Kiki's Delivery Service August 17 and 21 at Normal Theater

Kiki's Delivery Service, a Japanese animated film, is scheduled for 7 and 9 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 17, at the Normal Theater.

From the legendary Hayao Miyazaki comes the beloved story of a resourceful young witch who uses her broom to create a delivery service, only to lose her gift of flight in a moment of self-doubt. It is tradition for all young witches to leave their families on the night of a full moon and set out into the wide world to learn their craft.

When that night comes for Kiki, she embarks on her life journey with her chatty black cat, Jiji, landing the next morning in a seaside village, where a bakery owner hires her to make deliveries.

The 103-minute film is in Japanese with English subtitles and is rated G.  It will also be presented on Sunday, August 21, at 1 p.m. with an English language track.

At the Museum: Karaoke, Kawaii, Kami, and Culture

Through Sept. 11, experience Tokyo’s vibrant culture in a new interactive traveling exhibit at Normal's Children's Discovery Museum.

In "Hello from Japan!," families are transported to two distinct areas of Tokyo that exist side by side: One serene and exquisite, the in the words of the museum, "too cute for words."

The beautiful, natural Shinto shrine park invites children to build a bridge, crawl through a forest, encounter Kami spirit, and make a wish at a wishing tree.

Kawaii Central is a streetscape inspired by Tokyo’s bustling Harajuku district, bursting with color, trendy shops, and Kawaii styles. Kids sing karaoke, smile for the photo booth camera, serve up a seasonal Japanese meal, and design adorable mascots for their families.

Kawaii is defined as the quality of cuteness in the context of Japanese culture. It has become a prominent aspect of Japanese popular culture, entertainment, clothing, food, toys, personal appearance, behavior, and mannerisms.

The word kawaii originally derives from the phrase kao hayushi, which literally means "(one's) face (is) aglow," commonly used to refer to flushing or blushing of the face.

Together, the exhibit highlights how old and new traditions coexist in Japan, giving visitors a family-friendly window into Japanese culture.

This exhibit was created by the Children’s Museum of Manhattan and is part of the Asian Culture Exhibit Series, funded by the Freeman Foundation and administered by ACM.

Meanwhile, the Children's Discovery Museum will coordinate and host the 2016 Bloomington-Normal Worldwide Day of Play (WWDOP) and Uptown Block Party from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 24 on Beaufort Street in Uptown Normal.  

For information, visit http://www.childrensdiscoverymuseum.net/.

Hanna: The Immigration Project Undertakes 'Compelling' Mission

Amid global poverty and violence and current U.S. rhetoric, many individuals and families are seeking basic safety or stability in the U.S.

Hanna Tarbert, AmeriCorps VISTA communications and development coordinator with the Normal office of The Immigration Project, is committed with Project attorneys and volunteers to helping provide it.

The Immigration Project provides quality citizenship and other legal assistance for immigrants in 85 counties across downstate Illinois, from Kankakee on the east to Moline on the west and on a north-south line from Fairmount City to Carbondale. Statewide, the Project serves an estimated 53,000 undocumented immigrants.

Tarbert previously worked for six months with refugee resettlement in Dayton, Ohio, where she met several immigration attorneys and became interested in legal advocacy for those who’ve sought a better or simply safer life in the States.

“There are people fleeing conflict; they’re fleeing for their lives,” she related. “From a human element, I don’t think there’s anything more compelling than that. Refugees have literally lost everything, and they’re starting over.

“We did get a lot of people coming out of Central America who were fleeing gang violence. There were people there leaving poverty, or they were reunifying with family. There are a lot of good reasons to work in immigration and help people get status here.”

The Project’s largely rural-regional approach includes regular local information clinics with staff attorneys and partnerships with area groups who set up permanent webcam sites to facilitate long-distance interviews and case preparation. An August 19 clinic is set for Bloomington-Normal.

Tarbert – who graduated with a Master of Arts in International and Comparative Politics and a Master of Arts Certificate in Women’s Studies from Wright State University in 2015 -- must grapple with a variety of “huge misconceptions” particularly about undocumented immigrants. “A lot of people don’t think immigrants pay taxes, and they do,” she said, noting Project clients must document that “they have been contributing.”

In fact, unauthorized immigrants in Illinois paid $499.2 million in state and local taxes in 2010 alone, according to data from the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy. That includes $85.4 million in state income taxes, $45.8 million in property taxes, and $368 million in sales taxes.

Further, the 2012 purchasing power of Illinois’s Latinos totaled $46.1 billion — an increase of 422.2 percent since 1990. Asian buying power totaled $28.7 billion — an increase of 463 percent since 1990, according to the Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia.

While U.S. immigration debate focuses largely on Latino populations, The Immigration Project deals with immigrants from across the globe, including a growing influx of French-speaking arrivals from Togo and other African countries and Canadian and European immigrants.

Immigrants who currently must remain in the legal shadows effectively are “living in limbo,” Tarbert said, limiting work or educational opportunities. On a national level, she argued the Immigration Project and similar groups would benefit from a U.S. Supreme Court re-review of the currently court-deadlocked case challenging President Obama’s immigration reform plan, which had reflected elements of a stalled bipartisan Senate package. The 2012 purchasing power of Illinois’s Latinos totaled $46.1 billion—an increase of 422.2% since 1990. Asian buying power totaled $28.7 billion—an increase of 463% since 1990, according to the Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia.

The case, United States v. Texas, concerned a 2014 executive action by the president to allow as many as five million unauthorized immigrants who were the parents of citizens or of lawful permanent residents to apply for a program that would spare them from deportation and provide them with work permits, called Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA).

“Just having those programs implemented would go a long way toward helping a lot of people,” said Tarbert. “It would really have made a lot of things easier for a lot of our clients.”

Project clinics in 2014 and 2015 nonetheless covered a range of issues beyond DAPA, including citizenship application assistance. The group also assists in visa petitions, consular processing for family members, and waivers of inadmissibility, and provides immigrant crime victim support addressing domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking.

“We tend to be more service-based than advocates,” Tarbert advised. In 2015, 37 percent of client “intakes” involved those seeking naturalization and citizenship. Nearly 30 percent of clients sought support for childhood arrivals.

Clients pay an initial $25 consultation fee, though many other services are free or charged based on a sliding financial scale based on case type, family size, and household income.

The Project also taps a healthy volunteer base, which provides English/Spanish/French translation, case follow-up management, or coordination of legal clinics and area citizenship workshops.

“There are a lot of people who want to support the attorneys,” Tarbert noted.

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The Immigration Project receives no federal funding, depending instead on low legal fees, donations, and grants. Those who wish to support the Project can check to see if their employer is eligible for Matching Gift Programs to match personal donations or offers any Volunteer Grant Programs which allow an employee to volunteer a set number of hours.  Amazon donates 0.5 percent of the price of an eligible purchase to The Immigration Project for every purchase made through AmazonSmile when the buyer opts to make it the charitable organization of their choice. And PayPal enables donors to use their credit card without making an account.

Takesha: NAACP Banquet to Honor Century of Achievement

Takesha Stokes

The Bloomington-Normal Branch of NAACP is a civil rights organization that is committed to ensuring the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination.

As we embarked upon this year within NAACP, the Bloomington-Normal branch has remained committed to our continuous efforts to provide the community with support on issues that affect us all.  In addition, we are gracious for the support that you have shown us over the years.

The NAACP is now over more than 107 years old.  In that time, many things have happened to change the course of American history.  We have been a part of most significant changes to make the cause of justice a reality for all people.  Ever since the Springfield Race Riot of 1908, the NAACP has led the way in thought and action for civil rights. 

Over the past several years, our nation and world has been perplexed with a number of senseless acts that continue to make the work done by the NAACP relevant.  Let’s keep this tradition alive and let the world know that “Our Lives Matter, Our Votes Count."

This year, the branch will host its Freedom Fund Banquet on Saturday, September 24, 2016, at the Double Tree Hotel and Conference Center.  The social hour will begin at 4:30 p.m. and the program at 5 p.m.

For information, contact Freedom Fund banquet chair, Takesha Stokes, at 309-242-5827.

BLM in B-N Book Club Explores Race and School

The BLM in B-N Book Club will be discussing Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria and Other Conversations About Race (2003) by Beverly Daniel Tatum, at 7 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 3, at the Bloomington Public Library.

New and occasional members are welcome. Those who recruit an interested high schooler (or anyone under 25) will receive a prize.

Beverly Daniel Tatum, a renowned authority on the psychology of racism, asserts that we do not know how to talk about our racial differences: Whites are afraid of using the wrong words and being perceived as "racist," while parents of color are afraid of exposing their children to painful racial realities too soon.

Using real-life examples and the latest research, Tatum presents strong evidence that straight talk about our racial identities-- whatever they may be -- is essential if we are serious about facilitating communication across racial and ethnic divides.

Advocate Plans Central Illinois LGBT Clinic/Center

Paul Sweich

The Pantagraph

Community advocates hope to open, by next June, Central Illinois' first health clinic and community center for the lesbian, bisexual, gay, transgender, queer or questioning, and intersex populations.

"Our vision is to provide health care, mental health and social support to the LBGTQI community and its allies," said Len Meyer, executive director of the Central Illinois Pride Health Center. Meyer and health center board President Jan Lancaster spoke with The Pantagraph on Friday.

The goal is to provide primary health care, obstetrics/gynecology, pediatrics and hormone replacement therapy within three years.

But they hope to open the center next June, beginning with meetings and mental health counseling.

The board is working on its 501(c)(3) status to be tax-exempt and is searching for space, Lancaster said. The center already sponsors a youth group, and a parents group will begin meeting in August, Meyer said.

"We want to offer our community a safe atmosphere to get care and to not be made to feel less of a person," Lancaster said.

Meyer is a retired emergency medical technician who is operations manager for Merry Maids, the Normal-based residential cleaning company. Meyer has a bachelor's degree in health care administration.

Lancaster, who owns The Bistro in downtown Bloomington, is a member of the Bloomington Human Relations Commission and vice president of the Downtown Bloomington Association.

Meyer is transgender. People who are transgender don't identify with the sex of their birth.

Meyer has been put off by doctors' offices whose choices for patients' sexual identity was male or female. One doctor didn't understand transgender issues and didn't care, Meyer said.

Lancaster said Meyer's experience isn't unique. The result is that LBGTQI people are less likely than others to seek primary care, Meyer said.

"There definitely is a need for this in our community," Lancaster said.

Asked why the group doesn't focus on education and advocacy rather than opening a clinic, they said education and advocacy take longer than growing a clinic.

"The time to do the clinic is now," Lancaster said. "We are trying to add to the quality of care in Central Illinois. We are not trying to replace existing doctor's offices."

Advocate BroMenn Medical Center and OSF St. Joseph Medical Center were given opportunities to comment.

Tony Coletta, Advocate BroMenn human resources vice president, said: "Advocate BroMenn is supportive of any group that is working to improve the health and well-being of members of our community.

"Our own organization has made a concerted effort to be inclusive and sensitive to the needs of the LGBTQI community ... Through ongoing leadership and staff education in health care-specific areas of diversity and inclusion, we continue working to ensure that our processes, communication and environment work together to create a welcoming atmosphere for all of our patients and their loved ones."

A fundraiser for the center — in partnership with YWCA McLean County — will be 6 p.m. Aug. 17 at The Bistro, 316 N. Main St., Bloomington.

"Our mission informs us to provide justice for all," said Jenn Carrillo, YWCA mission impact director.

BCAI Seeks Support for Community Arts Education

Bloomington-based BCAI School of Arts is seeking community support to unleash “The Voices of Our Youth.”

BCAI provides an “expression platform” and arts education to everyone regardless of income or background. Its objective is “equipping individuals with increased awareness of self, community and various cultures through unique training in the arts,” but donations are needed to help cover the discounted cost for the program that some families could not afford.

Visit http://www.bcaiarts.org/#!donate/w02as to help.

Jim: Love All Into Unity

Rev. James Warren

Bloomington First Christian Church

As a father of 10 culturally diverse children, the senior pastor of First Christian drew upon his unique experiences to offer a message of love and unity at NIOTBN's July 11 vigil for the victims of Minnesota, Louisiana, and Dallas.

              Good evening, and welcome to this prayer vigil.  I truly thank each of you for being here and for being committed to making our community better, stronger, and ever more united.

                Let me tell you how I’m feeling tonight.  I’m tired.  I’m just plain tired.  Aren’t you?  Every few days we hear of another tragic event.  Young black men killed in Baton Rouge and Minneapolis.  Police officers shot in Dallas.  How long has all of this been going on?  I can’t remember.  It feels like forever.  Certainly much too long.  And I’m tired of it.  How many more have to die?  How many more prayer vigils will we have to hold?  How long will this go on?  I’m tired of it.  Kelley Becker, our Associate Pastor, preached last Sunday and articulated for me what I’m feeling, and what many of you are feeling.  I’m just plain tired.  Aren’t you?  Something has to change.

                Let me begin by telling you a little something about myself, specifically about my family.  I do this not because my family is anything special, but because of the formative impact my wife and children have had on me and my life.  My wife and I have ten children.  Whenever I tell someone that, I immediately learn something about that person.  Almost everyone will look at me wide-eyed and say with a hint of sympathetic weariness something like, “Oh my.”  But if the person is Roman Catholic, she’ll undoubtedly say, “God bless you.”

                My wife and I have ten children.  Our oldest two children are birth children.  Then we adopted a girl from India and another from China.  Next came two African American boys from Chicago.  Our youngest four were born in Ethiopia: twins who are eleven and two girls who are ten.

                You see, my wife and I have not been disinterested outside observers of the role race plays in our country.  We’ve been in the midst of it.  However, I don’t for a minute pretend to understand the complex issue of race in America.  I’ve lived a privileged life because of my race, and I know it.  But I’ve seen what my children have endured.  My wife shared some of our family’s experiences at a recent Black Lives Matter forum.  Inasmuch as I can, I’ve witnessed the ongoing, pervasive, and negative role race plays in our country.

                I start this evening with my family because I believe that’s where we must begin.  Change must begin with our families, with those who are closest to us, with our friends and neighbors.  Only as change occurs in these intimate circles can real change affect our nation.

                Let me share with you something that Katherine, our oldest daughter, wrote on Facebook today.  She was responding to a long-time friend’s post about his family and ours.  Katherine was born in India, is twenty-four, just received a graduate degree, and is in her first real, full-time job.  I feel like shouting, “Praise the Lord!” when I say that!  She did her master’s project on the difference between how white students and African American students are treated at a large university that proudly declares itself to be inclusive.  In her Facebook post she writes about us, her family.  Her friend, whose family also adopted a girl from India, was reflecting on what he learned in his transracial family.  Let me emphasize that I’m sharing this with you not because my wife and I are somehow remarkable, but because the message our daughter took to heart while growing up is one many of us are attempting to pass on to our children.

                Katherine writes:

I am thankful that parents like yours and mine raised us in such a way that different skin colors were seen as nothing but beautiful. The way our families instilled in us the love of God and taught us how to share that love with others was one of the many gifts we were given. It amazes me [notice her word choice: amazes] that some people are threatened by those who look different from them, and yet people like us so naturally embrace others who appear to be different. In our world, families do not have to look like one another in order to love each other. I have seen how people like you and my brothers willingly loved little brown girls and were proud to declare these little girls your sisters.  I guess we have our parents to thank for that.  We can thank our parents for being good people: honorable and tender role models of equality and love. Your family is beautiful, and mine is, too.

I am so proud of Katherine.  I am so proud of the woman she’s become.  I want to emphasize it was not just our family who taught her to value and love others.  You were a part of it, too.  She learned these lessons right here in Bloomington.  She grew up here and went to Bloomington schools: Sheridan Elementary, Bloomington Junior High, and Bloomington High School.  You made a difference in her life.

When you and I come to treat our children, all children, our neighbors next door, our neighbors across town, and our neighbors on the other side of the world, with the love Katherine experienced in her family and community, we will come closer to the unity you and I long for.

                Our job, first and foremost, is to love others, regardless of who that other person may be.  Jesus’ teaching, which I’m sure is very similar to teachings in all of the religious traditions represented here tonight, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” should guide us in all of our relationships.

                My eighteen-year-old son has a tattoo that says, quoting Martin Luther King, Jr., “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.  Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”  May we be the light and love our world needs.

                Of course, none of this will be easy.  The roots of our country’s racism go back centuries to the arrival of the first European colonists, their disregard for the indigenous peoples, and their enslavement of Africans in pursuit of wealth.  We aren’t going to remedy racism and find a new way to be in a month or a year, nor maybe even in our lifetime.  It’s taken us centuries to get here; it will take a very long time to get from here to where we need to be

And we’re tired, tired of struggling for peace and justice while more and more good people are killed.  Every time we’ve come together after another tragedy, we’ve done so with great resolve and the best of intentions.  “We’ll do something about racism this time,” we tell ourselves.  We leave these gatherings determined to make our society different.  But what happens?  We get busy.  We have jobs and families.  We go to school and volunteer to help others.  We struggle with the everyday tasks of living.  Before we know it, we’ve lost our passion and put our resolve on hold.  “We’ll get to it tomorrow.”  And nothing happens: the promised tomorrow never comes.  Everything goes on just the way it always has.

                We have to awaken from our lethargy and do something sooner rather than later.  We have to do something now.  If we don’t, more young black men will die senselessly.  More courageous police officers will be shot down mercilessly.  We can’t, we just can’t, let this continue.  Let’s make a difference.  Let’s make a difference now!

                One observer of the racial tensions that exist in our country likens our contemporary situation to a broken mirror.  The mirror has been broken and has shattered into a thousand different pieces that now litter our nation.  Those pieces continue to reflect an image, but it’s a partial and fractured image.  It’s impossible to see what the image may be.  To heal the brokenness of race that lies in these splintered pieces, we have to pick up all of those pieces, one piece at a time, and reassemble our mirror, so that it may reflect an image of wholeness and healing.

                Pick up the fragments of peace and justice that lie at your feet.  Love those closest to you, and love them into loving others.  Love those who are different from you, perhaps even your enemies, and love them into the unity that is ours as sisters and brothers.  Amen

Friends Forever Aims to Unite Teens From Israel

Lenore Sobota

The Pantagraph

Friends Forever participants at a Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church service in Bloomington.

Seeing the transformations of students involved in the Friends Forever program is one of the rewarding aspects of Megan Gonsalves' job.

She is the site manager spending two weeks in Bloomington-Normal with a group of 10 teens from Israel — five Jews, five Arabs — in a program designed to improve understanding between the groups.

The visit is part of a year-long program that also involves activities in Israel involving the Jewish students from Ma'ale Shaharut Regional High School in the far south of Israel and Arab students from Rama Technical High School, about six hours north.

This is the fourth year Friends Forever has come to Bloomington-Normal, sponsored by Rotary Clubs in the Twin Cities and others.

Friends Forever was formed more than 30 years, starting with youths from Northern Ireland, later expanding to Israel and, now, Uganda.

“It's not a challenge that's about politics and Israel,” Gonsalves said. “It's connecting person to person.”

Mikhail Barkan, a student from Ma'ale Shaharut, has lived in Israel less than a year. He emigrated from Russia, attending a boarding school on a kibbutz. He saw Friends Forever as “an opportunity to see who the Arab people really are.”

In Russia, he only knew what he read in the media, he told a group of about 20 people at a public meeting last week at Illinois State University's Bowling and Billiards Center.

Barkan was expecting all the boys to be terrorists with knives and all the girls to be wearing hijabs.

“When I came to Israel, then I saw they are all different and most of them want peace,” Barkan said. “I saw these nice boys who look just like me.”

He and Ali Abed of Rama have become close friends.

“He is my friend, my brother, my teacher in the last eight days,” Abed said of Barkan. Abed said he has helped Barkan with his Hebrew and Barkan has taught him some Russian.

Alon Herlinger, a teacher at Ma'ale Shaharut and a paramedic, is one of two teachers accompanying the group.

He decided to become a teacher after a trip to a World War II concentration camp in Poland with his son and his son's class.

“I don't want this to happen again,” Herlinger said. “I want to teach kids about tolerance and that all human life is precious.”

The students, who are in their second week in the Twin Cities, are required to leave their cellphones at home when they come to the United States. While here, they have no access to technology or mass media.

Gonsalves said, “The amazing thing to see is they stop looking to home for support and they start looking to each other.”

The students first met in Israel in what is called the group building phase of the program. The U.S. phase focuses on skill building — communications, empathy, resilience, impact and perspective. The final phase, when they return to Israel, is community building.

While in the Twin Cities, they have been involved in several activities together.

The students, ages 15 and 16, many of whom have never left their country or been away from their families before, face challenges. Gonsalves said being challenged is “the place where growth is possible.”

When one student was reluctant to participate in the high ropes course at Timber Pointe Outdoor Center at Lake Bloomington, the group reminded her “we make an agreement to always enter the growth zone.”

They persuaded her to put on the harness and helmet and walk to the edge, setting her own personal goal beyond her comfort zone, and she wound up doing the whole route, Gonsalves said.

Michael Gizzi, an associate professor at ISU involved in the Friends Forever program locally, said of the students, “They're going to be ambassadors for peace.”

Cultural Festival: Connecting With Cultures

Julia Evelsizer

The Pantagraph

On a green paper leaf, Brenda Joyner of Bloomington wrote the word “patience.”

She glued the leaf to a cardboard tree representing strengths in the community at the Cultural Festival Saturday at Illinois State University.

“I strive to be patient and I’m trying to grow in that direction,” she said.

Joyner has attended the annual festival, in its 37th year, for “many, many years.”

“If you’re interested in connecting with other cultures, you can start somewhere like this,” she said. “Then spread out to make diversity a big part of your life. Your life is not the only life.”

The purpose of the festival is to connect the wide variety of ethnicities in Bloomington-Normal through music, dance, art and fellowship.

Some of the performances in the Brown Ballroom included the Sugar Creek Cloggers, Odyssey World belly dancing, Japanese sword demonstration, a fashion showcase and solo singers.

“It provides an easy opportunity for the community to experience ballet, clogging, jazz, belly dancing...they can see a huge variety of cultures in one place,” said Tony Jones, program coordinator.

“With everything going on in the world, we need events like these where people can come together, mix and mingle, and enjoy a diverse environment.”

NIOTBN Arts Chairman Angelique Racki at the Festival.

Community groups like Not In Our Town, the local NAACP branch, 100 Black Men of Central Illinois and BN Parents, shared information with visitors. Face painting, crafts and inflatables were available for kids.

While the Odyssey World belly dancers swayed to Middle Eastern music, 4-year-old Wynter Mann hopped off her seat in the audience and started to dance next to her grandma, Virginia Mann.

“It goes to show how people of other cultures can come together,” said Virginia, of Normal. 

Amber Schrlau of Stanford came to the festival for the first time with her kids Maeva, 4, and Murphy, 2.

“They need to know love and what better way than this event,” said Schrlau. “Not everyone is the same and that’s a good thing.”

The young dance group, Ballet Folklorico de Central Illinois, took the stage in authentic Mexican dancing costumes. The girls wore full red skirts and the boys wore sombreros. The group is part of Conexiones Latinas de McLean County, a non-profit organization with the goal of intercultural collaboration and connecting Latinos in the community.

“They are so excited about sharing this with the community,” said Javier Centeno, vice president of the organization. “This sort of event is about love; giving love to the community and respecting each other."

Illinois State Debuting 'Queer Studies' Program This Fall

This fall, the Women’s and Gender Studies Program (WGS) will officially launch a new Queer Studies concentration at Illinois State. Years in the making, the concentration  reflects the dynamic evolution and growing popularity of "queer studies" across the United States.

“Every respectable women and gender studies program, or gender and sexuality program, has strong queer content,” said WGS Program Director Alison Bailey. “Students need to have a critical vocabulary, so that they can be able to talk about issues of social justice with respect toLGBTQ issues.”

The new Queer Studies concentration can be viewed as part of a movement, slowly gaining momentum toward culture change across campus, said Bailey. In the last few years, Becca Chase, Paula Ressler, and Dave Bentlin of the Office of the President started the LGBT/Queer Studies and Services Institute on campus, currently run by Danny Mathews. WGS associate Mandy Dartt led a campus-wide committee to establish a Lavender Graduation ceremony.

“Programs like Lavender Graduation and resources like the LGBT/Queer Studies and Services Institute send a message to LGBTQ and allied students that they are valued and an important part of our community and Redbird family,” said Mathews, director of the Institute. Bentlin noted the efforts are “vehicles that continue our journey toward a more fully-inclusive campus. Their presence hopefully reassures the LGBTQI+ student community that we are moving forward as an institution while recognizing that it is an ongoing process in which students are active partners.”

First steps

Providing LGBT students a visible space and ceremony on campus were vital first steps, that needed to be followed with a strong movement of queer studies into the curriculum.  “Really good conversations in the classroom—where there is room for disagreement and intelligent, even kind, discourse—will hopefully spill out into the larger culture and community”, said Bailey.  It was four years ago that the first course in the concentration, WGS 292: Introduction to LGBT/Queer Studies, was developed. Since that time it has been taught by at least three different WGS faculty members.

The new concentration is centered on several core courses: WGS 292 and WGS 392: Queer and Transgender Theory, and a number of electives including ANT 270: Anthropology of Sexuality and POL 337: Gay and Lesbian Politics. “This is a respectable beginning for the concentration,” Bailey said. “It allows students to develop a core working understanding of the basic critical tools in queer theory and a choice of topical courses that focus on contemporary issues.”

Although faculty members from across campus contributed to queer studies, WGS did not have a faculty member with extensive graduate studies in the area. That changed last year when College of Arts and Sciences Dean Gregory Simpson approved a joint position between the Department of Sociology and Anthropology and the Women’s and Gender Studies Program, enabling the University to hire award-winning scholar Erin Durban-Albrecht. “Because so much of the work of the College of Arts and Sciences is interdisciplinary, she is the right person to take the lead in teaching the Queer Studies sequence,” said Simpson, who added Durban-Albrecht has already developed the QUEERtalks speaker series at Illinois State. “I think that students, staff, and faculty will all benefit greatly from these initiatives.”

Durban-Albrecht noted the field of LGBT/queer studies is interdisciplinary, and builds upon women’s studies’ critiques of gender relations. “It offers tools to think about gender beyond the categories of ‘man’ and ‘woman’ in addition to thinking critically about sexuality and power,” said Durban-Albrecht, who designs her classes to provide students with the analytic tools to understand the intersectionality of queer studies.

“Our conversations about sex, gender, and sexuality are always taking into account relationships to other social categories, such as race, economic class, nation, (dis)ability, and religion,” said Durban-Albrecht. “To understand what happened in Orlando, for instance, it is not enough to think about homophobia and transphobia or toxic masculinity. The people who lost their lives at the Pulse Nightclub were predominantly Latina/Latino, and my classes discuss histories of racism in the United States that foreground why queer and trans* people of color are made more vulnerable to violence.”

The new Queer Studies concentration is only the beginning, noted Mathews. “We need to do a better job at helping dominant identity groups understand that they, too, are stakeholders in the conversation around gender and sexual diversity,” said Mathews. “These are all aspects of who we are, but sometimes it isn’t until we have the language to describe such aspects of our identity that we can begin our own journey of consciousness.”

Friends Forever Aimed at Bridging Israel's Cultures

Friends Forever, a program that brings Jewish and Arab teens from Israel together for an intensive, two-week experience, will host a talk at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, July 21, at the Bowling and Billiards Center Activity Room at Illinois State University. The event is free and open to the public.

During the event, youth leaders will speak about their own experiences in the program, and the impact of the year-long program in Israel that focuses on community service, self-exploration, and leadership training. Students taking part in the Bloomington-Normal Friends Forever will work on projects that include building a motorcycle together, taking part in a social media workshop, and creating a photo collage with University Galleries.

The goal of the program is for participating teens to return to their communities in Israel, prepared to be ambassadors for peace. Friends Forever works around the globe to help those who live in conflict-prone regions to build lasting friendships across cultural, religious, and political divides. Through the program, Friends Forever brings groups of young peacemakers to New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Louisiana, and Illinois.

Find out more about the Bloomington-Normal chapter of Friends Forever.

Cultural Fest July 23 at ISU

The fun-filled Cultural Fest will bring music, dance, and more to the Brown Ballroom on Saturday, July 23.

The festival runs from 10 a.m.-8 p.m. with performances throughout the day, including the Adam Larson Quartet at 6:30 p.m. and the band Miles Ahead at 7:30 p.m.

Showcases during the festival will include a jump rope team, belly dancing, a Kendo sword demonstration, and a salsa demonstration. Find a full schedule at www.culturalfest.com.

This is the 37th year of the festival, designed to promote and foster appreciation of cultures through entertainment and educational activities. The day also provides a forum for community organizations to promote positive activities for civic, educational, and social purposes.

The festival is free and open to all ages.

Revitalization Project Offers Bilingual Surveys

The West Bloomington Revitalization Project Community Input Survey is now available in Spanish. Please share it with your Spanish-speaking neighbors.

Access the form at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdx41loE-2An4i0yeUAwCjJ5J20VRqXMx98LhhygTfRhO02-Q/viewform.

“Driven by the voice of residents, the WBRP leads impactful, collaborative efforts of neighbors and local stakeholders that honor our historical and cultural roots, build on the pride and strengths of our neighborhoods, and empower residents to be leaders and achieve a vision for a better community,” according to WBRP’s mission statement.

The project features a tool “library” to aid in neighborhood projects and needs, the west side Book Bike, the West Bloomington Community Garden, a computer lab, and a home restoration effort. See more at http://www.westbloomington.org/#!our-programs/bipxg.

Tiny Houses An Answer for Homeless, Businesses?

Willis Kern and Mike McCurdy

WGLT

City of Bloomington officials are working on one aspect of a possible solution to the homeless problem downtown.

Alderman Karen Schmidt, whose ward includes the business district -- which has seen an increase in homeless individuals, says so-called "tiny houses" may help the situation.

Tiny houses are small, moveable homes generally under 500 square feet that underscore a lifestyle of simple living.

Schmidt said the homes could be located together near downtown.

"We want to be very thoughtful and try to find a place in our community that doesn't feel isolated in any way. These are our residents and we want them to feel welcome, and we want it on a bus line," said Schmidt.

Schmidt said there seems to be momentum for bringing the tiny house concept into the homeless solution mix.

"I think it has a lot of traction and it has a lot of people at the table from the city, PATH and the shelters," she added.

Schmidt said zoning issues have to be resolved and she says the city's community development staff is working on that. The homeless problem downtown was spotlighted last week during the GLT News series "Homeless in Bloomington."

Pamela: Support and Understanding

Pamela Sweetwood

WJBC Forum

I recorded this on Friday after two incidents of black men dying after police encounters and a group of police ambushed at a protest.   Information is still coming out, a lot is unknown, and that will be the case for some time to come.   There is no guess as to what this will develop into.

Sadly it is not a new or infrequent place for our country to be in.

My wish is that people can be sensitive to all.   Those of us that are white cannot fully understanding the continuous judgment, assumptions, and scrutiny many minorities experience on a regular basis.  We need to be supportive and understanding rather than have this tear the fabric of our country further apart.   To do so, is not to be against the police.  It is not mutually exclusive.

The police have a hard job which is compounded when particular members act in a questionable manner.   In addition to that, add in the perpetual threat of terrorism.  My heart goes out to them and what anger they must face and how impossible their jobs may seem some days.

We need to grieve lives lost, grieve for their families and friends.  The pain is severe.   We all lose when tragedy like this occurs.  So many lives, futures, and families forever effected.

It has been comforting to me to hear on the news those that appreciate the concern, understand the tragedy, and are committed to a fair, thorough response which doesn’t pick sides but rather handles matters with integrity.    This week I personally was impressed with the Mayor of Baton Rouge, the Director of the FBI, and several community leaders from the areas affected.   Instead of dividing us by race or political party, they provide me hope that we can indeed come out of this as a better society.    We need to be.

Pamela Sweetwood was an ISU student, like many, who never left town. She works in higher education and has a history with many community non-profits organizations.

Nuns on The Bus: Heal Gaps, Heed Immigrant Contributions

The Pantagraph

Sister Simone Campbell has a simple message for the Twin Cities on Tuesday.

"We need Bloomington-Normal (residents) to do their part to help heal the gaps in our nation," she said. "It's our same message at all the towns we go to, because if we all get engaged in it, we can heal."

Campbell is one of 19 sisters on the Nuns on the Bus tour of the the Midwest and Northeast. With a theme of "Mend the Gaps," they will spend more than two weeks asking America to promote family-friendly workplaces, living wages, tax justice, and access to citizenship, democracy, health care and housing.

While the group's agenda mirrors traditionally liberal political priorities, Campbell said the sisters are focused on how to bring people together rather than dividing them.

They started Monday in Madison, Wis., and will travel through Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, Ohio, New York, the New England states and New Jersey before ending in Pennsylvania. Stops will include small cities like Bloomington and big ones like Cleveland and Philadelphia, where they'll visit the Republican and Democratic national conventions. 

"What I'm hoping is we can see similarities in what worries ... and gives hope to Republicans and Democrats so we can begin to speak of where we meet," said Campbell, who organized Nuns on the Bus and is executive director of Network-Advocates for Justice Inspired by Catholic Sisters.

About 75 people came to YWCA McLean County in Bloomington for the afternoon stop.

Attendees heard speeches from the sisters and got the chance to pledge their support and sign the bus. Many chanted "mend the gaps" during a group photo.

The sisters also visited Unitarian/Universalist Church of Bloomington-Normal on Tuesday evening.

This is their fifth annual bus tour; they visited Illinois State University’s Alumni Center and New Covenant Community, both in Normal, in 2013.

"We're big fans of Sister Simone," said Margaret Rutter of Normal, who attended the YWCA event with other New Covenant members.

Rutter spoke of the need for respecting immigrants: "It's terrible how many people have lived here for many years doing horrible jobs and paying taxes and we won't let be citizens."

Policy priorities for the sisters include tax reform that makes "corporations and the wealthy pay their fair share"; "significant minimum wage increases"; "paid family leave and paycheck fairness for woman"; "congressional districts that are fairly and accurately drawn"; universal health care; and "a just and inclusive federal housing policy."

"We have a torn fabric in our society with all the name-calling, the violence, the fear. ... We're better than that," Campbell said. "This is about the divides that have grown in our whole nation, and that's why we're on the road."

Editorial: Our Similarities, Not Our Differences, Bring Us Together

A Pantagraph Editorial:

Last night's vigil to remember recent victims of gun violence perhaps can fortify the belief that our lives — black, white, brown and blue — have more similarities than differences.

The vigil, sponsored by Not In Our Town Bloomington-Normal at First Christian Church in downtown Bloomington, remembered the victims and families who have pulled heartstrings and produced headlines across the country. The vigil came less than two weeks after NIOT marked its 20th anniversary in the fight against discrimination.

Between July 1 and July 6, more than a dozen people — civilians and police — in the United States were injured in police-involved shootings, according to research by The Guardian and published at www.stltoday.com. Those numbers do not include the shootings that occurred late last week and over the weekend.

Last week was a deadly week in America. It always is, but the biggest headlines focused on shootings that involved people of color and law enforcement. Both sides had guns, and both sides fell victim. And the nation spent a weekend in disbelief and grief.

America cannot continue at this pace. We have lost civility and understanding and empathy, with hatred fueled by 140-word rants.

A mother who loses her son on Chicago streets grieves no less or no more than a mother who loses her officer son in Dallas, or a mother who loses her soldier daughter in Iraq. When a life is lost to violence, a community must grieve for a broader loss of innocence.

A divided country cannot stand; we learned that lesson once, and the hundreds of thousands of Civil War dead bore witness to the futility of that fight.

Desperate people across the United States are hurting and hungry, and we must find a way to alleviate that. We no longer can point fingers in hopes of finding a cause and a solution. We must agree that all lives matter; that civil discussions allow for all points of view; and that our similarities are greater than our differences. Only then is there hope that we can move forward.

We must take a step, however tentative, to quell the violence and hatred in our communities and our country. Pray for your neighbors, pray for strangers, pray for the families, pray for those who protect us and for those in such pain that violence seems the only answer.

Reach out to a stranger; reach a hand toward someone in need. Speak up when someone says or does something that promotes violence and divisiveness rather than love and caring.

Support the police. Support social services that help families in need. Support groups that share the messages of race, religion, abilities and gender.

The NIOT vigil was a way to remember those we have lost. It also was a step forward for our community to focus on a common goal of making sure America is the safe, strong and welcoming country the world knows it to be.

NAACP, BPD Maintain 'Open Channels'; NAACP Chief Urges Reporting of Suspected Racial Profiling

To fix the flaws or abuse in the system, citizens must be willing to use the system’s resources to make their voices known in official channels, according to a local leader of the African-American community. Bloomington’s police chief concurs with him on the need for “open channels” between law enforcement and citizens.

At Monday’s vigil commemorating nationwide victims of recent violence and racism, Quincy Cummings, head of the Bloomington-Normal NAACP, emphasized the need for those who feel they have experienced police mistreatment or discrimination to come forward. Citizens and local police officials joined in the event, and Cummings noted top cops must be aware a problem exists to adequately address it.

In the end, he held “we have to hold ourselves accountable for being the community we want to see.” He argued that thanks to cooperative efforts, “we have the ear of local law enforcement.”

“The problem is, a lot of times, people don’t complain,” Cummings said. “In order to hold police accountable, you have to go and fill out a formal police complaint. Even if that means calling the NAACP to go with you to do it, whether it means involving the ACLU, whatever, that has to happen.

“Police are looking at data, and if they’re looking at complaints and seeing a low volume of complaints for the year, then they don’t see a problem. It doesn’t matter what people are saying on the street. This is what we have to do.”

NAACP has worked extensively through “open channels” with local law enforcement in part through the Minority and Police Partnership of McLean County. The Bloomington Police Department is a charter member of MAPP, which was developed with NIOTBN support, and in the wake of Ferguson and Baltimore and a local NIOTBN/NAACP community/police forum in early 2015, the BPD launched annual public training sessions to demonstrate and gather citizen input on real-world police procedures and ramped up minority officer recruitment.

A sign of the progress the BPD has made in the communities was last night’s standing ovation for local police at the First Christian Church vigil. BPD Chief Brendan Heffner hailed Monday’s event and its commemoration of officers and citizens alike, arguing “any loss of life is tragic.”

“The community realizes this,” Heffner said. “We don’t always know the reasons for certain things, but any time we’re together, we’re communicating, it’s always positive.

“Having that dialogue will also help us if something occurs, cause (the community knows) we’ve done that. We didn’t just get together now – we’ve had ongoing dialogue. We may agree to disagree, but we’ve had a dialogue, and we’ve worked together for what we believe is best for the community.”

The Dallas police shootings were “a very stark reminder of what we face,” the chief acknowledged. Today’s officer must possess “the right mindset to be prepared for anything and still do our job in a professional manner,” he stressed.

Illinois’ data collection law established a multi-year statewide study of traffic stops to collect data to identify racial bias. Consistent with and in addition to state-mandated officer data collection, the BPD collected information on passenger race and gender data, specific offense, exact location of the traffic stop, vehicle registration number, parole or probation status of the driver, and expanded racial categories.  

Here are some further insights on profiling and data collection from the BPD: 

Q.  What is racial profiling?

A.  Profiling is defined as the detention, interdiction, or other disparate treatment of any individual on the basis of racial, ethnic, age, gender, or sexual orientation of that individual. 

Q. Why did the Bloomington Police Department collect more data than state law mandates?

A.  As allowed by the law, we collect additional data to enhance anticipated future statisticalanalysis.  More and richer data increases the opportunity for deeper analysis, resulting in more reliable conclusions.   

Q.  What do I do if I think I am a victim of racial profiling by Bloomington Police?

A.  Pick up a copy of the Bloomington PoliceDepartment’s Citizen Complaint Form at the police facility at 305 S. East Street in downtown Bloomington.  The forms are also available from the City Clerk’s office at Bloomington City Hall. 

Q.  What can I do to help identify and prevent racial profiling?

A.  Be patient, cooperate with law enforcement when stopped for a traffic violation, and support statistically reliable data analysis.  Report suspected racial profiling and encourage recruitment of minority police officers.  Most importantly, obey traffic laws and drive safely. 

Q.  Who do I contact if I have questions about data collection or racial profiling?

A.  The Bloomington Police Department, Office of Public Affairs, off the second floor lobby of the police facility at 305 S. East Street. Call (309) 434-2355 or inquire online at police@cityblm.org .

Twin Citians United in Face of Nationwide Violence

The Pantagraph/WJBC/WGLT/NIOTBN

Residents came together from the community to remember the recent  victims of violence and racism throughout the country on Monday night, as Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church Rev. Frank McSwain led the gathering in the rallying call, “United, we stand; divided, we fall.”

Moses Montefiore Rabbi Rebecca Dubowe and Imam Abu Emad AL-Talla chat with Bloomington Police Chief Brendan Heffner prior to the vigil.

Leaders from five area religious denominations came together at Bloomington First Christian Church for what is becoming a hallmark of Bloomington-Normal’s Not In Our Town efforts -- a bringing together of all faiths and even those questioning their faith. The prayer service included a reading of names, a lighting of candles, and a moment of silence for victims and the families of shooting victims in Dallas, Minnesota, and Louisiana.

"If we don't start living together as people, I promise we are already dead as a community," McSwain warned.

The vigil included chanting, or a Sholka (Song) to bring in light by local Hindu Priest Divaspathi Bhat. Imam Abu Emad AL-Talla of the Bloomington mosque Masjid Ibrahim provided a meditation on light and the service included a later reference to the Martin Luther King quote, "Darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can drive out darkness," while Rabbi Rebecca Dubowe of the Moses Montefiore Temple in Bloomington issued a call to action which could be different for each person -- "We can't just stand here after this night. Think about what you can do to make a difference in people's lives."

Imam Abu Emad and Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church Senior Past Frank McSwain join in a gesture of solidarity.

First Christian Senior Pastor Jim Warren, the father of a large multicultural family, said he's tired of holding vigils and rallies. "I'm tired of us saying we are going to do something and then we don't." He suggested, "reach out to those who are different from us.  Build a community of compassion."

“We really need to see each other as human beings,” said Mike Matejka from Not In Our Town . “That’s people in the community, that’s people of diverse background, that’s our law enforcement. There is so much tension in our nation right now, this is an opportunity to come together in our diversity and say we’re all human, we all support each other, we need each other to heal .”

“It is really beginning to seem that way, that we can’t find civil ways to discourse,” added Anne Libert, and retired teacher from Unit 5 and Not In Our Town volunteer.  “We seem to want to attack the other and blame the other, no matter who the other is.”

Bloomington Police Chief Brendan Heffner said he was heartened by the turn out at First Christian Church and the standing ovation given officers there, but he said the people who need to hear the call for unity, empathy, and tolerance were likely not there to hear it. The challenge, he says, is reaching that group. Heffner is interviewed in an upcoming Twin Cities Stories blog article, along with local NAACP head Quincy Cummings.

Bill Kellett of Normal said he came because he needed reassurance that something like the police shootings in Dallas, Texas, would not happen here. “I know our town is different and I can’t see that happening here,” he said. “Yet, I’m glad that we have people in this community who care enough that show that we won’t tolerate that kind of hatred here.”

Sam Ridgway of Bloomington said people need events like this where they could gather peacefully.

“I want to be around people who are committed to making this area a better place,” he said. “I am thankful that we are a smaller community and can have something like this in a church, rather  than downtown near a courthouse where it’s in an open area and you are a little scared.”

Janet Merriman of Bloomington argued “people are putting their lives on the line just by going out and protesting, but here, we are letting people know that we see what’s going on in the world and we aren’t going to let it happen here.”

“Brothers and sisters, whatever they are.  Black, white, tall, short, rich, poor. They are brothers,” said Imam Abu Emad AL-Talla.

“To claim light in darkness, to remember the lives and potential that have been lost as a result of violence against our brothers and sisters,” NIOTBN Faith and Outreach Chairman and First Christian Associate Minister Kelly Becker of First Community Christian Church maintained. “And to look forward to a different future for our neighborhoods, our community and our nation.”