We're bringing artsy back

Don't resist the arts.\nThey're not here to hurt, bore or intimidate. In fact, the arts exist solely for pleasure and to enhance the world around us. The arts are everywhere, affecting us daily -- from a Chopin prelude playing in the background of a movie to the choreography in your favorite music video. The arts date back to the beginning of time and will continue to thrive as long as people have a desire to create and express. Younger generations are not taking advantage of the arts world. Television, Internet and iPods fuel a desire for instant gratification and have changed how people perceive the arts.\nThere are common misconceptions that the arts are restricted to dead composers and Shakespearean monologues, or that if you're a sports fanatic you cannot possibly enjoy the ballet. As this semester's arts editors, we're going to change that. Art must be viewed, understood and then appreciated. To gain from the arts, people need to be willing to dedicate a little time getting to know them. So let us introduce you.\nOur interest is to ditch the exclusivity that the arts sometimes evoke and include every reader. We want our section to appeal to the arts lovers and the amateurs. We're making our section user-friendly with our "Complete Moron's Guide to the Arts" every Friday. On Mondays we're keeping our comedic fashion column by Teri Rosenbaum. Thursdays we will have our foreign-arts correspondent Leah Linder with her "Letters From Prague" as she spends a semester in one of the most artistically rich centers of the world. \nWe're going to mix some of the old with the new, finding contemporary twists to make the arts less daunting, and more appealing, to our audience. We want to help you love the arts the way we do. So maybe you aren't interested in seeing one of IU's many orchestras perform. That's OK. Maybe you would enjoy seeing some naked bodies at the SoFA museum (the "Expressive Bodies" exhibit opens next week). \nIU has more than Little 500 and Hoosiers basketball -- we have one of the most prominent arts programs in the nation. The southeast side of campus is brimming with some of the best musicians, dancers, thespians and artists around. Students come from around the world to study here, and fortunately their talents are shown all around campus. We'll keep you posted about the events, and we are also going to give you some tutorials so that maybe you'll feel comfortable enough to dip your toes or dive into the arts.\nSo stick around, don't run at the first mention of Bach and enjoy the arts. That's what they are here for. We're here to assist with the translation.