Sept. 22: Discussion of “Who's First Amendment? Reclaiming the Public Interest in Our Media”

Sheila Kennedy and Andrea Price lead a Constititonal Cafe discussion about the contemporary meaning of the First Amendment as part of My Daily Constitution

When: Friday, September 22 Non – 1:00 PM

Where: Indiana Repertory Theatre: 140 West Washington Street Indianapolis 46204

It sure isn't your father's media: five mega-corporations own most of the country's newspapers and broadcasters, while bloggers and internet sites proliferate. What is news, what is "infotainment"? Where do Americans get the information required for informed voting and self-government? What kinds of information are protected by the First Amendment, and why? This discussion will examine Freedom of the Press, blogs, traditional news outlets, "Net Neutrality", the ongoing efforts to revive public access in Indianapolis, and more!

This discussion will be led by Sheila Kennedy and Andrea Price. Sheila is an Associate Professor at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis, where she teaches law and public policy. She is a member of Indiana University Philanthropic Studies faculty, a Faculty Fellow with both the Center for Religion and American Culture in the School of Liberal Arts and the Tobias Center of the Kelley School of Business, and an adjunct professor of political science. She has practiced law in Indianapolis, served on the city’s Corporation Counsel, was president of a real estate development company from 1997-1992, and was Executive Director of the Indiana Civil Liberties Union, a position she held until she joined the faculty of the School of Public and Environmental Affairs in 1998.

Andrea Price is President of the Board for Public Access of Indianapolis, Inc. (PAI), a non-profit organization that promotes community-based media and is working to restore public access television in Indianapolis. A native of Indianapolis, Andrea is a graduate of Arlington High School and the University of Notre Dame where she received a B.S. in computer engineering and a B.A. in modern languages. She has worked in the computer industry for 20 years.

Well, Sheila and Andrea have commited themselves to discussing an awful lot of issues in an hour! Things may move quickly, so you will want to know what everyone is talking about. Read some news stories about the news media, and recent stories about the First Amendment. (The First Amendment makes the news media the only private industry specifically mentioned in the Constitution ... keep that in mind when you are in a trivia contest.) For some differing perspectives on blogging check out this article on "warblogs," this one from Christianity Today, and this one on political blogs. Wikipedia explains "net neutrality," a concept with many techie implications not really relevant to the discussion Sept. 22. That why you should read some recent news articles, and check out satirical "public service announcements" posted here, especially the one from the Daily Show.

Public Access Indiana has a very good collection of articles and links to resources about the news media and public access TV.

About the venue: The Indiana Repertory Theatre is the only non-profit Indiana resident theatre that produces a full season of plays using full-time professionals. Three doctoral students from Indiana University-Bloomington founded the IRT in 1972 after their nation-wide search for a theatre location led them to Indianapolis. The first eight seasons of the theatre were held in the Athenaeum, a building constructed for Indianapolis German societies in the late 1890s. In 1980, the IRT moved to its current location, the Indiana Theatre, a Spanish Baroque movie palace. The IRT is designated as Indiana’s “Theatre Laureate” and puts on nine productions each season.

If you like this event ... You'll certainly want to attend the Democracy Plaza discussions of free speech moderated by Susan Erickson and Art Farnsley. And for a frame of reference, watch the documentary Control Room about al-Jazeera, part of the MDC Film Festival.

To return to the IndyBuzz schedule of My Daily Constitution events, click here.

Sept. 22: A discussion of “Liberty, Equality, and LGBT Rights”

Ellen Anderson and Gary Welsh lead a Constitution Cafe discussion of the rights and equality of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people as part of "My Daily Constitution"

When: Friday September 22, 8:00 PM – 10:00 PM

Where: Outward Bound Books 625 North Street Indianapolis 46202 (317) 951-9100

What do “liberty” and “equality” mean in Indiana and the United States today? Do these words include LGBT people and our/their experiences? This discussion will use the real-life legal experiences of LGBT people in matters ranging from marriage to adoption to employment to explore how they/we "fit" into the Constitution.

One facillitator of the discussion will be Gary Welsh, a practicing Indianapolis attorney, and founder and editor of the blog site Advance Indiana. A native of Illinois, he was very active in Illinois Republican politics before moving to Indiana in 1990. After graduating from law school he lobbied various business clients before the Indiana General Assembly from 1993 to 1998 while working for a major Indianapolis law firm. He served as General Counsel for Novanis, an information technology company, from 1998 to 2002. He is a 1993 graduate of IU School of Law-Indianapolis and a 1984 graduate of Eastern Illinois University.

Another discussion facillitator will be Ellen Andersen, an IndyBuzz colleague in the department of political science at IUPUI. Ellen is author of Out of the Closets and into the Courts: Legal Opportunity Structure and Gay Rights Litigation, which explores the complex relationship between litigation and social change in the context of the gay rights movement. She has also written a series of articles with M. Kent Jennings on the impact of AIDS on political activism. She is currently developing a survey of the same-sex couples who received marriage licenses in San Francisco, Portland, Oregon, and Massachusetts during 2004. Because she works on hot button social issues, Professor Andersen is increasingly asked to comment on current events. She has testified about same-sex marriage on several occasions before the Indiana Legislature and is regularly asked to speak to community groups about marriage and other gay rights issues. She has been quoted in media outlets including the Los Angeles Times, ABC News, and the Associated Press.

For more information ...

Before the event, check out breaking national news about gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered news from Yahoo. Want to know what Hoosiers think about gay and lesbian individuals' rights? You might be surprised: we may not be San Francisco but we do believe in toleration and fairness. Of course this doesn't stop Indiana legislators from proposing some screwy legislation; but Indiana judges differ.

After the event you might want to learn more by going on the web. You can track the issue of gay marriage in Indiana here. Want to get involved in these issues? If you think gays in Indiana should be treated equally, Indiana Equality could be for you. If you think they shouldn't be treated equally, you might be happy with the Indiana Family Institute. (For IndyBuzz's view of these two groups, check here.)

About the venue: The Out Word Bound bookstore, located in downtown Indianapolis, specializes in gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered books. Out Word Bound offers greeting cards, CDs, magazines, calendars, and gifts in addition to poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and other kinds of LGBT literature. Book signings, poetry jams, book discussion groups, writers’ groups and other events are held at Out Word Bound.

If you like this event ...

Several other MDC events examine groups that have been excluded or marginalized and are now struggling for equality. Pierre Atlas and Charlie Wiles help discuss a sense of shared identity for an American citizenry that is becoming more diverse every day; María Pabón López and Teo Cain wrestle with a different issue of the constitutional rights of those who aren't citizens; and Rod Bohannan and Amos Brown talk about groups that have for decades been shunted from political access. The differences between these groups highlight important challenges of each ... and may indicate that building alliances will not be easy.

To return to the IndyBuzz schedule of My Daily Constitution events, click here.

Sept. 23: Discuss whether U.S. Constitutional Rights apply to Non Citizens

A Spanish-English discussion of the constitutional rights and protections provided to non-citizens (legal or not), part of My Daily Constitution

When: Saturday September 23, 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Where: St. Mary’s Catholic Church 317 North New Jersey StreetIndianapolis 46204

What are the rights of non-citizens? Do they have rights to free speech, protections in the work place? Should they have voting rights? What about free association, equal protection, criminal law, and other aspects of our Constitutional Democracy? How does it differ for undocumented noncitizens? This discussion, held in English and Spanish, will grapple with challenging issues at this significant time in our nation's immigrant history. Discussion Leaders will be Prof. María Pabón López (Indiana University School of Law Indianapolis) and Teo Cain (Community Organizer).

This should be a VERY interesting disscussion. I do work on immigration and must admit that I don't know as much as I should. From my reading of the Constitution, most of the Bill of Rights say what the government can't do ... to anyone, without specifying if it's done to citizens or noncitizens, legal or illegal immigrants. So I have some background reading to do. If, like me, you want to prepare yourself for this discussion (which doesn't have to mean brushing up on your high school Spanish), some suggestions. The good folks at Yahoo! collect general articles about immigration; so does Google. For news articles on immigration, visit Findlaw. Findlaw has another page with every link you need to learn about immigration law. For in-depth coverage of rights of immigrants, take a look at the ACLU's "Immigration Project." Check out the Center for Immigration Studies for a more skeptical perspective on immigration. For a counting of Mexicans in Indiana, check out Sagamore Institute's study Mexican-Indiana economic relations. (And if you want to know where to find a bunch of denunciations of this study, ask john@sipr.org ... the fingers of IndyBuzz cringe in protest and thus cannot make themselves type the site.)

If you like this event ...

You can discuss other groups whose struggles for dignity and protection from abuse are reshaping our understanding of democracy and the Constitution such as ethnic minorities and gay people. Perhaps Monday's discussion about a shared American identity for an increasingly plural populace will help provide a unifying framework for the rest of the week.

To return to the IndyBuzz schedule of My Daily Constitution events, click here.

Sept. 23: Environmental policy -- see it, taste it, debate, it, change it

Part of My Daily Constitution: A bus tour of the neighborhood around Citizen Gas & Coke; then a discussion of how citizens can become engaged in regulation of institutions such as Citizen Gas & Coke

When: 1:00 - 4:00 PM

Where: Family Center, Christian Park 4200 English Avenue Indianapolis 46201 (317) 327-7163

1:00-2:00 PM Bus Tour
“Case Study: Air Quality Indianapolis; A tour of an East Side Neighborhood” This bus tour will visit the neighborhood surrounding the Citizens Gas & Coke manufacturing plant on the east side of Indianapolis. Participants will discuss the recent air quality report issued by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, as well as the radon study currently taking place in the area by the Washington D.C. based Alliance for Healthy Homes, whose members will be present. In cooperation with the Organization for Neighborhood Empowerment. Meet at Family Center, Christian Park at 1:00 PM; Bus departs at 1:15 PM; Refreshments provided.

2:00 PM – 4:00 PM Constitution discussion -- "Public Participation in Environmental Regulation: Theory vs. Reality"
State environmental agencies are charged with the protection of all citizens of the state. In reality, groups with the greatest resources exert a disproportionate influence on the enactment of environmental regulations. As Indianapolis redevelops its inner-city, and housing stock goes upscale, toxic environments, once considered more of a problem for poorer neighborhoods (as articulated by the Environmental Justice movement), has become everyone's concern. We have the studies and the enforcement actions, so what is preventing advances in creating a cleaner, more healthy Indiana? Could “business as usual” be the problem?

Discussion Leaders will be Michael Sutherlin of Michael Sutherlin & Associates and the Hoosier Environmental Council; and Dick van Frank of Improving Kid's Environment and a member of EPA's Title V Advisory Committee. Van Frank retired from the Lilly Research Laboratories in 1990 after 33 years. He research addressed viral vaccines, cell biology, biochemistry and molecular biology. Through his experience with Lilly, his environmental interests grew and eventually became a second vocation. He has served on numerous federal, state and local environmental advisory committees. He currently serves on the Wet Weather Technical Advisory Committee, the AWT Advisory Committee, the IDEM E. coli Task Force, and the Central Indiana Air Advisory Group. He also serves on the boards of Keep Indianapolis Beautiful; The Nature Sanctuary and Center; A. W. Butler Audubon Society, and is President of Improving Kids' Environment.

Check this out for a flavor of current controversies over environmental regulation in Indiana. Check out these sections of Indiana Law Blog for more technical background on environmental protection. This discussion seems perfectly paired with the previous MDC Constitution Cafe addressing eminent domain and the abuse of "takings" by the government. Two very different perspectives on the role of the government, and on who is most at risk: those owning property or those who bear the costs imposed on society by property owners? Try to see both.

To return to the IndyBuzz schedule of My Daily Constitution events, click here.

Sept. 23: Discussion of what the Constitution means for young people ... then Constitutional Hip-Hop Poetry Slam!

"My Daily Constitution" discusses the needs and concerns of young people and students ... then moves to an open mic "Hip-Hop Poetry Slam"

When: Saturday, September 23

Where: Glendale Mall -- 6101 North Keystone Avenue Indianapolis, Indiana 46220 (317) 275- 4410

5:00-7:00 PM Constitution Café discussion of “Constitution Who? Constitutional issues about Students and Young People” will be in the Glendale Library Auditorium

7:00 – 9:00 PM Hip Hop Poetry Slam + Open Mic “Constitution Who?” Featuring DJ Dicky Fox in the Glendale Mall First Floor Indoor Court

"My Daily Constitution" takes Indy where IndyBuzz has never gone before: an open microphone hip-hop poetry slam about democracy and the Constitution.

Here's a good question: Do minors have constitutional rights? The answer is "yes, but not as many as grown-ups." That answer fascinates me: how is it that constitutional rights and civil liberties attach themselves to a person a she gets older until that magic day when she turns 35 and has her entire bundle Constitutional rights? (She can run for President at that point.) The discussion of “Constitution Who? Constitutional issues about Students and Young People” should help clarify the issue. It will be led by two of the area's leading experts in the field:

Jackie Bowie Suess is a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana (ACLU-IN). She is a graduate of Miami University and Indiana University School of Law, Bloomington. She was a lawyer for Legal Services Organization in Indianapolis for four years, and began working for the ACLU-IN in 1997. Jackie was the Director of the Indiana Constitutional Justice Initiative, a welfare rights project of the ACLU-IN, from July 1997 to May 2000, and Director of the ACLU-IN's Children's Rights Project in 2000-2001. She authored a reference book on welfare reform entitled "Welfare Reform in Indiana: A Practitioner's Desk Book." She currently does general litigation at the ACLU-IN, with an emphasis on the constitutional rights of children and the poor.

Warren Watson is director of J-Ideas, a Ball State program designed to encourage and develop high school journalism students. Prior to his work at Ball State, Watson was vice president for extended learning and operations at the American Press Institute, where he also served as co-president and associate director during his time there. While at API, Watson led workshops on newsroom issues, management and leadership, marketing and advertising.Watson also has been active in the Society for News Design since 1987, and served as president of the Society in 2003. A native of New Hampshire, Watson earned a bachelor's degree from the University of New Hampshire in 1973.

After the discussion in the Glendale Mall Library, the excitement spikes even more with a move downstairs to the First Floor Court, where there will be a Hip Hop Poetry Slam + Open Mic “Constitution Who?” According to My Daily Constitution:

Did you know that our Constitution was written by revolutionaries? Bring
your best poems and lyrics -- this is your mic to represent you and your
generation. Make your voices heard. Peace!

I am trying to tell myself that this is not too hip for IndyBuzz ... I'll be there! The Hip Hop Poetry Slam + Open Mic will feature one of the area's hottest Djs, DJ Dicky Fox and is presented by United States of Mind.

About the venue: The Glendale Mall is my favorite example of the changing civic role of shopping malls. When it first opened in the 1950s, it was an open air mall. Soon, however, it was enclosed and became the city’s first indoor shopping mall. A few years ago, as malling activites shifted out to the other side of I-465 and the WalMart a mile up Keystone sucked away business, Glendale seemed on the edge of following similar malls and closing. Instead it reinvented itself as a hub of education and civic activities. With renovations it continues to be an indoor shopping mall, complete with a 12-screen theater. It has a branch of IUPUI, the very vital older adult education program OASIS, and the country’s first full-service library located in a shopping mall.

To return to the IndyBuzz schedule of My Daily Constitution events, click here.

Sept. 24: My Daily Constitution Film Festival at IMA

Watch three critically acclaimed documentaries about the impact of the Constitution on US domestic and international policy, as well as the efforts of American political pros to foster the best (and worst) of American democracy in Bolivia

When: Sunday Sept. 24, 11:00 AM - 4:30 PM

Where: DeBoest Lecture Hall Indianapolis Museum of Art 4000 Michigan Road Indianapolis IN 46208, 317-920-2660

Free and open to the public

Three recent documentaries have turned a critical eye on what American democracy means to the rest of the world. Americans are justly proud of our Constitution, and believe that the rest of the world admires (and even envies) our democratic traditions. But how do we in fact look to the world? How do outsiders expect American government officials and politicians to behave, and what do they think when American political behavior falls short of America's lofty political ideals. All three documentaries will be screened at the Indianapolis Museum of Art on the final day of "My Daily Constitution."

11:00 AM
Control Room
(2004, USA/Iran, dir. Jehane Nouiam, 84 mins.)
A documentary about the perception of the United States's war with Iraq, with an emphasis on Arab language TV network Al Jazeera's coverage.


1:00 PM
Persons of Interest
(2004, USA, dirs. Alison Maclean & Tobias Perse, 63 mins.)
A documentary about the detention of Muslim-Americans in the wake of 9/11.


2:30 PM
Our Brand Is Crisis
(2005, USA, dir. Rachel Boynton, 87 mins.)
A documentary about Bill Clinton's adviser James Carville and other American political consultants designing an election campaign in Bolivia.

To return to the IndyBuzz schedule of My Daily Constitution events, click here.

Sept. 24: Rod Bohannan and Amos Brown on “The Right to Vote and American Constitutional Democracy”

Part of "My Daily Constitution," this Constitution Cafe will examine why you can't be sure whether you will be able to vote, and whether your vote will even count if you cast it.

When: Sunday September 24, 4:30 PM - 6:30 PM

Where: Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, 414 West Vermont Street, Indianapolis 46202 (317) 634-7002

For decades Rod Bohannan (Indiana Legal Services) and Amos Brown (WTLC-AM Radio) have been lions in defense of the poor and unrepresented in Indianapolis. Who better to lead a discussion of whether Indiana and the rest of the country progressing is progressing in making voting more accessible and more fair? This concluding discussion of the "My Daily Constitution" series will examine the history of voting in Indiana, advances, setbacks, and will ask what can be done about this fundamental practice of our democracy.

About the venue: Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church is the oldest African-American Church in Indianapolis. Founded in 1836 by a group of African-American Methodists, it was served by circuit ministers until the 1850s. In the later 1860s, the church adopted the name Bethel AME and built its current structure on West Vermont Street. Bethel AME was a stopover on the Underground Railroad and was the location for the founding of the State Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs and the Indianapolis Chapter of the NAACP.

Before the event, you might want to read up a bit on the tensions engendered by the recent debate over the Voting Rights Act. Check out articles from the Boston Globe, and from the American Prospect. We have seen these problems at home with controversies over the sorts of identification needed to vote (which raises the touchy question of who might not possess those sorts of ID); and the ways i which voter rolls are being purged. For those who wish to go deeper in elector law, you can find out about everything happening around the country at http://electionlawblog.org/.

If you like this event, you should also attend the discussions of rights for non-citizens and gay persons. You should also discuss the changing notion of American identity.

To return to the IndyBuzz schedule of My Daily Constitution events, click here.

Sept. 25: Henry Rosemont on "Is China's Modernizing Economy a Threat to the US?"

Brown University Professor, Henry Rosemont, will give a lecture for Butler's Change and Tradition Program's convocation

When: September 25, 7:00 PM

Where: Butler University Krannert Hall, Clowes Hall

Henry Rosemont is one of the great Western scholars of the history Chinese philosophy. For nearly three decades, if you want to learn about ancient Chinese thinking about religion, language, morality ... it seemed you would essentially be cribbing from a two-week Harvard faculty workshop that Rosemont and Benjamin Schwartz organized in 1976. (I have a very well-worn copy of Rosemont and Schwartz's excellent collection Studies in Classical Chinese Thought that helped me as a grad student to pretend to know a lot more about Chinese philosophy than was healthy.) We are fortunate to have a distinguished scholar of Chinese culture address a topic that is all too often left to economists or geo-strategists.

Sept. 25: Opening of "25 above water"

This is the first showing of "25 Above Water," a collection of limited edition posters by artists from around the country to provide relief for the victims of Hurricaines Katrina and Rita

When: Opening Reception: Monday, September 25, 6 - 9 pm; exhibit shows September 25 - 30

Where: Herron School of Art and Design, Marsh Special Projects Gallery 735 West New York Street, Indianapolis

In the days following hurricanes Katrina and Rita a group of fellow artists united to aid hurricane relief efforts by creating "25 Above Water," a collection of limited edition posters by artists from New York City, Rhode Island, Cleveland, Chicago, Kansas City, Lincoln, Minneapolis, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, and Indianapolis. This September the 25 Above Water art collection, by artists/designers from throughout the United States, will be on display for the first time ever in the new Herron School of Art and Design building in downtown Indianapolis.

Opening reception is September 25, 2006 from 6 pm - 9 pm. Among the 25 Above Water participating artists planning to attend the opening are Eric Kass, Michael Norman Olson, Jonathan McGlothin, and 2006 AIGA Medalist Rick Valicenti of 3st. The AIGA Medal is the highest honor, awarded by the AIGA - The Professional Association for Design, in the field of graphic design to designers for their exceptional achievements in graphic design and visual communication. A lecture and presentation by Rick Valicenti (sponsored by the Herron School of Art and Design, Dept. of Visual Communication) is tentatively scheduled for Sept. 25 right before the opening reception.

"25 Above Water" is an exhibition well worth attending, and has received national and international attention. Organized and curated by Indianapolis artist and graphic designer Sam Vázquez, "25 Above Water" is an event that Provocate (successor to IndyBuzz) will examine at greater length, along with Vázquez's "Department of World Service."

Oct. 3: readings by Mexican and Belarussian poets

Butler University's Vivian S. Delbrook Visiting Writers Series presents readings by two highly acclaimed young poets: Ekiwah Adler Beléndez (Mexico) and Valzhyna Mort (Belarus)

When: Tuesday, October 3 7:30 PM
Where: Butler University Robertson Hall, Johnson Room

Ekiwah Adler-Beléndez and Valzhyna Mort are two of the world's most promising poets under the age of 25. Ekiwah Adler-Beléndez, from Amatlan, Mexico, a small village an hour from Mexico City, will have turned 19 [!] two weeks before this event. The son of a North American father and a Mexican mother, his powerful verses have mesmerized Mexico's literary scene for the better part of a decade. Adler-Beléndez is the author of three volumes of poetry: Soy (I Am); Palabras Inagotables, (Never-ending Words); and Weaver (2003), his first book in English. A bilingual collection of New and Selected Poems is in the works. Check out his bio here, and his website here.

Compared to Ekiwah Adler-Beléndez, Valzhyna Mort's 25 years make her seem like a seasoned veteran of the world of international poetry ... and she is. Born Valhyna Martynava in 1981 in Minsk, Mort is famed throughout Europe for her poetry and how she reads it ... or more accurately, how she performs it. She writes in Belarusian at a time when efforts are being made to reestablish the traditional language, after governmental attempts to absorb it into the Russian language have been relinquished; at the same time, the Belarusian government is the last enclave of Communist-style repressiveness in Europe, and its president Lukashenko still aspires to recreate something like the USSR. Mort reads her poems aloud in both Belarusian and English. Learn more about her here. Examples of her poetry can be found here.

In addition to poetry readings, she speaks on "The Politics of Language and The Poetry of Revolution" ... I hope to announce a talk by Mort on this topic as well, stay tuned to IndyBuzz for more information.

This is not the first time Mort and Adler-Beléndez have appeared together. This is from a review of their joint appearance earlier this year Berkshire School (MA):

Poets Valzhyna Mort from Belarus and Ekiwah Adler-Belendez from Mexico visited Berkshire School on April 7. While many Berkshire students attended the reading at the urging of their English or foreign language teachers, others attended for fun. Most gained a deep respect for the poets and their experiences, and several students were even moved to tears by the end of the presentation. Despite the stark difference between their life experiences and respective writings, the two poets made a profound impact on their young audience.

Valzhyna Mort, a 24 year old woman from Minsk, Belarus, has earned fame throughout Europe and the United States for her poetry and her powerful readings. Her presentation began with her reciting a poem in her native language of Belarusian, and her tone of voice was loud and emphatic. She spoke with vigor and energy, and one could easily tell that she was very passionate about what she was doing. As it turns out, much of Mort's poetry is political, speaking about the struggle of the Belarusian people to preserve their own language.

Ekiwah Adler-Belendez is an 18 year old from Amatlan, Mexico. Although he has cerebral palsy, he has not let this illness negatively affect his life or work. Ekiwah seemed very comfortable in his wheelchair on stage, taking time to observe the whole audience between poems. His personality was very calming and welcoming, and to see the young author sharing his words that night moved nearly everyone in Allen Theatre. Ekiwah's attitude and demeanor immediately captivated the students and faculty in the audience. After both poets had completed their readings, they went up together and read one of each others poems.

Ekiwah Adler-Beléndez and Valzhyna Mortwill will appear at Butler,

but not flanked by Berkshire teachers

(and not with the backdrop of Berkshire Hills)

Co-sponsored by the Consulate of Mexico and the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library

June 16: East and Central European in Indiana

Friday, June 16, 2006
2:00 to 6:00 p.m.
Slovenian National Home, 2717 West 10th Street
The Forum is free and open to the public.

A very special, very cool event is happening the afternoon of Friday June 16: “From the Heart of Europe to the Heartland of America: The Past, Present and Future of East and Central Europeans in Central Indiana.” This is the 6th in the series of public conversations organized by the Central Indiana Community Foundation: the Samuel H. Jones Creating Greater Awareness Forum. Each has been devoted to local groups whose needs and strengths may not be recognized by the rest of the community. Previous groups have been Asian Americans, Native Americans, West Indians, Africans, and Arab Americans. Compared to newcomers who dominate today’s headlines, this year’s group might seem to have fewer problems: Hoosiers from East and Central Europe. With just a few tens of thousands people claiming East and Central European ancestry living in Marion County, you may think this is a minor topic. You would be sadly mistaken. Here are ten compelling reasons why you need to attend this discussion:

• If you care about the current wave of immigrants to the US, you’ll want to come in search of a different perspective and fresh ideas about how similar problems were handled a century ago. Because of their strange-sounding languages, their alien cultures and customs, and their willingness to work harder and cheaper than native-born Americans, immigrants from East and Central Europe experienced prejudice and discrimination. Somehow, American society managed to integrate them into society … in fact in Indiana, anti-foreigner sentiment seems to have been less pronounced than elsewhere. Figuring out how this happened four or five generations ago could help us today.
  
• If you are anxious about the challenges facing refugees from Africa and Asia, you’ll want to learn about the Meskhetian Turks. Exiled by Stalin to Central Asia in 1944, victims of pogroms as the Soviet Union crumbled in 1990, unwelcome today in their former home of Georgia, it’s only natural that many Muslim Meskhetian Turks ended up … in Carmel, where they have been adopted by Protestant churches. Helping make sense of this will be Prof. Çiğdem Balım of IU, one of the world’s foremost experts on the Meskhetian Turks.
  
• If you worry about how the US can absorb new and foreign religions, you’ll want to hear how Russian, Romanian, and Bulgarian Orthodox Christians moved into today’s mainstream.
  
• If you want to learn about global workforce issues, you’ll want to hear Dr. Natalia Rekhter’s discussion of how Russian immigrants from the former Soviet Union are adapting their skills to Indiana.
  
• If you think we need good examples of how to defuse religious and ethnic conflicts, hear how groups that constantly fought one another in the Old Country managed to cooperate with each other in the New World.
  
• If you hope that Muslim Americans can contribute to free societies in countries in the Middle East and Africa, come to hear how Latvians, Poles, Hungarians, and others from Indiana went to their grandparents’ countries to help build democracy after communism collapsed.
  
• If you appreciate the concerns of Asian Americans and other newcomers that their children are assimilating too successfully and losing their traditional identity, you will definitely want to hear about the Latvians’ preservation of their cultural distinctiveness through language schools, stories about the homeland when it was under Soviet occupation, and song festivals that each year would bring together Latvians from around the world. Next year the Latvian song festival will be in Indianapolis, so come to the conference for a preview.
  
• If you are a devotee of Indianapolis cultural history, you’ll most certainly want to see the forum’s location, the historic Slovenian National Home in Haughville. The story of how the Slovenes have remained rooted in a neighborhood from which they moved decades ago is an important part of the conference. Check out www.cicf.org next week for a survey of East and Central Europeans in Central Indiana (I’ll finish writing it this weekend, I promise!)
  
• If you are fascinated by world music, bring your ears to the conference! It will start during the registration period with a set of recordings of some of the region’s best music, at least some of the best East and Central European music that was sitting around my office yesterday. For a preliminary playlist, go to IndyBuzz: http://indybuzz.blogspot.com/2006/06/east-and-central-european-music-for.html -- and please pass along any suggestions for music. But the musical highlight won’t be the recorded music played before the conference. It will be the great music played by some of the local East and Central European music groups. Kicking off will be the splendid Hedgehogs, singing a mixture of Lithuanian, Latvia, and Estonian music. More bands will be announced shortly.
  
• If you like distinctive ethnic cuisine, come for the food afterwards. Free servings of Slovenian, Russian, Polish, Lithuanian, Hungarian, and other foods. What a deal!
  
  For more information you can go to the CICF website: http://www.cicf.org/page26442.cfm, or e-mail me at john@sipr.org. You don’t have to register in advance, but CICF would like to able to keep you better informed and engaged in events like this, so you can Register online.
  
  
  From the Heart of Europe to the Heartland of America:
  The Past, Present, and Future of East and Central European Newcomers to Central Indiana
  
  The sixth Samuel H. Jones Creating Greater Awareness Forum
  
  Friday, June 16, 2006
  2:30 to 6:00 p.m.
  Slovenian National Home, 2717 West 10th Street
  The Forum is free and open to the public.
  
  
  2:00-3:00 PM Register, network and enjoy the best of East and Central European music
  
  3:00-3:10 Welcome and introductions
  · Ralph Taylor, Central Indiana Community Foundation
  · Josef Laposa, Nationalities Council of Indiana
  
  3:10-3:30 A short overview of the experiences of East and Central Europeans in Central Indiana
  · John Clark, Senior Fellow at Sagamore Institute for Policy Research
  · Comments by Lech Papież, Secretary of the Polish Cultural Society of Indiana
  
  3:30-4:30 Panel discussion
  · “The Meskhetian Turks: The latest (but probably not last) refugees to come to Indiana” — Çiğdem Balım, senior lecturer on Turkic Studies at Indiana University
  · “Russians after the collapse of the Soviet Union” — Natalia Rekhter, trustee lecturer at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs, IUPUI
  · “Through song and stories: Over-assimilation and the preservation of Latvian identity” — Ieva Sijāts Johnson, singer with the Baltic group “Hedgehogs”
  · “Where now? How Indiana can meet the needs of all its newcomers” — Kristin Svyantek Garvey, Associate Director, International Center of Indiana
  
  4:30-5:00 Questions and discussion
  · Moderator: Edita Ubartaitė, International Development Manager, Indiana Economic Development Corporation
  · Closing: Caterina Cregor Blitzer, Internaitonal Center of Indianapolis
  
  5:00-6:00 Food and music! Food from Slovenia, Hungary, Russia, Poland, Lithuania, and elsewhere in Central and Eastern Europe. Music by some of the area’s top folk bands, including the award-winning Baltic group, The Hedgehogs.
  
  Presented by: Central Indiana Community Foundation in partnership with the International Center of Indianapolis, the Nationalities Council of Indianapolis, Sagamore Institute for Policy Research, and Consular Corps of Indianapolis.
  
  

East and Central European music for June 16 Creating greater Awareness Forum

Here's a preliminary playlist of the East and Central European songs that may be played before the Creating Greater Awareness Forum on June 16. If you have suggestions, let me know, I am always looking for new tunes.


CGA Forum … Rough Cut

Marta Sebestyen: En Csak azt Csodalom (Hungary)

Iva Bittova: Strom (Czech Rep.)

Anonymous: Chant Tzigane (Roma)

Choir of St. Ramanos: Da molcitvsakaja plot (Slovakia)

Warsaw Village Band: Cranes (Poland)

Valya Balkanska: Izlel e Delyu haidoutin (Bulgaria)

Dzintars: Blow Wind Blow (Latvia)

CORO POLIFONICO TIRANA: ?? (Albania)

Orbestra: "Transdanubian Swineherd’s Music" (Cross-border melange)

Goran Bregovic: Tango (Balkan post-modern)

Zlatne Uste Balkan Brass Band: Aman, Aman Momce Bre (Macedonia)

Transbalkanica: ?? (Moldova)

Sandy Lopcic Orkestar: Crven fesic (Slovenia and other ex-Yugo)

Fanfare Ciocarlia: ?? (Romania)

Balkan balbau: "Ticket za Ochod" (Trieste)

EARTH WHEEL SKY BAND: Dance Rromalen (Serbia)

Ljiljana Buttler & Mostar Sevdah Reunion: Niska Banja (Bosnia)

A Martinov singing poem by Taras Shevchenko, song by Valentin Silvestrov: The Dream (Ukraine ... recorded from Ukrainian shortwave radio, I would love the original recording!)

Arvo Part: Summa (Estonia)

Marta Sebestyen: Szombateste Bucsuztato (East European Jews)

April 4: ACLU-Indiana sponsors a debate on same sex marriage

As part of the ACLU-Indiana's "First Tuesday" series of debates, Curt Smith (president of the Indiana Family Institute) and Walter Botich (Indiana Equality) will debate "Should Same-Sex Marriage Be Legal?"

When: Tuesday April 4 noon to 1:00

Where: Indiana Repertory Theatre, 140 W Washington St. Indianapolis (parking here)

This should be the most interesting of the ACLU-Indiana's very important "First Tuesday" debate series. Unlike the first (teach science or creationism in public schools' science classes?) topic, the answers aren't so obvious. And unlike the second (spy on US citizens), one side won't be represented by an idiot (me). This will be a couple of smart people who are, I hope, fair-minded and well intentioned. Actually, I am not so sure about the well-intentioned part. For more, see The Next Indy.

April 4: Rev. Mike Kinman explains how to make poverty history

Rev. Mike Kinman, the Executive Director of Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation, leads a townhall meeting addressing “What Would Bono Do? Faith Communities and Eradicating Global Poverty”

When: Tuesday April 4 at 3:00 PM

Where: Butler University 4600 Sunset Avenue, Indianapolis, Pharmacy Building 103

On April 4, 2006, the Butler University chapter of Americans for Informed Democracy and the International Studies Club is giving students and community residents a chance to learn how they can take positive action to realize the landmark goal of making poverty history. The town hall event, entitled “What Would Bono Do? Faith Communities and Eradicating Global Poverty,” will feature the Rev. Mike Kinman, the Executive Director of Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation. Kinman will talk with students and citizens in an open forum about the daunting but attainable task of ending global poverty, and the role that faith based communities in particular are playing in a global movement to accomplish this task.

The event’s distinguished speaker, the Rev. Mike Kinman, will discuss the United Nations Millennium Goals and movements, such as the ONE Campaign, that are working to help achieve them and that faith communities play a major role in. The Millennium Development Goals, which all 191 member states of the United Nations have pledged to support, address top issues ranging from ending starvation & ensuring universal primary education to empowering women & lowering infant mortality rates. The Millennium Goals require sustained international action and public pressure, and in reaching the goals, the world can finally end global poverty once and for all.

The town hall is part of a nationwide series of more than 100 town hall meetings and international videoconference dialogues taking place across the U.S. as part of a series entitled Fighting for What’s Right. The series seeks to raise awareness about the most pressing global development issues and to generate a nationwide dialogue about America’s responsibilities to those living in extreme poverty halfway around the world. The series is sponsored by Americans for Informed Democracy, a non-partisan educational organization that seeks to engage Americans in discussion about the future of the U.S. role in the world. For more, visit www.aidemocracy.org.

Admission is free and the general public, as well as students, are invited to attend. Refreshments will be served.

For more information, contact: Brittney Fisher, blfisher@butler.edu, 260.239.1101 or Seth Green, seth@aidemocracy.org, 202 270 6268

April 5: Africa and what we can do to help

A Conversation with Ambassador Huggins about Africa and what we can do to help

When: Wednesday April 5, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Remarks from the Ambassador at 6:30

Where: 3110 N. Pennsylvania (Home of Michael O’Brien and Jackie Nytes)

This generous invitation comes from Jackie Nytes, Chair of the Economic Development Committee on the City County Council:

The world grows smaller. We become more connected to citizens of other countries as we work for a stronger economy here at home. We invite you to join us for an evening of conversation welcoming Ambassador Joseph Huggins to Indianapolis. The former Ambassador to Botswana, Joseph Huggins is a fervent believer in the potential of business and tourism development in Africa and the fight against HIV/AIDS. He now travels on behalf of the Corporate Council on Africa to share this message. You can learn more about the Ambassador at www.africacncl.org.
We hope you will join us for an interesting and informative evening.

Please RSVP to Jackie at 317-370-6184, or to jackie@jackienytes.com


Caterina Cregor Blitzer Executive Director International Center of Indianapolis 32 East Washington Street, Suite 1625 Indianapolis, Indiana 46204 (317) 955-5150 ext. 223 fax: 955-5160 www.icenterindy.org

April 5 (and 6): Very bright Israeli official on "Israelis and Palestinians -- After the elections, what next?"

Israeli Consul General Barukh Binah shares his views on the aftermath of the Palestinian election (won by Hamas) and the Israeli elections (won by Kadima)

When: Wednesday April 5 7:00 PM

Where: North United Methodist Church, Meridian & 38th St.

An experienced Israeli diplomat who has served his country in a variety of posts, Mr Binah will discuss the results of the March 28th elections in Israel, the meaning of the Hamas win in the first free elections held by the Palestinians and the significance of these events for the United States.

Q&A, reception to follow

Sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council
In cooperation with North United Methodist Church

For a more smaller and informal discussion with Barukh Binah, join me at Sagamore Institute Thursday April 6 at 10:30 AM. For more information, contact me at john@sipr.org.

April 6: Lech Wałęsa -- Cześć!

A talk by Lech Wałęsa, one of the great giant-killers of the 20th century

When: Thursday, April 6, 2006 7:00 p.m.

Where: Purdue University Fowler Hall, Stewart Center

Lech Wałęsa burst into the world spotlight in 1980 during the infamous Lenin Shipyard strike in Gdansk, Poland. Incensed by an increase in prices set by the Communist government, workers demanded the right to organize free and independent trade unions.

Wałęsa, an electrician who had long been active in the underground labor movement, arrived at the barricaded shipyard just as the dispirited workers were on the verge of abandoning their strike. Scaling the shipyard walls, he delivered a stirring speech from atop a bulldozer. Revitalized by his passion, the strike spread to factories across the nation. Christened "Solidarity," the strike became a social revolution, with Walesa its leader.

Celebrated worldwide as a symbol of the hope for freedom, Wałęsa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983. Acknowledging that it could no longer control the country, the government invited Solidarity to join the Communist Party in forming a coalition government. In the resulting election, Solidarity won almost every contest.

Having ended Communist rule and planted the seeds of freedom and democracy in his beloved country, Wałęsa was ready to take on a new role to serve Poland. In 1990, he became its first democratically elected president, setting Poland firmly on the path to becoming a free market democracy.

Through his unwavering commitment, Wałęsa made Poland a model of economic and political reform for the rest of Easter Europe to follow and earned it the honor of receiving one of the first invitations to join an expanded NATO. He now heads the Lech Wałęsa Institute, which aims to advance the ideals of democracy and free market reform throughout Eastern Europe and the rest of the world.

That is the official announcement by Purdue's Krannert School of Management, which is sponsoring Wałęsa's talk as part of the Purdue Series on Corporate Citizenship and Ethics. For a very different and personal perspective on Lech Wałęsa, see The Next Indy.

April 7: "First Friday" art tour of Indianapolis

The Indianapolis Downtown Artists Dealers Assocation (IDADA) wants you to consume art ... for free!

When: Friday, April 7, 6:00 - 9:00pm

Where: A couple dozen galleries around town

IDADA , which is in its third year as an active arts organization with the mission of promoting downtown Indianapolis artists and art galleries, is presenting the tour to promote visual art in a manner similar to walking tours in cities across the United States. Walk or drive throughout the downtown cultural districts, and visit the city's diverse visual art offerings. The IDADA "First Friday Art Tour" will take place every first Friday of the month thru the 2006 season.

For more information about IDADA go to the website: www.idada.org
For a brochure about April's First Friday tour, go here.
For maps of the three main clusters of galleries, go here.

April 13: Victor Davis Hanson about whether Western Civ is in more danger today than it was 2500 years ago

Noted military historian and clasicist Victor Davis Hanson returns to Indianapolis to talk to the Contemporary Club

When: Thursday April 13 Cocktails at 6:00, dinner at 7:00, talk at 8:00

Where: Broadmoor Country Club 2155 W. Kessler Blvd Indianapolis

Victor Davis Hanson is worth the price of admission. Before 9/11, he was a historian of ancient Greece whose outspokenly conservative political views weren't his only most unusual feature. He'd been a full-time grape farmer before founding Cal State Fresno's Classic Department. His experience farming helped brilliantly illuminate the ways the Greeks' employment growing grapes and olives shaped their ways of waging war. After 9/11, Hanson's career shifted. He combined advocating a very hawkish approach to the war on Islamic extremism with a view that the Bush Administration is a last bulwark of everything good about the West that is under assault from barbarians and evil. A collection of his 2001 National Review essays, An Autumn of War, became a best-seller. Something very similar occurred with the historian of the Ottomans, Bernard Lewis, who after 9/11 emerged as the leading interpreter of Islamic hostility to the US.

I like Hanson's work on the ancient Greeks a lot, and always enjoy reading his military analyses. The closer he gets to home, the less interesting he gets. Even though I may agree with some of his views of American politics, it's kind of predictable, not much different than most of the other writers for National Review. And his book Mexifornia had nothing surprising in it... so let's hope he sticks with his strengths at the Contemporary Club dinner.

This word from Jamia Jacobsen:

On the 13th, Dr. Hanson will speak at Broadmoor Country Club 6:00-Cocktail hour to mix and talk personally with Dr. Hanson---7:00-Dinner and 8:00-Talk by Dr. Hanson. The cost is $34.00 per person. Checks are to be sent Ex. Secy.-Carol Broecker at 6715 No. Olney—46220. Membership is still open $30.00 single and $60.00 per couple. Any of us would be happy to turn anyone in for membership.

For more information, contact Jamia at mjacobsen@indy.rr.com.

April 19: Burrow into the shadowy National Security Council

A talk to the Indiana Council on World Affairs about the real power behind US foreign policy by David Rothkopf, author of Running The World: The Inside Story of the National Security Council and the Architects of American Power.

When: Wednesday April 19 cocktails 5:30; dinner 6:30; talk at 7:15 PM

Where: Butler University 4600 Sunset Ave. Indianapolis: Johnson Room, Robertson Hall


Created in 1947 as an advisory and policy-making panel, the National Security Council (NSC) was little-known to the general public until Henry Kissinger put his personal stamp of celebrity on the office of National Security Advisor (NSA) in the 1970s. In this bureaucratic history of the NSC Rothkopf shows how each NSA determined the agenda and defined the role of the NSC, and he evaluates each NSA from Kissinger, Scowcroft to Condoleeza Rice. Rothkopf is a Washington insider who has served in the Clinton administration, worked for Kissinger Associates as well as for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He tells just how the NSC works, how its staff has grown and why, the quality of its advice to the president, and what role the NSC played in the events of 9/11. For his book he interviewed most of the major NSA's (including Condoleeza Rice) as well as others on the NSC such as Colin Powell. In doing so, he evaluates their strengths and weaknesses, their differing managerial styles, and how they influenced American foreign policy.

Read this announcement from the ICWA to make reservations for this event:

Dinner for this special event is $22.00 per person for members and $24 for non-members. If you wish to become a member of ICWA, dues are $30 per year. If sending dues with event registration, please note this on your check.

Reservations for Members:

Reservations may be made via e-mail or by calling 566-2036. Please send e-mail reservations to KMKulkarni@aol.com. All e-mail reservations must have “ICWA Dinner Reservation” as the subject and must contain all contact information including name, address, telephone number and the number of reservations being made. All member reservations, whether by mail, telephone or e-mail must be received by the end of the day Friday, April 14th.

Reservations for Non-Members:

Non-members may make reservations via e-email or phone (566-2036), however reservations must be followed by payment to Office Suites Plus (see below) by Thursday, April 13th to confirm your reservation. E-mail reservations may be sent to KMKulkarni@aol.com and have “ICWA Dinner Reservation” as the subject and must contain your name, address, telephone and the number of reservations made. Since seating is limited, ICWA members will have priority in the event we reach capacity.

Since dinners are catered, all reservations must be guaranteed. Cancellation deadline is Friday, April 14th. Canceling reservations by this deadline will avoid a financial commitment to ICWA.

If you are attending the discussion only, no reservations are necessary, however, there is a $3.00 fee for ICWA members, and a $4.00 fee for non-members.

Please return reservation form and a check made payable to Indiana Council on World Affairs, c/o Office Suites Plus, 3815 River Crossing Parkway, Suite 100, Indianapolis, Indiana, 46240.

April 21: A first release of a study of the economic impact of Mexico on Indiana

A preliminary release of findings from a study of economic relations between Mexico and Indiana

When: Friday April 21, 10:00 AM

Where: Sagamore Institute

This will be a preliminary discussion of an important study of the economic connections between Mexico and Indiana. How great are these connections? ENORMOUS! Mexico is by far the second biggest trading partner for Indiana (after Canada), with the state's exports to Mexico increasing eightfold in the 11 years since NAFTA was signed. Immigration from Mexico has been fueling the state's economic growth. The results we'll discuss on April 21 will be something of a snapshot of the size and significance of the ties between Indiana and Mexico today. The final study, released in late July, will examine trends into the future and will present a strategic vision for how Indiana can successfully face the difficulties that lie ahead.

April 24: Dangers of Democracy in China

I will be talking at the University of Indianapolis about why China is headed toward democracy, and why it might not be such a good thing for us in the short run

When: Monday, April 24 8:30-10:00 PM (nightowl students at UIndy!)

Where: University of Indianapolis, Schwitzer Center

This will my second talk to the University of Indianapolis Economics Club. The first -- "Why Bono, George W. Bush, and Adam Smith can't save Africa ... But maybe Indiana can" -- was very enjoyable. Several UIndy students lingered until after 11 brainstorming about how they could make a contribution to solving the problems of poverty, disease, and social injustice in Africa. A testimony to the fact that the university provides its students a chance to develop a morally as well as intellectually.

This talk on "The Dangers of Democracy in China" will look at a very different challenge facing the US, China, and the world. China (I am convinced) will be a real-live, honest-to-goodness democracy in half a century ... but it also will probably be five or six Chinas. This will be a good thing for the US (we like democracies, and democracies tend to like us), and a great thing for the Chinese. But getting to there from here will be rocky and risky. Look for Chinese demagogues to take advantage of people's fears and anxieties and discontents as their political syustem continues to open. Add to this the very shaky foundations on which China's continued economic development rests, and the picture for the next couple of decades is far from rosy. This doesn't mean the US should prevent democracy from taking root in China ... far from it, it means we have to work with the Chinese rulers and people to help them navigate the tricky waters they are going to be go through. It will require wise and far-sighted leaders in DC and in Beijing, and that makes me particularly nervous. So my talk will conclude with some ideas of how we here in Indiana and how the students of the University of Indianapolis might be able to make real and positive contributions to Chinese political change. An ambitious talk for so late at night!

If this talk is held in the same room in the basement of Schwitzer Hall that hosted my previous talk, I will be delighted. Right outside the room is the Museum of Master Au. One of the high points of my spring was watching Master Au at work. At a critical point in my talk about China I will probably drag the audience out into the Museum to use some of Master Au's splendid pieces to illustrate my arguments about China. (All part of this barbarian's efforts to acquire or at least mimic civilization.)

This will make this the second coolest event to be held in the Master Au Museum the last week of April. I'm afraid there's no way I can compete with the coolness of April 27's Indianapolis Opera's combination of Turandot and Master Au ... but on the other hand, I think compared to the April 25 event supporting "U-Carmen eKhayelitsha" (the South African film version of "Carmen" that will premeire with the Indianapolis International Film Festival), Turandot and Master Au will only be the second coolest special opera event of the week.

April 27: Turandot and Master Au

Discussion of the paintings of Master Au (perhaps the greatest living traditional Chinese artist) PLUS discussion of the opera Turandot PLUS performance of selections from Turandot

When: Thursday, April 27, 6:30 p.m.

Where: Au Ho-nien Museum, Schwitzer Student Center, University of Indianapolis

Puccini’s final opera, Turandot, is set in ancient China. Princess Turandot has been promised by her father, the Emperor, to the first suitor who can answer three riddles posed by her, and many have lost their heads in the attempt. Prince Calaf, in disguise, accepts the Princess’s challenge and succeeds in his quest, but when Turandot is reluctant to fulfill her bargain, he poses his own challenge to her, leading to a thrilling climax. Join Dr. Phylis Lan Lin, Presidential International Ambassador and Director of Asian Programs at the University of Indianapolis, for a talk on the ink paintings of Master Au Ho-Nien, the Chinese master whose works are housed in the university’s museum dedicated to his art and open every day to the public. Afterwards, Butler University’s Dr. Michael Sells will discuss Puccini’s Turandot, and the principal cast members from Indianapolis Opera’s production will perform selections from the opera, accompanied by Maestro James Caraher. A reception will follow.

For more information on the Au Ho-nien Museum, please visit http://www.uindy.edu/aumuseum/.

This program is co-presented by Indianapolis Opera and the Asian Programs of the University of Indianapolis.

Admission is free, but space is limited and reservations are required. R.s.v.p. to Patty Harvey, Director of Education, Indianapolis Opera, at pattyh@indyopera.org or 317-283-3531 x 116.

April 25: one of the all-time coolest opera events!

As a way of gearing up for the showing of the award-winning film, "U-Carmen eKhayelitsha," Indianapolis Opera, the Indianapolis International Film Festival, and the Indianapolis Museum of Art are teaming up for a very special evening of music and discussion.

When: Tuesday April 25 7:00 PM

Where: Indianapolis Museum of Art

Even though it's barely a year old, "U-Carmen eKhayelitsha" is being called one of the greatest opera films ever. I think it's more than that. The film sets Bizet's timeless opera "Carmen" in a contemporary South African township, and translates the opera from French into Xhosa (South African click language that to my unsophisticated American ears has alway made me think of "Star Wars.") OK, just by itself the fact that "U-Carmen eKhayelitsha" is showing at the Indianapolis International Film Festival is splendid news. But don't start celebrating yet, there's more. The experience of the film will be greatly enhanced, it seems, if we know more about Bizet's original opera. And it would be very good to know more about Xhosa, and maybe about what traditional music in that language sounds like. And South Africa, it would sure help to know about what life in the townships is really like. Especially the position of women in South African townships, "Carmen" is about one of the all-time memorable female characters in Western art, Carmen is a dangerous and intriguing mixture of predator and prey, a product of the savage poverty of Europe in 1875. Would poor South Africans today recognize the world of the poor lawbreakers of Europe a century and a half ago?

April 25, the day before the International Film Festival kicks off, we will explore these and other important questions. At the Indianapolis Museum of Art we will be joined by:

• Members of the Indianapolis Opera who will perform some of the best selections from "Carmen" in French and English
• South African folksingers who will sing examples of songs in Xhosa
• Some of my friends who have worked in South African townships on the difficult issues facing women

Well, IndyBuzz is buzzing around the office about this one. For some background to this event, check out The Next Indy. More info to come soon.

April 25: Milton Viorst talks about "Storm from the East: The Struggle between the Arab World and the Christian West"

A talk by noted Middle East analyst Milton Viorst and a signing of his soon-to-be-released book, "Storm from the East: The Struggle between the Arab World and the Christian West"

When: Tuesday April 25, cocktails at 5:45, dinner at 6:30

Where: Check with Courtenay Weldon: courtenayweldon@comcast.net

Milton Viorst has covered the Middle East as a journalist and scholar since the 1960s. He was The New Yorker’s Middle East correspondent, and his work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and The Wall Street Journal. "Storm from the East: The Struggle between the Arab World and the Christian West" (scheduled to be released April 18) is Viorst's sixth book on the Middle East.

Viorst will be speaking to the indianapolis Committee on Foreign Relations. It is sure to be an interesting event, perhaps an appropriate way to spend Holocaust Remembrance Day. Check with Courtenay Weldon for details.

For an excerpt from Viorst's new book, some links to some of his other articles, and a few critical comments, go to IndyBuzz's sister site, TheNext Indy.

International Film Festival -- my top picks (as of right now)

The line up for the Indianapolis International Film Festival has been finalized and it looks great. We'll be writing much more about this very important event, but right now I want to stake out the ten films that most excite me.

I Am Cuba:
Started only a week after the Cuban missile crisis and designed to be Cuba’s answer to both Sergei Eisenstein’s propaganda masterpiece, Potemkin and Jean-Luc Godard’s freewheeling romance, Breathless, I Am Cuba turned out to be something quite unique — a wildly schizophrenic celebration of Communist kitsch, mixing Slavic solemnity with Latin sensuality. The plot, or rather plots, feverishly explore the seductive, decadent (and marvelously photogenic) world of Batista’s Cuba — deliriously juxtaposing images of rich Americans and bikini-clad beauties sipping cocktails poolside with scenes of ramshackle slums filled with hungry children and gaunt old people. Using wide-angle lenses that distort and magnify and filters that transform palm trees into giant white feathers, Urusevsky’s acrobatic camera achieves wild gravity-defying angles as it glides effortlessly through long continuous shots. But I Am Cuba is not just a catalog of bravura technique — it also succeeds in exploring the innermost feelings of the characters and their often desperate situations. Shown unsubtitled at the San Francisco International Film Festival, I Am Cuba received two standing ovations — during the screening. The first movie ever jointly presented by master filmmakers Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola, I Am Cuba is one of the great discoveries in cinema.

website: http://www.milestonefilms.com/movie.php/iamcuba/

Showtimes: Thursday, April 27, 12:15 PM - Tuesday, May 2, 1:45 PM

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U-Carmen eKhayelitsha In Xhosa, with English subtitles
U-Carmen eKhayelitsha (roughly translated: “Carmen in Khayelitsha”) took home the Golden Bear at the 2005 Berlin Film Festival – beating out Academy Award-nominee Hotel Rwanda and Golden Globe-winner Paradise Now. This unique piece of filmmaking takes Bizet’s classic Carmen, translates it into Xhosa (one of South Africa’s eleven official languages) and puts it right on the streets of Khayelitsha – one of South Africa’s poorest townships. Pauline Malefane’s stunning performance leads the way in this invigorating take on a timeless classic imbued with the rhythms and colors of South African life.

http://www.u-carmen.com/

Showtimes: Thursday, April 27, 7:15 PM - Wednesday, May 3, 12:00 PM

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Shanghai Dreams
China, In Mandarin, with English subtitles
Red shoes - peeking timidly and unexpectedly from beneath the school bench of Qinghong (Gao Yuanyuan), where a stubborn lover has left them - are the impudent symbol of changing times in sleepy rural China. It is the beginning of the eighties and even in the poor, mountainous Guizhou province, adolescents listen to Boney M and wear bell-bottoms. But Qinghong’s youth is imprisoned by her father’s narrow dreams of a better life in Shanghai. Qinghong - qing means “green” for innocence, while hong means “red” and evokes ardour - and her family moved from Shanghai to Guizhou in the sixties to fulfill patriotic duties, a decision her father has regretted ever since. Dreaming of returning to his native city, Qinghong’s father (Yan Anlian) wants to prevent her from putting down roots in Guizhou. He stalks her when she falls for a local boy, silences her dreams and poisons her life with loneliness and acrimony.
Investigating a theme woven with Wang’s childhood memories and intertwining arrays of defeated hopes, "Shanghai Dreams" chronicles the hardships of China’s relocation policies of the sixties, when urban families were uprooted and moved to remote border provinces to set up a network of new industrial cities, the “third line of defence” against a feared attack by the Soviet Union.

Illuminated by a cold winter light that perfectly suits its bitter atmosphere, "Shanghai Dreams" maintains a chilling sense of suspense and thriller-like momentum throughout its tale of personal tragedy. Thanks to Wang’s assured talent, this social drama of displacement becomes a vivid fresco of lives unhappily confined by myopic government schemes. These deracinated existences are watched as if from a distance, followed by impeccably unobtrusive camera work. Unsettled souls are stalked - often from behind windows and door frames - by the eye of a master who trades dreams for honest yet haunting narrative.

website: http://fortissimofilms.com/catalogue/title.asp?filmID=267

Showtimes: Tuesday, May 2, 7:00 PM - Wednesday, May 3, 5:15 PM

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Iron Island
Iran, In Farsi, with English subtitles
The title of Iron Island, a whimsical, inventive Iranian film, refers to an old, abandoned ship moored in the Persian Gulf that is crowded to bursting with homeless families. This make-shift hostel is run with an iron fist by Captain Nemat (Ali Nasirian); equally kind-hearted and authoritarian, he lords over the massive tanker, which he has commandeered for himself and his charges. Together, they have built a remarkably efficient, self-contained floating city where life goes on much as it would anywhere else.In his turban and robes, veteran actor Nasirian is a larger-than-life presence as the dictatorial Captain Nemat, taking his place alongside both his namesake Nemo and Ahab in the pantheon of grandiose, flawed mariners. Director Mohammad Rasoulof and his crew keep the film moving at a speedy, energetic pace, perfectly conveying the wry ironies of this daring, unconventional allegory.- Dimitri Eipides, Toronto International Film Festival (from Kino International's website)

website: http://www.kino.com/ironisland/

Showtimes: Wednesday, April 26, 5:15 PM - Thursday, May 4, 1:15 PM

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Brasileirinho
Brazil / Switzerland / Finland, 90 minutes
Documentary / Musical, in Portuguese with English subtitles
In 1999, The Buena Vista Social Club shined a spotlight on the seemingly forgotten music of Cuba. In similar fashion, Brasileirinho is a documentary about Brazilian musicians who still play Choro, a style of music that served as the foundation for its more famous offspring, the Samba and the Bossa Nova. Choro combines the influences of Western music (you’ll definitely notice its relationship to classical Spanish guitar), African rhythms, and Native interpretations. Along the journey, we meet several artists who celebrate this beautiful, traditional music in a nation that struggles to maintain a balance between the modern and the traditional.

Showtimes: Wednesday, May 3, 10:00 PM - Thursday, May 4, 9:30 PM

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Everyone Their Grain of Sand
USA / Mexico, 87 minutes In Spanish & English, with English subtitles
Everyone Their Grain of Sand chronicles the struggles of the fiercely determined citizens of Maclovio Rojas, Tijuana, Mexico, as they battle the state government's attempts to evict them from their land to make way for corporate development. Over a three-year period, filmmaker Beth Bird followed the remarkably spirited and resourceful residents as they built a school by hand and persistently petitioned the state for such basic services as running water and pay for their teachers. The government responded with bureaucratic stonewalling and the systematic persecution of community leaders—eventually arresting one and forcing others into hiding. The filmmaker balances the story of hardships with glimpses of the community's hard-won triumphs - including an elementary school graduation - that reminds us what the community is fighting for. Both heartbreaking and inspiring, Everyone Their Grain of Sand offers a rare look at the devastating human cost of economic globalization in a place where working people are often treated like nothing more than cheap labor for multinational corporations.

http://www.wmm.com/filmcatalog/pages/c680.shtml

Showtimes: Saturday, April 29, 8:30 PM - Monday, May 1, 4:00 PM

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The Heart of the Game
United States, 103 minutes
Synopsis: Bill Resler is a college professor who has always had an interest in basketball. When he takes the job coaching the ladies' basketball team at Seattle's Roosevelt High School, he brings with him a unique approach. He wants his athletes to develop independence in thought while keeping a strong sense of team (he encourages the young women to envision themselves as a bloodthirsty wolf pack). A couple of seasons into this gig, a young African-American woman, Darnellia Russell, enters the gym. She has transferred to Roosevelt from her neighborhood school because her mother feels Coach Resler offers greater opportunities for growth. Darnellia is strong-willed, and occasionally self-destructive. The mentor-student relationship that Resler and Russell develop is the heart of "The Heart of the Game". Shot over six years, director Ward Serrill and his crew take what could have been a simple sports documentary and turn it into a complex tale about gender, race, class, and athletics.

http://www.heartofthegame.org/web/home.htm
Showtimes: Saturday, April 29, 2:00 PM - Sunday, April 30, 2:00 PM

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Day Break
Iran, 84 minutes In Farsi, with English subtitles
In Iran, capital punishment is carried out according to Islamic law, which gives the family of the victim ownership of the offender’s life. Day Break - based on a compilation of true stories and shot inside Tehran's century-old prison - revolves around the imminent execution of Mansour, a man found guilty of murder. When the family of the victim repeatedly fails to show up on the appointed day, Mansour’s execution is postponed again and again. Stuck inside the purgatory of his own mind, he waits as time passes on without him, caught between life and death, retribution and forgiveness.

http://www.prometheuscinema.com/daybreak.html

Showtimes: Saturday, April 29, 6:45 PM - Monday, May 1, 12:00 PM

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Apparition of the Eternal Church
USA, 58 minutes Documentary
Synopsis: Under the influence of Olivier Messiaen's monumental organ work 'Apparition of the Eternal Church,' writers, actors, filmmakers and musicians don headphones and describe a cathedral located between spiritual ecstasy and physical torture, sex and art, and what William Blake famously called the marriage of heaven and hell.

Showtimes: Wednesday, May 3, 8:15 PM - Thursday, May 4, 12:30 PM

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District 13
France, 85 minutes In French, with English subtitles
Synopsis: Paris, 2013. Damien is a member of an elite police squadron, a special unit highly trained in martial arts and the precise physical skills necessary to navigate the treacherous urban landscape of Paris’ future. He is now tasked with the most vital and dangerous mission of his career: a weapon of mass destruction has been concealed by the most powerful gang of the suburbs of District 13, a walled off section of Paris in which the criminals rule themselves. Damien must infiltrate the gang in order to either defuse the bomb or recover it. Produced by Luc Besson, District 13 has been a certified hit at film festivals around the world.

http://www.magpictures.com/profile.aspx?id=f907adb3-549d-4aac-a0ac-b917777db0d0

Showtimes: Saturday, April 29, 8:30 PM - Monday, May 1, 12:30 PM - Tuesday, May 2, 10:15 PM

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Al'Leessi...An African Actress
Niger, 69 minutes In French with English subtitles
Zalika Souley is in her fifties. She lives with four children in a two-bedroom apartment with neither electricity nor water in Niamey, the capital of Niger. But thirty years ago, she was a movie star and Africa’s first professional female actress, working with such celebrated directors as Niger’s Oumarou Ganda and Moustapha Alassane. Souley was once the legendary bad girl of African cinema defying directors with her compelling improvisations. Yet, despite her fame, her life was beset by difficulty. In moving and often heart-breaking interviews, Souley speaks wistfully about how audiences confused her with the women she portrayed – vamps, adulteresses, prostitutes - and how, as her stardom rose abroad, she became a pariah in her own country.

http://www.wmm.com/filmcatalog/pages/c674.shtml

Showtimes: Friday, April 28, 5:30 PM - Sunday, April 30, 10:30 AM

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Go West
Bosnia Herzegovina, In Bosnian & Serbo-Croatian, with English subtitles
Ahmed Imamovic’s controversial first feature film, Go West, follows the story of two gay lovers; the Muslim cellist Kenan and the Serbian student Milan. Kenan narrates their fight to survive amidst the brutal inter-ethnic wars in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the early 1990s. Despite various attempts to maintain peace, Serb aggression persists in Sarajevo; and Kenan’s faith, marked by his circumcision, makes him a prime target. To avoid questioning by the Serbs, Kenan dresses as a woman and poses as Milan’s wife. The two flee to Milan’s small Serbian hometown where Kenan is introduced as Milan’s young bride Milena. Though the colorful town seems convinced by the charade, Kenan still agonizes over the fate of his fellow Muslims. The young lovers dream of finding peace, happiness, and acceptance in the West, but can Kenan’s secret be kept long enough for them to escape? Though condemned by conservatives in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Go West provocatively, emotionally, and engagingly addresses subjects once thought taboo in Eastern Europe.

http://www.gowest.ba/

Showtimes: Friday, April 28, 5:45 PM - Tuesday, May 2, 5:00 PM

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Borderline Lovers
Bosnia Herzegovina, Documentary, In Serbo-Croatian, with English subtitles
Borderline Lovers documents three couples whose love transcends the newly-formed borders of the Balkan states. Disapproving parents and angry families are challenges many couples face. When that disapproval arises from the fact that each of the lovers comes from formerly warring factions, those tensions are multiplied exponentially. This is a portrait of individuals for whom love is more vital than national identity.

www.pro.ba/borderlinelovers/synopsis_e.htm

Showtimes: Friday, April 28, 1:45 PM - Tuesday, May 2, 7:00 PM

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The Sun
Russia / Japan, 115 minutes Director: Aleksandr Sokurov In Japanese and English, with English subtitles
Susan Sontag, the recently departed intellectual and devout cinephile, proclaimed Alexander Sokurov to be the most ambitious and original director of his generation. From the technically audacious costume drama Russian Ark - shot in a single take in the Hermitage - to the emotionally raw, viscerally stylized parent-and-child elegies The Second Circle and Mother and Son, Sokurov has exerted a rigorous ingenuity throughout his wildly diverse projects. Marked by Sokurov's oblique narrative style and an appropriately stately pace, The Sun follows Moloch (on Hitler) and Taurus (on Lenin) as the third installment in his bold, ongoing series on those few figures who have held "ultimate power." This formidable work takes as its subject Emperor Hirohito (Issei Ogata), spanning the period between August 1945 and New Year's Day, 1946, during the American occupation of Japan. While many ordinary people in Sokurov's films have been treated by his camera as if they were holy and ethereal, The Sun details Hirohito's renunciation of his divinity and his transformation from a deity into the humbled man who surrenders Japan in World War II. His fate is to be determined by General Douglas MacArthur (Robert Dawson) and the meetings between these two very different individuals form the core of this mesmerizing, demanding epic. Sokurov chooses to treat Hirohito sympathetically, emphasizing the number of lives he saves by asking his people to lay down their arms as the Allies advance, and the dignified manner in which he takes his mistreatment at the hands of the invaders. This is an intensely challenging role and Ogata - best known for his work in Edward Yang's revered Yi Yi - plays the emperor with great sensitivity and even humour, keeping his nuanced character perpetually balanced on the razor's edge of innocence and experience, meekness and omnipotence. Sokurov has claimed that "the character is an inexhaustible artistic object" and The Sun does not merely succeed as the first attempt at examining the life of Hirohito - as a man and not a god - in close-up; thanks to Sokurov's preternatural vision, it is also a strikingly singular aesthetic experience.

Showtimes: Wednesday, May 3, 7:45 PM - Thursday, May 4, 2:45 PM

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Be With Me
Singapore, 93 minutes In Cantonese, English, Hokkein, and Mandarin, with English subtitles
The cinematic equivalent of a hymn, Be With Me is a film about human beings and their search for love. In his latest film, Eric Khoo manages to explore the themes of urban loneliness and the sentimental "spleen'' without sinking into a cynical abyss. Neither does he resort to cruel psychological stereotypes. In fact, the film is a veritable song of hope; it reclaims the real meaning of the word "humanism". Like a seductive melody, the musical quality of Be With Me has an immediate hold on our senses. The filmmaker has composed a symphony of complex emotions, with very frugal use of dialogue. The artful orchestration of fiction and reality, invented and real characters imbues Be With Me with a rare quality; it's almost like a cinematographic essay. Inspired by the memories, biography and everyday life of a remarkable woman Theresa Chan, Eric Khoo has not just made a movie. Be With Me is also a testimony to and meditation on love, hope and destiny. It's remarkable that a movie with such resonance should come from Singapore, a country traditionally quiet on the cinematic front. The film's universality comes from not just from the inspiring character of Theresa Chan but from its haunting beauty. Be With Me eschews superfluous effects to concentrate on essential concerns - how to film memories, how to film sensations and how to film feelings? Finally, we love this film because Be With Me confirms that the best minimalist films can capture immense perspectives, which are those of the heart and soul.

http://www.zhaowei.com/bewithme.html
Showtimes: Wednesday, April 26, 7:30 PM - Saturday, April 29, 4:30 PM