DIRECTOR, IS YOUR BAND READY?
The football team isn’t the only group that worked long and hard this summer for a smashing Scott Stadium debut. The brand-new, 170-member Cavalier Marching Band labored through an August band camp to tune up for its first public performances, at Fridays After Five on
Sept. 10 and at the U.Va. vs. North Carolina home football opener the next day. “It’s been interesting,” Band Director Bill Pease told the Richmond Times-Dispatch. “In football terms, this is pretty much like
designing a playbook from scratch.” Even before the debut, he was
already declaring victory. “I hope this doesn’t sound cocky, but I‘ve never, ever felt like it wouldn’t work here. The quality of the students here are the best I’ve ever worked with.” The band was the subject of reports in several other media outlets, including National Public Radio and the Roanoke Times.

VETERANS, SOUTHSIDE ECONOMY PUT VIRGINIA
IN PLAY
A Democrat has not earned Virginia’s electoral votes since Lyndon Johnson in 1964. But this year “it’s possible — not probable, but possible,” said William Wood, director of U.Va.’s Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership. The Democrats’ winning scenario would combine traditional Democratic strongholds like Northern Virginia and heavily African-American cities like Richmond and Norfolk with newly competitive constituencies: veterans disgruntled with President Bush’s handling of the Iraq war, and Southsiders disaffected by economic hard times. Key to attracting the latter group are Democratic Gov. Mark Warner, whose economic development efforts have won him praise
in the traditional GOP region, and vice presidential candidate John
Edwards, the son of a North Carolina mill hand.
— Boston Globe, Aug. 22

LOOKING AT JUDAISM THROUGH FEMINIST EYES
Ten years ago, as religious studies professor Vanessa Ochs was reviewing some new books about Judaism written by women, her daughter asked her why she never wrote about men’s books. “I took her into my husband’s library and I said, ‘Honey, the men are covered.’” Ochs has a new book of her own on
Judaism: “Sarah Laughed: Modern Lessons From the Wisdom and Stories of Biblical Women.”
— Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Sept. 4

PSYCHOLOGIST TAKES ON ‘MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCE’ THEORY
Psychology professor Daniel T. Willingham is taking on an icon. He recently published a critique of Harvard professor Howard Gardner’s popular “multiple intelligences” theory, which holds that people can be gifted in any of eight different areas, including linguistic, spatial and
musical. Gardner’s theory is the basis for so-called “differentiated instruction” in schools, in which teachers use different approaches to teach concepts to different students, like slipping multiplication tables into a song or play. Willingham contends that multiple-intelligence theory “is an inaccurate description of the mind,” and argues for the more traditional view that people who are smart in one category are usually smart across the board.
— Washington Post, Sept. 7

CAUTION ON A MAGIC PILL FOR OBESITY
A promising diet pill was at the center of a recent merger between French drug company Sanofi- Synthélabo and French-German
rival Aventis, which created the world’s third-largest pharmaceutical giant. Sanofi has the drug, rimonabant, which will be sold as Acomplia; Aventis has the U.S. marketing muscle. One-year trials found that
patients who took the drug every day lost an average of 19 pounds and
3.5 inches from their waistlines. Hold the balloons and confetti, though; Dr. Kevin Wei, a U.Va. cardiologist, is among the doctors who expressed wariness. “I want to know what happens after the patients stop taking the drug,” he said. “Do they have a massive rebound in weight, or do they manage to keep it off? To counteract the effects of obesity, you need to keep the weight off for years or even decades.” The company hopes to answer those questions with longer-term studies.
— New York Times, Sept. 10