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(04/05/11 3:16am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Normally you would have to fly to Brazil to experience the infectious rhythms, bright lights, colorful costumes and festive dancing of Carnaval, but Friday, all you have to do is go to Jake’s Nightclub.The Fifth Annual Brasil Brazil: Bloomington’s Brazilian Carnaval will begin at 9 p.m. Friday at Jake’s Nightclub. The Carnaval will have authentic Brazilian music and some aerial artists.The Carnaval is the brainchild of School of Public and Environmental Affairs graduate student and Brazil native Anita DeCastro. In addition to organizing the event, DeCastro also helps choreograph and dance in Brasil Brazil’s authentic samba dance company, the Flores do Samba.DeCastro has said she has planned this event since she was a sophomore, and with her graduating, this may be the last year. The event is completely volunteer-driven, from the costumes to the music and the dancers.“I get a ton of help from students,” DeCastro said, “This year we have three interns and we get a lot of volunteers. But I think the driving force is my craziness. I usually put in about 500 hours.”This was the first year the Flores do Samba had auditions, and dance majors like senior Melody Cutsinger decided to give it a try.Cutsinger, like many of the dancers, had never tried samba and learned with DeCastro’s teaching.“Anita is amazing,” Cutsinger said, “She runs this whole Carnaval and is still making sure she is involved in the dance portion. She is sharing her personal heritage and culture with hundreds of people at a time.”Senior Sarah Achler, one of the co-choreographers and a former dancer in the company, shares that appreciation for DeCastro’s organizing and work in putting this on for the past five years.“I think she’s an amazing leader,” Achler said, “It has gotten better and bigger every year.”Achler added that after three years of working on Brasil Brazil she thinks of DeCastro as a great director and a great friend.DeCastro prides this entire event on both its professionalism and the diversity of audience that arrives every year.“You can find a lot of college students, a lot of the Latino community, and as far as an age range, you find people from 21-60,” DeCastro said. “That’s kind of the goal. I don’t want it to be age or background specific.”The dancers are just one attraction. There will be musical performances by the IU Brazilian Percussion Ensemble, Indianapolis DJ Kyle Long and Latin music groups El Fuego Lento and Café Cubano.“We will finish the show with the boom, and then we’re going out in the crowd,” DeCastro said. “So the dancers will be in costume the entire night, encouraging everyone else to try it and showing them moves.”Whether or not there will be more Brasil Brazil Carnavals is unsure at this point. However DeCasto said she will try.“I love it,” DeCastro said. “I would love to do this as a full-time job. And I think it would be interesting to see what Brasil Brazil would become if I wasn’t a full-time grad student.”
(01/27/11 5:34am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>What does it take to work overseas? Wednesday, the Career Development Center sponsored the International and Language-based Jobs and Internships Career Night, a panel discussion and networking opportunity that focused on careers in an international setting. The center has these career nights to give students a chance to hear advice from professionals in the field, as well as to provide an opportunity to network with each other and the professionals. “This is one of my first ones so I really didn’t know what to expect,” freshman Helena Correa said, “but it’s nice having someone already in the field and being able to see about their experience. They can tell me what I have to do to get to where they are.”The panelists came from both the public and private sector. There was a representative who volunteered in the Peace Corps, two agents from the National Clandestine Service and Martin George, founder and owner of the Language Training Center, an Indianapolis-based international language-service company. George said to get these sought-after jobs, students have to work hard. “Not just expecting something is going to just happen to you, and putting a ton of work into what you want to do,” audience member Geoff Stewart said about George’s advice. “He mentioned that a lot. He put together a company and worked and went to school at the same time. Putting in the time will really help you get to where you need to go.”All of the panelists stressed language learning as essential if one wants to work abroad. They also said the skills to work abroad are learned while studying abroad. IU graduate student Mariah Coley said she agreed with the emphasis on studying abroad. “I’ve been abroad a lot,” Coley said. “Studying abroad is what you have to do to get those jobs.”Shan Weatherbee, a School of Public and Environmental Affairs graduate student and former Peace Corps volunteer in Kazakhstan, said his volunteer service before going overseas prepared him for his work with the Peace Corps. He expressed a wish that he had studied language before shipping out and told the audience members that language training is invaluable. After the talk, George gave one last piece of advice: Do not get bogged down on the “right path.”“I think we get into this cookie-cutter mentality and I think it’s all bull,” George said. “Be passionate about it and go for it. You can do anything. It doesn’t matter what age you’re at or what your major was. You can really do a lot.”The Career Development Center will be sponsoring a similar information session from 6 to 8:30 p.m. today for the National Clandestine Service at the Center.
(09/24/10 7:12pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>This fall, students from more than 130 countries will come to IU to study, but during their scholarly pursuits, they have to live somewhere, too. And with moving to Bloomington sometimes already a hassle for students within the United States, traveling from abroad can make it more complicated.Of course, some students decide to live on campus in a residence hall throughout all of their schooling. Yet some students come here and decide to live off-campus in either an apartment complex or a house after their first year in Bloomington.Sandy Britton, director of the Leo R. Dowling International Center, said that a very popular option was the University Apartments for students to be independent but also to be close to an unfamiliar campus.“And after they live there and get used to Bloomington, then they tend to move more off-campus,” Britton said.Living off-campus might be preferred for some because it can be cheaper to split up the cost between roommates. Also, you have your own kitchen and more independence. In addition, while residence halls close during breaks, off-campus housing does not.To find a place off-campus, one would need to go through all the channels that regular U.S. citizens do: classified ads in the local newspapers, listings online, or conversations with current students or people in the area who could help.Also, people should look at many options and read everything before any documents are signed.Former student Lucy Danser came here in September 2008 from London to study in IU’s Department of Theatre and Drama. She and three other friends from the University of Kent at Canterbury decided they would go the off-campus route and rented a house on the south side for the academic year.She wanted to remind all international students that of all the steps they should take before they move off campus, they should always check if furniture is provided, or if they’ll need a moving van.“Also, they should know the bus routes, and how safe the area is they are moving to,” Danser added.Danser did enjoy living off-campus but admitted there were some challenges that were made easier by having friends she already knew living with her.“Sometimes it was hard,” Danser said. “I think it’s too hard to make friends off-campus, and it’s really hard to get around in the winter. We were lucky that there was a big group of us.”
(09/17/10 2:19am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>This weekend, nationally followed comedian, Doug Benson will perform at The Comedy Attic. “Doug has a strong national following and Bloomington is no different,” said Jared Thompson, owner of the Comedy Attic. “His fans are very loyal and support him every time he comes to a town. Plus, he’s a genuinely nice fella who I can call my friend.”This will mark Benson’s third time performing at The Comedy Attic. He will perform at 8:30 and 10:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Tickets can be purchased for $18 online at www.comedyattic.com or by phone, 812-336-5233.Opening for Doug will be David Huntsberger, a comedian that often performs with Benson. Similar to Benson, Huntsberger competed on NBC’s Last Comic Standing and is a regular on Comedy Central. Benson himself said he was pleased at the idea of coming back to The Comedy Attic. “They’re nice people who just want to bring great comedy to Bloomington,” Benson said. “Which makes me wonder why they keep re-booking me.”Benson, in addition to his stand-up touring, has a Comedy Central series, “The Benson Interruption,” that will air Oct. 28. He also is the host of a live comedy Podcast titled “Doug Loves Movies.” “Everything else is a secret,” Benson said. “Because I’ve got nothing else going on.”Thompson said Benson always puts on a great show. “He’s one of the most respected comics working today, and once he takes the stage, even with the large crowds he attracts, you feel like he’s hanging out with you,” Thompson said.Based off Benson’s previous visits, Thompson is expecting a large turnout. “Doug draws some of the biggest crowds we’ve ever had,” he said. “He’s just gotten more popular, so there’s no reason to expect anything else.”Benson also expects a great night, giving his thoughts on the type of kind people he has encountered.“Everyone I’ve met in Bloomington has been very nice,” Benson said, adding, “Or very drunk.”
(09/15/10 3:58am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Union Board’s Performing Arts and Canvas committees will present their free monthly spoken-word poetry slam at 7:30 p.m. today in the Indiana Memorial Union’s Whittenberger Auditorium.The slam host and judge will be veteran spoken-word poet Shihan Van Clief from HBO’s “Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry.”“We were very interested in bringing Shihan to IU,” senior LaKeisha Reese, director of the Union Board Arts Committee, said. “It’s a great chance for our students to perform for a professional.”Reese said she hopes for a big turnout because Van Clief relates to college students with his poetry. Van Clief has competed in and won many poetry slams. He has appeared on TV and in magazines in the US and abroad, and he has released two CDs of his work. Anyone can come for free to the preshow workshops at 5:30 p.m. today in the State Room East of the IMU. Van Clief will speak on creative writing for poetry. Afterward, the aspiring poets can compete in the slam at 7:30 p.m. Reese also said there will be free food at the event. After three winners are chosen, Van Clief will finish the night off with a reading of his own poetry. “I watched his work growing up,” senior and Union Board PAC member Deslynn McKissick said. “It’s going to be something else to see him in real life.”Both McKissick and Reese want many students to take advantage of this rare opportunity. “I hope this workshop inspires people on campus to be more creative,” McKissick said. Reese said this event is not just for poets, but anyone who is interested in spoken-word. “Having this opportunity to work with Shihan in a creative writing setting will be something unique,” senior and Union Board Advertising Director Kris Minter said. “It’s not every day you get to work with someone from HBO’s Def Jam.”
(09/14/10 2:59am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>“How’s it going, nerds?” comedian Michael Ian Black asked the crowd at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater on Friday during the Combine — a technological conference that took place Sept. 9 through 12.Hundreds of entrepreneurs, bloggers, venture capitalists and other business people met in Bloomington at the conference to network and talk about the business of the Internet in the Midwest.The Combine 2010 was a non-profit conference for anyone interested in “the people and ideas that drive technology.” “One of the main goals of the Combine is to show the tech community that there are some amazing things going on here in Bloomington and the Midwest,” said Combine Budget Coordinator Jessica Reed. “Silicon Valley isn’t the only place where a tech community can thrive.”Mike Trotzke, co-founder of SproutBox, hosted the speeches. SproutBox is a local venture capital firm that invests in technology startups. Comedians Black and Michael Showalter concluded the speeches. Both became famous in the late 1990s by making comedy videos and posting them online as members of the sketch trio Stella. “Black and Showalter were chosen to speak at the conference because of their involvement in technology and also because they’re awesome,” Reed said, “The Combine doesn’t plan on bringing comedians to town per se, but hopefully next year the people we get are equally as funny.”The two discussed how they used the new market of the Internet and how they were able to spread their works without geographic constraints. They also said sites like CollegeHumor, Funny or Die and YouTube are a great tool for anyone interested in comedy. Although the comedians came from out of town, some of the speakers had a local connection. Christian Lander, the creator of the overnight blog sensation Stuff White People Like and its subsequent book, attended graduate school at IU, but he left before he could complete his degree. He talked about his rise to success with a little help from the Internet and a lot of luck. Lander liked the Combine’s overall theme of not giving up. “I think the talks were great,” Lander said. “You had a cool mix of the fun talks and more serious talks. There is such a value if you want to be an entrepreneur just to hear from everyone else talking about failure and working and what you can learn from mistakes. It was really inspiring.”Even though he talked at a Union Board lecture in 2009, Lander could not pass up a chance to come back to the town he loved. “If someone’s going to bring me in then I’ll come back in a heartbeat,” he said. Lander said it was inspirational to hear them say that failure isn’t a bad thing but rather just a learning experience.
(09/13/10 3:39am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>About an hour into the set of playing off each other and getting a lot of laughs from the audience, comedian Michael Showalter was flipping through his pages of notes for something to mention. His partner, Michael Ian Black, decided to make something perfectly clear to the crowd.“You should know that Michael and I did not prepare for this show.” For these two, that just made it better.The Comedy Attic has comedy shows Thursday through Saturday, but the Michael and Michael show was extended to Sunday. Only Black was able to do the Sunday show. The club’s owner, Jared Thompson, and the rest of the staff worked hard the entire weekend to handle the number of people who showed up. Thompson expected every show to be sold out. He acknowledged it would “basically take a hurricane to stop that from happening.” He was right. The club was packed. Hosting for the Michaels on Friday and Saturday was local comedian Jamison Raymond. Jamison told the crowd he has always been a nerd and bad at sports. This led to a bone he had to pick with author J.K. Rowling about her invention of a sport for wizards to be good at. “Even at a wizard’s high school, I would have to make varsity to get laid,” Raymond said. Showalter and Black bantered with each other and also with the audience during their set, asking the crowd about tattoos and telling stories from their time on the road.Showalter also read a few entries from the notes that he brings to many shows so he can “feel safe.” It was by chance that the Attic booked the duo for this week. “We originally had Brian Posehn booked for Welcome Week,” Thompson said, “but he had to move it to December. Michael and Michael pretty much fell into our laps, and we couldn’t pass it up.” Michael and Michael were brought to Bloomington to speak at The Combine, a technology and entrepreneurial conference also going on all weekend. In the end, Michael Black mentioned that although the idea of coming to Bloomington originally sounded like a terrible idea, he said they enjoyed their time and the crowd.“Looks like the coolest group in Bloomington came out tonight,” Black said.
(09/09/10 3:05am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Local comedy club, the Comedy Attic, will have two big names instead of one this weekend.And luckily, they’re both named Michael. The comedic duo Michael Showalter and Michael Ian Black will perform today through Sunday.“We expect every show to be sold out,” Comedy Attic owner Jared Thompson said. “It basically would take a hurricane to stop that from happening.”Thompson said the club originally had another comedian planned for Welcome Week, but they needed to reschedule. “Michael and Michael pretty much fell into our laps, and we couldn’t pass it up,” Thompson said. Showalter and Black will speak in Bloomington at 5 p.m. Friday at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater for a technology conference called The Combine, which wanted two big names in technology and entertainment for speakers. Budget coordinator for The Combine and Michael and Michael fan Jessica Reed could barely contain her excitement.“This show is a big deal to me because I’ve been MIB and Show fans since the days of ‘The State,’” Reed said, mentioning the ‘90s sketch comedy show that helped launch their careers. “It’s also a big deal because The Combine is bringing them to town for a technology conference, but the Comedy Attic is booking them in a smaller, more intimate venue.”The two have done stand-up and both have written, acted and directed many movies and TV shows, often with other former State members. Thompson called Showalter and Black “two of the biggest pop culture icons in the past few decades.” He explained that getting these two well-known comedians is a huge deal for The Comedy Attic. “It’s massive,” Thompson explained. “My wife and I grew up watching ‘The State’ on MTV, and I have followed these guys a long time. So it is important to us on a personal level as well.”Thompson added that the club sold tickets to people in 12 states. He said he hopes many students and Bloomington residents alike will make it to one of the shows. “Honestly, a club our size in a town our size doesn’t get opportunities like this very often,” Thompson said. Reed said she hopes that with the comedy set and the conference, the performers will take a liking to Bloomington. “I’m hoping that now that Black and Show are spending a significant amount of time here, they’ll give Bloomington some twitter love and come back again soon,” Reed said.
(08/04/10 11:05pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Could we be living inside a black hole?An IU astronomer and physicist has published a theory stating that our universe might be inside a black hole and that black holes in our own universe might contain universes of their own.Nikodem Poplawski, a research associate in the Department of Physics, used Einstein’s general relativity equation to calculate certain aspects of space-time and solved some problems in how physicists think about the structure of the universe and black holes.“In March earlier this year, I published an article proposing the idea that in each black hole there is no singularity, but instead that each black hole can contain its own universe,” Poplawski said.Poplawski explained that each black hole is thought to contain a singularity, a point of infinite density that general relativity cannot explain. This massive density means that gravity is so strong nothing can escape it, including light.His suggestion was that each observed black hole, like those known to be in the center of galaxies, might not contain a singularity, but perhaps a wormhole and a smaller universe.“My paper showed how you can get a wormhole with a smaller universe inside,” Poplawski said. “In order to do that, I had to slightly modify Einstein’s theory.”IU junior and astronomy enthusiast Maura Campbell said she is unsure about parts of the theory because they are so far beyond what she can conceive.“It makes me wish I knew more about physics,” she said. “Otherwise, the universe seems like one big chaotic mess.”In the study, Poplawski combined information from general relativity and proposed a scenario that brings the ideas together and helps explain certain cosmological facts.“My theory states that matter in a black hole would not collapse into a singularity, but collapses to a very high-density state and then rebounds and begins to expand,” Poplawski said.He used this rebounding as a way to explain the expansion of the universe.“The paper shows that if you analyze the dynamics of the universe immediately after the matter inside the back hole rebounds, these dynamics can explain a few problems that Big Bang cosmology was not able to solve,” he said.Poplawski also explained why time can only move in one direction. Because universes create black holes with smaller universes and more black holes and so on, the path only leads one direction — one cannot move away from a black hole, only toward it.Campbell said she was happy to learn that an IU researcher came up with a theory this complex, even though she herself has trouble trying to visualize the extent of it.“I see that as possible, because anything could be in a black hole as far as we know,” Campbell said. “I don’t think it means anything too much for us because it’s so far beyond everything. That’s what is most interesting to me.”
(05/20/10 12:09am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>When students leave for home in the summer, they take all their spending money with them. This temporary economic vacuum leaves a problem for business owners and student job seekers alike each summer. “Summer gets especially slow the closer you get to campus,” said Neil Thompson, a night manager at the Jimmy Johns store located on 10th Street. “Some stores even change their hours depending on where they are in town.” Thompson said hours were dramatically reduced at his store, located across the street from Eigenmann Residence Center, during the summer, with some employees only working fractions of the hours they worked during the year. When restaurants and retail stores have to cut back, it means fewer job opportunities for those few students who stay and have to pay rent and utilities.“I think because a lot of the businesses aren’t making their means up right now with the economic downturn, they don’t have enough income to cover the staff they would normally have,” senior and current job seeker Robert Ellis said.He added that of the 28 businesses he’s applied to, many of them have been “cutting existing positions and giving more hours to fewer staff.”“Going in and trying to find a job at this point means the deck is already stacked against you,” Ellis said. Summer residents find they have to keep an open mind in terms of types of jobs and numbers of hours given for any opportunity that comes their way. Recently employed senior Benjamin St. John said the only job he could not do was delivery or one out of walking distance, for one simple reason: He does not have a car. St. John said he thinks the reasons students have such difficulty finding jobs is that employers will keep people who already worked for them during the year and might also want to hire Bloomington residents.“During summer, some people go home,” St. John said, “but the ones that stay usually keep their jobs if they already work there. So you have people who have already had experience working a job, along with Bloomington residents, to compete with.”However, some workplaces will take advantage of students leaving to help cut back on summer hours and take them back when fall comes. Melanie Griffith, a manager at T.I.S. College Bookstore, said the summer downturn is no different to them than the lack in business they see between the book rushes every semester. “In summer we still have summer semesters and orientation, so business stays pretty steady,” Griffith said. “We always have something going on.” Ellis has made some progress in the job hunt, but he has found nothing concrete yet.“It’s looking up, but I’m not going to be off-edge until I’ve found a place,” Ellis said. “I actually had to drop a summer course in order to save money, and if I don’t get a job in the next month, I’m going to have to sell my car to make rent.”
(02/19/10 4:47am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A Native American group held a twofold fundraiser yesterday. The group is raising money to lease office space.At the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center, the Native American Community Center of Bloomington held a benefit dinner and silent art auction. At the same time across town at Nick’s English Hut, some servers donated their tips and the restaurant donated 10 percent of its profits for dine in to the center. All of the proceeds from the event are going towards leasing a permanent office for the group to work out of.The NACC’s mission is to serve the American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian population of southern Indiana, and also work to reach out to the general public on Native American affairs.They are closely associated with the First Nations Educational and Cultural Center of IU. The First Nations director, Joe Stahlman is also one of the NACC board members.For the past year the NACC has been operating out of members’ homes and cars. The group’s board members have spent a lot of time putting the event together.“We’ve had to canvas businesses and artists for donations,” said Kylo Prince, a NACC board member. “Some of the stuff was made by board and community members. It was really a large effort by a lot of people.”Prince himself made a soup, one of the many examples of Native American cuisine at the auction.In addition to the food and art for auction, the night was a just as much a celebration of native culture as it was a fundraiser. The group called in a group to perform a Native drum circle and Laura Reagan, the group’s historian, preformed a ceremonial dance and encouraged the audience to join in.The public turned out to support the group and their cause along with people closely allied to the group, and their members.Bloomington resident Marla Rosen heard about it on the group’s program on WFIU.“I appreciate hearing their stories,” Rosen said. “And stories of their resilience and tenacity.”Their stories and struggles are still important to the group in doing their mission.“A lot of culture was lost through the move for genocide against Indian people,” Prince said. “Since they couldn’t eradicate us they wanted to assimilate us, and take us away from our language, our culture.”Prince said that one of the group’s main missions was to educate the public on Native Americans and their diverse cultures.“Some of the ideas floating around are that we don’t exist anymore,” Prince said. “Or that we are all savages. Not all of us have ponytails and wear feathers all the time. We have normal lives just like everyone else.”Marilyn Cleveland, the group’s Head Elder, worked with the NACC since the beginning and worked with the First Nations Center before that. To her, educational outreach on Native people’s diversity was paramount for the group.“That’s something I think the public needs to be informed about,” Cleveland said. “There is so much that they teach in the schools about Native American people that is not true. I hope that through our educational outreach we can bring more things into the school to teach the children.” The Head Elder is an adviser, peacemaker and an authority on cultural affairs.“I hope we can have a place for Native people to come and socialize and get the things they need,” Cleveland said.“We can support them and teach about the diversity about the Native American people. We are a wide diverse group of people. We have many different cultures and many different beliefs.”
(02/19/10 3:48am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Bloomington resident Amy Countryman is trying to set up a completely
free and publicly maintained fruit-tree orchard in the City of
Bloomington.
The orchard would be on the south side next to the YMCA. This
particular orchard is going to be a completely public enterprise,
maintained by volunteers, Countryman said. It would be supported by,
but not run by, the City of Bloomington.
Countryman, who explained the idea for the orchard in her graduate
thesis, wants the orchard to directly contribute to locally grown and
healthy food.
“It will connect people to their food source,” Countryman said. “And it will be very fun.”
Burnell Fischer, Bloomington Tree Commission member and School of
Public and Environmental Affairs professor, suggested implementing
Countryman’s thesis, the public orchard. He advised Lee Huss, who
oversees urban forestry for the Bloomington Parks and Recreation
Department, to help set up the orchard.
“She helped write the guidebook for this,” Huss said.
Countryman said she used Bloomington’s public forest as an example.
There will be one major difference between the forest and orchard,
however. While there are few edible plants there, this project is all
about the food.
The orchard currently being planned is only the beginning, Countryman
said. She said she views the project as the pilot location, the first
of many.
“My goal is to have small pocket orchards throughout the city,” Countryman said.
Countryman said she wants everyone in the city to enjoy the fruit at no
price, whether someone is harvesting many apples for a recipe or it’s
just children grabbing an apple on their way to school.
Countryman said she hopes to educate the public about their food.
Bloomington and IU will teach classes about taking care of the fruit
trees.
While it’s a novel idea, some residents are not convinced yet.
IU staff member and Bloomington resident Lituo Huang said she wants to
see how the orchard develops after it’s set up, which she thinks could
take years.
“I’d go to check it out,” Huang said. “I would want to wait to see if
it could become successful. I mean, don’t fruit trees need years before
they can be productive?”
Huss said the timetable for the orchard depends on getting volunteers
and how the public will be educated on caring for the trees.
“I’m optimistic that we can have some trees planted by this spring,”
Huss said. Because the orchard will probably be organic, Huss said that
effects the type and number of trees that can be planted.
In the end, Countryman said she wants to make it clear that the orchard
is good for the city in many ways. It’s not just about feeding people,
she said. It’s also about bringing the community together to work on
something and become personally invested in their food.
“It should be fun and educational,” Countryman said. “And it will contribute a lot to our food supply.”
(02/19/10 3:05am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Bloomington resident Amy Countryman is trying to set up a completely free and publicly maintained fruit-tree orchard in the City of Bloomington.The orchard would be on the south side next to the YMCA. This particular orchard is going to be a completely public enterprise, maintained by volunteers, Countryman said. It would be supported by, but not run by, the City of Bloomington.Countryman, who explained the idea for the orchard in her graduate thesis, wants the orchard to directly contribute to locally grown and healthy food.“It will connect people to their food source,” Countryman said. “And it will be very fun.”Burnell Fischer, Bloomington Tree Commission member and School of Public and Environmental Affairs professor, suggested implementing Countryman’s thesis, the public orchard. He advised Lee Huss, who oversees urban forestry for the Bloomington Parks and Recreation Department, to help set up the orchard.“She helped write the guidebook for this,” Huss said. Countryman said she used Bloomington’s public forest as an example. There will be one major difference between the forest and orchard, however. While there are few edible plants there, this project is all about the food.The orchard currently being planned is only the beginning, Countryman said. She said she views the project as the pilot location, the first of many.“My goal is to have small pocket orchards throughout the city,” Countryman said.Countryman said she wants everyone in the city to enjoy the fruit at no price, whether someone is harvesting many apples for a recipe or it’s just children grabbing an apple on their way to school.Countryman said she hopes to educate the public about their food. Bloomington and IU will teach classes about taking care of the fruit trees.While it’s a novel idea, some residents are not convinced yet.IU staff member and Bloomington resident Lituo Huang said she wants to see how the orchard develops after it’s set up, which she thinks could take years.“I’d go to check it out,” Huang said. “I would want to wait to see if it could become successful. I mean, don’t fruit trees need years before they can be productive?”Huss said the timetable for the orchard depends on getting volunteers and how the public will be educated on caring for the trees.“I’m optimistic that we can have some trees planted by this spring,” Huss said. Because the orchard will probably be organic, Huss said that effects the type and number of trees that can be planted.In the end, Countryman said she wants to make it clear that the orchard is good for the city in many ways. It’s not just about feeding people, she said. It’s also about bringing the community together to work on something and become personally invested in their food.“It should be fun and educational,” Countryman said. “And it will contribute a lot to our food supply.”
(02/16/10 3:49am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The natural world provides us with our character, food and home. Next week, a group tasked with preserving Indiana’s land will be honored for its environmental contributions.On Feb. 10, Gov. Mitch Daniels proclaimed the week of Feb. 22 to 28 Sycamore Land Trust Week in honor of the group’s 20th anniversary and because the SLT “sustains Indiana’s natural heritage of biological and geological wealth, honoring Indiana’s culture and the values of its citizens,” according to the proclamation.The Sycamore Land Trust has grown from a volunteer-run preservation of 500 acres in Monroe County in 1990 to a nationally recognized organization that protects 5,500 acres of southern Indiana land.“If we can protect 20,000 by 2020 we can literally change the natural history of the state,” said Executive Director Christian Freitag, noting that would be funded by area residents.That philosophy keeps the SLT going: the people who live here should protect the land themselves.“If the people care about the place they live, then people have to stand up and work to protect it,” Freitag said. “Land Trusts here and around the country are evidence that people care about their homes.”Members of the SLT contribute either land or financial support to the trust, and in addition to taking ownership of the land, the SLT helps landowners protect their own land from unnecessary community development.Carolyn Waldron, director of the Environmental Law Program at the Maurer School of Law, said concern for the global environment should not overshadow the need for protection at a local level.“I would encourage all of those who are thinking about global problems and participating in a global sense to recommit themselves to work locally,” Waldron said.Members have expressed the need for the support to be private. Freitag characterizes the SLT as apolitical and business-minded.“We can’t expect government to protect all the land that needs to be protected,” said IU English professor and SLT member Scott Russell Sanders. “I think it’s vital that there be a local land trust like the SLT that is supported by people who live in the region who care about nature and other species and who are advocates for natural lands.”Sanders discussed individual benefits to protecting our natural landscapes.“We also need to provide natural lands for our own physical and psychological and spiritual health because we are creatures of the earth,” Sanders said. “We need to be able to sustain our connections to the earth.”
(02/15/10 3:42am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>WonderLab usually makes science and technology fun for kids, but on Saturday night the museum made some time for the adults to have a little fun. It kept the science part — just added some beer.The WonderLab Museum of Science, Health and Technology hosted “Cheers! The Science of Beer and Cheese,” a fundraiser for the museum to let the adults of Bloomington enjoy a place dedicated to helping their children learn. Cheers! was sponsored by Capriole Farmstead, who provided the cheese; Upland Brewing Company, who provided the beer, as well as FARMBloomington, Angel B’s Galleria of Cakes, Scholars Inn Bakehouse and Bloomingfoods.The event was furnished with an open bar and FARM hors d’oeuvres, along with WonderLab-style exhibits explaining the science behind how cheese and beer are made.The guests paid $50 per ticket, and all proceeds made from admissions and a raffle went straight to the WonderLab’s exhibits and programs.The guests entered right into the line for their beer, getting to choose from four of Upland Brewing Company’s beers. They were then directed to a massive table full of cheeses that go well with the particular beers.“People normally think of wine and cheese,” said Heidi Frankson, development director. Frankson said that before the event the brewers and cheese-makers got together and did their own taste tests. Each cheese was placed with one of the beers, paired so they complemented each other’s flavor.Frankson was especially pleased with the idea of the on-site fundraising.“We usually have a big gala event,” Frankson said, “but this one gets people in the doors so they can experience their investment themselves. And what they are investing in is hands-on science education serving kids all around the city.”One of those investors was no stranger to the WonderLab’s benefits. Bloomington resident Warren Cutshall said he regularly goes to WonderLab with his young children.“It’s a very stimulating environment to our kids and other kids,” Cutshall said. “It’s actively engaging and a good mix of fun and learning.”In addition to regulars, many Bloomington residents were attracted to the WonderLab through their visits to FARM or Upland. Doug Dayhoff, co-owner of Upland Brewing Company, served the locally brewed beer at the event. He said he was happy to work with WonderLab again.“We love to support a unique institution which makes Bloomington a special place,” Dayhoff said.And maybe this once, drinking was good for the kids.
(02/11/10 2:25am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>As the popular saying goes, men are from Mars and women are from Venus; however, they both live on Earth. So why would one sex care more about this planet than the other?According to the “Survey of Students Engagement with Social Issues” conducted by one of Ph.D. student Oren Pizmony-Levy’s sociology classes last fall, female students are more likely to make significant changes in their lives for the sake of the environment.The survey questioned 615 IU students about their behaviors, including those pertaining to environmental awareness.“We see striking differences between males and females on campus. Females are much more green than males,” Pizmony-Levy said.Gender gaps aside, the survey also illustrated what students as a whole are willing to do to help.Seventy percent reported they were willing to recycle and not drive their cars when they have other options.Pizmony-Levy said he sees the importance of recycling but believes students should put more emphasis on reducing their consumption.On the other end, only about 40 percent were willing to do things such as turn off the screen-saver on their computer, unplug appliances when not in use and buy locally produced foods.IU senior Christopher Landers said he’s not apathetic about the environment but concedes women are probably greener than he is.“I mean I’m no environmentalist,” Landers said. “I recycle, and given the choice, I would probably go with something more environmentally friendly. But if it’s the choice between a $5 light bulb and an $8 light bulb that will allegedly cause less of a carbon footprint, it’s then that I have to think twice.”However, Landers said he habitually turns off the water and unplugs things that are not in use.“Previous research showed that females care more about the earth,” Pizmony-Levy said.“This gap is explained by socialization and gender roles where females are learning to care more about other things in general, including the environment,” he said.IU School of Public and Environmental Affairs graduate student Farah Abi-Akar said some men on campus “need to take a lesson from the ladies on this one.”She said many environmentalists use economics to encourage people to care about being greener.“Using economics is a convenient way to make people care even when they don’t,” Abi-Akar said. “It is critical to draw a direct connection from environmental issues to their impacts on our lives. Equally important, we want people to know that their positive actions do have positive consequences.”Abi-Akar suggested more people would care about environmental issues if the green “fad” had more exposure.“We need to make environmental behavior as desirable as iPods,” she said. “If everyone loved waste reduction as much as they loved iPods, we would have a lot less to worry about.”
(02/08/10 2:59am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>For Bloomington resident Jim DeWees and his 8-year-old son Cameron, WonderLab is a place to play and learn.Last Saturday, a special series of exhibits started at WonderLab with kids playing with clay, glue, a few thousand corks and a thirst for learning about the colors they see every day.Throughout February, the WonderLab Museum of Health, Science and Technology is hosting a special series of exhibits about the science that goes into colors and the art that results from them.“The Art and Science of Color” uses WonderLab’s signature style of making learning a game. Volunteer artists teach the children about different things they can do with color and how visible light works.One of the two main features this past Saturday was the Community Pixel Mural, hosted by artist and molecular geneticist Martina Celerin.The children took 3,500 colored corks donated from Oliver Winery and glued them onto a picture of a large butterfly. The many colored dots showed the children how pixels work, that many dots of different colors mixed together appear as one color.“Having people work together to create art brings out a bigger appreciation of what it takes for one to create art,” Celerin said. “They now have a increased investment.”When the butterfly is completed by the kids, it will be hung outside WonderLab so it can be seen on the B-Line Trail to teach the entire town about the wonders of pixels.The second resident artist of the day, Juliana Burrell, taught WonderLab visitors about mixing specific colors. Burrell, an elementary school art teacher, is also an artist in her own right, and a few of her works were on display.In her first WonderLab exhibit, she used red, blue and yellow modeling clay, an exercise Burrell uses in her own art classes.“The kids really love using the model magic clay,” Burrell said. “It teaches them about mixing colors and how they can create the colors from the three primary colors.”Burrell gave the kids pieces of clay and told them to mix and match to create secondary colors without using paint. The kids used their colors to fashion sculptures.As Cameron DeWees ran from a music exhibit into a room dedicated to the science of bubbles, his father said he brings his son to WonderLab often.“I bring him here a lot because it’s educational and enjoyable,” DeWees said. “There are very few places you can let them run around and enjoy themselves.”
(02/02/10 3:52am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>E-force is the environmental club in Collins LLC. and a part of the Collins student government. The co-chairs, sophomore Elizabeth Danielson and freshman Will McHenry, agree that E-force is more of an educational group than an activist group. They said environmentalism doesn’t have to be a life-changing moral code. “It’s more of a lifestyle, a principle that you apply to your life in the way that you go about doing the small things that add up,” Danielson said. “You don’t have to move mountains.” The E-force meets twice weekly and has chairs who are in charge of specific events. Danielson and McHenry are co-directors of the group. Some students lead the Lake Griffy Trail Stewardship Program, and a human environment chair focuses on how humans interact with the environment and within their own environment.E-force has stewardship of Griffy Lake, north of campus. In past years they had to take care of recycling for Collins, but now it is handled by maintenance. The group also puts on films and works with other Collins LLC groups to present joint programs. E-force takes a very practical approach to environmentalism education. Both Danielson and McHenry showed a disdain for the way environmentalism is portrayed by the media and politicians. Danielson said the news media likes to show environmentalism as a trend outside of normal behavior, separating it from people’s lives. “I think the environmentalists that most people see are most prominent,” said McHenry. “These are the people who take it way too seriously and sometimes can’t see reason.”E-force’s approach is different, but the message is the same.“We only have one planet, unless we’re trucking to Mars anytime soon,” Danielson said. E-force is all about doing the small things that everyone can do to save just a little. “Recycling isn’t that hard,” McHenry said. “It’s really easy. I get really angry when people won’t walk down two flights of stairs to recycle a bottle. Actually I’ve seen people deliberately not recycle something next to a trash can just because it’s their political agenda.”“The main reason environmentalism is important is because it is sustainable, so efficient and so cheap. It prevents a lot of unnecessary actions,” Danielson said.E-force reaches out to the Collins community through the Collins Columns, the dorm’s newspaper. Morgan Eldridge, educational chair, writes a column in the Collins Column every week that shares an environmental tip or story, as well as opportunities in Bloomington. “Each person in E-force has a different passion that involves the environment,” Eldridge said. “We each take our own facet and run with it.” The newspaper and the tips are all important ways E-force furthers its main goal: not to move mountains but to teach. “I think it’s more about individual education,” McHenry said. “Focus on more what individuals can do in their own lives.”
(01/25/10 3:51am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Renewing, reusing and recycling not only save the earth but can cushion your wallet. What can college students do to help? It’s easy to turn off all the lights in your house, but not in a dorm. And how can you stop every person in your apartment complex from wasting water? REDUCE AND RESISTCollege students are at a time where they should get into better habits so they can care for the earth after they leave school, said Stephanie Kimball, co-convenor of Earth Care Bloomington. Earth Care Bloomington is an interfaith environmental group that helps people steward the earth.“The number one thing is to reduce consumption,” Kimball said.People can conserve energy by reducing the number of things they buy. Take a phone, for example. Energy usage is not just the electricity used to charge it but the energy used to manufacture, pack and ship it. So once you have purchased something, make it last. DON’T DRIVEKimball said college students have a unique advantage to conserve power because everything is so close together.If you have a car, just use it to go home or on long trips. Riding a bike or taking a bus are two alternatives, Kimball said. Biking saves gas and money and is good for you. If biking is impossible, take the bus, she said. Campus and city bus lines are available to all students.LOOK TO THE FUTUREIn addition to everything you can do now, you should plan for what happens after you leave Bloomington, Kimball said.“For people starting off,” she said, “take a look at the type of community you want to live in.”Bloomington has a large amount of environmentally conscious residents who have created a community that appeals to those values. Do your research if being earth conscious is important to you so you can live with other like-minded people, she said.UNIFYKimball said she was happy when she saw that IU dorms were having contests to see who could get the most environmentally efficient dorm.This is a great example of unifying, she said.When the entire student body gets behind an idea like using less coal or water, then policy can be changed. This mentality shouldn’t be limited to just the University, she said. Lauren Kastner, president of Coal Free IU, said she believes all environmental changes will not be made by lawmakers and the government.“The grass-roots movement of youth will make the changes,” she said. BE ACCOUNTABLEKasnter feels that college students must acknowledge that it is their responsibility to save the earth.If you are going to preach that you hate fossil fuels, then don’t expect everyone else to stop driving their cars when you drive yours. We all waste, and no one is above responsibility, she said.“I find that sustainability is our generation’s issue,” she said, “It is not a liberal issue because it is everyone’s issue.”
(01/25/10 3:46am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>People are becoming more interested in the environment and how to protect it. But how much do we really know about the melting North Pole and the greenhouse gases with which we pollute?Here in Bloomington, a group of experts collaborated on a book to teach students about the environment and show educators how to teach about the world we inhabit.Earlier this month, the IU Press published “Teaching Environmental Literacy: Across Campus and Across the Curriculum,” a multidisciplinary volume with contributions from 27 local experts.“Teaching Environmental Literacy” is not just a book about science. Many artists, historians, economists, lawyers, political scientists and teachers also wrote chapters for the book. The book’s multidisciplinary approach illustrates the scope of the environment.One of the contributors, IU English professor, celebrated author and dedicated conservationist Scott Russell Sanders said he thinks it was important to incorporate different fields in the book.“I have been writing about these issues for over 30 years,” Sanders said, “and obviously there are people who have contributed to this book who have expertise in areas that I am a rank amateur in. I think having these many different kinds of perspectives brought from different disciplines makes it a more valuable volume.”The book was the brainchild of two of its editors: Heather L. Reynolds, an IU biology professor, and Eduardo Brondizio, an IU anthropology professor.“It’s a great time to write such a book because levels of awareness about environment and sustainability are growing so rapidly,” Reynolds said in an e-mail interview. “Our book is both a product of and a contribution to this wave of awareness.”The authors said they hope this book will provide readings for many different classes and subjects, both at IU and other colleges.William Brown, director of the IU Office of Sustainability, endorsed its message.“I think one of the most important things that people can leave the University with is knowledge of environmental literacy,” Brown said.Brown said he would like to see the book required in future classes so that students are more aware of the environment and how they are connected to it.Reynolds agreed.“We hope it contributes to real curricular change in terms of what is considered essential knowledge for all students,” Reynolds said.For IU student Emily Schlatter, the benefits of this multi-subject approach are obvious.“If students are learning about the environment in all classes like art and history rather than just science, then they are going to be more competent about caring for the environment for future generations,” Schlatter said.