News release Public Information Office   SLU 10880   Hammond, LA 70402   phone: 985-549-2341   fax: 985-549-2061 publicinfo@selu.edu Spring 2004 news releases Public Information home News archive Contact: Christina Chapple Date: 3/17/04   Click on image for publication quality photo Left, Barbara Forrest AUTHORS, DANCE IN THE SPOTLIGHT DURING WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH’S FOURTH WEEK       HAMMOND – Authors and dance will be in the spotlight as Southeastern Louisiana University Women’s Coalition’s celebration of Women’s History Month continues.       The highlight of the week is the discussion of the book chosen for Women’s History Month’s “community read.” A 11 a.m. Thursday, March 25 in Sims Memorial Library, English professor Sarah Ross will moderate the session on Sue Monk Kidd’s best-seller, “The Secret Life of Bees.”        Writers Beverly Marshall and Suzanne Hudson will open Women’s History Month’s fourth week on Sunday, March 21 with readings from their work from 3-5 p.m. at the Hammond Regional Arts Center, 217 E. Thomas Street in downtown Hammond.        Marshall is a former member of the English faculty at Southeastern and a Ponchatoula resident. She recently published her first novel, “Walking Through Shadows,” which one reviewer called “a fusion of Southern gothic, suspense-filled mystery, and intense character study.” The novel was a Booksense Pick and an alternate selection for the Literary Guild. Marshall has also completed a second novel, “Right as Rain.”       Hudson’s writings include a book of short stories, “Opposable Thumbs,” which was a John Gardner Fiction Book Award finalist, and a novel, “In a Temple of Trees.”        One of Southeastern’s own authors, philosophy professor Barbara Forrest, will present a lecture, “Intelligent Design Creationism: Male and Pale,” at 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 23 in Sims Memorial Library.       One of Forrest’s scholarly interests is the threat to public school science education stemming from “intelligent design” creationism, a movement which claims that natural laws and chance alone are not adequate to explain all natural phenomena. Her book “Creationism's Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design,” co-authored with Paul R. Gross, was released this year by Oxford University Press.       In the book, Forrest and Gross expose the scientific failure, the religious essence, and the political ambitions of intelligent design creationism. They examine the movement's "Wedge Strategy," which they say has advanced and is succeeding through public relations rather than through scientific research.       For Women’s History Month, Forrest said she will highlight “the almost total absence” of women in the leadership of the intelligent design movement. “It’s an interesting phenomenon,” she said, “when you compare the role of women in that movement to the role of women in sciences.”       At noon on March 25, students in English professor Lin Knutson’s English 310 (Introduction to African American Literature) class will present their research into significant African American women.       Also on March 25, Danceworks, Southeastern’s resident dance company, will perform a concert of student choreography and original films titled “The Willing Suspension” at 7:30 p.m. in Vonnie Borden Theatre. Tickets for the concert, which will feature seven dances created by Southeastern students and films by faculty members Denise Tullier-Holly and Martie Fellom, are $5, adults; $3, senior citizens, non-SLU students and Southeastern faculty and staff. Southeastern students are admitted free with their university I.D.       The observance of Women's History Month is sponsored by the Southeastern Women's Coalition, the College of Arts and Sciences, the department of English, and the department of history and political science. For additional information, call 985-549-2330 or visit www.selu.edu/news/whm04.