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(06/06/05 1:57am)
The early bird might get the worm, but is the worm locally-farmed and certified organic?\nBloomington students, residents and guests, in a way similar to Jefferson Airplane's declaration for musical audiences to hear "what the dormouse said," feed their heads, bellies and spirits at the Community Farmer's Market every Saturday from 7 a.m. to sometime around noon at the Shower's Complex located on the front steps of City Hall. \nSmall groups, family units, intimate couples, caring friends and individual neighbors and guests convened for the town's summertime tradition of fresh locally-grown produce and community entertainment at the city's sponsored cultural festival. Harmonicas, bagpipes, acoustic guitars and singing voices blended above a chorus of chatting Hoosier neighbors.\nMirroring a vegetable swap meet crossbred with a Mother Nature flea market and meat garage sale, a mix of southern Indiana farmers, regional small businesses and local farming communes offered community farmer's market patrons flowers in all stages of life, bundles of fresh produce picked or plucked only days before, and fresh meats from local lands.\n"We grow our own vegetables -- everybody has to grow their own, that's the rule up here," said Nancy Sims, a Davis County resident who gathers and cleans fresh-picked vegetables from her husband John's four-acre farm. "(Homegrown) is what makes the Bloomington Farmer's Market unique. People say Bedford has a good market, but you don't know what you're getting there. My husband does all the farming and I help with the selling."\n"And bagging," one market patron contributed while exchanging a few of her hard-earned greenbacks for a stomach-full of the Sims' fresh multicolored produce. \nNancy nodded her head in agreement. John Sims said he devotes about one-and-a-half acres of his farmland for sweet-corn production; about half-an-acre to red, yellow and white potatoes; about one-quarter to both green onions and broccoli heads; and only a couple rows for green beans and sugar snap peas. \n"My main thing is tomatoes. Sweet corn takes up the most ground but tomatoes make the most money," John said while standing among empty wooden crates behind a pickup truck. "I am retired so I produce in the summertime and I hunt deer in the winter."\nNancy also said their veggie stand sold out of sugar snap peas, but she didn't know what time her last bundle exchanged hands earlier that morning. The Sims family, similar to a healthy percentage of both the farmer's market vendors and patrons, do not wear a watch for most occasions.\nOther loose "neighbor-to-neighbor" talk that echoed from the yellow-tinted carport plastic roofs hovering above the Complex's parking lot consisted of "elk meat," "free samples of hot maple syrup" and "fresh strawberries."\n"All my life I've always liked strawberries, but I couldn't grow them. My old lady learned and we've been growing them ever since," said Washington County resident and vendor Ervin Stoll, who worked his own farmland in Northeast Ohio for almost five decades. "Someone said God could have made a better berry but he didn't. I think strawberries are the most beautiful fruit. Bloomington is the best market I've come to in my lifetime." \nStoll said his current farm contains about 30 acres of produce. \nOther smiley-faced market patrons hauled home brown-paper grocery sacks filled to the rim with bushels of turnips, barrels of honey stacked on metal carts and balloons tied to children's wrists. \nBloomington guest Plomen Dinkov, a Bulgarian medical student studying agriculture through an international internship program at Capriole, Inc. -- a cheese manufacturer from the "hills and river valley called Kentuckiana" located in Greenville, Ind. -- said it's difficult to determine the most popular cheese sold at their stand.\n"There is a different cheese for different moods and purposes -- it depends on the people, how do they like," Dinkov said, dressed in a green Bloomington Community Farmer's Market T-shirt. "Some people drink wine with cheese, others cook, others put it in the salad. I'm from Europe and we eat a lot of cheese -- open, eat, finish. Americans keep it a long time -- two weeks or more. No. If I open it, I finish the cheese right away."\nDinkov said cheese is a healthy snack and treat that students, residents and guests can make "the whole day enjoying and tasting the cheese every time you eat."\nCommunity farm market patrons often scuttled hand-in-hand or with hands wrapped around shoulders from booth-to-booth: some toes in flip-flops, some city singles with prancing puppy dogs, some Hoosiers adorning Hawaiian shirts and some family members waving hello or hugging goodbye. \nIndianapolis resident and exotic tree vendor Mike Wu said his Bonsai trees might provide students, residents and guests increased indoor Karma and a single bamboo shaft from his stand can provide building materials from about 20 bamboo shoots if the plant receives ample space and adequate outdoor weather.\n"A Bonsai tree is kind of like a special gift. The owner can make different designs, make the tree smaller or bigger, make a small tree look like a giant tree in a forest somewhere," Mike said. "You can keep one in the house or in the office. It takes many years to grow. It's easy to display from one spot to the next." \nWu plants most of his Bonsai trees several years before he sells them, and he said the average tree at his stand is about two years old already. Wu said the Bonsai trees need water a couple times a week and they should be stored near a window if displayed indoors. He recommended indoor bamboo shoots receive water once or twice a week and they should be stored away from windows. Outdoor Bonsai trees and bamboo shoots can often survive on the weather mother nature produces for any given area, Wu said.\nCommunity farmer's market patrons tended to gravitate around booths to scope out products firsthand and to purchase the vendor's wares. A continual stream of wandering onlookers zigzagged through the market's aisle pathways like vultures scouting for meat bargains and produce cornucopias to consume.\nTrafalgar resident and vendor Vernon Sigman said he reduced his 370-acre farm to about 12 acres when he retired in 1983. Sigman used a scale to measure the weight of some of his more popular produce, similar to about a handful or so market vendors, to maximize the total sharing exchanges he conducts with students, residents and guests. \n"I was born on a farm in Oklahoma in 1925. When I got out of the Navy in 1945 I worked in a factory and a retail store for about three months each, and then I went back to the farm," Vernon said. "I came to Bloomington to go to college, but I've been piddling on a farm ever since. I wouldn't know how to tell someone to get into to farming. I used to make $2,500 cash money a year, but you can't buy a lawn mower with that now." \nVernon said there is no secret to farming other than good crop fertility, proper seed genetics and luck. He sold lettuce and onions, but he said tomatoes, apples and peaches are coming soon to his local produce vendor stand at the Bloomington community farmer's market. \n"I wouldn't know how to tell someone to get into farming -- either you grow up in it or you have a rich uncle," Sigman said while smiling through the entirety of the conversation. "I enjoy farming because I don't have to answer to anyone but me and my customers. I don't have to show up to a job everyday with someone watching me. Whether it's livestock or horticulture, it's your skill that makes it work"
(06/06/05 1:57am)
An IU student and an alumnus were arrested Saturday during an I-69 rally and protest at the Indianapolis Statehouse. \nIU alumnus Colin Schoder-Ehri and student Alison Phillips are among 24 people from the event who are facing arraignment Thursday in an Indianapolis court of law after being arrested for \ndisorderly conduct.\nSlogans such as "I-69 is the enemy" and "No I-69" were spray painted on limestone surrounding the outside doorway on the north side of the Statehouse and on marble colonnades inside the doorway. Indiana State police and Indianapolis police officers arrested more than 20 protesters out of the 40 estimated participants, from at least six states.\nSchoder-Ehri, an I-69 activist acting as a medic at the protest, said the Statehouse graffiti was "unexpected and disturbing" because the protest was advertised as a nonviolent parade. \n"Everyone I talked to was filled with passion for justice to save Hoosier jobs and taxpayer money," Schoder-Ehri said. "The graffiti was done by people not representing any group. (Those arrested) were held for 16 hours for holding lots of signs and beating drums in a parade." \nThe proposed I-69 project began in 1989 to complete the North American Free Trade Agreement route from Mexico to Canada through the United States. According to the Indiana Student Public Interest Research Group, the proposed "3C" route preferred by the Indiana Department of Transportation and Gov. Mitch Daniels would cost Hoosiers about $1.7 billion, impact more than 4,000 acres of farmland and more than 1,000 acres of forest and habitat for the endangered Indiana bat.\nRoadless Summer, a group opposed to I-69 construction through the U.S., promoted the Statehouse rally before Saturday's protest.\n"We are hoping for an open-ended event that is both festive and inviting," the group wrote on its Web site, www.roadless-summer.org, before the event. "Bring noisemakers, banners and puppets!"\nSchoder-Ehri said he attended the protest as a form of nonviolent civil disobedience based on an e-mail he received from the Bloomington Circus Collective. The e-mail claims NAFTA has caused more than 30,000 lost jobs in Indiana alone.\nAccording to the e-mail, which promoted the event, the Department of Transportation is ignoring more than 150,000 people in Indiana who are opposed to I-69.\nThe e-mail stated: "For these reasons, and more, we hope to see you in Indianapolis this June 4th! Please bring drums, noisemakers, banners, and puppets. We hope to create a festive atmosphere of resistance to I-69."\nAbout half of those arrested are from Indiana and the other half arrested were residents of Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Georgia and Pennsylvania, One protester was also subdued with a Taser after she jumped on the back of a police officer.\nPhillips could not be reached by press time.\nThe Associated Press contributed to this story.
(06/06/05 1:56am)
More than 35,000 students returning to IU this fall will receive "free" city and campus bus transportation, but nobody knows what kind of strain that will place on the system.\n"There is no way to know ahead of time how (student ridership) patterns are going to be next year," said James Hosler, director of IU Campus Bus Services. "It's one of those situations where you are anticipating problems, but they are good problems. The changes will have a positive impact on the campus and they will provide an overall good benefit to students."\nHosler said the benefits of otherwise free bus travel to students include not having to purchase an additional bus pass and decreased parking hassles due to decreased campus automobile congestion. He said overall ridership throughout the campus bus system has decreased somewhat due to a smaller 2004 freshman class than previous semesters in the past few years.\n"Summer is a busy time for us as we gear up for the start of the fall semester -- the first week of service is 'free week' for the entire community," said Lew May, Bloomington Transit general manager. "We are also looking at making service changes -- do we need to adjust or refine our routes and schedules?"\nMay said bus travel is often a convenient method of transportation to and from campus and downtown Bloomington for students and residents alike. He said Bloomington Transit does not expect significant overall student ridership increases this fall, but certain bus lines like the 6 Route and C Route might receive additional student travelers. \nSenior Ryan Krueger said he rides the city bus at least two or three times a week and the campus bus a couple times a month. He said the city and campus buses do a good job fulfilling their purpose -- taking students and residents from point A to point B. \n"Free campus buses works out a lot better for students. I never understood having to buy a bus pass to ride the school bus when I could ride the town bus for free," Krueger said. "(My peers) do have a lot of concerns about riding the bus. There is a stigmatization that occurs with public transportation." \nMay said the Bloomington Transit transports about 2 million riders a year throughout town -- of which, he said about 200 customers offer Bloomington Transit personnel positive or negative feedback. \n"The drivers understand we can't always meet everyone's expectations, but we want to provide the best customer service we can," May said. "We want our riders to have good experiences riding Bloomington Transit and we don't want to repeat bad \nexperiences."\nBloomington Transit and Campus Bus Services policy requests that riders do not eat or drink, smoke, disrupt the driver or display offensive behavior or language. Passengers can call 336-Ride to voice their comments, opinions or suggestions about BT or BT service and 855-8384 to speak with CBS personnel about the same kinds of issues.
(06/02/05 1:01am)
Indianapolis Motor Speedway might proclaim itself "the greatest spectacle in racing," but numerous open-wheeled racing superstars have refined their driving talents in the Hoosier heartland of Bloomington.\nGrassroots racing venues are littered throughout Indiana, encompassing all nooks and crannies from all corners of the state. Drivers from California to Brazil to New Zealand invade the Midwest during the summer race season to battle each other within backyard-type racing facilities, offering drivers 1/4 mile, 3/8 mile, 1/2 mile and 5/16 mile tracks composed of either asphalt or field dirt.\n"The Indianapolis 500 has gotten away from grassroots people -- the heart and soul of the racing industry," said Chuck Welsh, marketing and sales director for Bloomington Speedway. "I would venture to say 40 to 60 percent of professional drivers start at venues like the Bloomington Speedway."
(06/02/05 12:55am)
Memorial Day is often perceived by many Americans as a celebration of reconciliation and not a day of political division. Memorial Day in Bloomington, however, sparked war protests and peace activist demonstrations because some students and residents within the campus community believe the United States' invasion of Iraq calls for immediate international resolution.\nAmong American flags whipping to and fro with the summer evening breeze, Bloomington students, residents and guests gathered in People's Park on Monday to participate in a candlelight vigil to support all Iraqi and American men and women killed during the war and subsequent occupation. Members of the community arrived costumed in peace signs, grey Army sweatshirts and various red, white, and blue paraphernalia. \nBloomington Peace Action Coalition member David Keppel demanded President George Bush withdrawal all U.S. military personnel from Iraq as stated within the proposed U.S. House of Representative Resolution 35, sponsored by more than two dozen congressmen and congresswomen. He also demanded all elected Indiana officials, in particular Mike Sodrel, make withdrawing American troops their highest priority.\n"The Bush Administration has not done anything to address the greatest danger facing the United States: a 9-11 with nuclear weapons," Keppel said. "He hasn't pledged not to attack North Korea or ratified the comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty ... Peace is impractical until you look at war."\nA few counter-protesters voiced their concern in periodic bursts of profanity from passing cars rolling through the stop signs at the corner of Kirkwood Ave. and Dunn St. \nKeppel also referred to Operation Iraqi Freedom, once referred to as Operation Iraqi Liberation, as a fallacy to liberate Iraq's oil supply. He said humans can't destroy the earth and expect to live well, with particular reference to the "catastrophic consequences for the global environment" by continued petroleum dependence.\n"We mourn for those who have lost a relative in war -- your loss is our loss," Keppel said. "We pledge to work as hard for peace as if your loved one were a member of our family because he or she was and is. The greatest form of love is to work for peace."\nMemorial Day candlelight vigil participants read a "small portion" of the Iraqi civilian names and dates of those killed after December, 2004, and the rank, name, city, state and date of death of Indiana soldiers killed in combat since March 2005.\nBloomington Peace Action Coalition member Timothy Baer said the "new American empire" has given cause for campus community members to mourn everyone involved in the conflict -- both combatants and civilians. He cited the minimum figure of Iraqi civilian casualties as 21,834, although he reiterated the wartime reality that "no number" can ever account for all innocent civilians killed while a country is undergoing a military siege.\nBaer also reminded the audience that an estimated 2,142 Iraqi police and guardsmen have died -- 842 in 2005 alone, according to published reports. He asked the audience to observe a Memorial Day moment of silence for U.S. military personnel killed in all U.S. combat situations.\nMembers of the Progressive Faculty Coalition and the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom also encouraged candlelight vigil participants to sign a petition urging Indiana officials to support House Resolution 35, and each campus community member present was offered a white candle supported by a blue paper plate drip tray. \nA few counter-protesters disrupted the silence, however, by tearing down fliers posted on two corners of People's Park that declared Bush the "World's Biggest Terrorist Threat." Counterprotest screams of "freedom of speech" when confronted by candle holders caused bowed heads to raise and shut eyes to open. \nThe peaceful moment of patriotic reflection was further shattered by the sounds of skateboards scrapping the mosaic tiles scattered throughout the park and the sound of the IU Student Building's clock bell chiming nine times.\nMemorial Day at People's Park in Bloomington concluded with a viewing of the film "Arlington West," a synopsis by Peter Dudar, which documents the Veterans For Peace war memorial of 1,500 crosses erected at the Santa Monica Pier every Sunday. The peace activist group refers to the memorial as "a tribute not only to the fallen U.S. soldiers in Iraq, but also to the countless innocent Iraqi citizens." Throughout the broadcast, campus community members trickled from the pinkish-orange glow of People's Park into the darkness leading home.
(05/26/05 3:37am)
Both bicycle riders and motor vehicle drivers travel with one another most days around town free of conflict and medical emergencies. But when a bicyclist's rubber wheels meets an automobile's metal grill, bicyclists often face minor insult, major injury and the possibility of death. \nBloomington man Michael Steinbach, 37, was killed Monday morning after being hit head-on by an IMI cement truck at the corner of Third St. and North Walnut street. Witnesses claim Steinbach, a frequent guest at the Shalom Center, peddled his bicycle the wrong-way on Walnut St. before falling underneath the cement mixer's wheels.\n"This is unfortunate -- it's sad the accident happened," said John Smith, owner of Bikesmiths Bicycle Shop, 112. S. College Ave. "Hopefully other bicyclists and motorists will learn from the wreck. People break the law because they think it is safe. You can't do that -- riding a bicycle up the wrong way in Bloomington. The community should take a look at bicycle use and provide more transportation-oriented commitments to bicyclists instead of focusing only on the recreation aspect."\nSmith said most of his customers have discussed the rigors of bicycle safety while visiting his store this week because of Monday's tragic accident. He opened his bike shop in 1985 while he attended IU. \n"Bicyclists should obey traffic laws -- rules of the road that apply to motorists and motor vehicles," said Sgt. Leslie Slone of the IU Police Department. "A two- or three-ton vehicle can cause a lot of damage whether or not you have the right of way. In showdowns between an automobile and a bicycle, the bicyclist is not going to win."\nSlone joined the IUPD bicycle patrol in 1993 as one of their first officers to turn in squad car keys for a bicycle helmet and bike lock. She said bicyclists also collide with pedestrians on sidewalks, and she called for more bicycle safety efforts within the IU campus.\nIndiana Code 9-21-11, pertaining to bicycle safety, states: A person riding a bicycle upon a roadway has all the rights and duties that are applicable to a person who drives a vehicle. IC code also requires riders to keep both hands upon the handlebars, front and rear lamps "exhibiting a white light" visible from at least 500 ft. and "a bell or other device" capable of giving a signal audible for at least 100 feet. \nBloomington resident Ryan Shanahan, a 12-year employee of the Bicycle Garage on Kirkwood Ave., said his bicycle shop offers riders a "Rules of the Road" pamphlet to further educate residents and students about law-abiding bicycle practices and common safety pit-falls.\n"You want to ride with traffic, stay right and wear a helmet. At night you have to have a front and rear reflector," he said. "Ride very defensively as opposed to driving with space. On a bike you have to assume no one sees you or cares you are there."\nThe Bicycle Garage and Bikesmiths Bicycle Shop offer cyclists a wide array of form-fitting helmets, front and rear reflectors, reflective clothing like leg bands and side-view mirrors. Both shops recommended bicyclists operate their moving vehicles on the roadway instead of along public sidewalks -- some biking accidents occur when those riding on the sidewalks develop a false sense of security, they said.\nSmith said he would like to see Bloomington adopt a "parallel universe" for bicyclists in town -- less interaction between cars and bicycles. He said "thought and commitment" about bicycle safety from city officials could create safer parallel streets for bicycle routes -- "non-major car routes" in addition to the bicycle paths already available -- such as University Ave. west to College Mall and streets similar to 8th St. from the city to the university. \n"I personally try to find calmer streets to ride on and I try to be predictable," Smith said. "There are things people anticipate -- like stop signs and crosswalks. If you operate your bicycle outside the law, you and other drivers may not anticipate what will happen. Behaviors like running through stop signs, riding the wrong way or turning right on red leads to accidents"
(05/26/05 3:27am)
Whether congregated together in studio space or artistic medium, a town's aesthetic heart and architectural sensibilities are often derived from a colony of local artists.\nBloomington resident and student artisans, city and county officials, local art gallery owners and a congregation of caring community members convened Tuesday for a panel discussion during the Artists After Hours meeting at the John Waldron Arts Center. The discussion leaned toward Bloomington's possible evolution from an arts-appreciation culture to an arts-supportive culture to an arts-endorsed economy.\nFollowing in the foot steps of communities from Nashville, Ind., to Paduka, Ky., Bloomington Mayor Mark Kruzan said he envisions family photos next to the proposed Hoagy Carmichael sculpture in People's Park, guided tours of Bloomington's historic and artistic landmarks and national recognition of Bloomington as an arts-supported community. \n"I think an investment in arts does produce huge dividends and is worth making," he said. \nKruzan reminisced about eating ice cream during days gone by with his back pinned against the wall in People's Park. He described the present popular Kirkwood Ave. attraction as "sterile" compared with the park's social and cultural vibrancy throughout previous decades. Kruzan also highlighted Monroe County's peace memorial monument erected along side the war memorial at the Bloomington courthouse -- the only such coupling in all 92 Indiana counties -- as proof of the city's desire to reflect artistic contributions to the community. \nKruzan joined city councilmen Chris Sturbaum and Tim Mayer, county councilwoman Sophia Travis and Bloomington Community Arts Commission members Mike Cagle and Chris Smith in the panel discussion and community exchange of ideas. The mayor praised the city for restoring the Buskirk-Chumley Theater, but he said Bloomington can not afford to buy other older buildings to convert into art-dedicated space.\nSturbaum stressed his wish for more money in the city's revenue pot -- albeit a separate line for arts on the city budget -- to support and benefit local art and art appreciation initiatives. He said Bloomington officials, for instance, are investigating the possibility of creating an arts district by offering property owners various financial incentives to encourage renting space for artists and art studios.\nPaula Bates, the vice president for Gallery North on the Square, said the city can't support every individual artist but city officials can encourage a national art appreciation attitude toward Bloomington-produced art. She called for city officials to produce a campaign to get visitors and tourists to buy into local art. \n"Residents can't shoulder the burden of art buying," Bates said. "We all look like monkeys in zoos. People need to learn they don't have to go to New York or Chicago."\nTravis said Monroe County contains many artisans and possesses a wonderful selection of art. She warned community members of trivializing the arts to just one more consumer aspect of life.\n"Arts are a barometer of community health, beginning with children," Travis said.\nLocal performance, musical and visual artists attended the meeting in search of affordable rent, adequate work space, ideas to motivate corporate arts funding and methods of partnership between local businesses and artists within the community.\nOne particular local sculptor shared the plight he undertook while attempting to reach out and network with Monroe County and Bloomington businesses. He said he joined the Chamber of Commerce to aid his cause and sent out more than 1,000 letters offering his artisan services. Oliver Winery and the Bloomington Harley Davidson shop were among only a couple businesses the sculptor reported as willing to work directly with artists for art's sake.\nKruzan said the "pure politics" -- repeating the message as many times as possible -- of an art economy is needed within the community because an estimated 44 million dollars can be generated into the local economy from artists, artwork and art appreciative attitudes. He stressed the little things -- limestone carvings on new buildings versus foam limestone imitations, for instance -- will exist for generations to come.\n"A lot of it is showing up and asking," Kruzan said, which prompted at least one local artist to respond by asking what she can do to match her artisan abilities with would-be art product consumers.\nTravis responded by proposing the vision of expanding the idea of local arts to encompass all of Southern Indiana. She said a regional package of numerous art-supported communities within a day's travelable distance would lift the economic stability of Bloomington and all her neighboring counties.\n"We can hit the ball out of the ballpark with an arts community tied to economic development," Travis said. "The entire region is a destination."\nKruzan said the business of art in Bloomington is still at the definitional and conceptual stage in planning -- does the city want an arts colony where artists are gathered and doing work, an arts district pooling local artists together around the CSX walking trail or both? He said traditional economic development expectations often conjure to mind ribbon-cutting ceremonies and factories.\n"What have you done for the arts?" Kruzan asked in order to offer community members continued motivation to continue their support for local artisans while Bloomington shapes and molds the idea of art as an economic pillar. \nCagle and Smith encouraged local artists to pursue city art programs -- one-time projects, individual grants and city art exhibits like the bi-annual Monroe County postcard competition. All the panelists offered their hope of a future art-oriented Bloomington offering local visual, musical and performance artisans affordable housing and inspirational work space. \nTravis stressed the need for city and county endorsement of the arts to stimulate public interest by propelling Bloomington, Monroe County and Southern Indiana through the 21st Century as an artistic and tourist destination.\n"As artists, it's not only about the product but the process, and that I think we can attribute to the community," she said.
(05/26/05 2:21am)
Monroe County adolescents wishing to remain in good health through abstinence-based behaviors might face peer and school environments that often blur the denotation of concepts like sexual intercourse.\nSimilar to President Bill Clinton's early 1990s claim his "sexual relations" with Monica Lewinsky did not involve acts of oral sex, some otherwise abstinent-minded Bloomington students might believe oral sex is not sex and therefore engage in oral sex acts.\n"We feel like we have to a better job with our health curriculum -- the misperception oral sex is not sex. Some students also believe oral sex cannot spread (sexually transmitted infections)," said Jennifer Staab, a Healthy Schools Coordinator for the Monroe County Community School Corporation. "The MCCSC health survey is on hold for this school year. We are revising it throughout the summer based on feedback from parents and other community groups … Parents should know what we're doing and feel comfortable." \nStaab said the most controversial issue voiced by community members thus far involved the health study's definition of sexual intercourse and oral sex. She said MCCSC officials and parents are concerned about national rumors and other media evidence of increased sexual activity among middle school students -- specifically the prevalence of oral sex as a perceived method of abstinence.\nAccording to a University of California-San Francisco study conducted by Bonnie Halpern-Felsher, an associate professor of adolescent medicine, one out of every five ninth graders from two Northern California high schools reported she or he had engaged in oral sex -- compared with about 13 out of every 100 who reported an instance of vaginal intercourse. The survey also claimed some teenagers believed oral sex is less risky to their health than vaginal sex and that oral sex is less likely to have negative social and emotional consequences. \n"The fact young adolescents around age 14 are having or considering oral sex and consider it safer and more acceptable than vaginal sex is important information for parents, health care providers and others who work with youth," Halpern-Felsher said in an UCSF news release. "When we counsel adolescents about the risks and benefits associated with sex, we need to understand how they perceive it among themselves."\nStaab said parents, the MCCSC and the Bloomington community are seeking "real data" about the prevalence of misinformed sex attitudes and behavioral patterns among middle and high school students so a collective consortium of community support can "redefine" the town's adolescent health curriculum.\nAbstinence-based sexuality education, which is current MCCSC teaching, often preaches abstinence to students and proceeding lectures introduce students to other health topics such as personal responsibility in decision making, effective communication in relationships and methods of contraceptive choices. Abstinence-only sex education, on the other hand, often teaches students how to say "no" to sexual intercourse. Its critics claim it does not encourage nor teach students how to educate themselves about the realities of human sexual development, or how to protect themselves from STIs if they choose to engage in sexual activity.\nSome sex education experts and health care professionals, as a result, believe the modern realities of teen sexuality require the redefinition of sexual intercourse as a range of attitudes and behaviors instead of a fixed point among other behaviors or a sexual behavior continuum that glorifies intercourse as the end. \n"Parents should be the primary sexuality educators of their children. Sex education also needs to take place in school," said Catherine Sherwood-Puzzello, an IU clinical associate professor in the Applied Health Sciences department. "The health survey isn't about any one thing -- no particular subject. Kids are growing up in a fast-paced world filled with mixed messages about sexuality. The survey asks about what is going on with the kids -- Where are their attitudes? What are their behaviors? What is their knowledge?"\nCurrent abstinence-based sex curriculums often abstain from addressing prevention topics about adolescent "outercourse" behavior unlinked to pregnancy like oral sex and mutual masturbation. Communities in New Mexico and Georgia did not realize the extent of teenage oral sex practices, for instance, until community health inspectors swabbed the mouths of young people and calculated the prevalence rate of gonorrhea in their throats -- low in statistical number, but prevalent nonetheless. \nSexually transmitted infections are caused by viruses or bacteria that like warm, soft, moist places such as your mouth and genital area, according to the Palo Alto Medical Foundation. You can get a bacterial infection of chlamydia, syphilis or gonorrhea in your mouth and/or throat, and in some rarer occasions, can develop genital warts (HPV) in the mouth. Herpes is commonly passed between genitals and the mouth, and HIV can be passed through cuts in the mouth or small abrasions.\nThe low risk of transmitting HIV from fellatio is reduced by using latex condoms each and every time, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. A dental dam, a condom cut open or plastic food wrap can serve as a physical barrier to prevent transmission of HIV and many other STIs from cunnilingus. \nStaab said parents are the most important ingredient in curbing teenage misperceptions about sexual activity and the risks associated with sexual contact. \n"We are not looking to do anything but improve the health education process for Bloomington children. The health of our students is one of MCCSC's biggest concerns," Staab said. "(Sexually transmitted infections) are critical issues that can impact kids for the rest of their lives. We want more general community input over their health curriculum. Parents decide whether or not their child participates"
(05/23/05 6:30pm)
Woe to every man in Bloomington: a woman is seeking her freedom at the John Waldron Arts Center from the patriarchal shackles of rigid gender role conformity in the misogynist home and glass-ceiling workplace.\nSophie Treadwell's 1928 expressionist production "Machinal," a tragedy in nine episodes directed by Jeremy Wilson, documents the feminine experience of a human being bottled within the technological and motorized confines of the modern-machine world. Treadwell, a journalist-playwright, wrote the script based on the 1927 murder trial of stenographer Ruth Snyder -- the first woman executed in the electric chair for killing her husband. \nWilson's "Machinal" offers Hoosiers of all sex-characteristic concoctions the rare opportunity to view an early 20th Century frame of radical feminist reference. As exemplified in modern pop cultural art like the 1991 film "Thelma & Louise," directed by Ridley Scott, and disdained by feminist-hating poster children like Rush Limbaugh, the moral of the theatrical story projects the belief that a feminine woman does not need a man, a women-dominated occupation, marriage, children or a home to find spiritual happiness in a patriarchal culture.\n"Machinal" offers the viewer, instead, a feminine-psyche perspective and a cultural march for woman's suffrage. Stenographer Helen Jones, played by Phoebe Spier, seems trapped in the role of a typical Barbie doll lubing the masculinity-driven industrial machine from the beginning of the performance. Helen's boss and husband, played by Alex Shotts, provides the audience with adrenaline shots through moments of slapstick where he attempts to "domesticate" his wife's feelings, thoughts and behaviors at work, home and in the bedroom.\nFollowing the so-called American dream continuum of school-work-marriage-children-property-jewels, Mrs. Jones' unwillingness to enjoy her perceived sexual responsibilities and socialized childbearing duties induce the audience to feel frustration, sadness and sickness. Spier's portrayal of Mrs. Jones seems heroic at times as her role demands numerous soliloquies in her underwear that offer the audience a roller coaster of her character's fragile and terrified emotions. \nEpisode one introduces the audience to a capitalist scene of machine screams and busy-bodied workers. Musician Hakan Toker begins the action by playing a piano, and the ensemble of "Machinal" actors joins the symphony of sound created from chit-chat, adding machines and a telephone operator, played by Carrie Owen. Mrs. Jones enters the play in search of hope and happiness. \nMr. Jones promises to fulfill her ambitions and aspirations, although he never asks what the Mrs. wants, what she thinks or how she feels about anything. Episodes two through four, on the other hand, align Mrs. Jones' domesticated nightmare of forced intimacy, persuaded marriage and the expectation of children against Mr. Jones' socialized perception of a blissful union with an otherwise trophy wife. Mrs. Jones' mother, played by Kate Braun, grapples the spotlight from her daughter during episode two and offers the audience reflections on the traditional lifelong expectations of women in the home -- caring for children, cleaning, preparing meals and washing dishes. Shotts' energized masculine portrayal of Mr. Jones also compliments the often dehumanized demeanor of his wife.\nThe audience is also introduced to loose talk about abortions and gay dating in an episode five bar, uncomfortable conversations as often today as yesteryear. "Machinal" plucks the fear-driven strings of masculine dominance inherent in institutionalized and state-supported wife ownership. Episode six reveals Mrs. Jones' willingness to participate in adultery to escape her confinement in traditional modes of married living. \nMrs. Jones' continued affair with her lover, played by Philip Anderson, provides a motive for her husband's murder. Adultery also offers the audience a reason to condemn Mrs. Jones during the play's resolution and an excuse to dismiss Treadwell's feminist plight. Mrs. Jones discovers her sexuality does not need to be locked in a box on the mantel in episode seven, and the freedom she takes into her hands at the end of the scene is used to implode her husband's skull. \nThe ensemble cast guides the play through the remaining two episodes, highlighted by Ross Matsuda's unnerving portrayal of Mrs. Jones prosecutor and Demitrius Welch's boisterous portrayal as her defender in a surreal courtroom scene unveiling the murder scenario to the audience -- "the gentlemen of the jury." The play concludes in darkness following the sound of a pulled switch, prolonging a sigh of relief and breath of fresh air as the audience seeks to reorient themselves with modern life outside the theatre and to dissuade their feelings and thoughts on feminine and masculine disillusionment. \nWilson's direction of "Machinal" seems superb considering the relative lack of production budget, soundtrack mixture of human and machine sounds layering throughout the play and the actors willingness to support and compliment one another while portraying otherwise expressionist-molded characters. The ensemble dialogue blends according to the complexities of the script, and Mrs. Jones offers the audience a spectacle of fanatical feminist perspective.\nTreadwell offers viewers a feminine journey through modern hell rather than a woman's journey from hell. Mrs. Jones claims to seek "rest and peace." Unfortunately, her hell is on earth and the rest and peace she desires is found from the Mr.'s murder and within her death.\n"Machinal" is playing at 8 p.m., May 26 through May 28, and at 2 pm., May 29, at the John Waldron Arts Center. General admission tickets cost $12 and student/senior tickets cost $10. For more information call 334-3100, ext. 102. \n-- Contact Senior Writer David A. Nosko at dnosko@indiana.edu.
(05/23/05 6:25pm)
Indianapolis continues to inhale secondhand cigarette smoke within many capital city restaurants and entertainment venues, despite the four-month-old Hoosier outcry for smoke-free public indoor air.\nProposal 45, a Marion County public smoking ban first proposed in February, might receive an up-or-down vote tonight by the Indianapolis City-County Council. About 2,000 communities across the nation, from Los Angeles to Minneapolis to New York, ban public smoking within bars, restaurants and work environments.\n"Smoking is a choice. It is our choice to offer both smoking and nonsmoking sections," said Hamilton County bartender Diane Edwards, while serving drinks at Mickey's Irish Pub, 13644 N. Meridian St. "It is a customer's choice to come here. Why do they have to force choices upon businesses -- no matter what they offer?"\nEdwards said she signed an anti-Marion County smoking ban petition or two within the last couple of months. She said she feels the state of Indiana might soon impose a "nonsmoking thing" on all Hoosier businesses because smoking bans are "kind of a trend right now." \nAustralia, Greece, Iran, Italy, Russia and Vietnam are also among a dozen or so countries across the world to ban public smoking due to the adverse health risks known to exist from carcinogen clouds hovering within confined spaces.\nFort Wayne and Bloomington are the only two Hoosier cities to enforce public smoking bans. Columbus and Muncie have defeated attempts to ban cigarette smoking in public places. \nThe initial proposed Indianapolis smoking ban, perceived by some Indiana residents as the most restrictive in the nation, would have prohibited smoking in all restaurants, bars and outdoor areas such as bus stations, city parks and near automated teller machines. Hoosiers also face no-smoking restrictions within all taverns, cigar bars, outdoor seating areas, bowling alleys, cabstands, tobacco outlets and outdoor sporting venues like the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. \nSupporters of the smoking ban proposal cite possible state economic gains from decreased tax-supported health care costs, increased worker productivity due to improved overall health and thousands of saved lives a year from deadly secondhand smoke. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, about 28 of every 100 Hoosiers in 2002 smoked cigarettes on a regular basis -- the fifth highest percentage in the nation. \nAccording to a 2002 report for the Marion County Health Department, Marion County residents and businesses spend an estimated $400 million or so a year on smoking and secondhand smoke related health care for themselves and their neighbors. \nProposal 45 critics, on the other hand, cite possible small business economic hardship from the supposed reality of supply and demand principles: no smoking, no smoking customers; state government intrusion in local business; and state interference in the private sector.\nA diluted Proposal 45 proposes to ban smoking only within restaurants serving patrons under 18, offices, indoor sports arenas and "other" public areas effective March 1, 2006. Most restaurants appealing to the family demographic and office spaces already ban smoking within the confines of their premises.\n"We feel our victory was in the area of exclusion. The proposal is watered down -- the only places left are bars and restaurants where minors frequent," said Gary Davis, director of P.T.'s World Famous Showclub, 7916 Pendleton Pike, of the proposed smoking ban rollbacks. "We did petitions in conjunction with Moose Lodges across the state. We also went to meetings and held up signs. Our main campaign platform: We felt (the city-county council) was regulating the type of customers and they were telling them what to do in our club. We submitted more than 92,000 names opposed to the smoking ban." \nAccording to a Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce March 10 release, the business community believed the proposed smoking ban needed to balance the harmful societal effects of tobacco against "economic impairment posed by the encroachment of government regulation on the free enterprise system." Business owner fears of potential lost revenue, in other words, superseded the GICC's self-recognition of public health benefits from smoking bans like increased commercial productivity from decreased health-related chronic absenteeism.\nWilliam Styring, a Senior Fellow and economist at the Hudson Institute in Indianapolis, studied the impact of the 1999 Fort Wayne smoking ban on city food and beverage tax collections. His study concluded: "Fort Wayne's ban on smoking in restaurants has had no numerically verifiable impact on the volume of restaurant business in Allen County." About 72 of every 100 Hoosiers did not consider themselves cigarette smokers in 2002, according to CDCP data.\nDavis said the Indianapolis smoking ban drowned in legitimate business concern voiced through a strong contingency of ordinary and everyday Indiana residents opposed to government interference in the public sector. \n"If it comes about again, we will fight it -- we rallied our voices," Davis said. "You have to get your voice heard. Otherwise, (the city-county council) will think you don't care."\n-- Contact Senior Writer David A. Nosko at dnosko@indiana.edu.
(05/23/05 6:04pm)
One lesson Hoosiers have learned since four IU students succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning in a house fire a year ago -- the priceless value of a carbon monoxide detector.\nSophomore Nicholas Habicht, junior Joseph Alexander and junior Jacob Surface died May 22, 2004 from carbon monoxide, or CO, fumes radiating from an electrical fire. A CO detector might or might not have saved the students from death, but sole survivor and senior Paul Dayment said a CO detector should be a common sight in student housing across campus to prevent tragedies like the one he endured. \n"The entire experience is kind of like a dream," Dayment said. "It had been a pretty normal evening, nothing unusual occurred. The carbon monoxide spread so quickly. All I remember was feeling discombobulated -- so disoriented I couldn't do anything. My first real solid memory is waking up in the hospital in Indy." \nDayment lived in the house with Habicht and Alexander. Dayment and Habicht were flown to Indianapolis by Lifeline.\nCO is described by health experts a colorless and odorless gas or liquid produced when any fuel is burned. Sources of CO include unvented kerosene and gas space heaters; leaking chimneys and furnaces; gas water heaters, gas stoves and automobile exhaust from attached garages according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. \nAppliances fueled with natural gas, oil, kerosene, coal or wood produce CO, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Burning charcoal and gasoline also produce CO.\nDayment said the fire started in the main area living room, where a lot of burn damage was present. He said smoke damage was apparent throughout the house because the fire had no outside oxygen air to assist with its breathing.\n"We had lived in that house for two years. There was no reason to think there was a fire hazard," \nDayment said. "The windows were shut and the air conditioning was on. I wish it never would have happened."\nAdverse health effects of CO depend on the level of CO present in the blood, the length of CO exposure and the individual's health condition before exposure. CO poisoning inhibits oxygen intake through the formation of carboxyhemoglobin in the blood. According to the EPA, low concentrations of carbon monoxide cause fatigue and chest pain. Higher concentrations often cause impaired vision and coordination; headaches; dizziness; and confusion. \nAbout 500 Americans died from non-fire related CO poisoning from 2001 to 2003, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 15,000 CO poisonings are treated each year in U.S. hospital emergency departments. \nA Bloomington resident or student's first line of defense from CO poisoning is to obtain a CO detector, a device providing an early warning before the gas builds up to death proportions. These can be bought at most hardware stores and major corporate retailers within town.\nHolly Spitz, a Bloomington Hardware customer service specialist, said CO detectors range in price from $25 to $55 depending on the features. She said interested patrons can locate various kinds of CO detection equipment near the fire extinguishers, Tiki torches and propane fuel tanks. \n"We've got 6 different kinds, and we have a couple that detect both carbon monoxide and smoke," Spitz said. "You just plug them in and go. I've recently sold a ton of them myself."\nDayment said he thanks god for the Bloomington Fire Department rescue person -- "half my size" -- who pulled him out of the house.\n"You don't think it can happen to you and then it does," Dayment said. "Students should have fire detectors and carbon monoxide detectors. They should also have an emergency plan. Not a day goes by that I don't think about the fire."\n-- Contact Senior Writer David A. Nosko at dnosko@indiana.edu.
(05/19/05 1:45am)
Hoosiers wishing to obtain "free" usable items within the Bloomington community need not tread through their neighbors' trash, dumpster dive for workable treasures or steal reusable wares from their neighbors' porches. \nBeyond the "general employment" and "miscellaneous for sale" sections typical of local newspaper classified pages, Bloomington residents and students can find free reusable items often requiring a mere pick-up from their neighbor. Home appliances, recreational equipment, tools, mattresses, piles of dirt and pounds of animal feces are often items not needed at the moment. Free items are often instead in need of renewed appreciation from renewed ownership.\nLarry Jacobs, a maintenance mechanic for Midland Cut Stone, said his limestone-cut mill offers about 3,000 to 4,000 tons of "free" dirt comprised of about 70 percent lime on any given day. He said interested neighbors could show-up with a shovel and a five gallon bucket, but he prefers to load "bigger trucks" -- farm buckets and pick-up trucks.\n"It can be used for any number of things like in filling in gullies or sinkholes," Jacobs said. "Farmers use it in their fields all the time to kill a lot of the weeds. It can also be spread throughout grass yards or used in older flower beds."\nBedford resident Tom Miller, who relocated from Bloomington a short while ago, said he used the "free" section to offload a reusable but unneeded 16 X 80 -- "maybe larger" -- mobile home \nunderpinning. \n"I received four or five calls the first day," he said. "I gave it away to the guy who called first." \nElizabeth, a Bloomington resident who wished to uphold the anonymous nature of a classified ad, said she received more than 30 calls for her free basketball goal before noon during the advertisement's first day in the paper. \n"I accomplished getting rid of it," Elizabeth said. "I called the city to post it on the bulletin board, but the waste department never came to get it."\nJohnny Spearman, a Monroe County Solid Waste Management District employee, said Bloomington residents and students can indeed donate "anything reusable free to a good home." He said interested givers-to-be should post a slip of paper advertisement on a message board in their parking lot, but they do not pick-up free items or store anything free on their \nproperty. \nHoosiers wishing to give their free reusable items to a community-based cause can donate their otherwise unneeded treasures to several service-oriented organizations throughout the city.\nLinda New, a part-time employee of the Backstreet Mission Thrift Store, said her organization will pick-up free and reusable furniture for resale to generate funds to support their men's shelter. The Backstreet Mission, 1928 Arlington Rd., accepts most housewares, kitchen appliances, coaches, dining tables and chairs, washers and dryers, doors and windows and dressers. New said they do not accept microwaves, waterbeds or exercise equipment. \n"On the whole, people are pretty good about giving us things that are workable and sellable," she said.\nRick Lock, manager of the Habitat for Humanity Restore, said his community-based cause collects building materials for resale to generate funds to build Habitat for Humanity homes. The Habitat Restore, 444 S. Patterson St., accepts kitchen cabinets, refrigerators, sinks, lighting fixtures, doors and tiles -- "just about anything that goes into a home," he said. Lock said his organization does not offer pick-up.\n"Donated (reusable) items are tax deductible. We sell them to the general public," he said. "The money goes to Habitat to buy new Habitat homes built on-site with new materials."\nHoosiers wishing to share plant and animal life outside the human home can also utilize the "free" ads of local newspapers. \nGene Loosemore, owner of Rocky River Farms, said his 40 horse farm requires clean-up six days of the week. He allows neighbors to load as much manure as they can haul into small dump trucks if needed.\n"In nine years I've never had to have any manure removed. I run an ad in the paper when the pile gets a little out of hand," he said. "It can be used for gardening, mulching -- spread out in the pasture." \nBloomington resident Cheryl Baker, owner of Baker's Junction Haunted Train in Smithsville, said she used the "free" ads to ensure the survival of about 200 two-foot silver trees. She said her phone "rang off the wall" the first morning her ad appeared in newsprint.\n"I bought (the trees) at a nursery and I put a bunch in the ground," Baker said. "I had plans for the rest that fell through -- they needed to be planted into the ground. I didn't want to see them dying on the ground so we gave them away"
(05/16/05 1:27am)
A year after three IU students died in an electrical fire, investigators have yet to announce the official cause of the spark igniting the deadly blaze.\n"I appreciate the (Bloomington Fire Department) for trying to save the boys. One did make it out alive," said Mary Habicht, whose son Nicholas, a 20-year-old sophomore, perished after dialing 911 on his cell phone. "This is something no parent should have to go through."\nBFD personnel, a few minutes after receiving an emergency call around 4:55 a.m., arrived at 719 N. Indiana Ave., May 22, 2004, to extinguish the fire, according to the May 24, 2004, Indiana Daily Student.\nRescue workers recovered four IU students from the blaze: Habicht and junior Joseph Alexander from their second-floor bedrooms, junior Jacob Surface from the living room and sole-survivor junior Paul Dayment from behind the closed door of his first-floor bedroom. \nMedical personnel pronounced Alexander and Surface, both 21, dead before 7 a.m. that morning. Lifeline helicopter transported Dayment and Habicht to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis, where doctors pronounced Habicht dead the following day. Dayment was released the following Tuesday. \nMonroe County Coroner David Toumey said the three students died of carbon monoxide poisoning and smoke inhalation. He said 11 fire-related Monroe County deaths occurred in 2004, an "all-time high" as far back as he can remember. Tourney estimated the total number of fire-related deaths as two or three in the last couple of years, having had none occur throughout the decade or so before. \n"At this stage we don't really have answers," said Bloomington resident Jerry Stasny of Stasny & Horn, an Indiana General Partnership and owners of the house that caught fire. "My heart goes out the families who lost lives there. They were a great group of young men. It's sad, the tragedy that befell them."\nStasny & Horn, also managed by Bloomington resident Doug Horn, own several residential rental properties throughout the city -- most of which are rented by students. Stasny said investigators, although little has changed since the initial investigation, are closer than ever to reeling in the official cause of the blaze. \nAccording to a May 24, 2004, Indiana Daily Student report, the State Fire Marshal's office claimed an accidental electrical fire began in the first floor living room -- where the three students plugged in many electrical appliances. BFD personnel responded to a similar electrical fire in Read Center March 3. Sparks from an overheated Xbox power cord is the reported cause of that small fire, according to the March 7, Indiana Daily Student story.\nMary said her son Nick and his two roommates had an Xbox plugged into an outlet in their living room. She shied away from making any connection, however, between the video game machine and the fire because she is awaiting the investigation results by insurance lawyers and private fire experts. \nThe BFD issued a winter warning to students about the potential fire hazard associated with prolonged Xbox use. Microsoft recalled all non-continental European-made Xbox power cords in mid-February manufactured on or before Oct. 23, 2003. \nStasny recommends landlords attend to rental issues straight away to provide their tenants with as much safety as possible. He recommends residents and students check their smoke detectors often, and report any issues they might have about the safety of their dwelling spaces.\nToumey recommends homeowners and apartment renters obtain carbon monoxide detectors, important and potential life-saving instruments not required by law, especially if their dwelling space utilizes a gas stove or gas heater. \nSigma Pi fraternity, of which Habicht was a member, has dedicated the second Saturday in September for "In Remembrance" -- a dedication ceremony for all sorority sisters and fraternity brothers who have died while attending IU. Sigma Pi also dedicated a bench in front of their house in Habicht's name and they have painted the Jordan Bridge twice over in his memory.\nMary said caring community members are hosting a golf outing in Greenwood, Aug. 20, to generate scholarship funds in the name of the three deceased students. She said a modest entry donation, to benefit BFD personnel, enables participation. Anyone is welcome to stop by for lunch.\nInterested participants and guests can call 317-888-9036 for more information.\n"I do appreciate all his friends and everything they've done for me, like calling me on Mother's Day," Mary said. "I visit the cemetery just about every day -- I find peace there. You just never think it's going to happen to you. Each day you live is a gift"
(05/16/05 1:27am)
Before the hot dog bun or street stand, Homer's "Odyssey" spoke to the joy of encased meat in 9th Century B.C.E. \nHot dog sales on Bloomington streets, however, runs frigid as the summer temperature and humidity rises.\nAbout 300 hot dogs are sold per night on any given weekend throughout the school year, about 150 wieners more than a May through August weekend night. \nHot Dogg Heaven owns all three wiener carts often planted in front of or nearby the busiest Bloomington bars, depending on the musical act playing or the advertised drink specials. The company has been a Bloomington business for about 20 years, although the current owners purchased Hot Dogg Heaven about five years ago. \nLeslie, a four-year Hot Dogg Heaven vendor who asked to have her last name withheld for security reasons, said she believes summer business at her stand decreases because the student demographic is replaced by local crowds with less disposable incomes. She sells about 100 hot dogs a night during the school year -- not including brats or polish sausages -- 50 wieners more than during the summer months.\n"I'm pleasantly surprised how nice people are, behavior you can't expect in other situations," Leslie said while tidying her hot dog stand in front of the Bluebird. "It is a nice exchange of goodwill -- instant food right in front of their eyes and real life situations happening right in front of my eyes. Humans do funny things, especially when they dabble in alcohol."\nLeslie sells wieners two or three nights a week to supplement her income as a teacher's assistant. Hot Dogg Heaven pays its vendors about $5 an hour plus customer tips. \nHot dog vendor Matt Berry, an eight-year Hot Dogg Heaven employee, said wiener sales at his hot dog cart further decrease throughout the summer due to continued student travel from Bloomington. He said he sells about 75 hot dogs during the school year, about 40 more than during the summer. Berry said decreased sales will force his hot dog cart out of commission before the second summer session begins. \n"I always smile and try to be attentive to what the customer wants. I am not afraid to say I'm sorry," he said while adjusting the Bunsen burners heating the wieners in front of Kilroy's on Kirkwood. "This is food service built around the second word -- service. There is a myth that the bar patron is irritable or an aggressive person. I get grit teeth occasionally, but most people just want to have fun and keep the fun for everyone else -- simple pleasures with a little bit of food."\nBerry said he eats one hot dog a week so he can "keep in constant contact with the product."\nHot dog vendor Larry, a seven-year Hot Dogg Heaven employee who asked to have his last name withheld for security reasons, said he believes business at his hot dog stand has decreased since the November presidential election due to "republican economics." He also cited a heavier excise presence at the bars at reason for decreased wiener sales.\n"Hot dogs are an impulse buy like entertainment," he said while serving hungry customers in front of Kilroy's Sports Bar late Saturday night. "If the economy is doing well, entertainment does well. I typically sell about 100 hot dogs a night, but sales at my stand are down by one-third since the fall." \nLarry said hot dog vendors are not servants or second class citizens, but more like hot dog peddlers. \nHot Dogg Heaven's biggest revenue-generating nights occur during IU festival weekends: the first week of each semester, homecoming, Little 500 and graduation. All the vendors said hot dog buying droughts often occur holiday weekends, school vacations and early-weekday nights. \nLeslie thanked all her patrons for their general kindness, despite the decrease in summer wiener sales, because she is often in the frontlines of drunken fist fights and bar brawls that spill into the street. She cited examples of tip jar theft, in which an entire night's salary was stolen, as further proof of the trench-warfare like conditions hot dog vendors sometimes face when selling their products to otherwise inebriated patrons. \n"It takes a certain amount of temperament to do this job. You have to let certain things roll off your back -- let certain things go," she said while tightening the slack from the bungee cords securing her tip jar to her hot dog cart. "What I try to (do) is see where the customer is coming from. People go to great lengths to thank me -- they serenade me, dance for me, give me presents"
(05/12/05 12:25am)
During the last couple of weeks of the school year, students with residential programs and services meal points flocked to the dining halls, "center" stores, and the Read McDonald's to spend the last of their meal points before they are gobbled up by Residential Programs and Services.\n"I have about five meal points left because I've been paying for friends that have had about zero points the last three weeks," said sophomore Sergio Avila. "I've gotten more phone calls this week than I have all year. It's no big deal -- I wasn't going to use them all myself."\nIU meal plans are set up so a dollar is equivalent to one "point" valid at any RPS vendor or dining faculty within the campus community. RPS estimates a student spends about 6 points -- or $6 -- per meal. \nFor the first time in eight years, meal plan points increased about four percent before the 2004-2005 academic year. \n"When we run out of the things (students) really want, they buy what's here," said John Kinser, McDonalds swing-manager at the Read Center. "Customers have been asking 'How many meal points do I have left?' for the last couple weeks. Last year at this time, we had customers with hundreds of dollars to spend on the last day. Students budgeted much better this year." \nKinser said his staff ran out of bottled water, tomatoes and ice cream by closing time Friday -- the deadline for meal point usage for the fall through spring academic year. \nJose Celis, a meal plan coordinator for RPS, said meal point plans "only carry over" from fall to spring and Summer I to Summer II. \n"Over the course of the summer we are looking at the product mix, evaluated by student demand," said Errol Huffman, business consultant for RPS dining services. "We are going to get rid of some items, especially those perceived as high-priced. The meal plan committee is exploring a whole point rollover plan -- the option of rolling over expired points from May to the summer or fall semester during a six-month reprieve."\nHuffman said more than 98 percent of all meal plan points, despite decreased point purchasing power over time, are spent by students throughout the year. \nAvila said he would appreciate "more food options" because the same vendors seem to rotate the same menus week after week. He said his "C" meal plan, on the other hand, seemed a better option than other food services offered at other universities throughout the state. \n"My friend at Purdue got 15 swipes a week from a meal card," Avila said. "If you don't use them that week, you lose them for the year."\nHuffman said RPS is interested in expanding faculty lounges across campus, opening small dining facilities in buildings like the Student Recreational Sports Center and other ventures to increase non-student revenue. He also said RPS is considering the option of requiring only first-year residents to purchase a "mandatory meal plan."\n"(RPS) does not want to make a business out of making people feel like they have to have a meal plan," Huffman said. "Parents tell us to ensure their children can eat during the first year away from home. We believe we have a good product that is hard to beat. The more sharing in costs, the less cost it is for everybody."\nAvila said students can learn to budget their meal point plans throughout the school year, despite the common student perception of high food costs at many of the RPS vendors. \n"My friends went to the Wright food court all the time, while I ate (at McDonald's) quite often and Ramen noodles in my dorm all the time," he said. "You have to be careful or you'll be like my friends -- you end up eating air"
(05/09/05 1:45am)
In two separate ceremonies, about 8,000 IU students were officially welcomed into the real world. It came with a one-year free membership in the Alumni Association.
IU's 176th graduation commencement ceremony Saturday provided an opportunity for more than 30,000 family members and friends to demonstrate their love and support for graduates.
Commencement was divided into two sessions depending on the graduate's particular school of study.
(05/09/05 1:20am)
Iraq might be halfway across the world, but Democracy Now! wants all Americans to know about its geography, its collection of cultures, and what the U.S. military continues to provide for the Iraqi people.\nAmy Goodman, host of Democracy Now!, a daily independent radio and television news hour broadcast on more than 240 radio and TV stations in North America, brought her book tour to the Hoosier heartland Thursday night at the Buskirk-Chumley Theatre on 114 E. Kirkwood Ave. Bloomington residents, students, and guests packed the two-story auditorium to advocate for genuine democratic thinking, in a mass media dominated world. \nDenis Moynihan, outreach coordinator for Democracy Now!, said local independent media providers WFHB radio station (93.1) and CATS community programming are "great" -- the reason for a celebration event that evening. Moynihan said Iraqi and U.S. "casualty pictures" are broadcast on the Al-Jazeera television network and other European television stations all day and night.\n"We see a fireworks display on night scope," he said. \nMoynihan said he believes the world perceives the U.S. Operation Iraqi Freedom as "tasteless" because they see Iraqi "kids blown apart" and "limbs blown off." War would be eradicated for a year if American audiences viewed images of "the face of war," Moynihan said. Instead, we see a "target on them looking down" and we don't see "people on the ground." \nMoynihan's conclusion introduced the video projection of an independent documentary film narrated by Goodman. \nThe independent media propaganda film lambasted both the "Corporate coverage of the war" and "The Video War Game," which Goodman claims reduces the people's voice to irrelevancy through live footage mixed with live recordings and dialogue. A mainstream media outlet, Goodman told the audience, is merely an "opinion piece" and not a journalist "spelling her heart out."\n"We see romantized pictures (of war), soldiers on sunsets," she narrated. \nThe film proposed the idea that honest coverage of the war needs to involve peace activists invited to panel discussions with retired military generals. Goodman said in the film she is especially troubled by reports about the "kind of bomb" and the "kind of plane" used in the War. She called for mainstream media to instead invite doctors on their shows to report about the medical effects of the bomb on the bombed population. \nGoodman's other narration throughout the film entwined with live footage mixed with live recordings. A particular archived live footage clip included Michael Moore's "shame on you Mr. Bush" acceptance speech, which drew a wild applause and partial standing ovation from the crowd. \nThe film further reminded the Bloomington audience of the "Wild West" perception of the Middle East broadcast by mainstream media that fueled the bull's eye symbol hovering in front of then Iraqi-dictator Saddam Hussein's face before the U.S. involved itself in war throughout the region.\nDemocracy Now!'s contribution to "The Video War Game" ended with mixed-in live footage of elite Spanish journalists laying down the tools of their trade -- pencils, notebooks, cameras, cables, microphones -- in the street to protest military strikes against international journalists in Iraq. \nGoodman's first call to business when she approached the microphone was to ask for the house lights to be brought up so she could better see the audience. She gave an immediate "shout out" to Boxcar Books located at 310 South Washington St. and other independent book stores in Bloomington -- places she called "national treasures to be protected."\nGoodman also called for the audience to donate superfluous funds to Pages for Prisoners, a Bloomington group also located at 310 South Washington St. that "gives hope around the country." She also said the U.S. is run by corporations with "nothing to feel and everything to sell our children."\n"People from targeted communities is who we need to hear," Goodman said. "Media is the most powerful institution on earth -- more powerful than bombs. If we lived in a just society, who would be behind bars and who would be free? … There are more than 5,500 (current U.S.) soldiers refusing to go to Iraq."\nGoodman continued speaking about U.S. international relations ranging from her perception of former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's dealings with South American regims in the 70s and 80s, American-sponsored military coups in Haiti and retired U.S. Gen. Wesley Clark's war rhetoric.\nIndiana Daily Student Publisher David Adams said he believes the role of the media is protect freedom of speech for all people. Adams said student journalists, in particular, need to learn to search for the truth in every story they pursue - a quest that often calls for the reporter to ask questions of all sides. \nGoodman called for journalists to refuse "pentagon labels" and continue their quest to hear the peoples' voice. She said the "role of reporters is to go where the silence is."\n"What society do you want to live in?" she asked the frenzied audience, whose applause grew noticeably louder and more frequent throughout the evening.\nThe anti-war perspective and call for independent media concluded with Goodman signing copies of her new book and a seemingly bewildered audience -- stunned in facial expression and stiff in posture -- stumbling through the front doors.
(05/06/05 3:53am)
Two Hoosier soldiers have joined more than 40 Indiana residents who have lost their lives due to U.S. military conflict throughout the Middle East.\nThe U.S. Department of Defense announced the deaths of 20-year-old Pfc. Darren A. DeBlanc of Evansville and 21-year-old Pfc. Robert W. Murray Jr. of Westfield Monday. Both Hoosiers were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom and died from "improvised explosive devices," according to a Department of Defense news release.\nDeBlanc is a 2003 graduate from Reitz High School and Murray is a 2002 graduate from Westfield High School.\nDeBlanc and another soldier died April 29 while on dismounted patrol in Baghdad, Iraq. According to a Department of Defense news release, both soldiers were assigned to the 10th Mountain Division from Fort Drum, N.Y.\nDeBlanc's family said the Army awarded their son a Purple Heart for surviving a March 26 bomb attack in Iraq, according to the Associated Press. His family also said DeBlanc was scheduled to leave Iraq in about two weeks.\nIU junior Michael Klinker, a friend of DeBlanc's since their freshman year at Westfield H.S., said he and Deblanc often discussed joining the U.S. Marine Corps while they attended Indiana State University in the fall of 2003. They had wanted to attend boot camp together, but Klinker said Deblanc left the summer before he did.\n"He broke his leg and came home, then later enlisted in the Army," Klinker said in an e-mail. "He was determined to serve our country and fought so we can be safe here in the United States. He is a hero and I'll never forget him."\nIU junior Adam Paunwar, who befriended DeBlanc when he moved to Westfield during their middle school years, said DeBlanc was a "hell of a guy." Paunwar also said the greatest lesson DeBlanc taught him was the "proper way to throw an egg at a car." \n"(DeBlanc) was always laughing and joking around about something, and you couldn't help but be in a good mood when you were around him," Paunwar said in an e-mail. "He is a hero to me and everyone else that knew him."\nMurray and three other soldiers died April 28 while aboard their Stryker military vehicle in Tal Afar, Iraq. According to a Department of Defense news release, Murray was assigned to the 3rd Armor Cavalry Regiment from Fort Carson, Colo.\nMillikin University junior Heidi Clark, the 2002 Westfield H.S. senior class president, said Murray should be remembered for his sense of humor because he could always make other people laugh. She said she remembers Murray as not being "a judgmental person."\n"(Robert) was always willing to be the butt of jokes to cheer someone up," Clark said in an e-mail statement. "He was friends with all types of people -- something to be admired. He was always someone that got along with anyone." \nTeena Pershing, director of community relations for Westfield Washington schools, said Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels gave Westfield H.S. permission to fly their American flag at half-staff Friday and Saturday. She said a scholarship is being established in his name for Westfield H.S. faculty and students. \n"Robert will be missed by all who knew him. He loved life, his family and friends," the Murray family said in a statement. "Robert had an uplifting spirit and incredible smile." \nMemorial contributions can be made in memory of Robert Murray to the Westfield Washington Education Development Foundation, 322 W. Main St., Westfield, Ind. 46074.\n42 Hoosier soldiers are listed as dead and another 228 Indiana residents are listed as wounded in action for the combined Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom military campaigns as of April 16, according to the Department of Defense.\n- Contact Senior Writer David A. Nosko at dnosko@indiana.edu.
(04/28/05 5:29am)
Ensuring the future prosperity of Bloomington might involve drastic community improvements in global environmental attitude and industrial resource usage.\nThe city's Common Council decided 4-0-3 Wednesday night to progress their discussion of a sustainable local community -- despite national and international consumption trends -- toward a vote in the coming weeks. Ordinance 05-15, sponsored by council member David Rollo, would amend Title 2 of the Bloomington Municipal Code by creating the Bloomington Commission on Sustainability, according to the Common Council. \nRollo started the night's discourse with a presentation on the need for improved citizen perceptions about humans living in balance with the Earth. He provided his fellow council members with "global indicators" about "disturbing trends" affecting the current and future quality of human life on the planet.\nThe focus of the proposed Commission on Sustainability is to foster a three-pronged approach to the long-term viability of the community -- one that simultaneously considers Bloomington's social, environmental and economic future, according to the Common Council. The Sustainability Commission would have two primary roles: provide education to Bloomington and work to advise the city on sustainable practices. \nCouncil member Jason Banach seemed especially impressed by the amount of sustainability information provided throughout the discussion by Rollo. He said council approval for the BCS is the "right thing to do" for Bloomington. He also reminded the public about the role the BCS would provide for the city: an advisory board with "no sort of elected power." The BCS reports their advice to the planning commission and the city council for "final say." \nBloomington resident Heather Reynolds, vice chairwomen of the city Environmental commission, told the council she hopes the BCS would bring "harmony" to the dominant social-environmental-economic paradigm.\n"Our earth, our species, our city is faced with an awesome challenge in the new millennium -- forming a sustainable (human) relationship with the biosphere," Reynolds said. "Humanity has to change its destructive course. Two-thirds of the (earth's) resources are used unsustainably. It's necessary to change course."\nCouncil member Chris Sturbaum said the BCS could "tap" into a "local source" of human energy, the volunteer community, who is concerned about sustainable living for the city. He also said certain world economic circumstances often encourage the desire to plant "local" seeds in the ground.\n"The idea of sustainability is an idea we'll be understanding for the next century," Sturbaum said. "When we look at sustainability in 20 years, we'll be wondering why there was any question."\nBloomington resident Isabel Piedmont, who is the secretary and treasurer of the Bloomington Environmental Commission, said the proposed BCS is "vitally important to the well being of the community, and to the future of our children, and our grand children." She shared her vision of a typical American day in town to persuade council members of the benefits residents, IU students and guests will experience by striving to not leave big "footprints" behind. \nCouncil member Chris Gaal told the council the BCS will "not solve problems." Instead, he said he looks for Bloomington to make "small steps" by contributing solutions to sustainable living issues worldwide.\n-- Contact Staff Writer David A. \nNosko at dnosko@indiana.edu
(04/22/05 6:30am)
The HIV/AIDS pandemic includes infections in about every nook and cranny of the world, from the African country of Botswana to the Hoosier heartland of Bloomington.\nIndiana residents, students and guests gathered for a panel discussion about "AIDS in Africa" Wednesday night, held by the Bloomington chapter of Parents, Family and Friends of Lesbian and Gays at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 2120 N. Fee Ln. The panel of health care workers and student educators highlighted the current plight of the HIV/AIDS-ravished African continent through personal testimony about working face-to-face with victims in African classrooms and disease-riddled clinics of the sub-Saharan landscape.\nOf the more than 39 million reported international cases of HIV/AIDS infection, more than 25 million -- about 64 percent -- resided in sub-Saharan Africa in 2004, according to global estimates from UNAIDS, a Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS. In addition, more than 3 million new HIV infections and more than 2 million AIDS-related deaths were reported in sub-Saharan Africa last year.\nPanel speakers included senior Kristin Demning, an IU-Purdue University Indianapolis nursing student and clinical assistant at Planned Parenthood; junior Elana Habib, co-director of the IU student group Outreach Kenya Development and Volunteers; Debra Phelps, an oncology clinical nurse educator at Bloomington Hospital; David Adams, publisher of the Indiana Daily Student; and Kathryn Brown, a health educator at the IU Health Center.\nThe panel discussion also involved a short documentary film and diorama display promoting IU's OKDV efforts to educate Kenyan youth about HIV/AIDS and photographs spotlighting extreme poverty in South African neighborhoods from Demning. \n"When you are talking about AIDS in Africa, it's broad," Habib said. "HIV/AIDS infection rates are on a spectrum. There are 53 countries within the African continent -- some countries have no significant problem, others have a huge problem. The rest are in between." \nSub-Saharan Africa, in particular, possesses more than 10 percent of the world's population but is home to more than 60 percent of the world's people living with HIV/AIDS, according to UNAIDS. North Africa, on the other hand, is often categorized with the Middle East and contains less than 1 percent of the world's people living with HIV/AIDS.\n \nSOCIAL AND POLITICAL CAUSE\nDemning said her nursing experiences in South Africa taught her about common social and political problems often associated with combating HIV/AIDS epidemics. She cited state-legislated apartheid, "blood-mining" in the diamond mine industry, an increase in migrant work and government denial until 2000 about the link between HIV and AIDS as potential sparks igniting infection rates throughout South Africa. \n"Preventing HIV/AIDS infections involves more than education. Putting more condoms out will not stop the spread of HIV and AIDS," Demning said. "There must be social and political changes of ideas about HIV/AIDS education. The socioeconomic status of women prevents them from keeping safe because their men have no job opportunities and they are forced into migrant work. The women involve themselves in sex work and the men also bring HIV/AIDS home."\nPhelps also visited South Africa, specifically Johannesburg and Cape Town. She said South Africa has about six HIV/AIDS public treatment facilities, staffing about 54 to 60 nurses, to serve an estimated 350,000 infected people.\nPrivate clinics, providing adequate medicines, are often available to only those specific few who can afford HIV/AIDS infection care.\n"Their nursing profession is extremely organized, they just don't have enough staff to treat and care for everybody," she said. "The infrastructure is there. The health care system is there. What they really need is the money just to expand what they already have."\nAccording to UNAIDS, young women and girls are more susceptible to HIV than men and boys. Their vulnerability is primarily due to inadequate knowledge about AIDS, insufficient access to HIV prevention services, inability to negotiate safe sex and a lack of female-controlled HIV prevention methods.\nDemning also discussed violence against women in South Africa and the effect of numerous "myths of HIV cures" that continue to spread throughout the country. Specifically, she cited the false belief some men have about having "intercourse with a virgin" to cure their HIV/AIDS. \n"I think a lot of the myths start, as a lot of myths do, with the hope and desire to live when you have something that is going to kill you," she said. "I was working at a trauma care center and a 3-month-old baby was brought in that had been raped ... You hope to cure yourself."\nAIDS and poverty are now mutually reinforcing negative forces in many developing countries, according to a news release from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Where individuals and communities are able to realize their rights -- to education, free association, information and, most importantly, non-discrimination -- the personal and societal impacts of HIV and AIDS are reduced.
