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(02/12/01 6:36am)
The SoFA gallery presents thought-provoking, intriguing and uncommon artwork. This month's exhibit is no exception. \nThe exhibit, titled "Men of Cloth," features 33 noted male fiber artists from around the United States. Uncommon? I had no idea there were enough male fiber artists to make up an entire exhibition. The focus was not on the gender of the artists, and Stephan Beal, the exhibit's original organizer at the Loveland Museum, said, "I've seen enough gender suffering exhibits." \nAlthough I know little about textiles, I found this exhibit to be poignant, funny and intriguing.\nArtist Tom Lundberg opened the exhibit Friday evening with a lecture surveying the varied inspirations of the artists. The exhibit included works by some literal men of the cloth. That is, the clergy, such as alumnus John French, whose spectacular stitched works use the metaphor of curtains to represent the transition and the barrier between deity and humans. Others, which were not featured in IU's presentation of the exhibit, represented the other extreme of religion -- pornography.\nThe most poignant representations in the exhibit were by those artists who used their talents for social commentary. Artist Carmon Slater made a three-dimensional fiber quilt, entitled "We Care," which spoke out about AIDS and HIV without using any words. The checkered edges were raised multi-colored condoms that framed two faces and hands reaching out to each other across a pair of jeans. In the jean pockets there was a syringe representing the treatment for the life-threatening disease.\nThe exhibit was not all serious, and Darrel Morris' embroidered "comics" were one of the highlights of the show. \nI challenge you to visit "Men of Cloth," which is at the SoFA gallery until Mar. 9.
(01/26/01 4:19am)
Last week the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission opened a formal investigation into the service quality of Ameritech over the past year.\nThe investigation includes alleged violations of state code. \nIn the first three quarters of 2000, the state charges that Ameritech met the standard of restoring service within 24 hours only 66 percent of the time. According to regulatory commission findings, the mean time of response increased from just more than 24 hours in late November of last year, to more than 33 hours a month later. \nAmeritech also failed to satisfy requests for primary service within five working days, according to the regulatory commission.The code requires that at least 90 percent of requests be satisfied, and the state said Ameritech only met the standard 86 - 88.6 percent of the time.\nThe regulatory commission reports a number of consumer complaints, mostly during the summer.\n"What we saw this summer was disastrous," said Dave Menzer, a spokesman for the Citizens Action Coalition, a consumer group.\nThe final violation the commission cited was Ameritech's alleged failure to answer at least 80 percent of calls to the repair service within 20 seconds on average. Ameritech ranged from meeting this standard 32.3 percent - 55.5 percent,of the time, according to the state. The average number of seconds per call ranged from 62.5 seconds in January 2000 to almost four minutes in August.\nAmeritech spokesman Mike Marker said the company's service suffered because of a lack of staff. A retirement buyout package, he said, drew a higher response than expected.\nThe investigation, which could take as long as a year, was the result of the commission's failure to settle with Ameritech on the issues.\n"They had been trying to do it informally, but since they couldn't reach a settlement, they felt that they had to take it to the next step," said Mary Beth Fisher, a spokesperson for the regulatory commission.\n"We had a difference of opinion," Marker said.\nThe commission had called for an increased number of consumer credits after multiple complaints about Ameritech's service. \n"We'd already invested $2.5 million in consumer credits, and we felt that the best use of our resources was to improvements going forward," Marker said.\nMarker was referring to the $1 billion "Opportunity Indiana" plan, which is currently being negotiated in public hearings.\nThe commission holds that the Opportunity Indiana hearings and the past service quality violations were separate, Fisher said. But Ameritech did not agree.\n"The commission would like you to believe that they are separate, but in reality they are intertwined," Marker said.\nFisher said that Ameritech was now complying, that they were now receiving fewer calls and that the investigation is into Ameritech's past non-compliance.\nMarker stated that they now are in compliance with the code and would like to focus on going forward, as opposed to dwelling on their problems in the past. \n"In September we announced an extended customer care service program where we brought in over a hundred employees to work on repairs and service. Last fall we recognized we had challenges and took responsibility for them."\nA regulatory commission press release said that the investigation will require the company to convince the commission why enforcement action should not be taken against Ameritech.\nMarker said Ameritech would comply with the investigation fully.
(01/25/01 5:23am)
At the ages of 11 and 12, kids are being exposed to alcohol, said Lisa Hutcheson, director of the Indiana Coalition to Reduce Underage Drinking.\nAccording to a new study by the IPRC, binge drinking in Indiana is higher than the national average. Almost 35 percent of seniors in Indiana high schools reported binge drinking in 2000, compared to 30.8 percent nationally.\nBut it's not just binge drinking; about 50 percent of high school seniors drink on a monthly basis.\nIn 2000, 4.1 percent of sophomores reported drinking alcohol daily, down from 5.2 percent, according to the IPRC. Although the rate is decreasing, it is still higher than the national average of 1.9 percent in 1999.\nIt's not just a problem in Indiana, according to a Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study of college students. The study reports that more than half (54 percent) of underage students said it was "very easy" to obtain alcohol and 40 percent said that it was "easy." \nEighty percent of underage students obtained alcohol from of-age students, but 50 percent also obtained it from other underage students, according to the study.\n"For underage students, alcohol is free, but movies and other things cost money," said Patrick Wanzer, youth director at the Indiana Coalition to Reduce Underage Drinking.\nTwenty-five percent of underage students get free drinks, and 32 percent pay a set price for an unlimited number of drinks, the CAS study reported.\n"Part of this problem is that students in rural areas, like Indiana, say that there's nothing else to do," said Wanzer, Youth Director of the Indiana Coalition to Reduce Underage Drinking. \nDee Owens, director of the IU Alcohol-Drug Information Center, said, "this isn't the case, at least on campus."\n"I met with a group of freshmen this year, and I asked them if they felt that there was nothing to do on campus," she said. "They said that there was too much to do, not too little. They got involved with *campus organizations and service projects within the community." \nOwens said it might appear that everyone is drinking, but that it's not true. \nAmong undergraduates at IU, 53.5 percent said they have less than four drinks per week, according to a survey by Southern Illinois University.\nAwareness is stressed as a solution.\nThe Indiana Coalition to Reduce Underage Drinking combats the problem through awareness and sends information to smaller campus and local groups to educate students. It is also kicking off an orange-ribbon campaign, beginning in February and ending in April, to spread awareness of the dangers of drinking and to remind students of the law and the judgment calls they make when they drink, such as drinking and driving.\nThe policies need to be strictly enforced and hold students responsible for their actions, the CAS study said.\nDespite that, administrators feel that enacting stricter policies will not curb the problem.\n"If anything, the problem gets worse as kids get older," Hutcheson said.
(01/23/01 4:22am)
Rome fell. End of story. The classics are often said to be dead, but the collection of Diether Thimme at the IU Art Museum stands to prove the cliche wrong.\nThe collection, "An Ancient Muse: Classical Themes in Old Master and Modern Prints from the Thimme Collection," opened Saturday at the Art Museum. It includes a variety of works from not only traditional Renaissance engravers, but also from Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse. \nClassical artifacts provided direct inspiration for Renaissance artists, but modern artists are also moved by the ancient muse. The classics are alive and have a place in newer techniques, such as cubism and surrealism.\nIncluded in the collection is French cubist Henri Laurens, who renders classically inspired works in simple shapes and basic colors. Andre Masson's interpretation of the Hesperides -- nymphs who lived in a garden near Mount Atlas -- is reflective of Masson's surrealist style, using thick strokes in a color lithograph to suggest the female figure. \nThese modern representations add another dimension to the classical works, but some of the most fascinating works are the traditional Renaissance engravings in the Ancient Sites portion of Thimme's collection. These works, mostly by Italian artists Giovanni Castiglione and Giovanni Piranesi, and Flemish artist Philip Galle, combine the genius and imagination of each artist in their depictions of real and imagined ancient creations. \nGerard de Jode's four engravings are spectacular. The skillfully crafted scenes incorporate the morality of the classical myths, combining them with more Christian morals that were prominent in his time. For example, "Aeneas escaping Troy" depicts Aeneas ensuring that his family escapes instead of taking the riches of Troy.\nIn addition to Thimme's collection, a special exhibition, "The Fine Art of Conservation: An Homage to Danae Thimme" is featured at the museum. This exhibit provides a look at the conservation process of ancient art and the legacy of the late Danae Thimme, wife of Diether, who conserved the museum's antiquities for 28 years. From just a few fragments, Thimme revitalized ancient artifacts and brought them back to life, so that they could be seen and inspire future generations. \nThimme restored one vase by inserting the few remaining fragments into an artificial vase that she used as a base. But her restoration was not limited to ceramics. She also restored jewelry, mosaics and marble, and bronze and terra-cotta sculptures. Using the skull of King Midas, she reconstructed, in clay, what his head and face would have looked like.\nThe exhibit is as diverse as it is inspiring. It seeks to prove that, even today, the classics are a part of art and everyday life. \nThe exhibit runs through March 4 at the IU Art Museum, open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday.
(01/22/01 4:02am)
Under pressure from the Indiana General Assembly, Ameritech has proposed a plan to resolve complaints about poor service, including disconnected phone lines.\nAccording to Federal Communications Commission statistics, Ameritech Indiana's average repair time was 28.9 hours for residential customers -- longer than any other major phone company in the United States.\nAnd the state utility commission reported a record number of customer complaints, 509 in the month of September alone. Some complained of going months without service.\n"What we saw this summer was disastrous," said Dave Menzer, the utility campaign organizer of the Citizens Action Coalition.\nAmeritech spokesman David Bear said cutbacks in staff brought about the difficulties. Response to a new retirement buyout package were higher than expected, he said.\nBeyond resolving problems with phone service, Bear said Ameritech's new plan should also improve Internet connection speed. \nBut the plan is under fire in public hearings in Indianapolis, where consumers, state representatives and lawyers such as Michael Mullett of the Citizens Action Coalition are firing questions to Ameritech about its specifics.\nThe $1 billion plan -- called Opportunity Indiana 2000 -- proposes to upgrade existing infrastructure, investing millions in schools, libraries, hospitals and other community connections. \nIn a compromise with a legislature talking about regulation, Ameritech would voluntarily pay penalties up to $30 million per year if it fails to meet established goals. \nAnd Ameritech's plan would reduce residential charges by $62 million, provide a one-time $20 million credit to consumers and reduce business charges by $106.36 million, Bear said.\nDespite the reach of the plan, consumers still have doubts about Ameritech and issues with the plan.\n"The money that they are offering now is money they should have been offering all along," Menzer said. "And it doesn't go far enough.\n"In 1997 we ordered $40 million in credits, and this plan only offers $20 million. Also, rates should be reduced by $180 million, not $62 million, to really benefit consumers."\nThe consumer advocate group opposes the plan, which does not give the state regulatory commission the power it needs to impose fines or penalties. Under current law, the state regulatory commission can only address the rate, but cannot impose fines.\nThe General Assembly is considering several bills that would increase the the commission's powers to regulate utilities.\nBear said Opportunity Indiana won't affect what happens if the legislature enacts the pending utility legislation.\nMullett said the plan needs to be stricter for Ameritech to improve its service, because of the commission's current lack of power.\n"They've touted the penalties in the plan," said Mullett. "But because of a feature called 'pooling of points,' Ameritech only has to meet six of the eight standards to not be penalized."\nAmeritech spokesman Mike Marker couldn't comment on the point-pooling system.\n"Regarding penalties, it is all part of the comprehensive $1 billion plan," said Marker, adding that the plan benefits consumers in all facets.\nBut Mullett questions whether the plan benefits consumers or Ameritech. \n"The first two days of hearings showed that this deal is not a good deal for consumers and is being advertised as something it's not," he said. "As much as 40 percent of the profits Ameritech will gain from this plan is coming from consumers." \nMarker counters that Ameritech has long invested in Indiana and has the state's best interests at heart.\n"Ameritech has made significant investment in schools, hospitals, etc., and we will fulfill the $1 billion plan to benefit Indiana," Marker said. "The coalition shares a common interest to make sure that Hoosiers get the best use of resources available, and that's what we are going to do"
(01/18/01 3:45am)
With the increasing demand for new communications technology such as pagers and cell phones, two of the four Indiana area codes are in jeopardy of running out of numbers. \nThe 219 area code has been in danger of exhausting all of its available numbers for the past two years. Now, the 317 code is also at risk.\nState officials said Wednesday the 317 area code, which serves the Indianapolis area, is running out of numbers. \nAlthough it has not yet been made public, the North American Numbering Plan Administration will file a formal request for relief to the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission on behalf of the telecommunications industry. Frank Colaco, a senior area code relief planner for NANPA, said it should be sent by early February. \nThe 317 code was separated from the 765 area code in February 1997. \nBut because of corporate growth and personal demand for communications devices, there's already need for relief, said John Koppin, president of the Indiana Telecommunications Association.\nAlong with northern Indiana's shrinking 219 area code, the Indianapolis predicament is part of a nationwide problem of number exhaustion affecting major metropolitan areas such as Chicago, Los Angeles, Atlanta and much of the Eastern Seaboard, Koppin said.\nCommunications companies are affected because they cannot create new phone lines for homes, businesses and cell phones. \n"There's an area in Massachusetts where their problem still hasn't been resolved," Koppin said. "It's in limbo and is now an emergency situation." \nIn Indiana, there are no numbers available west of SR 31, Koppin said.\n"We told the commission we needed a decision in eight months, and it's going on two years now," said Koppin.\nThe Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission has been at work trying to resolve the issue, said spokeswoman Mary Beth Fisher. But the agency has not yet arrived at a decision. \n Koppin said there have been rumors in the industry that a decision would come in the first fiscal quarter of 2001. But, hoping for a solution in a few months, Koppin said he doesn't believe that will happen.\n"It's hard to say," he said.\nThe state regulatory commission has been working on finding the best solution for all parties.\nKoppin said the two solutions to any area code problem are an overlay and a split. A split is where a portion of the state receives a new area code and new numbers; a process he described as expensive. \nAn overlay allows residents and businesses get to keep their original numbers and any new numbers receive the new area code. The downside, he said, is that it forces consumers to use 10-digits when calling either area code. \nThe most commonly used solution is an overlay, and 18 of the 19 last area code changes nationwide have used that option, according to the Indiana Telecommunications Association.\nThe Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor opposes an overlay, said spokesman Anthony Swinger. In a survey, the office found that 78 percent of the public rejected the idea. According to the study, 70 percent of Indiana businesses took the same position. \nIf the 219 area code were to be split, the numbers of 400,000 consumers would be changed. \nIn the majority of the areas where the overlay is implemented, Koppin said consumers have adjusted quickly. But the implementation process is what gets sticky, he said. It can turn into a fight between cities to determine who is forced to change, as was with the 765 situation. \n"Whenever you draw the line you have a major metropolitan area being affected, and that's a political issue," Koppin said.\nTo its advantage, Koppin said this affects fewer people, which is why he believes an overlay would be effective for both the 219 and 317 areas. \nWhen numbering plan administration files their formal recommendation, Colaco said the industry will support an overlay in the 317 area. \n"A split really didn't work out because (geographically) it's not a practical solution," he said. \nWhatever solution is decided for either area code, it will be an inconvenience to some consumers.\n"New area codes are a fact of life in our business," Koppin said. "We're going to continue seeing growth in the industry, which is going to require even more changes"
(01/10/01 4:41am)
With whispers of a recession on the horizon, the usual holiday spending rush lagged dramatically this year.\nThe decline affected everyone from the large chain department stores to the small independent businesses.\n"A lot of stores are going to have to rethink their strategies to adjust to a slower pace," said Michael Niemera, vice president of Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi Ltd.
(01/10/01 4:13am)
A college dropout who left school to work on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, Steve Martin is the classic, well-loved comedian of such films as "The Jerk," "Parenthood" and "Father of the Bride." So when Martin picks up a pen (or more than likely, gets out a laptop) to write, it usually consists of comedic pieces that he has written for The New Yorker. But in his latest novella, "Shopgirl," Martin proves he's up to more than tomfoolery.\n"Shopgirl" does have its humorous moments, but it's not classic Martin. Rather, it is the dark humor of reality (if one considers Los Angeles to be reality, but I won't go into that). Martin's first full-length fiction book is as fully developed as the premise is original. Martin updates the age-old love triangle consisting, in his tale, of Mirabelle, a lonely young girl in need of true love; Ray Porter, a well-off older man exploring the ways of women; and Jeremy, a young convenient "knight," although he's hardly the shining armor type.\nThe title character is Mirabelle, 28, who has a master's degree in fine arts. Mirabelle moved to California with dreams of a "real" life but instead finds herself dependent on a myriad of anti-depressants and working at Neiman Marcus to pay off college loans. She's looking for something unlike her Vermont home, which is poorly described by Martin. Her life is tragically redundant and hardly a life at all. The description of the glove department in which she works depicts the tedium of her life. She waits all day, careful not to appear too bored in a department that is all but extinct and finds a modicum of fulfillment in the few customers who stop by throughout the week. This void in social interaction parallels her life outside of work. A sex-crazed girl in the perfume department seemingly foils Mirabelle at one point, but neither she nor Jeremy is given enough description or time to develop in Martin's prose to fully come to life.\nMartin's prose is bland and overly descriptive. He does not provide enough depth or description in character development but goes well beyond when analyzing day-to-day life and characters' appearances and actions. This style occasionally impedes the flow of the story, but overall it enriches the text and forces the reader to pay more attention to one's unconscious observations throughout the daily routine. He accomplishes this with an omniscient narrator and thus lends a unique angle to the story. One technique, which Martin developed well but failed to use often enough, included dialogue coupled with his role as the narrator. There is one scene late in the book between Mirabelle and Ray to which everyone can relate -- the interpersonal communication including the sexes. Martin, with his dark humor, describes Ray's stereotypical goal of getting into bed without a commitment, and Mirabelle's stereotypical interpretation of that as commitment and love.\nThe novel is too short to develop more than the superficial plot of the triangle between Mirabelle, Ray and the all-too-absent Jeremy. Martin is clearly new to the genre, and his novella leaves something to be desired. But he has the mark of a talented observer, and one can only hope he will develop this skill into a full-length work that will include a less convenient turn of events.
(12/07/00 4:03am)
UNext.com, a Chicago-based online education company, set up shop in Bloomington last winter. In collaboration with municipal government, it's been fighting hard against the so-called "brain drain," which has taken IU graduates away from Indiana because of a lacking information technology sector. \n Mayor John Fernandez named UNext's Bill West, managing director of the Bloomington office, as the chair of the city's information and technology services department, whose goal is to attract more information technology companies and employees to the area.\nWest seems cut out for the job.\nThe Bloomington office, which will celebrate its one-year anniversary in January, is already posting significant achievements in retention. \n"Seventy percent of our employees are IU alumni, and 30 percent of those actually moved back to Bloomington for the positions," he said.\nFernandez was enthusiastic about UNext.\n"Bloomington has a competitive advantage as a community," he said. "The jobs created by UNext will maintain the quality of life and the quality of work we're proud of and the kind of work that will stimulate the new economy."\nUNext originally projected the creation of 150 full-time jobs in its first two years. After one year, it has 60 employees with an additional 20 "content experts," mostly faculty and executives who are contracted for extended periods of time. \nWest estimates the company's growth rate is between 25 and 50 percent. \nThomas Duffy, UNext's chief learning officer and vice president, remains optimistic about achieving the 150-employee goal. \n "There are a lot of talented people (in information technology) in Bloomington,;this is a great location," said Duffy, an education professor on leave of absence to work with UNext in its main office in Chicago.\n To connect the Bloomington office, UNext has partnered with Kiva and Ameritech, which West said has amply served its bandwidth needs.\nAnd UNext should have no problem funding its ventures, according to market data. \n"It's safe to say that investing in the business of online ABCs has, by any number of measures, a lot of potential," Fortune Small Business said in a report Tuesday, as the Nasdaq composite index recorded a 338 point gain, the highest in its 29-year history.\nIn the "new economy," the area of education technology appears to be especially promising. \nBoston-based Eduventures.com, a research firm, reports "unprecedented growth." It forecasts $4 billion in total private investment in education technology for 2000. That's up from $30 million in 1990, just less than $1 billion in 1998 and $2.6 billion in 1999.\nEduventures.com also reports venture capital investment in education reached $690 million in the third quarter, nearly 7 percent above second quarter figures. While this figure was 25 percent below the first quarter's record-setting pace, it remains well above historical rates of private investment in education.\nTo date, the Bloomington office has 25 corporate clients for its MBA and executive education courses. It offers 25 MBA courses and about 10 executive education courses.\nDuffy said the company still has six to 12 months of development before completing the MBA graduate program. But by the first anniversary, it expects to bring the total number of courses to 70, 40 in the MBA and 30 in the executive education programs.\nUNext is also looking to expand beyond its MBA and executive education programs, but it has not identified where it is headed.\nWest said he hopes UNext will continue to draw IU graduates, especially from the new School of Informatics, which will graduate its first students this spring. While UNext has not specifically targeted them, it has given many general presentations on campus. \nWest said keeping people in Bloomington shouldn't be difficult.\n"It's a great city"
(11/10/00 4:26am)
The significance of voting has taken on new meaning while Florida recounts county ballots, making sure each individual ballot is counted correctly. A small group not only can make a difference, but might decide the presidency of the United States.\n"I didn't think my vote would have made a difference then, but now I do," said freshman John West, who chose not to vote in Tuesday's election. After Florida's close race, West said he now believes he should have voted.\nAccording to the Monroe County Board of Elections, only 43.9 percent of eligible voters braved long waits at several polling sites to vote locally Tuesday. Voter turnout for Monroe County was not only below both the national average of 51 percent and the Indiana state average of 49 percent, but had the lowest turnout of any county in the state, according to the Indiana Secretary of State's Web site.\nDeputy county clerk Tara Stogsdill said the low turnout can be attributed to students who come to Indiana and register to vote, but don't take their names off the registration when they graduate and leave the state. She said Indiana law prohibits the elections board from purging those names from the list.\n"It's very hard to say what the actual voter turnout was," Stogsdill said, "but I think it would be at least 50 percent."\nFifty percent turnout was on par for the state, but nationally, voter turnout has only risen slightly since the 1996 election, and overall turnout has been dropping steadily since the 1960s, said Political Science Professor Gerald Wright.\nWright attributes the decreasing turnout to the lack of participation by younger generations, which, he said, don't have an immediate attachment to politics. \n"They don't see what politics has to do with them," he said, and cited Vietnam and the Civil Rights movements as events that tied previous younger generations to politics. "Younger generations are turning out in even lower numbers than their parents when they were young."\nLack of publicity was a factor for some students, said freshman Katie Kessler. She said although she knew one student who had gotten a postcard in the mail, the rest had no idea where to vote, and had visited others sites before coming to Briscoe Quad. Kessler said she found it especially hard to identify polling sites in the residence halls, since there were not large signs posted like at many other locations.\n"I was about to give up if (Briscoe) wasn't the place," she said.\nSenior Sarah Boyle and several others waited in line to vote for the presidential election because they felt they could make a difference in whether or not Green Party candidate Ralph Nader would achieve the 5 percent popular vote necessary to get federal funding, but they said they did not generally think their vote would matter when it came to the presidential election. \n"I don't know anything about the other Monroe County elections, so I'm just going to vote for the president and governor," Boyle said.
(11/02/00 3:41am)
Megaman never stopped dancing, and twister wouldn't leave the club.\nDespite being eliminated early from the costume contest, the pair made up for what was lacking in fashion sense with enthusiasm. They danced, jumped and screamed in support of ska band Johnny Socko, a local favorite.\nSocko, who played a great show Halloween night at the Bluebird, was celebrating its 10th anniversary as a band, although drummer Dylan Wissing is the only remaining member of the original band. "Halloween 1990, it was a house party on University Street," reminisced Josh Silbert, dressed as Ozzy Osborne. Silbert had played for the opening band on that fateful night.\nThe evening began with opening band You, who played both original and cover music, pulling off an impressive cover of "Thriller" by Michael Jackson. That's why lead singer Nick Niespodziani loves playing on Halloween, when they get to "do great stuff like that" and can "haunt the night."\nWhile You played well, getting people to dance, the crowd saved their energy for Socko.\nThe 'Night of the living bird' costume contest then took over the stage, with the crowd judging though their screams and clapping. There was tough competition between Curious George and Captain Hellmann's M#ayonnaise for third place, but Curious George won out. "Miss 4-H runner-up" grabbed second place, while the crowd deemed "Louis the self-proclaimed dork" champion of the night.\nWhile engaged in judging, by the sixth round of the contest, the crowd was shouting, "We want the show."\nThe crowd's eagerness to hear Socko flared up again -- shouts and cheers broke out once the band tuned up. When Socko finally got on stage at about 1 a.m., people threw up their arms to Silbert's prodding. They opened with a Black Sabbath song and encouraged the audience to join in to their songs and covers throughout the night.\nSocko also did shout-outs to the likes of Megaman, made jokes and even pulled an audience member out to join Ozzy onstage during one of his tangents when he broke into rap. The participation and pandering to the audience really made this a much better show than previous times Socko has played at the Bird, especially on a Tuesday night.\nWhile the Sabbath starter got the crowd going, an original song from their fourth album had them not only dancing, but jumping.\n"We came here to play rock and roll and jump around," said trumpeter Demian Hostettler, imploring everyone to "jump around."\nIt was amazing to see so many people up and active, not only the ones on the dance floor, but also those crammed up by the bars. Socko's energy reverberated throughout the room, and the volume kept increasing as each song topped the last in terms of vigor.\nSocko's intensity died down a bit when Ozzy broke into more metal and Black Sabbath and the crowd thinned around 2 a.m. Still, there were plenty of people left, and Socko reclaimed its dominance with "B!*th stole my hat" from their album, Oh, I DO Hope It's Roast Beef!\nWissing said he is looking forward to another 10 years of this silliness.
(09/04/00 4:34am)
A Buddhist monk living at the Tibetan Cultural Center in Bloomington, Geshe Jimpa Sonam feels unsettled. Today's concluding peace summit that has excluded the Dalai Lama reminds him of the political tensions between China and Tibet.\nThe Millennium World Peace Summit includes dignitaries from the Vatican, Moslem World League and the World Jewish Community. The summit's goals are to use religion as a roadway to peace. \nSonam said the exclusion is another sign of the continuing religion crackdown in China.\n"I am not Tibetan, I am Indian," Sonam said, who was originally born in Kurgil, India.\nIn a press release, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan called on leaders this week to "reaffirm every man and woman's fundamental right of freedom of religion, to worship, to establish and maintain places of worship, to write, publish and teach, to celebrate holy days and to choose our own religious leaders."\nBawa Jain, secretary general of the Millennium World Peace Summit told Reuters, "We all know China strongly objects to His Holiness's (the Dalai Lama's) participation, especially in the framework of the United Nations ... For China to send a delegation is a major breakthrough."\nThe office of the Dalai Lama confirmed the exclusion was a direct result of pressure from the Chinese government. Annan said in a press release the United Nations is "really a house for the member states and their sensitivities matter," but the summit was by several private and corporate funds including Ted Turner's UN Foundation and Ford Motor Company, not the United Nations.\nProfessor Elliot Sperling, chair of Central Eurasian Studies Department agrees with Sonam, "The meeting is less than what it might have been had the Dalai Lama been included." \nOrganizers did extend a belated invitation to the Dalai Lama to speak at the conclusion of the conference at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York, which he declined because he did not want to embarrass those that did not want him to attend.\nInstead the Dalai Lama has sent a delegation to the summit in his place. The delegation participated in a "working session" on the subject of forgiveness and reconciliation. The session is an open forum composed of small groups of about 100 to 200 delegates discussing certain issues without media representation, according to a spokesperson from the United Nations.\nThe deterioration of Chinese and Tibetan relations is especially evident in the Tibetan education system, Sonam said. Schools were once able to teach about three Tibetan lessons and one Chinese lesson, but now they can only teach one Tibetan lesson, if that, he said. \nConsequently, Tibetan schools are very poor. Parents who would have sent their children to monasteries and schools in India to study must now keep their children at home where they aren't allowed to practice Buddhism. In addition, monitoring groups and pro-Tibet activists are reporting the occurrence of house-to-house searches for Buddhist religious articles in Llasa, and expulsions of monks from their monasteries. \n"The situation is very bad, and I feel very sad because the Tibetans have no choice but to do what China asks, otherwise they will be in trouble or their lives may be in danger," Sonam said.\nChina did send a four-member delegation which was appointed by the Chinese government and included Buddhist, Taoist and Christian delegates, although China's official region is atheism. \nThe Dalai Lama's exclusion opens up the relationship between the Tibetan people and the Chinese government to question. According to The Associated Press, China regards him as a threat to the former Tibetan region, which it took over in 1949 and 1950. \nSonam blames China and said the situation in the Tibetan region continues to deteriorate.\nTibetan Cultural Center visiting teacher Jhampa Kalsang said more and more people are asking him about Tibet, and that throughout Europe and America awareness is spreading among the youth. "I love teaching younger people," Kalsang said, "because their minds are so fresh and they are willing to (consider) both sides and then make a decision." \nSonam and Kalsang said they do not foresee significant advances being made with the current political leaders. What Tibet needs, Sonam said, is a government willing to stand up for Tibet and not one that is merely looking out for its own interests and is afraid to offend the Chinese. "Tibet needs someone to shout (for them)," he said.