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(09/29/11 2:10am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The first semester can be stressful for students, especially those in their first year. At the 2011 Student Success Seminar Series, Steve Veldkamp, the assistant dean of students and director of Student Life and Learning, facilitated a talk to students about their involvement on campus. “There are lots of organizations you might want to look at that are completely different than your major or minor,” Veldkamp told a group of students in Room 174 at the Herman B Wells Library.The eight-week-long series takes place from noon to 1 p.m. every Tuesday.It is organized by IU Counseling and Psychological Services in coordination with Student Life and Learning, the Student Academic Center, Recreational Sports, IU Health and Wellness and Career Development.The series gives students a talk on various topics to maintain well-being.This Tuesday’s topic, “Student Involvement on Campus,” was facilitated by Veldkamp, who helped jump-start the series four years ago. “We thought it’d be great to essentially develop the seminar series, get people on campus who were experts to come and talk to students and to give them information on the resources available to the students through their offices,” said Andrea L. Maltese, who coordinated the seminar series and is also a clinical therapist at CAPS. The future topics include forming relationships, academic success, emotional coping, career planning, healthy eating and exercising and forming a meaningful and spiritual life.“I think in this environment, it’s really easy to not eat well, not sleep well, and there’s so much to do,” Maltese said. “You can always be doing something, and socially or academically, you can always do more. But it’s easy to stop taking care of yourself.”Maltese said the number of students who seek services at CAPS has increased in the last six years. One of the goals of the seminar series is to reintroduce information that students might be bombarded with at the start of each semester. “I remember one student saying he felt like all incoming freshmen should attend the series,” Maltese said. “When they’re first starting and there’s so much going on, it’s hard to tune into the information that you are getting.” Both Veldkamp and Maltese said students who are involved in extracurricular activities are more likely to stay in college and graduate on time. “That’s exactly why Student Success Seminars start off with the idea of involvement,” Veldkamp said. “We call that integrative learning, where you take learning that’s from your classroom and you apply it to your co-curricular life, and then vice versa.” But Veldkamp said it is important to join organizations that will challenge students’ comfort zones. Freshman Ted Tarricone of Greenfield, Ind., said he is considering joining a break dance club or an intramural soccer team. He wants to study exercise science. “I haven’t really completely left all of my high school glory days behind and transitioned to really going to college full-force,” he said. However, Tarricone said that he plans to attend more seminars because it is a way “to get that ball rolling.” “I feel a little bit more optimistic about starting things and branching out now, and another seminar can also be equally beneficial,” he said.
(09/26/11 3:36am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>One of the first days of fall marked an energetic Saturday at Memorial Stadium, and it wasn’t because of a football game. At 10:20 a.m., students, community members and out-of-state participants gathered at a starting line to race past a cheering crowd. Both walkers and runners of the 2011 Hoosiers Outrun Cancer weren’t just outrunning cancer — they were racing toward its cure. The 12th-annual event raised money for the Olcott Center for Cancer Education in Bloomington, which provides annual skin cancer screenings, cancer education programs for students, support groups and more for people affected by cancer. As of Saturday, the event raised about $1.6 million for the community since its inception, said Julie Curtis, chairwoman of the committee for Hoosiers Outrun Cancer. “We have 147 different teams this year,” said Curtis, who is also a board member for the Bloomington Hospital Foundation. “We are expecting about $190,000 to go right back to the Olcott Center here.”Although Curtis estimated there were as many participants last year as this year’s event, which included a kids one-mile run in addition to a 5K run and walk, the amount of money raised is about $10,000 more than last year, she said. “I think the race meets a lot of different points of interest for the people,” Curtis said. “There are actual cancer survivors and their families, people that work in health care, people that are friends and family of cancer survivors and people that work within the Olcott Center.”Hoosiers Outrun Cancer included teams from Bloomington High School North as well as families raising money in honor of a deceased family member or a family member who has survived cancer.Members of Team Ava donned bright pink, tie dyed T-shirts in honor of Tami Anderson’s four-year-old daughter who survived a kidney tumor that was found in July of 2010. “I feel like God gave us this to get me in a place to help other parents that have a child who is diagnosed with some sort of cancer so that maybe I can help them get through it,” said Anderson, a Bloomington resident.Anderson and her 22-member team are also involved in “anything that has to do with cancer research, cancer support,” including the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which sent Anderson’s daughter to Disney in May. “It’s been an emotional roller coaster for our family in many ways,” Anderson said. “But now I am starting to see the good in the end.”While Hoosiers Outrun Cancer had several teams of family members, including Team Jenny, the largest community team for the event, “Kelley Runs for Walt” is made up of graduate students from the Graduate Entrepreneurial Club at the Kelley School of Business. This is the fourth year they have won for largest team at IU. In 2007, accounting Professor Walter G. Blacconiere died of pancreatic cancer. “Kelley Runs for Walt” raised $700 for a college fund that goes to Blacconiere’s three kids. “It’s been a great experience putting this together, and it feels really good to help out a family and a professor who is still remembered today at the Kelley School,” said Jason Fletchall, president of the entrepreneurial club.But Kelley students honor Blacconiere’s memory in other ways.Blacconiere began a tradition for students to clap at the end of every class session within Kelley “to show they appreciate the knowledge that they’ve gained during class,” Fletchall said. “We still carry that tradition today since he’s passed away,” said Fletchall. “His memory’s there every day, every day in class.”
(08/11/11 10:10pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Indiana Memorial Union is more than just a hotel. It’s the go-to-spot on campus for pretty much everything. When completed in 1932, it was the world’s largest student union. We’ve broken down three of the floors to keep you from getting lost.MEZZANINESugar & SpiceSugar & Spice pastry chef Michael Craig said it is the only store of its kind in the country. It offers organic coffee, cheeses, meats and pastries ranging from traditional chocolate chip cookies to fancy cupcakes and cheesecakes. “We have our traditions, like the chocolate nomakes and Special K chewies,” Craig said. It also offers mail orders for people from as far away as California.Back Alley BowlingBack Alley Bowling offers more than what its title implies, operating a billiards and arcade room, Manager John Bower said. Rates for the general public are $2.50 for a bowling game, and black-light bowling is $2.75 for students and $3 for the general public. Rates for the billiards room for those without a student ID are $5.75 and $5.50 for students.LOBBYDunn Meadow CafeDunn Meadow Cafe is a healthy option for students. Formerly named Kiva, Dunn Meadow Cafe was reopened in February 2010, Retail Manager Holly Parient said. The menu lists an array of fresh sandwiches and various wraps and pitas.Sycamore Corner StoreThe Sycamore Corner Store is a convenient shop for hotel guests, especially since it’s located next to the main desk in the lobby. The store also offers wine, chocolate baskets, beer, souvenir baskets and nut baskets.FIRST FLOORStarbucksWhile a Starbucks is located on Indiana Avenue, which is not far from the IMU, the Starbucks on the first floor is a popular spot where students study and catch up with friends. The large sitting area, also known as the IMU Gallery for its featured art, can seat dozens of patrons.Tudor RoomThe Tudor Room is a great place to take your family to lunch. They even have delicious Sunday brunches. For more information about dining in this beautful setting, visit www.imu.indiana.edu/dining/tudorroom.shtmlSouth LoungeThe South Lounge, a brief walk from the IMU Starbucks, is another frequented stop for students looking for a cozy place to study. Students can sink into the large leather couches or read at a table near the windows.Whittenberger AuditoriumThe Whittenberger Auditorium is known for its free weekly film series on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, which is organized by Union Board. The auditorium, which was named after the first president of the University’s first student union, John Whittenberger, can seat up to 400 people.Alumni HallAlumni Hall, which is more formal than the Whittenberger Auditorium, is 5,000 square feet and the largest and most used meeting hall in the IMU, Event Manager and Sales Assistant Sarah Cady said.
(08/11/11 12:19am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After more than 20 years of hosting dance marathons on campus to raise money for the Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis, IU Dance Marathon may soon find itself under a spotlight of its own.At the beginning of the summer, StayClassy notified IUDM it was nominated for the Most Influential College Student or Organization for the third annual Classy Awards. StayClassy is an online social fundraising site that helps to promote non-profits. Out of 2,000 submissions, IUDM is a top-25 finalist. From now until Aug. 26, the public can vote online for IUDM to land in the top 10 and go to San Diego for what is considered the country’s largest philanthropic award ceremony. “The fact that we’re being recognized, potentially on a national level, at this point is pretty huge for us,” Michael Essling, president of IUDM, said. “Now it’s really big for us, and we have a more realistic possibility that we could actually win.”Despite raising more than $10.1 million for the Riley Hospital for Children since 1991, IUDM did not nominate themselves for the StayClassy award. IUDM’s Director of Public Relations Kristin Munoz said, at the beginning of the summer, a StayClassy intern from Kentucky had nominated them. Munoz then completed the application process through which she had to generate at least 100 Facebook “likes” for the IUDM submission. According to the StayClassy website, there were 266 Facebook “likes” on Aug. 10. One of the ways to get people to vote for them online in the summer, when campus attention isn’t as easy to garner, is to use social media. “Twitter helps a lot,” Munoz said. Winners for the award must demonstrate 20 percent originality, 20 percent impact and 60 percent ability to exemplify the qualities of the award category, according to the StayClassy website.The description of the award category outlines an “undergraduate student or student-run college organization that has most powerfully put the idealism and energy of youth to work in service of others.” “When I was involved 10 years ago, we had 200 committee members and nearly 600 dancers involved,” said Matt Sowder, president of the IUDM Alumni Board and former director of Riley Development. “Today, they have over 500 committee members, 1,200 plus dancers as well as other volunteers. That sounds powerful to me.” A recent example of IUDM’s impact on the Riley Hospital for Children, Sowder said, is the newly initiated fundraising effort for pediatric infectious disease research positions at Riley. Sowder said this effort may now lead to solutions for pediatric diseases beyond the Midwest. “The Indiana students put a ton of work into everything that we’ve accomplished,” Essling said. “It’s kind of cool if our participants and all the work the dance marathon does every year can get a little more recognition on a national level.”The award ceremony, fashioned after a Hollywood red carpet event, takes place Sept. 17, at the San Diego Civic Theater. The prize for Most Influential College Student or Organization is $10,000.Sarah Jenkins, the Riley coordinator for dance marathons, said IUDM has already received recognition where it most matters: the Riley Children’s Hospital. “The students involved with IUDM have a passion that is unmatched,” Jenkins said. “And that in itself is an incredible impact to all of us at the foundation.”
(07/08/11 6:33pm)
A simple touch that's hard to pinpoint
(04/27/11 10:13pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>“Somewhere” is a movie that poses the question: Where is somewhere? For hard-living Johnny Marco, somewhere is anywhere, but it’s never a sense of home. In Sofia Coppola’s latest story, Marco (Stephen Dorff) is the bad-boy actor who actually has to take care of his daughter Cleo (Elle Fanning) for more than a day. He takes her to Italy, where they stay in a hotel made for duchesses and eat gelato. He drags her to casinos for luck, all while promoting his latest action film. Marco is not an altogether bad dad, or even a particularly bad person. He’s just not “there” except when his daughter is. Coppola’s eye for detail in this subtly conveyed portrait of a lost man fully takes form in “Somewhere.” The two-minute shots enhance the more significant moments of the film, like when Marco — showing the character’s fullest capacity for emotion — is crying to his ex-wife after parting with Cleo. “Somewhere,” cinematographically pleasing and seemingly portrayed with minimal effort, is another Coppola success.
(04/21/11 1:17am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Too often, movies studded with big actors attempting to double as musicians fail in their attempts to tell a good story. “Country Strong,” starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Tim McGraw, is a heartfelt attempt that might appeal to only a portion of audience members. Directed and written by Shana Feste, the film is a vehicle to showcase Paltrow’s versatile abilities and McGraw’s potential as a serious actor. A former country superstar, Kelly Canter (Paltrow) has one more chance to show her fans (and the tabloids) that her once potent talent won’t be outweighed by alcohol and overall interpersonal issues. Leighton Meester and Garrett Hedlund, the young aspiring stars chosen to cushion Canter’s on-tour breakdowns rather than for their talent, are both very watchable as musicians and actors. “Country Strong” gets annoying only when the music becomes the most perfected feature of production, which means that if you don’t like country music, you won’t like the film. If it weren’t for the overbearing characters, “Country Strong” could have been a journey, like that of Canter’s, with more depth.
(04/20/11 2:16am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>In 1998, the Indiana Supreme Court lifted a ban for a unique production company, Calamari Productions, to film juvenile court cases in and outside the courtroom.Karen Grau, IU alumna and president of Calamari Productions, had to get a certain number of votes from the Supreme Court justices to exempt Calamari from the law prohibiting cameras in courtrooms for juvenile cases.Grau had to petition for the justices’ votes, which took her more than a year and turned out to be very expensive. But since 1998, four other states have invited the filmmakers from Calamari to film the stories of delinquents. In collaboration with the IU Research and Technology Corporation, Calamari formed the Institute for Juvenile Court and Corrections Research, a repository of video footage previously inaccessible.“In one way it becomes a huge resource for folks here at the University, here in the state,” said Tony Armstrong, CEO and president of IURTC. “I think there’s a lot of benefit for people here in the University and for people here that are studying this area and practicing in the state of Indiana to really be a part of what I think will be a unique set of content.” The footage will run as a subscription for various organizations, law schools and universities, including IU, across the country. “We’ve never had a digital repository or library that would be accessible by different people and like a full robust library online,” said Chip Warren, vice president at Calamari. “So that’s one of the things the institute will allow us to do, and we’ll be able to service a great many more needs by doing it that way.” While the needs of mostly students, professors and practitioners will be met with the filmed delinquent cases, the institute’s larger focus is to inform the community about the neglected youth who are often stigmatized. “We documented just about every kind of juvenile court hearing you can imagine,” Warren said. “I think it grabs at our basic instincts to sort of help and nurture the most vulnerable members of our community.” Warren said Calamari is the only media company allowed to legally film delinquent cases in the courtrooms. The company also has a strict policy of acquiring the permission of the participants, especially the children, before filming.“It’s not easy at all to access the actual hearings or to have access to the particular files of families of children who are in the juvenile court because those cases are confidential by law,” said Viola Taliaferro, who had participated in some of the video footage found on calamariproductions.com and is a senior judge in Monroe County. The purpose of the state law is to protect the interests of the children and families because of the sensitive nature of most juvenile cases.“Now we’re talking about cases that might involve child molestation, neglected children,” Taliaferro said. “These are people who are actually in juvenile court and have the opportunity to make significant changes in their lives and not to have the public know every single thing that has happened to them.”Right now the subscription service for IJCCR is not available, but some organizations and schools have been able to access and use much of the footage filmed thus far.
(04/14/11 2:47am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>For the fall 2011 semester, students are urged to think about more than what classes they want to take when registering online. Thanks to the Student Sustainability Council’s green initiative in fall of last year to petition enough signatures for the IU Sustainability Fund, students will now have the option to donate $5 when registering for classes online just by checking a box. With the help of its 18 member organizations, the SSC gathered 11,266 student signatures, an amount surpassing its quota of a quarter of the student body given by the Student Activities Office. Jacob Bower-Bir, the logistics chair of the SSC, said the Sustainability Fund, which will be a transparent account separate from the council’s account for regular expenses, will be used to install solar panels, green rooms, more bike racks and more outdoor recycling, as well as other innovations. “It’s the students who will decide how we’re actually going to spend the fund,” Bower-Bir said. “If you are a student organization that is recognized by the University and have a constitution, they can help vote and help decide how to spend the money.”Although there was a large amount of students last semester petitioning signatures for the fund, Bower-Bir added that getting the initiative to kick-start was a challenge. The students could petition in only a handful of spots on campus twice a week. “And then after the fact we had to get the Dean of Students, the Bursar’s office, the Registrar’s office, Student Activities Office, Student’s Office of Accounts — all these people had to do paperwork to make this fund actually happen,” he said. According to the College Sustainability Report Card, which surveys more than 300 schools in the nation and Canada and is headed by the Sustainable Endowments Institute, IU-Bloomington’s 2011 grade was a B. While the category for student involvement received an A, administration, in terms of sustainability for the campus, received a B. “Every time we do a project like this, it should be a little bit embarrassing to the administration,” Bower-Bir said. “We’re hoping in part that this is going to inspire the administration to start working toward similar projects.” Emilie Rex, the assistant director for the Office of Sustainability — which oversees projects proposed by the SSC — said the fund was completely student-driven, a reason for why the Student Activities Office counted only student signatures. “They’ve been working on this for several years now,” she said. “It’s been a very long road, and we can’t tell you how proud we are of the students for accomplishing the goal this year.”The Sustainability Fund, however, is just the first of many goals the SSC plans to pursue. While signing a name and checking a box to donate $5 is a step toward improving sustainability, Bower-Bir said that checking the box should not be used as a “Band-Aid.”“Donating to the fund does not absolve you of future good deeds,” he said. “We need people to change how they think of the environment and how they interact with it ... That’s the important thing.”
(04/06/11 10:38pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>These days, scary movies walk a fine line between laughable and seriously terrifying. That being said, director James Wan’s “Insidious” still manages to include some jumpy moments and disturbing imagery, as well as music and introduction formatting from old-school horror cinema. As in many recent horror films, an innocent boy, Dalton Lambert (Ty Simpkins), gets involved with the wrong side of the world: the dead. Here’s where “Insidious” crosses into nerd territory. Thanks to Dalton’s power of “astral projection,” his three-month coma is really just an other-worldly visit to the Further, where a Freddy Kreuger look-alike proceeds to keep Dalton in chains and away from his tearful parents. Of course, we don’t know this until Dalton’s daddy (Patrick Wilson) travels into the Further in spirit with the help of a petite middle-aged woman (Lin Shaye), who happens to be a mediator. While “Insidious” aspires to pay homage to classic scary movies, Wan’s “Saw” does better at inspiring the same uncomfortable, consuming feelings every horror story aims at. With “Insidious,” my only feeling was discomfort due to a silly plot.
(04/06/11 1:04am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>For the second time this year, an Indiana law, if passed, would set stricter requirements for abortions.On March 29, Indiana Republicans voted in favor of House Bill 1210, which, if passed, would require physicians to inform women who intend to get an abortion about the subsequent risks of breast cancer and would cut back the date of viability for the fetus to 20 weeks.The bill, exempting victims of rape and incest, was authored by Rep. Eric Turner, R-Cicero. It would also require women to view an ultrasound of the fetus unless they specify otherwise in writing. “It’s a 30-page bill that gives some pretty serious invasions to women’s health choices,” said Betty Cockrum, CEO of Planned Parenthood of Indiana.Senate Bill 328 — passed in February — lengthened the abortion process by ordering physicians to “specify certain notices” about abortion 18 hours before the procedure, according to the Indiana General Assembly website.The biggest controversy of HB 1210, however, is that doctors must articulate to women who intend to get abortions that they are at a higher risk of breast cancer — a theory that has been debunked, Susan Tanner, co-president of the Feminist Law Forum at Maurer School of Law, said.“It’s a male legislator-driven effort where lawmakers who have no background are writing a script, butting into Indiana law language that isn’t medically accurate and requiring a doctor to share with patients a myth,” Cockrum said.Tanner said doctors should inform patients of the procedure but that informing women of the breast cancer risk has an underlying political agenda.“Medicine and science often advance a lot faster than politics do,” Tanner said. “So by the time something new is learned in the medical community, if it’s something that’s mandated by a bill, the two won’t be able to keep up. That was the most despicable thing about the bill because you are really mandating misinformation.” The bill also exempts rape and incest victims since it poses “a giant loophole with that suggestion because women apparently lie about rape and incest,” Cockrum said. “That becomes especially contentious for pro-choice proponents,” Tanner said. “Pro-lifers tend to say it’s about the fetus, whereas pro-choice people say it’s about a woman’s choice, especially rape.” CEO and President of Indiana Right to Life Mike Fichter said on the organization’s website that the new bill represents the majority of Hoosiers’ views of abortion. The bill will be officially enacted if it passes in the Senate in the following weeks.
(03/23/11 8:54pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Every movie has its highs and lows. Unfortunately, the only highs in the new action thriller “Limitless” are the ones Bradley Cooper’s character gets from taking a translucent pill that unleashes his potential to lead the perfect life. Eddie Morra is a writer down on his luck until he runs into his ex-wife’s brother, who then provides him with NZT, the aforementioned drug. After finally writing a sci-fi novel, he starts to make impressive stock market predictions, catching the attention of a bigwig Wall Street CEO, played by Robert De Niro. Eventually Eddie runs into the problem of a low drug supply as well as fellow NZT addicts, projecting “Limitless” as both a cautionary tale and a toned-down action flick. The issue with “Limitless” is that it falls into neither category. De Niro’s threatening yet calm monologues add a cool touch, but before any real conflict could ensue, the credits rolled and I left the theater never quite empathizing with the protagonist’s few climactic struggles.
(03/20/11 9:37pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Indiana Memorial Union is more than just a hotel. It’s the go-to spot on campus for food, movies, ATMs, books, entertainment events and even a haircut. When completed in 1932, it was the world’s largest student union. We’ve broken down three of the bustling floors to keep you from getting lost.MEZZANINESugar & SpiceSugar & Spice pastry chef Michael Craig said it is the only store of its kind in the country. It offers organic coffee, cheeses, meats and pastries ranging from traditional chocolate chip cookies to chocolate pistachio cheesecake. “We have our traditions, like the chocolate nomakes and special cake chewies,” Craig said. “We’re trying to reimagine and innovate what Sugar & Spice is a little bit, but also keep the classics so that we’re not drastically changing.” It also offers mail orders for people from as far away as California.Back Alley BowlingBack Alley Bowling offers more than what its title implies, operating a billiards and arcade room, Manager John Bower said. Although Back Alley attracts students for its cheap rates, Bower said since it doesn’t serve alcohol or food, it creates tough competition next to other businesses. Rates for the general public are $2.50 for a bowling game, and black-light bowling is $2.75 for students and $3 for the general public. Rates for the billiards room for those without a student ID are $5.75 and $5.50 for students.LOBBYDunn Meadow Cafe Dunn Meadow Cafe is a healthy option for students. Formerly named Kiva, Dunn Meadow Cafe was reopened in February 2010, Retail Manager Holly Parient said. The menu lists an array of fresh sandwiches, such as the Toasted Turkey Ciabatta, the Pesto Chicken Dagwood, a vegetarian Dagwood and various wraps and pitas. It also has a build-your-own-sandwich option and a salad bar.Sycamore Corner StoreThe Sycamore Corner Store is a convenient last-minute shop for hotel guests, especially since it’s located next to the main desk in the lobby. Meagan Need, a clerk at the front desk in the center lobby, said she occasionally goes there for a candy bar and milk, but the store is targeted toward guests. The store will soon offer wine, chocolate baskets, beer, souvenir baskets and nut baskets, according to the IMU website.FIRST FLOORStarbucksIf you’re several yards away from the IMU, you’ll probably see many pedestrians — especially students — carrying a Starbucks coffee. While a Starbucks is located on Indiana Avenue, which is not far from the IMU, the Starbucks on the first floor is a popular spot for studying and catching up with friends. The large sitting area, also known as the IMU Gallery for its featured art, can sit dozens of patrons.South LoungeThe South Lounge, a brief walk from the IMU Starbucks, is another frequented stop for students looking for a cozy place to study. Students can sink into the large leather couches or read at a table near the windows.Whittenberger AuditoriumThe Whittenberger Auditorium is known for its free weekly film series on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, which is organized by Union Board. Manager and Sales Assistant Sarah Cady said the Auditorium, which was named after the first president of the University’s first student union, John Whittenberger, can sit up to 400 people.Alumni HallAlumni Hall, which is more formal than the Whittenberger Auditorium, is 5,000 square feet and the largest and most used meeting hall in the IMU, Event Manager and Sales Assistant Sarah Cady said. Whenever events in Alumni Hall exceed the room’s capacity, the Solarium, which is adjacent to the Hall, often helps with overflow.
(03/10/11 1:56am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The IU Diversity Committee met Monday in the Sassafras Room at the Indiana Memorial Union to discuss plans for a two-hour diversity conference March 23 at the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center. The conference, called Conversation: Diversity, Ethnicity and Internationalism, will pose three questions about the diversity on campus to faculty, students and staff at IU. “We want to be very problem-centered, very resolution-centered and focused,” said Carolyn Calloway-Thomas, chairwoman of the Diversity Committee and associate professor in the Department of Communication and Culture. “We’re trying to be consensus-building, and we’re trying to get a sense of what the nature of the conversation is on campus,” she said.Calloway-Thomas said she plans to invite the deans from the School of Education and the College of Arts and Sciences to open the conference with two-to-five minute welcome speeches. There will also be representatives from various IU departments to facilitate the discussions, she said. “Everyone’s part will be valued and respected, and we’ll allow everyone a chance to answer the question,” Director of Diversity Education Eric Love said. Doug Bauder, who works at Student Support Services with the Gay, Lesbian, Transgender Student Alumni Association, said if the conference does not have facilitation of some sort, then discussion will fall apart. “It will be the responsibility of each facilitator to make sure every voice is heard,” he said.
(03/09/11 11:38pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Love is never blind. Love is in the eye of the beholder. These are just a couple of the clichés the plot of “Beastly” fails to qualify as original. Adapted from a young adult novel, “Beastly” opens with Kyle (Alex Pettyfer), the popular and vain son of a successful news anchor, running for president of the green committee against Lindy, played by Vanessa Hudgens. Meanwhile, Kendra, Mary-Kate Olsen’s character who plays the school’s witch, is conjuring a curse for Kyle after he asks her, as a joke, to a dance. Once the curse is set, Kyle has seven months to get someone to fall in love with him despite his physical transformation. The gimmicky dialogue as the romance between Lindy and Kyle grows is bad for the lead actors’ already bad acting, with the exception of Neil Patrick Harris’ inexplicable role, which adds needed comic relief. The most genuine connection I felt during “Beastly” was when Kyle’s maid imparted the burden of being a parent, proving that love is much more than a bunch of teenage love scenes.
(02/10/11 3:28am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Spring is just around the corner, which means one thing: Trees will bloom.In Bloomington, however, road construction on West Third Street, in between Landmark Avenue and Franklin Road, has eliminated about 20 trees from the roadside.To remedy the trees’ uprooting, the City of Bloomington Parks and Recreation Department was granted $9,375 from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources to plant 150 trees along West Third Street, where construction from about 10 years ago is still in the works. DNR Community and Urban Forestry Coordinator Pam Louks said Bloomington, out of 16 communities throughout the state funded by the Put the Trees Back grant, originally requested $12,375 that Bloomington would match. After Bloomington was denied the initial amount, the city was able to match the $9,375.“We don’t have enough money to go around,” Louks said. “We only had $121,203 to award and we received over 37 applications requesting over $400,000 in funds.”Applications for the grant were due Oct. 10 last year, and in November and December the communities were reviewed. The DNR ranked Bloomington high because of its promised cash match, a management plan and a tree board inventory. Plans for the project are set to start in March and must be finished by June 30, 2012, Louks said. The allocation from the grant, along with the Parks and Recreation Department’s match, will be spent on purchasing and planting trees, said Urban Forester at the Parks and Recreation Department Lee Huss. He said the proposed species of tree, which may include maple and oak, are not particularly expensive. “We have found a source for them here in Indiana, so I don’t think that’ll be a big problem,” he said. And the trees won’t be hard to notice. “We’re talking trees that are of significant size,” Louks said. “Generally they are 150 to 350 dollars apiece. So those costs are not excessive at all. They’re right in line with what generally the Midwest is spending on purchase of planting of trees.”During the project, stop-and-go lights were replaced and Adams Street was curved to meet West Third Street. Joyce Williams at the Project Engineering Division for the City of Bloomington said phase two of the West Third Street project will extend the road from Landmark Avenue off of Third, continue to Franklin Road and will finally extend the four lanes to Highway 37. The completion date is set for July 21.Williams said complaints have been reported from time to time but that the division works to address them as they come. “Probably the primary complaint is about pot holes, and so we speak to the contractor and have them fill those in,” she said. “We get calls from both residents and drivers, depending on the issues.”Funds for the West Third Street project and grant money from Put the Trees Back are derived from federal funds. The Parks and Recreation Department came up with its match to the grant through the Bloomington Tree Fund, which is deduced from taxes, according to bloomington.in.gov. The West Third Street widening project is also locally funded through gasoline taxes.
(02/08/11 3:53am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching selected IU-Bloomington and IU-Purdue University Fort Wayne for the 2010 Community Engagement Classification out of 154 applied institutions.The National Advisory Panel consults the classification team at the New England Resource Center for Higher Education. The team consists of John Saltmarsh, the director of the NERCHE, along with Amy Driscoll, consulting scholar.They consider colleges and universities that demonstrate commitments to community volunteerism, teaching, research, service-learning, economic improvement for the state and more. Junior and dietetics major Augusta Hasse is an advocate for community engagement at the Office of Service-Learning for Templeton Elementary School. Her job as an ACE is to organize students through the Office of Service-Learning for needs at Templeton. “We always need students to help teachers in class and help supervise the kids and everything,” she said. “I also do direct services in their classrooms. It’s one of the big parts of being an ACE. They want you to get to know the agency that you’re serving, and so I volunteered in a special education classroom last semester.”Director of the Office of Service-Learning Nicole Schonemann said civic engagement should be an important part of every person’s life. “If students are involved in the community, it can broaden someone’s horizons,” she said.Although student volunteering and the OSL play a part in IU’s success in engaging the larger Monroe County community, faculty and staff have also done their parts to further contribute to the community’s needs. In the 2008-09 school year, associate music professor Brenda Brenner at the Jacobs School of Music began to supervise a violin program for first graders at Fairview Elementary School in an effort to expose students to instrumental learning and track whether their reading scores improved.Since the program succeeded in helping students academically, Brenner said 29 IU students now work for the program at Fairview and Highland Park School, and it will extend to second graders and selected third graders.“It has changed many music students’ attitudes and perceptions about working with an underserved population and has given them valuable experience working with a population that is quite gratifying to teach,” Brenner said.Right now, Kasia Bugaj, assistant instructor of the violin program started at Fairview, is helping Brenner head a similar program at a school in Attica, Ind. Senior and ACE Gabrielle Cheikh has been involved with the global chapter of the Community Foundation.Every year the Community Foundation takes a trip to Guatemala, among other places, to give medical service.“IU goes once a year for spring break,” she said. “We’ve been to Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, and now we’re with Guatemala. Each trip pairs with a local organization in that country, and we work with them to set up medical clinics in five to seven small villages.”Cheikh also said she is interested in what other Bloomington nonprofits do for the community.“I think Bloomington in general has a lot of great organizations that are supported by the community,” she said. “They’re also just internally run in a way that’s more about empowerment than giving. So I think that Bloomington really got it right when they started these nonprofits. I think the community really knows how to help people in a direct way.”
(01/28/11 2:47am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>College students are known for their constant money shortage and that problem may become more pronounced.Renters have seen and may continue to see an increase in monthly rent.IU junior Laurelle Downer has lived at the Varsity Villas for two years. She said Varsity Properties are not the best quality, but cheap prices kept her and other residents there for so long.Downer said although the Villa’s apartments increased monthly rents by $45 in the past two years, Downer and her roommates have not had to pay the difference because they chose to re-sign their lease. But in Indianapolis rent has increased since 2009 due to the housing market’s downturn, strict mortgage standards and home-buyer’s federal tax expiration.IU Residential Programs and Services finished building apartments on Union Street in August, while a new complex on College Avenue called Nine North Apartments is currently being built. Doug Horn, a general partner at Horn Properties, which owns and operates several buildings and single houses near campus, said in an e-mail the “market niche” has not been negatively affected by the national downturn in real estate values. “Over the past five years or so ... we and many of our peers have seen a fairly consistent ratio of revenue to expenses,” Horn said. “Still, modest rent increases have been necessary to maintain that ratio.”The commercial side of the rental market has not been very profitable. John West, a real estate agent from F.C. Tucker, said businesses are more apt to be negotiable because of the current economic state. “They (commercial rents) have either stayed the same or have gotten worse,” he said.