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(06/10/10 5:20pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Jun. 16, 2009 – When Alfred Kinsey established the Institute in 1947, the author of “Sexual Behavior in the Human Male” and “Sexual Behavior in the Human Female” was not anticipating shattering societal norms and standards regarding sexuality. Attempting only to uncover American perceptions of the concept of “sex” through his famous surveys and Kinsey Reports, the Institute’s Web site said Kinsey broke down religious and societal barriers to release his statistics on American sexuality.Despite its groundbreaking contributions to science and society more than 60 years ago, the Kinsey Institute still maintains a system of steady research. Today researchers focus on health-related issues rather than shaking the foundations of public morality.Recent studies at the Kinsey Institute examine cancer survivors and sex, condom use and errors and influences of hormones on a woman’s brain, as seen in Heather Rupp’s research titled “Brain Imaging and Sexual Attraction.”The most junior researcher at the Kinsey Institute, Rupp said she most often faces the challenge of obtaining federal funding for her research.“There is a government conservative bias against research because it has this uncomfortable ‘Why would you study sex? It’s not cancer, why would we give money to that?’” she said.As a result, Rupp said her research into sex must focus more on health-related issues.“A lot of people don’t even consider sex research as a science,” she said. “But we are applying the same theories, methods and even more stringent criteria to data because of stigmas attached.”“Brain Imaging and Sexual Attraction” focuses on hormones and their reaction in the brain from influences of a woman’s processing of her surrounding environment, she said.Jennifer Bass, Kinsey Institute director of communications, echoed Rupp’s sentiments, citing the taboo of sex as a primary cause for the lack of public and government support.“The Kinsey Institute is very unique because the topic is sex, so it’s much more controversial than many other places on campus,” she said.Bass said federal and state legislators have tried to close the Kinsey Institute several times, but have only succeeded in passing bills to cut funding and support.“Our legislators — the very conservative ones, who have been threatening to close us down for many years — were scared, really, to come in,” she said. “They’ve been invited many times to come and have a tour and talk with us, and I think people are surprised that we’re just a bunch of middle-aged researchers and it’s really not all that sexy.”Because of political issues, particularly with the current presidential administration, “the word ‘sex’ is very hard to get funding for,” Bass said.In the Kinsey Institute’s biannual publication “Kinsey Today,” Director Julia Heiman said one of the biggest challenges the Institute faces is funding.Funding sources for the institute can withdraw at any time, she said.The young Kinsey Institute in the 1940s stayed afloat because of Herman B Wells and his goal of “academics first,” Bass said.“Herman Wells had told Alfred Kinsey that he had the right to do this research even though it was controversial,” she said. “So, we had a president who created an atmosphere of academic freedom, and that’s the most important part.”The 1940s and 1950s saw great advances in the way humans interpreted sex, Bass said. Even then, in the 1950s and 1960s, former director Paul Gebhard said in Kinsey Today that religious fundamentalists, and even Communist witch-hunter Sen. Joseph McCarthy, targeted and denounced the Kinsey Institute and its founder.As the second director of the Kinsey Institute, Gebhard said the first “post-Kinsey book” was entirely statistical and “boring.”Gebhard said the Institute received help from a man from the National Institute of Mental Health, but the main project faculty had to focus on was processing all of Kinsey’s gathered data.“The major challenge was getting grant monies to allow us to continue to prove our worth,” he said in Kinsey Today.
(06/16/09 4:36am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>When Alfred Kinsey established the Institute in 1947, the author of “Sexual Behavior in the Human Male” and “Sexual Behavior in the Human Female” was not anticipating shattering societal norms and standards regarding sexuality. Attempting only to uncover American perceptions of the concept of “sex” through his famous surveys and Kinsey Reports, the Institute’s Web site said Kinsey broke down religious and societal barriers to release his statistics on American sexuality.Despite its groundbreaking contributions to science and society more than 60 years ago, the Kinsey Institute still maintains a system of steady research. Today researchers focus on health-related issues rather than shaking the foundations of public morality.Recent studies at the Kinsey Institute examine cancer survivors and sex; condom use and errors; and influences of hormones on a woman’s brain, as seen in Heather Rupp’s research titled “Brain Imaging and Sexual Attraction.”Alfred Kinsey, sex researchers the most junior researcher at the Kinsey Institute, Rupp said she most often faces the challenge of obtaining federal funding for her research.“There is a government conservative bias against research because it has this uncomfortable ‘why would you study sex, it’s not cancer, why would we give money to that?’” she said.As a result, Rupp said her research into sex must focus more on health-related issues.“A lot of people don’t even consider sex research as a science,” she said. “But we are applying the same theories, methods and even more stringent criteria to data because of stigmas attached.”“Brain Imaging and Sexual Attraction” focuses on hormones and their reaction in the brain from influences of a woman’s processing of her surrounding environment, she said.Jennifer Bass, Kinsey Institute director of communications, echoed Rupp’s sentiments, citing the taboo of sex as a primary cause for the lack of public and government support.“The Kinsey Institute is very unique because the topic is sex, so it’s much more controversial than many other places on campus,” she said.Bass said federal and state legislators have tried to close the Kinsey Institute several times, but have only succeeded in passing bills to cut funding and support.“Our legislators – the very conservative ones, who have been threatening to close us down for many years – were scared, really, to come in,” she said. “They’ve been invited many times to come and have a tour and talk with us, and I think people are surprised that we’re just a bunch of middle-aged researchers and it’s really not all that sexy.”Because of political issues, particularly with the current presidential administration, “the word ‘sex’ is very hard to get funding for,” Bass said.In the Kinsey Institute’s biannual publication “Kinsey Today,” Director Julia Heiman said one of the biggest challenges the Institute faces is funding.Funding sources for the institute have the ability to withdraw at any given time, she said.The young Kinsey Institute in the 1940s stayed afloat because of Herman B Wells and his goal of “academics first,” Bass said.“Herman Wells had told Alfred Kinsey that he had the right to do this research even though it was controversial,” she said. “So, we had a president who created an atmosphere of academic freedom, and that’s the most important part.”The 1940s and 1950s saw great advances in the way humans interpreted sex, Bass said. Even then, in the 1950s and 1960s, former director Paul Gebhard said in Kinsey Today that religious fundamentalists, and even Communist witch-hunter Sen. Joseph McCarthy, targeted and denounced the Kinsey Institute and its founder.As the second director of the Kinsey Institute, Gebhard said the first “post-Kinsey book” was entirely statistical and “boring.”Gebhard said the Institute received help from a man from the National Institute of Mental Health, but the main project faculty had to focus on was processing all of Kinsey’s gathered data.“The major challenge was getting grant monies to allow us to continue to prove our worth,” he said in Kinsey Today.
(10/06/08 5:11am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Reindeer, gently falling snow and woolen sweaters are not the first things you think of when Bloomington comes to mind. But this year Scandinavia appeared and extended its wintery hand to downtown, sharing hundreds of years of musical and cultural tradition.The 15th annual Lotus World Music and Arts Festival began gently this year compared to other years, opening Thursday night in the Buskirk-Chumley Theater with the Northern Realms concert. In the past, world-renowned world-fusion Balkan Beat Box explosively inaugurated Lotus Fest to begin the three day-long revelry and cultural exchange.Thousands of world music enthusiasts, including students and Bloomington residents, congregated downtown to hear a mostly new artist list. With bands spanning from Spain to Syria, Mongolia to Mexico and Brown County, Bloomington’s arguably largest cultural event delivered the rest of the world to southern Indiana. SLIDESHOW: Lotus FestFeaturing string bands Waltz with Me and Frigg, and Gaelic folksinger Julie Fowlis, Thursday’s Northern Realms series welcomed Lotus Fest-goers of all ages. Waltz with Me’s Annbjørg Lien inaugurated the concert with her band’s bluegrass and Swedish fiddle flavor. With three different types of fiddles and a cello, Waltz With Me gracefully awed the crowd with its unique blended sounds and melodies. Friday night’s indoor and outdoor concert artists were not deterred by the chilly weather, with bands such as local roots and blues’ Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band, Hungarian ska/rock/gypsy’s Little Cow, Latin folklorico’s Pistolera and Mali desert blues’ Vieux Farka Toure filling the air.Although Frigg was scheduled to play only at Thursday night’s opening concert, members of the Norwegian and Finnish string band set up on the sidewalk across from the Buskirk-Chumley Theater and played several of their songs on various stringed instruments, including dobro (a type of resonator guitar), mandola and a cittern (a type of flat-backed lute).Frigg member Petri Prauda said the origins of the cittern go back to Renaissance Italy, Germany and England.Junior Nick Yugo and his sister Katharine, a freshman, both said that as Lotus first-timers, the experience was worth going to again. “The best part of the evening was listening to some of the bands who had already played in a tent earlier on in the day but love it so much that they just set up and kept playing on the street wherever people would hear them,” Nick Yugo said, alluding to the band Frigg.For Katharine Yugo, getting off campus and meeting new people was her favorite part.Saturday night was the paramount evening of Lotus Fest, notably beginning with Syrian singer Gaida Hinnawi in the Buskirk-Chumley Theater. Hinnawi and her four-piece band performed traditional Arabic folk songs and some Arabic jazz pieces. Always keeping the audience engaged, the New York-based vocalist and composer mesmerized everyone who watched her performance.As the evening progressed, some of the world’s most talented artists, including Pistolera, who sang Spanish songs about tattoos and lead singer Sandra Valezquez’s experience of being arrested, heated up the cold night. Over at The Bluebird Nightclub, Brown County native Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band performed again, with a much older and more enthusiastic crowd. Peyton’s wife Breezy jokingly scolded the Lotus planners, saying “it’s about damn time we bring Indiana music to this (world music festival).” Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band performs in about 250 concerts and world music festivals in the United States, Europe and Canada, she said.The unique Lo Cor de la Plana ended Lotus Festival in the Buskirk-Chumley Theater, singing in the ancient language Occitan, or Provençal, from southern France near the Spanish border.In one of the final concerts, Little Cow magnetized crowds of Balkan Beat Box-proportions, and hipsters and yuppies alike danced for the entire hour-long set. Saturday evening ended with a bang in the Carey Worldwide Chauffeured Tent near Fourth Street, with Chicago-based Funkadesi’s global fusion beats saturating the downtown area.After teaching the audience bhangra, (a type of Indian dance from the Punjab region), Funkadesi made a shout out to a “certain Illinois senator.” When the crowd began to cheer wildly, bassist Rahul Sharma joked that he “didn’t know (the audience was) such Dick Durbin fans.” The band made a political statement in favor of the Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama and then continued its electrifying and energetic performance.“I had heard from people who have gone in the past that it is one of the many things that makes Bloomington unique,” Katharine Yugo said. “Nowhere else in Indiana will you find the talent and diversity as this weekend here.”Nick Yugo had the same opinion, saying “after this experience, Lotus Fest is definitely on my list of fall things to do as long as I am in Bloomington, and I totally encourage anyone who hasn’t gone before to take the opportunity and check it out.”
(07/02/08 9:59pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>In the past 2 1/2 weeks, I’ve been traveling all around the Dominican Republic studying folk medicine and culture (and Spanish, to boot). I’ve seen both northern and southern coasts of the island, accidentally went into a prostitution bar and out-bargained some of the stingiest souvenir shops. While I initially thought that two months in the Dominican Republic would be a tropical vacation, the massive poverty and lack of regulated sanitation quickly proved me wrong.The DR, as my friends and I affectionately call it, has a national poverty level at 42.2 percent and the average annual yearly income is barely over $7,000 per year. I live in Jarabacoa, endearingly called “the Alps of the Caribbean.” I find this hard to believe, because there is less chocolate and snow involved than I care for, but my city is home to some of the wealthiest and poorest Dominicans in the world. Nestled in between the Cordillera Central mountain range, vacation mansions and wooden shacks overpopulate the valley. The Dominican Republic is fatefully dependent on the economy of the United States, and the decline into recession is apparent all over the country.But the rapidly declining economic situation doesn’t stop Jarabacoa’s wealthier, younger crowd from going out every weekend. Although naught in comparison to Santo Domingo’s clubbers, Jarabacoa’s finest spend hours getting dressed in the least amount of clothes possible, caking on pounds of makeup like their favorite "telenovela" star and gossiping about that skanky girl they saw the night before. My program director is convinced that “merengue” leads to teenage pregnancy, and I believe it. Girls as young as 14 go to the dance clubs (even though they’re legally not supposed to) and dress as though they’re headed to a family duel on “Jerry Springer.” Merengue is a type of Latin dance that requires both dance partners to move their hips very fast – nearly gyrating – and move in two-step patterns in a tight circular pattern. And as if the incalculable sexuality of merengue isn’t enough, if you aren’t dressed like a homewrecker no one will dance with you at the clubs. This is one of our favorite defense mechanisms.Another favorite pastime of the men in Jarabacoa is to sit on their porches and yell “piropos” at every woman who walks by, regardless of age or color (race, by the way, is still a huge issue in this country). Piropos are quick phrases that a man will shout out at a woman as she passes by, complimenting her figure, walk, looks and so on. Sometimes they are sexually explicit and obscene, and most women choose to ignore them. In the past two weeks, I’ve been called “rubita” (I have red hair, not blonde), “diablo rojo” (at least they got the “red” part right) and other things not suitable for print. On the occasion, a high school-aged kid will yell something in broken English and has no idea what he just said, so I’ll fire something back at him in my horrible Midwestern accent and he’ll stare at me blankly. In my mind, it’s a small step for gender equality and satisfaction. No matter how crude I find some aspects of the culture, Dominicans are a beautiful group of people with an even more impressive attribute of hospitality. My host family gave me the best bedroom, adjusted to my vegetarian diet and cooks the most delicious foods for me. All my neighbors greet me with a hearty “Hola!” every day on my walk to class, and the shop owners are finally starting to realize that they can’t rip me off with the “precio Americano” (the “American price.") Most people thought I was crazy to study medicine in a Third World, economically developing nation, but if you balance out the negatives with the positives, I couldn’t see myself anywhere else.
(06/05/08 10:52pm)
When Alfred Kinsey established the Institute in 1947, the author of “Sexual Behavior in the Human Male” and “Sexual Behavior in the Human Female” was not anticipating shattering societal norms and standards regarding sexuality.
(06/05/08 8:09pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>While IU is still experiencing Indian summer and football season is kicking off, downtown Bloomington transforms into an international Lollapalooza: the Lotus World Music and Arts Festival. Every year, Bloomington’s Lotus Education & Arts Foundation flies in dozens of world-music artists for three nights of dancing, music and interactive art. To students who aren’t really into the party scene, Lotus Fest is the next best thing to Little 500. Even if you are a social butterfly, Lotus is still an awesome opportunity to schmooze with international artists and party with them after their shows. Acts usually range from Tibetan throat singing to Afro-Cuban jazz, Iraqi folk music to French Algerian rai. Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Seu Jorge, who composed the soundtrack for the film “The Life Aquatic”, showed up a few years ago, and internationally known and loved Middle Eastern fusion group Balkan Beat Box started at Lotus Fest in 2005.Unless you’ve lived in Bloomington all your life, you’ve probably never heard of Lotus Fest. I lived in Evansville (about two and a half hours away from IU) for 18 years, and I was never aware of its existence. But when I first saw the huge tour buses parked around downtown Bloomington and heard the foreign sounds of Srinivas Krishnan Ensemble (Indian and Afghani music), I fell in love. If you’re not into world music, you most certainly will be after walking around downtown during the festival. There is literally a genre for everyone in the music scene. Last year, the Bloomington yuppies swooned over “Dumb & Dumbers”’ Jeff Daniels while the younger crowd fought tooth-and-nail to get into the Bluebird to hear the very attractive MC Rai. Not into jazz or West African roots music? That’s fine, because Golem, a Hebrew klezmer rock group, and the March Fourth marching band showed up last year. Are you so over high school marching band? Not a problem. Cajun and swing The Red Stick Ramblers and reggae’s Taj Weekes entertained beautifully last year. Taj was a riot, too. After hearing that I wanted to interview him before Lotus Fest began, he called me and answered my questions on his performances, and told me all about his philosophies on mainstream reggae. I also had the opportunity to hang out with Balkan Beat Box after their one-time performance last year. Some of the coolest guys you’ll ever meet, their band is made up of Israelis, Palestinians, Americans and Balkans. On a worldwide mission to promote world peace, they informed me that Bloomington is, by far, their favorite place to perform. Lotus is an expensive endeavor for college students (tickets usually cost about $30 for the entire weekend), but the IU Union Board has a free-admission tent, and really, you can hear any band you want outside of the tent in which they are playing. There are definitely ways to enjoy Lotus Fest without having to dip into your savings account. For more information about Lotus World Music and Arts Festival, visit www.lotusfest.org. Ticket and artist information, in addition to the 2008 performance dates and schedules, can be found on the Web site.
(06/04/08 8:50pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Morrison Hall is located in the middle of IU’s campus, resting between Goodbody and Sycamore Halls. Behind the large oak trees that shade its lawn and up the stairs that entice its guests sits the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction, which takes up three of the building’s floors.When Alfred Kinsey established the Institute in 1947, the author of “Sexual Behavior in the Human Male” and “Sexual Behavior in the Human Female” was not anticipating shattering societal norms and standards regarding sexuality. Attempting only to uncover American perceptions of the concept of “sex” through his famous surveys and Kinsey Reports, the Institute’s Web site said Kinsey broke down religious and societal barriers to release his statistics on American sexuality.Despite its groundbreaking contributions to science and society more than 60 years ago, the Kinsey Institute still maintains a system of steady research. Today researchers focus on health-related issues rather than shaking the foundations of public morality.Recent studies at the Kinsey Institute examine cancer survivors and sex; condom use and errors; and influences of hormones on a woman’s brain, as seen in Heather Rupp’s research titled “Brain Imaging and Sexual Attraction.”As the most junior researcher at the Kinsey Institute, Rupp said she most often faces the challenge of obtaining federal funding for her research.“There is a government conservative bias against research because it has this uncomfortable ‘why would you study sex, it’s not cancer, why would we give money to that?’” she said. As a result, Rupp said her research into sex must focus more on health-related issues.“A lot of people don’t even consider sex research as a science,” she said. “But we are applying the same theories, methods and even more stringent criteria to data because of stigmas attached.”“Brain Imaging and Sexual Attraction” focuses on hormones and their reaction in the brain from influences of a woman’s processing of her surrounding environment, she said.Jennifer Bass, Kinsey Institute director of communications, echoed Rupp’s sentiments, citing the taboo of sex as a primary cause for the lack of public and government support.“The Kinsey Institute is very unique because the topic is sex, so it’s much more controversial than many other places on campus,” she said.Bass said federal and state legislators have tried to close the Kinsey Institute several times, but have only succeeded in passing bills to cut funding and support. “Our legislators – the very conservative ones, who have been threatening to close us down for many years – were scared, really, to come in,” she said. “They’ve been invited many times to come and have a tour and talk with us, and I think people are surprised that we’re just a bunch of middle-aged researchers and it’s really not all that sexy.” Because of political issues, particularly with the current presidential administration, “the word ‘sex’ is very hard to get funding for,” Bass said.In the Kinsey Institute’s biannual publication “Kinsey Today,” Director Julia Heiman said one of the biggest challenges the Institute faces is funding.Funding sources for the institute have the ability to withdraw at any given time, she said. The young Kinsey Institute in the 1940s stayed afloat because of Herman B Wells and his goal of “academics first,” Bass said. “Herman Wells had told Alfred Kinsey that he had the right to do this research even though it was controversial,” she said. “So, we had a president who created an atmosphere of academic freedom, and that’s the most important part.”The 1940s and 1950s saw great advances in the way humans interpreted sex, Bass said. Even then, in the 1950s and 1960s, former director Paul Gebhard said in Kinsey Today that religious fundamentalists, and even Communist witch-hunter Sen. Joseph McCarthy, targeted and denounced the Kinsey Institute and its founder.As the second director of the Kinsey Institute, Gebhard said the first “post-Kinsey book” was entirely statistical and “boring.”Gebhard said the Institute received help from a man from the National Institute of Mental Health, but the main project faculty had to focus on was processing all of Kinsey’s gathered data.“The major challenge was getting grant monies to allow us to continue to prove our worth,” he said in Kinsey Today.
(04/23/08 1:32am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>I have to admit, I was rather skeptical when a friend suggested that I eat at “the Ethiopian restaurant” to review it. I had no idea what to expect from Ashenda’s Abasha Restaurant, which shares a building with Puccini’s La Dolce Vita.When we walked into the big yellow house on Fourth Street, the host asked which side we wanted to sit on – Italian or Ethiopian – then led us into a room filled with pottery and tribal masks. Animal prints and traditional African instruments lined the walls. A large teapot and a hookah sat in the corner.As the waitress brought water and took orders, I noticed she was wearing an atypical “uniform.” Later, my friend asked her about her garb, which she explained was an Ethiopian dress. Usually, the waitresses for the Ethiopian side wear some sort of traditional outfit, she explained.We ordered a rather large amount of food, starting with an appetizer of yeshimbra assa, or chickpea balls with garlic, coriander and thyme. It is cooked with tomato and herb sauce and served with hambasha, a type of Ethiopian sourdough bread that was a lot sweeter than I expected. The assa wasn’t as spicy as I had anticipated but was flavorful and savory with the hambasha. I was a huge fan of this dish, though, and it was easily my favorite part of the meal.Our entrees were ready rather quickly and were served on a huge piece of injera, a type of spongy flatbread that tasted too much like yeasty beer for my liking. In addition to my order of yemisir alecha – red lentil wat (stew) with potato, spinach and Ethiopian herbs and spices – the meal came with curried carrots, potatoes and a salad with homemade honey vinaigrette dressing. While Ethiopian cuisine is laden with vegetarian dishes, beef, lamb and chicken were frequently recurring options on the menu. My dinner guest ordered the yebeg alecha, which he described as cubes of lamb sauteed in a mild curry sauce with Ethiopian spices.The yemisir alecha and yebeg alecha were delicious and full of Middle Eastern flavor. Both dishes were incredibly hearty and filling but a little overshadowed by the bitterness of the injera. In contrast to other Middle Eastern cuisine, Ethiopians usually serve main courses as a paste-like substance rather than more solidified foods. Alechas and wats are popular dishes that incorporate regional spices and herbs, like garlic, hot peppers and ginger, but as opposed to neighboring Egypt's vegetable and meat dishes, Ethiopian meals have the consistency of mashed potatoes.Overall, my dining experience at Ashenda’s Abasha Restaurant was scrumptious, but I’m still wary as to the authenticity of the food’s Ethiopian-ness. With 4.4 percent of the country’s adult population suffering from the HIV/AIDS epidemic and an annual per capita income of $100, I can’t imagine a typical family being able to afford some of the ingredients used in this type of Ethiopian cooking. But don’t let this prevent you from enjoying this cuisine. One thing is certain: I did not leave this restaurant hungry.
(04/08/08 12:18am)
The scene outside Assembly Hall Sunday looked more like a tailgate party before a football game than a concert.\nThousands of concertgoers anxiously waited, some for more than 12 hours, to get good seats for the free Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds concert, “Change Rocks,” in support of Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama. \nAmong the card-playing, football-throwing fans, IU East student Lacey Isaacs stood wearily at the very front of the line. She had been in line since 10 p.m. Saturday night, she said, and was a little displeased with the organization of the event. \n“They kept changing everything around, and then we heard that the first 200 seats were going to VIPs,” she said. \nThe first 200 seats, to Isaacs’ dismay, did go to the VIP ticket holders, who rushed in to the stadium with no order or restraint. Thousands of excited students followed the VIPs, flooding the basketball court and first dozen rows of seats. \nVIP tickets were given to students who registered 20 people to vote before the Friday deadline. Voter registration for Indiana, however, ends today, and early voting begins Tuesday. \nLawrence North High School senior Kevin Kinghorn said he had great expectations for the concert. \n“This is going to be a great show, the best show,” he said. “I mean, it’s Dave Matthews, he can do whatever he wants.” \nKinghorn said he most looked forward to the excitement and joy he would get from the concert, “especially for free.” \n“I’ve been a fan of Dave’s since I was five, and this will be an awesome show,” he said. \nIU alumnus Andrew Cassis of Floyds Knob, Ind., said he came to the concert as a “huge Dave fan,” with his 9-months-pregnant wife, Angie. \nThe Cassis’ drove several hours to see the musician, whom they also saw at one of Matthew’s favorite places to play, the Gorge Amphitheater, in Seattle, Wash., on Labor Day last year. \n“I guarantee that a lot of votes will come from this concert,” Angie Cassis said. \nAndrew Cassis agreed, saying that “when it comes down to it, winning Indiana and Kentucky will give Obama the competitive edge to win the nomination.” \nHe added that it could very well put Obama into the White House because of his outreach to the students at IU. \nIn the nearly-packed Assembly Hall, Andrew Cassis was interrupted by the roar from the audience as members of Students for Barack Obama and Bloomington mayor Mark Kruzan came onto the stage. \n“I only have three questions for you,” Kruzan said. “Number one: are you ready to change America? Number two: do you believe in yourself? Number three: are you going to vote?” \nCorrecting himself, Kruzan asked his fourth question: “Will you join me in welcoming Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds?” \nAs Matthews and Reynolds walked on stage, a deafening roar erupted from the crowd. \nThe duo opened with “Bartender,” creating a nearly 17,000-person sing-a-long, setting an energetic vibe for the rest of the concert. \n“It’s very nice to be here again, after a short period away,” Matthews said. “I hope we fill the spaces in you that need filling.” \nIn an interview with the Indiana Daily Student Friday, the Grammy award-winning musician said he “felt moved by Obama” and was “inspired to become a part of the campaign by throwing whatever weight I could behind him.” \nMatthews said he believes that “young people in America have not felt moved to be part of the political process.” \n“People think it’s empty to talk about big ideas, philosophy and inclusiveness,” Matthews said. “That’s rubbish. It’s all about having big ideas, then figuring out the nuts and bolts.” \nMatthews praised Obama for recognizing the importance of young people in the political process and said he offers a “profound chance, where the most important thing is to inspire our youth.”
(04/04/08 7:20am)
Thousands of students anxiously lined Washington Street outside Sen. Barack Obama’s Bloomington campaign office and the Indiana Memorial Union Wednesday night and all day Thursday to get their hands on free Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds concert tickets.\nMatthews and Reynolds will perform at 7 p.m. Sunday at Assembly Hall, although doors will open at 5:30 p.m. The duo will perform as part of Sen. Obama’s “Change Rocks” concert series, which has already taken place in Chicago.\nUnion Board Concert Committee Director Kathy Cook said that as of Thursday, 8,000 tickets were released all over the state due to the stage options available at Assembly Hall. However, she said she did not know if tickets had been sold out or not.\n“Lines for tickets were being cut because they were running out at the locations,” she said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they were all sold out.”\nCook encouraged students to be patient with the ushering staff, and asked that bags not be brought in and personal items be kept to a minimum in order to speed up the security check process.\n“Everyone with a ticket will get in and get a seat,” she said.\nCook said Union Board has invited other candidates to hold concerts or other large scale events as Sen. Obama has done.\nSophomore Heather Zurek said that while she only had to wait half an hour for a ticket Wednesday, friends had to wait in a line that spanned five blocks down Washington Street.\n“I’m expecting a lot of people to be at the concert,” she said. “It’ll be a little chaotic, but I plan on getting there early to get a good seat.”\nAs a recent fan of Matthews’ music, Zurek said she has been a big supporter of Obama for \na while. \n“This (concert) is a good way for college people to think about the election,” she said. “Obviously, it’s popular right now, trying to get Dave Matthews tickets, but it’s a way for people to become aware of being involved and knowing what’s going on in politics.”\nHowever, Zurek said important issues are taken away from the public eye by candidates using celebrities to stump for them.\nVolunteer Coordinator of Students for Barack Obama junior Anna Strand said she expects the concert to be “absolutely huge.”\nStrand said the ticket hand-outs were also proactive in getting students to vote.\n“We gave out information about early voting when people would get their tickets,” she said. “(Early voting) is vital because the primary election is May 6, after school gets out.”\nStrand said members of Students for Barack Obama also offered ticket holders incentives to get friends to register to vote.\n“If a student turns in 20 filled-out voter registration forms by Friday, they can get a VIP ticket,” she said. VIP tickets determine seating, she said, since the rest of the seating will be general admission.\nAs for the primary race, Strand said the election is going to be interesting.\n“For anyone who cares about politics and elections, this year is so exciting,” she said. “It used to be like pulling teeth to get students to care about elections,” but that isn’t the case this year, she said.\nWhile the event is open to all Indiana residents, concertgoers must present an Indiana student ID or Indiana driver’s license before entering Assembly Hall.\nOn Sunday before the concert, Cook said no lines will be recognized before noon. “If people try to camp out early Sunday morning in front of Assembly Hall, their line won’t be admitted into the actual line,” she said.
(03/26/08 7:04pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>On Monday, my sister was in town and I wanted to take her out to lunch, but I didn’t want to take her to the typical Bloomington ethnic or pizza restaurant. So, we went to the newly opened Rachael’s Café, opposite from the post office on Third Street. An article about the restaurant ran in the IDS about a month ago, so we wanted to give it a try, rather than stick with the familiar sushi or pasta regime.I was more than impressed with the atmosphere as soon as we walked down several stairs into the cafe’s dining room. Warm-colored walls and comfy couches filled the room, and an abundance of plants and paintings by local artists lined the dining area. Huge globe lamps hung over modern teak-and-steel tables. The cafe doesn’t conform to a specific genre of restaurant; rather, it offers a variety of organic, local and vegan dishes, owner Rachael Jones explained.The menu changes daily, so we had several options for lunch. Chef Amy prepares a mean Zanzibar kidney bean dish with coconut milk, poured over a bed of brown rice, but I chose her freshly made Nigerian pineapple and peanut stew.“It’s vegan,” Chef Amy told me, “but you can’t tell.” Complementing the intense spiciness of the peanut sauce, the flavorful pineapple mellowed out the stew. With added kale, the thick stew was filling but not heavy on the stomach.My sister ordered a turkey sandwich from a variety of meat-and-vegetable sandwiches the restaurant offers. Served on toasted bread with a side of Doritos, the sandwich, she told me, was absolutely delicious.While we waited for our food, the outgoing and friendly staff kept us company. Chef Amy and Rachael informed us of the whole-wheat-flour brownies, cookies and muffins, while a staff member played a song on her guitar for the other diners. Rachael also introduced us to the menu of coffees, teas and espresso, to which I indulged myself in a cup of Nicaraguan coffee. Between the sociable staff and delicious food, my experience at Rachael’s Café was exceedingly personable and enjoyable. Offering an atypical menu and a vast variety of coffee and tea, the cafe provides a true Bloomington experience, without the pizza.
(03/05/08 5:24pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Voted countless times as Best of Bloomington’s Best Pizza in Bloomington, Mother Bear’s Pizza is one of IU’s most celebrated dining establishments. The restaurant has been lauded by People Magazine as “one of America’s top nine pizzerias” and a finalist in Pizza Festiva/Pizza Today’s 2004 Pizza of the Year contest. There is no doubt that the affectionately nicknamed “Mo’Bear’s” pizza is delicious.The catch with this review was that I couldn’t order pizza from the ethereal Mo’Bears. Everyone knows the pizza is great, but what else is on the menu? In a rather adventurous mood, a friend and I explored the hidden treasures in the Mother Bear’s repertoire.For a Saturday night, the restaurant was understandably packed, but we got a table easily enough. If you have a party larger than two, however, expect a much longer wait. Because we didn’t order pizza, it took us much longer than usual to decide what we wanted to eat. To start, we decided on a half-order of breadsticks with spicy cheese sauce and marinara and a glass of strawberry lemonade with strawberry syrup and whole strawberries. In comparison to other Bloomington breadsticks, however, Mother Bear’s doesn’t compare well. Not having nearly enough flavor of their own, the breadsticks almost required the sauces to give them a more robust and fulfilling taste.For the meal portion, I ordered the small house salad, topped with diced tomatoes, red onion slivers, grated mozzarella cheese and goldfish crackers as croutons. The best part, though, was the ranch dressing prepared by the kitchen staff. Interestingly enough, the Mo’Bears chefs also paired the same dressing with the cheese bread we ordered. Smothered in a blend of cheeses and Italian spices, the order of eight cheese-bread slices was almost as filling as a small cheese pizza. To keep things vegetarian, I also ordered a side of toasted cheese ravioli with marinara, stuffed with ricotta and coated in a crunchy crust. The ravioli definitely needed more flavor; I felt like I was missing out on spices.From my understanding, most people on campus indulge in more carnivorous dishes, so my table also ordered the Chicken Italiano - chicken tenders stuffed into toasted Italian bread with mozzarella and marinara sauce. Declared “delicious” by my friend, the aroma of the sandwich almost tempted me to try a bite. French fries accompanied the sandwich, which reminded me of larger versions of McDonald’s French fries. While the pizza-less menu offers tempting pasta, sandwiches and appetizers, I learned my lesson with this adventure: When at Mo’Bears, indulge in pizza. Boasting 15 gourmet pizzas, three different sauces and countless topping options, there is a reason why they are famous for their pizza and not the rest of the menu.
(02/21/08 5:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Hookah, Oriental carpets and ornate pottery: No, this isn’t a scene from “Aladdin.” Rather, this “whole new world” is taken directly from Bloomington’s Turkuaz Café, an authentic Turkish restaurant.Located on Third Street two blocks west of the IU School of Law, the welcoming atmosphere of Turkuaz transports customers thousands of miles away to Turkey. Diners have the option to sit on normal dining chairs, or, after removing their shoes, they can experience the Turkish dining style by sitting on huge cushions.Beginning my meal with strong Turkish tea, I soaked in the atmosphere as I waited for my meal. Half of the restaurant is a grocery store, specializing in Turkish and Middle Eastern cuisine. The other section is full of cushions and low tables and an oversized raised booth with elevated cushions for large parties.I ordered what I usually do when I visit a Turkish restaurant: a muca pide, stuffed with feta, parsley, egg and spices. Pides come in either small or large portions, are shaped like canoes and are filled with unlimited possibilities of toppings. Pides at Turkuaz are served with a “Three Salad Plate,” which includes kisir (bulgar, parsley and onion), coban (tomato, cucumber, parsley and onion) and red-cabbage salads. Entrees also come with red lentil soup, a more broth-based dish with the perfect amount of spice and vegetables to complement the earthy taste of the lentils.For vegetarians, Turkuaz Café offers eggplant and mushroom pides, in addition to vegetable sis kebabi (shish kebabs) and gozleme (Turkish pastries), stuffed with feta cheese, olives, cucumbers and onion. If you are more on the carnivorous side, Turkish cuisine excels in lamb and beef dishes. Turkuaz favorites include kofte (ground beef patties with onion, parsley, egg and spices) and manti (baked Turkish ravioli served with garlic yogurt sauce).I finished my meal with a shot of Turkish coffee, a requirement when dining at any Turkish restaurant. Topped with thick foam, Turkish coffee is known worldwide for its thick, strong taste and the ever-lurking dregs waiting at the bottom of the cup. Interestingly enough, the dregs are used in tasseography, or fortune-telling, through coffee grounds. Although my fortune remained untold after dining at Turkuaz Café, the future looked promising for another visit. The unique Middle Eastern atmosphere and extensive variety of authentic dishes are by no means the equivalent of sitting in an Istanbul cafe, but it’s the closest thing you can get in southern Indiana.
(02/20/08 7:38am)
With the resignation of Cuban President Fidel Castro and the end of his 49-year-old regime, IU students and faculty members spoke about the 81-year-old leader with mixed reactions.\nJeff Gould, director of the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, said Castro’s resignation was not unexpected because of the leader’s illness for the past year and a half.\nWhat the resignation does do, he said, is raise questions about the transitions in Cuba in the coming months.\n“There are probably two factors which are important to determining the future of Cuba,” he said. “The policy of the U.S. and recognition that to some degree Cuban nationalism, which remains a potent force, is, to some degree, connected to history of Cuban revolution.”\nA looming danger, Gould said, is that U.S. policy regarding Cuba remains roughly the same as it has been since 1959.\n“The U.S. has played a role which has tended to consolidate the impact of the revolution and communist regime rather than playing productive role,” Gould said of U.S. foreign policy in Cuba. “Now will be the time for U.S. to re-evaluate what they’ve been doing and to take into account its own mistakes.”\nGould said the chance of the Bush administration lifting the 1962 embargo on Cuba, which bans economic, commercial and financial transactions with the U.S., is very slim.\n“The embargo has been and continues to be counterproductive,” he said. “For it to be lifted while Raul Castro is president would require an act of Congress and support of the president, which just won’t happen this year.”\nJunior Andres Morera said he is not optimistic about the regime’s shift in Cuba, especially since Raul Castro has been acting as president for more than a year and nothing has changed since the temporary turnover of power.\n“This is a time for Castro to swallow his pride for the people of Cuba and make wise decisions,” Morera said. “Same for the U.S. Both countries need to swallow their pride and make amends with each other.”\nMorera, whose grandparents and father emigrated from Cuba when his father was 12, said he is very confident, however, in the Cuban people’s self-sufficiency and survival abilities. He said he hopes Cuba will cooperate with Spain and Latin America to build a more capitalist economy and that the U.S. removes the embargo on basic resources. \n“I hope, though, that Cuban-Americans don’t feel like they have the right to get involved with anything that goes on over there,” he said. “When my grandpa left, he abandoned his homeland and any right to become involved with politics. He gave up on the fight.”\nArlene Diaz, acting director of the Latino Studies program, said although Castro has finally stepped down, abrupt changes in Cuban policy should not be expected.\n“Fidel has always been very careful,” she said. “Here we are, expecting him to die and for changes to come, and then (he resigns), which shows us that he’s crafted this transition carefully.”\nDiaz, who teaches a course on Cuban history, said in Castro’s Cuba, there was a lot of need, but his achievements in health care and education are “undebatable.”\n“He’s careful in drawing a transition that is not going to be an abrupt change in Cuba,” she said. “This change will be more timely, more aced and more controllable.”\nBut regardless of the regime change, Diaz said Castro’s status as a revolutionary leader would not minimize the amount of admiration that some Cubans still hold for him.\n“There’s a lot of respect for Fidel, and people are fearful that if you implement something that may be seen as a huge change, you are going against Fidel,” Diaz said. “He has a lot of political baggage attached, so we just have to wait and see what will happen.”
(02/07/08 5:00am)
FARMbloomington took Kirkwood Avenue by storm in January, when it opened its doors to the city's epicurious connoisseurs. The former Oddfellows Building, which used to house Athena, Material Plane and Cowboys & Indians antique store, was converted into a dining complex that included a restaurant, a bar, a marketplace and the basement blues-and-jazz club Root Cellar.\nWalking through the front doors, FARMbloomington reminded me of an old general store with a postmodern mood, with its hardwood floors and huge china cabinets accented by track lighting and warm-colored walls. Glass countertops and a soda fountain supplemented the antiquated atmosphere. \nThe best part was the easy-to-find bathrooms: Just look for the old-fashioned bedpans hanging on the walls.\nWith a Hoosier twist, FARMbloomington Head Chef Daniel Orr incorporated his years of experience in New York, France and the Caribbean to create a menu offering dishes never seen before in Bloomington.\nFARMbar, the tapas side of the FARMbloomington family, offers dozens of appetizers, drinks, desserts and dishes crafted entirely from local groceries. Although less pricey than FARMrestaurant, FARMbar also includes a dinner menu, in case you change your mind and want a bigger meal.\nBeing on a strict food budget this week, I opted to get only appetizers, which turned out to be much more filling than I expected. I ordered white-bean hummus and toast, as well as the garlic-and-chili fries with saffron aioli. Not the traditional chickpea hummus, the white-beans-and-toast concoction came garnished with red pepper and tarragon, adding a spicy, herbaceous aftertaste. But the chili fries were my favorite part: Even if you're one of those people who can't handle spicy dishes, these had the perfect amount to ensure you wouldn't be spending the rest of the meal guzzling water. I wasn't familiar with "aioli" when I ordered the dish, but the French sauce made from garlic, olive oil and saffron was the perfect mellow complement to the zest of the fries.\nMy table also ordered the roasted tandoori salmon with five-grain pilaf, to try out the restaurant part of the FARM establishment. I was more than impressed with the consistency of the fish, but I definitely could have used more flavor from the seasonings. The meal was followed by a chocolate-dipped shortbread cookie, bringing my experience at FARMbar to a delectable close.\nIf you are under 21, you can sit in the FARMmarket area, which serves as a deli-style restaurant during the day. The bar itself offers an impressive wine-and-beer list, expanding past Bloomington city limits and venturing into the rest of the world. In addition to selections from the Bloomington Brewing Company and Upland Brewery, FARMbar boasts beers from Hammond, Ind., Brooklyn, N.Y., the United Kingdom and Ireland.\nIn the end, FARMbar makes up an affordable but scrumptious piece of the FARMbloomington complex.
(02/07/08 5:00am)
It's a Super Bowl ad with no cheap gimmick, no monkeys and no groin kicks -- just parade floats in pursuit of a Coke. And it's the best of the best. Watch it at idsnews.com/weekend.
(01/31/08 6:08am)
Following the Indiana Senate’s passage Tuesday of Senate Joint Resolution 7, an amendment legally defining marriage as between one man and one woman, IU’s gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community leaders spoke out.\nThe proposed amendment, if passed by two separately elected general assemblies and approved by a statewide referendum, would also make it illegal to require agencies to give unmarried couples the same benefits as married couples. The state already has a law that bans gay marriage.\nDoug Bauder, coordinator of IU’s GLBT Student Support Services, said the biggest concern he had about the bill was the effect it would have on IU faculty members who receive domestic partner benefits.\n“We have a lot of faculty who come to this campus because these services are offered,” Bauder said. “Every year we have the opportunity to relate to potential professors who are attracted here because there will be benefits for their partner.”\nAlthough Bauder said there is not a large number of IU faculty and students who would be affected by the bill, the University risks losing some of its best faculty. He said those who are not directly affected could be turned of by such a “mean-spirited” approach.\nAccording to the University Human Resource Service Web site, domestic partner benefits include medical and dental coverage, tuition subsidies, life insurance and personal accident insurance. Bauder said these are the same benefits that spouses of IU employees receive. \nThe biological and legally adopted children of domestic partners are also eligible for coverage.\nJoshua Sutton, president of OUT, a group affiliated with GLBT Student Support Services, said the Senate’s decision initially came as a shock.\n“Even though this is a state issue, the same issue is going throughout the country,” Sutton said. “For a country trying to eliminate racism and hatred and prejudice, the lawmakers are only setting themselves up to fight with citizens.”\nSutton said OUT’s mission is to support students who have come out as gay, lesbian, transgender or bisexual, but said, “It’s hard to come out and be comfortable with it if you’re frowned down by other people. Especially by the law.”\nIf the amendment, which now goes to the House of Representatives, is passed, he said that as a student organization, OUT’s work would be seen as obsolete and unnecessary. But on a personal level, he said his future would be seriously impacted.\n“I’m nowhere near getting married, but what am I actually working toward if I’m never going to be able to get married?” he said. “What’s there to work for if after I graduate college and meet someone, but won’t be recognized by the state as a ‘couple’?”\nSutton said that because Bloomington has an especially gay-friendly environment, the proposed amendment could damage the Bloomington economy, the morale of the town, friendships and business partnerships.\n“It will affect the diversity of the town because people will feel like they’ve lost the battle,” he said. “There is no need to join a gay-friendly community if people will be attacked for their actions.”\nBauder said there are other things legislation should focus on – more important things. \n“Environmental issues, health care, tax issues, providing services to people in need,” Bauder said of other legislative options. “It doesn’t seem like focusing on more divisive issues makes sense.”
(01/30/08 7:01am)
The Indiana Senate passed Senate Bill 3 Tuesday, allowing pharmacists to refuse to dispense or sell prescription medication that could possibly induce abortion or assist suicide, including birth control pills. The bill will now move into the House of Representatives for further consideration.\nIn a 30-18 vote, the Senate approved the previously deadlocked bill, authored by Sen. Jeff Drozda, R-Westfield. Drozda was in session and unavailable for comment.\nSen. Vi Simpson, D-Ellettsville, said in an Indiana General Assembly news release Thursday she hoped the debate over the bill would bring renewed awareness to the instability of women’s reproductive rights.\n“This is a reminder to young women who weren’t alive 40 years ago when birth control was unavailable not to take these rights for granted,” she said in the news release.\nPlanned Parenthood of Indiana spokesman Steve Carr said, however, that anyone supportive of women’s health care should be shocked.\n“This session, we were originally told, was on property taxes,” he said. “But the session was sidetracked into getting in the way of women and their access to reproductive health services.”\nCarr said 98 percent of American women are on birth control at some point in their lives.\n“Women should be able to purchase birth control from pharmacies without being subjected to lectures and opinions,” he said. “This bill would allow pharmacists to make decisions based on their personal beliefs, and that’s ridiculous.”\nEvery woman deserves the chance to prevent unwanted pregnancies, Carr said.\nIU junior Breanne Vassar, a pro-life advocate, says pharmacists have rights as well, however.\n“I would rather lose my job than possibly assist in the ending of a human life,” Vassar said. “I applaud those who have the courage to protect the often-overlooked preborn members of society, and I applaud the senators who stood up for those protectors.”\nSimpson said in the news release that Senate Bill 0003 was originally based on a South Dakota law passed in 2006, which banned nearly all forms of abortion in the state.\n“A group of lawmakers in (South Dakota) have filed a bill to do precisely what we’ve asked for here – to exclude contraceptives from the drugs that can be refused,” Simpson said in the news release. “South Dakota learned that this (type of legislation) won’t work.”\nAlso passed during the session was Senate Bill 146, requiring doctors to inform pregnant women considering abortions about the possibility of fetal pain. Sen. Patricia Miller, R-Indianapolis, is the sponsor of the bill, which passed without debate Tuesday.
(01/30/08 7:00am)
In an overwhelming victory for Indiana Senate Republicans, legislators passed Senate Joint Resolution 7 Tuesday, which favors an amendment to the Indiana State Constitution defining marriage as between one man and one woman.\nIf a majority of Indiana voters approve the measure in the November general election, the amendment will be added to the Indiana Constitution. Once the Constitution is amended, it may only be overturned by the Indiana State Supreme Court. \nSen. Brandt Hershman, R-Wheatfield, was the primary author of the bill, originally introduced to the judiciary committee Jan. 8. \nThe amendment, in addition to outlawing same-sex marriage, also states that unmarried couples cannot receive the same benefits as married couples. And if a gay couple marries in another state, their union is not recognized by the state of Indiana. \nWhile there is an existing law prohibiting same-sex marriages in Indiana, this is the second time such an amendment has passed the Senate. The General Assembly first passed the resolution in 2005.\nIn order to amend the Indiana constitution, two separately elected general assemblies must approve of the amendment, followed by a majority of Indiana’s voters in the November general election. The amendment will be added to the Indiana Constitution if a majority of Indiana voters approve the measure in the November general election.
(01/24/08 5:00am)
Ever been in a swanky jazz club on a bustling Friday night, enjoying gourmet bread rolls and flower-shaped butter pats, when a thundering train roars by, literally feet away from where you are sitting? The rumbling takes you by surprise, resembling a troupe of Irish dancers who just stomped their way into the room to accompany the swinging music. This is Jazz at the Station, a hoppin' joint that opened in October. Featuring "world-class jazz" and meals named after legendary musicians of the speakeasies, this cafe is for all of Bloomington's dapper dolls and daddies. \nChic and dim, the train-station-turned-dining-room is lit entirely by candles and red-tinted wall lights. At the back of the room is a stage, adorned with instruments ready to be played by their renowned musicians. The stage is lit slightly more than the rest of the room, surrounded by yuppies and beatniks alike. When there is no live jazz frolicking through the room, recordings of Coltrane and Davis blare through the entire restaurant. \nBut don't let the ritzy atmosphere of the restaurant fool you into thinking the menu features only hoity-toity choices for a night out on the town. The selection flaunts a variety of salads, pasta dishes and cheeseburgers, as well as breast of duck, New York strip steak and filet mignon. With an extensive list of beers and wines, the menu has something for everyone.\nBypassing the main entree menu, I went straight for the pub-grub section. Scanning through my choices of veggie burgers and chicken tenders, I ordered the Coltrane Quesadilla, stuffed with shrimp, a jubilee of cheese and cilantro. The massive mound of tortilla and cheese was more than filling, deliciously topped with salsa verde and sour cream. The dish had an almost Indian flavor to it, giving off a subtle spicy aroma. \nSince the entrees and pub menu don't include side salads or soup, I gave in to my curiosity toward the How Deep is the Ocean soup -- sweet tomato made with lobster, lemon and basil. The citrus aftertaste was ambrosial, making my dates and I melt like the lobster in our mouths. \nMy table also ordered Peterson's Primavera, made with fresh fettuccine and sauteed chicken. Seasoned with pesto, the dish was delicious enough to overlook the chicken topping the pile of pasta to sample. I didn't eat the meat, but I devoured the fettuccine with a smile on my face. We also ordered the Summertime Salad, with green and red onions, strawberries and feta cheese nestling a fillet of grilled salmon. \nThe overall experience at Jazz at the Station was classy and cultured. The helpful staff, melodic tunes of the Carolyn Dutton Trio and posh ambience made the entire night memorable.