A&E

Artists gather at Fourth Street Festival

Far from the drab walls of museums, the Fourth Street Festival featured "living art" -- art made and sold by the actual artists. The tents, live music and smells of local food vendors added to the "alive and present" atmosphere of the festival. This year, the Fourth Street Festival is in its 29th year. It was started in 1976 by local potters to showcase southern Indiana's artistic talent. The potters chose Fourth Street because they admired its architecture and saw it as a growing and revitalizing area of downtown, said Dawn Adams, president of the Festival Committee and Bloomington resident.

U.S. makes excellent showing at Venice

VENICE, Italy -- A stellar American profile and heavy security distinguish this year's Venice Film Festival, which began Wednesday night with a martial arts extravaganza, Tsui Hark's "Seven Swords."

More book-banning requests filed in 2004

NEW YORK - Attempts to have library books removed from shelves increased by more than 20 percent in 2004 during the previous year, according to a new survey by the American Library Association. Three books with gay themes, including Maya Angelou's "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," were among the works most criticized.

Stone carver prospers by sculpting 'gargoyles'

BARTLETT, Ill. -- Walter S. Arnold was helping a monster break free of its stone prison. "This is actually a grotesque, not a gargoyle," the stone carver explained as he used a hydraulic lift to position the heavy figure of Indiana limestone. "Most people call them all gargoyles, but a gargoyle, technically, is a waterspout attached to a building. This guy's a freestanding figure, so he's a grotesque."

Food professionals say many jobs exist for trained chefs

ANDERSON -- A 3-year-old girl stood on a small stool in the kitchen of her grandmother's house. She watched her grandmother prepare the meal. Eagerly, she waited for the hot skillet to cool some so her grandmother would let her cook. She learned to put a piece of cheese on a cracker and let it melt.

Local Middle Eastern band celebrates CD release with gala

Bloomington residents should prepare for a night of "multi-sensory" experiences at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater. The members of the Salaam Middle Eastern Music Ensemble will hold their seventh annual Middle Eastern Gala at 7 p.m. to showcase Middle Eastern culture through food, music and dance.

Local arts leader steps down

Sally Gaskill is resigning as executive director of the Bloomington Area Arts Council after five years of service. Gaskill, whose tenure began in 2000, will step down Sept. 30, capping a successful term during which BAAC programs were greatly expanded and the council's massive debt was nearly erased.

Should we be ashamed? No.

City vocally supports local artists

Bloomington residents came together Wednesday night for what Mayor Mark Kruzan called the "absolute best use of a purple wall in the city of Bloomington."

Shoe show treads new ground for IU students

The Mathers Museum is presenting an exhibit on materials that united people of most cultures, but rarely noticed. "Everyone wears shoes," said Ellen Sieber, curator of collections at the Mathers Museum of World Cultures.

IU's beautiful campus flourishes with the many flowers blooming in Bloomington

Walking around the IU campus, students might overlook many things. They might not see the nearly transparent fish in the Jordan River, the pastel chalk scribbles on the sidewalks or the intricate stone chiseling on the Chemistry Building. It is virtually impossible, however, to fail to notice the campus's beauty.

Sudoku puzzle here to stay

SAN FRANCISCO -- Sudoku are deceptively simple-looking puzzles that require no math, spelling or language skills. Unlike crosswords, they don't require an extensive knowledge of trivia. They're logic, pure and simple. They're also addictive. Sudoku books -- pages and pages of grids with nothing more than numbers in boxes -- are selling so well they're quickly filling lists of best sellers.

Swede plants what he believes to be northernmost commercial vineyard on Earth

BLAXSTA, Sweden - The pine and oak forests of Sweden are a world away from the sunny European river valleys known for their great wines. Yet merlot, chardonnay, cabernet and vidal blanc grapes are being cultivated just 500 miles south of the Arctic Circle, in a small vineyard nestled among glacial lakes and thick woodlands.

Silver screen star remembered in television movie

LONDON -- A gray-haired woman in a dark pantsuit strides across a New York street. Her image, filmed from afar, is barely in focus -- but it's unmistakably Greta Garbo.

The Audubon book: an IU fixture

With upwards of 400,000 books, 130,000 works of sheet music and seven million manuscripts, workers at the Lilly Library must rotate the large number of rare publications they display. John James Audubon's "Birds of America," however, remains in the foyer year-round.

Fashion designer directs Graffiti fest in New York

NEW YORK -- It was a high-tech, pricey setting for what was once considered low-tech vandalism: Mackie speakers blasting rap while artists spray-painted graffiti on fake subway cars.

Crowded party provides little help in attack on rap mogul

MIAMI -- Police had no suspects Sunday in the shooting of rap mogul Suge Knight at an MTV awards party - a typical development in the street-justice world of rap.

Brando's book published ldished

LOS ANGELES -- Marlon Brando makes a posthumous appearance not in movie theaters, but in the nation's bookstores this month as co-author of "Fan-Tan," an adventure about a dashing, early 20th-century pirate.

Fresh, locally-grown produce sprouts up at Farmers' Market

For those seeking only the freshest produce available, the Bloomington Farmers' Market offers locally-grown fruits and vegetables, meat, dairy products and more. Every Saturday from 7 a.m. to noon, local farmers gather in Showers Commons, 401 N. Morton St., and sell their produce. Selections range from the standard tomatoes, corn, watermelons and pumpkins, to more unusual items such as honey, wild mushrooms, herbs, oriental vegetables, persimmons, edible flowers, heirloom peppers, maple syrup and gooseberries.

Remembering 9-11 in visual exhibits

NEW YORK -- Days before the fourth anniversary of the 2001 attacks, a photographer is offering intimate images of death and love inside Ground Zero at a new museum that brings you nose-to-nose with the smoldering pit. "If people want to come past the security gates and see what our world was like down in the hole, this is as close as they can come to it," said Gary Marlon Suson, the official Ground Zero photographer for the Uniformed Firefighters Association, the city firefighters' main union.