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(04/13/06 5:21am)
Student filmmakers will be able to showcase their talents tonight and Friday night at the Union Board's fifth annual Student Film Festival. The event begins at 8 p.m. in the Whittenberger Auditorium of the Indiana Memorial Union both nights.\nThe event, free for IU students or $2 for nonstudents, will feature 19 films of all types: comedy, mystery, horror, science fiction, drama and artistic movies, Union Board Films Director and junior Dash Voorhees said.\nVoorhees said the film festival, which in the past has drawn a crowd of 300, will have five judges, including a past \nwinner and a communication and culture instructor. Winners in categories of judges' choice and best cinematography will receive a $1,000 gift certificate to IU Bookstores and Final Cut Studio Pro editing software, respectively, for first and second place.\nAn audience choice award will also be given.\nThe student film festival serves as a stepping stone for students showing their work. \nJunior Michael Diamond said his short film, "Amelia's Canon," which he produced, will serve as a calling card for other projects. This is Diamond's first year entering the festival, but he said he's been making films his whole life and is hoping to send this short film to other festivals.\nDiamond said he spent a couple of months planning, filming and editing his film, which is just less than 30 minutes long. \n"I'm definitely passionate about it and I can only see myself doing one thing," Diamond said. "It's great to bring together a project from pre-production stages to all the way through. Even if nothing happens, you meet people you can work with in the future."\nAlthough junior Adam Hoelzel helped direct Diamond's film, his main project was writing and directing a short film titled "Lock and Key" for the festival. \n"In this stage of production, it's usually one guy doing everything," he said. "It doesn't have a straight beginning, middle and end. It's supposed to be more fun, as a showcase of style and themes of the 1940s."\nHoelzel said he's been making films since middle school. \n"I was really attracted to it for as long as I can remember," he said. "The majority of my time has gone into writing something, editing something or making something."\nStudents like Diamond and Hoelzel said the process involves planning out the story, getting actors to volunteer, shooting and finally editing and adding sound effects and music to the films. Both said they held auditions at the theater school to find students willing to act for something to add to their resume. \n"It's like a collaboration," Diamond explained. "They need stuff for their resume as much as you do."\nIn the future, both Diamond and Hoelzel said they hope to pursue filmmaking as a career. However, they say they recognize the difficulty of breaking in to the industry.\n"The entertainment industry is probably the least structured of any job market there is," Hoelzel said. \nDiamond agreed. \n"I'd like to (do filmmaking as a career), but it's obviously very difficult. And you realize you're not going to make it right away," he said. "But if you're passionate about it and put yourself in the right position things are going to happen."\nVoorhees encourages everyone to come to the event.\n"Hopefully people will come out and support local directors and producers," he said. "We have all genres and even music videos."\nAll films had to be submitted previous to the event and were edited for content, Voorhees said. Each night of films is expected to last one and half hours, but each film can be anywhere from two to 30 minutes long.\n"It's an excellent opportunity to give student a chance to share their films," he said. "We're happy to do it. We'll be doing it again next year"
(04/12/06 5:02am)
A recent survey ranked each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia by its efforts to prevent unintended pregnancies. Indiana placed 49th, according to the Guttmacher Institute. \nSix million pregnancies occur among American women each year, according to the institute. Of those, half of them are unintended. In fact, the United States has one of the highest rates of unplanned pregnancy in the world.\nCynthia Dailard, leading author of the Guttmacher study, said there are many things Indiana is not doing to keep up with other states in preventing unintended pregnancies. The study looks at how each state performed in two different areas: laws and policies as well as service availability and public funding, she said. \nThe Guttmacher researchers found that only half of Indiana's counties have a family planning clinic -- well below the national average. \nIn addition, Indiana spends only $70 per "woman in need" per year, while the national average is $79. The study defined "woman in need" as both women younger than 20 who need contraceptive services and supplies, as well as women of ages 20 to 44 who need publicly funded contraceptive services and supplies and have a family income level that is below the federal poverty level. Some states are spending as much as $183 per woman in need, such as South Carolina. \nFinally, Indiana has not enacted proactive laws designed to facilitate access to family planning services for women. While 23 other states have required private insurance plans to cover contraceptives, Indiana has not done so. \n"Clearly, Indiana can do better," Dailard said. "Most other states -- many with equally strained budgets -- are spending more dollars per woman in need of contraceptives services on an annual basis than does Indiana."\nThat's not to say Indiana is doing nothing at all. The study showed Indiana's teenage pregnancy rate has declined by 22 percent between 1992 and 2000. Furthermore, funding has increased 200 percent from 1994 to 2001. In 2005, the state legislature directed the state to apply to the federal government for a waiver, so that Indiana could provide more women -- including those with higher incomes -- with family planning through Medicaid. \nHowever, of the money Indiana and the federal government spent on contraceptive services and supplies in Indiana in 2001, only 13 percent was allocated for that purpose by the state, according to the study. However, other states like South Carolina have allocated more than 30 percent of that total money to contraceptive services in 2001.\nThe blame for a high number of unplanned pregnancies is handed out to different groups, according to different people. Despite so many negative statistics, Indiana has many private organizations and agencies that do supplement state efforts to reduce the number of unplanned pregnancies.\nPlanned Parenthood is an agency with a mission statement of "providing, protecting and promoting reproductive health." Regarding planning pregnancy, it offers exams, birth control methods, emergency contraception and education in schools and other organizations.\nLeslie Montgomery, director of programs for Planned Parenthood in Indiana, said Indiana's high unplanned pregnancy rate is due, in part, to how Hoosiers talk about sex. \n"I would say it has more to do with the sexual literacy. People are not comfortable talking about sexuality, and therefore, a lot of parents don't talk to their kids," she said. "When parents don't talk to their kids, then kids will experiment."\nIndiana's Respect Campaign, which receives grants from the State Department of Health, is another private organization with a focus on educating students. The campaign teaches only abstinence in schools.\nLu Anne Hendricks, coordinator of the Respect Campaign for Brown County Schools, said her organization has found more students choose abstinence after being talked to about the consequences of pregnancy. She also believes in teaching only abstinence.\nAccording to a legislative document outlining Indiana education requirements, schools are required to "teach abstinence from sexual activity outside of marriage as the expected standard for all school age children."\n"If we're teaching what Indiana state law says, and then we go in and say, 'But this is what you do if you want to have sex,' that's a double-message to me," Hendricks said. "It's ultimately the parents' responsibility because they are the ones raising the child." \nDailard said seeking federal approval of the Medicaid family planning waiver, as directed last year by the Indiana state legislature, would be "an enormous step in the right direction."\nDailard said she believes the state has a responsibility, too. \n"It's a question of priorities," she said. "If Indiana wants to see fewer abortions and to help women and families, then the answer is devoting more dollars and resources designed to help couples avoid unintended pregnancies"
(04/12/06 4:45am)
A festival this week is using hip-hop as a way to change stereotypes on campus. It will bring people together and transcend gender, age and race, said junior Alex Pyatetsky, president of IU's chapter of Hip Hop Congress. He said hip-hop is a form where different perspectives can come together. \nThe sixth annual Hip Hop Awareness Festival includes events all week and one event next week, according to their Web site. All events are free. Presented by Hip Hop Congress, an international grassroots network which uses hip-hop to educate, empower and unite people, the festival has already sponsored two events this week. \nPyatetsky said members of HHC are motivated to change stereotypes about hip-hop on campus.\n"A lot of people lose sight of what hip-hop is and what it means," he said. "Hip-hop was started as a culture to give urban youth an outlet other than violence. That energy and positivity of making something good out of the worst: that's what hip-hop is to me."\nAt 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Indiana Memorial Union Gallery, students can attend a poetry slam. According to the Web site, as many as 16 poets will compete for a $150 prize and an opportunity to open for and have dinner with performer Saul Williams at an event the following Tuesday. Participants are encouraged to pre-register but can also sign up when they arrive. DJ and hip-hop journalist MetroGnome will be providing the soundtrack for the event.\nThursday night A Sound of Africa, co-presented by the African Student Association, is showcasing the phenomenon of hip-hop, Pyatetsky said. It will show the African influence of hip-hop through a lineup of several artists, according to the Web site. The event will be at 8 p.m. in the Grand Hall of the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center.\nFriday's event will feature the Evil Pih-Poh Tour at 7 p.m. in IMUG, which is live hip-hop spelled backwards to show the event's goal to turn stereotypes around. According to the Web site, its goal is to "burn down the stereotypes that hover over our form of musical expression." Several musical groups will be performing.\nSaturday features The Big Day, a food drive held from noon to 10 p.m. in the Willkie Auditorium that will feature break dancing, emcee and DJ battles. Donations of canned food are suggested and will benefit Hoosier Hills Food Bank, Pyatetsky said. He said last year between 1,000 and 2,000 people attended the more than 10 hours of events, and he is expecting at least that many this year.\n"When you come to our Big Day, you're not going to be sitting in an auditorium. There's dancing and an open dance floor. You walk around. And you'll see how that works," Pyatetsky said.\nThe end of the festival will culminate in a spoken-word performance by Saul Williams at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 18 in Alumni Hall of the IMU.\n"Saul Williams has pretty strong convictions and is looking to make a change with his poetry and to affect people and the way they see things," said graduate student Steve Backhus, a Hip Hop Congress member. "We want the opportunity to put strong personalities out there and initiate some kind of change in the way that they think. The whole week is just exciting in itself."\nBackhus expressed his ideas on what he hopes Hip Hop Congress will accomplish.\n"The organization does have an agenda for creating some sort of societal change, whether it's making the campus more racially inclusive or making it less divided."\nFor more information on Hip Hop awareness week and events, visit mypage.iu.edu/~iuhhc/.
(04/07/06 5:13am)
IU's Association of Central Eurasian Students are sponsoring their 13th annual conference from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday in Ballantine Hall. The conference itself is unique because it is run entirely by graduate students, said Daniel Beben, president of the association. The organization is for graduate students who are studying the countries and people of the Central Eurasian region.\nBeben said many graduate students, scholars and professors from Russia, central Europe and China, among other countries, will be presenting papers in the form of panels for each session, which are open to the public.\n"Anybody can come learn, watch and listen to what's going on," he said. \nBeben pointed out it will be "more than just people standing there presenting papers" -- there will be discussion as well.\nBeben said some of the most popular topics covered in the sessions are U.S. foreign policy toward central Asia, Iranian politics and development, how Islam is practiced in different countries, economic development in central Asia, and literature and cinema.\nBeben mentioned different discussions will occur simultaneously. \n"This conference has grown quite a bit over the last few years," he said. "Last year, we had about 40 people presenting and this year (it's) almost 100. Next year, we are hoping to make it a two-day conference. But people are welcome to walk in and out of different things to see what's going on."\nProfessor Peter Perdue of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology will be presenting the keynote address titled, "Why Do Empires Expand?" This topic will be addressed at 2:15 p.m. in Ballantine Hall Room 013. All other sessions will be taking place between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on the first two floors of Ballantine. \n"We're hoping to get people who are doing research in some of these areas to be able to meet and interact with each other and find out what's going on," Beben said. "It's an opportunity to share ideas and network with people from around the world you wouldn't get a chance to meet otherwise."\nA cultural event titled "Central Eurasia Through Images, Sounds and Words" will conclude the conference. Professor Shahyar Daneshgar, lecturer in IU's Central Eurasian studies department, said it will include food, music, poetry and a dance in order to "highlight the cultural aspects of the lives of the people that the conference focuses on." It will also include a photography exhibit from a student who spent a year in Turkistan. The cultural event begins at 7:30 p.m. in Ballantine 013.\nThe conference is free and open to any student who wishes to attend and learn more about the Central Eurasian Studies program. It is one of the few conferences in world that focuses on the Central Eurasian region, Beben said.\n"More universities don't have a department of Central Eurasian studies," he said. "We're very lucky."\n"Speaking about these issues is important," Daneshgar said. "Parents' sons and daughters are overseas. I think this conference and music and events give them a better idea of what those cultures are about."\nFor a complete schedule as well as more information about the Association of Central Eurasian Students, visit www.indiana.edu/~aces/.
(04/06/06 4:21am)
Live music seems to come with a high price. It is not unheard of for students to spend at least $50 on concert tickets to hear their favorite band. Luckily, IU students have a chance to hear 10 local bands live Thursday night, spend no more than $5 and help feed the hungry.\nUnion Board's Live from Bloomington, a committee that promotes local music and independent artists, is sponsoring Bloomington's 21st Annual Club Night for local music. The annual charity event begins at 8 p.m. Thursday at Rhino's Youth Center, an all-ages venue. In order to benefit Hoosier Hills Food Bank, an organization that collects food to distribute to other agencies, admission is either $5 or $3 with two canned goods. All proceeds will go to benefit the organization. Admission allows participants access to all three venues: Rhino's Youth Center, The Bluebird and Second Story, although participants must be 21 or older to enter The Bluebird and Second Story Nightclub.\n"The whole idea is you can go to three different venues and only pay for one," said Live from Bloomington director Tracy Johnson. "It's almost like a venue crawl for live music. You have the option to see different types of music."\nDifferent bands, all of which are volunteers for the event, will be featured at each venue. At Rhino's Youth Center, bands Husband & Wife, Mobley and Broken Stone will play from 8 to 10:45 p.m. Bluebird will feature the sounds of Muzaic, Trio In Stereo, Stereo Deluxe and Emerson Rose from 10 p.m. to 12:45 a.m. Finally, The Warmth, Lying Dying Liars and 3 Rivers Jackson will be performing from 11 p.m. to 1:45 a.m. at Second Story, according to a press release.\nEven those who are younger than 21 will still be able to listen to bands at Rhino's from 8 to 11 p.m. \n"A lot of people feel excluded because there are two bars," Johnson said. "The thing about Rhino's is it's such a great venue. Since they're not serving alcohol it's almost like if you're really going to go for the music, it's the place you want to be."\nIn addition to the music, Live from Bloomington will be selling Club Night 2006 T-shirts for $8 as well as CDs for $6 featuring many of the artists performing at the event. The money raised from these products will go toward the cause.\nIn previous years, the event has most notably donated thousands of dollars and pounds of food for Hoosier Hills Food Bank, but Johnson said the attendance and amount of food donated has declined in recent years.\n"Over the years, with more organizations and lack of places to get the word out, it's been a little bit more difficult," she said. "It used to be a huge deal. In 1996, we were on the cover of Billboard magazine for the event; 15,000 pounds of food were donated," she said.\nJohnson said she is hoping to see more people show up this year. s just a really great cause. It's about local music as well, but the biggest part of it is that we get to donate money to Hoosier Hills because (hunger) is such a big problem in this area."\nBenefiting the music scene as well as an important local organization, Club Night allows music lovers to come and get a taste of local music.\n"You're bound out of 10 bands playing to find one you really enjoy," Johnson said. "It's $5 at the most to go see 10 bands. If you're going to do something great for the community, you might as well get some culture out of it."\nClub Night is being sponsored by the Jacobs School of Music, IUSTV and local businesses. For more information on Union Board events, visit www.imu.indiana.edu/union_board/index.html.
(03/31/06 4:52am)
Several speakers discussed HIV and its effect on minority populations Thursday night at a presentation and interactive discussion with the public in the Walnut room of the Indiana Memorial Union.\nIU student Omar Casillas \nfrom Sigma Lambda Beta, which presented the event, said the goal was to get the word out on HIV, especially for college students and minorities.\n"I think minorities have less knowledge on HIV because it's not something as talked about in our culture," said Casillas, who is Latino.\nAudience member Carlos Sainz commented on the value of providing HIV education. \n"I think I learned more about HIV in my high school than in my house," he said.\nJasynda Lacy, who represents \nPositive Link, a program that does HIV outreach, prevention, and case management for Bloomington Hospital, was the main speaker for the event. \nAlthough fewer than a dozen people turned out for the event, Lacy went through the facts and myths of contracting HIV, including signs and symptoms, how HIV is transmitted, who's at risk and how to prevent it.\nLacy said Latinos view HIV as the second biggest health concern, behind cancer, and African Americans consider it the No. 1 health problem in the United States.\nLacy said 40 million people in the world have HIV, including 1 million in the U.S. Of those people, only one-third who have it know they do and are doing something about it. The rest of those infected either do not know it or are not doing anything about it.\n"It's not who you are that puts you at risk," she said. "It's what you do. It's a behavior that puts you at risk."\nLacy also said college-aged individuals have increasing rates of HIV. \n"I always recommend getting tested if you've put yourself at risk," she said. "People should be learning as much as they can about it and getting tested."\nLacy also straightened out common myths about HIV.\n"Not everyone that has HIV will get the symptoms," she said. "But whether or not they have symptoms they can still transmit virus to other people. Someone could theoretically live with the virus for a very long time and not even know they have it."\nDuane Shearer, who also represented Positive Link at the event, works with the Spanish-speaking community to inform them about HIV and advocate for HIV testing.\n"Right now the HIV rate for Caucasians has been pretty level, but for Hispanics and African Americans it's slightly rising," Shearer said. "There are a lot of people that I work with everyday that know almost nothing about how you get HIV."\nPositive Link offers free HIV testing every Monday, Thursday and Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Bloomington Hospital.
(02/28/06 5:17am)
It's more than a place to work out or shoot hoops with friends. The School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation building is filled with hidden secrets.\nThe HPER contains the old fieldhouse, now called the Ora L. Wildermuth Intramural Center, where HPER Assistant Dean David Skirvin said legendary NCAA championship teams of 1940 and 1953 played under the coaching of Branch McCracken. Bill Garrett, the first black basketball player in the Big Ten, also spent some time playing in HPER's fieldhouse. \n"It was a dirt floor for many decades after it was built," said Brad Cook, photography curator of the IU Archives. "They brought in a wooden floor and bleachers that weren't permanent."\nCook said that the men's gymnasium was the original part of the HPER, built in 1917, which was even before the fieldhouse was built. The University's Men's basketball teams played there for a few years before the gym became too small to hold the growing number of fans. \nThe gym is now divided into several courts where students can play basketball as well as attend different HPER classes. \n"You can tell it used to be a big court," Cook said. "Extensions, which are now offices, used to be the trophy room." \nHowever, it's not just basketball that claims a significant history in the HPER. HPER Dean David GAllahue said six NCAA champion teams, as well as coach Doc Counsilman, have competed in HPER's Royer Pool. Gallahue said Counsilman is considered the most successful swimming coach in the history of the sport. He coached 23 IU Big Ten championship teams, as well as the six NCAA champion teams. \nThe original HPER building also contains the swastika symbol on many of its walls. The symbol used to be positive for many different religions, according to a plaque on one of the walls. The symbol was not seen as negative until World War II when the Nazis used it to inspire fear.\nThe original building houses an additional pool, which is still used today by students for classes and recreation, Gallahue said. This additional and lesser known pool lies in the basement of the original building. A workout room, hardly visible, remains adjacent to -- but a floor below -- the Intramural Center. The building contains extensive research labs, referred to as wet labs.\nIU dedicated a new center in the HPER to Counsilman Feb. 26. The research center, named the Counsilman Center for the Science of Swimming, studies the science of competitive swimming.\nEven today, the HPER holds more than meets the eye, Gallahue said. He doesn't want students thinking the HPER is only about basketball games and working out. \n"We do bounce balls, but we do a lot of other things too," he said.
(02/13/06 4:29am)
Even when they're not dancing, their poised and limber bodies show the strength built up from long practices just like these. Despite having an important performance in just a few months, the rehearsal is light-hearted, with students laughing and joking as they try out new moves. They respond quickly to junior student choreographer Abigail Rich as she helps them learn the contemporary dance routine. \nFinally, they put the sequence altogether, and immediately the movements click. \n"I like this," Rich sings out when she sees it done the way she planned. \nMovements that would be considerably awkward to the average person flow easily through the graceful and athletic bodies of the seven dancers rehearsing for a choreographic performance project, just one of the many requirements of dance majors.\nAs a dance major, students earn their degree through the Department of Kinesiology, with a primary focus on modern dance. \nHowever, all dance majors must study a broad range of dance types including ballet, jazz, African dance and tap, said IU dance coordinator Elizabeth Shea. They also take classes studying how the body works.\n"I think it's important for people to know that it's not just dance we're majoring in," senior Dustin Stephan said. "It's kinesiology, and it's a study of the body." \nHe said dance majors can usually find a great complementary minor to go along with dance, such as exercise science. \nAlthough a lot of dance majors would love to perform after they graduate, that's not always a realistic goal. Many majors find a corresponding minor, said sophomore Richelle Steiner. \n"You have to have something to fall back on," Steiner said. "I hope to own a studio some day and teach. You have to be open-minded about jobs. (With performing), you can go to a million auditions and only get one."\nShea said time commitments for majors are fairly demanding. Dance majors have technique class everyday and modern dance at least three times a week. \nAll dance majors have to participate in at least one choreographic performance project each semester. In addition, many students take on performances through opera as well as performing in the faculty concert in January and other performances in the fall.\n"I rehearse about four days a week, two to three hours a day, plus time on my own in the studio to work on my piece for the choreographic performance project," Rich said. "I love it. I wish I could spend more time (dancing). It can be hard to balance your time, but it's a necessary part if you want to pursue it seriously."\nRich said spending so much of her time dancing does not sacrifice her life as normal college student. Freshman Kelly McCormick agreed.\n"Dance is how I want to spend my time," she said. "We're choosing to do this and we love it. It's when I don't dance that I feel stressed and weird. Dancing relieves so much stress."\nWhile the major is a big time commitment, requiring 70 credit hours, the 18 credit-hour dance minor is an easy way to learn about dance, Shea said. \n"You can do a minor without any experience," she said. "A lot of students take a class and say 'Hey, I really like this' and decide to pick up a minor."\nNext year, the dance program will begin a different type of structure with even more time and demanding rehearsals, McCormick said. \n"Once we get a strong core of dancers established, people are really going to recognize it," she added. "I'm ready to be part of this program really taking off"
