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(06/06/12 11:58pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>In order to stay afloat in a struggling market, local used book store owner Joe Grant has decided to expand his inventory to compete with other retailers, primarily retailers offering electronic alternatives.“If I could download it, print it off and save a hundred bucks, I would do it,” said Joe Grant, owner of Academic Scholarly Books.Grant said his business, located at 105 Pete Ellis Drive in the College Mall area, has slowed during the last few years because of the popularity of e-books and online textbooks. E-readers are devices like the Kindle or Nook that display digital copies of books, or e-books, on the screen. “Things were slowing down with the economy and e-books,” Grant said.In addition to used books, Grant recently started selling board games, puzzles and DVDs in order to stay in business. “It’s been going pretty well for me,” Grant said. The small shop, crammed with books on topics like philosophy, politics and foreign language, is open from noon to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. The store’s entire inventory is also online. Grant uses the physical location of the store to buy books from students.“I’m always open to students who want to trade in their books,” Grant said. Unlike the IU bookstore, which has buy-back windows at the end of the semester, Grant buys academic and scholarly books all year.Grant also tries to carry a slightly different inventory than the campus bookstore. He said many of his customers appreciate the hard-to-find books he carries.“I try to stock stuff you can’t find at the campus bookstore,” Grant said. “I’m geared towards the serious student, the grad student.”Grant generally doesn’t carry fiction but carries a few pieces of classic literature used in IU courses. This year, the Pew Research Center reported a sharp increase in e-reader ownership during the previous holiday season. From mid-December to mid-January, e-reader ownership jumped from 10 percent to 19 percent of adults in the United States; yet in the period before the holiday, ownership barely increased. Despite the spike, Grant thinks scholars might stick to paper books. “It seems like the scholarly people want a copy to underline,” Grant said. He has never had an e-reader himself but tries to ask people if they like them.Grant said his business has improved since he added DVDs and games, but the success has been slow-coming.“I wouldn’t say a spike,” said Grant, who has been in a retail location for five years but in the book-selling business for 10. “Brick-and-mortar stores are closing all the time,” Grant said. While his store is doing well now, due in part to the new inventory, Grant predicts for the longevity of other independent book stores, “it’s a matter of years” before bookstores shut their doors.
(05/24/12 12:45am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The American Civil Liberties Union is suing the State of Indiana because of its marriage law, which currently allows only religious leaders or state officials to make a marriage legal. The suit is on behalf of the Center for Inquiry, a secular organization.Plaintiffs John Kiel and Michelle Landrum wish to have a non-religious ceremony but discovered it was not possible to conduct a legally binding non-religious ceremony.“We got involved because me and John got engaged, and in our search to find someone to perform the ceremony, we just kept falling flat,” Landrum said. According to Indiana Code 31-11-6-1, marriages can be solemnized by members of the clergy, judges, mayors, clerks and other specific government or religious leaders. While some couples can find a city official to solemnize their marriage, many non-religious couples are unable to find one who fits their beliefs and philosophies, said Reba Boyd Wooden, the executive director of the Center for Inquiry’s Indiana branch. “The law is about who can solemnize a marriage,” Boyd Wooden said. She also said court weddings are often sterile and lack the intimacy of a wedding ceremony. Non-religious couples who want a ceremony still have to go to a government official, making the marriage a two-step process, whereas religiously married couples only have one step. “That’s privilege over non-religion,” Boyd Wooden said. Boyd Wooden, Landrum and Kiel are suing under the First and 14th amendments, claiming that the Constitution protects them from such discrimination. Landrum said that under current law, the type of ceremony she and Kiel would like to have is not possible. “It still would require two ceremonies, which would give us two wedding dates,” Landrum said.Opponents to the plaintiffs include the American Family Association, who released a statement urging people who disagree with the current solemnization policy to direct their complaints to the legislature.Micah Clark, executive director of the American Family Association of Indiana, said there are various secular options for marriage ceremonies in Indiana.“This incident should remind Hoosiers that the opponents of traditional marriage want to change our marriage laws through the fall of a gavel rather than through a vote of the people or our elected representatives,” Clark said in a statement. Boyd Wooden said she has previously made an effort to engage the Indiana General Assembly in reform.“People said, ‘Why don’t you go to the legislature?’ Five years ago I contacted every member of the legislature,” Boyd Wooden said. “A handful got back to me.”None of the representatives wanted to spend time on a new bill since it might not pass, Boyd Wooden said.For now, Landrum and Kiel are waiting for the result of the case, which has yet to be scheduled, to pick the date of their wedding. For them, the choice not to get married by an official or a religious leader is a no-brainer. The case, which lists the Center of Inquiry as plaintiff and the clerk of the Marion Circuit Court as a defendant, was filed in the United States District Court Southern District of Indiana.“We’d essentially be getting married by a stranger,” Landrum said.
(05/10/12 12:23am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Indiana will soon become the last state in the nation to ban carry-out liquor sales on Sundays. On May 1, Connecticut legislators passed a bill proposed by Gov. Dan Malloy that will allow retailers to sell alcohol every day of the week, making Connecticut the 49th state to allow Sunday sales. In Indiana, bills proposing to change the law have been seen in at least the last two legislative sessions, but none have successfully become law. Matt Colglazier, director of media and promotions for Big Red Liquors, said changing the current law could put small, independently owned liquor stores out of business.“If the law were to pass, it would hurt those locally owned businesses because they would have to stay open another day,” Colglazier said.Colglazier said locally owned liquor stores would not be able to compete with bigger grocery or convenience retailers that are already open Sundays and wouldn’t have to take on as many extra costs for staffing. “It’s a little old-fashioned to say it this way, but to have a day of rest for our employees and to create a more responsible consumption environment, it’s not an overwhelming reason for us, but it works for us and we don’t want to change that,” Colglazier said. Grant Monahan, president of the Indiana Retail Council, which represents drug, grocery and convenience stores, said changing the law would be profitable for the businesses he represents. “They want the opportunity to serve their customers and grow their businesses,” Monahan said. “Retailers can’t afford to take a day off and miss an opportunity to increase their sales.”He said for businesses and their customers, it’s simply a matter of convenience. “That’s what our customers want,” Monahan said. “They want convenience when they shop. They want one-stop shopping.” Rep. Peggy Welch, D-Bloomington, said there are pros and cons on both sides, but she will wait to hear from the general public before she votes on the issue. “I would want to hear from the general public how they feel, not just people who have a vested interest in it,” she said. “It’s always good to review current laws to make sure that it is reflective of what society respects and wants.” She also said she wants to see how alcohol law changes have affected alcohol consumption in other states. “Selling alcohol on the seventh day of the week doesn’t increase alcohol consumption,” Monahan said. “Just because you’re purchasing it that day doesn’t mean you’re going to drink it all that day. It has everything to do with customer convenience.”Monahan insists the debate is an “intra-industry” fight, and other excuses are a red herring. He said the Indiana Retail Council will be back with more legislation proposals in the next session. But Colglazier said legislation change would be bad for Big Red Liquors and other in-state retailers. “It’s a fairly complicated issue,” Colglazier said. “The lobbies for the stores that would like to see Sunday sales are mostly out-of-state companies.”
(04/19/12 1:32am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>David McDonald, an IU folklore and ethnomusicology professor, spoke about the use of poetry, protest and music in his “Middle Eastern Intersections: Mobilizing Poetry in Protest Songs of the Arab World” lecture at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the IU Art Museum. Salaam Middle Eastern Music Ensemble, a musical group specializing in north African and Middle Eastern music, performed after the talk. A reception followed the talk and performance. McDonald started by reminding the audience that it was a “casual talk,” not a lecture, and encouraged audience interaction. He showed a video of an artist performing onstage during the Tahrir Square protests and discussed the traits of a successful protest song, such as short phrases and simple melodies. Call-and-response songs, McDonald said, are powerful because they are participatory and mimic the intentions of the movement at large. “A song like this is both reflective and generative,” McDonald said, because the act of singing together reflects already-present sentiment and also generates unity. Rhythm also plays an important role in protest music as listeners are “compelled to be together as one singular body,” McDonald said. The collaboration of musicians and poets creates the most powerful music, McDonald added.“If the rhythm gets people to move collectively, the poetry gets people to think collectively,” McDonald said. After the talk, the Salaam band performed some of the songs McDonald had discussed. Dena El Saffar, who sang and played violin and lute, said the ensemble normally steers away from politics but found the spirit of the songs very uplifting. “We actually found out that there’s a lot of political and protest music that’s not divisive and that’s very unifying and has a message that you can’t argue with,” El Saffar said. Battina Borhan, who watched the event, said the music presented was simpler and much less somber than she expected. “They were able to siphon out hidden emotions,” Borhan said. “All they did was take emotions out (of the audience) with that music.” Juliet Istrabadi, curator of the Art of the Ancient World Exhibit at the museum, said this is the third year the museum has had this event.The sponsors, which include the Center for the Study of the Middle East, Center for the Study of Global Change, Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology and Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, all helped make the event happen. “It’s been successful three years running now,” Istrabadi said.
(12/09/11 3:31am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Jeremy Podgursky, a Jacobs School of Music doctoral student in composition, received a $10,000 commission from the Fromm Music Foundation at Harvard University. “It’s one of the most sought-after and prestigious commissions in the country,” said Claude Baker, professor of composition in the Jacobs School of Music and Podgursky’s composing instructor.Baker said Podgursky was competing against people who have been in the field for decades. Pulitzer Prize winners have won this award before. “They have so many applicants, and they get those who have written the best music ... the highest caliber composer they can find,” Baker said. “So he was in competition with a pretty prestigious group.”The commission allows Podgursky to compose any piece he wants for the ensemble he co-applied with. “You have to have an ensemble sponsoring you for it, and they have to agree to play your piece if you get the commission,” Podgursky said. “So I applied with a group out of New York City called the Lost Dog New Music Ensemble.” Podgursky decided to apply with the ensemble as his sponsor for the Fromm award. Podgursky has received many other composing awards and honorable mentions, and his pieces have been performed by various other ensembles. Baker said it is very rare for students to receive an award this important while still in school, but he has no doubt of Podgursky’s success. “He is one of the hardest-working, talented, engaging, interesting students we have here,” Baker said. Podgursky said he didn’t expect all this attention. He’s still in disbelief he won the award. “I owe so much to the faculty at IU and the (composition) department and the electronic music department for being supportive of what I do,” Podgursky said.
(11/29/11 2:42am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Latin American Popular Music Ensemble is redefining the perception of music within its genre.The group will perform at 8 p.m. Wednesday at Auer Hall within the Jacobs School of Music. The concert will feature members of El Taller and will be the official
release event for the ensemble’s latest CD, “Paisaje Urbano.” The album features a wide variety of genres, including tangos, bossa nova and boleros and explores the musical landscape of many Latin American cities. “When people think of Latin American music they think of salsa and things like that,” ensemble Co-Director Espen Jensen said. “Now, you get to see some of that but all sorts of other styles and genres of Latin America as well.” Jensen added that one of the main elements of the CD is music that’s prevalent in urban centers.“Tango is associated with Buenos Aires, and bossa nova with Rio ... all of them are associated with a city. That’s why it’s called ‘Paisaje Urbano,’ or urban landscapes.” Junior Virginia Eulacio-Guevara is an ensemble member involved in the recording. “The challenge of playing the different genres is actually learning the characteristic features and the way in which the music is played in its place of origin,” Eulacio-Guevara said. “Each style has its own features and sound that makes them unique.”The instrumentation of the ensemble also guides the Latin American styles featured in the CD, Eulacio-Guevara said.“This ensemble is all about bringing the different musical styles that you can find in Latin America,” Eulacio-Guevara said. “We blend them in a way that not only makes sense stylistically but also musically and according to our instrumentation.”However, Jensen said recording was a big project to take on for the group when it came to scheduling. “Keep in mind that most of these players are students, so it’s a challenge and a reward,” Jensen said. Recording was also difficult to get each track to sound the best it could, Eulacio-Guevara said.“It was somewhat tedious at times, but that is only because we all wanted to receive a really good outcome,” Eulacio-Guevara said. “It was a good growing experience, not only individually, but also as a group.”