A film for all seasons

Tomorrow I have to watch a great film for work. Well, someone has to do it! Br. Gerry Molyneaux is teaching a course called "Film and Law" in which students will watch a film with a legal angle and then discuss it with a "real" lawyer afterwards. A reporter with the Pennsylvania Law Journal is coming to do a story on it, and I'm picking him up from the subway and taking him to the comm ctr. The movie is "A Man for All Seasons" which is about the trials of Sir Thomas Moore; it won Oscars for best picture, actor and director.

The "real" lawyer discussing it is Tim O'Toole, and I have a present for him. In 2006 Tim received an honorary degree from La Salle (he was graduated from the U in 1977). His acceptance speech was so good the Phila. Inquirer published it. But Tim hasn't seen it, so I'll give him some copies.

Last week the Inquirer published an oped by Dr. Marc Moreau, chair of the Philosophy Dept., on Darwin and Genesis. He wrote it last year to commemorate the 200th birthday of Darwin, but the paper didn't publish it. Since nothing has changed except the 200th part, I resubmitted it and the paper ran it. So far, Dr. Moreau says he's received about 80 emails from readers, mostly positive.

I tell students that the main thing for newspaper coverage is that it contain the words "La Salle"; last week I sent a reporter in California some comments from Br. Gerry. The reporter used th comments but attributed them to me! The kicker is that Br. Gerry used to work in that area and read that paper!! I've asked (nicely) for a correction.

What to do when a big storm is coming?

What do you do, you contact Donna Tonrey, a professor of social work here who studies and treats emotional trauma. She's given me a good soundbite, so let's see if anyone picks it up.

Next week we could have two opeds written by La Salle folks appear in both city newspapers...or we could have zero opeds appear next week. As I wrote earlier, all we can do is wait.

DON'T Let it snow

Yesterday an electronic media outlet did an interview for a La Salle story ... and then we woke up to some snow...just enough to get the traffic reports expanded, etc., so I think the La Salle story will never be broadcast....

What's Love Got to do with It?

Less than two weeks before Valentine's Day, and I'm working on every angle I can think of: what happens to our brains when we fall in love (that's one for the biology dept.), and what's the history of love? I've contacted Philosophy and English profs and my colleague Amy Cranston is trying to figure out when giving a rose became a Valentine's Day tradition. Last year one of professors who teaches a course on the philosophy of love was interivewed by KYW Newsradio. The first writer in English (or an early form of it) to write about romantic love was Geoffrey Chauder (this fact courtesy of Kevin Harty, chair of La Salle's English dept.). Then again, there's the 'business' of love; I've heard that restaurants do more business on Valentine's Day than any other day of the year, including Mother's Day. Amy is looking for some business profs to discuss that angle.

In the meantime, a British film crew is coming to town tomorrow to film Matthew Quick, a La Salle alum whose novel, "The Silver Linings Playbook" will be featured on an English TV program (akin to Oprah's book club). Inquirer columnist Mike Klein has something about the film crew in his column today, and the Courier-Post is interested (Quick lives in South Jersey).

Every Little Bit Helps

Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Michael Klein and Daily News columnist Dan Gross are possibly the most-read writers in the city. I've had good luck getting La Salle in their columns, but many of those items have little to do with education. Klein once wrote that first person to throw off the mound at Citizens Bank Park was a pitcher for La Salle's baseball team. Gross recently wrote that Phillies 3B coach Sam Perlozzo was coached in high school by none other than Br. Gerry Molyneaux (I've known him for 12 years and not once has he said anything about baseball to me). While neither item featured academics or student achievements, the key point is each one mentioned "La Salle." That's the important thing.

Big Sisters

One of our students, a senior psychology major who is on an athletic scholarship here (and has a 3.6 gpa) has been involved with Big Sisters since she arrived at La Salle. She's been a "buddy" to a student at a nearly elementary school since her freshman year, and a writer with one of the Philly papers is interested in doing a story about her relationship with the "little sister" who's now in 5th grade. In an email between the two, the fifth grader wrote that she was lucky to have someone (her big sister) to care about her. This could appear in print in a few weeks if all goes well. One of the first things I have to do is get the proper OK from the fifth grader's parents, teachers, etc.

They Still Love Him!

With Haiti being in the news again (more aftershocks), Channel 3 returned to campus to interview Geology Professor Hank Bart.

KYW Newsradio also interviewed Social Work Professor Donna Fiedler, who studies and treats emotional trauma. She discussed how parents can talk to their children about the tragedy and how seeing the devastation and tragedy can affect viewers young and old.

Several people told me that when they watched TV all they saw was coverage of Haiti. That can't be true, but it probably felt like it. What has the coverage been like? I went to Richard Goedkoop, who studies TV news and broadcasting. He had several insightful comments, which made their way into the Inquirer in today's edition. Here's a link:

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/magazine/82230522.html