University Bass Fishing and the Color-C-Lecter
Sorry, Alabama. While I commend your university for a great class offering I must point out that the University of Oklahoma beat you to it years ago.
I should know, because right there on my yellowed and otherwise-undistinguished college transcript is a three-hour credit for a course entitled "Fish Behavior, Ecology and Fishing Techniques." Which is a fancy way of saying that in the summer of 1997 I got to spend almost three weeks fishing my arms off at the University of Oklahoma's biological research station on Lake Texoma. And earn a grade for it. My wife still rolls her eyes when I mention it.
The course was created and taught by the late, great Dr. Loren G. Hill, distinguished researcher and 1980s bass fishing icon. If you were a bass angler in the 80s and early 90s, chances are that at one time or another you fished with a product invented or influenced by Loren Hill. The Color-C-Lector, the pH Meter, the Snatrix, the Rebel Redneck, there were a multitude of products and lures based on his groundbreaking research.
Sara, Rashmi, Joe and I will be speaking at the Montevallo Literary Festival this Thursday, April 16th at 2:30 in the afternoon. We'll be talking about the project and the blogging/filming that we've done in our year of local eating. You can find more information about the Festival on Montevallo's website. But the most exciting thing about our trip to Montevallo has to be the Sustainability Banquet that evening. Michael Patton, a philosphy professor at Montevallo, has been teaching a course entitled "Science, Technology, and Value," which has in recent years focused almost exclusively on questions of local food and sustainability. Each semester the students put together what they've dubbed the Sustainability Banquet - where everything served is grown or raised within 100 miles. We're fortunate that the Banquet and the Literary Festival coincide this year. The Banquet is open to the public and if you're in that neck of the woods, we'd love to see you there! That, and Janisse Ray, author of Ecology of a Cracker Childhood will be the featured guest and speaker at the Banquet.