arts, books and music

New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane attracts lineup of more than 100 authors

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From Tulane University

The New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane University announced today the daily lineups of more than 100 celebrated and rising authors for its inaugural weekend, March 19-21 on Tulane University’s Uptown campus. The book festival is free and open to the public with the exception of three keynote author sessions, which include a pair of opening-night events on Thursday, March 19, with “Michael Lewis in Conversation with Sean Tuohy,” from 5 to 6 p.m., and “A Conversation with John Grisham,” from 6 to 7 p.m. The author session on Saturday, March 20, will feature “Malcolm Gladwell in Conversation with Michael Lynton, Chairman of Snap Inc.,” from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.

General admission tickets for Thursday and Saturday keynote events are $10 each. Students will be admitted free with a valid identification card. Click here to purchase tickets. All events will take place on Tulane’s Uptown campus, including the Lavin-Bernick Center for University Life, McAlister Auditorium, Freeman Auditorium, Dixon Hall, Rogers Memorial Chapel and the Berger Family Lawn.

arts, books and music

“Nutcracker” performed at Tulane on Sunday with diverse, multi-generational cast

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The Christmas classic “Nutcracker Suite” will grace the stage at Tulane University’s Dixon Hall with two performances on Sunday. New Orleans Ballet Association presents Tchaikovsky’s holiday adventure in a new one-hour production on Sunday, Dec. 8, at 3 p.m. and 6 p.m.

This magical journey — from enchanting parties, dramatic battles and dancing dolls to a whimsical visit in the Land of Sweets — is brought to life in a multi-generational performance by a diverse cast of more than 200 participants ages 6 to over 70. The cast includes students from the Broadmoor Arts and Wellness Center as well as NOBA’s nationally award-winning 28-year partnership with NORD. “This very special intergenerational production gives our community dance program participants, both youth and senior citizens, the opportunity to showcase their talents on stage together in a timeless classic that the whole family can enjoy,” said New Orleans Ballet Association Executive Director Jenny Hamilton.

colleges

Tulane celebrates new home for Newcomb Institute, student union in the center of campus

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from Tulane University

Tulane University President Mike Fitts will officially welcome students today to the opening of The Commons, the newly completed $55 million, 77,000-square-foot complex in the heart of the university’s Uptown campus. The ceremony will take place at 6:15 p.m. and feature music, giveaways and a special guest performance by an iconic New Orleans group. The Commons will serve as a meeting, studying and gathering place for students, the unified home for the Newcomb Institute and a state-of-the-art dining facility with multiple serving stations, a rotating menu of local and international cuisine and a Chef’s Table demonstration kitchen. The complex combining student life, academics, research and great food is Tulane’s largest construction project since Yulman Stadium, said Fitts, who called it a “transformative space.” “Imagine, the academic and social engagement when you have students and faculty from multiple fields and backgrounds gathering for discussions in an exquisitely designed ultra-modern building with commanding views of the campus,” Fitts said.

colleges

Tulane study finds improved WIC food packages reduced obesity risk for children

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By Keith Brannon, Tulane University

Sweeping changes designed to make a major federal food assistance program more nutritious for low-income families were effective in reducing obesity risk for 4-year-olds who had been on the program since birth, according to a new study by researchers from Tulane University, the University of California, Los Angeles, and PHFE WIC. The study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, is among the first to use a rigorous research design to demonstrate the impact of major food package changes made by the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, or WIC, in 2009 on obesity risk and growth trajectories for different groups of children receiving the program. It is the most comprehensive study of the impact of these changes on obesity risk in Los Angeles County where over half of all children under age 5 are enrolled in WIC. WIC is a federal nutrition assistance program for pregnant, breastfeeding and postpartum women, as well as infants and children under the age of 5 who live in low-income households. “Our study shows that improving nutrition quality made a measurable impact in lowering obesity risk for children receiving the new food package compared to those receiving the old,” said lead author Pia Chaparro, assistant professor of nutrition at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.

colleges

Advocate: Three arrested in a Tulane dorm fire described as politically motivated

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Two Tulane University students and a Brown University student have been arrested on allegations they set off a fire in a Tulane dormitory, Ramon Antonio Vargas reports in The New Orleans Advocate. Robert Money, 21; David Shelton, 20; and Naima Okami, 20, face counts of aggravated arson face in an incident a right-wing campus group, setting off a social media storm, claims was politically motivated. No one was injured in the fire.

coastal preservation

Tulane study says seas may be rising faster than thought

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By Barri Bronston, Tulane University

A new Tulane University study questions the reliability of how sea-level rise in low-lying coastal areas such as southern Louisiana is measured and suggests that the current method underestimates the severity of the problem. The research is the focus of a news article published this week in the journal “Science.” Relative sea-level rise, which is a combination of rising water level and subsiding land, is traditionally measured using tide gauges. But researchers Molly Keogh and Torbjörn Törnqvist argue that in coastal Louisiana, tide gauges tell only a part of the story. Tide gauges in such areas are anchored an average of 20 meters into the earth rather than at the ground surface.

colleges

Tulane alumni donate $1 million to men’s basketball program

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As Tulane men’s basketball team looked to get back on track in search of its first league win of the season, it gained a major win from some former students. Tulane almuni Avron B. Fogelman (Class of 1962) and Wendy Mimeles Fogelman (Class of 1963) have given $1 million to support Tulane University men’s basketball, the university announced. The gift, which reflects the Fogelmans’ commitment to student-athlete success on and off the court, establishes the Fogelman Life Preparation Program, which will teach life skills, financial training, career coaching and student success to men’s basketball players, and also supports an altitude chamber for the team. “I want to do all I can to see the Tulane basketball players enjoy a productive and successful life after playing basketball at Tulane. We owe them no less,” said Avron Fogelman, whose name is synonymous with Tulane men’s basketball.

blight and demolition

Tulane awarded $2.3 million to study impact of blight on violence in New Orleans

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From Tulane University:
Can cleaning vacant lots cause a chain of events that curbs child abuse or stops a teen from falling victim to violence? That’s the provocative question behind a new Tulane University research project to study whether maintaining vacant lots and fixing up blighted properties in high-crime areas reduces incidents of youth and family violence. The National Institutes of Health awarded Tulane a $2.3 million grant to test the theory in New Orleans. Researchers from Tulane’s schools of Public Health and Tropical Medicine and Architecture will work closely with the city of New Orleans and community organizations to clean up 300 blighted properties across the city. They will split the properties into two randomized intervention groups — half featuring overgrown vacant lots that are cleared and maintained and another featuring both remediated buildings and lots.

colleges

Tulane’s 3,000-year-old mummy reveals new secrets

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Egyptologist Melinda Nelson-Hurst of Tulane University is “amazed at the amount of detail” she has been able to discover about the 3,000-year-old mummy of Djed-Thoth-iu-ef-ankh, a priest and overseer at the Temple of Amun in Thebes, according to an article by Carol Schlueter in the New Wave university news service. The mummy is one of two that have resided at Tulane since 1852, but the other — that of a 15-year-old girl — has not given up its secrets as easily, the article states.

arts, books and music

Clash between culture and progress is a perennial New Orleans problem, panelists say — but may be getting better (live video)

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Newsflash: “Neighbors and nightclub clash over live music.” It sounds like a headline from any given day’s report from the City Council chambers, but it’s actually a story that’s nearly as old as New Orleans. Whether New Orleans properly takes care of its musicians and other artists is another never-ending saga — but one that may finally be showing some improvement, according a panel discussion held at Tulane University on Thursday evening. Transformation, not destruction

The panel was entitled “Does Progress Destroy Culture?” and that lead question can only be answered ‘yes’ in literal fashion when a bulldozer knocks down a historic building, said Tulane geography professor Richard Campanella.