14 items found for your search. If no results were found please broaden your search.
(09/02/07 10:57pm)
In the pursuit of distracting myself from the binge eating induced by 17 credit hours, I’ve used three brands of peeling masks in the past 25 minutes. A soak in the tub, a $400 Yves Saint Laurent elixir (my roommate’s internship swag paid off for me) and a taut face don’t seem to be the cure for the oh-crap-LSAT-this-month, and neither does this “liquid cure for lazy abdominals with caffeine” that I just rubbed in a circular motion on my ass for a minute. At least my bum smells like mint now. \nBut why stop there when according to an Aug. 31 ABC News article, women are not only tightening their faces – they’re giving their nether regions a lift too? \nIt’s called a labiaplasty and essentially entails snipping off any offending labia that may appear asymmetrical, large or otherwise labially unsightly. The article cites pain and discomfort as one of the main reasons to pursue the surgery, but gynecologists still think the procedure carries unwarranted labia risks.\nStill, doctors experienced with the surgery feel the emotional trauma of having a weird vagina outweigh the risks. \n“Women have gone so far as to say, ‘Doctor, I have a penis,’” said Dr. John Miklos, of the Laser Vaginal Rejuvenation Institute of Atlanta Medical Research Institute, in the ABC News report. “How can your heart not go out to them?” \nI’ll only assume a woman saying she has a penis is in reference to an enlarged clitoris. Otherwise, I have no clue how a labia, no matter how large, could ever resemble the male genitalia. But that could just be me. \nBefore making a sweeping generalization about the vagina surgery and essentially calling it insane, it’s fair to note the non-permanent but semi-painful things I do in my pre-programmed quest for procreation. \nThe peeling masks? I’m quite certain I peeled off layers of dermis I want, by the second time around. Calluses speckle my feet from blisters caused by very mean shoes. I may not elect for anyone to cut up my vagina, but crippling myself is another story entirely! \nHonestly, beyond the initial befuddlement considering the premise of a labiaplasty, the risks associated aren’t a significant difference from other elective cosmetic surgeries. The outcry that the procedure is dangerous is more of a feminist response to yet another presumed physical defect over which women can obsess. Altering the appearance of a vagina because you don’t like the way it looks when you see it in a mirror may be outrageous, but no more so than lipo on back fat, breast augmentation or calf muscle implants. And the overemphasis of the body is no longer limited to women; men face such higher standards of beauty now that they, too, are consumerist whores. So at least low self-esteem isn’t exclusively female – a huge step for our collective neurosis. \nMaybe I can do something non-invasive for my labia. A peeling mask, perhaps?
(08/29/07 1:12am)
I just cleaned my new roommate’s whiskers from our bathroom sink. I knew somewhere deep inside he had made some sort of mess in the bathroom, either because I’m an Operating Thetan level III (that’s an obscure Scientology joke implying I’m telepathic), or someone just told me he did. \nLiving with men isn’t my favorite thing, though the ones I’ve lived with are of that brother/father archetype, whatever that means, and their messiness might not be indicative of the entire gender. And besides the occasional but horrific instances of a clogged toilet, guys are almost tolerable. Except all the male friends I have and their bathrooms that I can barely enter without gagging. Think campground latrine. Then jump into that unwelcoming pit. It’s exactly like that. \nSo, like most of those returning this fall, I’m settling into the give and take of living with a roommate of the male persuasion. I clean sheared whiskers from sink; he makes the DVD player work. Who knew the cables plugged into the front of the TV weren’t supposed to be plugged into the back too? Clearly, our slightly incestuous TV cords were a cry for a sense of completion in this world of yearly move-ins and changing schedules. \nCertainly there are some things to be aware of when living with a guy. For one, they have no concept of changing the toilet paper roll. Since they are not required to sit down for all bathroom visits, guys lack a toilet seat frame of reference where the roll is of utmost importance. Then there’s the issue of what we call “happy time” over here at the Sympathy house, when I’m barred from entering my roommate’s room. I may get invited to the Jane Fonda work-out sessions, but “happy time” is a solo affair – which I totally respect. Unfortunately, it results in the convenient placement of Vaseline on his bed that my dad so aptly pointed out last week.\nThere are also the culinary improvisations, where your round cake pan becomes a baking dish for a submerged shank of beef. \nBut beyond the general passive aggressiveness of living with a new person, (apparently, continually pulling the shower curtain closed after his showers doesn’t seem to be the best way of telling him I hate exposed tubs), there’s that eventual realization about the people you’ve left – friends back home, graduated but unemployed boyfriends and garden variety hangers-on. So despite a new living situation, there’s still a past that has a silly way of reappearing. \nWe’re afforded a lot of beginnings in college and chances not to make bad Scientology jokes. Still, there’s always an end to tie up, hold on to or let go of. Not everything gets strung along. Deal with the fraying ends before getting wound up in a new semester. Just don’t clip them into the sink.
(08/01/07 9:21pm)
Those blessed two weeks before fall classes are almost here, just in time for a final summer road trip or a stint in rehab. In case I don’t return from my own adventures on the eastern seaboard (will whatever’s in New Jersey kill me?), it’s my duty to pump you full of totally defensible libel like a doctor pumping a B-list actress full of collagen. This is an especially important task after the dizzying number of reports recently that involve celebrities and their beloved illegal activities. \nThe trials and tribulations of unearned wealth only continue for our weary Hero Hilton. Paris reportedly lost her $60 million inheritance from her grandfather for doing something along the lines of “tarnishing the family name,” possibly due in part to June’s jail visit and her raccoon-eyed sex tape a few years ago. I hate when old people act like they were never young and made sex ... scrolls?\nBut Paris is tourist hell in the summer, so I have my fingers on the shallow pulses of other barely productive celebrities (as in their hearts are failing from an eating disorder masquerading as a macrobiotic diet), particularly the pretty ones who enjoy life’s simple pleasures, such as lines of coke.\nLindsay Lohan, a stalwart rehab veteran, is possibly uninsurable after felony drug charges amidst her already pending DUI. For those of you who have never made a major motion picture (the one you play out in your head set to music as pretentious as that of “Garden State” doesn’t count), actors are insured against causing delays in production, which can cost companies oodles. Companies, then, tend for some wild reason not to employ actors with minor blow habits. \nMy dear Lindsay might have to resort to peddling narcotics herself if this proves true. I have to question her drug-dealing abilities, though. I’m inclined to think “Parent Trap” ruined her street cred.\nNicole Richie, the former best friend of our Paris and necromancer (you do know she’s a zombie, right?), is slated for a four-day appearance in the clink for her own foray in driving whilst plastered. The poor thing, who somehow has gotten pregnant (thank the Dark Arts), has to pay for her own jail stay. It’s a true slap in the face for everyone scraping by with a dad named Lionel. Rumors are floating around that Nicole will soon complete her transformation into a banshee and the unholy bun in her oven will reign supreme.\nLindsay and Nicole unfortunately forced men with codeine and other predilections almost out of the news. Pete Doherty, the scrawny poet who dated Kate Moss (her secret: freebasing every other week for that trademark glower), checked out of rehab while Al Gore III pleaded guilty after being caught with a Raoul Duke-sized pharmacy and a pinch of pot while maxing out his Prius. \nSo beware of withdrawal and remember the real news: Paris and heiress aren’t interchangeable anymore. Humanity weeps. And in the solemn words of Jean-Paul Sartre: Beyond Paris Hilton, there is nothing.
(07/18/07 9:21pm)
The Internet’s been all a-titter lately over the Michael Moore-CNN feud. The fight began after Moore objected on live television to a report by dreamy CNN neurosurgery correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta about his film “SiCKO,” which directly preceded Moore’s interview by Wolf Blitzer. Though Gupta ultimately agreed the American health care system is in need of an overhaul, his report pointed to inconsistencies in Moore’s facts. The dispute continued online, where both CNN and Moore listed their sources and defended their respective points.\nWhat Moore is guilty of in his movies is editorializing – displaying the facts in such a way as to favor one side. It’s not inherently unethical, because he’s a filmmaker trying to make a point. His use of statistics from two studies of different years, however, is hardly defensible, and the highlighting of select soundbites and statistics borders on propaganda. \nBut CNN itself is no stranger to editorializing. Five years ago every American mainstream media outlet feared its patriotism would be revoked if it published or broadcast any hint of dissent over the Iraq war. The media preferred to broadcast the “shock and awe” over Baghdad rather than spend time questioning the existence of weapons of mass destruction. Never mind thoughtful analysis of the motivations of the war after the 9/11 patriotic fervor.\nMainstream media failed, and with that failure we turned to Comedy Central for the truly astounding soundbites. We waited for the “real” outlets to rediscover their testicles and broadcast an indictment (with a fraction of the coverage of the Lewinsky humidor scandal) of the gross deceit of the Bush administration, an administration that has coasted through unfettered with the exception of reports that hint at Dick Cheney’s body being inhabited by demon spawn. The mainstream media doubled as the administration’s propaganda arm, failing to approach even the level of reporting conducted by Gupta regarding Moore’s questionable facts.\nThere are several reasons for the kind of complacency found in the media before Bush’s ratings began to decline. For one, the media thrives off entertainment stories, making Watergate-depth reporting less economically appealing than two months of Anna Nicole Smith. Beyond profit, the media outlets themselves are backed by large corporations that cloud the interests of the alleged government watchdog, a watchdog whose owners are the same ones lobbying Congress. The media’s inclination to question, then, is only piqued when the market is ready for it. The market value of reporting reflects the apparent ideology in the media to appeal to centrist thought, a kind of self-censorship evidenced by decency standards and fear of the “liberal media” stigma. \nWhile Moore’s misuse of information has palpable entertainment value, there’s significant conflict in a self-identified news outlets resorting to the same distortion or absence of reporting in the name of the bottom line. It’s one of the massive failures of an increasingly conglomerated society and is much more nuanced than the Moore-CNN dispute.
(07/11/07 9:49pm)
In less than a month, the newest “it” bag has sold out. In a panic, eBay profiteers have taken to the streets in search of Chinese-produced knock-offs to mark up 20 times, while those outside the fashion world wonder what in God’s good name is going on here. No, it’s not a new Hermes design nor the hippest Louis-Vuitton print. It’s Anya Hindmarch’s $10 canvas “I’m Not a Plastic Bag” tote, a response to the arguably environmentally devastating plastic shopping bag. But more than that, it’s an advertisement of your chic moral superiority.\nI want that bag as badly as some people want an iPhone. Just thinking how nicely my box of organic cookies, which features a Margaret Mead quote on the side, would look tucked in my Hindmarch tote sends a morally aware chill down my spine. Keep chomping on your partially hydrogenated chocolate-stuffed cookies, average Kroger shopper, my organic pride shields me from your eco-trashing. In fact, a farm-grown purse can turn solid, commercially produced peanut butter into the socially responsible, runny kind.\nI want to save Darfur and the icecaps, protect the bonobos, and end world hunger—but I’m only one woman! So instead I could do my part and buy a designer canvas bag. That low-price point is to encourage women everywhere (Milan, London, Hong Kong = everywhere) to do the “green” thing. But ladies such as me without a Manhattan address need a bag for free-range beef as well. Something canvas. Something recycled. Something unexpectedly tacky.\nConsider Goodwill the new fast track to bon-chic-bon-genre. Since canvas goes with everything, you’ll only need to buy one bag, hopefully which advertises a public library in Spanish or a Pfizer product. And of course, the practical upshot is that one less plastic bag means more petroleum for your fashionably gas-addicted ways! But among other reasons to ditch the quest for the Hindmarch tote is its production in China (low-price point, cheap Chinese labor; you say tomato ...) where the fuel used for transportation could actually outweigh the benefit of using that bag over plastic, and the cotton itself isn’t organic.\nI still haven’t found the perfect statement tote and felt rather embarrassed at Bloomingfoods when I was asked for my bag. It’s a bummer I can’t traipse around with my very own ethical bag whose actual ethics are, at the very least, questionable. But I was just kind of waiting for the invisible hand of capitalism to invisibly toss one into my outstretched palm. So I asked for paper.
(07/01/07 9:19pm)
The social security administration recently released the top baby names of 2006, proving again people have never seen the film “Splash.” The girl’s name Madison, that ubiquitous name of every new baby about which you hear, is on the decline after sweeping through the naming ranks, taking just number three this year. The usurper? Emma. Thank you, “Friends,” for giving us the next generation of ugly names for girls. The good news is that Noah is nowhere in the top 10. Still, the majority of the girls’ names are rather sophisticated, like Sophia or Isabella, confirming that the delusions of this country are truly infinite. \nBut let’s get back to the name Madison. Please, I implore you, don’t name your kid Madison. While realistically you should be studying right now or slaving away at a summer job and not thinking about ruining your girlish figure or your girlfriend’s girlish figure, this is still a serious matter. Not only are you not paying homage to James Madison, you’re referencing a Daryl Hannah movie about a mermaid who lives in a bathtub. This is not a joke – don’t name your children after forgettable ’80s films. \nNow, if Madison was your first choice, there are some parents who hire consultants to name their children. According to a Wall Street Journal article, parents feel so compelled to set their children apart – likening the current selection of childrens’ names to brands of toothpaste – that they will pay someone to make one up. Somewhere out there is a toddler named Sheridan because of its “crisp syllables” – and crisp bed linens, too (that was a Sheridan Hotel joke, by the way). \nI’ll admit I’m not the ultimate authority on names. But considering my name has been on the decline for the past 15 years (Colleen is almost off the top 1000 list), I give mad props to my parents for not naming me Jessica. I never shared my name with anyone in the entirety of my education, from preschool to this current semester. Except now. \nA recent Google search of my name revealed a prominent Colleen Carroll. Two if you go through enough pages. This does not please me. I don’t share – certainly not my name, certainly not with another writer. Unfortunately, it’s not really humanly possible to bolster my ranking unless I simultaneously inflate my mothering instinct and ego, birthing 15 children and naming them all after myself, regardless of sex. \nBut as I said, without an independent and aesthetically pleasing name, my eventual publishing career is in jeopardy. Therefore, I find myself in the predicament of today’s parents: I need a name, or rather, a pseudonym. This task baffles me, so I have pity on those who consult baby name books and the bizarre names of obscure aunts. Luckily, initials can be helpful, as are nicknames derived from obscure ’80s films (not “Splash”). So, I bid you adieu with my newly coined pen name, C. R. Krull. \nOr maybe I should hire a \nconsultant.
(06/27/07 11:30pm)
As unfortunate as it is, IU is a business and the effect is similar to the dilemma of American health care – it’s a public good forced to eke out a profit everywhere possible. Often, education here is considered secondary to roping money from alumni and attracting research grants. The life of the mind, as it were, defers to the nearest donation or athletics construction.\nTrustee candidate Steven Miller is pragmatic about the challenges of a university, of the needed balance between attractive funding opportunities like the life science initiative and the societal need for liberal arts education. As a public university, he noted in his response to the editorial board, IU has a duty to educate the population, but lacking the considerable endowment of a private liberal arts college, the school must shift to research to garner funds. He realizes there are significant problems that need to be addressed: the faculty here is largely underpaid, for instance; and it’s a step beyond insanity to rebuild a stadium that’s only packed with cream and crimson when Wisconsin plays. And it’s not as if living in a 12-by-12 dorm room built in the 1960s with a complete stranger builds character.\nDue to his background in finance and business, and as longtime member of the IU community, he seems to understand the lunacy of leaving University policy to scholars and retirees who pander for money across the state – money that seems to be funneled in almost criminal amounts to athletics, which is frankly a comment on the delusions of the current trustees.
(06/17/07 9:43pm)
Wednesday at midnight I will turn 21 and, besides reaching the legal drinking age, will – mathematically speaking – officially enter my 20s. I’ve both dreaded and anticipated this birthday, primarily because after Wednesday the only age-relative events I have to look forward to are social security checks and cutting a child out of my will. The rest of my birthdays have had their own tinge of uneasiness about them as well, and not because the number of candles on my cakes keeps going up (indeed, my family hasn’t increased the candles since I turned 10), but since I realized years ago the summer’s ephemeral nature.\nSummer officially begins Thursday, which means my birthday will come on the second longest day of the year. After the solstice, we’ll face shorter days and the march toward winter. So I find it difficult to look forward to a birthday that heralds the beginning of the end of a season I love and never lasts long enough.\nFor the past two summers, being outside was bound up in the misery of my summer job, where outdoor work was a terrible scourge I avoided at high costs, and by high costs I mean painting 18-feet-high walls without scaffolding. Now I can venture outside without any misgivings about impending heat stroke and actually like the weather. All the same, I still get the feeling I’m wasting time, despite my unusually high level of productivity.\nI rarely sit outside and do nothing these days, enjoying being 20 and not wearing sleeves. It’s too easy during a string of 90-degree days to forget we wore coats for more than six months.\nSimply, there’s a conflict between preparing for my life, i.e., ensuring I will be eating and just living when I graduate. But that’s the struggle of college, too. We want the grades and internships so we can end up with the lives we want. But we as college students need to go out at 1 a.m. on a Wednesday to buy pizza, to sit on a porch drinking wine way out of our means when we have Webwork due in two hours – all because college goes fast and life is definitely too short for Carla Rossi.\nSo rather than bemoan my existence basically being over because I only have a shortlist left for life’s big To-Dos of marriage, children and casket shopping (highly exciting plans), I say, don’t clean your room. Don’t do the dishes. Take a walk, look at the sky and grasp at the wonder of being alive. Learn to like the feel of being barefoot in grass again, get dirt under your nails, pick wild rhubarb and remember how surprisingly smart you were as a child for not eating it, play in the water, pick strawberries and remember how surprisingly smart you were as a child for eating the entire basket. Wear sundresses; send flowers, parcels, and sacrificial goats my direction for my birthday, and enjoy these last long days. \nThey’ll all be gone before you knew they were here.
(06/10/07 11:03pm)
If you’ve been conscious the past six years, you probably hate Paris Hilton. In fact, you so despise her and her ornament of a Chihuahua, you were thrilled to see her sentenced to jail time, regardless of the crime.\nBut then our hopes were scattered to the wind like Lindsay Lohan’s cocaine stash: Last week she was released on house arrest! Oh the humanity!\nThe trial was a perfect opportunity for the system to prove it doesn’t favor celebrity, nor bows to race, gender, and class. When Paris was released early, it seemed certain society was doomed, as we forever make excuses for the over-privileged and pretty. The system did not hesitate to execute Stanley Williams, the founder of the Crips, who reformed and wrote numerous pieces of anti-gang literature and for that, earned a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize. Yet Debra LaFave, the attractive teacher who slept with a minor, was too pretty to survive the “hell hole” of prison and was given house arrest.\nAn heiress who has contributed nothing to society but an unimpressive sex tape, Paris certainly deserved to be shoved into a hole, not for her actual crime but as comeuppance for the time we’ve spent fixated on her hair extensions and feud with Nicole Richie. \nThis hole I speak of is a special one; one that has been spoken of in hushed tones by my mother whenever my brother or I seemed to be failing at self-sufficiency. This is what she would say: “You’re in the hole, (Bum Child). You’re in a hole so deep I can’t reach you. There is no ladder in this hole. No rope. You have to crawl out of it, by yourself, dirt falling into your eyes, embedded in your nails. And when you finally get out people will see the dirt on your shoes and know you’ve been in the hole.”\nParis Hilton? In the hole.\nMy mother’s extended metaphors for failure aside, there are other factors in this situation: It’s not uncommon for nonviolent criminals to serve only 10 percent of their sentence due to overcrowding; but more importantly, America loathes Paris so intensely, every scrawny part of her, she may have actually been overly prosecuted.\nThis is not to say I didn’t feel the deep satisfaction only spurred by the comparatively minimal suffering of such a useless, extravagant human being. Yet Paris, in perhaps her first self-aware moment ever, said she hopes the media “will focus on more important things, like the men and women serving our country in Iraq, Afghanistan and other places around the world.”\nWe are, indeed, doomed when Paris Hilton says something insightful.
(05/20/07 11:03pm)
As news networks have told you by now, heiress and idiot Paris Hilton is going to the clink for driving with a suspended license after having previously been arrested for driving under the influence. While few in the tabloid media consider Paris’ penance unwarranted, Nancy Grace and her ratings-starved ilk raise an important question outside of the Hilton context: Is the punishment for drunk driving fair?\nThe punishment is just as fair as victimizing people who fall asleep at the wheel, or rear-end another car while looking at a navigation screen or do anything to increase their chances of being in an accident. That is to say, it’s not fair at all. \nThere’s a knee-jerk reaction to drunk driving: reverting to the image of a guy careening into a car full of teenagers going to the prom while that one Green Day song plays mysteriously from a shrub next to the school gymnasium. But seeing as how, say, a 17-year-old Laura Bush escaped prosecution for her involvement in a 1963 collision that killed her then-boyfriend, drunk drivers seem disproportionately criminalized. \nThough every wrongful death is certainly a tragic event, in 2004 there were a meager 604 alcohol-related fatalities - including everything from a sober driver killing a drunk pedestrian to an actual drunk driving accident - compared with more than 50,000 DUI arrests.\nDespite the number of drunk drivers arrested, there’s obviously a large disparity between arrests and deaths. Of course, driving under the influence is a voluntary action with potentially dangerous results. But, then again, so is speeding.\nIndiana officers can choose what type of field sobriety test to administer - by breathalyzer, blood test or urine sample - yet the offender has no option in submitting to these tests or in seeking legal counsel beforehand (can someone say “Fifth Amendment”?). Additionally, officers do not look for speeding as one of the signs of a possible drunk driver but rather for drivers who are going under the speed limit – i.e. people who know they are impaired and do not want to hurt others on the road. This fact certainly does not lead to the image of a reckless drunk driver peddled by the militant Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Of course, “per se” alcohol laws dictate that anyone with a BAC of .08 percent, regardless of intention or knowledge, is driving drunk.\nPerhaps people just need someone to blame, but alcohol causes only 39 percent of traffic fatalities. In fact, some anti-MADD sources claim that after combing through semantics, this figure is only 12.8 percent. Where’s the swift and easy justice granted to a person accidentally killed by sober drivers? The only comfort for the victim’s family in a sober accident comes in the form of a huge settlement in civil court. There’s no one to vilify. There’s no license suspension. Instead of attempting to keep people safe, we are scapegoating drunk drivers. \nSo don’t punish Paris; punish her parents, who raised a narcissistic sycophant with no purpose in life but to stare blankly, wear designer gowns only passable in Vegas and declare what’s “hot.” \nBut then again, accidents happen.
(09/21/06 3:57am)
For freshman Patrick Felts, the red sculpture on the lawn of the IU Art Museum is nothing more than a meaningless shape.\n"It looks like a circle to me," he said.\nBut that big circle is Charles Perry's "Indiana Arc," one of several pieces of abstract art that exists on IU's campus. \nDiane Pelrine, curator of African, Oceanic and pre-Columbian art in the IU Art Museum, said the sculpture is an effective example of abstract art because its subject isn't recognizable or inspired from "the natural world."\nAbstract art receives criticism for its simplistic appearance and the assumed lack of execution inherent to, for instance, a single dot on a canvas, said Jenny McComas, curator of Western art post-1800 at the IU Art Museum.\nThe arc isn't the only example of nontraditional art on campus. Marcel Duchamp's "Fountain," a repurposing of a urinal, which he simply signed "R. Mutt," is displayed inside the art museum. Pelrine said Duchamp wanted to make a statement and his piece is often synonymous with Dada, an "anti-art" movement of artists who reject conventional ideas of art. \nAs for interpreting abstract art, Pelrine suggested viewers think about what was important to the artist.\n"The thing to do is to just look at it and think about the artwork in terms of color and line and texture and appreciate it for the patterns or hints of representation," Pelrine said. "The artist abstracted or simplified something sometimes."\nThough the art community originally rejected "Fountain," it is now considered an important piece of modern art. Pelrine explained that while "Fountain" is more Dada, it's considered "found art," not abstract.\n"Abstract art is featured as nonrepresentational," she said. "The artist might have taken something in the natural world and abstracted it, as the name says. He simplified it down and distilled its essence. With the 'Fountain,' the artist has taken the object and (made) you look at it in a new and different way."\nStill, outside the art community, "Fountain" does not meet everyone's standard of art. Evan Boggs, a sophomore majoring in psychology and international studies, described art as a "two- or three-dimensional expression of human creativity" focusing on pigments and media.\n"Almost all art requires a fair amount of hard work and signing your name on a urinal does not," Boggs said. "I would call that a whim."\nBut even some with authority to speak on pieces of art reject the urinal, such as senior Brian Vlnicka, a major in art education.\n"I think ('Fountain') is ridiculous," Vlnicka said. "Art's a way to express yourself creatively. ... I don't think that's very creative."\nVlnicka, who describes himself as a "pretty classic guy," said he prefers the "big three" of art -- Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael -- but says abstract art has its place.\n"I do like Jackson Pollack; his art at least takes effort," he said. "He actually created it. If Duchamp made his urinal, (I'd accept it as art)."\nPollack, whose "Number 11" is displayed in the museum, dripped paint on the canvas to create his famous splatter style. \nThe painting reinforces an attitude McComas calls the "my-kid-could-do-that" mentality, which is based on the idea that any art that doesn't have the explicit use of "artistry" is regarded as a finger painting. But there's a tremendous amount of planning and execution involved in these pieces, McComas said. She advised considering and focusing on the materials used and the layers of the painting, rather than dismissing it as pretentious or highbrow.\n"We want people to realize there's no secret meaning in the art, to enjoy the pieces, like how the colors have been arranged," McComas said. "Abstract art just transforms reality to something different."\n--Arts Editor Michelle Manchir contributed to this story.
(02/09/05 5:08am)
To the background of birches, Individualized Major Program senior Katherine BonDurant reinvigorated timeless pieces in her fashion show "Winter in Red Square" Feb 5 at the Bloomington Convention Center. By contrasting stiff equestrian styles and fabrics with satin and silk in addition to delicate nuances, BonDurant softened her otherwise traditional line.\nRich jewel tones lent a daring amount of saturated color to her prominent earth tones. According to BonDurant's program, she drew from the styles of Soviet Russia. \n"My line of wearable winter clothing was influenced by the style, civilian and military, and architecture of mid-twentieth century Russia," BonDurant wrote in her program. "Textured wools in rich earth tones share the stage with velvets, silks, and satins in a palate from midnight blue to winter white ... And, just as reds and golds warm up the Russian winter landscape, those colors provide a bright note throughout the collection."\nThe majority of the pieces featured subtle delights such as demurely puffed sleeves or punchy coral lining. Yet some pieces didn't maintain the underlying sensibility of the line. Her patterned velvet sleeveless dress paired with a maroon velvet jacket simply was too heavy and lacking textural contrast. Her midnight-blue belted dress lacked the shape and tailoring of the other pieces. But perhaps her most daring ensemble, a bubble wrap skirt and jacket, fell flat against the deluge of substantial and conventional fabrics. \nHowever, most of the ensembles were stunning in their simplicity, from BonDurant's crisp winter white suit to the raspberry and maroon bridesmaid dresses, which featured a striking combination of satin and velvet. The designer successfully incorporated faux furs, giving texture to her pieces. BonDurant's cropped pants lent an equestrian edge, or what her program called a "contemporary counterpoint to traditional silhouettes." Her use of wool was richly done. But BonDurant's cream satin wedding gown gave a dramatic nod to the past and was the most impressive piece of the show.\nPresenting her line as a fashion show is not a requirement of the program, but BonDurant chose this traditional approach to showcase her creations. BonDurant's professor, Kathleen Rowold, said the show was well executed. \n"(The show) was nicely done," Rowold said. "I think her line of traditional tailoring showed the Eastern European influence."\nThe classes conducted by the sponsors kept the designers on track, BonDurant said.\n"There are a couple of classes dedicated to this -- their sole purpose," she said. \nAs for her plans after graduation, BonDurant remains "open," she said.\n"I'm going to start applying at jobs," she said. "I'm fairly open with what I want to do"
(10/05/04 5:06am)
Jewish business students interested in creating contacts for the future might wish to take notice of a club offered by the Helene G. Simon Hillel Center. \nThe Business Leadership Initiative, which began seven years ago at IU, brings business leaders and students together, creating possible networks and giving insight into various industries.\nJunior and the group's co-president, Adam Berger, said the club fosters interaction between students and executives.\n"Business Leadership Initiative gives Jewish undergraduate business students, or students who are business inclined but have another major, to interact with Jewish business executives," Berger said. "These individuals meet with our group to give some insight into the 'real' world. They offer a different perspective -- one that is usually very beneficial, into the microenvironment and what really lies ahead. We learn how many people got started and have moved through the ranks of their business or others who started their own business many years ago."\nSenior Rael Maze said the networking opportunities and the forum set-up benefit business, management and marketing students.\n"It's a fantastic way to begin making business contacts, as well as provide a forum in which to ask practical questions to real company executives," Maze said. "It's a terrific opportunity for Jewish students to learn from and network with some of the leading Jewish business executives in the country."\nRabbi Sue Shifron, executive director of the Hillel center, said the chance to network is important for students.\n"Networking is an essential aspect of one's future career," Shifron said. "It is important to learn this skill while still in college. Also, some students have gotten job interviews, jobs and internships through contacts they have made in BLI."\nNumerous business executives speak to the students, Berger said.\n"In the past we have had executives from Finish Line, H.H. Gregg, Keller and Keller and many more," he said. "We also have a sports caster coming from ESPN, and Roger Shiffman, the founder of Tiger Electronic. The individual usually has the opportunity to tell us their story and other advice. We then have a question-answer period. After we are done, the guest is usually very interested in talking with us, giving specific advice, looking over resumes and recommending people to contact."\nMaze also said the experience is positive for both the speaker and student.\n"BLI is a wonderful program for students and for the speakers, as well," he said. "They are often eager to share their experiences and offer insight into their success in the business world."\nBerger said students interested in the program are invited to apply.\n"We currently have approximately 70 members and are looking to increase to 110, or so," he said. "We would like all Jewish students who are business majors or have some interest in business to join and reap the benefits of the fabulous speakers."\nThe program itself received praise, Rabbi Shifron said. \n"We have received the highest programming award from International Hillel, the Haber Award, for excellence in programming for this program," she said. "It is being modeled on other college campuses."\nTo apply for the Business Leadership Initiative, visit www.indiana.edu/~hillel/gesherim/bli.html.\n-- Contact staff writer Colleen Carroll at cncarrol@indiana.edu.
(10/05/04 5:05am)
As many students prepare to join the workforce, a small percentage of IU students look to volunteer organizations, such as the Peace Corps or Teach For America, as a place to go for the few years after graduation.\nJan Van Dyke, senior assistant director for career resources at the Career Development Center, said students express serious interest in volunteer organizations.\n"It seems IU students are very interested in community service," Van Dyke said. "For example, IU has so many students interested in the Peace Corps that there's now a Peace Corps recruiter in the Career Development Center. Also, Teach For America has been very successful in recruiting IU students."\nThirty-six IU students were accepted to Teach For America this year, said Laura Nalley, Midwestern recruitment director for Teach For America.\n"IU has the one of the highest number of applications and the quality of students is very high as (is) interest in taking this kind of work," she said. "Students are interested in volunteer opportunities, I think, because they want to be surrounded by people with the same level of commitment and interest and drive to do something that will impact the world. There's a sense of idealism in this generation that's tempered by wanting to work very hard and do something more than a short-term fix."\nVan Dyke also feels idealism motivates students to pursue volunteering after college.\n"(Students are interested in volunteer organizations because) of altruistic reasons of wanting to help others," he said. "A lot of students just want to serve and help." \nOthers choose volunteer organizations for growth experience. Students are unsure of their career direction and want to grow personally, Van Dyke said. Some students who volunteer for Teach For America even decide they want to continue teaching.\nNalley said 50 percent of Teach For America volunteers decide to continue teaching, which she attributes to the volunteers' commitment to equity.\n"In Teach For America, college graduates commit two years to teach in low-income communities where students often receive compromised educations," she said. "At the age of nine, many of these students are three to four grade levels behind. It's challenging, hard work, but 50 percent of volunteers stay in the classroom. The hope of the program is volunteers continue to work for issues of equity."\nThomas Bonnenfant, an IU alumnus and graduate student, spent two years serving in Uzbekistan with the Peace Corps. Bonnenfant said the Peace Corps inspired him to continue humanitarian work.\n"The Peace Corps gave me career direction, and I now want to return to Central Asia to work in a humanitarian capacity," he said.\nNalley feels the experience and challenge of Teach For America is an opportunity for growth.\n"Teach For America is a good chance to work for long-term career goals, and it challenges you on a regular basis," she said. "You must try to motivate a group of students who are motivated by the WWF or Little Bow Wow. It's trying to identify with what interests students. It's an exciting challenge with a high value of experience. There are even tuition reduction and credits for the time (spent) teaching for Corps members."\nBonnenfant said he joined the Peace Corps because of the multitude of opportunities offered in the program.\n"I did Peace Corps because I didn't want to go directly to graduate school and because I knew that it would be very adventurous," he said. "I believe that opportunities with the Peace Corps are special because it can give a recent graduate work, language and travel experience all in one package."\nStudents seeking information about volunteer organizations and other career alternatives will find resources in the Career Development Center, Van Dyke said. \nThe center has a section of applications for the Peace Corps, Teach For America and Americorps. The CDC also has a space on its Web site devoted solely to alternatives after graduation. For more information, log onto www.indiana.edu/~career.\n-- Contact staff writer Colleen \nCarroll at cncarrol@indiana.edu.