News Archives

Reheated blues: The thrill is gone

Sociologists call it “commodification.” But the musicians David Grazian met in the tourist-oriented blues clubs in Chicago just call it “the set list from hell.” Night after night they play a carefully packaged, unchanging repertoire of blues standards mandated by club owners. “Mustang Sally” by Wilson Pickett is always on the set. So is “Got My Mojo Working’” by Muddy Waters, “The Thrill is Gone” by B.B. King and, of course “Sweet Home Chicago” by Robert Johnson.

Center helps big dreamers start small businesses

Darnell Thomas has always had a knack for selling things. During his days as a college undergraduate, the entrepreneur would travel from dorm to dorm, enticing others to purchase accessories, from scarves to gloves to costume jewelry. “I was always the guy asking people to buy something,” said Thomas. “It helped pay for books and tuition.”

Secure your bike

Talkin' justice at the NCC

This fall, “Justice Talking,” the Constitutional talk show produced by the Annenberg Public Policy Center, moves to a new, highly appropriate home—the National Constitution Center on Independence Mall. You can be part of the live audience at the tapings of the award-winning National Public Radio program, hosted by Margot Adler and featuring the country’s finest legal minds hashing out Constitutional issues in the news. Here’s what’s on the agenda at this fall’s tapings:

News briefs

Design for learning As of Aug. 29, Penn’s Graduate School of Fine Arts has a new name: the School of Design. The name change, which the Trustees approved at their June meeting, better reflects the breadth of the school’s undergraduate and graduate programs in art, architecture, landscape architecture, city planning, visual studies and digital media.

University of Pennsylvania to Receive Clery Award

WHAT: The 2003 Jeanne Clery Campus Safety Award will be presented to the University of Pennsylvania for its innovative video policing program as well as its campus and community patrols. WHO: Howard and Connie Clery present this annual award in the form of a brass mantle clock to schools and individuals who have helped to make college and university students safer, in memory of their daughter Jeanne Ann.Speakers will include U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, Penn President Judith Rodin and Maureen Rush, Penn Vice President for Public Safety.

An Evening with Journalist, Author Walter Isaacson

WHO:  Walter Isaacson, president and CEO of the Aspen Institute and author of "Benjamin Franklin: An American Life"Samuel H. Preston, dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, University of PennsylvaniaBruce Kuklick, professor of history, University of PennsylvaniaWHAT: "Walter Isaacson in Conversation with Bruce Kuklick" WHEN:  Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2003, 5 p.m. WHERE:Zellerbach Theatre, 3680 Walnut St., Philadelphia

Penn's Graduate School of Fine Arts Renamed The School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania

PHILADELPHIA - The University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Fine Arts is changing its name to The School of Design of the University of Pennsylvania.  The new name will more accurately describe the School's multidisciplinary programs in architecture, city planning, fine arts, historic preservation and landscape architecture.  The name change takes effect Sept. 2.

Arthur Ross Gallery Presents Work of Penn Faculty Photographers

PHILADELPHIA -- "Viewpoints: Nine Faculty Photographers," the first exhibition by photography-program faculty members of the Fine Arts Department at the University of Pennsylvania, is on display through Oct. 5 at Penn's Arthur Ross Gallery. The artistic aims and techniques used by the featured photographers are diverse yet complementary.  The works reflect current developments in the art of photography.

Smaller Portions in Restaurants and Markets May Explain the 'French Paradox' of Rich Foods and a Svelte Population

PHILADELPHIA -- The "French paradox" -- the perplexing disconnect between France's rich cuisine and slender population -- can be explained in part by portions that are significantly smaller in French restaurants and supermarkets than in their American counterparts.  So say researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and CNRS in Paris, who compared the size of restaurant meals, single-serve foods and cookbook portions on both sides of the Atlantic.