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One mother,a lifetime of lessons

Outside experience adds to writers' ability to succeed

Jennifer Fish describes the economics of a fiction writer's lifestyle. "It's hard for everyone these days," she said. "My spouse supports me by doing extra around the house so I have time to devote to writing and art. He's a coupon maniac ... I buy most of my clothes at the Goodwill or will vulture items at the recycling center.

Screen or Stage

Playwrighting has been around at least since the times of ancient Greece; screenwriting was created less than 100 years ago. Today many theaters struggle to stay in business, but films often see weekly box office revenues in tens of millions of dollars.

Agent: Vikings agree to deal Moss to Raiders

MINNEAPOLIS -- Randy Moss is heading to Oakland, the receiver's agent said Wednesday. Dante DiTrapano, Moss' agent, told The Associated Press that the Minnesota Vikings and the Raiders had "come to an agreement on Randy playing for Oakland next year."

Hoosiers jump 15 spots in ITA ranking

The IU men's tennis team might finally be finding its routine. After losses two weeks ago to Virginia and N.C. State, the Hoosiers took two days off, and came back last Saturday with their best win of the season, toppling then-No. 26 Louisville at home. IU followed that formula again this week as they look to even out their record against No. 72 Ball State in Muncie today.

Around The State

House committee advances plan to fund new Colts stadium INDIANAPOLIS -- An Indiana House committee advanced a proposal Wednesday to fund a new stadium for the Indianapolis Colts through a mix that includes hotel and gambling tax increases and a surcharge on game tickets.

Summer program offers field research

This summer will offer an opportunity for students and faculty to come together and study the Earth and environmental science from a new perspective. "Volcanoes of the Eastern Sierra Nevada: Geology and Natural History of the Long Caldera," a three-credit course offered during the first summer session (current dates for the trip are May 21 through June 4), will be taught in nature's "laboratory" of eastern California.

Hoosiers hoping for repeat of '85 season

The IU men's swimming and diving team looks to repeat history as it heads to Minneapolis for the 2005 Big Ten Championships. It has been exactly 20 years since IU last won a Big Ten title in this sport. That same year was also the last time the Hoosiers won 10 dual-meets in a season before reaching that mark this season.

It's all about the respect

Arizona basketball head coach Lute Olson has been feeling a little like the late comedian Rodney Dangerfield this season -- he and his team "can't get no respect."

With Gopher blood, Hoosier guards await home town team

Two words most people don't often put together are Hoosier and Gopher. Ironically, the IU women's basketball team sports a pair of Hoosiers with Gopher blood.

Project plan faces residents' questions, concerns

Bloomington is a step closer to finalizing the Downtown Plan with a presentation to the public from the consulting group Winter and Co. at the Convention Center Wednesday night. Nore Winter, project manager for the Bloomington Project, was pleased with the meeting.

Ice-carving contest attracts champions

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- For three straight days, Stanley Kolonko will forsake the comforts of his job as a clubhouse chef to spend 14-hour shifts, toiling in numbing subzero temperatures, chipping and carving a block of ice into a piece of art.

Will Bratislava be Yalta II?

RAKOW, Poland -- Sixty years ago this month, in the country just east of Poland, President Franklin Roosevelt met with Joseph Stalin at the Yalta Conference. At the summit in what is now Ukraine, Roosevelt got Stalin to promise democratic elections in Eastern European nations but privately did little to ensure the Russians would carry out the commitment.

Feelings and emoticons :)

Digital communication is excellent. I'm not talking about phones or TVs here, but the geekier stuff. I live in Forest, and we like to play video games there. A lot.

Chocolate-covered budget

Every once in a while you come across one of those deadbeats who always borrows money and never pays you back. Maybe his name is Larry. Larry just keeps spending more of your money and you become skeptical when he uses most of it to add to his vintage troll doll collection.

Courtside is for fans in red

Seventeen thousand fans showed up in red and white Tuesday night to watch the men's basketball team smash Purdue. Four came to the game decked out in the color of money. Four women dressed in electric-green Varsity Villas T-shirts adorned the sidelines, getting up at every time-out to draw attention to themselves and their fluorescent T-shirts. Of course the color stood out from the cream and crimson covering the hall. Apparently someone wanted those shirts to get noticed.

Emergency 2-day stay issued in battle over Florida woman

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- Two courts ruling within an hour of each other handed victories to either side in the bitterly contested fight about the fate of brain-damaged Terri Schiavo, paving the way for more legal wrangling.

At least 500 dead in Iran quake

ISLAMABAD, Iran -- Rescue teams using dogs and heavy machinery pulled more bodies from the ruins of flattened villages in central Iran on Wednesday, and officials raised the death toll from a powerful earthquake to at least 500. The count was expected to rise even higher.

Ceramic art balloons into massive undertaking

BALTIMORE -- During the next few months, it will be nearly impossible to view art in Baltimore without seeing works in clay. That's the goal of the Tour de Clay, a celebration of ceramic artwork that has ballooned into what organizers say is the largest-ever visual arts program in the United States.

'Dialogues' deeply moving for student cast members

The Catholic Church is associated with many musical genres such as the cantata and the oratorio, but it usually is never associated with the opera. French composer Francis Poulenc changed that in 1956 when he wrote "Dialogues des Carmelites."