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(09/24/20 7:30pm)
Some names have been withheld per request
On May 29, 30 and 31, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD) deployed tear gas on Black Lives Matter protesters in Indianapolis.
On June 18, a federal lawsuit was filed by American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana on behalf of Indy10 Black Lives Matter and three individual protesters against the City of Indianapolis over use of tear gas and other crowd control methods.
Since then, those who protested in Indianapolis who were tear-gassed have reported that tear gas has negatively affected their reproductive health.
Kasidy Yeley attended the protests and was tear-gassed by IMPD. Prior to being tear-gassed, Yeley did not have irregular periods or severe menstrual symptoms.
After being tear-gassed, she had an “unusually heavy” period, increased cramping, “abnormal” back pain, and increased blood clotting. Two months after being tear-gassed, she reported “continued cramps that are worse than what I [Yeley] was used to.”
One woman who attended the protests, Isabella, a healthcare worker, got her period a week early after being tear-gassed and found that it was heavier than usual.
“It was longer than normal and very, very heavy,” Isabella said. “I don’t usually bleed through, but I was bleeding through super tampons.”
Isabella’s girlfriend, who was also tear-gassed by IMPD, started her period a week late and experienced worse menstrual symptoms, such as nausea, cramps, headache and fatigue.
Two months later, they both are still having menstrual issues over two months after being tear-gassed. Isabella and her girlfriend have had heavier and more painful periods, late periods, and increased nausea, all of which they only experienced after being tear-gassed.
Another woman, who was tear-gassed multiple times on May 31 by IMPD and received chemical burns, started her period 11 days early.
Alongside her early period, her menstrual symptoms worsened, such as increased mood changes and blood clotting. Since her first period after being tear-gassed, her periods have been irregular and had increased spotting.
“Sometimes [my period] is two to three times [a month] or sometimes I just don’t have one,” she said.
One woman got her period on June 1, the day after being tear-gassed by IMPD and two weeks early. With this period, she experienced severe cramping and clotting, which were uncommon symptoms for her. After her period ended on June 6, it started again two days later, with more clotting and cramping.
Since then, she missed her period in July, despite her periods being regular prior to being tear-gassed.
Another woman, who was tear-gassed on May 31, got her period the next day, despite being on a 28-day birth control which allows her to skip her period.
Since being tear-gassed, she has experienced five periods in a two-month period, along with spotting, despite her having no spotting prior to being tear-gassed by IMPD.
Along with these cases in Indianapolis, staff at Planned Parenthood North Central States (PPNCS) and the University of Minnesota—Twin Cities heard that those who were tear-gassed during recent protests throughout the nation experienced “changes to their periods or bleeding cycles.”
Due to these reports, PPNCS announced a research study “on the potential reproductive health impacts from exposure to chemical agents used by law enforcement, such as tear gas/canisters, smoke bombs/grenades, and pepper spray/mace.”
Studies in the past have found evidence that tear gas is an abortifacient. The Nation cited a study by the University of Chile that linked tear gas use to “miscarriage and fetal harm”, a Physicians for Human Rights report which found increased numbers of miscarriages in Bahrain in 2012 after tear gas use, and cited that “UN officials have connected tear gas to miscarriages in the Palestinian territories.”
Besides these studies, there has been limited research on the chemical agents used by law enforcement and its effects specifically on reproductive health.
“The full research study is anticipated to last about a year, however preliminary research findings will be released when possible, so our communities have the most up-to-date research on chemical agents used by law enforcement,” Emily Bisek, regional director of strategic communications of PPNCS said in an email.
(04/24/20 1:45pm)
On April 21, an email was sent out to the School of Liberal Arts faculty detailing the five possibilities for what could happen to the fall 2020 semester.
The e-mail, which included a report on the scenario plans for IUPUI, IUPUC, and IU Fort Wayne, outlined the five scenarios that could occur during the fall semester, along with their likelihood of occurrence.
According to the email, here are the five possible scenarios:
Scenario 1: Return to face-to-face teaching for the fall and spring semester
Scenario 2: Hybrid learning—face-to-face and online during the fall semester, with face-to-face learning in the spring semester
Scenario 3: Online learning during the fall semester and with face-to-face learning in the spring semester
Scenario 4: face-to-face learning in the fall and online learning during the spring semester
Scenario 5: Entire academic year, both the fall and spring semester, taught 100% online
According to the email sent out by Robert Rebein, the interim dean of the School of Liberal Arts, he believes that scenario 2 or 3 seem to be the most likely to occur, with scenario 1 and 4 seeming the least likely to occur.
“...without a vaccine or a simple, accurate way to know who has immunity and who doesn’t, I just can’t see the leaders of a medical campus allowing students to jam together in dorms, lecture halls, or the campus center and gym,” Rebein said in his email.
Furthermore, campus leadership has said that a decision will be made by June 15, after all scenarios have been reviewed by the chancellor’s cabinet and other campus stakeholders, according to Rebein and the report.
“To that end, I am asking all faculty, department chairs, and program directors to begin preparing for the Fall with the assumption that all courses will be delivered remotely for the entire semester,” Rebein said in the email.
Along with the plans for the fall semester, there will be no refunds for parking passes due to wanting to provide consistent operations when normal operations are resumed, despite that they may not resume in the fall semester.
“Though campus has transitioned to a remote learning environment, the costs associated with the maintenance of parking lots and garages remain. Given this ongoing expense, IUPUI is not offering refunds for student spring semester permits. This decision ensures the university and Parking and Transportation Services will be able to continue to provide consistent operations to meet the needs of students, faculty and staff when we resume normal operations,” Mark Volpatti, associate vice chancellor for Auxiliary Services, said.
Despite this, their office is “closed indefinitely due to COVID-19”, according to their voicemail.
We have reached out to Volpatti for further clarification of if refunds will be given if one of the five scenarios occurs in which school will not resume normal operations in the fall.
Along with the COVID-19 impact on students’ school and refunds, the school is als
o preparing for the financial impact, including no faculty or staff salary increases besides some exceptions and a “continued pause in creating new positions, filling vacant positions, and employee incentive programs.”
The school is also considering how a 5% or 10% reduction in operating expenses would affect the next academic year.
“This is where we are as a campus and a school,” Rebein said in the email. “...we are in a fluid situation and we will continue to be in a fluid situation for at least the next month, and probably much longer than that.”
(03/15/20 1:33am)
On March 10, IU President Michael A. McRobbie announced that all IU campuses’ courses will be taught online for two weeks following spring break. This announcement followed suit with the more than 300 universities that have canceled or moved courses online since the COVID-19 outbreak.
Since then, a national state of emergency has been declared by President Trump and it has left many students and staff with questions regarding the rest of the semester. The editors at the Campus Citizen have collected answers to the confusion from interviews, announcements and other sources.
Jump to answers:
What will happen following April 5?
Why haven’t classes been moved online for the rest of the semester?
What if a case comes to an IU campus after the two-week period?
What will happen to labs? Clinicals?
Will students get refunds?
What if teachers struggle with technology?
What will happen to the graduation ceremony?
What does Chancellor Paydar and President McRobbie have to say about the outbreak?
What steps were taken to get to this decision?
What steps have been taken to make sure IU campuses are clean?
What student support is available?
What should I take away from the recent announcement?
Has this ever happened before?
Here’s everything else you need to know
WHAT WILL HAPPEN FOLLOWING APRIL 5?
According to Chuck Carney, IU’s director of media relations and IU's primary spokesperson, it’s not likely that campus would shut down entirely, an extension past April 5 of courses being taught online could be considered.
Along with this, according to an email sent to only faculty members, a dean from IUPUI said they believed it was very unlikely that face-to-face classes will resume on April 6 and will probably continue until the end of the school year. Regardless, we will know what is happening by the end of spring break.
WHY HAVEN’T CLASSES BEEN MOVED ONLINE FOR THE REST OF THE SEMESTER?
With Ball State suspending all in-person classes for the duration of the spring semester and Purdue deciding to continue online courses as long as “in-person instruction seems inadvisable,” despite that neither of those school’s counties has had a case of the virus.
Unlike Ball State and Purdue, IUPUI’s Marion County has had two cases and surrounding counties, such as Boone County, Hendricks County, Johnson County have had six positive cases in total.
Despite this, Carney said that IU would reconsider a lot of things if matters progress and further actions need to be taken. However, they hope to resume normal operations following spring break.
WHAT IF A CASE COMES TO AN IU CAMPUS AFTER THE TWO-WEEK PERIOD?
Although it would depend on how the situation presents itself, Carney said it would depend on the level of exposure to other students and how many cases. At this point, he said IU has contingencies in case that happens, but it is hard to say at this point.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO LABS? CLINICALS?
According to IUPUI’s twitter, they are looking into how to accommodate courses such as labs that require in-person activities. Along with that, Carney said that labs will have to be adjusted on a lab by lab basis.
“One of those things will just have to be worked out by the instructors for each of these individual classes,” Carney said. “And so it's hard to say overall how we'll handle that because it'll be a lot of different ways when it comes right down to it, depending on what the course is.”
Regarding clinicals, the nursing school at IUPUI has informed students that clinicals will continue as scheduled, according to Joshua Moody, a nursing student at IUPUI.
Moody commented that although the school has been keeping students informed, he found the move interesting since the hospital is where those at risk for COVID-19, the sick and immunocompromised, are in the hospital.
WILL STUDENTS GET REFUNDS?
Although we do not have a specific answer regarding refunds in the case courses are moved online for the rest of the semester, Carney provided some insight on the possibility of refunds.
“I’d just say this is a constantly evolving situation and it would be hard to say what situation might come in which that would be necessary,” Carney said. “If we’ve learned anything so far, it’s that it’s very difficult to project “what if‘s”, so I’d be reluctant to guess what situation might warrant that right now. We’ll continue evaluating things as they develop.”
WHAT IF TEACHERS STRUGGLE WITH TECHNOLOGY?
According to Carney, they hope that teachers are familiar with the basics of Canvas and online teaching, however, keepteaching.iu.edu was developed in 2009 during the H1N1 outbreak and was designed to assist instructors if an outbreak led to online classes.
Any college or university can use the resources on the site, such as access to tools instructors can use, ideas for how to implement tools and the option for teachers to run a simulation on what actions to take during certain disruptions. They are also prepared to assist faculty who are struggling with the transition.
“So we hope that instructors who are not as well versed in online instruction, will take a look at that,” Carney said. “I think now, especially with the tools such as canvas, the online instruction is semi baked into a lot of our coursework. So we think that'll probably be fairly natural for a lot of our instructors.”
WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THE GRADUATION CEREMONY?
With schools and universities around the U.S. canceling proms and graduation ceremonies, IUPUI students have asked about their graduation. Here’s what we know so far:
“At this point, it’s too early to make a call on commencement ceremonies. We’ll be considering that in the coming weeks,” Carney said.
WHAT DOES CHANCELLOR PAYDAR AND PRESIDENT MCROBBIE HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THE OUTBREAK?
Without an official statement from Paydar and the most recent response from McRobbie regarding logistics, many are left wondering what is on their minds.
“Chancellor Paydar has really emphasized the same points that it's [the move to online classes] an important step to protect the health of students on our campus, in Indianapolis,” Carney said. “President McRobbie emphasized that this was really something that we're set up to do…”
WHAT STEPS WERE TAKEN TO GET TO THIS DECISION?
“This was something that was considered as a possibility as the virus continued to spread quickly,” Carney said. “It was talked about more among the executive leadership group among all of the institutions that are part of IU. Finally, the president made the decision on behalf of all the campuses.”
WHAT STEPS HAVE BEEN TAKEN TO MAKE SURE IU CAMPUSES ARE CLEAN?
According to News at IU, there have been steps taken at IUPUI to increase cleanliness, such as increased sanitation of all customer non-food and food handled equipment, signage encouraging hand washing, increased disinfection of JagLine, and more.
Other campuses have also ramped up their cleaning regimes, with IU Bloomington increasing staff and increasing the amount of disinfection of “common touch” surfaces and bathrooms.
WHAT STUDENT SUPPORT IS AVAILABLE?
According to an e-mail by Eric A. Weldy, vice chancellor of student affairs, professors and the university are trying to provide support during a transition that will be difficult for some students.
For students who need help with technology tools and online courses, they recommend enrolling in Keep Learning at IU to be informed about online learning topics.
The University Library, computer labs and technology centers will remain open for those who cannot access WiFi or do not computer access from home.
Along with this, tutoring, mentoring, advising, and career development will continue to take place online alongside mental health services. Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) and The Coleman Hall clinic will remain open.
WHAT SHOULD I TAKE AWAY FROM THE RECENT ANNOUNCEMENT?
To date, there are no confirmed COVID-19 cases on any IU campus.
All campus gyms, fitness centers, pools, child care and day care centers will be closed until April 5.
The Big Ten canceled all competitions through the end of the semester and suspended all organized team activities until April 6.
All IU study abroad programs scheduled before May 16 have been canceled. Future cancellations may occur.
“Any student, faculty member, or staff member returning from a country subject to a CDC Level 3 warning must self-quarantine off campus for 14 days before returning to any IU campus.”
Libraries, student technology centers, computer labs, and other academic spaces will remain open.
Campus buses will continue operations.
“Individual research labs, academic buildings, studios, and clinical facilities will continue operations per the local decisions at each campus.”
HAS THIS EVER HAPPENED BEFORE?
Although IU campuses have seen short class interruptions from the weather before, nothing to this extent has happened on an IU Campus in over 100 years.
“The closest corollary to this would be back in 1918 with the IU Bloomington campus, which closed for 10 days because of the Spanish flu, which raged through the country and killed many, many people,” Carney said. “That one is the only thing that really sort of compares to this.”
HERE’S EVERYTHING ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW:
As of March 14, 89 people have been tested for COVID-19 and 15 people tested positive in Indiana. No one in Indiana has died from the virus.
As of March 13, there are 1,629 cases of COVID-19 in the U.S., with 41 deaths. There are still 1,362 cases under investigation. The numbers are still growing. Click here to view the CDC world map.
One percent of Hoosiers may have contacted the virus, which equals to 60,000 people.
There are still not enough tests in Indiana for those who may need it.
The last virus to be named a Pandemic was H1NI in 2009.
More than half of coronavirus patients globally have recovered.
Indianapolis-area school districts closed due to COVID-19 include:
Indianapolis Public Schools
Beech Grove Schools
Speedway Schools
Wayne Township Schools
Warren Township Schools
Washington Township Schools
Franklin Township Schools
Decatur Township Schools
Lawrence Township Schools
Perry Township Schools
Pike Township Schools
Do you have questions you want to be answered? Tweet at us @CampusCitizen or email us at thecampuscitizen@gmail.com
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(02/26/20 10:00pm)
*Last names have been withheld per request
Emma was 3 years old when her family moved to the United States and grew up believing she was a citizen.
Before she realized her status in America, she took pride that she had been born in Mexico. It wasn’t until high school that she realized she was an immigrant who was living in the U.S. illegally, which led her pride to evolve into confusion.
“I could never be American enough and I could never be Mexican enough,” Emma said, “It was like I had to choose between two doors, but I didn’t have a key to either of them.”
In 2012, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) was created by Barack Obama.
DACA allowed immigrants who were brought over as children to pursue jobs, schooling and have protection against deportation. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals has allowed Emma to gain a bachelor’s degree at IUPUI.
According to iAmerica, in 2017 President Donald Trump ended the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, however, it stayed in effect because of federal judges blocking it from being ended. According to the NILC, the Supreme Court will decide on DACA’s status by June 2020.
Emma thinks about her DACA status every day, she struggles with her status as an American, her finances and the future.
Emma refers to herself as an American and grew up believing she was one.
“I know American history, I know the community, the politics, the language, the pride,” Emma said, “I think what makes me American is fighting for what I believe in.”
Emma’s friend, Joshua, has known her for eight years and found out she was a DACA recipient a few years ago. He sees her as an American citizen because she has lived here for most of her life and cares about the country.
“She's just as hard-working, if not even more than many people I've met,” Joshua said. “She cares about what's going on in the country and its politics.”
As with many other immigrant children, Emma struggled to pay her way through college.
“Thank God I'm done [with college],” Emma said, “There aren't enough resources to help out students like me. We need more accessible funding.”
According to the office of Federal Student Aid, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals students are not eligible for federal student aid.
Besides having had to pay for college without federal aid, Emma also has to renew her DACA status every two years at the cost of $495.
Along with this, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has proposed increasing the fee to $765, which is a concern for many young, low-income college student recipients like Emma.
Meghan, Emma’s cousin, grew up with her and has seen how the cost of being a DACA recipient impacts Emma.
“It infuriates me knowing the government is taking advantage of these people,” Meghan said, “Making them pay hundreds of dollars to give them the right to work and have an education.”
Along with understanding the price of being a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals student, Meghan has seen the hard work that has to be put in to remain a DACA recipient.
“She is crazy studious and works non-stop,” Meghan said, “She's paying so much just to be able to work and pursue her education.”
While struggling with her current finances, Emma also has to think about her future in this country. She lives in fear of deportation, future jobs, and school. After Donald Trump’s election, her family got together to discuss what would happen to the children, houses, belongings if one of them were deported.
“Would I get my degree? Can I still work? Do I have to start over?” Emma said, “After Trump’s election, I honestly felt numb. I knew he was gonna try to take DACA away, which meant he was taking away my future.”
Joshua explained how being a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals student shows her hard work.
“Despite the stress and fear that's arisen in her, she never once stopped fighting for what she wanted,” Joshua said. “Even to this day she is moving forward and showing the boundless determination she has.”
Although Emma has graduated, these concerns continue to impact other DACA students studying at IUPUI. Karina Garduno, the assistant director for Multicultural Programming and the DACA point person for IUPUI and IUFW, said that IUPUI has several resources available to DACA students.
“We have the daca.iu.edu website which has a variety of information from updates on what is happening with DACA, information that will help with hiring an attorney, as well as information about financial resources,” Garduno said.
Garduno said she is always willing to help answer any questions that DACA students might have during their time at IUPUI.
Along with the IUPUI student organization “Dreamer’s Alliance: United as One” as a resource for helping alleviate the uncertainty DACA students feel, Emma emphasized the importance of DACA students’ mental health.
“Take care of yourselves,” Emma said. “A lot of you are fighting for our community and paving the way for others like us, but that shouldn’t mean your mental health should be an afterthought.”
Chancellor Paydar's statement on the termination of DACA
(12/06/19 9:01pm)
Six high school esports teams battled each other in League of Legends for scholarships at IUPUI in mid-October.
The 2019 IUPUI High School Invitational hosted by Gamers Hall allowed students from all over the U.S. to compete for $30,000 in scholarships, with the winning team taking $15,000, second place taking $10,000 and third place going home with $5,000.
The scholarship amounts are a big jump from the last year, having only offered $10,000 to the winning team.
This year’s first place went to South Bend’s John Adams High School, second place going to Avon and last place going to Carmel.
Darius Beale, a mechanical engineering major at IUPUI, has been an officer for Gamers Hall for the past two years. Gamers Hall is a club that promotes gaming through their esports teams and weekly meetings where students can play a variety of games.
According to Beale, Gamers Hall approached the deans looking for scholarships to create a recruitment opportunity for IUPUI.
“It’s a new thing, so people are kind of wary of it,” Beale said. “When you show them how this is going and how we have high school students who know about us and they aren’t even up yet, it’s a big advertisement for the school. They can say ‘this is here, you can earn scholarships this way.’”
Beale said along with how IUPUI is trying to support esports, Gamers Hall is talking about what games they would like to create scholarship opportunities for.
“Personally, I would like to see more Hearthstone scholarships,” Beale said. “We have also been talking about Overwatch because it is a really popular game and Overwatch 2 is coming out, so that’s something we want to jump on to.”
Along with focusing on Overwatch and Hearthstone scholarships, Gamers Hall will take part in the 2019 TESPA Overwatch Collegiate Championship and have been a top 10 national team for Heroes of The Storm, according to Beale.
Tyler Pendleton, a media arts and science major, said that current IUPUI students can still earn scholarships through competing in tournaments with a Gamers Hall team.
“HSI (High School Invitational) allows us to get scholarships for incoming freshmen that may come here, which is a good opportunity for them,” Pendleton said. “The other way [to receive scholarships] is through our esports teams, who compete with other college teams for money in those kinds of tournaments.”
According to Pendleton, Gamers Hall is a place where everyone can feel at home and that their interests are something they won’t be alone in.
“You find a community that you can connect with,” Pendleton said. “I can tell you from experience that college is hard and it can get very mentally stressful and sometimes you need somewhere you can go to take a load off. I would say Gamers Hall is a great place for that.”
Gamers Hall runs its Friday meetings from noon to midnight in Rooms 167 and 257 of the Informatics and Communications Technology Complex.
Room 167 features games such as Dungeons and Dragons, Super Smash Melee, card games such as Magic: The Gathering and board games. Room 257 allows students to play video games such as League of Legends, Overwatch, Hearthstone and more.
Along with their Friday meetings and High School Invitational event, they also put on a charity event each November.
Besides expanding scholarships, Gamers Hall is constantly open to anyone interested in making a new team for a game. They are also planning to create varsity and junior varsity teams for their popular games.
For more information, visit their website www.iupuigamershall.com
(11/01/19 10:16pm)
On Oct. 24th, Tiny Moving Parts performed their third show of their American tour at The Citadel Music Hall alongside Fredo Disco and Standards.
The opening act, Standards, has two band members, Marcos Mena on guitar and Kynwyn Sterling on drums. Despite the band being formed in 2017, the current members did not begin to play together until January of this year.
The band came out quick and only dealt with a small problem when one of the cymbals fell on the drum set, although this could pose a large challenge to the sound of a small band, you could tell they were prompt and worked together to fix it, while still sounding great in the process.
The members spoke about their time on the tour, “We never come out here,” Mena said. “It’s cool that Tiny Moving Parts is taking us out here.”
Even though the tour has not been on for very long, the other member spoke about her perspective of the tour, “This is the longest tour I’ve ever been on, so I am a little nervous,” Sterling said. “So far it’s good.”
The band is playing a new song on the tour and planning on having their first album out by next year.
After Standards set, Fredo Disco came on a bit late after some technical difficulties and started with their song, “jimbo.”
The band out of Chicago Illinois is comprised of Fredo Disco, also known as Fredo Fosco on lead vocals and acoustic guitar, Colin Riordan on drums, Aidan Cada on bass, Max King on lead guitar, and Michael Mangan on rhythm guitar continued on to play “shower song” and presented with great stage presence.
During one of the songs, they utilized a cajón for some of their songs, which provided the other members time to set up for the rest of the set and was the first time I got to heard the use of one live.
Something I enjoyed to hear was the use of two of the members doing back up vocals, singing different parts than the lead singer. This gave the live versions of their songs more body and almost created a ‘round’ in the songs that let listeners experience the use of part-singing that can’t really be heard in their recorded songs.
As someone who had never heard of Fredo Disco before, I can honestly say I found their music to be great live and their stage presence was good. With their new song coming out in November, I can honestly say I am excited to see what they have in store.
The final performance of the night came from Tiny Moving Parts, a math rock trio out of Benson, Minnesota. With Dylan Mattheisen on lead vocals and guitar, William "Bill" Chevalier on drums, and Matthew Chevalier on bass guitar and backing vocals, the band came out and played both their old and new songs, starting off with “Bloody Nose”, a song of their new album “breathe.”.
The intricate set design reminded me of what I saw at a Weezer concert, where they base their set design off of their album designs and music videos of the time. Although Weezer changes their set design multiple times during a concert depending on the songs they are playing and what album they came off of, Tiny Moving Parts found a way to replicate this experience but only based the design off their recent album.
Another small detail that I loved was seeing Bill Chevalier’s drum kit, with the perfect for a solo cup-sized cup holder, along with the band’s well-known amps, which is covered in faces of puppies. These aspects are what makes Tiny Moving Parts set design unique in a time where many artists don’t care to focus on their design past their merch and album artwork.
After playing a full set, Mattheisen brought out an electric banjo to use on one of their final songs, before playing their encore. Overall, I would recommend anyone interested in math rock to check out all these bands’ music and if you get a chance to see them live, you should definitely take it.
For the entire photo story of the concert by Samuel Tester, click here.
(10/25/19 4:09pm)
On Oct. 19 and 20, Pyramid of Enlightenment, founded in 1992, held their bi-monthly Psychic Fair nestled in a small, run-down building on the East Side of Indianapolis.
The events tend to be $5 for admission. 15-minute psychic readings cost $10 cash or $20 if you use a credit card.
There were four psychic readers out around the event when I attended, but the number of readers changed depending on when you came in. The readers were experienced in all types of readings including astrology, clairvoyance, numerology, palmistry and tarot.
One of the readers at the fair, Celestin Reid, has been doing readings as a fun side-gig at Pyramid of Enlightenment for around 23 years.
“After the birth of my first child, I kept having visions and I thought I’d look into it,” Reid said, “I found this place, took lessons with Lee Ann and it became my hobby.”
The Rev. Lee Ann Cornellis is one of the co-founders of Pyramid of Enlightenment and has taught many people about her passion. Anyone can take lessons at Pyramid of Enlightenment, and they teach more than just tarot and psychic development classes.
Pyramid of Enlightenment also teaches classes and offers certifications in astrology, ghost hunting, palmistry, advanced creative visualization, tuning forks, crystals and many more. They also offer entertainment for any kind of event and can officiate weddings.
On both events and regular business days, they are open between 12-8 p.m., where you can buy astrology charts, books, candles, crystal balls, crystals, dream catchers, jewelry, oils, sage, salt lamps and more. If you visit on an event day, you can always just walk through the store rather than attend the event, meaning you won’t be able to get a reading.
Although getting ‘psyched’ about a psychic fair isn’t for everyone, it is an affordable option for those looking to explore their spirituality, those who just want to see into the world of psychic reading and those who just find crystals pretty and enjoy the smell of incense.
(01/25/19 4:32pm)
In a strip mall in southside Indianapolis, a new and exciting concert venue has opened up. Healer is an immersive art and music venue for all ages and all genres of music. At 3631 E. Raymond St., sits the venue that is constantly evolving, with new aspects added to it every time you attend a concert there.
According to Ben Sutphin, Healer’s HR director, the venue began as a practice space.
“I had always thought I had wanted to be throwing shows,” Sutphil said. “I was intimidated by the process. As time went on I realized that this space needed to have something going on in it.”
When Sutphin and Colin Oakley, the primary band booker at Healer realized the space was being underutilized, they brought in Matt Panfil in February 2017.
Matt Panfil is the art director at Healer and when first brought on to the project, helped decide to keep the cubicles of the previous office space and turn them into individual art installations and transform the space. According to Panfil, their goal was to create interactive art by subverting a traditional business space into something otherworldly.
In order to transform the space, Panfil and his main collaborator, Elizabeth Sciore-Jones, used the blank canvas of the office building to create the central altars.
“A lot of the inspiration came from seeing the skeleton of the building and using it as a jumping off point,” Oakley stated. “We used it in order to create this narrative of an office building that had been over run with art.”
According to Panfil, this large collaborative effort has taken about a year to get where it is now, but it is still a work in progress. They plan to focus on transforming the space more, including having open spaces for visiting artists and becoming cross-collaborative.
Amber Wolverton, the manager at Healer, echoes the idea that this space is something exciting.
“I love having something to do other than listen to music, I like the melding of art and music,” Wolverton said. “A lot of times when I am at a concert, I don’t want to stand through opener, and then the band, and the encore, which is why I like our open space, where you can experience the music in a different way.”
Along with experiencing music in a different way, the venue has created a space where it’s community can feel comfortable.
“At this space, I want to help minimize uncomfort within people in attendance.” Sutphin stated.
One of Panfil’s main goals has been to instill childlike wonder in adults through his art installations.
“As multi-sensory as possible is great. For me, I think about perception and to instill wonder, whether that is making something strange or using light and shadow to interact with normally ordinary objects,” Panfil said. “I think that direct art experiences can put you more in this childlike state of wonder, where you don’t have a name for something, because of how abstractive it is.”
While this self-funded venue has created a community behind it, it has been an uphill battle to create a space like this.
“The bureaucracy was the hardest aspect of creating this venue,” Wolverton said. “It is difficult going through all the ropes of getting certified and licensed.”
Along with being a business that the laws do not favor, they fought to have Healer be open to younger audiences. “This is something that I wish I could have been exposed to when I was a teenager.” Oakley stated.
“When I first got into music, I had no place to experience music. I felt insulted by that and I don’t want other kids to feel that way.” Sutphin explained. “I believe in fostering young talent and young musicians need a place to go to experience music and network.”
Healer has many exciting events and installations coming up.
One of the cubicles will be hosting an installation created by Lydia Burris, which is planned to be open from February until May. Currently, there is a zine called Radical Fluff will be up until March, and art exhibitions by Justin Oakley, Courtney Brooks and Kat O’Neill.
As far as music goes, they have a DJ night coming up on January 26 at starting at 8 p.m. On February 16 at 8 p.m. they are hosting a band named Toke. On February 18 starting at 8 p.m., they are hosting a band called Balms.
Further upcoming event information can be found on their Facebook page.
(11/09/18 5:04pm)
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(10/26/18 4:12pm)
Papa Warfleigh’s Funk Revival was born three years ago from the Random Band Challenge put on by Square Cat Vinyl. The band started with five members and has since expanded to eight members.
One of IUPUI’s own professors, Trevor Potts, sings, plays percussion, kazoo, and many other instruments in Papa Warfleigh’s Funk Revival. Potts began playing music in middle school, with one of his previous bands being Sugar Moon Rabbit.
The other members of the band include Kevin Boynton on bass guitar, Dave Vogt on rhythm guitar, David Stefanek on lead guitar, Cyrus Youngman who plays guitar and sings, Mackenzie Barclay who plays flute, trumpet, and sings and Aaron Mcdonald on the drums.
Papa Warfleigh’s Funk Revival’s name was a collaborative effort. According to Potts, he had just become a father and the band often practiced in the Warfleigh neighborhood in Broad Ripple, which lead to the first part of their name.They found that “Funk Revival” flowed with the name and encompassed their style.
Papa Warfleigh’s Funk Revival defines their music as Guerilla Carnival Funk.
“The Guerilla part comes from wanting to pop up in the night and surprise people, that’s the nature of the music, which is organic,” Potts said. “Carnival Funk comes from the celebratory aspect of our music and sometimes we go into funk and sometimes we go into rock.”
Potts found that their main inspiration comes from joy. “As a musician, it’s liberating to see where any song can go.”
This past weekend, Papa Warfleigh’s Funk Revival performed at Toast to the Trees: A Benefit Concert for IFA, which was not their first benefit concert they have performed at.
“We try to do a lot when we can,” Potts said. “A few years ago we put together ‘Night of the Comet’, which is an anti-domestic violence benefit show we put on. It’s great using whatever platform you have to do something good.”
When the band saw that the Indiana Forest Alliance was trying to put on a show for Indiana’s forests, they reached out to be involved and help plan the night, including having the idea to make it “Game of Thrones” inspired.
“It was a beautiful day, it fit the ‘Winter is Coming” theme,” Potts said. “We had our Stark banner flying along with the wind.” Although the weather was blistering cold and windy, everyone at the concert found a way to make the best of the night.
The band plans on being involved in many future benefit concerts, including the upcoming “Night of the Comet.” They may also be involved in next year’s IFA concert and other future benefit concerts. To them, benefit concerts are a great way to bring joy to the concertgoers, as well as using their music as a way to help the causes they believe in. Benefit concerts are bringing a new aspect to local musician’s concerts.
“I think the IFA will do several more concerts in the future, it was very successful,” Potts said. “They raised $3,000, it was great.”
(09/14/18 3:46pm)
Carmel Porchfest will be underway on Sunday, Sept. 16 from 1 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in the Carmel Arts and Design District. Porchfest is taking place between Rangeline Road and Monon Trail. This family-friendly fest is free and includes a wide variety of music acts. This event involves musical acts playing on porches and laws on the homes in Carmel.
Over 40 musical acts are set to perform at this event.
The first Porchfest was held in 2007 in New York and has grown widely throughout the United States since then. This event highlights the streets in the district and provides a wide variety of music to enjoy. The event brings the community together and showcases performers.
The music that Jeff Kelly and the Graveyard Shift is putting out right now falls into the Americana-Rock/Folk-Rock genre. They put a high priority on the lyricism and all come from modest backgrounds.
For the Carmel Porchfest, you will see the band consist of the following lineup: Jeff Kelly (vocals/guitar), Blake Miller (lead guitar), Jeremy Holden (bass), and Kevin Hood (drums).
Have you ever performed at Carmel Porchfest?
2018 will be the first year that I will be performing at the Porchfest.
What aspect of Carmel Porchfest intrigues you the most?
The thought of literally having a festival on people’s porches is somewhat unique, and certainly a chance for us to perform for an audience that may otherwise not attend our events in typical music venue settings.
What sets your band apart from those who are performing at Carmel Porchfest?
Though I feel that all the artists are unique and talented in their own ways, I hope to set ourselves apart through our stage energy. My bandmates are all phenomenal players in their own right, and we just go out there hoping to have a fun time and play as hard as we can.
How did the band start up?
The band came out of my own desire and necessity to move from performing simply as a solo artist to a full-band. I often play solo shows, but there is something to be said for the chemistry, orchestration, and performance of a full band. The songs sound ‘fuller’ and, by playing in a band, I can access and play at far more venues in and out of Indianapolis that often request full-bands over solo performances.
The Graveyard Shift, specifically, is a band consisting of a rotating cast of musicians. We do not have any one artist set in stone, aside from me (Jeff Kelly). The reason being is that this allows all of the bandmates the freedom to come and go as they need – we are all getting older, and most all of us have been through the rough band breakups in the past that are so often caused by over-practicing, over-committing, and from a lack of unity in where each player ‘sees the band in five years’. I leave the invitation to perform in my band open ended so that no one person feels obligated to commit.
What inspires your music?
I find writing songs to be incredibly difficult when I seek to write about anything outside of my own personal experiences. Most of the songs that I do write come after long periods of reflection on past and present events, and I feel that that adds a real honesty to both the lyrics and the performance itself. On the rare occasion, I get to be a conduit where a song just ‘comes out of the blue’ that has nothing to do with me or my life – but those occasions are very few and far between.
I truly cannot say that there is any one artist that inspires me, specifically, or any artists where I attempt to channel their writing or playing styles. I love so many different styles of music and artists in each genre that it would almost overwhelm me if I had to pick a favorite, or moreover, try to emulate. I love Neil Young – but I’m not Neil. I love Margaret Glaspy – but I love that she is uniquely herself… It’s fun to be uniquely me – singing in my own way and writing songs without concern for keeping it in a certain genre or in the vain of great artists of the past. Though, admittedly, many people have come up to me after the full band shows saying I remind them of “The Boss” (Bruce Springsteen), though I have no idea why.
Cole Woodruff is a singer/songwriter from Indianapolis, IN. It’s tough to pin him to a genre but Woodruff is equal parts rock, country, Americana, and folk. With The Family Man EP (2017) and his full length album This One’s Gonna Hurt (2018) under his belt, Cole is continuing his forward trajectory with some big plans in 2019. Look for new music and exciting shows coming up at www.colewoodruffmusic.com
Have you ever performed at Carmel Porchfest?
I haven’t performed at the Porchfest, this will be my first performance and first time attending the festival. I am so excited to be a part of such a great lineup of local musicians.
Do you enjoy outdoor performances such as Carmel Porchfest?
I’ve played a lot of festivals and outdoor events and they aren’t always a great experience, but I don’t see how the Porchfest could be anything but a beautiful time. Attendees will definitely be getting an amazing experience with some incredible bands, and the fact that it is free is so great for everyone in the community. The bands involved are as good as anything you’ll hear on the radio and better!
What aspect of Carmel Porchfest intrigues you the most?
I love the concept of playing on a porch. I grew up in the country playing country and bluegrass tunes on many porches. It will be fun going back to how I started playing guitar and writing songs. I’ve done a lot of songwriting out on the porch, but this time I’ll have a great audience and that’s something I look forward to.
How does the incorporation of harmonica, guitar, and singing set you apart?
Well, the guitar and harmonica combination has become almost a staple for Americana/folk artists these days. When you play by yourself, it just adds a different dynamic to your music. When you don’t have a full band behind you, you have to come up with creative ways to emulate other players, solos, drums, all things that will keep your listeners ears peeled and their attention captured.
What got you started performing at events?
I’ve always played music as a writer first. I only learned to play guitar and sing to give an avenue to my songwriting. I tried being a band at first and realized that my songs meant so much to me that I just needed to do it on my own. I play with other artists in different forms of bands, but at the core, I will always sing my songs with or without anyone else. I just want to sing my songs for people and the people who connect with my music inspire me the most.