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(01/15/14 5:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>There’s a piece on the Internet gaining traction, and it should be nipped in the bud.Written by an angry Tyler Coates for online entertainment magazine Flavorwire the day after the Golden Globes, the column claims that the “homophobic” acceptance speeches prove we need to have more LGBT actors playing LGBT roles.Coates gets angry mostly with three speeches in particular: those given by “Dallas Buyers Club” stars Jared Leto and Matthew McConaughey, and Michael Douglas of “Behind the Candelabra.” Leto and McConaughey for failing to respectfully acknowledge the real people affected by the AIDS struggle that they represent in the film; Douglas for indulging in a story involving the “birth” of his role as Liberace.Coates ends the whole escapade with some slight rhetorical questioning: “Would queer or transgender actors have brought something different to their roles?” “Would they have perhaps added more dimensions to the characters they were playing?” “Would they have realized that you cannot simply step up on the Golden Globes stage and disregard the identity-based struggles of these complex characters who put golden trophies in actors’ hands?” It’s an issue I truly wish I could get behind.There are plenty of LGBT actors that should gain traction in the industry and public eye, but not for solely playing queer roles.There are simple facts to acknowledge that unravel Coates’s convoluted points.First, acting, at its core, is about finding a life outside of your own. It’s about accurately experiencing and displaying another person no matter who he or she might be.For this reason alone, it shouldn’t matter what orientation an actor is for the role he or she is playing. If the actor is talented and understands what it takes to explore the life of another human being, there is no room for the actor’s “previous” life.Second, Coates is emphasizing the gayness of these roles far too much.For a man declaring that queer actors would add dimension to the characters they are playing, emphasizing that you must be queer in order to understand queer struggles seems to make everything more one-dimensional to me.Coates is reducing great characters and historical figures to only be defined by their orientation and not their deeper qualities.Sean Penn’s Academy Award-winning portrayal of Harvey Milk wasn’t rooted in Milk’s queerness. Instead, Penn successfully pulled off the life of a kind, dedicated man who couldn’t stand for injustice. Yes, we should get more LGBT actors into the American film canon, but we shouldn’t shun straight actors for their work and portrayal of the queer struggle.It’s true we could do without Jared Leto’s superficial speech about getting into character by waxing, but most of the people at the Golden Globes are drunk anyway.At the end of the day it comes down to the fact that without using straight actors to do some brilliant work in gay roles, those stories would not be as popularized.That’s what we need to focus on — making the struggle known.
(12/11/13 5:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>In a column published a few weeks ago, IndyStar columnist Bill
Stanczykiewicz discusses the horrifying facts and statistics about
infant mortality rates in Indiana.“According to the updated Kids
Count in Indiana Data Book, in 2011 the number of babies who died in
the first year of life was 643, similar to the number of students in two
elementary schools.” This number leads to Indiana’s infant mortality
rate being 25 percent higher than the national average.Stanczykiewicz
goes on to explore possible reasons why the mortality rate might be so
high, but it’s actually a letter to the editor from Carolyn Meagher and
Sue Ellen Braunlin, co-presidents of Indiana Religious Coalition for
Reproductive Justice, that offers the most immediate, sound and
easily-implemented solution: sex education.With proper prenatal
care and general knowledge about the risks of sexual activity, Indiana’s
outrageously high infant mortality rate could be solved almost
instantly.If you’ve picked up a copy of the Indiana Daily
Student before this one, you know that the Opinion staff loves talking
about sex — only sometimes in the raunchy sense, but mostly about sex
education.A few weeks ago, the IDS Editorial Board had to
publish a piece about putting on condoms the correct way because a study
at the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction
exposed just how little people knew about the contraceptives. To just
get the obvious out there, improper use of condoms is the fastest way to
unwanted pregnancy.On Monday, IDS Opinion columnist Caroline
Ellert came to the defense of HIV/AIDS victims and the stigma around
them — another conflict linked to the lack of sexual education. Of
course, HIV/AIDS has incredible potential to contribute to the infant
mortality rate. According to AIDS.gov, an HIV-positive mother who is not
being treated for her HIV during pregnancy, labor or delivery has a
25-percent chance of passing the virus to her baby.Sexual
assault on campus seems like a blasé side note because we see it
reported so many times. Throughout the semester, the IDS reported
incidents of rape on campus a total of six times. I think we can all
agree that’s an incredibly high number when dealing with a subject such
as rape. Though rape isn’t necessarily a part of the general sex
education curriculum, it is linked to a general discussion and
teachable definition of consensual sex and what that entails.This is beginning to look like a sort of button on all the work we’ve done this semester.And there have been plenty of on-campus incidents that we could explore further.Brother
Jeb and the abortion protestors using “photographs” of bloody babies
all work to uphold the Indiana ideal that it’s best to just not have sex
— a truly dangerous mindset. The issues are all there and have seemed to remain stagnant for too long.Improper
sex education leads to bringing a baby into a world that might not be
fit or supportive of him or her. And this is the fastest route to infant
mortality.Maybe this new rationale will spark some real change.— sjostrow@indiana.eduFollow columnist Sam Ostrowski on Twitter @ostrowski_s_j.
(12/04/13 5:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>It’s the holiday season. That means relatives — and lots of them.For some this is a dream, but for others, it’s deadly.Too much time spent around your racist great uncle and your homophobic great aunt can be harmful. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a bigoted night.The holidays can be a huge stab to the ego with all the old folk cramping your style.But here’s the thing — if you want the old folk to be open and accepting of you and your choices, show them some respect and do the same for them.This column is coming with some family dirty laundry that I’m choosing to air with no better audience than all of you.My grandma died in winter 2008, so this Christmas will officially mark the fifth Christmas she won’t be there. There were and continue to be some rough times because of her absence. The way she went only made things harder.About six months ago my grandpa got himself a lady friend, and it was the shot heard ’round the family.To this day I can’t go one family gathering without someone whispering, “So what do you think about that one?” with a nice “Mean Girls” point over to the lady friend.It’s fine to be a little bitter, but then it’s time to get over it.I’ve heard the same thing happen in other families with divorce and remarriage. Suddenly, the older family member is ostracized because she or he doesn’t seem to be fitting into the moral standards we set for our elders.For some reason we see the older generation as not having the same human feelings we have. We think that they’re forever stuck in their age and situation. It’s like our older relatives hit 70 and are stuck in some sort of museum exhibit.We call them “grandpa” or “grandma” and automatically put them in this weird asexual, subhuman category. That just isn’t the case.So for all of you who struggle with your relationships with your older family, just look at them as people, not octogenarians. They went through and continue to go through the same struggles and feelings we go through on a daily basis.I’m not saying you should go home during the holidays and ask your grandparents about their sex life, but I am saying you should feel free to break the boundaries and show them you acknowledge them as real people, not wax figures in a preserved state.It might be weird to take them off that pedestal, but they’re still pretty great people. You’re just at an age where you can change the moral standards slightly, knowing what real life can bring.When you get old, you’ll want to live every last moment, too.— sjostrow@indiana.eduFollow columnist Sam Ostrowski on Twitter @ostrowski_s_j.
(11/20/13 5:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>This past weekend, the man hit everyone’s favorite sushi spot pretty hard.Eighteen people were arrested for illegal consumption after Indiana State Excise Police officers went to Ami at about 10:30 p.m. to investigate a complaint that the restaurant was selling alcohol to minors. And the ongoing battle with Excise Police continues.Almost everyone on this campus has had some sort of encounter with Excise, whether it’s a direct run-in or stories from friends. Indiana University has always had its fair share of attention from Excise.They are, quite possibly, the most hated people on campus.I’m not saying this hatred is correct, but it’s often validated.The trouble is that in a situation like Ami’s, of course underage people are going to take advantage of a restaurant that can sell them alcohol. It’s common knowledge that students like to drink, and here’s a way they could do it and not even maliciously use fake IDs.Yes, it was very much illegal.But does it really warrant 18 arrests?During move-in weekend this year, Indiana State Excise Police arrested 93 people on 129 charges. Fifty-six of the arrests were for underage people illegally possessing or drinking alcohol, and 20 of those were charged with possessing fake IDs. We’ve come to associate all police with the Los Angeles Police Department’s famous motto “To Protect and to Serve.” So while Indiana Excise Police might be protecting, are they really serving the people by simply slapping down all these arrests?If we still have all of these arrests happening, clearly the drinking situation is not being resolved or stopped in any effective way. Instead, the Excise Police are consistently capitalizing on a culture they know is guaranteed money.I say, if they need the money, go ahead and fine any violators to your Excise heart’s content. But don’t arrest them.Arresting students and young people for alcohol-related crimes isn’t helping the situation at all. Young people are still drinking and will continue to drink — that’s college.Instead of truly serving the people, the frequency with which Excise Police arrest people is creating unhealthy drinking habits and unsafe party techniques.It’s because of Excise horror stories that legislation such as the Indiana Lifeline Law is often forgotten about, and tragedy can ensue.The law clearly states its intentions, but nobody wants to invite authorities to a party when 18 people can be arrested for drinking at a local sushi restaurant.There’s a common debate that focuses on whether or not universities should have their own laws, if substance-related crimes should have as much impact as they do in the real world.Though this is a slippery slope, I do think they should be treated differently.We’re all here to learn and better ourselves. Based on the numbers above, we’re certainly not learning anything through all these arrests.There has to be a better way.— sjostrow@indiana.eduFollow columnist Sam Ostrowski on Twitter @ostrowski_s_j.
(11/13/13 5:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Last week the Illinois legislature voted to allow same-sex marriage. Hailing from Illinois, I’m pretty hopped up on equality right now. But nothing brings your buzz down more than bigots.Unfortunately, we’re in a different struggle over here in Indiana. House Joint Resolution 6, an amendment focused on banning same-sex marriages in Indiana, is becoming more imminent and entering the public discourse more every day.Thankfully, the amendment isn’t sitting well with most. The Indianapolis Chamber, Indiana University, several smaller colleges, Eli Lilly and Co., Emmis Communications, and Cummins have all demonstrated a clear opposition to HJR 6. Most recently added to the list of those opposing the amendment: the Indianapolis City-County Council.In a vote Monday, the City-County Council agreed 22-6 on Proposal 354, a special resolution urging the General Assembly to reject the proposed HJR 6.Council Vice President John Barth’s opposition to the amendment stems from the fact that Indianapolis, and Indiana on the whole, doesn’t need to be sending any type of message that it is not welcoming.Barth openly said, “Simply put, our city needs to attract and retain citizens who want to work with us to make this the best place it can be.” And there’s the rub.The most vocal groups in support of the amendment continue to base arguments on religion and a general threat to the family. But by not supporting marriage equality, there might be a more present and dangerous threat to the state: a drop in population.Now a mass exodus of all the gays in Indiana isn’t likely — although that’d be pretty exciting and a more exhilarating Moses story to tell the kids. But the legislation that comes across as so off the mark to so many youths does severely limit growth of Indianapolis and Indiana in general.Last year, Indianapolis actually dropped a spot in the national cities population ranking. The United States Census Bureau says new population estimates show Indianapolis slipped from No. 12 during the census year that ended July 1, 2012.If Indiana government workers are sane and aware — which Barth seems to be — they would probably prefer the city stop dropping in population. More people, more money.And it’s not just Indianapolis. Bloomington prides itself on being voted the 4th Gayest City in America by the Advocate’s 2010 standards. Based on my experience, the Bloomington gay community is strong and won’t back down from a fight. But should members ever choose to get out of dodge, a significant portion of tax dollars runs away with them.So yes, companies like Eli Lilly and Co. are demonstrating their opposition to HJR 6 because it’s backward thinking, and they want to be good people, but they also want to keep Indiana strong.By being on the wrong side of history, the state could potentially lose an incredible amount of support.At this point, opposing same-sex marriage actually threatens detriment to the state.— sjostrow@indiana.eduFollow columnist Sam Ostrowski on Twitter @ostrowski_s_j.
(11/06/13 5:00am)
With the City of Bloomington’s decision to take down her signs last week, Lauren Spierer is once again present and immediate in campus discussion.
(10/30/13 4:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>I came to this campus not giving any thought to my safety.The place seemed all right. I came for my tour and saw some of those emergency towers around, a lot of streetlights lining the paths and some student cadets patrolling around. I had nothing to fear.I’m leaving IU fearing everything.After this weekend’s knifing at Tulip Tree Apartments, we should all be afraid. Not because the knife incident happened but because of the way it was publicized and brought to the people.IU-Notify, a service that sends those who have their phone number registered with the system a text message and gives them a phone call started off with “IU Bloomington Alert! An armed individual is at large on the BL campus. Take safe shelter. Lock door. Follow instructions from authorities” at about 4 a.m. Sunday.Panic-inducing.Personally, I woke up and began thinking about the madman with a shotgun running around campus. But then the night progressed.Soon it was clear that it wasn’t a shotgun, it was a knife. And the suspect wasn’t “at large,” it was an altercation amongst three friends resulting in one person suffering a wound. After getting the facts, IU-Notify became less of a helpful source and more of a fear-mongering one.It seems like a simple thing to be complaining about, but incidents such as this can truly be detrimental to campus safety. On Monday, the talk of campus was how the system had screwed up and how annoying and funny that was.IU-Notify has cried wolf and lost credibility because of it. The system would have been better waiting a few extra minutes to gain information from the police handling the case. Instead, it seems like they decided to go off random gossip.On a similar note, the emergency towers that gave me comfort on my first visit have just newly rocked my world.Recently a class discussion came up about how little the towers are used and how to properly use them. Apparently, when you use the emergency towers, you press the button, walk to the next tower and press that button. With this system the police can track you and know where you’re headed.I never knew this.This is an even easier fix than IU-Notify. This is simple education.Perhaps instead of spending so much time explaining why it really doesn’t matter if you get a Mac or a PC, orientation leaders could spend some more time on safety education.We don’t exactly have the best track record going right now. Recently, the signs for missing student Lauren Spierer were taken down by the city, a pretty dismal update in that whole situation.But we didn’t seem to learn enough from the Spierer case.Sure, the campus experienced a buzz of general “we need to be safer,” but here we are still not knowing how to use the emergency towers and being grossly misinformed by IU-Notify.We could be better, IU.I’m just happy I’m getting out before Bloomington has a chance for full-on anarchy.— sjostrow@indiana.eduFollow columnist Sam Ostrowski on Twitter @ostrowski_s_j.
(10/23/13 4:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Judy Shepard came to campus and the expected happened.The campus got hold of a “press release” including a cocktail of hate speech, bible verses and two addresses for Judy Shepard’s discussions — one of them our very own — compiled by the Westboro Baptist Church. This started a rumor about a protest for the Shepard event, and the Internet went nuts.Immediately, I got an invitation on Facebook to the counter-protest. The event asked students to “RSVP ‘Yes’ if they could be on ‘Standby’ to come counter-protest if they do end up on our campus!” I’m so pleased that I’m on a campus where we don’t accept bigotry, but we’re awfully quick to jump on the counter-protest bandwagon.There are times and ways counter-protesting can be truly effective, but if they’re done wrong, they’re deadly.Counter-protests can too easily get out of hand, be misconstrued and ruin the case and good name of the counter-protestors. Perhaps the most local and chilling example is Boxcar Books’s run-in with the Traditionalist Youth Network.Back in late August the group was protesting the local bookstore, and many Bloomington residents decided to counter-protest. However, things got heated and the Indiana Daily Student snapped a photograph. Now the image of a counter-protestor screaming just as loud, if not louder and more in the face of a Traditional Youth member, will be attached to that story.Sure, the counter-protestor meant all the best in the world. He was sticking up for a local book shop that was being attacked by people who chanted “Racist, fascist, anti-gay, Trad Youth Network here to stay” as they walked through campus.But in this instance, the defender was misconstrued as the attacker.Now TYN has a pretty concise, clear piece of evidence they can bring to other networks in order to justify their work and gain support. They’ve been victimized, in a way, and nothing gains sympathy points more than victimization.The same thing happens every time our favorite preacher, Brother Jed, comes around.At least once every visit, a student will get impassioned and start yelling things at Jed. Again, any passerby might get confused as he or she sees a young, able college student yelling things at an old man.If we saw this on the street without context, we’d probably jump in to the old man’s defense.Some people are simply too far-gone to change, and counter-protesting them will never make it better.If you want to help, work to educate against bigotry and hate speech.Most of this campus’s counter-protesting ends up giving hate more publicity and potentially more support.Instead of counter-protesting the Westboro Baptist Church, we should provide them with guaranteed admission to any event they might be protesting. All we can do for groups like that is give our best attempt at educating them on how they are protesting real human beings with life stories.If they refuse it, then they’re simply programmed for bigotry.Don’t waste your time trying to show them how to care for others. Just practice it.— sjostrw@indiana.eduFollow columnist Sam Ostrowski on Twitter @ostrowski_s_j.
(10/16/13 4:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>In a recent piece for CNN, Opinion columnist LZ Granderson lets us know that we’re too dumb.The piece comes on the heels of Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development releasing its findings from the Survey of Adult Skills. The survey “directly measures proficiency in several information processing skills, namely literacy, numeracy and problem solving in technology rich environments” The U.S. ranked 16th in literacy proficiency.Granderson is nervous for our country — as he should be. But there’s more at play than simply educating the youth of the nation in a more effective manner.Within the column, Granderson brings up interviewing tactics that late-night talk shows have anointed as surefire, gut-busting gold: street interviews.Jimmy Kimmel’s most recent gimmick went to the streets asking people for their thoughts on Obamacare vs. The Affordable Care Act. Spoiler alert: they’re the same thing. But that didn’t stop people from answering the question with gusto.In that particular instance, though, the clip ends with a woman admitting they made her look dumb. She takes responsibility and makes no excuses. Pretty valiant, actually.So it’s not all because we’re flat-out dumb. Part of the reason all of the clips like the above exist is because we’re terribly ill informed.I don’t know if you’ve picked up on this, but I’m basically the leader of “The Newsroom” cult. However accurate the show is, the team takes a stand to produce high-quality news that informs the voting people.Stories classified as “tragedy porn” are out.It’s highly idealistic, but we need that news. The show’s creator, Aaron Sorkin, might actually have some meat to his agenda. We’re spoon-fed worthless information. As I’m writing this, the number one trending topic on CNN.com is who is going to play Christian Grey in the film adaptation of “Fifty Shades of Grey” now that Charlie Hunnam has dropped out.Number one topic. CNN.com. I don’t even need to say anything snotty about that. I love Miley Cyrus, probably a strange amount, but that doesn’t mean she needs to be on the Huffington Post front page every single day.In school if we didn’t understand something, we’d blame the teacher. He/she didn’t spend enough time on the subject, or maybe he/she presented the topic in a way that was unappealing to you. We need to do that in this scenario. And we’ll still need to do our homework, but it’s much easier to accomplish that when the proper resources are available.Granderson says we should be afraid of the stupid people using their all-American right to vote. And yes, we should be.So let’s stop literally dicking around and do something about it.— sjostrow@indiana.eduFollow columnist Sam Ostrowski on Twitter @ostrowski_s_j.
(10/09/13 4:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>This past week in stereotypical news, a bunch of football players heckled and openly harassed actors in a production of “The Laramie Project.”The play centers around Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old who was murdered in a brutal anti-gay hate crime in Wyoming in 1998.Throughout the play, about 20 Ole Miss football players and other members of the audience “used derogatory slurs like ‘fag’ and heckled both cast members and the characters they were portraying for their body types and sexual orientations,” according to the Daily Mississippian.The university spat out the obligatory apology and head football coach Hugh Freeze tweeted Thursday morning: “We certainly do not condone any actions that offend or hurt people in any way. We are working with all departments involved to find the facts.” It seemed to drop out of the national sphere.I wasn’t going to care about this. Honestly, there’s a lot of dumb hate-speech out there toward the gay community — you have to pick your battles. But then John D. Sutter, CNN Opinion columnist, piped up.In a piece entitled “Gays for Ole Miss,” Sutter asks that in an ideal 21st-century world, we would laugh off the incident because it is so far away from our standard perception.I’m all for this.I’m the one who just wrote a piece entitled “Keep saying ‘faggot.’”Spending too much time on bigotry gives it more power. It shows that we are drastically affected — it shows that bigotry works.But we’re not at the point where we can laugh off homophobia yet. Thankfully, Sutter realizes this.However, Sutter’s next best solution is to root for Ole Miss and their football team, winning over ignorance by wearing LGBT paraphernalia to Mississippi football games.But supporting the players and showing them the gay community essentially doesn’t recognize their stupidity may not be the solution.What we should be doing is pushing for real education rather than flippancy.Part of the problem is the fact that the “Laramie Project” hecklers failed to realize that what they were disrespecting wasn’t simply the act of being gay, or homosexual sex, etc. What they were dishonoring was someone’s murder — a real human being’s end.It’s too easy to group homosexuals as “the gays.”It’s the classic way we’ve always allowed bigotry phrases like “the blacks” or “the Asians” take away any human aspect. They’re now a s ubgroup, on a completely different level.So going en masse decked out in LGBT gear to a football game won’t dismantle this point.Sutter claims that many in Mississippi simply refuse to acknowledge that gay people exist. He wants to expose the homosexual community to the state of Mississippi.I say we need to show Mississippi the real life stories that make up the community.Instead we should be focusing on real education. The hecklers should be fully made aware of the human being that Matthew Shepard was and the human beings that make up the gay population.One day we won’t have to fight and make a big deal out of homophobia.But that day isn’t here yet.— sjostrow@indiana.eduFollow columnist Sam Ostrowski on Twitter @ostrowski_s_j.
(10/03/13 4:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Every generation says the generation after them is the worst.But we actually are the worst.Our generation was named the “Me, Me, Me generation” by Time magazine, and nothing has ever suited us better. We’re a generation based solely on consumption. We set out to consume as much as we can, which has led to everything from an unhealthy obsession with the Internet to more obesity.The major thing we consume is our parents’ money.In a piece for the Huffington Post, Wait But Why said, “Cal Newport points out that ‘follow your passion’ is a catchphrase that has only gotten going in the last 20 years, according to Google’s Ngram viewer, a tool that shows how prominently a given phrase appears in English print over any period of time.”It’s a very touching sentiment, but the catchphrase is undoubtedly making us lazy and unable to perceive how to live a real life.Our generation is the life source for “American Idol” and the culture those shows have spawned.Suddenly, we all think we can be stars, make it big — have a mental breakdown and then get a Vegas act because we can sing decent covers of songs.We’re also the first generation projected to not live as long as our parents will.Despite our obsession with the Internet, we’ve somehow avoided media about healthy lifestyles, and we’ve continued obesity trends to a trophy-winning degree.The University of Michigan found “20 percent of people born between 1966 and 1985 were obese in their 20s, an obesity prevalence milestone not reached by their parents until their 30s or by their grandparents until their 40s or 50s.” AKA we’re getting fatter sooner.And we’re not reversing those statistics.So, to play Will McAvoy and civilize all of you: We’re not the greatest generation, but we can be. Let’s work at it.— sjostrow@indiana.eduFollow columnist Sam Ostrowski on Twitter @ostrowski_s_j.
(10/02/13 4:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>If there’s one image that you need to see from across the pond, it’s a photo of four average men in underwear.The Sun recently released an image of four readers who posed in their underwear trying to recreate famous ads like Calvin Klein and Armani. The four men include a bald man and a man with glasses, so generally overwhelmingly mediocre men.The source played it off as a funny sort of thing, playfully comparing the men to David Beckham, but the tabloid newspaper is actually exploring an important topic that we don’t have enough discussion about. The male figure.Back in 2004 Dove launched its Campaign for Real Beauty, a movement to start “a global conversation about the need for a wider definition of beauty” in response to a study, The Real Truth About Beauty: A Global Report, that “proved the hypothesis that the definition of beauty had become limiting and unattainable.” Now Dove is famous for its nine years of ads involving women that are curvy, wrinkled, graying and generally real. It’s a good thing.But men are still stuck with David Beckham melting the camera in his ads for H&M.In all of our efforts to correct the problems associated with the female body image, we’ve forgotten the men.Advertisements involving men continuously feature those with ripped abs and hairless bodies for Calvin Klein, incredibly toned legs and generally oiled models for Armani and all of the above for 2(x)ist. None of that is average, and it doesn’t need to be the only form of advertisement that we see.We often assume that men are immune to the effects of these extreme body representations that we’re constantly seeing. Eating disorders have always been characterized as feminine problems. The reality is that 10 million males in the United States will suffer from a clinically significant eating disorder at some time in their life.That’s an awfully big number to ignore. Yet here we are, still focusing mostly on women’s bodies and calling the male body obsession a secretive problem.On top of that, 42 percent of males who have eating disorders identify as gay.While a shocking figure, it shouldn’t be all that surprising considering the fact that advertisements aimed at gay men are even more fraught with exceptional men. This picks at and works in tandem with the notion of perfection that many gay men already suffer. The constant wish and desire to be beautiful.It’s true that it’s easier for men to gain muscle and generally bulk up, but that doesn’t make it right for the media to perpetually harass the male form as well.We’ve had legitimate nation-wide marketing campaigns dedicated to changing the female form in advertisements for almost a decade. How have we never managed to pay attention to the men?Come on, let’s hear it for the boys.— sjostrow@indiana.eduFollow columnist Sam Ostrowski on Twitter @ostrowski_s_j.
(09/25/13 4:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>California teens will get a second chance with their online lives.As of Jan. 1, 2015, the state will require websites to allow people younger than 18 to remove posts and to clearly inform minors how to do so. Overall, it’s a noble effort. But the disconcerting part that we’ve come up with a way to slap some duct tape on a major societal problem rather than actually taking the time to fix it.We all make mistakes, I’ve written stupid things on the Internet. You have, too — there’s no denying it.But if we simply go through and erase everything that was ever a bad choice, it’s dubious we’ll learn from those mistakes.All of this effort should be going toward more campaigns set to educate about representation online.The fact is you can’t erase what happens online. Remember when your grandma told you the Internet is written in pen? She was right.Almost every month we find out a new way to make online posts and representations even more permanent than we ever could have dreamed.In August, the unbeatable Snapchat was even taken down. The app boasted the fact that you could send someone a photo on a timer system from one to ten seconds. When the timer expired, so did the photo, “forever.”But here’s where those scare quotes come in.Through an iOS app entitled Snap Save, Snapchatters can go to their online account and view all the snaps they’ve ever received — a frightening gallery of sexts and duckfaces. Websites such as Snapchatleaked.com are already out there capitalizing on the false sense of security we’ve acquired through developments like Snapchat.The fact of the matter is, there will always be someone to subvert the rules, someone who gets their jollies by simply embarrassing other people.The story is not new. IsAnyoneUp.com was arguably the most infamous revenge porn website until it was shut down in April 2012. Since the website was shut down, one would assume that any residual images from the original site would be down by now, too, right? But thank god for our friend, Tumblr.Simply searching for “is anyone up” still yields a myriad of revenge porn now floating around the free blogging site.It’s nice to get a second chance, especially for minors, but there should also be real education about the dangers of online representation. It’s beyond the point of simply relying on parents to tell their kids they need to be careful.Sure, my dad hammered home the fact that one day I’ll need to be employed, but with all the different outlets to screw up on the Internet, many parents have understandably fallen behind.So, California teens, you may find yourself out of the frying pan for the moment, but know that you could find yourself in the fire years down the road.— sjostrow@indiana.eduFollow columnist Sam Ostrowski on Twitter @ostrowski_s_j.
(09/18/13 4:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A few days ago I was tasked with reading a short essay for a course focusing on the editing and publishing of literary magazines. The piece, “On Faggot: An Etymology,” was from our very own Indiana Review.Overall, the piece looks at the word “faggot” while interjecting personal narratives about gay culture and the homosexual experience.It’s a funny, coy, interesting piece.But no one in class wanted to talk about it. And then the rationale hit me — it’s because no one was comfortable saying “faggot” over and over again while discussing the work.I raised my hand and said “faggot” a few times to work the crowd over, warm them up. I wanted to give them free reign. “Oh,” they were supposed to think, “the gay kid just said ‘faggot,’ now we can, too!”But that wasn’t the case. It was still a touchy issue.The incident was particularly timely coming off columnist Lexia Banks’s insightful piece on the use of the word “nigger.”Banks asks that the “reclamation” of “nigger” that has happened in black culture be stopped because it’s still a racist term.“Nigger” might be overused right now in pop culture, but it doesn’t mean the word should go away — it’s the same case for all slurs.Although slur words can be dangerous, we’ve gotten into a zone where we’re utterly afraid of them. We’re afraid to even say the word in class when it’s in a piece of reading assigned for the class.If we become afraid to say the word, the slur wins. Ignoring and failing to say the word discredits history and struggle.The natural route, then, would be to look at reclamation — a process that’s often debated, contested and generally sticky.There exists a sound argument in reclaiming “faggot.”In the same realm, people boast about the journey of the word “queer,” how it is the best example we have of reclamation working.Around the early 1900s, “queer” was being used in the same vein as “pansies,” a hard-edged derogatory attack. Yet, in the ’80s, the reclamation of the word began and it is now recognized and immortalized in the LGBTQ acronym. The journey to reclaim “faggot” would be a difficult one.It’s a more difficult process because that word is still heavily in use today. We’re so confident, easy-going and accepting about “queer” because our generation simply wasn’t around for its heyday as hate speech.However, almost every single one of us has had a brush with “faggot” this week.There’s also a fundamental difference between “queer” and “faggot” in the simple fact that “faggot” is more simply abrasive to the ear. When reclaimed and assigned new meaning, “queer” can be a rather nice word to listen to, but “faggot” is still a hard word.Personally, I think reclamation is worth a shot because there’s a clear and present need to keep saying the word.And if we have to keep saying the word, we sure as hell aren’t going to see it be used to destroy teen boys’ lives because some bully used it in the most derogatory sense.— sjostrow@indiana.eduFollow columnist Sam Ostrowski on Twitter @ostrowski_s_j.
(09/11/13 4:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>There’s an important video among this week’s viral picks.It’s a video involving 22-year-old Ohio resident Matthew Cordle and his confession to killing Vincent Canzani in a drunken driving incident.In the video, Matthew explains how he got drunk in order to “get out of (his) head for a few hours” to escape his depression. He then got into his truck and drove down I-670 in the wrong direction. This is when he hit and killed Canzani, a 61-year-old Navy veteran.Recorded and published Sept. 3, the video has certainly earned its “viral” trophy, as it already has more than 1 million views.And those views are earned, as Cordle does something unprecedented:.He confesses his crime and asks to feel the full wrath of the judicial system.Just a few days later, an Ohio grand jury has charged Cordle with aggravated vehicular homicide. If he is convicted of the crimes that he readily confesses to in his video, Cordle will face a maximum sentence of eight years in prison. But is the video fair?Throughout the 3 1/2-minute YouTube post, emotional music plays in the background, and the cinematography works to show Cordle as what seems like more of a victim than Canzani. The video plays up Cordle’s attractiveness and shows images of what appear to be burns, making us sympathize with the man.After watching the video, I couldn’t stop feeling bad for Matthew. And I had forgotten the true victim’s name entirely.This entire column was going to be a bashing of Cordle’s choice and the rhetorical choices that present Cordle as a hero of the mea culpa.But that would be taking the situation too far in the other direction.Ultimately, nobody is asking for the video or the statement to be praised. It’s certainly commendable, but even the website that produced the video, Because I said I would, does not think Cordle should achieve hero status.Drunken driving is still a serious issue that we’ve never seemed to fully grasp.We’ve all gone through Driver’s Education and seen tape after tape of gruesome injuries and deaths revolving around drunken driving.If those videos had any effect on us, there wouldn’t have been 207 drunken driving deaths in 2011 in Indiana alone. Part of the problem is that we rarely see people take accountability anymore. The media is full of individuals solemnly getting into the back of a cop car, or maybe sitting in a courtroom, simply taking everything in with a blank stare.We rarely see anyone step forward and affirm that he or she screwed up.We never want to be blamed for anything, and we certainly don’t want to be blamed for ending someone else’s life.But Cordle took that blame.So while his attractiveness is overplayed, musical empathy abounds and so many other rhetorical devices are jammed into one video, it all works in the big picture.Matthew Cordle is just like you and me, and there’s nothing wrong with trying to force viewers to notice that.— sjostrow@indiana.eduFollow columnist Sam Ostrowski on Twitter @ostrowski_s_j.
(09/04/13 4:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>You’re finally moved-in to your house for the school year, which can only mean one thing — it’s time to start looking for a new one for next year.It may seem premature, but with an average of 40,000 students on the Bloomington campus alone, the housing race can get pretty ugly.Start now, and you can thank me later.While we give Bloomington landlords a truly staggering amount of money and trust, the anecdotes about poor treatment from rental agencies continue to pour in.Landlords quite simply abuse us, and there’s not much we can do about it.I will, however, offer some tips on how you can be the best passive-aggressive renter Bloomington has ever seen.Demand to see every part of the house.Whoever is showing the house will most likely want to laugh off at least one aspect of the property.In my experience, my landlord didn’t show us the basement giggling at how it has a dirt floor. I didn’t pursue it and was treated to a semi-flooded, John-Wayne-Gacy-esque scenario when I ventured down there our first night.Ask how many properties the rental group handles.The more properties they handle the less time they’ll have for yours. Throughout my rental experience, I’ve heard “Oh, we look after more than 60 properties, so we can’t find every nail popping out of the floor!” about 23 times.If one rental group is looking after all these undergraduate-owned properties, that means no single property is getting the attention it deserves.This also means that they’ll see you as money and money alone. If you choose a renter with fewer properties, odds are they’ll tend to the properties better and listen to you more.Take notes on what is promised during the showing. Hold those notes near and dear to your heart.We were promised that our vomit-carpet would be replaced with hardwood floors. The vomit-carpet is still there, but now Swedish Fish have joined the party, too.Although you can’t hold the company to these promises, you can certainly make them feel awkward for not following through. But it will only look like a concrete argument if you have documentation or a date of the promise.Ask why the rent is so damn high.The person showing you the property will boast about how close it is to campus even if it’s in Martinsville. Ask how the rent compares to properties further away from campus.Make sure they know you’re legitimate.If you present yourself as a competent individual, you will have already upset their whole process.Early in my renting process, I sent an elaborate e-mail to the rental group saying I respect them and their property, thus they should respect my housemates and me.The letter got us a set of new windows for the house.This might be the first time you’re renting a property on your own, but you’ve lived in a house your whole life. You know much more than you think you do.Mine that knowledge, and demand better from Bloomington’s abusive rental industry.— sjostrow@indiana.eduFollow columnist Sam Ostrowski on Twitter @ostrowski_s_j.
(08/28/13 4:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Last year I decided I wanted to be famous.Our culture keeps spitting out successful, attractive celebrities of younger and younger ages, so why not me? Jennifer Lawrence is a goddess among us at a mere twenty-three years old . As of June 2013, Justin Bieber was worth about $58 million. He’s 19 years old.On top of all these “idols” around us, we have our own Me Generation problems to deal with. We like ourselves — sometimes too much.To demonstrate our flawed perception, I offer a case study.So around Oct. 2011 I discovered that “famous gay” is actually a viable career path via YouTube. I thought I had found my niche market.Luckily, I never pursued that market.I decided I wouldn’t join the ranks of the Internet-infamous Tyler Oakley and Davey Wavey. And looking back on that choice, I’m so glad I didn’t head over to the dark side.Internet fame is creating an awkward, sexually frustrated genre of homosexual. It’s reductive and relies on stereotypes. Davey Wavey does nearly all of his videos shirtless. What does he talk about in them? Well, nothing of actual importance, but what does it matter? Just look at that chest.Tyler Oakley focuses on more worthless tales but with a little more focus on being cute and sassy. To fill his sexual void, he normally finds an attractive British man to hang out with.In a 2009 interview, Spike Lee ended up calling Tyler Perry’s work “coonery buffoonery.” Lee rightfully got angry over the fact that Perry successfully capitalizes on this oppressive and reductive view of black culture, citing Perry’s owning a private jet.In the same vein, I ask, why must we play the fag in order to get famous? Why reduce yourself to bulging pectorals covered by only a tiny tank top?We’re all more than that. None of us are these one-dimensional characters that earn us Internet fame and glory. Yet here we are, transforming into another entity by being pornographically exploitive of bodies, intimate emotions and daily life.Somewhere along the line we figured out that homosexuality is hip and fashionable — so it was exploited to no end.Queer media representation is obviously a cause I’ll canvas for, but I’ll only stand for the right type of representation. Gay comedians such as Gabe Liedman and Billy Eichner may be focusing on gay sex and diva obsessions at times, but it’s because they have a point. And all comedians talk about sex.They’re not spreading their cheeks on a YouTube channel while pretending to be doing some accent challenge proposed by a follower.You simply don’t need to tell everyone the mundane details of your life. We live through that in our own experience.Our obsession with being famous is turning dangerous for many. Based on the above, in the gay realm, there is an imminent problem with the need to twist a tit for an Instagram like.And it doesn’t stop there. No one ever said that YouTube queen Jenna Marbles got her fame for her wit over her sex appeal.Be famous if you want, but do it for something important, something meaningful. This instant-gratification fame that we’re creating is destroying candidness and creating caricatures.Why even be famous anyway? We saw what it did to Amanda Bynes.— sjostrow@indiana.eduYou can follow Columnist Sam Ostrowski on Twitter @ostrowski_s_j
(08/23/13 4:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Last year I devoted my first column of the school year to all of the incoming freshmen. I gave out advice focusing on how to get through the hell that is Welcome Week and tips on how to jumpstart the process of finding yourself.This year I’m writing that column ... remixed.College is about finding yourself, but in almost too many ways, you’ll find yourself based on relationships with others. The people that you realize you need to be around will shape you, and you will shape them.During the next few weeks, you will most likely try and make conversation with anyone who looks like they won’t rape you. You’re eager, that’s good.But there will end up being a myriad of people who don’t matter. Some friends you’ll dine with during the first few weeks solely to say that you didn’t eat your Wright chicken wrap alone. Ditch them if you don’t think they’re good for you.You don’t need to be friends with everyone because not everyone wants to be friends with you. There will be people at this university who will perpetually stink-face you, even when you’re acting like Mother Teresa.But then there will be friends that you realize you need — people you will want to be around when they aren’t just giving you alcohol. Notice them, and work on those relationships. Work on meaningful relationships you think will help you become the person you want to be. Work on the friends who make you want to break down your barriers and tell them your most embarrassing abroad stories the second you see them after summer vacation.You might leave home, but that doesn’t mean you have to leave family. We’re too rooted in our familial relationships to go rogue. In college you choose your family and how they influence you.Recognizing how much people influence you should teach you about how to interact with others as well. Care for your friends, and think about what you’re doing. Little actions like looking out for your drunken friend as opposed to hooking up with Ms. Butterface can really add up. You’re all they have — and they’re all you have.I’m not saying you should live your life for other people, but I am saying you should recognize the butterfly effect that you’re capable of. You can learn from your textbooks, but those are gone in the real world. In the future, you are expected to talk to people and work with them in meaningful ways — so get your practice now.Just give a thought every once in a while to how you’re affecting those around you.Despite your best efforts you’ll need people there to clean the blood off the toilet when you drunkenly smash your nose on it. And you’ll cherish those people forever.My grades, work or extra-curricular activities aren’t what I’m most proud of at this university — it’s the people I’ve chosen to be with and the effects we’ve had on one another.So wrangle up your biddies, bros, posse, entourage, etc. and treat them right.Make it a good one, IU.— sjostrow@indiana.eduFollow columnist Sam Ostrowski on Twitter @ostrowski_s_j.
(04/24/13 4:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The written word is something that seems trite, kind of cute and mostly pointless these days.As an English major, I’m always hearing the stereotypical “What do you do with that?” and “Have fun living in a box.” Journalists, all of you can understand me, because people still throw around the fact that “Print is dying, what’s the point?”And honestly, I don’t know what I’ll be doing with an English degree post-graduation, but in the meantime, I’ll be schooling life.Yes, it sounds cocky and gross, but this semester made me realize that control of the written word can be pivotal.I’ve witnessed two of my own columns go viral and spawn a variety of reactions, both horrified and overwhelmingly supportive from readers.I’ve also witnessed close friends’ editorials go viral when they might have never thought they would — for better or worse.While some pieces were never meant to “make it big,” it’s a nice reminder.At times, it’s easy to fall into the idea that the Indiana Daily Student is one of thousands of student-run journalistic endeavors in this nation. Who reads my work besides my mother and the occasional person in Starbucks who picks up the paper to avoid eye-contact with an ex?This semester has certainly proven the opposite for my colleagues and me.This isn’t just some kind of opinion section orgy that’s happening right now. This applies to all students, professors and even anyone who uses social media. Even a tweet can change your whole week and sometimes your whole life.And even if the person who stumbles across something you wrote, tweeted or posted is just a lackadaisical passerby, what he or she just read has affected them in some fashion — and you’ve caused that.Everything you write down has the power to drastically alter people.This may seem like an odd, even preachy column, but it’s important to take time and think about the idea, because we don’t do that often. When writing a term paper, I normally sit down and crank it out in a machine-like fashion. Most of you probably do the same thing. I mean, who else will read it besides my professor?But with journals, scholarships based on papers and the inter-connectivity of professors, one term paper can go far. This academic year, one term paper led me to having a discussion about what it means to be human with grad students from across the country.It’s not hard to experience this as long as you realize there’s something that happens when you actually document your thoughts with either real or virtual ink.You affect people with words.Take time to remember that, and always pull it out of your pocket when someone tells you your education or your work here will get you nowhere “out there.”— sjostrow@indiana.edu
(04/17/13 4:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Last Saturday I was doing what’s quickly becoming the usual bar circuit with friends: Kilroy’s on Kirkwood, Upstairs Pub, over to Dunnkirk, Big Cheeze.If you know me and if you know Kilroy’s, you’re cracking up right now.I’m not exactly frat-tastic, and Kilroy’s ... is. So going there is always an experience for me. Normally that’s part of the fun — I get to see a lot of bros in tank tops and girls in heels trying to impress them, and I get to pretend I’m one of them for a moment.But this time the bros backfired.We were walking back from Dunnkirk when a drunk mom approached me. I love moms, and I love drunk moms even more, so we were hitting it off as she was telling me about a proposal that was happening across the street. Apparently seeing me as a threat, the Kilroy’s bouncer walked over and separated the mother from me as he told me to leave the area.This was weird, but I obliged and started to leave.But the bouncer wasn’t done. As I was leaving he told his audience that I was a “fucking faggot.”While my outfit that night was described as very “Brokeback Mountain,” I don’t think that earned me a double f drop.I’ve been called names all my life — I’ve grown a pretty thick skin. So I’m not offended as much as I’m disappointed.Bloomington and the IU community are really quite good at being liberal and accepting. But then we have hotspots like Kilroy’s that are still ruled by this overwhelmingly high school macho-man stereotype.While it’s fine to still have a sense of the hyper-masculine, this doesn’t mean you have to be crude and resort to the name-calling tactics picked up in the fourth grade.What’s worse is the fact that in my tipsy state I thought it’d be best to tweet “And here’s to @KilroysKOK, where the bouncers call me ‘faggot’ to my face. Goooo bigots!” Nice and passive-aggressive, right?But to go along with their already immature selves, I never heard any response from the bar. No tweet back, direct message or anything. It’s like when your best friend tweeted about you in high school, but neither of you ever said anything about it in the morning because you didn’t want any more conflict to arise.A lot about the bars is incredibly immature. That’s fun and why we go to them, but it doesn’t mean we have to go back to stereotypes and call people faggots.While this is a little bit about homophobia, it’s really more about the fact that while the greater Bloomington community can hold itself to a higher standard, the most popular places still can’t seem to get it together.I guess Bowling For Soup really got it right with their opus “High School Never Ends.”KOK, I’m not attacking you — just everything you perpetuate and stand for.— sjostrow@indiana.edu