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(04/02/14 4:31am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Deft hands slam moist fish heads against chopping boards. Giant, overworked fridges drone. Workers call to one another in rapid-fire Chinese. Amid the chaos, Qun Sun weaves through aisle after narrow aisle of towering shelves.At Asia Mart in Indianapolis, he picks through racks crammed with freeze-dried seaweed, pickled Chinese mustard leaves and pearl-toned melamine bowls painted to look like fine china. He selects tins of ginger, jasmine and oolong tea leaves, shaking each one close to his right ear. He’s quite a tea aficionado, he says. He knows which tea sells best. For Sun’s new Chinese restaurant, Lotus Garden, it is critical to choose tea that complements the dishes. Sun grabs yü yuan, or fish-meat balls, for hot pot — a soup-like dish containing meat and vegetables. Then pastes, powders and oils for dishes with names like chuan pao yao hua — pork kidneys — and hong you chao shou — wontons in chili oil.He jerks to a halt. “Where’s my list?”The grocery list — scribbled in Chinese on a crumpled sheet of notepaper — is important but not necessary. After months of making this weekly shopping trip, Sun already knows exactly what he needs and where to find it.But he still worries. There is a lot at stake. One mistake could put his investment in Lotus Garden, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, at risk.He finally finds the list under a pack of dried lotus leaves he sifted through a moment before and jams it into his side pocket. “Sometimes I’m not very careful,” he says. “Now I have to practice not to do it. Every mistake will add to the cost of my restaurant.” A 21-year-old junior at IU, Sun owns Lotus Garden with three other Chinese students. It is the first restaurant he has ever owned. And it’s only the second job he has had.As the major shareholder, Sun takes charge of most business planning, people management and other day-to-day duties.He is part of a growing breed of young Chinese students establishing businesses in Bloomington. Lotus Garden offers authentic Szechuan food. 3Xs Delivery offers barbecued meat and vegetable kebabs — popular street food in China. MoNo Beauty Shop sells cosmetics imported from Taiwan, Japan and South Korea. Someone recently offered to sell Sun Joyce Chinese Restaurant and Karaoke, which is currently being built in downtown Bloomington.Along with the influx of Chinese nationals pursuing higher education in the United States, the Chinese student population at IU has tripled to more than 3,000 within the last five years.This has created a greater demand for authentic Chinese food, retail and other services. It has become a viable market that Chinese students themselves, typically in management-related academic tracks, are moving to cater to. These Chinese student-entrepreneurs all share common motivations to gain experience in real-world business outside the classroom. They also want to achieve some form of independence from their parents’ financial support. Sun’s primary source of inspiration is his father, a prominent businessman in their hometown of Yantai in northeastern China. The elder Sun owns businesses dealing in food, medicine and coal. When Sun noticed the opportunity to set up a restaurant because there was “no real Chinese food” in Bloomington, he turned to his father. The experience of operating a small business would help him understand the process of running a big one, his father said.Since opening Aug. 1 last year, Sun said Lotus Garden is packed to the brim most nights, especially Fridays. The 14-space parking lot fills fast.The emerging trend of Chinese-student enterprises contributes to more diverse cultural and business landscapes in Bloomington. But for these young student-entrepreneurs, it is simply a matter of learning how to juggle between roles.It’s simply about growing up.***Mandarin is spoken around corners in IU academic buildings. Along dorm corridors. From the next table in a dining hall. In fall 2009, there were 1,008 Chinese students enrolled at IU. Two years later, there were 2,289. The number rose to 3,078 in fall 2013. A majority of the foreign students on campus are Chinese. The same is often true at many other American universities. The Open Doors 2013 report, released by the Institute of International Education in November, revealed that China, the top place of origin, contributes to almost 30 percent of the international student population in the U.S. — up from 15 percent five years ago.Mainland Chinese enrollments in American higher education institutions increased by 21.4 percent in the past academic year, to 235,597 students.For the same year, Indiana is listed as one of three states with the highest rates of growth in international student enrollment — a 10-percent increase.Chinese student organizations, primarily the IU Chinese Students and Scholars Association, present their culture in highly visible ways on campus, entertaining large crowds during spring and mid-autumn festival celebrations.Off-campus, Chinese students flock to restaurants for a taste of home. “Of course more Chinese students make a difference,” said Kathy Tzeng, a long-time Bloomington resident. Tzeng opened Lantern House in the 1970s, which she says was the second Chinese restaurant in town. She is now one of five owners of Mei Wei, or “delicious flavor,” a Chinese restaurant that opened in February last year. The Bloomington restaurant scene has evolved over the past 40 years, she said. These days, people can afford to eat out at restaurants more frequently. The increase in wealth typically means Chinese students are dining out more and ordering more expensive dishes.Lotus Garden is one of 21 known Chinese restaurants in Bloomington, and the only one run by students.When designing the menu, Sun placed emphasis on catering to Chinese students’ tastes, choosing to include more atypical dishes like “bullfrog with Sichuan peppercorn,” “Thai-style pig ears” and “lamb testicles with cumin.”Sun searched the Chinese immigrant community to find a chef, placing ads in national Chinese-language publication “World Journal.” Early last year, Hao Yu boarded a Greyhound in Flushing, N.Y., for Bloomington. He was selected as Lotus Garden chef from eight other applicants.Yu received about $4,500 along with a 10-percent share of profits at Lotus Garden. Sun provided housing for Yu and his kitchen aides. After less than a year, however, Yu chose to leave. His last day was March 26. Sun said the split was amicable.Yu has been replaced with two chefs. Like Yu, they are from China and were previously based in New York City. Like him, they make above-market wages.Choosing to pay his chefs higher wages makes good business sense, Sun said. It serves as an incentive, enabling them to develop a sense of ownership and loyalty to Lotus Garden.“If (other restaurants) want to hire my chef, if they want to pay more salary to hire him — if he goes to their restaurant, we will close,” Sun said, lowering his voice to a whisper.***To strangers, Sun introduces himself as “Blake.” To his friends and others in the Bloomington Chinese community, he is addressed affectionately — sometimes teasingly — as Sun lao ban, or Boss Sun. As a freshman in 2011, Sun got a job working at Wright Food Court. He worked hard and enjoyed the experience, he said, but it didn’t satisfy him for long. The following year, Sun decided to open a restaurant. Sun wasn’t able to take the mandatory Integrative Core component of the Kelley School of Business curriculum because he spent the summer working to launch Lotus Garden. Unwilling to delay his graduation date, he decided to transfer to a management track in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs.“I didn’t want to wait half a year — what a waste,” he said. “The tuition can’t buy the experience I have here.”Though supportive of his dreams, Sun’s family feared he was taking on too much.Now, nine months after opening Lotus Garden, Sun says he has finally proven himself. He is able to cover all his expenses, from tuition fees to trips abroad during school breaks.Sun admits he is not doing as well in school as he used to, but it is a sacrifice he said he is willing to make. He developed a strong sense of independence growing up. From the age of 11 through 18, he attended boarding school, returning home on occasion.His upbringing, Sun said, has taught him not to fear difficulties and to find solutions to problems despite the circumstances. Sun invested about $50,000 in Lotus Garden, almost twice the amount each of his co-owners contributed. Eighty percent came from regular allowance provided by his father. The rest were loans from two of his roommates. He spent almost $100,000 remodeling, replacing equipment and fixing plumbing in the building — a property along North Walnut Street that used to house Korean eatery Shin’s Family Restaurant. He pays about $4,000 a month in rent.The goals he set when starting out were easy to achieve, Sun said. Such success has spurred him on to take more risks in his business and prove naysayers wrong.“In the past, I’m like a child in the family,” he said. “So they tell me what should I do, what shouldn’t I do. And educate me — a lot. I want them know I do the right thing now. And now I see — I think they are proud of me.”***Chinese students are not too fond of American food, said 3Xs owner and IU sophomore Xiong Xiong.“We miss Chinese food a lot,” she said. “That’s why we start food businesses.”3Xs is named for the three female delivery business partners — Xiong, Rui Xu and Xianglin Wu. Two male co-owners handle grilling of the meat and vegetable kebabs, made with ingredients from Kroger on a grill bought from Walmart.Unlike many other Chinese parents, Xiong said, hers encourage pursuit of other interests beyond her studies.Xiong, like Sun, is a SPEA management major. Like Sun and Yuan, her entrepreneurial endeavors are part of self-improvement efforts.“I realized how hard it is to earn money,” she said. “It’s an experience I can look back on and tell my grandkids how, when I was in university, I had a business.”MoNo Beauty Shop sells cosmetics through a registered vendor account with e-marketplace AliExpress. Due to MoNo’s success, owners Mei Yuan and Huan Zhang have a team of ambassadors representing the business in other American colleges. They plan to expand to an online store soon.There isn’t a formal estimate of the total number of Chinese student-owned businesses in Bloomington. No one keeps track, or is able to, since businesses are either listed under other names for legal reasons, or not registered at all. For unregistered businesses, transactions are made over the phone or online, usually through Chinese social media platforms like Sina Weibo and Tencent’s WeChat.Other Internet-based businesses include the popular dai gou — “purchase on behalf” — system, where Chinese students take orders for goods in the U.S., which they bring to clients during visits home. Due to high tariffs and unavailability of certain products in China, this is an easy and lucrative enterprise.These business-savvy student-entrepreneurs have the advantage of growing up in a China that has opened its doors to foreign influence, said Dan Li, associate professor of international business at the business school. The country underwent drastic changes following the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. China’s rapid development since then has played a big part in shaping the younger generation’s mindset, she said.“They have all kinds of resources,” Li said. “They’re sensitive to business opportunities. They’ve seen more successes in China than failures. They have everything any entrepreneur could dream about.”Yajing Chen, a graduate assistant with the IU Office of International Services, said difficulty in finding a job in the U.S. due to immigration regulations pushes international students to seek opportunities for business experience in other ways. An overseas experience never means only an academic one — running a business is part of the learning process.While there are more business opportunities in China, there is a more structured, but open, business environment in America’s more mature market, Li said. “The issue is uncertainty in China,” she said. “In the U.S., rules and regulations are written out. In China, there are many hidden rules. Things are ruled by who has the power at the moment. Compared to the risks in China, people choose to migrate their wealth abroad.”Sun said Lotus Garden has enabled him to foster many new relationships within a diverse community.Frequent customer Larry Singell, executive dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, has begun to develop a close friendship with Sun, rooted in shared knowledge of Chinese language and culture. Singell said he is impressed by Sun’s maturity and business acumen. “A good part of learning in college is what’s called collateral learning,” he said. “Students who demonstrate these kinds of skills — willing to take a risk, observe and find a need, then be able to provide and serve that need — they’re going to be quite successful later in life.”***Weekly grocery days are always the same for Sun. A full day of traveling, shopping, and bargaining in Indianapolis and a night of waiting tables back at the restaurant. Sun typically works four days a week. Lotus Garden, with its stained glass lamps, floor-to-ceiling tinted windows and traditional Chinese paintings stuck haphazardly onto scarlet, plum and olive-colored walls, has become an important training ground for him.It is where he faces constant challenges and works to achieve his goals.At 21, Sun is at least 15 years younger than a handful of his employees.“Maybe they think I’m just a child,” he said. “But yeah, I am the boss. I’m learning how to manage, to explore what’s the way I should use.”In February, Sun and his partners put the restaurant on the market for more than twice their initial investment. They received offers from several Chinese students, but Sun ultimately decided to keep the business.Lotus Garden is a responsibility he is not yet willing to shed. Motivated by past successes, he believes there’s still more he can do.He wants to construct a mini garden, featuring a lotus pond, in the vacant lot beside the restaurant.Sun will graduate in May 2015. Even if he goes to a different city for graduate school, returns to China or starts new ventures, Sun plans to keep Lotus Garden, preserving it for a steady flow of income. He offers an ancient Chinese proverb — qi hu nan xia. Once you’ve mounted the tiger, it is unwise to get down. There is nothing to do but ride on.“Just like I have started and I run it, I must keep it going, going further,” he said.Even Sun’s greatest mentor, his father, has begun to see the change in him. Now Sun is able to hold his own in father-son conversations — voicing his own opinions and partaking in a mutual exchange of ideas.“From a boy to a man — I need to think about myself, about my life,” Sun said. “I’m not a child anymore.”
(09/13/13 4:08am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Daryl Soo knew IU was the place for him as soon as he heard about the IU Badminton Club. The 20-year-old, who is currently serving in the Singapore Armed Forces, is an avid badminton player and was captain of his high school team in Singapore. He sent in his application to study at IU and is hoping to be accepted for the 2014 school year.It is potential students like Soo that Matt Beatty, director of international admissions at the IU Office of International Services, said the school is recruiting.Starting early this month, three OIS representatives have embarked on trips to three different continents — South America, Asia and the Middle East — for recruitment opportunities. This is the second consecutive year the OIS is applying its “targeted territory management model” to overseas school visits. For two months, the representatives will meet with counselors, teachers and students from between five and eight schools in each country.This recruiting strategy has only become more commonplace for IU in the past five to 10 years, Beatty said. This year, admissions officers bring with them new opportunities, including the launch of the IU Global Engagement Scholarships.Application for the merit-based scholarship is open to potential students of all foreign nationalities applying to IU as freshmen for the 2014-2015 year. Awards range from $1,000 to $11,000 per year and are renewable throughout the students’ four-year program. No additional scholarship application apart from the general admissions application is required. Applicants are judged on factors like GPA and standardized testing scores. “These scholarships give us a way of recognizing and rewarding high-achieving students of all backgrounds,” Beatty said. Applications are due before Feb. 1 next year — extended from the usual deadline of Nov. 1 of the previous year. This is because international students typically do not have access to the same resources as their domestic counterparts, Beatty said. Because international applicants usually have many additional steps to complete, such as obtaining visas, deadlines may have already passed once they are ready to start their applications.Scholarship recipients will be notified by mid-March next year. A project developed by OIS and its partners, the Office of Scholarships and the Office of Enrollment Management, the scholarship differs from others available for international students. The Global Engagement Scholarship process is more “automatic,” said Seth Walker, OIS assistant director of international admissions, who will be visiting schools in various parts of Asia this year.“With the Global Engagement Scholarship hopefully we’ll be able to defer some of those costs, which is definitely one of the main considerations for people coming from overseas,” Walker said.Walker left the U.S. for Busan, South Korea, on Tuesday. He started visiting schools there Thursday. He will then make his way through Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and India. He will spend the last day of his journey, Oct. 26, in Bangalore, India.Kwadwo Poku, fellow assistant director of international admissions, will tour four countries in the Middle East — Dubai, Doha, Muscat and Kuwait City — over two weeks in September.Associate director of Sponsored Student Services Dan Whitmer began his school tours on Sept. 2 in Recife, Brazil. On Sept. 5 he left Brazil for Ecuador; Columbia is the last destination on his itinerary.“It’s spending a lot of time and effort in looking where international students are coming from — building on good relationships, collaborating with alumni chapters overseas,” Beatty said.This year is also the second consecutive time an admissions officer is making a trip to Singapore.There are currently 28 Singaporean students enrolled at IU, seven of which are in their first semester. Walker will be in Singapore from Oct. 5 to 8 and will visit counselors and teachers at eight different schools.In picking schools, Soo said he considered his geographic preference and music interests. An electric guitarist, he found Bloomington attractive because of its strong music culture and tradition.He said he wanted to pursue studies at an American college because he believes the U.S. is the world leader in business.“It is always better to learn from the best and hope that the experiences I gain from pursuing my higher level education at IU will allow me to excel beyond others in the working world,” Soo said.Follow reporter Amelia Chong on Twitter @ameychong.
(06/07/13 8:22pm)
How to stay safe on campus at night.
(01/04/13 5:23am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>When the theater was almost empty, Junnie Nichols got up from her cushioned chair in the front row and walked to the edge of the stage. Her eyes narrowed as she took in the breadth of the 170-seat space before her. The small space, with its deep scarlet walls, dainty glass chandeliers and plush seats, looked grand for its final production. The Palace Theatre of Brown County in Nashville, Ind., came to an end on Dec. 22 with its final performance, “Believe: A Brown County Christmas.” The productions and the community had been a big part of 62-year-old Nichols’ life for the past 17 years. As she sat alone in the cool darkness of the theater, she said her goodbyes. “I saw the first and last shows performed in that theater,” Nichols said. “Several things were going through my mind — nostalgia, emptiness, sadness, happiness and thankfulness.” For her, it was the end of an era.
(11/27/12 4:22am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Shaking its head from left to right, a small robot makes a scratchy noise every few seconds. “That’s Dewey,” Selma Šabanovic says, laughing and reaching her hand out to pull on one of its elastic spikes. Created from a plastic bath caddy and rubber ball, both from Target, placed over a mesh of Arduino-brand microcontrollers, sensors, and actuators, Dewey has a light in its belly that turns from cool blue to striking red when it is “hungry” for the set of “fruits” – smart cards slotted into decorated pockets of colored paper – lying beside it. Šabanovic is cofounder and current director of the R-House Living Lab, an on-campus laboratory on East 13th Street designated for research in human-robot interaction and development of robotic technologies that cater to everyday human life. Šabanovic gets us as close as we can to actually speaking with the bath caddy-clad robot. Who is Dewey? I would call it a socially interactive robot, or maybe an assistive robot. We were interested in helping people who work on computer jobs to take more regular breaks, because what we realized was that when you’re working on a computer job you can kind of forget that you have a body, basically. And so the question is, how can you remind people that they have bodies, and about their bodily needs? The idea is to have something that’s embodied. How does Dewey interact with humans? Dewey feeds on fruit cards, which are radio frequency identification tags, that have unique IDs associated with them. Generally, the idea would be you’d have a Dewey on your desk, and then these cards would be at the water cooler. There had been studies about how often you would need to take a break, so we used those studies to make kind of a timer for it. So it would say you’ve been sitting for 30 minutes, ‘let me remind you to take a little breather,’ and it would move. You would come back with a card, which would reset the timer, back to the work mode. In some ways, Dewey could be looked at as a little more advanced egg timer. The first prototype didn’t have any interactive components. For the second iteration, we actually gave it a behavior, so if you want to play with it while it’s sitting on your desk, it responds. So we kind of made it more social. The idea was, maybe if you don’t care enough about yourself to get up and go take a break, maybe you’ll care if you have to go feed your little creature. Each person had one robot, but the cards were in a common place. One thing was that you had to get up to get a card, so it was forcing you to do that, but also when you were up you might bump into your friend or something, or your colleague, and have a little chat. How do these robots function if they’ve been made with such simple objects? Most of them are not really made with “simple objects,” but with specialist prototyping equipment and platforms. The simple objects are sometimes used for the “shells,” partly because they are easily available and also because we want the robots to fit into homes and be somewhat familiar to users, even though they are a novel technology. Why did you choose to use such hardware? We use prototyping parts like Arduino because they are widely available and relatively cheap, as one of our goals is to make robotics accessible to the public. We also are interested in designing robots that are socially robust and fit well into their contexts of use. For this we need to build and test out many design ideas through prototypes that we do not get too attached to. We need them to be cheap, reconfigurable, and not take too long to build, so that we will be fine with changing them when we learn new design requirements through studies. Using these parts also makes it possible for other researchers to replicate our robots and do studies with them, which is good for science, and also any others who are interested can build them and improve on the designs and applications. Readers can actually make their own. The parts are all available for purchase online or in stores like Target or Hobby Lobby. We are planning on putting up construction directions for the various robots on our website sometime soon. How much do they cost? The first Dewey prototype cost $120, while the second cost $100. The main goal was for the first prototype to be an education and research tool, we intend to put the second iteration in the market. Mugbot, which costs $600, was designed by visiting Japanese scientist Seita Koike, and is available for purchase. Katie and MiRAE, $250 and $300 respectively, were made as research tools.
(11/27/12 4:22am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Shaking its head from left to right, a small robot makes a scratchy noise every few seconds. “That’s Dewey,” Selma Šabanovic says, laughing and reaching her hand out to pull on one of its elastic spikes. Created from a plastic bath caddy and rubber ball, both from Target, placed over a mesh of Arduino-brand microcontrollers, sensors, and actuators, Dewey has a light in its belly that turns from cool blue to striking red when it is “hungry” for the set of “fruits” – smart cards slotted into decorated pockets of colored paper – lying beside it. Šabanovic is cofounder and current director of the R-House Living Lab, an on-campus laboratory on East 13th Street designated for research in human-robot interaction and development of robotic technologies that cater to everyday human life. Šabanovic gets us as close as we can to actually speaking with the bath caddy-clad robot. Who is Dewey? I would call it a socially interactive robot, or maybe an assistive robot. We were interested in helping people who work on computer jobs to take more regular breaks, because what we realized was that when you’re working on a computer job you can kind of forget that you have a body, basically. And so the question is, how can you remind people that they have bodies, and about their bodily needs? The idea is to have something that’s embodied. How does Dewey interact with humans? Dewey feeds on fruit cards, which are radio frequency identification tags, that have unique IDs associated with them. Generally, the idea would be you’d have a Dewey on your desk, and then these cards would be at the water cooler. There had been studies about how often you would need to take a break, so we used those studies to make kind of a timer for it. So it would say you’ve been sitting for 30 minutes, ‘let me remind you to take a little breather,’ and it would move. You would come back with a card, which would reset the timer, back to the work mode. In some ways, Dewey could be looked at as a little more advanced egg timer. The first prototype didn’t have any interactive components. For the second iteration, we actually gave it a behavior, so if you want to play with it while it’s sitting on your desk, it responds. So we kind of made it more social. The idea was, maybe if you don’t care enough about yourself to get up and go take a break, maybe you’ll care if you have to go feed your little creature. Each person had one robot, but the cards were in a common place. One thing was that you had to get up to get a card, so it was forcing you to do that, but also when you were up you might bump into your friend or something, or your colleague, and have a little chat. How do these robots function if they’ve been made with such simple objects? Most of them are not really made with “simple objects,” but with specialist prototyping equipment and platforms. The simple objects are sometimes used for the “shells,” partly because they are easily available and also because we want the robots to fit into homes and be somewhat familiar to users, even though they are a novel technology. Why did you choose to use such hardware? We use prototyping parts like Arduino because they are widely available and relatively cheap, as one of our goals is to make robotics accessible to the public. We also are interested in designing robots that are socially robust and fit well into their contexts of use. For this we need to build and test out many design ideas through prototypes that we do not get too attached to. We need them to be cheap, reconfigurable, and not take too long to build, so that we will be fine with changing them when we learn new design requirements through studies. Using these parts also makes it possible for other researchers to replicate our robots and do studies with them, which is good for science, and also any others who are interested can build them and improve on the designs and applications. Readers can actually make their own. The parts are all available for purchase online or in stores like Target or Hobby Lobby. We are planning on putting up construction directions for the various robots on our website sometime soon. How much do they cost? The first Dewey prototype cost $120, while the second cost $100. The main goal was for the first prototype to be an education and research tool, we intend to put the second iteration in the market. Mugbot, which costs $600, was designed by visiting Japanese scientist Seita Koike, and is available for purchase. Katie and MiRAE, $250 and $300 respectively, were made as research tools.
(11/06/12 6:47am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Today, Americans will step into voting booths and elect the next president. In this election, there are more than 180,000,000 citizens registered to vote. But an election is more than just politics. For these six students, with conflicting partisan views, this is a divided campus.
CHRISTOPHER BABCOCK Loganspot, Ind. President of IU College DemocratsSenior environmental management major Christopher Babcock says a trip to Vietnam emphasized the importance of environmental protection in the United States.On a walk, Babcock noticed a young boy toss a soiled napkin into the streets. As he traveled along a forest trail, he found himself surrounded by mounds of garbage. Babcock says this experience was eye opening. It gave him another reason to fear Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.Babcock says the religious right of the Republican Party, has a sense that global warming isn’t an issue. They believe God is in full control of the Earth and climate change. “They make decisions that could directly and indirectly support their industries rather than protect their citizens from actual harm,” he says.He says he fears if Romney becomes president, Roe v. Wade, social security, Medicare and Medicaid will be rolled away.“I would be scared under a Romney presidency that decisions might be made that were politically convenient and not in the best interest of the whole country,” Babcock says. “However, to say or to think that the economy being bad wouldn’t affect me personally just because I have a job, it just isn’t true,” he says. “Ultimately, what I fear most is I don’t know what a Romney presidency would look like,” Babcock says, “and I think that’s scary for me."RILEY PARRIndianapolisTreasurer of IU College RepublicansSophomore Riley Parr remembers watching the election coverage on television in 2008. Although he wasn’t old enough to vote, he says he remembers wanting Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. to win but didn’t fully grasp what it would mean for the country if either candidate won. Four years later, it’s not the same story. Parr is currently treasurer for the IU College Republicans and involved with the Student Alumni Association and Student Alliance for National Security. He says he knows politics, and he knows he wants Mitt Romney in office. Parr calls himself “not your normal college-aged Republican” and more of a social conservative than other students. He supports Romney for his knowledge in business, something he believes the country needs due to the financial crisis, and would like to see a sound economic plan in place. “I think what Obama’s done is energize Republicans like me to get them to do their research and understand the philosophies and history behind the issues,” Parr says. “We don’t have to listen to the man on the television or the newspapers to make our own decisions.” TESS LEUTHNERMilwaukee, Wis.Sent in an absentee ballot for the electionTess Leuthner is a senior studying environmental science. She is also involved with Timmy Global Health and works at a research lab that studies environmental toxicology in aquatic systems. She’s passionate about the environment and concerned about health care. Leuthner says she is an avid President Barack Obama supporter. She’s nervous, though. It’s the idea of a nation run by Mitt Romney that scares her. “He’s going to try and destroy all the progress that we’ve made over the four years, mostly social issues and economic issues,” Leuthner says. “He’s not fighting for women, or minorities, or gays, or workers, or artists.” For Leuthner, Obama is a symbol of trust — the man who sees the nation and its people in its entirety, she says.“I guess he’s incredibly determined and selfless, and you usually don’t feel that way about a politician,” Leuthner says. “I think that’s why I am able to trust him, because he’s looking out for everyone. He understands what world he wants to leave behind for his children.” Romney, on the other hand, makes her feel uneasy, she says. She says she’s afraid that he doesn’t understand America and the issues at hand. “That’s what I fear, that he’s blind to things,” Leuthner says. “He’s blind to other ways of life that make the U.S. what it is.” The more vocal Romney has been, the more worried Leuthner has become. “He can never answer the question with what he’s actually going to do,” she says. “Even when I muted the debates, I would feel worse just watching him in how he treated the audience, the moderator, and Obama.” “He’s just so aggressive and disrespectful, and that is just not someone who should be running the country,” Leuthner says.HILARY LEIGHTYWashington, Ind.Chairwoman of IU College RepublicansHilary Leighty is determined to make her last month as chairwoman of the IU GOP a good one. Leighty has been working hard manning the phone banks and helping out with various delegates’ campaigns. “I don’t think it’s going to be good if (Obama) has another four years,” she says. “I think there’s going to be a lot of good things that won’t happen if he is president.” With parents who are generally conservative, Leighty says she did not grow up in a very politically minded environment and did a lot of her own research before deciding she agreed more with Republican policies. The classes she’s taken at IU have only reinforced her conservative beliefs and ideals, she says. A junior studying marketing and management in the Kelley School of Business, Leighty says the party’s stand regarding economic and business issues appeal to her most. A supporter of Reaganomics instead of Obama’s brand of Keynesian economics, and a supporter in Bush tax cuts, instead of tax hikes, Leighty says Obama’s policies have created a burden on small businesses. “I don’t know when it became a crime to be successful and make money in this country, but apparently it has,” Leighty says. “The thing that makes me frustrated more than anything else in this election is (Obama’s) demonizing people for being successful, and for making money. Like, that’s the American Dream. That’s the entrepreneurial spirit. These people have worked hard.” Leighty says that if Obama is reelected, there might be more waiting for good things to happen. She poses the idea that the economy could remain stagnant until 2016. For election night, Leighty already has her plans laid out: at the headquarters making calls all day, working the polls for a few local candidates she endorses, going to KRC Banquets and Catering to support Todd Young and his staff and then attending party with the other College Republicans. “And I might go to the bars after that, for a little bit, if it’s a good night,” she says. “We’re hoping for good things. We’ll see if I’m really happy or really depressed.”PARKER MANTELLMemphis, Tenn.Voted with an absentee ballot in TennesseeAs a political science major and columnist for thecollegeconservative.com, junior Parker Mantell knows his facts. He’s done his research, he has the numbers, and he isn’t afraid to share it. “I tell people all of the time we are all part of the debt-paying generation,” Mantell says. “Yet today, half of Americans out of college can’t get a job and that’s very frightening.” So in an election that Mantell says will be determined by the economy, Romney has his vote. “If his tenure of balancing budgets as governor of Massachusetts has any indication on how Romney would run this country, he has what it takes,” Mantell says. Charged social issues may be what fire up the passionate American public, and Mantell sees nothing wrong with that, but he believes that this presidency will be determined by economic decisions. Candidates must be able to do more than just talk for the millions of Americans without jobs and for the students prepping to join the workforce. “The reality is that this is the final chance we have to get this country back on track,” Mantell says. And for Mantell, Romney is the one to do it. SONYA JAYARATNAWest Lafayette, Ind.Re-registered to vote in Bloomington this yearSonya Jayaratna wants to go into health care. She’s studying biology as a senior and is involved with Timmy Global Health in addition to doing research in an animal behavior lab. If Romney is voted into office, Jayaratna says she is especially nervous when it comes to healthcare policy. “Even when he speaks over and over about how he pays attention to the middle class or how he’s in for the middle class or whatever, he’s so wishy-washy,” Jayaratna says. “That speaks to why I don’t believe he really has those issues in mind.” She says she is afraid Romney doesn’t seem to always understand the importance of social issues. “I like how Obama says that it’s like an investment in a person,” Jayaratna says. “People don’t always have the means to or the opportunity to become a Romney themselves, and I don’t think Mitt Romney really understands that.” Jayaratna says she fears that Romney’s views are outdated and will stunt America with his mindset. As one of the millions of immigrants, she also says she doesn’t find him relatable. “He just has an ideology that should not be applied to today’s society, it’s not consistent with how we have evolved as a population,” Jayaratna says.
(10/16/12 6:12am)
How to stay safe at night.
(09/24/12 4:38am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Beneath the red spotlight in Jake’s Nightclub, an elderly man held his wife’s hand and twirled her around. As the last note of “Cou Cou” played, he wiped the sweat off his forehead. He turned to the “gypsy jazz” quartet onstage and nodded in appreciation. “We love it when people dance,” said Ursula Knudson, lead singer of Fishtank Ensemble. “The more the audience responds, the more we respond back. It’s like a circular energy thing. It’s great.”Fishtank Ensemble, based in Los Angeles, blends Turkish, French, Balkan and Spanish musical influences with Romani music. The group uses instruments ranging from the violin and flamenco guitar to the banjolele. Knudson’s operatic voice, lowered to sultry depths in songs such as “Fever,” also rose to a stunningly high octave for “Woman in Sin.”Fishtank traveled to Bloomington for the first time for the 2012 Lotus World Music and Arts Festival, for which they performed Friday and Saturday.The band left town Sunday to perform at the Chicago World Music Festival and will play six more shows in four different states before they return home in October.
(09/24/12 2:36am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Street performer Amir Gray shut his eyes and leaned forward, the honks from his tuba cutting through the cool air, which lay heavy with mist. As bright lights from the Buskirk-Chumley Theater poured onto the middle of Kirkwood Avenue, festival attendees crowded around the street performer. IU students Charlie Jesseph and Jacob “Funk Daddy” Cleveland sauntered past and started to beatbox.People, music and food filled the 2012 Lotus World Music and Arts Festival Friday night.Named after the late Lotus Dickey, a singer-songwriter from Orange County, Ind., the annual festival included art and music from cultures around the world. Bloomingfoods Market and Deli, a main sponsor for Lotus, catered the artists’ hospitality center. Other venues, such as Upland Brewery and FARMbloomington, set up small food stalls for the event.White tents peppered the city center. Attendees created art in the Arts Village as music boomed from the tents and churches serving as concert venues.IU students and employees filled the streets alongside town residents and alumni. Local street performers and the 26 artists brought in this year entertained residents and visitors alike.Against soothing waves of acoustic guitar riffs, Malian musician Fatoumata Diawara threw her turbaned head back. A smile danced across her lips as the drummer started tapping a rhythm on the hi-hat behind her. Diawara’s deep, raspy vocals rose and soared at the Buskirk-Chumley. Every eye rested on her, an explosion of color in her red-and-yellow striped turban and silver bangles. She accented her asymmetrical skirt with a belt of shells.While the performance began at a steady, relaxed pace, Diawara and her band soon had the audience up on its feet and swinging to the beat. Alexandra Buck, a second-year master’s student, attended the festival with José Toledo, a first-year Intensive English Program student from Peru. “We danced the whole night,” Buck said. “Everyone, the whole concert hall, was up dancing. I cried. It was beautiful.” On a stone block outside of the courthouse, a street performer held up a lit torch and two knife blades. “Ready for this? Ready for this?” he cried out as he threw the torch and blades into the air. He caught them with his hands, one after the other. “Now, didn’t that make a great picture?” he asked the crowd.Slavic Soul Party kept the IU-Bloomington Tent thumping with their Balkan-style grooves.Made up of nine musicians on drums, brass instruments and an accordion, Slavic Soul Party wove in jazz, funk, gospel and dub influences. Hanggai, a Chinese group that plays a blend of traditional Mongolian folk music and more modern musical styles such as punk rock, played at the Ivy Tech Community College Tent.Hurcha, clad in a traditional Mongolian wrestling outfit including a heavy leather jacket pierced with round metal studs, leaned off the front stage toward the cheering crowd. Sweat dripped from his forehead and chest, adorned with an array of beaded and metal chains. He passionately yelled a string of words in Mongolian. The audience erupted into cheers and applause. Fists rose. Feet stomped. Ilchi, the group’s lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist, joined Hurcha in singing melodies.Batubagen, another member of the group, played the morin khuur, a Mongolian “horse fiddle.”He sang hoomii, a very low-pitched Mongolian throat singing, set to fast punk rhythms.“The people are singing songs about the relationships and friendships,” guitarist Ai Lun said. “They also sing about the nature, how important nature is to people.”He winked as a storm raged outside the tent.“These songs are telling the inside stories,” he said. “The grass is growing for the animals. They’re just hoping that the rain comes.”
(05/31/12 12:24am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A fire broke out around 3 p.m. Monday at 3105 E. Stratum Way, the site of an apartment building within The Stratum at Indiana Housing Compounds, injuring two firefighters and affecting 10 apartment units.Captain Tania Daffron of the Bloomington Fire Department said eight apartments were damaged in the fire, with two more severely destroyed.The fire, which is believed to have begun on the top floor of the apartment block, burned a hole through the roof and charred surrounding walls.“The firefighters didn’t want any unexpected surprises,” said Daffron, who said water and electricity had been shut off throughout the apartment complex during the course of the fire.The BFD has confirmed that no residents were injured in the fire. However, a dog was rescued from one of the damaged apartments.Two BFD firefighters were transported from the scene by ambulance to IU Health Hospital, where one suffered from heat exhaustion and the other, an ankle injury. Both were treated and released Monday night.The ambulance service had also set up a firefighter rehab station at the scene — a common practice, Daffron said, but especially critical due to Monday’s heat.In their thick suits, firefighters were instructed to make visits to the station, where they could rest and stay hydrated with water and energy drinks.When officers from BPD arrived at the scene of the fire, they observed fire alarms, residents standing in the street and flames coming out of the building, BPD Lt. Bill Parker said.Resident and IU student Kevin Han, who lived in the building, said he first saw the fire on the balcony of his third-floor apartment. Han said he and his girlfriend were watching television in his apartment when the fire alarm went off.He caught sight of the flames when he climbed onto a chair to turn off the alarm.“I ran to the kitchen to fill a bucket with water, but the flames got too big,” Han said.He said the smoke then started seeping in through the gaps under his doors and around the windows, and the two ran out of the apartment, Han armed only with his cellphone.His car keys were later salvaged by a BFD firefighter.Inspectors are checking to see how badly the individual units have been damaged, but from the building’s facade it was clear that all three levels were affected. As of 5:30 p.m. Monday, all power in the building has been switched off and residents have been asked to find temporary, alternate housing.Angelia Wengert, who lives in an apartment at The Woods at Latimer, a compound situated right behind The Stratum, said she was on the phone when she began to smell, and then saw, smoke and fire rising from the other side of the woods.She said she walked to the apartment block to offer housing to displaced residents and to thank BFD firefighters.“I feel very blessed for what they did today,” Wengert said. “They protected the whole community.”The cause and extent of damage of the fire are still under investigation. Police do not have any involvement in the case unless fire investigators determine the fire was caused by criminal activity, Parker said.
(05/29/12 12:30am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A fire broke out Monday at 3105 E. Stratum Way, an apartment building within The Stratum at Indiana Housing Compounds, injuring two firefighters.An officer from the Bloomington Police Department said authorities first received a call about the fire from a passerby at 2:54 p.m.“It said the porch was on fire, spreading rapidly,” said Matt Farris, a volunteer with the Indian Creek Volunteer Fire Department who heard the call close to 3 p.m. “Then within 30 seconds to a minute … ‘numerous units fully involved.’”Captain Tania Daffron of the Bloomington Fire Department said Tuesday that eight apartments were damaged in the fire, with two more severely destroyed.The fire, which is believed to have begun on the top floor of the apartment block, burned a hole through the roof and charred surrounding walls. “The firefighters didn’t want any unexpected surprises,” said Daffron, who said water and electricity had been shut off throughout the apartment complex during the course of the fire.The BFD has confirmed that no residents were injured in the fire. They did rescue a dog, however, which was rescued from one of the damaged apartments.Two BFD firefighters were transported by ambulance from the scene to IU Health Hospital, where one suffered from heat exhaustion and the other, an ankle injury. Both were treated and released Monday night.The ambulance service had also set up a firefighter rehab station at the scene – a common practice, according to Daffron, but especially critical due to Monday’s heat.In their thick suits, firefighters were instructed to make visits to the station, where they could rest and stay hydrated with water and energy drinks.According to BPD Lt. Bill Parker, officers from BPD arrived to the scene of the fire, where they observed fire alarms, residents standing in the street and flames coming out of the buildingResident and IU student Kevin Han, who lived in the building, said he first saw the fire on the balcony of his third-floor apartment. Han said he and his girlfriend werewatching television in his apartment when the fire alarm went off.He caught sight of the flames when he climbed onto a chair to turn off the alarm.“I ran to the kitchen to fill a bucket with water, but the flames got too big,” Han said.He said the smoke then started seeping in through the gaps under his doors and around the windows, and the two ran out of the apartment — Han armed only with his cellphone.His car keys were later salvaged by a Bloomington Fire Department firefighter.Inspectors are checking to see how badly the individual units have been damaged, but from the front of the building it was clear that all three levels of the building were affected. As of 5:30 p.m. on Monday, all power in the building has been switched off and residents have been asked to find temporary, alternate housing.Angelia Wengert, who lives in an apartment at The Woods at Latimer, a compound situated right behind The Stratum, said she was on the phone when she began to smell, and then saw, smoke and fire rising from the other side of the woods.She said she walked over to the apartment block to offer housing to displaced residents and to thank BFD firefighters.“I feel very blessed for what they did today,” Wengert said. “They protected the whole community.”The cause and extent of damage of the fire is still under investigation. Police do not have any involvement in the case unless fire investigators determine the fire was caused by criminal activity, Parker said.Continue checking idsnews.com for updates.
(05/21/12 12:26am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Jon Stanbrough emerges from the cool air of his trailer, his eyes zeroing in on the racecar parked several feet ahead at the base of the ramp. In one swift move, Stanbrough’s three-layer, fire-resistant suit is zipped to his chin, and his body is perched atop his sprint car, sliding down into its cramped roll cage. Then, his routine begins: the seatbelt; the one-way radio earplugs; the alarm-red, fireproof head sock; the bulky helmet painted with patriotic stars and stripes; then thick, fire-resistant gloves. “And then I’m just kind of trying to stay, I know it sounds funny, but trying to stay blank, not thinking about anything, especially the racing because you can’t, you never know what’s going to happen when you get on the racetrack,” Stanbrough says. “So, I don’t try to make any kind of plan.”It’s about 80 degrees outside, and sitting right above the car’s engine, padded with layers of thick clothing, Stanbrough says it feels like its 100 degrees. But in sprint car 21x he remains focused.In complete silence, Stanbrough’s pit crew gives the car’s chassis and aluminum outer body a final rundown before top mechanic Daryl Tate, in a cart attached to the rear of the sprint car, drives Stanbrough out to the lineup. “Once I get fired up and I get lined up, and until they bring up the green flag, I’m not really thinking about anything other than getting a good start and making sure that I don’t make any contact with anybody and take myself out, or cause someone else to wreck,” Stanbrough says. “You got to be consistent. Stay out of trouble and finish races the highest position as you possibly can.”***Stanbrough was competing with 37 other sprint car racers Friday in the United States Auto Club Larry Rice Classic at the Bloomington Speedway.The USAC is part of a handful of auto racing sanctioning bodies in the U.S. and has come to run one of the premier sprint car race seasons in the country. Entry-level and professional drivers travel to all parts of the country to participate in the championship. So far, sprint car drivers in this year’s USAC season have raced in various cities in Florida, Ohio and Indiana. As current point leader in this year’s season, Stanbrough was the only driver in a Leer Motorsports sprint car Friday. Leer Motorsports is owned by Bruce Leer, one of four partners who took over Bloomington Speedway two months and five races ago. “Bloomington (Speedway) has a rich history — I think 80, 90 years of continuous operation,” says Dale Dillon, co-owner and principal of Dillon Racing, who races another Leer Motorsports sprint car and, along with the other partners, has been a long-time racing enthusiast. “The couple that operated before was ready to retire and get away from it. We thought it’d be a great opportunity for us to give it a go.”The team signed a contract with Stanbrough at the start of this year’s season and has provided him with mechanics and resources connected to Leer Motorsports. Dillon says Stanbrough, a 44-year old Avon, Ind., native, was chosen in part for his 32-year experience, as well as his status as a local fan favorite. ***Like the rest of the teams supporting their drivers, three mechanics, as well as Tate’s wife and daughter, watch intently as 21x pounds the dirt track, drifting and gliding through laps. “Any kind of racing, everyone loves racing around Indiana,” says Tate’s wife, Lisa, who handles the marketing and social media aspect of the business. “It’s more of a family thing. I remember coming as a kid, you know. My mom would drive all four of us to the races.”It is this spirit and tradition as a family sport that Bloomington Speedway Partners LLC is aiming for as it works toward improving the track. Minor changes have been made so far. An extra section of seating has been added in the pit, and a playground has been built on the other side of the oval track. “If we can get the entire family coming to the event, versus just the dad, you know, include the mom and children, you’re more likely to get them coming back because there’s stuff there for everybody to do at the track,” Dillon says. “It becomes more of an event than just a race.”The new owners have already installed more lights within the arena. They are also looking into requests to widen the track, a change Dillon says would be implemented sometime next year. The team is currently sourcing for a large-screen LED monitor above the track to screen replays, as well as videos for entertainment between races. “Yeah, it’s mostly been favorable things,” says Jeff Rihm, who has worked at the track for the past five years handling retail and providence of spare parts, tires and methanol to the various teams. “But I guess there’s always a learning curve. (The new owners) seem to be a lot more fan-friendly. There’re a lot more people coming in.”***21x drifts into the midst of the small crowd of Stanbrough’s family and friends gathered in front of the Roberts-Tate trailer. Stanbrough has come in sixth, losing to the champion of the night — Bobby East from Brownsburg, Ind. As Stanbrough’s pit crew and Tate’s teenage daughter Erica rally around the car and begin to wipe off the mud and dirt that has gathered on its body and tires during the past five hours, the driver and his top mechanic retire to the corner to further discuss the race and track. “Depending on what the track does, mechanics will try to read the track, see what it’s going to do, change tires, gears, anything that they need to do to change and adjust the car for the track,” said Lisa Tate.Stanbrough’s loss has brought about a tinge of sadness, yet sentiments far from impressions of ultimate defeat. “I’m better off in my chance in the championship chase, in finishing sixth ... than taking the chance, crash and finish last,” Stanbrough says about how points are given based on consistency throughout the season, rather than on the number of individual races a driver wins. “I’m more of the type of driver that wants to go out and win every race, but I’m pretty far along in my career and I would really like to have that USAC championship at least once before I retire.”
(02/28/12 2:57am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>To pass as a 17-year-old nobleman, music doctoral student Amanda Russo had to abandon all feminine tendencies and adopt a stiffer frame and posture. “Girls would maybe lean in with their necks, and boys are much more square,” Russo said. “And the costume helps with that, too, because the costume was very square, angular.”Russo played the role of Count Octavian Rofrano in “Der Rosenkavalier,” a three-act comic opera staged by the IU Opera and Ballet Theater. It was originally written by German composer Richard Georg Strauss and was first performed in 1911.Linda Pisano, costume designer for “Der Rosenkavalier,” said Russo’s costume was designed in the new style of the 19th century. During that period, a man’s coat had sleeves deeply inset to create a narrow back and forced the wearer to stand up very straight. High collars and cravats were also trademarks, forcing the chin to be raised upward and the chest to protrude. In Act II, a sword was attached to Octavian’s waist. “Any time a sword is worn on a performer, it naturally changes their center of balance and the way in which they must walk and move,” Pisano said in an email.“Der Rosenkavalier” has become part of the standard repertory for world-class opera houses. It also remains one of the most elaborate works to produce.This is the second time — the first was in 1966 — the IU Opera and Ballet Theater is staging “Der Rosenkavalier.” The opera clocks in at a hefty four-hour duration and is the department’s largest production to date. Previously, the production was performed in English, but it will be sung in German this time.Three official months of preparation have culminated in four performances scheduled at the Musical Arts Center: Feb. 24, Feb. 25, Mar. 2 and Mar. 3. Opening night at the MAC bustled with excitement from both the audience and the performers. “I didn’t get nervous while I was singing, but I got very excited, and even that can affect my breathing,” Russo said. “When we’re excited or nervous, our bodies respond with the fight or flight. So we have shorter breaths and our mouths get dry, which are horrible things for singers.” Russo said she does yoga frequently, which helped her learn to take deep breaths to overcome excitement. She also made sure to watch her stress levels, her diet and how much she spoke. The length and size of the production called for greater measures from everyone involved. There were two main casts, a 48-strong chorus, a full orchestra and a large crew. The first opera of the season, “Albert Herring,” had to be moved off-campus to free up resources for the “Der Rosenkavalier” team. “It’s quite an achievement for anybody to do this opera, but it’s a special achievement for a university to do it,” conductor David Effron said. “(Strauss) is great with string playing and wind playing. He knows the orchestra so intimately and what the capabilities of the instruments are — one of his great gifts — he often presses the instruments to the limits of what they can do.”Effron said the orchestra rehearsed three times a week in November, three times a week after students returned from the winter break and five times a week leading up to the show. Singers, on the other hand, met 10 times last year, and up to the show, they underwent coaching five hours a day, six days a week. But, for some, training began even earlier. Pauliina Linnosaari, who arrived in Bloomington from Finland last year, was cast in the role of Princess Marie Thérèse von Werdenberg, otherwise known as the Marschallin, Octavian’s much older lover. In preparation for her role, Linnosaari began research in April, more than a year before she had to perform onstage at IU.“It really started earlier for me, but I still think it should have started even earlier because it’s a big role to prepare for,” Linnosaari said. The show opens with Octavian and the Marschallin in her lavish boudoir. In the privacy of her bedroom and with her husband away at battle, the Marschallin becomes simply Marie Thérèse, while Octavian is affectionately Quinquin.But by the end of Act I, the Marschallin, acutely aware of their age difference and struggling to embrace her inevitable aging, has dissolved her affair with Octavian. She proceeds to orchestrate a meeting between the young count and Sophie von Faninal, 15, and is sure of their potential pairing. Sophie, however, has already been promised to Baron Ochs auf Lerchenau. When the two young people fall in love, complications, drama and hilarity ensue. In the end, Octavian is forced to choose between his young, pure love with Sophie and his more reverential love of the Marschallin. Apart from touching on the different types of love, the message of the opera is about the changing seasons of life and the decisions that have to be made to help people move past previous relationships. “But who is wrong and who is right? It’s not that simple,” Linnosaari said, referring to the Marschallin’s decision to “give” Octavian to Sophie. “These kinds of decisions are from real life, even if the whole opera is kind of fantasy. She’ll move on, and I think that’s what we all do in our lives. When something happens, it feels really big at the particular moment, but then time passes, and then you find yourself in another situation and it’s fine. We move on.”
(02/20/12 3:31am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The moment captured by the lens of Ira Wilmer (Will) Counts Jr. of 15-year-old Elizabeth Ann Eckford and Hazel Bryan Massery spoke for itself. Eckford, an African-American student, cast her shaded eyes downward and was determined to not let her tormentor see her cry. It was Sep. 4, 1957, and Eckford was one of nine African-American youths denied access to Little Rock Central High School in Little Rock, Ark., by a National Guard blockade deployed by segregationist Governor Orval Faubus. The “Little Rock Nine” had been selected by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, in conjunction with the 1954 Brown v. Board Education decision that called for the integration of American public schools, to enroll in the previously all-white Central High, making them the first group of black students in history to do so. “When we get together and have a book signing, she would always cover that page of the book (with the famous photo),” said Counts’ widow, Vivian, of Eckford, who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. “She just could not even look at it again. It did a number on her. She was afraid that they were going to kill her. It really influenced her entire life.”On Sep. 22, 1997, the Countses succeeded in reconciling Eckford and Massery in Little Rock, hometown to all four individuals and where Eckford still resided. “You’re mighty brave to want to go through this,” Eckford had said to Massery in the doorway of her childhood home, less than a mile away from Central High.That day, both women stood in front of their alma mater, and Counts took another picture. This time, both women had relaxed smiles on their faces, one arm wrapped around the other.But Eckford was already preparing for the storm of media coverage she knew would descend upon both their lives as soon as the photo was published. In 1999, then-Vanity Fair reporter David Margolick, in Little Rock on another assignment, chanced upon the 1997 picture in Central High’s visitor center. “I just thought that it was amazing that these two people who represented racial antagonism had come together,” Margolick said.After seeing the photo, he was inspired to write “Elizabeth and Hazel: Two Women of Little Rock,” a book that recounts the taking of the original photo and its impact on the two women’s lives, as well as the world. Margolick will discuss his book today at 7 p.m. in the Whittenberger Auditorium at the Indiana Memorial Union. His talk opens the School of Journalism’s Spring 2012 Speaker Series and is free and open to the public. The now-Vanity Fair contributing editor published his first documentation of the story behind Counts’ 1957 photo, titled “Through a Lens, Darkly,” on Vanity Fair’s website in 2007. But Margolick said he faced a huge obstacle in the writing process — Massery had refused to speak to him for eight years.“Hazel thought that I wasn’t going to be fair to her, and she wanted this story really to go away,” Margolick said. “Hazel felt very skeptical of me, as she thought that I would take Elizabeth’s side.”But once she saw the article in 2007, Massery said she saw Margolick was even-handed and could be trusted. She began to work with him for the next four years. The book, according to Margolick, is much more comprehensive and balanced than the article. Both women’s sides of the story are told, and more historical background is given, such as information about the lives of Counts and jazz legend Louis Armstrong. Two years after their reconciliation, Massery and Eckford had become good friends. They were traveling around the country, sharing their experiences and teaching others about the importance of racial tolerance, according to Counts.By 2001, the friendship between Eckford and Massery had fallen apart. The women have not spoken to each other for the past 10 years, according to Margolick.“Two people like these simply can’t just shake hands and pretend that all this history hasn’t happened,” Margolick said about the tension that started to develop between both women due to a string of misunderstandings and differing expectations.“And it’s a very sad thing because you can see that the two of them still feel very bonded together,” he said. “There’s still a very profound tie between the two of them. But they’re both very proud and stubborn people, so they remained in a kind of impasse.” While Eckford remains in the public eye and is still willing to speak to the press, Massery has refused all interviews after her last one with Margolick. Margolick said Massery felt bitter about the whole experience of coming forward and apologizing to Eckford. “In a peculiar sort of way, Elizabeth has overcome it better than Hazel has,” Margolick said. “It’s one of the great paradoxes in the story, that Elizabeth has moved on with her life and has really emerged from the shadows, whereas Hazel has receded back into the shadows.”Margolick described how he tried to analyze the quality, composition and symbolism of Counts’ photo. “I stared at that picture for hours repeatedly,” Margolick said. “And every time I looked at it I would discover something new about it,” he said.
(02/13/12 2:18am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>In a drunken state following his first taste of rum, guileless town darling Albert Herring resolves to abandon his coddled lifestyle and pursue a night of decadence.The next morning, the revelation of his antics — among them starting a fight at a pub — sends the town’s authorities into an outrage, but finally sets Herring free from his stifling community. “Albert Herring,” the comic opera composed by Benjamin Britten in the late 1940s, documents three days in the life of a young man in Loxford — a small town in east England — as he breaks loose from society’s moralistic expectations and embarks on a journey of self-discovery after being crowned May King.Students performed James Marvel’s interpretation of the classic opera from Feb. 9-12 at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater as part of the IU Opera & Ballet 2011-12 season. The Buskirk-Chumley was chosen instead of the more common operatic venue, the Musical Arts Center, because stage director Marvel felt that the smaller space was more ideal. “It brings the audience into the show,” Marvel said. “It makes them feel more intimate, more involved. Having the ability to see the expressions on their faces more clearly is extremely helpful and telling, and it helps the comedy.”It is widely believed that Britten, a closeted gay man, wrote the main character based on his own longing for liberation and self-expression in society. In the process, he ended up addressing the more universal theme of tension between individuality and conformity. “I never betray what I believe to be the composer’s intention,” Marvel said. “Benjamin Britten was living in a society where he couldn’t necessarily express who he was. There are moments of camp, essentially, in the opera. And I just wanted to exploit that a little more than what might be done in a more traditional production.”Marvel said that, by exploiting the concepts of morality and individuality to their extreme form, to the point of absurdity, he was able to make the original play even more comedic. Britten had written the play with librettist Eric Crozier with a goal in mind: the reestablishment of an English operatic tradition by creating a form of opera that required few resources. “Britten’s very eclectic,” said Arthur Fagen, Jacobs School of Music professor and the opera’s orchestral conductor. “The opera showcases a conglomeration of style. Britten has created an incredible range of colors with a very small group of instruments.”In the Buskirk-Chumley, the handful of musicians — a string quintet, woodwind quartet, horn player, harpist, pianist and percussionist — sat in front of the stage and close to the audience as layer upon layer of instrumentation played a major role in the performance. “The music is constantly shifting its color and instrumentation according to what’s happening on stage,” Fagen said. He said the music helped to bring out the comedic element of the text.Furthermore, the technique of tone-painting to imitate human whistling was created by using a slide and harmonic on a violin to reach high notes. While Fagen said he felt Britten was specific in his notation and had created little space, musically, for personal interpretation, Marvel said he took a fair amount of liberties in portraying the story.Marvel also said he gave freedom to members from each of the two casts to express their own interpretations in the form of dance moves and unscripted words at pivotal moments during the opera.Along with such modifications to the original script, the opera department added another dimension: tweeting. “The point is to come up with a new way of getting audience members to interact with the IU Opera & Ballet, but at the same time to see if we can increase awareness and gain new audience members,” said social media specialist and art administration master’s student Brooke Feldman of the “Twitter Experience” created for “Albert Herring.” “Albert Herring” is the first opera of the 2011-12 spring season, and therefore the first time audience members have been encouraged to tweet about an IU opera performance during intermissions, as well as before and after the show.“You should have positives and negatives within the arts just because you need that feedback,” Feldman said, adding that the IU Opera & Ballet Theater Twitter account gained 15 followers Thursday and Friday.While all aspects of the performance — music, dance moves, vocal harmonization and British humor manifested in the form of unexpected and sometimes crude lyrics — came together to evoke roars of laughter from the audience, Marvel said the message of the performance was meant to sink in deeper. “So he has this existential dilemma, this ... ‘what am I doing with my life?’ It’s this wake-up moment,” Marvel said. “And that part isn’t comedic at all, it’s actually kind of stirring. When you realize that your entire life might be relegated to boxes of fruit and vegetables — it’s kind of dark, frankly.”
(02/02/12 2:40am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Nada Surf will always remind me of youthful, carefree days — which, as it seems to be, is precisely the way the band wants to be heard with its latest project, “The Stars are Indifferent to Astronomy.”Bursting onto the scene with the awkward tune “Popular” in 1996, Nada Surf evolved from spewing angsty post-grunge to embracing a more mainstream, heartfelt sound.“Stars” seems to be a recollection of the band’s past, as it seeks to meld grunge and ballad into a cohesive series. Opening with the smashing of drums, the album softens in the middle with song titles such as “When I Was Young” and “Teenage Dreams.” It is these songs, explicitly named to reveal the album’s theme and motive, that shine.In the middle of the album, Matthew Caws croons, “I cannot believe the future’s happening to me,” which speaks a lot for band members who have kept true to their wide-eyed view of life, love and heartbreak throughout the years.“Stars” is typical Nada Surf fare; the style is expected and in no way outstanding. But after the band released an album of only covers in 2008, the least we can do is welcome it back with open arms.
(01/31/12 4:17am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Daniel Inamorato has been named winner of the second Latin American Music Recording Competition. The final round of the 15th annual competition, presented by the Latin American Music Center, took place Jan. 29 in Auer Hall. “It’s always hard to wait,” Inamorato said of the 30 minutes the jury took post-performance Sunday to make the critical decision.“But I’m really, really happy. I feel really happy to have the opportunity to perform Brazilian music, and now to record a CD with music from Latin America.”The competition format was altered last year in conjunction with the center’s 50th anniversary to award winners with a full CD recording, all supported by the Guillermo and Lucille Espinosa Fund. Inamorato, a 24-year-old Brazilian with a head of close-cropped, curly brown hair, doe eyes and an easy smile, has spent just six months in Bloomington as a student of famed pianist Arnaldo Cohen under the Performance Diploma Program in the Jacobs School of Music. His prize includes recording an LAMC-produced and -edited album. As proposed in his application to the competition, Inamorato’s CD project will focus on solo piano works from the past 100 years written by Brazilian and Mexican composers. During the competition, Inamorato played pieces by an all-Brazilian set of composers, including “Nazarethiana Op. 2” by Marlos Nobre and “As três Marias” by Heitor Villa-Lobos.“It’s this kind of music you can’t find so easily, you can’t hear so easily, but it’s incredible music,” Inamorato said. “I know about the meaning of the songs and where they came from. It’s nice to try to do what I have in my blood.”Inamorato will also perform in a scheduled winner’s concert at 8 p.m. March 8 in Auer Hall.Inamorato was the only pianist in the competition, which featured two solo guitarists, a guitar duo and a countertenor.“It was a very unusual competition because it was an open one,” said Luiz Fernando Lopes, former acting assistant director of the LAMC. “It focused on repertoire, particularly music from Latin America.”The competition has had a history of contenders from diverse backgrounds. Once, a vocal ensemble competed against a Latin jazz band. Lopes said all five applicants this year were chosen to compete in the final round because of how strong each of them were in their own discipline.“They were judged against standards in their own field, not directly with one another,” Lopes said.The six members of the jury ranked competitors from one to five, and the final decision was made by adding together the numbers for each competitor, then dividing them by six. The competitor with the lowest number won the competition. Lopes said the program was arranged according to three criteria, the most important being an optimum music sequence. While contestants were able to piece their own sets together, organizers arranged the performers in such a way that the softest, slowest set, which was played by solo guitarist Iván Maceda, progressed to the strongest in terms of sound volume and gesture, which was performed by Anders and Inamorato. “He’s a good friend of ours. We’re happy for him,” said first-year doctoral candidate Daniel Duarte, who played in a duo with Rodrigo Almeida. The men have played together for eight years — they first met at a university in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The city was also where they first met Inamorato. “His level was really high,” Duarte said. “When you enter into a competition, you don’t think about who’s winning. It’s a lottery. Sometimes you win, sometimes you don’t. That’s how it works. You don’t really expect the results.”For Inamorato, it’s not so much about competing, but about sharing the music and experience with others. He said he believes that the audience, upon being exposed to different kinds of music, languages and rhythms, is forever changed for the better. “We are here all together doing a beautiful thing,” he said. “It’s what I think we can do for people when we play in public. We can give them hope, something to think about.”Inamorato said he thinks a balance should be drawn between the repertoire and important musical happenings in the world, and that he can fulfill these hopes with the upcoming recording of his album. “I’m really happy because I believe in this competition, and I believe in this school and the LAMC,” he said.
(01/26/12 2:54am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A man with a salt-and-pepper ponytail explained the process and visual appeal of the circular patterns hung on the gallery walls.The patterns were rubbings made from manhole covers found on roads and sidewalks — day-to-day objects most people pass over without a second thought. “They must have a grip surface,” said Perry Olds, the artist who created these rubbings. “While making a grip surface, why not make a pattern pleasing to the eye?”“The Art of the Israeli Man Hole Cover” exhibit launched at The Venue Fine Art & Gifts last Friday and a more in-depth look at the artist’s working process was offered at the gallery Tuesday night. During the presentation, Olds shared both technical information and personal anecdotes with the audience. It all started with an overseas family visit. Olds and his wife, Irene Joslin, flew to Israel late last year to see their daughter and week-old grandchild. They ended up staying seven weeks, traveling the length of the country. Olds and Joslin, both of whom are involved in the Bloomington arts community, toured historic sites in Eilat and Jerusalem but spent most of their time in Tel Aviv. It was on his long walks around the modernized city that Olds, a photographer and a former mechanical engineer, noticed the intricately designed manhole covers along the streets and sidewalks. In addition to the elaborate patterns, most of the covers contained text in three languages: Hebrew, Arabic and English. One had the English word “hot” in bold, capital letters across its front. With Olds’ artistic mind honed throughout the years, he realized the art was in the texture of the manhole covers. He decided to go down the path of creating pastel and graphite rubbings from the covers instead of simply taking photographs of them. “You’re not creating a new design per se,” Olds said. “You’re copying someone else’s work. But given that, you have control for how you do it. You can change the colors, the detail. You pick up more detail in one area if you want and emphasize things differently.” To create the visually attractive pieces, Olds used various “rubbist” tools. He carried three to five sheets of paper similar to those used for drafting, used masking tape to keep the sheets to the ground and transferred manhole cover designs to paper with graphite, oil pastel, chalk or wax.“There’s so much detail,” he said. “You’ve got to figure out what the detail is. You’ve got to go after the details and search them out.”Olds spent 30 minutes to an hour crouching near the ground along busy streets to create each rubbing, his only comforts the cushions to pad his knees and a folding chair for rest and safety. But Olds faced a bigger problem in the form of suspicion from locals. “Some of the people made a very wide arc around Perry rubbing the manhole covers,” Joslin said, laughing. Olds shared an anecdote about watching a group of soldiers shoot holes through an abandoned briefcase they feared contained a bomb. “They are very suspicious,” he said. “There were times when I would be walking down the street with my roll of paper and people would look at me and stare. And when I encountered those people, I would take the roll and point it up like a spyglass, show them that, ‘nothing here but paper!’”During the seven weeks of touring, Olds created 30 rubbings, some of which he reproduced in different colors. The Venue gallery owner Gabriel Colman said he chose to carry the show for its fresh and unique subject matter, and Olds was able to extract beauty and art from something seemingly mundane. “I’ve heard of other shows that exhibit rubbings from gravestones and things like that,” Colman said. “This was the first of its kind, as far as the subject matter and how it was presented. As far as a person could sink their mental teeth into, it’s got good qualifications.”Olds said he appreciates the support and artistic input his wife, an acclaimed artist and cartoonist in her own right, provides him with.“Perry has such a good eye,” Joslin said. “I don’t think he realized it himself. Oftentimes he would create a piece, and it always turned out to be the beginning of a show.”
(01/20/12 3:14am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The words “Goheen or go home” were printed on every hand in the room. These hands warmed glass bottles and interlaced with other concertgoers, while magenta light fell on the main stage.Sticky and the Bees singer-songwriter Andy Goheen shut his eyes, held the guitar tight and sang softly to the crowd. “I just want to eat a sandwich/ But I never have bread/ Condiments are scarce/ and the pickle jar is empty,” Goheen sang.“That’s the sentiment I have in a lot of my songs,” Goheen said. “I’m trying to calm my own anxieties in a way, while at the same time make fun of them through song.”Perhaps better known as the In-House Concert Promoter for the Bishop, Goheen has been working at the bar since it opened in 2009, a year after he finished his studies in music performance at the IU Jacobs School of Music. After two years of introducing musicians, such as Paleo, and bringing popular groups, such as post-rock band Tortoise, to Bloomington, the 25-year-old quit his job in December in preparation for his move to Chicago in February. In light of Goheen’s departure and last performance in Bloomington, local musicians Busman’s Holiday, Ziona Riley, Austin Hoke, Evan Latt and Mike Notaro convened for a farewell concert Wednesday at the Bishop. A crowd of about 50 gathered, comprised mainly of students. Much of the crowd are personally acquainted with Goheen or at least have benefitted by his promotion. “I met Andy a year ago,” regular concertgoer Lisa Cantrell said. “He’s a really good promoter. He’s really good about inviting people on Facebook.”But Goheen said as much as he appreciates Bloomington’s creative scene, he is excited to move on. “For the most honest reasons, my girlfriend is moving there, and I’m following her,” Goheen said. “Bloomington for me is, after all, a transitory town. I’m looking to get into music education at the elementary school level (in Chicago) and I’m going to try my best to stay away from concert promotion. It’s a lot of work.”Goheen said the hardest things about being a concert promoter are making sure the bar’s calendar is filled, negotiating scheduling, paying the bands and marketing the event. Dan Coleman, owner of Spirit of ’68 promotions, will be taking over Goheen’s duties at the Bishop in February. “Dan’s been doing this for a long time, too, so I believe it’ll keep getting better,” said Elise Percy, a close friend of Goheen’s.In 2010, Goheen and Percy toured across the U.S. as e.p. hall, Percy’s solo musical project. “Andy has a unique ability — an encyclopedic knowledge of bands,” Percy said. “He has truly been the patriarch of the local music scene. He’ll be missed, for sure.”While Sticky and the Bees played a characteristically slow set, brothers Lewis and Addison Rogers of Busman’s Holiday set feet tapping with their happy-go-lucky folk rock set. The difference in musical styles seemed to embody Goheen’s impending move with a melancholy farewell from Sticky and the Bees and the more upbeat melodies of the jovial Rogers brothers.“I’m happy for him,” junior Greg Simpson said. “Bloomington is a great springboard, so I know that wherever Andy goes from here, he’ll do big things.”As Goheen stepped off the stage for the last time, he thanked his friends and bandmates for a great run. “For learning all my songs in a short period of time and being my friend even though I’m weird,” he said.