Posted: Wednesday, March 4, 2009 1:22 pm

Heritage Lecture Series

The Heritage Center of Murfreesboro and Rutherford County and the Tennessee Civil War National Heritage Area invite the public to the grand opening of an exhibit titled “The Beautiful Music that Surrounds You” at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 12, at the local center.



The 20-foot long exhibit tells the story of noted Fisk scholar and music historian John Work III. Folklorist Evan Hatch of the Arts Center of Cannon County will offer comments on the rediscovery of the Fisk University-Library of Congress Coahoma County Folklore Study of 1941-42 and Work’s contributions in preserving early 20th century African-American music and culture of the Mississippi Delta.



On loan from the Arts Center of Cannon County, the exhibit will be on view at The Heritage Center through the spring.



Admission is free to the 2009 Community Heritage Lecture Series held at The Heritage Center and sponsored by the Tennessee Civil War National Heritage Area, which is a partnership unit of the National Park Service.



Located just off the square at 225 West College St., the center is open 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. each Monday through Friday, excluding major holidays, and features guided walking tours of the town square on the hour.  Group tours are available Monday through Saturday by advance reservations.



For more information about the lecture series, please call Jennifer Butt at 615-217-8013 or send an e-mail to jbutt@mtsu.edu.



Nation’s premier pop journalist to speak

Best-selling author Chuck Klosterman, who is widely regarded as the nation’s premier pop journalist, will speak at MTSU at 1 p.m. Tuesday, March 17.



He will deliver the lecture “Life Through the Prism of Pop Culture” in Room 221 of LRC. The event, which is sponsored by the John Seigenthaler Chair of Excellence in First Amendment Studies and MTSU’s College of Mass Communication, is free and open to the public.



During his MTSU talk, Klosterman will discuss why so many people define themselves by the music, movies and TV shows they consume, as well as how pop culture becomes inextricably linked with our memories and what this says about us as individuals and a society. He’ll explain how pop culture informs our lives and helps people understand the world.



The former SPIN senior writer is responsible for a monthly column, “Chuck Klosterman’s America,” in Esquire, for which he wrote the much-discussed Britney Spears cover story for the magazine’s 70th anniversary issue. He has also written for The New York Times, The Washington Post and GQ.



For more information, contact Beverly Keel at 898-5150 or bkeel@mtsu.edu.



Eco-friendly Interior Design

The MTSU Student Chapter of the American Interior Design Association/International Interior Design Association will serve as host for its 2009 Lecture Series on April 1 beginning at 6:30 p.m. in the State Farm Lecture Hall of MTSU’s Business and Aerospace Building.



The event’s featured speaker will be David Oakley, who leads global efforts in sustainable, or “smart design,” by learning from nature.



Prior to the free April 1 presentation, members of the student chapter will serve as hosts for a 4-6 p.m. reception that will be sponsored by Murfreesboro Main Street Inc. and The Heritage Center. The reception will be held at The Heritage Center, 225 W. College St., in downtown Murfreesboro.



For more information, please contact Deborah Belcher at dbelcher@mtsu.edu or by calling her in the Department of Human Sciences at 615-898-2884.