Annual St. Benno Fest is Saturday at Athenaeum

A typical German-American celebration of spring is scheduled from 6-11 p.m. Saturday (31 March) in the Athenaeum/Das Deutsche Haus, 401 East Michigan Street, Indianapolis.

The St. Benno Fest ($15 at the door) is sponsored by Athenaeum Turners and Athenaeum Foundation, with proceeds to benefit Athenaeum Foundation. For more information and reservations, call 317:630-4569, ext. 1.

The Annual St. Benno Fest will bring again Munich's Patron Saint and Herr Bock to the Athenaeum. There will be food, fun, music, polka contest and grand march. The Athenaeum Pops orchestra, the Indianapolis Maennerchor and Dance Norden will entertain, dancing will be to Jay Fox and the Bavarian Showtime Band. Food a la carte by the Rathskeller Restaurant.

Legend has it that St. Benno was inspired with a recipe for a delicious Brown Nectar, known today as Bock, a dark beer made before Easter. This is the oldest Fest at the Athenaeum dating earlier than 1913 and celebrates St. Benno and his special spring brew!

Purdue grad volunteers in Uganda

Mark Weaver of West Lafayette returned 22 March from the first half of a six-month mission at the Canaan Children's Home in Buziiki, Uganda (photo, right), according to an article in today’s Indianapolis Star.

A volunteer intern, he works with about 400 children orphaned by the AIDS epidemic and war. In May, he will join 27 Purdue students and four Purdue Christian Campus House staff members in Uganda. Weaver, 26, is a 2004 graduate of Purdue University.

Last year, according to The Star, he won almost $58,000, including two cars, on “The Price is Right” television game show. After taxes, he said he had about $15,000 remaining, and used most of that money on trip expenses and to help the children.

IU's Moi University Partnership lauded in WSJ

"In Kenya, AIDS Therapy Includes Fresh Vegetables"
By Roger Thurow
Wall Street Journal
Wednesday, 28 March 2007

"ELDORET, Kenya -- Just beyond the morgue of Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, Dr. Joe Mamlin, a professor of medicine at Indiana University, questions his staff on their latest progress in the war on AIDS.
"How much food are we harvesting today?" he asks. "How many people are we feeding?"
Stretching over two acres of the hospital grounds is a garden of carrots, onions, cabbage, collard greens and fruit trees. A stream meanders by, providing water for drip irrigation. This land and other farms around the city tilled by Dr. Mamlin's team yield four tons of vegetables and fruit each ...."

Unfortunately, one must be an online subscriber to read the whole article, which started on page one of today’s Wall Street Journal. For more on the partnership between the IU School of Medicine at IUPUI and Moi University, click here.

Heroes of Humanity Award to Children's Bureau

According to Inside INdiana Business, the Children's Bureau, Inc. in Indianapolis receives an international award today from The Art of Living Foundation.

The Heroes of Humanity Award is given to organization committed to improving human values. The Children's Bureau is one of 34 organizations and individuals nominated for the award and will be honored at an event in Washington, D.C.

Tragedy for recent Somalian immigrants to Indy

According to a report in today’s Indianapolis Star, “Two Somalian children who have been in Indianapolis for a week were hit Tuesday by a car whose driver apparently fell asleep, crossed lanes and struck their bicycle, police said. A 9-year-old girl died, and her 14-year-old brother was critically injured….The children were part of a family who had been brought out of Somalia, which has been in a state of conflict and near-civil war for nearly two decades….Police said the family -- a mother, father and five children who speak no English -- had moved into the Central Avenue house a week ago.”

Enzastaurin gets orphan status from European Medicines Agency

Eli Lilly and Company announced yesterday that the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) has granted enzastaurin, an investigational, multi-targeted, oral, cancer agent, orphan drug designation for the treatment of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). Although rare, DLBCL is the most common sub-type of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) of which approximately 50% of high-risk patients (high-risk is defined as having an International Prognostic Index score of 3-5) relapse within three years after receiving first line therapy.

Orphan medicinal products are for diagnosing, preventing or treating life- threatening or very serious conditions that are rare and affect not more than 5 in 10,000 persons in the European Union.

From Iran to South Africa in one Indiana evening

On 30 March, two completely different films will be screened at two different Hoosier universities.

"Amandla! A Revolution in Four-Part Harmony", a film from South Africa, starts at 6 p.m. in IT 152, Informatics Auditorium, Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis.

Directed by Lee Hirsch, this award-winning 2002 documentary tells the story of black South African freedom music and the central role it played in the struggle against apartheid. Includes extensive interview footage with South African musical giants such as Hugh Masekela, Miriam Makeba, and Abdullah Ibrahim.

It´s part of 'South Africa on Film', an IUPUI Public Film Series organized by David Hoegberg in conjunction with I300: South African Literature and Society Spring 2007.

Meanwhile, in the northern part of Indiana, "Children of Heaven (Bacheha-Ye aseman)", a film in Persian with English subtitles, begins at 7 p.m. in 234 Neils Sciencenter Valparaiso University, Valparaiso. Part of Valpo´s International Film Series, tickets are $6.

¿Got Passport?

Six central Indiana post offices will be accepting passport applications between noon and 5 p.m. on Sunday (25 March).

To see the requirements, including a list of appropriate documentation, see the official website.

Where:

Bacon Station (46220)
2727 E. 55th Street, Indianapolis

Castleton Branch (46256)
8701 Bash Street, Indianapolis

Eagle Creek Branch (46254)
6401 Gateway Drive, Indianapolis

Southport Branch (46227)
1701 E. Edgewood Ave, Indianapolis

Brownsburg Post Office (46112)
411 Northfield Drive, Brownsburg

Mooresville Post Office (46158)
345 W. Carlisle Street, Mooresville

Watch for an announcement Monday!

Connersville Mayor Max Ellison, Jr. tells Inside INdiana Business that on Monday the city will announce an international company is expected to create 150 new jobs. Ellison says the company will locate in the former Fifth Third Bank building, which the city owns.

UPDATE:
Inside INdiana Business reports today (27 March): The Connersville Board of Works has approved a lease with Virginia-based Issues and Answers Network, Inc., a global marketing research company.

World TB Day is 24 March

Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Company announced plans to invest an additional $50 million in an innovative, global partnership to fight Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (MDR-TB). The announcement is being made in conjunction with World TB Day activities.

The Lilly MDR-TB Partnership is an international alliance of 14 public and private organizations, including businesses, humanitarian organizations, academic institutions, and professional health care associations.

For more on World TB Day, 24 March, click here.

An Afternoon with Italian Authors

An Afternoon with Italian Authors begins at 1 p.m. Sunday (25 March). James Divita and Carol Faenzi will combine stunning photography and inspirational storytelling from their respective books, the recently released Indianapolis Italians and the popular historical novel, The Stonecutter’s Aria.

This program, in Room 141 of Jordan Hall at Butler University in Indianapolis, is designed for all those who love Italian culture and especially art, architecture and the contributions Italians of all walks of life have made to the City of Indianapolis.

Ms. Faenzi’s program is entitled “The White Gold of Carrara” and she will share her own ancestral beginnings, that of her great grandfather who mastered gothic tracery in Carrara, Italy before moving the family to Indiana to carve in Indiana limestone.

Professor Divita, will present “Indianapolis Italians” featuring people and places that demonstrate cultural influences on the City’s art, architecture and music.

This two hour program will include refreshments and a book signing. The event is free and open to the public.

It is sponsored by the Italian Heritage Society of Indiana, is a non-profit organization consisting of persons of Italian descent dedicated to promoting the values and traditions of their Italian heritage.

For information, call Dr. Mary Grace Pennella, 317:508-3956.

World Water Day is 22 March

The international observance of World Water Day is an initiative that grew out of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro.

In Indianapolis, there'll be a free screening at 7 p.m. 22 March in Keystone Art Cinema (at the Fashion Mall) of three shorts about the most basic of potables: "Running Dry," "One Water" and Kenya: An Ethos Water Film".

Details on local events are here.

More "Great Decisions" Discussions Scheduled

Four “Great Decisions” topics are still ahead for the Mid-North Shepherd Center at North United Methodist Church, 38th and Meridian Streets, Indianapolis.

At 11 a.m. Wednesday (11 April), Dr. Pierre Atlas, head of Marian College's Franciscan Center for Global Studies, discusses what can be done in the Middle East.

Dr. Steve Jones of Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis talks about the causes and possible solutions of Mexico’s crises at 11 a.m. Wednesday (18 April).

Migration – the movement of people across international borders – is the topic for IUPUI’s Susan Erickson at 11 a.m. Wednesday (25 April).

Explore South Africa with Kelly Campbell, vice president of operations for Ambassadors for Children, at 11 a.m. (2 May)

Information, email or 317:924-0959. You can read more at John Clark’s IndyBuzz.

Governor Headed to Europe and Asia

The Indianapolis Star reports that Gov. Mitch Daniels will lead a trade delegation to Europe in May.

Daniels, with a small group of business and local leaders, will travel to Germany and the United Kingdom, with a possible short stop in Paris, during a weeklong trip that will begin 12 May.

Also, Daniels will travel to Japan for a third consecutive year in the fall.

England Comes to Carmel

Inside INdiana Business reports that Oxford BioSignals Medical will move its global headquarters to Carmel from England, and create 120 jobs in Carmel over the next five years.

"An Orphan Boy of Vienna"

The next film in Valparaiso University's Austrian Film Festival is the 1937 classic, "An Orphan Boy of Vienna", directed by Max Neufeld (in German with English subtitles).

The screening starts at 8 p.m. 22 March in German House on the university's campus in Valparaiso, Ind.

A homeless boy is taken into a Vienna orphanage where it is discovered that he has a beautiful singing voice; featuring the Vienna Choir Boys and beautiful scenes in the Austrian Alps.

International Adoption Awareness Week

KidsFirst Adoption Services, LLC, will hold a series of seminars in Indianapolis during International Adoption Awareness Week 17-24 March.

The seminars will include information about a new KidsFirst Foundation grant program to provide financial assistance to families that adopt older children or those with correctible medical issues.

The complete schedule is here.

eSkye Opens Office in Bangalore

According to Inside Indiana Business, Indianapolis-based eSkye Solutions, Inc. has opened an office in Bangalore, India. The company, which provides software and services to the beverage industry, has formed eSkye Software Private Ltd. in India.

Two Speakers Worth a Trip to Greencastle

DePauw University hosts two presentations today (12 March).

First up is Fatima Sadiqi (pictured), feminist scholar and president of the Centre for Studies and Research on Women, who will speak at 4 p.m. in the Pulliam Center for Contemporary Media's Watson Forum on "Islam and the Women's Movement in Morocco."

Then, at 7 p.m. in the auditorium of the Richard E. Peeler Art Center, Mary Ellen Fieweger will discuss, "Community Journalism, Popular Education, and Fighting for the Future: The Story of Periodico Intag in Ecuador."

Both events are free and open to the public.

Bios and more information are here.

"Exploding Stereotypes: Behind the Myths"

Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez (right), best-selling author and one of Time Magazine’s “25 Most Influential Hispanics in America,” will speak about “Exploding Stereotypes: Behind the Myths” at 7:30 p.m. 20 March in Clowes Memorial Hall on the campus of Butler University, Indianapolis.

Admission is free, but a ticket is required. Tickets are available at the Clowes Hall box office during regular box office hours. See announcement or call 317:940-6444 for more information.

The Celebration of Diversity Distinguished Lecture Series is a collaborative diversity initiative between Butler University and the Office of the Mayor.