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(06/16/08 12:53am)
Last week, Greenpeace organizers announced the start of Project Hot Seat, a community-campaign effort focused on raising global-warming awareness and seeking energy alternatives.\nProject Hot Seat corresponds with the congressional campaigns of Democratic Rep. Baron Hill and challenger Republican Mike Sodrel. Hill and Sodrel have been pitted against each other in tightly contested elections since 2002. In 2004, Sodrel defeated incumbent Hill by less than 1500 votes. \n“We are seeing the effects of global warming in our own community,” Greenpeace organizer Edyta Sitko said. “Increased flooding, draught and more powerful storms are consequences of global warming that are affecting everyone, especially farmers.” \nA kickoff event last Sunday launching the campaign involved planning Greenpeace events, assigning community volunteers and writing more than 30 letters to each candidate, Sitko said. \nGreenpeace spokesman Daniel Kessler said the 2008 elections mark a critical juncture in U.S. environmental policy. \n“The stakes are really high all around the country,” Kessler said. “We are making sure that both candidates know that Bloomington supports global-warming solutions. We are trying to make those solutions a reality.” \nLocal organizers like Sitko urge community members to petition Congress for policy changes that will drastically reduce carbon emissions, improve energy efficiency and invest in renewable energy sources.\n“We need to see leadership from our congressional candidates,” Sitko said. “We’d love to get more students and community members involved.”\nGreenpeace offers internships and potential leadership positions to IU students who are motivated by environmental change. IU students help Greenpeace build relationships with media, volunteer, petition and improve the organization’s visibility in Bloomington and Indiana, Sitko said. \nSenior Harry Luton, a biology major, voluntarily represents Greenpeace at the Bloomington Community Farmers’ Market, assists at events and invites others to speak out against global warming. Although Project Hotseat is nation-wide, Luton said every volunteer at the local level has an impact on their environment.\n“We are trying to get people to feel like they can make a difference, like they have a voice,” Luton said. \nLuton said that continuing the support of the Safe Climate Act is an important step toward confronting global warming. The 2006 bill, introduced by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., would cut emissions in small increments with the aim of reaching 1990 emissions levels by 2020. The bill also directs government resources towards the development of \nrenewable energy sources. \nHill and Sodrel have each met with local Greenpeace representatives to discuss environmental policy, Sitko said. Both differ on possible solutions.
(06/12/08 12:16am)
The IU Summer Music Festival begins June 15, touting an impressive lineup of performers from around the world. With more than 40 performances scheduled through Aug. 9, this year’s festival will present Bloomington with world-class orchestra, jazz, opera, a capella and chamber music all summer long. \n“It is the largest, longest and most active college summer music festival of any in the world,” IU Jacobs School of Music Dean Gwyn Richards said. \nGrammy Award-winning Sweet Honey in the Rock opens the festival this Sunday at 8 p.m. in the Musical Arts Center ($20, $10 for students). The female a capella ensemble has been singing about environmental and social change since 1973 and continues to captivate audiences with their soulful voices and African performance style.\n“Sweet Honey in the Rock is a fantastic group of spirited performers,” said Marietta Simpson, an associate professor in the IU Jacobs School of Music. “They always engage their audiences in the performance and are very exciting to watch and listen to.”\nMany of the festival’s performers are Jacobs School faculty or alumni, including Menahem Pressler of the Beaux Arts Trio, Jeff Nelson of Canadian Brass and members of the a capella group Chanticleer. IU’s musically diverse faculty is largely responsible for the artistic enormity of the festival, Richards said.\n“The School of Music has never been about a single style,” he said. “It’s about teaching the language of music and allowing students to go where they want to go.” \nPressler’s Beaux Arts Trio will play at 7:30 p.m. June 28 in the Musical Arts Center as part of a farewell tour following more than 50 years of touring. Considered by many the best chamber trio of our time, the performance promises to be emotional for Bloomington audiences and longtime admirers of the group, Richards said.\nOther festival highlights include all-male a capella group Chanticleer on July 27, horn ensemble Canadian Brass on August 3, and three performances of this year’s Festival Orchestra will be led by celebrated conductors Lawrence Renes, Xian Zhang and Robert Spano, according to an IU press release.\nMaureen McGovern’s Aug. 8 performance with IU professor Steve Houghton and friends “includes a hard-swinging big band during the first half, followed by the beautiful sounds of the great American songbook with a studio orchestra in the second,” according to the press release.\nIU Opera Theater will perform Jerry Bock’s award-winning musical “She Loves Me” on July 25 and 26 in the MAC. Also, the Buskirk-Chumley Theater will conclude the festival Aug. 8 and 9 with showings of “¡Unicamente la Verdad!,” an opera-film portraying the culture of the Mexican \ndrug-trade.\nAside from its entertainment value, the festival allows Bloomington residents to see firsthand the strong connections the Jacobs School has forged with the world’s music community, director of marketing publicity for Jacobs School of Music Alain Barker said. IU music students relish the opportunity to see their teachers in the festival limelight. \n“Our faculty members are known as great performers on an international scale,” Tom Wieligman, executive administrator for the Jacobs School said. “Our students need to hear faculty perform not only in the studio, but in front of live audiences. It adds another dimension to their education.”\nIndividual tickets are still available for every event with discounts for IU students. For a complete list of Summer Music Festival performances and further information, visit www.music.indiana.edu/summer.
(06/09/08 9:38pm)
Abigail Washburn’s first experience in China was dreadful. The Nashville-based singer-songwriter couldn’t speak the language and was tired of being dismissed as a “tourist with money.”
(04/28/08 2:23am)
The IU Jacobs School of Music has announced Jeffrey Gershman will be associate professor of music and associate director of bands/wind conducting beginning in the fall semester.\nGershman will vacate his position as director of instrumental activities at Texas A&M University-Commerce to return to Bloomington, where he was the first IU student ever to receive a Master of Music in Wind Conducting in 1995.\n“Gershman has distinguished himself in every way at this point in his early professional life,” Jacobs School Dean Gwyn Richards said in a press release. “We are fortunate that his talents will now be directed to the students of Indiana and the audiences of Bloomington and beyond.”\nDirector of the Department of Bands Stephen Pratt said he was not surprised Gershman beat out more than 70 applicants for the position. Pratt said he recognized that, even as an undergraduate music education major, Gershman had a unique combination of skills and was “destined to become an excellent teacher and a fine musician.”\nIU has offered Gershman the opportunity to be both, as he will direct and conduct the IU symphonic band as well as teach music courses at various levels. Gershman attributes his success to the education he received at IU and said he is excited by the prospect of sharing it with students.\n“What I learned at IU is the foundation of my teaching style,” Gershman said. “The sound I am looking for with my students is the same sound that Pratt and (Director Emeritus of the Department of Bands) Ray Cramer were trying to create.”\nA native of small-town Delaware, Gershman once dreamed of becoming a world-class tuba player. Coming to Indiana changed all that as he soon realized that he simply “wasn’t good enough” to compete with many of his peers. It was then that he decided to become a conductor and music educator.\nGershman has conducted professionally in Texas and elsewhere. An enthusiastic proponent of contemporary music, his orchestral transcription of Frank Zappa’s “G-Spot Tornado” has been performed twice at conferences for the College Band Directors National Association.\nGershman said his teachers at IU taught him that attitude can be just as important as technique when it comes to music. He anticipates working to improve his students not only as musicians, but as young people.\n“I wish everybody could experience the feeling that they have truly gone full-circle; it is the most satisfying feeling of my career,” he said. “I look forward to giving my students practical and realistic guidance along with the same passion and enthusiasm that my teachers gave to me.”
(04/04/08 4:52am)
Wednesday night’s debut of playwright Noah Haidle’s “Mr. Marmalade” at the Collins Ernest Bernhardt-Kabisch Coffeehouse was a success, as the exuberant eight-person student cast made audiences gasp and giggle at Haidle’s bleak comedy. Despite working with a shoestring budget and minimal props, independent theater troupe InPulse Productions ensured there were no dull moments.\nInPulse premiered this week with performances of “Mr. Marmalade.” Founded this year by IU students David Sernick, Taylor St. John and Kate Catherall, the group plans to continue performing contemporary plays for nonprofit educational purposes.\n“It’s funny and it’s disturbing, and it says something about the world today,” said sophomore Ryan Gohsman, who plays Mr. Marmalade’s good-natured assistant. “We’ve got everything from talking cacti and sunflowers, to cocaine and double-sided dildos. Something for everybody, if you will.”\nThe edgy play depicts an emotionally neglected 4-year-old, played by Catherall, who retreats into a fantasy world of imaginary friends to escape her dismal reality. Mr. Marmalade, played by St. John, is her imaginary friend: a middle-aged businessman who visits his young sweetheart for tea parties between business trips and booze binges.\n“I was surprised by the quality of the performance,” sophomore David Murto said. “I thought it was going to be some cute little show, but it presented incredibly disturbing thematic elements that kept me interested.”\nThe play explores issues like spousal abuse, sex, drugs and suicide through the eyes of a toddler, and the result is anything but comforting. Co-founder Sernick said the group is about exposing people to contemporary forms of theater that reflect today’s social issues. The group also tries to move people past their preconceptions of theater as Shakespearean stiffs reciting lines in Old English. \n“Modern theater should reflect today’s issues,” Sernick said. “The works of Shakespeare and Chekov are monumental, but are by no means modern. We are trying to present a new way of looking at theater.”\nDespite the best efforts of IU’s student-actors, many find there just isn’t enough of the limelight to go around. Sernick points to the difficulties in getting cast on IU’s main stage as motivation for providing alternative opportunities for student actors and directors to showcase their talents. \nThis is why students such as Gohsman applaud their peers for creating their own artistic avenues.\n“InPulse is a forum for work that theater schools probably wouldn’t touch because it’s either too edgy or too new,” Gohsman said. “Independent student groups are very important because the world needs to see this kind of work.”\nCatherall believes that by performing plays such as “Mr. Marmalade,” InPulse Productions not only has the power to make people laugh, but the power to make them think.\n“We had this idea that we could start a student theater organization that does contemporary, experimental theater aimed at provoking social change,” Catherall said. “You really can help change the world.”
(03/20/08 4:00am)
Portland-based avant-garde rock band The Old Time Relijun performed at The Bluebird Tuesday night in support of its latest album, “Catharsis in Crisis.” Local acts Prizzy Prizzy Please and The Big Sleep shared the bill in an eclectic night of music.\nBloomington’s own Prizzy began the evening with a rollicking set, stomping through songs from its self-titled 2007 release with reckless abandon and exciting precision. Fun-loving pop and party riffs are fused with punk rhythms to create the band’s adrenaline-drenched sound. \nPrizzy’s performances are defined by the pedal-to-the-metal energy they display on-stage. Singer and saxophonist Mark Pallman takes pleasure in “leaving it all on the floor” every performance. He said his high-pitched vocals were inspired by high-octane performers like Freddy Mercury and Prince.\n“Its fun to play with that much energy,” Pallman said. “That’s why we do it; its extreme rock. Hopefully people will get into it.”\nPrizzy books performances at Bloomington bars like The Bluebird and Uncle Fester’s each month, frequently rubbing shoulders with national acts. The opportunity to leave an impression on touring bands is one local bands like Prizzy try to capitalize on.\n“It’s a lot of fun to be asked to open for national acts like The Old Time Relijun,” Pallman said. “Bands like that come through here often and it is fun to get the opportunity to meet them and play with them.”\nThe Old Time Relijun rose from the depths of the Olympia, Wash., party scene in the mid-’90s in a flurry of noisy experimentation. Singer, guitarist and bass clarinetist Arrington de Dionyso’s uncanny songs and improvisational spirit helped the band to gain national indie prominence.\nRelijun offers up a unique experience with each performance, leaning heavily on improvisation and sometimes performing with no particular songs in mind. Tuesday night provided no exception as de Dionyso’s visceral vocals pushed the band into primal cataclysms of jazz-blanketed clamor.\n“Improvisation is an essential part of the creative process,” De Dionyso said. “Our song structures tend to be loose and elastic with certain points that we all come together on.”\nRelijun, who last appeared in Bloomington in October, tore through several new songs from Catharsis.\nWritten and recorded in a four-day, said bassist and co-founded Aaron Hartman, the Catharsis sessions epitomize a group that celebrates the joy and despair of life through the vibrancy of sound.\n“We had a psychic musical relationship going on,” Hartman said. “It’s the same thing we’ve been doing for 12 years.”\nThe band’s on-stage jubilation and de Dionyso’s tortured voice provided a backdrop for drummer Germaine Baca’s garage-dance drumbeats.\nThe musical conversation that is The Old Time Relijun is unrefined, unedited and, to some, unnerving. Hartman admits that Relijun can sound manic at times, with radical swings from bug-eyed free-jazz to precision funk. He said while these dramatic changes are unintentional, they are anything but unwelcome.\n“Sometimes they just happen and you can feel an awesome tingling sensation onstage,” Hartman said. “The music is simple and fun to play. I stop thinking after the first note.”
(02/14/08 5:00am)
Theatrical set and costume design master Robert O’Hearn retired from the IU faculty following the completion of William Bolcom’s opera “A Wedding” earlier this month. \nO’Hearn has been wowing theater audiences with his exciting set designs and clever costuming since the 1940s. He has more than 80 design credits to his name that span six decades. \nThe 1943 IU graduate’s prolific career bounced him from Bloomington to Broadway and back again, where he has remained since his appointment to the IU faculty in 1988. O’Hearn has 30 IU theatre, opera and ballet productions to his name, many of which he considers his finest work. \n“The last 20 years have been a fabulous experience,” O’Hearn said. “It is incredible when you are working with famous professors and graduates who are coveted by the industry.” \nAt 86, O’Hearn is IU’s oldest faculty member, and he will be missed. Described as incredibly knowledgeable and artistically gifted, O’Hearn’s designs have helped push IU’s opera and ballet departments into national prominence. \nIU Ballet Department Chair Michael Vernon helps oversee a program geared toward giving students the opportunity to perform as professional dancers. O’Hearn has been instrumental in the designing and costuming of several of these professional-quality productions. \n“Everything he comes up with is exactly right,” Vernon said. “I’ve been so grateful to work with him, and he’ll be missed very much.” \nO’Hearn’s set designs have set standards of utility and modernity. Vernon said he admires O’Hearn’s ability to continuously integrate new concepts into his set designs. The sets are an exciting legacy for a man who adored opera from an early age. \nO’Hearn started listening to New York Metropolitan Opera broadcasts when they began in the 1930s and has kept an open ear ever since. His renowned body of work epitomizes his willingness to always accept new ideas. \n“Robert is much more open with his work than many set designers who are much younger,” Vernon said. “He has a great sense of design and impeccable taste.” \nBorn in Elkhart, Ind., O’Hearn started his career with the Harvard University Brattle Theater group as executive set designer. He spent the majority of the next four decades in New York City designing sets and costumes on Broadway and for the Metropolitan Opera, among several other theater groups. \nSo why would a man at the pinnacle of his career want to leave the bright lights and mega-productions of the big city and come back to the country? \n“I got tired of the car horns,” O’Hearn said. “Well, that and the dean of the music school gave me an offer I couldn’t refuse.” \nO’Hearn applauds the Jacobs school for its excellent resources and the professional experience it offers to its students. He said he savors the fact that the Musical Arts Center possesses the production capabilities of the world’s top-tier theaters. \n“We have a wonderful theater, which is almost identical to the stage at the Metropolitan Opera,” O’Hearn said. “The stages are huge so you can do almost anything here.” \nEleonore Maudry has worked within the IU theatre department since 1998. She said O’Hearn’s knack for designing eye-catching costumes that still allow dancers to move and leap freely is an invaluable artistic commodity. \n“He always makes it clear precisely what he wants from a costume,” Maudry said. “He has a wonderful knowledge of ballet and pushes us to attain the highest quality of theatrical production possible.” \nAlthough the Feb. 9 finale marked O’Hearn’s retirement, audiences will be admiring his sets for decades to come as they are reused within the Jacobs School and elsewhere. \n“The high integrity of his work ensures that it will be used in many future productions,” Maudry said. “The theater will keep his spirit alive.”
(02/04/08 5:15am)
Timpanist David Constantine, an IU Jacobs School of Music doctoral student, recently earned the recognition of an international panel and audience with his performance in last month’s International Timpani Competition in Lyon, France.\nConstantine won second place at the Rendez-vous Internationaux de la Timbale, and also took home the “Audience’s Choice” award and best interpretation of an imposed work, according to a news release.\nA talented field of international musicians posed a new challenge to Contantine, an Oregon native who had never competed outside the U.S. The panel included several world-class percussionists, some of whom Constantine has studied for years.\n“(The competition was the) highest achievement I’ve had yet,” Constantine said. “I was honored to play against both my competitors and for the jury.”\nConstantine enrolled at IU in spring 2005 to pursue his doctorate degree in percussion performance. His abilities have been turning heads long before he was invited to play with the Eugene Symphonic Orchestra as a sophomore at the University of Oregon.\nHe has served as timpanist for several professional symphonies and has performed throughout Western Europe. Constantine also plays 20th century avant-garde music with fellow IU student Brian Gardiner in the APEX Percussion Duo. \nIU professor of music John Tafoya is an internationally renowned percussionist who said he enjoys working with advanced performers like Constantine. \n“It’s exciting to work with talented students like David,” Tafoya said. “They are trying to absorb as much information as they can. Their enthusiasm and love of music is contagious.” \nConstantine’s affinity for the timpani has allowed him to progress into a dynamic and outstanding player. \n“The cool thing about timpani is that it allows you to be a drummer and a musician at the same time,” Constantine said. “The timpani is unique in that it is a drum that allows pitch and rhythm to be controlled. It gives you the opportunity to be very expressive.”\nConstantine began preparing for the competition in July, and continued a rigid eight-hour-a-day practice schedule into January. He was given an hour’s worth of music to perform at the competition, a daunting task that required concise goal-setting and consistency.\nEach day started with a 6 a.m. practice session and included hours of listening to his own audio recordings and watching videotapes of his practice sessions.\nTafoya points to Constantine’s work ethic as a model for students seeking to achieve success on the international stage. \n“David is certainly a person who realizes the amount of hard work and dedication that is necessary to compete internationally,” Tafoya said. “The IU percussion department faculty and I are very proud of him.”\nConstantine said his “well-rounded” education in the percussion departments at IU and the University of Oregon set him apart from many of his peers.\n“Studying with such a large amount of people and under a top-notch faculty gives me an edge,” Constantine said. “The Jacobs School is really supportive in competitions and encourages you to approach music with an open mind and play as much as possible.”\nConstantine applauded the Jacobs School for fostering an open attitude toward diverse types of music. He said the percussion department’s steel drum band and hand drumming ensembles ensure that its students aren’t restricted to any particular genre.\nTafoya praised Constantine’s doctoral recital on Jan. 26th as “one of the finest recitals that we have heard.”
(01/31/08 5:00am)
In the midst of a TV famine, the BBC has served up a show to sink your teeth into. Torchwood is a fun new show, and the Season One DVD is even better, packed with special features that keep the good times rolling.\n"Torchwood," a spin-off of the popular BBC show "Doctor Who," tells the stories of a team of investigators assigned to monitor Earth's paranormal activity. The team is led by the charismatic Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman), who cavorts around Britain capturing ghosts, aliens and other supernatural creatures. He is assisted by a small team, each of whom fills their own role very well.\nNot just a show for sci-fi fans, "Torchwood" is a wonderful cross between "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "CSI:" and "Men in Black." What sets it apart from those shows is its decidedly adult tone and its refusal to shy away from TV land mines such as language, gore and themes of bisexuality and racism. Occasionally silly and campy, the show is best taken with a grain of salt, especially when seeing the classic makeup-and-latex monsters.\nA powerful show, the DVD also packs some powerful special features. Every episode has a commentary with different members of the cast and crew, and unlike other DVDs, the commentary is interesting enough to warrant watching each episode again. In addition to the commentary and the standard deleted scenes and outtakes, each episode has a short documentary that originally aired during the show's commercial breaks. The "Torchwood Declassified" documentaries are boiled down into a few minutes of goodness, highlighting features such as the making of the monsters and the creation of the pimpin' "Torchwood" SUV.\nA great show, "Torchwood" never fails to deliver an action packed hour with great cases, clever dialogue and entertaining character drama. A good buy and well-worth tuning into BBC America for, its new episodes are a saving grace in the rerun-strewn TV landscape.
(01/22/08 1:06am)
The Buskirk-Chumley Theater erupted into applause Saturday night as comedian Heywood Banks paused his routine to ask nobody in particular for a pair of forks. It was a wonderfully odd moment in a performance full of them.\nThe audience approved of this strange request, and as Banks donned a metal toaster and used the forks to “tune” his “instrument,” a giddy sense of anticipation swept over the sold-out crowd.\nAccompanied by his own ad-hoc percussion, Banks performed his fan-favorite song “Toast” and left the stage as cascades of grateful applause sounded. An appropriately eccentric ending to a routine that was anything but sane.\n“The first time I played one of my songs for my mom, she said, ‘Well, Heywood, that is different,’” Banks mused. “Then she whispered to my father – I think it was something about a group home.”\nBanks, the comedic alter-ego of Stuart Mitchell, made his first appearance on the nationally-syndicated Bob & Tom Show in 1987, and has been splitting sides ever since.\nHis plaid jacket and dark-rimmed glasses give him the look of an eccentric intellectual. Banks’ jokes often straddle the line between profound intelligence and hapless stupidity.\n“Why is it that the Amana Amish colonies are churning out microwaves when they can’t even make zippers for their pants?” Banks asked the audience. “It makes no sense, ‘Ezekiel, your popcorn is ready but your barn door is open.’”\nHis comedy albums have garnered national acclaim and his live performances have made him a cult hero among fans. Banks’ off-the-wall brand of comedy transcends age barriers, making him a family act in an era rife with foul-mouthed comics.\nIU freshman Sam Behringer was introduced to Banks’ comedy by his fourth-grade teacher, who often played his CDs during class. \n“His comedy is insightful and original,” Behringer said. “He doesn’t rely on racial stereotypes or crude language.”\nBanks’ two-hour stand-up performance was interspersed with original songs such as “18 Wheels (on a Big Rig),” “Reflux” and “Wiper Blades.” Although he forgot lyrics and restarted songs at times, Banks truly appeared at home in the spotlight and embraced the miscues as part of his act.\nAfter stopping to replace a broken acoustic guitar string, Banks demonstrated the broken string’s alternate use as “Italian neck floss.”\nJoking about everything from Internet predators to Count Dracula, Banks’ performance was cluttered with seemingly random one-liners read from several crinkled pieces of paper.\nBeing a Michigan native, Banks’ comedy is drenched with references and anecdotes to which Midwesterners can relate.\nWhether he is satirizing the corn-filled journey across Iowa’s Interstate 80, lamenting the police presence throughout Indiana’s Interstate 65, or paying tribute to the Giant Jesus statue overlooking Ohio’s Interstate 75, it is obvious that Banks’ comedy is firmly rooted in America’s Heartland.\nThe manipulation of words and their meanings has always been a staple of Banks’ comedy. In a love song dedicated to a Cyclops, the chorus features Banks proclaiming that “She’s the one eye love!”\nBloomington resident Pegi Risinger, a speech pathologist, admires Banks for his hilarious mastery of language. \n“I love the way he plays with words,” Risinger said. “He can be so creative without having to rely on crass comedy.”\nAlthough four-letter exclamations remained absent from Banks’ performance, his explanation of feeding dogs grass seed in order to make Chia Pets wasn’t exactly wholesome.\nLuckily, Banks never explained to his mother that he would become famous by writing songs about wiper blades and toast. If he had, he just might have spent Saturday night performing to a much smaller audience, in a group home.
(10/11/07 2:53am)
IU professor of String Technology Tom Sparks was 14 when he took apart his mother’s 18th century violin with a kitchen knife. He wanted to know how it worked, and naturally tried to find out for himself.\nSparks recalls the ordeal as a valuable, though costly, learning experience. \n“It was a Guarneri violin, which today would be valued from $200,000 to $800,000,” Sparks said. “I was surprised when I found that there was nothing inside.”\nSparks’ seemingly juvenile experiment was an amusing precursor to his life’s work. It was only after deconstructing his mother’s prized violin that he would begin learning the art of violin making. And unlike the violin itself, Sparks would find the world of lutherie, or violin making, to be anything but empty. \nSparks has worked in the IU Violin Shop since 1977, when he was a member of the shop’s first graduating class. He has long since become the director and sole professor of the program. An accredited program since 1978, the IU Violin Shop stands alone as the only one of its kind in the world. \nSo why then doesn’t anyone know about it?\n“We are one of the few arts programs that are constantly running in the black,” Sparks said. “I found out years ago that if you’re not asking the University for money than they forget that you are here.”\nSophomore Travis Davies has only just started learning in the shop, and is already convinced that it is his most valuable class.\n“I’ve learned more here in six weeks than I did in the entirety of last year,” Davies said. “You always can learn more about things you enjoy.”\nThe students make their violins exclusively by hand and the quality of their work draws praise from musicians far and wide. Sparks jokes that the shop is on the cutting edge of 18th century technology. Although the old wooden work benches and violin-adorned walls do evoke images of yes teryear, the shop continues to help students learn a craft that is still very much in demand.\n“Excluding the past two years, 95 percent of the graduating class from this class not only immediately received jobs, but are still working in the field,” Sparks said.\nSparks’ students are driven by the fruits of their labor. For many, the two years spent in the shop represents the rainbow leading to a hard-earned pot of gold. The shop’s jovial mood lets students smile through the arduous process of making a violin. Patience and a light heart are essential for success in the shop.\n“We have a lot of inside humor up here that most people don’t get,” said assistant instructor and IU junior Tierney McGuire. \nComic relief is always appreciated since students sometimes work on thumbnail-sized parts for up to an hour at a time, a process that can become tedious.\n“If you’re not patient, it can be very frustrating,” said Rebecca French, an assistant instructor.\nStudent-made violins are selling from $3,500 to as much as $10,000. However, it is the acquisition of this time-honored craft that ultimately proves to be priceless.\nIn the age of McDonald’s and instant gratification, Sparks said students sometimes expect to learn the secrets of the trade in two years. This is not the case, as there are centuries of craftsmanship and tradition to be learned. Students usually finish their first violins after their fourth semester in the shop. To say that many become attached to their instruments is an understatement. \n“When they finish their violins, you can see that they are just about ready to cry,” Sparks said. “It takes us so long to get that first violin together, and any mistake along the line can just be brutal for you.”\nThe completion of their project is so momentous that students throw a birthday party whenever a violin is finished. Emotions run high as the shop celebrates the birth of a violin, and more importantly, a violin maker.\nThe IU Violin Shop has educated hundreds of successful luthiers, which has allowed the little known program to become a reputable source of new hands in a centuries-old craft.
(09/13/07 2:38am)
It is 10 p.m. on a Tuesday night, and IU students across campus are shutting their textbooks and turning on TVs in an attempt to stave off mid-week boredom.\nSenior Drew Vandenberg, a recording arts major, is also finishing up his homework. His “textbook” is a bit more interactive than most, since he is seated at the controls of the Jacobs School of Music’s primary mixing and editing studio, M354. \nCushioned from the rest of the Simon Music Center by a spring isolation system and powered by independent generators, M354 is a recording engineer’s fantasy. Boasting an array of digital recording equipment that any big-time producer would love to have, the studio is one of the several state-of-the-art facilities that the IU Department of Recording Arts is proud to call its own. \nAnd Vandenberg, like all of the 50 students in the department, has his own key. \nThe IU Department of Recording Arts prides itself on the virtue that “doing is learning”. \n“The vast majority of our education comes from hands-on experience,” Vandenberg said. “We work in a field that is both a science and an art so actually experimenting with techniques is very important.” \nWith an average incoming class size of 16, the recording arts program sets a standard for selectivity. \nHaving accepted a mere 17 of the 200 applications it received for the current semester, the department does not have much material that is not hands-on. Applicants who are musicians themselves have a leg up on the competition, but experience with recording technology, good grades and strong interpersonal communication skills are also valued qualities. \n“Our students can rack up 1,000-plus hours of hands-on experience by the time they graduate,” IU Department of Recording Arts lecturer and course designer Michael Stucker said. “It is a huge time commitment, but nobody complains.” \nIn other words, you probably will never hear the tragicomical question, “Why are we learning this again?” asked by these particular students. \nDirector and Chair of Recording Arts Konrad Strauss, whose past clients include some of America’s top TV networks, symphonies and record labels, epitomizes the professional excellence that the faculty provides for students. His own recordings have resulted in numerous accolades, including multiple Grammy awards. \nAll six of the department’s faculty members are IU graduates, having worked professionally before returning to campus. \n“The program is designed to give the equivalent of a four-year apprenticeship at a major recording facility within the context of a university education,” Strauss said. “Our faculty offers a great mix of professional and academic experience.” \nStucker added, “We didn’t intend to be teachers; it just happened that way,” \nThe difference between the audio recording program at IU and those at other universities is the quality of music students are working with. The Jacobs School of Music is among the nation’s best.\n“We are fortunate to have an incredible amount of world-class music for us to record,” Stucker said. “Who and what you are recording is just as important as the equipment you use to record it.”\nLocal music also provides students with some of the Midwest’s top musical talent for their recording enjoyment. \n“Bloomington has a very rich musical scene – all kinds of music, from classical to country,” Strauss said. “Our students draw on this; the classical and jazz of the Jacobs School, and the rock, traditional and roots music of the Bloomington community.” \nThe Department’s students are constantly recording live performances, on and off campus. This experience is invaluable, since it cannot be replicated through lectures and exams.\nTravis Gregg, coordinator of audio production, asserts that many professionals in the field lack experience with live production, a skill that graduates of the program have polished through hundreds of hours at the controls. \n“A lot of audio engineers don’t have that experience, which requires a combination of experience and nerves,” Gregg said. “Our graduates are sought after and receive high marks once they enter the field.” \nRecording Arts students know their music, too. Gregg pointed out that audio recording students take the same theory courses that are required of every Jacobs School student.\n“The variety of courses creates a well-rounded education,” Vandenberg said. “We have courses in live sound, sound for film and classical recording, just to name a few.” \nThe Department of Recording Arts is constantly upgrading its technology. The result is a true representation of what a student would see in recording studios throughout national music hubs such as Los Angeles and Nashville. \n“We certainly believe we have the best music-recording school,” Stucker said. “Other places may have good instructors and equipment, but not the same quality of music.” \nWith work ethics to match their cutting-edge studios, these students can be found working around the clock. \n“We are in the control rooms with our students at all hours of the night,” Gregg said. “For our students, it is a labor of love.”
(03/20/07 4:00am)
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, historian and distinguished nonfiction author David Halberstam explained the historical correlations between U.S. involvement in Iraq and Vietnam in the Buskirk-Chumley Theater as part of the IU School of Journalism’s speaker series Monday night.\nOne of America’s most respected social and political writers, Halberstam candidly analyzed the historical implications of the Vietnam War and criticized the Bush administration’s failure to avoid a similar foreign policy debacle in Iraq.\nHalberstam’s speech held special significance on an evening that marked the fourth anniversary of the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq. A handful of audience members held anti-war signs outside of the theater and candles were distributed afterward in observance of a peace vigil.\nSpeaking to a primarily older audience, Halberstam clarified that his message was somber and that the U.S. invasion of Iraq was an incredibly tragic political and cultural miscalculation. He lamented the fact that it now appears as if one of the darkest moments in American history, the Vietnam War, has seemed to repeat itself in the form of Iraq.\n“I can not tell you how painful it is and how much I hoped that we did not have to do this again,” Halberstam said. “I am appalled that the triumvirates who lead this country misread the end of the Cold War to mean that we could militarily act throughout the world without restraints.”\nHalberstam won a Pulitzer Prize for his 1972 novel, “The Best and the Brightest,” which explained the factors that eventually led to the Vietnam War. Labeled a traitor by President Lyndon Johnson for his breakthrough coverage of Vietnam as a New York Times correspondent, Halberstam exposed to the public how and why the Vietnam War went wrong.\n“By invading Iraq, we punched our hand into the biggest hornet’s nest in the Middle East,” Halberstam said. “We gravely underestimated the capabilities of our opponents.” \nHalberstam has been outspoken against the war since the 2003 invasion. He also has condemned the Bush administration’s approach to conducting and evaluating the U.S. occupation in Iraq. \n“It is important for public intellectuals to put current events into a historical context. The parallels that Halberstam drew between Vietnam and Iraq presents a perspective that we generally lack,” said IU graduate student Chris Johnson. “I was incredibly impressed by the strength of Halberstam’s message.”\n“Halberstam’s message is very important to a community like Bloomington and fitting for a day of protest and vigil such as this one,” said Bloomington resident Virginia Gest.\nHalberstam insisted that the United States begin withdrawing troops as soon as possible and pointed out that the widespread patriotism that resulted from the Sept. 11 attacks is quickly fading.\n“I would like to see us stop trying to spread democracy in the Middle East and instead focus on spreading it in our own country,” he said.
(02/01/07 3:24pm)
Vocalist and guitarist for Moe, Al Schnier, walked into Borders bookstore on Third Street Tuesday night and was asked by an employee, "You here for the concert?"\n"Yup," he replied with a smirk, as he made his way toward the employee lounge. Schnier's inconspicuous entrance proved fitting because the band performed like it was part of the audience.\nThe last time Moe performed in Bloomington was at the now defunct Mars Bar in 1997. Bassist and vocalist Rob Derhak reflected on the band's last trip to IU. \n"I remember we went to White Castle and we walked in and there was puke all over the floor," he said.\nNot exactly a fond memory, but Derhak acknowledged that Bloomington was once a regular stop on Moe's Midwest tours.\nPerforming in support of its recently released seventh studio album, "The Conch," the rock jam band returned to Bloomington with an acoustic preview of the new album.\nAppearing at Borders, Moe played an hour-long acoustic set of songs selected from "The Conch," followed by a group merchandise signing in the rear of the store.\nAccustomed to playing at majestic venues such as the Fillmore Auditorium and Radio City Music Hall, Moe seemed to stand taller than the bookshelves and crowd of nearly 400 that surrounded them. \nAt 8 p.m., the band took the "stage," an area marked off by a strip of red tape on the floor, next to the children's books. As if to signal a reckoning of musical forces, Derhak sounded a giant Queen Conch and announced, "The moose lodge will now be called to order."\nOpening with the adrenaline-drenched "Tailspin," the band soon made it apparent that the acoustic instruments held every ounce of power that fans have come to expect from the band's electric shows. \nThe pop-groove verses and Bee Gee-esque vocals of "Blue Jeans Pizza," coupled with the eclectic jam that ensued, sent a large part of the tie-dye-clad audience into dance. The mood was mellow, and Moe seemed to mesh with the audience; the only difference between them were the instruments in the band members' hands.\n"It's always cool to do something like this," said Derhak. "Once you get into a rhythm of playing big, electric, live shows on the road it can get redundant after a while. It's nice to break things up and do a completely different thing. And plus, it's free so you can come and watch it."\nThe explosive acoustic guitar interplay between Chuck Garvey and Schnier provoked bursts of approval. Garvey occasionally found himself singing along note-for-note to his own improvised solos, his melodies punctuated by the pulsing percussion of Jim Loughlin and Vinnie Amico.\nA Loughlin bongo solo prompted Schnier to urge the audience to "let the rhythm move your body." As dozens of audience members obliged, it became apparent that Moe's feel-good approach to its music can be felt in the strangest of places, even a bookstore.\n"Touring for us is pretty much everything," Derhak said. "Whereas we love making records, that only makes up maybe ten percent of our income. We're a lot more comfortable and better at playing live shows."\nAs the show concluded with a stomping version of the concert-staple "Down Boy," the bookshelves shook with the resounding applause of a grateful audience.\n"Tonight's performance was pretty badass," freshman Jake Kowalcyk said of his first Moe concert. "It was unique in that it was really intimate. It sounded really awesome; nothing was polished over."\nHopefully, this time, the floor in White Castle was.
(01/29/07 2:09am)
Universities should adopt broader, liberal arts-based curriculums in order to better prepare students for today's global economy, according to a report released by the Association of American Colleges and Universities earlier this month.\nThe report, College Learning for the New Global Century, was published through the Association of American Colleges and Universities' program, Liberal Education and America's Promise. Launched in 2005, LEAP strives to adjust higher education in America by making a 21st-century liberal education a reality for all college students.\nThe continued progress of global economies has made a college education necessary for nearly everyone, according to the report. With 94 percent of current American high school students hoping to attend college, the Association of American Colleges and Universities has deemed the ensuing decade to be critical in the nation's educational development.\nAccording to the report, America's priorities for improving education have shifted away from defining what contemporary college graduates need to know and be able to do. Instead, policy makers have focused on making college available, affordable and achievable, according to the report.\nAnna Bednarski, an academic adviser for the IU Department of Biology, said she believes IU builds diverse curriculums for its students. \n"The IU College of Arts and Sciences does offer broad curriculums encouraging curiosity and a love of learning," she said. "Working with people from different educational backgrounds is always a good thing." \nThe report maintains that a liberal education is a necessity for graduates desiring to participate in a "globally engaged democracy and a dynamic, innovation-fueled economy." \nJim Brown, an academic adviser in the IU Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, believes specialized curriculums are not holding back today's college students. \n"I think the problem is that more and more students are taking the easiest way out to get through college by avoiding hard courses," he said. "I feel that we have a generation of students who are used to having other people solve problems for them."\nThe report outlines steps the nation should take in order to improve college education. Building leadership from school leaders, restructuring curriculum and defining a new basis for educational excellence are all top responsibilities that fall on the shoulders of the educational community.\nLEAP also emphasizes the importance of connecting students with prospective employers. Brown recognizes the importance of IU's role in helping to close the gap between graduates and the professional world.\n"We need to start partnering with employers to determine what skills they need and what types of courses students need to take," he said. "We need to think outside the box and see what people actually want from graduate students."\nThe report states that Americans often change jobs as many as 10 times in the two decades following high school. In an unpredictable and continually evolving job market, LEAP has determined that a graduate's ability to think critically and creatively is imperative for a successful career.\n"Helping students gain the ability to successfully deal with quantitative reasoning, communication and an international understanding of the world are all goals of our educational system," said Jim Craig, professor of psychological and brain sciences. "The problem is that it is difficult to assess how well we are doing."\nBrown views straightforward and direct relationships between faculty and students as an important ingredient to an empowering education. \n"I do think that universities can do a better job of teaching faculty how to teach," he said. "There should be more feedback from professors on student performance and clearly defined lesson objectives for each course"
(01/19/07 4:28am)
Frequent interaction between law students and their professors results in a better education, according to the 2006 Law School Survey of Student Engagement released this month. \nAdditional findings of the survey indicated that students who actively participate in clinical or field experiences, such as pro bono work, are more proficient in problem solving and communication skills than peers who do not participate in similar activities. Furthermore, students who have clinical experiences have clearer career goals and are better prepared for professional law. \n"It is tremendously important for students to engage with professionals while still in school. Structured pro bono work and clinical experience are ways to do that," said Lauren Robel, dean of IU-Bloomington School of Law. \nStudent-faculty relationships help students gain the ability to think analytically and solve legal problems, according to a news release. In fact, the survey showed that interacting with faculty has a larger impact on attaining these skills than the amount of time students spend studying or being involved in co-curricular activities such as mock court competitions. \nThe report, which is based on information collected from over 24,000 law students at 64 law schools, shows that student-faculty interaction also helps students build a strong code of professional ethics.\nThe survey provides law schools with an understanding of how well students are learning and analyzes the relationship between the amount of effort they are putting in and the end result.\nLaw School Survey of Student Engagement project manager Lindsay Watkins of the Center for Postsecondary Research said the survey is being referenced by more and more universities. "We've had over 100 law schools use the survey and we are getting promising results with it so far," she said. "There is a buzz building and people are starting to take note."\nThe survey's task is to aid in assessing the value of legal educations all over the country. Law school is a huge investment, and the survey serves to show the public how much it really pays off, according to the news release. \n"Students need to be deeply engaged in the process of their educations," Robel said. "They need to take advantage of every opportunity that law school offers, especially co-curricular activities such as moot court competitions. The more engaged a student is the better their education will be and the better their job prospects will be"
(12/11/06 4:18am)
The Indianapolis chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals recently recognized the IU Dance Marathon as an "Outstanding Civic Organization" with a 2006 Philanthropy Award. IUDM, which was nominated for the award by the Riley Children's Foundation, received the honor at this year's association banquet, titled "Recognizing Giving Hearts."\nThe association issued the award only three weeks after IUDM raised more than $920,300 for the Ryan White Infectious Disease Center at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis. The Association of Fundrasing Professionals is an international leader in generating humanitarian support for a wide variety of nonprofit charitable organizations. Since its inception in 1960, the association has promoted philanthropy all over the globe and has now grown into a far-reaching network of more than 27,000 members participating in 180 worldwide chapters, according to an IU press release.\nIUDM organizers said the event owes its tremendous success to everyone who volunteered their time and effort toward this year's marathon, especially the participants who shook a HPER gym dance floor for 36 straight hours. \n"Without the dancers, there would be no marathon," said Katie Koors, IUDM event coordination director. "This year, we almost doubled the number of dancers to over 1,000, and look what it did to our total."\nIUDM President Josh Wendahl, who oversaw the largest single-year fundraising increase in IUDM's 16-year history, said he never doubted that last year's total of more than $677,400 would be surpassed. \n"It's amazing what a bunch of motivated college kids can do when they put their mind to it," Wendahl said. "With so much negativity surrounding college students regarding drinking and drugs, this just goes to show that we can and do make a difference on every campus around the nation every day."\nVolunteers, such as IUDM Corporate Relations Director Arielle Morrison, said they took away a lifetime of fulfillment from their IUDM experience. \n"Giving to someone who will never be able to pay you back is the best feeling that I have ever had," Morrison said. "IUDM made me feel like I accomplished something in college besides passing the tests and getting the grades."\nIUDM's mantra is simple: "for the kids." This is a large reason why IUDM Dancer Relations Director Diana Carlson and other event organizers make IUDM a part of their lives, even after leaving IU. \n"Everything we do, we do for the kids, and our goal is to help as many as possible," Carlson said. "Dance Marathon stays with you for the rest of your life. The people who started IUDM 16 years ago still come to the marathon and support us during the year leading up to the marathon."\nIUDM Alumni Relations Director Kiley McNutt said IUDM brings students closer to the children of Riley.\n"So many people have been touched by Riley Hospital for Children in so many ways," McNutt said. "We're like a big happy family, and I couldn't imagine being without a single one of them."\nCollege campuses around the country are becoming increasingly inspired by the continued growth and success of IUDM and are beginning to launch their own dance marathons as a result. \n"Children's Miracle Network has spread our idea across the nation. We were the first of 80 based around IUDM on college campuses in the U.S.," Wendahl said. "The future is bright, and the possibilities are endless. When you get people motivated, you can change the world"
(12/05/06 5:12am)
The IU Asian Culture Center might appear small from the outside, but the amount of support and advocacy it offers to IU's ever-growing Asian student population is described by some as nothing short of colossal. \n"The ACC was created by students for students. Our mission is to educate the IU and Bloomington communities about every aspect of Asian culture," said Wendy Ho, a graduate assistant and student outreach coordinator at the center.\nThe Asian Culture Center, 807 E. 10th St., was founded in 1998 and provides programs and services geared toward improving the college experience of about 2,500 IU Asian students. \n"In a predominantly white campus of 36,000 students, some minorities can feel lonely or alienated and need a commitment from IU to help them feel more at home," said Asian Culture Center Director Melanie Castillo-Cullather. "The ACC is more than just a place. We represent advocacy and an outlet for the issues concerning students of Asian descent." \nThe culture center hosts the Asian Language Learning Program, which provides students of all ethnic backgrounds the opportunity to receive free one-hour tutoring sessions in several Asian languages. \n"This semester we are offering tutoring in five different languages. The culture center's tutors are students, IU instructors and even local community members," said Babita Upadhyay, a program and administrative assistant at the Asian Culture Center. \nThe culture center brings together Asian students from a wide variety of ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. \n"The relationship between American-Asian and international-Asian students is very complex," Castillo-Cullather said. "We try to bridge that gap through positive interaction."\nCultural enlightenment is one of the center's primary goals. \n"We educate people who are relatively ignorant of Asian culture. I am often amazed to see people's perceptions of Asian culture," Upadhyay said. \nThe center sponsors luncheons with discussion topics ranging from Asian recipes to cultural stereotypes. \nThe center also offers a program called "Responding to Incidents of Casual, Everyday Racism," which provides students an outlet to seek support whenever they encounter racism at IU. \n"(The program) provides an outlet through which students can share their experiences and offer supportive solutions to each other," Castillo-Cullather said.\nAs IU's Asian student population continues to grow, the center strives to achieve the monetary support to keep up. The center is funded by the IU Office of Academic Support and Diversity but is looking for funding outside of the University, Castillo-Cullather said.\nHo said the IU Asian Student Union has taken steps to expand all aspects of ACC services, such as establishing more scholarships for Asian students and laying the groundwork for a possible expansion of the center's building. \n"There is nowhere for us to go but up," Ho said.
(11/29/06 4:26am)
The IU figure skating club might well be the best-kept secret in IU team athletics. As a club sport, the club has enjoyed noteworthy success since its founding four years ago. The competitive team is ranked No. 1 in the Midwest and performed in the 2006 Intercollegiate National Figure Skating Competition in San Jose, Calif.\nClub membership consists of two divisions: noncompetitive recreational and the competitive team. Members, such as the current club president, Beth Dorr, perform in both individual events and synchronized competition, which often provides competitors with a heavy workload. \n"I was always an individual skater until I came to IU," said Dorr. "I have thoroughly enjoyed (synchronized) so far because I enjoy being out there with 19 other people."\nFigure skating can be an expensive activity because of the apparel, equipment and travel required -- not to mention the time commitment. Club members pay fees to belong to the club for these reasons. \n"The IUFSC is funded through member dues, fundraising, donations and the allocation money given to us by the IU Club Sports Program," said club Treasurer Katie Farrell. "Fundraising is necessary because it lowers members' dues and travel expenses."\nThe club holds practices in the Frank Southern Ice Arena located next to Bloomington High School South. "The rink is terribly run down and too small for us to even host a competition in," said club founder Katie Laughner.\nThe majority of the competitive team takes the ice four nights a week, a substantial time commitment considering that each member is also a full-time student. \n"I would like to see the team be able to get more ice time at a reasonable time during the day," Laughner said. "Our late night practices tend to wear you out."\nClub members constantly encourage and support each other on and off the ice. \n"My favorite thing about the IUFSC is the camaraderie I have developed with the other members," Dorr said. "When you are out there several days a week together, we really get to know each other and share our love for the sport together."\nThe club requires a large amount of a teamwork, even though figure skating is commonly regarded as an individual sport.\n"The IUFSC is different because we are an actual team," said Laughner. "At IU, we give up our individualism as skaters and instead represent IU every time we step on the ice." \nClub members said they love that they are still skating at an age when many give up their hobby. \n"I just love to skate, and I am so glad that I have had the opportunity to continue it during college," said second-year member Lizzie Mills. \nThe club's membership continues to grow each year, and club members are confident that its best days have yet to come. \n"This is only the fourth year of the club," Dorr said, "and we are already beginning to establish ourselves among the collegiate skating world"
(11/14/06 3:57am)
The stories about students who successfully "tricked" the Breathalyzer test have been repeatedly told. For example, there's the one about the guy who got away scot-free because of the pennies hidden under his tongue or the girl whose tongue-ring saved her from a night in jail.\nAlthough rumors of this nature abound, there is a lack of scientific evidence suggesting they are actually true. The truth is, drinkers who submit to an Indiana state Breathalyzer exam will be face-to-face with a highly trained police officer and the Indiana state Breathalyzer, the Blood Alcohol Content DataMaster. The DataMaster carries considerable weight in the justice system because it is the only breath test instrument that can be used as evidence in an Indiana court of law. The DataMaster uses infrared spectroscopy to compare a person's breath sample to a known concentration of ethanol vapor in order to calculate BAC, according to the Indiana State Department of Toxicology's Web site, http://isdt.iusm.iu.edu/. Believe it or not, the DataMaster is actually calibrated to benefit the defendant, with the potential to underestimate any BAC by up to 20 percent.\nIndiana has used the DataMaster, which is manufactured by National Patent Analytical Systems, since 1990. \n"They are very accurate, and there is nothing a person can do to give the National Patent Analytical Systems a concentration of alcohol that is incorrect," said Peter Method, a research analyst for the Department of Toxicology, which gathers scientific evidence for the state's impaired driving program.\nFor any believers out there, "nothing" includes putting pennies in your mouth.\nIUPD Capt. Jerry Minger said throughout his career at IU, he has seen at least a dozen of these techniques used in an attempt to deceive the DataMaster, but none have succeeded. \n"The breath test procedure required that an officer waits 20 minutes (before performing the test) and inspects the entire mouth, under and above the tongue, before administering the exam," Minger said. "It is impossible for these 'folk tale' deception techniques to have any effect on the results whatsoever." \nMinger added that this procedure ensures the results of the breath test accurately reflect a person's blood alcohol content. He said Indiana state law mandates that in order for a police officer to be authorized to operate a breath test instrument, he or she must enroll in a recertification course every two years.