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(11/06/03 5:00am)
Upland Brewing Company's atmosphere is complemented by its wooden deco, live music and televisions and award-winning beer. \nThe history and namesake of the restaurant stems from the Norman and Crawford Uplands in Southern Indiana. These are areas where glaciers formed the land into plateaus situated hundreds of feet above the rest of the landscape in Southern Indiana. The people living in these geographic locations were said to be self-sufficient and confident, and thus the beer brewed at Upland reflects similar attributes. \nThe brewery's latest national accomplishment reflects that confidence and hard work. They won the silver medal at the 2003 Great American Beer Festival in Denver, Colo., in late September for Upland Pale Ale. The Great American Beer Festival, is an internationally recognized event that has taken place annually since 1982. It is consistently covered by the TV station Food Network, and attracts hundreds of participants every year.\n"The GABF is the premier judging event for the American craft beer industry," says Nancy Johnson, festival director. The Association of Brewers hosts the festival, in addition to the World Beer Cup, which takes place every two years. Last year Upland won a gold medal for its Wheat Ale, and with this year's added success, they plan to enter yet again in the coming years. \n"(We) hope to increase the recognition of the quality beers being produced in Indiana and the Midwest," says Upland's Head Brewer Ed Herrmann. \nThe Pale Ale won in the "bitter" category, and competed against 1,400 other breweries. \n"The character of the beer is not a typical microbrew, it's lighter on the palate, a little bitter but balanced by a nice sweetness from the malt, with sort of a grapefruit finish," Herrmann says. \nLooking through the greenish tinted window, at the back of the building is the actual brewery. Holding tanks, mash tuns, boil kettles and bright tanks are used to make the seven draft beers that are featured at a time in the bar, which switch depending on how fast it takes seasonal beers to deplete. Currently, the seasonal beers include Upland's Oktober and Pilsener beer. \n"The Pilsener is Bohemian, a little darker than the traditional Pilsener, and starts sweeter with a spicy hop finish," says Upland bartender Zoe Hagberg. She also says hop is a vine plant that adds bitterness to the final taste of beer, usually affecting the roof of the mouth and back of the tongue. \nThe other beers currently featured on tap are Upland Wheat, Upland Valley Weizen, Upland Pale Ale, Upland Dragonfly and Upland's Bad Elmer's Porter. Different nights feature the current beers on tap as specials: Monday night is Valley Weizen, Tuesday is brewer's choice, Wednesday is Wheat, Thursday is Bad Elmer's Porter and Friday is Dragonfly. Tuesdays also feature $6 pitchers, and Sunday the brewery offers live jazz music in the evening.\nAnd if the beer itself isn't enough, Upland also features an extensive menu, specializing in locally raised buffalo steaks from Larry Neidigh's farm in Ellettsville, Ind. The buffalo are fed the leftover barley from the mash tuns at the end of the brewing process, and the steaks are low in fat and cholesterol. \nHamburgers, soups, salads, fish and pasta dishes are other components of the menu, and Upland also offers a variety of vegetarian and vegan options. Local products are key players in Upland's food, due to a philosophy of supporting the community that is maintained in the restaurant. Upland merchandise is available for purchase, and a variety of hats, T-shirts and cups are available in the restaurant.\nBad Elmer's Mug Club treats customers to $3 drafts on Mondays and Wednesdays and $4 drafts every other day. Patrons may join for $35 for a year and then pay $25 to renew the membership each year. A lifetime membership is available for $99.99. \nUpland Brewery is located at 350 W. 11th St; open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Call 336-BEER, or visit www.uplandbeer.com for more information.
(11/05/03 10:24pm)
Upland Brewing Company's atmosphere is complemented by its wooden deco, live music and televisions and award-winning beer. \nThe history and namesake of the restaurant stems from the Norman and Crawford Uplands in Southern Indiana. These are areas where glaciers formed the land into plateaus situated hundreds of feet above the rest of the landscape in Southern Indiana. The people living in these geographic locations were said to be self-sufficient and confident, and thus the beer brewed at Upland reflects similar attributes. \nThe brewery's latest national accomplishment reflects that confidence and hard work. They won the silver medal at the 2003 Great American Beer Festival in Denver, Colo., in late September for Upland Pale Ale. The Great American Beer Festival, is an internationally recognized event that has taken place annually since 1982. It is consistently covered by the TV station Food Network, and attracts hundreds of participants every year.\n"The GABF is the premier judging event for the American craft beer industry," says Nancy Johnson, festival director. The Association of Brewers hosts the festival, in addition to the World Beer Cup, which takes place every two years. Last year Upland won a gold medal for its Wheat Ale, and with this year's added success, they plan to enter yet again in the coming years. \n"(We) hope to increase the recognition of the quality beers being produced in Indiana and the Midwest," says Upland's Head Brewer Ed Herrmann. \nThe Pale Ale won in the "bitter" category, and competed against 1,400 other breweries. \n"The character of the beer is not a typical microbrew, it's lighter on the palate, a little bitter but balanced by a nice sweetness from the malt, with sort of a grapefruit finish," Herrmann says. \nLooking through the greenish tinted window, at the back of the building is the actual brewery. Holding tanks, mash tuns, boil kettles and bright tanks are used to make the seven draft beers that are featured at a time in the bar, which switch depending on how fast it takes seasonal beers to deplete. Currently, the seasonal beers include Upland's Oktober and Pilsener beer. \n"The Pilsener is Bohemian, a little darker than the traditional Pilsener, and starts sweeter with a spicy hop finish," says Upland bartender Zoe Hagberg. She also says hop is a vine plant that adds bitterness to the final taste of beer, usually affecting the roof of the mouth and back of the tongue. \nThe other beers currently featured on tap are Upland Wheat, Upland Valley Weizen, Upland Pale Ale, Upland Dragonfly and Upland's Bad Elmer's Porter. Different nights feature the current beers on tap as specials: Monday night is Valley Weizen, Tuesday is brewer's choice, Wednesday is Wheat, Thursday is Bad Elmer's Porter and Friday is Dragonfly. Tuesdays also feature $6 pitchers, and Sunday the brewery offers live jazz music in the evening.\nAnd if the beer itself isn't enough, Upland also features an extensive menu, specializing in locally raised buffalo steaks from Larry Neidigh's farm in Ellettsville, Ind. The buffalo are fed the leftover barley from the mash tuns at the end of the brewing process, and the steaks are low in fat and cholesterol. \nHamburgers, soups, salads, fish and pasta dishes are other components of the menu, and Upland also offers a variety of vegetarian and vegan options. Local products are key players in Upland's food, due to a philosophy of supporting the community that is maintained in the restaurant. Upland merchandise is available for purchase, and a variety of hats, T-shirts and cups are available in the restaurant.\nBad Elmer's Mug Club treats customers to $3 drafts on Mondays and Wednesdays and $4 drafts every other day. Patrons may join for $35 for a year and then pay $25 to renew the membership each year. A lifetime membership is available for $99.99. \nUpland Brewery is located at 350 W. 11th St; open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Call 336-BEER, or visit www.uplandbeer.com for more information.
(10/22/03 5:30am)
NAIVASHA, Kenya -- Secretary of State Colin Powell pressed Sudan's warring parties Tuesday to move rapidly toward a comprehensive peace agreement, holding out a promise that the United States would review its sanctions against Africa's largest nation if there is an end to fighting.\nPowell spoke from Nairobi, the capital of neighboring Kenya, after meeting with President Mwai Kibaki, whose foreign ministry has helped mediate Sudan's 15-month-old peace process. Today, Powell is expected to meet negotiators near the Kenyan resort town of Naivasha and urge them to "throw it into high gear."\nAfrica's longest war erupted in 1983 when southern rebels from the mainly animist and Christian south took up arms against the predominantly Arab and Muslim north. Twenty years later it has claimed more than 2 million lives, mainly because of war-induced famine.\n"We now have a window of opportunity, a moment that must not be lost," Powell said. "President Bush has asked me to come on his behalf to encourage the parties to move as aggressively as possible."\nBefore his arrival, Powell told reporters that a peace deal would make it possible for Washington to review the sanctions imposed against Sudan "and the various listings that are in place."\nThe United States has imposed sanctions on Sudan since President Omar el-Bashir seized power in a 1989 coup. Washington also continues to list Sudan as a state sponsor of terrorism. Osama bin Laden lived in Khartoum, the capital, in the early 1990s and had numerous business interests in the country.\nHowever, Sudan has been credited with cooperating in the war against terrorism since the Sept. 11 attacks, and el-Bashir's government is keen to resume full diplomatic and business relations with the United States, which closed its embassy in Khartoum in 1996.\nPowell said the Islamic government still needed to "take other actions" against terrorism, suggesting for example that it expel members of Muslim militant groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad.\nThe government and its foes both agree that Powell's visit is significant and demonstrates America's commitment to the peace process.\nStill, mediators and observers believe it could be weeks before a comprehensive peace deal is reached.\nThe conflict is often simplified as a religious, racial struggle, and the rebels have attracted strong support from U.S. Christian and African-American groups. But the war is also about the battle for oil, politics and historical differences.\nIt has been marked by allegations of mass human rights violations, particularly by the government, which has been accused of supporting slavery and bombing aid groups and civilians.\nSudanese Vice President Ali Osman Mohammed Taha and John Garang, leader of the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army, have been meeting since Friday in an effort to resolve outstanding issues.\nLast month, they achieved a major breakthrough by agreeing that the SPLA should retain its forces in the south during a six-year transition period, after which southern Sudanese will vote on whether to remain part of Sudan.\nSPLA spokesman Yasir Arman said there had been some progress on wealth sharing and said the current focus was on the administration of three disputed areas in central Sudan.\nHe said the parties could reach an agreement on the disputed areas by the end of this week, and "possibly" wealth-sharing, including dividing the country's oil revenue.\nBut Sayid el-Khatib, spokesman for the government delegation, said the latest session of talks have not "progressed as well as we would have liked."\nThe parties have also not agreed on details of power-sharing, including the presidency and the SPLA's representation in a transitional government.\nEl-Khatib said Powell could give the process a "real push" forward, while Arman said the trip increased the focus on the talks.\n"Everybody knows the United States is very much involved in these talks," el-Khatib said.\nThe negotiations are being mediated by the regional Intergovernmental Authority on Development, while the United States, Britain and Norway have observers at the talks.
(10/16/03 4:00am)
Sex sells.\nThis law of nature is the reason people will read this article. It's the reason the title alone might hook some from the second they pick up the magazine.\nIt's for this reason nearly every city in America has at least one strip club. It's why there's a little adult bookstore on street corners the world over. It's how Playboy and Maxim became the most popular and fastest growing magazines in the nation shortly after their release.\nBecause sex sells -- a lot.\nZoom in on Bloomington. We have three strip clubs and two adult bookstores dotting College and Walnut Avenues, serving the town's 37,000 college students throughout the year. Eighteen- to 29-year-olds have sex an average of 112 times per year while 23 percent of men and 11 percent of women bought X-rated movies in the last year (www.sexuality.about.com). One would think the sex business should be booming then, right?\nNot exactly. While we have our fair share of adult venues, the majority of residents will tell you Bloomington isn't what most would call a hotbed for adult entertainment. That is, of course, excluding the rendezvous with a certain Campus Invasion last year. Peep shows and topless bars hardly line the streets. In fact, most adult entertainment venues fail here. \nSince its inception, the strip club has been the most forbidden of forbidden places; the place seen in mo vies by young boys, enchanted with the mystery of this unobtainable Disneyland of taboo. And often, these boys grow up to visit them for the first time in college. \nAnd yes, there are young college women on the stage more than half of the time. \n"I'd say that over half our dancers go to Indiana University," says Larry Holtz, owner of Night Moves, the most successful and longest-running show club in Bloomington. \nWhy is it that only one of the B-town nudie bars has been around for more than a year? \nHoltz points out that Night Moves does a fair amount of college business.\n"We get a lot of college-age kids here after one-thirty in the morning, after the bars start to close," he says.\nYet, where Night Moves has succeeded, far more have failed.\nThe adult entertainment industry has a long, dark past in Bloomington. Places like the ill-fated Mickey G's and Eve's have all come and gone, deteriorating anyone's hopes of succeeding at adult entertainment in Bloomington.\nIt turns out that, aside from the occasional birthday celebration, most college kids don't make a habit out of going to strip clubs. Most will tell you that instead of stages with thong-laden stripers, dimly lit rooms and blacked-out windows or bouncers and menacing security, they have found something far more interesting: other college students.\nFreshman Kelly Hannon agrees.\n"I think that there probably isn't much interest in strip clubs because the college environment is so sexually charged anyway," she says. "There's just no need to go and pay for taboo subjects like nudity and sex because it's all around us anyway."\nSupposedly, 18- to 24-year-olds are the most beautiful, wild and sexual group of people in the world. As a result, college kids have more sex more than any other demographic in the nation. \nTo open a show club is to try and convince young men to come out of their cocoon of hedonism, where the girls roam free and beautiful, and get them to come pay for drinks and merely watch women -- never to touch or talk to them. \nDanny Jordan, owner of After Hours, both a topless venue and a dance club, has some ideas about how to do just this.\nUnlike most clubs, After Hours is 18 and over. The upstairs is merely a dance club -- no nudity, just music and dancing. Downstairs is where the shirts come off.\n"This way, if people don't want to watch the girls dance, then they can just stay upstairs and dance themselves," Jordan says. \nHe hopes his venue will give the under-drinking-age crowd in Bloomington an actual club to hang out and dance in instead of just parties. After Hours also offers pool tables, video games and a 20 foot projection screen playing music videos and sports when the occasion calls.\n"The kids who are under 21 just don't have any place to go in this town; there's just no place that lets them in," Jordan says.\nAnd not only do they employ professional dancers, but the amateur dancing, Jordan says, has been a big hit. \n"Tuesdays and Thursdays are amateur nights, where anyone can get up on stage and dance if they want to. But on pretty much any night we let anyone who wants to get up and dance," he says.\nAnd that has drawn the crowds. \n"People come in big groups, sometimes 20 or more, just to see one of their friends dance. Sometimes guys have their girlfriends come in and dance for them," he says.\nOnly time will tell whether After Hours will succeed where others have failed. College students, once again, prove unpredictable. Young men who are expected to flock to sexual subject matter reject it; instead living for the excitement of hunting down their own personal adult entertainment, wherever it might be.\nBut what about women?\nIf the availability of adult venues for straight males to enjoy in Bloomington is what you'd call lackluster, then for straight females, it's dead. It's next to impossible to find a male strip club in all of Indiana, let alone in Bloomington. So what's a girl to do?\nPerhaps it's that females prefer to enjoy a more secretive, undercover-type of entertainment. Of course the ladies in college enjoy steamy evening encounters just as much as the guys do, but what about those times when the action is less than satisfactory?\nGuys, they can just break a $20 bill into ones and enjoy an evening in a show club, quietly contemplating the physics of a G-string. But girls -- they have no place to turn for cheap, anonymous satisfaction ... or maybe they do. \nCollege Adult Books, an adult bookstore and sexual toyshop on College Avenue, might hold the key for a bit of female fun. The first thing to notice when walking into the small store is that books are in short supply. Videos, magazines and sex toys galore assault the senses. The adult playstore does a pretty good little business in Bloomington, due in no small part to the local female population. \nBack in the day when the 1953 Kinsey study was conducted, 62 percent of females reported that they had masturbated and 45 percent of them reported that they could reach orgasm within three minutes. Even if sex toys weren't as commercialized a half century ago, in only three minutes, one might assume that a little help was involved.\nBut back to the books. The second thing to notice in the store is that women seem to have very little problem being seen in the taboo tavern of toys, checking out the newest and kinkiest merchandise. While their male counterparts are off in the strip clubs, imitating the boys in movies, many young women are feeling more comfortable expressing their own sexual desires. Perhaps this is a sign of the times. Maybe women are feeling increasingly comfortable about experiencing their own little episodes of "Sex In The City." \nSo what have we learned from college? To openly seek sexual contentment; whether it's sitting next to you in class, chilling in the VCR or hiding in your underwear drawer.
(10/15/03 9:56pm)
Sex sells.\nThis law of nature is the reason people will read this article. It's the reason the title alone might hook some from the second they pick up the magazine.\nIt's for this reason nearly every city in America has at least one strip club. It's why there's a little adult bookstore on street corners the world over. It's how Playboy and Maxim became the most popular and fastest growing magazines in the nation shortly after their release.\nBecause sex sells -- a lot.\nZoom in on Bloomington. We have three strip clubs and two adult bookstores dotting College and Walnut Avenues, serving the town's 37,000 college students throughout the year. Eighteen- to 29-year-olds have sex an average of 112 times per year while 23 percent of men and 11 percent of women bought X-rated movies in the last year (www.sexuality.about.com). One would think the sex business should be booming then, right?\nNot exactly. While we have our fair share of adult venues, the majority of residents will tell you Bloomington isn't what most would call a hotbed for adult entertainment. That is, of course, excluding the rendezvous with a certain Campus Invasion last year. Peep shows and topless bars hardly line the streets. In fact, most adult entertainment venues fail here. \nSince its inception, the strip club has been the most forbidden of forbidden places; the place seen in mo vies by young boys, enchanted with the mystery of this unobtainable Disneyland of taboo. And often, these boys grow up to visit them for the first time in college. \nAnd yes, there are young college women on the stage more than half of the time. \n"I'd say that over half our dancers go to Indiana University," says Larry Holtz, owner of Night Moves, the most successful and longest-running show club in Bloomington. \nWhy is it that only one of the B-town nudie bars has been around for more than a year? \nHoltz points out that Night Moves does a fair amount of college business.\n"We get a lot of college-age kids here after one-thirty in the morning, after the bars start to close," he says.\nYet, where Night Moves has succeeded, far more have failed.\nThe adult entertainment industry has a long, dark past in Bloomington. Places like the ill-fated Mickey G's and Eve's have all come and gone, deteriorating anyone's hopes of succeeding at adult entertainment in Bloomington.\nIt turns out that, aside from the occasional birthday celebration, most college kids don't make a habit out of going to strip clubs. Most will tell you that instead of stages with thong-laden stripers, dimly lit rooms and blacked-out windows or bouncers and menacing security, they have found something far more interesting: other college students.\nFreshman Kelly Hannon agrees.\n"I think that there probably isn't much interest in strip clubs because the college environment is so sexually charged anyway," she says. "There's just no need to go and pay for taboo subjects like nudity and sex because it's all around us anyway."\nSupposedly, 18- to 24-year-olds are the most beautiful, wild and sexual group of people in the world. As a result, college kids have more sex more than any other demographic in the nation. \nTo open a show club is to try and convince young men to come out of their cocoon of hedonism, where the girls roam free and beautiful, and get them to come pay for drinks and merely watch women -- never to touch or talk to them. \nDanny Jordan, owner of After Hours, both a topless venue and a dance club, has some ideas about how to do just this.\nUnlike most clubs, After Hours is 18 and over. The upstairs is merely a dance club -- no nudity, just music and dancing. Downstairs is where the shirts come off.\n"This way, if people don't want to watch the girls dance, then they can just stay upstairs and dance themselves," Jordan says. \nHe hopes his venue will give the under-drinking-age crowd in Bloomington an actual club to hang out and dance in instead of just parties. After Hours also offers pool tables, video games and a 20 foot projection screen playing music videos and sports when the occasion calls.\n"The kids who are under 21 just don't have any place to go in this town; there's just no place that lets them in," Jordan says.\nAnd not only do they employ professional dancers, but the amateur dancing, Jordan says, has been a big hit. \n"Tuesdays and Thursdays are amateur nights, where anyone can get up on stage and dance if they want to. But on pretty much any night we let anyone who wants to get up and dance," he says.\nAnd that has drawn the crowds. \n"People come in big groups, sometimes 20 or more, just to see one of their friends dance. Sometimes guys have their girlfriends come in and dance for them," he says.\nOnly time will tell whether After Hours will succeed where others have failed. College students, once again, prove unpredictable. Young men who are expected to flock to sexual subject matter reject it; instead living for the excitement of hunting down their own personal adult entertainment, wherever it might be.\nBut what about women?\nIf the availability of adult venues for straight males to enjoy in Bloomington is what you'd call lackluster, then for straight females, it's dead. It's next to impossible to find a male strip club in all of Indiana, let alone in Bloomington. So what's a girl to do?\nPerhaps it's that females prefer to enjoy a more secretive, undercover-type of entertainment. Of course the ladies in college enjoy steamy evening encounters just as much as the guys do, but what about those times when the action is less than satisfactory?\nGuys, they can just break a $20 bill into ones and enjoy an evening in a show club, quietly contemplating the physics of a G-string. But girls -- they have no place to turn for cheap, anonymous satisfaction ... or maybe they do. \nCollege Adult Books, an adult bookstore and sexual toyshop on College Avenue, might hold the key for a bit of female fun. The first thing to notice when walking into the small store is that books are in short supply. Videos, magazines and sex toys galore assault the senses. The adult playstore does a pretty good little business in Bloomington, due in no small part to the local female population. \nBack in the day when the 1953 Kinsey study was conducted, 62 percent of females reported that they had masturbated and 45 percent of them reported that they could reach orgasm within three minutes. Even if sex toys weren't as commercialized a half century ago, in only three minutes, one might assume that a little help was involved.\nBut back to the books. The second thing to notice in the store is that women seem to have very little problem being seen in the taboo tavern of toys, checking out the newest and kinkiest merchandise. While their male counterparts are off in the strip clubs, imitating the boys in movies, many young women are feeling more comfortable expressing their own sexual desires. Perhaps this is a sign of the times. Maybe women are feeling increasingly comfortable about experiencing their own little episodes of "Sex In The City." \nSo what have we learned from college? To openly seek sexual contentment; whether it's sitting next to you in class, chilling in the VCR or hiding in your underwear drawer.
(10/08/03 6:14am)
Anticipation has been building this week, and tomorrow IU's 2003 Homecoming, "Sweet Home Indiana," will officially begin.\nSenior Jo Marchi, Student Athletic Board Homecoming director, has been working since July to help plan the week's events.\n"Homecoming week creates a good atmosphere in the town overall," Marchi said. "I really think it'll be a lot of fun. It's a great chance for alumni to come back to campus and remember what it's like to be a student and for students to welcome back the alumni. Homecoming involves everyone, and hopefully we can all get behind the team and help cheer them on to a win." \nA weekend full of festivities is planned with the "Yell Like Hell," spirit competition on Thursday, the Homecoming parade and pep rally on Friday and the Saturday morning football showdown between the Hoosiers and Northwestern University. \n"Yell Like Hell," which is sponsored by the Student Alumni Association, will kick off the Homecoming weekend at 7:30 p.m. in the Indiana Memorial Union's Alumni Hall. Participating groups will perform three-minute skits, dance routines or musical acts, and the group that shows the most Homecoming spirit will be declared the winner. Also scheduled to perform are the campus a cappella groups Straight No Chaser and Ladies First as well as the IU Pom Squad. Admission to "Yell Like Hell" is free, and the general public is encouraged to attend. \nStudent groups will be competing throughout the weekend to be the most enthusiastic and spirited. Including the "Yell Like Hell" competition, groups will also be awarded points for a banner and window-painting contest, and for the parade float that best portrays Indiana spirit. The overall winner for these spirit competitions will be announced at the football game's halftime. \nHomecoming spirit will take to the streets Friday with IU's 45th annual Homecoming parade, which will start at 5:30 p.m. on Rose Avenue, next to Willkie Quad, between Third and Seventh Streets and then wind down E. Third Street to its end at the Sample Gates. IU President Adam Herbert and his wife, Karen, will serve as parade grand marshals. \nSenior Maggie Brozio, Student Alumni Association president, said the parade will feature over 35 entrants, including the Marching Hundred and the Homecoming court. \nSondra Inman, director of Student Programs for the IU Alumni Association, said she thinks the Homecoming parade will be one of the weekend's biggest highlights.\n"I've been to the parade as a community member before, but this is my first year on staff with IU, so I'm really looking forward to seeing it from the inside out," Inman said. "All of the students have been working so hard to pull it together, so it'll be great to see the end result."\nThe parade will culminate in a pep rally at Sample Gates, where the IU football team captains, cheerleaders, pom squad, RedSteppers and Marching Hundred will set the rousing tone for Saturday morning's matchup between Northwestern and IU at 11:10 a.m. in Memorial Stadium. A bonfire in Dunn Meadow will follow the pep rally. \nIU senior Brad Snyder, who plays tenor drums for the Marching Hundred, said Homecoming weekend is one of the highlights of the year for the band.\n"It's a blast getting to play for so many students, alums, and campus administrators at the pep rally," he said. "There's always so much energy." \nThe 2003 Homecoming king and queen will also be announced at the pep rally.\nThe Homecoming court of five male and five female seniors was chosen from a field of 79 applicants, a big jump from years past, said Student Athletic Board Homecoming Director Jo Marchi.\nAll seniors with a GPA of 2.6 or higher were eligible to apply. Applicants are judged on three essays regarding extracurricular activities and personal statements, which were evaluated by six faculty and administrative judges who selected the 10 members of the Homecoming court. Interviews, which were held Tuesday, will determine the king and queen, who will each receive a $1,000 scholarship. \nSaturday morning will bring more than just the revelry of tailgating and a Big Ten football matchup. Snyder also said the Homecoming halftime show is not to be missed, because certain alumni get to perform in the band once again.\n"It's really great to see all of the alums come back because they're all so excited to come back to the (Marching) Hundred, and it really makes for such a big, full sound on the field," he said. \nMarching Hundred alums are not the only ones who will get a taste of their old glory days at IU this weekend. Varsity athletes who lettered in IU varsity sports 50 years ago will be honored at the annual I-Men Dinner, a special reunion event Friday night sponsored by the Student Alumni Association.\nBrozio said the I-Men dinner is always a highlight of the Homecoming weekend for students in SAA.\n"It's always so much fun because all of the I-Men have such awesome stories to tell about IU," she said.\nAlumni are also invited to attend the 16th annual Homecoming Brunch on Saturday morning from 9 to 10:30 a.m. at the Mellencamp Pavillion. \nInman said more than 900 alumni are expected to attend.\nHomecoming weekend will wind down Saturday night with the annual Homecoming show. Comedian Jerry Seinfeld will be featured in two performances this year at the IU Auditorium. The first show is sold out, but tickets are still available for Seinfeld's second set, which will start at 9:30 p.m. Contact the IU Auditorium at 855-1103 for more information. \nBrozio said she is planning to focus on enjoying her last Homecoming as a student here at IU. \n"After working four years to plan homecoming every year, it will be really strange to come back after graduation and have someone else plan it," she said. "I'm going to enjoy this year because it's just going to be really different next year to be on the other side of Homecoming as an alum." \n-- Contact staff writer Andrea Minarcek at aminarce@indiana.edu.
(09/29/03 5:42am)
BOGOTA, Colombia -- A bomb blew up outside an upscale nightclub in southwestern Colombia on Sunday, killing at least 11 people and wounding 48. The attack cast new doubt on President Alvaro Uribe's promises to crush a 39-year rebel insurgency.\nThe bombing was blamed on leftist rebels and appeared to be part of a nationwide campaign of violence aimed at thwarting regional elections scheduled for Oct. 25. Rebels have assassinated politicians, disabled rail and communication links and blown up bridges.\nRevelers were heading home after a Saturday night out at a popular Bar Rosa in Florencia, 235 miles southwest of the capital Bogota, when the bomb went off. The device was attached to a motorcycle and sent debris flying into the air, shattering windows and cutting down passers-by.\n"This is an indescribable act of terrorism," said Florencia police chief Rafael Parra. "The bomb clearly targeted the civilian population."\nParra blamed the attack on the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, the nation's largest rebel group, and offered $17,500 for information leading to an arrest.\nThe wounded overwhelmed the city's only fully equipped hospital. Officials appealed for blood donations.\n"This is a small city that does not have the infrastructure to treat so many injured," Parra said.\nThe dead included a 9-year-old child and two police officers.\n"I had been partying with office colleagues and was waiting for a taxi when the explosion occurred," an unidentified victim, suffering from burns to her face and arms, told RCN television from a hospital bed in Florencia. "Everything was thrown into the air, everybody was screaming."\nSecurity forces have responded to recent attacks by carrying out mass arrests of thousands of suspected rebel fighters, leading to the seizure of several arms caches.\nThe vast majority of killings by rebels have occurred in poor villages in the countryside, while Colombia's major cities have been mostly spared from the worst of the violence until recently.\nBut Sunday's attack -- along with a February bombing in Bogota that killed 36 people -- underscored the government's inability to safeguard affluent neighborhoods more than a year after Uribe took over as president on pledges of restoring the state's authority and defeating the rebels. The insurgents have waged war for 39 years, and about 3,500 people die each year.\nDefense Minister Martha Lucia Ramirez visited Florencia and held two hours of emergency meetings with security officials. She appealed for national unity, saying "together we can put a stop to these sorts of terrorist acts."\nShe said at least 11 were killed and 48 wounded.\nHelped by millions of dollars in military aid from the U.S. government, Uribe has launched all-out war on the rebels. Despite the violence, he has seen some success. Cocaine production, for instance, which finances the rebels and outlawed right-wing paramilitary groups, dropped by one-third in the first seven months of this year, according to a U.N. report.\nToday,, Uribe is due to travel to Washington to secure pledges for continued military aid. He will then deliver a speech at the U.N. General Assembly in New York.\nUribe's campaign to restore order in this South American country suffered another setback two weeks ago when gunmen, believed to be members of the National Liberation Army, or ELN, kidnapped eight foreign tourists from archaeological ruins in the Sierra Nevada mountains of northern Colombia.
(09/25/03 4:00am)
The windows are down, a cool breeze counters the sun's heat and of course, music fills the air. It's a typical drive through Bloomington for Marquis Vaughn, IU alum and co-founder of the young Knock 'Em Dead Records, Inc. \nOnly this particular day was Wednesday, the day Vaughn drives home elementary school kids from the after-school program where he mentors. So when the opening chorus to Eminem's "The Real Slim Shady" hits his ears while waiting for a light to change, Vaughn reluctantly quiets the rapper's words, breaking his habit of allowing the entire neighborhood to hear his music choice.\nJust as Vaughn feels satisfied with his good judgment, groans emanate from the back of the van. Aiming to please, he turns the music back up and stares at the 10-year-olds as they bop their heads and begin rapping: "I'm Slim Shady, yes I'm the real Shady / All you other Slim Shadys are just imitating / So won't the real Slim Shady please stand up, please stand up, please stand up?"\nVaughn says he was surprised by what he heard that day. "I knew the craze was spreading," he says. "I just never knew it had gotten that far." \nHip hop is a culture invisible to many Bloomington residents. Yet the music, culture and fashion of hip hop made their way to this small town and are now alternatives to the Bloomington entertainment scene.
(09/24/03 11:58pm)
The windows are down, a cool breeze counters the sun's heat and of course, music fills the air. It's a typical drive through Bloomington for Marquis Vaughn, IU alum and co-founder of the young Knock 'Em Dead Records, Inc. \nOnly this particular day was Wednesday, the day Vaughn drives home elementary school kids from the after-school program where he mentors. So when the opening chorus to Eminem's "The Real Slim Shady" hits his ears while waiting for a light to change, Vaughn reluctantly quiets the rapper's words, breaking his habit of allowing the entire neighborhood to hear his music choice.\nJust as Vaughn feels satisfied with his good judgment, groans emanate from the back of the van. Aiming to please, he turns the music back up and stares at the 10-year-olds as they bop their heads and begin rapping: "I'm Slim Shady, yes I'm the real Shady / All you other Slim Shadys are just imitating / So won't the real Slim Shady please stand up, please stand up, please stand up?"\nVaughn says he was surprised by what he heard that day. "I knew the craze was spreading," he says. "I just never knew it had gotten that far." \nHip hop is a culture invisible to many Bloomington residents. Yet the music, culture and fashion of hip hop made their way to this small town and are now alternatives to the Bloomington entertainment scene.
(09/18/03 6:01am)
Hurricane Isabel's threat might be more than 750 miles from IU, but the effects will reach close to home today.\nJunior Lauren Brand is from Virginia Beach, Va. -- one of the cities in the direct path of the hurricane along the eastern seaboard.\n"My whole family is there," Brand said. "My grandparents literally live right on the ocean, and my aunts and uncles are in Virginia Beach -- literally, everyone is there."\nTo the almost 40 miles of coast lining Virginia Beach, a burg whose frequent brushes with hurricanes and tropical storms have led to a certain indifference among locals, the storm's diminishing fury could lead to potentially disastrous results. \nBrand's parents recently moved to a new house directly on the waterfront. Now, mere months after unpacking, the Brands are again gathering their valuables and sentimental possessions -- only this time, they're jamming into inland hotel rooms and suites. Windows are boarded in the Brand home as oil lamps and candles line coffee tables and mantlepieces. Brand's mother has stocked up on flashlights and batteries for her husband and daughter.\nThankfully, Brand says, the offices for her family's furniture business aren't situated on the beachfront.\n"It's a brand new house, so we're hoping everything will stay put," Brand said. "I'm okay; I just don't want them to know I'm nervous, because I'm not there and it's difficult."\nBrand said she expects her entire extended family to stay in hotels farther inland in Virginia until the storm blows through. \n"My mom went down to the beach and said it was really bizarre and eerie," Brand said. "The surf was incredibly high and the winds were just out of control."\nBrand also said her sister's school has been canceled, and her father's furniture stores have closed their doors. \nDespite the threat of Isabel, Brand says she's trying to stay positive.\n"I think they're going to be fine," she said. "I have all of their numbers for their hotel rooms, and hopefully their cell phones will be working. We're trying to call every couple of hours, so I'm pretty optimistic." \nVirginia Beach hasn't suffered the effects of a hurricane on par with Isabel since 1944, according to the National Weather Service. However, hurricanes do approach the resort city at proximities close enough to produce gale-force winds three times every 20 years. \nStill, "it's been a really long time since we had to worry about something," Brand said. "It's usually North Carolina or something, so now we're kind of nervous."\nThe threat is unquestionably greatest at North Carolina's Outer Banks, where Isabel was expected to hit early this morning, according to the NWS Web site. Peaking earlier this week at Category 5 status with winds reaching upwards of 150 miles per hour, Isabel has since downgraded to a Category 2 system. Meteorologists with the NWS expect the storm to achieve landfall near Wilmington in southern North Carolina; from there, Isabel will likely cross middle Virginia, including the greater Washington, D.C. area, and continue into western Pennsylvania.\nSenior Aaron Aft hails from Springfield, Va., a Washington, D.C. suburb, and he said the situation has escalated in the D.C. metro area as Isabel approaches. Rising flood waters and oversaturated soil have forced the dumping of excess water from Baltimore reservoirs into the nearby Hudson River.\n"There is definitely significant concern," Aft said. "It's more on the Maryland side, but there's a concern for the flood waters closer to the Baltimore area."\nMetrorail and Metrobus services in D.C. will shut down at 11 a.m. today, and Washington-area schools and universities have announced closings for Thursday and Friday.\nSenior Phil Mervis, also from the D.C. area, said his family "isn't freaking out" -- yet. \n"We're just going to get wind and rain gusts," Mervis said. "We're not really worried."\n-- Contact staff writer Holly Johnson at hljohnso@indiana.edu.
(09/18/03 4:00am)
The girls of Lezbend, a popular new DJ group out of Warsaw, Poland are taking Eastern Europe by storm, and on Sept. 11, the trio hit the sleepy Midwestern U.S. with a bang. After playing shows in Chicago, Cincinnati and Evansville, Lezbend is coming to Axis this Saturday at 9 p.m.\nLezbend, formed in June 2002, plays what is known as "progressive house music." This kind of hard music is not typically expected out of an exclusively female DJ group, and, according to the group's U.S. publicist, is the primary reason why they have enjoyed early success.\n"It's fun, energetic and non-violent," says Charles Bolanis, the exclusive promoter for Lezbend, of the group's grooves. "It's good-paced music that is great to get out and dance to."\nAxis, which has been striving to book more international groups, is very excited about Lezbend's upcoming performance.\n"They're going to play two different sets, which will hopefully keep our Saturday night crowd excited," says Axis Assistant Manager Rudy Davenport. \nThe girls of Lezbend, Joanna Osiecka, Eliza Krakowka and Agnieszka Trzeciak are not just members of a DJ group. They all went to college and now lead normal, young-adult lives with day jobs. Those day jobs come before spinning right now, but they may not have to for much longer. \nJoanna, who graduated with a degree in economics from Warsaw University, currently works as a brand ambassador for British American Tobacco. She says she prefers to play all types of music to intrigue a crowd and keep them interested throughout the show's duration.\n"We provide a lot of different styles of music in one set, which is something that many groups can't offer," Joanna says.\nBefore becoming a significant part of Lezbend, Joanna spent most of her nights on the other side of the DJ booth window in the clubs of Warsaw.\n"After four or five years of being a regular at these places [Warsaw clubs], I decided to do it myself," Joanna says.\nEliza, the youngest member of Lezbend, was born in Warsaw, but spent much of her childhood in France. Although she holds degrees in advertising and economics, her sole interest throughout life has been music. She was first inspired to enter the booth by Tomek, who she says is the hottest DJ in Poland as well as a personal friend. \nEliza also performs solo shows throughout Warsaw when she's not spinning with Lezbend.\nAgnieszka -- Aga for short -- comes from southern Poland. After earning a degree in communications, Aga moved to Warsaw, where she hoped to land a job in a film studio doing advertising and television production. On top of being a member of Lezbend and a solo DJ, Aga is the sole female member of Decadance, another well known DJ group in Poland.\nIt was all coincidence that the girls scored an opportunity to spin in the States. In November of 2002, Bolanis was in Poland visiting with friends he had worked with as a student representing IU in 1998.\n"We were at a club and I found out that Joanna was part of the same organization me and my friends were," Bolanis says. "So I went and talked to her for a little while and we hit it off right away. I said to her, 'Wouldn't it be great if you guys came and played the United States?' Her eyes lit up and the rest was history."\nLezbend's trademark is a numbering system. During every show Joanna wears the number "1." Eliza wears the number "2" and Aga wears the number "3." The numbers exist is to add a flare of mystery to their performance -- but that's as deep as the meaning goes. Nevertheless, many friends and fans in Europe choose to refer to each girl by their number instead of name.\nAfter the tour is over, Lezbend will evaluate their experience on tour and look to further build their name throughout Europe. They hope to make it back to the U.S., expanding to performance venues outside of the Midwest.\n"If the opportunity is there, I want these girls to come back and play the U.S. several more times," Bolanis says. \nBut with a name like Lezbend, the real question on everyone's minds is the girls' sexual orientation. And Bolanis isn't talking.\n"These girls are using their sexuality as a marketing tool and it works great," he says. "But if you want to know if they are lesbians, you're just going to have to come to the show to find out"
(09/17/03 10:13pm)
The girls of Lezbend, a popular new DJ group out of Warsaw, Poland are taking Eastern Europe by storm, and on Sept. 11, the trio hit the sleepy Midwestern U.S. with a bang. After playing shows in Chicago, Cincinnati and Evansville, Lezbend is coming to Axis this Saturday at 9 p.m.\nLezbend, formed in June 2002, plays what is known as "progressive house music." This kind of hard music is not typically expected out of an exclusively female DJ group, and, according to the group's U.S. publicist, is the primary reason why they have enjoyed early success.\n"It's fun, energetic and non-violent," says Charles Bolanis, the exclusive promoter for Lezbend, of the group's grooves. "It's good-paced music that is great to get out and dance to."\nAxis, which has been striving to book more international groups, is very excited about Lezbend's upcoming performance.\n"They're going to play two different sets, which will hopefully keep our Saturday night crowd excited," says Axis Assistant Manager Rudy Davenport. \nThe girls of Lezbend, Joanna Osiecka, Eliza Krakowka and Agnieszka Trzeciak are not just members of a DJ group. They all went to college and now lead normal, young-adult lives with day jobs. Those day jobs come before spinning right now, but they may not have to for much longer. \nJoanna, who graduated with a degree in economics from Warsaw University, currently works as a brand ambassador for British American Tobacco. She says she prefers to play all types of music to intrigue a crowd and keep them interested throughout the show's duration.\n"We provide a lot of different styles of music in one set, which is something that many groups can't offer," Joanna says.\nBefore becoming a significant part of Lezbend, Joanna spent most of her nights on the other side of the DJ booth window in the clubs of Warsaw.\n"After four or five years of being a regular at these places [Warsaw clubs], I decided to do it myself," Joanna says.\nEliza, the youngest member of Lezbend, was born in Warsaw, but spent much of her childhood in France. Although she holds degrees in advertising and economics, her sole interest throughout life has been music. She was first inspired to enter the booth by Tomek, who she says is the hottest DJ in Poland as well as a personal friend. \nEliza also performs solo shows throughout Warsaw when she's not spinning with Lezbend.\nAgnieszka -- Aga for short -- comes from southern Poland. After earning a degree in communications, Aga moved to Warsaw, where she hoped to land a job in a film studio doing advertising and television production. On top of being a member of Lezbend and a solo DJ, Aga is the sole female member of Decadance, another well known DJ group in Poland.\nIt was all coincidence that the girls scored an opportunity to spin in the States. In November of 2002, Bolanis was in Poland visiting with friends he had worked with as a student representing IU in 1998.\n"We were at a club and I found out that Joanna was part of the same organization me and my friends were," Bolanis says. "So I went and talked to her for a little while and we hit it off right away. I said to her, 'Wouldn't it be great if you guys came and played the United States?' Her eyes lit up and the rest was history."\nLezbend's trademark is a numbering system. During every show Joanna wears the number "1." Eliza wears the number "2" and Aga wears the number "3." The numbers exist is to add a flare of mystery to their performance -- but that's as deep as the meaning goes. Nevertheless, many friends and fans in Europe choose to refer to each girl by their number instead of name.\nAfter the tour is over, Lezbend will evaluate their experience on tour and look to further build their name throughout Europe. They hope to make it back to the U.S., expanding to performance venues outside of the Midwest.\n"If the opportunity is there, I want these girls to come back and play the U.S. several more times," Bolanis says. \nBut with a name like Lezbend, the real question on everyone's minds is the girls' sexual orientation. And Bolanis isn't talking.\n"These girls are using their sexuality as a marketing tool and it works great," he says. "But if you want to know if they are lesbians, you're just going to have to come to the show to find out"
(09/16/03 5:40am)
MUNCIE, Ind. (AP) -- A woman who said she mistook a city police officer for a burglar pleaded guilty Monday to firing a shot that wounded the officer who was taking part in a raid of the woman's house.\nAs part of a plea agreement, Jillian D. King, 30, of Muncie pleaded guilty to a felony charge of criminal recklessness. The charge carries a maximum 3-year prison sentence, but the agreement allows the conviction to be reduced to a misdemeanor under which she could be sentenced to up to one year.\nDelaware Circuit Court Judge Robert Barnet Jr. took the plea bargain under advisement and set sentencing for Oct. 13.\nThe shooting happened Jan. 14 as Officer Steve Cox and other members of the Muncie Police Department's SWAT team arrived to search King's house after officers reported finding cocaine inside the car of another resident a few hours earlier.\nKing told investigators that she fired the two shots when she thought she saw burglars, according to police. One shot hit Cox in the right thigh, but officers did not return fire and no one else was injured.\nDuring Monday's hearing, King acknowledged firing the shots as officers prepared to enter her home.\n"I saw what appeared to be a burglar jerking at the door," she testified. "I ran down and got a gun and shot out a window."\nKing said she agreed with defense attorney Michael J. Alexander's assessment that she had "panicked a little bit."\nDeputy Prosecutor Mark McKinney said investigators found 11 bullet holes in King's home that were unrelated to the Jan. 14 incident. They later learned she had previously shot at, but apparently missed, an intruder outside.
(09/15/03 6:03am)
MIAMI -- Hurricane Isabel plowed toward the Atlantic Coast on Sunday on a course that could slam the powerful Category 4 storm into the central East Coast late this week.\n"If it hits landfall ... it has the potential for a large loss of life if we don't take it seriously and prepare for it," Dr. Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center said on CNN.\nComputer models predict that weather conditions over the East Coast should prevent Isabel from turning back out to sea and missing land, hurricane specialist Stacy Stewart said.\n"Landfall along the U.S. mid-Atlantic coast somewhere between North Carolina and New Jersey between four or five days (Thursday or Friday) is appearing more and more likely," Stewart said. "Little or no significant weakening is expected to occur until after landfall occurs."\nIn Wilmington, N.C., John Byrnes had already stocked up with 25 sheets of plywood Sunday and enough two-by-fours and screws to barricade the windows at his house, his in-laws' house and their downtown law office.\nHis household generator was ready and he had an extra tank of propane gas to run appliances.\n"We're all pretty much taken care of," Byrnes said. "We're in standby mode."\nAt 11 p.m. EDT, Isabel's maximum sustained wind speed was 155 mph -- 1 mph below the minimum for Category 5 -- and down 5 mph from earlier measurements. Experts had said it would be extremely unusual for Isabel to maintain Category 5 strength as it moved north over cooler water.\nThe storm was centered about 850 miles south-southeast of Cape Hatteras, N.C. Hurricane-force wind of at least 74 mph extended 115 miles out from the center.\nIt was moving toward the west-northwest at about 13 mph, and was expected to continue on that path into Monday, then turn toward the Carolinas, possibly making landfall Thursday or Friday. Forecasters note that hurricanes can be unpredictable, and long-range forecasts have large possibilities for error.\nIn Washington, D.C., emergency officials were working on acquiring additional sandbags, and planned to begin a public education campaign and meet with other department and critical services leaders Monday.\n"Then we're going to pray," said Peter LaPorte, director of the Emergency Management Agency.\nIn Charleston, S.C., Joe Walker said he didn't evacuate in 1989 when Hurricane Hugo blasted ashore and he probably won't leave if Isabel veers into his area.\n"If it's going to come, it's going to come," Walker said.\nIn the Hampton Roads areas of Virginia, many stores were cleaned out of batteries, bottled water and other hurricane-readiness supplies.\n"My wife is taking the dogs and getting out of town, but I'm going to stay because I feel like I have a responsibility here," said Stewart Smokler, a member of the Virginia Beach Amateur Radio Club.\nSmokler said his group can use hand-held radios for emergency workers if other means of communication go down.\nThe last Category 5 Atlantic hurricane was Mitch in 1998, which killed about 11,000 people in Central America. The last two Category 5 hurricanes to strike the United States were Andrew in 1992 and Camille in 1969.\nThe Atlantic hurricane season began June 1 and ends Nov. 30.
(09/10/03 5:14am)
JERUSALEM -- Twin suicide bombings killed at least 13 people and wounded at least 45 in Israel on Tuesday -- striking a bus stop crowded with Israeli soldiers in a Tel Aviv suburb and then a cafe in a Jewish neighborhood of Jerusalem. The attacks underscored the collapse of U.S.-backed peace efforts.\nThere have been about 100 suicide bombings against Israelis over the last three years, but rarely have two attacks been carried out on the same day. Both bombers also died in Tuesday's blasts, which happened about 5 1/2 hours apart.\nThere was no claim of responsibility for either attack. But Hamas praised both bombings and dozens celebrated in the Gaza Strip, firing assault rifles into the air. The Islamic militant group had been expected to avenge Israel's attempt on the life of its spiritual leader on Saturday.\nEarlier Tuesday, Israeli troops in the West Bank city of Hebron killed two Hamas members and a 12-year-old bystander and exploded a seven-story apartment building where the militants had been hiding.\nThe violence came amid political uncertainty after the resignation of the Palestinian prime minister, with an increasing number of Israeli officials calling for the expulsion of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.\nAhmed Qureia, whom Arafat has asked to become Palestinian prime minister, said: "We express our regrets and pain for the innocent lives (lost) as a result of violence and counter-violence. Such an act stresses once again the necessity that both the Palestinian and Israeli leadership ... search for ways to end this killing."\nU.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher, speaking after the first bombing, said the attack "underscores the urgency with which the Palestinian Authority needs to take immediate and effective steps to dismantle and disarm the terrorist capabilities."\nThe bombers struck while Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was visiting India. Militants have often carried out attacks during Sharon's trips -- occasionally causing him to return. A senior Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Sharon's India tour would continue.\nThe second suicide attack took place about 11:20 p.m. Tuesday, when a bomber struck at the popular Cafe Hillel on a strip with many restaurants and small shops. Ambulances rushed to the residential German Colony area of Jewish west Jerusalem, and workers carried away the wounded on stretchers.\nAt least six people were killed in addition to the bomber and more than 30 were wounded. Police said the bomber managed to get into the cafe even though two security guards were posted at the entrance -- one inside the door and one outside.\nJerusalem police commander Mickey Levy told Israel Radio one guard tried to stop the attacker, and that he then set off the bomb.\n"I have a store next to the cafe. I arrived just a few moments after the blast. I saw things that just can't be described, there are no words," said a witness who identified himself only as Shavi.\nAfter the bombing, hundreds of people milled about near the cafe's shattered front windows. One body lay at the cafe's entrance covered in a white blanket; the street was strewn with glass.\nThe blast set off the alarms of dozens of parked cars. Police broke car windows to check for bombs.\nPolice cordoned off the area while rescue workers treated sobbing victims, and a dazed, wounded man sat on the street, holding a bloody T-shirt to his head.\nThe White House denounced the attacks.\n"We condemn this act of terrorism and extend our condolences to loved ones of those killed or injured," said White House deputy press secretary Claire Buchan, traveling with President Bush in Jacksonville, Fla.
(09/05/03 4:45am)
This summer, we (the United States) were upstaged by our northern neighbor (Canada). The U.S. isn't accustomed to that, unless you count comparing our educational test scores with other countries, because in that field we've pretty much conceded defeat.\nBut I mean, Canada?! How did that happen? We were going to find out, honestly; but before we could, we used our preemptive strike policy to send forth an annihilating cascade of warfare in the name of freedom.\nWait, no, that didn't happen. I'm thinking of another country. \nYet, in the eyes of some people, what actually did occur was worse than any cowboy foreign policy this country employs: Canada is legalizing gay marriage and pot.\nThat's right, our worst fears confirmed: someone in Canada is making sense. And it's the ruling Liberal Party, led by Prime Minister Jean Chrétien who looks like a fish and is kind of creepy. They introduced legislation setting the definition of marriage as "the lawful union of two persons," allowing for same-sex marriages.\nThey also introduced legislation to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana. Penalties would be akin to traffic offenses for cultivating up to 25 plants or possessing up to 15 grams (roughly a half-ounce; not a fact I know offhand. I had to look it up, I swear).\nAdults would be fined up to $290 and minors $182. At about $100 less than the adults, they could nickname their domestic policy: "Kids Smoke the Darndest Things."\nSo, this is the gratitude the U.S. gets for our president forgetting to mention Canada when he thanked other countries for support following Sept. 11? \nIt's appalling, really.\nYet we didn't do a thing. If we really needed a reason though, we found one in this disturbing Associated Press article, dated July 19: "Discontent Americans consider Canada."\nThe article, by David Crary, profiles a hodgepodge of Americans who all share the belief that the U.S. is growing too conservative, and Canada offers a more inclusive society. Mollie Ingebrand, a Minnesota puppeteer, plans to move to Vancouver with her family. \n"For me, it's a no-brainer," she said.\nMore of our worst fears confirmed: Canada steals brains. \nNow, setting aside the enormous, positive social reforms in the past few months, the ban on capital punishment, the national health care, the low gun violence rates and the temperate climate, why the hell would someone want to live in Canada? \nI'll tell you why: propaganda.\nCanada is quick to point out, presumably in some sort of "defense," that in 2001, for every American that moved to Canada, nearly 5 Canadians moved to the U.S. Meanwhile, a perfect window is open to distribute residency propaganda ... maybe like this:\n"Come on up to sunny [weather permitting] Canada! Pack your luggage and say 'Bonjour!' to the country Roger Ebert [not the film critic, just some guy we met in a bar] calls 'France divided by Minnesota!' Raise your family in the place Socrates, Abraham Lincoln and Gandhi [all unconfirmed at press deadline] all called home! Leave your worries behind and see what everyone is talking a-boot! Most of all, our prime minister doesn't look like a fish [not true, he does]!"\nMaybe Canada isn't the problem. The U.S. should probably take notes. Canada and progressive areas of the U.S. (like our very own Bloomington which, if it had the chance, Canada could easily coax into annexing) are going to have comic revenge after years of "nutty northern new-age neighbor" jokes. And I suppose that will continue as long as Canada cruises the fast lane on the highway of change, and the U.S. waits with a turn signal on.
(08/29/03 5:39am)
NEW YORK -- After a plane struck the first of the World Trade Center towers on Sept. 11, 2001, callers from the top floors of the neighboring tower were told by Port Authority police to remain where they were.\nAccording to transcripts made public Thursday, a male caller from the 92nd floor of the second tower told a Port Authority police officer, "We need to know if we need to get out of here, because we know there's an explosion."\nThe officer asked if there was smoke on the floor, and the caller replied that there was not.\n"Should we stay or should we not?" the caller asked.\n"I would wait 'til further notice," the officer replied.\n"OK, all right," the caller said. "Don't evacuate." He then hung up. A second, similar call -- with the same police response -- came in a short time after the 8:46 a.m. crash in the first tower.\nNo one in the top floors of the tower survived after the second plane hit around the 80th floor shortly after 9 a.m.\nThe evacuation of the World Trade Center's south tower -- and when it began -- has been a source of some anguish to relatives of those who died. Some survivors have said they were advised to remain in the building.\nBut the transcripts provide the first look at the extraordinarily difficult decisions faced by both occupants of the towers and Port Authority personnel as they struggled to respond to the attack.\n"In general, they show people performing their duties very heroically and very professionally on a day of horror," said Port Authority spokesman Greg Trevor.\nThe transcripts included phone calls and radio transmissions involving 33 Port Authority employees and three other people. Last week, a judge ordered the Port Authority to release the transcripts at the request of The New York Times.\nIn other calls, a man reached police from the roof of one building, while the assistant manager of the Windows on the World restaurant called to report people stranded on the 106th floor. "We need direction as to where we need to direct our guests and our employees, as soon as possible," she says, citing increasing smoke.\n"We're doing our best ... we're trying to get up to you, dear," replied a PA officer. "All right, call back in two or three minutes, and I'll try to find out what direction you should try to get down."\nThere were also accounts of people, in disbelief, calling about people plunging from the buildings to their deaths.\n"Yo, I've got dozens of bodies, people just jumping from the top of the building onto ... in front of One World Trade," says a male caller. "People. Bodies are just coming from out of the sky ... up top of the building."\n"Bodies?" replied a female operator.\nSome of the victims identified themselves by name on the tape, while others' voices were recognized by co-workers.\nThe transcripts resulted in mixed emotions among family members, some of whom were angered by their release while others believed they will be productive in trying to determine what happened. Some declined to even view the transcripts before their release.\n"It's not that I don't have an interest," said Theresa Riccardelli, whose husband, Francis, was killed. "I can't."\nThe Times had initially sought Port Authority tapes, transcripts and reports on emergency response from that day, but the agency argued that would be insensitive to the victims' families. A deal was finally reached where the Port Authority would provide transcripts rather than tapes.\nThe agency, claiming the transcripts would be offensive to the families, tried to back out of the deal. The Port Authority opted not to appeal the judge's decision last week.\nThe transcripts include communications between Port Authority police officers and department employees, along with calls between command centers at the Trade Center and several sites in New Jersey.
(07/31/03 1:53am)
When Bob Hope's candle of life went out, it marked the end of an era marked by comic legends such as Jack Benny, George Burns and Milton Berle, who not only seemed to pioneer the "science of comedy" in the 20th century, but also managed to revolutionize it for every new medium they performed in. Hope's centennial birthday was May 29. \nThose hundred years point as evidence to his ability to touch those he knew or entertained.\n"It's hard for me to imagine a world without Bob Hope in it," Woody Allen told The Associated Press. Allen said the 1942 film "Road to Morocco," in which Hope starred in, pointed him to comedy.\nIU School of Journalism Professor David Weaver served in Vietnam as a lieutenant in the United States Army Signal Corps, when Hope appeared for a show in Long Binh, South Vietnam in the spring of 1971.\n"I remember he got a huge turnout, with some soldiers climbing up telephone poles to get a better view," Weaver said. "He was funny then, even in the midst of a war, and very popular with the troops. I wondered at the time why anyone in his position would fly halfway around the world to such a hot, desolate, dangerous place just to entertain some G.I.s, especially for no pay. I think all he got was expenses and meals on these trips."\nBut Weaver isn't the only IU employee who has fond memories of Hope. Tom Lee, an IU Police Department lieutenant and a former G.I. who spent 11 years on active military duty, said Hope was instrumental in making G.I.s temporarily forget where they were.\n"Whenever you're outside the continental United States, it's a little piece of home he brought to those troops," Lee said. "They were familiar faces, entertainers."\nLeslie Towns Hope, who later changed his name to Bob as a stagename, was born in the English town of Eltham only a year after Queen Victoria, when horses and railroads were still the only reasonable ways of travel. He was one of seven sons to a stoneworker and a opera performer. The Hope family came to Cleveland, Ohio, in 1907.\nBob Hope serves as an example of an entertainer who played and captivated audiences in all the fields open to him, from the vaudeville to live appearances, on the screens of television and movie theaters. Hope began his career playing vaudeville and wound up conquering every medium he worked in. Some of his jokes were older than dirt, but nobody cared -- he was Bob Hope.\n"Audiences are my best friends, and you never tire of talking with your best friends," Hope said frequently.\nHe had reached vaudeville's pinnacle -- The Palace -- in 1930 and then went on to play leading parts in Broadway musicals with such stars as Ethel Merman. It was during this time period he met a nightclub singer named Dolores. In 1934, their 69-year partnership began. \nRadio spots came next, and in 1938 the toothpaste Pepsodent was willing to sponsor him, creating his own show. Then came Hollywood with "The Big Broadcast of 1938," from which the trademark song "Thanks for the Memories" came.\nHe got a movie deal with Paramount Pictures and began to team up with singer and entertainer Bing Crosby, who introduced him to a longtime love of golf. \nHope and Crosby made a series of seven films for Paramount now called "The Road Movies" -- "Road to Bali," "Road to Morocco," "Road to Zanzibar" and so on -- playing best friends who lie, cheat and make fun of each other in comedic competition for glory and Dorothy Lamour.\nComic films like the "Lemon Drop Kid" and "Paleface" followed. Hope made 53 pictures in all from 1938 to 1972.\nHe entered television in 1950, and his success continued. Even 40 years later, he could be counted on to pull in respectable ratings. He also appeared more than 20 times at the Academy Awards between 1939 and 1978, first on radio and then on TV, as presenter, co-host or host.\nBut one of his most well-known works, and perhaps his most prized work, was doing USO tours and traveling to entertain America's troops.\nHe originally tried to enlist, but was told he could be of more use as an entertainer. He played his first camp show at California's March Field on May 6, 1941, seven months before Pearl Harbor.\nHe did Christmas shows every year beginning in 1948 when "G.I. Bob" went to Berlin to entertain U.S. servicemen deployed to operate the Berlin Airlift.\nHis 1966 Vietnam Christmas show, when televised, was watched by an estimated 65 million people, the largest audience of his career. But his initially hawkish views on Vietnam opened a gap between the comedian and young Americans opposed to the war, who sometimes heckled him.\nLater, Hope said he was "just praying they get an honorable peace so our guys don't have to fight. I've seen too many wars."\nFrom World War II on, Hope didn't let age slow him down -- not when his country needed him. Even at age 87, he was entertaining U.S. troops in the Persian Gulf War and bobbing around the Mideast in helicopters.\nIn 1990, he traveled to the Persian Gulf to entertain troops preparing for war with Iraq.\nMany entertainers who went with Hope on his travels for the USO took away memories of their friend and mentor. Some said they remember taking off from a landing strip in a transport plane in Vietnam, whilesSnipers were firing at the plane from the end of the runway. Hope was seen sitting in his seat at an angle to limit his chances of catching a bullet.\nBarbara Eden went with Hope to the Gulf and remembered her favorite memory of him -- who often entertained with golf club in hand as a prop -- relaxing by hitting balls off the back of an aircraft carrier.\n"You remember Bob with a smile," Eden told the AP, "but, boy, I'm going to miss him."\nFor those who are skeptical of his influence through the USO, the latest commercials from the USO show mostly clips of Bob Hope on the road entertaining G.I.s. Hope is America's only "honorary veteran," and Secretary of State Colin Powell called Hope "a friend to every American G.I. for over 50 years."\nIt would seem safe to say Bob Hope and his one-liners always will be remembered. He had one for every occasion.\nHe once commented on a golf game with President Gerald Ford shortly after the Watergate scandal.\n"I played golf with Jerry Ford. I bumped into him and said 'Pardon me.' He said 'I don't do that anymore,'" he said.\nAt a Vietnam tour, Hope said to a crowd of G.I.s about Phyllis Diller, "She's so ugly, a peeping Tom would throw up on her window sill."\nThe last of the great American comedians of the vaudeville era has passed into our memories. And now that's all we have.\nHis candle has burnt out and it will never burn again. But so many people are so glad they saw that candle alight.
(06/26/03 12:34am)
At less than three hours away, Cincinnati -- the Queen City -- is the perfect destination of a summer road trip. It offers a plethora of museums, attractions, adventure and sports. \nIf you just want to relax in the Ohio River Valley, then Eden Park is for you. It covers more than 5,000 acres of the city and offers fishing, biking, hiking, canoeing, kayaking, golfing, camping and horseback riding. \nPerhaps you want to go to Cincinnati because of its rich historical value. William Henry Harrison, the ninth president of the United States, is entombed here, and a visit to his monument is free to the public. The house of Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," is also free to visit. \nFort Ancient, a 2,000-year-old park filled with Native American mounds, can be visited for a $5 fee. Not quite as old is the Roman Catholic Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption, built in 1910. It is a small-scale Notre Dame cathedral in the middle of the city that features the world's largest stained glass window at 24 feet by 67 feet. A $2 donation is requested when visiting the Basilica.\nIf you like history but would rather find it in a museum, Cincinnati has no shortage of them either. The first is found at the Museum Center at Union Terminal (1-800-733-2077) and houses the Museum of Natural History and Science, the Cincinnati History Museum, the Cinergy Children's Museum, the OMNIMAX Theater and the Cincinnati Historical Society Library. The price of visiting all the attractions is $15.50. Cincinnati also is home to a medieval-style castle, the Loveland Castle Museum, which you can visit for only $2. \nThe National Railway Historical Society Library and Museum highlights the important history of the rails and is free to the public. The Cincinnati Art Museum, showing more than 100,000 works, is located in Eden Park. Admission is $4 for college students and free Saturday. The city also features a Contemporary Arts Center where admission is $2 for students and free Monday. \nCincinnati also offers plenty of performing art venues such as the Aronoff Center for the Arts. It is the city's premier place to see the Cincinnati Ballet, theater and Broadway shows. There is also the Children's Theatre of Cincinnati, with all tickets under $15. The Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park offers 11 shows a year with tickets ranging from $34-42. The Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival, hosting works from classical theater in a contemporary style, is a bit cheaper, with tickets under $20. \nIf you prefer music, then the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra is for you -- however, their new season will not begin until September. The Cincinnati Opera, being the second-oldest opera company in the country, does have a summer season. The Cincinnati Pops Orchestra also performs this time of year with a free summer concert series in various parks. The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra performs this summer at Riverbend Music Center. \nWhile not all sports teams have summer seasons, Cincinnati is home to quite a few, including the country's oldest professional baseball team, the Cincinnati Reds. Tickets to see the Reds play can be as cheap as $5. The city also is home to the NFL's Bengals, hockey teams The Cyclones and The Mighty Ducks, the arena football's Cincinnati Swarm and a professional soccer team, The Riverhawks. \nThe most well-known Cincinnati attraction is Paramount's King's Island, with more than 300 rides and attractions and a 30-acre water park, all for $42. \nThere are also numerous attractions in Cincinnati such as The Beach Water Park located near King's Island that features the Midwest's only water coaster. Admission is $25. The Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens is located in 70-acres and houses 700 animal species and 3,000 types of plants. It can be visited for $11.50. The Newport Aquarium also exhibits more then 11,000 species and features glass walls and floors for $16. Coney Island in Cincinnati features water slides, miniature golf, live shows and festivals, all for $12.50. \nCincinnati offers numerous things to please everyone. Whether you want to make a day or a weekend of it, the Queen City is your place to visit. Information on her attractions can be found at www.cincyusa.com, www.ohiocities.com or www.cincinnati.com.
(06/19/03 4:00am)
After a five-year hiatus, experimentation with orchestras, a fight with Napster and the loss of bassist Jason Newsted, Metallica returns. \nSt. Anger is a long (75-plus minutes), angry opus. With help from producer Rob Rock, who also plays subdued bass on the album, the band's mid-'90s pop sound is gone. What shines through the 11 songs is the combined rawness of Kirk Hammet's lightning-fast guitars, Lars Ulrich's bashing drums and James Hetfield's perpetually pissed-off vocals. Missing are Hammet's signature guitar solos. Annoying is the ping of Ulrich's snare drums. \nThe lyrics on St. Anger are an exploration of Hetfield's tormented soul. In the opener "Frantic," Hetfield wonders, "If I could have my wasted days back/Would I use them to get back on track?" On "St. Anger," Hetfield bears the weight of his sins around his neck. Throughout "Dirty Window," he confronts his distorted, mirrored reflection. Sure, the album's songwriting dwells in self-pity, but fans have always related to Hetfield's introspection. \nSt. Anger demonstrates Metallica's gifted ability to alternate tempo and key at breakneck speeds. Chaos never sounded so well composed. No cover songs, no weepy ballads; only savagery and intricacy. Just monstrous rock and roll from the horsemen of the apocalypse.
