Film History

John W. Landon BEYOND THE MIGHTY WURLITZER: THE HISTORY OF THE THEATRE PIPE ORGAN (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press,,1983—$29.95).

Susannah Harris Stone THE OAKLAND PARAMOUNT (Berkeley California: Lancaster-Miller Publishers, 1981—$11.95).

John Fell FILM BEFORE GRIFFTTH (Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1984—$24.50/$10.95).

Herbert Marshall MASTERS OF THE SOVIET CINEMA: CRIPPLED CREATIVE BIOGRAPHIES (London: Routledge 8 Kegan Paul, 1983—$29.95).

John Kobal and V.A. Wilson FOYER PLEASURE: THE GOLDEN AGE OF CINEMA LOBBY CARDS (New York: Deliliah Books, 1983—$12.95).

Don Graham COWBOYS AND CADILLACS: HOW HOLLYWOOD LOOKS AT TEXAS (Texas Monthly Press, P.O. Box 1569, Austin, Texas 78767—$10.95).     

Human Movement Forms as Meaning-Structures: Prolegomenon

Economic downturns are sudden and sharp reminders that public universities must shift their reliance on state appropriations to other sources of revenue. The recent economic crisis is another reminder that many sources of revenue must be sought for the continued vitality of public higher education in the United States. The ways and means for producing needed revenue encompass freeing up funds internally through a variety of approaches and creating new revenue streams. Prosperity depends on the creativity of our collective approach to the notion of revenue.     

Using symbolic convergence theory to discern and segment motives for enrolling in professional master's degree programs

In a preliminary effort to stem a steep decline in graduate enrollments, a regional comprehensive university began a search for its perceived market advantages. Using the tenets of Bormann's (1985) Symbolic Convergence Theory, the investigation identified fantasy types involved in student decisions to enroll and, after surveying new students (N = 739) over a four year period, isolated two emergent rhetorical visions ～ “Better Program, Quality University,” and “Small Campus, Big Opportunity”‐that were shared, to differing degrees, by students in professionally diverse academic programs. Results are discussed in terms of what they suggest about promoting professional master's degree programs generally, and communication programs specifically, and what they reveal about the saliency of rhetorical visions.     

Re-presenting the ‘forgotten estate’: participatory theatre,place and community identity

In this article, we discuss the work undertaken in the first phase of a participatory theatre project which took place on a council housing estate in the Midlands of England, in which residents were invited to share their memories for a production which would present the history of the estate. This community is often characterised as deficient, ageing, welfare-oriented, low in educational attainment and aspiration. Interviews and field notes suggest that there was not a great amount of hope within the community for the success of a participatory arts project such as this. However, the performance attracted a large number of participants who performed to full houses over five nights. Using a place-based approach, we argue that a model of open participation led to the presentation of alternative, more positive, narratives of this community as a place to live.     

Editorial Statement

It is contended that in Harvey Pegues's essay on objectivism and constructivism in the summer 2007 issue of The Educational Forum, Pegues conducted an intellectual discourse in which legitimate or good-faith disagreement was not an option, and disparaged and imputed the negative motives with which he disagreed. This article responds by pointing out the definitions and axioms used by Pegues that are vulnerable, and questions basic axioms about identity and existence from the standpoint of ancient Egyptian thought. The self-confessed nature of axioms—including those of objectivism—as incapable of proof or disproof is reiterated.     

Attitudes to middle schools

Although there is a debate about the importance of self-esteem in education, many primary teachers wish to help children who suffer from low self-esteem. However, in order to do this, we first have to identify such children. It is almost taken for granted that we can make quite accurate judgements based on the knowledge built up through day-to-day interactions with the children. This paper reports a small-scale study which looked at the match between teacher judgements of their pupils' self-esteem and the children's own self reports. The findings suggest we may not be as good at this as we would like to think.     

Redesigning library orientation for first-year medical students during the pandemic

Background:Prior to 2020, library orientation for first-year medical students at Weill Cornell Medicine took the form of an on-site treasure hunt competition. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the orientation for the MD class of 2024 was shifted to an all-virtual format. This shift mandated a full redesign of the library orientation.Case Presentation:The Samuel J. Wood Library sought to preserve the excitement and fun of the treasure hunt in the new virtual format. The competition was redesigned as a Zoom meeting using breakout rooms, with library faculty and staff serving as team facilitators. Tasks were rewritten, shifting the focus from the library''s physical spaces to its virtual services and online resources. The redesigned orientation was evaluated using two data sources: a postsession survey of student participants and a debriefing of the library employees who participated. Student evaluations were positive, while the faculty and staff provided numerous suggestions for improving future virtual orientations.Conclusions:A successful virtual library orientation requires careful preparation, including testing the competition tasks, full rehearsal with library facilitators, and a thoughtful approach to technology and logistics. We have chosen to share the materials we developed for other academic health sciences libraries that may wish to take a similar approach to their own virtual orientations.