Davenport, IOWA (September 2012) On Thursday, September 27 at 7pm Posing Beauty in African American Culture curator Dr. Deborah Willis will speak at the Figge. Dr. Willis will talk about the contested ways in which African and African American beauty have been represented in historical and contemporary contexts through a range of media including photography, film, video, fashion, advertising and other forms of popular culture such as music and the Internet. The lecture will explore contemporary understandings of beauty by framing the notion of aesthetics, race, class and gender within art, popular culture and political contexts.

Deborah Willis, PhD, is chair and professor of photography and imaging at Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, where she also has an affiliated appointment with the College of Arts and Sciences, Africana Studies. Willis, a 2000 McArthur Fellow, is one of the nation's leading historians of African American photography and curator of African American culture. Her most recent works are Posing Beauty-African American Images from the 1890s to the Present; Michelle Obama, The First Lady in Photographs; and Black Venus 2010: They Called Her 'Hottentot' (editor).

Prior to the 7pm lecture an exhibition reception will be held. Refreshments will be served and a cash bar will be available from 5:30pm to 7pm. Both the reception and lecture are free with membership or paid admission.

About Posing Beauty in African American Culture 

Posing Beauty in African American Culture explores the contested ways in which African and African American beauty have been represented in historical and contemporary contexts through diverse media including photography, film, video, fashion, advertising and other forms of popular culture such as music and the Internet. Throughout the Western history of art and image-making, the relationship between beauty and art has become increasingly complex within contemporary art and popular culture.

The images in this exhibition challenge idealized forms of beauty in art by examining their portrayal and exploring a variety of attitudes about race, class, gender, popular culture and politics as seen through the aesthetics of representation.

Posing Beauty in African American Culture is sponsored by the Riverboat Development Authority, Hunt and Diane Harris and Dr. Ralph and Jennifer Saintfort.

About the Figge Art Museum

The Figge Art Museum is located on the riverfront in downtown Davenport at 225 West Second Street. Hours are from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday and Sundays 12-5 p.m.  Thursdays the museum is open until 9pm. Admission to the museum and tour is $7. Admission is free to Figge members and institutional members. To contact the museum, please call 563.326.7804, or visit our website, www.figgeartmuseum.org.

-end-

The Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies' dedicates new Johnny Morris Award in
his honor to recognize lifetime commitment to natural resource stewardship

WASHINGTON, DC (September 25, 2012) ? The Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (AFWA), which represents North America's fish and wildlife agencies, has bestowed its inaugural Johnny Morris Award to its namesake, Johnny Morris, founder of Bass Pro Shops, in recognition of his lifetime of service to the cause of fish and wildlife conservation. AFWA presented the award to Mr. Morris on September 10, 2012 during a luncheon ceremony as part of the Association's annual meeting in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.

The new award will be conferred annually to a citizen conservationist who exemplifies Mr. Morris' extraordinary leadership at the highest level and steadfast commitment to solving large-scale natural resource challenges.

"Johnny Morris is the epitome of the enlightened, able and progressive citizen conservationist who sees beyond the limits of one hometown or one state to the national or international scale, and works accordingly and effectively to produce results," said Dr. Jonathan Gassett, Commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources and former AFWA President who created the award. "The Association dedicates the Johnny Morris award in his honor, not only because of his passion for the outdoors, but specifically because his actions show that he is one of us."

Mr. Morris related that he was absolutely surprised and humbled to receive the inaugural Citizen Conservation award from the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. "There can be no higher honor than having your name as part of an award that will recognize citizen conservation on a national and global scale each year," Johnny stated.  This award is especially meaningful to me as the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies is the front line for protecting America's precious fish and wildlife resources and implementing the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation.  "I proudly share this recognition with my fellow team members at Bass Pro Shops.  They fully recognize the future of our outdoor industry and the sports we love depend, more than anything else, on how we manage our natural resources and conservation," Johnny continued.

John L. Morris developed a love of the outdoors at early age while fishing with his father. He started in the early 1970's with a U-Haul trailer full of the newest bass tackle and eight feet of sales space in his father's liquor store in Springfield, Missouri. Since then, Bass Pro Shops has become what Sporting Goods Business magazine named the #1 Outdoor Retailer in America. More than 100 million shoppers annually visit one of the company's 58 destination outdoor retail stores across the U.S. and Canada.

Through all his success, Mr. Morris has remained an ardent conservationist and is the recipient of numerous honors including the Teddy Roosevelt Conservationist Award, the International Conservation Achievement Award and AFWA's "President's Award" in 1996. He was inducted into the International Game Fish Association's Hall of Fame in 2005 and served three terms as chairman of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

Nominations for the Johnny Morris Award for citizen conservationist of the year will be solicited in early 2013. A state director member of AFWA must submit nominations. More information will be available on www.fishwildlife.org.

The Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies?the organization that represents North America's fish and wildlife agencies?promotes sound resource management and conservation, and speaks on important fish and wildlife issues. Found on the web at www.fishwildlife.org, on Facebook /AssociationofFishandWildlifeAgencies and on Twitter @fishwildlife.

Humility of Mary Housing, Inc. (HMHI) will hold its semi-annual Fresh Start Benefit Sale Friday evening, October 12 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday, October 13 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The sale is at the HMHI office and donation center located at 3805 Mississippi Avenue, Davenport.

This sale continues a 23 year tradition of providing a large selection of gently used or new items, all in working condition, including house wares, bedding, toys, jewelry, gift items, furniture, books, games, clothing and much more.

Donations for this sale can be dropped off Monday through Friday any time between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Humility of Mary Housing has 47 apartments that are used for families in the program and there is a great need for single beds, dressers and sofas to help furnish these apartments. These items can also be taken to the office and donation center. Donations are accepted throughout the year.

Donated items that cannot be used to furnish apartments or by the families are put in the sale and all proceeds are used by Humility of Mary Housing, Inc. to provide housing and program services for single parents and their children who have been homeless. Through the program lives get turned around, children learn there is a different way to live and parents are provided with opportunities upon which they build the foundation for a greater future for their families.

 

Conducting interviews on this topic is the senior staff writer for WND and the author of new book The Great Oil Conspiracy: How the U.S. Government Hid the Nazi Discovery of Abiotic Oil from the American People, Dr. Jerome Corsi.

Guest Profile and Information, Click Here: http://superstore.wnd.com/books/The-Great-Oil-Conspiracy-How-the-U-S-Government-Hid-the-Nazi-Discovery-of-Abiotic-Oil-from-the-Am

Website adjusts major surveys by 'removing Democratic Party bias'

WND
by Jerome R. Corsi

Arguing that most of the major polls reported by establishment media are "skewed" in favor of the Democratic Party and incumbent Barack Obama, a website contends that a true gauge of the presidential race, based on more realistic models, shows Republican challenger Mitt Romney leading by an average of nearly eight points.

In its daily readjustment of the polling data, UnskewedPoll.com also produces a table showing the spread in President Obama's approval/disapproval ratio is an average of 8.8 percent more disapproval, as of Monday.

Not a single major poll or approval/disapproval index favors Obama when Unskewed.com's analysis is applied.

The website says there is Democratic bias in polling because of over-sampling Democrats based on voter exit polls in the 2008 presidential election, when enthusiasm for a then relatively unknown but charismatic presidential candidate boosted Democratic Party voter registration and turnout to historic levels.

Link to Polls: http://www.wnd.com/files/2012/09/UNSKEWED-POLLS-Sept-24-2012.jpg

Republicans have complained that the establishment media's voter-turnout models can serve a partisan purpose by presenting margins that keep discouraged Republican voters at home thinking the election is already lost.

Signs Obama losing

Despite the establishment media narrative that the Romney campaign is behind and in disarray, there are abundant signs the Obama campaign is behind and scrambling not to lose further ground:

On Saturday, Obama campaign manager Jim Messina insisted to reporters that despite national polls showing Romney and Obama locked in a tie, Obama is still winning.

WND reported last week Obama's chief financier, Penny Pritzker, has entered the Hawaii housing market to buy a retirement home for the president and his family that will be available not in 2016, but in January 2013.

On the eve of the opening session of the General Assembly, the Obama administration's Middle Eastern policy appears to be imploding in the wake of the murder of U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens in an attack that intelligence sources believe was coordinated by jihadists tied to al-Qaida. The administration, nevertheless, insisted the attack was a response to an anti-Muslim movie trailer produced in the U.S.

Initial jobless claims for the week ending Sept. 15 were a seasonally adjusted 382,000, exceeding forecasts of 375,000, suggesting no improvement in the percentage of Americans unemployed could be anticipated before the November election, as reported by Wall Street Journal Market Watch.

Politico has reported that in the latest Politico-George Washington University Battleground Poll with middle-class families, which constitute approximately 54 percent of the electorate and usually split their vote between Democratic and Republican candidates, Romney holds a 14-point advantage, 55 percent to 41 percent.

http://www.wnd.com/2012/09/unskewed-polls-show-nearly-8-point-romney-lead/