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(11/19/04 5:10am)
Peter Popoff is not a porn star. \nHe is a faux-televangelist peddling matchbox-sized packets of "miracle spring water" on late-night infomercials.\nOne "believer" ordered a packet of the special sauce and claims it saved her life.\n"I had a stroke, praise God, about a year ago," a middle-aged woman in the front row says. "I was disfigured in my face. I couldn't sit up. I couldn't do anything. But when I received the miracle water I anointed my body all over and look at me now. I'm walking, I'm talking. I'm sitting up. And I never looked like I even had a stroke, thank God."\nWe'll not delve in to how an ounce of water can cover a grown woman's entire body. What worries me is that Popoff is a known fraud. In the 1980s, Popoff was not only a healer, but he was also in direct contact with God, he claimed He paraded around auditoriums and accurately recited specific information about audience members before grabbing and shaking the beSatan out of them.\nFinally, in 1987, a skeptic named James Randi exposed Popoff's scam on the Johnny Carson Show. The reverend's wife was feeding him info-blurbs on frequency 39.17 MHz, according to an article in Science and the Paranormal magazine. Popoff listened to his wife's transmissions on a tiny earpiece. Ironically, the healer insisted the device was a hearing aid.\nNow Popoff, despised by informed Christians and loathed by nearly everyone else, screams and rants about Jesus on his late-night infomercial while "healing" ailing folks. \nBy "healing," I mean assaulting them. One man on Popoff's late-night spot complains of a sore arm, so the fake grabs the man by the ears and gives his head the paint-can treatment.\n"The Lord said to shake him a little bit," Popoff belts. "So I'm gonna shake him."\nThese antics are all parts of his business gimmick. To finish the package, he compiles videos of his endeavors into the late-night infomercial using a few testimonials from simple (ignorant) people who say his maniacal spring water brought them stuff -- no fewer than three women claimed their houses were bought with the water.\nI was befuddled when I heard their claims, and I wanted to do some research. So I called IU Economics Professor Arlington Williams, and he said it's not possible to purchase homes with miracle spring water.\n"Was that the actual medium of exchange?" he said. "No, I've never heard of that."\nAnd neither have I.\nHoly homes aside, I find it troubling that Popoff is legally allowed to manipulate the ideology of faith and swindle money from otherwise honest people with the promise that he can speak with God and solve all their problems. The water is offered to viewers for "free," but once a caller donates his or her address and telephone number, all bets are off. According to entries on an Internet petition site, www.thepetitionsite.com, Popoff endlessly sends letters to subscribers asking for money. One petitioner, Anonymous from Maine, left this entry:\n"I've given him $50. I thought he could help me."\nAnd so men like Popoff feed on the tired, the poor, the huddled masses in America, those yearning for a better lot in life. He asks a broken woman for $50 and in return he sends the tempest-tossed a packet of spring water and explicitly tells her it will solve all her problems. The woman is so desperate, she has no other choice but to believe him. Popoff gets $50 richer, the woman gets $50 poorer, and when she has a change in fortune, Popoff's mysticism leads her to believe his packet of spring water has saved her life.\n"God blessed me with a brand new home, built from the ground. $147,000. I am so happy."\nOf course she is. Ignorance is bliss.
(11/17/04 4:31am)
Recent studies conducted by IU students have uncovered a disparity between the number of campaign promises made by politicians and the number kept.\nV450: Promises and Performance in U.S. Congress is Professor Evan Ringquist's School of Public and Environmental Affairs gem. Students researching the performance of politicians from 1992 to 2002 found that, on average, just more than three-fifths of all promises made on campaign trails are kept by their makers. \nThe ongoing study is being conducted in six policy arenas: health care, welfare, employment, foreign affairs, morality policies (including abortion and illegal drug policy), crime and gun control, and the environment.\nRingquist said that, in general, Republicans and Democrats are equally effective in executing campaign promises but that in certain policy areas, a gap can emerge. \nFor instance, Ringquist said Republicans are less likely to follow through on environmental promises, but Democrats are more lax about gun control policies.\n"What that says is: Which party is more trustworthy varies by policy area," Ringquist said.\nAccording to Ringquist's initial study, which examined the records of U.S. Congressmen, about 62 percent of politicians' stump claims are supported by their voting records. Ringquist said two more studies are on the way -- one evaluating U.S. Senators and one state-level politicians.\nEllen Whitt, spokeswoman for Governor-elect Mitch Daniels' government transition, said the Republican has been cautious about writing checks to his constituency that he can't cash.\n"I think that he's been careful not to over-promise or to make different statements on things where he knows there's still information to be gathered," Whitt said. "In those situations, a lot of different solutions need to be considered."\nWhitt also said the governor-elect will exercise his newly-minted powers to ensure a smooth transition. \n"He plans to do as much as he can by executive order and rule change," she said. "He's going to try to get as much of his agenda through as quickly as he can."\nRingquist's pilot study was published by the Social Science Quarterly in June 2004. Ringquist said his findings, which will ultimately comprise a book, exude findings more complete and objective than those of usual social standards.\n"Almost everybody believes they know whether politicians keep their campaign promises," he said. "This belief, on the part of citizens and the media, is based upon almost no evidence. We should ground our beliefs about government and politics on systematic evaluations of evidence. These things aren't just a matter of opinion."\n-- Contact senior writer Rick Newkirk at renewkir@indiana.edu.
(11/16/04 5:40am)
IU alumnus Rod Paige resigned his post as Secretary of Education Monday. In his resignation letter to the president, Paige said he would vacate his position at the end of President George W. Bush's first term unless a successor is not named.\n"I did not come to Washington as a career move," Paige said in a press release. "I came to help President Bush launch No Child Left Behind and Reading First and to help establish a culture of accountability in American education."\nPaige serves as the seventh Secretary of Education since the inception of the post in 1979. The No Child Left Behind Act, which was signed by President Bush in January 2002, might remain the hallmark of his secretaryship. Though the measure came under scrutiny during the president's first term, Paige stood firmly by it in a press release regarding his resignation.\n"No Child Left Behind is indelibly launched," he said. "A culture of accountability is gripping the American educational landscape. The next report of the National Assessment of Educational Progress will show that reading scores of our young people have catapulted to a record high because of Reading First."\nPaige, born in Mississippi to a principal and a librarian, is the only school superintendent to be named Secretary of Education. \nPaige completed his undergraduate work at Jackson State University. He received his first IU degree, a master's in Physical Education, in 1962. In 1970, he earned a Ph.D. in the same field, according to the IU Office of the Registrar.\nIn Paige's resignation letter to the president, the secretary outlined 10 "important accomplishments" his department has secured since January 2001. Among them, Paige listed the NCLB Act; an enhanced department Web site (www.ed.gov); a narrowed achievement gap between white students and students of other races; and a new "education culture" in the U.S.\n"The national education culture is changing," Paige said in his resignation letter. "All across the nation, the educational dialogue is now about results, and less about inputs."\nThough his term will end before his superior's, Paige said in a press release that he relished the longevity of his job.\n"At the end of the president's first term, I will have served longer than any Republican United States Secretary of Education," he said. "At that time, my work here will be accomplished."\nPaige's press team could not be reached for comment by press time. \n-- Contact senior writer Rick Newkirk at renewkir@indiana.edu.
(11/12/04 4:14am)
Angel Rivera makes me want to be a Republican.\nThis semester, I've been serving dual roles at the Indiana Daily Student as reporter and columnist. The most difficult condition of playing both Bob Woodward and Bob Novak is keeping the two separate -- my opinions can in no way affect my objectivity in news writing.\nSo if I've got issues with insects -- I detest those six-legged beasts, always stealing Yogi's picnic basket -- I can't let that come between me and a good objective ant farm story.\nAnd despite a flippant claim from one local tussle-happy politician that I've been "recruited" by a political party, I've done an above-average job keeping the milk away from the cream.\nBut I'll say it once more, just to get it out there.\nAngel Rivera makes me want to be a Republican.\nAngel (pronounced: AHN-hel), who graduates this semester, was the chairman of IU College Republicans. I say "was" because the leaders of the IU right selected new officers this week. I mean no slight to Andrew Lauck, IUCR's new head, but the only slot that sticks out more than "events director" (Maggie Daniels, our new governor's freshman daughter, now owns that position) is the absence of Angel at the top.\nBipartisanism permeates the air in our era of red and blue states. It would be easier to find fresh air in West Lafayette than it would be to find an undecided voter on our campus. The reason I love Angel is not that he bleeds Republican Red but still respects those who bleed Blue, Green, Maze and Cream. \nAngel exudes dignity. He would never write a letter suggesting a senior writer was recruited by the Libertarian Party. The IU senior has too much class to dish petty digs.\nNo IU student in the past three years has done more to get other students -- and not just Republicans -- interested in politics than Angel. He has chaired IUCRs for the past two years and most every significant political debate among students has included him. But he doesn't lead by throwing insults at the opposition; he stands by his convictions, listens to the other side and agrees to disagree. And more than anything else, Angel is always informed. He knows his stuff.\nSo now he is going out into the world -- like we all will light-years too soon. He says he wants to head to law school and eventually start his own firm in Indianapolis. But after 4-1/2 years in Bloomington, Angel says he thinks he's leaving our campus "a little better."\nAnd I think ants are a little obnoxious. \nPolitics needs a return to civility. We could use a few days during elections without tightly spun slant ads and personal attacks. We could use fewer politicians insisting their opponents are immoral. We could use a few more people who want to debate issues.\nI don't agree with Angel on every issue. I imagine if we engaged in a political conversation (which I can't ethically do) our words might blare a few hundred decibels above the "inside voice." We probably don't support the same people.\nBut for me, a person's intelligence is best exhibited by his or her open-mindedness. A smart individual respects others and new ideas. By that test, there is no young politico I've ever met that I respect more than the native of San Juan, Puerto Rico. \nAngel's a Republican, but he's more of a political activist, inspiring his friends and foes with healthy debate and respect. Aspiring Republicans, Libertarians, Independents and -- yes -- Democrats can learn an elephant's trunk about political discourse from Angel Rivera.
(11/08/04 5:25am)
A former deputy speaker of the Israeli Knesset urged local Jews Sunday to support an independent Palestinian state as an answer to end the Israel-Palestine conflict.\nNaomi Chazan, a native of Jerusalem, served in Israel's parliament from 1992 to 2003. Mira Wasserman, Beth Shalom's Rabbi, said she met Chazan when she ate dinners at the politico's home -- an experience that, she said, included many political discussions.\n"But we did not discuss politics," Chazan refuted. "We yelled it and screamed it."\nThe former deputy speaker told a crowd of 150 people at Congregation Beth Shalom -- in an even tone of voice -- that the best way to make peace in the Gaza Strip and disputed regions of Israel and Palestine is to embrace disengagement . \n"The survival of Israel as a democratic state with a Jewish majority demands the creation of a Palestinian state along side Israel," Chazan said. "We will not be democratic, which is the real source of our strength ... if we continue to rule over another people against their will."\nShe also said those opposed to a separate and independent Palestinian state "are purveying anti-Zionist sentiment that will be our downfall."\nChazan said that though many of those in the audience probably wished for Democratic candidate Sen. John Kerry to win the presidential election -- a notion that led a large number of listeners to clap and cheer -- a George W. Bush win could signify a change in U.S. foreign relations, particularly regarding Israel. \nChazan said though President Bush abandoned the "Road Map" resolution he co-authored and signed in April 2003, which called for a Palestinian state as a solution to the conflict. Chazan said she feels the Bush administration is obligated to promote the two-state plan.\nAlso, she said U.S. officials know our country is "not particularly beloved" in the Middle East and in Europe, and that the incumbent president should understand the need to heal those severed relations. \nThe final reason for Jews and supporters of Israel to be optimistic about a second Bush term, Chazan said, is the possible impending death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. \nThe former Knesset speaker said the 200,000-plus Israeli settlers in the Gaza Strip "will comply" if a disengagement resolution is passed. She also said she anticipates violence if such a measure is enacted, but noted, "If we're afraid of internal violence, we've already conceded."\nReferring to a figure that between 10,000 and 30,000 Israeli settlers favor their own land ahead of the State of Israel -- and would not move even if asked by Israeli government -- Chazan said the fortune of Israel is more important than the fortune of a relatively insignificant number of "ideologues."\n"Are you willing to mortgage the future of 7 million Israelis for the whims of 20,000?" she said.\nOne audience member asked Chazan about what aspect of the conflict "keeps (her) up at night."\nChazan responded that people like her parents, who were "Zionists in the deepest sense of the word," are concerned the younger sets of Israelis are growing weary of the conflict.\n"I am frightened if we don't do something now to resolve the conflict, then 100 years of Zionists like my parents will be let down by the new generation," she said.\n--Contact senior writer Rick Newkirk at renewkir@indiana.edu.
(11/05/04 4:07am)
Despite all the recent political activity (I think there was an election this week), I can't stop thinking about an off-beat news bite which must be an apocalyptic harbinger.\nA Taiwanese man named Chen jumped into a lion's den Wednesday and tried to convert the beasts to Christianity.\nI don't know. I just wonder why it's important to "save" lions. They're cute enough, but they can be really mean. I could understand if it was a pit full of chimpanzees. Those things are precious. Never has a chimpanzee tried to gnaw on my arm for a morsel of fresh meat. \nWhen ancient Romans were looking for a good time, they didn't introduce Christians to an arena full of chimps. They fed them to the lions. A Christian evangelizing Simba is like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People holding a bake sale for the Klan. It just don't make no sense.\nSo Christian fanatics are confusing the hell out of me. It's acceptable to set off bombs in abortion clinics. It's alright to bash gays and deny them rights as human beings. But for God's sake, we need the lions.\nWhat? Why?\nWhat are the lions going to do once they get into heaven? They already run around naked all day and have their fill of exotic berries. Isn't that Valhalla's selling point? What other incentives can Christians offer the chocolate-maned animals? I would propose to show them some magic tricks (evangelical Christians excel at illusions), but a certain Las Vegas snow lion made it clear they don't like magicians, so I just can't see what else there is. This is an uphill battle for the Christians. They have a better shot convincing Muslims that they all worship the same god.\nBut all ironies aside, Chen's quest really isn't that surprising. Christians have always preached the word of Jesus to people who were doing just fine with their own religions before the pasty-faced cross-mongers arrived. Can someone explain to me why an evangelist needs to force everyone around him to believe the same thing he believes? I like chimpanzees, but I don't need to go on a crusade to convince every soul I've never met that chimpanzees are by far the cutest damn creatures around to reinforce my own beliefs. \nWidespread evangelism has historically done far more harm than good. I'm not just talking about religious wars like the Crusades that killed millions of Muslims and Christians and everyone else in the war path. I'm talking about the attitude that has permeated the minds of otherwise rational people that disregards other peoples' rights to their own beliefs. \nJosh De Evangelist goes to Africa to "spread the word of Christ," which means he'll tell the natives their own religions are nothing but voodoo and superstition and the only way to lead a pure life is through Christ.\nJack De Lawmaker moves to require prayer in schools in the interests of securing moral order, which means he'll alienate every child in school who doesn't believe in Christ, or in any god for that matter.\nAnd George De President favors a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, in order to uphold the "sanctity of marriage," which means he's so insecure in his own beliefs that he's afraid millions of gays and lesbians will get married and raise successful families.\nThe biggest problem with these lines of logic is that the people perpetrating them think they're working in the name of Christianity. Religion can bring so many helpful contributions to society, like assistance to the African families living in mission towns. If it wasn't for the I-know-what's-best-for-you mentality that often comes along with it, religion would be a wonderful thing.\nSo the next time you're in a lion's den, ask yourself, "Is this really what God wants me to do"
(11/05/04 4:06am)
Republicans clutched Indiana's representation in the U.S. government Tuesday with an eagle's talon.\nOf the nine U.S. Congressional seats in the Hoosier state, seven were snatched by Grand Old Partiers. \nIU College Republicans President Angel Rivera said he was cautiously elated by the tightened stronghold.\n"It's very exciting, but at the same time it's also a little concerning," he said. "We're going to have the enormous project of rebuilding Indiana's economy. We're going to do it because we said we can, but it's still a tough job."\nIn the two other high-profile races in Indiana, Democrats and Republicans split the bill, with Democrat Evan Bayh retaining his U.S. Senate seat and Republican Mitch Daniels making a move on the Governor's mansion. So with the Democrats' 16-year gubernatorial reign snapped, Bayh, Carson and Visclosky represent a shrinking minority -- Hoosier Democrats in Washington.\nIn the race for Capitol Hill, only Peter J. Visclosky from the 1st District and Julia Carson from the 7th District claimed victories for Democrats.\nBut those races were economically foregone conclusions. According to www.opensecrets.org, the Visclosky campaign raised more than $1.1 million -- 60 times the amount raised by the Republican challenger, Mark Leyva. Similarly, Carson campaigned on a budget of more than $500,000, compared to just $19,000 raised by Republican Andrew Horning. And despite the enormous disadvantage in funding, Horning still managed to garner 44 percent of the vote.\nBut two races did not follow the money trail. In the 8th District, Democratic challenger Jon Jennings outperformed Republican John Hostettler nearly three times as much in fund-raising for the campaign, with a $1.1 million to $415,000 edge. Regardless, the incumbent easily dismissed Jennings by eight percentage points. And Republican Mike Sodrel, who squeaked by the incumbent Baron Hill in the 9th District -- which includes Bloomington -- by a fraction of a percent, trailed Hill in funding by $300,000, according to the Web site. Hill's loss handed the Republicans another house seat, opening the six-to-three hole into a seven-to-two canyon.\n"I think right now what the Democratic party needs to do is evaluate what happened, and maybe reframe our message so it's getting out to Hoosiers," said IU College Democrats President Mandy Carmichael. "But I think the party is probably going to go through a lot of changes because of the results of this election."\nCarmichael said one sign of optimism comes at the local level, as Democrats claimed almost every Monroe County race.\n"The county candidates did an amazing job," she said. "It saved the evening."\nBut Republicans, who also took control of the Indiana General Assembly Tuesday night, face a period of dominance in Indiana politics.\n"There's no such thing as good government," Rivera said. "But in my own biased opinion, Republican government is better government."\n-- Contact senior writer Rick Newkirk at renewkir@indiana.edu.
(11/01/04 4:42am)
Those wishing to throw caution -- and three sheets -- to the wind will have to postpone celebrations Tuesday, as local alcohol merchants will be unable to sell spirits on Election Day before the polls close.\nAccording to Indiana Code 7.1-5-10-1 (3), elections in Indiana are times for sobriety.\n"On primary election day, and general election day, from 3 o'clock in the morning, prevailing local time, until the voting polls are closed in the evening on these days," the code states.\nSo when most Bloomington bars are trumpeting last calls Monday night, it will signal the end of booze-mongering until 6 p.m. Tuesday when the polls close.\nIU Law Professor Pat Baude said the law is an antiquated piece of Indiana's legislative history.\n"It was originally designed to prevent people from buying drinks for voters in exchange for their votes," Baude said. "It doesn't rest on any deep or compelling policy."\nAdam Hall, a bartender for Yogi's Grill and Bar at 10th Street and Indiana Avenue said his crew expects no problems.\n"Some people don't realize we don't serve alcohol (until the polls close), but most people around here seem like they already know the law," Hall said. "It's never really been a problem for us."\nA representative for Nick's English Hut at 423 E. Kirkwood Ave. said the bar will be closed the first half of the day, but declined further comment.\nSenior Jessica Williams, who turns 21 on Election Day this year and plans to vote, said though she is disappointed the bars will be closed during the day, she understands the spirit of the law.\n"You don't want drunk people going to the polls," she said. \n-- Contact senior writer Rick Newkirk at renewkir@indiana.edu.
(10/29/04 4:06am)
What is this obsession with Thefacebook?\nFor the 12 of you living in the basement of Ballantine who don't know what www.Thefacebook.com is, don't ask me because I don't get it.\nI know it involves online profiles, chains of friends and way too much extra time on the hands of college students.\nThe other day, my roommate asked me if I wanted to join his facebook group. Completely perplexed -- yet also chagrined from his frequent requests to do senseless things -- I asked him why. \n"Why the flip should I join your stupid cyber-profile party?"\n"Because then we can be friends," he replied. "Everybody's in my group."\n"But we're already friends," I said. "What's the point?"\n"Yeah, but if you join my facebook group, we can be friends online."\nWhoa, whoa, whoa. I thought that was the ridiculous premise behind instant messaging. When I come home from an exhausting day at the Indiana Daily Student, I have to see all the people I can barely tolerate again in that little white box at the top of the screen. (I quickly post an away message before the most intolerable folks can see that I'm online.)\nInstant messaging has gotten so out of hand that many of us don't even walk to the next room to talk to our roommates. Why speak when you can pound out "Wanna go out 2night" on your keyboard?\nBut Thefacebook serves us up another reason to be idle and content with our newly found dependence on technology. I can't figure out for the life of Vaio what this new trend is. I create a profile (which has my picture so all of you can see what I look like when I'm not on the computer), and then I try to make "friends" with the other bodiless faces in the book. If I'm really lucky, he or she will (cross my fingers) accept me. Otherwise, I get rejected, which is perhaps the most life-like aspect of the whole inane system.\n"But you can be connected to everybody through their friends. It's like 'Six degrees of Kevin Bacon.'"\nOh, wow, that's amazing.\nWait, no it's not. What the crap?\nIf we want to be "connected" to oodles of people in different crowds, how about the old-fashioned method -- meet them.\nThis really is a novel concept. The next time you have the urge to know more folks, go somewhere with one of your friends and (gasp) meet some of their friends. \n"But wait, there's more," a faithful Thefacebooker might say, "You can be connected to people through their classes."\nThis is a tough argument to defeat, but I have one idea -- go to class. \nIt's not that I hate the idea of Thefacebook; it's just that I don't get it. It seems like just another excuse to waste time while you could be doing something worthwhile. (Are you listening, Real World, Madden 2004 and fantasy baseball?)\nI get that it's a good way to keep up with friends, but if you long for your ex-girlfriend from high school, give her a call. If she hangs up on you, it'll be just like she pressed the "reject" button, only way more satisfying. The clack of a speeding telephone receiver always beats an e-mail with a consolation prize. \nSo look up because you won't see that goofy mug shot anywhere near Thefacebook. If you need to scratch the cyber-networking itch, try a throwback remedy: Do something real. \nAnd, no, instant messaging does not count.
(10/28/04 5:08am)
A voter information panel held Wednesday by the Graduate and Professional Student Organization degenerated into what one observer called a discourse in "vitriolic politics."\nThe panel, assembled in the State Room East of the Indiana Memorial Union, was comprised of chairs of the three largest political parties in Monroe County -- the Democrats, the Republicans and the Libertarians. GPSO organizers intended to educate potential voters about the issues of local elections and the stances of candidates running in those races.\nBut several scowls conquered the faces of audience and panel members when Monroe County Democratic Party Chair Dan Combs made disparaging remarks about Libertarian Party of Indiana Vice-chair Rebecca Sink-Burris and Libertarians in general.\n"The Libertarians are eating up our time," Combs said at one point. "Let's just get off the Libertarian thing. It makes no sense. John and I have the issues. We may disagree, but we're the only ones that matter here."\nCombs was referring to the third panel member, Monroe County Republican Party Chair John Shean, in the comment that followed his ridicule of the Libertarian platform regarding pollution policy and the abolition of the public school system.\nIn response, Sink-Burris said she and her political colleagues had every right to attend the panel.\n"The Libertarian Party is immediately relevant to this year's election," she said. \nSink-Burris also defended her party as the third largest in the country, saying the group consists of more members than all other minor parties combined.\nDuring more agreeable moments, the political leaders explained their parties' lines on the usual local issues to the 40 graduate students and political enthusiasts in attendance.\nSink-Burris described the Libertarian plan to abolish property taxes and minimize the role of government. Combs spoke of the need to support small businesses and nurture entrepreneurial minds, while Shean questioned the role Indiana's government plays in "creating jobs."\nBut during another stretch, Combs touted his party's function in Monroe County's success.\n"Everything you see in this community has been brought here by the Democrats," he said. "That is, except for the problems."\nShean, a transplanted Bloomington resident, took exception to Combs' comment, saying the Democrat was unfairly "laying all the problems of Monroe County at the feet of the Republicans."\n"I didn't know I was responsible for all the problems of the county," Shean said. \nAfter the audience member questioned Combs about the state of "vitriolic politics" in Monroe County, the Democratic chair was quick to refute the accusation, saying he would rather describe local politics as "visceral."\n-- Contact senior writer Rick Newkirk at renewkir@indiana.edu.
(10/22/04 4:10am)
If I see one more Scott Peterson headline, I might pull out all my hair. \nIt's not that I'm not sympathetic to the murder of a pregnant woman. I am.\nBut the Peterson trial is not news any more than are the other 12,000 homicides in the Unites States every year.\nThere are three reasons the Petersons are getting coverage. A) They're white. B) They're attractive. C) They're members of the upper-middle class. In summary, they resemble characters from "The Young and the Restless," and the national media is making a poorly scripted soap opera with them.\nAnd in no way does a soap opera count as news.\nYet, the media continues to cover the story like moldy crust on a bad loaf of bread. In fact, a Peterson headline is worn thinner than the sports clichés "take it one game at a time" and "defense wins championships." And every one sounds the same to me. "Peterson considers testifying." "Peterson lawyers move for dismissal." "Peterson had trysts with sea turtles." I might as well be listening to Charlie Brown's mother, because when I see the "P" word, all I hear is "Wa, wa, waaa."\nThese stories are absurd -- and inappropriate -- because news should be the pursuit of stories that are important to all our lives. Journalism is not a soap opera.\nBut otherwise credible news agencies are sensationalizing this one case to pander to the hoi polloi's primitive desires. This homicidal drama teaches us nothing about society, ourselves or the world, as good journalism should do. Rather, it transforms us into Roman peasants climbing over each other in the Coliseum, thirsty for the blood of gladiators.\nLet's imagine for a moment a similar situation in California in which a pregnant woman, only this time with her 5-year-old son, disappears off the face of the Earth. Only this time the woman is poor and Hispanic. Do you think we'd read about it in the newspaper?\nYou can stop imagining because it happened. At around the same time Laci Peterson disappeared, several women in northern California went missing, only they left without media magnets attached to their backs. Those magnets cling to beauty, money and Anglicanism. Without those key elements, there is no "story." Unfortunately for Laci, she had all three.\nThe same goes for Lori Hacking. \nAnd Elizabeth Smart and JonBenet Ramsey. Hundreds of children are murdered every year, not to mention the thousands that go missing. They are all truly tragic events, each worthy of its own recognition. But another tragedy lies in the way national media picks and chooses among them to decide which ones are worthy of year-long, in-depth coverage and which ones are just fodder for the mill. All involve real people with real lives, but unfortunately for us, and for the victims, some of them become glamorized pop-martyrs.\nSo I am proposing a plan to boycott all coverage of the Peterson trial. I already know I won't be gathering information about it. The fact that I know nothing about the case makes me proud. \nAnd I want you to join me. So put down that People magazine, turn down "Headline News" and recycle those ridiculous newspapers that claim a personal tragedy is an ongoing episode in the annals of history.\nThere's a place for the melodrama surrounding the Scott Peterson case. It's between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on network television.\nLeave it there.
(10/20/04 4:47am)
Gubernatorial candidate Kenn Gividen joined a band of 12 Libertarian supporters at the Village Deli, 409 E. Kirkwood Ave., Tuesday night to discuss the "wasted vote syndrome" and to pound out campaign strategies. Nick Blesch, president of IU College Libertarians, was also in attendance.\nGividen, the self-proclaimed "candidate with the best hair," said the problem with the two major parties is their magnetism toward the middle of the road.\n"The Republicans are gravitating by design to the center of the political spectrum," he said. "The Democrats are doing the same thing. Democrats and Republicans are becoming identical twins. They are losing their distinction."\nThe discussion was part of a monthly meeting held by the Libertarian Party of Monroe County. Gividen met several members of the Libertarian Party in a small room in the back of the restaurant. Gatherers filtered in and eventually took seats at three folding tables. After introductions, Blesch, who is also the Libertarian candidate for representative of the 61st district, spoke to the group about his first foray into a public campaign.\nBlesch said his initial goal when he entered the race five months ago was to assist the Libertarian party and to have a "quirky" venture to scribe on his resume.\nBut early in his campaign, Blesch said, his distrust of the Democratic incumbent Matt Pierce grew, and he knew he wanted to offer the district's voters a better option.\n"It's not a wasted vote," he said.\nBlesch passed a gray fedora around the room to collect money from the supporters -- he needed some $50 so his campaign could break even.\nIU staff member Mike Durbin, who attended the meeting, said his trust in the Libertarian party comes from an inherent sense of freedom.\n"I'm opposed to the initiation of force against anyone," Durbin said. "The party lives up pretty well with my views."\nDurbin also said he is concerned with the major parties' lack of respect for all people.\n"It bothers me that they have no concern for civil liberties," he said. "They've thrown away a lot of our rights for security, and they haven't granted that security."\nEarly conversations centered on the most prevalent paradox encountered by Libertarians: the "wasted vote syndrome." The Libertarians feel although many likely voters want to cast their ballots for a third-party candidate, they are afraid not enough people will support that candidate and that their votes will be wasted.\nWhile Libertarian Party of Monroe County Secretary Erin Hollinden suggested a "buddy system" to partner possible Libertarian voters, vice chair Margaret Fette said a vote for one's convictions is never wasted.\n"I don't buy into the 'wasted vote' theory," she said. "I think it's only wasted when you choose someone who doesn't hold your values."\n-- Contact senior writer Rick Newkirk at renewkir@indiana.edu.
(10/19/04 6:16am)
When Suzanna Walters trekked from Georgetown University to Bloomington to chair IU's gender studies department, she came in search of greener pastures.\nWalters did not come without ambitions. By fall 2006, she hopes IU will have the nation's first doctoral degree program in gender studies.\n"The faculty here is phenomenal," she said. "There is wonderful feminist scholarship going on here. This was an opportunity I couldn't pass up."\nAlthough the idea has been in the works for about five years, she said, the hurdles ahead of her could be easily jumped with the proper support from state officials.\nFor the Ph.D. program to be passed, Walters and the gender studies department will need the approval of three major bodies -- the University, the IU board of trustees and the Indiana Commission for Higher Education.\n"We're not anticipating any resistance to this plan," she said. "Everyone in the administration seems to be behind this. I wouldn't have come from Georgetown if they weren't."\nWhile several universities around the U.S. have women's studies Ph.D. programs, no college in the nation offers a gender studies Ph.D. \nWalters said IU has about 70 undergraduate students studying in gender studies, along with about 15 doctorate students pursuing minor degrees from the department.\n"The next natural step is to launch a doctorate program," she said.\nIU's first gender studies program was conceived in 1973 -- when it was known as the Women's Studies Program -- in response to a nation-wide feminism movement. The name was changed to gender studies in 1997 to "recognize formally its more comprehensive attention to women, men and various aspects of gender," according to the IU gender studies Web site. The first B.A. degree in gender studies was offered in the fall of 1997.\nIn spring 2001, the gender studies program was transformed into a full department. According to the department's mission statement, IU gender studies officials' ultimate goal is to "undertake critical interdisciplinary scrutiny of masculinity and femininity in ways consonant with the field's feminist origins."\nWalters called gender studies the "ultimate interdisciplinary analytical category," which defines identity, power and status, questions of intimacy, family, and sexuality.\n"It is one of the most fundamental tools through which we know ourselves," she said. "It's an amazing lens through which to understand relations of both institutional and personal power."\nBefore Walters came to IU in June, she was the women's studies chair at Georgetown. Despite the move from the nation's capital, she said her work at IU has been rewarding. \n"I love it here," she said. "I've never worked so hard in my life. It's an amazingly collegial and accessible environment. It's just a supportive and warm place to work."\n-- Contact senior writer Rick Newkirk at renewkir@indiana.edu.
(10/19/04 5:41am)
During Libertarian candidate Kenn Gividen's final words at the New Albany gubernatorial debate Sunday, he asked audience members to indulge in an analogy of two cars speeding the wrong direction on a highway.\n"Which car would you want to be in?" he asked.\nSuch is the message of the Libertarian Party, which has put the only candidates on the Indiana ballot other than Republicans and Democrats for the last 20 years. \nThe party was created in 1971 and gained the first automatic Libertarian slot on an Indiana ballot in 1982. To maintain the position, Libertarians must win at least 2 percent of the popular vote in an election.\nIn a recent poll, Gividen garnered 3 percent of the vote.\nBut Brad Klopfenstein, executive director for the Libertarian Party of Indiana, said his party works from the small end of the spectrum up.\n"Our strategy had been different from a Nader or a Perot," he said. "Those guys focused on the highest level office. Our goal is to focus on township offices, to get people elected to the lower-level positions and then work up."\nCurrently, Libertarians own seven elected positions in Indiana's government and eight appointed slots for a total of 15, all at the local level.\nKlopfenstein said the Libertarian Party has three main goals -- to eliminate property taxes, to shoot down a new-terrain I-69 and to replace public schools with a charter system, effectively taking secondary education out of the hands of school boards and into the hands of parents.\nBut the underlying goal of the party is to reduce the size of government, and in the process reduce the control of the government over its citizens.\nGividen, who was a registered Republican for 30 years before switching to the Libertarian Party, said a reduction in the power of government was central to the values of the Founding Fathers.\n"I switched to Libertarian Party because it best reflects the ideas of the founders of this nation," he said. "I believe the government's too big, too intrusive, too expensive. If the Libertarians don't make a change, who's going to?"\nBut funding is a major issue for Indiana's Libertarians. Klopfenstein said the Indiana branch of the party works on a total budget of about $150,000 per year, about 1 percent of the campaign funds received by each of the frontrunners in the governor's race. That means Mitch Daniels and Joe Kernan are both utilizing a budget 100 times the size of the entire Libertarian Party of Indiana.\nBut Gividen said the limitation is also a reassurance that the party is working on clean ideals with no corporate attachment.\n"These other guys have millions of dollars," he said. "That money had to come from somewhere, and those people expect something in return. So they're going to have to do some paybacks."\nThe Libertarian Party is running 96 candidates in a plethora of different offices throughout the state. Klopfenstein said voters in every county will have the option to throw a vote toward a member of his party.\n"Everyone in the state will have a minimum of six different Libertarians on the ballot," he said. "In some areas they'll have a Libertarian in every race."\nKlopfenstein said the party is growing at an "amazing rate," and said he's confident a Libertarian will represent Indiana's citizens in state congress by 2008, and in the United States House of Representatives by 2012. But his boldest prediction was aimed at the governor's mansion.\n"Probably in the next 10 years you'll see a Libertarian governor in Indiana," he said.\n-- Contact senior writer Rick Newkirk at renewkir@indiana.edu.
(10/15/04 6:19am)
IU-Southeast will play host to the second gubernatorial debate Sunday between Republican candidate Mitch Daniels, Libertarian candidate Kenn Gividen and Democratic Governor Joe Kernan.\nThe debate is scheduled to last 90 minutes and will take place in the Richard K. Stem Concert Hall of the New Albany, Ind., campus.\nThe initial plan called for a 60-minute debate and excluded Gividen, a third-party candidate. But the Daniels and Kernan campaigns announced a change in plans Tuesday that included the Libertarian and an extra 30 minutes.\n"Mitch wanted him included from the very beginning," said Daniels campaign spokesman Marc Lotter. "It was the governor who was opposed to it."\nThe Kernan campaign offered similar rhetoric.\n"We actually had advocated including the Libertarian candidate from the get-go," said Kernan spokesman Scott Downes. "That's where it landed so we're happy."\nMeanwhile, Gividen said his presence at the debate would be necessary to ensure a fair race.\n"The voters need to hear our message," he said in an Associated Press article. "As of (Monday) night, we thought we were kicked out of the debate."\nThe format of Sunday's debate will be similar to the candidates' first session Sept. 28 at Franklin College. Beginning at 6:30 p.m., it will be moderated by Jack Colwell, political reporter for WNIT Public Television. Four local television and print journalists will comprise the inquiring panel.\nSpokesmen from the Daniels and Kernan campaigns both pledged to continue discussing the same issues on which they have clashed in the past. While both will flaunt their stances on job growth, Downes said Kernan will focus on affordable education and government reform, while Lotter said Daniels will discuss an end to "scandalous politics" and governmental mismanagement.\n"The big difference is the governor has a way to pay for his plan, unlike his opponent," Downes said. \nThe debate comes on the heels of the most expensive gubernatorial campaign in Indiana's history. According to an Associated Press article, the two frontrunners have raised more than $28 million in funds, exceeding the mark set last election of $19 million. \nDaniels and Kernan are locked in the closest race in recent history. According to a WTHR/Indianapolis Star poll released Oct. 5, the challenger Daniels holds a three-point lead at 46-43 over the governor. Three percent of those polled said they would vote for Gividen.\n-- Contact senior writer Rick Newkirk at renewkir@indiana.edu.
(10/15/04 4:35am)
It's a touchy subject, but I'll just say it. I feel bad for all you Ariel users sweating out this Webmail problem right now. \nYou may lose it all. Every contact you kept. Every file you had stored. Every e-mail you received from your beloved Billy, or Lynn, or Billy Lynn. They could all be gone the way of the ARPANet.\nIt must really be a pain in the ASCII, but I wouldn't know because I'm not an Ariel user. Although I'm an IU student, I'm in the group of students that uses Kate instead. The reasons behind the strange divisions and awkward names are very complicated, but all they mean is I'm better than you.\nIt's true. If God really wanted us to be equal, he wouldn't have crashed your account. While you're missing that e-mail from your psych professor that your midterm was pushed up a week, I'll be reading about my distant uncle in Nigeria who died and left me everything. Sweet success!\nThe good news is that this gives you the opportunity to explore the history of communication.\nOf course the first message ever delivered from one person to another came about 6,000 years ago, when Eve said to Adam, "I have nothing to compare you to, but that can't be right." Relations across gender lines have been strained ever since.\nThe Pony Express is a well-known first in communication, when poor frontiersmen were recruited to deliver mail from rich plantation owners in Virginia to rich gold-panners in Colorado. According to www.americanwest.com, one classified ad in California read, "Wanted. Young, skinny, wiry fellows. Not over 18. Must be expert riders. Willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred." The postal service was right on. Why can't we do that now? We'd be much better off with specialized classifieds for our favorite envelope pushers, like:\n"Mail truck drivers wanted. Old, fat, crotchety white fellows. Not under three chins. Must be good at driving in the passenger seat. Willing to risk fashion sense daily. Must flirt with ladies named 'Flo.'"\nMoving on to the digital age of communication, I present the development of the Internet, without which we would not have e-mail systems like Webmail, with which I am so gloriously having no problems.\nThere is a famous story that Al Gore said he invented the Internet, and that leads us to a monumental moment of miscommunication: it never happened. Precisely what Gore said was, "During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet." He was referring to his participation in a House committee that funded the development of military computer networks. What Gore did do was horribly misuse the word "create," and in a very boring way. What he didn't do was pretend to have invented the most important tool of the last 50 years. And, for the record, he never said he "invented" the Internet. Anyway, it's all water under the Bush.\nWhich brings us to the present, where I still have e-mail access and you still don't. Maybe you have a problem with my incessant use of unnecessary blasphemous phrases. Or you might take issue with how I make jokes at your expense. Sometimes I tend to cross the line.\nIf I've offended you, just send me an e-mail.
(10/13/04 6:02am)
Republican gubernatorial candidate Mitch Daniels dropped in on IU Tuesday, and a sea of green-shirt supporters swarmed.\n"The fact that he showed up proves he's put up a pretty relentless attack to get students interested," senior Ben Stewart said. \nDaniels joined a bevy of students near the entrance of the Arboretum located at Fee Lane and 10th Street just before 2:30 p.m. to answer questions, shake hands and sign green shirts and placards. For nearly two hours, he spoke about the topics that have framed his campaign -- jobs, the "brain-drain" and an end to dirty politics.\n"I believe among the most under-utilized resources in Indiana is our academic leadership," Daniels said. "Our state is blessed with a high intellectual capacity, and I'm amazed at how little engagement there is."\nHe also described his campaign's three main objectives: reversing Indiana's economic decline, bringing an honest government into power and putting an end to "slime politics."\nBut this visit came to a place where voters are sparse -- college students deliver historically poor turnouts at the polls.\n"I go to a lot of places where I know there will not be many votes for me," Daniels said. "But if I become governor, I become governor for everybody in the state."\nThe IU College Republicans joined Daniels at the meet-and-greet to show support for the Republican candidate. IUCRs Chairman Angel Rivera said the visit reinforced Daniels' stance as a candidate who cares about the college student.\n"I think he shows where his priorities are," Rivera said. "He's the only candidate I can think of running for office who makes students the most important part of his campaign. That's what makes him special to us."\nBefore Daniels arrived, a handful of Kernan-Davis enthusiasts set up shop near the Arboretum entrance to hand out Kernan mailers and stickers to passers-by. Fewer remained throughout the day as the green mass grew.\n"We feel like the governor can make better decisions for the state over the next four years," said Kernan admirer and freshman Adam Jones. \nAt one point, a Daniels supporter, clad in a green "My Man Mitch" T-shirt, asked a Kernan campaigner if he wanted information about "the next governor of Indiana."\nMotorists exhibited similar partisanship as they passed the crowd, which reached upwards of 100 people throughout the afternoon. Some drivers honked their horns in a proud display of affection for the Republican, while one booed and held a hand out the window -- with a thumb pointed toward the ground.\nBut Daniels, the father of an IU freshman, had nothing but flowering compliments for the city of Bloomington.\n"When people talk about a livable college town, Bloomington's hard to beat," he said. "Nature gave you a head start on West Lafayette."\nDaniels supporters offered similar niceties about the candidate. Stewart said Daniels' several appearances in Bloomington make his voting decision an easy one.\n"This is the third or fourth time I've seen him," he said. "I haven't seen Kernan here once."\nKernan campaign spokesman Scott Downes said although Kernan has visited IU in the past, he wasn't sure if the governor would make a stop in Bloomington before the election.\n"I don't know," he said. "We have a lot of travel plans through the lead-up to the election."\n-- Contact senior writer Rick Newkirk at renewkir@indiana.edu.
(10/12/04 6:00am)
Bloomington Police officers arrested three students after a fight in a parking lot of the Varsity Villas community early Saturday morning, as about 150 people ran from the scene, according to a BPD report.\nSophomore Bartley Arnold, 19, and freshman Jerad Money, 20, were arrested and charged with illegal consumption of alcohol. Sophomore Jason Lee, 20, was also arrested and charged with resisting law enforcement, illegal consumption and providing false information. No one was charged with assault.\nAccording to the report, the throng that was gathered in the parking lot scattered as officers arrived. Lee, with a torn shirt and blood-stained pants, was spotted by Officer Scott Reynolds and appeared to have been involved in the fight.\n"The officer asked Lee to speak to him, and he began running," said Detective Sgt. David Drake, citing the report. "Then as he was running up some steps, he ran into a large crowd of people and fell down."\nAt that point, Reynolds grabbed Lee by his belt and tackled him to the ground, according to the report.\nBut Lee said his pants were bloodied because he broke up the fight just before police arrived. He said Reynolds told him to freeze, and he became frightened and fled.\n"I just felt like I was going to get in trouble anyway," Lee said. "I had blood on my pants. Whatever I would have said to him, he wouldn't have believed me."\nEyewitnesses said the fight, which occurred around 1 a.m. Saturday, broke out when one man provoked another in the Varsity Villas flats.\n"I looked out my window, and someone yelled 'I'm going to hit you in the nose,'" said sophomore Ryan Payne. "The guy who got hit got the other guy on the ground and started stomping his ribs."\nThe fight then subsided when friends of both combatants dragged them away, several eyewitnesses said. No one questioned said they knew the identity of those involved in the fight. \nLee said he ran into the parking lot to pull one of the fighters away just before police showed up. Then as he was fleeing, he said, Reynolds was being harassed by those still in the parking lot.\n"When I was running, people were yelling 'pig' at him," he said. "I think that pissed him off and gave him an incentive to catch me."\nDrake said though the Villas, which are located north of campus at Dunn Street and Varsity Lane, have historically been a point of police concern, the residents are not considered any more troublesome than other students in Bloomington.\n"That's just one of the biggest concentrations of IU students off campus," he said. "Naturally it's going to be a hot-spot for parties and activity."\nHe also said the Villas "used to be a lot worse than they are now."\n"There are a lot parties," he said. "We get a lot of calls, but not as many as we used to."\nAccording to an April 27 article in the Indiana Daily Student, police entered the Villas in riot gear to quell Little 500 party-goers.\n"Probably the highest damage and potential for damage was at Varsity Villas where there were tipped over cars, and people were setting fire to them," IU Police Department Lt. Jerry Minger said in the article.\n-- Contact senior writer Rick Newkirk at renewkir@indiana.edu.
(10/08/04 6:22am)
An IU student was arrested Tuesday and charged with rape and confinement, Bloomington Police Department officials said. \nStallone Lubanga, 24, a student from Kenya, is being held at the Monroe County Correctional Center with a $20,000 security bond for an alleged sexual assault incident that took place after a woman visited his apartment late Monday night.\nBPD Cpt. Joseph Qualters said that, according to the police report, Lubanga invited the victim, an 18-year-old woman, and two of her friends to his home in Sterling University Apartments located at 500 S. Park Ridge Road late Monday night. \n"They went there for a party, and upon arrival, they found only the suspect and another male," Qualters said, citing the police report.\nAt approximately 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, the victim asked to use the bathroom, which is attached to Lubanga's bedroom. When she came out, Lubanga reportedly confronted her.\n"He then threatened to harm her if she didn't have sex with him," Qualters said. "She was extremely fearful and went with him."\nAccording to the report, Lubanga then disrobed the victim and held her down on his bed while he sexually assaulted her. She repeatedly said "no," Qualters said.\nThe victim's friends reportedly became concerned at how long she had been in the bathroom, unaware of the sexual assault, and beat on the door. When the woman left the bedroom, she told her friends about the assault, and they immediately left. \nThe victim contacted police at 1:59 a.m. Lubanga was arrested later Tuesday morning and questioned by police. \nQualters said Lubanga's nationality would not affect police operations.\n"He's subject to the same laws of Indiana as any other individual," he said.\nDean of Students Richard McKaig said the University has taken "absolutely no action" on Lubanga.\n"Incidents like this usually result in criminal court action," McKaig said. "University involvement needs to await the judicial processing."\nMcKaig also said Lubanga's status as an international student would not "affect the way the campus judicial system acts," though he did acknowledge any punishment could be more severe given the circumstances. \n"If an international student were suspended, obviously the consequences are much different than if a student were from Bedford (Ind.), for example," McKaig said. "But the judicial system is still the same." \nAccording to the IU Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities and Conduct, the University reserves the right to discipline students for off-campus sexual assault offenses.\n-- Contact senior writer Rick Newkirk at renewkir@indiana.edu .
(10/08/04 4:16am)
This weekend is Harvest Homecoming.\nI'm saying this because you probably don't know what the cuss Harvest Homecoming is and because you probably should.\nAs all my fellow Sunny-Side-of-Louisvillers know, Harvest Homecoming is an annual nine-day festival. It may sound like a celebration of the harvest, but all the crops grown in New Albany have already been confiscated by the police. \n"Harvest" is really a week-long party that drowns downtown New Albany in curbside tent shanties (known as "booths"), a slew of 40-year-old rusted-metal child-kidnapping contraptions (known as "rides") and, most encumbering of all, about three billion filthy, smelly, space-taking beasts (known as "people"). In fact, there are so many of these "people" that it takes a solid three hours to get from the Sweet Tooth Booth to the Gravitron, which is only 50 feet away. I'm not kidding. It takes a long time to wade through three billion people.\nThe only thing worse than squeezing sideways through all those creatures is their smell. It must be a genetically engineered stench that permeates through the dregs on Main and Pearl streets because it's bad enough to disgust a gangrenous foot fungus.\nBut I suppose that sort of detail isn't going to bring anyone down to the river. It's not all bad. It happens to be the second-largest draw in Indiana, next to the Indy 500, and three billion people in one place can't be wrong.\nFor the kids, there are pumpkin patch-loads of things to do. When I was a kid (last fall), I would spend hundreds of my parents' dollars trying fruitlessly to toss a two-inch green plastic ring onto the mouth of a two-liter bottle of Sprite. Good stuff. Or I would ride the Tilt-a-Hurl. Good stuff. Or I would throw a dart at a balloon so I could take home an 8" X 11" poster of Jenny McCarthy wearing nothing but cut-off jean shorts and a pair of socks. Good, wholesome stuff.\nOther than the raunchy carnival prizes, Harvest Homecoming is famous for its food. I have never in my life seen so much food that is so unnecessary. Don't miss the funnel cake, but don't have more than one. Have a taco tub, followed by a taco tumbler, and finish that off with a taco in a bag. For dessert, you can partake in caramel apples, roasted almonds, pumpkin ice cream or fried elephant ears. Several other dishes are in the works, including chicken and dumpling salad, roasted vegetable soup and milk popsicles. Mmmm!\nFor the college set, Harvest is plush with all things liquid and inebriating. Well, not all things, but loads of beer. Hit up the beer tent, which is filled with "people" as disgusting as you, but you'll be so swimmy, you'll never notice. Another trend popular with local alcoholics is the beer walk, where patrons round the downtown bar loop in search of the perfect draught beer. (The beer walk moves along more slowly as the night goes on). \nSpeaking of local alcoholics, Harvest is also a gathering place for all the people Southern Indianans went to high school with. As they're mostly college dropouts, I love to see the people who used to be above me in the past. \n"Oh, you still live in New Albany? Well I live in B-Town and pull down triple figures at the Indiana Daily Student. Sucks to be you." Harvest reminds me of how far I've come in life.\nSo, with all its faults, why am I urging you to go to my humble hometown and attend the largest white-trash-bash east of West Virginia? I don't know, and I can't explain it. But there's something about that smelly, crowded, drunken display of hedonism that tells me I'm home. \nSo come on down and see me at Harvest Homecoming. It's the most fun you never thought you could have.