Community Arts

RUNNING THE FLOOR: Regional showdown, possible throwdown

This one means a little bit more. Games like these always do. Players and coaches yarn on about how truthfully, every game is the same, none is taken more seriously than another, etc. But IU-Kentucky isn’t just a rivalry – it’s a tradition. Need proof? Turn CBS on at 4 p.m. Saturday and see if you don’t hear everything you need to hear from what Tom Crean called “one of the great atmospheres in the country.”Games like this are circled in red. Games like this are the reason Tom Crean left a successful, well-built program at Marquette for a team in tatters. Games like this define seasons – and often careers.

Different game, different Story

On a team that IU coach Tom Crean calls “thin,” Malik Story has been a valuable commodity. Coming off the bench or starting, playing power forward or point guard – wherever Crean has been lacking, he’s turned to Story to fill the gap. No wonder Story has an open mind on what his role is for the Hoosiers. “(I do) whatever needs to be done,” he said. “Pass the ball, score the ball, whatever needs to be done.” While the whole season is a learning experience, perhaps no Hoosier has had to learn as much or adjust to as many different roles as Story. The 6-foot-5, 225-pound freshman came to Bloomington as a guard. He quickly learned he would need to fill the position of power forward, due to the lack of size on the squad.

Bursar aims to keep parents, students informed

For many at IU, the bursar is a place where students send their money and never see it again. 

Breast cancer survivors might have intimacy issues

An IU study has found that young female survivors of breast cancer tend to have intimacy and sexual issues in their relationships and are interested in sexual enhancement products to curb these tendencies.

Gov. Daniels to make further budget cuts

Gov. Mitch Daniels ordered most state agencies to cut their spending even further Thursday to eliminate a projected $763 million spending gap through next June.

Man convicted of voyeurism for filming in HPER, library bathroom

A Bloomington man has been convicted of voyeurism for secretly filming men and boys urinating in public restrooms and locker rooms.

BPD adds officers at College Mall for holiday season

The Bloomington Police Department began adding additional officers around College Mall and other retail locations Friday to help ease the potential tension of the holiday shopping season.

Dog meat, anyone?

On Dec. 2, the IDS published an article about how a student group called “Dollars for Delilah’s” was raising money to help Delilah’s Pet Shop after it burnt down in November. What followed was 108 angry comments on idsnews.com by animal rights activists who thought the charity was promoting puppy mills by supporting Delilah’s. I don’t think an article titled “Students eat lunch at Burger King” would have prompted the same response. Which is funny, really, because in one instance, you have students supporting the sale of animals as pets. On the other, you have students supporting the killing of animals. However, the act that draws outrage is the act that keeps animals alive and interacting with humans. Activists are more concerned about dogs being mass-bred at puppy mills than they are about cows being slaughtered for food.

Fight climate change

I am a soon-to-be graduate extremely concerned with the current economic and environmental crises. Every day I hear that we are in the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Of course this has many different variations. Now, though, this phrase seems accurate, so we should modify and apply the lessons we learned in getting out of the Great Depression now. We need to figure out how to stimulate our economy while correcting the climate problem. We can create green jobs through massive public works and infrastructure projects, such as installing solar panels and creating energy efficient buildings and homes. By doing this, we can create jobs and stimulate the economy while saving our planet.

The Internet and propaganda

Playing the online game “Darfur is Dying” was a requirement for my international studies assignment. The crux of the interactive simulation is to give participants an idea of the challenges Darfurian refugees face to survive. Each player takes on the role of a refugee and has to leave the camp to forage for water. He or she then navigates through the terrain while avoiding capture by the brutal Janjaweed militias. While a novel idea, the online simulation doesn’t do justice to the horrors Darfurians face; it trivializes the terror in Sudan just like Scrooge McDuck makes a case study against thrift. Nevertheless, the “Darfur is Dying” Web site is a powerful example of how the Internet has truly changed the dynamics of social and political advocacy. These days, anyone with Internet access can partake in signing online petitions, communicating via instant messaging about political rallies and social movements, sharing political videos, playing online simulations, blogging about issues and, very importantly, donating to causes. The ways social movements can utilize the Internet is nearly limitless. The scary part, however, is that anybody can use the Internet to propagate his ideas whether substantial, spin or completely warped.

Week of the ‘Living Dead’

Dead week? Yeah, right – more like death week. Isn’t this the one week out of the semester that is supposed to be free of major exams or important lectures so that we have more time to study for our finals and meet with faculty? So then why does everybody’s grade for every class seem to depend on the exams and papers that are due within this deadly five-day span? What exactly is supposed to be dead during dead week? I’m still seeing some signs of life. My classes are certainly not dead, nor is my workload or my desire to throw myself down a stairwell in Ballantine Hall. No, those things are all still very much alive and well. The only thing that is really dead during dead week, as far as I can tell, is my free time. Oh, and my social life. And my health, both physical and mental. And my ambition. And my natural sleep cycle and soul.

State representatives gone wild

Whether it’s the Bush administration’s lame-duck status making the legislative process seem fruitless or because the good cheer of the holidays, politicians across the world are suffering a surge of inexplicable rowdiness. Here are just a few of the wacky instances. The conservative opposition leader of Australia’s New South Wales legislature was forced into retirement last week after shoving a female colleague at a Christmas party gone awry. 

Man accused of sexual battery, child molestation

A Bloomington man faces preliminary charges of intimidation, child molestation and sexual battery after police say he touched a 12-year-old girl and 22-year-old woman inappropriately and threatened a woman with a knife.

Tree gets the heave

Last week, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill made a decision that was so stupid, I almost lost respect for their basketball team. Almost. For years, UNC displayed Christmas trees in two of their campus libraries. I’d say trees are probably one of the most generalized Christmas – excuse me, holiday – icons we have in this country. Not surprisingly, there was no manger scene on display, and no sign of anything related to the actual beginning of Christmas. If you’re like some students on this campus and have decided a college education deems you intelligent enough to declare the absence of a god, then you may not know what I’m talking about. But for the rest of you who suffer from that disease called “religion” – or even humility – carry on.

Around the Arts

The War on Drugs comes to B-town

Like a silver rocket barreling down a dusty Highway 61, Philadelphia’s The War on Drugs will blow through Bloomington at 10 p.m. Friday at Bear’s Place, playing their third show of a short seven-stop tour. Tickets cost $6.

Singing loud for all to hear

Both young and old, friends and family joined together Wednesday to hear Christmas carols and melodies at “Chimes of Christmas” at the IU Auditorium.

Looking good in ’09

Last week, I gave you five surefire ways to improve your style for the New Year. Well, that was just the first half of my fashion guidance. I’m back with my final fashion column of the semester to give you five more ways to look better in ’09.

IU Center for Urban Policy and Environment to receive $2 million from Lilly Endowment

The IU Center for Urban Policy and Environment  will receive $2 million from Lilly Endowment Inc., during the next three years, IU President Michael McRobbie announced today.

Dance majors take stage in senior project

A new generation of IU contemporary dance majors has been working for the past four years, and now, in an exhibition at the John Waldron Arts Center titled “Roots and Wings,” the students are ready to show what they have learned.