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(10/19/00 4:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>It's basically a given that there is little good to be had out of any movie starring a "Saturday Night Live" character made famous through short skits on the aforementioned television show. "Ladies Man," starring Tim Meadows as Leon Phelps, might or might not break that mold.
(10/18/00 6:45am)
Despite a teleconference attempt last week, IU and the Genocide Awareness Project haven't reached a compromise to settle group's civil rights lawsuit against the University. \nThe Center for Bio-Ethical Reform filed the lawsuit against IU earlier this year saying the University had violated GAP's civil rights by not letting the group display pictures of aborted fetuses behind Woodburn Hall. The University said the display could be set up in Dunn Meadow, the designated area for free speech activity on campus.\nEarlier this month, U.S. District Court Judge Robert Young delayed his ruling on a preliminary injunction until December and told IU and GAP they could and should compromise before then.\n"In spite of the judges urging that the University discuss alternative display sites, the University was not only unwilling to propose any alternative outdoor display sites, but they were unwilling to consider any of the outdoor display sites we suggested," said Gregg Cunningham, director for the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform.\nCunningham said he suggested sites near the Sample Gates and the Arboretum as alternative locations when he spoke with Kiply Drew, associate University counsel.\n"We had three sites in mind for each location," Cunningham said. "We proposed half a dozen alternatives and they weren't even willing to talk about them."\nDrew confirmed that IU and the center were unable to agree on a location.\n"The University's position has consistently been that the outdoor location should be Dunn Meadow," she said. "The judge encouraged us at the end of the hearing to see if we could kind of pick up where we left off last spring. He did not direct us to find them an alternative outdoor location and the kinds of alternatives we were willing to put forward are not in the nature of another outdoor location."\nBecause the lawsuit deals with the constitutionality of IU's assembly ground policy, Drew said that allowing the GAP display in another outdoor location would contradict IU's position in the lawsuit.\n"One alternative we came up with is to let them have Alumni Hall in the Union," Drew said. "They could split up the display and have part outdoors in Dunn Meadow and part in Alumni Hall. We also said we would help them facilitate some kind forum or academic discourse for the opposing viewpoints. (Cunningham) was completely uninterested."\nCunningham said GAP declined the offer to present the display indoors because of testimony from the hearing on the preliminary injunction. He said the center intends to inform the judge about the groups being unable to compromise.\n"Dean (of Students Richard) McKaig testified under oath in open court that he had rejected the option of our being forced to take the display indoors because his view was that it was a violation of First Amendment rights. And now here\'s Kiply Drew turning around and proposing something that her own dean said was a violation," he said. "The University is not speaking with one voice."\nMcKaig said he feels the University's policy has been consistent.\n"When you get a lawyer trying to represent his case, you are going to deal with their interpretation of the facts," McKaig said. "What a lawyer or an advocate does is suggest that his position is correct and somebody else\'s is wrong. Dunn Meadow has been our designated free speech area since 1962, and if you ask just about every student that has been here since 1962 if a protest is going on, if it's big, they'll say it's in Dunn Meadow."\nRecently about 10,000 students received a pamphlet in the mail from Life Dynamics, a pro-life group based in Denton, Texas. The pamphlet included a picture of an aborted fetus. The picture was in the brochure was labeled as being from the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform. \nMark Crutcher, president of Life Dynamics, said the mailing was sent out before the hearing and was not necessarily in support of GAP.\n"We learned that there is a conflict going on between another pro-life organization where the administration was denying their free speech right to show pictures of aborted babies on campus and to engage in conversations with the students about abortion," Crutcher said. "So the decision was made to use direct mail, which is the one thing they can't stop, to deliver the same message."\nCunningham said he expects GAP's fight with IU will cause other pro-life groups to try to take their message to the University community.\n"As word is spreading within the pro-life community that this administration is treating pro-lifers unfairly, more and more will begin to focus on IU," he said.\nJonathon Schuster, a sophomore, was one of the students who received the mailing, which he called "targeted junk mail."\n"It was invasive and a blatant breach of my right to privacy," Schuster said. "The horrific, gruesome display of a dead fetus was uncalled for, and the way in which it was sent was uncalled for"
(10/16/00 6:39am)
As Israel and Palestine enter today's peace summit in Egypt, unstable leadership and outcry over violence are some of the issues clouding chances of a permanent peace accord.\nIliya Harik, a political science professor who specializes in Middle East politics, said before either side can make significant progress at the bargaining table, they must agree to stop the violence that has plagued the area for the past 18 days. The fighting has claimed nearly 100 lives and the summit, which will include leaders from the United States, Egypt, Jordan and the United Nations, only came about after intense pressure to negotiate a cease-fire, according to The Associated Press. \nProtests and vigils speaking out against the violence in the Middle East have been staged throughout the United States by Israeli, Palestinian and bi-partisan groups. A vigil at the Sample Gates on the edge of campus drew about 100 people Friday.\nThe vigil, which included the reading of names of all lives claimed in the current conflict, an analysis of the events leading up to now and poetry readings, was sponsored by the Committee for Peace in the Middle East. Member and graduate student Phil Metres, said the group has been around since the '80s but has only enjoyed greater student participation in the last few years.\n"I think our group believes the violence should stop," Metres said. "One of the most important facts is that we should think about the violence not simply in terms of stone throwing but in terms of the situation in which Palestinians live."\nMetres said the group tries to present a perspective calling for peace and a resolvement of conflicts that brings justice to the people of both groups, not necessarily to the satisfaction of an official state position. Specifically, the group wants peace for all people in the Middle East.\n"We feel like this represents a perspective that both Jews and Palestinians hold in common," he said. \nThe group is planning a march Tuesday.\n"Of course, the first important issue is the stopping of hostilities," Harik said. "The Palestinians insist there should be an international committee to investigate the violence, who started it and how it was carried out by the Israelis, particularly the shooting of live bullets at unarmed youngsters."\nAt the summit today, Harik said he expects Palestinians to favor an investigation by an international committee. Harik said Israel is calling for a local investigation by Israel, Palestians and possibly another Middle Eastern country.\n"The Palestinians, because of enormous losses in human lives are not going to just turn their backs and say 'let's forget about what happened.' They will want to assign responsibility and make sure this will not happen in the future," he said. "The Israelis are trying to push their point that Arafat is responsible for starting the whole thing."\nThe Palestinians want an end of Israeli military attacks on Palestinians, a lifting of the closure of Palestinian areas that restrict movements and a pullback of Israel heavy weaponry from the outskirts of Palestinian towns, according to The Associated Press.\nThe most contentious Palestinian demand is for an international commission to investigate the violence -- Israel says it will only accept a delegation led by the United States. \nBarak, meanwhile, is looking for a halt to Palestinian attacks on Israeli soldiers and civilians and the re-arrest of extremists from the Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements who were released this past week. He is also calling for the Palestinian media to stop its calls for further attacks against Israel, according to The Associated Press. \nMediators will try to ensure that the violence doesn't overshadow peace discussions. Harik said this will be difficult due to problems in leadership for Israel, the Palestinians and for the mediators.\n"It's a very bad time for major action," Harik said. "At the present time, the U.S. president, who plays the most important mediating role, is a lame-duck president and for the next six months, it's going to look like that."\nHarik said the greatest hope one can have for the negotiations is a truce that permits eventual progress. \n"I think a permanent peace accord should be possible," he said. "There are international guidelines and laws about war and occupation and enough parties are interested in this. \n"Palestinians are not alone. All Arab countries and all Islamic countries are behind them and if anything happens to them that is too extreme there will be a lot of reaction from countries in Asia and Africa," Harik said. \nThe Associated Press contributed to this article.
(10/16/00 6:34am)
A petition drafted by a group of IU alumni is calling for the resignation of IU President Myles Brand, Vice President for Public Affairs and Government Relations Christopher Simpson, athletics director Clarence Doninger and the entire IU board of trustees.\nThe group, named Take Back IU, began collecting signatures for the petition this weekend at Assembly Hall during Midnight Madness.\n"The petition is about holding accountable the administration and the trustees for what we consider the decline of IU from what was once a first-class institution to second-rate," said Mary Ann McCarty, organizer of the group and an IU alumnus.\nTrustee Dean Hertzler said the trustees have not yet addressed a reaction to the petition.\n"I appreciate their concern," he said. "But I don't think anybody will be resigning. I can only hypothesize that perhaps people are generally concerned about where the University is going."\nAddressed to "the governor, the citizens of Indiana and the alumni of Indiana University," the petition holds the administration accountable for "a serious decline in IU's academic standing;" an "irresolvable division and incivility" between the administration, students, faculty, alumni and legislature; and the "appearance of dishonesty" in communication and decision-making processes, including but not limited to the firing of former head basketball coach Bob Knight.\nHertzler said he is glad to see the alumni are expressing their concerns.\n"I disagree with some of the conclusions they appear to have reached," he said. "As far as the standings go, that is an issue we are looking at right now."\nMcCarty, a 1976 IU graduate currently living in Columbus, Ind., said she and the alumni group came together after hearing several public accounts about events going on at the University.\n"It's stuff the Alumni Association doesn't report to us and we're not going to hear it from Myles Brand," McCarty said.\nMcCarty, who is one of 48 plaintiffs in a lawsuit against IU claiming Knight's firing was not in accordance with the Indiana Open Door Law, said the firing of Knight was one of the events that fueled the creation of Take Back IU. She said several other events also caused the group concern, including the lack of a formal investigation of impropriety on the part of the administration over the proposed golf course at Griffy Lake.\nTo date, about 30 people have been involved in the creation of the petition. A Web site, www.takebackiu.com, has been established in order to get signatures over the Internet.\nMcCarty said although the group does not have an exact time frame, it is planning to submit the signed petition to the governor.\n"When we get a significant amount of signatures, we owe it to the state of Indiana to get it into the hands of the governor, the legislature and the IU Alumni Association," she said.\nPhil Bremen, press secretary for Indiana Gov. Frank O'Bannon, said O'Bannon's position is to let the president and board of trustees determine what is best for IU.\n"Clearly, the governor wants to know what is of concern to the people of Indiana ... the governor is also very emphatic that universities should run their own affairs," Bremen said.\nVictor Viola, a chemistry professor who was contacted by the Take Back IU group after he was interviewed on ESPN, said the impact of the petition remains to be seen.\n"I think many faculty and staff will feel an unwillingness to sign on because of their vulnerability," he said. "I will simply help make it known to people that this petition exists and let people follow their own wishes. If they are concerned, they should sign on. I hope people will follow their feelings and take it or leave it"
(10/13/00 3:20am)
An initial proposal to build an about $60 million Multidisciplinary Science Building (MSB), designed to run the latest technology for scientific research, is currently under review by the Indiana Commission for Higher Education.\nIf the commission makes a positive recommendation, the proposal will be included with other capital requests IU will submit to the General Assembly. \nIn his State of the University speech to the campus Tuesday, IU President Myles Brand called the new building IU's top capital priority going into budget negotiations with the state legislature.\nBrand said the idea for the science building has been around for a few years.\n"I think over the last 12 months the idea's matured," Brand said. "People began working on it and most importantly we saw an opportunity for state support."\nLisa Pratt, associate dean for research with the College of Arts and Sciences and chair of the MSB steering committee, said the proposed new building came out of a grassroots movement among faculty, due to a shared need for high-quality research space.\n"The underlying problem is that instrumentation in the sciences has become very complex," Pratt said. "At the same time, it's become very precise because of the nature of the instruments. We don't have very many places on campus where instruments perform as well as they are designed to work."\nProblems with using the hi-tech instruments are due to the need for temperature control, humidity control, highly filtered air, minimal vibration and, in some cases, shielding from solar or man-made radiation. These specifications can't be regulated in most of IU's science buildings, the majority of which were constructed during the 1950s and 60s, Pratt said.\nFaculty from both the social and laboratory sciences have pulled together in support of the new building. The steering committee is made of faculty members from the College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Public and Environmental Affairs in addition to representatives from the IU Architects office and campus engineers. The group is working on technology required for the building and is also developing a futuristic design. \n"We don't simply want to solve current technology problems," Pratt said. "We want a building that will put us in a position for the next 10 to 20 (years) of having a truly outstanding facility, one that other people would look to as a plan of how you enhance instrumentation and how you change a culture from traditional discipline-based research to collaborative Multidisciplinary-based research."\nThe building aims to be multidisciplinary not just in name, but in every sense of the word. Pratt said having a centralized building for hi-tech laboratory work will pull all the science departments together for joint research endeavors.\n"It's really important philosophically that this building looks at the needs of scientists regardless of what school they're in," Pratt said. "We've put out a call to all faculty to have direct input to the steering committee through a document called 'Expressions of interest.' The document has a lot of very nice language about why this building, why now and why every faculty member should be involved in creating this environment for scientific research that is specific to the Bloomington community.\n"We don't have an engineering school and we don't have an (agriculture) school so we need to define the future of scientific research on this campus in a way that is consistent with our strengths."\nRequesting state money for the building will be done in two stages, attempting to acquire half the funds during this budgetary period and the remainder in the next. Sonja Johnson, executive assistant to the vice president for administration, said additional funding will be sought through gifts. Brand said the University will probably look for about $20 million in gift money. A proposal detailing plans and asking for the initial $30 million is currently at the Commission for Higher Education. \nMichael Baumgartner, associate commissioner for facility and financial affairs said the state commission looks at several aspects when making a recommendation. Among these are how long the building has been in the planning stages, future capital priorities, size and scope of the project and the need for the building in accordance with the mission of the institution. \nBrand said the building is in keeping with the theme of moving Indiana toward a 21st century economy.\n"IU has been well positioned to take advantage of that theme," Brand said. "On the capital side, we've made our first priority the science building."\nThe commission then puts together a list of recommendations for the State Budget Agency and the General Assembly.\n"The commission tries to determine which requests are most important right now," Baumgartner said, "and which ones might be able to wait when we put together our list of recommendations."\nIn February, Indiana's public institution will make their requests to the General Assembly. In the case of the building, the state can issue funding in the form of cash appropriation or in bonding authority, with the state paying the principal and interest payments on the bonds.\nThis year, colleges and universities around the state have made about $480 million in capital requests. During the last budgetary period, the state satisfied about $264 million in requests, the most money it has ever distributed. Baumgartner said he expects the General Assembly to appropriate less than this during this year's budget negotiations.\nFunding aside, one of the biggest challenges of supporting the building is finding a suitable location.\n"It's an important and hard question and I don't have the answer," Brand said. "But we will have to have the answer in a short time, in 30 days maybe, 60 days at most, because as we go forward to the legislature they're going to ask that question, too.\n"We're working hard to resolve that and there are three options that we've been considering. Talking about criteria, one of the criteria is proximity to the other science buildings because it's a multidisciplinary effort and we want scientists and students to be able to work together. Another criteria is the aesthetics of the campus. We are committed to having a beautiful campus; we've been successful for many years in large part thanks to Herman B Wells, and we'll do everything we can to make sure that remains intact."\nPratt said the University and steering committee are currently considering several specific sites, all within the "heart" of campus, between Third and Seventh streets. One of these possible areas is located behind the Chemistry Building, bounded by Rawles, Myers and Lindley Halls.\n"(The site) is very attractive because scientists of many of the largest departments could walk to the building within two or three minutes of their offices," she said.\nParts of the building will most likely be constructed underground, an aspect that will allow certain instruments shielding from radiation. Further specifics on the building site are being delayed until John Belle, the University planning architect, can make recommendations.\n"Architecturally, building underground gives us some flexibility in how much it impacts the skyline," Pratt said. "We don't have to have a skyscraper if we can drop part of the building below the ground surface."\nLast week, the steering committee and interested faculty braved a thunderstorm to meet with Brand, Vice President for Administration Terry Clapacs and Assistant Vice President of Facilities Robert Meadows.\n"They all sat around in their wet clothing for three hours eating pizza and talking about where the building should be, what the priorities were in selecting a site," Pratt said. "It was a meeting unlike any meeting I've ever been to; it represented such a broad spectrum of the community trying to solve a very complex problem: a big building, a building that serves very specific functions and a beautiful campus"
(10/10/00 5:57am)
The newly organized Linda and Jack Gill Center for Instrumentation and Measurement Science is in need of a new director as Gary Hieftje, Gill Center chair and chemistry professor, resigned Oct. 2.\nGill Center was created to instruct and research the development of new techniques of calculating scientific data. Hieftje resigned because of conflicts with excessive funding, said Kumble Subbaswamy, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.\n"Basically, he expected a certain level of commitment from the college in configuring the center in particular ways," Subbaswamy said. "And coming in as a new dean, I really had some problems with that and in terms of what I was willing to commit."\nHiefjte declined to comment on his resignation, saying only that he was no longer involved with Gill Center.\nThese conflicts had to do with the level of funding received by certain positions and how positions would construct, Subbaswamy said.\n"The Center has only begun to operate recently, and it is not one that has had designated space or a whole bunch of people working," Subbaswamy said. "The gift only got completed recently."\nJack Gill, who received a degree in organic chemistry from IU in 1982, established Gill Center. He is the founder and general partner of Vanguard Venture Partners, a high-tech venture capital firm. Gill is currently a member of the IU Foundation Board and the Deans' Advisory Boards of the Kelley School of Business and the College of Arts and Sciences.\nHieftje said Gill Center was formed in an effort to bring together scientists and technologists from different areas who are interested in the "conception, design, development and application" of instrumentation, which Hieftje defines as anything that extends one's senses.\n"Many of the most significant developments in science arise directly because a new sort of instrumentation is developed," he said. "For example, the fairly recent sequencing of the human genome is a direct result of new instrumentation that was capable of highly parallel sequencing of sections of the genome."\nThe faculty of the center is composed of five Gill Chairs, endowed by the Gills. One Gill Chair has been named in each of the biology and computer science or informatics departments. Two chairs are selected from the chemistry department and the fifth chair is a "wild card" position that can be filled by a faculty member from any department or school.\n"The intention is that the holders of these chairs be highly prominent faculty in the field of instrumentation design and development," Hieftje said, "and that they be instinctively collaborative."\nAnother aspect of the Gill Center is the awarding of the Gill Prize, recognition that carries a $10,000 stipend. The prize is awarded to a living scientist who has had outstanding achievement in instrumentation in the last five years.\nAny instrumentation designed at the Gill Center will be made available to the outside world through the Center's "industrial outreach" program. Organizers are developing a master's program in instrumentation and measurement science in connection with Gill Center. According to the organization's Web site, "In this program, students who already have a baccalaureate degree in physics, chemistry, biology or another science will develop the knowledge and skills to characterize, design and construct new instrumentation for measurement and control."\nTo accumulate funding for the project, organizers from IU have formed the Indiana Instrumentation Institute with faculty members at Purdue University. \nA search is under way for a new chair and Lisa Pratt, a professor of geological sciences, is putting the Center together until a new director is hired.\nSubbaswamy said this kind of turnover is not uncommon.\n"(Hieftje) is a very well-known analytical chemist with a great deal of expertise in instrumentation and measurement. He was a natural for the position," he said. "Directorships rotate just like department chairs rotate, especially when there is a change in higher level leadership and the new dean has some different points of view"
(10/05/00 4:40am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>For those of us who didn't live through them, decades are often defined by songs from the era that are well-known enough to have stood the test of time on radio playlists and movie soundtracks. For example, "My Girl" by the Temptations represents the '60s, or "Stayin' Alive" by the Bee Gees is the trademark of the '70s. But most people never think of songs that maybe have been on the radio every day during their decade but have since fallen into semi-obscurity.
(10/05/00 4:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>For those of us who didn't live through them, decades are often defined by songs from the era that are well-known enough to have stood the test of time on radio playlists and movie soundtracks. For example, "My Girl" by the Temptations represents the '60s, or "Stayin' Alive" by the Bee Gees is the trademark of the '70s. But most people never think of songs that maybe have been on the radio every day during their decade but have since fallen into semi-obscurity.
(10/03/00 6:45am)
A U.S. District Court judge in Indianapolis will hear arguments in a civil rights lawsuit filed against IU by the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform. The suit was filed after the University restricted the Center from setting up the Genocide Awareness Project, a display of images depicting aborted fetuses, in the area behind Woodburn Hall.\nThe Center, based in Mission Hills, Calif., attempted to bring GAP to IU last April. Gregg Cunningham, director of the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform, said the visit was canceled when the University denied a request to set up the display in the field behind Woodburn Hall. Instead, the University asked that GAP use Dunn Meadow for the two-day presentation.\n"IU is the first school where we could not come to an agreement about where to set up the display," Cunningham said. "But the University will not even negotiate with us. They have taken the position of go to Dunn Meadow or go to jail."\nCunningham said IU is the first time the group has ever had to take legal action to bring the display to campus. The group has been to about 28 other college campuses, including Penn State and Ohio State.\nA judge was scheduled to hear the lawsuit yesterday. It was rescheduled because John Tinder, the judge assigned to the case, is married to IU's trial counsel, Jan Carroll. \n"Jan has been advising us and it was just the luck of the draw that it ended up in her husband's court," said Kiply Drew, associate University counsel.\nCunningham said the rescheduling forced GAP to again put off coming to IU, which they had planned to do this week.\n"I'm not sure what the University's motive was but the case was reassigned and rescheduled," he said. "Now it is much more likely that we will come for a much longer period of time than originally announced. Depending on the outcome (of the suit) we may be forced to reach the University community using approaches that would not have been our first preference."\nAt the hearing, IU and GAP will have the chance to present their cases. Drew said since the Center for Bio Ethical Reform filed a preliminary injunction, there was exchanging of papers or taking of depositions on the part of both sides involved. The judge will then make a ruling or take the case under advisement. \nDrew said she doesn't expect the judge to make a ruling in favor of one side tomorrow. Both sides will have the option of appealing any decision to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals based in Chicago.\nCunningham called the Woodburn Hall area a place that is "commonly used for First Amendment activity" and said the area is also preferable because it attracts two and a half times the traffic of Dunn Meadow.\nJim Gibson, assistant dean of students, said the Woodburn Hall area is not a designated free speech area and that the group will receive full University support if they choose to display in Dunn Meadow.\n"They are allowed to come here right now," he said. "I worked hard last spring with the two student organizations who were going to sponsor the project and I also worked with student groups when they were going to come this fall."\nIf the judge rules in the University's favor, Cunningham said the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform is considering several other options to show the GAP project at IU. Some of these options are mass mailings to students, faculty and staff and displaying the images on the sides of trucks, which will then be driven through campus.\n"We intentionally purchased trucks capable of lawful operation on surface streets," Cunningham said. "Huge billboard images of aborted babies can be affixed to the sides of the trucks."\nOther options, which Cunningham calls "creative" and legal, for disseminating the information are now being under review at the Center.\n"One promise we can make to the community are that these images are going to come to your campus," he said. "If we lose, instead of being there 48 short hours, we going to be there much longer and much more invasively."\nCunningham said he expects a community outcry from more invasive methods of dissemination.\n"We don't want the blame," he said. "We want them to put the blame where it belongs: squarely on the shoulders of (IU President) Myles Brand."\nGibson disagreed with this statement.\n"Anyone who admits to using an invasive form of getting a message out is responsible for that invasive message," he said. "If CBR is using the methods, then CBR is responsible"
(09/27/00 10:15am)
The biggest problem with incivility lies in its definition.\nAlthough Webster's New World Dictionary defines incivility as "a lack of courtesy or politeness" or just plain "rudeness," what individuals consider to embody disrespect and rudeness differ.\nA new survey of IU faculty conducted by the Bloomington Faculty Council and the Center for Survey Research shed some light on the subject. Professors and associate instructors define incivility as anything from threats of violence to students chewing gum to students who don't take notes in class. Each semester, students discover that while they might be able to eat lunch in one course, another professor might consider even gum or candy to be against the rules.\n"We've already found out that different faculty have different levels of tolerances of behavior in class," said Richard McKaig, dean of students. "(For me) it goes beyond just following the law to kind of creating a relationship where there is respect for the individuals in the process and a willingness for the individuals to be heard."\nConstructing the survey\nWorking with the survey research center, the BFC developed a survey on incivility, which it distributed to all professors and associate instructors. Kevin D. Vryan, project manager for the Center for Survey Research and a graduate student, said the survey was first researched by consulting academic literature and local feedback on incivility.\nAfter the first draft, developers met in person with some full-time faculty members and associate instructors to determine if any of the questions sounded incomplete.\nEvery educator on the Bloomington campus received a copy of the survey; 1,009 professors and 440 associate instructors returned a completed questionnaire. Vryan said this response is substantial compared with other surveys.\n"People who teach sometimes have to deal with incivility," Vryan said. "Therefore, it's a personal matter. Many of the people responding are asking to see the results of the survey."\nThe preliminary results have been divided into several sections. First, the survey gives several examples of uncivil behavior, from students sleeping in class to students threatening violence, and asks the faculty their opinion: acceptable or unacceptable. \nMcKaig said almost all uncivil behavior has one thing in common: It occurs because of frustration.\n"(Students) may have some frustrations in other parts of their lives and think that they have few alternatives left," he said. "Possibly, people have not learned well how to confront or at least challenge without letting anger or emotion be the driving force. Frustration drives it, and in choosing how to express frustration some people go well beyond what we would call reason."\nNext, faculty responded to how often the behavior occurred, how they handle the behavior, and the effectiveness of these methods. Finally, the survey asks whether incivility occurs more in smaller or larger classes and from graduate or undergraduate students. The gender of the students and educators was also included.\nThe data on ditching class\nAccording to the results, educators consider physical threats from students, students belittling other students and student vulgarity to most often define uncivil behavior and disrespect in the classroom. Most frequent examples were students arriving late for class, students cutting class or students being unprepared for class. George Malacinski, a biology professor, said he defines incivility as anything that interrupts the learning experience of students.\n"(I consider) wisecrack remarks, made in a voice loud enough to be heard by other students and often directed to the teacher to display the most incivility," Malacinski said.\nJames Sherman, professor of psychology and president of the BFC, said he found some items on the survey to be detrimental to a student's success in the classroom, not uncivil behavior.\n"Acting bored; that's not uncivil," he said. "If I'm being boring, then that's my fault. Cutting class, students are adults; if they want to cut class, that's their choice. But if you cut a class, you pay a price in most courses. If you don't want to be there, don't be there or stop flipping the newspaper." \nMost faculty members feel rude behavior most often happens in smaller classes, undergraduate classes and from male students directed against female instructors.\n"Almost always incidents occur from immature undergrads, virtually never graduate students," Malacinski said.\nSherman said the BFC plans to take the results and appoint a faculty committee to work with John Kennedy, director for the Center for Survey Research, and find a way to use the data to tackle incivility at IU.\nSome possible avenues the committee could take are finding out an "IU" definition of civility and speculating on why incivility occurs.\nHistory of Incivility\nIn recent years, IU has had its own problems with uncivil behavior in the classroom. In 1997, Chana Kai Lee, former professor of history, filed four separate complaints against students in her American history class. She cited several groups of students for creating continual disruptions, but she made serious allegations against three students who were members of the IU football team. \nLee alleged that one student made an obscene gesture at her by grabbing his crotch when she kept the three after class.\nIn October 1997, IU published "Guidelines for Dealing with Disruptive Students in Academic Settings" to provide a standardized manual for professors.\nAnother step has been the new survey on civility. The BFC decided to poll all IU educators to find out how often disrespect occurs and what they do to handle it.\n"There had been several pretty high profile public acts of incivility in the classroom," Sherman said. "Professor Lee is a prime example. While they may have been isolated incidents, it is important to try to assess the severity of the problem and to find out if there was incivility, what kinds existed."\nSherman said incivility is a problem that doesn't just touch his job at IU.\n"There is too much incivility around these days," he said. "I'm not just talking about IU, I'm talking about walking through cities or walking downtown. It may seem like a small problem, but it's very different when you're in a place where people are civil and friendly."\nMcKaig said even isolated incidents like Lee's can completely change the learning atmosphere for professors and students.\n"Incivility can warp the classroom environment of a course for an entire semester and can shake a professor's confidence and willingness to be in classroom setting well beyond that course," he said.\nChanging Climate Of Students\nPam Freeman, assistant dean of students, has been involved in several workshops concerning uncivil behavior IU and other campuses. Most recently, Freeman worked with the School of Public and Environmental Affairs faculty at IU-South Bend.\n"It was interesting because at most of the ones I've been involved with, the faculty has been very concerned about what to do at the moment when a student does something threatening," she said.\nFreeman said some students think incivility is warranted when their professors act disrespectful to students, such as canceling class without notice or changing the grading scale in the middle of the semester.\n"The message that has come through for me is that students want to be treated fairly and don't want faculty taking a cavalier attitude to what they've told their classes up front," she said. "Students want faculty to level with them and to be really organized."\nFreeman thinks incivility in classes has become a problem because students today expect their instructors to treat them as equals.\n"Some faculty are finding that difficult to understand," Freeman said. "As students are becoming more accustomed to active learning, they are getting less appreciative of mundane classes or classes where the same methods are used all the time and they are not involved. If a faculty member wants to keep students engaged, one thing they can try to do is to go someplace like the Teacher Resource Center and to get some new ways to present course matter. \n"This is not to say that someone who lectures every class deserves to have incivility, but it might be one way to prevent or minimize students coming late, leaving early and some of the things that do bother the faculty."\nClear Communication\nThe best way to combat classroom incivility is to be up-front about expectations, McKaig said.\n"In the first class session, a faculty member should clearly state expectations and, even better, have a syllabus, so there can't be any misunderstanding of what's expected and then dealing consistently and fairly in enforcing those guidelines," he said. "A student should talk with a professor about any incident. And if they feel uncomfortable dealing with the professor, then talk to a department head, as opposed to letting the matter go unresolved and adding to a reservoir of frustration."\nHaving a zero-tolerance policy on disrespect combats the problem for Malacinski. He advises students of this policy on the first day, and Malacinski keeps any student violating the policy after class for a one-on-one conversation.\n"I ask an offending student after class, alone, to sit in the back row," he said. Malacinski tells the student "If they are disruptive again, I'll call the police to remove them. Works every time"
(09/25/00 8:10am)
Bright and early last Tuesday morning, Greg Ruminski, the assistant men's swimming coach, was awakened by the ring of his phone. Dutch swimmer Pieter Van Den Hoogenband had just broken the world record in the men's 100 meter freestyle at the Sydney Olympics and Ruminski's boss, men's swimming coach Kris Kirchner, wanted to share his excitement.\n"He said 'Hey did you hear the news?' and he told me the news and I was like 'OK, great,'" Ruminski said. "But I wanted to go back to bed."\nAlthough Kirchner has been following all the events at the Sydney pool with a similar amount of zeal, the men's 100 free holds special significance. Kirchner qualified for the event at the 1980 Olympic Trials for the games held in Moscow. But unlike the U.S. swimmers taking medals this year in Sydney, Kirchner earned his spot knowing he would never actually compete in the Olympics.\nThen-president Jimmy Carter called for a boycott of the 1980 Olympics to protest the 1979 invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union. The United States and about 60 other nations did not send any athletes to the 1980 Games, leaving a whole generation of men and women who would not add an Olympic medal to their list of accomplishments in sports.\nFrom the age of six until his retirement at 22, Kirchner swam competitively, spending a good portion of his time in the pool. \n"Up until 1979, I was not really in the national or international spotlight," he said. "In 1979, I earned a spot on the Pan-American team. From that point on, I made big progressions."\nIt was at this point that all of Kirchner's training began to come together. As a junior at the University of Texas, he took second in the 50 freestyle at NCAA's and fifth in the 100 free. By 1980, he had the fourth best time in the world in the 100 free.\n"By then I knew what I wanted to do and what I thought I could do," he said. "It all began to become a reality."\nAs Kirchner's training came together, the political relations between the United States and the former Soviet Union came apart. In the spring of 1980, Carter announced the boycott. The U.S. Olympic Trials were pushed back that year to coincide with the Moscow Olympics. Even though the United States would not be competing, the country still named an Olympic team and recognized those athletes who had earned a spot.\nKirchner earned his spot by finishing third in the 100 free. Just as the U.S. Olympic qualifiers saw their names go up on the wall at this year's trials in Indianapolis, Kirchner remembers the announcement of the 1980 team.\n"(U.S. Swimming) still selected the Olympic team, you just knew that you were not going. It was still a competition and, you still did what you had set out to do," Kirchner said of the trials. "It was still an honor to be one of the top swimmers."\nAlthough he can't speak for all the athletes who were kept out of the 1980 Games, Kirchner understands Carter's actions from a political standpoint. He sees the boycott as something he had to deal with as an American and one that may have been worth it.\n"This is the best country to live in the the world," Kirchner said. "I've been to others and seen a lot and this is where I want to live. The tough part is when I made the decision that I wasn't going to swim anymore. After I knew that that was my only time to compete at the Olympic level. In my mind, I would go to Moscow, kick butt and find out if I could win at the Olympic level."\nWhile swimmers like 33-year-old Olympian Dara Torres can make the money to keep themselves training after college and even into their thirties, this wasn't the case in 1980. At 22, Kirchner was viewed as an "old man" by swimming standards. To stay in competitive shape for the 1984 Los Angeles Games, he would have had to foot the bill for coaching and training himself with little hope for endorsements or other profit opportunities. \n"As I get older, it's an awful feeling when I think that it was the only opportunity I had," he said. "At 22, I was retired and I know now at 42 that at 22 I could have been better. I know I would have improved, but I had no financial way to do that." \nNow Kirchner is working to make it back to the Olympics -- this time as a coach. He has coached a British and a Belgian Olympian in the past, but Kirchner's goal is to go back as part of the U.S. team.\n"Coaching at the Olympic level is very difficult," he said. "It's more difficult to just watch because when you are coaching you aren't in control of what the performance is. I'm not going to be satisfied until our athletes at IU make the transition to the Olympic level. We took five guys to the swimming trials and they performed pretty well. But pretty well doesn't get a spot."\nAs Kirchner watches U.S. swimmers winning medals and crushing record times this Olympics, he feels satisfied with the direction of the sport.\n"I watch these Olympics and feel very satisfied to be an American," he said. "It proves we have the best swim team. Even if you don't win every event, if you can show dominance, it proves you have the best country in the world"
(09/22/00 5:39am)
Sara Reiling begins competition in her first Olympic Games today, participating in the preliminaries of the women's 10-meter platform diving competition in Sydney, Australia.\nReiling, an IU junior and national indoor champion in the women's 3-meter springboard and seventh place finisher in the platform competition, qualified for the 10-meter platform event at the Olympic trials in June, finishing second to Laura Wilkinson. She will compete against top medal contenders such as China's Li Na, Canadian Emilie Heymans and teammate Wilkinson.\nIf Reiling finishes with one of the top scores in the preliminaries, she will go on to compete in the finals Sunday. Each possible dive that competitors perform has been assigned a degree of difficulty based on a mathematical formula. The takeoff position, number of somersaults, number of twists, flight position and entry position are considered in determining this degree.\nClean form and water entries with no splash are two key elements for getting a good score from the judges, said Jim Quinlivan, director of marketing for U.S. Diving.\n"It's really hard to say what kind of chances (Reiling) has, because Sara is so new internationally," Quinlivan said. "She has a pretty difficult dive list including one of the dives many of the top women will be doing, a back one and a half somersault with three-and-a-half twists."\nAssistant IU diving coach Adam Soldati said the chances of all the divers depend on what happens the day of competition.\n"Sara's strength lies a lot in her experience," Soldati said. "She's been in the sport a long time, she's got a great background in diving. She has good toe point, good lines and a lot of experience and time behind her." \nProgressive learning of new skills is the main way divers go from beginning levels to diving from ten feet in the air. Quinlivan said most divers first learn tricks on the lower boards and then master dives on higher levels.\n"In springboard diving there are a lot of timing issues because you have to be able to catch or ride the springboard," he said. "In platform, timing is not so much of an issue." \nDue to the 18-hour time difference between Bloomington and Sydney, Reiling's teammates will have to make the choice to check results for the preliminaries on the Internet or to wait it out and watch the taped competition on television.\n"I'm really eager to find out how she does," junior diver Erin Quinn said. "I know I can find out ahead of time, but I definitely haven't decided if I want to check it out or wait and watch on television."\nBefore Reiling left for Sydney, men's swimming coach Kris Kirchner advised her to have fun and keep a good attitude about the competition.\n"We're all cheering for her," Kirchner said. "Everyone at IU should think good thoughts and hope and pray she does her best. That's all she's got to do"
(09/22/00 5:05am)
Four faculty members sent a letter to President Myles Brand and the board of trustees Friday urging them to take action to improve IU's "excellence and reputation" in light of low rankings by U.S. News and World Report and the Florida Center.\nIn the letter, the faculty members suggest establishing an outside committee to look into ways IU can improve.\n"We need some independent evaluation of the directions we are taking," said Peter Bondanella, one of the drafters of the letter and a professor of West European Studies. "A blue-ribbon committee composed of outside citizens, scholars and government officials might well be able to ascertain where we need to change direction."\nThe letter was sent by the Steering Committee of the Alliance of Distinguished and Titled Rank Professors, a group who monitors the level of excellence and quality at IU, said Bondanella. The committee is made of Bondanella, professor of fine arts Bruce Cole, professor of psychology David Pisoni, and psychology professor Richard Shiffrin.\n"Asking critical questions is not a very popular thing to do," Bondanella said. "The administration's record during the past year shows that it is very much afraid of constructive criticism."\nCiting the examples of the controversy over Griffy Lake and the firing of former head basketball coach Bob Knight, Bondanella said the Alliance sent the letter in part to make sure that students, faculty and staff receive all information on current events.\n"Students, faculty, staff and the citizens of the state have an obligation to hold the administration to a very high standard," he said.\nBill Stephan, vice president for Information Technology Services and spokesperson for Brand at press time, said Brand had not yet received a copy of the letter.\n"We hope that the faculty that have signed the letter are trying to be constructive with regard to their concerns," Stephan said. "We hope that Brand will receive a copy of that letter at some point in the near future."\nAccording to this year's U.S. News and World Report rankings, IU placed in the second tier of schools when evaluated in areas such as SAT and ACT scores, freshman retention numbers and alumni giving rate.\nThe Florida Center report, conducted by the Center for Studies of the Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Florida, ranked IU below all Big Ten Universities except Michigan State in its report on the Top American Research Universities. The report identifies nine categories and awards one point to a university each time it ranks in the top 25. Categories include: total research expenditures, federal research expenditures, endowment assets, total annual giving, faculty members in national academies and entering freshmen SAT scores.\n"The Florida Center underlines our weaknesses in the first category (IU's status as a research university,)" Bondanella said. "The U.S. News and World Report underlines our problems in undergraduate education."\nStephan said Brand believes the U.S. News rankings are problematic in their methodology.\n"We rely more heavily on what we believe are serious reviews of University performance," Stephan said. "Such as a book that's out called The Rise of American Research Universities by Hugh Graham and Nancy Diamond. Their method is much more objective and more thorough."\nThese rankings distinguish between public and private universities and IU ranks very highly across several categories in this report, Stephan said.\nCole said criticisms of the various rankings does not forward the mission of the University.\n"Instead of attacking the Florida report or trying to spin its statistics," he said, "wouldn't it be wiser to carefully study its findings and use them to try to rebuild what we have lost academically?"\nBondanella said Brand has been incorrect in making a statement in an "ESPN: Outside the Lines" interview that IU was fourth in the nation in arts, humanities and social sciences.\n"People who have low rankings are always on the defensive," Bondanella said. "This case is no exception. I wish we were fourth in the entire United States in just about everything, but I am afraid that such a statement is sadly mistaken"
(09/21/00 4:23am)
The road to Mexico is a long one, even when the method of travel happens to be phone lines. First comes the 14-digit phone number. Then, after a few foul-ups and a few recorded messages from the operator, it's time for a seven-digit billing number. The phone starts ringing and finally a voice picks up, saying "Hola?" \nLila Downs quickly switches from Spanish to English when she realizes her caller is not from the area. She's used to making adjustments. \nThe daughter of an Anglo-American father from Minnesota and a Mixtec Indian mother from the Oaxaca region of Mexico, Downs grew up bouncing from one culture to another. When she chose music as her method of expression, it stayed with her. \nNow she travels Mexico and the States combining traditional Mexican folk music, lyrics about the mythological account of the Mixtec heritage she inherited for her mother and the smooth sounds of jazz. \nDowns is only one of the 27 artists who will travel to Bloomington, bringing their talents for jazz, funk, reggae, pop, gospel, folk and blues from the United States, Ireland, France, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Canada, Morocco, Kurdistan, Azerbaijan, Finland, Sweden and Japan to the seventh annual Lotus World Music and Arts Festival, running from today through Saturday at a variety of locations around the city. \n Among those included on the schedule are American folk and blues artist Odetta, Brazilian performer Chico Cesar, Irish traditional group Lunasa and Bloomington-based Vida. In a world dominated by imitations, the artists of the Lotus Festival choose music that comes from them, no matter what combination of cultures, instruments and culture fits that definition. \nLila Downs: Seed of Cultures\nAlthough Downs has been singing since she was five, her current style of music only recently became her way of expressing and celebrating her culture. She grew up moving from the mountains of Oaxaca listening to the stories of the Mixtec Indians, or "cloud people," to the cold winters of Minneapolis, where she listened to Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, Melissa Manchester and Elton John. She attended the University of Minneapolis and studied voice, opera and anthropology, dropped out for a while, followed the Grateful Dead, learned to weave Indian textiles and, finally, did a senior thesis based on just about all of the above.\n"That's what brought me to what I'm doing today," Downs said. "It made me realize I could say things in a different way, that I didn't have to say things in terms of anything already out there, that I could invent my own language."\nWhen Downs speaks this language she tries to communicate the things she has learned during the years. As a product of two cultures, she spent some of her years growing up confused about where she belongs, something she likens to Third World countries being colonized by larger, richer nations. \n"There's a certain thing that happens in colonized countries; you watch TV and everyone is white or trying to emulate a Western model," she said. "If you don't have a comprehensive historical background, you tend to start thinking 'Why am I dark?' and 'Why do I have dark hair?' My music is about learning about who you are."\n"Learning who you are" also means embracing her American background. \n"My father is a Scottish-American white man and I also have that in my blood," Downs said. "I appreciate the gifts given by the many beautiful aspects of Western culture and I think it's important. I want to make people feel proud of themselves."\nDowns' concerts include music from the traditional harps of Paraguay and the Veracruz part of Mexico, percussion from Mexico, Native American drums, fiddles, guitars, jazz piano and saxophone. On stage, Downs tries to wear a special textile from her native home in Mexico or something that expresses a story of female empowerment. Her music is about learning and embracing all aspects of her personality. Her music is definitely not about trying to fit into the American musical mainstream. \n"People are always going to ask those kinds of questions," Downs said. "I think it depends on what your values are and what your dreams are in life. I want to move me and move people who share things in common with me. If I choose to sing a song that has more massive appeal, I don't mind if that's what I want to do as long as what makes me do those things is the truth within myself."\nAntibalas: The sounds of afrobeat \nWhile it only takes a 10-digit phone number to dial up the Brooklyn-based home of Antibalas, the roots of the band and their style of music called afrobeat extend out through many countries and inspirations. \nThe music of afrobeat can be traced back to a Nigerian composer and performer named Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, explains Antibalas drummer and percussionist Phil Ballman. Kuti created his music by combining funk, jazz and the rhythms of Africa. \n"Afrobeat is a fusion of different musics that (Kuti) created, and we're keeping his tradition alive by playing original music in his style," Ballman said. "It's kind of like if James Brown was born in West Africa and he had an African drum heartbeat and a jazz horn line." \nFourteen musicians with Latino, white, African-American, African and Asian-American heritage by way of New York City form Antibalas. They create music using guitars, trombones, saxophones, conga drums, sticks, shekere gourds, trumpets, an organ and vocals. Lyrics for their songs are derived from the English, Spanish and Yoruba languages. \n"For myself, I first heard this kind of music when I was 19 and I was completely floored," Ballman said. "I listened to it for six months. I was playing drums at the time and I thought this would be such great music to play because it has elements of jazz and funk. The polyrhythms of typical African music are very complex and sophisticated but it is also extremely groovy and danceable." \nAlong with formulating afrobeat, Kuti also believed in social justice. This tradition has also been carried on in Antibalas. The group named itself after the Spanish word for "bulletproof" or "anti-bullets."\n"The name sort of symbolically carries on a tradition of being strong and being against violence," Ballman said. \nLike Downs, Ballman and the members of Antibalas are the first to admit that the music they love to play isn't the music that will make them rich in the financial sense. \n"Who cares?" Ballman said. "The idea is just to play music that you are really emotionally moved by and excited about. We all feel the music is really incredible and powerful; that's the reason why we play it."\nThe Lotus Festival will mark Ballman's first trip to Indiana. He and the rest of the band decided to make the trip after also committing to play at the Chicago World Music Festival. A trip to Bloomington turned one road trip into a mini-tour of both Midwestern festivals. \n"We hope what we can do is really get people excited about the music and moving," Ballman said. "We do try to somehow bring a message with the music and the message is more or less just to be aware. To stand up and be a free person"
(09/21/00 4:00am)
Having trouble waiting out the Olympics for the beginning of the fall TV season? Just wait until next year. Wish all entertainment could be real like "Survivor" and "Big Brother"? Well, you just might get your wish.\nAccording to a recent report from Entertainment Weekly, the Writers Guild of America plans to go on strike May 2, 2001. What that means is that next May every writer of film and television screenplays will cease working on current projects and refuse to market anything new.\nStill unconvinced about this affecting you? Well, less than two months later, every single member of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists could follow. This means that not only will there be no scripts for new episodes of "Friends," but that Jennifer Aniston, Matthew Perry and even Bob the extra who sits at the coffee shop each week will all walk out and refuse to work. \nAs we speak, actors are in the middle of a strike against advertisers, meaning that no member of either union will shoot any type of commercial or promotion (in other words, the reason Life cereal brought back that Mikey commercial.)\nAs the strike dates approach, WGA executive director Vance Van Petten and SAG president William Daniels (Mr. Feeny from "Boy Meets World") tell Entertainment Weekly that talks are at a standstill.\nMoney is, of course, the source of all these problems. Advertisers, studios, actors and writers are fighting over how to split revenues from cable, video, foreign sales and the Internet. While this actually sounds like a bunch of greedy actors who want money on top of their $20 million paychecks, it's not quite that simple. The stars that make the cover of People each week (or at least the weeks when Prince William didn't do anything) make up only a very small fraction of working actors. And even the Aaron Sorkins of the writing world don't make nearly as much as a celebrity. So don't say that (most of) these people don't need that extra money.\nIf the strikes happen, say goodbye to entertainment as we know it. Unlike a strike of steel workers or airline pilots, becoming a scab actor means never being admitted into a union and not working when the strike ends. A strike means no new fictional fall TV for 2001 and no new movies after studios run out of films already finished. Reality TV, such as newsmagazines, or "Survivor 8: The Final Rat Dinner," or reruns will be networks' only options. \nMovie theaters may also turn to re-releases. The only place to find new material made in America will be the stage (Actors Equity, the stage actors union, is not affected by the problems of the others because most plays and musicals are performed live, and a tape of a play from the United States isn\'t typically released in Costa Rica or Japan.)\nTaking a look at the black, white and fire engine red cover of the Entertainment Weekly strike issue causes two conflicting opinions. One can be scared of the shutdowns and angry with both parties involved for letting this go too far. Or you can laugh at poor Entertainment Weekly for jumping the gun and reporting on something that is little more than a slight possibility. Which of these viewpoints is best to take will only become apparent next spring. \nEither we'll all be laughing as we watch the new season of "Friends" or scrounging up money to go Broadway in order to avoid all those reruns.
(09/21/00 4:00am)
The road to Mexico is a long one, even when the method of travel happens to be phone lines. First comes the 14-digit phone number. Then, after a few foul-ups and a few recorded messages from the operator, it's time for a seven-digit billing number. The phone starts ringing and finally a voice picks up, saying "Hola?" \nLila Downs quickly switches from Spanish to English when she realizes her caller is not from the area. She's used to making adjustments. \nThe daughter of an Anglo-American father from Minnesota and a Mixtec Indian mother from the Oaxaca region of Mexico, Downs grew up bouncing from one culture to another. When she chose music as her method of expression, it stayed with her. \nNow she travels Mexico and the States combining traditional Mexican folk music, lyrics about the mythological account of the Mixtec heritage she inherited for her mother and the smooth sounds of jazz. \nDowns is only one of the 27 artists who will travel to Bloomington, bringing their talents for jazz, funk, reggae, pop, gospel, folk and blues from the United States, Ireland, France, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Canada, Morocco, Kurdistan, Azerbaijan, Finland, Sweden and Japan to the seventh annual Lotus World Music and Arts Festival, running from today through Saturday at a variety of locations around the city. \n Among those included on the schedule are American folk and blues artist Odetta, Brazilian performer Chico Cesar, Irish traditional group Lunasa and Bloomington-based Vida. In a world dominated by imitations, the artists of the Lotus Festival choose music that comes from them, no matter what combination of cultures, instruments and culture fits that definition. \nLila Downs: Seed of Cultures\nAlthough Downs has been singing since she was five, her current style of music only recently became her way of expressing and celebrating her culture. She grew up moving from the mountains of Oaxaca listening to the stories of the Mixtec Indians, or "cloud people," to the cold winters of Minneapolis, where she listened to Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, Melissa Manchester and Elton John. She attended the University of Minneapolis and studied voice, opera and anthropology, dropped out for a while, followed the Grateful Dead, learned to weave Indian textiles and, finally, did a senior thesis based on just about all of the above.\n"That's what brought me to what I'm doing today," Downs said. "It made me realize I could say things in a different way, that I didn't have to say things in terms of anything already out there, that I could invent my own language."\nWhen Downs speaks this language she tries to communicate the things she has learned during the years. As a product of two cultures, she spent some of her years growing up confused about where she belongs, something she likens to Third World countries being colonized by larger, richer nations. \n"There's a certain thing that happens in colonized countries; you watch TV and everyone is white or trying to emulate a Western model," she said. "If you don't have a comprehensive historical background, you tend to start thinking 'Why am I dark?' and 'Why do I have dark hair?' My music is about learning about who you are."\n"Learning who you are" also means embracing her American background. \n"My father is a Scottish-American white man and I also have that in my blood," Downs said. "I appreciate the gifts given by the many beautiful aspects of Western culture and I think it's important. I want to make people feel proud of themselves."\nDowns' concerts include music from the traditional harps of Paraguay and the Veracruz part of Mexico, percussion from Mexico, Native American drums, fiddles, guitars, jazz piano and saxophone. On stage, Downs tries to wear a special textile from her native home in Mexico or something that expresses a story of female empowerment. Her music is about learning and embracing all aspects of her personality. Her music is definitely not about trying to fit into the American musical mainstream. \n"People are always going to ask those kinds of questions," Downs said. "I think it depends on what your values are and what your dreams are in life. I want to move me and move people who share things in common with me. If I choose to sing a song that has more massive appeal, I don't mind if that's what I want to do as long as what makes me do those things is the truth within myself."\nAntibalas: The sounds of afrobeat \nWhile it only takes a 10-digit phone number to dial up the Brooklyn-based home of Antibalas, the roots of the band and their style of music called afrobeat extend out through many countries and inspirations. \nThe music of afrobeat can be traced back to a Nigerian composer and performer named Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, explains Antibalas drummer and percussionist Phil Ballman. Kuti created his music by combining funk, jazz and the rhythms of Africa. \n"Afrobeat is a fusion of different musics that (Kuti) created, and we're keeping his tradition alive by playing original music in his style," Ballman said. "It's kind of like if James Brown was born in West Africa and he had an African drum heartbeat and a jazz horn line." \nFourteen musicians with Latino, white, African-American, African and Asian-American heritage by way of New York City form Antibalas. They create music using guitars, trombones, saxophones, conga drums, sticks, shekere gourds, trumpets, an organ and vocals. Lyrics for their songs are derived from the English, Spanish and Yoruba languages. \n"For myself, I first heard this kind of music when I was 19 and I was completely floored," Ballman said. "I listened to it for six months. I was playing drums at the time and I thought this would be such great music to play because it has elements of jazz and funk. The polyrhythms of typical African music are very complex and sophisticated but it is also extremely groovy and danceable." \nAlong with formulating afrobeat, Kuti also believed in social justice. This tradition has also been carried on in Antibalas. The group named itself after the Spanish word for "bulletproof" or "anti-bullets."\n"The name sort of symbolically carries on a tradition of being strong and being against violence," Ballman said. \nLike Downs, Ballman and the members of Antibalas are the first to admit that the music they love to play isn't the music that will make them rich in the financial sense. \n"Who cares?" Ballman said. "The idea is just to play music that you are really emotionally moved by and excited about. We all feel the music is really incredible and powerful; that's the reason why we play it."\nThe Lotus Festival will mark Ballman's first trip to Indiana. He and the rest of the band decided to make the trip after also committing to play at the Chicago World Music Festival. A trip to Bloomington turned one road trip into a mini-tour of both Midwestern festivals. \n"We hope what we can do is really get people excited about the music and moving," Ballman said. "We do try to somehow bring a message with the music and the message is more or less just to be aware. To stand up and be a free person"
(09/20/00 11:49pm)
Having trouble waiting out the Olympics for the beginning of the fall TV season? Just wait until next year. Wish all entertainment could be real like "Survivor" and "Big Brother"? Well, you just might get your wish.\nAccording to a recent report from Entertainment Weekly, the Writers Guild of America plans to go on strike May 2, 2001. What that means is that next May every writer of film and television screenplays will cease working on current projects and refuse to market anything new.\nStill unconvinced about this affecting you? Well, less than two months later, every single member of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists could follow. This means that not only will there be no scripts for new episodes of "Friends," but that Jennifer Aniston, Matthew Perry and even Bob the extra who sits at the coffee shop each week will all walk out and refuse to work. \nAs we speak, actors are in the middle of a strike against advertisers, meaning that no member of either union will shoot any type of commercial or promotion (in other words, the reason Life cereal brought back that Mikey commercial.)\nAs the strike dates approach, WGA executive director Vance Van Petten and SAG president William Daniels (Mr. Feeny from "Boy Meets World") tell Entertainment Weekly that talks are at a standstill.\nMoney is, of course, the source of all these problems. Advertisers, studios, actors and writers are fighting over how to split revenues from cable, video, foreign sales and the Internet. While this actually sounds like a bunch of greedy actors who want money on top of their $20 million paychecks, it's not quite that simple. The stars that make the cover of People each week (or at least the weeks when Prince William didn't do anything) make up only a very small fraction of working actors. And even the Aaron Sorkins of the writing world don't make nearly as much as a celebrity. So don't say that (most of) these people don't need that extra money.\nIf the strikes happen, say goodbye to entertainment as we know it. Unlike a strike of steel workers or airline pilots, becoming a scab actor means never being admitted into a union and not working when the strike ends. A strike means no new fictional fall TV for 2001 and no new movies after studios run out of films already finished. Reality TV, such as newsmagazines, or "Survivor 8: The Final Rat Dinner," or reruns will be networks' only options. \nMovie theaters may also turn to re-releases. The only place to find new material made in America will be the stage (Actors Equity, the stage actors union, is not affected by the problems of the others because most plays and musicals are performed live, and a tape of a play from the United States isn\'t typically released in Costa Rica or Japan.)\nTaking a look at the black, white and fire engine red cover of the Entertainment Weekly strike issue causes two conflicting opinions. One can be scared of the shutdowns and angry with both parties involved for letting this go too far. Or you can laugh at poor Entertainment Weekly for jumping the gun and reporting on something that is little more than a slight possibility. Which of these viewpoints is best to take will only become apparent next spring. \nEither we'll all be laughing as we watch the new season of "Friends" or scrounging up money to go Broadway in order to avoid all those reruns.
(09/14/00 11:34am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Bullets, blood and bag men compete for top billing in the dusty, craggy landscapes of California and Mexico as several equally malevolent criminal factions battle it out in "The Way of the Gun."
(09/14/00 9:42am)
With the exception of soaps and now "Survivor," summer television is usually a vast wasteland of reruns, clip shows, reality specials and brand new episodes of programs that were officially canceled after two shows in the fall. Consumed by boredom and needing something to fill some of my taste for quality comedy, drama and admittedly attractive men, I decided to turn myself over to a higher power: this summer I stopped watching TV.\nInstead, I started reading TV. The network that supplied me with this highly original text programming was not one of the Big Three or the Big Four or however many Big networks there are now. Instead, it all came via a little Web site called mightybigtv.com. Mighty Big TV is a Web site devoted to television.\nVarious reviewers baring various screen names are each assigned a show, and each week they post an episode review providing a great summary of the program, and, better yet, hilarious commentary that alternately praises programs or rips them to shreds. It's kind of like "Mystery Science Theater 3000" on a computer except that some of the television shows Mighty Big TV covers are actually good.\nIt's a strange way to "watch" television. Ordinarily, I like to think I enjoy watching only quality programming. But while I highly enjoy a good Mighty Big recap of "The West Wing" or "ER," those reviews are nothing compared to a venomous, insult-filled commentary on Jennifer Love Hewitt's Audrey Hepburn movie or her canceled series, "Time of Your Life." Although all of the reviews on Mighty Big TV cover programming from last season, the presentation makes for a completely new "viewing" experience.\nAnd while all of the other networks were stranding people on islands or locking them in a house for a month, Mighty Big TV culled its "new" summer programming from its reviewer's videotape collections, posting reviews of earlier seasons of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and covering every episode of "My So-Called Life." \nOf course, there are dangers to reading mightybigtv.com. For example, never read the recaps in a highly public and basically serious work environment. If your editor is trying to discuss a story about technology-enhanced education with you, it's not a good idea to be giggling over the insults being flung at "Young Americans." \nI often wonder what the television network executives would think of Mighty Big TV. Would they take the sarcasm-filled commentaries as a reason for declining audiences or as a wake-up call to start airing better programming? Neither is the most likely answer. \nBut a summer of reading television has created at least one conclusion: the best way to turn bad TV into quality entertainment is to let some smart-ass write about it.
(09/14/00 4:00am)
With the exception of soaps and now "Survivor," summer television is usually a vast wasteland of reruns, clip shows, reality specials and brand new episodes of programs that were officially canceled after two shows in the fall. Consumed by boredom and needing something to fill some of my taste for quality comedy, drama and admittedly attractive men, I decided to turn myself over to a higher power: this summer I stopped watching TV.\nInstead, I started reading TV. The network that supplied me with this highly original text programming was not one of the Big Three or the Big Four or however many Big networks there are now. Instead, it all came via a little Web site called mightybigtv.com. Mighty Big TV is a Web site devoted to television.\nVarious reviewers baring various screen names are each assigned a show, and each week they post an episode review providing a great summary of the program, and, better yet, hilarious commentary that alternately praises programs or rips them to shreds. It's kind of like "Mystery Science Theater 3000" on a computer except that some of the television shows Mighty Big TV covers are actually good.\nIt's a strange way to "watch" television. Ordinarily, I like to think I enjoy watching only quality programming. But while I highly enjoy a good Mighty Big recap of "The West Wing" or "ER," those reviews are nothing compared to a venomous, insult-filled commentary on Jennifer Love Hewitt's Audrey Hepburn movie or her canceled series, "Time of Your Life." Although all of the reviews on Mighty Big TV cover programming from last season, the presentation makes for a completely new "viewing" experience.\nAnd while all of the other networks were stranding people on islands or locking them in a house for a month, Mighty Big TV culled its "new" summer programming from its reviewer's videotape collections, posting reviews of earlier seasons of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and covering every episode of "My So-Called Life." \nOf course, there are dangers to reading mightybigtv.com. For example, never read the recaps in a highly public and basically serious work environment. If your editor is trying to discuss a story about technology-enhanced education with you, it's not a good idea to be giggling over the insults being flung at "Young Americans." \nI often wonder what the television network executives would think of Mighty Big TV. Would they take the sarcasm-filled commentaries as a reason for declining audiences or as a wake-up call to start airing better programming? Neither is the most likely answer. \nBut a summer of reading television has created at least one conclusion: the best way to turn bad TV into quality entertainment is to let some smart-ass write about it.