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(02/23/12 12:28am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The political landscape of the United States has been fundamentally altered by the Occupy movement.Occupy Philadelphia activist Nathan “Nate” Kleinman is the first Occupier to run for congressional office.Perhaps tellingly, he shaved his beard before campaigning for office.He’s running as a Democrat in Pennsylvania against Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-Pa.).The 29-year-old Kleinman, who believed the Patriot Act “turned this country upside down,” seeks to turn America right-side up.But wouldn’t Occupy rather turn it inside-out?Most of his grievances with American politics will sound familiar to leftists and aren’t antithetical to Occupy goals. Drug abuse is a public health issue, not a criminal issue. The prison system is absolutely contemptuous. Corporate money has no place in politics.And yet, Kleinman is running as a Democrat, not as a third-party candidate. He describes himself as not running “from Occupy” and says Occupy Philadelphia will be taking a vote to not endorse political candidates. Kleinman said he’d vote not to.This makes sense according to Occupy ideology, which has so far operated as a truly democratic, populist group.Kleinman is also running without a Super PAC, which is unsurprising from a member of an activist group with communist leanings (a term I use sympathetically) but nevertheless hurts his chances of successfully running against an establishment Democrat.This isn’t a dissimilar move to what the Tea Party movement did, slowly channeling somewhat respectable candidates into conventional political arenas until they began to influence and disrupt the Republican party.While this was a stab at legitimacy for Tea Partiers, Kleinman’s explicit disassociation with Occupy makes it unlikely that Occupy will gain much in visibility or legitimacy from his candidacy.If Kleinman were to run as a third-party candidate or as part of an Occupy ticket, it would undermine Occupy’s dissatisfaction with the current power regime in the U.S. Exemplary black feminist Audre Lorde made famous the phrase “The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house.”To run for a seat in Congress is precisely to work within the very confines of an oppressive system. Whatever change occurs won’t undo the system that so many are infuriated by.In a contribution to “Occupy Theory,” Judith Butler writes, “To appeal to that authority to satisfy the demand would be one way of attributing legitimacy to that authority.”This explains why Occupy hasn’t produced a singular document aimed at the U.S. government representing its motives and demands. Its amorphous and adaptive strategy has allowed it to take on specific meaning in different contexts, providing a liberating banner for local activists to operate under.Because Kleinman isn’t running as an Occupy candidate, and because the movement ideologically opposes representative leadership, it’s unlikely he will upset much of the political structure in Washington.This isn’t what he’s trying to do. I have no trouble endorsing a candidate who will only accept individual donations, opposes establishment candidates and seeks to affect egalitarian social change on the local level.His candidacy does raise tactical questions for Occupy as a national and international movement. Strategies will diverge throughout specific locations, and no unifying agreement will be reached among Occupiers.These are not weaknesses but strengths that enable radical, situated resistance.Is embodied opposition against the state, often in violent encounters with police, the only legible form of protest?Will the U.S. government listen to overwhelming public dissent in new media? To students and scholars writing against current policy? To Guantanamo prisoners carving poetry into Styrofoam cups? To future candidates associated with Occupy?Will the U.S. government ever listen to the multiplicity of voices wholly resentful of money in politics and fascist policing of bodies?The general strike called for by the Occupy movement on May 1 is much more likely to provoke meaningful response from the state than any Occupy activist turned Democrat candidate.And we won’t have to shave our beards.— ptbeane@indiana.edu
(02/21/12 5:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Indiana House of Representatives approved a bill late last month to drug-test welfare applicants. The bill was approved only after Rep. Ryan Dvorak (D-South Bend) amended the bill to include a drug test for state lawmakers.The bill, originally proposed by Rep. Jud McMillin (R-Brookville), was withdrawn and reworked because the amendment was considered potentially unconstitutional.Seems like a double standard. The new amendment was easier on lawmakers, who would only lose job perks, such as parking spaces, if they failed a test.The difference between a poor person losing welfare and a middle-class person losing a parking spot seems telling to me of the government’s willingness to overlook structural inequality.This bill is predicated on the despicable idea that welfare applicants are more likely to use drugs than us normal and hard-working Americans.It’s supposedly based on “reasonable suspicion” of previous drug charges but relies more on the government’s unreasonable suspicion of those it’s supposed to help.Last year, after the first bill of this kind was briefly implemented in Florida, only 2.5 percent of welfare applicants tested positive.McMillin asked, “Do you want to teach a man to fish, or do you want to give a man a fish?”His rhetorical question might mean something if this man weren’t fishing on a lake without fish using a shitty rod and no bait.The American Dream has little room for poor people, who, I assure you, don’t want to be poor. They’re not poor because they’re lazy.Low-income people in this country, a highly racialized group, face a system fighting against them. Structural racism is a real thing, historically based on exclusion of people of color from privileged groups, differences in income, differential education and white privilege.Structural sexism is also a reality.Single mothers have difficulty accruing benefits and proving their value as families. Marriage is financially incentivized through tax benefits.These oppressions are often interlocking and co-articulated so, consequently, poor folks have difficulty improving their circumstances. Welfare is meant to help these people.Let’s think about this as smart, compassionate human beings.Welfare applicants who do use drugs are not likely doing so just because it’s fun and easy to exploit the system and get high.Welfare recipients are receiving the bare minimum in benefits from the state. Most of those dependent on welfare for more than five years do not have a high school diploma. The current job market is disastrous. These people are in unfavorable circumstances, to say the least.Keeping in mind the stunningly low results from Florida’s program and the fact of structural inequality, I wouldn’t be upset if more welfare applicants tested positive. In many cases, it’s not an irresponsible way to cope with an unfairly demanding situation.Drug usage won’t necessarily impede the work of these people, too many of whom can only get low-wage service jobs.Ever wonder why most of the jobs across campus don’t drug test? I doubt I’m surprising anyone when I say people can wait tables or bake cookies while high.I’m not condoning rampant or self-destructive drug use. I’m not saying a few welfare recipients won’t abuse the system — though I can hardly blame them, as the system has abused them and kept them dependent.But, regardless of our education and skill set, we face an uncertain future. If we ever come to depend on welfare, and I’m certain all too many of us will, shouldn’t we expect to retain our dignity?Ideally, the government is in place to care for its citizens in need and protect them from debilitating circumstances. If the intent of welfare is to provide for disadvantaged populations, why is it now being asked to police and exclude citizens?Why would the government have a vested interest in denying help other than to save money with the logic that poor people are bad people who earned their poorness?Luckily, Indiana’s bill stalled after a split vote in the state Senate about the estimated $1 million cost of a drug-testing program. I’d much rather see this money go toward education programs for our youth or those already on welfare, so we can actually try to help our fellow humans.At best, this bill is financially irresponsible. At worst, it’s institutionalized racism and classism that does no good for the people of Indiana.— ptbeane@indiana.edu
(01/17/12 10:35pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>World news is beginning to look like the plot of a “Mission: Impossible” movie.Grave threats against imperialists and Zionists, covert assassinations of nuclear physicists, conspiracy theories dating back decades, warmongering and xenophobia abound.Most of it has been spurred by the targeted killing of Iranian nuclear scientist Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan in Tehran last week. The professor and scientist was the victim of a car bomb reportedly attached by motorcyclists. The murder was committed on the second anniversary of the killing of another Iranian nuclear scientist, the fourth such attack in the past two years.These incidents have been considered a part of an ongoing effort to disrupt Iran’s nuclear program. Following last week’s attack, an Iranian general condemned Israel and the United States as “supporters of state terrorism.” If the U.S. or Israel is at all involved in these killings, wouldn’t he be right?Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton denied “any United States involvement in any kind of act of violence inside Iran.”Message boards and comments sections on news sites are buzzing with conspiracies and disturbing accusations of people being blindly patriotic, being agents of Israel or being Muslim sympathizers. The attack and accusations have emerged in the wake of increased sanctions levied against Iran by the U.S.The Pentagon has also had to clarify that the arrival of a second U.S. aircraft carrier in the “area of responsibility” was a “routine” move that wasn’t “an indication of anything specific in respect to Iran.” While it is important the U.S. denied and condemned the attacks against Iranian nuclear scientists, tensions are undeniably rising between the two countries.Accusing the U.S. of secretive action against Iran has seemed to elicit three responses from online commenters.Some are disgusted and wouldn’t be surprised if the U.S. was carrying out unconstitutional military action against an Islamic nation. Others are shocked by the suggestion and deny outright the possibility of U.S. terrorism. And others still believe the U.S. could be responsible for the killings but see it as a necessary evil in the name of protecting the country.This necessitates the question: Would you really be comfortable if the U.S. were involved in some sort of covert operation against Iran’s nuclear program?I understand people who are concerned with the possibility of Iran’s nuclear armament, of which the U.S. and Israel have accused the country. Nevertheless, Iranian Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi maintains that Iran’s nuclear program is peaceful and that “Iranian scientists are more determined than ever in striding toward Iran’s progress.”Indeed, since the attack on Ahmadi Roshan, more than 1,000 students in Iran have applied to change their majors to nuclear physics and nuclear engineering. Terrorist efforts have done seemingly little to dissuade Iran from pursuing its nuclear progress.So, talking about the movement of an aircraft, motorcycle assassinations and enrollment in nuclear physics programs is not my usual cup of tea. It seems important to me, though, to acknowledge the heated — or cold — state of world affairs.I’m no idealist, but I do wish we could make worldwide nuclear disarmament a reality. I wish the grand posturing of a few warmongers didn’t overshadow the needs of starving millions.Yes, I wish we could all just get along.That’s not going to happen, so instead, I urge you and your friends to consider the implications of assuming anything about the U.S. or Israel or Iran.We don’t need the violence and paranoia of a Cold War II.— ptbeane@indiana.edu
(01/16/12 8:47pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Identities are tricky, whether you consciously wear one yourself or it’s bestowed upon you by someone else. They can be a brand under which to unite with others, or a label that oversimplifies ambiguous or irreducible elements of yourself.Racial identity, sexual identity and religious identity often reveal self-evident truths about a person. They come with a set of assumptions that inform and are informed by the performance of each identity.We can all be labeled, whether we choose to be.You call yourself a Christian, but downplay it around your atheist friends. You have mixed feelings about being the only student of color in a class about racism in 20th century America. You call yourself queer, but the other students on the bus would call you something else.Acknowledging the wide range of difference within any identity category and the constant struggle of maintaining an identity, there are two on campus not often politicized.There’s no real theory or politics behind them, and they rarely feel as high stakes as a gender or racial identity.Try not to laugh, but I’m talking about bros and hipsters.Let’s admit it, we’re all aware of this binary, and we all experience ourselves in some sort of relationship to it.We know the stereotypes. Bros are loud, wear Sperrys, high-five and love K.O.K. Hipsters are vegan, wear used clothes, smoke cigarettes and love Tumblr.Some hipsters have an unspoken resentment of bros. Some bros have an unspoken resentment of hipsters. Members of both categories openly mock members of the other.To borrow a phrase from Althusser, we are always/already implicated in the bro/hipster binary.I’m not trying to delegitimize the “normal” among us who don’t ascribe to either bro or hipster lifestyles or who feel discomfort within the binary.Just as all identities are destined to come with normative images, these two categories also exclude and normalize.I’m afraid it’s not just my friends who have pointed out gay bros or black hipsters — which isn’t to say these identities aren’t marginalized anyway. We forget our own privilege when assuming certain things about identity categories.I don’t mean to speak for hipsters or bros. I can hardly speak for myself. I can speak to a project we’re all constantly undertaking, which is learning about our identity.The trick to the trickiness of identity is exploring what we all share in common: alienation.We’ve all felt embarrassment at our own ambivalence toward our friends and family.We can’t always fit in with those closest to us.The differences and similarities between one another are meaningful and should be felt out. We’ve got plenty in common. We all probably feel an affinity for music. We all probably want our friends to comment on our new profile picture.But imagine the sort of connection we can make when we admit our insecurities to each other.Of course, this isn’t likely. You don’t want to share important and sensitive information with people you hardly know.You could, however, stand to become a better, more caring person if you acknowledge that those around you have their own shames and regrets.We might not be able to figure out each other, but we can at least learn from knowing we’re all trying to figure out ourselves.-
(01/12/12 1:08am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Young Jeezy has been hyping “Thug Motivation 103” since late 2010 as he released promising singles that teased at an album that was delayed further and further, thus moving it into irrelevance. Now that it’s finally here, Jeezy sounds like he’s still on top, even if that’s not the case anymore.This is Snowman-brand trap music through and through: gritty vocals, club bangers, rags to riches storytelling and cocaine kingpin mythology. What sets this apart from the rest of his discography is his improved lyricism and beat selection.Lead single “F.A.M.E.” reveals the balancing of his ego against his success and features an inspiring verse from fellow ATLien, T.I. “Way Too Gone” rolls along a spacey beat with delicious delinquency. Highlight “Trapped” opens with a Jill Scott hook against a distorted choir to form the bedrock of a soaring street song.If you’re looking for a thoughtful meditation on soul and identity, look elsewhere. If you’re looking for a motivational collection of bombastic trap anthems, get this now. Jeezy has honed his voice into a memorable and exciting release well worth the wait.
(01/09/12 5:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>As we all know by now, Beyoncé Knowles gave birth to a daughter early Sunday morning.The heir to the pop queen’s throne is Blue Ivy Carter, surname courtesy of father Jay-Z (Shawn Carter).So many seem excited about the newborn who is already a celebrity. Celebrity gossip sites are buzzing with activity. Twitter is atwitter with Illuminati conspiracy theories.The Internet has halted for the spectacularly named celebrity progeny. Maybe surprisingly, I think the conspiracy theorists are the most on-point.The Illuminati have nothing to do with it. A more insidious, well-hidden institution has peaked my interest: Patriarchy.I’m no hater, but it’s time to discuss Beyoncé’s problematic feminism, the media’s glorification of her specific femininity and the ideas behind all of this that no one questions.Queen B has appointed herself as an empowered woman who can inspire fans to seek the kind of independence and success she has achieved.Her story is one that fuels the faulty American Dream: She started out in a “normal” family, rose to fame thanks to her talents, married a successful man and is now a proud mother.I do not mean to say any of these things are bad at all, but they obscure structural inequalities that do exist in this nation.What worries me is the implied insistence in her music that standing by your man is a feminist pursuit.Don’t get me wrong, “Countdown” is one of my favorite songs ever. I sang and danced to it in the shower this morning.However, it reduces the powerful figure Beyoncé embodies to someone solely dedicated to her husband, for whom she proudly dresses up and cooks. Her devotion becomes a model for her fans to emulate.Likewise, “Run The World (Girls)” is a hollow feminist non-anthem. After so deliberately normalizing gender difference and dominance throughout the album, she closes with a tribute to women (or rather, “girls”).Needless to say, simply shouting that girls run the world hardly makes it true. It qualifies her as another supposedly empowered pop star who has done little to challenge existing standards for women.Of course, I doubt anyone expected real feminist politics to emerge from a mainstream pop idol.This is the problem.Too few people question the status quo. Too few people wonder why the media is so wrapped up in Beyoncé giving birth.Too few people think there is a space for re-imagining heterosexist norms in pop culture. What if we celebrated Beyoncé not changing her last name when she married Jay-Z?I doubt many people will congratulate a celebrity for staying single or entering a polyamorous relationship or choosing not to have children.Nevertheless, congratulations, Beyoncé. I really do love your music, and I really am happy you have a healthy child. I’m sure baby Blue will be producing hit singles by 2020.Maybe she’ll be a part of the generation to really help girls run the world.— ptbeane@indiana.edu
(01/06/12 5:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>It’s easy to make promises to yourself.For many privileged college students, January means vowing to eat better, to work out more, to stop wasting so much time on Facebook and to finally stop drinking so much.These are all worthy goals for improving your health. Actually achieving any of the above would likely make for an easier semester, as well as helping you to gain some healthy habits.It’s also easy to break promises to yourself.I used to make concrete resolutions based on dieting, exercising and studying. Substantive goals like these are easy to monitor.I could hold onto them as proof of my self-improvement.However, they would inevitably fall apart as the year dragged on, because my heart wasn’t in them.They were arbitrary goals to satisfy my need to treat the new year like a clean slate, which it isn’t.New Year’s Day does not undo your past. You still carry the same baggage.You still know the same people. You still feel the same feelings. Any change, any resolutions you make to yourself, will have to come gradually.That’s the reason I always fail to keep up with dieting or restricting my Internet use. I expect to achieve a new sort of self-control overnight. This is a recipe for disaster.Now, I’m more concerned with trying to effect substantial change within myself. It’s harder to measure and requires plenty of self-criticism. Usually it isn’t easy to express in words. The trick is to promise yourself something you won’t give up on when you break it.For me, this means being more careful with my language and actions, rethinking how I approach myself and better appreciating what I have.I know it sounds vague, but it’s inspired by a friend of mine who texted me, “Be grateful or be graveful.”It’s my new “hakuna matata.” It means no worries, as long as you understand all the good that surrounds you. Otherwise you risk forgetting what keeps you afloat, which will make you feel grave.It’s not the same thing as losing weight, and I’m sure I’ll mess up, but it’s good motivation.Even though I’m proud I can count the number of sodas I drank last year on one hand, I don’t think I learned anything about myself from it.This year, my resolution is both more ambiguous and more ambitious, which can only mean I have a lot of mistakes to make.I think it also means I can only make more of a difference to myself.-ptbeane@indiana.edu
(12/08/11 12:59am)
WEEKEND's absolute best albums of the year
(11/30/11 9:38pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>There are albums like Blackout Beach’s uncompromising “Fuck Death,” which grapples with the nature of beauty and war. These albums ask challenging questions like why we run away from ourselves or make music. They force their listeners to come to terms with listening.Then there are albums like “Talk That Talk.”“Suck my cockiness/Lick my persuasion” is a fair representation of the lyrical concerns here. And why not? There’s little need for nuance when the music is this fun. On “Talk That Talk,” Rihanna further establishes the distinctive power of her voice, dominating the territory between Beyoncé’s empowered pop and Nicki’s ferocious quirkiness. By now you’ve heard the pitch-perfect dance single “We Found Love” and its bombastic Calvin Harris beat. The entire album delivers on that track’s party mentality promise. “Where Have You Been” demands movement. Oral sex ode “Watch n’ Learn,” perhaps the best song on the album, bounces along on more killer hooks than I can count. Rihanna gave us just what we needed from her: a short and sweet pop record light on substance and heavy on style.
(11/29/11 1:15am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Back in July, California became the first state to require the inclusion of historical contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender people in public school textbooks. The legislation, SB48, passed 49-25 in the state assembly and was signed into effect days later by Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown. Brown said in a written statement, “History should be honest,” and called the bill “an important step forward for our state.” Since its passage, SB48 has faced harsh criticism. Groups opposing SB48 filed paperwork again on Nov. 17 with the Attorney General’s Office to repeal the law.Yet, the law is an important step forward for our country which has long ignored or suppressed the voices of those whose sexuality and gender identity don’t cohere to the rigorously enforced societal norm.At the beginning of next year, teachers and faculty will include in their curricula the accomplishments and historic events of LGBT people. The language of the bill was broad, so implementation of this history will be decided at a local level. If the state-sponsored education on LGBT history is actually comprehensive and respectful, it’d be an even more potent victory. Regardless, this is a hugely important moment in the ongoing struggle to acquire civil rights and compassionate understanding of an oppressed minority. I anticipate LGBT advocacy groups will ensure the correct enforcement of the policy. The rhetoric deployed against this legislation is rather disturbing, however. Mentions of “indoctrination,” the “homosexual agenda” and sexual “brainwashing” have abounded. These detractors are lambasting a bill that promotes equality because the existing inequality maintains America’s hierarchal social structure.I’d especially like to look at the language used by stopsb48.com to demonstrate precisely why SB48 is so important. Written beside the picture of a well-manicured, white heterosexual couple and their smiling children are the alarming words: “It costs too much. It goes too far.” First of all, the bill’s cost is only a concern at all because of the tragic allocation of resources in this backward country. Public education should be the top priority of every state’s spending. Instead, we fund endless wars and $2 billion trips to Mars. Secondly, the bill goes too far only if ending discrimination goes too far. Stop SB48 calls itself a “coalition of pro-family organizations.” The alignment of family with anti-LGBT sentiment is nothing new, but it remains false and harmful. Heterosexual reproduction is not a prerequisite for the creation and maintenance of loving, caring families.The group claims the bill does nothing to explicitly end bullying, as many of its proponents claimed. When a group of people is no longer implicitly condemned by the education system, they will be less subjected to hate and misunderstanding. The bullying of LGBT children is widespread and largely unchecked. It has taken a real toll on these kids, too many of whom have ended their lives because of it. Brown and the considerable majority of California officials understood this.California has taken an all-important first step in setting a precedent for public education that includes histories of once invisible people. Indiana, and every state in this nation, should follow California’s lead. Public visibility of LGBT people, especially early in children’s education, is a vital step in creating a less hateful world. — ptbeane@indiana.edu
(11/17/11 2:28am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>In a Pitchfork interview, Bradford Cox called “Parallax” the loneliest album he’s ever made. It sure sounds like it. More than ever, the songs are framed around his stressed croon. It feels solitary through and through. He creates a cohesive, despairing atmosphere that rarely amounts to compelling music. It’d be a blessing to hear “Parallax” outside the context of Cox’s prolific output as Atlas Sound and with Deerhunter. He has gradually honed his voice into an immediately recognizable and fully realized lamentation of spacey bedroom pop-rock. He’s also become predictable.Despite its refined pop and Elvis-posing, “Parallax” feels less like a success in straightforward songwriting and more like a bore. The highlights arrive late, when Cox puts a new spin on his usual routine. “Flagstaff” trudges along on a sparse vocal melody before being enveloped in a gorgeously icy synth loop. Closer “Lightworks” injects a bright-eyed energy into Cox’s creepy rock n’ roll. While “Parallax” is certainly the most well-constructed Atlas Sound release as a whole, too many of its pieces are forgettable distillations of songs we’ve already heard.
(11/15/11 12:29am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>I dearly appreciate the overwhelmingly positive response I’ve received for the column I wrote last week about the troubling state of affairs in Bloomington. I’m also grateful for the thoughtful responses to and criticisms of my columns on sex inequality and gay marriage.This week, I’d like to address something a little less heavy. It’s the time of year when finals draw near and the days grow shorter. I don’t know about you, but a little levity is desperately needed.For me and my roommate, the levity arrived in the form of a special occasion last week: It was the first night of the semester we’d thrown a real party and on a Thursday, no less. This might not seem like a big deal, but it was a welcome relief from the real world stresses we’d both been facing.Here are six guidelines to help you throw your own successful bash.1. Invite the right people.This might not only include your friends. It’s worth it to branch out of your comfort zone to ensure the most compatible group of people possible. If everything goes according to plan, you might even make a few new friends.2. Indulge yourself.If you enjoy being the life of the party (I can’t ever seem to help myself), design a brief moment in the spotlight for yourself. Personally, I enjoy queuing up Beyoncé’s pop gem “Countdown” and breaking out into a “spontaneous” choreographed dance. If you’re more of a reserved party-goer and/or party-thrower, take a minute or two to call a friend and tweet something absurd.3. Expect the unexpected.One of the more unexpected hits at our party was fresh fruit. Bananas and apples were within reach for our guests, and they took advantage of it without a second thought. It’s important to satisfy cravings that you and your guests didn’t even anticipate. This principle also applies to expecting rowdy guests, random spills and dying iPods.4. Play Prince.No explanation needed.5. Bust out the Twister mat.The Twister mat is a multifunctional godsend. It protects cherished rugs from spilled drinks. It designates a dance floor and facilitates more advanced moves. It could even be the site of an impromptu, late-night game of Twister, which is always a good idea. 6. Be safe and take care of your guests.I’ve saved the most important rule for last. Because you’re playing host, you’re also responsible for protecting your guests from themselves and each other. Check that everyone is behaving responsibly and within their limits. Make sure you have an open couch or two for those guests who need a place to crash, and ask if leaving guests have a place to stay. Look out for each other.I’m no party-planner, but chances are, neither are you. I know it seems slight to marvel at the benefits of a well-thrown party. I know this is a demanding time of year. Even so, having a party can simultaneously provide constructive stress and relief, and implementing these rules can only help.— ptbeane@indiana.edu
(11/08/11 3:03am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>I’ve lived in Bloomington my entire life. I walked from Ballantine Hall to Sycamore Hall before I could tie my own shoes. I learned how to drive on the same one-way streets that never fail to cause trouble during move-in week. I knew what courses to order at Siam House before I knew what courses to take freshman year.How this sounds to you probably depends on whether you’re an East Coast native charmed by Bloomington’s tree-lined streets or a weary townie disenchanted with the same old coffeehouses and public parks.This place, this community, still hasn’t lost its magic for me. Maybe it’s because I’m still finding new nooks and crannies to explore. Maybe it’s because I feel some sort of comfort and ownership from recognizing faces downtown. Whether this is the first fall you’ve spent in town or what you hope is your last, you know something for sure: Bloomington isn’t scary.You might think it still isn’t. We obviously don’t know the crime of a big city. But something is going on. These past few weeks are starting to feel a little bit like the second season of “Twin Peaks.” Strange and disturbing things keep happening without warning — the kinds of things that don’t really mesh with the Bloomington I know.Two reported hate crimes occurred early in October on campus. Swastikas were drawn on the dry-erase board of a Jewish student’s door in Briscoe Quad, and death threats were written on the dry-erase board of a lesbian student’s door in Foster Quad. The Chabad House has had two Hebrew characters stolen from its main sign.There have already been several reported rapes and sexual assaults on campus this semester. Last Friday, the Monroe County Public Library was closed due to a bomb threat. Last Sunday, an armed man broke into a convenience store to steal cigarettes. Later that morning, a non-student fired a gun outside the Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity. The following day, a 60-year-old woman was shot in the leg while walking her dog. On Thursday, a different woman was robbed at gunpoint. And as most of you probably know by now, Adam Sarnecki, a 22-year-old Pizza X delivery driver and Bloomington native, was shot and killed early Friday morning.These tragedies are distressing on their own terms. They become almost unbelievable when you realize they’ve all occurred within the last few weeks. As one of my friends asked, “When did Bloomington turn into Compton?”These are the kinds of stories I rarely heard when I was younger. I’m sure I was too busy watching “Boy Meets World” and drinking chocolate milk to notice whatever horrors roamed the streets outside my window, but I can’t remember anything close to what’s going on right now.By no means do I intend to idealize this city. Bloomington has known its fair share of crime in the past. I don’t think this is some sleepy town filled with nothing but good folks who’ve never seen tragedy. This is a real city.There’s just a certain anxiety around town I haven’t felt here before. A few of my friends told me their parents were worried about them getting to and from work. Some wondered if this quasi-crime wave was over. At the time of this writing, 320 people voted in an IDS online poll asking, “Is Bloomington becoming more dangerous?” An overwhelming 80 percent answered yes.At the opinion staff meeting Friday, we were trying to think of solutions or explanations for what’s going on. I thought maybe the planets had aligned themselves in a particularly malicious way. Someone else proposed a police state to get the situation under control. We turned to jokes because it’s hard to process so much crime happening over a short period of time in a city that doesn’t usually feel dangerous. It’s somewhat relieving to consider the community’s response to a few of the incidents. Pizza X south is having a fundraiser for the Sarnecki family through Wednesday. The IU-Notify text alerts sent out after the shooting last Sunday morning might have been vague and alarming, but they effectively communicated the presence of a threat.Bloomington isn’t suddenly America’s crime capital. This isn’t a disaster area. The world is still turning. Finals are approaching. The leaves have gone from gold to the ground. The last football game of the year is quickly approaching, and basketball season is already underway. With these expected realities, it’s sometimes easy to forget the unexpected. The hollow advice to be careful is something we’ve heard from our parents since we were children, so I won’t offer it here. I’m not trying to put you on edge more than you already are. Instead, take care and remember Bloomington isn’t just a peaceful paradise of studying and partying. Some of us know that all too well.— ptbeane@indiana.edu
(11/01/11 12:31am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>“It’s the greatest thing.”So said my friend, sitting across from me at a window seat of the Wendy’s next to dirty Kroger grocery. He had finally made a Twitter account, only five or so years late to the party. But he’s right.Our weary eyes pondered the myriad customers dragging themselves through the line to order spicy chicken nuggets and a double stack. The shuffling spectacles — some clad in Halloween costumes, others simply looking like they walked out of a horror movie — were begging to be published in 140 characters.These people wouldn’t exist to our friends (or to us, really) unless we acknowledged their disheveled existence with a tweet or two. In just a few seconds, we can type out a textual portrait or a throwaway punch line. The trivial and mundane becomes exactly what it is: important.That’s the attraction. That’s the thrill. We’re making history with our words. It’s a history of moments, one that acknowledges the art of the everyday. We process whatever latent emotions are lurking around in our sleep-deprived minds and transform them into cryptic and unalterable text. It’s no small phenomenon.At this point, it almost goes without saying, but the world we live in is a new kind of world. It’s a world where the line between public and private is less fixed than ever. A world where something we can’t hold is more real than something we can. When we show photos to our grandchildren, we won’t be turning pages; we’ll be clicking a mouse. Our memories can be liked, shared and retweeted. It’s a sort of bizarre actualization in which our waking lives are made tangible by their intangible existence online. Twitter represents the potential of this intangible era.Think about the social change that could result from so many individuals having a voice. There is a fear that so many voices will mean shouting into a void. But what if we heard each other? New media, Twitter in particular, signals the gradual shift from individualism to collectivism. The hashtag is not the dismantling of unique thought it’s the bringing together of disparate thought.We can use this absurd forum to organize, to start a revolution. Consciousness-raising becomes effortless and just as effective. We have the potential to unite on a huge scale. I doubt the Occupy movement could’ve happened, or kept itself going, without the utilization of new media.I’ve heard plenty of people dismiss Twitter as a fad. I’ve heard it written off as cheap, inelegant self-service for teens and college students all too ready to abuse the English language. But it’s not some fleeting institution. Even if it were, it’s become so pervasive that it’s permanently altered our landscape.The new landscape is one that demands our interactivity. Our participation promises the very real possibility of change. Once we realize how many of us there are and exactly how much we have in common, we can work to make this new world a better place. The limitation of 140 characters is limitless. Isn’t it the greatest thing?— ptbeane@indiana.edu
(10/27/11 1:46am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>On “Staring At The X,” Brooklyn up-and-comers Forest Fire blaze a sometimes captivating trail that fails to make a lasting impression. The explosive “Born Into” is the kind of enormous and ear-grabbing leadoff track that most bands only dream of, but it also promises an immediacy that the rest of the album rarely delivers. Forest Fire put its own spin on Nurses’ brand of weird pop with groovy standout “The News.” Saxophone lifts the sweeping “Mtns Are Mtns” into the clouds. And the warped, down-tempo funk of “They Pray Execution Style” is effectively jarring at the center of an album mostly characterized by lazy folk. Apart from these left turns, “Staring At The X” is bogged down by its easygoing pace and unmemorable melodies. Slow-burning closer “Visions In Plastic” marks one of the few moments when the carefree atmosphere pays off and sounds as majestic as Forest Fire intends. In 35 minutes, the record flies by, but it burns itself out before it can really catch.
(10/18/11 11:56pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Another GLOWfest means another chance to throw your hands up in the air while comfortably drinking and/or getting high. What could be better?Though the festival has philanthropic underpinnings, the focus of the evening will undoubtedly be on alcohol, drug-fueled dancing and seeing who can wear the most neon. It’s too bad the show starts at 4:30 p.m., since glow sticks would have been perfect eye candy for the throbbing mass of dazed concertgoers.Last semester’s GLOWfest featured Pretty Lights, an artist who might actually smoke more weed than Snoop, one of the most basic party-mentality rappers ever. This semester’s headliner, Deadmau5, keeps with GLOWfest tradition of providing the perfect music for inebriated college students.This is only a good thing. We work hard during the week, losing sleep because of papers and poring over readings in the stacks. Some of us even have jobs. We’ve earned the privilege of getting buzzed and losing ourselves in a great concert. And if not a great concert, then at least a concert that demands a party.If a mindless electro rave produced by a geek with a giant mouse head doesn’t sound like an occasion to party to you, I’m curious where you get your kicks. A few beers (or whatever substance you prefer) can elevate the already dreamlike experience of a concert into the realm of the religious. Few pleasures in life compare to the altered appreciation of being enveloped by waves of light and noise at a concert. This joy has its limits, though. We’ve all been to shows with that guy. You know the one I’m talking about. His vocabulary is limited to “woo” and “I love you.” He tries to crowd surf multiple times during the first song. He laughs at himself doing the stanky leg. He sing-screams along to every song, including the new one he can’t possibly have heard before. And he wouldn’t quite be that guy unless he spent a few songs sitting atop his friend’s shoulders, shouting indiscriminately at everyone around him.The sacred trance of a great concert can be thwarted by a single ungracious drunk bro. Don’t be that guy.Let’s all agree that you don’t need to get slizzared to enjoy the aural and visual assault of Deadmau5. However, we can also agree that a few drinks might help.Getting buzzed at a concert is one of life’s fundamental joys, maybe even a basic human right, as long as it’s done responsibly. Wednesday’s GLOWfest is a perfect opportunity to take it easy and blend into the huddled mass of your smiling and carefree fellow students. — ptbeane@indiana.edu
(10/17/11 8:06pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>In 2009, the Iowa State Supreme Court ruled in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage. The court’s decision is now in danger of being overturned. Following the resignation of Democratic Sen. Swati Dandekar, Iowa Democrats are at risk of losing their senate majority.Earlier this year, the Iowa House passed a bill to overturn the legality of gay marriage. If the empty senate seat is filled by a Republican, the bill will stand a much better chance of becoming an amendment and could appear on the 2013 ballot.Here is another crucial moment in the fight to establish equal rights for a group of people whose very identity has been demonized and illegalized by the state. By “defending” marriage, the law actually denies a class of people access to financial and social benefits. While this is primarily a civil rights issue, gay marriage is also an important means of thinking about marriage itself and the benefits that come with it.Why does marriage need defending? And what exactly is it being defended from? Maybe it’s the potential for rethinking an institution that reproduces inequality between men and women, straights and gays. Maybe gay marriage really would be a challenge to heteronormative notions of family and the gendered division of labor, or maybe gay marriage would mean the end of marriage as we know it. Maybe this is a good thing.Marriage is an undeniably important and pervasive social institution. It actively reinforces notions of gender stereotypes and structures our understanding of family. In its current iteration, “defending marriage” reduces LGBT people to second-class citizens. It’s time to consider a new way of thinking about kinship that isn’t bound by the restrictions of man and wife. Nancy Polikoff’s book “Beyond (Straight and Gay) Marriage” deals with this possibility.Polikoff is concerned with restructuring law so that it doesn’t just privilege marriage, but rather values all kinds of family. She wrote, “Laws that value all families are not primarily about legitimating gay relationships that mirror marriage. They are about ensuring that every relationship and every family has the legal framework for economic and emotional security.” Polikoff urges politicians to rethink assumptions about marriage and bestow benefits in a way that recognizes the different family dynamics. She doesn’t want to continue privileging certain kinds of relationships and not others.In advocating Polikoff’s thinking of family, I do not mean to suggest that legalizing gay marriage is a worthless cause. It should be one of the foremost political concerns for our generation. As long as LGBT people are judicially and legislatively discriminated against, there can be no rest in the fight for equal rights. Marriage must be made accessible to all people. At the same time, we should be asking why marriage, above all varieties of family or relationships, is valued. A redefinition of family would provide benefits for non-heteronormative living arrangements: unmarried couples, single parents, open relationships and close friends. It would denaturalize our assumptions about marriage, and it would protect individuals on the basis of the families they choose for themselves.So, marriage isn’t destiny, but it is a civil right for all citizens regardless of sexual orientation.— ptbeane@indiana.edu
(10/03/11 11:46pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>You’re a college student. If you’re going to retain your sanity amidst the overhaul of midterm papers and lab reports, you have to learn to make nothing mean something.The snooze button isn’t just an excuse to sleep for five more minutes; it’s an emergency escape to some sort of infinite peace. Twitter isn’t just a shallow social networking site; it’s an enchanted megaphone that allows us to scream in public without terrifying everyone around. The bars aren’t just an excuse to wallow around in dimly lit scenes of camaraderie; they’re all-expenses-paid luxury cruises. These otherwise meaningless retreats become important because they can momentarily relieve us from the brunt of school-related stress.Here are some of my go-to nothings, and why they mean something:Concert-going: Standing around in a crowded room with a bunch of strangers (preferably motionless and sipping on PBR) really puts things in perspective. You and your fellow concert-goers agree that a dark room filled with strange lights and stranger noises is the only place worth being. What is actually a few dozen humans pretending to hate themselves and music feels like a religious gathering — a chance to experience a rare community that you can’t find while sitting in the stacks writing a paper.Bike riding: Once you’ve ridden down Third Street in the rain with two lanes of traffic honking behind you, you might understand the rush of pedaling without a cause. An otherwise dreary day can turn adventurous if you’re willing to ride and sweat through the rubbly back alleys of Bloomington. This meaningless exercise becomes a transcendental ritual that allows you to suspend disbelief of your own procrastination.Field tripping, specifically to Nashville, Ind.: This adorable town’s hallowed streets are always unhurried and friendly. Treat yourself to some novelty socks and homemade ice cream. Vacationing, which can otherwise feel forced or busy, becomes an easygoing, expectation-free walkabout. Nashville has little to offer outside of its quaintness, so you won’t have to burden yourself with sight-seeing. At a time when you could be getting ahead on your reading (and therefore maintaining your high stress levels), why not stroll through a living, breathing Norman Rockwell painting?Take time for yourself to enjoy the little nothings. I don’t think I’m teaching you anything new. I’m just reminding you to take care of yourself. Set aside time to engage with your own feelings, especially on the days you think you’re too busy. What you think might be a waste of time could end up saving you from your own worrying.I know this is reading like an overwrought and sentimental “very special” column, but when all we have are these fleeting nothings, the only way to survive is to understand how important we are to each other in making these nothings mean something.—ptbeane@indiana.edu
(09/19/11 7:30pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Imagine that your deeply felt and lived-in gender identity doesn’t align with the biological sex assigned to you at birth. Imagine the difficulty you would face trying to perform the gender identity you’re most comfortable with in a society that is widely transphobic and believes firmly that one’s expression of gender must strictly coincide with his or her biological sex. How one’s gender identity is expressed, something that everyone does and almost everyone takes for granted, is made more apparent.Now imagine the further complications that would arise if you’re also a student athlete. The guidelines for what team you can play for in sex-segregated sports are unclear, and there’s little to no awareness or support available for your situation. All of this is changing.While IU’s football victory on Saturday was great, this is what’s truly exciting for me in the world of college sports: the National College Athletic Association recently released its new policy regarding transgender student athletes. The surprisingly thoughtful and comprehensive document “NCAA Inclusion of Transgender Student-Athletes” demands equal opportunity for transgender individuals. It acknowledges the importance of embracing these student athletes while being conscious of their differences and the reality of discrimination. The policy effectively explains the specificity of the transgender experience and includes testimonials from former and current transgender student athletes. The protocol with regards to involvement in sex-segregated sports reads: “A trans male (female to male) student-athlete who has received a medical exception for treatment with testosterone ... for purposes of NCAA competition may compete on a men’s team, but is no longer eligible to compete on a women’s team without changing that team status to a mixed team. “A trans female (male to female) student-athlete being treated with testosterone suppression medication ... for the purposes of NCAA competition may continue to compete on a men’s team but may not compete on a women’s team without changing it to a mixed team status until completing one calendar year of testosterone suppression treatment ...“A trans male (FTM) student-athlete who is not taking testosterone related to gender transition may participate on a men’s or women’s team.“A trans female (MTF) transgender student-athlete who is not taking hormone treatments related to gender transition may not compete on a women’s team.” The policy should be commended for allowing exception to hormone use in college athletics and for making it clear that transgender people don’t always undergo surgery or hormone treatment to alter their bodies. While the imposed year-long wait for MTF athletes to undergo hormone treatment reinforces notions that male bodies are larger or stronger than female bodies, the policy at least establishes guidelines where none existed before.The document is even more exciting due to its progressive and proactive language. It explicitly outlines and reinforces equality for transgender student athletes. It includes an appendix that delineates gender-related terminology more clearly than some of my gender studies courses have. It even poses a challenge to students and educators to “rethink an understanding of gender as universally fixed at birth.” But just because this policy has been put into effect doesn’t mean that equality will happen overnight. However, it does mean measures have been taken on a structural level to implement equality for an often overlooked group of people.Transgender people, theory and politics are rarely discussed in the mainstream, with the exception of the soon-to-be contestant on Dancing with the Stars, Chaz Bono. In the world of college sports, it’s Kye Allums.Allums, a FTM transgender man, received attention last year as the first openly transgender Division 1 basketball player in the NCAA’s history. The George Washington University guard, who played as a man on the women’s basketball team, raised awareness for the presence of transgender people in college athletics. “Do not fear what you don’t understand, and actually look up things to understand it,” Allums said in an AP interview. I wonder if he ever expected the NCAA itself to be a locus of raising consciousness.The NCAA’s new policy is a surprisingly balanced and helpful means of understanding and making visible a group of people who are often misunderstood.— ptbeane@indiana.edu
(09/05/11 9:55pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Ex-International Monetary Fund head Dominique Strauss-Kahn returned to France Sunday after a months-long, headline-making trial.Sexual assault charges against Strauss-Kahn, who was the leading presidential candidate for the French Socialist Party, were dropped last week. He was accused of raping hotel maid Nafissatou Diallo at a New York hotel early this summer.The press, as usual, asked the wrong questions and drew the wrong conclusions about the trial. While I’m hardly qualified to comment on the judge’s decision (though this does reek of yet another instance of a powerful man getting away with sexual violence), I am upset with the media’s presentation of the case. As tidbits about Diallo’s past were slowly revealed and speculated upon, including connections to prostitution and inaccuracies in her political asylum papers, so too were doubts raised about her credibility.Because we all know only the most upstanding citizens, and especially not prostitutes, can be raped.Also troubling is that underlying these accusations, many articles label her as a Guinean, Muslim woman, as if these identities would inform the public of her motivations or experiences. I don’t remember any articles prefacing Strauss-Kahn with the description, “white, Jewish.”The intersection of Diallo’s race, religious affiliation and class can, however, inform of certain ills of the media and judicial system. I don’t think I’m shocking anyone when I say this country’s laws seem to favor and were largely written by privileged white men. That a privileged white man prevailed in this case against a working-class woman of color is, as a friend of mine wrote, “the opposite of unbelievable.”This seems to me yet another missed opportunity to take an important stand against the way the law configures and the media portray sexual violence.Why is no one bothered that it seems incredibly difficult to prosecute sexual assault charges? That the responsibility lies with the victim to prove the guilt of the attacker? That existing laws do so little to prevent sexual assault? It would seem violence against women is an assumed part of our culture, let alone our Constitution, which fails time and time again to promote sex equality.Many of my feelings about this issue are informed by and indebted to feminist lawyer Catharine MacKinnon. In her book “Women’s Lives, Men’s Laws,” MacKinnon writes, “Awareness of social hierarchy is absent in the criminal law of rape’s treatment of force.” In other words, the law doesn’t take into account existing sex inequality as a constitutive influence on sexual assault. In this case, where a powerful male politician was charged with raping a working-class female, the court and the press appeared to deny that these inequalities could figure into Strauss-Kahn’s coercive force.On the contrary, many articles I’ve read have established a narrative of inequality disadvantaging Strauss-Kahn. It has been said that his political clout made him vulnerable to the “con artist” Diallo, or that these allegations were some sort of conspiracy against the French Socialist Party. He was the victim, not her.Who is wondering how Strauss-Kahn’s political clout may have actually empowered him to commit sexual violence? Again, this sort of language is not at all unbelievable, even if it is despairing.The Strauss-Kahn case is destined to be another political “sex scandal” and not an opportunity to challenge popular dialogues about sex inequality and the epidemic of rape. And unless he decides to run for office, and polls show half of French Socialists wouldn’t object, I imagine this story will be forgotten in just a few news cycles. This trial begs the question — what is important to us?At last week’s Video Music Awards, Chris Brown sang, danced (and flew?) while the audience pretended he hadn’t assaulted Rihanna two years ago. Tyler, The Creator, took home the Best New Artist award, in spite of, or because of, his brutal, misogynistic lyrics. Ours is the sort of culture that forgives, forgets and rewards men for using women. Now is the time to question and protest language that promotes sexual violence and sex inequality. Rape and violence against women are more than scandal. They are the result of real sex inequality that we constantly and unconsciously reproduce.It’s time to refuse the inevitability of sex inequality and assert the possibility of a world where sex equality is manifest and defensible in our law and embraced and lived in our culture.— ptbeane@indiana.edu