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(08/29/13 4:28am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Fall tailgating starts today, and all IU greek chapters must follow a new set of guidelines.In order to provide more structure for tailgating, every greek chapter must now rent a lot at a fee of $150. Each lot will be tented off to reinforce the new organization, and each tent is $100. The new organization is meant to ensure lots for different fraternities and sororities, said Sean Jordan, Inter-Fratnerity Council president. In the past, most Greek organizations congregated in one spot, resulting in large parties that were difficult to control, he said. “I think the major issue that we had with the previous tailgate was that it was perceived as a ‘free for all,’” Jordan said. Greek chapters must also preserve their lots so that they may be used for future tailgates. “Now we have tents that allocate specific spots for whatever organization rents it, and that specific organization will be responsible for the cleanup and maintenance of it,” Jordan said.Jordan said he hopes these guidelines will make for a safer and more enjoyable environment for all participating organizations.“I think this will perpetuate a much better image of our community, and it will discourage unhealthy behavior that we have seen in the past,” Jordan said.Jordan and Panhellenic Association President and senior Anjulia Urasky relayed this new information to the Greek community Aug. 27.Although the guidelines were initiated by the administration and athletics, Urksay said it needed Greek students themselves to help deliver information to the rest of the University chapters.Alcohol is still regulated in the same way it has been with the past PHA and IFC executive boards — no hard alcohol will be permitted on the tailgating fields. In addition, every participant must follow the legal drinking laws.“I hope people will still have a good time,” Urasky said. “Tailgating is very well known throughout the IU community. Everyone wants to have fun. I hope it’s a safer tailgating environment than what it was in the past.”The lots will close 15 minutes before each football game. This was initiated in order to promote more student attendance. “We want more students to go to the games this year,” Jordan said. “We have a student-designated lot and entryway. We’re really encouraging all of these chapters to attend the games regularly to show support for our football team.”Currently, these are working guidelines. After the second week, the committees will restructure the process of registering for all tailgates, Jordan said.“It’s still a work in progress, essentially,” Jordan said. “We’re going to get feedback from chapter presidents so we can reconvene with the IU tailgate committee so we can make any amendments that might be necessary.”Follow reporter Tori Lawhorn on Twitter @ToriLawhorn.
(08/29/13 4:12am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Two charging stations were introduced over the summer to the Indiana Memorial Union by its Facility and Operations Staff. These stations are located in the Indiana Memorial Union Gallery and the IMU Back Alley bowling center.The stations are able to charge multiple electronic devices at once, including the iPhone 4/4S, iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy. The stations come with a bottom shelf for the devices to rest on as well.“They tried putting them in areas of higher traffic,” Union Board president and senior Jared Thomas said.Rob Meyer, the assistant director of student activities and events and Union Board advisor, said the IMU was approached several years ago by a private company to discuss putting wall mounting charging stations around the IMU. However, the IMU declined.Once it was approached again with the thought of stationary charging stations, the IMU accepted the idea.“Because the stand wasn’t going to change the feature of the space, the staff thought they would try it,” Meyer said.Although the charging stations were initiated by the IMU, the Union Board finalized the designs of the stations, utilizing them to promote its organization.The charging stations are not only for students.“I saw parents using them over the summer when they dropped their kids off here,” Meyer said.However, Meyer said he found many students in need of phone chargers.“From my experience, a lot of students that come to the Union Board office were asking and looking for chargers, so this would be a simple solution so they could charge their phones easily,” Meyer said.Currently, one charging station has a few glitches, but the other is fully functional.“There’s some issues with it right now, but the main perspective is that the IMU staff recognizes this is an issue, with students’ phones dying, so buying two charging stations to just try them out to see how successful they are, there might be better adaptations in the future,” Thomas said.Because of the volume of traffic, Thomas said, the IMU presents an ideal location in order to test new ideas, especially those beneficial for people on campus.“We pride ourselves as the living room of campus, to provide students with the different amenities they might need while being on campus,” Thomas said. “If you wanted to charge your phone and get something to eat, the Union would be the place for that.”Follow reporter Tori Lawhorn on Twitter @ToriLawhorn.
(08/27/13 3:53am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU law professor William Henderson is starting a national conversation urging law schools to redesign their curriculum standards to lessen years in school. He said it’s not a matter of the number of years of law school but a matter of restructuring the law schooling process.“I think that the real issue is that law school loses a lot of its educational steam after the first year, and part of it is because so much of the learning is classroom-oriented and there’s certain things that you just don’t get to master unless you get into the ‘operating room’ and actually do the work,” Henderson said.The educational value of law school, Henderson said, is measured by quality instead of quantity. On Aug. 23, at a meeting at Binghamton University in New York, President Obama presented the idea of law schools reducing their required years to two instead of three. Obama’s reasoning behind this reduction includes rising tuition costs and the utilization of work experience during the third year instead of a full year of classes.Henderson was Obama’s law student at the University of Chicago. If Obama’s two-year plan had been in place at the time, Henderson would’ve never had him as his professor, he said. The IU professor said he agrees with Obama that law programs should be redesigned. However, he thinks cutting down years won’t necessarily improve quality. “There are two claims here,” Henderson said. “One of them is that law school is too long and needs to be shorter, but a claim you hear equally as often is that law graduates are unprepared to practice law.”Time can only help students so much, Henderson said, but if the skeletal structure of the school isn’t sturdy, graduates will have a difficult time.“Right now, the third year of law school probably has the least marginal value of the three years,” Henderson said. “Students are hungry for learning that will accelerate their professional development, and they’re just not getting it in the third year.”Currently, the Maurer School of Law is a three-year law school accredited by the American Bar Association. In addition to three years, the ABA requires 86 credit hours in order to be able to take the Indiana Bar Examination, Henderson said.Henderson said he thinks IU could implement a two-year program by integrating classroom learning with legal internships in a logical sequence. Each state legislature or state supreme court decides the curriculum that must be followed in order to practice law in each state. Obama’s statement about the reduction of law school years is a state issue, not a national issue.“The ABA has to change, and then the 50 states have to change,” Henderson said. “I just think that what’s at the heart of President Obama’s critique ... A better solution would be to redesign the second or third year so that it will solve the quality problem.”Follow Greek Life beat reporter Tori Lawhorn on Twitter @ToriLawhorn
(08/21/13 2:33am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>OnCourse, IU’s primary website for teacher-student interaction, underwent several changes this summer.With the thousands of students accessing OnCourse daily, the website needed to become more user-friendly and customizable, John Gosney, faculty liaison for learning technologies in University Information Technology Services said.The layout and functions started their modifications first, followed by the homepage. Multiple programs have been updated to the latest versions. There have also been new preference functions added in order to make customizing easier.“It’s a great platform to promote all things related to teaching and learning,” Gosney said.OnCourse now includes a drag-and-drop function that allows presentations to be added to different OnCourse sites.The messages function has had moderate modifications. Now, students can specifically choose recipients that are not allowed to see certain messages and preview messages before they are sent.The main goal of the website’s changes is to increase interaction between students and their professors.iRubric has been updated in order to provide one-to-one contact between students and their professors. Instructors will now be able to give direct feedback on assignments for each individual student.Social media-like interaction has also influenced the OnCourse upgrade. The portal function now allows classmates to communicate directly with one another.“It provides a Facebook-like interaction so students can connect with their classmates,” Megan May, manager of the learning management systems said.It’s not the number of hits that’s important, May said. It’s the ability for each user to be able to use OnCourse as they see fit. “We really want people to do the learning and teaching they need to do in an easy manner,” May said, “We want to add value to the learning process.”Constant feedback from users help further OnCourse’s improvement, Gosney said.“Everybody’s going to be hitting the site, so we’re interested to see how they like it,” Gosney saidThe software framework of OnCourse is a universal software, used by many other colleges nationwide. This software coding is developed by multiple organizations, then made to fit each university’s needs.“The great benefit of having a collaboratively developed code is that the core is the same,” Gosney said.Earlier in the year, IU faculty, staff and students pitched their ideas about OnCourse’s improvements to the OnCourse Priorities Committee.This committee, made up of IU faculty members, decided which ideas were timely, practical and doable. Their main goal is to keep OnCourse a strategic website that meets the needs of the IU community.“It’s all about what we want to implement at IU,” Gosney said, “If the community wants more functionality, it will happen. As the community develops, so does OnCourse.”Follow Tori Lawhorn on Twitter @ToriLawhorn
(08/20/13 9:03pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>OnCourse, IU’s primary website for teacher-student interaction, underwent several changes this summer.With the thousands of students accessing OnCourse daily, the website needed to become more user-friendly and customizable, said John Gosney, faculty liaison for learning technologies in University Information Technology Services.The layout and functions started their modifications first, followed by the homepage. Multiple programs have been updated to the latest versions. There have also been new preference functions added in order to make customizing easier.“It’s a great platform to promote all things related to teaching and learning,” Gosney said.OnCourse now includes a drag-and-drop function and a presentations function that allows presentations to be added to different OnCourse sites.A collapsible menu bar, expandable ZIP files and a usage tool that is able to track a student’s information access frequency has also been added.The messages function has undergone moderate modifications. Now, students can specifically choose recipients that are not allowed to see certain messages, preview messages before they are sent and configure what permissions are allowed in each message.The main goal of the website’s changes is to increase interaction between students and their professors.iRubric has been updated in order to provide one-to-one contact between students and their professors. Instructors will now be able to give direct feedback on assignments for each individual student.Social media-like interaction has also influenced the OnCourse upgrade. The portal function now allows classmates to communicate directly with one another.“It provides a Facebook-like interaction so students can connect with their classmates,” said Megan May, manager of the learning management systems.It’s not the number of hits that’s important, May said. It’s the ability for each user to be able to use OnCourse as they see fit. “We really want people to do the learning and teaching they need to do in an easy manner,” May said, “We want to add value to the learning process.”Constant feedback from users help further OnCourse’s improvement, Gosney said.“Everybody’s going to be hitting the site, so we’re interested to see how they like it,” Gosney saidThe software framework of OnCourse is a universal software, used by many other colleges nationwide. This software coding is developed by multiple organizations, then made to fit each university’s needs.“The great benefit of having a collaboratively developed code is that the core is the same,” Gosney said.Earlier in the year, IU faculty, staff and students pitched their ideas about OnCourse’s improvements to the OnCourse Priorities Committee.This committee, made up of IU faculty members, then decided which ideas were timely, practical and doable. Their main goal is to keep OnCourse a strategic website that meets the needs of the IU community.“It’s all about what we want to implement at IU,” Gosney said, “If the community wants more functionality, it will happen. As the community develops, so does OnCourse.”
(08/20/13 3:34am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>This semester will be the first fall rush for the Gamma Chi chapter of the Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity since its reestablishment on campus in January.The chapter disbanded at the beginning of last school year due to a lack of interest, said sophomore Kishan Sangani, Alpha Sig vice president. “The previous chapters just ran out of steam,” Sangani said. “It just sort of fell apart.”The fraternity currently has 18 members, but Sangani said it is hoping to double that number by the end of fall rush. For Alpha Sig, rush will start immediately.“We’re going to be utilizing what connections we have and trying to find young men who we think are a good fit for our organization,” Sangani said. As the United States’ 10th oldest collegiate fraternity, Sangani said Alpha Sig brothers pride themselves on living by the fraternity’s five values: silence, charity, purity, honor and patriotism. Sophomore Alec Friend said the fraternity is seeking members who aim to balance their academic and social lives. “There’s a bunch of really good guys who are of all different backgrounds, all working toward the same goal,” Friend said. “They all want to better themselves in everything they do.”Alpha Sig will have several rush events in the coming weeks, and will follow the same format as any other fraternity, Friend said. There will be a two-week recruitment process, which begins Sept. 15.Pledges will be determined based on evaluations, interviews and several meet-and-greets with fellow fraternity members, Sangani said.Members hope to participate in other social events this year, including IUDM and Little 500, he said. Graduate student Scott Rarick, Alpha Sig chapter adviser, said Alpha Sig’s pledge class is measured in quality, not quantity. “We want a solid class,” Rarick said. “We want our pledges to fit the values of our fraternity and make a difference going forward.”
(04/15/13 2:47am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Dozens of students and community members gathered in Dunn Meadow on Sunday for sunshine, music and fundraising. IU’s Peer Undergraduate Mentor Program collaborated with the Office of Disability Services for Students to raise money for the Amanda Meredith Mills Memorial Scholarship fund.Each year, Indiana celebrates March as Disability Awareness Month. This year’s theme was “Community Connections,” which aims to feature a growing community in which people with disabilities live successful, independent lives. The concert was originally scheduled for March, but due to inclement weather, was moved to April 14.As an end to IU’s Culture of Care Week and a kick-off to Little 500 week, this brainchild of graduate student Rhajaan Edwards is the first concert the Office of Disability Services for Students has initiated for its annual fundraising event.The concert featured a multitude of different acts and activities. In addition to free food, Frisbees and beach balls, a diverse selection of musicians performed, including Sean Cortright, Jiridon, Isaac Lightfoot and Crescent Ulmer.Ulmer, a local folk artist of Bloomington, was the most recent act that signed on to perform at the concert. She has worked with this type of fundraising before and said she was excited to do it again.“I think this is incredible, and I’m really stoked to be a part of this,” Ulmer said. “This is going to a really great cause.”Graduate student Tanner Terrell serves as a DSS coordinator and ensures IU students with disabilities “receive equal footing in the classroom.” These services can include extended test-taking time, copies of class notes and special study-aid programs. Terrell also works outside the classroom as a staff adviser for the Peer Undergraduate Mentor Program.“A big part of this is getting to interact with people, talking to people about these topics,” Terrell said. “We want to raise awareness. We’d be thrilled to just sit and talk to somebody and try to break down some misconceptions about this very diverse community.”In addition to providing accommodations for students, DSS also connects with the community members by informing them about the range of disabilities students can possess and attempts to break down common misconceptions of those disabilities.“It’s amazing to think about the variety of disabilities students have,” Terrell said. “All those things are different from one another and the experiences each student has is very unique. At IU, they’re all under our umbrella. Just getting to talk to people about that is pretty powerful.”For PUMP, one of the co-sponsors of this event, the concert was its first major function since its re-emergence in 2012. This organization pairs student mentors with other students who are struggling with their college transitions. Though primarily geared towards students with disabilities, PUMP’s services are available to all students.While DSS primarily accommodates students on an academic scale, PUMP provides students with personal mentoring. Junior Bridget Hogan, a PUMP student coordinator, says the organization is open to any student having difficulties. “We’re not going to turn anyone away,” Hogan said. “We’re very open to helping anyone.”PUMP currently has 10 mentors and four mentees and has plans to continue its growth in coming semesters.Freshman Var Brynildssen is a first-time PUMP mentor. He is the only freshman mentor and said he will continue to be a mentor for all four years of college. Brynildssen is not only a PUMP mentor, but he also utilizes the DSS. Born with arthrogryposis, a congenital disorder that causes multiple joint contractures, Brynildssen uses the DSS when he needs accommodations for his academic work.“I think it’s a really useful asset, and it’s real important to use them if you have any kind of disability,” Brynildssen said. “There are accommodations available for you if you need them.”
(04/10/13 3:30am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Dozens of students and community members gathered at Collins Living-Learning Center on Tuesday for the second Pride Comedy Festival, a comedy night to encourage positive views of the GLBTQ community.Created by senior Shaily Hakimian, this event provides people with an environment in which people are free to say anything they feel. Part of Hakimian’s promotion read: “Anyone and everyone is welcome to be a part of the show, whether it’s telling a joke or announcing to the world that you are single and hoping to mingle.”This event was established this year, as Hakimian also organized this event last semester. Hakimian said her passions for comedy and GLBTQ community influenced her to create this event.“I’m a huge fan of comedy,” Hakimian said. “I find it an escape from reality when I get to sit and laugh.” After a “bad experience” that left her disheartened, Hakimian said she went to a comedy show for some relief. “It took my mind off of everything that was going wrong,” Hakimian said. “It made me escape from reality, and I realized how important comedy was to me at that point.”Hakimian said she has been working with multiple GLBTQ-friendly organizations and services for eight years. “I’m also a huge advocate for LGBTQ-related issues,” Hakimian said. “So to me, combining my two passions into one event was a no-brainer because I don’t know anybody else who’s just as passionate about both as I am.”This event was primarily organized in support of members of the GLBTQ community. “Activism can happen through comedy,” Hakimian said. “I think it’s a lot easier to get people to support each other when they’re in a place of laughter and happiness as opposed to arguing and debating.”The event featured multiple comedy acts including campus groups Full Frontal Comedy, Midnight Snack and Back Door Comedy. Joshua Murphy, winner of the Bloomington Comedy Festival, also performed with other standup comedians.Though Murphy’s performance wasn’t entirely geared toward GLBTQ topics, Murphy did express his views on the LGBTQ community.“I’ve never thought about it,” Murphy said. “I just have gay friends. Growing up in Bloomington, it really wasn’t a big deal to anyone. From my vantage point, they were always just people.”The University Twits, one of IU’s sketch comedy groups, also performed. Senior Timmy Hickle spoke about the group’s involvement with the GLBT community.“We’re a very gay-friendly group,” Hickle said. “We have tons of friends who are gay. We find that there’s humor in a lot of hot topics and one area that we actually really enjoy is to find humor in homophobia.”In regards to the audience, Hickle said he hopes it realizes how society and acceptance of others are today.“I really hope they walk away with the idea that being gay is very normal,” Hickle said. “I think that’s something that some people in our generation are having a problem with. They may want to support gay rights and view it like it’s this different kind of rights.“At the end of the day, they’re just people. I really hope people walk away from this looking more along the lines of equal rights than LGBT rights.”In addition to the comedic acts, the stage was open to several other organizations in order to promote their current events and endeavors. Some audience members also talked about their experiences, including accidentally purchasing porn in Kazakhstan and attending the Chicago Annual Pride Parade.“This comedy night is a great way for different organizations to plug in what they’re doing while having the audience completely entertained throughout,” Hakimian said.With Hakimian’s graduation in May, she said she is looking for someone to continue this event within the coming semesters. “If anyone wants to take this on as a project, it’s totally up for grabs,” Hakimian said. “They can make it however they want to make it. They can make it their vision.”
(04/04/13 2:53am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Each year, the IU Office of Disability Services for Students plans an event in March in recognition of Disability Awareness Month. Originally scheduled for March 26, the event was postponed because of inclement weather. This year, they have organized a concert from 2-5 p.m. April 14 in Dunn Meadow. This year’s theme for Disability Awareness Month is “Community Connections,” which aims to feature a growing community in which people with disabilities can live successful, independent lives. With the new date, the concert falls at the end of IU’s Culture of Care Week in addition to being a kick-start to Little 500 week. Rhajaan Edwards, an IU graduate student and special events coordinator for the Office of Disability Services for Students, was the first to initiate the idea of a concert as this year’s event. “I’m a big advocate for local music,” Edwards said. “When I saw the opportunity to raise awareness for disabilities and also raise money for a scholarship that recognizes disabilities, I figured, why not integrate the diversity of the university as well as integrate some local music from people who may or may not have been heard of around campus?”The concert will feature three local musicians: Isaac Lightfoot, rap artist; Jiridon, an African drum ensemble and Crescent Ulmerm, a folk artist. With the diversity among these artists, an analogy can be made to the numerous IU students living with various disabilities, Edwards said.“I wanted to integrate the whole community and share this experience as one,” Edwards said. “I figured, through music, we can get everybody together and make that happen.” This concert, in addition to raising awareness about disability month, is also a fundraiser for the Amanda Meredith Mills Memorial Scholarship. “This is the first time we will be raising funds for a scholarship and it has yet to be endowed, which means that there aren’t enough funds in the scholarship yet to be given out to a student,” Edwards said. “So we’re hoping with this event and with the coming year, we’ll make that happen.” In order for the scholarship to be endowed, a total of $10,000 must be raised. Significant funds have contributed to this goal, but there are still a few thousand dollars that must be acquired.The Office of Disability Services for Students will be working with the IU Foundation to collect donations at the concert. There will be pledge cards available, which will allow donators to write down their credit card information with the amount of money they wish to give. Cash donations will also be accepted.In addition to live music, there will be food and games for participants to enjoy. Martha Jax, director of the Office of Disability Services for Students, said if she feels this event is successful, the office is open to discussing the motion to make this an annual benefit concert. “It’s the first time we’ve done it, and we want to see how it flies,” Jax said. “If nothing else, people that walk by will get the chance to connect our names to something and maybe it will affect how they feel about disabilities down the road. Little things like that add up after a while.”
(03/27/13 4:00am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Almost every Tuesday, Upland Brewing Company sponsors a night of music at the Bluebird Nightclub. This new music feature was established only a month ago, but there has been no indication that it has plans to stop any time soon.Dave Kubiak, owner of the Bluebird, said this event was made in an attempt to have an all-local night, complete with local music, attended by local people, drinking local beer. “It’s always good to support local music, and you get the chance to see some up and coming talent,” Kubiak said.Though the club’s attendance rate will usually depend on which bands are playing, around 100 people can always be expected, Kubiak said.Each Tuesday, there’s a featured beverage from Upland, one of Bloomington’s most popular craft breweries. This week, it was the Dragonfly pints for $2. Covers range from $1-4 and usually depend on which bands the Bluebird has booked for the particular Tuesday night. For this rate, people can be entertained without needing to spend a lot of money, Kubiak said.“It was a combination of a promotion for Upland’s draft line as well as the fact that we wanted to get involved with things happening in our own backyard,” Upland cellarman Chris Stearly said.Upland, celebrating their 15th anniversary this year, has their own dedicated draft line for purchase at the Bluebird. The Bluebird showcases many bands of multiple genres including rock, metal and country music. The only qualification for Tuesday night: they have to be of a local demographic. Even IU students are welcome to contact the Bluebird for show bookings.“Of course, I’m biased, but I believe it’s the best performance place in Bloomington,” Kubiak said.The bands that perform on Tuesday nights can range from beginners to veterans. This Tuesday, three Bloomington-centric bands performed: Kentucky Nightmare (bossa nova), The Sands (powerpop) and Legs (psychobilly).Each band had its own set of about seven songs. Kentucky Nightmare was the second band to perform, playing 11 songs from its various albums. Kentucky Nightmare, established in 2004, plays in Bloomington about two times a month. Bernard Kincius is the band’s bassist, keyboardist and background singer. Kincius said when the band plays in Bloomington, they feel like they’re back in the “neighborhood” again.“It’s a great community of musicians,” Kincius said. “I feel like there are as many bands as there are musicians.”When they aren’t in Bloomington, they travel mainly around the Midwest, with stops in the New England area. “If you want some serious, bottom-line, capitalized rock and roll, then the Bluebird is the place for that,” Kincius said. Kincius said the Bluebird’s venue is one of a preferable size in order to have a successful show. “I feel that the way the Bluebird is set up, it’s a real rock and roll show,” Kincius said. “It doesn’t have to be a complete sell-out occasion for it to be a ton of fun for the people who are there.”Kincius expressed his admiration for the plethora of local talent in Bloomington. “Not only are you seeing an incredible cross-section of the of the myriad of talented musicians that are here in Bloomington, but you’re seeing it presented in one of the most capable ways possible,” Kincius said.
(03/04/13 4:59am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Hundreds of people gathered for a night that presented student-made productions accompanied by live ensembles at the IU Cinema.This event was the second annual “Double Exposure” project, presented by the IU Student Composers Association, the Jacobs School of Music and the Department of Communication and Culture. This was first initiated by the IU Cinema to introduce students to the collaboration of multiple forms of art — film, music and sound.“Double Exposure” is an experimental program that pairs IU film students and students from the Jacobs Department Composition as well as the Department of Recording Arts. There were a total of 10 “creative teams” that presented their original student work.These films covered a variety of topics, including family, life and death, serial killers and the pursuit of perfection.Each student film was accompanied by a live ensemble, which performed an original score by a student composer from the Jacobs Department of Composition. Professors from the department worked with the students to refine their scores.Students from the Jacobs Department of Recording Arts contributed their knowledge of sound design, dialog enhancement and sound recording and mixing to the films.The students had continuous advisement from several faculty members from the Jacobs School of Music as well as the Department of Communication and Culture. Susanne Schwibs, a lecturer from the Department of Communication and Culture, was a prominent mentor in the production process of the students’ work.“I think ‘Double Exposure’ is a really great opportunity for all the students involved,” Schwibs said. “Both the film students and the music students get to collaborate and so they actually learn a little bit of each other’s craft and of each other’s artistic approaches.” Their pre-production processes began last fall. This gave them sufficient time to plan their projects beforehand. Film students were met with the music students and were matched up based on their similar artistic interests. “You want them to create the best project possible,” Schwibs said.CMCL graduate student and “Double Exposure” veteran Javier Ramirez’s film was the first one to be shown, entitled “Overture.” Ramirez used the technique of contact printing to create this 79-second film.His film focused on his six-month-old daughter, Harper, from her birth to her first Christmas.Ramirez’s grandmother passed away from Alzheimer’s and his aunt is currently dealing with it.“The film is in itself, my own fear of getting Alzheimer’s and memories of my daughter, of her being born, what that might look like,” Ramirez said.Student composer Nick Cline accompanied Ramirez.Telecommunications graduate student Russell McGee was the student director of “Grief Stricken.” McGee utilized the techniques of German expressionism to create his film, which included high contrast, shadows and a variety of different angles. He shot his project using 16mm film as well as with a digital camera.This is McGee’s first time his work will be shown in “Double Exposure.” He said he’s particularly excited about the venue’s networking ability.“By having films screened in a venue that’s nationally recognized, allows for any student film that is screened here at the University to be eligible to be put on IMDB and that can really help students out as far as being able to get a start into the industry,” McGee said.“They can start building up professional credits even in a university setting.”McGee was paired with student composer Ryan Chase. McGee said they bonded over their mutual interests in the Twilight Zone series and Bernard Herrmann, the main composer for Alfred Hitchcock films.McGee said he and Chase will continue working as a team on an upcoming project as a result of “Double Exposure.” “You have two different schools on campus that are working together that otherwise don’t have this opportunity,” McGee said. “You have all these awesome students on campus that are very talented, but in a lot of cases, we don’t interact otherwise, so this program is fantastic in that respect.”
(02/27/13 4:51am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>This is their time to shine.IU students pursuing a bachelor’s degree in fine arts publicly show off their creativity and graphic talents once a year at the Henry Radford Hope School of Fine Arts BFA Group Show.The art pieces of the selected students, which go on display today, will remain in the Grunwald Gallery of Art until March 7. A total of 90 pieces have been selected for this year’s show. “The group show is to give students the experience of being in the gallery,” said Amanda Fong, public relations assistant for the Grunwald Gallery. “It’s a very informative experience for the students.”The group show’s application is open to any IU BFA student willing to submit their work who is not graduating this spring or summer. The final pieces on display are chosen by the arts school faculty in the student’s specific artistic field.“Sometimes it’s the students’ first time they’ll be exhibiting in a gallery setting, so they’re kind of involved in the installation process, and they get to see the way things get set up,” Fong said.These pieces will exhibit both traditional and non-traditional styles, ranging from painting, graphic design, ceramics to metalsmithing. “Everything’s very colorful,” Fong said. “There’s a lot of life in the show. There’s a lot of movement. It’s pretty different. There’s a lot of variety, honestly.”Junior Trevor Day’s pieces will be shown this year. Day has one piece, a ceramic sculpture called “Christ’s Final Act of Digestion.” Day is working toward a BFA in ceramics. This is his first year in the group show.Day said he spent a total of 16 hours on his project and used a combination of atmospheric firing techniques along with baking soda, which resulted in a burnt glaze effect.“I think it’s a great opportunity,” Day said. “It just helps everyone get their work out there.”Day said he is excited for people to see his fellow students’ works as well as his own.“Everyone worked their asses off,” Day said.On Friday, three pieces will be selected for awards. These awards are the Dean’s Award, selected and given by the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, The Friends of Art Award, selected by two representatives of the Friends of Art Organization, and the Grunwald Award, selected by the representative of the Grunwald Gallery.
(02/26/13 10:19pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU students pursuing a bachelor’s degree in fine arts publicly show off their creativity and graphic talents once a year at the Henry Radford Hope School of Fine Arts BFA Group Show.The art pieces of the selected students, which go on display today, will remain in the Grunwald Gallery of Art until March 7. A total of 90 pieces have been selected for this year’s show. “The group show is to give students the experience of being in the gallery,” said Amanda Fong, public relations assistant for the Grunwald Gallery. “It’s a very informative experience for the students.”The group show’s application is open to any IU BFA student willing to submit their work who is not graduating this spring or summer. The final pieces on display are chosen by the arts school faculty in the student’s specific artistic field.“Sometimes it’s the student’s first time they’ll be exhibiting in a gallery setting, so they’re kind of involved in the installation process, and they get to see the way things get set up,” Fong said.These pieces will exhibit both traditional and non-traditional styles, ranging from painting, graphic design, ceramics to metalsmithing. “Everything’s very colorful.” Fong said. “There’s a lot of life in the show. There’s a lot of movement. It’s pretty different. There’s a lot of variety, honestly.”Junior Trevor Day’s pieces will be shown this year. Day has one piece, a ceramic sculpture called “Christ’s Final Act of Digestion.” Day is working toward a BFA in ceramics. This is his first year in the group show.Day said he spent a total of 16 hours on his project and used a combination of atmospheric firing techniques along with baking soda, which resulted in a burnt glaze effect.“I think it’s a great opportunity,” Day said. “It just helps everyone get their work out there.”Day said he is excited for people to see his fellow students’ works as well as his own.“Everyone worked their asses off,” Day said.On Friday, three pieces will be selected for awards. These awards are the Dean’s Award, selected and given by the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, The Friends of Art Award, selected by two representatives of the Friends of Art Organization, and the Grunwald Award, selected by the representative of the Grunwald Gallery.
(02/21/13 4:39am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Bloomington is one of two venues facilitating the kick-off to the 11th annual Gadabout Film Festival, an opportunity to showcase do-it-yourself filmmaking talent.The film festival will be from today to Sunday and showcase several self-made short, local and international films.These films are varied, including genres such as dark comedies, stop-motion animated films and documentaries, and can last anywhere from 30 seconds to six minutes. There is an open application each year for anyone who wishes to submit their films.“We wanted to show that low-budget, DIY films can sometimes be extremely impressive and entertaining and not something that you as a viewer have to spend tons of money on,” film festival director Eric Ayotte said.The Gadabout Film Festival has traveled to more than 100 cities within the United States and also to six different countries, including Italy, France and the United Kingdom. “I created it because of my own frustrations with more commercial film festivals,” Ayotte said. “Typically, there’s no community around it. It’s a very competitive environment.”Because of Ayotte’s upbringing in a “DIY punk world,” he tried to create something within the DIY scene and “treat it like a punk band,” with that same strong sense of community. The result was the Gadabout Film Festival.Typically, 10-20 short films are shown. This year, however, more than eight hours of film were submitted, so the number of films has increased in order to accommodate the large number of submissions. In addition to the multitude of general submitted short films, there are also specialized film categories. These categories consist of the Music Video Program, Feature Films, the Instant Gratification movie challenge and the Filmmaker Spotlights.Two feature films will be shown this year, “Maximum Summer” on Thursday and “Dead Weight” on Sunday. The Instant Gratification movie challenge is a monthly contest, but it will be a part of the film festival as well. Individuals are challenged to make a movie each month, with all films screened solely in Bloomington. There is a different theme each month.For the Filmmaker Spotlights category, six different filmmakers were given a 20-30 minute segment to show their short films. Three of these filmmakers are from Bloomington.One of the three filmmakers is Jordan Henline of 88.8 Films. This is his first year in the film festival. Together, 88.8 Films produced six short films, all showcasing its take on dark comedy. In addition to the film festival, Henline and other members of 88.8 Films will participate in the Instant Gratification movie challenges, as well as create their own individual projects.“Film something often,” Henline said. “It doesn’t matter what kind of camera you have. You can always make a bad film with a good camera. You just need to practice.” The film festival will be in the I Fell Building on Fourth Street. A full festival pass that grants admission to all screenings and post-festival events is $8. Individual screenings are $3.For a full schedule of each day, check the Gadabout Film Festival Facebook and Tumblr pages.Ayotte said they will be doing an annual weekend event here from now on.In April, the Gadabout Film Festival will go on its international leg, traveling to Brighton, U.K., to perform the second half of the kick-off.
(02/15/13 3:53am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Volunteers are helping keep Bloomington trails clean and safe.For the last three years, the Bloomington Parks and Recreation Department has formally selected volunteers to help maintain local trails. “As our Bloomington trail system has expanded, the upkeep was a tremendous issue we were having,” Special Services Coordinator for the Bloomington Parks and Recreation Department Kim Ecenbarger said. “It’s just hard for us to be at all places at all times, so we felt that by creating an Adopt-A-Trail program, we could access some of our volunteer resources and good stewardship resources to let us know about the issues going on with our trails so we can respond more quickly.”Bloomington has more than 30 miles of trails within its city parks. With factors such as erosion, fallen trees and blocked trails, the department was facing difficulty with all of the maintenance, Ecenbarger said.There are currently seven trails available for adoption. Some of these trails include portions of Clear Creek Trail, Griffy Lake Nature Preserve and the Wapehani Mountain Bike Park. Volunteers are required to adopt a trail for a minimum of one consecutive year. There are a variety of trails to choose from such as paved, natural, urban parks and nature parks.The Adopt-A-Trail application is available every programming season, which is three times a year. The deadline for the current season is today. Once the volunteers are selected, the year contract will begin on an unannounced day in March.“We look for somebody who has interest in our trail system,” Ecenbarger said. “Somebody who can commit to the one year timeline, somebody who wants to bridge communication between what’s going on in our trails and with our community. Someone who will be a good representative of the Parks Department and a good public steward overall.”The City Parks Department already has a diverse range of volunteers including retirees, community organizations and two IU fraternities, Alpha Phi Omega and Sigma Phi Beta. Volunteers are required to inspect their trails and submit a report of inspection at least once a month. They must also implement a work day at least once a year, on which they carry out their trail’s improvement plan that caters to each trail’s specific needs. Because each trail is different, the City Parks Department will make sure each volunteer is familiarized with his or her adopted trail. For example, in an urban park, its volunteers must be wary of sidewalk issues and vandalism.“This is a flexible volunteer activity,” Ecenberger said. “It’s enjoyable, and you’re doing just as much for yourself as you are for the Parks Department and the community. It really is a great program that shows stewardship and collaboration at its best.” Scott Burgins, a long-time Bloomington resident, has adopted the Leonard Springs Nature Park for two consecutive years. Burgins shares this trail with his daughter, Hannah Murray. The Leonard Springs Nature Park is a little more than a mile long, located in south Bloomington.Burgins said the upkeep isn’t too demanding, especially because the City Parks Department is able to help with any issues the trails may have. “The thing that I find interesting is that if we see something and report, it, they fix it,” Burgins said. “For instance, a couple months ago, someone had left pink spray paint on a cave there. I filed my monthly report and the next time I came out, the city crews had come and removed it,” Burgins said.Burgins and Murray said they have plans to renew the trail again when their contract expires.“It’s something for my daughter and I to do together, and once a month we’re guaranteed to go out and take a nice, beautiful walk,” Burgins said.
(02/14/13 6:37pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>For the last three years, the Bloomington Parks and Recreation Department has formally selected volunteers to help maintain local trails. “As our Bloomington trail system has expanded, the upkeep was a tremendous issue we were having,” Special Services Coordinator for the Bloomington Parks and Recreation Department Kim Ecenbarger said. “It’s just hard for us to be at all places at all times, so we felt that by creating an Adopt-A-Trail program, we could access some of our volunteer resources and good stewardship resources to let us know about the issues going on with our trails so we can respond more quickly.”Bloomington has more than 30 miles of trails within its city parks. With factors such as erosion, fallen trees and blocked trails, the department was facing difficulty with all of the maintenance, Ecenbarger said.There are currently seven trails available for adoption. Some of these trails include portions of Clear Creek Trail, Griffy Lake Nature Preserve and the Wapehani Mountain Bike Park. Volunteers are required to adopt a trail for a minimum of one consecutive year. There are a variety of trails to choose from such as paved, natural, urban parks and nature parks.The Adopt-A-Trail application is available every programming season, which is three times a year. The deadline for this season is Friday. Once the volunteers are selected, the year contract will start on a date yet to be announced in March.“We look for somebody who has interest in our trail system," Ecenbarger said. "Somebody who can commit to the one year timeline, somebody who wants to bridge communication between what’s going on in our trails and with our community. Someone who will be a good representative of the Parks Department and a good public steward overall,” The City Parks Department already has a diverse range of volunteers including two IU fraternities, Alpha Phi Omega and Sigma Phi Beta, retirees and community organizations. Volunteers are required to inspect their trails and submit a report of inspection at least once a month. They must also implement a work day once a year, a day where they carry out their trail’s improvement plan, catered to each trail’s specific needs. Because each trail is unique, the City Parks Department will make sure each volunteer is familiarized with his or her adopted trail. For example, in an urban park, its volunteers must be wary of sidewalk issues and vandalism.“This is a flexible volunteer activity,” Ecenberger said. “It’s enjoyable, and you’re doing just as much for yourself as you are for the Parks Department and the community. It really is a great program that shows stewardship and collaboration at its best.” Scott Burgins, a long-time Bloomington resident, has adopted the Leonard Springs Nature Park for two consecutive years. Burgins shares this trail with his daughter, Hannah Murray. The Leonard Springs Nature Park is a little more than a mile long, residing in south of Bloomington.Burgins said the upkeep isn’t too demanding, especially because the City Parks Department is able to help with any issues the trails may have. “The thing that I find interesting is that if we see something and report, it, they fix it,” Burgins said. “For instance, a couple months ago, someone had left pink spray paint on a cave there. I filed my monthly report and the next time I came out, the city crews had come and removed it,” Burgins said.Burgins and Murray said they have plans to renew the trail once again when their contract is expired.“It’s something for my daughter and I to do together and once a month we’re guaranteed to go out and take a nice, beautiful walk,” Burgins said.
(02/08/13 4:45am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Once a year, a handful of local volunteers are formally recognized for their efforts within the community.On April 2, the Buskirk-Chumley Theater will be the host of the annual Be More Awards. These awards, sponsored by the City of Bloomington Volunteer Network and its co-sponsors, will recognize individuals that have demonstrated outstanding volunteer work throughout Monroe County within the past year.This year, there were 89 nominees, 10 of whom will receive awards. These 10 recipients will win a specific category. However, there are multiple recipients allowed in one category. The categories vary from year to year. This year, they will include Recreation and Fitness, Arts and Culture, and Education, along with several other categories. Be More Dedicated, the lifetime achievement award, will also be presented.Nominations were taken from Dec. 10 to Feb. 1. These nominations were submitted by the general public, community businesses, friends or family members. The recipients are then decided by an independent selection committee and the results are kept secret until the night of the ceremony.The awards make an effort to acknowledge those people who make a difference “behind the scenes,” Bet Savich, director of the Bloomington Volunteer Network said.The awards identify the efforts that tend to go unrecognized.“People will notice that there’s a wonderful play in town, but they won’t think about who volunteered to build the sets,” Savich said.These awards give the needed recognition to these volunteers, she said.Each recipient will receive a plaque as well as a $500 check from the Community Foundation of Bloomington and Monroe County that will benefit the organization they volunteer with.“Usually the volunteers themselves don’t have that kind of money to give them, but they’re very committed to them,” Savich said. “It’s a good opportunity to learn what’s happening in Bloomington and who is making it happen.”The award ceremony is free and open to the public, beginning 7 p.m. Attendees are also encouraged to invite friends and family members.WTIU is one of five companies that has partnered with the Be More Awards this year. This will be WTIU’s fifth year of partnership.“To us, volunteers are the lifeblood of service in this community and we think those people should be acknowledged, recognized and celebrated,” Phil Meyer, station manager for WTIU, said. “These people keep our non-profits and social service agencies going. There are all kinds of great stories.”Some of the stories include raising money for underprivileged children, a relocation project for stray animals and various fraternity and sorority volunteer work.“The people who receive these awards are very modest about their achievements and their contributions. This is one way that we can shine a spotlight on them and get them some recognition,” he said. “They’re often doing a lot of work without any recognition. We’re very proud to recognize them and get them the recognition they deserve.”
(01/18/13 5:03am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The new Instagram policy will be in full effect Saturday.The changes allow the social media site to share any self-uploaded photos with advertisers without the approval of or notification to users. Advertisers, however, must be in the same group as Instagram or one of its affiliates.In addition to pictures, Instagram is allowed to share information such as cookies and location data. These allowances will enable future advertising to cater to an individual’s interests, Instagram said in a press release.“Our intention in updating the terms was to communicate that we’d like to experiment with innovative advertising that feels appropriate on Instagram,” Co-founder Kevin Systrom said on the Instagram website. Instagram isn’t the only company using user-provided content. Instagram users may search, view and use one another’s pictures or information. “The biggest problems are initially for the users,” Maurer School of Law professor Fred Cate said. “You have two sets of issues. One is a privacy issue, doing things with your data you don’t want done with them. The other is an economic issue, which is, are they going to be making a profit off of your data and then say that you don’t have a share in that profit at all?” IU Social Media Strategist Thom Atkinson said he believes there aren’t positive changes for users. Yet, the negative changes aren’t as “catastrophic” as they seem. Last April, Facebook bought Instagram for $1 billion. With recent changes to Facebook’s terms of service, Atkinson said he believed it was only a matter of time before Instagram changed its policies to coincide with those of Facebook. “It was almost a carbon copy of the changes that were made in Facebook’s terms of service,” Atkinson said. Atkinson said he believes social media users shouldn’t be concerned. Instead, they should be conscientious any time they post on the Internet.“Uploading a photo to Instagram is no more dangerous than uploading a photo to Facebook,” Atkinson said. Some users said they aren’t bothered by the changes.Freshman Adriana Rivera said she is aware of the new changes, yet she won’t let that stop her from using the app.“In a way, it does feel like a violation of my privacy, but I wouldn’t expect to see one of my pictures floating around on the Internet,” Rivera said. “I don’t see how I could be used relevantly.” Atkinson said no lawsuit has been filed about Instagram’s terms of service and privacy policy, but he is interested to see how a judge would rule in a case like that. “Nobody reads them, and everybody knows that nobody reads them,” he said. “That fact alone puts the legally binding nature of these documents into question. It will be interesting to see how a judge would rule on how binding these contracts actually are, considering it’s universally recognized that we all agree to them, and we all ignore them.”Cate said social media users must be aware that, once something is uploaded to the Internet, it is fair game for any fellow media user. “It’s just a reminder that, when you post your data to Instagram, they’re going to own it,” Cate said. “They can do what they want with it.”