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(09/15/10 1:56am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>While working at a golf course snack bar this summer, I often struck up small talk with customers by telling them I was going to study abroad in Paris this fall. One particular middle-aged golfer liked to voice his opinion.“I hope the French are nice to you,” he said as he shook his head. “I don’t like ‘em.”“Why not?” I said.“I don’t know,” he said. “It’s their politics. I don’t know. I just don’t like ‘em.”Others echoed similar beliefs throughout the summer — the French are jerks. With these conversations in mind, I arrived in the City of Lights prepared to deal with difficult personalities and constant frowns.But after five days in France, the stereotype cemented in my mind has begun to chip away as Parisian after Parisian greets me with a “bonjour” and an eagerness to help. First, it was the taxi driver who quizzed me and my housemate on our French, then answered, in English, all of the random questions we had. Next it was the lady on the street who helped us find our apartment building, even though she was on her way to her own destination.And that was just the first day.Now, I have yet to walk into a café or bakery without being greeted with a “bonjour,” and then an “au revoir” when I leave. It’s refreshing to interact with employees who stop what they’re doing and genuinely greet me. Sure, I’m just another American traveler ready to spend money in their establishment, but I never feel that way. Instead, their automatic customer service makes me smile, and I am cheery for the day.But even with the happy greetings, I can see how some would agree with the grumpy golfer’s views.First, the French don’t smile at strangers. The dean of my study abroad program actually told us not to smile, because it screams American.They’re also often impatient with foreigners who try to speak French. As a French student since seventh grade, I often feel defeated when I ask, “Où sont les toilettes,” to receive the answer, “down the street, on the left.”But on the first day of orientation, I learned what might come off as rude is merely a cultural difference. Growing up, the French are taught that the world is bad, so be cautious. Hence, don’t smile or talk to strangers.And as far as the English responses, Parisians are not rude — just efficient. Why draw out a conversation that can be finished in 10 seconds? If the French can save me more time for exploring Paris, I’ll take it. I hope to see the same golfer again next summer so I can tell him about my findings and how wrong he was. He may not agree with the French government or the lack of smiles on the sidewalks, but I’m sure he would appreciate a friendly “bonjour!” every day. I know I do.
(04/29/10 3:25am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Senior Dana Brej had been waiting for this moment since the first time she watched “Cruel Intentions”: the chance to meet Ryan Phillippe.She had a test in two hours, but Brej and her friend, senior Hannah Todd, waited in line outside of Nick’s English Hut on Wednesday afternoon to meet their heartthrob.“I’m living out my high school fantasy,” Todd said.Phillippe, along with Saturday Night Live star Will Forte and two Saturday Night Live writers, Jorma Taccone and John Solomon, descended on Bloomington on Tuesday and Wednesday to promote their new film, “MacGruber,” based on the popular SNL skit.The four stars attended a screening of their movie, which Forte, Taccone and Solomon wrote and Taccone directed. The sneak peek packed the Whittenberger Auditorium in the Indiana Memorial Union. After the preview, Phillippe, Forte, Taccone and Solomon sat on stage and answered questions from the audience. They then encouraged those who liked the film to tell their friends via Facebook and Twitter.But before they finished the question-and-answer session, one attendee asked the four if they were planning on going to the bars later. They answered yes and asked for recommendations. Kilroy’s Bar & Grill was the consensus.Tony Espinal, a senior who attended the screening, said he went to Kilroy’s after and saw the stars there. Despite the fans hounding them, Espinal said the celebrities were “chill,” and they stayed until the bar closed.“They looked like they were having a good time,” Espinal said. “They were chit-chatting with everyone.”The “MacGruber” invasion continued through Wednesday with an autograph signing outside of Nick’s English Hut. Phillippe, Forte, Taccone and Solomon were supposed to be there at noon, so by 11:50 a.m., the line reached from Nick’s entrance to Tracks. At 12:03 p.m., the four men weren’t out yet, but the line grew to Village Deli. By 12:30 p.m., all four celebrities — including Forte in a navy-blue Nick’s T-shirt — started signing posters they provided. Fans were not allowed to take individual pictures, but they could take photos from afar, which many did with digital cameras and camera phones. The four from “MacGruber” are touring college campuses to get the word out about the film, which also stars Kristen Wiig and Val Kilmer. Celebuzz.com blogger Alex Blagg, who is traveling with the stars, said the tour first went to the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, then IU. The stars will also visit the University of Colorado-Boulder, then travel to the University of Arizona in Tucson. The tour will end in Los Angeles at the University of California.
(04/14/10 3:55am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Magic major Jordan Goldklang presented his magic show Tuesday in Alumni Hall in the Indiana Memorial Union to an audience of about 300. The show was his final project for his Individualized Major Program.Goldklang, the only student in the U.S. majoring in magic, opened the show with a poker chip he made “fall up.” It appeared to jump from his bottom hand to his top hand.He then introduced himself as “The Great Jordini, the Bachelor of Magic,” wearing his signature black top hat, black suit and purple shirt.“The bachelor part refers to getting my bachelor’s degree, not my marital status,” he said.It was an example of the humor he used throughout the show, which the audience responded to enthusiastically with laughter and applause.In between his different illusions, Goldklang described how he got to IU and how he became a magic major. He explained how he originally came as a violin student in the Jacobs School of Music, even though he had looked for a school with a magic program, which he could not find. With every story, he expressed how much he has enjoyed being a magic major.“Being a magician,” he said, “it’s just as cool as you think it is.”Goldklang started his shows with tricks he did alone, such as making a rope turn into two ropes, then one, then two again, and finishing the illusion by cutting the rope with his fingers.As the night went on, Goldklang asked for volunteers. One volunteer was Karen. Goldklang asked her to write her name and date on a card she picked from the deck.When she put it back, Goldklang asked her about her card.“Karen, look at the ceiling,” he said. “Do you see your card there? ““No,” she replied.Goldklang laughed. “Yeah, that would have been amazing.”But then Goldklang threw the deck of cards at the ceiling, and Karen’s card stuck. The audience could see Karen’s writing on it, showing the card belonged to her.The audience erupted in applause.It was the favorite of audience member Sarissa Michaud.“It was definitely a showstopper,” she said.Goldklang ended the performance with a trick involving soy milk and five crystal glasses. Each glass was a different size and each was supposed to represent a time in his life. He began pouring the milk in the smallest cup, then poured the milk from the previous cup into the next size up. The larger cup became full. He continued moving the milk until he got to the last one, the biggest of all. It, too, became full of milk, even though Goldklang did not add any more.At the end of the show, Goldklang walked off stage then returned to take a bow.He wrapped up the show by telling the audience how much he enjoyed his major and how the opportunity to create it was amazing. He also thanked everyone for supporting him throughout the years. After the show, audience members could attend a reception in the Solarium. Many came up to congratulate Goldklang, and some asked for autographs. Like his guests, Goldklang was happy with the end result.“I thought it went really well,” he said, “and the reason is the audience seemed to enjoy it. As long as the audience has a good time, that’s what makes a great show.”One of Goldklang’s advisers, Jacobs School of Music horn professor Jeff Nelsen, said he was also impressed by Goldklang’s one-man production.He said he was most impressed with the audience connection and how Goldklang went beyond the technical aspects of magic. Which Nelsen said they worked on and talked about before.“It was above all that,” Nelsen said. “It was above the story he was telling. That’s when the magic happened.”
(04/13/10 4:12am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Great Jordini has just broken the law of gravity.Or so it appears.He’s doing a coin trick, or an illusion, as he prefers to call it. He’s not trying to trick anyone. The illusion took him months of practice to learn, even more to perfect. But he’s not thinking about that now. He no longer thinks about technique. Through the years he’s learned if he’s not prepared now, the magic won’t happen. But he is prepared, so he begins. He starts with a warm-up. He holds one hand over the other, about a foot apart. Clasping a coin in the top hand, he drops the coin from the top hand to the bottom. And then it happens. With his hands apart in the same position, the coin jumps from his bottom hand to the top hand. Jordini watches for the reaction. He’s expecting either a huge, loud response or speechlessness. But the fifth-grade girls at the birthday party where Jordini is performing give him a hybrid. At first they’re shocked. What they’ve seen doesn’t make sense. Coins don’t jump on their own. Gravity is supposed to pull them down. Pennies are always found on the ground, never in the air. In their amazement, they try to figure the trick out, which they’ve tried to do with each illusion of the night. One girl tries to guess, but the others get annoyed.“Can we do it and not try to figure it out?” the girl asks.“Yeah to have fun?” another said.The Great Jordini smiles. He’s accustomed to this moment after a trick. He’s a magician. He’s used to making the impossible look possible.***Known as The Great Jordini to some, Jordan Goldklang is a senior from the San Francisco area. He is the only student at IU, and the only one in the U.S., who is majoring in magic — a major he created through IU’s Individualized Major Program. Since then, he has devoted his time at IU to the major. Tonight Jordan will present a magic show in Alumni Hall for his final project as an undergraduate. He’s hoping to sell out the venue, which holds 600 people. So far, he’s handed out 1,000 flyers, put up 3,000 posters and invited more than 1,000 people to the event on Facebook. *** Jordan discovered magic when he was five, following the interest of his then 13-year-old brother who stored his tricks under his bed, which Jordan found. “Jordan got into all of his brother’s magic tricks,” said Kathleen Jermaine-Goldklang, Jordan’s mother.Jordan became really interested in magic when he turned 13. In middle school, he was a bit of a distraction to his classmates. He liked doing magic for them, even when the teacher was speaking in front of the class. He remembers one time when an argument broke out after a card trick.The disruption prompted the teacher to tell Jordan something he would later hear a lot: “You can’t do magic in school because you’re distracting all the other students.”Jordan was getting in trouble more and more often, so Kathleen had to intervene. “You don’t understand,” she told the school. “You can’t take away magic. He’ll pick up anything and do magic with that.”And he couldn’t stop. He loved it then for the same reason he does now. With magic, anything is possible, and sharing the wonderment with others allows him to reach people on a deeper level.A few teachers took a different route with the young magician. One teacher let him do “Morning Magic with Jordan,” where he got to do a magic trick at the beginning of class each day. It was the start of his performances in front of an audience.But before middle school and around the same time Jordan found magic, he also found the violin. He was eight, his mom said, and he played all through high school.“For someone who hardly ever practiced, he was an amazing violinist,” Kathleen said. The Jacobs School of Music thought he was good too, so he enrolled at IU as a violin major. But at New Student Orientation, Jordan heard about a guy named Will Shortz, an IU alumnus and the poster boy for IMP. During his time at IU, Shortz created his own major, enigmatology, the study of puzzles. He went on to become the puzzle editor for The New York Times. People told Jordan, “Well he majored in puzzles, so you can major in magic.” By sophomore year, when Jordan didn’t know what he was going to do with a music major, he thought about what else he could do.He thought about Shortz. He thought about magic.So Jordan followed all the steps to create the major. He found two advisers and put most of his studying into psychology and performance techniques. He also found other ways to enhance his major. He looked for other resources on campus, such as the Lilly Library, which happens to have books about magic history. He contacted Joel Silver, the curator of books, and the two worked together for two semesters on the history of magic. They read from “Houdini!!!” by Kenneth Silverman, and “The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America’s First Superhero,” by William Kalush, and Jordan ended the study with a magic show, using what he had learned from magicians of the past.Silver says he has worked with students individually before, but prior to Jordan, they were students doing independent studies in the School of Library and Information Science, where Silver teaches.“This is the first one who’s doing an independent major who had the initiative to set something up like this,” Silver says, “and the Lilly had the appropriate collections to support it.” *** Today Jordan will use all that he’s learned since he went through his brother’s magic tricks. At 8 p.m. it will be Jordan’s biggest show yet.“The point of the final project for me is to go above and beyond what I’ve done before,” he said, “and sort of reach a level I’ve never been.” Magicians at that high of a level, Jordan knows, have options. There are private parties such as weddings and bar mitzvahs, restaurants and bars, corporate events, trade shows and even cruise ships. Jordan has a long list. “It’s so fun and it’s so natural to me, and I make a lot of money doing it,” he said. “And it’s not even work. It’s like people pay me lots of money to go to parties and do magic for fun.” *** One week after the birthday party, Jordan wanders up Kirkwood Avenue. It’s the Saturday night before his performance, and he’s hoping to do some final promoting. He plans to spontaneously perform for groups on the street, in hopes they will attend today’s show. Because he doesn’t like to go up to groups solo, he enlists the help of friend Emmanuel Borowsky, a senior violin major, and the two walk towards the city square. They walk all the way to Kilroy’s Sports Bar before turning around. They have yet to find the perfect group. They pass a trio of two men and a woman. They are not speaking clearly to each other and the woman is slouching and stumbling. “Too drunk,” Jordan said to himself. He tries another group as he walks back towards the Sample Gates. “Do you believe in magic?” he asks one of the women. “No, I want to, but I don’t,” she replies without stopping to talk. But Jordan keeps going. He’s not going to stop until he gets the reaction he wants. Then Emmanuel and Jordan run into the perfect group outside the Village Deli. “Have you ever heard of Criss Angel or David Blaine?” Jordan asks the group as he approaches. The group of mainly guys looks back at him. “Yeah,” replies one. “Do you have some tricks?” another asks. He does. He opens with an effect involving washers and a disappearing hole. It’s impressive. He gets a huge response. “Whooooaa!” a guy said. “Can we get an instant replay?” another asks. Another throws a dollar at Jordan. He continues with other tricks, and the group of people grows. The responses do too, and with the last one, a few guys are yelling Jordan’s magic name. “Jordini!” one yells. “I’ll never forget Jordini!” Jordan hands out flyers before he moves on. As he leaves his new fans, he’s happy with the response. “That’s what I was looking for,” he said to Emmanuel. He continues the night on Kirkwood, sharing his tricks with people at The Upstairs Pub and Kilroy’s Bar and Grill.The next day, he sits at Starbucks in the Indiana Memorial Union with his family, who flew in from California for the show. He’s happy with last night’s advertising, and he’s looking forward to his show. While his mom said she’s nervous for him, Jordan is not. He’s hoping for a sold-out, flawless show. But he’s not nervous. There’s no reason to be nervous now, he said. He knows he can do it. For Jordini, anything is possible.
(04/13/10 12:18am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Two students saw a problem at local Fairview Elementary School. As the elementary school with the lowest socioeconomic status in Bloomington, some kids don’t have books to read. Through the Hutton Honors College, juniors Hannah Wert and Adeel Chaudhry are doing something about that. When Wert, the philanthropy coordinator of the Hutton Honors College Association, was searching for where to focus Hutton’s efforts, she came across Fairview Elementary. According to the Indiana Department of Education, 92 percent of Fairview students are on reduced or free lunch, and 85 percent live in government-subsidized housing. At home, many do not receive the support they need to enhance their education. With the help of Chaudhry, fundraising coordinator, the two won a $5,000 grant from the IU Student Foundation and launched the Hutton Philanthropic Initiative. They will kick it off April 16 with the Celebration of Reading, when Hutton volunteers will bring books to the students of Fairview. The reading program has also inspired other Hutton groups to work with the elementary school. How did the two of you get involved with the Hutton Philanthropic Initiative?Chaudhry: Hannah was trying to piece together what big philanthropy project we wanted to focus on this year, and the opportunity of the Metz Grant presented itself to us. So once we started centering around why we wanted to apply for this really large grant, we started to formulate our project along those lines. We wanted to do something more community-based because so many projects are nationally based. Why did you decide to help Fairview?Wert: We were trying to decide what we wanted to do and we knew that Fairview was extremely underprivileged and we definitely wanted to help them out. Actually, the day of our launch party, it was announced that budget cuts for schools were going to eliminate librarians and, eventually, vice principals. So it kind of came at a good time – an unfortunate time, but a good time – so we could help continue to get the kids resources to read when they won’t have librarians next year.Chaudhry: It was what we saw to be the most under-served community in Bloomington, education-wise. Hannah met with the assistant principal at Fairview to try and narrow down what the possible options would be. She said that most of the students don’t even have a book at home to read. What do you think about the people who say this kind of community service is just a resume builder? Do you agree with that?Chaudhry: I would disagree with that. I feel like the benefactors gain more than the beneficiaries. We have the opportunity to learn more from the students’ experiences than from what we already have. Wert: I definitely don’t think it’s just a resume builder. I don’t think you can deny the fact that we all are college students who eventually are going to get jobs and people are going to put this on their resume, but I definitely think people want to do philanthropy work to give back. The students at Fairview really need the help and I don’t think that people would try to help them just to put it on their resume. I hope not. What do you think the two of you will get out of this as leaders?Wert: Personally, I think it’s just amazing to see the transformation. Attempting to do a large event with Fairview has turned into an initiative for the entire Honors College. And I think it’s amazing to see that our leadership and our organization and our hard work has turned into such a large deal and definitely something that will affect the Fairview students. Chaudhry: The biggest thing for me is to see how many volunteers are interested. Without this opportunity, they would never have the chance, but when presented with it, so many students have come together.
(02/23/10 4:37am)
Red gum is wedged into the corner of the wall. When practice room 228 sits empty, it still resonates from the droning cello and soaring voices of students in neighboring rooms. Its baby grand piano fills most of the space, and a chair confronts a full-length mirror, waiting for a musician to fill the chamber with sound. Water stains pattern the peg-board walls. Outside, the door is gray and covered in scuff marks from violin, cello, and saxophone cases bumping into it. There’s a small square window for practice-room-hopefuls to peek in and see if the room is occupied. The walls lining the hallway are green or blue depending on the light.
(02/23/10 3:52am)
As far as study spots go, the South Lounge in the Indiana Memorial Union is ideal. With a room full of couches, a Starbucks caffeine fix just steps away, and a usually quiet atmosphere, homework is a cozy chore.
(02/17/10 9:30pm)
Not everyone suffers from seasonal depression, but when it’s rainy, cold, and grey outside, it’s hard to stay cheery. So what’s the best way to help those winter blues? We say music. What do these songs have in common? Well, nothing, but we hope they make you smile. Think of it as Inside on shuffle.
(12/08/09 5:01am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>It’s about 5:25 p.m. on a Monday in October. The members of the IU Women’s Rugby Club team trickle in from the parking lot behind the North Fee Lane Fields. There is instant chatter as they dump their bags on the ground and catch up on the stories of the weekend.The women take their time to take the field. Monday is conditioning day. There’s no rush to run laps. But when cleats are laced and hair is up, the girls wander over and start their warm-ups. Junior club president Kelly Shank stays behind. She’s wearing black Converse sneakers, jeans and a women’s rugby sweatshirt, not practice apparel. Touching the sleeve of her sweatshirt is a cast. “I went to tackle a girl who was a lot bigger than I was,” Shank said. “She just hit my arm, and I just broke my arm on her body.”But she’s still at practice because the women’s rugby team is a year-round family. And this family’s doors are always open.***The team just ended its fall season with 9 wins, 4 losses and 1 tie but will start up again in January. They went to the Sweet Sixteen last year, and the year before that. This spring, they’re looking to do it again, and go to the Final Four at the USA Rugby National Collegiate Division-I tournament. In the off-season, new members of any skill level are welcome to join the rugby family before practice starts.A lot of the players didn’t play until college, like sophomore Jesse Wang. “I’ve never played rugby in my life,” Wang said. “I’m from New York originally, so I went online and I was like, I want to check that out.” Even though Shank said injuries are rare, Wang happens to be injured. At this practice, she has a broken collarbone from when the team played Ball State and a girl landed on top of her. While the other team members condition, Wang and Shank stand on the sidelines with their coach Vaughn Mitchell watching. Mitchell is an IU alum who played on the men’s rugby team before he graduated. Coaching rugby isn’t his full-time job, but he commits 11 hours during the week to practice, plus his time during the weekend to games. He checks his watch as the rest of the team rounds the last corner of their first lap around the field. The first lap has to be no more than one minute and 35 seconds. The girls come back, breathing heavily. They’re happy they all made their time, but then they take off running again. The runners travel across the wide-open field, their various profiles against the sky. Wang said there is no particular body type for rugby. “If you’re not in shape, we’ll get you in shape,” Wang said. “And it doesn’t matter how big you are or how small you are, there’s always a position on the team for you.” ***On Thursday of the next week, the team is preparing for their Halloween game against Grand Valley State. Again they come to practice chatting and sharing stories of their costumes for the weekend. They also make plans for a cookout after the home game on Saturday. Neither Wang nor Shank are there today, but the team doesn’t seem any smaller. Mitchell is open to players leaving or coming early because of class or other responsibilities. But senior Katie O’Leary is there. She played rugby her senior year in high school and heard about IU’s team from a friend. O’Leary is tall and thin and chooses to wear her hair down, which adds to her casual disposition. She doesn’t look like someone who would be aggressive, but for her, it’s the best part of playing. “There’s no other sport where you can rectify a mistake through extreme aggressiveness,” O’Leary said. “In basketball, when I played, if I let a girl steal the ball from me, all I could do was chase after her and maybe try and block it, but in rugby, if I lose the ball, I can at least try and hit her as hard as I want.” But at the beginning of this practice, there is no tackling, just perfecting of plays. When a play is done, the girls chat. Two sing Taylor Swift’s “You Belong With Me.” They also share a few comments about some other female athletes. The next field over is home to a coed football game. “I wonder how many times those girls actually touch the ball,” one said. “One caught it and just stood there,” said another. But the stereotype of girls playing football could also be applied to girls playing rugby. Rugby is a contact sport. Isn’t it dangerous? Not really, Wang said. “It’s a game of aggressiveness,” Wang said. “It depends on the passion put into the sport. It’s a very fun sport. It’s not beastly at all, though it might seem that way.” Mitchell said women’s rugby requires different skills than the men’s game. “It’s more of a finesse game,” Mitchell said. “For the women it’s not about power or strength. It’s about who’s faster and who can get around the people faster.” *** Despite their winning season, the women didn’t win against Grand Valley State. And while they all care about going to nationals and winning, Wang said that’s not her favorite part. It’s the close relationships the team members build on and off the field, during and after the season.“We make new friendships on the team and off the team,” Wang said. “And we support each other mentally and academically. It’s very home-like. It’s like a family away from our family."
(12/01/09 12:43am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>“We need to be more aware of our surroundings, as we’re all trying to get somewhere. But some people need to slow down and others need to speed up.” Alex DeCoursey, senior“Most people are polite. I mean, it’s just walking, but you will have the occasional person who will not get out of your way or just deliberately be in your way, and it’s just kind of a jerk move.”Steven Hightshue, freshmanRandom quote from our survey“If I had a car, believe me, I would use it.”
(12/01/09 12:34am)
IU Police Department Capt. Jerry Minger clears up transportation myths and gives his take on how to move around campus.
(12/01/09 12:22am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>It was a warm day in September when junior Carley Hall raced to class in front of Ballantine Hall. Her friend Amber called her name from across the street. Hall decided to take a minute to chat.“I look at my phone to see if I have enough time, and I take one step off the curb, and I get hit by a bike,” Hall says. “It was pretty intense. I was told I was fine, but I remember lying on the pavement in front of Ballantine, destroyed.”The damage was done. Hall’s nose was split open and broken in three places. She had two broken ribs and a concussion. “His handle bars went into my ribs,” Hall says. “The guy who hit me broke his clavicle.”That guy was junior Jeremy Black. He was on his way to the HPER for taekwondo class. “There were people walking,” Black says. “I was dodging them, and I went to the right of them, and I swerved near the sidewalk. I just nailed this really cute girl. I thought, ‘This is not cool.’”With blood everywhere and his hair stuck in a cute girl’s nose (yeah, seriously), Black figured this wasn’t the smoothest of situations. So, he turned on the charm. “I knew I had to apologize somehow,” Black says. “I asked her if she wanted to get a bite to eat, so we went to Falafels.”Hall and Black have been dating ever since. “It was maybe, fate, I guess,” Black says.
(12/01/09 12:20am)
Greg Solon, senior
(11/30/09 3:50am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Student and first Union Board President John Whittenberger had a mission when he helped found the Union in 1909: to start a place where students can gather, have fun and forget about their differences and divisions. One hundred years later, the Indiana Memorial Union is “one of the largest student unions in the world,” according to its Web site. The Union Board is still here with a bigger budget and more members, but with the same mission Whittenberger created, Union Board President Andrew Dahlen said.The Union Board turns 100 on Dec. 6, and it has been celebrating with events throughout the semester to get the whole campus involved. “The entire year is an exciting year, I think, for the board and for campus,” Dahlen said. “We’re informing students that it is our 100th year on campus and what we’ve had throughout these 100 years on campus, and working on the role that we’re going to have for the next 100 years.” The Union Board started in 1909 as a club for men to meet, play billiards and be social in a room in the Student Building. Women were not allowed to join until 1952. Union Board is now the biggest student programming group on campus and is made up of 16 directors and more than 200 committee members, said Anna Williams, Union Board vice president for membership. It organizes popular events on campus, such as concerts, free movies every weekend in the Whittenberger Auditorium and other programs. It also releases “Live From Bloomington,” a CD of local artists, and “Canvas,” the student literary magazine. “I think Union Board is really whatever you make it to be,” Dahlen said. “If a freshman coming into campus wants to get involved, there are so many opportunities to take leadership on the committees the first day you walk into the office.”Union Board Public Relations Director Hannah Kinkead said if a student has someone in mind that they want to bring to campus, or an event the whole campus would enjoy, Union Board is the place to make it happen. “We bring all of those great events, all of those things you hear about happening every weekend. That’s what Union Board does,” Kinkead said.For Union Board to keep the same standards for 100 years, the board has had to adjust with the changing times, Dahlen said. But, Williams said, with a group full of students, the change is natural. “We’re not advisers, we’re not graduates – we’re students trying to consult with other students and saying what do we want to see,” Williams said. “I think that allows us to remain relevant because we have so much flexibility.” Union Board hopes to remain flexible for the next 100 years. At a September fall retreat the board discussed how it should cater to the students of each generation and that it should never get stale, Williams said. But even though Union Board must adapt to changing times, Dahlen said its purpose must always remain the same. “Obviously we’re doing much larger things, much larger events, we have a much bigger budget and we have many more people involved in the process.” Dahlen said. “But the mission of unifying the campus, bringing events students need and desire on campus, is no different from day one.”
(11/12/09 5:03am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU support staff member Bryce Smedley said he was confused when he received an invitation to donate money to IU’s “Matching the Promise” campaign. He said he and several other staff members were insulted by the invitations to give back to the institution after the University implemented a salary freeze. On Oct. 14, the University sent an e-mail to faculty and staff members asking them to join IU President Michael McRobbie and his wife, Laurie Burns McRobbie, for wine and hors d’oeuvres to launch the “Matching the Promise” campus campaign, which began in 2003 to help fund scholarships and fellowships.“I think some people are a little miffed,” Smedley said. “One, we didn’t get raises this year, and two, a lot of us are making $10 to $11 an hour. If you have to make a car payment, you don’t have a lot left over.”Smedley said he supports the fundraiser, but he can’t give this year after the University implemented a salary freeze for the 2009-10 school year because of the difficult economy. Smedley said he thinks the requests to give back show a disconnect “between the top income earners on campus and the lowest income earners on campus” in the current economy. “You don’t go to someone who’s struggling and ask them to donate to a campaign,” Smedley said. “You don’t go to someone who’s struggling to put food on the table for their family and ask them to give that food to somebody.” Peter Kaczmarczyk, another member of the IU support staff and the president of its union, Communications Workers of America Local 4730, said while he supports the campaign, he and other staff members are still mad about not receiving the raise, which he said would give the workers a livable wage. He said this led to frustration about being asked to give money. “I think they could have toned down the rhetoric a little bit, like the reality of the economic climate this year, and perhaps made it not sound so fancy, so black-tie,” Kaczmarczyk said. IU spokesperson Larry MacIntyre said President McRobbie supports the campaign, but realizes there will be criticism.“It’s for a good purpose,” MacIntyre said. “We hope people over time will recognize that those contributions will have long term positive impact on Indiana University.”Some faculty and staff members have found money to donate to the campaign, which started six years ago with a goal of $1 billion. In February the goal was increased to $1.1 billion. IU Foundation spokeswoman Barbara Coffman said while she heard a few people declined to donate, faculty and staff have still given “a very impressive amount of money.”“During the course of the Matching the Promise campaign, we’ve actually raised $18 million from faculty and staff so far,” Coffman said.According to the IU Foundation’s Web site, the campaign was initiated to keep costs down for students, to help attract the best faculty and to build “high-quality teaching and researching facilities.” Coffman said the campaign, which already reached the $1 billion mark, has raised $324 million for scholarships and fellowships, and that donors can choose how they want their money to be spent. Kaczmarczyk said he has heard complaints, but Leslie Lenkowsky, a professor in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs, said he has not heard anything from faculty members. Lenkowsky said that might be because people usually make decisions to donate on an individual basis, but he also said if faculty and staff didn’t support the University with donations, there would be even worse cutbacks. “The cost of an IU education exceeds the amount of tuition students pay,” said Lenkowsky, who has already made a donation. “One way we make up that difference is through these fundraising campaigns.” Because of the state of the economy, Coffman said faculty and staff should not feel forced to donate. “Of course it’s an opportunity to give if they wish,” Coffman said. “There’s no requirement, there’s no expectation. If people have interest in giving, they have the opportunity to do so.”
(11/02/09 6:02pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>With three meals a day, a house full of girlfriends and a peaceful place to sleep, Kristin Burt said she has it made as a resident of her sorority house, Phi Mu.“No living situation is going to be perfect, but I feel like I have the ideal situation,” Burt said.For most IU students, going away to college means leaving a house of brothers and sisters behind. For members of the greek community, however, college means a new house and a new kind of family. While not every greek organization has a house on campus and not every member lives in a house, Burt said she loves sorority house life.“There are so many different backgrounds in our house,” Burt said. “There’s always something new to learn about someone every day.”Many sororities feature day rooms, where women have their closets, televisions and desks. For sleeping, there are cold dorms, where the majority of the sisters sleep in Phi Mu.“I personally love the cold dorms,” Burt said. “It’s cold, dark and quiet. It’s so nice to get away from the noise of the house.”For men who go greek, fraternity houses offer many of the same benefits as a sorority, such as prepared meals.However, the living situation can be different. Sean Kelley said men in his house can have their own room, about the size of a dorm room. They can also pair up and share a sleeping room and a day room. Kelley said the best part of living in a fraternity is living with 50 of his best friends, even though it can be difficult to study.“There are a lot of distractions if you’re trying to bunker down and get work done,” Kelley said. “But a lot of guys share classes together, so it’s a great opportunity to talk about classes.”But college students are not the only residents of greek houses. Another important player in greek life is the "house mom," someone who lives in a house full-time or part-time to oversee the house’s cleanliness, security and the overall lifestyle for its residents.At Kappa Alpha Theta, the house mom is Jan Smith, commonly known as Mama Smith. She was previously a "house mom" at Purdue University, but she now lives in an apartment on the first floor of the sorority. Smith said the best part of her job is simply being with the girls and offering advice.“Some of them I have a very close relationship with, and I keep in touch with the girls,” Smith said. “Last year I had three girls that were seniors here, and they sent me Christmas cards and notes, asking me how I was doing.”While Smith did not live in a sorority house when she went to college, she thinks anyone who has the chance to live in a greek house should take advantage of it.“I feel they can learn a lot. You have a lot of different personalities,” Smith said. “You can bounce off all of this information. I think it’s fulfilling.”
(10/14/09 3:57am)
Senior takes advantage of IMP program to major in film composition, applying his new knowledge to ‘Only Human.'
(10/13/09 9:18pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>If you’ve been a Backstreet Boys fan since “Quit Playing Games (With My Heart),” you’ll want to like this album. But while some songs are catchy, the group lacks the maturity they should have after 16 years together. As their seventh album and their second since Kevin Richardson left, “This Is Us” has all the Backstreet Boys elements – harmonies, love songs and dance-party-appropriate tunes – that worked in the past. And for some songs, like “Straight Through My Heart” and “All Your Life (You Need Love),” the formula still gets results. But other factors of this album make it hard to listen all the way through with a straight face. Some of the songs, like “PDA,” sound like the lyrics were written for the boys in their early 20s, instead of their 30s. There comes a time when you’re too old to use the word “booty.” So for those who still have that Millennium Tour t-shirt, spend your $9.99. For everyone else: save it. If you were ever a fan of ’90s boy-band pop, you’re probably over it now.
(10/04/09 10:35pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Seventeen years ago, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Cheryl Carter-Shotts stood before a group of children. When they spotted the American woman, almost all of them begged for food and money. One girl sat alone. Carter-Shotts took a picture of that girl, returned to America, and kept the photo on her desk for a year. Then, she returned to Ethiopia to look for the girl who didn’t beg. The girl was IU junior Kelemwork Tariku-Shotts, now a finance and international business major. She was 6 when Carter-Shotts, now her adopted mother, found her. “The only reason why they brought me to America was I was extremely sick,” Tariku-Shotts says. “It’s really weird to say, but I was pretty much going to die soon.” But she didn’t. Instead, Carter-Shotts took Tariku-Shotts to the United States, where she received medical attention. Now 23 years old, Tariku-Shotts is trying to help African kids get the same care she did. She spent this past summer in Uganda volunteering for a humanitarian aid organization started by Carter-Shotts’ adoption agency, Americans for African Adoptions. “We started a project in Uganda that worked with displaced women and children working in a rock quarry,” Tariku-Shotts says. “A lot of the children were orphans, so we took them into our agency to find families for them in America.” She used what she learned from her studies to serve as the liaison between the families, lawyers, and agency. “What we’re trying to do in Uganda is we’re trying to set up a place for women and children to learn trades, learn skills, and try to sustain themselves and not depend on foreign aid,” Tariku-Shotts says. “Such huge organizations try to throw money or try to throw food, but it doesn’t do anything to solve the problem. It just perpetuates it.” Tariku-Shotts knows what it’s like to live in a developing country. She still keeps in touch with her family in Ethiopia and has returned almost every other year since she was 12.Tariku-Shotts says she wants to work with nonprofit organizations in the future so she can help people who may not be as lucky as she was the day Carter-Shotts found her. “I can only imagine what would have happened, but I try not to live in the ‘what if,’” she says. “It’s literally one of the biggest motivators in my life now, to succeed for my family back home and for the chance I had that so many don’t.”
(10/04/09 10:33pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Most high school athletes only dream of playing for a Big Ten school. But for graduate student and Bloomington North alumna Whitney Thomas, this dream became a recurring one when she was recruited for both basketball and volleyball.“I was recruited to play both, but the basketball coach decided that I shouldn’t do both, so I picked basketball,” Thomas says.So Thomas hit the court, starting in 130 of 131 games, and was the second player in IU history to record more than 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds in her career.But after four years of basketball, Thomas wasn’t done with IU athletics. An NCAA rule states that college athletes can play four seasons of one sport, and one season of another. When Thomas decided to pursue her master’s degree in applied sports science, she called on that rule to play volleyball for one season. “Even though I hadn’t played volleyball in a while, I played a collegiate sport,” Thomas says, “and I would have experience because the team’s really young. So I thought, ‘why not? I’ll try it out.’” To get back into peak volleyball form, Thomas started playing with the team over the summer, taking every opportunity for extra practice. The work paid off. As a right-side hitter, she has the third-most kills on the team. When she graduates, Thomas plans to return to basketball as a coach at the collegiate level. However, she won’t say whether basketball or volleyball is her favorite sport. “They’re just so different, it’s hard to say,” Thomas says. “I played basketball much longer, so I know that more, but I really do enjoy playing volleyball too.” Thomas says she would encourage other student athletes to suit up for two sports because of the relationships she’s building. “It’s totally different when you go from one sport to another,” Thomas says. “You get to meet a group of people you wouldn’t have the opportunity to meet. I think that’s the best part. I’ve gotten the opportunity to meet some of the girls on the team, and they’re great, and I’ve really enjoyed it.”