Thesis

HIGH TREASON 2. Harrison E. Livingstone. Carroll & Graf. 420 pages. $22.95. The principal problem with "High Treason 2" is the difficulty the reader has trying to make out its thesis. In his latest book on the JFK assassination, Baltimore resident Harrison Livingstone takes for granted a high-level government conspiracy. Various motives for the murder, including escalation in Vietnam, are tacked on at the beginning and end for context. The meat of this book, however, revolves around what happened -- or did not happen -- to President Kennedy's body after the shots rang out in Dallas.

James Daniel Whitfield , a 2002 graduate of Eleanor Roosevelt High School and a 2006 graduate of Morehouse College, in Atlanta, received his doctorate from Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. He completed all requirements for his doctorate in chemical physics by defending his thesis, "At the intersection of quantum computing and quantum chemistry. " In the acknowledgments section of his thesis, James thanked Prince George's County for being a wonderful place to grow up and recognized Michael McRae, his mathematics teacher and mentor at Eleanor Roosevelt High.

Cape Mold-Zern will face a panel of Boys' Latin School faculty members today when he defends his thesis on dark matter in the universe. If he is successful, he will be the only member of his graduating class of 61 to be awarded an honors diploma with distinction from the all-boys school in North Baltimore. When he decided to do the yearlong senior thesis project, Mold-Zern, a 19-year-old Towson resident, was more interested in creating his own course of study. "I took on the project as a challenge so I could study what I wanted," he said.

"Mickey One," this week's oddly riveting revival choice at the Charles, carries the name of a production company, Tatira, that would never be credited again. It was a company that the movie's star, Warren Beatty, set up for this one movie. He named it for his mother, Kathlyn, nicknamed Tat, and his father, Ira Beaty (just one t). They brought their kids up in Virginia. But they actually met in Lutherville. Yes, the same suburb that gave us John Waters can also claim some ownership of Warren Beatty.

When I first heard about the show "Wasteland," I thought, "Hey, that's interesting. They're bringing T.S. Eliot to prime time."Not exactly, old boy."Wasteland" is ABC trying to bring a slightly older, urban version of "Dawson's Creek" to viewers in their 20s, hoping to get them to switch over from NBC after "Friends" and "Jesse." It could happen, if viewers in their 20s are willing to ditch "Frasier" for a set of self-absorbed, kind of whiny characters their own age who make more references to their "generation" than F. Scott Fitzgerald did to his."

In his last year at the University of Milan, where he majored in music history, Paolo Micciche wrote his thesis on the origin of comic opera in the 17th century. Some years hence, a university student may well write a thesis on the origin of Micciche's trademark high-tech graphics in the staging of operas, comic or otherwise. On Stage Madama Butterfly will be performed at 8:15 p.m. Saturday and four more times through May 18 at the Lyric Opera House, 110 W. Mount Royal Ave. $46 to $132.

James Daniel Whitfield , a 2002 graduate of Eleanor Roosevelt High School and a 2006 graduate of Morehouse College, in Atlanta, received his doctorate from Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. He completed all requirements for his doctorate in chemical physics by defending his thesis, "At the intersection of quantum computing and quantum chemistry. " In the acknowledgments section of his thesis, James thanked Prince George's County for being a wonderful place to grow up and recognized Michael McRae, his mathematics teacher and mentor at Eleanor Roosevelt High.

`Asian Translations' Works inspired by Japanese culture are the focus of A Fusion of Asian Translations, the new show at the Kushnir-Taylor Gallery in Ellicott City. Nancy Tankersley's oils on canvas, Susan McElhinney's terra-cotta figures and Benjamin Tankersley's photographs will be on display through March 31. The Kushnir-Taylor Gallery is at 8289 Main St., Ellicott City. Hours are 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Thursdays-Sundays. Call 410-465-4467. MICA thesis exhibit The Maryland Institute College of Art presents the first in its series of graduate thesis exhibitions.

SOME FOLKS need to learn a lesson about getting the last laugh. Those students in Coppin State College's criminal justice program who sneered at Joycelyn Evans for doing a thesis had better think about that. Here's a brief recap of the Coppin controversy: In March, 14 students in Coppin's graduate criminal justice program filed a lawsuit alleging that the faculty had ill-prepared them for the comprehensive final exams and seminar papers required for graduation. Evans chose to do a longer 40- to 50-page thesis instead of taking the final exams and preparing a shorter seminar paper.

County Commissioner Julia W. Gouge expects to graduate from the University of Oklahoma's Economic Development Institute next week armed with a thesis outlining a plan for business growth in Carroll.Mrs. Gouge will leave Saturday for Norman, Okla., to attend a week of courses taught by business and industrial specialists on subjects such as conflict management and trends of the 1990s. Taxpayers have picked up about $3,000 of the cost of her attendance. This is her final year in the three-year program.

In his last year at the University of Milan, where he majored in music history, Paolo Micciche wrote his thesis on the origin of comic opera in the 17th century. Some years hence, a university student may well write a thesis on the origin of Micciche's trademark high-tech graphics in the staging of operas, comic or otherwise. On Stage Madama Butterfly will be performed at 8:15 p.m. Saturday and four more times through May 18 at the Lyric Opera House, 110 W. Mount Royal Ave. $46 to $132.

INSIDE TODAY WHAT THEY'RE SAYING TODAY'S SUN COLUMNISTS File backup ultimate in safety No matter how attractive and convenient online file storage may seem, you're never really safe unless you have backup on a disk or hard drive you can put your hands on. Business baltimoresun.com/himowitz Hello, Mustang Alleys When one bowling alley closes, another opens - or at least that's going to be the case when Mustang Alleys opens in the next week or so on the edge of Little Italy. Maryland baltimoresun.

David Terry isn't sure when the history bug bit him. But one doctorate in history, one three-year stint at the Maryland State Archives and a handful of scholarly papers and other research projects on the state's African-American history later, he remains thrilled that it did. Now, in his new position as Director of Collections and Exhibitions at Baltimore's soon-to-be-opening Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture, he's...

Photography exhibit Baltimore's homeless population is the focus of a poignant new exhibit at La Terra Gallery on Falls Road. The photographs are those of Loyola College student Greg Sileo, who captured the images while volunteering for a local outreach center in the fall of 2003. More Than a Statistic: The Human Side of Homelessness will remain on view through April 30. La Terra Gallery is at 4001 Falls Road. Hours are 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Mondays-Saturdays. For more information, call 410-889-7562.

Cape Mold-Zern will face a panel of Boys' Latin School faculty members today when he defends his thesis on dark matter in the universe. If he is successful, he will be the only member of his graduating class of 61 to be awarded an honors diploma with distinction from the all-boys school in North Baltimore. When he decided to do the yearlong senior thesis project, Mold-Zern, a 19-year-old Towson resident, was more interested in creating his own course of study. "I took on the project as a challenge so I could study what I wanted," he said.

SOME FOLKS need to learn a lesson about getting the last laugh. Those students in Coppin State College's criminal justice program who sneered at Joycelyn Evans for doing a thesis had better think about that. Here's a brief recap of the Coppin controversy: In March, 14 students in Coppin's graduate criminal justice program filed a lawsuit alleging that the faculty had ill-prepared them for the comprehensive final exams and seminar papers required for graduation. Evans chose to do a longer 40- to 50-page thesis instead of taking the final exams and preparing a shorter seminar paper.

BRAZZAVILLE BEACH.William Boyd.Morrow.316 pages. $21. Most of us picture mathematicians and scientists as pioneers of truth. We have set them up as high priests in our secular culture. But what happens when they cheat? The pressure for grants and accolades can tempt anyone.The scene in this novel is West Africa, an unnamed country on the coast. A few miles in the interior is an ethological research station that studies chimpanzees (much in the model of Jane Goodall). Researchers are observing primate behavior.

A criminal justice professor at Coppin State College denied allegations yesterday that he rejected the thesis topic proposed by one of his graduate students, insisting he "would not censor academic freedom." The allegations emerged amid a dispute last week over Coppin's criminal justice program and whether some master's degree candidates would be permitted to graduate today without meeting what some faculty insist are degree requirements. Four graduate students who wrote research papers deemed unacceptable by department Chairperson Concetta Culliver are expected to receive their master's degrees, but others who failed comprehensive exams will not be allowed to graduate, according to Coppin officials.