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August 4, 2008
Soundbites

Media puts conflict in world’s view
Former photojournalist Pewee Flomoku recalled how he captured an image of the carnage immediately after a shell exploded amid a crowd of people in Monrovia, Liberia. Flomoku was a member of a recent Carter Center panel discussion on the role the media played during the Liberian civil war.

“In a couple of hours [after filing the photo it] was on CNN,” recalls Flomoku, who now works as the program coordinator for The Carter Center in Liberia. “And the next day, it’s like you opened the floodgates and there were pools of journalists and people coming. And after that day, there were a lot of things that changed.”
— Carol Clark

Mediterranean is the way to eat
While studying neuroscience in France, Will Clower ’96PhD picked up “Mediterranean values,” which translate into the Mediterranean diet, a “sustainable approach focused on behavioral learning,” said the author of “The Fat Fallacy” at a recent wellness program.

The diet’s approach is based on the principles of what you eat; how you eat; your activity level; and stress reduction.

Emphasized are healthy oils; lean meats; daily dairy; whole grains; and fruits and vegetables.

“Exercise is critical,” he noted. “Find an activity you love and you’ll do it longer.”

“Stress produces overconsumption. And sleep deprivation manifests itself as hunger. It’s important to de-stress everyday,” he said. — Leslie King

Art: Backdrop for reflection, change
“As a white Southerner in the ’40s and ’50s, my primary experience of African Americans was through their subservient roles in domestic settings,” explained Nancy VanDevender during a recent lecture about her Visual Arts Gallery exhibition, “Picking Cotton…Mississippi to Detroit.”

“Later, my graduate school research introduced me to James Van Der Zee and Henry Clay Anderson, two African American artists whose vibrant photographs of black Americans during the Harlem Renaissance and the Civil Rights Movement profoundly influenced me and opened my eyes to a previously unfamiliar world.

“My installation at Emory is documentation of my continuing personal journey of heightened awareness through my research, and seeks to accomplish what I believe is the primary role of art: to offer the viewer a backdrop for reflection and change.” — Mary Catherine Johnson