On Thursday, November 20, History Associate Professor Anne Rubin will appear on WYPR’s   Humanities Connection   to discuss her research and digital humanities project, “Mapping Memory: Digitizing Sherman’s March to the Sea.” The project uses digital storytelling to explore Sherman’s historic 1864 March to the Sea during the Civil War. The segment is scheduled to air at 4:45 p.m. Thursday on WYPR 88.1 FM. On December 2, Rubin will further discuss her research with Visual Arts Associate Professor Kelley Bell at the Humanities Forum at UMBC.

Earlier this year, Rubin published, Through the Heart of Dixie: Sherman’s March and American Memory (UNC Press 2014). In the book, Rubin analyzes stories and myths about Sherman’s March, one of the most symbolically potent events of the Civil War, as a lens for examining how Americans’ ways of thinking about the Civil War have changed over time.

On November 14, the Wall Street Journal published a review of Rubin’s book. Written by author Fergus M. Bordewich, he states: “Anne Sarah Rubin…offers an engrossing exploration of the ways in which the march has been recounted and understood over the years. She notes that it ‘has come to stand for devastation and destruction, fire and brimstone, war against civilians, and for the Civil War in microcosm.’”

He later adds: “Ms. Rubin is more interested in the often contradictory ways in which white and black Southerners, and Union veterans, remembered the march…In essence, there is no single story of Sherman’s March but thousands, and though the Union forces wreaked havoc on the towns in Sherman’s path, their actions do not add up to the apocalyptic barbarism that plays such a role in Lost Cause mythology. That mythology, Ms. Rubin makes clear, was crafted by the Jim Crow politics and resurgent Southern chauvinism of the post-Reconstruction period.”

To read the complete review titled, “The Path to Power,” click here (subscription required).

UMBC’s Center for Aging Studies had a strong presence at the 2014 Gerontological Society of America (GSA) Annual Meeting earlier this month in Washington, D.C. The conference brought together more than 4,000 leading researchers in the field of aging. The annual meeting is the premiere gathering of gerontologists from the United States and around the world. The theme of this year’s meeting was to challenge researchers to present aging-related connections and findings on alliances that improve policies and communities for older adults.

Center for Aging Studies researchers presented several papers, posters, and symposia. A complete list can be found below. Names in parentheses are researchers who are not currently affiliated with the Center. For more information on the 2014 GSA Meeting, click here.

GSA 2014 Symposia:

Implementing Autonomy into the Daily Lives of Residents with Dementia: Challenges in Assisted Living.  Symposium Chairs: Ann Christine Frankowski and Robert L. Rubinstein

Papers:

Autonomy in Assisted Living: Observations of Dementia as a Complicating Factor. P.J. Doyle, G.G. Tucker, (R. Perez)

Whose Autonomy? Challenges of Integrating Persons with Dementia in Assisted Living Populations. L.A. Morgan, A.C. Frankowski,  (R.P. Perez)

Behind Locked Doors: “Free” Expression of Autonomy in Dementia Care Units.A.D. Peeples, C.R. Bennett, A.C. Frankowski

Family Involvement in Dementia Care Units:  Promoting Autonomy in Everyday Life. A.C. Frankowski, C.R. Bennett, M.A. Brazda, G.G. Tucker, A.D. Peeples, M. Nemec, R. Hrybyk, (R. Perez)

Older Adults and Diabetes: The Social and Cultural Contexts Shaping Patients’ Illness Management.  Symposium Chairs: Sarah Chard and Kevin Eckert

Papers:

Defining ‘Healthy’ on Their Own Terms: Reflections of Older Adults with Type 2 Diabetes. (A.M. Reese)

Exploring African-American Women’s Expressions of Power and Strength as a Means to Managing Diabetes. B.H. Wallace

“You’re Cured!” A Physician’s Words and Their Effects. E. Roth, L.M. Girling

Operationalizing Diabetes Self-Management: the Patient’s Perspective. S. Chard, (C. Quinn)

Connecting Researchers and Respondents: Ethical Dilemmas in Qualitative Research. Symposium Chairs: Colleen R. Bennett & Amanda D. Peeples

Papers:

Ethical Concerns as a Participant Observer: Physical Safety of the Researcher and Respondent. C. R. Bennett

“I know who that is…” Confidentiality and Anonymity in Ethnographic Research.A.D. Peeples, C. R. Bennett

“I’ll be your friend for a month”: Simulated Friendships and Recruiting Informants in Assisted Living. R. Hrybyk, C. R. Bennett

Ethically Analyzing and Reporting Data: Qualitative Considerations. L.M. Girling

GSA 2014 Posters:

Perceived Barriers to Exercise in Persons with Parkinson’s Disease.  L.M. Girling, L.A. Morgan

GSA Papers:

Childlessness, Chronic Illness, and Religion in Later Life Care Needs.  (S. Hannum), H. Black

Evaluating the Rapid Emergence of Geriatric Emergency Departments (GEDs).  J. Schumacher, (J. Hirshon, E. Couser, P.D. Magidson)

UMBC’s Performing Arts and Humanities Building received a positive review in the Baltimore Business Journal in an article published November 18. Written by Klaus Philipsen, president of ArchPlan Inc., an architectural firm in downtown Baltimore, the review describes how the building is poised to make a lasting impact: “…this state-of-the art performance venue, designed by top-level experts, will indeed let students create community. It gives UMBC — and Baltimore County — a cutting edge in the region.”

Photo by Marlayna Demond

The author comments on specific features of the building and highlights the PAHB’s ability to house several different academic programs while providing modern facilities and spaces for performances, teaching, and research.

“The 176,000-square-foot center accommodates a diverse program ranging from classrooms for philosophers and English majors to dance and music studios, a concert hall, black box and proscenium theaters and a high-tech recording studio.” He later adds, “each theater, music room, practice studio and classroom represents perfection of its own, visually, functionally and acoustically.”

To read the complete review titled, “UMBC’s new arts building creates community,” click here.

Portrait Garden is a series of audio and photographic portraits of eleven women incarcerated at Maryland Correctional Institute for Women in Jessup, MD, culminating a 1-1/2 year long collaboration between Ruby Award winning artist and Associate Professor of Visual Arts Lynn Cazabon. In the collaboration the inmates created perennial gardens on the prison grounds consisting of plants chosen to represent each woman, and Professor Cazabon recorded interviews with each about the selected plants and her past and present experiences with gardening. The completed portraits are photographs of the selected plants that were planted and cultivated over the course of a year, displayed with a short textual excerpt from the audio interviews and QR codes, which when scanned with a mobile device, play the full interview with each woman. The complete set of images and audio interviews are available through the project website: http://portraitgarden.org

For the month of December, Portrait Garden will be displayed as a series of 100 posters in trains within the Baltimore Light Rail system. This public dissemination is conceived as a moving gallery designed to bring the women metaphorically into the community of Baltimore City.