What do Joe DiMaggio, Lord Krishna, Ernest Hemingway, and a sacred tree in South America have in common? No, the answer is not a bad joke like your dad might tell. Instead, these four things are all part of the subject material for a course that is currently being taught at New York University called “Baseball as a Road to God.”

Dr. John Sexton is teaching this class to 18 undergraduates at NYU. Some of them are serious baseball fans, while others don’t really know or care what Babe Ruth’s curse is. However, they all are in process of “touching the ineffable,” as Sexton describes what students are learning in the course.

“The real idea of the course,” Sexton said, is to develop heightened sensitivity and a noticing capacity. So baseball’s not ‘the’ road to God. For most of us, it isn’t ‘a’ road to God. But it’s a way to notice, to cause us to live more slowly and to watch more keenly and thereby to discover the specialness of our life and our being, and for some of us, something more than our being.” Read the rest of this entry »

Hannah Dakota Fanning was born on February 23, 1994 in Conyers, Georgia. She is better known as Dakota Fanning. Fanning is the daughter of Steve J., an electronics salesman, and Joy Fanning. Fanning attended Campbell Hall School in North Hollywood, California.

Fanning first acting job was at the age of five. She starred in a Tide commercial. Fanning’s first notable job was a guest role on NBC’s drama ER. Fanning’s career skyrocket in 2001. Fanning starred opposite Sean Penn in the movie I Am Sam. The film is a  story of a mentally challenged man who fights for the custody of his daughter.

Fanning’s performance as Penn’s daughter earned her a Screen Actor’s Guild nomination. At the age of seven she became the youngest person ever to be nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award.

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I loved going to college in Norman, Oklahoma. The city is definitely a college-town and I think it is one of the best places in the world to go to college. However, Unigo.com had a different opinion.

According to them, Boston is the best city in the USA for students to go to college. Why?

“Often, friends and I would go around the city to eat in Boston’s ‘little Italy’ the North End, or catch a Red Sox game, or go to a local bar and shoot pool,” said Rachel, a theater major at Boston University. “The benefit, for me, of going to college within a city was there never seemed to be a shortage of anything to do.”

That makes sense to me. Although BU does not have a traditional campus, there are more than 50 other colleges in Boston, so you can have that academic environment or enjoy living and studying amidst the hustle and bustle of the city.

The next city that made the list is Charleston, South Carolina. This city is located close to a beach and is also a tourist hotspot.

“Charleston is a vacation destination for many people, so it is cool to live in a place other people are only lucky enough to visit,” said Andrea, a biology major at the College of Charleston.

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Imagine a free university where students from all walks of life can learn from professors during 10-week intensive classes that are taught on the Internet. Now, imagine that this university sets up computer centers where students need them – such as the earthquake-ravaged Haiti in the weeks after the natural disaster struck – so that students can continue learning. Well, you do not have to imagine anymore because the University of the People is making this dream a reality.

“They don’t have electricity, they don’t have computers,” said Shai Reshef, the creator of the University of People about the students in Haiti that use his computer centers to continue their education. “They come in two shifts, for four hours a day, to study. Their need waste the point that we began a feeding program.”

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Alan Greenspan was born on March 6, 1926 in the Washington Heights area of New York City. He is the son of Herbert Greenspan and Rose Goldsmith.

Greenspan attended the Juilliard School from 1943 to 1944. There, he studied clarinet. He eventually dropped out to join a professional jazz band.

However, in 1945 Greenspan returned to school. He attended New York University (NYU), where he received a Bachelor of Science in economics summa cum laude in 1948. Greenspan also earned a Masters of Art in economics in 1950. Intending to pursue advance economics, Greenspan attended Columbia University, but subsequently did not earn a degree there.

In 1977 NYU awarded Greenspan a Ph. D. in economics.
Greenspan’s career has been lengthy and extensive. Some of his endeavors has included working as an economic analyst at The National Industrial Conference Board from 1945 to 1953.

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One of Harary's Osama T shirt designs

A New York University business student thought he could make a killing from Osama Bin Laden‘s death; no pun intended. When Maurice Harary, 23, heard of Bin Laden’s death, he immediately designed a line of t-shirts celebrating his passing  and sold them on his website called Osamadeadtees.com.

Harary has sold over 25,000 shirts and has made over $300,oo0, but he’s giving that fast cash back. His get-rich-quick plan has not only brought him loads of money, but an enormous amount of guilt as well.

“I will now be refunding all orders on Osama dead tees,” he said. “Celebrating over the death of someone, whoever it is, is evil in my eyes.”

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Ashley Olsen is an American actress, author, designer, and producer. She first became famous when she was an infant and shared the role of Michelle Tanner on Full House with her twin sister, Mary-Kate Olsen. After their Full House days, the girls went on to create several straight-to-video movies as part of their company, Dualstar. EDUinReview will now take a look at this young actress’ education background.

Olsen was born on June 13, 1983, in Sherman Oaks, California. Her parents are David and Jarnette Olsen. She has a fraternal twin, Mary-Kate, an older brother, Trent, and a younger sister, Lizzie. When she was nine-months old, Olsen started her acting career by sharing a role with her twin sister on Full House. In 1993, a company was created for the twins called Dualstar. During the 1990s and early 2000s, Olsen became a pre-teen favorite by appearing in several movies, books, and magazines, while also creating a fashion line for young girls. There were even toy dolls created of her and her sister by Mattel.

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Imagine walking into your first day of classes next semester at New York University‘s Tisch School of the Arts and seeing one of the most attractive actors alive today, James Franco, standing at your class podium. Well, for 12 lucky third-year graduate students at NYU, this dream will be a reality.

It was recently announced that Franco, who is also studying for his MFA in film production from NYU, will be teaching a class on adapting poetry into short films.

“He’s here to teach because he really knows something about directing that the can share with our students,” said John Tintori, chair of the graduate film program. “He’s incredibly prolific, and that comes from a real work ethic – and that’s another thing to impart to our students.”

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Anne Hathaway is an American actress who first stole our hearts as Mia Thermopolis in “The Princess Diaries” in 2001. Since then, she has starred in many other films, including “Ella Enchanted,” “The Devil Wears Prada,” “Rachel Getting Married,” and “Alice in Wonderland.” Hathaway just announced plans to play Selina Kyle, a.k.a. Catwoman, in Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight Rises,” which will star Christian Bale as Batman. EDUinReview will now take a look at the education background of this wonderful young actress.

Hathaway was born on November 12, 1982 in Brooklyn, New York. She is the middle child of Gerald and Kathleen Hathaway and has two brothers. Her mother is the person who first sparked Anne’s interest in acting because she, herself, is an actress.

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For all of you Biggest Loser fans, this is a name you’re going to want to be familiar with: Brett Hoebel. Hoebel is an international fitness expert, personal trainer for celebrities, and could quite possibly be the newest Biggest Loser trainer for season 11.

Hoebel is not just some muscular guy who spends too much time in the gym. He developed his workout plans based on his studies as an undergraduate and graduate student. As an undergrad, Hoebel majored in biomedical science with hopes of becoming a doctor. Then, in his post-grad studies, he studied functional strength training, nutrition, yoga, and holistic health.

According to ExtremeBodyWorkout.com, he is also certified in Nutrition & Lifestyle Coaching, Metabolic Typing, Holistic Exercise Kinesiology, Hatha Yoga, and Prenatal & Postpartum Conditioning. He also has published papers with UCLA, New York University, and Princeton University.

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