News coverage of polls leading up to Tuesday’s election made the presidential race seem like a neck-and-neck battle – a nail-biter whichever side you were on. But poll-watcher Josh Putnam has known how it would turn out for months. And he was singled out this week by Slate.com as one of three nationally known prognosticators to nail the Electoral College numbers. See an interview and find out how he did it on our Election 2012 page.

Bill Giduz and Ken Norton at Thursday

Last Friday was the 83rd birthday of longtime Davidson barber Ken Norton, who has been cutting hair in town since the 1940s. (Happy Birthday, Ken.) So Davidson College news guys Bill Giduz and John Syme paid Mr. Norton a visit at Raeford’s Barber Shop on Main Street Thursday, complete with surprise birthday cake. Read about their visit, and link to a 2008 profile of Mr. Norton, on Mr. Syme’s Daybook blog.

“Today, college students, faculty, and staff across the land are wearing purple in a show of support and acceptance for gay youth,” Davidson College senior writer John Syme writes on his “Daybook” blog Thursday. As a gay man, he says he’s never been much of an activist, but he knows what young gay people go through, so he’s joining in. Read more on the college’s Daybook blog.

Meanwhile, see also Thursday’s note from Davidson College Dean of Students Tom Shandley urging “respect and support” for all. “In Response to Instances of Bullying and Harassment on College Campuses Nationwide, Vice President and Dean Tom Shandley Urges Respect and Support,” CLICK HERE>

Louisiana grows its grasshoppers BIG!

Are we getting old, or too accustomed to being pampered? The past few days have made us all thankful we have modern day air-conditioning in our offices, public buildings and homes.  The heat was just plain brutal if you had to venture outside, though it did not seem to bother the geese at Roosevelt Wilson Park or the grasshoppers in Houma, La..

We have comments about them today as well as news of weddings in the Melton and White families.  Also there is a long-awaited photo of vuvuzelas in South Africa and a report on a DCPC mission trip to Louisiana.  (And a note about the photos included in Around Davidson.  Click on any one to enlarge so you don’t have to squint to see the faces.) Read the full story

David Wessner

The Davidson professor is blogging this week from the 28th International AIDS Conference, which he reports is full of energy and optimism. Also below, comments from Davidsonian Paige Baker, who’s blogging from Vienna on AIDS.gov.

By CATHRYN WESTRA
DavidsonNews.net

Davidson College biology professor David Wessner flew to Vienna, Austria, earlier this week to join nearly 25,000 others from around the world at the 28th International AIDS Conference. But we Davidsonians don’t have to wait until he returns for a report: He’s been Tweeting and blogging regularly, saying in recent posts that he’s found an “energy and excitement” and a sense of optimism unlike any he has witnessed in AIDS conferences past.

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Rebecca and Gordon Clark have managed Davidson Village Inn since 1993, as the working partners in the inn’s local ownership group. Last week, they closed on a big milestone: They’re now sole owners of the cozy Depot Street hotel.

Also in this week’s BizNotes:

• Monkee’s of Lake Norman is preparing to open a second location on Main Street.
• Meet local planner John Cock, who runs the Davidson office for Alta Planning & Design.
• Dave and Greta Munger have shut down their Davidson-based Cognitive Daily psychology blog after 5 years in operation.

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John and Dodger

We’ve been following the cross-country travels this summer of John Syme, a senior writer at Davidson College, as he re-traces a road trip from his 20s, and visits Davidson alums. John is back in town, and reflects on his peregrinations in a final post on his 2009 summer road trip blog, “Home sweet home: Road trip summer 2009 will live on in heart and soul.” John made the trip in his 1967 Mercury Comet Caliente convertible, with his faithful companion Dodger. He reports he’s tanned from the trip, which required a change of hats, and is ready to get back into the kitchen for some home-cooked food. (See you at the Davidson Farmers Market Saturday, John.) He’s “adjusting to sitting at a desk again,” and still contemplating what it was like to travel Route 66. Read the full story

Over on the “Around the D” blog from the Davidson College Archives, Jan Blodgett offers this history lesson:

“Griffith, Jackson, Delburg, Beaty, Sloan, Watson – Davidson residents travel these streets regularly, perhaps wondering occasionally about the people and stories behind the names.  Five of these streets are named for people, one for a business. Do you know which one isn’t a person?” Read more at blogs.davidson.edu/aroundthed.