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(02/05/13 4:22am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Monday night, music executive pioneer Logan Westbrooks gave advice to IU students: “Do what you love to do.” Westbrooks, who has been in the music industry for more than 40 years, led the beginning of a month-long celebration of black history at the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center Grand Hall with a lecture titled “Bustin’ Loose: Breaking Racial Barriers in the Music Industry.” Students, faculty, staff and community members gathered to hear Westbrooks talk about his journey from becoming the first black territory salesman for Capitol and Mercury Records in the 1960s to becoming CBS Records’ first director of special markets in 1971. After his lecture, the IU Archives of African American Music and Culture unveiled the “Logan Westbrooks: Music Industry Executive, Entrepreneur, Teacher, Philanthropist” exhibit in the Neal Marshall Bridgewater’s Lounge, which will be on display throughout February. The director of the archives, Portia Maultsby, served as a liaison between Westbrooks and IU. Maultsby, who is also a folklore and ethnomusicology professor at IU, said she met Westbrooks while doing research on the black music industry in the late 1970s and early 1980s in Los Angeles. “While I was there I was introduced to him by a major contact that I had who was the editor of Soul magazine, the first black publication on black music,” Maultsby said. He was only one of the many black executives she met as she interviewed and gathered archival information about the pioneers of black music in conventions around Los Angeles. “I realized history was being made,” Maultsby said. “These units and these African American executives were putting together units and developing marketing strategies that would ultimately cast black music into the mainstream. It was a story that needed to be documented as it was unfolding and preserved, because now nobody knows anything about it.”Westbrooks said that he has been in contact with Maultsby for the last decade as she visited Los Angeles to work on her collection of Westbrooks’ saved archives. Many of those archives include record vinyls and hundreds of photographs of famous people and places throughout his career. Westbrooks found his niche in promoting black music to the mainstream working throughout the United States in various promoting manger positions for Capitol and Mercury Records. While he was there, he promoted several artists, from Nat King Cole to the Beatles. In 1971, Westbrooks broke barriers by becoming CBS’s first director of special markets, which was dedicated to promoting black music to mainstream audiences. This position also opened the doors for several black marketing staff and other black executives to recording companies.“Some of the things that I did was opened doors and created positions for other young black executives in the music industry,” he said. “At the time, I didn’t have no idea that I was establishing the ground rules, but as I look back, that’s exactly what took place.” Westbrooks’ advice to the audience was to find a career they enjoy.“I worked for a number of different companies and each day getting up, I looked forward to it,” he said. “You should enjoy what you do. If you don’t, stop doing it and find something you enjoy doing. Find something, something you enjoy doing, and the world will come to you.” Westbrooks’ arguably greatest achievement was creating Source Records, which was responsible for making Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers’ “Bustin’ Loose” a nationwide hit.Landon Jones, a first-year graduate student in African studies, said Westbrooks’ lecture was influential to undergraduates who are trying to break into the music business.“I thought the lecture was really good, especially for undergrad students who are wanting to find their way into the industry, and then also for undergrads of color who are trying to find music industry and also understand that it’s not just as much as to breaking into the music industry, but trying to make milestones on your own behalf, especially as a person of color,” Jones said. “I think it was important for him to come here to speak, especially this being one of the first black history events.”Maultsby believes that Westbrooks’ exhibit is an important addition to the campus because of his contributions to black history.“It’s an insight into the life of a pioneer in the music business, and I think there are many lessons to be learned from interpreting the present and the future and understanding the past and to look at the successful during a period where there were many obstacles,” Maultsby said. “I think there’s a lot to be learned through a journey of his life, and I think for anyone interested in the industry today, it’s useful, even though there are many changes in the industry.”
(02/04/13 2:54am)
The International Latin American and Spanish Students Association
began the semester with its usual coffee hour Friday, which included
enchiladas and flautas from El Norteno, Latin American music and an
introduction by the executive board members.
(02/03/13 9:51pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A year ago, the International Latin American and Spanish Students Association had its coffee hours in the Leo R. Dowling International Center. However, ever since the center closed last summer, international organizations such as ILASSA plan their events and meetings in residential halls around campus. Last Friday, ILASSA began the semester with their usual coffee hour, which included enchiladas and flautas from El Norteno, Latin American music and an introduction by the executive board members. ILASSA President Jose Toledo stated that the main purpose of the organization is to create an environment where every Latin American and Spanish student has the opportunity to contribute to the IU community in their own way.“The idea is to promote and create this volunteer feeling in all our members,” Toledo said. “The second idea is to create the opportunity to open different task forces, like environment work, social work, academic issues, human rights and gender equality.” Sophomore Jeannette Heusca, the vice president of ILASSA, said that she personally joined because of the connections she gained while learning about different cultures. She said she wants to get the word out about the organization so others could feel welcome to join as well. “My parents are from Mexico,” Huesca said. “I grew up here in the United States and you kind of get disattached from your culture, and knowing from other cultures in Latin America, everyone has their own culture. You can learn so much from different people. You would think that since you speak the language it would all be the same, but it’s not.”After Toledo, Huesca and other executive board introduced themselves and the organization in Spanish, Toledo explained why they were in Teter Quad : they don’t have a permanent residence place. “It’s difficult for us,” Toledo said. “The Leo Dowling International is no more, they closed down. We don’t have physical space to meet.” The international student organizations are now located in the Office of International Services in the Poplars Building. Toledo stated that if international students want to have a meeting or an event, they have to rent rooms in the residential halls. Toledo said he feels the center was closed due to the University’s efforts to equate education with business.“For me, it’s sad that education equals business, and when education is equal to business, you have this difficult situation,” Toledo said. “More students is business, but you don’t have no place for them.” Toledo said he believes international organizations like ILASSA need to have more discussions about this issue. “We need to not only have happy hours or coffee hours but we need to speak about our reality for students and because we are a minority,” Toledo said.For some, this coffee hour was the first time they heard the Leo R. Dowling International Center had closed. When the topic was brought up, many people in the room joined the discussion.“I think it came as a surprise to a lot of people,” group member Alexandria Toledo said. “They didn’t know about it closing over the summer, so some people are pretty upset about it and they would like to see a space on campus for international students to meet — if not there, then somewhere else.” Alexandria Toledo said she thinks that students aren’t sure what measures to take concerning the closing of the center. “I think a problem is that people don’t really know what happened, or they aren’t opportunities to show that, or international students might not know the system for doing advocacy or for kind of protesting the decision,” Toledo said. “We know that (the center) is missed, so maybe we could make that public.”Mintzi Martinez-Rivera, a Ph.D. candidate and a former co-president of ILASSA, remembers the coffee hours held at the Leo R. Dowling International Center. “Everybody knew that every Friday of the month, there was always going to be a coffee hour between 4 and 6, and all the student organizations would have a coffee hour. The idea of the coffee hour was to have some form of cultural and educational event…and you would have food and music education”. Martinez–Rivera said without the international center, all the student organizations are scattered throughout the campus without a central place to gather and learn about different cultures around the world. Even though she said she sees this as a great loss for IU’s international community, Martinez-Rivera said she believes that last Friday’s coffee hour was beneficial. “Hopefully for ILASSA this would be a good jumping point for having the strength we once had when we were in the international center, ” Martinez-Rivera said.
(02/01/13 3:28am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center will have its First Friday
celebration from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday in the center’s Bridgewaters Lounge.NMBCC
Graduate Assistant Muhammad Saahir said the First Friday events at the
NMBCC started two years ago when Stephanie Power-Carter became the
director of the center.
“First Fridays began with the intent of having more of a community
program,” Saahir said. “It’s a way to make a more inclusive environment
for all students, so we decided to try to do it once a month.”From a
national perspective, the First Friday celebration is an
African-American tradition that started in the late 1980s to create
opportunities for young professionals through social, political and
artistic networking.
This event provides students and professionals the chance to exchange
and share ideas on professional, educational, political and social
issues. First Friday celebrations take place all over the country, from
Los Angeles to Detroit to Richmond. Every First Friday event is different, however. The events vary from art shows, block parties, music performances and dinners. Saahir said this month’s First Friday at the NMBCC is a family dinner. “We
will have some sort of traditional soul food type of menu,” Saahir
said. “The overall theme is to try to have that family atmosphere as if
you were eating at home, and that’s pretty important if you are at a
collegiate setting. It could be their first time away from home and this
could be a way to relieve that missing feeling of home.”
Mark Baker, the owner of local mobile trailer restaurant Pitt Boss, is providing and preparing the food for the event. “I’m
providing ribs, rib chicken, red beans and rice and salad,” Baker said.
“The red beans and rice I make from scratch. I do a lot of catering
events.”
Baker said he hopes to reach out to as many people as he can with his food. “I
wanted to give out my food to as many people as possible and I feel
like this is an event that really shared the way I cooked food with the
audience that I will be serving,” Baker said.
Baker said this is his first time going to a First Friday event. “I’m
looking forward to going there and seeing what it’s about myself,”
Baker said. “This is my first one and I never have been a part of it. I
didn’t know of it until recently.”
(01/31/13 7:23am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Darrell Mitchell, a local woodworker, went from room to room giving everyone a chance to smell the white mountain sage and say a prayer. Marilyn Cleveland, an elder in the First Nations Educational Cultural Center, waived the incense smoke from the sage over her head as a means of prayer for the event. “This is a smudge stick,” Cleveland said. “It’s like a prayer. We do this when we start the event. What it is is like a cleansing thing. When I put the smoke over my head, I said to the Creator, ‘let’s have a good meeting. Let’s enjoy ourselves today.” Wednesday night, FNECC had its weekly craft night and potluck dinner. The event spanned five different rooms, each with different crafts, such as beading, and included traditional Native American food, such as elk soup and hominy. Mary Connors, FNECC program assistant and secretary, said the new director, Brian Gilley, created the weekly event three years ago. “Our center is not in the way of anywhere else,” Connors said. “It allows people to focus on the arts and cultures. That’s going to bring people together and create a community. The craft nights are traditional native art.”Conners said she considers Cleveland, who is Cherokee Indian, a jewel to the FNECC and a respectable beadmaker for craft nights. “Whenever they need anything, they call me,” Cleveland said. “I do a lot of Native American crafts. We made moccasins, we made shawls, we made a lot of our regalia here.”Cleveland said that she learned her valuable craft from her grandmother, and the beadwork to her is more than just artwork. “When she taught me the art of the beadwork, she also taught me the prayers that are put in my beadwork,” she said. “That’s why I can’t hardly sell my beadwork, because it’s like selling my religion. I don’t teach the spiritual part of it because that was for me to learn ... I don’t teach the spiritual part to everybody.” Brenna Two Bears is a senior at Bloomington South High School. She is registered as Ho-chunk and is also half Navajo and a fourth Lakota. Two Bears said that through learning crafts and meeting people like her, she has gained a better sense of her culture. “I think it’s just getting together and remembering who we are,” Two Bears said. “Me and my sister are the only natives at South, so being here and seeing all these natives, it’s like nice to be with people that understand where you’re coming from. You don’t have to explain yourself.”
(01/28/13 4:15am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Liz Venstra has been a part of the International Folk Dance group for 15 years, though she said she feels as though she knows fewer dances than the group in general. “There’s some dances I know well enough to teach or to lead,” Venstra said. “And there’s other dances that I don’t know at all.” Venstra said they all teach each other dance routines that originate from Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Macedonia and other places around the world.“People will sometimes go to workshops and then come back and teach it to the group,” Venstra said. “We try to do it enough so that enough of us know it, and we could continue to do it.”Al Ruesink, faculty advisor for the International Folk Dance group, said the group has been active since 1958. Ruesink himself has been part of the International Folk Dance group for about 40 years. “My wife signed us up to a folk dance lesson without telling me,” Ruesink said. “We came back and found that there was an active group here and we’ve been a part of it ever since.”Ruesink said that during his time here, the number and age of dancers has changed from year to year. “Some years we have a bunch of graduate students,” Ruesink said. “This year, as you can tell by looking, most of us are beyond that stage. I see one, two, three faculty. I see an ex-academic advisor, two staff people, and I see two community people and I see a graduate student.”Leah Savion, a philosophy and cognitive science faculty member, teaches, dances and organizes performing groups.“I do everything,” Savion said, “I do Polka, Israeli, Swedish, Hungarian, everything. But other than that I specialize in Gumboot dance. I was in the Gumboot performing group for seven years. I also know ballroom dance and Zumba.” Gumboot dance is a South African dance where the performers use Wellington boots with bells to make a collective, percussive sound. Savion, who has been a professional dancer for 50 years, believes international folk dance is different from practically all other dances. “Someone could do folk dance religiously for four or five years and still be a novice because there are 100 of thousands or so different dances,” Savion said. “The Romanian is a different character than the African, the Israeli, the English ... they all very different characters, you need to inquire different styles to do them right. So it’s very challenging constantly and never boring. It’s terrific.”Savion said International Folk Dance group teaches throughout the school and community. She also organizes a performance group that gives performances throughout the year and tries different methods to keep her students motivated. “I get my students to dance also,” Savion said. “If they look sleepy they get up and do some Zumba steps or Hip Hop ... so they won’t fall asleep in the afternoon.”The International Folk Dance group meets 7 p.m. every Friday in the Indiana Memorial Union.
(01/25/13 4:43am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Freshman Cleo Hernandez decided at the last minute to call Thursday evening’s Diversity in Action event “Diversity Extravaganza”. The program included an array of international food, an explanation of Charles Johnson’s “Dr. King’s Refrigerator,” networking and a performance by local rapper, Jayali. Hernandez, president and treasurer of the Hutton Honors College Diversity in Action program, said some people thought it was strange to have a hip-hop performance in the building. “Some of them think it’s sort of paradoxical, that there would be a hip-hop artist at the Hutton Honors College on a Thursday night,” Hernandez said, “It’s not something that usually happens here.” Hernandez added that the Hutton Honors College is often thought to cater to only one kind of demographic. With this event, she hopes to bring a more diverse crowd to the college, she said.According to Hernandez, a seeming lack of interest in diversity within the Hutton Honors College has been one of the root causes of the struggle for the Diversity in Action organization in the past. “I’ve been a part of the revitalization process,” Hernandez said. “So, this is the event that we are throwing in order to get so more awareness and get some more members and go from there.”Arnell Hammond, the director of diversity and student services in the Hutton Honors College, said she started the organization in 2010 to specifically encourage diversity. The MLK geared events are definitely not new to the Diversity in Action program. Hammond said that even though the program participation is small they are trying to build it up.“The purpose is to work towards inclusion in the Honors College for the Bloomington community and the IU community,” Hammond said. “It’s for anyone.” As more and more people walked in the Hutton Honors College Great Room, Hernandez introduced herself and shared a little information about the Diversity in Action program. African and African American Diaspora Visiting Faculty member and professor, Claudia Drieling then shared her German roots and a brief explanation about writer Charles Johnson’s collection of short stories “Dr. King’s Refrigerator: And Other Bedtime Stories”. Drieling says that she and Hernandez talked about their backgrounds and the importance of diversity on campus. “It’s not necessarily a thing that’s just about black and white but that everyone in the university contributes to it,” Drieling said. “It has a simple message. Human beings exist because of food. You need something as basic as food for everyone to connect. We will see that we have something in common.”Drieling said she actually met Johnson last year. “I actually did get to talk with him and he was kind of thrilled and he said ‘You open up with my story?’ and I said, ‘Yeah!’ and he said, ‘Why you do that?’ and I said ‘because I do not want people to think that African American literature is just about this or just about that,’” Drieling said. “So many people think it’s just one thing. Even within the African American community of writers there is so much diversity.” She thinks that Johnson looks at humanity at large with his fictional story about Dr. King looking in the refrigerator and seeing food from all over the world.Drieling knows that Hernandez’s goal is to develop this organization even further and achieve more diversity in the Hutton Honors College. “I want to make sure that this does not become an isolated event, not just with Hutton Honor students,” Drieling said.
(01/24/13 4:28am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>C.J. West had never seen the HBO biographical film “Temple Grandin” before Wednesday. West, a senior and the intern for Hutton Honors College’s Autism Mentoring Program, said the faculty adviser for the group suggested screening the film “Temple Grandin.” Temple Grandin is a leading expert on animal agriculture and an autism activist. Grandin was also the first autistic person to share her life story in her book, “Emergence: Labeled Autistic.” Since its cultivation in the fall of 2003, the Autism Mentoring Program has paired local elementary and middle school students with Hutton Honors College mentors. The mentors must dedicate at least a year to the younger students sufficiently help the younger students with their social environment. According to the Autism Mentoring Program’s website, the students participate in social activities with each other, similar to the Big Brothers/ Big Sisters Program and Best Buddies. West said a crucial way of learning about autism is by knowing someone who is affected by it and developing a close relationship with that person. West has kept the same buddy for three years. “Often kids with autism don’t have a lot of friends,” West said. “They’re kind of known for lacking social skills, and they don’t always understand the concept of having a friendship, so just being someone that could help them, with skills and also being a friend to them and impact their lives ... that’s what we strive for.”West has learned a lot from his buddy, he said.“For me, it’s hard to gauge what exactly is all involved in autism without that interaction with someone who’s autistic,” West said. “Once you have that interaction, then you learn a lot more. And then there’s also a lot of research out there.” Camilla McMahon, assistant professor at the IU School of Education, is one of the many researchers hoping to gain a better understanding of autism. McMahon said part of her research is finding what impairments there are with autism, like social skills and communicating. The other part of her research is finding solutions. “The second part of my research is once we figure out exactly what’s going wrong is to intervene, to develop an intervention that can address that and help improve those symptoms,” McMahon said.She led a discussion after the film screening. “I wanted to hear what other people are thinking, what struck them as surprising, what wasn’t expected,” she said. Grandin is also famous for her invention of the “hug box,” a squeeze machine box used by Grandin herself to relieve her anxiety. McMahon said that she has never seen anyone involved in her studies actually use the box. “A lot of individuals with autism have sensory symptoms, so they may have different outlets to soothe those sensory symptoms,” McMahon said. “Temple Grandin came up with the hug box, which worked really well for her. I haven’t seen a lot of people actually use the hug box, but I think a lot of people address the sensory symptoms in different means.”McMahon said Grandin’s legacy was groundbreaking. “She was the first person to do it, so I think that’s why people latch on to Temple,” McMahon said. “In my research, I often think about things in numbers. I‘m often looking about data, doing research ... so I really appreciate reading books by Temple and individuals who have autism, because it offers a different perspective that numbers and data just don’t give.”Senior Stephanie Workman has an 18-year-old brother with autism. She said that in general, Grandin has made a difference in her family’s life. “She’s really opened the doors for understanding autism better,” Workman said. “Even when my brother was younger, when he was first diagnosed, he was told that he would never be able to talk, never be able to learn, never be able to pretty much do anything. There was a common belief that people with autism had no idea of what was going on around them, and that was something my family never believed and knew it wasn’t true with Zach.”West said autism needs to be brought to the forefront, especially on IU’s campus. “I think that it is something that is often overlooked and not talked about that much, especially here,” West said. “That’s personally my goal.”
(01/24/13 4:25am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>C.J. West had never seen the HBO biographical film “Temple Grandin” before Wednesday. West, a senior and the intern for Hutton Honors College’s Autism Mentoring Program, said the faculty adviser for the group suggested screening the film “Temple Grandin.” Temple Grandin is a leading expert on animal agriculture and an autism activist. Grandin was also the first autistic person to share her life story in her book, “Emergence: Labeled Autistic.” Since its cultivation in the fall of 2003, the Autism Mentoring Program has paired local elementary and middle school students with Hutton Honors College mentors. The mentors must dedicate at least a year to the younger students to sufficiently help the younger students with their social environment. According to the Autism Mentoring Program’s website, the students participate in social activities with each other, similar to the Big Brothers/ Big Sisters Program and Best Buddies. West said a crucial way of learning about autism is by knowing someone who is affected by it and developing a close relationship with that person. West has kept the same buddy for three years. “Often kids with autism don’t have a lot of friends,” West said. “They’re kind of known for lacking social skills, and they don’t always understand the concept of having a friendship, so just being someone that could help them, with skills and also being a friend to them and impact their lives ... that’s what we strive for.”West has learned a lot from his buddy, he said.“For me, it’s hard to gauge what exactly is all involved in autism without that interaction with someone who’s autistic,” West said. “Once you have that interaction, then you learn a lot more. And then there’s also a lot of research out there.” Camilla McMahon, assistant professor at the IU School of Education, is one of the many researchers hoping to gain a better understanding of autism. McMahon said part of her research is finding what impairments there are with autism, like social skills and communicating. The other part of her research is finding solutions. “The second part of my research is once we figure out exactly what’s going wrong is to intervene, to develop an intervention that can address that and help improve those symptoms,” McMahon said.She led a discussion after the film screening. “I wanted to hear what other people are thinking, what struck them as surprising, what wasn’t expected,” she said. Grandin is also famous for her invention of the “hug box,” a squeeze machine box used by Grandin herself to relieve her anxiety. McMahon said that she has never seen anyone involved in her studies actually use the box. “A lot of individuals with autism have sensory symptoms, so they may have different outlets to soothe those sensory symptoms,” McMahon said. “Temple Grandin came up with the hug box, which worked really well for her. I haven’t seen a lot of people actually use the hug box, but I think a lot of people address the sensory symptoms in different means.”McMahon said Grandin’s legacy was groundbreaking. “She was the first person to do it, so I think that’s why people latch on to Temple,” McMahon said. “In my research, I often think about things in numbers. I‘m often looking about data, doing research ... so I really appreciate reading books by Temple and individuals who have autism, because it offers a different perspective that numbers and data just don’t give.”Senior Stephanie Workman has an 18-year-old brother with autism. She said that in general, Grandin has made a difference in her family’s life. “She’s really opened the doors for understanding autism better,” Workman said. “Even when my brother was younger, when he was first diagnosed, he was told that he would never be able to talk, never be able to learn, never be able to pretty much do anything. There was a common belief that people with autism had no idea of what was going on around them, and that was something my family never believed and knew it wasn’t true with Zach.”West said autism needs to be brought to the forefront, especially on IU’s campus. “I think that it is something that is often overlooked and not talked about that much, especially here,” West said. “That’s personally my goal.”
(01/22/13 4:35am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Martin Luther King Jr. Day marked the Office of Diversity Education’s eighth annual Unity Summit. About 300 IU students, faculty and staff members gathered in the Willkie Auditorium to honor Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy of humanitarian efforts and discuss discrimination, unity and equality in today’s society.Eric Love, director of the Office of Diversity Education, encouraged people to come to the event via Facebook by promoting the fact that someone would be wearing a kilt at the Unity Summit.That person happened to be Love. He considers himself a global citizen.“I am an American, an African American, but I am also from England,” Love said. “I have a lot of Scottish friends, and I wear a lot of African clothes. I have friends that buy me clothes from all over the world. I have always wanted a kilt. I bought one in August. I had it, so I wanted to wear it, and today’s the perfect day … it’s the Unity Summit.”For the first time this year, the Unity Summit featured Buddhist, Jewish and Native American customary spiritual practices as well as a Voices of Hope performance. Graduate student JT Snipes gave Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech.Love said the core of the Unity Summit is the civil dialogue. Theta Nu Xi Inc., a multicultural sorority, has been a key part of planning and organizing the Unity Summit. They have worked with Love for the event for seven years. Senior Sydney Webb, a member of Theta Nu Xi Inc., said that MLK day is important because it exemplifies unity and diversity and bridging gaps between people.“That’s what MLK wanted to do, was bridge gaps between people, mainly between people of different races, but my sorority doesn’t stop there, and neither are these discussions at the Unity Summit stopping at just race,” Webb said. “Now it’s just a much broader spectrum.”Right after the participants signed in to the event, they received their “I will not stand for ...” T-shirts as a part of the Commission of Multicultural Understanding’s campaign against all acts of discrimination. They then sat in small groups of three to five people to discuss certain topics about diversity and discrimination. Facilitators for the Unity Summit asked questions to spur discussion.The questions started off easy, with questions like “What’s your favorite ice cream?” However over time, the questions got more challenging. The last question was “Do you think there will be a day where equality will be achieved?”One student said for society to achieve equality, change would have to start small, like in neighborhoods.Another student in that same small group said society would have to change what it means to be equal because of the original, conflicting definition.Another interjected that it would be hard to achieve equality because there will always be competition in society.Webb, the facilitator who asked the question, said she was flabbergasted at people’s opinions of achieving equality. She sat with a group of people who believed that equality was not possible.“What I want people to realize out of this and take away is that equality can’t happen unless you think it can,” Webb said. “If Martin Luther King didn’t have that optimism that it could, we wouldn’t be here today. That’s what struck me so hard is that we wouldn’t even be here if Martin Luther King didn’t have the confidence to believe that it could happen and the optimism that it could.”During the summit, participants could put comments on “Write your Mind” poster boards about things they would not stand for.Audrey Moore, a sophomore, wrote on one of the boards that she won’t stand for “being a statistic.”“Black people are a lot of times the statistic when it comes to pregnancy or jail or drugs or whatever else,” Moore said. “I just don’t want my brothers and sisters to be the statistic. I don’t want to be the statistic and I’m tired of seeing our race always being the statistic.”Moore said she liked that the Unity Summit brought all kinds of people together for a discussion about unity.“That’s what MLK day is all about: bringing us all together and respecting each other,” Moore said. After that, everyone sat down to hear the guest speaker, sophomore Aaron Crain, speak about his issues with discrimination. Crain experienced discrimination acts from Brother Jedd and other students in his dorm because of his sexual orientation and handicap. He challenged everyone to take a stand against discrimination.“One person can make a difference,” Crain said. “One person can save a life.”
(01/17/13 4:44am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Freshman Samantha Young decided she wanted a balloon shaped like a dragonfly. It was 4 feet long, blue and had big bulging eyes. Once other students saw it, they wanted to make theirs even more impressive. A few minutes later, students were competing on who could have the most creative balloons. Some were monkeys on trees, a yodeling woman’s helmet or an even bigger dragonfly, this time yellow. Balloons were only one part of the events featured at Winter Welcome at the Union.On Wednesday night, the Union Board sponsored the first Winter Welcome Night to welcome students back to campus for the spring semester. The event included the student involvement fair, which included organizations such as the Minority Association of Pre-Med Students and the Harry Potter Society. The event also included the second spring Taste of the Union.There was a long line of students waiting to get their hands on some free food, including a chicken burrito and raspberry hot chocolate. In another area, there were silicone bracelets, face painting and balloon shaping. There was a station for wax hand modeling, where students could dip their hands and create their own gestures in different colors of wax to form casts of their hands. Young, the recipient of the balloon, said the event was a lot of fun. “I got a giant dragonfly balloon,” Young said. “It’s really awesome and epic, and I keep hitting people with it. I got a picture with me attacking somebody else with this on my back.” The Harry Potter Society was one of the 50 student organizations at the student involvement portion of Winter Welcome night. “The goal is to create a community within IU with people who have common interests and can bond over that interest for them to be themselves,” said Liz Fuerman, the minister of magic of the Harry Potter Society. “People don’t do this for their résumé. They’re here to make friends and have a good time.” There was another kind of magic occurring in the Union on Wednesday night. Magician Daniel Lusk, owner of the Lusk Entertainment Group in Indianapolis, performed. “I’m going to walk around, do magic, levitating the cards, student IDs, driver licenses, whatever they hand me,” he said. “I’ll levitate it for the students here and do a couple card tricks to amaze them.”Even though the Taste of the Union happens every fall, this was only the second time that the IMU has done a combined event with Taste of the Union and Student Life and Learning, which is a part of the Division of Student Affairs. “We got really lucky this year because we got to partner with our Student Life and Learning Office up on the third floor of the Union,” said Cassidy Sansone, an IMU staff member at Union Board Activities and Events team. “We made it a combo student involvement fair and Taste of the Union.“It’s bigger this year than it was last spring. We’re hoping that it kind of takes on its own life the way that Taste of the Union has. We’re hoping that people get excited and come back to the Union as the center of campus, because that’s how we like to view ourselves … we’re the center of campus, so this is one of our events that we’re trying to aim to say ‘Hey, we have lots of things for you to explore and experience here.’”
(01/16/13 4:21am)
The Office of Diversity, Equity and Multicultural Affairs planned the event. Kathy
Smith, the Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration planning committee chair,
said this year’s theme for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday is
“Living King’s Legacy: Making a Career of Humanity.”
(01/14/13 4:07am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Hudson and Holland Scholarship Program associate director Anthony Scott has decided to leave his nine-year position. He will become the director of admissions and student services at the IU-Purdue University Indianapolis Herron School of Art on Jan. 23. “I didn’t want to stay in the same position for too long,” Scott said. “I was looking for opportunities to advance throughout the University. I saw that as a viable option, and I applied for it, and, surprisingly and thankfully, I was asked to come in to interview, and they offered me the job.” Scott started at IU as a multicultural marketing strategist in a dual position working for Vice President of Engagement Bill Stephan and former Vice President of Academic Support and Diversity Charlie Nelms. About a year later, Nelms offered Scott the opportunity to replace the HHSP interim director when she took maternity leave. During his time at the HHSP, Scott was persuaded by Nelms and Maurer School of Law professor Kevin Brown to complete his law degree in addition to his familial and job commitments. “Charlie Nelms had contacted me at least two times about how possible promotions within his office, and both times, when he looked at my records, he saw that I didn’t have a master’s degree,” Scott said. “The only way I could get a promotion was if I was to get a master’s degree. I thought that it would be too tedious and too hard for me with all that I had going on.”Scott said he was inspired to go to law school because of his students. “After mentoring the students and talking to them about their dreams and aspirations, the students really encouraged me to go back to school,” Scott said. “Every now and then, I would talk to a student, and they would ask me how school was going, and that was what really kept me going.” Brown, who was his law school mentor and a former HHSP director, believed Scott’s departure is a tremendous loss to the University. “You know ... Anthony was a great mentor. He cared about the students but more than just cared,” Brown said. “For four years while he was associate director, he was also going to night school to get his degree in law. He really exemplified the person that Hudson and Holland students should be like.” Brown said he recalled a time when the HHSP staff debated on whether or not they should admit a high school student with “not-so-good grades” to the program. “Anthony said, ‘Please let him in, and I will be the one that makes sure he succeeds,’ so, when we let him to the program, the kid ended up doing outstanding work,” Brown said. “He’s now in his third or fourth year at New York University Medical School. He wouldn’t have been in the program, had it not been for Anthony. Anthony did that kind of thing.”Ghangis Carter, the director of recruitment and retention for underrepresented students in the School of Education and an instructor and program-advisor for HHSP, said Scott’s departure will be bitter-sweet.“I knew him when he arrived, when he was aspiring to come to IU,” Carter said. “We began as colleagues, we’re great friends and also fraternity brothers. It’s a blessing for him to move forward and to take a different path and still have the opportunity to be a good work and make an impact on students, as well as the Herron School of Arts up there at IUPUI.” He said he believes IU has lost a gem of an individual. “He’s been faithful to IU and the Hudson and Holland Program through challenging times,” Carter said. “He’s a constant professional — one who has a sincere heart for the students he services — I’ve seen it throughout the years. He works tirelessly for the University (and) not just during business hours.” Lakenvia Ledford is just one of the Hudson and Holland students Scott has mentored as part of the program. “If I needed advice or help with anything on different types of topics or aspects in life, I could go to him,” Ledford said. “But, to find out he was leaving, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh ... I don’t know.’ Out of everybody, he was one of the ones that I really looked up to.”Ledford bonded with Scott because of their similar aspirations. “I told him I want to be a medical student, and I think he was going after law, and I think that — especially for African Americans — those type of positions and those aspirations are really hard. You have to work really hard. I admired him pursuing to become a lawyer.” Scott said that, despite all the challenges HHSP has faced in recent years, he appreciates what the students have given him. “The best part of Hudson and Holland are the students and seeing some of the great things that they’ve done,” Scott said. “It’s just the joy of my life to see that.”
(01/07/13 5:13am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Even though Mu Beta Lambda President Bryce Grimes was impressed by the presentation given during a Kelley School of Business fraternity information session last semester, he was disappointed at the lack of minority students in the room. “I was thinking ... why aren’t minority students like myself taking advantage of those opportunities like networking and professional skills?” Grimes, a senior, said. Grimes saw a need to create Mu Beta Lambda, the first minority business fraternity at IU, which has also been recognized by Kelley. “If minority students aren’t going to come to these type of opportunities for whatever reason, then I was going to bring them to minority students ... and that’s where it all kind of started,” Grimes said. Grimes said he modeled the minority business fraternity after Kappa Alpha Psi, of which he is also a member, because it is the first historically black fraternity founded at IU, a predominately white university. Grimes collaborated with seven other like-minded students to establish Mu Beta Lambda fraternity on Feb. 17, 2012. Emma Campbell, a junior who is interested in not only business but law and politics as well, is one of the eight founders of Mu Beta Lambda. Campbell said it is necessary to have a minority business fraternity geared towards domestic minority students in the United States. “We’re talking about domestic minorities meaning Latinos, African Americans and Native Americans,” Campbell said. “There is still a need for professional development with us. We’re playing catch up and that’s what has been going on for years. This minority fraternity is for students that want to help themselves but don’t have all the resources, so right now we’re building resources.”Campbell said as of right now, Mu Beta Lambda members are concentrating on building a foundation and showing members they care about their success. “This organization is built on kinship and that’s what we really want other fraternities and other people on campus to know about us,” Campbell said. “We want to become a really close knit family and build our professional skills at the same time. We are teaching them resume building skills, we are teaching them how to speak publicly in a meeting, we are teaching them how to budget. Those little things will take college students a long way.” Mu Beta Lambda recently added 11 new members to their Alpha chapter on Dec. 1, including junior Angela Herron. She said she believes Mu Beta Lambda is a support system for minority students at IU. “It’s really hard to get into Kelley,” Herron said. “It’s great to have someone to tell you which classes to take, which professors. If I hadn’t known the some of other students...I don’t know how I would’ve made it.” One of the first things the founders of Mu Beta Lambda did was have a four-week-long intake process with interested prospects. The process included skill building workshops and a community service project giving care packages to soldiers. They have also networked with other organizations such as Iota Phi Theta fraternity for a business etiquette night. This semester the members of Mu Beta Lambda have many events planned, including a business professional attire fashion show and new members for their Beta class in the Spring. Grimes said another key aspect in the fraternity is corporate outreach. He hopes to work with a few companies this spring in order to develop relationships with companies and understand what the companies are looking for in applicants. This would also help members get internships and jobs though the business school, he said.In the future they hope to branch out to other surrounding schools, like IU-Purdue University Indianapolis, so they can charter their own chapters of Mu Beta Lambda fraternity. Grimes sees Mu Beta Lambda becoming a premier business fraternity across the Midwest in 10 years. Campbell said she is excited to see what the fraternity will become. “We started from nothing,” Campbell said. “This is literally an idea that blossomed.”
(11/06/12 3:29am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Graduate and undergraduate students as well as several African-American and African Diaspora Studies professors gathered Monday in the Neal Marshall Education Center’s Bridgewaters Lounge to listen to law professor Kevin Brown give a lecture he has been researching for four years.His lecture was titled “The Changing Racial and Ethnic Ancestry of Blacks Benefiting from Affirmative Action.”Brown, who primarily researches race, education and law, focused on what he calls a change dynamic in the ethnic background of black students who are assisted by affirmative action. Brown argues the “traditional” black student, one whose mother and father are both African-American, is losing out on affirmative action, whereas black immigrants and black multiracial students are gaining the most upward mobility from affirmative action laws. He said he sees this as a problem. “The traditional African-American is going to be excluded for most of our selective higher education programs, including our minority scholarship programs,” Brown said.Sophomore Bryce Robinson was one of many students in attendance at the lecture. Robinson said he was shocked by the hidden injustices Brown pointed out would affect African-Americans’ educational opportunities. He said it was strange to hear Brown mention the idea that an African-American would be more inclined to marry a non African-American in order for their children to gain access to an elite higher education institution.“I think its really saddening, because I know myself I’m very concerned about inner-city issues and the abandonment of the inner city and this population of people who don’t really have any opportunities to succeed,” Robinson said. “So something needs to be done. Don’t know what, but it’s more of a big structural problem.”Brown is the former director of IU’s Hudson and Holland Scholarship Program.“This has been my current research topic for the last four years because of its implications for the African-American struggle and for American society,” Brown said. Professor Valerie Grim said she, along with many other African-American professors, worked tirelessly fighting for more African-American staff and students at IU. Grim introduced Brown before his lecture, encouraging students to learn more about this issue and unify themselves. “I think it’s a conversation worth having, but I don’t necessarily think it’s a conversation worth having as a way of dividing black people,” Grim said. “But it is worth having so that black people can start recognizing the trend and then creating a narrative that allows us to address the trend.”
(10/29/12 2:59am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Gary Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson said at the fourth annual Men and Women of Color Leadership Conference she hopes to use her current resources to rebuild the city.Freeman-Wilson delivered the conference’s keynote address Friday at the Wilkie Auditorium. The conference focused on the theme “Good Behavior, Bad Behavior: Developing Leaders with a Moral Compass,” which echoes this semester’s College of Arts and Sciences Themester examining morality.Freeman-Wilson spoke to a group that she called “present and future leaders” about being a leader who is willing to serve ethically in their community. The Gary native said when she became mayor last year, she had a willingness to change practices in the city’s government that were not in the best interest of the people. The power one has in a leadership position, she said, must be wielded responsibly.She told the audience to be aware of individuals who are there only for personal gain and the energy it takes to make change. Freeman-Wilson also said a few weeks ago, she responded to a plane crash in Gary only a few yards away from an elementary school, a community center, a shopping center and a neighborhood. She said no one in those public institutions realized they were in danger until the plane crashed. “I would argue that when people don’t even know when you’re fighting, it makes the fight even more essential to our community because, in many instances, you will be fighting for people who cannot even fight for themselves,” she said.Freeman-Wilson told those who attended the conference they must be willing to be agents of change for the greater good, even if they are standing alone. After her keynote address, Freeman-Wilson walked off the stage, ready to answer questions from the audience.IU sophomore Chris Hooten asked Freeman-Wilson how her studies at Harvard Law School influenced her position as mayor. Freeman-Wilson said her experiences at Harvard helped garner as many resources as possible for the city of Gary. She said not only did her skills in law help her, but her experience as a born-and-raised Gary citizen did, as well. Half a century ago, Gary, currently the seventh largest city in Indiana, had about 200,000 citizens. Since then, that number has dropped to about 80,000 residents due to job loss , an increase in crime and the “white flight,” a large-scale migration of white individuals out of cities and into suburban areas during the mid-1900s. One-third of the city’s citizens live below the poverty level according to The New York Times, and the city been called the “murder capital” of the United States in the past.However, Freeman-Wilson, who is the first female mayor of Gary and the first black female mayor in Indiana, said she hopes to lead the change in Gary from the ground up. She said her various experiences in the national, state and local government sectors influenced her to take the key leadership role in Gary. “I thought that all of those experiences could be brought together along with the people that I’ve encountered in those places to benefit Gary,” Freeman-Wilson said. She said she wants to create a sustainable economic base to solve Gary’s $10 million budget deficit. She said she hopes to accomplish this by building on existing assets such as transportation, the trucking industry and proximity to neighboring Chicago. Patrick Smith, executive director of IU’s Office of Mentoring Services and Leadership Development and the MWOCLC conference chair, said the reason the committee chose Freeman-Wilson to speak is because of her relevance to this semester’s Themester.Smith said members of any community, not just communities of color, can learn from Freeman-Wilson.“She has some really great comments and ideas concerning leadership, particularly from an ethical standpoint,” Smith said.Senior Rashida Martin said that she hopes to one day give back to her hometown, as well. “I love Gary,” Martin said. “That’s my city. That’s one of the things that made me want to come to college and become a better person. I don’t want to be stuck in Gary not doing anything. I just want to have something that I did positively, and I want to give back to people from there.”Freeman-Wilson said building a new Gary will be a challenge, but it’s worth it. “Rome wasn’t built in one day, so you’re not going to be able to resolve all the challenges that face the city in a day, and you have to constantly encourage people to hit the reset button,” Freeman-Wilson said. “It’s like ‘no, that was then, this is now.’ New day. New day. New day. And that’s what our slogan is: ‘It’s a new day in Gary.’”
(10/18/12 3:44am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>About 40 exhibitors promoted health and wellness practices during the 40th annual IU Health Fair on Wednesday in the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center.Recreational Sports sponsored the event. Exhibitors ranged from the School of Public Health and the Middle Way House to the Residential Programs and Services Food & Dining Services and the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction. IU Health Center Director of Health and Wellness Education Cathlene Hardy Hansen said one of the health fair’s main goals is to make IU the healthiest campus in the world. “Although our personal mission is to support the health of students, we also support the health of all members of IU — faculty, staff, students, everybody,” Hansen said. “We want every person to have a wonderful quality of life, not just free from disease.” The IU Health Fair made flu shots available to IU community members, as well as free five-minute massages and hearing and vision screenings. A long line of students and other attendees waited to see how much tension was in their backs. They could then sign up for an appointment with the Osmon Chiropractic Center that would cost only $25 for scheduling at the fair.People could snack on healthy foods like vegetarian wraps, pretzels, hummus and vegetables provided by Indiana Memorial Union Catering. RPS also served students samples of vegan pumpkin bread and cherry-walnut bread.“We have a lot of students that are vegan and have special diets, and we’d like to try to accommodate,” said Rachel Noirot, a registered dietitian who oversees RPS’s food development in the food courts and dining halls. Senior Justinian Dispenza said he would never have tried vegan pumpkin bread if he hadn’t seen a sign outside the culture center. “I’m super stoked to see RPS here with vegan food,” he said. “There are a lot more vegans or vegetarians on campus than I think people realize, and not all of them live in Collins, so its really nice to see vegan food popping up in other dormitories.” Desiree Dixon received an email about the IU Health Fair and was drawn by the free massages, she said, especially since the fair was a week after her midterms.Dixon also said she noticed there was more to it.“When we got here we saw all the different resources,” she said. “I think this was a really great event that had a great turnout.” Kathryn Brown, the sexual health educator for the IU Health Center’s Health and Wellness Department, has worked in the center for 25 years. She said she has seen some growth in the fair throughout the years.“I think that’s one of the advantages of doing an event like this,” Brown said. “What’s really fun for me, as a longtime employee, is to see all the different exhibitors and the creative ways they come up with for promoting their particular agency.”
(09/17/12 2:34am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>This Saturday, IU fans in the stands at the IU versus Ball State football game received a special surprise before kick-off.About 100 IU Dance Marathon members and Riley Hospital for Children kids and families ran, cartwheeled and cheered across the football field as a part of IUDM’s Riley at the Rock event. Five-year-old Gavin Gendron and 10-year-old Riley Lesh had both participated in Riley at the Rock in previous years.Paul and Kristin Gendron, Gavin’s parents, have been participating in the partnership with IUDM and Riley Hospital for Children for three years. “One of the families that was a part of IUDM mentioned it to us, and we felt that it would be a great way to get involved with Riley and IU,” Paul Gendron said. “Gavin loves it, because it’s his time, I mean, where a lot of the students really focus on him. It makes him feel special. It really does. We’ve done as many activities as we can.” Gavin was diagnosed with leukemia when he was only nine months old. He was the youngest leukemia patient at Riley’s.During the tailgate, Gavin played football with IUDM members. He even made a few touchdowns. “Did you see when I made the last touchdown?” Gavin said. For the past five years, IUDM has organized Riley at the Rock, a tailgate event that gives Riley’s patients the opportunity to spend quality time with the IUDM members at an IU football tailgate. After the tailgate, the IUDM participants and the Riley kids and their families go behind the Quarry gates and run on the field before kickoff. During a break in his football game, Gavin said he was really excited about running across the IU football field. “We basically do what you expect an IU tailgate to be, but we try to make it focus on the kids,” said Neil Johnson, IUDM’s director of recruitment. “The kids love it. Some people put them on their back, on their shoulders. Some people have races ... It’s a really cool event for the kids to have that IU tailgate feel and we try to make the kids feel special.“About 50 IUDM members and 50 Riley families participate in Riley at the Rock every year. Thanks to a partnership with IU Athletics, IUDM has been able to sell about on average of 200 tickets per game.Julie Troyer, IUDM president, said IUDM’s goal is to make sure the kids are as happy as they can be when they have events like this. “Every event we put on for them is just to make them feel extra special and important and know how much we do care about them and appreciate what they do and how inspiring they are to us,” Troyer said. “It really is just an event to have fun and come out. We like to have fun here. In past years, it’s always been really great for the kids.” Lesh has participated in a total of 100 high school and college dance marathons for Riley. Lesh and her best friend, 11-year-old Natalie Young, were both born premature. They were excited and ready to run across the field. “I feel awesome,” Lesh said. After the tailgate, IUDM and the Riley families gathered at the practice field to stretch and take a group picture. Then, IU Athletics coordinators guided the participants into the building that led to the football stadium’s field. The IUDM members and Riley families cheered to get pumped up. Finally, the announcer introduced IUDM and Riley and everyone rushed out onto the field. Some of the kids were on the backs of IUDM members. Some, like Lesh, were doing cartwheels. The audience in the stands clapped for the participants as they watched their enthusiasm on the field. Even though the event is one of the newer events, Johnson said he thinks that it will only grow. “The kids like it a lot,” he said. “I think it’s only going to get bigger and better.”
(03/08/12 4:36am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Latina and gender-based minority groups came together Wednesday to present a panel discussion about first-time accomplishments and how a group of women overcame racial adversities along the way. The three Latina women took the chance to tell the audience in La Casa their story of being the first to accomplish their respective feats. Maria Luz Corona was the first Latina judge in Lake County, Ind. Professor of African American and African Diaspora Studies Iris Rosa was the first IU Latina professor to be a tenured, and Josefa Madrigal-Luce founded the first all-Latina Little 500 team in 2004. All of these women were featured at the panel discussion sponsored by the Office of Women’s Affairs 40th Anniversary, National Women’s History Month, the OWA, La Casa and the IU Latino Alumni Association.“The connection with the Latina’s First was with the Little 500 every year,” Madrigal-Luce said. “It motivated me to form the first all-Latina team. So with the support of first La Casa, then Lillian Casillas and Mr. Stockman, I was able to accomplish that. At first, to me it was not like ‘let’s gather an all-Latina team,’ it was more like ‘let’s gather a Mexcla cycling team of women.’ I wanted to be a part of a team, but it became an all-Latina team.” At the event, Judge Corona talked about her involvement with taking 18 students on a visit to IU in 1968 before the Groups Program: a summer program that helps low-income students prepare for college. “It was before (IU) Groups program and that was when I was being interviewed by Dean Chaplan and that is what I liked about IU,” Corona said. “I told them that it was okay, but there weren’t any Hispanics at IU, and it was very lonely.”Professor Rosa was also a part of the group that lead the students to the Groups program. “A lot of times when we talk about the success of a program, a lot of people look at the numbers of attendance,” graduate assistant at La Casa Karina Garduno said. “We didn’t have a massive amount of people, but at least if we made a difference in one person, then it was successful. We accomplished what we wanted. We wanted people to learn and think about different things.”Garduno spoke in regard to the hardships still present even today.“It was interesting because what they were talking about still happens today. It was kind of like what (Madrigal-Luce) kept saying, you know that they were here so long ago, yet we still go through so many things, and sometimes we do have to speak up for ourselves because we do become kind of invisible,” Garduno said. Rosa, also a dance director for the African American Arts Institute, said she has had the chance of being affliated with IU ever since she attended the University in 1968. She gave advice to current students in regard to her experiences as a student. “First of all, you have the challenge of being a student, trying to get through school, a predominately white school with very few latinos and African americans on campus,” she said. “You just didn’t find your identitiy and you had people questioning your identity, questioning about you and trying to find your way through college.Rosa said she has seen an improvement since the years when she was a student at IU.“I’ve seen a little more acceptance of diversity, but when I first came here it was not even a discussion,” Rosa said. “We as Latinas tend to be a bit more reserve and we just need to break that and get out of the box.”
(12/07/11 5:27am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The set was decorated with poinsettias and the stage was set to represent a winter wonderland. As the lights dimmed and the musicians warmed up their instruments, those in attendance quieted in anticipation of the festive night to come at the Musical Arts Center.Members of the Jacobs School of Music faculty and students gave an early Christmas present to the Bloomington community: a jazzy holiday concert, on Tuesday.The musical evening started with a medley of holiday classics such as “Jingle Bells” and “Frosty the Snowman” led by conductor David Effron, chair of orchestral conducting. The 62-piece orchestra featured the classic mixing of the horn section, string section and percussive drums. Harps and a bass guitar added jazz-oriented sounds to the orchestra as well. Grammy award winner and Lecturer in Music Sylvia McNair and Associate Professor of Voice Brian Horne sang a romantic yet friendly duet of Frank Loesser’s “Baby, It’s Cold Outside.”To add variety, the Latin Jazz Ensemble performed a salsa-inspired “Havana Holly Jolly.” The harp duo following this global interpretation of the holiday season performed “Greensleeves.” The lights of the MAC shined only on harpists Maggie Grove, a Jacobs alumna, and Abigail St. Pierre during this more solemn portion of the evening. The orchestra also played a jazzy version of a traditional Christmas carol, delivering “Bad King Wenceslas” to the audience. Professor of music Steve Houghton pointed out this tune was anything but traditional. IU Manuscripts Curator Saundra Taylor said she was ecstatic about the holiday selections.“I love it,” Taylor said, “I just love jazz. I love hearing the faculty play with the students. It’s a wonderful holiday program.”Junior Lydia Bigelow said she liked the mix of jazz and orchestra. She said she also noticed how much the orchestra matched with the original style of the songs. “I think that they do match very closely,” Bigelow said. “It’s great.”Some audience members’ opinions differed from Bigelow’s, as they were not familiar with the original versions of these songs. For doctorate student Hwunduk Suh, Tuesday’s performance was the first time he had seen a live holiday band. “It’s very cool, the combination of the orchestra and the brass,” Suh said. “It’s an experience that I’ve never had. I listened to CDs, but this is my very first time seeing it live. It’s a new experience.”