This Gene Could Tell You Who Is At Risk For Suicide

A new study could be the key to creating a blood test that can screen people for suicide risk. Such a test, experts say, could improve treatment in hospitals, clinics or even help military leaders assess which active-duty members and veterans are most at risk of suicide.



The military is battling a suicide problem; at least 22 veterans commit suicide every day, according to a 2014 study conducted by the Department of Veteran Affairs, while male vets under 30 are three times more likely to commit suicide than their age group in the general population.



"What we envision, potentially, is using this test in psychiatric emergency rooms. For example, it could dictate closeness of monitoring and treatment options, and drive potentially more fast acting treatment in someone who is really high risk," said lead author Zachary Kaminsky, Ph.D. of Johns Hopkins Medicine in a phone interview with The Huffington Post. "In the military, if you were able to identify vulnerable individuals [with a blood test], you may, for example, ask them to turn in firearms when they come back from active duty, or limit access to lethal means."



The new research reveals a genetic mutation that may be able to predict suicide risk with a minimum of 80 percent accuracy. The study, published July 30 on the website of The American Journal of Psychiatry, found that alterations to the gene SKA2 -- which helps regulate the brain's response to stress hormones -- was more common in people who had committed suicide.



Currently suicidality can only be assessed clinically: People at risk of attempting suicide can exhibit warning signs like talking or writing about a desire to commit suicide or trying to access firearms or pills. Other risk factors for suicide include a previous suicide attempt, a family history of attempted or completed suicide and various mental disorders.



But often, medical professionals don't have access to that kind of information, which is why the need for a blood test is so urgent, said Dr. Alexander Niculescu, III, an associate professor of psychiatry and medical neuroscience at the Indiana University School of Medicine, who was not involved in the study.



"People don't always tell others when they are suicidal, especially if they do not want to be hospitalized," said Niculescu.



In the first part of his study, Kaminsky examined the brain tissue of different groups of people who had died from suicide. He found that in some groups, lower levels of SKA2 were associated with people who had committed suicide. In others, a mutation that changed the way the SKA2 gene worked was also associated with people who had killed themselves.



Both findings are significant, because if the SKA2 gene isn't functioning properly, the body isn't able to suppress the release of cortisol, a stress hormone, throughout the brain.



Kaminsky then confirmed the results with blood samples from three different, ongoing studies. He designed a test to see if he could predict which of the participants had had either suicidal thoughts or attempts in the past. The test was able to predict participants' history of suicide attempts or suicidal thoughts with at least 80 percent accuracy.



Among those with the most severe risk of suicide, Kaminsky was able to predict attempts or suicidal thoughts with 90 percent accuracy. Among the youngest participants, Kaminsky was able to predict past suicidal attempts with 96 percent accuracy.



"We have found a gene that we think could be really important for consistently identifying a range of behaviors from suicidal thoughts to attempts to completions," Kaminsky said in a press release. "We need to study this in a larger sample but we believe that we might be able to monitor the blood to identify those at risk of suicide."



The study discloses that Kaminsky, along with co-author Holly Wilcox, Ph.D. holds a patent to "evaluate risk of suicidal behavior" using the SKA2 gene. Another researcher on the study, Dr. Jennifer Payne, received legal consulting fees from Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Johnson and Johnson, as well as research support from Corcept Therapeutics.



Niculescu has also been on the hunt to find biomarkers linked with suicide risk, and he called Kaminsky's study a "great" corroboration of what Niculescu and other research groups have discovered in the field. Such corroboration across different research departments, said Niculescu, is key to eventually developing a blood test for suicide risk.



"I am glad to see that their top finding, SKA2, was shown in their study to interact with our top finding from last year, SAT1," wrote Niculescu in an email to HuffPost. "We have taken a look at SKA2 in our datasets, and see that indeed it is decreased in expression in the blood of suicide victims, consistent with what Dr. Kaminsky and colleagues are reporting."



"I think that in the future, like in other areas of medicine, a combination of clinical data and blood tests will ensure sensitivity and specificity in predicting who is at risk, and avoiding this preventable tragedy that is suicide," said Niculescu.



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All The SDCC Cosplay Costumes You Missed In One Super Music Video

If by chance you missed this year's San Diego Comic-Con, or you want to see what sweet cosplay costumes are in store for the New York and Chicago editions, you must watch the video put together by Sneaky Zebra. Some of these costumes are UNREAL.



Among the attending cosplays were TV and movie characters, plenty of anime love and, of course, all the superhero action you could ask for. The amount of effort that must have gone into some of these outfits ... it was time well spent.



P.S. Guy dressed as Apocalypse? Blue ribbon to you, sir.







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The Most Expensive 'Hoods for Renters: Chicago Edition

The Windy City is one of the more affordable major metropolitan markets compared to San Francisco, New York City, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C., with median rent less than half than the citywide median rent in San Francisco. While impactful supply constraints, where there's little inventory available, dictate the market for renters, there are multiple different types of neighborhoods in Chicago. Many of these have become more popular in recent years.



The team at Lovely is at it again with a list of the most expensive neighborhoods in Chicago! Check out the most expensive neighborhoods based on Q2 2014 median rent prices.



1. Goose Island: $2,372

2. Near North Side: $2,200

3. The Loop: $2,148

4. South Loop: $2,002

5. Wicker Park: $1,995







Despite a four percent increase in median rent price in Chicago since the previous quarter, the city saw a nearly two percent decrease in median rent compared to the previous year. One bedroom and two bedroom units specifically contributed to this overall decline in rent price year over year. Chicago renters - be prepared to pay top dollar for studio apartments in the Windy City though, where the median rent price increased nearly 40 percent since Q2 2013, totaling a median rent of $1,298 for studio apartments during Q2 2014.



Stay tuned for more of the most expensive neighborhoods in other major cities across the U.S.! To check out the entire Lovely Rental Market Report, visit blog.livelovely.com.



Methodology: With access to the most robust, comprehensive set of rental inventory across the web, Lovely provides a deep look into the U.S. rental market. In addition to Lovely's posting platform, Lovely Pro, Lovely obtains listings by partnering with over 70 external providers to populate its marketplace with rental listings.



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Adjunct Faculty Would Get Student Debt Wiped Away Under New Proposal

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) dropped a new bill Thursday that would potentially eliminate thousands of dollars in student loan debt for adjunct professors.



Citing that more than half of all faculty at public and non-profit colleges and universities in his home state of Illinois work on a part-time basis, Durbin said many adjuncts are currently ineligible for the federal student loan forgiveness program since they aren't employed on a full-time basis.



"As their budgets have tightened, colleges and universities have become increasingly reliant upon part-time adjunct faculty who face low pay, few if any benefits, and minimal job security," Durbin said in a statement. "The vast majority of these educators hold advanced degrees, and as a result, bear the heavy burden of student loan debt. It is only right that we expand their access to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, a benefit already available to many of their full-time colleagues."



The program Durbin wants to open up for adjuncts is called the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. Borrowers who pay 120 qualifying payments -- or 10 years of on time checks -- while working in government service or the non-profit sector, like at a university, are potentially eligible to have some or all of their federal student loans erased.



Nationwide, colleges have indeed shifted toward using more adjunct faculty, and fewer full-time tenured professors. Adjuncts often earn around $25,000 annually without benefits.



"As a part-time, temporary worker with a crushing amount of school debt, I know how important student debt reform is for ensuring education retains the promise of social mobility for both me and my fellow adjuncts and the students we teach," Marga Ryersbach, an adjunct who teaches in New York, said in a statement released by Adjunct Action, a group working to unionize part-time faculty. "I'm pleased that Senator Durbin is working to make sure we have access to a program that helps correct the imbalances wrought by huge amounts of education debt."



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Poll finds Durbin, White ahead in 2014 races

A new Reboot Illinois/We Ask America poll shows U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin maintaining the 15-point lead he registered in a previous survey over his Republican challenger, state Sen. Jim Oberweis.Out of all respondents, 53.11 percent said they would vote for Durbin, while 38.13 percent said they would vote for Oberweis and 8.76 percent said they were undecided.



Durbin doubled up on Oberweis among female participants, who chose Durbin by a 60-30 margin. Durbin also had especially strong showings in Chicago and suburban Cook County, where he led Oberweis by 59 and 38 points, respectively. Two bright spots for Oberweis came in results from suburban collar county and downstate respondents. Oberweis led Durbin 50-41 downstate and 46-42 in the collar counties.



"The one interesting thing I noticed was the high number of people who told us they generally vote Republican but say they'll vote for Dick Durbin. That's a steep hill for Mr. Oberweis to climb," said Gregg Durham, chief operating officer of We Ask America.



Respondents also picked incumbent Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White (D) as the candidate they would vote for over challenger Mike Webster (R) by a 30-point margin. More males and females said they would vote for White. Respondents in Chicago, suburban Cook County, the collar counties and downstate all said they would vote for White.



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Chicago Office Shooting Leaves 1 Dead

Shots were fired in a downtown Chicago office building on Thursday morning.



The shooting occurred around 9:50 am on the 17th floor of a technology company's high-rise building on the 200 block of S. LaSalle Street.



Chicago police told The Huffington Post that both the offender and the victim were found unresponsive with gunshots wounds to the head. The victim is in critical condition at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. The suspect was found dead. The shooting is being treated as a possible murder-suicide.



A police spokesman said that both victims were men. The victim is 54 and the alleged shooter was 59. The Associated Press reports that the victim was the CEO of the company, and the suspect had recently been demoted.



The Chicago Sun-Times reported that the men had been co-workers at AeroStream. According to the Chicago Tribune, the building was not evacuated.



Here's a photo from the scene, via ABC7:

BREAKING: One transported after shooting in the loop #Chicago http://ift.tt/1ADcxvr

— ABC 7 Chicago (@ABC7Chicago) July 31, 2014

CBS has more images from the scene.



The area appears to have been secured.



This is a developing story



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9 Lies You Learned In Kindergarten And Probably Still Believe Today

Turns out you might need to repeat kindergarten: Some of the most basic things you learned your first time through aren't actually true.



Being a kid is basically living a lie. Sometimes, it doesn't take long to debunk the myths you're told: Santa Claus didn't bring your presents, the stork didn't bring your bratty baby brother and the Tooth Fairy didn't put money under your pillow. But some things end up sticking around into adulthood and need to be corrected. If you still think your eyes can be damaged by a TV screen or that cavemen actually lived in caves, keep reading, because these are all lies:







1. Being a princess was all about pink frilly dresses, Prince Charmings and living in lavish castles.







You may have enjoyed dressing up and playing princess as a kid, but your experience probably lacked the grittier touches of medieval royal life. While castle dwellings were certainly more luxurious than the typical peasant hovels of the period, historians say they were still frigid, filthy, dark, damp cribs.



Not to mention, life stank: The air was clouded with the decidedly unprincessly fragrances of dead animals, unbathed bodies and royal sewage. And forget cute animal sidekicks -- a ragamuffin staff of dogs paraded the hallways gobbling last night's leftovers. As for happily ever after, if you weren’t married off as a teenager to an elderly foreign king, you couldn’t exactly count on a knight to be chivalrous or to rescue you and ride off into the sunset on horseback. They were known to have dabbled in cannibalism and were often gigantic jerks.



And if you were more of an Elizabeth Swan-type as a kid, everything you know about pirates is probably wrong, too. They didn't even really talk like "pirates." In fact, historians say they also didn't bury treasure, and walking the plank wasn't actually a thing. Your childhood fantasy role-playing was all wrong!







2. Cavemen lived in caves.







A number of confusing comics and cartoons left us unclear exactly what to think about cavemen, but if we take the name literally, we'd at least assume they lived in caves. Not so. Despite preserving the art of early humans and Neanderthals -- the extinct species we now frequently refer to as "cavemen" -- for more than 40,000 years, caves were not necessarily the actual homes of these prehistoric people.



Archaeologists believe cavemen actually lived outside the caves, but that the misnomer has been popularized thanks to the great preservation skills of caves, which led some to think they were typically used as primary shelters. Although evidence of outdoor homes is hard to find because Earth has changed significantly in the last 40 millennia, a dwelling dating back to the Neanderthal period and made of mammoth bones was discovered in Ukraine.



Image: Flickr user RiverRatt3







3. Watching television close to the screen and reading in dim light will damage your eyes.







Despite your parents' constant insistence that you back away from the screen, "sitting 'too' close to the TV isn't known to cause any human health issues," according to Scientific American. The origin of this myth dates back to a batch of 100,000 televisions released by General Electric in the 1960s that emitted radiation 100,000 times what is considered safe by health officials. Those were recalled, but the myth persisted.



Furthermore, reading print in dim light is not a threat to your eye health. But if your eyesight does end up getting worse with age, carrots won't improve it significantly more than any other healthy foods. That was a lie created by the British government during WWII to trick the Nazis.









4. Earth's north pole is in the North Pole, and its south pole is in the South Pole.







Did we just turn your world upside down? Kind of. Due to an electromagnetic technicality, the geographic North Pole is actually the south pole of Earth's magnetic field, and vice versa! Essentially, Earth acts like an enormous magnet, the south pole of which faces its northern hemisphere, and the north of which faces its southern hemisphere. As "Essentials of College Physics" explains:

"A small bar magnet is said to have north and south poles, but it's more accurate to say it has a "north-seeking" pole and a "south-seeking" pole. By these expressions, we mean that if such a magnet is used as a compass, one end will "seek," or point to, the geographic North Pole of Earth and the other end will "seek," or point to, the geographic South Pole of Earth. We conclude that the geographic North Pole of Earth corresponds to a magnetic south pole, and the geographic South Pole of Earth corresponds to a magnetic north pole."

Now we understand why it was easier to just lie about this one.







5. Humans have only five senses.







Mastering the basics of your five senses was pretty much the focus of an entire semester of kindergarten curriculum, if not more, but the five-sense “sight, sound, smell, taste touch” model we've all learned actually dates back to Aristotle, circa 300 B.C. Needless to say, conventional scientific wisdom has changed a bit since then. Though researchers still debate the exact number of senses, most agree that humans have at least 10 or 11 senses, while some researchers believe that humans have 21 senses or more.



The Harvard School of Medicine would add the following six senses to your list: "equilibrioception," or the sense of balance, "nociception," or the sense of pain, "proprioception," or the awareness of where your body parts are, "thermoception," or the sense of heat and cold, "temporal perception," or the perception of time, and "interoception," or the awareness of the physiological conditions of the inner body. Other debated senses include hunger, thirst and joint position.







6. Birds and bees are consummate examples of sexual intercourse.







Learning about the "birds and the bees" was often used as a confusing code for parents to talk to their kids about human sex, so it may come as a huge surprise that 97 percent of avian species basically have no penis. Through the evolutionary process, something called "programmed cell death" has led to many bird penises to shrink away before they develop. Also, honeybees commit something called sexual suicide. Male "drones" live their whole lives to impregnate the queen bee and then, if they don't immediately kill themselves and try to return to the hive, the female bees will push them out to die.



And if you're curious about where this bizarre trope comes from, the origins are a bit murky, but may date back to a couple of 19th century poems. After a few more references here and there, Cole Porter's song, "Let's Do It, Let's Fall In Love," probably served as a catalyst for the term, with the introduction of these iconic lyrics: "And that's why birds do it, bees do it, even educated fleas do it, let's do it, let's fall in love."







7. There are only seven colors in the rainbow.







That early science lesson left some things out. Because rainbows are never seen on a perfect black background, the colors are always muddied and desaturated in some way and, therefore, never truly display the pure hues of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. Essentially, there are more colors in a rainbow than "stars in the Universe or atoms in your body," but unfortunately, most humans can only perceive about a million colors when looking at a rainbow. Why are you being cheated out of the rainbow's true beauty?



Most human eyes have three cones that perceive color, one each for red, blue and green. This is called trichromatic vision. The sensitivity of these cones often varies from person to person, and, therefore, colors are perceived differently. That said, some people even have another cone (called tetrachromats) and, therefore, may see colors that other people aren't aware of. Women are more likely to have this extra cone, but it is unknown how many actually can see these additional colors, because having an extra cone doesn't necessarily lead to enhanced visual capabilities.







8. Bats are totally blind.







This idiom dates back to the 17th century and has been passed down from generation to generation ever since, despite being patently untrue. Merlin Tuttle, founder and president of Bat Conservation International (BCI), restored dignity to bat-kind in an interview with National Geographic, saying that "They see extremely well." (They are, however, color blind.) Unfortunately, the bat gets a bad rap in popular culture, probably thanks to jerk vampires like Dracula. But the bat has a lot to offer humankind: It uses a razor-sharp echolocation to track its insect prey, making it the world's most badass pest exterminator.







9. Gum takes years to digest.







You were probably warned at some point that a swallowed piece of chewing gum would take a seven-year residency in your tummy. Not true. As Duke University gastroenterologist Rodger Liddle told Scientific American, "nothing would reside [in the stomach] that long, unless it was so large it couldn't get out of the stomach or it was trapped in the intestine." According to another Duke gastroenterologist, Nancy McGreal, MD, gum moves through your digestive tract just like any other food or drink, and only takes 30-120 minutes to digest.



But before you go rejoice and swallow a whole pack of Juicy Fruit -- a word of caution: Gum retains its sticky quality as it moves through your digestive track. This can cause other foods to clump together, and is generally bad news.







BONE-US: The funny bone is NOT a bone.







Your funny bone is actually an ulnar nerve. The strange pain is caused when this nerve bumps into your humerus. Joke's on you!





Alright, you're good now. No need to repeat kindergarten.









All images Getty unless otherwise noted.



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Here Is The Richest Person In Each State

Looking to borrow some money? We've found you the best person to go to in each state.



The interactive map below from the real estate blog Movoto shows the net worth of the richest resident in each U.S. state. Darker shades of blue reflect those at the richest end of the wealth spectrum, while darker shades of red reflect those at the lower end. As you can see in the map, there's a wide gulf between the fortunes of America's richest.





via Movoto



Washington resident and Microsoft founder Bill Gates' $80 billion net worth makes him the richest person in the country (and the world). The least rich individual on the map is Robert Gillam, founder of McKinley Capital, an Alaska-based institutional investment firm. But don't feel too bad for him -- he's worth a cool $700 million.



Heirs to the Walmart empire dominate three states: Arkansas (Jim Walton, worth $35.7 billion), Texas (Alice Walton, worth $35.3 billion) and Wyoming (Christy Walton, worth $37.9 billion). Here's to so-called upward mobility.



Movoto used wealth data from Forbes and Celebrity Net Worth to create the map.



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I Am Not Adorable, So Please Stop Calling Me That

Lulu, Plus-Size Pole Dancer, Has An Inspirational Body Love Message To Share

Pole dancing is an incredibly difficult sport -- and one woman is out to prove that size doesn't matter when it comes to skill.



LuAyne Brown, who goes by the stage name Lulu, is a lifelong cheerleader and dancer who gravitated towards the sport in 2006.



"I'd always wanted to try it, but I was worried about what people would think," she told Closer magazine in 2011. "But when I turned up for my first class and everyone was in stilettos and tiny shorts, regardless their different sizes, I felt a lot better."



She began competing in 2008, undeterred by disparaging comments on her YouTube page.







Brown also auditioned for America's Got Talent in 2012. Though the show's judges passed on her, the experience brought her more online followers and boosted her confidence for other competitions.







Brown, who has been referred to as "the world's heaviest pole dancer," told The Huffington Post in a phone interview that she hopes to spread a body-positive message to women.



"We see so many images of what a body should be," she told HuffPost. "But you should love yourself from day one until your last day."







According to Brown, her size has never restricted her -- either on the pole or off it.



"Life is awesome," she told HuffPost. "Don't let a number on the back of your jeans determine what kind of life you want to lead."













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Here's What Happens When You Fool Around On Train Tracks (VIDEO)

A train engineer in Indiana thought he killed two women when they disappeared under his 100-car coal train earlier this month.



Dramatic video released this week shows the two unidentified women clambering to get out of the way as the engineer throws on his emergency brakes. Miraculously, they survived with little more than a stubbed toe.



They were allegedly trespassing on Shuffle Creek Bridge, northeast of Bloomington, on July 10, according to WTHR. Once they realized there was a train barreling toward them, they had two options: Jump and face an 80-foot fall to the ground below, or lie down on the tracks. Apparently, they chose the latter.



"When the train stopped, the two women crawled out from under the engine, started running this way," Eric Powell with Indiana Railroad told WTHR. "He yelled back and asked them, 'Are you OK?' One yelled she had stubbed her toe, [but was] otherwise fine. I'm sure their nerves were as shattered as his were."



Before they made contact, however, the train engineer had feared the worst and called authorities. The women fled, but police later caught up to them and they'll likely face charges, according to the Indianapolis Star.



Indiana Railroad released a statement reporting that 908 people were killed in the United States by trespassing on railroads in 2013, and 38 of them were in Indiana. All railroad tracks are private property. Don't follow in these ladies' footsteps.











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Raising the Dead in Chicago

I prayed with the family of 11-year-old Shemiya Adams who was killed by a stray bullet at a children's sleepover. I spoke at the funeral of Jasmine Curry -- a 24-year-old pregnant mother of five who was shot and killed on the Dan Ryan Expressway in Chicago. As I was speaking I looked over the vast ocean of young attendees at this sad and tragic occasion wondering whose funeral I would be preaching next.



I've been out here long enough to know that after the politicians and cameras are gone; after the communal outrage subsides; I know that the culture of death still presides.



The dead. The walking dead are shooting each other and killing one another as well as any innocent who crosses their path.



Our neighborhoods have become cemeteries and the funeral home a center of commerce.



A deprived people. A depraved people. It doesn't matter how you describe us because simply put we are a people of a dead consciousness. Our bodies are merely following our minds.



Can we change reality? Is hope irrelevant? Can we scientifically reverse this culture of death?



We can move towards a culture of life if we reverse engineer the effects of the death culture.



For example let's reverse engineer a shooting that results in murder: hit the rewind button on the murder and the victim lives again. Keep rewinding until you see the gun buyer, gun seller and gun maker.



Rewind the shooter -- what conditions and circumstances formed and agitated his shooting impulse? Rewind to a time before the shooter became a shooter. You get the idead. Oops I meant idea.



The Vision of Life is reality's default state if the tape is rewound and examined with an open mind. We can choose life over death in Chicago. I just wanted to get the conversation started...Peace.



@gslivingston



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Poll results show Rauner's lead over Quinn growing

Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner holds a 14-point lead over Democratic incumbent Gov. Pat Quinn in a new Reboot Illinois/We Ask America poll.



The new poll was conducted July 28, after the candidates shared their proposed plans to balance the state's budget. More voters said they thought Rauner's tax plan (which includes expanding the sales tax to cover many services while allowing the state's income tax to fall to 2011 levels) would be more effective by a margin of 11 points.



Compared to the first Reboot Illinois poll in June, the new poll shows a growing gap between the candidates, with Rauner adding 4 points to the 10-point lead he had in the June survey.



"The results show an incremental increase for Rauner after the poll participants heard a short explanation of the two plans," said Gregg Durham, chief operating officer of We Ask America. "If -- as most of us suspect -- this race tightens up dramatically, that type of slight edge could pay big dividends for Mr. Rauner as Election Day nears."



While the percentage of respondents who said they'd vote for Rauner fell slightly between the June and July polls, Quinn's percentage fell by more than 4 points. The number of respondents who answered "undecided" increased sharply in the new poll. Check out the breakdown of who Illinoisans would vote for broken down by party lines, gender and where the respondents live at Reboot Illinois.



The Chicago Sun-Times reported that Quinn, upon hearing the results, called the poll "phony-baloney." He said he is not worried about the poll numbers and thinks he can win the election, despite the poll results, remarking that poll results don't always accurately predict election results. Despite the governor's dismissal, Reboot Illinois stands by the poll.



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Absence Makes the Dance Grow Stronger

Michael Estanich and Lucy Vurusic-Riner




Mutual respect.



These are two words that form the cornerstone of any healthy long-term relationship -- personal or professional. Even so, it's often hard to check the ol' ego at the door for the greater good of the partnership. But take two people from the dance world that have known each other for 16 years, give them a shared vision and complementary skill sets... and wonderful things can happen.



It's immediately obvious that there's a deep rapport between Lucy Vurusic-Riner and Michael Estanich, and it is in every sense the foundation that their dance company is built upon. RE|Dance is a collaborative effort between these two long-time friends, and their respective titles provide all the information needed to dig a little deeper and see why they work so well together.



Vurusic-Riner is the executive director and handles the majority of the business aspects of RE|Dance. Estanich runs point on the creative arena as the artistic director. He choreographs and selects costumes. She writes grants and markets the performances.



Estanich lives in Wisconsin and teaches at University of Wisconsin/Stevens Point. Vurusic-Riner resides in Chicago and is a high school dance program instructor. They do the majority of the work for the company separately, coming together only for short spurts of time where they work together intensely, then return to their respective towns.



This makes for a challenging situation, but the two have learned to embrace it, and even thrive on it. Estanich explains saying, "Our time apart provides privacy to consider the ideas, movements, research etc., on our own (this includes the dancers too). When we are together it is RE|Dance Group nearly 24 hours a day. We are constantly together and with the company and feel a bit of pressure to generate a lot of material during those intensive rehearsals. The time apart gives me the chance to consider what the company and I have generated and see how it influences the direction of a project."






RE|Dance, Photo by Jeff Larson




Daily communication is important to this process, and Estanich believes this enriches the creative ideas that have been generated. "It is rare to have the opportunity to discuss the choreographic ideas so deeply before moving again," he says, adding, "I think this builds indelible trust in each other, personally, creatively, administratively, and inspirationally."





So how do the two artists make this arrangement work while teaching full time? They multi-task. Most projects begin with Estanich working with his students to create an initial jumping off point. Vurusic-Riner says, "We then take what they have put together, which is typically a smaller version of the piece, and we expand it to become an evening-length work."



In the past this has meant learning from video, but for their upcoming project, The Long and Forgotten Winter, the pair used a different approach. "This is an idea that Michael developed for the company specifically and we have had full investment and ownership in it since day one," says Vurusic-Riner, who took a more direct role in the movement development this time around.



The most interesting area of crossover is the company's rehearsal time, directed, surprisingly, by Vurusic-Riner. Since home base is Chicago, she is responsible for keeping Estanich's vision alive in the dancers and putting them through their paces. This creates unique challenges in its execution, but again, the respect for one another provides a through-line. "We trust each other to do what's best for the company," says Vurusic-Riner, adding, "We don't always like the same things and our movement preferences are not always the same, but we do have the same vision when it comes to our artistic philosophy."



Vurusic-Riner knows Estanich's style so well that she is often able to "guesstimate" a movement pattern or linking step if it isn't clear. But even so, the dancers must remain flexible in terms of learning the choreography as it can change in a moment once Estanich appears back on the scene.



RE|Dance has enjoyed steady growth throughout the five years it has been in existence, but The Long And Forgotten Winter is more than just another choreographic vision coming to life. It also represents how dedication, mutual respect and love for one's art can triumph over distance and time. It may not be the easiest way to work, but for these two artists, it is the only way they can do what they love with the other person at their side.



Even if it's only some of the time.



The Long And Forgotten Winter will be at the Ruth Page Center for the Performing Arts August 1st and 2nd at 7:30 pm and August 3rd at 3 pm. Tickets are $20.



Read more about this production on Art Intercepts.



*Lucy Vurusic-Riner is a contributing writer to 4dancers.org.



This post first appeared on 4dancers.org



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Lollapalooza Marks 10 Years In Chicago With Latest Romp In The Park

CHICAGO (AP) -- Once the vagabond of the music festival and touring circuit, Lollapalooza marks its 10th anniversary in Chicago when it opens for three days starting Friday with a lineup including Eminem, Outkast and Kings of Leon.



"We are very into the idea of being an international music event," Lollapalooza founder Perry Farrell said in a recent interview. "But I would have to acknowledge that if it were not for Chicago, that beautiful showroom, I don't think we would be in the position we're in now."



Farrell, the leader singer of Jane's Addiction, started Lollapalooza in 1991. It was a tour until 1997 before a hiatus until 2003. There were struggles in 2004 when the event was canceled just weeks before it was to get underway because of poor ticket sales. But in 2005, Lollapalooza came to Chicago's lakefront Grant Park where it hosted several dozen musical artists on five stages over two days. The headline in the Chicago Tribune the day after the festival ended read: "Successapalooza."



Its second year in Chicago, Lollapalooza grew to about 130 acts on nine stages with capacity for 75,000 people. This year promoters expect 100,000 on each day with as many acts on eight stages. The festival has grown over its years in Chicago, adding food tents with offerings from gourmet chefs and a children's section. And it has brought acts like Lady Gaga, Nine Inch Nails, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Coldplay to town.



Eventually, Lollapalooza became the basis for the modern festival culture and circuit that has evolved since, including events like Bonnaroo, Coachella and a legion of smaller multiday parties. This year, Lorde, Skrillex, Calvin Harris and Nas are part of the jam-packed lineup.



Chicago city leaders decided in 2005 to let Lollapalooza take over its beloved Grant Park. They now say it was a wise decision, benefiting the city both culturally and financially.



"It's become a global image-builder for Chicago," said Don Welsh, president and chief executive officer of Choose Chicago, the city's tourism and convention organization. "Lollapalooza has become synonymous with Chicago."



Last year, he said, the organization estimates Lollapalooza's economic impact on Chicago was $140 million. This year for the first time the city and Lollapalooza promoters worked with tourism partners in international markets to make tickets available for music fans around the world.



And Chicago Park District officials say festival proceeds have gone to pay for park improvements and educational and cultural programs.



With an event this large, things haven't always been perfect. A thunderstorm moved across Chicago in 2012 and shut down Lollapalooza, forcing promoters to shuffle the lineup. And at least twice parkland was muddied and damaged after the festival, but the promoters paid for repairs.



From his point of view, Farrell says Chicago offers him "no plug-ups or bottlenecks."



"Just being in the presence of Chicago we look damn good," Farrell said. "I have nothing but praise and adulation and I want to do Chicago right."



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How Kendall Ciesemier's Selfless Crusade Has Made A $950,000 Impact In Africa (VIDEO)

Kendall Ciesemier was 11 years old when an hour-long television show changed the course of her life. That's when the Illinois native watched the ChristmasKindness episode of "The Oprah Winfrey Show," where she saw Oprah and her staff travel to South Africa to bring Christmas joy to 50,000 schoolchildren and orphans devastated by the AIDS epidemic.



Hearing the children's heartbreaking stories touched Kendall instantly, and she was determined to help as well. "She came downstairs with an envelope stuffed with $360 of her own money," recalls her mother Ellery in the above video. "She said, 'I'm adopting an AIDS orphan.'"



All $360 of Kendall's life savings went to Banite, an 8-year-old girl in Mauritania. But as Banite's life was getting better, Kendall's was beginning to fade.



Born with a rare liver disease called biliary atresia, Kendall had experienced a lifetime of medical challenges. A few months after sponsoring Banite, Kendall underwent two liver transplants, and, from her hospital bed, asked her loved ones to donate to children in Africa rather than giving her gifts. Kendall's fundraising took off from there.



By 2007, she had raised $100,000 and founded her very own organization called Kids Caring 4 Kids. Others were starting to take notice -- including President Bill Clinton. During his appearance at Kendall's school assembly that year, the president shocked Kendall by inviting her to join him on stage. He told the nervous teen that he was surprising her with a day off and taking her to meet Oprah and appear on an episode of "The Oprah Show."



Sitting in between Oprah and President Clinton later that day, Kendall revealed her next big fundraising goal: raising $1 million for AIDS orphans in Africa. That's when she received another big surprise.



"Kendall, a man who came here with me today wants me to tell you that he is going to give you a half a million dollars," President Clinton told her, as the audience erupted in applause.



In the seven years since appearing on that show, Kendall has raised $950,000 for Kids Caring 4 Kids. "Oprah: Where Are They Now?" recently caught up with the college student from her dorm room at Georgetown University to find out what else has happened once the cameras stopped rolling. In addition to those continued fundraising efforts, Kendall says that she still keeps in touch with the former president.



"He wrote me back and forth a few letters, and I wrote him when I was going to go to Africa for the first time and asked him for advice," she says. "He comes on campus at least once a year, so every time he comes, I get to say hi."



As for her career plans, Kendall has her sights set on journalism, inspired by the "Oprah" episode she watched when she was just 11. "When I think back on Kids Caring 4 Kids and why I started it, it was because of watching an 'Oprah' show, watching the story of a 13-year-old girl who had lost both of her parents. That changed my whole life. I just really want to be able to do that for other people," she explains.



Though she still struggles with her health, Kendall is determined to keep moving forward. "I want to be certain I'm living a life that has an impact," she says. "That's a really powerful concept, to know that even in our most powerless times, we can be powerful for other people."



"Oprah: Where Are They Now?" airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on OWN.







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Climate Change Lawsuits Could Again Haunt Illinois Cities

Farmers Insurance may have withdrawn its recent climate change lawsuit against 98 local Illinois governments, but anxiety over future suits is simmering among Chicago-are communities.



Cook County local government attorney Michael Del Galdo, who represented nine suburban Cook communities named in the suit filed by Farmers Insurance, argues that Farmers' legal challenge may represent a new litigation front for Illinois cities rather than a one-off legal occurrence.



"Farmers' climate change suit, as outrageous as it was, should be taken seriously as a potential legal strategy by insurers and other business interests to foist their legal liabilities onto towns and taxpayers for weather related damages, arguing it was 'climate change'," said Del Galdo, who is the town attorney for Cicero and other Cook suburbs.



What to do?



Del Galdo says that the Illinois legislature should act to protect communities against future suits.

"The Illinois legislature should indemnify towns and cities against liability for negligence relative to climate change," Del Galdo says.



Farmers Insurance, whose May 2014 suit included Cook County, the City of Chicago, and dozens of suburban communities, based its legal action on the heavy rains and flooding that occurred April 17-18, 2013, causing damage in at least 600 homes in the Chicago area.



Farmers Insurance laid the blame on climate change and used climate change planning against local officials.



That tooks some stones.



The lawsuit stated that in 2008, Cook County, the City of Chicago, and other municipalities had "adopted the scientific principle that climate change has caused increases in rainfall amount" and to help address the problem had adopted the Chicago Climate Action Plan.



After an outcry from local officials - with whom Farmers has other lines of insurance business or with whom the firm was seeking new business - the insurance giant withdrew the suit a month later, sources say. But its action set off warnings to local governments from experts.



Myron Ebell, director of the Center for Energy and Environment at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, believes that the suit set "an extremely bad precedent".



"I think that the claims of climate change are going to be used in the financial world by anyone who can claim it as, you know, a hook to either claim some damages or avoid responsibility for damages," said Ebell.



A former member of President Barack Obama's Climate Adaptation Task Force also warned of the legal risk to communities.



"It's a long shot for the insurance companies, but it's not completely implausible, and if you have enough cases like this going forward it might build some helpful precedent," said Robert Verchick.



An legal scholar also sounded the alarm to local governments saying that they may be found negligent in the future for climate change.



"Lawsuits like this are really good at putting municipalities and other entities that are building in dangerous areas on notice with regards to the impacts of climate change," said Maxine Burkett, associate professor at the University of Hawaii Law School.



Del Galdo, who represented Berwyn, Cicero, Melrose Park, Riverdale, Broadview, Chicago Heights, Hazel Crest, Markham & Steger in the suit, said that the Farmers' suit was a "shot a across the bow" of municipalities and he is warning state lawmakers that they need to strengthen Illinois' municipality tort immunity law.



"Farmers' lawsuit was a shot across the local government bow," said Del Galdo. "The next climate change suit may not be voluntarily withdrawn, and communities could be forced settled for huge amounts of taxpayer money. That's why lawmakers must strengthen local government tort immunity."



The mayor of one of the communities targeted by the Farmers' suit agrees with Del Galdo.



"The Farmers suit is likely only the first, not the last of its type that we are going to see," said Melrose Park Mayor Ronald M. Serpico. "The General Assembly should consider strengthening the local tort immunity statute to protect us against climate change lawsuits."



Even if a suit settles or flops, small towns face big bills defending themselves - with taxpayers picking up the tab.



Will any lawmaker take the lead?



davidormsby@davidormsby.com



This column was adapted from an earlier article in The Illinois Observer.



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Cubs Catcher John Baker Pitched A Scoreless Inning And Then Scored The Winning Run (VIDEO)

Having run out of relief pitchers heading after 15 innings, the Chicago Cubs turned to backup catcher John Baker to take the mound. And boy did it pay off.



The 33-year-old did just about everything in the 16th frame. First, he pitched a scoreless inning that included a walk and a double play. Then in the bottom of the 16th, Baker stepped up to the plate and drew a six-pitch leadoff walk. Three batters later, Baker was standing on third with the bases loaded and just one out. Chicago's Starlin Castro lined out to right field, but it was deep enough to allow Baker to tag up and score the winning run.



Baker became the first position player to earn a win since Chris Davis did so for the Baltimore Orioles in 2012 and only the fourth to do it since 1968. He also happened to earn the win in what turned out to be the longest game in Cubs history.



"I was having trouble not smiling on the mound. You never get opportunities to do things like this," Baker said after the game, via the Associated Press. Baker also said the last time he pitched might have been in college. "It was the Cape Cod League. I believe I had like a 27.00 ERA, but I was getting squeezed from what I remember."



Here are a couple other fun facts about Baker's performance.

John Baker the first position player pitcher to win and score the game winning run since Rocky Colavito 8/25/1968. Run scored in 6th.

— Christopher Kamka (@ckamka) July 30, 2014

John Baker is the first player to pitch and catch for the #Cubs in the same season since Malachi Kittridge in 1896.

— Ace of MLB Stats (@AceballStats) July 30, 2014

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A Moment Of Peace Today at 12:30pm EST on HuffPost Live

'With every drop of blood shed, our hearts harden until they turn into stones to be used as weapons. And so we invite you to A Moment of Peace to ease the hardened heart.'



HuffPost Live will air 'A Moment of Peace' today at 12:30pm EST, host hosted by Caroline Modarressy-Tehrani with Executive Religion Editor Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, Imam Imam Shamsi Ali, Rabbi Yehuda Sarna, and Buddhist Teacher Sharon Salzberg.



Follow the link here for A Moment of Peace



HuffPost Religion Editor Rev. Paul Raushenbush wrote a blog about A Moment of Peace, in which he explains:

With every drop of blood shed, our hearts harden until they turn into stones to be used as weapons. And so we invite you to A Moment of Peace to ease the hardened heart. We will not be talking about blame or strategy or even negotiated cease-fires. Instead we will be inviting people to drop in on HuffPost Live from around the world to use this opportunity to engage in the moral and spiritual exercise of peace and dialogue. In the face of tragic news and creeping pessimism, we will observe A Moment of Peace.



Together, we will remember the humanity of those whom we have been calling enemies, invoke the power of compassion that the great traditions of the world teach us, and have a conversation about how we can have dialogue that is truthful while still remaining open to hearing another view. But, most importantly, we want to bring people of different perspectives, religious traditions, and "sides" together for simply A Moment of Peace.

Please join us today at 12:30.


Peace!







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Women who made their mark on Illinois government

Even though the residents of Illinois are 49 percent male and 51 percent female, the legislative body that represents Illinoisans, the General Assembly, is 31.6 percent women and 68.4 percent male. The means Illinois has the seventh-most gender equal state legislature in the country, and more gender equal than the United States Congress, which is 18.5 percent female.



Legislatures can still be representative without matching the exact demographic breakdown of its constituents. But what would Illinois government look like with more women involved?



A 2011 study from the University of Chicago suggests that women who are involved in politics tend to be better at "logrolling, agenda-setting, coalition building, and other deal-making activities" than male policy makers. And League of Women Voters of Illinois Executive Director Mary Shaafsma said that though Illinoisans value a generally well-qualified candidate more than the candidate's gender, sometimes "women bring a different level of thoughfulness that men don't always."



Women have been getting involved in Illinois politics for as long as women have been able to vote (and even before, as champions of women's suffrage). Lottie Holman O'Neill was elected as an Illinois state representative in 1922 and then went on to be Illinois' first female state senator in 1950. Women have been playing important roles more recently as well: State Attorney General Lisa Madigan is Illinois' first female attorney general and is currently the most senior state attorney general in the country.



Democrat Madigan is up for reelection in November, challenged by Republican Paul Schimpf. Though Madigan is generally seen as having solid support throughout the state, Schimpf paid for a poll that he says shows he is a legitimate threat to her reelection. In it, 46 percent of likely voters said they would vote for Madigan and 37 percent said Schimpf, which is a smaller gap than a Reboot Illinois poll found in June--51 percent for Madigan and 35 percent for Schimpf.



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This Is How To Save Your Hair From The Effects Of Summer

Come Labor Day, your hair will probably be in need of some TLC. Yes, weeks of sun, waves and chlorine can leave your locks looking less lively than when the season started. That's why I emailed Kattia Solano, stylist and owner of the New York City's Butterfly Studio Salon, for tips to repair your strands and protect them against the elements in the future.



Here's Solano's list of the biggest summer hair problems and solutions on how to beat the heat.



Frizz



Humidity is the root of flyaways, so you have to put moisture back into your mane to tame it. Proper conditioning is important, especially on the ends of your hair. It's also best to brush when your hair is still wet, so the bristles don't damage the cuticle while you're detangling.



For frizz relief on the go, use Oribe Impermeable Anti-Humidity Spray, a light, Miami-tested formula that shields hair so styles appear extra smooth.



To combat frizz for months at a time, try a professional process like the Cezanne Perfect Finish Keratin Smoothing Treatment, which is packed with ingredients like keratin, a silk protein called sericin, botanical extracts and vitamins. "Infusing those into the cuticle of the hair leaves it shiny and sleek," says Solano.



Flat Hair



Building body starts in the shower with the right shampoo and conditioner. To fight flat hair use Fekkai Full Blown Shampoo and Full Blown Lightweight Foam Conditioner , which gently cleanses and moisturizes hair with ginseng and lemon without weighing it down.



To style, layer products for lasting volume. Add Kerastase Resistance Gelee Volumifique to towel-dried hair and blow dry with a round brush, pinning each section around Velcro rollers. After the hair has completely cooled, mist it with L'Oreal Elnett Satin Hairspray Strong Hold to lock everything in place.



If your hair is still looking limp despite all the right preparation, a quick and easy way to build it up again is with a product like Oribe Dry Texturizing Spray. "Flip your head upside down, apply the texturizer and blast hair with a blow dryer," Solano says. "Then, twist hair into a loose bun on the top of your head (secure it with a chopstick so there are no dents), and let it cool. After 10 minutes, shake out your hair and apply a few more spritzes to the roots for big, glamorous body."



Dry Hair



Styling tools like curling irons and flat irons are often to blame for fried hair, so prep your locks properly with a protectant like Nexxus Pro-Mend Heat Protection Styling Spray, which acts as a barrier to absorb heat and prevent dryness and breakage. "Never start your tools at the highest setting," Solano adds. "450 degrees is just too hot for almost everyone."



"The key to repairing dry hair is conditioning," says Solano. Start by applying a small amount of conditioner to split ends, wrapping them in a towel and letting them soak for 10-15 minutes while you're in the shower. For a more serious moisture fix, soothe your strands by trying a hair mask like Shu Uemura Art of Hair Moisture Velvet Nourishing Treatment with camellia oil and lipids for 5 minutes two to three times a week. And if you're more of a DIY type, raw, organic extra virgin coconut oil does the trick and smells great, too.



Oily Hair



The sultry weather of summer can cause strands to get stringy and oily faster than usual so be mindful about how -- and how often -- you wash.



"Avoid shampoos that will weigh your hair down and opt for those like Rahua Voluminous Natural Shampoo , which includes ingredients like lemongrass, green tea and citric juices that work together to cleanse and purify," Solano says.



To avoid shampooing every day, soak up grease with a dry shampoo like Klorane Dry Shampoo with Nettles, which is specifically formulated to quickly absorb oil in 25 seconds and leaves hair looking and feeling refreshed.



You'll also want to skip conditioner at the scalp and focus on the bottom half of your hair so you're not adding to the problem. Solano's tip: pull hair into a ponytail and condition only the part that falls from the elastic.





Chlorine Damage



Chlorine can really wreck your hair by drying it out and leaving it green, so prep your hair before you take a dip. To cut down on the amount of chlorinated water your hair absorbs, coat it with a silicone-based product like John Frieda Frizz-Ease, which works to keep chemicals from penetrating the strands. Simply wetting your hair with tap or bottled water before you jump in the pool also helps.



After your swim, rinse you're hair with apple cider vinegar or a mix of carbonated water with citrus juice to remove chlorine and clarify the hair. Then clean your strands with a gentle shampoo, such as MALIN + GOETZ peppermint shampoo.





Fading Color



Sunshine is known to fade color and highlights, so don't leave the house without applying a protectant to your hair first. Try Shu Uemura Art of Hair Essence Absolue Nourishing Protective Oil which contains natural UV blockers, but you can also whip up a homemade concoction by diluting your favorite lotion or sunscreen with a little water in a spray bottle and spritzing your strands before you head out for the day.



You don't necessarily need to go to the salon to keep colors bright, either. A gloss such as John Frieda Colour Refreshing Gloss will counteract fading in the comfort of your home.



Or more simply, you can pul your hair back into a low bun to limit sun exposure.



Take that, summer!



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Which Law Schools Are Worth Getting Into?

If you've looked into going to law school at all lately, you've heard about the debate on whether or not you should even bother.



Well, if you are set on going, our friends at FindTheBest came up with a couple of rankings that show you where to go -- or not go -- if you want a job along with your J.D.

Best Law Schools for Employment | FindTheBest

Attending the law schools at the University of Chicago, University of Virginia, New York University, Stanford, Duke or any of the Ivies, and you're nearly guaranteed employment after graduation. Of course, being some of the highest ranked law schools will make that a little difficult.



FindTheBest also noted a few where their grads' aren't doing as well.

Bottom Law Schools for Employment | FindTheBest

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Obama Won't Legalize Pot Just Because The New York Times Told Him

The White House has responded to New York Times editorials this week supporting marijuana legalization, saying ending U.S. pot prohibition isn't the "silver bullet solution."



The Office of National Drug Control Policy staff, while acknowledging the criminal justice system needs reform, argues in a blog post published Monday night that a series of Times editorials that began Sunday "ignores the science" and "fails to address public health problems" associated with a possible increase in marijuana use.



"The New York Times editorial team failed to mention a cascade of public health problems associated with the increased availability of marijuana," the blog post reads. "While law enforcement will always play an important role in combating violent crime associated with the drug trade, the Obama Administration approaches substance use as a public health issue, not merely a criminal justice problem.



"Any discussion on the issue should be guided by science and evidence, not ideology and wishful thinking," the blog post continues. "We will continue to focus on genuine drug policy reform -– a strategy that rejects extremes, and promotes expanded access to treatment, evidence-based prevention efforts, and alternatives to incarceration"



The Office of National Drug Control Policy, citing scientific studies, argues that marijuana is addictive, impairs development of brain structures, hurts academic performance in school-aged children and poses the threat of drugged driving on roadways.



The blog post also argues that legalizing weed would neither eliminate the black market for marijuana, nor guarantee that states will reap substantial revenue from retail marijuana sales.



"The White House should be commended for standing with the science -- not political ideology," Kevin Sabet, co-founder of anti-legalization group Smart Approaches to Marijuana, told The Huffington Post. "But we shouldn't be very surprised. The White House has repeatedly said they stand with the science on this issue. And the science says that marijuana can be addictive for one in six teens, it doubles the risk of a car crash, and it significantly increases the risk for losing IQ points and is connected to mental illness."



The New York Times editorial board argued that, after weighing legalization, the scale tips in favor of ending the ban. The Times acknowledges concerns about certain forms of marijuana use, including that by minors, and advocates restricting sales to those under age 21.



"There are no perfect answers ... but neither are there such answers about tobacco or alcohol," the Times writes. The newspaper says the concerns are outweighed by the "vast" social costs of marijuana laws.



Mason Tvert, communications director for marijuana policy reform group Marijuana Policy Project, fired back, saying President Barack Obama still has "some 'evolving' to do when it comes to marijuana policy."



"The White House is clutching at straws to make its case that marijuana should remain illegal, and the hypocrisy is as glaring as ever," Tvert said. "President Obama has acknowledged that marijuana is less harmful than alcohol to the consumer, yet his administration somehow maintains the position that marijuana is just too dangerous to allow responsible adult use. ... Nobody thinks ending alcohol prohibition was a bad idea, and it should come as little surprise that most Americans think it would be wise to do the same with marijuana prohibition."



To date, Colorado and Washington have legalized recreational marijuana for adults. Twenty-three states have legalized marijuana for medical purposes, and about a dozen more states are considering legalization in some form. Still, federal law considers all uses of marijuana illegal, classifying it alongside heroin and LSD as one of the "most dangerous" drugs.



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Declining Diversity in Higher Education

The numbers say it all. Diversity is declining in higher education across the United States.



I do not mean there are declining numbers of women. Nor do I mean there are declining numbers of African-Americans or Blacks, Asian-Americans or Hispanics. I also do not mean that there is a shift to a more homogenous age group attending college. As far as I can tell from various data sets, representational diversity is not declining, though access certainly remains a problem for higher education.



What I mean is that the range of diversity of the higher education ecology is declining at the institutional level, and this concerns me.



A few examples?



• According to the Women's College Coalition, "in the 1960's, there were more than 200 women's colleges in the U.S. Now there are fewer than 50."



• While many institutions of higher education in the United States began as single sex men's institutions, today only three non-religious institutions are regularly identified as men's only: Wabash College, Morehouse College, and Hampden Sydney College



• Institutions sometimes known as "coordinates" include various arrangements that segregate male and female students. Their number has also declined, including most famously the shift of Radcliffe to a research institute and the admission of women to Harvard. More recently, the closure of Sophie Newcomb in New Orleans was attributed to the impact of Hurricane Katrina. Currently, there exist eight coordinate colleges, each organized somewhat distinctively, including the University of Richmond, Columbia/Barnard, Yeshiva/Stern College, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, and the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University in Minnesota (each of which has its own president).



• The disappearance of liberal arts colleges seems to be occurring as well. While not all instances have involved closure of institutions, curricular change has definitely meant fewer appear in the category of liberal arts institutions now than in 1990.



What has caused this? Well, some of the root causes are positive ones on the face of it. Once anti-catholic sentiment declined and Roman Catholics were allowed into other organizations, the need for a separate set of institutions may have declined. Once women were admitted elsewhere, the need for women's organizations appeared to decline. Formerly men's colleges that are now co-educational often made that change for reasons associated with social justice (though legalities and dollars perhaps matter as much). The impact may be multiplicative, meaning that these and other forces combined to lead to a decline in the number (or stability) of, for example, Catholic women's institutions. Add race to this equation or other previously excluded religious groups such as Jews, and we see the loss of some kinds of institutions. Or, they become at-risk.



It may also be that other forces are at work. For example, in her book Different, Youngme Moon argues that our tendency to use comparison groups to drive our metrics may mean that we have homogenized. Just look at mission statements across our sector. Why does the notion of "excellent, interdisciplinary, international, creation of responsible citizens through service learning and close faculty/student interaction" seem so familiar? Because it is.



Here we might also consider the impact of a widening -- and deepening -- trend to focus on work force development as a goal for education, on rising costs, and the decreasing public funding of higher education. Each of these shapes the "market" and its declining diversity. So, too, do some very important positive initiatives to help students who move from institution to institution; helping ensure transfer credit is a good thing, though doing so badly can decrease the distinctive educations various places offer. And, of course, the notion of "scale" means that very small institutions face threats to their viability, despite being models of what larger institutions call "learning communities" and tout as "high impact" practices.



Of course, not all of the story of today's higher education is about a decline in diversity. Over the years, we have seen increases in the number and strength of community colleges and public liberal arts colleges, for example. And, we have come to identify, for example, Hispanic Serving Institutions as well as coalitions that have high Pell eligibility. There are other changes as well. For example, where once there were no accredited for-profit higher education institutions, now these exist. And, there are online courses of various sorts as well as calls for un-college (alongside un-schooling and homeschooling). The rise of Muslim and Buddhist education in the United States, too, enhances the diversity of the American (and global) educational ecology.



And yet, the landscape of higher education today seems pretty homogenous. It seems more homogenous than when I entered college, when I began my Ph.D., and when I became a faculty member. This strikes me as not merely a complaint of the geezer in me but a loss of something distinctive about American higher education.



What can we do? What ought we to do?



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Chicago's Top Chefs at the Screening of The Hundred-Foot Journey

"Food is memories," states characters Hassan, played by Manish Dayal, and Marguerite, played by Charlotte Le Bon, early in the new romantic foodie movie, The Hundred-Foot Journey . We all intrinsically know that food is memories - just think of your favorite childhood candy to let a rush of physical and mental sensations come running back - and this is why the audience was so swept away by the film during a private screening last week in Chicago. Beautiful shots of food markets and in-kitchen culinary feats, not to mention the ever-lovely images of Southern France, made this movie an endearing and tender story, and a joy to watch.



Based on the award-winning book by Richard C. Morais, The Hundred-Foot Journey is about an Indian family that moves to Southern France to a less than warm welcome, particularly from a local restaurateur, Madame Mallory, played by Helen Mirren. When she learns that they are opening an Indian restaurant opposite her Michelin Star establishment, she becomes particularly outraged. However, over time, the common love of food and the gifted culinary sensibilities of Hassan, one of the elder sons, melts the icy war and cultural barriers, and more than one romance ensues.



The success of the movie, produced by Steven Spielberg, Juliet Blake and Oprah Winfrey, is that it serves to remind us of the joy of eating together and the connection that food can bring to families, communities and love affairs. The movie allows all these relationships to flourish, and, in addition, fosters a different kind of love altogether: the one between the audience and the movie, which reminds us what it means to be present in daily life and our natural surroundings.



Many of Chicago's best chefs attended the screening in support of the film and the co-sponsoring charities of the screening: The Trotter Project, Common Threads and Pilot Light. Chef Bill Kim, of restaurants Urban Belly and Belly Q and who was in attendance, knows all about bridging the cultural gap through food. "It comes with my marriage to a Puerto Rican woman and trying to bridge Asian and Latin together. People always thought that it is difficult.... but we live it every single day."



Chicago, recognized as a city of neighborhoods with restaurants that celebrate and heighten cuisines from around the globe, has been an important city for making cross-cultural connections over food. Chef Matthias Merges of Yusho, A10 Hyde Park and Billy Sunday restaurants and Board President of Pilot Light was also in attendance. He certainly knows all about melting hearts with food. "There are a few tangible examples in our lives today which bridge the cultural gap more directly and effectively than food and sharing in the pleasures of the table. Preparing food in a kitchen then serving at a table with others - be it with family or friends - creates an intimate opportunity to slow down and reconnect with the joys of life."



Perhaps famed Chef Art Smith, co-founder of Common Threads and in attendance at the screening, said it best. "Food is peace. Food is love. Food is something that we call can agree upon. We all love to eat. My life has been as a chef for very important people, as well as cooking for multitudes of people in our restaurants across the county. A little food goes a long way. It is important to realize, when all else fails, feed them. I have a favorite saying, 'When you want people to come, feed them. When you want them to stay, feed them more. You want to change bills or you want to change people's minds, feed 'em a lot!' "



The Hundred-Foot Journey opens in theaters August 8th and is truly a gem for the whole family.



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Six of the Coolest Illinois Roadside Attractions

Summer is the perfect time to go on a road trip in Illinois, which is home to many parks, historical sites, and for those who are brave enough, creepy roads. Illinois not only has cool destinations, but also some awesome roadside attractions. We're bringing you a list of Illinois roadside attractions that were ranked as "Major Fun," courtesy of RoadsideAmerica.com, so you have an excuse to get out and stretch your legs on your next Illinois road-trip.



Dungeons & Dragons Park

After the death of his nineteen year-old son Jeremy "Boo" Rochman, Barrett Rochman bought 3.5 acres of land near his home to build a memorial Dungeons & Dragons themed park in honor of his son, and avid D&D player. The park opened in 2005 and contains an extensive castle, sculptures of fantastic creatures and gardens.



Address: 31 Homewood Drive, Carbondale, IL

Hours: 8 AM- dusk

Admission: free, donations welcome





World's Largest Cross

Standing at 198 feet tall, 113 feet wide and made with over 180 tons of steel, this cross not only can withstand winds up to 145 miles an hour, it is two feet taller than the famed Groom Cross. The cross itself is surrounded by interactive monuments of the Ten Commandments, in addition to church music. There is a small theater at the Effingham Cross Welcome Center that documents the construction of the cross.



Address: 1900 Pike Ave, Effingham, IL



Super Museum

The Super Museum, located in Metropolis, the home of Superman himself, houses Jim Hambrick's Superman collection, which he claims is the world's largest. Hambrick started his collection in 1959 and the museum houses everything from Reeves' original Clark Kent eyeglasses and the phone booth used by Kirk Alyn, the first film star to portray Superman. Superman spin-offs, such as Superboy and Supergirl, even have their own galleries.



Address: 517 Market St., Metropolis, IL

Hours: 9 AM - 5 PM daily

Admission: Adults $5



Superman Statue

Also located in Metropolis, home of Superman, this 12-foot-tall, projectile-proof bronze Superman Statue was funded by the town after plans for a $50 million Superman-themed park and 200-foot statue were shut down over two decades earlier. The current statue replaces a 7-foot-tall fiberglass statue that was placed in the town square in 1986.



Address: Superman Square, Metropolis, IL



Leaning Tower of Niles

Built in 1934 by businessman Bob Ilg, The Leaning Tower of Niles is a half-sized replica of The Leaning Tower of Piza (94 feet tall and 7-foot-4-inch tilt versus 177 feet tall and a 13-foot tilt). The building was originally designed as a utility tower designed to hide water filtration tanks. The plaza surrounding the tower was renovated in the 1990s to include a fountain and a reflecting pool, in addition to other amenities.



Address: 6300 Touhy Ave., Niles, IL



Miniature Golf in a Funeral Home

This nine-hole mini golf course is located in the basement of Ahlgrim Acres, a family-owed funeral service. The course has been operating informally since the 1960s and includes headstones and coffins as obstacles and screams and spooky music for ambiance. The course is offered as part of the funeral package at Ahlgrim's, but outside organizations also use the course regularly.



Address: 201 N. Northwest Hwy., Palatine, IL

Hours: 9 AM- 9 PM, Daily

Admission: Free



Check out six more roadside attractions at Reboot Illinois, including a tug-of-war on a scale of epic proportions.



NEXT ARTICLE: 31 Must-See Historic Sites in Illinois
Top 10 Creepiest Roads in Illinois

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What is the most popular tourist attraction in Illinois?

12 fun places to take the family in Illinois



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9 Inspiring Quotes About Wisdom That Will Change The Way You See Your Life

This Is Your Brain on Legal Drugs: Let's End the Drug War With a Minimum of Casualties by Following the Science

Human beings sometimes have a troubling inability to hold two thoughts in mind at the same time. This is true not only when the two thoughts contradict each other but even when they simply appear to be in conflict with each other but actually aren't. And nowhere is there a greater need for us to get past this tendency than when discussing the ongoing war on drugs and the growing movement for the decriminalization of marijuana. It should be possible to say both that:



1) The drug war is an all-out disaster that has inflicted an untold amount of unnecessary human suffering. Therefore, as a first step toward ending this failed war, we should continue with the movement toward the decriminalization of pot.



And that:



2) There is scientific evidence of the dangers of pot on the development of adolescent brains, and for users of any age who end up abusing the drug. So, as we decriminalize, we should take every step possible to minimize the harm.



Those two positions are not actually contradictory, but in the polarized, zero-sum world that passes for policy debate right now, many act as if they are.



For the last 15 years I have been writing and speaking about the imperative of ending the disastrous war on drugs. In fact, in 2000, when I organized shadow political conventions to spotlight the major issues that neither political party was seriously addressing, the failed war on drugs was one of the three issues that we chose (growing inequality and the need for campaign-finance reform being the other two).



So it is definitely cause for celebration that the drug war, at least when it comes to pot, is finally deescalating. And after years of slow progress, the issue is gathering momentum. On Sunday The New York Times, in the first installment of a six-part interactive editorial, called for an end to prohibition. "The federal government should repeal the ban on marijuana," the editorial states. "We reached that conclusion after a great deal of discussion among the members of The Times's Editorial Board, inspired by a rapidly growing movement among the states to reform marijuana laws."



It's about time, as the drug war has been one of the worst domestic-policy catastrophes in American history. The human toll has been staggering. Drug offenders make up fully half of our massive inmate population. Of those, nearly 28 percent are locked up for marijuana-related offenses. In 2012 some 658,000 people were arrested for marijuana possession, and fighting marijuana use alone costs federal and state governments $20 billion a year. And the targets of the war on drugs have disproportionately been people of color. African Americans, for instance, make up 14 percent of habitual drug users yet constitute 37 percent of those arrested on drug charges.



So while we fight to change our drug laws, let's do so with a full understanding of the science. The effects of marijuana are not easy to study; people don't use it in the clean ways it's studied in labs. But we do know that in addition to marijuana providing relief to people undergoing chemotherapy and those suffering from glaucoma, multiple sclerosis and AIDS, among other conditions, there is clear evidence of the harmful effects on adolescent brains and on those who become addicted to it.



So let us not make the mistake -- the same one that climate-change denialists have been making -- of ignoring the science that we are afraid will weaken our position. Indeed, as we move toward legalization, let's put the science front and center. One of the worst things about the drug war is the way its proponents ignore the facts in favor of dogma. Let's not make the same mistake as we move toward legalization.



While we can't be certain about what lies ahead, we can take what we know now -- from the science on marijuana, from the market forces already in play and from our past experience with how marketing and market forces played out with tobacco and alcohol -- and at least try to create a system that anticipates and minimizes the inevitable downsides.



Mark Kleiman, a professor of public policy at UCLA and a co-author (along with Jonathan Caulkins, Angela Hawken and Beau Kilmer) of Marijuana Legalization: What Everyone Needs to Know , is worried that in our haste to get out from under the ills of a horrible drug war, we're not really thinking about what comes next.



"At the moment," he told me, "we're stumbling toward a commercial system, which I think of as the second-worst option, with only continued prohibition having worse likely outcomes."



To begin to understand this point, let's look at some of the recent scientific findings, the most notable of which has centered on the effects of marijuana on young people. A study published in The Journal of Neuroscience in April, conducted by researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School and Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine, showed how smoking marijuana, even occasionally, physically changes the young user's brain structure. "The results of this study indicate that in young, recreational marijuana users, structural abnormalities in gray matter density, volume, and shape of the nucleus accumbens and amygdala can be observed," write the authors.



Dr. Anne Blood, a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and one of the senior authors of the study, provided some context on the region of the brain where these abnormalities occurred. "These are core, fundamental structures of the brain," she said. "They form the basis for how you assess positive and negative features about things in the environment and make decisions about them."



Dr. Staci Gruber, a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School who has also conducted studies on what marijuana does to the brain but was not involved in this particular study, had this advice for young people:

Don't do it early -- prior to age 16. That's what our data suggests, that regular use of marijuana prior to age 16 is associated with greater difficulty of tasks requiring judgment, planning and inhibitory function as well as changes in brain function and white matter microstructure relative to those who start later.

These findings are particularly worrisome because, as a 2013 study led by Gruber points out, "[m]arijuana use continues to rise, and as the perceived risk of [marijuana] approaches an all-time historic low, initiation of [marijuana] use is occurring at even younger ages."



There have also been at least two studies showing how marijuana use can impair working memory, one published in Schizophrenia Bulletin in 2013, and another in 2012. "Impairment of working memory is one of the most important deleterious effects of marijuana intoxication in humans, but its underlying mechanisms are presently unknown," wrote the authors of the latter study, published in the journal Cell, which also noted that "long-term depression is associated with impairment of spatial working memory."



A 2014 study led by Dr. Rajiv Radhakrishnan of the Yale University School of Medicine concluded that while "it should be remembered that the majority of individuals who consume cannabis do not experience any kind of psychosis," acute exposure can "produce a full range of transient symptoms, cognitive deficits, and psychophysiological abnormalities that bear a striking resemblance to some of the features of schizophrenia." Adolescent marijuana users, the study found, face an increased risk of developing such outcomes later in life. And for those suffering from existing psychotic disorders, marijuana use was found to "exacerbate symptoms, trigger relapse, and have negative consequences on the course of the illness."



There have also been studies showing direct links to depression. One from 2011 by researchers in the Netherlands found that for young people who are genetically predisposed to the condition, "smoking cannabis leads to an increased risk of developing depressive symptoms."



And a 2012 study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that "the most persistent adolescent-onset cannabis users evidenced an average 8-point IQ decline from childhood to adulthood." The same effects were not found for users who began later in life. And more worrisome was that, for those who had started early, the negative effects continued even after they stopped using. "Findings are suggestive of a neurotoxic effect of cannabis on the adolescent brain and highlight the importance of prevention and policy efforts targeting adolescents," the study states. Or, as study researcher Madeline Meier, of the Duke Center for Child and Family Policy, told CBS, "Parents should understand that their adolescents are particularly vulnerable."



Co-author Dr. Richie Poulton, of the University of Otago in New Zealand, summed it up: "For some it's a legal issue, but for me it's a health issue."



As it should be for us all. Treating it as a legal issue has caused devastating harm. But ignoring marijuana's health risks will lead to young people using pot without being fully informed and educated about the risks of lifelong damage.



But the public's understandable eagerness to end the drug war has outpaced awareness of potential problems to come. According to a Pew Research Center poll from last year, while for the first time a majority of all Americans want marijuana legalized, for millennials the number is 65 percent. And the National Institute on Drug Abuse reports that 60 percent of high-school seniors don't see the harm in routine marijuana use, and over a third said they'd smoked it in the prior 12 months. In 1993 only 2.4 percent of high-school seniors said they used marijuana daily; by 2013 the number was up to 6.5 percent. And over 12 percent of eighth graders said they'd tried it. As use has gone up, so has the concentration of THC found in most marijuana. "Daily use today can have stronger effects on a developing teen brain than it did 10 or 20 years ago," said Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. And in recent years 97 percent of new marijuana users have been 24 years old or younger. Clearly, young people are going to be the primary market for a legal pot industry.



Most of them won't abuse the drug when it's decriminalized, but some will. How many? Well, there's been research on this too. Kleiman and his co-authors write that, right now, about 4.4 million people meet the clinical definitions for either marijuana dependence or marijuana abuse. They also report on the work of epidemiologist James Anthony, who estimates the "capture rate" (the rate of people ending up dependent on a drug after trying it) for marijuana to be around 9 percent, compared with 15 percent for alcohol and 16 percent for cocaine. But when Anthony and his colleagues looked at those who began using marijuana before turning 25, the rate jumped to 15 percent. And an Australian longitudinal study with nearly 2,000 participants found that 20 percent of those who began using marijuana in their teens showed signs of dependence at 24.



And the fact that from 2013 to 2014 -- after marijuana was decriminalized in Colorado -- applications to the University of Colorado-Boulder increased by 33 percent, compared with a 2-percent increase the previous year, suggests that legal weed can have a magnetic pull on young people (even if some of the increase is due, as administrators claim, to the adoption of the Common Application).



Marijuana, according to Kleiman, was involved in 350,000 drug-treatment admissions in 2009, a number that has quintupled since 1992. And the majority of those were teenagers and young adults, with those below 21 accounting for nearly half of the admissions.



So the big challenge, as we go forward into a commercial marijuana market, is how to protect the most vulnerable: adolescents, young people and those of any age who are likely to end up abusing marijuana. And that's the problem with the current, laissez-faire way in which decriminalization is happening: There's a perverse incentive by those marketing marijuana -- already a multibillion-dollar industry -- to get people hooked. As Marijuana Legalization puts it:

The more-than-weekly users account for more than 90 percent of marijuana demand. That has a frightening implication: if we create a licit industry to grow and sell marijuana, the resulting businesses will have a strong profit incentive to create and sustain frequent and abusive consumption patterns, because the heaviest users consume so much of the product. So if we create a licit market, we should expect the industry's product design, pricing, and marketing to be devoted to creating as much addiction as possible.

This could lead, as Kleiman put it, to "a cannabis industry whose commercial interest is precisely opposite to the public interest" the way, over decades, we have had a tobacco industry and an alcohol industry whose commercial interests have been precisely opposite to the public interest.



Kleiman continues:

So from the perspective of cannabis vendors, drug abuse isn't the problem; it's the target demographic. Since we can expect the legal cannabis industry to be financially dependent on dependent consumers, we can also expect that the industry's marketing practices and lobbying agenda will be dedicated to creating and sustaining problem drug use patterns. The trick to legalizing marijuana, then, is to keep at bay the logic of the market -- its tendency to create and exploit people with substance abuse disorders. So far, the state-by-state, initiative-driven process doesn't seem up to that challenge.

So getting rid of horrible drug laws (a good thing) doesn't mean we shouldn't replace them with rules and regulations to minimize a new and different set of harms. The key is to do it now and not wait for a few decades -- and a lot of suffering -- to pass before we fix problems that could have been avoided. For example, take the story of the tobacco industry. In 1960 the Federal Hazardous Substances Labeling Act was enacted, allowing the FDA to regulate hazardous substances, but tobacco wasn't considered a hazardous substance at the time. So it wasn't until the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act of 1965 that warning labels were required. And it wasn't until 1971 that broadcast advertising for tobacco was prohibited. Now there are regulations of all kinds aimed at limiting the tobacco industry's ability to target young people. For instance, tobacco companies can't, with their brand name, sponsor musical or sporting events, nor can they sell T-shirts and hats with cigarette brands on them.



But at least in the case of tobacco, the delay in setting up a framework to minimize harm was partially because it took a while for the science to come in. With marijuana the science is here. It's complex, and there will always be skeptics (as there still are in climate science and even tobacco, until recently) challenging the results, but we need to start including, in both our policy discussions and our reporting, the scientific findings we already have, especially because there are ways to limit the potential downside, including keeping the price of pot high, undercutting the political leverage of the burgeoning marijuana industry, protecting young people from marketing techniques we know they're susceptible to and educating the public about not just the medical benefits of marijuana but the possible negative consequences.



After many years of a horribly destructive and wasteful war on drugs, we are finally poised to bring an end to this shameful chapter in our country's history. But, as we look ahead to the next chapter, it's our collective responsibility to keep the science at the forefront of how we roll out legalization. We can learn a lot from the long history of trying to mitigate the harm of tobacco and alcohol. We don't need to make the same painful mistakes again.



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