crappy” on his show Monday night, leading defensive city leaders to invite him to visit, hoping to salvage some positive publicity.

T-STORMS AND ASTHMA: Are apparently correlated, according to a joint study by UGA and Emory researchers.

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The 1994 Rwanda genocide will be the focus of a Nov. 27 panel at Emory University that will feature former U.N. Ambassador and Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young.

Young will be on a panel that also features James Kimonyo, Rwanda’s ambassador to the United States, and Emory’s Deborah Lipstadt. Also among the panelists will be University of North Dakota law professor Gregory Gordon, formerly at the Department of Justice Criminal Division’s Office of Special Investigations, where he helped investigate and prosecute Rwandan war criminals.

The program is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 27, from 6 to 8 p.m. in Glenn Memorial Auditorium. Free tickets are available on campus at the Dobbs University Center information desk, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory School of Law, or at the GoodWorks International RSVP line at 404-527-8545.

The panel will discuss the genocide and its impact on Rwanda. An estimated 800,000 to 1 million people were killed by militia groups.

The country is home to Karisoke, the gorilla research center founded by Dian Fossey. Clair Richardson, president of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, noted last week that the country’s academic community was targeted during the killing spree. “The National University of Rwanda lost 80 percent of its faculty in the genocide,” she said.

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THE DALAI LAMA AT CENTENNIAL OLYMPIC PARK: “Atlanta, oh, how I love your city lights and your Southern nights.”

Thousands gathered in Centennial Olympic Park on an overcast, damp Monday afternoon for a speech by Emory University’s newest big-name guest professor, the Dalai Lama. It was the culmination of a weekend of Dalai Lama-themed activities, portentously dubbed “The Visit” by the university.

After gushing introductions by, among others, U.S. Rep. John Lewis, the D.L. took the mic. The first thing he did was tell the truth. He’s going to be a pretty lousy Emory presidential distinguished professor, he explained, because he’s lazy and busy with other stuff. Points for honesty.

He then proceeded with a rambling speech in halting English about the nature of human behavior resembling the first verse of “Ebony & Ivory.” There are constructive and destructive emotions in all of us, he explained. “We have to make efforts to decrease destructive emotion and increase constructive emotions.” He also emphasized the importance of respecting religions that are not your own, even if you don’t have faith in them.

The most interesting and thought-provoking part of his speech was his assertion that war is an outdated concept. There was a time, he explained, when societies were so isolated from one another that it was indeed possible to win a war. Now, he asserted, societies are so interdependent that to wound your enemy is to wound yourself. I wish he’d spent more time on that.

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The Queen’s birthday party left one of its guests with an unsavory party favor. Sir Salman Rushdie, Indian-born author and distinguished writer in residence at Emory, found that the Queen’s conferral of knighthood upon him at her birthday honors ceremony renewed hostile sentiment against him in Pakistan and Iran.

Rushdie first came under target in 1988 when he published The Satanic Verses. Its allegedly sacrilegious depiction of Muhammad led Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini to call for the writer’s execution.

Pakistani and Iranian authorities took offense at the Brits’ knighting the author, given his unpopularity in the Muslim world. “If someone commits suicide bombing to protect the honour of the Prophet Mohammad, his act is justified,” Pakistan’s Religious Affairs Minister said in response to the knighthood, according to Reuters.

Despite the threats, the author — perhaps with manners he learned in the South — still graciously accepted the title. “I am thrilled and humbled to receive this great honour, and am very grateful that my work has been recognised in this way,” Sir Rushdie said.

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