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(12/01/09 12:52am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>“As a whole, we are more sedentary because of electronic media,” Baute says. “We can do so much more on our computers such as blog and go on Facebook. Adding some movement can be as simple as catching up with a friend over a walk instead of e-mailing or texting.”In Baute’s lecture classes and in some other HPER classes with a lecture component, walk breaks are incorporated during class time. Long lectures cause students to be more fatigued, Baute says.“Most college professors are pressed for time, but they might have a win-win situation if they sacrifice a five-minute break and have students come back more refreshed and awake,” Baute says.Sitting down in front of a computer or television for too long can make anyone drowsy. Baute says people should do an activity every half-hour. Try sit-to-stands in your chair and repeat them 10 or 12 times. Also, try to sit up straight to improve posture. Poor posture can lead to neck issues, back pain, and headaches. How to sit up straight. Or, how to eat dinner with your ex-Marine grandfather.• Think ears-over-shoulders-over-hips. Imagine a straight line through these three areas.• Pretend there is a string pulling your head up and squeeze your shoulder blades together.• Use your core muscles by sucking your navel inward and upward. It’s like sit-ups for people who don’t like sit-ups.
(12/01/09 12:50am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The program tells participants to aim for 6,000 to 10,000 steps each day, equaling roughly three to five miles. More than half of American adults aren’t coming close to these numbers, and nearly 50 percent of people ages 12 to 21 are not “vigorously active,” according to the Surgeon General.One participant, James Clark, a chemistry laboratory coordinator, said the experience made him add activity into his life. For instance, if he had to give a colleague a message, he would walk over to his or her office instead of sending an e-mail. He also did simple tasks such as taking the stairs instead of the elevator, or walking to Kirkwood Avenue with his wife for lunch.Clark was motivated by the number his pedometer recorded. On average, Clark achieved 10,000 to 12,000 steps a day with some help from his soccer games.“It was curious to me, to see how many steps I took,” Clark says. “If I didn’t take a lot of steps, I felt like I did nothing, so I went to the gym or went for a run.”Step just a little more, Amadeo says. Ten minutes here, 10 minutes there. “How people utilize their time is a choice, not a limitation,” she says. “Making exercise a priority is key to maintaining a healthy lifestyle, even when life gets hectic.”
(11/18/09 6:08am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Gloomy weather and pouring rain foreshadowed IU’s Transgender Day of Remembrance, an event honoring those who have been killed for their gender expression.The event was created after the murder of Rita Hester 11 years ago, according to the International Transgender Day of Remembrance Web site. This year was IU’s first large event for the remembrance day, and it was put on by National Organization of Gay and Lesbian Scientists and Technical Professionals at IU.There were 245 signs and tombstone-shaped markers in Dunn Meadow with the names of those murdered in hate crimes in the past decade. Following speeches in the Fine Arts Building was a funeral procession where 119 transgender people murdered in the past year were named, along with the location, date and cause of death. Many people’s genitals cut off, their bodies mutilated and body parts burnt off.“This day is extremely personal for me, and I say that because for the most part I love my life,” said Kay Johnson, a transgender activist and Bloomington resident. “Today is a sobering day because it reminds me that I can die just because I carry myself the way I do.”Transgender people do not identify with the gender that they were assigned to at birth and do not follow gender norms constructed by society.Johnson is a transwoman, meaning she was born male but considers herself to be a woman and lives socially as a woman. Johnson has a distinct, deep male voice, long blonde hair, a feminine physique and wears traditional woman’s clothing like a dress and high-heel boots. Her alternate appearance increases the likelihood of her being harassed, Johnson said.“By being happier and more fulfilled, I am more likely to get killed,” Johnson said.Many of those involved with Transgender Day of Remembrance knew somebody who had been killed either psychologically or physically because of how they identified themselves.Sophomore Chris Kase, president of NOGLSTP at IU, has seen how suppressing one’s transgender identity can lead to self-destructive behaviors.During her speech, Kase “came out” about her relationship with two transwomen. Kase’s ex-husband told her that he had always wished to be a girl, but refused to accept that he was transgendered. He suppressed himself into the two-gender system by being an alcoholic and a cocaine addict. He also had threatened suicide multiple times by pointing a gun into his mouth.Kase said her husband felt the need to keep his transgender identity a secret.“I will push down who I am so as to not evoke opinions of fear, hate and disgust within others and myself,” Kase said, interpreting her husband’s thought process. “I will discriminate against myself because I am afraid of what society would think of me if I expose who I really am. ... I live in a world that kills people like me so I will kill myself with alcohol and cocaine in the long, drawn-out, self-inflicted death so you won’t have to kill me.” One of the stories told was of Taysia Elzy, a friend of Vicci Laine, a transwoman, Bloomington resident and an HIV/AIDS activist. Elzy and her boyfriend were shot to death in their Indianapolis apartment on Dec. 26, 2008. Laine said Elzy was a sex worker because she felt that was the only way she could make a living.“The news really wanted to play on that she was a sex worker and that somehow that is why this crime was committed,” Laine said. “Taysia, no matter what she did for a living, was a beautiful person. She was fun, she was alive and she was always laughing and smiling.”Transgender Day of Remembrance impacted many IU students as well.Freshman Sarah Klapperich attended Transgender Day of Remembrance in honor of her girlfriend who recently came out as transgendered and is going through gender therapy.“This is all for her,” Klapperich said. “I want to be there for her.”Dr. Aren Aizura, visiting lecturer of gender studies, wore bright colors and makeup in honor of the event.“Transpeople are fabulous and we stand out,” Aizura said. “Transpeople dazzle a little more and are more noticeable. ... If we keep dazzling, we win.”
(11/16/09 4:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Leaders of tomorrow from across the country met over the weekend to discuss the issues of today.More than 500 people were registered for the Men and Women of Color Leadership Conference, and participants came from schools as far away as Clark Atlanta University and Huston-Tillotson University in Austin, Texas. Selected middle school and high school students from the Monroe County area also attended certain events and sessions. Participants attended workshops about self-improvement, networking and controversial topics such as “Issues in the Age of Obama.”Speakers, including Robert Jackson, author of “No More Excuses: Black Men Stand Up!” and BET correspondent Jeff Johnson discussed their own struggles in becoming efficient leaders and gave advice to students about how to truly make a difference in their campus community.Johnson attended the University of Toledo, a predominantly white school. He gave up his track scholarship to become the Black Student Union president at his university. From there he said he became the first and only African American to become president of student government at his institution. He spoke to students about his personal experience.“So, I’m not coming to you as some dude that tries to do news on BET,” Johnson said. “I’m coming to you as somebody that sat in the very same seats that you’ve sat in; that’s been in the office by myself wondering, do I know what in the hell I’m doing; that’s wondering why I am going to events that nobody is showing up to; that’s wondering why am I wasting my time sacrificing my grades and my sanity in the name of a population that doesn’t understand what leadership is about.”Johnson said he hoped that the students take the knowledge they gained from this conference and actually use it.“I am going to be real, real honest with you,” Johnson said. “I am only talking to about 10 percent of y’all because the other 90 percent of you will do nothing. And if you don’t like it, then prove me wrong.” Johnson said that he has been to many conferences “where people leave inspired to a state of euphoric inactivity,” but he hoped that the attendees from this conference would strive for more.And the student leaders of today wasted no time in taking action.At the end of Johnson’s speech, students asked questions about how to make positive changes in their college community.Senior Shanel Poole of Indiana State University asked Johnson how to communicate with an administration of a predominantly white university to meet the needs of its minority students.Poole said her concern is that although Indiana State University has a large amount of African-American students compared with any other public university in Indiana, the institution has fewer than 10 African-American professors with a doctorate. This imbalance worries Poole.“In a class of 60 diverse students with only predominantly white professors, it takes away from that connection, and it makes students feel unwanted,” Poole said. “We are all feeling left out because we don’t have any type of professors or administrators to relate to or anyone that looks identical to us. And it becomes a serious problem.”From the advice Johnson gave her, Poole hopes that she can steer the administration into looking more closely at the issue of the lack of diversity of faculty on campus.“What I felt is, he made me aware that we as students have a responsibility to not only voice our concerns, but set out the plan for the administration to know exactly what steps to take to help fulfill what the concerns and issues are,” Poole said.
(11/13/09 5:02am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Following the election of the first black president, the individual men and women of color leadership conferences are joining forces for another first.The groups are having a joint Men and Women of Color Leadership Conference this weekend, the first time the conferences have been organized together.This change came about because of budgetary constraints, but the result is timely and progressive, said Eric Love, IU’s director of the Office of Diversity Education.“The theme of this year’s national conference is “Bridging the Gap: Building Upon the 2008 Election.”The conference is open to people of any gender, ethnicity, race, economic or social standing. Organizers expect about 500 people to attend.It will focus on academic excellence, leadership development, career development and culture and political awareness.Keynote speakers include Jeff Johnson, a BET correspondent, who interviews a wide range of celebrities.“The issues discussed are more universal but specifically affect men and women of color,” Love said.
(11/13/09 4:59am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>It’s 1938 and Rachel Zimbler is a 10-year-old Jewish girl in Austria.“I am going to ask you not to look at me as an 81-year-old lady, but as a 10-year-old,” she said while standing in front of a crowd of students in the Kelley School of Business, “because the events I am going to speak about happened to me when I was 10.”Zimbler was a childhood survivor of the Holocaust during Kristallnacht. Thursday’s lecture was organized by the Helene G. Simon Hillel Center. “Once upon a time, more than 71 years ago, my life and the life of Austrian Jewry changed drastically for the worse,” Zimbler said. In March 1938 her life changed forever. She couldn’t play with her friends, take out books from the library or attend a public school.It was these little changes that made Zimbler recognize things were changing for the worse.“You couldn’t help but know it,” Zimbler said. “The kids I went to school with would spit on the ground and say, ‘Don’t let the Jews get ahead of us.’”“The 10th of November 1938 was the beginning of the end of all Jewry in Austria and Germany. It was Kristallnacht,” Zimbler said.“Kristallnacht” is the night of the broken glass. Jewish-owned shops and synagogues were attacked by the Nazi pogrom – a group of people committing violent acts against a particular group. “It was so frightening for us as children,” Zimbler said. “We could feel that fright even though they tried not to show it. But it was there.”Zimbler and her siblings went to their great aunt’s house to stay safe.When Zimbler’s mother got to the apartment, there was a German seal on the door. The synagogue, the center of Jewish life in Zimbler’s Austrian town, was up in flames. The Nazi pogrom stormed into the synagogue and took and destroyed special religious items. The beautiful stained glass windows were all broken.The life-changing event of Kristallnacht remains a strong image in Zimbler’s mind to this day.“So when, that I walked in the street, I could feel the crunch of that glass under my feet and I feel it to this day,” Zimbler said. “It’s just one of those things that just got to my heart.”The day after Kristallnacht, Zimbler saw her mother looking for her father.“Where is Papa?” Zimbler said. “What is happening to him?”Papa was taken to Dachau Concentration Camp for 48 hours. Although he survived and rarely spoke of the experience, he frequently screamed at night.By Dec. 10, Zimbler’s father got her and her brother on the “kinder transport” and went to Holland. “Kinder Transport” was a child rescue movement started by Quakers and other groups that would save children from Germany and Austria.She had a positive experience in Holland even though the children made fun of her Dutch.Zimbler came to America by boat and was fortunate enough to get to Brooklyn, N.Y. with a brother, mother and father. However, her aunt and cousin on her mother’s side did not survive the Holocaust. Many of the audience members felt a personal connection to Zimbler’s story.“As a Jew, I feel like I have to go to carry on the story of survivors,” sophomore Rafe Kaplan said. “I try to come out to all of these events because I feel obligated to tell everybody what happened.”
(11/12/09 5:10am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Albert Valdman never thought he was going to have a career in Creole.Forty-six years after he began teaching the language native to Haiti, Valdman is being recognized at the 21st-annual Haitian Studies Association Conference this weekend at IU with a lifetime achievement award, and IU’s Creole Institute is being honored for having one of the top Creole programs.Valdman is now the Rudy Professor Emeritus of French, Italian and Linguistics and director of the institute.IU was the first university to teach Creole languages, he said, and Valdman was the first to teach Haitian Creole.Universities around the globe use IU’s Creole textbooks and dictionaries. Most recently, Valdman was the head of efforts to create the most comprehensive and most complete Haitian Creole-to-English dictionary.Valdman has been an IU faculty member since 1960 and has found the experience of guiding others gratifying. “The most rewarding thing is to train and to guide people who want to follow in your path and do things that you are interested in,” he said. “I’ve directed about 50 dissertations and many of my former students have done incredible work.”How Valdman began teaching Creole starts on a first date in 1957.While he was receiving his doctorate in French at Cornell University, he met his future wife who had just gotten back from a trip to Haiti. She was so impressed with Haiti that Valdman became intrigued by the language.So, he decided to go into a completely different dissertation and field.Valdman told her that he would like to create teaching materials and a dictionary for Creole languages.When Valdman began teaching at IU, he had a Haitian student and some of his pupils wanted to learn the language. He learned Creole by creating materials to teach other people. Essentially, he taught himself how to write and speak Creole and from there taught others.“The nice thing about teaching is that you have to learn new things to make sure you know more than your students,” Valdman said. “I think it’s exciting to be interacting with students. ... We try to communicate knowledge. Teaching is an interactive activity. As you teach, you also learn.”Marc Prou, current executive of the national Haitian Studies Association, and other members of the Haitian Studies Association believe he is one of the most influential people in the language’s study.“Valdman is a mentor, a former professor, he is a colleague and a longtime friend,” Prou said. “It is because of him and the work he has done to advance Haitian Creole that I am who I am today and that I am engaged in linguistic work in Creole.”He has been a pioneer in the field of innovation of Creole linguists and has guided several generations of Haitian linguists, including Prou.Last year, the conference was in Haiti. About 150 people are expected to attend the conference, including many international researchers.The theme of this year’s event is “New Ecologies: Actualizing Global Contributions and Development in Haiti.” Elizabeth Cooke, a first-year master’s student in public affairs and environmental science, is volunteering at the conference. While she was in Haiti for seven months she worked on reforestation and an alternative fuel project.Cooke said the conference will give students an opportunity to learn something new.“Conference topic interests are of a wide range that is unique to a very specific culture and country,” Cooke said.
(11/10/09 4:36am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU Residence Halls Association is out to prove that college students can make a difference through Advocacy Week.Monday kicked off the first Advocacy Week ’09, and RHA wants this to eventually become an IU tradition.The purpose of the week is to call people to action in various forms, said junior Michael Coleman, vice president of internal affairs for RHA.A variety of events are taking place throughout the week, ranging from a discussion of health care reform to events about issues in Africa.Although the programs are different, there are five overarching values: advocacy, activism, philanthropy, volunteerism and citizenship, said sophomore Ben Boruff, director of philanthropy for RHA.For all of the programs, students can take action one way or another, Coleman said.Students have the opportunity to find something to be interested in and passionate about, Boruff said.RHA wants students to become active citizens in the community by the end ofthe week.“To be an active citizen you have to, A.) be informed and B.) do something with that information,” Boruff said.The week of events gives an opportunity for organizations to spread their message throughout campus and to get students involved. However, the main goal is for students to gain a better understanding of the world around them, Boruff said.“There is a wealth of knowledge of the world at our fingertips,” Boruff said. “There is no excuse to not be informed about global issues.”
(10/22/09 3:38am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Though we are in the 21st century, interracial and intercultural dating can still be considered controversial.At 4 p.m. today, the “Choice of Colors” brown bag panel discussion series continues with “The Truth About Interracial Dating” at the La Casa Latino Cultural Center.The panel includes people who are married or who have been in relationships with those outside of their ethnic or cultural background.The panelists have had varied experiences that range from non-problematic to causing major conflicts, said Lillian Casillas, director of La Casa.The discussion will show how perceptions of interracial relationships have changed from the past – when it was illegal to marry someone outside of their race – to the present day, Casillas said.“It’s a time where we are more open to exploration and more open to many things,” Casillas said. “I’m generalizing, but if there is a place that this has a better chance of occurring, college creates that opportunity.”More students who are enrolling at IU are biracial or bicultural, Casillas said.Joseph Stahlman, interim director of the First Nations Educational and Cultural Center, assisted in putting the panel together. He said he is a product of an interracial relationship. His mother is German-American and his father is an American Indian.He said he has always felt interracial relationships were a non-issue.“Interracial dating is on everyone’s mind in one form or another,” Stahlman said. “I’ve never considered it important. I hope we get past it.”Interracial dating could be considered a touchy subject, but one that needs to be discussed among college students. “I’m interested in knowing what’s on people’s minds,” Stahlman said. “Sometimes what people say and what people think is different. It’s about getting underneath the surface and learning what’s on their minds.”
(10/20/09 6:55pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Females and males are physically different. We are two different sexes with different genitalia and body shapes.But from the second individuals are born, their main identity is their sex, not their gender. Girls are not born with an instinct to like pink. The two separate categories are called social constructions. We are socially constructed to recognize inanimate objects as gender-specific.Gender is not sex. Gender goes beyond just the biological. It incorporates what we are socially constructed to think is female or male. Female is an easy-bake oven. Male is a baseball bat. Female is an apple martini. Male is a beer.So what is it like for someone who doesn’t fit into America’s two-gender system?Susan Stryker, a gender studies professor, is a transsexual. She went through a physical transformation from a male to female appearance.“The ‘boying’ of me, the manning of me, always felt nonconsensual,” Stryker said. “Everybody gets gendered. And most people don’t question that.”But Stryker did inquire about her gender and did not accept it.“For whatever reason, as far back as I can go, I never thought I was a boy,” Stryker said. “I knew that was how I was being made to live. I knew that was how I was perceived. That’s how I was assigned. That’s how I was reared. Subjectively, internally, it was always a question. How come I don’t feel that way? ... How can I not be a boy if everyone says I’m a boy?”Because Stryker has feminine and masculine physical attributes, people are not always sure of how to interact with her.“If you don’t know somebody’s gender, you don’t know how to relate to them as a person,” Stryker said. “You don’t know which slot to put them in. ... To know if you are a man and a woman is to know, do I go into the same public restroom as you? Are they shopping in the right part of the store? Are you supposed to open the door for them when you are both coming in at the same time? Can I have sex with that person?” Genders provide us with roles and pronouns. They also affect our daily social interactions, Stryker said.But is our gender system so bad? Should girls start wearing ties and should boys begin wearing dresses?Not quite.The main problem is that there is a gender social hierarchy. Men on top, women on bottom, so to speak. The main problem with gender is that boys and girls are expected to fulfill different roles. Instead, no particular sex should be expected to fit into a particular stereotype. As long as we don’t see gender based on social hierarchy, one particular way of living or appearing will not be considered better or worse than another.“We are using a gender presentation to mean something that gets translated into a hierarchy rather than just allowing people to be the way they are,” Stryker said.“Gender styles should be whatever works for you. It should be OK to be gendered a certain way. It shouldn’t be negative.”Alyssa Goldman is a sophomore majoring in journalism and gender studies.
(10/19/09 2:28am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Students who wish to get a head start in the law school selection and application process can do so at Tuesday’s Law Day.The day begins at the Whittenberger Auditorium with a panel discussion from 9 to 10:45 a.m. and proceeds to Alumni Hall in the Indiana Memorial Union, where representatives from 111 law schools will be present.“It’s really a unique opportunity to have so many law schools here,” said Mac Francis, Director of Health Professions and Prelaw Center and president of the Midwest Association of Pre-Law Advisors. “It’s a huge advantage ... In the United States, there are 200 law schools approved by the American Bar Association.” At the panel discussion students get an inside perspective as to what law school administrators want in an application.Law school administrators give their perspective as to what they like and don’t like in an application, Tolen said.“Students get to talk to directors, administrators and application personnel,” said Rachel Tolen, assistant director of Health Professions and Prelaw Center. “It gives students a rare opportunity.”At the fair students can get more personal interaction with those involved in the application process.“It gives students a chance to make a connection with someone important in the process,” Francis said. The Midwest Association of Pre-Law Advisors organized the event and has an all-Big Ten Caravan, which brings the law school fairs to Big Ten universities.Although the law school fairs travel around, IU will have the largest fair in the country for the fifth year in a row, Francis said.The reason so many representatives come to IU’s fair is due to its large turnout of students. Last year, more than 640 students attended, Tolen said.“With the economy, we expected the turnout to be lower,” Francis said. “The old record is 108, and the new one is 111. We expected schools to cut budgets. It was a friendly surprise.”IU also has a reputation of having interested and insightful students.“Law school representatives know a lot of students who show up at IU’s fair are smart and ask good questions,” Tolen said. “IU students have a reputation to be proactive and have good expectations.”The fair helps students narrow their choices down to a list of law schools that match their interests.“Each applicant brings a unique perspective,” said Frank Motley, assistant dean of admissions at the IU Maurer School of Law. “And each law school is interested in different students. Find a law school that matches.”Students usually leave feeling better about the application process.“Student leave optimistic and inspired,” Francis said. “Students that come out think it’s worth their while.”What You Need To KnowWHO SHOULD GO The fair is for freshmen students just learning about law school to juniors and seniors in the application process, said Rachel Tolen, assistant director of Health Professions and Prelaw Center.WHAT THEY SHOULD WEAR Business casualWHAT THEY SHOULD ASK “Students should ask about what their range of GPA and LSAT scores are and what weight is given to each,” Tolen said. “Ask if there are any particular areas of law that they specialize in. Other standard questions: its atmosphere, financial aid and career placement services they provide when they leave the school. ““Are there students from IU at the institution now?” said Frank Motley, assistant dean of admissions at the IU Maurer School of Law.WHAT THEY SHOULD BRING “I think they should have a card with their name, address and e-mail because it will save them a lot of writing,” Motley said. “And if they have a resume, they should bring one.”AVOID THIS MISTAKE “Students go to schools they are interested in, but they also need to go to the schools they are curious about,” Motley said. “Popular schools get a lot of students at their tables, while other very good schools have no one. ... Talk to everyone.”
(10/16/09 3:46pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU Homecoming is 101 years old.The first homecoming in 1908 centered around three new buildings on campus and alumni flooded the campus to celebrate.In 1909 IU hosted “Gala Day,” a homecoming event that coincided with an IU-Purdue football game.“To my understanding there were trains coming in from Indianapolis equivalent to that of a parade,” said Conor McIntyre, director of student programming for the IU Alumni Association.In 1910 IU hosted a homecoming event for alumni in conjunction with an IU-Illinois football game.Throughout the years traditions have developed that are now synonymous with IU’s Homecoming and Hoosier spirit.The main purpose of these traditions is to connect students to the university.“I think it builds a sense of community,” McIntyre said. “It connects alumni to students.” Nearly Naked Mile This new homecoming tradition is in its second year but has created a buzz on campus. The event benefits the charities United Way and My Sister’s Closet. Students can donate $10 to the event or donate their clothes. Most students come wearing extra clothes to the event and donate the clothes off their back, said senior Brian Smith, director of Hoosier Village. People do group exercises, lead each other in songs and cheers. Expert Tip: “Don’t go in something lewd,” Smith said. “Go with what people don’t see everyday.”Go in body paints, wigs, bathing suits and even a cape, Smith said.Homecoming Blood DriveThe event has been affiliated with the IU vs. Purdue Blood Donor Challenge, but this is the first year the event is standing by itself, said Heather Schaefer, president of the IU Student Alumni Association. Students can donate blood throughout the day. This is the blood drive’s 13th year, which shows a lot about Hoosier spirit.“Homecoming is all about showing your Hoosier spirit and a part of that is giving back to the community,” Schaefer said. Spirit DayThe IU Student Alumni Association gives out Hoosier goodies for the second year.Cornhole Tournament & Bonfire A lot of college students play cornhole, but it is special to Indiana because we are the corn state, Schaefer said.“It’s all about building relationships and enjoying IU,” Schaefer said. The cornhole tournament is in its third year.Yell Like HellYell Like Hell is a spirit competition that is in its 10th year. The competition includes dancing acts, singing acts and skits performed by student organizations and greek organizations.Pep Rally & Homecoming ParadeStudents line up at Willkie Quad and the parade ends in front of the Sample Gates, where the pep rally takes place. This year the parade is celebrating its 51st year.“It’s a part of IU Homecoming history,” McIntyre said. Tailgate & GameExpert tip: Wear IU apparel from Spirit Day.“There are a lot of events and everyone is really busy because it’s midterm week,” Schaefer said. “But pick an event and come out. We get so busy with our classes that we stop to look around. Homecoming is a time to be proud to wear your cream and crimson shirt and be a part of a great tradition.” IU Fight SongIn 1912 “Indiana, Our Indiana” gained momentum as the most well-known IU song. The fight song is prominent during Homecoming, McIntyre said. Students sing the fight song at the bonfire before the fire is set.
(10/09/09 3:07am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Bryan Park will be buzzing with cultural fusion Saturday. Bloomington Multicultural Expo attendees can experience a taste of the Moon Festival, the Soul Food Festival, Festival Latino and International Festival Village.The Moon Festival is a celebration of the 15th day of the eighth month on the lunar calendar, also known as the “Harvest Moon.” The Moon Festival will also incorporate Diwali, the Indian festival of lights, which falls on Oct. 17 this year.One of the theories of how the festival came about is when China was under Han rule, citizens figured out a new way to send secret messages. According to the folk tale, they put the messages into moon cakes, which led to the Moon Festival.The event also includes the Bloomington Black Business and Professional Association’s Soul Food Festival, La Casa Latino Cultural Center’s Festival Latino and the International Festival Village. Each festival has its own village.In past years, all of the festivals took place at the same time, said Juan Berumen, La Casa graduate assistant.“When the festivals are done separately, there tends to be a modest turnout,” Berumen said. “This will help increase turnout and help some of the vendors.”The event provides a taste of several cultures.Performances throughout the Bloomington Multicultural Expo include international folk dancers, Hawaiian dance, traditional Indian dance, the traditional South African dance, Gumboot, jazz music, flamenco dance, hip-hop, rap and Turkish music.“It will be really interesting to see what everyone brings,” said Mai-Lin Poon, graduate assistant at the Asian Culture Center. “It is a really fun way to learn someone else’s culture. Granted, it’s a small portion of it, but at least you learn a little something rather than just being unaware.”It is from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at Bryan Park, 1001 S. Henderson Street. The event is free, except for food and some activities.
(10/07/09 3:39am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Sex has never been so high-tech.The Kinsey Confidential Web site has gone through an overhaul not only in its appearance, but also in its content.The Web site’s overhaul makes information simpler to read and easier to find, said Jennifer Bass communications director at the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction.Information is based on research and scientific findings done by professionals in the field.The goal of the Web site is to provide college-aged students with the newest research and information found at The Kinsey Institute and help the college-aged audience learn about sex, relationships and sexuality, said Eric Anthony Grollman, a Ph.D. student and instructor in sociology, in an e-mail. Readers may submit questions and receive thorough answers from Debby Herbenick, associate director of the Center for Sexual Health Promotion at the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation. Herbenick also has podcasts in partnership with WFIU Public Radio to answer even more inquiries.Students receiving their doctorate in subjects such as sociology and higher education and student affairs blog based on their take on new research and various topics dealing with sex.“Each one of us brings our own backgrounds and different personalities,” said Bradley Blankenship, Ph.D. candidate in higher education and student affairs.Blankenship specifically writes about college and high school issues. He has written a blog on being “sexiled” from dorm rooms and plans to write a blog on how gay and lesbian students should approach studying abroad.The hope is that students will get their information from the Kinsey Confidential Web site rather than unreliable sources.“People think that there is so much information about sex on the Internet, but not a lot of it is reliable,” Bass said.Many young people get their sex information from popular magazines and other media outlets, but they are not as research-based as the Web site.“I look at many of the so-called reliable sources and notice how many make assumptions,” Bass said. A lot of media facets base their content on sex trends.“Trends come and go,” Bass said. “We want to cut through the trends and cut through commercialism. We just want to try to a trusted source.”www.kinseyconfidential.org
(10/04/09 10:20pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>We’re young. We’ve got love to mess around with, time to screw up, and money to lose. Right? We wish. Here’s how to get your life back.With nearly 40,000 students on campus, it should be impossible to be fresh out of love. But since finding a date can seem as difficult as catching the X bus to the stadium, Inside took on the role of matchmaker. We found two students who claim to be unlucky in love and sent them to Siam House for a blind date and tasty Thai food.Elliott Netherland, sophomoreMajor: exploratoryNetherland says he’s unlucky in love because all his relationships end poorly. He says he’s not looking for a long-term relationship, but he wouldn’t avoid it.Kelly Fox, sophomore Major: speech pathologyFox says she’s never had a boyfriend, but she’s not looking for anything serious. She says she doesn’t feel any pressure to settle down because she wants to explore her options and meet people.AFTER THE DATE, HE SAID:We were able to talk the whole time. It wasn’t awkward. We had enough in common where we could talk for a steady hour and a half. There were a few awkward moments in conversation when there were five or 10-second pauses. I don’t think a lot of things are awkward, but I can tell when other people feel it. I would see Fox again to get to know her better.AFTER THE DATE, SHE SAID:It was less awkward than I thought it would be. We asked each other basic questions about our hometowns, majors, and extracurricular activities. We talked about where we lived freshman year and what we did. Nothing too intense.Netherland is relaxed, sweet, and friendly, but I want to stay single and have fun. My big thing is, I’m 19. I want to see what’s out there.THE EXPERT EXPLAINSJennifer Bass, Kinsey Institute director of communicationsOur two daters aren’t necessarily compatible. I think she has different interests than he does, but that doesn’t mean that they didn’t have a good time. The awkward moments are natural, and they may not end with the night. At IU, there is a chance you will see each other, and you know you are taking a risk. So even if it’s awkward for one, it is awkward for the other. So there is some comfort in that. A good date comes down to communication and respect.
(10/01/09 4:45am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The late IU President Myles Brand began and ended his presidency in controversy.While most people know about Brand’s infamous firing of basketball coach Bob Knight, few are aware of how he helped get the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Student Support Services on IU’s campus. Those who knew Brand said he made the University more progressive and cared deeply about IU and its students. But Brand, who died Sept. 16, was misunderstood by many students who thought he backstabbed the gay, lesbian and bisexual community.In the fall of 1994, the political environment of Indiana was, as some administrators have described, “homophobic.”“It was a hot political issue, and legislators were using that issue to promote themselves,” state senator Vi Simpson said.Controversial beginnings in 1994Intense opposition haunted Brand, the University’s 16th president, as IU administrators proposed an office for Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Services, which opened 15 years ago this November.The groundwork for what is now the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Student Support Services Center had been laid before Brand came to campus, said Doug Bauder, GLBT office coordinator.But when Brand was inaugurated in August 1994, “that is when the proverbial shit hit the fan,” Bauder said.The legislators discovered that $50,000 of IU’s budget was set aside for the office, and that’s how the center became a target, Bauder said.Former Dean of Students Dick McKaig said that Brand indicated to him that getting these services on campus was the right thing to do.“Brand told me we would find a way to fund it with other resources,” McKaig said.With a tight state budget, lawmakers, specifically state Rep. Woody Burton, threatened a $500,000 cut from IU’s operating budget in response to the GLBT office, according to an October 1994 IDS article. The same article stated that Burton also hoped to block a $20 million federal grant to IU.Burton had a very narrow view of what a minority is, Bauder said. Burton “proposed facial characteristics – as in Asian eyes and African hair and Jewish noses – as the official basis for defining the legal status of the minorities among us,” according to an Oct. 7, 1994, IDS article. “Myles saw that diversity was more than a black or white issue,” Bauder said. Jeff Nowak, IU Student Association president from 1994 to 1995, said that he and Brand testified together before the Indiana House of Representatives Subcommittee on Higher Education to support their case for the GLBT center.“During my time with the government, I saw that the growing shortfall of state support,” Nowak said. “Any issue could influence one or more legislators, which could really have a ripple effect and affect state support.”Brand flips on GLBT fundingFacing pressure from state representatives and students alike, Brand did what he could do to make sure the center came to fruition.He chose to use private funding to support the center.Instead of receiving public funding from the state budget, the GLBT Student Support Services Center is privately funded by the IU Foundation as well as the GLBT Alumni Association.“Brand decided – why fight the battle altogether?” said Pam Freeman, associate dean of students and director of the Student Ethics and Anti-Harassment Programs. “He wanted to get the services up and running. He figured out how to institute it.”Students protested Brand’s decision for private funding.“The students who were strongly for the center were very upset and thought the president’s decision was really a slap in the face to gay and lesbian community,” IU Chancellor Ken Gros Louis said.However, IU administrators and faculty said Brand made the right decision.“Brand committed to getting the office opened, and he knew in the midst of the controversy he had to switch the funding source,” Bauder said. “While from a principle standpoint that’s still a little frustrating because one, gay people pay taxes, too. And two, we don’t just serve gay students. We serve everyone. We serve this University very well. So from a principle standpoint it’s very frustrating. But from a practical standpoint it worked very well.”Bauder, who has worked at the GLBT center since its start, supports its private funding.“We got up and running and got a lot of university support over the years,” Bauder said. “Brand opened up the door to 15 years of great work on this campus.”Although the decision was not ideal, it was innovative.“The funding was not only creative, but it got the center going during a critical time and got the center established,” McKaig said.Misunderstood mission, manAlthough Brand was supportive of the center, his personality did not allow him to express it well to the student body.“Brand without question was an introvert,” Nowak said. “He was not like a Ken Gros Louis in the sense that he did not go out dining with students in the residence halls. ... He was a very effective leader who appreciated issues affecting student life. In my experience he regularly valued the opinions of student leaders.”Brand’s shy and quiet nature was misunderstood.“He was a very serious president,” Gros Louis said. “He was a very shy man, which is interesting since he was president of two universities and a provost of a university. ... People felt distant to him. He was hard to get to know him because he was so shy.”But those close to Brand saw him in a different light. “I personally worked on a few projects with him,” McKaig said. “He was an easy person to get along with, and he was humorous.”Despite Brand’s choice to use private funding, Bauder said he had faith that Brand was on their side from the beginning, and Brand demonstrated that commitment by communicating more with the office than any president since. “It was very clear to me that he cared about this issue and that he was losing his mind to make everyone happy,” Bauder said. “And he thought private funding was the way to do it. But he didn’t communicate that with the gay students on campus.”Brand was not acknowledged as an ally of the GLBT community during that time, but Bauder said he hopes that Brand can be seen that way now.“As a respect to him,” Bauder said, “I want this story to be told for the first time.”
(10/01/09 4:03am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Achy Obejas has juggled her identities of being Jewish, Cuban, a lesbian, an American and a writer over the course of her life.“Who we are changes with each outing,” Obejas said.“When I was born in Cuba, I was white, presumed to be a heterosexual and Catholic,” Obejas said. “When we arrived 90 miles to Florida on our creaky little boat I became a Cuban refugee. By 1980, it was Cuban-American, still Catholic, still presumed heterosexual. By college I was Hispanic, going through a phase and a lax Catholic. Later on I learned my hidden Jewishness.”Obejas, an author and journalist who attended IU in the late 1970s, spoke about “Navigating Multiple Identities” at the Helene G. Simon Hillel Center on Wenesday.Obejas said you can’t allow others to define you because they will try and make you one dimensional. People are more complex than one identity, she said.Obejas’ public identity has changed throughout her life.In Hawaii, she’s white. In Istanbul, she’s Jewish. In America, she’s Cuban.“I am a specific breed of an American,” Obejas said.While Obejas was in a southern airport, a group came up to her and said that they “wanted me to meet Jesus and save my soul.”She didn’t want to tell them she was a lesbian, but she did tell them she was Jewish.This was the first time she had identified herself as such.Her father was Jewish, but her mother was Catholic. But growing up in Michigan City, Ind., she lived in a large Jewish population, and as she grew older she identified with that part of herself. However, she wondered how this would fit into her Hispanic identity.“Because I am a Latina does that mean I climbing up or down the hierarchical ladder of oppression?” Obejas said. “Oh, where oh where has my identity gone?”Obejas said that while labels choose her, she knows who she is. Although Obejas’ mother is from African descent, she does not identify herself as black or African because that would be misleading.“My identity is fluid,” Obejas said, “ ... but it is not a purely subjective experience.”Obejas solidifies all parts of her to one identity.“Constant cultural intercourse is a good thing,” Obejas said.Obejas’ sometimes-conflicting identities resonated with students.Freshman Shaily Hakimian identifies herself as Persian, Iranian, Moroccan, Jewish, Israeli and “big in the queer community.”Sometimes these sides of her are difficult to balance.“Obejas taught me that I could be one human instead of being three to four,” Hakimian said. “She helped me put myself together in the mix of craziness.”Senior Heydi Correa is from Puerto Rico, but moved to Bloomington when she was eight.“In Puerto Rico, I’m Puerto Rican, but when I say I’m from Puerto Rico in the U.S., people say that’s part of America and that I’m American,” Correa said. “It’s kind of weird. In different doors I’m looked at one way, and then looked at as something else.”
(09/30/09 4:18am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>“We are women, we are strong. Violence against us has lived too long.”Students and faculty spoke out for victims Tuesday in Dunn Meadow at the 22nd annual Take Back the Night, an event promoting awareness of domestic violence, sexual assault and rape. Jennifer Meece, 22, was found dead in her IU apartment on June 15, 2000. Her boyfriend choked her to death before shooting himself in the head. This is just one of the stories about rape and violence on or near campus.Leila Voyles-Wood, one of crisis intervention’s services coordinator for the Middle Way House, has been attending the event since she was 9 years old.“I am deeply devoted to the movement,” Voyles-Wood said. “Women and men come together and talk about something that is hard to talk about. We want to impose a light on those who are too often isolated in the shadows.”And speaking out was one of the main messages of the event.“Silence is violence,” said Yvette Alex-Assensoh, dean of the Office for Women’s Affairs. “When we as individuals silence, we engage in violent acts.”About 95 percent of all sexual assaults include men as the perpetrators, said Rashawn Ray, a sociology Ph.D. candidate who works in the Office for Women’s Affairs.“It is time for men to be held more accountable for their actions in public opinion and in the courts,” Ray said. “It should be noted that some of these men do not approve of these violent acts yet most of us watch these incidents just as bystanders on a regular basis. It is time for us to speak out and speak up when we see these incidents in our daily lives.”Even though sexual assault may not always affect men directly, it affects the women who comprise a big part of their lives.“Let’s speak up,” Ray said. “How about we speak up for our mothers, for our sisters, for our wives, for our fiances, our girlfriends and our friend girls? In fact let’s speak up for our fathers, our brothers, our sons and our male friends.”Another speaker was Eva Feldman, a mother whose daughter was raped during her freshman year at IU. As she was baking cookies for the final care package she was going to send to her daughter, the phone rang.“I am not prepared for what comes next, though,” Feldman said. “I hear sobbing and the pain in her voice. In an instant I know that this goes beyond grades, homesickness or roommate problems. During this phone call I learn the excruciating details of how she was raped in her college dormitory.” Although Take Back the Night is a well-known event on campus, the attendance was small.“It is disheartening that there are not more people here,” said Debbie Melloan, a sexual assault crisis service counselor at the IU Health Center. “There is always a need to create awareness and we need to show the support that we care.”
(09/28/09 3:21am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>At IU-Purdue’s first Asian American Studies Graduate Student Conference, graduate students gained an insight to the obstacles and complexities of Asian American Studies.This weekend, graduate students from IU, Purdue and other schools came to IU to find others outside of their academic discipline with an interest in Asian American Studies. “Graduates doing something with Asian American Studies are isolated in different places,” said Joan Pong Linton, interim director of Asian American Studies and associate professor of English. “It’s a great chance to get together some sort of a community.”IU and Purdue do not have graduate programs in Asian American Studies. However, this fall IU began its undergraduate minor in the subject.The Council on Institutional Cooperation’s Asian American Studies Consortium recognized this and initiated the IU-Purdue conference.“In the Midwestern area the programs are fledging,” said Yolanda Zepeda, associate director for academics and international programs at the Committee on Institutional Cooperation. “Asian American Studies doesn’t have the established institutional support. Faculty and staff don’t have lots of peers to exchange resources.”Keynote speaker Josephine Lee, associate professor of English at the University of Minnesota, gave a speech at the conference titled “A Rough Guide to Asian American Studies.”“Universities are not in a position to open new programs, which weighs on us heavily,” Lee said. “It hints to a rough journey. I wish I had a guide book, but my journey has not been smooth or polished.”One of the reasons why Asian American Studies programs are not vastly offered is because the subject matter is not “pure,” Lee said. It is an interdisciplinary program that integrates subjects such as English and sociology, Lee said.In spite all of the obstacles Asian American studies faces, it is a wonderful and interesting time to work in this field, Lee said.“The events of the past year have shown the complexity of global economic, political and social interconnection between the U.S. and Asia,” Lee said.At the university level, Asian American Studies is necessary because of population changes.IU administrators recognize the need for programs such as Asian American Studies, Lee said.“It shows our commitment in not only Asian American Studies, but also in ethnic studies,” said Bennett Bertenthal, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “We want them to thrive and expand at IU.”
(09/24/09 3:05am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Rhythm and blues singer Curtis Mayfield is famous for his song “Choice of Colors.” In it he asks “If you had a choice of color, which one would you choose my brothers?”This song inspired “Choice of Color: Brown Bag Series,” a discussion series about controversial issues dealing with race. Four IU culture centers organized the series – La Casa, the Asian Culture Center, First Nations and the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center.Today’s panel includes Eric Love, director of the IU Office of Diversity Education; Jacob Levin, a columnist at the Indiana Daily Student; and African American and African Diaspora Studies graduate students Caralee Jones and Heather Essex.“We hope to have a healthy, but perhaps provocative dialogue among them about the different interpretations of diversity,” said Audrey McCluskey, director of the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center.The purpose of the first event is to give students a voice as to what they see as diversity and to have an open dialogue, said Rafik Hasan, a graduate assistant at the center.Many departments within IU want to increase diversity, and the hope is that students examine these mission statements and determine if they are taking the correct approach or if they are succeeding, Hasan said.Hasan said that religion, race, gender and sexuality are constantly being redefined. The topic for the first event was decided because the term “diversity” has shifted in its usage and definition, McCluskey said.“I had that idea because I think the concept of diversity has been diluted,” McCluskey said. “It used to be a political concept about equity and people who were excluded. And now it has a kind of general and soft tone where it doesn’t really demand any particular change. “So I want to question the whole idea of what diversity has come to mean particularly in relationship to groups that have been marginalized and discriminated against.”