As a photographer for the Baltimore Sun, A. Aubrey Bodine’s photography captured Maryland life. On Saturday, November 19, the Baltimore Sun will auction of over 7,000 of his prints.

Tom Beck, chief curator at the Albin O. Kuhn Library, was on “Midday with Dan Rodricks” on November 17 to discuss the library’s Bodine collection, which contains over 3,000 Bodine prints.

“He was the person who I think single-handedly invented our cherished traditional Maryland imagery,” said Beck.

The full conversation can be heard here.

Recent polls indicate that America thinks congress is a lost cause.  Is the solution to hand over leadership to a younger generation? Will the momentum of Occupy Wall Street propel young people to greater levels of civic engagement?

Those are the questions that Craig Berger, student life’s coordinator for campus and civic engagement, discussed on WYPR’s “Midday with Dan Rodricks” on Thursday, November 17.

“What I think is interesting about the Occupy Wall Street movement is how it has been institutionalized,” said Berger. “Millennials like institutions, they like to work together, but in this case the institutions are failing them. So they’re creating their own.”

The full conversation can be heard here.

Michelle Scott, associate professor of history, will head to South Africa this winter to work with students on issues of diversity.

Scott is a Resource Faculty in the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow-SSRC Graduate Initiatives Program, which aims to transform the academy by eradicating racial disparities on the faculties at colleges and universities in the United States and South Africa.  She and five other Resource Faculty Fellows have been invited to lead a seminar at the University of Capetown, South Africa, for graduate students. The seminar will deal with diversifying the academy and finishing the dissertation.

Scott has also been asked to speak at a cultural exchange program with students from Wesleyan, Williams, Duke, Oberlin and the Emory Summer Institute for HBCU students. She will be in South Africa from January 3, 2012, to January 14.

Help high school students prepare for the HSA exam in the spring by tutoring them in the Fall.

What’s up movie watchers? USDemocrazy is back again with the movies coming to theaters this week.

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1

Oscar-winner Bill Condon (Gods and Monsters, Dreamgirls, Kinsey) takes over as director of the latest installment which features the obvious next step in this love story: marriage resulting in a half-vampire/ half-human baby. If you’re a fan already you’ll probably love this film. If you loathe this series then you should just avoid the movie theater completely this weekend.

Happy Feet 2

We are honestly not sure what this movie is about. A baby penguin doesn’t know how to dance which is a problem because…? And meets a penguin who thinks he can fly which is a problem because…? There must have been some admirable qualities to the original because it won the 2006 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. But this one features penguins singing “Sexy Back”… hmmmm.

Want to avoid the Twi-hards and kids who are bound to be swarming theaters this weekend? Are you into new releases but are looking for something different to feast your eyes on?

Our Recommendation:

As part of The Charles‘ ongoing revival series, they are showing the 1976 Martin Scorsese classic Taxi Driver. The film features Robert De Niro as the iconic unstable ex-marine Travis Bickle and a 13-year old Jodie Foster as a troubled child prostitute who Bickle becomes consumed with saving. Don’t miss the chance to see this on the big screen, which must surely be the best way to experience the dramatic finale to this highly regarded film. (plays Saturday at noon, Monday at 7pm, and Wednesday at 9pm)