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(04/18/03 5:37am)
Albert Wertheim, professor of English and comparative literature and adjunct professor of theatre and drama, died at his home Wednesday. He was 62.\nWertheim has been battling cancer for several years but continued to teach and wrote two books since the diagnosis. \nFriends and colleagues remember Wertheim as a generous and kind individual who went out of his way to help people. \n"He was a terrific guy -- one of the most generous, thoughtful people I've ever met," said English Department chair Stephen Watt. "He was a funny and clever kind of guy, almost with an impish sense of humor."\nWertheim was an acclaimed educator, who was honored as 2002 Continuing Educator of the Year by the Continuing Education Association of Indiana. He also received the 1998 IU all-University John W. Ryan Award for Distinguished Contributions to International Programs & Studies. \n"Albert's particular interest was in continuing education for non-traditional students such as senior citizens," Watt said.\nWertheim led numerous tours to Indianapolis and Louisville theaters, with the bus becoming a classroom, Watt said. Jeanne Madison who worked with Wertheim on continuing education programs said that the tours were a unique educational experience of having a portable classroom situation for adults. Wertheim would take senior citizens from Monroe County to see a play. He would lecture about the playwright before the production and lead a discussion afterward.\n"I definitely feel a loss both personally and professionally because Albert was a tremendous supporter of life-long learning," Madison said. "His contributions to Mini University and the life-long learning program cannot be matched."\nWertheim has a personal connection with the IU School of Continuing Education -- his wife Judith is the Executive Associate Dean of the school. \nWertheim's home department was English, but he taught classes in the department of theatre and drama as well.\n"He has been interested in theater all of his adult life, if not longer, I believe," said professor Ronald Wainscott, chair of the theatre and drama department.\nWertheim taught at IU since the 1960s. In fact, Wainscott remembers taking a class with him as a graduate student in the '70s.\nWertheim is the author of "The Dramatic Art of Athol Fugard: From South Africa to the World" and contributed many of the drama articles in The World Book Encyclopedia. He recently completed a book on American drama and World War II. \nIn addition to being a celebrated teacher, Wertheim held fellowships from the Folger Library, the Newberry Library, the Australian government, the Eli Lilly Foundation, and the German Exchange Service (DAAD). He has been a visiting professor at the Universitaet Hamburg in Germany and in 1995 became a Fellow of the Institute for Study of English in Africa at Rhodes University in South Africa, according to the theatre and drama department's Web site.\nWertheim has served as Treasurer and Executive Board Member of the American Society for Theatre Research, President of the Eugene O'Neill Society and executive council member of the Harold Pinter Society. At the time of his death, Wertheim served as associate dean for Research and Graduate Studies on the Bloomington campus. In the past, Wertheim served as associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. \nBecause of his administrative appointment, Wertheim taught only one class this semester -- L220: Introduction to Shakespeare.\nHe became ill immediately after spring break and spent some time in the hospital. He came home Monday and passed away there Wednesday. \nHis funeral will take place at 3 p.m. today at Temple Beth Shalom, 3750 E. 3rd St. For more information about the funeral, call 334-2440. The English Department will announce details about a memorial service early next week.
(04/14/03 5:43am)
When Eric Saperston graduated from San Diego State University, he did not want to end up in a boring office job. He took a job as a ski instructor in Aspen when he wasn't following the Grateful Dead. But that's not why he'll be speaking at 7 p.m. tonight at the Buskirk-Chumley Theatre, 114 E. Kirkwood Ave. \nThe main attraction of the event is Saperston's film, "The Journey," which documents a cross-country road trip and the people he met along the way.\nOn the heels of being named as one of the top 10 memorable films in the 10-year history of the south by Southwest Film Conference and Festival, Saperston's film has embarked on a 30-city, 41-college tour. And Bloomington is one of the stops.\nThe film focuses on interviews with various important and successful people with whom Saperston and three friends talked. \nThe film's idea came to Saperston when he was still in college. He realized that getting to know someone over a cup of coffee or a beer was much more insightful than just hearing a person speak to a large group. He thought he'd call up some of the most powerful people in the world and ask them out for a cup of coffee. \n"I figured I'd meet one person if I was lucky," Saperston said. "But what unfolded for me is beyond my wildest dreams."\nSo Saperston and his dog Jack piled into an old Volkswagen bus and set out on the journey that would change their lives along with the lives of three others whom they met on the way. Some of the famous individuals Saperston and his team talked to include former Texas governor Ann Richards, author Ken Kesey, comedian Billy Crystal, actor Henry Winkler and former Coca-Cola president Donald Keough.\nSaperston recorded the interviews on a small digital camera he bought before he left. The group filmed over 500 hours of footage during their 1,865 days on the road. They used this footage to make "The Journey," which premiered at the SXSW in 2001. \nUntil the road trip, Kathleen Kelly, who joined Saperston on the trip, had never used a digital video camera before. But she learned. \n"Not knowing how to do something has never stopped me," she said.\nAnd the camera, however small it was, proved to be useful, the filmmakers said that they could do more with a small camera because it fit into weird angles easily and they could review the footage right away. \nBut the film's technology wasn't the important part. The important part was the people Saperston and his team met along the way.\n"From a creative standpoint, I'm less interested in technology than I am in the people who are involved in the project," Saperston said. "I believe in people. And I believe in their ability to execute odd dreams."\nSaperston and his team talked with "extraordinary people about the values they live by, the struggles they've endured and what advice they would give to our generation," he said.\nFor the Buskirk-Chumley, this screening is an opportunity to go back to its film-showing roots. After a December agreement between the Kerasotes movie chain and the Buskirk-Chumley Management Inc., the BCT is back in the business of showing films. Previously, Kerasotes insisted that film screenings at the BCT would jeopardize the economic status of the Kerasotes-owned movie theaters in the area. The agreement stipulates that the BCT may show any theatrical film that has been out for at least a year.\n"I think it's important that the film is coming here; it highlights the Buskirk-Chumley's ability to show films," said Danielle McClelland, the theater's director. "This is the ideal type of film for us to show -- independent, bizarre idea taken to fruition by a young filmmaker. This is the type of thing that will appeal to both students and community members."\nThe screening and filmmaker's talk before it are free and open to the public. For more information about the film, visit www.thejourneyfilm.com.
(04/10/03 4:57am)
Rika Asai's recipe for a final project is simple: combine one instructor, 20 students, five composers and five silent films. The end result is this Saturday's Film and Music Festival. The event is the final project for L210: "Interpreting Film Music," a course Asai created and teaches at the Collins Living-Learning Center. The festival begins at 7 p.m. Saturday, April 12, in Sweeney Hall in the School of Music. \nAsai, who is a Ph.D. student in musicology at the School of Music, said Collins gave her the opportunity to explore the interaction between film and music, which is a relatively new field.\n"Films constitute such an important cultural mechanism in today's society," she said. "Film music doesn't fit in either musicology or film studies."\nFor the most part, Asai's students aren't classically trained musicians. Most don't know how to read notes, but all are interested in a variety of topics related to film and music. \n"This is the first class I've taught to non-music majors, so I wasn't sure what to expect," Asai said. "I have found it tremendously rewarding to watch the students learn to listen to music that is very different from what they might normally be familiar with."\n'A DREAM CLASS'\nAsai has been interested in both film and music since her undergraduate days. Her chance to present a course rooted in these two fields came when she learned of an opportunity to offer a seminar-style course at the Collins Living-Learning Center. All freshmen and sophomores living in Collins must take a three-credit course offered by the center. Most courses fall into College of Arts and Science's distribution categories and help meet diverse requirements. \nBut before students have the chance to experience the courses, the prospective instructors must present a complete plan for a semester-long course to the Collins academic coordinator. According to the Collins Web site, a proposal can be developed around a topic of the instructor's choosing as long as it does not already appear in the IU schedule of classes. Seminar courses like Asai's "Interpreting Film Music" class offer instructors a chance to teach their own class on a one-time experimental basis.\nFor Asai, the work started in the spring of 2002 when Collins began accepting proposals for spring 2003 courses. After submitting the proposal and receiving approval for the course from Iris Yob, former Collins academic coordinator, Asai talked with some of her composer colleagues in the School of Music about the possibility of composing music for silent-era films as the final project. \nAsai invited graduate composition students to compose music for the class. One of the class members also wanted to compose music. As an English major, sophomore James Walsh doesn't get many chances to write music, but he has had a life-long fascination with the process of creating music, he said.\n"As a composer, I have a great interest in film music," Walsh said. "I wanted to explore how music and image intertwine with one another."\nWalsh has been working with some of his classmates to compose music for "Windsor McKay and His Moving Pictures," made in 1928. \nCULMINATING PERFORMANCE\nThis Saturday's film and music festival is the result of a semester-long final project Asai assigned to her students.\nFor the final project, Asai chose seven silent films made before 1930. The object of the project is to write new music for an old film. The class divided into five groups, with four groups taking one film each and one taking three short films. At first, Asai showed the entire class all seven films while playing samples of each composer's music. She then asked students to write short explanations to determine which films they preferred for the final project and which composer's work sounded best with that particular movie. Once the groups were established, students met with their respective composers every three weeks to talk about the music and the film, listen to proposed compositions and discuss the emotional qualities of the different films.\n"The project sounded cool," said freshman and class member Amy Wehlacz. "But the films weren't what I expected."\nOther students in Asai's class and the composers themselves echoed Wehlacz's sentiments. Because all seven of Asai's selections were made before 1930, most of the students in the class had never seen any of the films until recently.\nBut when the groups began to work on the project, the interaction between the composers and the students helped determine the emotions that best describe each film. The music presented in the concert tries to convey these emotions. \nAlthough five composers wrote the music, the students in the class have had a sort of "directorial" role and have consulted with the composers about the music, Asai said.\nEach group heard diverse pieces proposed by the composers. Some agreed on the first try. Others chose more in-depth discussions to create an exact musical expression of the images.\n"The challenge for every group was to decide exactly what music would make the film exciting to watch," Walsh said. "What kind of feel should the music convey? The music can color a visual image in completely different ways."\nNot only have the students learned more about the interaction between film and music, but composers in the School of Music got a chance to experience something different from their usual work. \n"It's given my colleagues in the School of Music a chance to reach out to audiences beyond our normally quite intimate circle of 'new music' listeners," Asai said.\nCHALLENGING THE COMPOSERS\nFor graduate composition student Rafael Hernandez, Asai's project was a chance to explore the relationship between images and sounds. Working on three short films from the 1890s, Hernandez saw this project as an opportunity to interact with students, something he'd like to pursue in the future. \n"It was good to work with creative types who aren't in the School of Music," he said. "It was a pedagogical challenge not to take anything for granted, like we do sometimes in the School of Music."\nInteraction with the students challenged the composers to create music for the average listener, one who is not a classically trained musician. In addition, most music was written with a lot of input from the students. Because composers generally work by themselves, this was a novel experience for Hernandez and the other graduate composition students. \n"The biggest challenge was to match up whatever is going on in (the students') heads and in mine," said graduate student Gordon Williams, who worked on "Moscow Clad in Snow," a 1909 film by the Pathé brothers. \nBut graduate student Jim Holt, who composed music for "A Trip to the Moon," had it a little easier. He worked with three students from Asai's class, but did not have to accommodate live musicians. The entirety of the film's soundtrack, about 12 minutes, consists of electronic music made in the School of Music midi labs. \n"In the lab, I can do anything I want," Holt said. "I can mix sounds, use audio effects and samples."\nHolt said working with the students gave him a new outlook on his work. \nThe composers also had to take into consideration the perspective of the audiences watching the silent films. When silent films were the only films available, audiences watched the film along with reading the subtitles and hearing the organ or a band play in the movie theater, according to www.silent-movies.com, an archive of American silent films and general information about silent cinema.\n"There is a sense of historic nostalgia," Walsh said. "This is a unique opportunity to experience the old movie theaters and to hear new music that will probably never be heard again."\nAN AWAKENING FOR THE IMAGINATION\nFor freshman Meg Campbell, who is is studying for a minor in communication and culture, the class not only offered a chance to learn more about her chosen field of study, but an opportunity to engage her mind in finding relationships between images and sounds.\nAlong with four others, Campbell worked on "Moscow Clad in Snow." Through her participating in this project, Campbell discovered how images call upon memory to awaken certain sounds in one's mind, she said.\n"Hopefully, this project sparks people's imaginations as to how music can affect and change a film," Campbell said. "Music is such an intricate part of a movie, and people ought to take notice of that"
(03/27/03 4:29am)
On a quiet Sunday night, the McCalla Sculpture Center's woodshop studio is home to Gaberial Meldahl, his current project and his drum set. There is hardly anyone else in the entire building, which can be full of people during regular hours. \nWearing a frumpy T-shirt, corduroys and '70s style sneakers, Meldahl sports an I-just-woke-up hairdo. But his friends say that's his natural style. He can't sit still, and his eyes dart back and forth from his drums to his project in the middle of the room. \nA senior in the Henry Radford Hope School of Fine Arts, Meldahl didn't find his way to his current major -- sculpture -- easily. When he first got to IU, he wanted to be an art education major, but realized that teaching little kids wasn't for him. He wanted something more. \nThree changes of major and six years later, Meldahl is on his way to graduating in May. His final project -- a large scale geodesic dome -- will be part of a School of Fine Arts Gallery exhibition of BFA students. The exhibit started Wednesday and runs through Saturday. Other parts of the BFA/MFA exhibitions follow throughout the end of March and April. \n"Young artists cross lines a lot," said Dana Sperry, associate director of SoFA Gallery. "It's interesting to see how this space can be used." \nBut the exhibition isn't a culminating point for Meldahl. It is only a beginning. \nThe building that Meldahl and other sculpture students consider home -- the McCalla Center -- used to be McCalla Elementary School. When the school closed in 1973, the University acquired the building. The old classrooms have been transformed into creative spaces with tall windows and high ceilings, maximizing the daylight and creating the ultimate studio space. \nMeldahl's space at McCalla is a large open room with small windows and high ceilings. It used to be the stage of the former elementary school's auditorium -- the rails for the curtains still remain on the ceiling. A comfortable couch sits waiting for tired sculptors, and Meldahl's drum set found a nook on one of the rafters. \n"No other students besides art majors get to have a space like this," Meldahl said. "It's all our own. We can do whatever we want here."\nMeldahl shares the giant room with three other students. But this space has been mostly his own for the past month. His geodesic dome, complete with a working TV inside and a standard-size white mailbox outside, has been taking up most of the floor space. His friend and studio partner Thomas Vannatter, who is a fifth-year senior in the same program, has gotten mad at Meldahl a couple of times for "spreading his stuff all over," Meldahl said. \nBoth Vannatter and Meldahl said art influences every aspect of their lives: their clothes, their friends, the music they listen to, the food they eat, their jobs. Vannater lives in a small "colony" of artists in Bloomington -- musicians, writers, sculptors, painters and designers. \n"I used to wake up on a Sunday morning to my upstairs neighbor playing blues on his bass guitar," Vannatter said. "There is a sort of holy trinity -- artists, musicians and writers. We're on the same wavelength but we don't have to argue about technique."\nBoth Meldahl and Vannatter said a true artist is always searching. With everything an artist does, he or she defies stereotypes. \n"There is no normal for an artist," Meldahl said. "People think that being a fine arts major is easy."\nBut one stereotype holds true for both: the image of a poor artist and constant money woes. Meldahl works two jobs in addition to taking 15 credit hours and working on his projects. Vannatter, on the other hand, tries to get by with grants, scholarships and loans. \n"Everyone I know is dead broke," Vannatter said. \nMoney problems are partly the reason behind Vannatter's latest venture. Along with his Sculpture S371 class, Vannatter has participated in transforming a previous "hole-in-the-wall" space into "The Lazy Monk," an art project turned temporary restaurant that was open for a couple of weeks in March. The class teacher and Vannatter's friend Stuart Hyatt lead the project. Hyatt, an MFA student at SoFA, postulated that one's own body could be used as a medium for creativity. \n"The idea of being an artist isolated in the studio is kind of an old model for how one works," Hyatt said. "There's not going to be some grand patron that walks into your studio and discovers your genius."\nMeldahl holds this theory true for everything he does. Everyone is free to interpret his art -- for him, there is no right or wrong interpretation, he said. He doesn't refer to his art as functional, but it's not conventional by any means. \nVannatter agrees wholeheartedly. \n"There's no such thing as functional art," he said. "If it's art, then it's not functional."\nOne of Vannatter's most recent projects included bringing a well-used couch from the students' studio space into a gallery, sitting on the couch for a couple hours and talking to anyone who would sit down. For Vannatter, the couch became art instead of a functioning couch. Both artists said they see a marked difference between art and design. The two aren't designers, they are artists, who make art for people who don't necessarily go to museums, they said.\n"If you have a toaster and call it art, then it's not a toaster," he said. "If you design a toaster, then it's a functioning kitchen appliance"
(03/11/03 6:07am)
Freshman John Holmes has a chemistry midterm today. But he doesn't think he'll do well. He doesn't have his books with him or any of his class notes.\nAfter barely stepping into his Wright Quad room Monday night, Holmes was told to go back outside along with his floormates. Wright, Teter, Ashton and other dorms on the South side of campus were evacuated Monday night after a widespread power outage plunged the dorms into total darkness for nearly two hours. \n"When I walked in, the lights were already out," Holmes said. "I was immediately told to go back outside."\nOthers had already been outside for about 20 minutes when Holmes got home. Along with other residents of Wright's 19 houses, Holmes did not get a chance to grab everything he needed to study for his test.\nWith midterm exams and papers looming above student's heads, the power outage came as an unwelcome surprise. After standing outside for about a half hour, resident assistants told students to go to the library or to the Student Recreational Sports Complex to keep warm. \n"Hopefully, we won't be spending the night out here," said freshman Ian Fekete, who is a Wright Quad resident. \nFekete was part of a group of about 10 who congregated together at the Main Library after being evacuated from their dorm. But his wish came true a little less than two hours after the students were evacuated: the lights came on and the students were let in their rooms. \nFreshman Lauren Goode had the time to grab her coat and her flashlight about 8:10 p.m. when the lights first went out. But the sandals she wears inside stayed on her feet. The freshman apparel merchandising major was writing a paper, on which she had been working for some time. But she lost it after her computer also went off, she said. \n"We didn't know what was going on," Goode said. "We thought we'd go back inside soon."\nGoode -- now without her books or notes for her paper, hopes that professors will be lenient on work not turned in on time because of the evacuation.\nDean of Students Richard McKaig said professors normally determine work exemptions on a case by case basis. \n"Each professor will decide on a course of action and inform his or her students," McKaig said. \nFreshman business major Lauren Briski was just as unlucky as her friend Goode. She was in the process of doing a K201 project for Tuesday. \n"One moment, everything was on: the TV, the computer, the overhead lights," Briski said. "But then the lights flickered and it all went off one by one."\nThe two were told not to expect to return to their rooms anytime soon after they had been outside for about a half hour. \nLike Holmes, Briski, and Goode, others also worry about homework left on their desks and time they could have used to study. Students were restless and hoped not to spend the night outside of their dorms. Many did not have anything but their student IDs, coats, and cellphones with them. Others were lucky to have been coming from class or practice with their books with them like sophomore Kevin Lloyd. He was returning from a guitar lesson at the School of Music, where the lights flickered and eventually went off altogether, he said. His only homework for Tuesday -- physics -- was in his backpack, half-finished from Sunday. He ate before his lesson, so he wasn't too worried about not spending the night in his room. \n"I imagine lots of students aren't in the same situation," Lloys said. "I just plan on chilling here the entire night if I have to."\nDespite the negative attitude surrounding her, Goode kept a positive outlook on the experience.\n"We'll just have to tough it out and have fun," she said.
(03/05/03 7:04am)
Today's feminists share the same goal with their early predecessors -- equality. But the changing roles of women in society have caused the goal of equality to evolve and include other important issues. \nThe passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920 guaranteed women the right to vote. Afterward, feminism expressed not one particular goal, but an entire realm of possibilities. But a lot more work was required. \nAfter earning the right to vote, women began to realize their potential to change their lives, criminal justice and history professor Ellen Dwyer said. While a lot has been achieved in establishing equality between men and women, issues such as violence, sexual harassment, body image and reproductive rights remain pertinent.\nCurrent feminism topics such as the 30th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade and debates about women's roles at home and work are surging to the forefront because it is Women's History Month. \nMoving forward\nToday, feminism can carry various meanings, depending on the individual.\nThe Oxford American College Dictionary defines "feminism" as "the policy, practice or advocacy of political, economic, and social equality for women." Feminists say this definition is stale and stereotypical. Feminism encompasses men as well as women, both fighting for equality of the genders and races, according to the Feminist Majority Foundation, an organization dedicated to women's equality, reproductive health and non-violence.\n"Feminism has nothing to do with being male or female," said junior Rebecca Cushman, publicity coordinator for the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance. The group endorses equality for women and educates about non-discrimination at IU. "It's about promoting equality."\nDuring her lecture in February at IU, legendary feminist Gloria Steinem said many people misunderstand the term "feminism". Still, one-third of women identify with the feminist movement, she said. \nThe goal of equality dates back to the movement's origins. \nThe first wave of feminism in the United States started in the mid-1800s and swept into the early 20th century, when women fought for the right to vote. A proposed constitutional amendment that would have granted women voting rights was introduced in every session of Congress from 1878 to 1919, but was defeated each time, according to the Feminist Majority Foundation. Finally in 1920, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gave women the right.\nThe second wave of feminism, sometimes referred to as "Women's Liberation," arose from the sexual revolution in the 1960s. This period of the movement fought for reproductive rights, especially birth control and abortion, as well as equality in the workplace and female representation in government. \nToday, women have more options than ever because of legislation passed in the 1960s and 1970s. Several organizations have been established to help women help themselves. \nAmong the first was the National Organization for Women, which is dedicated to achieving equal opportunities for women. Betty Friedan established NOW in 1966 and led the campaign for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment, which calls for absolute equality and non-discrimination, and has not been ratified.\nThe 1960s also delivered job and reproductive civil liberties. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited job discrimination on the basis of gender. Birth control became widely available. In 1973, the Supreme Court decision of Roe vs. Wade legalized abortion. \n "Throughout history the standard of masculinity has bound men to have a strong desire to control women's bodies as a basic means of reproduction," Steinem said in her lecture at IU. "Any form of birth control was punished because men wanted to have the power over women."\nWomen can now choose when and if to have children. More women are going to college and working outside the home. At IU's eight campuses, 58 percent of students are female.\n"I think now women are more likely to reach out internationally to talk about human rights abuses in other countries," said graduate student Rebecca Bartlett, president of Campus for Choice. The group at IU educates students about reproductive rights issues, communicates with elected officials and works with other pro-choice organizations. \nWhile some feminists say they believe significant progress has been made in the past century, others remain dissatisfied. \n"There has been progress," Cushman said. "But people aren't really aware how inequality still exists between all types of people and groups, not just men and women."\nAre we on the road to progress?\nToday, a woman is expected to do everything -- work and be a wife and mother, Dwyer said. Some companies give women with young children an option to work a four-day week.\n"I'm curious whether that has negative implications for their careers in the long run," Dwyer said. "It's still not easy to both have a family and a career."\nThis new twist on women's roles is one of the results of the continuous evolution of the feminist movement. \n"Women are expected to be super-women," Cushman said. "A woman must pull double duty. There is a cultural lag. Household chores should become more evenly distributed."\nBut chores were less evenly distributed 40 years ago. In 1963, Betty Friedan's bestselling novel "The Feminine Mystique" argued women were seen as second-class citizens in their own homes. The book's thesis states women were victims of delusions and false values that urged them to find fulfillment and their identities vicariously through their husbands and children. \nFriedan was one of the first to make others aware of women's issues. Issues facing women today include body image, sex education and reproductive rights.\nModern women especially have trouble accepting their bodies. Society is concerned with body image -- magazines, TV and other media are littered with images of thin women who do not resemble most women in the United States. The average American woman wears a size 12, while women in the media tend to not wear clothes larger than size 8, according to the National Institutes of Health. \nIn a 1999 study in The Journal of the American Medical Association, 69 percent of 548 college-age women said magazine photos influence their idea of the perfect body shape. \n"Women are trying to be comfortable with their bodies," Bartlett said. "Young women still struggle with self-esteem."\nIn addition, the feminist movement is concerned with the lack of adequate sex education in high schools. Indiana's state law prescribes an abstinence-based curriculum, although each school system can teach other aspects of sex education. Monroe County Community School Corporation offers sex education at every grade level beginning in the fourth grade, said Jennifer Staab, drug and AIDS education director for MCCSC. \nWhile MCCSC tries to offer an all-inclusive curriculum, some people still doubt the adequacy of local sex education. \n"Schools need to allow women and men to be more educated about actions beside abstinence," Cushman said. \nAbortion is perhaps the most debated topic facing modern women. Campus groups like Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance and Campus for Choice inform the public about choices. \n"We want to control and shape our own destiny," Bartlett said. "Having control over our bodies and our decisions, especially when to have children, is important to us."\nBecause of the Roe vs. Wade decision, women can choose to have an abortion. About 1.5 million U.S. women with unwanted pregnancies choose abortion each year, according to Planned Parenthood Federation of America. But reproductive rights have recently come under attack: Indiana law now requires women to seek counseling at least 18 hours before an abortion. \nFeminism on campus\nCampus groups such as FMLA and Campus for Choice represent a growing number of women who take charge of their lives. The groups are concerned with reproductive rights, social and political equality, and celebrating women. \n"FMLA is an outlet for activism," Cushman said. "Through it I have become aware of issues facing women -- the struggle for reproductive rights, domestic violence and rape, sex education in schools, globalization and female genital mutilation."\nAnother group dedicated to supporting women through activism and education is the IU Women's Student Association. Through meetings, lectures and information sessions, WSA works to eliminate discrimination and oppression, including racism, sexism and ageism.\nAll three groups also promote safety and combat violence against women. Protest marches like "Take Back the Night" seek to raise awareness about brutality against women. One out of four women will be raped in her lifetime, according to event sponsors. \nOther events that promote an end to violence and sexual harassment include the annual V-Day College Campaign, a movement that raises money and awareness, to performances of "The Vagina Monologues." \nOverall, feminists are concerned with the state of society and ushering in progress.\n"A lot of the stereotypical sex roles are still maintained," Dwyer said. "At the level of daily life, feminism is a useful way of thinking about personal relationships"
(02/27/03 5:47am)
Last year, Ben Barone worked as an usher for a performance of Eve Ensler's "The Vagina Monologues." Being a male, he could not perform in the show and did not have any other opportunity to help with V-Day, a national effort to abolish violence against women and girls. Now a sophomore, Barone not only is performing a new monologue, but he also co-wrote it with Bloomington residents Patrick Kinsman and Clint Wolfe.\n"There aren't enough men who care about women's issues," Barone said. "This is an opportunity for men to show involvement with the women's movement."\nSince 2000, IU has been a part of a growing chain of colleges and universities involved in the V-Day College Campaign, a movement to raise money and awareness to stop violence against women and girls. The event usually includes a performance of "The Vagina Monologues" and other related activities. This year's V-Day stretches over three days: Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of this week. The events take place at 7 p.m. each night at the Willkie Auditorium. Tickets are $7 for students and seniors and $10 for the general public. \nTaking place once a year close to Valentine's Day, the national V-Day movement was born in 1998 as an outgrowth of Ensler's Obie-Award winning play, "The Vagina Monologues." As Ensler performed the piece all around the world, she saw and heard first hand the destructive personal, social, political and economic consequences violence against women has for many nations. At first, V-Day was a small event sponsored by a group of New York City women. Gradually the movement grew to encompass international ventures and a college campaign. This year, IU is one of 647 colleges and universities participating in V-Day. \n"This is our fourth year raising funds to help end local violence against women and girls," said V-Day producer Debby Herbenick, graduate student in public policy. "While it is painful to realize that women and girls continue to face physical and sexual violence on campus and in the greater Bloomington community, it is incredible to realize the amazing resources that IU and the community have to work to end this violence." \nAccording to the V-Day Web site, the movement's mission is simple. It demands that the violence must end. It proclaims Valentine's Day as V-Day until the violence stops. When all women live in safety, no longer fearing violence or the threat of violence, then V-Day will be known as 'Victory Over Violence Day.' \nIn 2001, Worth magazine named V-Day one of the "100 Best Charities" in recognition of the money the movement raises and puts to use. V-Day has created a safe house for girls, who wish to escape female genital circumcision in Kenya. Prior to Sept. 11, V-Day was actively working with women in Afghanistan who were suffering under the Taliban. V-Day remains actively engaged with those women and men in Afghanistan who are working to effect change. \n"This year we are spotlighting the situation of American Indian women in America, who have a much higher rate of physical and sexual abuse than other women in this country," Herbenick said. "V-Day raised more than $7 million in 2002 alone, and continues to be a powerhouse charity."\nPREPARING FOR V-DAY\nIn October, Bloomington and the IU campus brimmed with flyers advertising auditions for "The Vagina Monologues." The organizers received an overwhelming response for auditions. \nDirector Megan Andersen chose the 19-member cast. \nThis year's IU V-Day features two new monologues in addition to those in Ensler's book. One of the new pieces was written by a group of local women; the other by Barone and two others. \nThe men rehearsed separately and did not meet all of the women involved until this past Sunday. The separate rehearsals gave each group the opportunity to get to know the individual members and to work together to create the new monologues.\n"Since it's a monologue show, it doesn't require the type of interaction that a normal production would," said sophomore Camille Kuthrell, who will perform in "The Vagina Monologues." "There are a lot of busy women in the show. People who tend to get involved in anything, get involved in a lot."\nKuthrell, along with 15 other women, worked on the additional monologue, expressing her thoughts on what the world will be like without violence against women and girls. Originally, the men's monologue was supposed to be written on the same theme, but in the course of the discussion between Kinsman, Barone and Wolfe, the theme evolved into something more. Each of the three men knows a woman who has been a victim of abuse. \n"We realized the connection between the three of us," Barone said. "We thought it would have the greatest impact if we talk about how violence against women affects us as partners of women affected by violence."\nEach group has been rehearsing once a week in full cast, with each member rehearsing his or her part of the monologue separately. \nIMPACT ON BLOOMINGTON\nNone of the actors will be paid for his or her participation. V-Day is a completely volunteer movement, whose proceeds will be donated to Bloomington's Middle Way House -- a shelter for abused women and their children. In addition, the Office for Women's Affairs has received a portion of the funding in the past. Around the United States, similar organizations working to stop violence against women and girls will receive the proceeds of V-Day events on college campuses.\n"While V-Day's main focus is on the disproportionate violence against women and girls in some arenas, I should note that V-Day as well as our local beneficiaries, Middle Way House and the Office for Women's Affairs, are all committed to ending violence against people regardless of sex or gender," Herbenick said.\nWhile the ultimate goal of the V-Day movement is to stop violence, "The Vagina Monologues" performances also open eyes. The play's name itself requires a certain degree of tolerance, cast members said. The play brings up issues of female sexuality and the awkwardness surrounding the subject in today's society. \n"I think that V-Day and the monologues will inspire a lot of women to accept their bodies more," Barone said. "For men, the play can help them understand and appreciate the beauty of the female body and female sexuality, no matter what their orientation is"
(02/13/03 4:31am)
They don't dream big. Their ultimate mission is to put art everywhere -- in galleries, on buildings, in people's homes. For now, they'll settle for two billboards. \nYour Art Here -- a public art billboard project, was created by four friends in August 2002. Recent IU graduate Owen Mundy together with senior photography majors Shana Berger, Alyssa Hill and Nathan Purath wanted to create a forum for visual communication. They chose billboards as their medium to connect to Bloomington residents and IU students.\n"We wanted to take a hand in the most dominant form of visual communication," Berger said. "Billboards aren't available for exhibit to most people, yet they are seen by a large number of people."\nIn 1999, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City placed a variety of art on billboards throughout the city. The Monroe County Community School Corporation has rented a billboard to showcase student art in the past. Taking this idea a step further, the founders of Your Art Here wanted to provide individuals with access to this form of communication.\n"Our mission is to give a more leveled playing field," Purath said. "We believe that everyone has the right to be the media."\nThe idea of YAH was born out of "the frustration of being an artist" -- all four are photographers. Without adequate gallery space to showcase large-scale projects, the Bloomington art community lacked a valuable resource.\nYOUR ART HERE PROJECTS\nIn December 2002, YAH held its first event -- Billboard Nation. It was a competition among college students for two billboard spaces. The $5 submission fee for the contest went toward acquiring the billboards. \nHoosier Outdoor Advertising, a Bloomington-based company, owns most billboards in Monroe County and surrounding area. According to the agency's Web site, a billboard in Bloomington costs $800 per month for a one-month lease, while a six-month lease requires a payment of $760 per month and $720 per month for a year-long lease.\n"Hoosier Outdoor worked out a deal for us," Berger said. \nThe competition and show took place Dec. 14 at Space 101. The group received close to a 100 entries -- most information was passed by word-of-mouth through the Bloomington art community. The main requirement was for the artwork to function on a large-scale billboard space. Smaller artwork was reproduced and adjusted to fit the billboards. \nAndrew Glenn, senior fine arts student, and Dana Sperry, SoFA Gallery associate director, won the competition. Glenn's piece titled "Figure Study" went up on the North Walnut Street billboard close to the State Road 37 ramp. Sperry's piece, "Making My Neighborhood Luckier One Penny At A Time," can be viewed on the billboard at Fourth and Walnut streets.\nNATIONAL YOUTH ART MONTH\nSponsored by the Council for Art Education, Inc., March has been designated as National Youth Art Month. It is a nationwide celebration of young people and art produced by them. Bloomington has celebrated Youth Art Month for the past 30 years with a celebration of student work. \nIn collaboration with the MCCSC, Your Art Here has sponsored a competition for grades 1 to 6 and 7 to 12. The contest ended Feb. 7, and the winners will be announced next week. One winner from each category will have his or her art exhibited on one of two billboards. \n"I was very happy to have the opportunity for our students to have work displayed on one or two billboards," said Diane Davis-Deckard, art teacher at Bloomington High School North. "The student work on display this year will be based on the theme of war and peace."\nYAH offers billboards as an alternative for galleries. For younger students, this is an especially exciting opportunity, Davis-Deckard said.\nThe works submitted must be visually appealing and large enough to be displayed on a billboard. \n"When it's clustered, it's hard to appreciate," Mundy said. "We're looking for something that would look good on a billboard."\nThe work submitted must not be advertising -- it must be art. YAH also has to watch out for anything potentially obscene. They do not accept profanity or nudity in submissions. \n"We're looking for stuff that would get a response," Purath said. "It's not just art on a wall -- we want a piece that the viewers could interact with."\nStudents, who participated in the competition, have the added benefits of seeing their work on a billboard, which means their potential is being showcased to the community.\n"Having two venues supporting student art work sends a positive message to the community about the value of art," Davis-Deckard said.\nTHE FUTURE\nOriginally from three different cities, Berger, Mundy, Purath and Hill plan to stay in Bloomington to run the organization. They hope to expand and acquire a permanent billboard space. \n"We want to serve as a liaison between artists and the community," Hill said. "Art can be everywhere"
(02/11/03 4:43am)
It always amazes me when men possess grace. Female ballerinas have it naturally, but male ballet dancers are incredible in their ability to jump, do complicated dance steps and stand on point, seemingly without effort. \nSaturday night saw a diverse audience come for a taste of the American Ballet Theatre Studio Company at the IU Auditorium. The ABT Studio Company is a classical company featuring 12 handpicked young dancers from all over the world. Ranging in age from 16 to 21, the dancers train with expert choreographers to prepare for the American Ballet Theatre. \nThe performance was the culmination of a week-long stay at IU. The company's dancers and choreographers conducted workshops with IU ballet students and faculty. \nThe first part of the concert included selections from Pete Briener's Beatles Concerto Gross No. 1-4 from the CD "Beatles Go Baroque." Adapted for the company's 12 dancers, "The Long and Winding Road" was a showcase of black and white. This seemed to be the warmup for the dancers, who made some awkward movements in the course of the 30-minute performance. While few and far between, these small mistakes took away from the overall grace and elegance of the dancers. This part included all 12 dancers, some of whom were not to be seen for the rest of the concert. While this year marked most dancers' first in the company, some have danced for two or more years with the ABT Studio Company.\nCreated after the sudden death of ballet director and choreographer John Cranko, the second performance in the concert, titled "Return to a Strange Land," featured the piano music of Leos Janacek. Choreographed by Jiri Kylian, the piece was made up of two duets and two trios exploring the meaning of life and death. This piece let six of the 12 dancers showcase their talents. The performances of Zhong-jing Fang and Grant DeLong were particularly impressive. These two showed incredible grace and presence of spirit in the face of a large audience. They proved that a young dancer with a lot of potential has the opportunity to inspire the audience. The movements of all the dancers were in perfect coordination -- it was clear that this piece touched them deeply. I got the feeling that all six performers felt the pain of loss the choreographer passed to them in the movements of the dance.\nThe last piece in the three-part concert was the most colorful -- literally -- and the best presented of the three. The audience saw the world premiere of "Heavenly Bodies" set to the powerful music of Ernst Von Donhanyi. Clothed in all the colors of the rainbow, each of the nine dancers represented a planet in our solar system. The piece could be interpreted differently -- I saw it as a contest for position between the different planets. Several dancers were showcased in solos, highlighting the intricate choreography. Most notably, DeLong (Mercury), Fang (Venus), and Bo Busby (Jupiter) danced with unmistakable candor and grace. The choreography mixed perfectly with the music, creating a piece worthy of a standing ovation.
(02/07/03 5:55am)
By 6:30 p.m. Thursday night, the doors into the IU Auditorium were letting in a constant stream of people. Young and old, one thing united them -- they had come to hear noted feminist leader, activist, and journalist Gloria Steinem. The steady flow of people did not cease as Stephanie Sanders, associate director of the Kinsey Institute, began to introduce the lecture. \nSteinem's speech, titled "Sex and the Feminist Revolution," was part of a Kinsey Institute series dedicated to the 50th anniversary of Alfred Kinsey's book "Sexual Behavior in the Human Female." \n"She's an American icon for human rights," said Doug Dalrymple, a retired IU faculty member. "You never know what she's going to say."\nWearing black trousers, a black shirt and a tan vest, Steinem came onto the stage under a flood of applause, which continued throughout the speech.\n"I've always been interested in feminist literature," said senior Christine Boone before the lecture. "The field I'm going into, music theory, is predominantly male. I want to find out all I can about progressive movements in feminism."\nTHE SPEECH\nFor Steinem, the word feminist has never carried the pejorative connotation it has for so many, she said. It is controversial, but it has always been misunderstood. Steinem said one-third of all women identify themselves as feminists making more women identify with feminism, even if it has no definition, than identify with the Republican party.\nIn this lecture, Steinem's main focus was sex and the idea that sex is the cause of female subservience.\n"The only difference between male and female is sex itself," Steinem said. "The idea of sex is how women got into this jam in the first place."\nThe jam is the history of men's desire to control women's bodies as basic means to reproduction, thus also controlling the increased number of children, she said. For this reason, women have been considered a subservient species to men. \n"One of the biggest lies in history is that female sexuality is only moral if it takes place within the sanctity of marriage and is connected to reproduction," Steinem said.\nThrough this view, men have victimized themselves in addition to enforcing a strict policy against birth control and abortion, Steinem said. A choice is the means to control oneself. She said that a person who can choose to have an abortion is rebelling against the culture of a reproductive prison. \n"It's like saying that you have freedom of speech to only say one thing," Steinem said. \nThrough this cycle of reproductive control, men have lost the qualities that make them human -- compassion, patience and flexibility -- characteristics that are generally considered feminine, she said. They have created a standard of masculinity, which in turn creates the notion of a male right to dominance. \n"We have already begun to raise our daughters as we would our sons," Steinem said. "But we have yet to raise our sons as we would our daughters."\nSteinem said she believes the standard of masculinity deprives men of a full life. They commit acts of violence, making themselves victims of their actions. Steinem said those men who are obsessed with this cult of masculinity commit most acts of senseless violence -- when the criminal does not know his victims. When they are deprived of their "right" to dominate, they lose their identity, causing a rift in themselves. \nA change in everyday behavior is the only way to truly uproot violence in the longterm, she said. \n"The art of behaving morally and ethically is to behave as if everything we do matters," Steinem said.\nTHE QUESTION AND ANSWER SESSION\nAfter the applause quieted, close to 15 people lined up at the two microphones available waiting to hear Steinem's opinion. The questions during the session ranged from sex education to the AIDS epidemic in Africa to the changing gender roles in America and voting.\nMost notably, a Bloomington High School South student asked about improving sex education in Bloomington schools. She said local high school students are taught reproduction but not sex education. While they know body parts, they do not know anything about sex, the questioner said. \nSteinem said the Kinsey Institute was one of the best teachers for those students who would like to receive a comprehensive sex education. She also suggested implementing educational plans adopted in Washington, D.C. \n"I care much more about going into the future than about the past," Steinem said. "Knowing the past may help in the future, though. You see how to do it again"
(02/06/03 6:28am)
Gloria Steinem, best-known as a feminist leader and founder of Ms. magazine, will speak today at 7 p.m. at the IU Auditorium. Steinem will present the keynote address for the Kinsey Institute's series "Women's Sexualities: Portrayals and Perspectives," and share her own view on the changing face of women's sexualities over the past 50 years.\nThe series celebrates Alfred Kinsey's "Sexual Behavior in the Human Female," published 50 years ago. Tickets for the speech are free and available to students and non-students, who must pick them up either at the IU Auditorium box office or at the IMU Activities Desk.\nSteinem's speech, titled "Sex and the Feminist Revolution," will reflect her long-standing involvement in the feminist movement in the United States. Steinem is credited with popularizing the feminist movement in America and is one of the most revered figures in the feminist movement. \n"(A feminist) can be a woman or a man who believes in the full social, economic (and) political equality of women and men," Steinem said in a 1994 interview. "To say 'radical feminist' is only a way of indicating that I believe the sexual caste system is a root of race and class and other divisions."\nFor the Kinsey Institute, Steinem was a logical choice for the keynote address -- she has been labeled a pioneer in the area of feminism and treating women's sexuality with respect. \n"She has been exploring the area of women's sexuality from a female perspective, which was a new area not too long ago," said Nancy Letham, director of development at the Kinsey Institute.\nSteinem's visit fits in with the Kinsey Institute's mission to promote interdisciplinary research and scholarship in the fields of human sexuality, gender and reproduction.\n"I think she will help us put in perspective where we are coming from in understanding women's sexuality, where we are, and the territory we still need to cover," Letham said.\nBorn in 1934, Steinem has established herself as one of the founders of modern feminism. She went to Smith College in Massachusetts, graduating with a degree in government. After studying abroad, Steinem became a free-lance writer in New York, ultimately working for Esquire, Glamour and other magazines. In her role as contributing editor and political columnist for New York Magazine, Steinem covered everything from the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., to United Farm Workers demonstrations led by Cesar Chavez. In 1972, Steinem founded Ms. magazine with Dorothy Pitman Hughes. \nFor her accomplishments, McCall's magazine named Steinem 'woman of the year' that year. In addition to her work in the media and on the lecture circuit, Steinem has written numerous books. Her 1992 book, Revolution from Within: A Book of Self-Esteem, was a No. 1 bestseller and has been translated into 11 languages.\nStephanie Sanders, associate director of the Kinsey Institute, will introduce the anniversary celebration before Steinem's speech. In addition to Steinem's visit, the celebration includes art exhibits, lectures, presentations and panel discussions. The planning for the anniversary celebration has been going on for almost a year. \n"Steinem is a female legend in her own time," said Claire Tramm, Union Board's marketing director. "This is an opportunity for those who have learned about her and those who know nothing about her to hear her speak."\nUnion Board also sponsors the keynote address and worked with the Kinsey Institute to make Steinem's visit to campus possible. UB vice president for membership Mzilikazi Kone will introduce Steinem.\n"It will be empowering to hear Ms. Steinem speak," Kone said. "She has inspired so many people to get involved with feminist issues. It's great to have her share her experience with the student body and the community."\nDuring her time on campus, Steinem will also participate in a taped panel discussion at WTIU, "On sex, women, and the media." While the discussion will be filmed while Steinem is on campus, the panel will air at 10 p.m. Feb. 13. The discussion will be moderated by Kathy Krendel, the dean of the Department of Communications at Ohio University. IU Professor of Journalism Radhika Parameswaran, Associate Professor of Communications Angharad Valdivia of the University of Illinois and Vicky Shields, director of the Women's Studies Program at Bowling Green State University will participate in the discussion.\n"These scholars will look at women in the media from various perspectives," Letham said.
(01/30/03 4:40am)
Throughout world history, the female breast has been immortalized in odes, poems, paintings and sculptures. For some, the breast evokes a sense of beauty; for others, a sense of grief and loss. \nBloomington artist Karen Baldner said she associates the breast with the sorrow and pain a friend experienced while dealing with breast cancer. For the seven other women involved in the Bloomington Breast Project, the breast suggests diverse ideas. Some consider it a symbol for today's society and its quest for the perfect body. Others love the breast and want to share this love with everyone else. For others, the image is about embracing one's identity as a woman and rejecting the traditional subservient view of women. As part of the 50th Anniversary celebration of Alfred Kinsey's "Sexuality in the Human Female," the Bloomington Breast Project is currently on exhibit at the Stanley B. Mendelsohn Gallery, 213 S. Rogers St. The installation is available for viewing until Feb. 15. \nTHE PROCESS\nThe original idea of the Breast Project grew out of an installation Baldner worked on, which she calls "Dis-memberment and Re-membering." During the process, she learned of a friend's battle with breast cancer. In solidarity, she made a papier-mâché breast. As she looked deeper into the phenomenon of breast cancer and the women who dealt with the disease, she realized that other women in Bloomington would have similar stories. \nThe eight participants currently involved with the Bloomington Breast Project share a common trait -- the search for identity in modern society, a theme that reverberates through the installation.\n"We share a process that creates a new life among us," Baldner said. "Suddenly, we became a community and thought communally."\nAccording to the Bloomington Hospital Web site, one in nine American women are diagnosed with breast cancer during their lifetime. \nFor Baldner this statistic hit close to home. \nShe began searching for other women who shared her interest in the breast and the distress she associates with it. \n"I began to realize that I must be sharing the story of trauma and healing particular to the breast with millions of women around me," Baldner said. "Most probably I would not have to go much farther than my neighborhood block and my hometown community to find others sharing this issue."\nBesides breast cancer stories, Baldner found other tales. While she started out with a negative outlook on the breast, the groups ended up with a project that instead casts a positive light.\n"I was limited -- looking at it only from the negative perspective," she said. "The project has the ability to be as big as the people who participate in it. Now (the project) has reached the outer limits of my dream."\nThe installation is made out of handmade paper. For the Breast Project, each of the eight women made a matrix -- a wax or plaster cast of her breasts, creating multiple copies from the matrix afterward. The handmade paper was made in part from local plants -- corn husks, sweetgrass, irises and lilies. Baldner cooked the collected plants in her kitchen until they were ready to be processed and mixed with refined plant powder to add a finer quality to the paper. \nThe first woman who joined Baldner in creating the installation lived across the street from her. While the group is mainly comprised of artists, the group is not limited to them -- a writer and a teacher also participate. \n"The female body has long been viewed as a source of beauty," said Wendy Bernstein, Bloomington resident and art teacher. "The composition is basically a tribute to the collective strength and beauty of women."\nBaldner met Bloomington artist and IU Bachelor of Fine Arts student Gail Hale at an exhibition of works based on a class with artist Judy Chicago. Hale first became interested in the project because it seemed problematic in its absoluteness of gender identity.\nIn addition to working on the Bloomington Breast Project, Hale also presents an exhibit of her work "Sacrifice for a Culture" dealing with the image of the ideal foot in modern society. Hale said she believes American women suffer in old age from wearing high heels or too small a size of shoe in order to fit the ideal of having small feet. Her installations are also on display at the Mendelsohn Gallery through Feb. 15.\n"I wanted to investigate and celebrate the process of aging," Hale said. "It's hard for women to not be self-conscious about getting older."\nTHE FINAL PRODUCT\nOver several years, the eight women have made 250 breasts, originally from only 16 matrices. Historically, the breast has been an inherently feminine symbol. Here, it is taken out of the normal context of the body and put into a detached space.\nThe installation has been housed at several different locations. It spilled down the main staircase of the John Waldron Arts Center (JWAC) for a few hours. It peeked out of an old City Hall vault in JWAC's Rosemary P. Miller Gallery. It climbed a column in the sterile environment of the Carmichael Center. It has also visited a private house in Bloomington. \n"Every time the project is installed in different places, it makes a different statement," Baldner said.\nWhile Baldner was the original instigator of the project, she now holds a coordinating position. In the course of the current exhibition, four women have expressed interest in participating. The project is growing to embrace the breast and its many identities. \nThe group hopes to also bring the installation onto IU's campus. \nTHE REACTIONS\nWalking into the exhibition space, one sees 250 breasts on a stark white background.\n"It's always surprising," Baldner said. "It's not something you can walk past and not notice."\nBaldner noticed that whenever people see the installation for the first time, the reactions differ depending on gender. Generally, women feel exhilarated to see and talk about breasts freely. \n"It's liberating for women to be that brave to actually participate in a project that exposes their body," Hale said. "It's liberating not to feel like they have to hide their bodies because they don't have the perfect shape or measures."\nOlder men simply don't know how to talk about their thoughts and feelings Baldner said. But younger men seem to feel that the installation is there for their entertainment.\n"They don't seem to be able to articulate their thoughts," Baldner said. "I'm still collecting reactions from men."\nFor more information about the Bloomington Breast Project, visit http://www.indiana.edu/~kinsey or http://www.kiva.net/~kambi/breastproject.html.
(01/27/03 5:43am)
Four years ago, "Jazz from Bloomington" started out as a small volunteer organization whose goal was to work with national and local jazz musicians to enrich the understanding of the art form in Bloomington and surrounding areas.\nToday, JfB brings world-renowned jazz musicians Toots Thielemans and Kenny Werner to the Buskirk-Chumley Theatre at 7:30 p.m.\n"Jazz from Bloomington's mission is to promote and encourage the performance and appreciation of American's greatest contribution to world culture -- jazz," said David Miller, JfB's chairman of promotions and jazz trumpet player.\nOn his '80th Birthday Tour,' Jean Baptiste "Toots" Thielemans visits Bloomington to showcase his unique choice of instruments -- the harmonica. Born in Belgium in 1922, Thielemans has played with such jazz greats as Miles Davis, Benny Goodman and Milt Jackson. He also plays piano and guitar.\n"Toots is one of those rare performers who really can elicit the very recognition of what he plays within a few notes," Miller said. "He wrote the 'Sesame Street' theme, worked on music for the films 'Pawnbroker,' 'Midnight Cowboy' and 'Sugarland Express.' A lot of people don't realize that they've heard his music throughout their lives."\nThielemans has also played with Ella Fitzgerald, Paul Simon, Edith Piaf and other popular musicians. For his musical contributions, he has been made a Baron in his native Belgium and has even appeared on a postage stamp. \n"Toots is a living legend and Kenny is an amazing keyboardist," said Pat Harbison, JfB board president and IU Associate Professor of Music. "As with any cultural event, this is a fantastic thing." \nKenny Werner, Thielemans' long-time stage companion, has been playing the piano since a very young age. By age 11, he had recorded a single with a 15-piece orchestra and appeared on television playing stride piano. Although Werner started as a classical pianist, his need for improvisation led him to jazz. In addition to being a jazz musician, Werner teaches jazz and is currently artist-in-residence at New York University. His book, "Effortless Mastery," published in 1997, has become an influential guide to jazz improvisation. \n"One of the major goals of JfB is to have the opportunity to bring artists of this stature for people to be able to hear them in a live setting," Miller said. "The most stirring and inspirational experiences with jazz that I've had, had been in a live setting."\nJazz studies professors Tom Walsh on saxophone and Luke Gillespie on piano will open for Thielemans and Werner. \n"Since the featured event is a duo, Jazz from Bloomington wanted something comparable," Gillespie said. "When you're playing with just two people, there's a certain intimacy involved. In some ways, you're performing for the audience, but the performance involves having a musical conversation between the two performers. We're trying to capture the spontaneity involved."\nIn addition to the evening concert, Thielemans and Werner will each present a free clinic, open to the public, sponsored by IU Jazz Studies, as part of the David Baker Visiting Artist Lecture series. \n"The workshop is an opportunity to meet performers, listen to them talk about what they do, how they got where they are," Miller said. \nThielemans' workshop will be today from 12:30 to 2:15 p.m. in the Music Annex Building, MA 454. Werner's clinic on jazz improvisation, "Effortless Mastery" will take place Tuesday from 12:20 to 2:15 p.m. in Music Annex Building, MA 454.\nTickets for the concert are $16 general admission and $12 for JfB members. For ticket information, call the Sunrise Boxoffice (339-6741) located at the Buskirk-Chumley Theatre (114 E. Kirkwood Ave.). Tickets are also available at TD CD's and Bloomingfoods East.
(01/25/03 4:58am)
It is a celebration of all forms of art and a partnership between Bloomington and IU. \nThe 19th annual 'Arts Week' begins today at 5 p.m. at the IU Art Museum Atrium. \n"Arts Week allows both the students and the faculty from IU to go off campus and see organizations and programs that are happening beyond the gates," said Jan Skinner, Marketing Director for the Bloomington Area Arts Council. "At the same time, it allows Bloomington residents and those from surrounding areas to go on-campus and find that it's not such a threatening place after all."\nThe series of events started out as a seven-day long celebration. But the festival's evolution over the years has turned it into a widely diverse series of performances, exhibits, lectures and receptions that stretch over 19 days. At its core, Arts Week is a joint effort to bring awareness about the availability of diverse art forms in Bloomington. \n"We want to raise awareness of how much art there is here, what the talent pool is in Bloomington," said Alain Barker, Director of the Bloomington Early Music Festival. "Our program especially relies heavily on talent that comes off campus."\nArts Week begins with a reception from 5 to 8 p.m. today. The reception also presents "The Bloomington Biennial 2003," a diverse exhibit featuring faculty art from the Henry Radford Hope School of Fine Arts. Taking place every other year, this exhibit of contemporary art highlights faculty print, pottery and jewelry makers, graphic designers, photographers and painters.\n"Hopefully, visitors will realize that there's new and exciting art in Bloomington," said Joanna Davis, Public Relations and Marketing Coordinator. "Some people have the notion that they have to go to the coasts to see contemporary art. This is a great opportunity to see art in our own backyard."\nThe reception will begin with a panel discussion across the arts on "inner beauty."\nGerald L. Bepko, IU Interim President, Sharon Stephens Brehm, IUB Chancellor, and Tom Guevara, representing the City of Bloomington, will join the opening reception to address the community.\n"Arts Week is a great way for the arts community to combine and get a message out that Bloomington is rich with arts opportunities," Davis said. "This is time to showcase and let people know what's out there."\nTHE EVENTS\nThe mission of Arts Week is to present the array of arts available to full-time Monroe County residents and IU students. Arts Week events are designed to promote a celebration of diverse arts. \nHighlights include a special creation for Arts Week 2003, "The Welcome Table, A Midwinter Feast of a Song, Dance, Theater, and Pie." The performance will be followed by a gathering on Kirkwood Avenue outside the theater for a potluck dessert dinner. Audience and performers alike will gather around a fire built on a limestone table sculpture, specially commissioned from acclaimed sculptor Dale Enochs. The performance will take place Jan. 25 at 8 p.m. at the Buskirk-Chumley Theatre. \nThe Monroe County Public Library (MCPL) -- one of the many venues spread across Bloomington -- will hold two special panel discussions and lectures to promote interest in books and publishing. January 27 features a workshop titled "Writing about the Midwest," with non-fiction authors, essayists and IU faculty members Scott Sanders and James Madison. MCPL will also host "Music Publishing Trends at IU Press" on Feb. 3. \n"We like to work in cooperation with the University or other agencies in the county whenever we can," said LouAnn Dillon, MCPL librarian. "The Indiana Room focuses on Bloomington and Monroe County. These lectures feature local speakers and have a local bent."\nOther events feature lectures by artists and literary figures, performances, evenings of dance, exhibitions and series of youth-oriented events. \nFor a full schedule and information on participants, venues and parking, visit www.iub.edu/~artsweek.\nAn Arts Week shuttle bus will operate from Jan. 24 to 26 (noon to 11 p.m.), transporting passengers to and from the Monroe County Courthouse in downtown Bloomington and Jordan Avenue on the IUB campus. \nFor information about specific arts groups or programs, contact the Office of the Dean of Faculties at 855-0230.
(01/14/03 10:25pm)
For MFA student Stuart Hyatt, America is the land of sports and shopping, projecting a fascination with self-improvement and self-destruction at the same time. His interactive exhibit "The 8-step Revival" at the Henry Radford Hope School of Fine Arts (SoFA) Gallery is a physical representation of this theory. \nThe extravaganza opens today and will run through Friday, culminating with a rock 'n roll performance. The gallery hours are noon to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday. For the performance, the doors will open at 7 p.m. and the show will begin at 8 p.m.\nTHE EXHIBIT\nHyatt's exhibit is directed to stimulate a genuine interest in the unexpected and to create a fun atmosphere where people can explore their understanding of art as a projection of life.\nThe essence of Hyatt's exhibit is a physical revival through interaction with the eight different steps that he has identified. For him, these steps are each represented by an object: a block, a ball, a rake, a pole, a basket, a cup, a rope, and "goo." Each object symbolizes a part of the everyday life, but viewers are encouraged to find their own meaning in each of the steps. \n"Through the objects, I've tried to subtly comment on America, the celebrity and sports culture," Hyatt said.\nThis display offers the viewers an opportunity to determine their personal level of interaction with the sculptures. They can simply sit on the stadium-style bleachers and watch others, or they can play with the goo -- Hyatt has specifically mastered and improved the Dr. Seussian formula; play catch, climb the blocks, dig for treasures, play with the jumprope, or ride around in an electric car. \n"This is the playground of the future," Hyatt said. "I wanted to create something hands-on, fun, aesthetically over the top." \nTo make sure that visitors remember their experience at the "Revival," each will receive an 8-by-10 full-color photo as a souvenir. \n"The sheer amount of fun cannot be underestimated," said Dana Sperry, Associate Director of SoFA Gallery. "As adults, we don't spend nearly enough time having creative fun -- and that's exactly what Stuart has created here."\nDecked out in green and white, the SoFA Gallery has undergone a complete transformation during the semester break. Hyatt was able to bring the large objects into the space. The exhibit not only took over two rooms of the Gallery, but also extends into the opening hallway and the space across the stairwell. \n"Green is a natural color," Hyatt said. "But I've extracted the natural color and placed it in these plastic, consumer containers."\nThe exhibit will end with a rock performance on Friday night. Hyatt has written an album of music to reflect his personal view of the eight steps. According to him, the songs are catchy, sparkly, pop-sounding. The performance will be videotaped and released on DVD at a later date.\n"I wanted to combine the visceral and emotional immediacy of a loud rock concert with the intellectual and passive experience of a contemporary art exhibit," Hyatt said. "The challenge was to translate the meaning of the project into music."\nHyatt has played the violin since the age of three, and has taught himself to play guitar, bass, drums, and keyboard -- all necessary to project his understanding of art into music. \nPreparation\nFor Hyatt, this exhibition is the grand finale of a year-long process to bring it all off. He started with the premise that any art school is open to new ideas. For Hyatt, the structure of a university is about promoting a thirst for knowledge and a search for new ideas. \n"The stereotype is that the edgier work happens outside the university hall," Hyatt said. "This shows that a university can accept something new and exciting."\nA year ago, Hyatt presented the project to SoFA. Instead of putting together a short proposal, Hyatt built a scale model of the future exhibit with built-in displays and miniature sculptures. He also compiled a packet explaining what each of the objects represents. \n"I know that there are more talented and creative artists than me," Hyatt said. "But no one works harder and is as persistent as I am."\nOriginally from Indianapolis, the 28-year-old already has some tough projects under his belt. After graduating from Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Fla. in 1997, Hyatt worked as one of four principal designers of the COSI Columbus Project, a $125 million interactive science and technology museum in Columbus, Ohio. In the spring of 2002, he also developed and promoted a charity campaign for the Indiana Children's Wish Fund -- "Mustaches for Kids," where 20 Bloomington males grew and maintained mustaches in exchange for pledge money. His past experiences helped SoFA make the decision to let Hyatt use the exhibition space.\n"A show like this is a great way to kick off the semester," Sperry said. "Young artists cross lines a lot. It's interesting to see how this space can be used."\nFor six months since the gallery accepted his proposal, Hyatt has been thinking about and working on the exhibit, taking time in between to eat and sleep. \n"It's an impressive feat," Sperry said. "The sheer amount of resources and money that went into this show demonstrates Stuart's scope."\nTo set up his exhibit, Hyatt asked fellow art students for help. \n"This is really about a community of artists helping each other," said junior Rachel Brewer, a sculpture student. "It's been lots of fun."\nTHE FUTURE\nAfter he wraps up the Bloomington exhibit and finishes his degree, Hyatt plans to take the show on the road -- anywhere from concert halls to galleries.\nWherever he will take "The 8-step Revival," Hyatt said he hopes to bring a new perspective on contemporary art. \nTo learn more about the exhibition, visit www.8steprevival.com or sofa.fa.indiana.edu.
(12/16/02 4:35pm)
Most of the time, I can't even wrestle my way to walking in one-inch heels, much less three-inch ones. But the ability to walk in heels isn't Jeffrey Eisner's main talent (though I have to give major props to any guy who can handle 90 minutes of standing, dancing, running and jumping in three-inch heels).\nFriday night, the hallway in front of the Rose Firebay Theatre at the John Waldron Arts Center was abuzz with conversation -- the anticipation was almost palpable as people gathered for the Bloomington premiere of "Hedwig and the Angry Inch." Eisner, a senior musical theater major, presented the show as his final project for the Individualized Major Program. \n"I liked the movie…but I don't know what to expect here," said junior Patrick Whitaker before the show. "I'm interested to see how the singing goes."\nHis was the general feeling among the audience -- a sense of interest. "Hedwig" has garnered an international cult following and has been critically acclaimed in the United States and beyond. For an independent rock musical that opened at the Jane Street Theatre off-Broadway some years ago, "Hedwig" has done exceptionally well. \n"Hedwig and the Angry Inch" is a tale of an East German young man who suffers a sex change operation gone wrong in order to come to America. Hansel takes his mother's name; Hedwig Schmidt, and is ready to conquer the United States, but finals life isn't easy even in America.\nI could compare the show to "RENT" or to "Cabaret." But it is incomparable. It is simply a poignant tale, beautifully crafted in its music and lyrics. It speaks of a boy who grew into a woman. It is a journey. It is a tear-stained paper towel of self-realization and one man/woman's route to coming to terms with him/herself. It's more than just a show -- it touches the audience deeply and powerfully, leaving a profound memory in its wake.\nThe show isn't all sadness -- it's full of humor, though mostly dark. Witty lines abound: "I didn't have time to diet, so I took out my heart. Now, I'm a perfect size 10!" It isn't a wonder that people flocked to see this show and that the rock musical has become a cult classic. \nOnce the doors opened, the audience poured into the small theater. About ten chairs had to be added to accommodate everyone who wanted admission. Some even sat on the floor. \nThe makeshift stage, the brick walls and the lights added to the feel of a seedy night club. On stage, the five members of the band tuned their instruments, preparing for the show. Just another night, just another show for them, it seemed. In reality, it wasn't just another show. The stage was home to "The Angry Inch," Hedwig's band. \nAt the time of our first interview, Eisner was dark haired and pale and wore a goatee. For the show, he became Hedwig. The goatee was gone. Instead, his face now looked like that of an '80s icon -- eyelids caked with dark blue makeup, eyebrows sparkling green and a giant blonde wig gracing his head. From the moment he jumped onto the stage, Eisner wasn't himself -- he had exchanged himself for Hedwig and truly became the "internationally ignored songstress." In this role, Eisner was spectacular. Eisner combined Hedwig's intrinsic desire for femininity with Hansel's lament for losing sight of what he was and what he had wanted to become. \nWhen Hedwig left the stage, it was apparent that an enormous part of the whole that made up the production was missing. Eisner was larger than life in this role, commanding the attention of the audience in its entirety. \nThe outstanding chemistry between Hedwig and Yitzhak (senior Amy Birnbaum) added to the overall effect. Birnbaum's powerful voice added a new dimension to the performance. Slight of body, Birnbaum projected a compelling image through her voice. Playing a man isn't always easy for an actress, but Birnbaum was successful in this task. Kudos!\nThe band at first overpowered Eisner's vocals, but the technical problems were solved quickly. Two guitarists, a drummer, a bassist and a keyboardist created the perfect backdrop for Hedwig and Yitzhak, making the show a true rock 'n roll performance. \nAfter the play, I really couldn't think of any words to describe what I had just witnessed. I was simply speechless -- something that doesn't happen often to me. At first, the show's effect was so powerful that I, along with many members of the audience, did not even realize that it was over. It took about 10 seconds to sink in that Hedwig had just sung her last song. \nAn audience member said it best after the show: "Amazing! Terrific!" \nI've never seen the film directed by John Cameron Mitchell, who also co-wrote the musical. Next time I'm at Blockbuster, I'll be sure to bypass all the new releases in Hedwig's favor. When you have an opportunity to see the live performance, take a chance and go. I'm sure that it's different for each individual, but come with an open mind.
(12/13/02 5:39am)
On Feb. 10, the Indigo Girls will perform on the IU Auditorium's stage for the third time. The group announced its Bloomington stop in the current "Become You" tour Thursday. \n"It's nice to bring such a high quality act with a slightly lower ticket price than most tickets are nowadays," said Adam Blake, Union Board concert director. "This will be similar to shows in major cities, just not as pricey shows."\nTickets will be available starting at 10 a.m. Mon-day, Dec. 16. Tickets are $32 for the general public and $28 for IU students with an ID. \nThe Indigo Girls appeared on IU Auditorium's stage in 1997 and 1999, creating a strong fan base, Blake said.\n"This show is about a month after winter vacation," Blake said. "It's a great way to come back and have something exciting to look forward to."\nThe Union Board-sponsored concert will follow in the footsteps of such rock acts as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jewel, John Mellencamp and Counting Crows. \n"We are very excited that the Union Board has decided to bring the Indigo Girls to campus," said Doug Booher, director of the IU Auditorium. "The Indigo Girls are a group that we continually get requests for. Union Board is responding to the needs of the community."\nThe Atlanta-based duo of Emily Saliers and Amy Ray has been singing together since high school and through college at Emory University. The Indigo Girls are famous for their support of various causes ranging from environmental affairs and women's rights to gun control and opposition to war in Iraq. The group's discography includes the March-released "Become You," "Come on Now Social," "Shaming of the Sun" and "Indigo Girls" with its hit "Closer to Fine" among others. The opening act has not yet been announced. \n"The Indigo Girls are always vocal about the causes they support," Blake said. "They seem to enjoy coming to college campuses. I think it's a way for them to spread word about their causes to the youth of America, to try to get the point across and get people on board."\nClear Channel Entertainment collaborated with the Union Board in bringing the act to Bloomington, adding to Bloomington's image as the hub of a variety of musical genres. \n"It's always a great time to come back and play Bloomington," said Andy Wilson, Clear Channel Entertainment publicity director. "Bloomington has such a great music scene and music venues. It's a great place to bring live music." \nTickets will be available at the IU Auditorium box office, at the Student Activities Desk in the IMU, online at www.cc.com and at all Ticketmaster outlets.
(12/13/02 5:29am)
When Jeffrey Eisner first started at IU as a musical theater major through the Individualized Major Program, he knew his final project would not be something as simple as a few cabaret tunes. Finally in his senior year and due to graduate in May 2003, Eisner is directing, producing and starring in "Hedwig and the Angry Inch." \nThe critically acclaimed off-Broadway rock hit is a story of an East German rock singer Hansel, who suffers a botched-up sex change operation to get over the Berlin Wall. \n"It's a sleazy stand-up night club act by a transsexual rock star in search for the other half," Eisner said. \nThe story is both moving and exhilarating, bringing up transgender issues, sexual relations, friendship, loyalty, and success.\n"The show is racy, risque, controversial. It makes people uncomfortable," said supporting actress and senior Amy Birnbaum. "It gets under your skin."\nThe play runs today and Friday at the John Waldron Arts Center's Rose Firebay theatre at 9 p.m. The show is free -- the IMP does not allow its students to charge for admission.\n"It's my present to the Bloomington community," Eisner said. \nFULFILLING REQUIREMENTS\nThe IMP allows students to combine diverse areas of study to create their own major. Students have the opportunity to design their curriculum and select their courses from a diverse range of departments. \n"The program we're in affords us opportunities that we would not have in other programs," Birnbaum said. "IMP is not as regimented as other programs."\nThrough four or less years in the IMP, students work tet-á-tet with faculty advisers, who supervise the curriculum. The culmination of the participant's studies in the program is a final project that showcases everything the student has learned. The final project may consist of a research paper, a performance, or an internship. Along with one of these, each IMP student is required to submit a 2-page retrospective statement in which the student evaluates his or her curriculum and the value of different courses to a future career. \n"I hope this show raises standards," Birnbaum said. "I want people to see what the IMP is enabling us to do. The program is working!"\nEisner could have taken the relatively easy way out -- singing a series of unconnected show or cabaret tunes.\n"I don't think that they would showcase what I'm really capable of," he said. "This is a real challenge for me as an actor -- it's basically a 90-minute rock soliloquy."\nEisner will receive a grade on this performance. His adviser, George Pinney, a professor in the Department of Theater and Drama, will judge the creative process that went into the show, the performance itself, and Eisner's growth as an actor and director. \n"The musical theatre major is a combination of acting, singing, and dance," Pinney said. "The final project should ideally showcase all three."\nPUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER\nEisner, a Long Island native, started preparing for the show in August. Back then, he spent almost two months trying to find the owners of the rights to "Hedwig and the Angry Inch." It turned out that a small company, Dramatists Playservice, Inc., holds the rights. After some discussion, Eisner received permission to use the book and the score. \nOnce Eisner secured the rights, he had to find a performance space, a crew, a costume designer, an acting team, and, most importantly, a band. \n"Putting this together is the greatest challenge," Eisner said. "I've never directed something of this scope." \nWith a budding idea in mind, Eisner found a stage manager/assistant director in Alison Cordell, a senior Theater and Drama and English major. Cordell is Eisner's guiding light. When he's on stage, she makes sure that everything goes smoothly. \nNext, Eisner found a band to play the show's score -- a rock 'n roll journey to self-realization. \nFor Eisner, the main challenge of this production is doing everything himself.\n"You have to depend only on yourself," he said. "In the theater department, you don't have to worry as much; the costumes and props are easily accessible."\nTheater and Drama graduate student Rebecca Jarrell takes care of the costumes. The play requires a lot of sequins, a lot of fine fabrics, and the most important task of all: making a male look like a female with a touch of rock 'n roll class for an hour and a half. \nOPENING EYES\nEisner took on this project hoping to bring something new to Bloomington. Although the Bloomington arts community is welcoming of new ventures, Eisner believes that it could use some new initiative. \n"Bloomington needs to experience this play," Eisner said. "It brings up issues that aren't generally addressed"
(12/12/02 5:43am)
What would happen if all of Monroe County read the same book? The project "One Book, One Bloomington" asks this questions of its participants. In its second year, the project invites the entire Monroe County community, including IU, to read the same book over the course of February, March and April 2003.\nThe community-wide project is sponsored and primarily organized by the Bloomington Area Arts Council, whose mission is to "serve and support art forms in all media: performing arts, visual arts, literature and creative writing," said Sally Gaskill, BAAC director and member of the steering committee. \nA steering committee of nine individuals organized and presented the project in 2002. This committee included professional librarians from both IU and Monroe County as well as people who are interested in reading. Some of the same committee members came back to the 2003 project.\n"It's a wonderful opportunity to bring the University, Bloomington and Monroe County together on something that is not a policy issue," said Amanda Ciccarelli, director of Special Projects at the College of Arts and Sciences and member of the steering committee.\nReaders have eight titles from which to choose: "My Antonia" by Willa Cather, "Ella Minnow Pea" by Mark Dunn, "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald, "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver, "1984" by George Orwell, "Bel Canto" by Ann Patchett, "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain, and "Slaughterhouse Five" by Kurt Vonnegut. Residents and students can vote online at www.artlives.org, or drop a ballot into special boxes at local bookstores including TIS, the IU Bookstore, Borders and the Monroe County Public Libraries and the IU Undergraduate Library. The ballot also contains an option to include the reader's personal favorite book among the official choices. The committee will collect the ballot boxes Dec. 15. Online voting ends Dec. 16.\nOnce all the votes are in and the steering committee tallies them, the community will learn the final selection Jan. 25. From then on, those readers who would like to participate in this community-wide program can pick up the chosen novel at several of Bloomington's bookstores.\n"Once they pick one book, it won't be as much of an economic hardship to buy one book. Now people are buying all eight books to help them decide," said Jaz Williams, merchandising supervisor at Borders. "I'm hoping that the committee lets us know promptly what book is chosen so that we can restock and order more of that particular book."\nOBOB is similar to other projects undertaken in cities like Chicago, Orlando, Ottawa, Flint and East Lansing, Mich. Chicago's program -- "One Book, One Chicago" -- has taken place every semester for the past two years. The selections have included "Night" by Elie Wiesel, "To Kill A Mockingbird" by Harper Lee, and "My Antonia" by Willa Cather.\n"The program's goal is promoting community-wide reading and dialogue," said Kathi Loser, librarian at Bloomington High School North and OBOB committee member. \nThe committee had extensive discussion to select the criteria for the books on the ballot. The book must be written by an American author. The book must be accessible to audiences aged 16 and up. It also must be available in a variety of formats -- paperback, hardcover, CD or books-on-tape. The book selected must be average in length to allow ample time for a variety of community members to read it. \nThe main criterion is for the book to touch on themes -- whether controversial or not -- that foster discussion between generations. \n"We did not want to choose a book that had similar themes to last year," said Mickey Needham, librarian at the Ellettsville branch of Monroe County Public Libraries.\nOnce the committee makes the selection known, discussion groups will start up all over Monroe County. People University's Ex Libris, a group that meets every fourth Wednesday of the month, will conduct book chats tailored specifically to the selected book. Official OBOB discussion groups led by the project committee members will also spring up in the community.\n"We hope to make discussion groups available to a wide cross section of the community," said H. Michael Simmons, adult/family program specialist at Bloomington Parks and Recreation and chairman of the OBOB committee. "Formal and informal discussion groups will be available."\nLast year's project also spawned many smaller but similar programs. Church reading groups, discussion groups and circles of friends took up the selected book to come together later on and discuss it in the spirit of OBOB. Committee members said they hope that this year's project will result in a similar situation.\nLast year, Monroe County community members read Ernest Gaines' "A Lesson Before Dying." \n"Last year's book wasn't something I had read before, and I was glad to do so for the program," Simmons said. "Reading "A Lesson Before Dying" was a great experience especially because there were African-American participants in my discussion group, and their perspectives added a new dimension to my own understanding of the book." \nReaders of all generations connected in discussing racism and the relationship between diverse ethnic groups. Loser said she knows of at least one family where the student read Gaines' book for his sophomore English class while the parent read it as part of last year's OBOB initiative. \n"In a diverse community like ours, people are reading different things all the time," said Ann Bristow, reference librarian at the Main Library and member of the steering committee. "We had to find a way to bring parts of the community together to discuss items of interest."\nOn Jan. 25, the steering committee will announce the final book selection during a creative writing conference at the John Waldron Arts Center. Six IU creative writing faculty members will present a seminar to students and Monroe County residents. OBOB discussion groups will commence after this seminar. Those who choose to read the selected work will bring their diverse experiences and background to the discussions, making this program a real community effort. \n"Reading a good book never hurt anybody," Bristow said.
(12/05/02 4:30am)
Dressed in black and white, the nine members of Mariachi de la Flor held their stringed instruments tightly but gently as they prepared to perform at Collins Coffeehouse Monday. Some of them have never before sung or played a Mariachi tune -- a rhythmic, lively melody, words that breathe of a culture unknown to most of us.\nBut tonight, they are ready to perform.\nThese nine are part of an elite 16 students who have practiced all semester as part of Professor Cándida Jáquez' class, Mariachi Performance and Culture. While most are aspiring musicians, students of all majors are welcome to the class, which takes a look at Mariachi musical culture as a representative of Mexico and its culture. \n"Mariachi is not just a musical tradition. It's a cultural tradition, but many people don't realize that," Jáquez said to the audience at Mariachi de la Flor's performance at Collins Coffeehouse Monday. It was Jaquez's mother who came up with the ensemble's name. \nAn ethnomusicologist in the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology, Jáquez is teaching the class for the third time in her IU career. The class meets once a week for two and a half hours on Tuesdays. This three-credit course consists of lectures and a performance practice. Although performance is a major component of the class, it is not limited to music majors. Most class participants are in the College of Arts and Sciences. In the past, students from such different fields as business, folklore, music, and arts have taken the course.
