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(02/13/07 3:36am)
Imagine getting up for school each morning and only having to move as far as the nearest computer. This could soon be the reality for public-school students around Indiana.\nBall State University has authorized its sponsorship of the first virtual charter schools in the state, said Larry Gabbert, director of the Office of Charter Schools at Ball State.\nGabbert said public demand drove the university's decision to approve the fall 2007 opening of six charter schools throughout the state, including two virtual schools. This raises the total number of charter schools sponsored by Ball State to 25, he said.\nAccording to Ball State's Office of Charter Schools Web site, a virtual charter school is a charter school that provides more than 50 percent, but less than 100 percent, of student instruction through "virtual distance learning, online technologies or computer-based instruction." \nThe two virtual schools -- Indiana Connections Academy, which will be based in Muncie, and Indiana Virtual Charter School, to be based in Indianapolis -- will make Indiana approximately the 15th state to open a virtual charter school, according to the Web site.\nGabbert said the demand for virtual education in Indiana is "tremendous."\n"We've had over 10,000 inquires from people interested (in the virtual schools)," he said. "We're expecting a wide range of students. Some of them are homebound, some just want to work at their own pace."\nBoth schools are expected to provide services for students from kindergarten to 12th grade by 2012, he said.\nThere will, however, be a cap placed on the number of students who may attend, Gabbert said. One of the virtual schools is planning a first-year capacity of 15,000 students and the other plans to hold 700, he said.\nAll state charter schools, including the virtual ones, must have Indiana-certified teachers on staff, Gabbert said. For those students receiving their education over the computer, teacher instruction will be conducted online, over the telephone and, in some instances, face-to-face, he said.\nThe charter schools will be paid for by a mixture of local, state and federal funds, Gabbert said. \nThe idea of a publicly funded, home-based education has raised some opposition and concern, said Mark Shoup, a spokesman for the Indiana State Teachers Association. \nUnder state law, a charter school may not provide exclusively home-based instruction, although it may deliver educational services through the Internet and other online arrangements, according to the Indiana state government Web site. \n"It doesn't make sense that state funding should go to students who stay at home," Shoup said. "There is a 99 percent chance that these students will never attend a bricks-and-mortar school."\nAnother point of concern for the teachers association is that Ball State will provide free textbooks and some supplies for virtual school students -- a luxury not afforded to other public-school students and their families, Shoup said. \nShoup said it's not fair to the state or traditional schools that millions of dollars in taxpayers' money will be used to fund the virtual schools. The association's position states that Ball State should use its own state funding or charge a fee for the charter students to cover costs, he said.\n"All we're asking is that Ball State doesn't pull the money away from traditional schools," Shoup said. "We're struggling to keep above water as it is"
(02/06/07 1:56am)
As an avid reader of memoirs, I have encountered my share of inspiring tales about overcoming adversity and defying all odds. (Cue the "Rocky" theme music.) By the same token, I've read more than enough ego-amplifying personal tales to whet my palate for the genre. As a result, it's been a few years since I've found a memorable memoir.\nHowever, I decided to give the good old personal account another try when I received a copy of "The Glass Castle" by Jeanette Walls on Christmas morning. The book surprised me and turned out to be an intriguing, intimate portrayal of the author's poverty-stricken childhood. \nWalls' writing style is nonpretentious and thought-provoking, and her memoir is a page-turner from the first paragraph. I read it voraciously. \nThe story starts when Walls is an adult. She is leading a privileged life in a posh Park Avenue apartment. One day, while en route to a prestigious party in downtown New York City, she spots a homeless woman robed in rags. Walls asks the driver to turn the limo around. She recognizes the poor resident of the roadside -- it's her mother.\nReaders later learn her family's bizarre history.\nThrough her writing, Walls, who spent her childhood around the country with her parents and three siblings, recollects the difficulty of a life on the run. \nShe recalls days when she and her family slept in their car and -- if they had a home -- used cardboard boxes for kitchen chairs and took in stray animals to sleep with at night when money and heat were in short supply.\nWith stunning detail, she describes what it was like to be self-sufficient before she could walk. In an unbelievable passage, she writes about receiving third-degree burns as a 3-year-old while trying to boil water.\nWalls' story is full of compelling characters who both interested and infuriated me.\nHer father, Rex, is frequently paranoid; he packs his family into the car in the middle of the night to escape the feds and a host of other pursuers. He moves his family across the country countless times, allowing each child to bring only one possession to each new home. \nHe is also man of empty promises. On good days, he spends hours dreaming up inventions he will never pursue and crafting plans for the beautiful glass castle he says he will one day build his family. On bad days, Jeannette is forced to search every bar in town for his whereabouts. \nHer mother, Rose Mary, is a self-proclaimed artist who splurges on art supplies and super-size Hershey bars while her kids sift through trash cans at school to keep from starving. \nWhen they are old enough to work, Jeannette and her older sister, Lori, make plans to save money and escape their circumstances. They successfully save for nine months -- until their father shatters their piggy bank to foot his booze bill. \nThey eventually find their way to New York and later help their younger siblings join them. Soon after, their parents also arrive -- but choose to live on the streets rather than take charity from their children. Rex and Rose Mary declare homelessness an adventure.\nWith stunning language and seamless transitions from one point in the author's childhood to the next, this book is difficult to put down. \nReaders will root for the Walls kids -- and marvel at their motivation to make it on their own.
(02/05/07 1:18am)
Warren Leight's Tony Award-winning show "Side Man" is about jazz musician Gene Glimmer and as his last name suggests, "Side Man" shines. The play opened Friday night at the Wells-Metz Theatre to a full house.\nGene, played by sophomore Josh Hambrock, is a well-intentioned musician who too often misses the mark. His passion for trumpet playing blinds him to his personal needs and the needs of his family. He's the type of man who was never meant to be a father or husband, but circumstance made him both.\nHambrock is flawless as the oblivious Gene, who is a sort of lovable screw-up. Hambrock makes Gene's feelings of confusion palpable as the music by which his character defines himself leaves him behind. \nGene's wife, Terry, played by senior Rachel Sickmeier, is a woman whose iron-willed stubbornness steals the show. \nTerry's tough talk and take-no-crap attitude bring a true sense of realism to the show.\nHer character, although amusing and endearing, ends up in ultimate despair -- a woman whose promise is destroyed by a destitute marriage and depression. She changes from a charming yet curt woman to a caustic, cantankerous alcoholic without her husband even noticing. As she claims toward the end of the show, she's "been dead for 30 years." \nSickmeier's crass yet comical performance is outstanding.\nClifford Glimmer, wonderfully played by graduate student Tom Conner, is famous for forcing his mother into labor the night she was supposed to see Frank Sinatra sing -- something she never lets him live down. \nClifford's birth sets the tone for his family life that follows; each member lives his or her life with every personal asset underappreciated and every flaw exaggerated. In fact, Clifford starts the show as an adult, asserting that the Glimmer family would have been better off if he had never been born. \nThe audience is privy to how his belief is far from the truth. Clifford, at age 10, stops his mother from committing suicide and single-handedly keeps his father from forgetting to eat and earn money. \nConner embodies Clifford in earnest; his character brings a heartwarming sense of hope and accomplishment to an embittered family.\nGene's ever-present clique of jazz musicians, played by sophomore Matt Thompson Gripe, graduate student Harper Jones and senior Tijideen Rowley, adds an interesting dimension to the show. The comedic presence of their eccentric characters and a waitress named Patsy, played by graduate student Dawn Thomas, puts the successes and struggles of the Glimmer family into perspective. \nWarren Leight's witty script is accented by fabulous acting in the case of this cast. \nThe Glimmer family's story, though sometimes tough to swallow, is one that should be seen by jazz junkies and novices alike. \n"Side Man" will run today through Feb. 10 at the Wells-Metz Theatre. Tickets are $13 to $16 and are available through the IU Auditorium and Ticketmaster. Student rush tickets are available the day of every performance. For more information, visit www.indiana.edu/~thtr.
(02/01/07 3:29am)
Looking for a jazzy time this weekend? Then search no further than Jordan Avenue.\nThe IU Department of Theatre and Drama will present Warren Leight's Tony Award-winning "Side Man," opening at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Wells-Metz Theatre. A glimpse into the jazz era and its gradual decline, the production pieces together music, art and emotion to portray the multi-faceted lives of stage musicians.\n"Side Man" follows the daily struggle of a jazz musician named Gene -- a man whose professional dreams are being devastated by a dying genre. Gene, played by sophomore Josh Hambrock, loses sight of how to balance his family life and his passion for playing music. His troubled tale is narrated by his son, Clifford, played by third-year Master of Fine Arts student Tom Conner. \n"It's a great play because it's so personal," said Conner, whose appearance in "Side Man" is his Master of Fine Arts thesis project. \nConner submitted this role for his thesis project because he believes Clifford has a unique story to which he can bring much personal experience and relatability. \n"(Clifford) has grown up in a household where his father has never left the business ... he grew up in dire straits," Conner said. "Ever since he was in utero, he's been trying to hold his family together." \nThe show's set design also has a unique history. While searching Google images for ideas for the "Side Man" set, scenic designer Seamus Bourne came across two jazz paintings that he felt embodied the play and its message about music.\nBourne later discovered that these pieces were two of only three paintings by an artist who survived Hurricane Katrina, placing their origins in the heart of New Orleans and jazz history. He contacted the artist, Shakor, who agreed to letting his paintings be used in the performance free of charge. \n"He's such a mellow guy," Bourne said.\nTo turn the artwork into scenery, Bourne made a composite image of the two paintings, then projected transparencies of the image onto background flats and added color "paint-by-number" style. \nBourne said that when he told Shakor his 13-by-19 inch paintings would cover up most of the 16-by-20 foot stage, the artist was awed. \nAlthough he hadn't talked to Shakor for about two weeks, Bourne added that artist said he hoped to make it to one of the performances. \n"Side Man" will run at 7:30 p.m. this Friday and Saturday as well as Feb. 5 through Feb. 10 at the Wells-Metz Theatre. Tickets are $13 to $16 and are available through the IU Auditorium and Ticketmaster. Student rush tickets are available the day of every performance. For more information, visit www.indiana.edu/~thtr.
(01/18/07 4:32am)
Senior Catherine Reynolds said she knew as a freshman that she didn't want to pursue any major the University offered. \nAfter speaking with her literature professor, Ray Hedin, she learned she didn't have to.\nReynolds said she opted for a more creative type of career preparation through the Individualized Major Program. \nThe program supervises the education of more than 100 undergraduate students who have career interests that don't fit into a single category or discipline, said Hedin, who is the program's director. Students can draw upon curiosities they have in several areas, such as music, education, English as well as others, he said. \nCurrent students have been approved to pursue majors ranging from violin-making to history of animated media, according to a list on the program's Web site. The list shows that more than one-third of those student-fashioned majors have an arts focus. \nReynolds, whose major is writing and illustrating children's books, said her schedule is comprised of creative writing, children's literature, art, child psychology and child sociology classes.\n"I'm lucky in that every class in my major is something I'm really interested in and like, (which) I don't think you get with pre-made majors," Reynolds said in an e-mail.\nAlyson Bloom, a sophomore musical theatre major, said she came to IU specifically for its Individualized Major Program. \n"The IMP for musical theatre at Indiana is fairly well known to theatre students who apply (here)," Bloom said in an e-mail interview.\nMost students apply to be part of the program during their sophomore and junior years but are able to submit an application at almost any time, Hedin said. \nOnce accepted into the program, students put together a tentative course list and a semester-by-semester plan for graduation with the help of a faculty sponsor, Hedin said. \nWith more popular individualized majors, students can have an easier time choosing courses, Bloom said. She said she was given a general course schedule that she and her sponsor, theatre and drama professor George Pinney, adapted to suit her specific needs. \n"I had a lot of freedom to choose classes that were interesting and would help me become a stronger actress, singer and dancer," Bloom said. \nIMP students receive a College of Arts of Sciences degree and must fulfill the same general-education requirements as all COAS students, Hedin said. \nAlthough prospective IMP students might question how easily they will be hired after graduating with an individualized major, finding post-graduate employment is not very difficult, Hedin said . \nStudents who complete their individualized majors are well-prepared for the working world as well as for graduate and professional schools, Hedin said. \nAll student must write retrospective statements that explain their experiences and what types of courses they completed, so they can accurately explain their majors to future employers, he said.\nIU alumna Lauren Feldman, who graduated in December with a degree in fashion design, said she had no trouble explaining to prospective employers in New York City what her major involved. \n"The program was wonderful," she said. "I wouldn't have had it any other way"
(01/16/07 3:12am)
Sophomore Allie Bovis said she and her four friends have spent the past two months searching Web sites, sifting through classified pages in the newspaper and driving around Bloomington seeking "for rent" signs. \nDespite their efforts, Bovis said she and her future roommates are finding that there aren't many rental houses available for the next school year. \n"How late we started looking at different places has really put a damper on us," she said. \nBovis said one leasing company she and her friends contacted are leasing 20 properties for next fall but only have three or four left. \nFreshman Sara Whitmer has been looking for a place to live since October. \nA spokeswoman for Bloomington's Housing and Neighborhood Development said that there are more than 20,000 rental properties in town, but Whitmer said she's afraid she won't find somewhere to live in time for next year. \nWhitmer said she has looked through at least a dozen houses and apartments with no luck. \n"I feel that it's ridiculous that you have to start looking so early," Whitmer said. \nBloomington-based Omega Properties has only 10 of its more than 100 properties still available to rent for next fall, said a company spokeswoman who would not give her name. But that won't be the case for long, she said. \n"I'll say that in about a month to a month and a half we'll have the other 10 knocked out," she said. \nAnother spokeswoman for CRE Rentals who would not give her name said more than half of the company's apartments have been leased for next fall, typical for the company at this time of the year. The remaining apartments should be rented out fairly soon, she said.\nFor Bovis, the biggest challenge to her housing search has not been time but rather finding a rental home that suits both her needs and those of her three or four prospective roommates, she said. Bovis said she is unsure as to the final number of roommates she will have. \n"It's too hard to please all of us," she said.
(11/30/06 4:32am)
Bloomington-born author Meg Cabot has the Monroe County Public Library to thank for her love of literature.\nCabot, who is best known for the famed "Princess Diaries" series, spent much of her childhood in the young adults' section, soaking up books by fellow authors Judy Blume and Jane Austen, according to a press release for Cabot's most recent book. \nCabot's latest novel, "Size 14 Is Not Fat Either," was released Tuesday as the second book in her "Pink Mystery" series. "Size 14" chronicles the daily conundrums faced by Heather Wells, heroine of the previous Pink Mystery novel, "Size 12 Is Not Fat." Wells is a former teen pop sensation with a penchant for cracking the occasional murder case.\nAs an adult, Cabot frequently sports pink feather boas and sparkly tiaras. While answering college reporters' questions in a conference call, the author was talkative and always giggling. \n"Are you in Bloomington? Tell everyone there I said hi," Cabot said, adding that she would never forgo an offer for a French dip sandwich at Nick's English Hut.\nBefore she was an internationally known author, Cabot was a fine arts student at IU.\nAlthough she has published almost 40 books for young adults, Cabot said that she wasn't a popular writer in her English classes. She recalls a multitude of professors who colored her papers with cruel comments. \n"I would write for the one or two girls in the class who actually liked my writing," she said. \nStill, she took a creative writing course every semester and continued to write the contemporary fiction she felt was her calling. \nAfter graduation, she moved to New York City to pursue a career in freelance illustration. She often found herself feeling she could write better books than the ones she was illustrating.\nSo she did. \nAfter 10 to 20 years of writing books that various publishers turned down, the "chick lit" genre she had been writing for since college began to take off. Books like Helen Fielding's "Bridget Jones's Diary" paved the way for her own novels, Cabot said. \n"What I was writing all along, people started looking at in a new way," she said. \nWhile most of her books are for young adults, "Size 14" is geared toward college students and other adults, Cabot said.\nCabot's "Pink Mysteries" heroine Wells -- assistant dormitory director at a fictionalized New York university -- finds herself overwhelmed with a sorry social life and a downhearted student body under her wing. Unbeknownst to Wells, her life is about to become even more complicated. \nWhen the university's most popular cheerleader is found dead in a dorm kitchen, Wells feels called upon to again play detective in a campus murder mystery. \nCabot, who worked for 10 years as an assistant dormitory manager at New York University, based much of Wells' daily life off of experiences she had, including residents' crazy antics, photos she took of their messy rooms and experiments like elevator surfing.\nSpending time with the young, enthusiastic students was such an enjoyable experience, she said. It's also part of the reason she is drawn to writing for young adults.\n"Being a college student is such a fun time in your life," she said. "Kids are like sponges ... they're into learning and learning about themselves."\nAs the teenage audience that enjoyed her young-adult novels grows older, Cabot seeks to keep their attention with post-collegiate characters such as Wells. She said she feels many authors are not addressing readers who are fresh out of college and struggling to find their places in the working world. \n"The age of the 20s crisis is a genre that needs to be explored," she said. \nBecause of criticism she received as a twentysomething, Cabot tries to encourage future writers. Being passive is not the key to getting things to happen, she said. \n"You're not a $100 bill -- not everyone will like you or your writing," she advised aspiring authors. "But be true to yourselves, and you'll be fine"
(11/09/06 4:30am)
Autumn leaves exploding with color, friends' smiling faces in a pumpkin patch, the Sample Gates on a sunny day -- these are just a few examples what local children find beautiful in Bloomington.\nThe Bloomington Photography Club and Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Central Indiana are currently hosting their third annual photography exhibit in the Education Gallery at the John Waldron Arts Center. Twenty-four photographs, brightly lit and framed by bold blues, yellows, reds and greens, portray the world from the perspective of the young participants in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program. \nThe exhibit is designed to help expose young people in the program, known as "Littles," to photography as a potential career path and as a means to capture and share the beauty of the everyday world, according to a press release. \nParticipants received cameras from members of the Bloomington Photography Club and were given instruction about camera use and basic photograph composition, said Mark Voland, case director for Big Brothers Big Sisters. The children then had one week to capture aspects of Bloomington and Monroe County that they saw as being important to them, he said. \n"The kids were told to use their imaginations, to take pictures upside down and sideways," Voland said. \nA panel of seven members of the Bloomington Photography Club chose the best photograph from each participant to be matted and displayed in the exhibit, according to the November 2006 issue of the photography club's newsletter "Camera Obscura." The young people in the program enjoy having their work presented for the community, Voland said.\n"Some of the kids have been doing (the exhibit) every single year since it started," he said. \nThe exhibit will run until Dec. 3, with an opening reception at 11 a.m. Saturday. It is free and open during all hours of operation for the John Waldron Arts Center.
(10/31/06 6:22am)
Finding a job no longer only involves simply scanning the "Help Wanted" ads in the local paper. Like most things, resumes have gone digital.\nMost students turn to online job search engines to help them find employment both during and after graduation. Ninety-eight percent of all job seekers use the Internet during employment searches, according to a report from staffing.org.\n"The use of online job search engines has seen a dramatic increase in the past few years," Mark Brostoff, associate director of undergraduate career services for the Kelley School of Business, said in an e-mail.
(10/24/06 3:56am)
Although it is one of IU's notoriously difficult classes, K201, also known as "K-2-No-Fun," teaches skills necessary for success in today's business world, said Amy Kinser, associate coordinator for K201.\nThe course, "The Computer in Business," covers some basics of how computers and technology affect the business world and is required for students pursuing a major or minor in business, a certificate in the Liberal Arts Management Program or a major in sports marketing and management through the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation. \nKinser and other K201 experts say there are steps students can take to earn a good grade in the class.\nDon't cram\nDo your work early, and do all of it, Kinser advises. She said some students mistakenly think they can procrastinate in a course, do all their work at the last minute and still earn an A. K201 is not that type of class, Kinser said. Course concepts tend to build on one another, so it is important to stay on top of every assignment and not fall behind. \nCertain components of the class can be very time-consuming, so students should learn material when it is assigned and begin studying early, said sophomore Joy Martin, who completed K201 last year.
(09/18/06 2:44am)
As Elizabethan music played softly from stage speakers, students and Bloomington residents gathered their lawn chairs in Third Street Park Friday evening for the second installment of the Monroe County Civic Theater's "Shakespeare in the Park" series. \nAudience members of all ages situated themselves for the opening performance of "Pericles, Prince of Tyre." Some munched on picnic dinners and pizza while others lounged on the lawn to read their programs as they waited for the show to begin.\n"Pericles, Prince of Tyre" is one of the last plays Shakespeare wrote and is rarely performed, according to a press release. It follows the many tribulations of Pericles, played by senior John Benman, a prince from the city of Tyre who flees his hometown when he uncovers a terrible secret about the woman he was hoping to marry. Its plot is based on an adventure story written by 14th-century English author John Gower.\nThe play revolves around the plight of Pericles and his noble family but also features a colorful cast of knights, servants, sailors and countrymen. Bloomington residents account for most of the actors in the \nproduction.\nKim Foust came to the park to see her teenage daughter's friend perform. It was the first time she had seen a Monroe County production in several years. \n"I don't know much Shakespeare, so I didn't know what they were saying some of the time," she said, "but the play was very nice." \nAdditional performances of "Pericles, Prince of Tyre" will be held at 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 22 and Sunday, Sept. 23 at Third Street Park, located behind the Bloomington Police Department on Third Street. \nAdmission is free.