Deadline For Bordertown Submissions

Honors Senior Adam Stratton has an important message for all MSSU students:

I used to be a salesman of sorts, so here’s a try for old time sake to see if I’ve still got it:

Have you ever wanted to make a name for yourself? Have you been looking for a way to express yourself? Would you like to start something that could build into a career? Would you like to show your fellow students what you can do?

Well have we got a deal for you!

bordertown is a literary journal written by Southern students and alumni for Southern students and alumni. bordertown is the new name for the old Winged Lion, and we think that it is a better way to showcase our literary talent. bordertown is looking for your work. We are accepting submissions of poetry, prose, and creative non-fiction for our next issue. Each author can submit up to 5 poems and 3 prose pieces. Each prose piece is limited to 7,000 words. The due date is November 13.

With its inaugural issue bordertown tried to capture the history and feel of this area, and we plan to carry on that theme while adding some exciting things with this issue that will make it something our university can be proud to publish and you would be proud to have your work in. bordertown is a free publication and copies are scattered around campus. There are no fees to submit.

All Southern students and alumni are encouraged to submit their work. Submissions must be typed, and can be dropped off in Hearnes Hall room 300, or emailed as a Microsoft Word attachment to brown-j(at)mssu.edu

If you have any questions, please ask me or Dr. Brown, or look for the fliers posted all over campus, especially in Hearnes Hall.

Thank you
Adam Stratton
bordertown Production Manager

Do Imaginary Numbers Exist?

Freshman Brennan Robinson has decided to use his most recent blog post to prove that imaginary numbers exist. Please visit and leave your comments, especially those of you who get hot and bothered by stuff like this:

So, in relation, the multiplication of a complex number by i­­­­­­­­­­² results in a 180 degree rotation about the origin. Why? Because i­­­­­­­­­­²=-1, and when you multiply anything by -1 you get the opposite. So if you have 5, and you multiple it by -1, you get -5, which is a 180 degree rotation from 5. In the same way, the multiplication of a complex number by i⁴ results in a 360 degree rotation about the origin, because i⁴=1, and anything multiplied by 1 is itself. Since we’ve deduced this much, we can also say that i corresponds a 90 degree positive rotation (or counter-clockwise) and i³ corresponds a 270 positive rotation. If you still understand what I’m talking about, then this last part should be simple to understand. [! -- ed.]

Oh, and while we're on the subject, check out John Carr's post on "nerd humor" cartoons.

Tyler Brown on "The God of Technology: Destroyer of civility, morals, and personal relationships"

This year's Honors Forum classes are generating some of the most exciting and provocative blogging we've ever read from MSSU Honors students. Please take a moment to visit freshman Tyler Brown's wonderfully creative and thought-provoking entry on "The God of Technology," inspired by Neil Postman's book The End of Education.

Help Design the New EMS T-Shirt!

EMS President Conrad Kelly has supplied T-shirt design template sheets for any member of the MSSU Honors Program who wishes to help design this year's EMS T-shirt. Please ask at the main desk for a copy that you can use to submit your design.

Capitalism --- Pro and Con

Honors Sophomore Patrick Beckett has a post on his blog announcing a new meeting of the MSSU Philosophy club that may interest many of our Honors students. The topic will be Capitalism and the session will consider arguments for and against it, as supplied by Honors Junior Kristiyan Hristov. Please see Patrick's post, or contact him to get a copy of the handouts so you can participate in this vital discussion.

The 2:00 Honors Forum Meta-Blog

As part of our efforts to incorporate blogging into all Honors Program activities, I have set up a separate "meta-blog" for the 2:00 pm Wednesday Honors Forum Class. This blog has a "front page" which I use and links to the blogs for all students in the class. There has been an explosion of passionate, thoughtful writing in this class and I want to share it with the rest of the students in the program, so please take a look at our main class blog and follow the links to the student blogs in the class. This is exciting stuff and we'd love to read your comments.

Beautiful Science

Junior Honors student Joshua Onuiri has finally written a blog post! Joshua just had to share an amazing online video called "The Inner Life of the Cell" produced by Harvard University. Visit Joshua's blog here, to get more information and the link to the video. Good work, Josh!