Haiti Earthquake Relief Efforts at Purdue University

Purdue University student organizations have arranged a host of programs as part of an ongoing campus effort to raise money for Haiti, reports the Purdue News Bureau.

Delta Sigma Pi, a business professional fraternity, is having a fashion show from 7-8:30 p.m. Monday (25 January) at Fowler Hall on the Purdue campus in West Lafayette. Proceeds from the event will go to the Purdue Haiti Relief Fund.

Numerous student groups also will set up tables around campus in the coming weeks to collect donations. Engineering World Health: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. 28 January inside Stewart Center; Multicultural Mujeres: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. 26 and 27 January outside the Class of 1950 Lecture Hall and during the same time period on 2 and 3 February on the Purdue Memorial Mall; Purdue Organization for Labor Equality: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day through 2 March at the Bell Tower and Hello Walk.

Student organizations will continue to raise money for Haiti for the next three to five weeks.

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Emmis Wins Hungarian Legal Battle

A Hungarian court has ruled in favor of Indianapolis-based Emmis Communications Corporation in its fight to regain a radio license in that country, reports Inside INdiana Business. The court has ruled the body that oversees broadcast licenses in Hungary illegally award a contract. The ruling means Emmis-owned Sláger Radio was one of only two qualifying bids for the national radio licenses.

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Haiti Earthquake Relief Efforts at IU Bloomington

"Decoding Disaster: Understanding the Haiti Earthquake of 2010 -- A Campus-Community Forum and Call to Action" will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday (21 January) in Alumni Hall of the Indiana Memorial Union in Bloomington.

It aims to provide information and perspective about historical, political, cultural, environmental, and economic realities in Haiti, both pre and post-earthquake. After the presentations, there will be announcements of ongoing activities through which the public can help. Presenters include Indiana University faculty members, students, and members of the Caribbean community in Bloomington.

Among the groups involved are the IU Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, IU Hoosiers for Haiti Relief Campaign and IUPUI Haitian Earthquake Relief.

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Tri State Diversity Conference

The sixth annual Diversity Conference will be held 4-5 February at the Marriott Cincinnati Airport Hotel in Hebron, Kentucky. Sponsors are the extension services of Purdue University, University of Kentucky, Kentucky State University and Ohio State University. To register, call 812:427-3152; fee is $175-225.

"Diversity in America: Challenges and opportunities for educating citizens in a global age" is the keynote address topic for Dr. James A. Banks, professor at University of Washington, Seattle.

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An English Playright's Take on an Italian Feud

"Romeo and Juliet" by England's William Shakespeare opens Tuesday (19 January) at the Indiana Repertory Theatre, 140 West Washington Street, Indianapolis. The two residents of Verona, Italy, are literature’s most famous couple. As they struggle to find an oasis of peace amidst their warring families, old hates and tired prejudices are challenged by the eternal power of youth and love.

The play runs through 27 February. For tickets and information, log onto the website.

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Indiana Mayors Invited to Chicago by China Consul

The Consul General of the People’s Republic of China to Chicago, His Excellency Ping Huang (right), will host a group of Indiana Mayors for a first of its kind meeting and lunch at his Chicago consulate on 18 January (Monday), reports Inside INdiana Business.

Five Mayors from Indiana’s North Central Region have been invited to travel to Chicago to meet with the Chinese Consul General and his staff: Mayor Sharon McShurley of Muncie, Mayor Bruce Hosier of Portland, Mayor Wayne Seybold of Marion, Mayor Mike Fincher of Logansport, and Mayor Jason Thompson of Monticello.

This event is the result of the joint collaboration of the Confucius Institute at Purdue University, Purdue’s Center For International Business, Education and Research, and Larry Ingraham, an international consultant and member of the Purdue CIBER advisory committee, who is now representing The Sagamore Institute For Policy Research, based in Indianapolis.

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Our Thoughts are with the Haitians

One of the Indiana-based groups working with the people of Haiti is the University of Notre Dame Haiti Program.

The Notre Dame Haiti Program, led by Fr. Tom Streit, CSC, is a world leader in the fight against lymphatic filariasis. With a concentrated effort at eliminating the disease in Haiti, where more than 26% of the population is infected, Notre Dame and its partners, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Haitian Ministry of Health and Population, and Hopital Sainte Croix in Léogâne, Haiti, and additional partners are steadily moving toward the creation of a model for worldwide elimination.

The email is: haiti@nd.edu.

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Kiwanis to choose worldwide service project

Indianapolis-based Kiwanis International soon will choose its next worldwide cause, reports Kathleen McLaughlin in Indianapolis Business Journal. Three contenders arrive at the Kiwanis offices Thursday (14 January) to make their cases: Malaria No More, UNICEF and Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases. Final decision by the Kiwanis International Board of Trustees will be announced at the organization's convention in June.

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Liberté, Égalité, Antisemitism

Indiana University will inaugurate its Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism this week with a public lecture by Robert Wistrich, a leading scholar of the history of antisemitism, reports the IU News Bureau.

Wistrich will speak on "Liberté, Égalité, Antisemitism: The French Connection," at 7:30 p.m. 14 January (Thursday) in the Frangipani Room of the Indiana Memorial Union, 900 East Seventh Street, Bloomington. He is the Neuberger Chair for Modern European and Jewish History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the author of A Lethal Obsession: Antisemitism from Antiquity to the Global Jihad, published this month.

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Commission on Hispanic, Latino Affairs is Leaderless

The state agency devoted to Hispanic and Latino issues no longer has an executive director, reports The Indianapolis Star.

Pat Sanchez, the agency's third executive director since 2003, was terminated from the top job at the Indiana Commission on Hispanic and Latino Affairs, but no reasons were given.

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Karneval Time at the Athenaeum in Indy

Karneval, the German version of Mardi Gras, will be celebrated from 6 p.m. 'til midnight 30 January at the Athenaeum, 401 East Michigan Street, Indianapolis. Theme this year is "Wild Wild West! Shoot Out at the 'A'!"

Karneval societies participating are the hosts, the Athenaeum Karneval Klub, plus Erste Karnevals-Gesellschaft of Cincinnati, Germania Society Cincinnati and German American Klub of Indianapolis. Advance tickets are $15, with admission $20 at the door. For reservations, call 317:655-2755 x3.

The tradition of Karneval, in Indianapolis, goes back to the 1880's when German societies held lavish masked balls. Traditions of the evening continuing in 2010 will include: Presentation of Karneval Royalty and Karneval Ordens, the Grand March, music, dancing, raffle and prizes! Dance band will be Pros't from Cincinnati, Ohio. Other entertainment: Athenaeum Pops German Band, Indianapolis Maennerchor and Erste Karneval Gesellschaft. Athenaeum Karneval also incorporates Karneval traditions of its German sister city Cologne/Köln.

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Hip Hop and Its Influence on Global Culture

Brief keynote addresses will kick off a panel dialogue on the influence of Hip Hop, both positive and negative, on intergenerational behavior and perspectives, the economy, and the socio-political and cultural impact of the genre at 7:30 p.m. 21 January. Presented by the Celebration of Diversity Distinguished Lecture Series, the evening takes place in Clowes Memorial Hall of Butler University in Indianapolis. Admission is free, but tickets are required. They are available at the Clowes Hall Box Office; limit of two tickets per person. For more information, call the box office at 317:940-6444.

Participants are Mathew Knowles (at left in photo), President of Music World Entertainment and manager of Beyoncé; Jeff Johnson (right), political and social activist, host of BET's The Truth with Jeff Johnson, and Sandy "Pepa" Denton (center), Hip Hop pioneer and member of the legendary rap group, Salt-N-Pepa

Aragón to Receive National Latino Literary Award

Francisco Aragón (pictured), director of Letras Latinas, the literary program of the University of Notre Dame’s Institute for Latino Studies, has been selected to receive the Outstanding Latino/a Cultural Arts, Literary Arts and Publications Award, reports the Notre Dame news bureau. The award is given by the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education, and Aragón will receive it in March during the association’s national conference to be held in Costa Mesa, Calif.

The award recognizes Latinos who have contributed significantly to increasing understanding of the Hispanic community and/or culture through literary arts, scholarship and publications.

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Climbing Kilimanjaro For a Cause

A group of students from DePauw University in Greencastle have their sights set on a truly lofty goal. Climb for a Cure's Kevin M. McLoughlin '10, Mitchel K. Hannum ‘10, Heidi N. Keiser '11, Andrew C. Repp '11 and Lauren E. Werckenthien '10 are trekking to Mt. Kilimanjaro's Kibo summit this month to raise money to fight pediatric brain cancer, a disease that took the life of McLoughlin's seven-year-old sister.

They hope to generate $40,000 in donations — one dollar for each foot traveled up and down the mountain — to Riley Children's Foundation in Indianapolis, the Children's Brain Tumor Foundation and b.r.a.i.n. Child, a non-profit organization in Toronto, McLoughlin's home.

There's more here.

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The Thirty-Six Views of Mt. Fuji

Eighteen of the prints making up the "Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji" by Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) are on display in the Appel Gallery of the Indianapolis Museum of Art, 4000 North Michigan Road, Indianapolis, through 7 February.

Rising majestically with a near-perfect cone shape, Mount Fuji has been a favorite subject of Japanese artists from the earliest times.

The image shown at right is Hiroshige's, "Noge and Yokohama in Musashi Province", 1858, color woodblock print, 13 3/8 x 8 3/4 in. Gift in memory of Charles C. Kryter.

Utagawa Hiroshige (歌川広重)was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist. He was also referred to as Andō Hiroshige (安藤広重) and by the art name of Ichiyūsai Hiroshige (一幽斎廣重). You can read more about the artist on Wikipedia.

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Dance Kaleidoscope: World Carnaval

"Play Mas" from Dance Kaleidoscope will be on stage at the Indiana Repertory Theatre 7-10 January. Billed as "a vibrant up-beat collection of dances inspired by Brazilian and Trinidadian Carnavals featuring large costume sculptures like those in a Carnaval parade, and the return of Food of Love, an exotic blend of international music, sensual dancing and sumptuous costumes," it features music from Argentina, Pakistan, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Spain and Africa.

Tickets are available IRTLive.com, and range from $6 (for the "mini-matinee at noon Thursday, 7 January) to $37 for the performance on Friday (8 January) January.

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