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(03/26/14 4:17am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Punch Brothers were welcomed by a hearty applause and an “Ahoy!” from the crowd as they took the stage Tuesday at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater.In light of their latest EP, titled “Ahoy!,” lead vocalist and mandolinist Chris Thile responded with a just-as-hearty “Ahoy!” before beginning their set.The New York City-based quintet performed to a sold-out crowd at 8 p.m. Tickets were $35. Their identity as a mixed-genre group comes from their sound, combining string-band pop flare and heavy bluegrass undertones. Each musician, in addition to playing with the quintet, works on individual projects and other collaborations.The group, formed in 2007, has come a long way in seven years. From their debut album, “Punch,” in 2008, to Bonnaroo in 2010, to their song “Dark Days” appearing on the Hunger Games soundtrack in 2012, the Punch Brothers brought their sound to Bloomington last night as part of its March tour.The BCT was host to the group as well as Aoife O’Donovan, who released her debut album “Fossils” in June. The show opened with a fresh set by O’Donovan. The young singer-songwriter is traveling with the group during their March tour. After a brief intermission, the Punch Brothers opened with a cover of “Another New World” by Josh Ritter, and followed with their original “This Girl.” In addition to Thile, the band featured a variety of instruments including banjo, bass and violin. Combined, the rhythms created a modern bluegrass sound that filled the crowded theater.The show’s set list included songs from the group’s most recent album “Who’s Feeling Young Now?” released February 2012. The album was a break from the group’s previous tracks and offered a more accessible sound, as cited on the group’s website. “We saw the Punch Brothers as an opener at the IU auditorium a couple years ago,” audience member Christine Geary said. Described as “some of the most exhilaratingly direct, sonically daring performances the group has ever recorded” on the group’s website, “Who’s Feeling Young Now?” displays the versatility of the maturing musicians.The group continues its tour tonight in Madison, Wisc.“When we saw they were coming back to Bloomington, we had to go,” Geary said. “We couldn’t miss them.”
(12/11/13 4:26am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The fairways of the IU Golf Course are vacant of players on the days when rainfall is heavy enough for stormwater runoff to stream down the deep ravines leading into Griffy Woods and Griffy Lake.On these days, Maggie Messerschmidt, recent winner of the IU Office of Sustainability’s 2013 Campus Catalyst Award for Student Leadership, zips up her rain jacket and heads to the golf course to measure the stormwater runoff at the edge of the green.Messerschmidt, a graduate student at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs and a Service Corps Fellow, is the coordinator of a student-led group researching and implementing green infrastructures on campus. The goal of the project at the golf course, titled the Restoring Adaptations for Infrastructure (RAIN) Initiative, is to eradicate the negative effects of stormwater runoff. The recent snow has put a temporary hold on their runoff measurement, but the group will continue to measure runoff as soon as the snow melts, Messerschmidt said. “Instead of infiltrating through the ground, sheet run-off just slides over the top of the golf course,” Messerschmidt said. “The water contains chemicals and fertilizers that flow off roadways and travel across the surface of the golf course.”Stormwater drainage problems are nothing new, nor are they specific to the IU Golf Course. The dangers of the runoff flowing down the ravines into nearby waterways has Messerschmidt and her team concerned. “The suspended solids and mineral content in the water is very telling,” she said.By installing v-notch, wooden weirs or dams at the ravine heads, the team has been able to collect measurements of stormwater nutrients and discharge. The initiative’s goal is to install green infrastructures at different areas throughout the golf course this spring. “The main purpose is to find a way to slow the flow off the golf course,” said Raija Bushnell, coordinator of the Office of Sustainability’s Environmental Quality and Land Use work group.Filtration berms, rain gardens, native vegetation and water and sediment control basins are possible solutions the group is looking to implement at the site. Funding from grants and support from the Office of Sustainability and the IU Research and Teaching Preserve have made these goals feasible. “The first berm we build in the spring is a pilot project,” Messerschmidt said. “It’s a test to make sure everyone is comfortable with the idea.”The group works closely with golf course management to ensure the infrastructures will not interfere with the field of play.If the stormwater problem is not addressed, new ravines will form and existing ravines will grow, eroding the manicured green. “(Green infrastructures) would include upkeep for the golf course, but they would overall payoff in the future,” Messerschmidt said. “Ravines are destroying the course.”Left unsolved, Messerschmidt said the problem could affect the accessibility and use of nearby waterways caused by the presence of toxins in the water.“This campus is most students’ home for four years,” Bushnell said. “We should care not just about what it looks like, but the health of it. If you had a stream behind your house that was filled with mud and chemicals so bad that the fish died, you would care.”Follow reporter Emma Harrison on Twitter at @emmaestelle09.
(10/21/13 4:02am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Push pins crowded a world map poster board, representing different countries where students’ clothes were made.Sophomores Jarek Jarvis and Brittany Belkiewitz, a copy editor at the Indiana Daily Student, stood in front of No Sweat!’s booth at its “Check Your Tags” Awareness Day event Oct. 9.They checked student clothing tags and explained No Sweat!’s mission: eliminating IU’s dependence on products produced by oppressed workers across the globe. To continue the fight against IU’s dependency on sweatshop labor, the organization is teaming up with Enactus and Solidarity Ignite to sponsor the Alta Gracia Garment Workers Tour at 7 p.m. today at the Latino Cultural Center.The event is part of Human Trafficking Awareness Week at IU, which runs today through Friday and is sponsored by the Center for the Study of Global Change. Alta Gracia is a clothing brand in the Dominican Republic that produces college apparel sold at universities nationwide.It pays its workers a living wage while also providing safe and healthy working conditions, according to its website. The event will feature two Alta Gracia workers as they share their stories with the IU community. Admission is free.“We want people to realize that the clothes we wear have a great societal impact,” Jarvis said. “This price is much more than the price that we pay for them at the retail store.”Since the 1990s, No Sweat! has undergone three revivals as an active organization on campus. Belkiewitz, an international studies and Slavic languages and literatures major, was approached this year by her human rights professor to jump-start the organization once more.“No Sweat! helped bring fair trade apparel to the bookstore,” Belkiewitz said. “We’re here today to continue this legacy and fight because those before us did not run this race in vain.”The challenging part is getting people to care, Jarvis said. “It takes a lot of energy and passion to change your habits and fight for this cause,” Jarvis said. “It’s easier to continue to make the decisions you’ve always made.”No Sweat! has taken on the task of changing those decisions.“Education is a huge part of what we’re doing here,” Jarvis said. “Once people realize what’s going on, hopefully they’ll change. It’s hard to know and not do anything.”Belkiewitz said she encourages all those interested to join No Sweat!, anyone who has a passion for fighting for a cause.Many laborers around the world live focused on the next pay day, which allows them to buy food and not much else, Belkiewitz said.“What happens when you get sick and can’t afford to buy medicine?” Belkiewitz said. “Saving is out of the question. People become entangled in a miserable production system.”All too often, these workers are the source of retail clothing, Belkiewitz said. “Check your tags,” Belkiewitz said. “We are wearing blood, sweat and tears.”