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(11/28/12 6:38am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Pulling straight from deep cultural vats of inspiration in Paris, Beijing and Florence and Venice, Italy, student artists involved in last summer’s overseas study abroad programs captured golden moments and everyday life through a variety of media, such as photography, drawing, prints, books, watercolors and paintings. The School of Fine Arts Abroad: Overseas Study Exhibition features artwork produced by students who participated in study abroad programs taught by members of the IU Fine Arts faculty, Tim Kennedy, Ed Bernstein, Jeffrey Wolin and Arthur Liou. Each year, the Henry Radford Hope School of Fine Arts and the IU Office of Overseas Study form a partnership to offer summer programs in Europe and Asia. This year, from city lights to skin rashes, students’ work will be on display until Saturday at the Grunwald Gallery of Art. Upon entering the gallery, the world of Paris greets visitors’ eyes.In the back of the room, two photos taken by junior Jordan Dunmead hang on the wall. In one of the photographs, strings with colorfully painted pieces of origami hang from the ceiling of a church. The large stone pillars contrast with the delicate pieces of paper dangling in front of them. “The photography titled ‘Origami’ was taken during a day that we had free time to explore Paris by ourselves,” Dunmead said in an email. While walking down side streets near the Pompidou Modern Art Museum, Dunmead stumbled upon an abandoned-looking church with a tarp over it, she said, causing people to either ignore or check it out. “I, of course, took this as an opportunity, and when I walked in, I found one of the most beautiful churches I’ve ever seen,” Dunmead said. “I feel like the origami that was hanging from the ceiling was meant to mirror the colors of the stained glass, mixing old with new, and I took the photo in order to capture that moment — a moment most other visitors might have passed up.”A series of three photographs by Sara Lowthian also hang on the back wall. Captured in black and white, all three photos feature a food item. The first was a bottle of wine, the second showed five apples and the third include eggs. Deep shadows and soft light characterized the photographs. The room to the left of the doorway featured work of students who participated in the Florence and Venice, Italy, and Beijing programs.Students who traveled to Venice, Italy, studied printmaking and bookmaking. Artists’ books ranging in size from miniature to grandiose lay neatly on white shelves. A pop-up book created by Rachel Baxter titled “Edge” was decorated with ink drawings, and an artist book by Betsy Stout displays intricately cut designs and cutouts. Drawings and watercolors decorate the walls designated for Florence. Using tools such as paintbrushes, charcoal and graphite, students captured the rolling hills surrounding Florence as well as street life.Digital art was explored by students who made the trip to Beijing. Work from these students is displayed on everything from TVs to canvas. Nearly 500 pieces of rice paper, each boasting a blot of a red mixture of salt, ink and paint, decorated the wall immediately to the right of the entrance.Liz Fallwell, a senior graduating in December, took inspiration for her piece, “Infection,” from a personal experience.“The idea for ‘Infection’ came from a skin rash that I contracted a week before leaving for China,” Fallwell said in an email. “Being in China, such a large city and full of millions of people, with health care not being a top priority and horrors of disease portrayed by the media led me to explore the idea of creating a disease based on what I had.”In the middle of the vast organized square of pieces of rice paper, three photos Fallwell took of herself with the disease she created hang, emphasizing the idea of infection and death. “Having a skin rash was upsetting, especially since it didn’t go away for months,” Fallwell said. “I was pushing the boundaries of having and creating a disease that would render death and creating a mass infection that would spread quickly in such a condensed environment. The cards show the scabs, or the actual skin portions affected.”Though each student took separate paths of artistic development, the fruits of their individual journeys now rest together in the gallery for all to see. “My experience in Paris was indescribable,” Dunmead said. “Before I left, I made a promise with myself that I’d make the most out of my six weeks there, and I feel like I did just that. It’s an experience I’ll never forget.”
(11/02/12 2:35am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Imagine going through life not knowing what puberty is. Imagine going through life without ever having the dreaded “sex talk.”Struggling with the weight of naivety, young Wendla begins a journey seeking out answers to unanswered questions in the Broadway musical “Spring Awakening.” IU Theatre’s newest production opens at 7 p.m. today at the Ruth N. Halls Theater.Tickets cost $25 for adults and $15 for students. Student rush tickets are also available the day of the performance for $10, cash only.Written by Steven Sater with music by Duncan Sheik, “Spring Awakening” retells the controversial play first written by Frank Wedekind in 1891. His play was first staged in English in New York City in 1917. Criticizing the sexually oppressive nature of the 19th century, the play was threatened with closure. However, a New York trial court issued an injunction to let it proceed. After a myriad of performances, the musical adaptation debuted on Broadway in 2006. It won eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Direction.Set in 1891, the story follows a group of teenagers on a journey of self-discovery, love, sexuality, friendship and rebellion. Wendla, one of the teenagers, lived with a traditional, 19th-century family that doesn’t speak of sex or puberty. In her quest of self-discovery, she discovers more than she had ever hoped to. “She grew up in a family where they don’t talk about anything, kind of the typical family of the time period,” said sophomore Maddie Shea Baldwin, who plays Wendla. “In the beginning of the show, she’s asking her mom all these questions because she’s experiencing changes in her body and she’s maturing. She‘s having thoughts she doesn’t usually have.”Baldwin said she believes Wendla is one of the more innocent characters of the show. She said Wendla doesn’t understand sex and puberty because no one ever told her what they were. “She’s kind of forced to grow up and learn things herself, which leads into some mistakes that she makes later,” Baldwin said. “She doesn’t know what sex is and she ends up partaking in sex with Melchior and gets pregnant and doesn’t even know what that means. She doesn’t know that sex leads to pregnancy because her mom never talked to her about any of those kinds of things.”Melchior, a teenager and Wendla’s lover, lived in a nontraditional home. He is not as innocent as Wendla or other characters in the play, said sophomore Luke Denison, who plays Melchior.“Melchior is an intellectual,” Denison said. “He has been raised to be open and to question things, to really understand things in a society that frowns down upon that. His mom has always been really open and he’s been able to read books, learn things and figure things out for himself.” Denison said he discovered a lot of similarities between himself and Melchior after going through the character.“There’s a line in a song about living in his head and always thinking,” Denison said. “I feel like that’s the type of person I am, where I’m constantly thinking about things. There are twelve thoughts running through my head all the time.”Getting into character proved a little more difficult for Baldwin, she said.Baldwin said she had to work to make her character believable to the audience because she had a different experience growing up.“For me, I had to really explore and really put myself in her head when it comes to the fact that she’s not told anything,” Baldwin said. “My mom obviously told me when I was growing up what puberty was and what sex was, so I knew these things growing up. It’s just really convincing myself every day that someone, even today, could be going through something like that and putting myself in her shoes and then finding the similarities I had with her here and there.”Director George Pinney said there is a strong contextual relationship between the human condition and social attitudes demonstrated in the musical.“It is an incredible play experience,” Pinney said. “But it’s also, in the same grasp, treated like a rock concert. It is metaphoric because of the abuse they go through.”Additional performances will take place at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, 7:30 p.m. Nov. 6-9 and 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Nov. 10.Though the roles are complex and weeks have been spent perfecting each scene, both Denison and Baldwin look at their roles as gifts.“I think it’s always an honor to dive into someone else’s life, to really try to tack on someone else that’s not yourself and to make yourself believe that you are someone else so that you’re spreading some story or some news to someone else,” Denison said.
(11/01/12 1:39am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Today at 8 p.m., the IU Grupo de Teatro VIDA presents its seventh annual performance. This year, it is called “Maniobras Traviesas,” Spanish for mischievous maneuvers.Each year the group embodies a certain theme in its production. Today’s performance consists of four short plays about manipulation. “The characters are manipulating each other,” Teresa Parmer, one of four directors, said. “The playwright is manipulating language in one of the plays. It’s sometimes kind of playful, sometimes with more serious consequences. The final play, the longest one, actually uses puppets and meshes, meta-theatrically, with the idea of puppets and being a puppet. It really brings the theme to the surface.”The first short play, “El sueño del pongo,” which translates to “a servant’s dream,” is an adaptation of Peruvian José María Argueda’s short story of the same name.Senior Michelle Schuval will perform the role of “el pongo.”“The role was originally written for men, but we adapted it for women,” Schuval said. As “el pongo,” Schuval is cast as a servant of servants, the lowest form of being. At the beginning of the play, her master, the señora, humiliates her. Schuval comes back to the señora later in the play and tells her a dream she had. In the dream, both the señora and “el pongo” are in heaven in front of a god-figure. The señora is covered in honey and “el pongo” is covered in human excrement.“In the end, the manipulation is that the god-figure orders us to lick each other,” Schuval said. “So, she has to lick human excrement for all of eternity, but I get to lick honey off of her.”Salvadorian Alvaro Menén Desleal wrote the second short play called “Ternura,” meaning “tenderness.”The third play, “Las pinzas,” which translates as “the forceps,” was written by Venezuelan Román Chalbaud.Senior Andy Johns will perform in the last play, “Los títeres de Cachiporra,” or “the Billy-club puppets,” which was written by Spaniard Federico García Lorca. “I play a very small role, one of the servers in the local tavern,” Johns said. Johns described one of the main characters in the play, Cristóbal, as an “old fat man” striving to win the hand of the lovely local maiden in town.“He comes in the tavern and it’s my job, along with the other waiters and waitresses, to kind of make fun of him,” Johns said. “We’re the peanut gallery.”In the final play, Schuval plays the part of a mosquito. She and another mosquito narrate the play, which Schuval said demonstrates the manipulation.“When we come onstage, everything is frozen, so it’s very apparent that they’re not aware of what’s outside of them — they’re not aware that they’re puppets,” Schuval said. “In the corner we play with little puppets that look like them, which makes it easier for the audience to understand.”The first performance is at 8 p.m. in the Bloomington Playwrights Project building, followed by performances on Friday and Saturday. In February, the group will perform in Indianapolis at the IndyFringe Theatre.“We get to create ties with the community there,” said Israel Fernando Herrera, faculty advisor with the group. Herrera said not only are undergraduate students able to get involved, but faculty, native speakers, graduate students and anyone who wants to participate are given a chance.Marda Rose, a colleague of Herrera’s, created the group in 2006. He has been with the group ever since and will participate in this year’s performance as well.“In each play we try to find a balance of native speakers and those who are learning,” Herrera said.Admission to the show is free and English summaries will be given at the beginning of each show. Vocabulary will be included in the program as well as a summary.“Our purposes are both educational and cultural,” Parmer said. “We want to bring these Spanish plays to life in a way that the audience can have access to these works of art. It’s also a teaching tool for both the actors and for the audience members.”
(10/24/12 3:34am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>With Halloween only a week away and Halloweekend even closer, procrastinators may soon enter a costume shopping frenzy. Costumes need not be expensive or complicated to be effective. To make life easier, here’s a list of basic costume ideas to execute.The scavengerIt’s Halloween already? When running to a roommate or friend’s bedroom and looking through piles of clothes and accessories, think simple. Think Tom Cruise. White button-down shirt, sunglasses, socks, some swag and the outfit is complete. The minimalistBuy a fake moustache kit for $8 at Urban Outfitters or a single moustache for $10 at Cactus Flower. There’s always that one person with a pair of vampire teeth, some cat ears or a mask that call themselves dressed and ready for Halloween. If one of them, might as well be prepared. The zombie anythingJust one step ahead of the minimalist on the Halloween costume scale of laziness, this costume is easy to assemble. Head to Goodwill, select cheap clothing and purchase some fake blood from Campus Costume for 50 cents a tube. The party animalGrab some glasses, bling and clothes and be Ke$ha. On the literal side of things, grab a leopard costume accessory set from Charlotte Russe for $12.50. The angels and demonsWhat better way to show off the dark side of Halloween than a pair of devil horns and a tail? Pick up a set at Vintage Warehouse for $8. On the bright side, there are angel halos for $6.The traditionalistIt isn’t Halloween without a few classic witch and warlock costumes. For a quick and easy witch costume, go to Claire’s for a $7.50 witch hat and throw on an old black dress. Costume Delight on Walnut Street has masks that can be paired with any outfit.The store-bought costumeThere’s a banana at every respectable Halloween party. Target has a banana costume for $13.48, as well as Wal-Mart. Big chain stores tend to carry these ready-for-anything costumes. Hotdogs and pizza slices are also available.The couplesHaving a boyfriend or girlfriend can be either fun and exciting or horribly traumatic when hunting for the perfect couples costume. Jack and Rose? Romeo and Juliet? Or be clever and go as a plug and outlet. These outfits can be purchased at Target, Costume Delight, Campus Costume and other places near campus. The history buffRevisit childhood during the 1990s with an all-denim costume. Bonus points for a low ponytail or plaid shirt wrapped around the waist. Visit Vintage Vogue for a plaid shirt, $14.99, and a denim jacket, $17.99. ‘80s diva or ‘60s hippie are also easy looks to create.The impressionistCopy-catting is the method of operation for this costume. Embody a favorite film or book character, past presidents, historical figures, popular singers or your best friend. Any character or person-based costume walks a fine line between creative and unrecognizable, so this one requires a little more effort. Take the time to plan out the costume before embarking on a journey to piece it together.
(10/17/12 3:23am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The sound of voices and pounding feet resonated across the Wells-Metz Theatre Monday night. Cast and crew for the IU Department of Theatre and Drama’s latest production, “Richard III,” prepared for an evening of rehearsal. Performances of “Richard III” will begin at 7:30 p.m. Friday.William Shakespeare’s famous lines will fall from the casts’ lips during additional performances at the same time Saturday and next Monday through Saturday.Written in 1597, the play follows the story of Richard, the hunchback Duke of Gloucester. He becomes King Richard III through a series of heinous acts, including the murder of several of his kinsmen.Forming the backdrop for “Richard III,” England’s late-1400s War of the Roses between the houses of York and Lancaster is in many ways similar to feudal gang wars today.“There’s a certain learning curve or education that needs to be had about the War of the Roses to understand the context of ‘Richard III,’” said Aaron Kirkpatrick, who is playing the role of Richard. “The Tudors, which became the line of the monarch that Elizabeth was part of, who is the queen during Shakespeare’s time, sort of usurps the throne at the end of the play, setting the stage for the play to warp the perception of the way Richard lived his life and who he actually was to sort of flatter and build up their own right to the throne.”To make the play more relatable to the audience, guest director Gavin Cameron-Webb presents the old rivalry with the face of a modern-day feud.“The perceptions of the motorcycle gang war provide a good context for us to see ‘Richard III’ in,” Cameron-Webb said. “This play takes place during the War of the Roses. Those wars were essentially gangland wars. They were fighting for power in the same way that ganglands are today, and the nobles in the 15th century acted like a gang of thugs. There wasn’t a lot that was noble about them.”Cameron-Webb did not attempt to modernize the story in the script.“I think it will make it a great deal more relatable because it’s a context we all understand today,” Cameron-Webb said. He said the characters in the play should be easy to spot and identify due to modern additions.“The bonus for us is that this world’s affinities for tattoos and badges help us keep track of the characters,” Webb said. “Their names are on their clothes.” Kirkpatrick said King Richard III was a real king, though the play is based off propaganda by Thomas More, who was involved with the Tudors.“The approach has to do with the effectiveness of propaganda,” Cameron-Webb said. “The play was written over 400 years ago and is a lie.”Though historically not as evil as depicted in the play, Richard III was labeled a vicious usurper in the Tudor monarchs’ histories. Shakespeare presents Richard III as such in his play, as it was never intended to be historically accurate, Cameron-Webb said. Cameron-Webb has incorporated the use of “fact-checkers,” flat-screen televisions that display accurate, historical facts above Shakespeare’s version.“This version of ‘Richard III’ has endured for centuries,” Cameron-Webb said. “The image of the character presented in the play is just not true historically. The play was so effective as a piece of propaganda that it really didn’t matter.”Kirkpatrick said it is harder for people today to connect with the Elizabethan era because they have nothing to relate it to in their own lives.“You want to be able to create, not just the world that’s provided through the text, but some sort of overlaid visuals that a modern audience can interpret through their own experiences and lives,” Kirkpatrick said.Decked out in leather jackets, dresses and boots, the cast walks and looks like gang thugs, but their voices ring with the majesty of Shakespeare.Sophomore Cassie Alexander, playing the Duke of York, described her character as a brat.“He’s 10 at the time of the play, extremely clever and completely full of himself,” Alexander said in an email. “He’s the younger son of the King of England, so he won’t inherit the crown. But he’s very aware of the political climate and his position.”Alexander said stepping into the role of Duke of York has been a new adventure.“Not the least because I get to reverse-cross-dress in a Shakespeare play,” Alexander said. “Also, I get to play a character half my age, which is something every woman covets.”Alexander said the role gave her the chance to develop a complete physical and vocal character.“Even though I only appear as York in two scenes, I got to fully experience the character development process because York and I are so different,” Alexander said.She said her favorite character moment is when she jumps on Richard’s back.“In the scene, I’ve just been teasing my brother and insinuating that he’s lazy,” Alexander said. “Then, in the span of a second, I’m running around and playing. That childlike ability to change course in a moment is quite fun to embody.”At the very beginning of the play, Kirkpatrick will stand under the spotlights in the theater and utter the famous first lines:“Now is the winter of our discontent / Made glorious summer by this sun of York.” More informationWhat: “Richard III” by William Shakespeare, directed by Gavin Cameron-WebbWhen: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, next Monday through Saturday with an additional 2 p.m. showing Oct. 27Where: Wells-Metz TheatreTickets: $25 general admission, $15 students, $20 senior citizensStudent Rush Tickets: $10 cash with valid student ID on the day of the performance
(10/15/12 2:05am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Pumpkins laid strewn across the lawn Saturday morning at the Monroe County Courthouse. Some sat on hay bales. Others rested in the hands of eager buyers admiring the intricately designed pumpkins, all made from glass.Saturday marked the third annual Great Glass Pumpkin Patch fundraiser. All proceeds from the event will be used to bring a glass studio to Bloomington.Abby Gitlitz, director of Bloomington Creative Glass Center and founder of the project, said the idea for the pumpkin patch originated at the Bay Area Glass Institute in San Francisco. “It started in the ’90s,” Gitlitz said. “They did it as their fundraiser. They’re an open-access glass studio.”Gitlitz was working at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a glass blowing instructor. The head of her department was on the board of directors at MIT. When her department needed a fundraiser, they brought artists from the glass institute to Boston and taught them how to make pumpkins.“At MIT, our first year, we had 1,200 pumpkins,” Gitlitz said. “I did the pumpkin patch four times there. When I left, I took the pumpkin patch with me.”Gitlitz started graduate school at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Ill., where she introduced the idea of the pumpkin patch.“This will be their sixth year making the pumpkins there,” Gitlitz said. “When I graduated from Carbondale and moved back to Bloomington, because I’m a local, I brought it with me here.”Volunteer Tomas Gregg said pumpkins sold fast at this year’s pumpkin patch.“This morning when we opened at 10, there were 244 pumpkins,” Gregg said. “In the first hour, we sold 200 of them.”One by one, other pumpkins were picked up and purchased.Ranging in price from $25 to $175, the number of pumpkins dwindled to eight by 2 p.m. “We’re pretty pleased,” Gitlitz said. “It’s not as impressive a sight as this morning, but it’s impressive in its sparseness.”Gitlitz said around 38 volunteers helped with the project.“There is a core group of about 10 people,” Gitlitz said. “There are a lot of people who just want to try glass blowing. It’s on their bucket list. They come in once, twice, three times. Once they’ve tried it, they can cross it off.”Gitlitz said they hope to open a glass studio in Bloomington sometime in the future.“The goal is to have an open-access glass studio here that would offer classes in glass blowing, fusing, casting, essentially anything that can be done with hot glass,” Gitlitz said. “We don’t have anything like that in southern Indiana.”The glass movement in the United States started 50 years ago, Gitlitz said. She pointed out it has only been within the last 20 years that universities have started to open glass studios on their campuses.“I won’t say its standard, but it’s getting closer and closer to standard,” Gitlitz said. “The problem is it’s really equipment intensive. It’s not cheap to open a studio.”Universities throughout Illinois, Ohio and Kentucky have opened glass studios, Gitlitz said. She said IU is an “anomaly.”“We’re working on it,” Gitlitz said. “We’ve received some grants this year, and we’re hoping it will keep snowballing. This event is getting bigger and bigger.”
(10/09/12 3:28am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Three musicians took the stage at Players Pub last night. Paul “Pablo” Adams, David Michael Kirk and Cathi Norton entertained the eager crowd as part of the weekly Bloomington Songwriter Showcase. Six years ago, Suzette Weakley and Bobbie Lancaster, inspired by their experiences playing and attending songwriter’s showcases in Nashville, Tenn., decided to bring something similar to Bloomington.Now, Weakley, Bloomington songwriters Dave McConnell and Tom Marshalek, a new member, continue to organize and sponsor the shows Weakley, Lancaster, McConnell and others helped bring to Bloomington.“It got started, you know, Bobbie and I figured it’s like the mountain and Mohammed,” Weakley said. “If we can’t go to the mountain, then bring the mountain to Mohammed.”Weakley said they attended open mic nights at Players Pub, and after talking with people involved with the open mics, they decided to put the showcase together. Doug Enoch, one of the original founders of the showcase, opened Players Pub with recently deceased owner Greg Hill nine years ago.“My background is in music and songwriting, working with songwriters,” Enoch said. “When we opened up, I said at one point, ‘I want us to have a songwriters night.’ After awhile, when we could afford it, we started it. Then Suzette Weakley, Dave McConnell and Bobbie Lancaster, they came in and continued to work with the showcase to make it what it is now.”Almost every Monday, the showcase features three or four performers, either locally-based or nationally known, at the Players Pub from 8 to 10 p.m.Weakley said the recent construction in front of the Pub has hurt them, but she’s not too concerned.“The construction has been rather unfortunate, gut it looks like it’s going to be an all right turn out tonight.” Weakley said. As people slowly started filling the room, Adams opened the evening with a song about mercenary men.Last Night’s ShowcasePaul “Pablo” AdamsAdams started playing music in his early teens at high school dances, under-21 clubs and other venues. He was raised in the “heartland” of the Midwest. He has traveled across the nation and beyond, performing from Alaska to Tennessee to Mexico. Bill Wilson, one of Indiana’s most well-known singer and songwriters, became one of Adams’ mentors in the ’70s.Adams described his music as “eclectic.” “It goes from crazy to benign,” Adams said.David Michael KirkKirk was born in Terre Haute, Ind., but was raised in Bloomington. He started playing guitar at the age of 17. After high school and a couple years of military service, Kirk began traveling across the country. He has performed from Vermont to California. He attended a school in Los Angeles, majoring in music and theatre. He played in various bands before partnering with Jon Cox for several years. He often opened for and backed up his father, Ronnie Cox.Kirk plans to move back to Bloomington in spring 2013 and make it his home base between future travels.“Since I got back, I couldn’t be happier,” Kirk said. “This is the place to be.”Cathi NortonOriginally from Muncie, Norton, a local musician, has worked in the music industry for several years and is affiliated with the community radio station WFHB. She was selected as one of three judges for the 2012 Blooming-Tunes Annual Song Contest. Norton is currently a member of the musical project “GoZpel GurlZ.”Norton was not originally scheduled to perform at last night’s showcase, but two performers, Mark LaPointe and Cara Jean Marcy, were unable to attend.
(10/09/12 3:28am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Three musicians took the stage at Players Pub last night. Paul “Pablo” Adams, David Michael Kirk and Cathi Norton entertained the eager crowd as part of the weekly Bloomington Songwriter Showcase. Six years ago, Suzette Weakley and Bobbie Lancaster, inspired by their experiences playing and attending songwriter’s showcases in Nashville, Tenn., decided to bring something similar to Bloomington.Now, Weakley, Bloomington songwriters Dave McConnell and Tom Marshalek, a new member, continue to organize and sponsor the shows Weakley, Lancaster, McConnell and others helped bring to Bloomington.“It got started, you know, Bobbie and I figured it’s like the mountain and Mohammed,” Weakley said. “If we can’t go to the mountain, then bring the mountain to Mohammed.”Weakley said they attended open mic nights at Players Pub, and after talking with people involved with the open mics, they decided to put the showcase together. Doug Enoch, one of the original founders of the showcase, opened Players Pub with recently deceased owner Greg Hill nine years ago.“My background is in music and songwriting, working with songwriters,” Enoch said. “When we opened up, I said at one point, ‘I want us to have a songwriters night.’ After awhile, when we could afford it, we started it. Then Suzette Weakley, Dave McConnell and Bobbie Lancaster, they came in and continued to work with the showcase to make it what it is now.”Almost every Monday, the showcase features three or four performers, either locally-based or nationally known, at the Players Pub from 8 to 10 p.m.Weakley said the recent construction in front of the Pub has hurt them, but she’s not too concerned.“The construction has been rather unfortunate, gut it looks like it’s going to be an all right turn out tonight.” Weakley said. As people slowly started filling the room, Adams opened the evening with a song about mercenary men.Last Night’s ShowcasePaul “Pablo” AdamsAdams started playing music in his early teens at high school dances, under-21 clubs and other venues. He was raised in the “heartland” of the Midwest. He has traveled across the nation and beyond, performing from Alaska to Tennessee to Mexico. Bill Wilson, one of Indiana’s most well-known singer and songwriters, became one of Adams’ mentors in the ’70s.Adams described his music as “eclectic.” “It goes from crazy to benign,” Adams said.David Michael KirkKirk was born in Terre Haute, Ind., but was raised in Bloomington. He started playing guitar at the age of 17. After high school and a couple years of military service, Kirk began traveling across the country. He has performed from Vermont to California. He attended a school in Los Angeles, majoring in music and theatre. He played in various bands before partnering with Jon Cox for several years. He often opened for and backed up his father, Ronnie Cox.Kirk plans to move back to Bloomington in spring 2013 and make it his home base between future travels.“Since I got back, I couldn’t be happier,” Kirk said. “This is the place to be.”Cathi NortonOriginally from Muncie, Norton, a local musician, has worked in the music industry for several years and is affiliated with the community radio station WFHB. She was selected as one of three judges for the 2012 Blooming-Tunes Annual Song Contest. Norton is currently a member of the musical project “GoZpel GurlZ.”Norton was not originally scheduled to perform at last night’s showcase, but two performers, Mark LaPointe and Cara Jean Marcy, were unable to attend.
(10/08/12 1:37am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A large group of excited girls sat at long tables in the Mathers Museum of World Cultures. Sarah Hatcher, curator of education at the museum, spoke above the din to introduce Malcolm Mobutu Smith, a professor in the Henry Radford Hope School of Fine Arts. “All right, here we go,” Hatcher said. “We’re very glad today to have you all here.” The girls, all Girl Scout Brownies in second or third grade, attended the Sunday event to earn a badge. A lecture on clay, a scavenger hunt and a make-your-own pottery session were all part of the event. “We started this last fall,” Hatcher said. “The event was designed with Girl Scouts in mind, but it’s open to anyone who would like to come. It’s a relatively new series of programs for us. So far it’s been really well received.”Hatcher said they coordinate one scout day every semester. For this semester’s event, she asked Smith if he would be available to speak to the group.“Malcolm has actually used our collection as a point of inspiration for his students for a long time,” Hatcher said. “He brings his classes over, and he’s a great teacher. We thought he would be a wonderful voice for these young ladies to listen to.”Smith prepared a small lecture for the group discussing the properties of clay and pottery.“The relationship between all the IU entities and places like the museum, I’ve been involved with since I stepped through the door,” Smith said. “I started teaching here in 2001, and both through teaching and also other interactions, I’ve had cause to bring my students here.”Smith said the museum has a mission to provide access to its archives.“I’ve always had an affinity with that, so I’ve gotten to know the people that work here,” Smith said. “Because they know me, they asked me if I would be willing to volunteer for this.”Before beginning his lecture, Smith placed a small piece of unfired clay and a piece of fired clay in water. He asked the group to make a prediction of what would happen to the two different pieces. The girls predicted the fired piece would turn back into clay. Smith opened his lecture with a question.“Where does clay come from?” Smith asked.A chorus of eager voices rose to answer his question.“Water!”“Mud!”“Dirt!”Allie Brooks, a second grader at Pinnacle School, sat in the front of the room, questioning and commenting on Smith’s presentation. As Smith talked about different elements relating to clay and pottery, the word terra cotta came into discussion.“Do you eat it?” Brooks asked. Giggles echoed around the room.Toward the end of his lecture, Smith showed the girls a piece of his pottery. He then licked the piece to demonstrate how clay soaks up water. At the end, Smith showed the girls the two different pieces of clay he had placed in water at the beginning of the discussion. The unfired piece had partially dissolved into mud, and the fired piece was unchanged. Following Smith’s lecture, Hatcher showed the girls pieces of ancient Incan pottery and took them on a scavenger hunt.Once the hunt was finished, the girls made their way back to the room in which they’d started. On their tables sat plastic bags filled with homemade clay mixture.The girls were instructed how to make pinch pots before they were turned loose on the mixture.Brooks sat rolling and folding the clay.“I’m making a caterpillar,” Brooks said. “First, all you need to do is roll it like this. Then you make it into a shape. Then I kind of flatten it out. I make a big one for the head and little ones for the body.”After working on the caterpillar for a little while, Brooks paused and took a long look at the piece in front of her.“It’s going to be a masterpiece,” she said.
(10/05/12 4:30am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Marching Hundred calls itself part of a tradition that dates back to 1896, according to its website.On Sept. 27, a part of that tradition was changed.The Marching Hundred was informed by a press release issued by Band Director David Woodley on Sept. 28 that “the IU football coaching staff would prefer the band not to perform the ‘The First Down March,’ during the team’s offensive series.”The coaching staff said playing “The March” makes it “extremely difficult for the players to hear calls and changes at the line of scrimmage.”“We had noticed during both of those first two games that the pace of the offense was much faster than it was last year,” Woodley said. “Last year we had to really work to get it in before the next play started and we couldn’t even do that sometimes. This year they’re even faster and it’s virtually impossible to get that song in.”A tradition that dates back more than 20 years, “The March” will now only be played after the team has scored a touchdown. “Indiana, Our Indiana,” will continue to be played after the extra-point attempt.“I think it’s the best we can make of the situation,” Woodley said. “We’re disappointed we don’t get to play it on the first down, however, what we found at Northwestern was we did play it after the touchdowns and it worked out. With the new offense that’s what we intend to do to maintain that tradition a little bit.”Woodley said he wants what’s best for the team, even if that means cutting “The March.”“We’re doing this to help our team,” Woodley said. “Whatever our team needs, we want to do it. There’s going to be some angry and confused people, it’s just one of those things. We’re trying a new approach and hopefully it will stick. We’re prepared to continue on with this if it’s successful.”Stephen Pratt, former director of the Marching Hundred, said in an email he remembers when “The March” was added to the band.“We added what is now called ‘The First Down March’ in either 1987 or 1988 when I was the director of the Marching Hundred,” Pratt said. “I remember it specifically since Anthony Thompson was our star running back and was responsible for so many first downs.”Pratt said the crowd began to pick up on it, and it became popular.“The arm motions evolved over the years, and eventually the student body picked up on it, making it a stadium event,” Pratt said.Even though Pratt was there at its conception, he does not argue with changing the tradition.“The play of the football team has changed with the hurry-up offense now popular with many successful programs across the country, the huddle is no longer employed consistently,” Pratt said. “Since that is the case, ‘The First Down March’ either needed to be played very quickly or not at all in order to not interfere with the game action.”Athletics Director Fred Glass said schools around the conference are facing this issue, not just IU.“To paraphrase Mark Twain, the demise of ‘The First Down March’ is greatly exaggerated,” Glass said. “A couple of things transpired to cause us to tweak the tradition.”Glass explained that with the new offense, the march came into direct violation of a Big Ten rule.Section one under Big Ten Football Management reads: “Bands shall not play music at football games once the offensive team is set, or while signals are being called by the quarterback.”Glass said both the Marching Hundred and Northwestern University’s Wildcat Marching Band were warned by officials that they were playing music too close to when the teams were getting ready to hike the ball.“As the administrator, it’s important for me to make sure we follow Big Ten rules,” Glass said. “The change is a result of this rule connected with the proliferation of hurry-up offenses.” Glass said the ban on amplifying bands was lifted two years ago, and now there are giant speakers in front of where the band plays. The band’s music amplifies around the stadium, making it much louder. Senior Scott Thompson, a member of the Hundred since freshman year, said he is disappointed with the decision.“I know it’s something that the student section really gets into and the band loves to do,” Thompson said. “It really energizes the stadium, kind of gets the crowd going.”Thompson said he feels that ‘The March’ brings fun and enthusiasm to the stadium. He questions whether or not they will be able to maintain a supportive crowd with it gone.“The stadium already empties out after about halftime,” Thompson said. “Now, with this lack of energy, it’s going to be a lot easier for people to leave.”He expressed concern that the band was being blamed for IU’s losses.“It’s frustrating taking ‘The March’ out,” Thompson said. “I feel like we lose a lot of energy, and I also feel like some frustrations are being taken out on us, like we’re the problem. I don’t know that we’re necessarily the reason that they’re not gettin’ em.”Nathan Pratt, a senior Marching Hundred member, said though he is disappointed they won’t be continuing the tradition, he understands and supports the decision.“We would like to continue that tradition the way that it was, but we understand,” Nathan Pratt said. “For the needs of the football team it makes sense and it’s to help them out. We’ll still be able to play it after every touchdown. We tried that out when we took the trip to Northwestern last week and it worked really well.”Though the band will not be playing ‘The March,’ they will lead the chant and arm motions.“Everybody knows what to do,” Nathan Pratt said. “It’s just that, without the band playing, nobody knows when to start the song. I think people will get used to it though, especially if that helps keep the momentum of the offense going. Then you’ll see more Hoosier touchdowns and hear the song that way.”Glass said he thinks the change will start a new tradition, ‘The Touchdown Song,’ while also keeping part of the old.“We’re kind of bummed to have to change the tradition, but I think it will be cooler for the students to do it without the music behind it,” Glass said. “Even now the band stops and the kids keep doing it. Instead of removing the tradition, we will let the fans continue it. The band will lead but not play the music. That doesn’t violate the rules. I think it will actually be pretty cool.”Janis Stockhouse, IU Marching Hundred alumna and band director at Bloomington High School North, will attend the Homecoming game and play in the Alumni band. She said she understood the decision, but wasn’t pleased with the way it was handled. “I understand the whole reason for the football team is the football game,” Stockhouse said. “They have to run plays and ask for things that work best for them. I respect that, it makes total sense. They just didn’t go about it the right way.”
(10/04/12 4:23am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>As part of October’s Gallery Walk, knitters, crocheters and other fiber artists will wrap trees in yarn in downtown Bloomington with love and warmth in recognition of Domestic Violence Awareness month. “Yarn-bombing is a phenomenon that started in the Netherlands and has gone all over the world,” said Mary Ann Gingles, owner of local business Yarns Unlimited. “Knitters would cover things like trees, benches and bike racks. They usually do it at night when nobody’s looking. People just see it in the morning when it’s done.”Gingles said yarn-bombing has become popular in big cities.Yarns Unlimited has teamed up with Middle Way House to raise funds to aid victims of domestic violence. This is the first year the fundraiser, Knitting to Heal, has been coordinated in Bloomington.“The way it came about was, last winter the tree in front of our shop was wrapped with a handmade sweater,” Gingles said. “The director of the Middle Way House was walking by and saw it. We talked about creating a fundraiser around this idea and came up with the idea of having local businesses sponsor wrapped trees.”So far, 23 businesses have sponsored trees, and Knitting to Heal has already raised more than $10,000.“There’s gonna be an IU tree,” Gingles said. “It will be just in time for Homecoming.” IU basketball Coach Tom Crean sponsored the IU tree. In the last weekend of October, the community will have the opportunity to pay a dollar to vote for their favorite tree sweaters. “It’s been very popular,” Gingles said. “(Today) I cannot tell you how many stopped by and thanked us. People love it, it’s all handmade. We’re not harming the trees, and we got permission from the city to do it.”The sweaters will remain on the trees until spring 2013.“It’s really a public art,” Gingles said. “I’m glad we’re doing something fun, something that will be appreciated by a lot of people, while at the same time supporting a great cause with a local base.”Fiber artists will prepare sweater designs that incorporate images and messages pertinent to Domestic Violence Awareness month, according to the Yarns Unlimited website. Some sweaters will express the care victims at the Middle Way House receive. “We’re not just doing this for fun,” Gingles said. “We hope, not only to raise funds for victims, we hope to raise awareness in people of domestic violence in general."The use of recycled materials is encouraged, and after the sweaters are taken down in spring, artists can have them unraveled and stored for use by future artists, according to the website.Yarns Unlimited will serve as a drop-off and distribution site for donated supplies and materials. It will also provide consultation on resources, design and techniques. “This is the first year,” Gingles said. “We might do it every other year, depending on the public’s response and support of the project.”
(10/04/12 4:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Leadership, scholarship, personality and poise. These are only a
few of the characteristics five judges will look for in each Homecoming
Court nominee before they select the 2012 King and Queen.Neely
Slawson, vice president of the IU Student Athletic Board, said the SAB
was involved in marketing the event as well as organizing the interviews
and judges.“This year we had two members from the Kelley School of
Business, a member from IU Athletics, [football] Coach [Kevin] Wilson’s
wife and someone from the IU Alumni Association,” Slawson said. “It’s a
really good mixture of all the organizations that are really a part of
Homecoming.”The SAB helps get the court ready for Friday evening,
but other than that, members of the court are left on their own. This
year’s court consists of five senior men and five senior females that
have been selected for leadership qualities they have displayed in the
community. George Thomas, Jr.IDS Why did you decide to come to IU?THOMAS
It really was a tight race between Butler and IU. I drove down here one
more time, alone, and it was a really pretty autumn day and I just fell
in love with the campus. I didn’t really believe that stuff about
falling in love with campuses, but it happened for me. IDS What made you want to apply for Homecoming Court?THOMAS
I actually didn’t know there was court in college, but a friend told me
about it and I thought it would be kind of neat to be a part of
Homecoming my senior year, to get to see different parts of the school
come together. A lot of times, being in a fraternity, you don’t see some
of those events. There’s so much going on that week, and you’re not
really part of the official IU sanctions.IDS Do you have any specific plans after graduation?THOMAS
Yeah, my major is broadcast journalism and my concentration is
business, so I’m trying to look at the business side of media. I worked
for a media company this past summer in New York. They kind of combined a
commentary and the business side of things in terms of the way media is
becoming. Like a one-stop shop, Fox News would have everything —
internet, radio and TV, all that kind of stuff, all kind of in one. But
definitely a business focus, and if not, I want to get my MBA and come
back to IU.IDS Could you tell me a little bit about your favorite spot on campus?THOMAS
There’s a lot of favorite spots. It would probably be when you first
drive in on Kirkwood, when you see the Sample Gates. I’d also probably
say, in that older area of campus, where the Herman B Wells statue is.
The statue is so lifelike, it’s almost as if he’s really there. You can
really feel the history in that spot. It’s a great welcome to campus. Wyatt JacksonIDS What made you want to apply for Homecoming Court?JACKSON
I guess since I was a freshman, I’ve watched this now, like the whole
Homecoming week for three years, so getting to be a part of it was
something really special. I know for me, when I first arrived at IU, I
was kind of a shy and not very outgoing kind of guy. This just kind of
shows that I grew as a person. IU is the testament to that. IDS What do you think makes you a contestant? What do you do that makes you stand out?JACKSON
I mean, there are a lot of great leaders on campus, so finding a group
of men and a group of women on campus who stand out is a hard thing to
do. I think, you know, a lot of it comes down to the dedication you
offer. Not only to the organizations you work for, but it comes down to
what you give back to the community. So leaving behind something that’s
gonna help other generations, like my work at 21st Century Housing
Project and kind of working on re-structuring the dorms or creating new
programs within them.IDS What would being crowned Homecoming King mean to you personally?JACKSON
Personally it would, you know, mark a lot of growth for me. When I
first came here I just kind of sat in my room. IU was a really scary
place. I graduated with 150 students, so stepping out into 40,000
students was outrageous. Originally I wanted to go to a really small
school, the kind where you could learn everybody’s name, but my parents
pushed me to apply to IU. I decided I’d give it a semester and realized
you can make a large campus small. Its’ definitely what I’ve tried to
do.Jimmy RizkallaIDS Name something or someone in your life that has greatly influenced you.RIZKALLA
I would probably say my dad. I really look up to him, he’s always been a
great role model for me. He’s always pushing me to do the best I can in
school and be social and take leadership positions, so he’s kind of
always had my back and is someone I look up to. Hopefully I can end up
being somewhere near his caliber. IDS What would you say your biggest goal in life is?RIZKALLA
I guess, from a career standpoint, I’m planning on going into medicine,
so it’s kind of a long and tedious route. I’m kind of excited about it,
but at the same time nervous for what I’m about to get myself into. So,
from a goal standpoint, just completing all that and ending where I
would want to be. I’d be pretty happy about that.IDS What is your favorite memory from IU?RIZKALLA
I didn’t get season tickets last year for basketball, but when Watford,
the Wat shot, when he hit it, I was in my fraternity. I was in a room
with like 30 people, and we were all standing on our chairs when he went
to shoot it, and right when he shot it we all went crazy. But something
happened and the power went out, like someone pulled the plug or
something. All of a sudden we were just speechless. We didn’t know if
he’d hit it on time or if it counted so we were all running around our
fraternity trying to find a TV to catch up on exactly what we’d missed.
Once we found out he’d made it, we all ran to Kirkwood. It didn’t matter
how cold it was or what we were doing. We sprinted to Kirkwood and
watched the madness unfold. It was awesome. I wish I could’ve gone to
the game, but I couldn’t have pictured a better way to watch it
otherwise.Adam FriedmanIDS Looking back, did you ever see yourself as being part of Homecoming Court?FRIEDMAN
Sure. I used to be very spirited in high school. I was actually the
Spirit King, so I’ve always been into school spirit and things of that
nature. I guess I could see this as the natural progression. I was
junior Spirit King, but now I’m in the Big Ten Spirit King kind of, in a
sense. D1 spirit.IDS How would you describe your IU experience?FRIEDMAN
I would say I’ve just been trying to lead the quintessential Hoosier
experience, whether it’s going to Big Ten football or basketball. I
decided to become involved with a fraternity, which a lot of people view
as kind of a pretty fun part of college. As I’ve reached the end of my
experience, I’ve realized that it’s about two things, at least for me.
One is looking forward. I’ve met a lot of alumni from IU, and it’s
really exciting to see successful people from IU out in the real world.
Also, through being an IU tour guide, I’ve met a lot of potential
Hoosiers and, trying to pass the torch on, show them how coming to IU
will be the best four years of their life.IDS What advice would you give incoming Hoosiers?FRIEDMAN
I think, far and away, getting involved. The number one concern I hear
on the tour is it’s a 40,000 person school, how’s my student gonna fit
in? The dorm floor is the first way to break it down. But through
getting involved in activities you definitely break it down into a
smaller unit. You meet people you wouldn’t organically meet through your
classes or the dorm.IDS What’s your favorite thing to do on campus?FRIEDMAN
Well I love going to the concerts. One of my favorite memories was the
Lil Wayne concert. Originally I didn’t have tickets, but my friend and I
scalped tickets at the last minute and actually, for $20, got like an
$80 seat, so that was pretty great. I’ve been to at least one or two
Little 500 concerts every year amongst others. Looking forward to going
to some more good concerts this year.Chris PortIDS What do you feel is the most important thing you do on campus?PORT I’m president of Student Athletic Board. I’ve been involved since I was a freshman. It’s pretty much a 40-hour-a-week job.IDS What do you think makes you a contestant? What makes you stand out?PORT
I think it’s my love for the University. Wherever I go, I’m a constant
ambassador. I’m from West Lafayette, so I’m always trying to convince
people to come to IU. Ninety-five percent of the people go to Purdue,
but I enjoy it.IDS What would being crowned Homecoming King mean to you?PORT
It would mean a lot, but it’s not just for myself. It’s for all the
people who have helped me get to where I am. There’s been a lot of
support through the University, advisers, people in the organizations I
take part of. It would mean a lot to them as well as me.IDS Outside of jobs and organizations, what is your favorite hobby?PORT Playing basketball. Me and my roommates go to HPER all the time. We play as long as we can until we get worn out.Amanda MalkowskiIDS What are some of the things you’re involved with on campus?MALKOWSKI
I was a Union Board director on the 2011 board. I was the public
relations and marketing director for a year. Before that I was an
assistant director for the Canvas committee on Union Board. I’ve
interned at WTIU-WFIU here in Bloomington for two semesters. I
volunteered at The Pourhouse Cafe and Hoosier Hills Food Bank. I was on
the VOICE Report, which was a group effort to do research about what
students want out of the University. There were student leaders from all
over campus involved.IDS What made you decide to apply for Homecoming Court?MALKOWSKI
A very good friend of mine won last year, actually. She was a Union
Board alumni as well. Caroline (Shurig) was the Live from Bloomington
director who did a lot of awesome stuff, and I really admire her. She’s
in law school now in California and I thought, ‘You know, she was a good
candidate, and she’s someone I admire a lot. It would be good if I
could try to be like her in that way.’IDS What made you decide to come to IU?MALKOWSKI
The journalism school is what made me come. It’s a great school. I
loved that the program was small. IU has 40,000 kids, but the journalism
program has like 800 or something. It’s a lot smaller, and the honors
college is very small as well. I got to have a little bit more of a
small class size at a giant university. I think that Bloomington is
truly like a quintessential college town. You really get a true college
experience that I don’t think you could have at a lot of other schools
in the country. IDS What do you think will be running through your mind Friday before they announce the King and Queen?MALKOWSKI
Oh, quite honestly I’m not too concerned about who wins. I think that
all 10 people are people who have given a lot to the University, and I
think that’s really what it’s all about. I think it’s kids that really
wanted to make the school a better place and got the most out of their
experience, and I admire all of them, so I’m not too concerned about who
wins or who loses. I’m really flattered just because I think that IU
has given me a lot, and this is just a little bit of recognition that
I’ve made even a slight difference. And that really means a lot to me.Courtney CookIDS Do you feel as if IU has prepared you for your future outside of college?COOK
I think so. One of the main things I really liked about IU and about my
major is that I got to take a lot of classes that gave me experiences I
never would have gotten anywhere else. I’m from a small town, so I took
some gender and sexuality classes here, and it was a totally different
viewpoint. It kind of prepared me for the real world. IDS If you could change anything about your time here at school, what would it be and why?COOK
I think maybe freshman year. I was just so focused on my classes that I
wasn’t as involved, like I didn’t have as much fun with my friends and
stuff. I think I would have rather done that a little bit more freshman
year at the beginning of college.IDS What would you say your ultimate goal in life is?COOK
I want to be a genetic counselor. They diagnose and treat medical
disorders and work with fertility treatment, things like that. I guess
my ultimate goal would be to be able to help people have healthy
children and try to eradicate as many genetic diseases as we could. I
guess it’s kind of a career and personal goal.IDS Is there something that not many people know about you?COOK
I think that maybe some things people don’t really know about me is I
like to have fun. I’m really kind of goofy and bubbly, but actually have
pretty conservative morals. I kind of picture myself as a small-town
girl. Megan SuchoffIDS What made you decide to apply for Homecoming Court?SUCHOFF
Well, originally one of my roommates came to me, showing me the
application on the computer, and she’s like, ‘You need to apply for
this.’ I read into it and saw there was leadership, poise, scholarship
and other characteristics I thought I really did exhibit. And for me,
being Homecoming Queen is more about being a role model for other people
at IU. I have had a lot of different experiences that made me the
person who I am today, and so I really think that that role model
position is special.IDS Who or what would you say has been the greatest influence in your time here at IU?SUCHOFF
One of my best friends — she’s a year older. She was just this amazing
person. She was really a go-getter, very driven and very involved. She
was one of the greatest people to be around, so funny. I really look up
to her and she’s inspired me to do so much more.IDS Where do you see yourself in 20 years?SUCHOFF I see myself reaching towards that executive position in a company because I do really want to do great things.IDS How does that affect the decisions you make now?SUCHOFF
Well I’m currently a finance and international business major. I really
enjoy finance so I’m looking for a job within the finance area of a
company and hopefully that will allow me to gain a lot of experiences.
Gaining all that experience in different departments will allow me to
get a better understanding of the company and that industry as a whole
and then, hopefully, I’ll eventually work up to that executive position.
IDS What is your favorite memory from your time at IU?SUCHOFF
I would say my trip to Santiago, Chile. I went with the Emerging
Economies program at the Kelley School of Business and it was just a
great experience. I was able to see companies who were entrepreneurial
and large, multi-national companies and how they operate on an
international basis, which is important going forward in any career
because there are opportunities for travel, opportunities to expand the
markets and stuff. From a learning perspective, that was my favorite
memory.Meredith TorchIDS What is your dream job?TORCH I’m not sure if I have a specific dream job, but definitely something combining technology and creativity. IDS Do you feel prepared for life outside of college?TORCH
Yes, definitely. I’ve been well prepared by Kelley, and I’ve been
interning summers, so I’m ready to graduate, go to the real world.IDS What do you feel is the most valuable experience you have gained from your time here at IU?TORCH
Gosh, it’s hard to pick. It’s probably a toss-up. Being in my sorority,
Alpha Delta Pi, has been a very meaningful experience here. It’s been a
great leadership opportunity, philanthropy and has introduced me to a
lot of really neat people whom I wouldn’t have met otherwise. Also, I
would say being involved in IUSF has been really fun. I’ve been able to
help put on the Little 500. Not many people can say that. IDS If you could change anything about your time here at IU, what would it be and why?TORCH
Honestly, I can’t think of anything I would change. If I changed
something I wouldn’t be who I am today. I’m happy with all the
experiences I’ve had here, good and bad.IDS If you had to choose a superpower, what would it be?TORCH
Well, I don’t know if wizard skills are a superpower, but I think they
are, and I really like Harry Potter. I think it would be cool to cast a
spell or transform something. So wizard skills, definitely.Mary Kate DohertyIDS If you looked at two pictures of yourself, one from your first year here and one from yesterday, what changes would you see?DOHERTY
I guess I would say I’ve gotten a lot more comfortable, both here and
with myself. My freshman year I was kind of on the fringe. I didn’t
necessarily get involved in a ton of stuff heavily and now like, you
name it, we’ll get there. I love being involved. I love the things that
I’m doing. I’m just a lot more established now.IDS What is one goal you hope to accomplish by the time you’re 40?DOHERTY
I am hoping to get into recruiting, so I’m really hoping by the time
I’m 40 that I will have a really strong network and client base and that
I’ll be based near my family in Chicago. I would love, professionally,
to be in that spot.IDS Who or what has been the biggest influence in your life?DOHERTY
Well, you’ve got my parents, my mom and my dad. My dad tells me to take
every chance I get. My mom is like the voice of reason. She says take
every chance, but make sure that you’re being realistic about your goals
and what you hope to get out of them. My dad’s the “jump in and don’t
look.” My mom is the “let’s think about this for a second.” They’ve been
really solid balances in my life in terms of what I’ve done in college
and what I hope to do. Another huge influence in my life has been Sarah
Booher, the director of the Office of Scholarships. She has just really
shaped me professionally into someone that can do things and can be
professional about it. She has just helped guide me on a path of what I
want to do in my life, and I can’t thank her enough for all her help.IDS Where is your favorite place to hang out on campus?DOHERTY
Soma Coffeehouse, hands down. You go, you buy a Top O’ the Morning and
you sit there. You drink it, you take in the people because the range of
people that come in and out of there, it just cracks me up. You can
take a good book because it’s always cozy. I’m ashamed to admit that one
day I spent five hours there writing a paper and spent about $20 on
coffee.
(10/02/12 2:51am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Each month, City Hall finds a new artist to exhibit in the Atrium. This month, work by IU alumnus Wyatt LeGrand from Bloomfield, Ind., hangs on the purple walls.“We tend to focus on regional artists,” said Miah Michaelsen, assistant economic development director for the arts. “We selected him because he’s a regional artist and he submitted a portfolio of his work. Not to mention, he’s a really great artist. This is a mix of some new pieces he’s done and some older pieces.”LeGrand graduated from IU in 2009 with a degree in visual arts education. He first began painting with oils as a college student and won several awards at “en plein air” painting competitions. He opened his studio, LeGrand Art Studio and Gallery, in summer 2009 in his hometown. “There’s nothing too complicated about what I do,” LeGrand said in the artist statement on his website. “I just pay attention to what I see.”At the beginning of the staircase, a large canvas dominates the lower half of the wall. The vibrant colors focus on five people. Others are blurred away in the background, carrying on with their lives. The people LeGrand focuses on are standing in the street, looking undecided. One is an older man in a ball cap and glasses. Standing a little further behind the man is a small family. A possible grandmother with her daughter and her children are standing still and trying to decide where to go. The title of the painting is “Where do we go from here.” “It’s very personal in a lot of respects,” LeGrand said. “I know most of the people in the paintings, and the way the scenes are set up, a lot of times there’s kind of a narrative I’m trying to play out in the scene. I think a lot of people read into the artwork and relate it to something they know from past experiences. I think, with the paintings, a lot of them were done with that expectation. It’s a traditional type of painting of a representative subject, but the viewer can still read into it.” Hanging above “Where do we go from here” is a painting titled “George Heaton: Onset.” An old man sits in an armchair next to a cluttered table as he stares off into the distance.“George Heaton is my grandfather,” LeGrand said. “I’ve painted him several times, I used him as a model a lot. He and my grandmother were remarkable people.”There is another painting featuring George Heaton further up the wall. A painting of Avenelle Heaton hangs next to it. In these, George Heaton is eating his dinner and Avenelle Heaton is leaning against a wall. LeGrand said the two paintings of his grandparents hanging side-by-side in City Hall sprang from an incident in which his grandfather, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, had to be taken to the hospital. His grandmother, who was supposed to have surgery within the week, had to take control of the situation.“It was a really weird flip-flop of what they were supposed to do,” LeGrand said. “Grandpa was always the dominant one, and all of a sudden my sweet, soft-spoken grandma had to step in and take care of things. It probably took about a year and a half or so to reflect that whole experience.” Two paintings are featured without any human presence. One is of two white chairs sitting in front of a brick house. Another depicts an old red tractor. The last painting, hanging at the top of the stairs, shows a woman in a blue dress leaning against a pole. The name of the painting is “Twenty.”“We try to get a variety of different work in here from month to month,” Michaelsen said. “LeGrand has a history of working in the community, and we like that.”LeGrand’s work will be featured in City Hall until November. “My inspiration and drive comes from nothing other than the experience of putting brush to canvas, letting the things I see before me flow from eye to heart to hand to brush,” LeGrand said in the artist statement on his website. “These actions, as they occur, bring with them a certain anxiety, excitement and satisfaction that I cannot find elsewhere.”
(10/02/12 2:45am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>“Dust Up,” an action comedy directed by IU alumnus Ward Roberts, will screen at 3 p.m. Friday at the IU Cinema. Starring award-winning actress Amber Benson, known for her role as Tara in the series “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” this short film will “make you laugh, gasp and punch the person you’re sitting next to,” according to a press release.“I met him while in Los Angeles in June for Campus Movie Festival,” senior Katie Diamond said in an email. “After ‘Dust Up’ recently received distribution options, Ward and I discussed coordinating a screening in Bloomington, since much of the crew are also IU alumni.”Roberts has studied with big names in the film industry, such as Jeff Goldblum, Shane Black and the Coen Brothers. He is a founding member of DrexelBox and wrote, directed and starred in his short film “The Boy Scout.” He has directed and edited numerous music videos, such as “Spindrift” and “Gram Rabbit.” The film follows the story of a one-eyed vigilante who sets out to save a young mother from an evil drug lord. It will feature 20 IU alumni.“The theme of IU’s Homecoming is ‘Lights, Camera, Action!’ and is a great time for us, as a community, to celebrate an exciting film made by IU’s very own,” Diamond said.
(10/01/12 3:42am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Lights shone on the faces of the IU Singers standing below the stage in the Musical Arts Center on Friday night. A cacophony of voices filled the room as people found their way to their seats. Excitement was palpable in the air. Kevin and Chris Nagy-Chow sat side by side in row 12, waiting eagerly for the first ballet of the fall season, “Light and Shade,” to begin. Their daughter, junior Samantha Nagy-Chow, would not join them in the audience. She was preparing backstage. “It is so gratifying because for 20 years, we have all been working towards this,” Chris Nagy-Chow said. “We’re from California, and I can’t begin to tell you the family sacrifice it takes to produce a ballerina. It’s like mama bird standing on the edge of the nest going, ‘fly, baby, fly.’”Samantha Nagy-Chow’s mother and father made the trip from California to IU to watch her perform in the first ballet of the season. Her rise as a ballerina began when she was three years old.“For me, probably the most exciting part of this whole process was, at 14, we took her to go see San Francisco Ballet’s ‘Swan Lake,’” Kevin Nagy-Chow said. “She said to us — we were sitting up in the balcony — she said ‘boy, if I could ever dance on that stage, that would be so cool.’ At age 16, she actually danced ‘Swan Lake’ on San Francisco Ballet’s stage with the same principal dancers, which was her dream at 16, and that to me was the coolest thing ever.”The audience grew quiet as the lights dimmed, throwing the room into darkness. A single performer in white stepped onto the stage. “Sweet Fields” set the pace of the evening with a mixture of technically challenging steps, abstract lighting and accompanying live music based on 18th and 19th century hymns from William Billings, the Shaker tradition and The Sacred Harp.The first piece, choreographed by Twyla Tharp, aimed at simplicity and was inspired by her Quaker origins. Following “Sweet Fields,” a piece choreographed by Peter Martins called “Eight Easy Pieces” featured three female performers. One wore a green costume, one purple and one pink. Samantha Nagy-Chow performed in this piece Friday night.“She’s done so much hard work over 17 years of her life just pursuing her dream, and she’s able to do it,” Kevin Nagy-Chow said. “It’s pretty cool to watch.”“Eight More,” also choreographed by Peter Martins as a companion piece to “Eight Easy Pieces,” followed and featured three similar characters. Three male performers dressed in body suits, one pink, one purple and one green, and introduced an element of humor to the piece. The music was the same for both pieces, except “Eight More” was performed to a version orchestrated by Igor Stravinsky.The final piece of the evening introduced a different concept than the other performances. “Appalachian Spring” told the story of a newlywed couple celebrating the building of a house in the spring. A pioneer woman, a revivalist and his followers were other characters in the piece. Sophomore Carly Hammond performed the part of the bride.“The last piece was definitely up for interpretation,” sophomore Stephanie Gedeller said. “They did a nice job. You could tell they were working really hard.”Gedeller remarked on the colorful aspect of “Appalachian Spring” and said there was a reason for everything in the piece.“There was a lot of variety,” junior Zarina Madan said. “You never got bored. They kept changing it.”The ballet lasted two hours, with “Appalachian Spring” running for 30 minutes without a break. Michael Vernon, chair of the Department of Ballet, said the performers looked “at home” onstage.“I was really pleased with the performance,” Vernon said. “I think that it was a big challenge that the dancers rose to meet, and they looked very at home with the different styles they undertook.”Vernon said attending a ballet is a wonderful source of education. “One of the challenges is, they train six days a week, four to six hours a day, for a few minutes onstage,” Kevin Nagy-Chow said. “They only perform once or a couple times a year, so you have to really love the process of practice in order to stay with it. The reward isn’t much. It’s not like playing a basketball game every week or a volleyball game every weekend. If you don’t enjoy the practice, then you’ll never be able to go that far with it.”
(09/27/12 1:33am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The 29th annual American Red Cross Book Fair, located at the Monroe County Fairgrounds’ Commercial Building West, will sell used items starting at 9 a.m. today. The fair will continue until Tuesday.Sue Gulley, executive director of the Monroe County Chapter of the American Red Cross said they were able to raise $30,000 dollars in her first year.“I started seven years ago,” Gulley said. “I took a look at the book fair as a special event and decided that this was something important. We have literally dozens of businesses who help support us by donations, and we have more than 300 volunteers helping us out. We really need to be the best stewards of this fantastic event and all the donations.”About 100,000 gently used books, CDs, videos, DVDs, cassettes, records, games, puzzles, maps, sheet music and other items are available for purchase.Collectibles and signed books can be found in a separate section.All proceeds from the book fair benefit Red Cross disaster relief, service to military families and emergency preparedness services in Monroe and Owen counties.“Tuesday is our community day, running from 9 a.m. to noon,” Gulley said. “Everything leftover is free.”For more information, visit http://www.monroe-redcross.or/news_bookfair_history.aspx.
(09/25/12 2:45am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The IU Wind Ensemble will perform their first free show of the season 8 p.m. tonight at 200 S. Jordan Ave. Conductor Stephen Pratt said this will be his eighth year conducting the ensemble.“This concert is sort of the culmination of our first few weeks of rehearsal,” Pratt said. “It’s very similar to a concert given by a professional symphony orchestra in terms of preparing the music, performing the concert and moving on to the next.”Pratt said the ensemble takes performances seriously. “We treat it very much like a musical you would go to at Carnegie Hall, except there you would spend a lot of money,” Pratt said. “Here in our hall, it’s free. It’s pretty neat.”Pratt is a professor of music and director of bands and wind conducting at the Jacobs School of Music. He has led the ensemble to play at several national conventions and in other distinguished venues, such as the American Bandmasters Association national convention and the College Band Directors National Association divisional and national conventions.The ensemble consists of about 52 performers, playing instruments ranging from flutes and piccolos to saxophones and clarinets. IU’s ensemble is composed mainly of graduate students and only a handful of undergraduates.“They are the finest players in the Jacobs school,” Pratt said. “Most of them intend to play professionally for the rest of their lives. They are an exceptional group of extremely talented players.”At tonight’s performance, the ensemble will play compositions by Andrew Rindfleisch.Pratt said that the ensemble is part of a group encompassing about 20 ensembles across the country that organizes compositions. A composer is commissioned to compose a piece, and each ensemble in the group is given first rights to performance. Rindfleisch composed a piece for the ensemble’s performance tonight.“(Tonight’s) performance will be the first one ever heard by people,” Pratt said. “Once we’ve played it, then other people will start to play it.”Aside from Rindfleisch’s pieces, Pratt said the ensemble will play a very popular piece by Johann Sebastian Bach, Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 565. The arrangement was done by Donald Hunsberger. “One of the pieces we’re doing is one of the most famous pieces that everybody knows, if they ever saw ‘Fantasia’” Pratt said. “It’s a real famous piece."
(09/20/12 2:50am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>“Boy covered in bubble wrap has sex with plates covered in chocolate listening to Lady Gaga but doesn’t hear the news.”On Dec. 5, 2011, current fifth-year senior and digital arts bachelor of fine arts student Matthew Starr made a film on Forest Avenue in front of the clock. Plates lying helplessly on the ground in front of a male actor were stiff in the cold, winter air. As he walked around, pouring chocolate onto the plates, a TV sat on the small, wrap-around wall in front of him, rattling off news.As the film progressed and Lady Gaga’s “Born this Way” started playing over the background noise of the news, the actor proceeded to rub chocolate on himself and performed implied sexual actions on top of the plates. “You can pull meaning from the lyrics as they align with what he’s saying, what’s going on in the movie,” Starr said. “It’s cold, he’s almost naked. Several students walk by, and no one stops. I think maybe one girl stops.”In September 2012, Starr sat in room full of computers in the School of Fine Arts, watching his film. “If I would have seen this going on I would have stopped,” Starr said. “It’s the kind of stuff I wish I’d see going on around campus.”Starr’s main area of expertise, however, is projection.“A lot of artists are making the switch to digital technologies,” Starr said. “Just to do anything removed from the screen I think is really powerful. I mean, you’re constantly surrounded by screens, cell phones and computers. To take these images and to manipulate them in a different way, I think there is definitely an affinity from the viewer participant to whatever it is someone’s showing.”This past summer, Starr received an invitation to exhibit his projection-based work at the Toolkit Festival in Venice, Italy. His piece got best in show.“I have shaky hands so I don’t draw, I don’t paint,” Starr said. It’s hard for me to do animations and stuff since my ADD has gotten worse. It’s hard for me to sit behind a computer for 10 hours and just work. Now it’s just, I feel like I’m not really proficient with the programs anymore, and I just come up with these installations and figure out ways around doing those type of things.”One of Starr’s installations, “Memory Bank,” documents his childhood memories. It is composed of mixed media, including one video projector, a rotating motor, a prism, seven mirrors and cloth. At one point in the projection, a rapid fire cacophony of images, lights and sound featuring Mickey Mouse and ninja turtles burst forth.“I feel like, when those parts come up every few minutes, I mean, the whole room lights up, it’s really intense.” Starr said. “Obviously I think the project is beautiful, not just aesthetically. For me, it’s still really to go back.” This summer, Starr did more than go to Italy. He visited a doctor.“I was having really bad retention problems so I went to get an MRI and CT scan,” Starr said. “They just wanted to make sure everything was okay. When I got the MRI scan back first they said there was something there, but they weren’t sure what it was.”After taking the CT scan in order to shed more light on the unknown presence on Starr’s brain, doctors discovered a benign abnormality on the very front of his brain.“It was pretty awful for about a week because all they knew was that it was an abnormality,” Starr said. “Every once in a while I think about it. Between your brain, your heart and your spine, those are three things you don’t want to fuck with. To find out there’s this undefined abnormality in your brain is kind of hard to swallow.”Starr glanced at the video of the installation on the computer screen before continuing.“The whole idea is to kind of create this memory bank for myself so if the day ever comes, if I do lose my memory, then I can look back on these installations.”Though having the abnormality has affected the way Starr approaches his work, he does not let the negativity surrounding it affect his plans for the future.“No pun intended, it’s always in the front of my brain,” Starr said. “There is something romantic about having something in your brain that nobody really knows what it is. I think it plays into a more grandiose story.”Starr plans on going to graduate school in New York, eventually. For now, he will continue to work on his installations and focus on school. The next biggest exhibit Starr will present is his thesis project in the spring. “It will be my most complex installation,” Starr said.Starr has also been invited to exhibit his work in the 23rd annual New Orleans Film Festival from Oct. 11-18.“I think coming into all of this with no background, I mean, I hate drawing,” Starr said. “I feel like I’m dying when I’m drawing or painting, it’s awful. I am so unmoved by going to galleries and seeing paintings. Even videos on the wall, they don’t do much for me. “I figured, if I’m going to do anything, if I’m going to give myself to the whole arty-farty thing, it’s going to have to be something that moves people. If it moves me then I’m assuming, hoping, that it will move people.”
(09/19/12 4:17am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU’s legendary musician David Baker has “passed the baton” to fellow faculty member Brent Wallarab.Baker, chair of the Jazz Studies Department, directed the David Baker Jazz Ensemble for more than 40 years.At 80 years old, he has decided to lighten his commitments after so many years of conducting the prolific jazz band.“I’ve been carrying a heavy load,” Baker said. “I thought this would be a nice time for someone else to pick up the baton and do it. Brent was the obvious choice.”Wallarab is a former student of Baker’s and was his lead trombonist in the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra of Washington D.C. for 20 years.“I’ve always conducted one of the jazz ensembles myself,” Wallarab said. “He asked if I could conduct one this year in his absence, and of course I am very, very honored that he asked me to do that.”Baker described Wallarab as a wonderful educator, trombonist and conductor.“These are decisions that you make across a lot of years,” Baker said. “It was not a difficult decision. I know it’s in good hands. That’s the main thing.”Baker was the recipient of the President’s Medal for Excellence last year during his 80th birthday celebration. The medal was presented by IU President Michael McRobbie and is one of the most prestigious awards the University can bestow.Wallarab’s first performance of the season was Monday night. The Brent Wallarab Jazz Ensemble kicked off the new semester as Baker watched from the audience.“We’re definitely playing this concert, in fact our whole season, for David,” Wallarab said.Despite the new name and change in conductor, Wallarab said the essence of the band remains the same.“The way I look at it is that it’s still his jazz band,” Wallarab said. “It’s still the David Baker Jazz Ensemble, and he has just entrusted it with me to take good care of it in case he decides he wants to resume his conducting responsibilities.”Wallarab said he and all the students recognize the reason the program exists and the reason they are all here is Baker.“After him, after all these years, it’s a tremendous honor, and I am very humbled by doing that,” Wallarab said.
(09/19/12 3:39am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Last night, 800 N. Indiana Ave. was transformed into the verdant, rolling hills of Ireland during the days when gods and goddesses ruled the land.The spacious room, which used to be a church, could contain 125 people. It began filling steadily at 6:40 p.m. though the performance did not begin until 7 p.m. A white screen hanging in the front of the room read, “Clare Muireann Murphy presents INISFIL: Island of Destiny.”More chairs had to be added to accommodate the growing crowd. Soft, natural light filtered in through the stained glass windows.At about 7:15 p.m., Chad Buterbaugh, a doctoral student in the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology, made his way to the front of the room.“Well, I am not Clare Murphy,” Buterbaugh said. Laughter rippled through the crowd. “This is an overwhelming turnout,” he continued. “I’m so happy at the diversity in this room.”Department faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, the Irish Language group and members of the Bleeding Heartland Rollergirls attended the event.Buterbaugh looked out at the crowd and spoke of a conversation he had with Murphy a little while earlier.“I asked Clare what one of the most challenging things about storytelling in this era was,” Buterbaugh said. “She said, ‘when something modern tries to interrupt.’”Almost everyone in the room reached for their cell phones, shutting down the modern, electronic devices.After that, Buterbaugh welcomed Murphy, who bounded up the stairs in two flying leaps, to the stage. Loud applause greeted her unusual entrance.“It’s a brilliant thing, being applauded for being yourself,” Murphy said when she reached the microphone.The rest of the evening was filled with laughter, sighs and gasps as Murphy’s tales twisted and turned from love and happiness to blood and war.“I take no responsibility for what happens onstage,” Murphy said. “We start hanging around with gods and goddesses, and weird things start to happen.”Murphy, born in Dublin, is an international storyteller who has performed in more than 20 countries. She has served as guest lecturer and visiting artist at institutions such as Vanderbilt University and the National University of Ireland in Galway. Recounting three of the oldest Irish mythological tales, Murphy’s first story told of the origin of satire. Her second explained why properties of many plants are still a mystery, and her third and final story defined the creation of fairies.Her last story discussed how the gods and goddesses of Ireland fell, becoming elusive fairies in many tales today. They were banished underground by humans who won the battle for Ireland.“They come back to make mischief, murder or, if you’re lucky, love,” Murphy said. “They come back because they remember what it was like to live above ground. And now, hopefully, so will you.”Murphy received a standing ovation. “I thought she was mesmerizing,” graduate student Betsy Shepherd said. “She transfixed the room with her storytelling.”It was Murphy’s first performance in Bloomington and was part of her summer tour of the U.S.“I didn’t really know what to expect,” Shepherd said. “I would recommend it to anybody. It’s really cool seeing a one-woman show. The modern day equivalent would probably be comedy. It’s a one-person show with great audience interaction. It’s amazing how she brought all of these dusty old myths to life by acting them out.”