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(08/07/11 9:44pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Jazz tunes drifted through the walls of Roots on the Square as saxophone player and self-described frustrated vocalist Nate Johnson performed with pianist Jeff Isaacs on Saturday. Isaacs bounced to the music while Johnson tapped his foot against the wooden stage just large enough to hold the duo and their instruments. Finishing a cover of Ray Charles’ “Georgia on my Mind,” Johnson and Isaacs were met with a smattering of applause. “Thank you, thank you,” Johnson said, standing with his arms toward an audience of about 20 listeners. Roots began offering live music a couple years ago but stopped when the restaurant’s resident musician left to pursue other opportunities, Roots owner Andrew Stevens said. But with the opening of competing vegetarian restaurant The Owlery earlier this year, Stevens decided to start it back up and try something different.Changing it up meant offering free live jazz, bluegrass, acoustic or Americana music every Friday and Saturday.“While Bloomington does have a vibrant music scene, it doesn’t necessarily tap into that much,” Stevens said about the music genres Roots will showcase.For years, Bear’s Place on East Third Street was the only place for jazz music, Stevens said. And when Tutte Bene opened on South Rogers Street, he was excited that another place would offer it. “I was really enthused to see jazz again in Bloomington,” Stevens said.Unfortunately, Tutte Bene closed in 2009, leaving Bloomington again with a jazz space to fill. “I felt like there was a lot of potential for doing what these other people had been doing at other places,” Stevens said.Now, Stevens said he feels Roots is in a good position to fill that space since the restaurant is located between Kirkwood Avenue and the north side bars.Roots currently offers live music every weekend from 7 to 9 p.m., and Stevens said he is branching more into late night music that will take place from 9 p.m. to midnight.“Right now, I expect to keep this going pretty much year-round,” he said. Playing at Roots instead of in a bar or other venue is more intimate, Johnson said. It’s almost like chamber music. “The stage is very small,” he said. “There’s only room for two musicians. We just do duets here.”Narrowing down the number of musicians offers Johnson the ability to play the same songs he would play with a larger ensemble a different way. “We might play the same songs, but the interpretation of the song is informed by the musicians performing,” Johnson said.Stevens said he played in jazz band with Johnson in high school and knew Johnson would agree to perform at Roots if asked. “I think he’s a really phenomenal sax player, one of the best in town,” Stevens said. “He inspires me to dust off my sax and take out my clarinet again.”At a table in the middle of the restaurant, David Clemmer chatted with a friend. But both stopped talking when “Mo Betta Blues” starts to play.“He plays that for me,” John Johnson said, sitting next to Clemmer. “That’s my son.”“What’s it caled?” Clemmer asked.“Mo Betta Blues,” John replied.“This is awfully friendly, upbeat blues,” Clemmer said.A professor in the IU Chemistry Department, Clemmer said he thinks both Johnson and Isaacs are brilliant musicians and told the story of when he argued with Isaacs over who to hire as the next College of Arts and Sciences dean.At the time, the human genome had just been discovered, and Clemmer, a chemist, insisted the new dean should know the importance of the recent discovery.“He said the human genome isn’t important,” Clemmer said. “The song ‘Blue Train’ by John Coltrane is more important than the human genome.”
(08/07/11 7:23pm)
Artist Calista Yates looks at art with her husband at the "Visions of Trees" exhibit on March 5 at Sublime Design Gallery and Gifts. Yates was one of ten artists to be featured in the exhibit, which was part of the August Gallery Walk.
(08/07/11 7:22pm)
Artist Calista Yates looks at art with her husband at the "Visions of Trees" exhibit on March 5 at Sublime Design Gallery and Gifts. Yates was one of ten artists to be featured in the exhibit, which was part of the August Gallery Walk.
(08/04/11 2:34am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>After holding his wife hostage Monday and failing to comply with police negotiations, Richard W. North was fatally shot by a member of the Bloomington Police Critical Incident Response Team. In response, two investigations took place into the entire situation as well as into the involvement of the sniper.BPD Lt. Bill Parker said he would lead the first investigation, which would be reviewed by the prosecutor’s office, and Capt. Tony Pope will conduct an internal investigation that will go before the BPD Board of Safety.Tuesday, Monroe County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Bob Miller reviewed around 40 pages of officer and witness accounts and made a decision.“Based on a review of actions of the officer, it was justified,” Jeff Kehr, first deputy prosecutor, said. At 1:25 p.m. Aug. 1, a 911 call alerted the Bloomington Police Department of a violent felon in possession of a gun in the Cook Pharmica parking lot at 1300 S. Patterson DriveBut what started North, 50, shooting at his vehicle in the parking lot soon turned into a hostage situation. As officers arrived on the scene, they reported seeing North and his wife, Teresa, 47, walking down Rogers Street with North’s arm around her neck and a gun to her head.Why the situation began is still unknown.“When officers arrived, he was holding the female more or less in a headlock,” Parker said.With Teresa in one arm and a 9 mm semi-automatic pistol in the other, North paused on Rogers and fired a shot toward responding officers.The decisions that followed can be chalked up to protocol, Parker said, because North was not an active shooter or someone who had begun shooting at civilians. Members of the BPD and CIRT had time to try and negotiate.“We have time to get people to the scene,” Parker said. “We try to, in this kind of circumstance, play out for time. We try to deflect the situation.”As North made his way to the John’s Food Mart parking lot at the corner of Rogers and Rockport, playing out their time meant bringing in the BPD’s negotiation team. Officers surrounded the area as a negotiator spoke with North from behind a police vehicle a few feet from the suspect.When negotiations failed to make North release Teresa and drop his weapon, the Critical Incident Response Team shot North.“Members of the CIRT are set up to respond as quickly as possible,” Parker said. “The first ones arriving on the scene set up and are deployed. The command staff provides situational authority and an element of control.”So the decision to shoot did not belong to the sniper alone, it first passed through a level of protocol and command.
(08/04/11 12:25am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Reds, oranges and yellows swirl around Bryn Hatton’s paper-mache life-size tree sculpture, ending a foot or so from the base. More twigs and pieces need to be added to the top of the sculpture — hair for the naked woman that emerges from the tree trunk.It isn’t finished, but Carol Hedin, owner of Sublime Design Gallery and Gifts, could not leave the piece out of the Vision of Trees exhibit. The exhibit will be from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Friday at Sublime Design as a part of the August Gallery Walk.“She kind of got into a predicament and moved away,” Hedin said of the artist. “I can’t not show it.”As of Tuesday, Hedin said 10 Bloomington artists will show their work at the exhibit, three more than she first announced. The show will include two photographers, three wood sculptures, a water color painter and more. All of the pieces will fit into the tree theme.Hedin said she has sold a lot of pieces of tree artwork throughout the year and hopes people will come to the gallery in the warmer weather.“I’m kind of on the outskirts of the other galleries, but we’re getting better every time,” Hedin said. “Our first shows were snowy or rainy or freezing.”Photographer Jon Benson’s images will hang in the exhibit, but Hedin said they are unlike photos taken by digital cameras. Instead, Benson uses a pinhole camera in which the lens remains open for an extended period of time.“It has a 10 second opening, so it creates a fuzzy, kind of unreal thing,” Hedin said.The second photographer, Jeff Danielson, prints his photos on canvas, making them appear as paintings.“I think I try to find things that are different,” Hedin said about the various pieces of artwork.Many artists in the exhibit have work for purchase in Hedin’s everyday gallery, including wood box sculptor David Day. While Hedin said she’s found that artists love to draw and paint tree images, Day finds beauty in the wood itself.“You take a piece of wood out of the saw mill, and you never know what it’s going to be until you see it,” Day said.He pointed at one box with a wavy-shaped drawer that had a darker brown wave across the middle of the wood.“Most people would have thrown that piece away because furniture makers don’t look for pieces like that,” Day said, “but artists do.”
(08/04/11 12:17am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Fifteen minutes after Ruthie Allen was to start her Tuesday show at the Venue Fine Arts & Gifts, the singer/songwriter swept into the audience-filled room with guitar in hand.On the gallery’s walls, 11 of her abstract paintings displayed a calculated craziness of bright colors and repeated shapes.“Thank you all for coming, I didn’t think anybody would be here,” Allen said, setting up at the front of the room. “Tell you what, I’m waiting on my guitar player. He may be parking, but I’ll just have a little wine and start by myself.”Ron King, accompanying on guitar, arrived and with Allen began to play. But the folk-like sound that came from her acoustic guitar sounded nothing like what her “rock” painting suggested.“I think that falls into the definition of being multifaceted,” Venue owner Gabriel Colman said.Colman first heard Allen sing at a concert last year at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater when she played at a concert of artists who were popular in the Bloomington area in the late 60s and early 70s.At a Venue party following the concert, Allen picked up a guitar and played again.“When she played here, she was just having fun, picking around,” Colman said. “That really set her voice in my mind.”But her paintings also caught Colman’s eye.“They’ve got an expert-level finish,” he said. “They’re very balanced for being abstract art.”Allen recently moved back to Bloomington after a two-and-a-half year stint in California and a very short stay in Cincinnati where she had lived earlier.“I went back and almost got robbed,” she told the audience of the Ohio move.But being back in Indiana has given her new songwriting ideas.“I figured since I’m in southern Indiana, I had to write a little train song,” she said.Allen has released two CDs since the start of her music career and is soon to release a third.“She’s got several CDs out, and they’re not self-published,” Colman said. “She has a reputation.”Despite Allen’s worries that no one would come to the event, about 15 audience members attended the show.“I knew people would come,” Colman said.On a bench at the back of the room, Judy Lake sat with a friend while waiting for Allen to arrive. She heard about Allen’s performance from the Venue’s weekly email.“We haven’t come out as much as we’d like,” Lake said. “We usually come once every other week.”Since 2009, the Venue has held performances and other events every Tuesday from artist demonstrations to beer-making lessons, Colman said. When Colman discovered Allen also painted, he knew he wanted her to get involved.“My father said, ‘You know who’s also an artist? Ruthie Allen,’” Colman said. “I’m thrilled to show her work.”A couple of songs into the show, Allen looked out at the audience.“Is everybody happy?” she said. “Are you happy, Ron? No?” Allen turned to her guitar accompanist.“I couldn’t be happier,” King replied.
(08/03/11 7:45pm)
Three police officers stand outside of Sunoco at the corner of Rogers Street and Rockport Road on Aug. 1. A few hours earlier, the location was the site of a hostage situation culminating in an armed assailant being shot and killed by the Critical Incident Response Team.
(08/01/11 9:23pm)
Three police officers stand outside of the Sunoco at the corner of Rogers and Rockport at 4:30 p.m. August 1. Police reports say that a hostage situation took place a few hours prior.
(05/15/11 10:16pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>WFHB’s fourth annual Acoustic Roots Festival moved from its home at the Story Inn in Brown County to Upland Brewing Company this year, bringing Bloomington’s local music to the restaurant’s backyard. “There’s quite a music scene in Bloomington in terms of acoustic players,” said Jim Manion, music director for WFHB. “Other festivals around here concentrate on other things. Acoustic music is listener friendly, family friendly.”With the development of the B-Line Trail and other expansions, Manion said the area around Upland is becoming part of the historical art district. “We’re happy to establish ourselves here,” he said.On the hill behind Upland, a stage truck opened toward rows of hay and a large white canopy. Though clouds filled the sky, weather reports said the rain would hold off. And for the eight hour long festival, it did.“The radar looks like it’s just going to be cloudy for the rest of the day, so thanks for sticking with us,” Manion told the audience.From bluegrass to honky tonk, the festival featured all kinds of acoustic musicians — some who traditionally play acoustic music and others who don’t.Local band the Calumet Reel usually plays with a drummer, but they consolidated their set for the festival.“It’s nice to strip down and try something different,” lead singer David James said to the audience.Singer/songwriter Jennie Devoe said she played a gig earlier that morning.“Can you believe that?” she said. “It’s hard to sing in the morning, so I saved it all for you guys.”“Thanks, Jennie!” Bobbie Lancaster said from the audience.Lancaster also played earlier in the day at the Farmers’ Market, a few streets down from Upland. In her guitar case, next to a tip jar, were flyers for the festival. “There’s so much talent to showcase,” she said of the festival. “I loved that it’s moved to Bloomington because it embodies what the spirit of Bloomington is.”One of Lancaster’s favorite things about the festival is that she gets to see her friends play. While she mostly plays her own songs, she said she has previously worked with Devoe and the White Lightning Boys.“We’re in the business of doing what we do and trying to lift each other up,” she said. “The nicest part about playing festivals is we get to expose each others’ crowds to each other.”Lancaster and the other performers took the festival as a chance to help support WFHB, a station that encourages their local music efforts. “I love WFHB,” folk musician Jan Lucas said. “They’re very supportive of the music scene and we wanted to give something back.”Money raised through the festival goes to WFHB’s general operating funds, Manion said.“We envision this as being the biggest fundraiser of the year,” he said. “But it’s not in the tens of thousands, yet.”Public radio stations across the country are facing budget cuts, but Manion said WFHB is not as dependent on federal funding as other stations.“We’re trying to diversify income so if it does go away, we’ll still be okay,” Manion said.Near the middle of the festival, Davy Jay Sparrow and His Well-Known Famous Drovers took the stage. But unlike the rest of the bands, Manion did not introduce them.“Are you ready for me yet?” Railroad Jack Sparrow, Davy Jay’s son, asked, poking his head through the truck’s door. He walked on stage in a bright red cowboy shirt and matching cowboy hat and squatted down to speak into a mike, grinning.“Not that one,” one of the band members said, pointing to another mike.Finally, the band finished setting up and Railroad Jack got to introduce his father’s band.“Howdy everybody, how you doing tonight?” he asked the audience. “Are you ready to have a honky tonky good time? ... Ladies and gentlemen, Davy Jay Sparrow and His Well-Known Famous Drovers.” As Jack exited the stage, the band burst into an old-fashioned country song about a honky tonky daddy.
(05/15/11 9:35pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Volunteers worked in two assembly lines making bowl after bowl of strawberry shortcake. Shortcake, ice cream, strawberries and whipped cream, delivered to a consistent line of about 30 customers. The Strawberry Festival, organized by the Bloomington Boys and Girls Club Auxiliary for 26 years has taken place Thursday on the lawn of the Monroe County Courthouse. By 1 p.m., volunteer Christina Hurlow said the 2,500 servings of shortcake brought to the event had dwindled down to less than 400 with an hour and a half left to go. Kathleen Plucker, president of the Auxiliary, said there was a good chance of selling out of strawberry shortcake.“Last year we totaled over $20,000 and we’re on track for a record year,” she said. “We’re hoping for $22,000.”Money raised at the festival will go toward programs and expenses that directly affect children in the Boys and Girls Club, such as after-school snacks, busses that take the kids to the club from school and resources for homework help, Plucker said.“For the after-school program, parents pay $20 per year,” said Jeff Baldwin, executive director of the Boys and Girls Club. “We provide transportation after school to bring them to the club, different programs like aviation club, chess club, cooking club. We also provide academic support, mentoring from the professional staff. All of that equals $525 per kid. We have to fill the hole.”While the organization does apply for some federal grants, Baldwin said they focus more on community fundraising efforts. “We pride ourselves by being supported by the community,” he said, “stay diversified.”For the festival, a corner of the courthouse building was transformed into a stage, and barefooted children in sundresses, bright shirts and shorts danced on the concrete sidewalk before the reggae steel drum band. Bloomington resident Nathan Ainslie sat on the grass with strawberry shortcake leftovers and watched his kids, Noah and Gabriel, dance to the music.Noah flung his arms and jumped up and down, while Gabriel jumped back and forth between concrete squares, stopping on each one to stare at his dad before jumping again.The family attends the festival every year, Nathan Ainslie said. He works down the street and sees the signs a week before the event.“I watched the movie ‘Strawberry Shortcake,’” Noah said — which he likes more than the food. “I liked the first one, the original.”
(05/15/11 9:22pm)
The Calumet Reel member Glenn Myers plays at WFHB's Fourth Annual Acoustic Roots Festival Saturday at Upland Brewing Company.
(05/15/11 9:21pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>One hundred and seventy-five bikes were auctioned off at the IU Parking Operations’ annual spring auction Saturday. Abandoned, stolen or illegally parked, the bikes are taken from campus every year and resold to IU and Bloomington community members.Money from the auction is used to install bike racks around campus, Parking Operations director Doug Porter said. The auction generally brings in between $5,000 and $6,000 in sales, enough to install one bike rack.First up in the auction were bikes which generally sell between $100 and $200. After those bikes are gone and the crowd has dwindled, Porter said bikes that are missing parts or are in poorer conditions go for $30 or $40, and sometimes bikes are sold as cheap as $5, depending on who is left to bid on them.“If we get down to the end and they only want to spend $5, we’ll sell it to them for $5,” Porter said. “That’s the nice thing about an auction instead of a garage sale. People will see the price on it and think they don’t want to spend that much.”On a fenced-off stage, auctioneers Larry May and Richard Rush announced brands and prices to a crowd of around 150 people. Each bike was wheeled on stage one at a time for Rush to hold before the audience.Bloomington resident Braden Archer attended the auction looking for a mountain bike. After the first 30 minutes, two of the eight bikes he wanted to bid on had already been sold. “The mountain bike I have right now is showing its age,” Archer said. “It’s about 15 years old.”But the pricing at the auction wasn’t in his range. As a bike left the stage — sold for $180 — Archer laughed.“I think most of the people here have more money than brains,” he said. “Some of the bikes are going for more than their retail price.”Archer said he would wait around for the bikes at the end in hopes of salvaging parts from one to fix his own bike. “My family was a huge biking family,” he said. Recent graduate Travis Stevens, however, left happy with a road bike he bought for $105. He had budgeted $100 and wasn’t planning to go much over.“I’m trying to bike to work this summer,” he said. “I’m happy with the price.”
(05/15/11 9:05pm)
Auctioneer Richard Rush holds a bike in front of him Saturday at the IU Parking Operations Bike Auction in the Jordan parking garage.
(05/11/11 11:33pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Osama bin Laden’s death does not signal the end of terrorist threats against the U.S., Lee Hamilton, director of the Center on Congress at IU, said at a Bloomington Rotary Club meeting Tuesday.Hamilton, a former Congressman of 34 years, commented on the aftermath of bin Laden’s death.He was the former vice chairman of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (the 9/11 Commission). Hamilton gave his speech in four parts: bin Laden’s death, the organization of al-Qaeda, al-Qaeda’s threat after bin Laden’s death and the United States’ relationship with Pakistan and the Middle East.THE MAN“Nothing can compensate for the heartache and tragedy he has brought to so many families,” Hamilton said. Osama bin Laden was born a rich man in Saudi Arabia, Hamilton said, and he died a lonely, frustrated man removed from society. But, Hamilton said, he was still plotting. “I would be hard-pressed to name an individual, including some presidents, who’s had more of an impact on America than Osama bin Laden,” he added.In the last decade of his life, bin Laden was more of a figurehead than a planner. “Men die, symbols do not,” Hamilton said.THE ORGANIZATION“Osama bin Laden is dead; al-Qaeda is not,” Hamilton said. “The war on terror is certainly not won because of his demise.”It appears Adnan Shukrijumah will take over the position as leader of the global organization, and Hamilton said Shukrijumah will struggle to keep al-Qaeda relevant.“It would be a big mistake to underestimate him,” Hamilton said.THE THREATHamilton said he believes the new level of threat will exist for a number of years. While he believes American citizens are safer today, he said the threat has become more diffuse and diverse.“Instead of having a single threat from a single group, we have diverse groups around the world and lone wolves,” he said. “There are a variety of perpetrators.”THE RELATIONSHIP“The relationship (between U.S. and Pakistan) is not one you can solve,” Hamilton said. “It’s a relationship that has to be managed.”Pakistan has been less than a full partner in the war on terrorism, Hamilton said, and America has been skeptical about the country’s commitment. However, the stability of Pakistan is important because of their advances in nuclear weapons.“They have possibly made more progress in nuclear weapons in the last few years than any other country,” Hamilton said. “We have a lot at stake in the stability of Pakistan.”
(05/08/11 11:28pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The only things Judah Friedlander isn’t good at are organization, math and reading. But, he’s an extra dark black belt in karate and can “weight lift weight lifters while they’re lifting weights.”“My role model is me in the future,” he said Saturday at the Comedy Attic. “I just got a trophy for modesty.”Friedlander visited the Attic Friday and Saturday as part of a stand-up tour that included performances in Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia. Known for his wide collection of trucker hats and his role as Frank on “30 Rock,” Friedlander walked on stage wearing a jean jacket that proclaimed his status as “World Champion” and a trucker hat with the same message written in Braille.“The streets of Bloomington are tough,” he said. “You look at someone the wrong way and they’ll unfollow you on Twitter.”Friedlander moved around the stage with a laid-back ease, resting his arm against the wall and pulling the mike towards him. Then excited, he leaned forward to point at his next victim.Unlike other comedians that travel through the Attic, Friedlander based his show on audience interaction. “What do you do?” was his weapon of choice, and each person’s answer always resulted in an “Oh, me too” from Friedlander. Every exchange was an opportunity to brag about his talents.“I beat Lance Armstrong on a unicycle,” Friedlander said. “He had one ball; I had one wheel. I won.”Bloomington resident Shawn Keown sat on the far left side of the stage, nearly hidden from view. He said he hoped Friedlander wouldn’t talk to him since his whole act was calling on people and ripping them apart, but Keown was out of luck.“Where do you work?” Friedlander asked, pointing at Keown.“Stonebelt,” Keown replied.“What is Stonebelt?”And Keown, without missing a beat: “It’s like karate.”Bloomington resident and computer programmer Charles Grant, on the same side of the room, wasn’t so ready.“What kind of computer do you have?” Friedlander asked.“Oh, you know,” Grant said, shrugging.“Yeah, I know,” Friedlander said. “Oh, you’re trying to get me to guess what kind of computer you have. You’re too cool to tell me. ‘Oh, you know.’”“I actually have a lot of computers,” Grant said after the show. “Well, I use a Mac. I didn’t know how to answer the question.”While he may have been picked on during the show, Keown said he enjoyed Friedlander’s performance.“It wasn’t pre-recorded,” Keown said. “It was very original.”
(12/03/10 6:11am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>In the 1960s, Dunn Meadow was the place where protests could occur with or without notice, said former Dean of Students Richard McKaig. And it still is.“At any time, an organization or student may exercise his/her right to free speech in Dunn Meadow and at the Sample Gates. No reservation forms are necessary. Dunn Meadow is the only space on campus designated by the IU Board of Trustees as a spontaneous free speech area,” according to IU’s Policy on Free Speech.However, policies requiring student organizations to register before conducting demonstrations or other events have sprung up since 1962 — the year the meadow was designated as a free speech zone — causing some student organizations to question the Student Activities Office’s guidelines and procedures.“Students or student organizations planning a protest march or demonstration on campus should contact the Student Activities Office 24 hours in advance of the proposed march to discuss applicable University policies and to confirm the line of march,” according to the Student Organization Handbook.“What if two groups wanted to be there at the same time?” McKaig said. “There were good reasons for scheduling the meadow, but scheduling protests also doesn’t make a lot of sense.”So, when does a protest become an event that groups must register?“Any outdoor event sponsored by a student organization on University property must be registered with and approved by Student Activities,” according to Space Reservation Policies in the IU Student Organization Handbook.But are protests included in the term “outdoor event?”“If they bring in a table or display, that might be going over free speech protections,” McKaig said, in which case the group would have to register.Organizations are requested to register an event at least seven business days prior to the date and 10 days if the event requires security, according to the outdoor campus event registration form.There are also security and temporary food request forms and vehicular access requests students must fill out, if needed.In 1986, the University made another rule: Sleeping was not a form of protest.“You have to stay with the displays overnight as opposed to just erecting something and walking away,” McKaig said. “But free speech doesn’t end at midnight and start at six in the morning. Who’s checking at three in the morning to see if someone’s sleeping or carrying their protest sign? Freedom of speech rights aren’t bound by the clock.”While most forms are easily accessible, the Student Organization Handbook is unclear about who approves the event or display. The handbook states, “After submission of the appropriate form, the student will be directed to the proper location for final approval of the space reservation.”Senior Nick Zolfo, the help desk assistant at SAO, said a campus-wide committee approves the events and displays. The committee members selected depend on the nature of the event.He could not give specific names of committee members.Chris Kase, president of the National Organization of Gay and Lesbian Scientists and Technical Professionals, said when trying to plan a display for the Transgender Day of Remembrance through her organization, she questioned how the demonstrations were approved.“You have to get permission,” she said. “You have to go fill out paperwork and turn in a sheet that says what you’re doing. “So who’s the board? Who are these people that are approving it? I had just started this organization, so I didn’t know anything.”
(12/02/10 1:01am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A month ago “some little, scrawny Asian dude” was the first to complete the Big Ugly Burger Challenge — eating four one-pound burgers in one visit — at the new Bub’s Burgers and Ice Cream Bloomington location.Manager Marc Teller wasn’t there to see the victory, but it took him only a second to point to the champion’s 3-by-5 inch picture on the wall near the entrance. His life-size photo for eating four “Big Ugly” burgers is not yet printed.“That’s obviously not the picture,” Teller said. “He wasn’t smiling after.”Though Bub’s opened earlier this summer, it has already received recognition as the Best New Restaurant in Bloomington. The first Bub’s location, in Carmel, Ind., opened in 2003 and received national attention when “Man v. Food” host Adam Richman attempted — and failed — the Ugly burger challenge in August. As of Richman’s attempt, only three people had finished all four burgers.At the Bloomington location, Teller said at least 20 people attempt to eat the “Big Ugly” per day.Usually, 75 percent of the challengers finish, he said.“It’s going on three or four months, and to already be named best of anything ...” Teller said. “We have to stay humble about it. Next year hopefully we’ll get best burger.”At the Bloomington location, pictures of customers holding up empty plates already line more than two walls in the restaurant. The 3-by-5 photos will be replaced after all the walls have been filled.Near the Wall of Champions sign, Priscilla Crisante smiles, holding two plates.“First female to eat 2 uglies!!! 11/13/10,” her photo reads.Rodney Steirwalt’s picture tells a different story.“8 mins,” one plate reads.“A long damn time,” reads the other.Bloomington residents Brock Meyers, Jarad Rifner and Vince Cullison sat in a Bub’s booth the Saturday after Thanksgiving break playing Worst Case Scenario while waiting for Meyers’ “Big Ugly.”“They’re big chickens,” Meyers said, looking at Rifner and Cullison.He had no technique for attacking the burger, which weighs 22 ounces pre-cooked.Though Meyers seemed confident, his friends poked jabs as he got through the first few bites.“You’ll know (he finished) because you’ll hear someone screaming, then run to the bathroom,” Cullison said.
(12/02/10 12:24am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>“Tangled” has all the elements of a Disney classic: a naive princess, a handsome prince, comical animal sidekicks, an evil adult and witty comments across the board. But where “The Princess and the Frog” failed, “Tangled” had all the right twists.The movie tells the tale of Rapunzel, a princess with magic hair who is locked away. She escapes to find the source of “the lights,” lanterns released into the sky on her birthday, when thief Flynn Ryder happens upon her tower.Where most of the Disney princess movies fit into a distinct mold, Rapunzel takes a few refreshing turns. Ryder does not fall for Rapunzel’s charms right away, instead learning to appreciate her genuineness throughout the film. And where most classics give the male character an animal sidekick, Ryder has a guard’s horse in hot pursuit for most of the film.The only downside comes with the eye roll-inducing songs. But not every movie’s soundtrack can compare to “Aladdin” or “Beauty and the Beast.” At least the storyline came close.
(11/30/10 9:18pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>With Hanukkah beginning this week, the limestone rock used to vandalize the Chabad House Jewish Student Center will be one piece of the foundation of the center’s new 12-foot menorah.The rock was found by members of the center on Nov. 23 and was the first of five incidents of anti-Semitic vandalism on campus reported in the past week.”The very rock that was thrown at us to intimidate, we will use to illuminate,” Rabbi Yehoshua Chincholker from Chabad said.On Tuesday, a second limestone rock was thrown through the window of an apartment above Chabad, nearly hitting resident and student Maggie Williams as she worked on a paper at about 7 a.m. The rock, was bigger than the palm of her hand and put a hole in her drywall, she said.Then, at about 7:50 a.m. a rock was thrown at the staff directory glass display case for the Robert A. and Sandra B. Borns Jewish Studies Program in Goodbody Hall.Additional vandalism included a report to the IU Police Department on Monday that eight Hebrew texts were found urinated on in eight different restroom toilets of the Herman B Wells Library. A rock thrown through a back kitchen window of the Helene G. Simon Hillel Center was found on Nov. 27.In the six years he has been with the Office of Diversity Education, Director Eric Love said he has not seen anything similar to the multiple acts of hate that occurred in the past week.The only comparable vandalism was in October 2007, when a beer bottle was thrown through one of the windows of Chabad. A few weeks later, the word “Jewish” was stripped from the building. Love said he was appalled and mortified when he heard the news. He called for students to stand together against this kind of hate and support for the Jewish community.“This could happen in the black community, the gay community or the Latino community,” Love said, adding that acts of hate have happened in all these communities.IU and Bloomington police are investigating these incidents and have increased police, both in uniform and pedestrian clothes, around the vandalized areas. IUPD are looking for a suspect described as a white male, 5 feet 8 inches, with grayish blond hair and a gray beard between the ages of 40 to 50 years old for the incident at Goodbody Hall, according to an IUPD press release. The man, reportedly wearing a yellow jacket over a hooded sweatshirt and off-white pants, was last seen near Ballantine Hall. “It’s kind of disgusting that people or someone is organizing to make these incidents happen,” Alex Groysman, president of the Chabad, said. “It’s unfortunate that these things are happening on our campus, especially with everything the Jewish centers do in the community.”Although no students have approached his office, Dean of Students Pete Goldsmith said he and his office are reaching out to the Jewish community and offering their support.“It’s something that shouldn’t happen in the University community,” Goldsmith said. “It’s a place of tolerance.” Bloomington has a history of speaking out against intolerance and anti-Semitism, and these actions are not acceptable, Rabbi Sue Laikin Silberberg of Hillel said.“We’re doing everything we can, working with the police and University, to find who is responsible,” she said. “We are grateful for the support the University and community is giving the Hillel and the Jewish community here.”Love said he will meet with student leaders to organize a response in support of the Jewish community.IUPD has notified the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice, which they do whenever an act appears to be motivated by hatred for a particular religion. The Jewish Studies Program, Hillel and Chabad are also working together to keep students and members of the community vigilant without panicking.Paul Eisenberg, president of the Congregation Beth Shalom, said the congregation’s building has not been vandalized, but since it is a possibility, he has called for an increase in surveillance.“I’m having some of our congregants drive by and check on the building during the night time,” Eisenberg said. Goldsmith said the University will be reaching out to the community to help identify the suspect and added that the University is doing what it can to stop attacks and ones similar to them.“The books that were chosen were sacred books,” Jeffrey Veidlinger, Jewish Studies Program director said. “On the one hand, they’re just paper and glass, but on the other hand, they’re sacred paper and glass that symbolize our religion.”Jake New, Alex Benson, Kevin Wang and Charlie Scudder contributed to this article.
(11/30/10 5:33am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The word “remembrance” carries significance for the transgender community — at IU and across the country. It recognizes, it celebrates — it does not mourn.Junior Evelyn Smith, a member of the National Organization of Gay and Lesbian Scientists and Technical Professionals at IU, expressed these thoughts in a closing speech following the Transgender Day of Remembrance vigil in Dunn Meadow on Nov. 17. From a distance the nearly 40 participants standing in a circle and holding candles near a street lamp appeared to be one light in the middle of the meadow. They passed a book around the circle, reading the names of the transgender people who were murdered between 2007 and 2010. Some members read five or more names, some read only a couple, some passed the book on without reading. But as the book made its way around the circle, not a word beside the names was said.Helping or inhibiting?From his office across Seventh Street, Doug Bauder, coordinator of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Student Support Services, has witnessed solemn, celebratory and awareness-raising events from the GLBT community in the meadow. “I’m a neighbor of the meadow, and we’ve used it regularly,” he said. “But 15 years isn’t a long time.”A march to break the silence after the National Day of Silence in 2008, a “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” tour in April, a vigil honoring a recent wave of teen suicides because of harassment in October — all events sponsored by the GLBT community in Dunn Meadow.Tombstones displaying 122 names of transgender people murdered for their gender expression stood in the meadow for two days during the 2009 Transgender Day of Remembrance display. As the date got closer, more names were added to the tombstones. Taysia Elzy, a transgender person from Indianapolis, was among them.“They killed all her animals,” Chris Kase, president of National Organization of Gay and Lesbian Scientists and Technical Professionals, said. “Decapitated the dogs and everything. What people don’t realize is they walk around and people assume, they hear trans person, and people assume they’re gay. It affects the whole community, not just trans people.”But Kase wanted the display to be bigger than Dunn Meadow, and said the original plan was to line the path from the Sample Gates to the Indiana Memorial Union with the tombstones — a path she said more students walk on a daily basis and that goes past administration buildings. “I didn’t feel like enough people got to see it,” she said. “I don’t think it got the exposure it could have gotten.”But there were restrictions. To use the field, Kase said she had to fill out forms explaining the display and the group’s plan. She grew frustrated when she could not find out why the signs could not be put in other areas — even more so as the date got closer.“I understand that the University is set up, they want it to look good,” she said. “They make a statement that we’re not allowed to put signs in other areas. They have big United Way signs in designated areas that aren’t supposed to have signs.”However, Rick Stark, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Equality president, said he thinks Dunn Meadow is the best place students have for demonstrations. “As someone from a group trying really hard to get our rights represented, having somewhere where students can go to show they’re unhappy with the University or other issues is so vital to discussion on campus,” Stark said. “It’s given us a place to provide openings, even if that place isn’t absolutely ideal.”Candles aren’t enoughOn Oct. 7, 1998, University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard was pistol-whipped, burned, tied to a split-rail fence and left to die — just because he was homosexual. On Oct. 12, 1998 Shepard died in Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, Colo.In Bloomington, nearly 200 students and supporters mourned. During a candlelight vigil in Dunn Meadow on Oct. 14, 1998 two days after Shepard’s death, Bauder said the air stopped moving. “Very solemn would be the word for it,” Bauder said. “They were just glad to be together that night.”The office was four years old the year of the murder and helped plan the largest vigil the GLBT community has had since the office’s creation.A speaker led a responsive reading, and participants crossed Seventh Street to sign letters of condolence at the GLBT Student Support Services office. People in the line stood several deep, waiting to reach the porch. Others chalked messages on the sidewalks between the meadow and the office.“Candles aren’t enough!”“Elect acceptance.”“Hate is never hard to find.”“I have the right to love, to live a life free from fear and I will fight for it!”Former Dean of Students Richard McKaig and former IU President Myles Brand were among the supporters. They did not come to speak; they came in support. “Obviously it was a time of very heightened awareness about violence against GLBT, and all kinds of places were looking for ways to express concern, solidarity, support,” McKaig said. “As much as anything, it was just simply a way to show local GLBT students and others to express their concern and kind affirm this was a welcoming and open community.” As their candles died out, supporters left the meadow.Taking notice Though the meadow is set below street view, students walked past the group gathered for the Transgender Day of Remembrance vigil on the sidewalk that goes through the field. As Smith gave her final speech, a girl walking along the path slowed near the group, turning her head to watch as she crept past. She reached the end of the circle and her eyes continued to look from face to face. She paused.She noticed.