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(06/13/07 11:24pm)
Bloomington resident John Linnemeier had to decide whether he wanted to live or die.\nHe’d been shot by friendly fire during his time served as an army specialist in the Vietnam War. He was laying in pain, questioning the existence of God and thinking about what it meant to no longer exist. He ultimately decided he couldn’t die because he hadn’t yet had a son.\nLinnemeier didn’t die the day he was shot in 1969, and he’s still alive today, able to share stories about his time served in the U.S. military with photographer and IU School of Fine Arts professor Jeffrey Wolin. Linnemeier and his story provide one of the 50 anecdotes and photographs compiled and produced by Wolin for the exhibit “Inconvenient Stories: Vietnam War Veterans” on display June 15 - Sept. 2 at the IU Art Museum’s Special Exhibitions Gallery.\nThe photos and essays in the exhibit are samples from Wolin’s book of the same name, which came out in February. Wolin spent more than five years compiling the veterans’ photographs and stories, traveling as far as California and getting in touch with marines, a B-52 pilot, a wartime nurse and others.\nStill, more than a dozen of the veterans on display in the IU Art Museum gallery are from Bloomington and some even have ties to IU, such as School of Journalism professor Claude Cookeman.\n“I wanted to get a diversity of stories,” Wolin said. “War leaves these scars ... (These veterans) have a lot to teach us.”\nIn working on the project, Wolin encountered many veterans with missing limbs, scars from land-mine shrapnel or who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. He videotaped interviews with the veterans that were more than an hour long, encouraging them to be as candid as they wanted about the horrors they witnessed, the pain they endured and the sometimes unfortunate effects their wartime experience imposed on their minds and bodies.\n“It’s still not a political statement,” Wolin said of the exhibit. “It’s a memorial for the soldiers. It’s an art project about the effects of war – of trauma – on people.”\nEver since Wolin’s friends who were drafted or volunteered for war returned and shared their remarkable experiences with him, Wolin felt compelled to create some type of art on the subject of war. In 1991, he initiated the project, but it was soon put on the back burner while he pursued another venture he’d started. Wolin began seeking out veterans again in 2003 for the project.\n“It looked to me in 2003 that we were heading toward another Vietnam,” he said.\nWolin’s videotaped interviews will play on a loop in the gallery room so spectators can hear the veterans’ voices in addition to reading their stories and seeing their photographs.\nIn addition to the gallery, which is open 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and noon - 5 p.m. Sunday, Wolin will be the featured speaker at one of museum’s Noon Talks at 12:15 p.m. on August 29 on the first floor of the museum, where he will discuss the series. \nAlso, Wolin will lead a panel discussion including four of the featured veterans in his book at 5:30 p.m. on August 31 in Room 015 in the School of Fine Arts.\nWolin hopes people who visit the gallery will take away a deeper understanding of how war affects people.
(06/04/07 1:41am)
Summer is still 17 days away, but its colors and beauty were already present Friday evening at Bloomington artist and IU alumna Sara McQueen’s “Summer Images” opening reception at By Hand Gallery.\nFriends and acquaintances of the artist, who is also an art teacher at Jackson Creek Middle School, trickled in and out of the gallery, looking at more than 10 of McQueen’s watercolor paintings on display.\nThe paintings featured McQueen’s “responses to nature” and included reproductions of vibrant orange lilies, billowing purple clouds and even a sparkling Lake Monroe. Nature, McQueen said, is one of the primary inspirations of her art, which extends beyond watercolor painting to printmaking and photography. \nBloomington resident Diane McLelland was drawn to the reception after receiving a postcard advertising the event that featured a piece from McQueen’s rock series on the front. McLelland said her son was in McQueen’s art class this past school year and appreciated that her artistic endeavors transcended the classroom.\n“It’s important that her (students) see her doing work like this,” she said, adding that even her other son, who is 16 years old, expressed interest in McQueen’s work.\n“My son, who hates everything, said he liked it,” she said jokingly.\nMcQueen said her rocks series, which includes more than four paintings of multicolored and differently shaped stones, was initiated while she was on a fishing trip with her husband in the upper peninsula of Michigan.\n“It was one of those paintings that started off with me saying ‘I suck, I quit,’” she said. \nBut after persevering for a couple of days, she said, she found satisfaction.\n“It’s like portraits of people who don’t get offended,” she said. “And when (else) do people get to really look at rocks?”\nMcQueen’s work will be on display, and for sale, until July 4 at By Hand Gallery in Fountain Square Mall, 101 W. Kirkwood Ave. For more information, visit www.bloomington.in.us/~byhand/.
(05/10/07 4:00am)
Umphrey's and moe are like the Welch's and Smuckers of the jam scene. They often tour together and transition from one band to another, one musician at a time. As one member's guitarist leaves, the other's gets on stage, etc. Both have extensive histories of playing in Bloomington (moe played an acoustic set in Borders last semester).
(04/23/07 4:00am)
I did it in four years.\nIn the summer of 2003 I came to IU; two Bachelor of Arts degrees, 10 pounds and dozens of new friends and acquaintances later, I will graduate. It is important – mostly for my own sense of closure – that I share my most important lessons from college with you readers. \nNo worries – these lessons aren’t along the lines of “Be yourself lol omg.” I like to think they’re much more relatable and amusing than that. I also hope to recommend sandwich variations and Bloomington deli options somewhere in these 500 words; in addition to comforting myself as I transition out of the college bubble, I seek to enjoy and discuss sandwiches as much as possible.\nWe’ll start with the gushy stuff. Relationships. I identify as a heterosexual woman, so I am coming from the perspective of desiring and getting my heart pooped on by men. I was fortunate to experience only one real heartbreak in my four years at IU, and I’ve come out of it (almost completely) knowing that I cannot blame myself for getting hurt. Nor can you, my female peers who liked that guy who said he would call but never did. Don’t be angry at yourselves for believing him, or “letting” yourself get too involved with him. He hurt you. You’re the victim. Of course this lesson can be applied to all sorts of intimate partner relations, can’t it? \nUnfortunately, I’ve no advice or practiced method of actually getting over a dude (or a lady). That part just sucks, and can take a lot of time.\nProbably my second most important collegiate revelation happened in the classroom. I will never forget being excited to go to my G101: Women and Society class as a junior. I was so enlightened every course period after encountering social history from a feminist perspective for the first time. I am more media literate and thoughtful because of gender studies, my second major, and I will never be ashamed to let people know that sex and gender are different. Sex is determined by a human’s biology whilst gender is a social construction. Please remember that, you! Take G101 for an extension on this thought – you will not regret it unless you hate intellect. Or gummi bears.\nMy third contemplation is maybe just personal and realized only very recently: that I am my only worst enemy. We are all probably our own harshest critics. No one but myself makes me feel bad about the brown scar from a spider bite on my left shin, for missing a workout or for saying that vaguely inappropriate, awkward thing at the party. I’ve found out that unless you physically harm them, people are generally receptive and uncritical, if you are too.\nThere is so much else. Volunteering is important and rewarding. Tell your parents you love them (if you do). Participate in class. Try the monster cookies at Sugar ’n Spice.\nLove college. Be OK with yourself. Be good to your friends. Good luck.
(04/16/07 4:00am)
Get low.\nIn fall of 2003 Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz hit it big with a track by that name. If you don’t recall, maybe these lyrics will refresh your memory: “to the window, to the wall, to the sweat drip down my balls, to all these bitches crawl.” The songs lyrics are all demanding of females, probably in a nightclub sort of scenario, in which sex at the end of the night is hoped for and presumed – by both men and women. Still, the words are aggressive towards women and express little thought for what she might find enjoyable. \nSurely I could make these statements about any number of popular songs – rap and other genres – by male songwriters. If a song isn’t explicitly sexually demanding of a woman, it is describing her lips or her legs or the way her body looks when she’s grindin’ on the dance flo’. (Ludacris’ “Pimpin all over the world” is a relevant example for this.)\nMy intent isn’t to directly condemn this type of music – it danceable and gets ample mainstream radio time. But I want to consider that these rappers aren’t often marked by critics in reviews as addressing gender in their music. Lyrics sexualizing (and, a lot of times, degrading) women are “normal.” \nReinforcing this point is Peaches, an electro punk rocker (woman) with songs like “Fuck the Pain Away” and “Boys Wanna Be Her” and lyrics like “Feels great, just simulate, your prostrate.” Yes, Peaches is the one calling the shots in her largely obscene songs about sex.\nI’m not necessarily Peaches biggest fan, but I can understand her intent to even things out when it comes to objectifying one’s opposite sex in popular culture. What’s interesting about Peaches though is that, unlike her male counterparts in the music industry, she is pegged as being preoccupied with “gender bending” and singing primarily about sex.\nA Lexis Nexis search of “Peahces music” for articles in the past year retrieves 125 results with headlines containing the words “saucy,” “gender politics,” and “unabashedly raunchy.” A search for “Lil Jon” in the past year produces headlines about “complex beats” and “hip hop’s hottest hitmaker” – nothing about lyrics about gender. \nThe message here is that a woman expressing sexuality and enjoying a man’s body is remarkable, while a man can degrade a woman all day without sparking much conversation or being excluded from mainstream pop culture.\nPeaches’ has expressed interest in evening out the objectification of men with women in pop culture. But I don’t think men should be objectified more, I think women should be objectified less. Songs that instruct women to get on their hands and knees and suck it like they like it should be discussed on radio shows and blogs more about their implications. All popular culture text producers should consider having more respect for human being’s bodies and how the words they put out for millions to hear can make an impact.
(03/28/07 4:00am)
More than 700 IU students and faculty will share a track and a cause this weekend at IU’s fourth annual Relay For Life.\nWith 58 registered teams, the American Cancer Society event aims to raise more than $74,000 – about $6,000 more than last year’s total – for cancer research, advocacy and education.\n“It’s bittersweet,” said Andrea Curtis, American Cancer Society staff partner for IU’s Relay For Life. “It’s good because we come together in the fight against cancer, but sad because you see so many people come together because they’ve been affected by the disease.”\nTeam members, who’ve been raising money all semester for the cause, will be at the event for its entirety – from 4 p.m. March 31 to 9 a.m. April 1 at the Billy Hayes track. They will even be spending the night in tents near the track, which is located north of Armstrong Stadium. In raising money, the participants pledged their time to be at the event, where dialogue is raised about cancer prevention and education.\nNon-participants are encouraged to attend the event’s highlights, including opening remarks from assistant football coach Bill Lynch and a Rock Out Cancer Awareness Concert, featuring live music from regional bands from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. The general public can also make donations at the registration table and through “canners,” who will be collecting spare change at the track.\nStill, the main purpose of the event is to create cancer awareness and honor or remember those who have survived, or died from cancer.\nThe event’s traditional Luminaria Ceremony promises to be especially moving, said event development co-chair Lauren Sharo, a sophomore. At dusk, lighted candles in paper bags bought by friends and family of cancer patients will line the track. \nThis year, Miss Indiana Betsy Uschkrat and Miss IU Lindsey Roscoe will kick off the ceremony, while IU psychology researcher Tessa Bent, who’s also a breast cancer survivor, will be the featured speaker.\n“Anyone who has known anyone with cancer will find this meaningful,” said senior Mike Grady, IU Relay For Life’s team development chair, adding that luminaries can still be purchased at the event before the ceremony.\nIU Relay For Life president Cindy Morse said the event will also feature some lighthearted fun, including Oreo eating contests and corn hole tournaments.\nSenior Kevin Falik said his team, Zeta Beta Tau, will bring Frisbees and footballs to help pass the time. This is ZBT’s second year to be a part of Relay For Life, and so far team members have raised more than $7,000.\nWhile the event serves as one of the chapter’s main philanthropic endeavors, it also has personal meaning. Falik said he knows of several ZBT members, including himself, who have seen a loved one die of cancer.\n“Everybody’s affected by cancer,” he said.\nTo learn more about IU’s Relay For Life or to make a donation online, visit www.Acsevents.org/relay/in/iu.
(02/22/07 5:00am)
Live organisms will be manipulated by the click of a mouse, printers will produce hand-drawn 3-D images and violinists will be accompanied by a computer-generated orchestra. The theme for the 23rd annual ArtsWeek, a collaboration of the IU Office of the Provost and various community and campus arts organizations, is “Technology and the Arts.” With more than 50 events during the 11-day schedule, which officially began Wednesday and concludes March 3, ArtsWeek leaves little to be desired.\n“We were overwhelmed by the caliber of proposals that were submitted this year,” said ArtsWeek coordinator Sheryl Knighton-Schwandt.\nArtists from the community and IU campus were invited starting last June to propose projects that paralleled with the theme, and 14 different events were funded by Interim Provost Michael McRobbie and Office of the Vice Provost for Research, the primary sponsor of ArtsWeek.\nKnighton-Schwandt said ArtsWeek is unique because it’s “something fresh every year” and it’s the premiere annual arts event that brings the campus and the community together.\n“For this theme, we’re not only showcasing what beautiful creations can be developed through new means of technology, but how we can use these tools to benefit everyone.”\nFor the complete schedule of ArtsWeek 2007, visit www.artsweek.indiana.edu.
(02/13/07 4:00pm)
A reported essay on how we see bodies and what they say.
(02/06/07 4:53am)
The Midnight Special's new operating system has been in effect for three weekends and has drawn a mix of mostly positive reactions.\n"The drivers thought the changes in service had made an improvement," said Kent McDaniel, executive director of transportation services for IU. "It was much more orderly and they can make their rounds a little faster."\nStarting Jan. 18, the Midnight Special, commonly known among students as "the drunk bus," eliminated flag stops, instead focusing on picking up passengers at five locations downtown. The new system also abandoned inbound trips after 1 a.m. to instead devote more resources to driving students home.\n"We had students sometimes literally chasing the bus down the street, and I think they were afraid if they missed the bus, it would be a long time until it came back," McDaniel said. "We wanted to eliminate that."\nIn an effort to inform students of the new system, noticeable signs featuring a dark purple moon were placed at bus stops where the Midnight Special stops. Still, McDaniel said some stops are missing the new signs.\n"I had trouble finding a way to fasten on (the signs) conveniently with new poles," he said, adding that all the signs should be in their appropriate places within two weeks, maybe sooner. "I'd like to see it done today."\nGraduate student Glen Dimick is in his second year as a bus driver for the Midnight Special. He said the new system hasn't changed the operation of the route as much as the initiators of the changes -- Campus Bus Services and the IU Student Association -- might have hoped.\nHe said most students who ride the bus are at the designated bus stops anyway. He also suggested adding 10 more buses would make it less hectic. The route currently has four buses, which made almost 2,000 trips each weekend last semester. \n"The main change is that we aren't supposed to be picking people up after 1 a.m. outside the designated stops of the city, but if it's 20 degrees below zero and somebody's out there, I'm probably going to pick them up anyway," he said.\nDimick said the only feedback he's heard from students who have ridden the past two weekends is that they are confused about how far the route extends, which the new system didn't affect.\n"We do run people out to the east side (of town)," he said. "We're still trying to get the word out."\nCampus Bus Service and IUSA collaborated to regulate the Midnight Special route after IUSA received persistent complaints about the unpredictability of its schedule.\nIUSA Vice President Andrew Lauck said IUSA felt comfortable taking the transportation concerns to Campus Bus Services, who, Lauck said, were flexible and willing to listen.\n"This is a good sign," he said. "There are a lot of issues that still need to be solved when it comes to transportation for students on campus."\nFor the Midnight Special's complete schedule and new regulations, visit www.iubus.indiana.edu and click on the Midnight Special tab.
(02/05/07 1:15am)
Their faces are sincere and stoic -- distracted by nothing as they advocate for their cause.\nMore than a dozen of IU alumna stef shuster's black and white photographs of these faces -- belonging to people participating in rallies and protests over the last six years -- came together Friday night for her exhibition "Feminists, Freaks, & Fairies" at Boxcar Books.\nShuster -- a self-identified trans-queer kid -- said the messages contained in her photographs, pro-feminism and pro-queer, are personal because she is an advocate for related causes.\n"A lot of people are put off by protests," she said, between hugs with friends at the exhibition. "It doesn't catapult people into action like it used to, but it doesn't give people a sense of community. The people involved know they're not by themselves."\nShuster's photographs featured primarily events like abortion-rights rallies, anti-war protests and Amnesty Now marches, but her gallery Friday also included some of her portraits of what she called "freaks" and "fairies," or people who are gay or transgender.\n"It's kind of about taking back the language," she said.\nDozens of Bloomington residents and IU students came and went in the two-hour opening reception, where they were treated to vegetables and dip or wine. Retired Bloomington resident Jim Doud said he'd heard about the exhibition in a local newspaper.\n"I love this type of art," he said. "How it's presented is so unique; it's a real moment captured."\nKristin McCormick, a coworker of shuster's, said she was drawn to the gallery Friday because she had seen some of shuster's photographs at Women Exposed 3, a local art benefit last month.\n"She's got a great way of taking pictures," McCormick said. "She has a way of taking these dramatic events and making it personable."\nAll of schuster's photographs were on sale Friday, and will be until the display ends on Feb. 28. But shuster doesn't make her living this way. For her, photography is a means of expression she takes seriously.\n"It is my passion," she said. "This could be a life project."\nFor more information about this exhibit, visit Boxcar Books' Web site, www.boxcarbooks.org.
(01/25/07 4:08am)
More than 20 women, both Bloomington residents and IU students, will showcase their artwork at the third annual Women Exposed art exhibition and benefit from 7 to 11 p.m. Friday at the Art Hospital.\nIn the past, the event has been promoted primarily for its contributions to the Middle Way House and The Rise -- to which the rolling admission price of $5 to $10 goes. But this year's focus is on the artists and the community, said Stef Shuster, the benefit's organizer and contributor.\nThis is the first year Women Exposed will be at the Art Hospital, 1021 S. Walnut St., which she hopes will encourage more people to come, because it is a more open space than its former location.\nLive musicians, some of whom are women whose art will be on display, will entertain attendees and wine will be served. Shuster said she hopes to have more than 200 people there.\n"We almost reached that last year," she said.\nShe said while Women Exposed is a feminist-oriented event, everyone should feel welcome to attend.\n"I hope it is a safe space for people to go to whether they identify as a feminist or not," she said. "It helps women and children in the community."\nLaurel Leonetti, a graduate student contributing her artwork -- a variety of plants, ceramics, and paintings, among other forms -- to Women Exposed for the first time, said her art doesn't necessarily have a feminist message.\n"The same way all my mediums are different, all my messages are different," she said.\nFor one of her sculptures, Leonetti compiled objects -- such as driftwood and Styrofoam -- she found along the banks of the Ohio River to form the shape of a little person. Working with trash and thinking about "waste culture" sometimes inspires her art, she said.\nShuster will be contributing photographs to the exhibition. Whereas she usually shoots what she calls "street photography," including protest marches, she said what she presents Friday night will be a surprise.\n"You'll have to go to the event to check it," she said.\nThe work will be on display from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday, since shuster acknowledged the Friday night opening conflicted with the PRIDE Film Festival.\nFor more information about the Art Hospital, visit its Web site at www.arthospital.net.
(01/18/07 4:00am)
I'd never given body art much thought.\nIt seemed like a dangerous, rigid culture, in which I -- a Catholic-schooled, perpetually optimistic small-town girl -- had no place.\nAs a little girl, when media formed my opinions on essentially everything, I took in the large, inked convicts I saw on "Cops" with wonder and fear. Later, with years of life experience and a media-literate mind, I viewed the "tatted" as interesting, artsy folk with whom I had little in common.\nAfter all, I've yet to read anything by Proust, most of my wardrobe comes from Target and Old Navy my knowledge of rock 'n' roll history extends little beyond last week's Top 40 and my hazy knowledge of art history stems solely from an intro class required for my major.\nDon't get me wrong. My life hasn't been an uninterrupted bubble bath, but I've never experimented with drugs or violence or the hard streets of ... anywhere, and I've encountered little intolerable pain or sadness.\nSo when I agreed to get a tattoo, primarily for compelling writing material, I thought it would be a hoot for me -- thoughtful but not traditionally "hard" -- to become an anomaly in tattoo culture. \nFriends disagreed.\n"That is the worst idea I've ever heard in my life," said one especially honest peer. \nHe may have been right, considering I've never actually wanted a tattoo. Even as I entered Skinquake last Saturday evening, I still didn't. I'm not attached to any symbol or image or icon. I like to trivialize tattoos with my endlessly funny (only to me) jokes about barbed wire around my bulging bicep.\nI was intimated to walk into the parlor, despite the Subway next door. Probably my two favorite interests are gender studies and sandwiches, so seeing the illuminated yellow sign felt like home. Nonetheless, I had culturally constructed ideas about personality-less, inherently bitter men grunting behind a needle-filled countertop, unwilling to answer some young miss's questions about their art.\nClose friends -- and my editor -- smelled my fear, and volunteered to accompany me to the place, where my prepositions could not have been more off. \nFor one thing, I was offered beef jerky within 10 minutes of entering the one-room studio -- which was more well-lit and less bloody and smoky than I could have ever imagined. The artists were all men, but they were smiling, eager to answer my questions and receptive to my dry, sometimes meaningless humor. And, as aforementioned, they were more than willing to share their dried beef products with me.\nIt took more time to figure out what I would have branded onto my foot -- the location of the tattoo, I knew for sure -- than to actually have it drawn on … permanently.\nAfter 10 full minutes of outlandish suggestions from friends (a dream catcher, a vicious-looking cobra, and, of course, barbed wire were especially hilarious), I decided to go with the word "hark!" in a script font, on my left foot, just above my toes.\nWhy, exactly, would I get a basically abandoned English word put onto my foot -- for the rest of my life?\nFor one, I've been using the demanding word (which literally is defined as "listen") the past several months, mostly because it's quirky and drew chuckles from friends, since no one, excluding actors in historical theater, has used it since 1746.\nSo the chap who would later stick a needle into my skin for art, and humor's sake, had me sign a waiver, pay the fee and take a seat on his long white chair, comparable to what one might find in a dentist's office. I pointed this out to my companions before climbing on, with nervous laughter.\nDid it hurt? Vaguely. It was more of a tickle, or, as a fellow friend with a tattoo says, "like cat scratches." \nI walked from the place feeling not necessarily proud, but experienced, satisfied with what I'd just done -- something so novel to my lifestyle. It was, if nothing else, absolutely refreshing.\nUpon deeper reflection, it occurred to me that my new tattoo reflected in a larger way my personality and my perspective on life. I take myself seriously only when life situations absolutely call for it. At the risk of sounding shallow, I encounter the world as if it can all be enjoyed, laughable. I acknowledge that inherited privilege -- and an overall fortunate life -- contributes to this perspective. I am grateful for that. And even if (or, when) I feel deep resentment in later years for this ridiculous mark on my foot, I will hopefully be able to take comfort in the fact that, at the time, it was exactly what I wanted.\nThis narrative was never intended to advertise for Skinquake, but I can't help but acknowledge Little Dave's (my tattoo artist) patience and gentleness with my lack of tattoo knowledge and previously unmarked foot. He was never condescending. He was never frustrated or unkind.\nI don't necessarily encourage everyone to go indulge any tiny inkling of desire they may have for a tattoo. I did it mainly for life experience, and interesting journalism.\nI do encourage, however, open-mindedness, optimism and giving anything (except, like, most illegal things) a shot once.\nIt can't hurt -- at least no worse than getting a tattoo does.\nOh, and Mom, if and when you read this -- go ahead and give me a call.
(01/11/07 5:50am)
What do you call a mixture of bananas and mayonnaise in a jar with a mock-up of an actual mayonnaise label? \nAt least three Bloomington residents call it art.\nThe jars of "bananaise" are just a few of many works on display throughout the weekend at the Art Hospital, 1021 S. Walnut St., with an opening reception 8 p.m. Friday. The exhibit, titled "Attractive Men Star in Popular Movie Showing in Many Theatres: The 804 South Rogers Art Event," features solo and collaborative paintings, drawings and sculptures by Bloomington residents Jeremy Kennedy, Peter Shear and Crab Jackson. The three roommates live at the address in the show's title. \nKennedy, who makes his living creating art, said his pieces -- not unlike the "bananaise" -- are often humorous, though he "likes to make pretty stuff too."\nHe finds inspiration from a variety of sources including anime and materialism, especially cell phones.\n"It's very straightforward," he said. "There's nothing really challenging about this (exhibit)."\nJackson, whose art consists primarily of ink, color pencil and marker on paper, said his pieces, sometimes inspired by photographs, also lack a sincere message -- other than a bad sense of humor.\n"I like making strange and confusing scenes," he said.\nWhile many of his solo pieces will be on display, Jackson said his collaborative pieces with Kennedy are especially worth seeing.\n"No matter what I do, if he adds something to it, it's 10 times better," he said.\nThe title of the exhibit was inspired by a newspaper headline published in the Indiana Daily Student that hangs on the artists' refrigerator. While they chose the title mostly for its satire, Kennedy said it's fitting because he and his roommates are good-looking, too, he said wryly.\n"We have girlfriends all the time," he said.\nThere will also be a DJ duo performing at the opening reception, which is free and open to the public. For more information, visit the Art Hospital's Web site at www.arthospital.net.
(01/08/07 5:47am)
Freshman Lucy Rodriguez beamed as she stood among her new sisters in matching navy and gray hooded sweat shirts upon the steps of Delta Gamma on Sunday afternoon.\n"I couldn't be more excited," she said, clasping her fingers.\nRodriguez was one of more than 800 women who received invitations to be members of one of the 19 Panhellenic Association sorority chapters at IU.\nThe women's recruitment process, which began in early December with 19-Party, concluded this weekend with first and second invite on Friday and Saturday and, finally, bid day on Sunday.\n"It's a long process," said Rodriguez, who said she had witnessed crying throughout the week from other pledging women on her floor in McNutt Quad. "But mostly everyone was happy."\nAfter the freshman and sophomore pledges received their invitations in their dorm rooms Sunday, they boarded double-decker buses to their respective houses. Awaiting them were their new sisters, armed with sweat shirts, hugs and sometimes rehearsed cheers.\nPanhellenic Assocation's Vice President of Recruitment Kelly Jones, a senior, said recruitment started out with more than 1,600 women signed up. She said many drop out of the process on their own accord, failing to enjoy what they encounter while visiting the chapters during 19-Party. Others drop out because they don't meet the GPA requirements, which vary from house to house.\nJones also acknowledged that not all women who complete the recruitment process receive a bid.\nA woman is chosen for a particular house when both the individual and sorority "preference" one another during first and second invite parties. Both the sororities and potential recruits rank their choices, and a chapter's picks must match each individual woman's for her to be invited back for the next round.\nAlpha Phi President Kait Behan, a junior, said her chapter recruited 47 new members, one more than last year. Like her peers, she expressed excitement but felt the effects of missing out on sleep from the long weekend.\n"My voice sounds like a man right now," she said. "It was worth it. We were so happy with every girl we got."\nJones compared the recruitment weekend to being part of a "three-day long interview."\n"It does take a lot of time but it gives (prospective new members) the chance to experience all the houses," she said.\nAfter being greeted on the houses' lawns, new recruits were invited inside for reintroductions and photographs, but also to learn their obligations for the rest of the semester. While new recruits don't move into the houses until next school year, they must attend pledge-class meetings.\nRodriguez is looking forward to the semester with her newfound friends.\n"It makes a big campus seem a lot smaller," she said.
(01/08/07 3:43am)
Enrollment at the IU School of Medicine will have to increase 30 percent to meet the state's future health-care demands, requiring a boost of enrollment, especially in first-year students, which currently is at 280, school officials said.\nA task force created by the Indianapolis-based School of Medicine reported in mid-December that while the state's physician population will increase, Indiana may still fall short of demand by nearly 2,000 doctors in 2015, leaving an increasingly aging population with inadequate access to health care. An increase in enrollment by 14 students is expected for next year, which could meet Indiana's medical needs if the enrollment number would stay at that level, said Stephen Leapman, executive associate dean for educational affairs and a member of the task force.\nThe School of Medicine has the second highest medical-school enrollment in the nation, behind the University of Illinois. But, Leapman said, increases in enrollment don't address where physicians will work after their training is complete, which contributes to the task force's concern for Indiana's future in health care.\nRural areas are anticipated to particularly suffer from a lack of medical doctors, especially those in primary care, which includes family medicine, pediatrics, internal medicine and obstetrics. Leapman said this is probably because physicians don't necessarily want to raise families in areas that may fail to fulfill the lifestyle they seek, such as having access to theater or opera.\nAccording to an IU School of Medicine press release, the task force said the school must request more funding from the Indiana General Assembly in providing incentives for doctors to work in rural areas. More residency positions must also become available so doctors trained in Indiana can complete their education and be more likely to practice in Indiana.\n"(The) state legislature has to think it's important, or we have to put in on the backs of someone else," Leapman said, "and students are already paying inordinate amounts for tuition."\nThis recommendation for enrollment boost parallels other current health-care deficits in the state. More than 60 of Indiana's 92 counties are designated as medically under-served areas, Leapman said.\n"That's going to get acutely worse as we look into this new demand," he said.\nJohn Lee, director of professional relations at Bloomington Hospital, said he periodically hears complaints that people have a hard time getting in to see primary-care physicians in Monroe County. But, he said, Bloomington does well compared to rural areas in recruiting both primary-care and specialty doctors like neurologists because of the amenities of Bloomington, including the University.\nLeapman used simple economics in explaining the reasons some counties face shortages: greater demand than supply.\nWith more baby boomers reaching 65 and older, Leapman said their health needs will be more significant. Meanwhile, physicians tend to work fewer hours than in the past, Leapman said, and more women are entering the medical field and tend to leave the workforce earlier and work fewer hours than men because of time taken for families.
(12/11/06 4:34am)
All I want for Christmas is a delicious meal. \nSure, for some people, Christmas (ahem, the "holidays") is about the magical love of the season, celebrating respective and meaningful religious holidays with family and appropriately enjoying beloved Christmas movies and music. To you, I say: Sorry, you have no personality.\nFor me, the holidays are about the diverse smorgasbord of food available at holiday parties. Because food is one of the two things I know so well (the other is the life cycle of a caterpillar), I'm prepared to discuss it at length. \nAppropriately, we start with dessert. Because I am not diabetic and because I am a glutton, I needn't limit my dessert intake when it comes to the aftermath of holiday meals. Some people will make sure they don't feel too full after dinner so that they can appreciate dessert items more. That's garbage. I've eaten too much only when solid foods penetrate my pores in the shower. \nPies are the most overrated desserts. If I wanted pie, I'd go to Thanksgiving dinner. Christmas dessert is about cookies. At the holiday celebrations I attend, usually every person brings some sort of small cake made from stiff, sweetened dough rolled and dropped by spoonfuls onto a flat pan and baked. M&M's cookies, no-bake cookies, those cookies with a Hershey's Kiss in the center -- those are the winners here.\nThe losers? The piece-of-shit sugar cookies people have their 6-year-olds slather with red icing mixed with their own saliva and topped with those silver-ball sprinkles you're really not supposed to eat. It's hard for me not to feel insulted when a family member thinks I might want to consume and digest something like that. Why don't you just give me pneumonia?\nOn to appetizers. If your family is like mine, it's not difficult to fill up on the pre-meal fixings people bring, which is a wonderful way also to ensure dangerously high blood-sugar levels.\nHam can be an effective component to almost any appetizer. For use on a cracker with cheese? Yes. For use in chip dip? Yes, please. For use in a tropical-juice, Sprite and sherbet punch? I'll have seven.\nOn the other hand, when I witness a bag of, say, Fritos on the appetizer table among spinach dips and fresh veggie trays, someone gets strangled. I'm trying to celebrate the birth of Christ here! You think salty corn chips are going to be fulfilling? You're sick.\nThere's so much I could say about the main meal. Walking in a line with Uncle Ray in the kitchen and spooning green beans and mashed potatoes onto a Styrofoam plate is a beautiful thing. Still, word count limits me.\nOK. I'm not really so narrow-minded and food-obsessed. Of course, food is a traditional and even meaningful part of the season for most. But certainly the most important thing about the holidays is showing how much you love the people in your life.\nAnd this is best done with crescent rolls.
(12/06/06 4:10am)
I can't distinguish a Coach bag from a look-alike one from Target.\nI drive a 2000 Chevy Metro -- an upgrade, in fact, from my original '90 Ford Taurus -- full of rust and dog hair.\nI would rather dine on a hamburger from Wendy's than caviar, brie or a $30 quiche (What is quiche?). \nBy majority U.S. standards, my life is extraordinarily mediocre, though I do effectually incorporate oxymorons into missives I write, and I can make a mean origami armadillo. \nNo, I've never been outstandingly talented, beautiful or, really, remarkable in any way. But I'm not looking for a pity party (unless I get free wine). Instead, I would argue that, in fact, none of us are remarkable, even if you are accustomed to filet mignon more than Taco Bell (more like "Taco Heaven!") or graduated high school at age 15.\nThe thing is that our existence, in consideration with the bigger picture, is mostly insignificant. Humans, in universal history, account for only a miniscule part. What we do individually in our lives will probably have little impact on the course of world events.\nNone of us, even San Diegan news anchors, are "kind of a big deal" (and for God's sake, friends, it is time to initiate an exclusion of that phrase from your daily vocabulary).\nBut please, no suicidal thoughts yet. I'm really a very optimistic person!\nWhat I'm getting at by pointing out these pessimistic ideas is that, because our lives are short and necessarily unexceptional, we must live in a way that is meaningful in relation to the lives of others. We are all we have.\nMost of you readers are IU students, and, if only because of that, you are privileged. Hence, the privileged (and the talented) are responsible for contributing to society in some way.\nWe must teach. Donate. Volunteer. Give. Love.\nLast February, the Pew Research Center conducted interviews with more than 3,000 Americans that essentially proved money does buy happiness. Nearly half of the respondents with an income of more than $100,000 said they were "very happy" in general, while only 24 percent of those with an income of less than $30,000 said they were. \nDuh. Money buys things that feed our hunger, fulfill our desires and enhance our vanity and self-esteem.\nStill, money doesn't buy curiosity or character.\nWe must build those things ourselves, and, to do that, we must live our lives with a humble but ambitious and hopeful perspective.\nTo consider the "bigger picture" -- the real magnitude of your existence -- is really what I'm promoting here.\nIt's easy to think we're God-like here in the IU bubble, strolling around campus with our iPods and knowledge, with all the campus's resources and opportunities at our fingertips.\nBut please remember, you're unique just like everyone else.\nWe must care about ourselves, but we must care about others (and eat delicious hamburgers) to live effectively.
(11/27/06 4:08am)
I was 11. The boys in my sixth- grade class held a copy of Britney Spears' first CD. They ogled her toned belly, her sweet, pretty face, her hair, her clothes, her body. I stood in the classroom alongside my fellow hormone-driven, confused, prepubescent girlfriends, watching the boys. At the time, we probably giggled at the boys' expressed sexual interest, not knowing any better. \nLooking back, I have to conclude that all us girls, at that time, actually felt deeply dejected.\nWe would never be as pretty as Britney. The boys would never desire us.\nFrom day one of their socialization into U.S. culture, little boys are constantly subjected to images of beautiful women's bodies, and they are conditioned -- and encouraged -- to desire that ideal projected female body. "It's natural," we seem to say.\nMeanwhile, women are taught to "desire to be desired," as Naomi Wolf puts so eloquently in "The Beauty Myth." \nBefore you call me a feminazi and blow me off as a bitter fatty fat girl, think of it this way: Many heterosexual men enjoy Playboy and pornography a lot, while Playgirl usually doesn't really "work" for heterosexual women. Women have no experience sexualizing men's bodies. When men's bodies are on display or objectified in film, it's often for humor (think "Jackass" or seemingly any Will Ferrell film).\nTherefore, I am outraged when I encounter a new media project that incorporates the blatant sexualization of women's bodies for no meaningful reason. Last Wednesday, for example, I was devastated after seeing ABC's very unoriginal and regressive "Show Me the Money." The charming creepster William Shatner hosts the game show in which contestants answer trivia questions in an effort to win money. I've had chewy corn flakes that weren't staler than that concept.\nSo where did my resentful anger come from? The dozen tall, beautifully toned and made-up women dressed alike (They're called "the dancers.") in slinky dresses who move sexily upon Shatner's request and hold up dollar amounts with shiny, lip-sticked smiles. Yeah, it's reminiscent of NBC and Howie Mandel's masterpiece "Deal or No Deal" in which Mandel's "models" reveal dollar amounts in their respective suitcases to the contestants.\nThe women in these game shows are used as objects to be desired -- and it's really not OK, especially when so many media consumers fail to acknowledge the meaning and the implications of the women's places in the shows.\nThe women are beautiful, reaching modern beauty ideals. The implications couldn't be uglier -- or more unfortunate. \nWomen's beauty is being defined with standards unreachable by women who don't have money to buy a white smile or products for soft hair or glamorous clothes. Meanwhile, portly old Shatner can host a show and be everyone's hero. More examples of this beauty dichotomy on television? "King of Queens," "According to Jim" and "Grounded For Life."\nHeterosexuality, in our culture, is better -- or at least easier -- for men.\nIt really just makes me sad.
(11/20/06 4:21am)
Congratulations if you're reading this. As we both know, many of our fellow students checked out early for Thanksgiving break. Cheers to us nerds who are left over and damn-well planning to be the sole attendee of art history class tomorrow afternoon.\nStill, you are probably headed home in a day or two and are likely aware that extremely awkward situations have great potential to arise. Going back to a place that has probably changed little, while you might have changed a lot, makes for some deeply confusing and obnoxious interpersonal situations. Lucky for you, I'm compelled to address and name a few of these situations, free of charge (though I will expect your crescent roll at dinner).\nAnd you can trust my advice -- Dr. Phil is my sister-in-law. \nBring it:\n1. Overly curious relatives\nIt is likely you will participate in some sort of celebration involving homemade food items with five or 300 of your closest family members. My mother, for example, is one of seven children, all of whom mated like good Catholics. Since then, even some of their kids have mated. So every Thanksgiving, an exponential number of people (aged 2 months to 91 years) turn out for my family's feast. One or two of my aunts and uncles will inevitably ask me if I have a boyfriend. Are you dating anyone? No? Why not? What's wrong with the boys at IU? What's wrong with you, you fat slut? Why don't you try eHarmony.com?\nDealing with these questions isn't easy or fun. What I usually do is answer them calmly and then express feigned confusion about my sexuality. The conversation ends there.\n2. High school peer encounters\nHome is where your heart is. Unfortunately, it is also where some of your high school peers work at the local Bob Evans and where many will come back for the same turkey-killing holiday. If you're like me, you still have a few best friends from that era you would like to catch up with, but otherwise, you'd rather wash Saddam Hussein's cars than run into high school alumni. But you will. And while it will be entertaining for 10 minutes to see who gained 200 pounds, who has five children and who still hangs out at Applebee's on weekends, it will be devastatingly awkward to see these people. \nWhat I usually do is say hello -- and run.\n3. Avoiding energetic children\nBecause of my bizarrely large family, there are certain relatives from the under-10 crowd who still see me as a playmate during family parties. As it turns out, playing billiards games with ever-changing rules, football with tiny plastic figurines and racecar board games are not things I want to do ever in my life -- especially with people who pick their noses and smell like syrup.\nWhat I usually do is ... play anyway. It beats defending the validity of your gender studies major to Uncle Closed-minded.\nYou're on your own with everything else. Good luck and good eating.
(11/13/06 3:22am)
Last Wednesday I was worried about missing a workout. I was worried about skipping statistics class the day before. I was worried about studying for an art history quiz.\nThen I got a phone call. It was Dad.\n"Bad news ... Mom's blood test achieved strange results ... We're going to the hospital in Indianapolis ... come now ... it could be leukemia."\nI cried. I dropped my phone and everything else I had scheduled and expected to do the next five days. Memorizing the meaning behind Francisco Goya's masterpieces didn't matter so much anymore. Now I worried for my mother's life.\nWell, it turned out -- she doesn't have cancer. She has aplastic anemia. It's treatable. And we think she'll be all right.\nBut as my parents and older brother and sister sat in one of the drab, overheated boxes hospitals like to call "rooms," waiting to hear the diagnosis, we couldn't help but wonder if our family had ties with Hitler in another life. What did we do to deserve all the trauma we've encountered? My family knows two things well: sandwiches and trauma.\nMy dad has had three heart attacks in his lifetime, one just this April, sparking a need for open-heart surgery. He overcame respiratory failure following the surgery, but he is doing well now. His inappropriate humor is as rampant as ever.\nIn 2002, I was diagnosed with leukemia -- a cancer of the bone marrow. Treatment demanded almost an entire year of my life. But it worked. Next July, I can consider myself completely cured. I heart healthy bone marrow!\nAnd now Mom. While it's not cancer, it's still a blood disorder which you don't particularly want to have around. It'll be a few months before we know if the current treatment is effective.\nCombined, the Manchirs could provide grounds for a highly rated Lifetime original film script. \nBut I don't want your pity. The thing is -- we might be better off for it.\nThe obstacles we've faced have made our characters -- and our faith -- stronger. It has enriched our lives. It has inspired us. It has made our "good" or our "normal" days even better. The joy is not the same without the pain.\nTrauma brings out the best in people -- we know. We've witnessed genuine compassion in humans. Good people want to do anything to help out -- even if it means going to three different grocery stores to find the right cereal. Or driving several miles to the nearest McDonald's (chemo can trigger cravings for processed white meat, mmmm).\nMost of all, the fortune we feel in our hearts for the things we have overcome, for the days when treating an illness isn't a priority and for each other's unconditional love, is absolutely overwhelming.\nI almost feel bad for people who haven't experienced really crappy crap.\nSo, feel fortunate. Don't take your health for granted.\nTake care of your body. Enjoy life.You never know when you're going to get one of those phone calls, after all.
