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THE QUOTE
“He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would suffice.” — Albert Einstein
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THE BRAIN
A woman I know was thumbing through the Indiana Daily Student yesterday when suddenly she stopped, jerked the paper closed, and shuddered.
“Ugh. Not for me,” she said.
“What is it?” I had to ask, because clearly she wanted me to.
She reopened the paper and showed me a story about the big new public art exhibition that’ll be taking place in our bustling metrop through the fall.
That is, Jill Bolte Taylor‘s brainchild (sorry), “The Brain Extravaganza!” It features 22 five-feet tall fiberglass brains, parked here and there around town. The hunks of gray matter were designed by her and sculptor Joe LaMantia.
Jill Bolte Taylor Loves Brains
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Artists have adopted the brains and gussied them up to their creative hearts’ desire. People will be able to buy the oversized organs, thus raising dough for the Jill Bolte Taylor Brains non-profit org that, in her words, supports “brain awareness, appreciation, exploration, education, injury prevention, neurological recovery, and the value of movement on mental and physical health.”
Phew.
Brain In A Jar
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(Note for our Bloomington readers: The following three paragraphs are written for the benefit of non-Bloomingtonians who aren’t as intimately familiar with JBT’s story as we are.)
Bolte Taylor, of course, is a world-renowned brain on two legs. She was already a respected neuroanatomist when, at the tender age of 37, she woke up one morning and found her thinking and motor processes bizarrely jumbled. Thanks to her brain expertise, she knew she was suffering a stroke.
She eventually had a golfball-sized blood clot removed from her brain. Her language center, among other structures, were profoundly affected. Her recover continues to this day.
She gave a hugely compelling TED talk about her experience, the response to which inspired her to write a book, called “My Stroke of Insight.” It became a New York Times Bestseller and Bolte Taylor went on to be fawned over by Oprah Winfrey. Her story is now the basis for a planned Ron Howard film.
Jill Bolte Taylor’s TED Talk
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Anyway, Bolte Taylor and LaMantia’s fiberglass brains will be dedicated today. Here’s Bolte Taylor describing them: “Big beautiful anatomically correct brains with 12 pairs of cranial nerves and all the gyri and sulci a girl could want on a brain.”
Surely, such visual exactitude is what caused my friend’s stomach to churn yesterday morning. For the less squeamish among us, they’ll be objects of celebration.
Local husband and wife artists Patricia and Jon Hecker have done a brain. See a series of pictures of their work-in-progress on Patricia’s Facebook page.
Brains In The Brawn Room At BHSS
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Get on over to the Bloomington High School South gym for a launch party today, noon to 2:00pm. Bolte Taylor and LaMantia will be there as will all 22 artist-decorated brains. It’s the only chance you’ll have to see them all in one place. The brains will be carted off to their display sites after the party.
I can’t think of a better organ to celebrate in these benighted days than the brain.
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Electron Pencil event listings: Music, art, movies, lectures, parties, receptions, benefits, plays, meetings, fairs, conspiracies, rituals, etc.
Saturday, April 28, 2012
◗ City Hall, Showers Plaza — Farmer’s Market; 8am-1pm
◗ Razors Image Barbershop — Free blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, HIV, BMI screenings & nutrition counseling; 9am-6pm
◗ IU Gladstein Fieldhouse, Indoor Track Facility — Redsteppers dance unit auditions; 10am
◗ Upland Brewing Company — Maifest, “Rock Out with Your Bock Out”; 11a-1a
◗ Trained Eye Arts Center — Women Exposed 7; Noon
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◗ Story Inn, Brown County — Indiana Wine Fair; Noon-7pm
◗ IU Grunwald (SOFA) Gallery — BFA & MFA Thesis 3 Exhibitions; Noon-4pm, through May 5th
◗ Mathers Museum of World Cultures — Exhibit, “Picturing Archeology”; 1-5pm, through July 1st
◗ IU Cinema — Film, Orson Welles’ “Chimes at Midnight”; 3pm
Welles
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◗ AmVets Post 2000 — Benefit dinner & silent auction for Special Olympics Indiana; 5pm
◗ Twin Lakes Recreation Center — Bleeding Heartland Rollergirls vs. Brew City Bruisers; 6pm
◗ Bloomington High School North Auditorium — Bloomington Symphony Orchestra, “Finale Fantastique”; 7:30-10pm
◗ IU Memorial Union, Whittenberger Auditorium — Film, “The Artist”; 8 & 11pm
◗ Buskirk-Chumley Theater — IU Soul Revue; 8pm
◗ IU Auditorium — IU Straight No Chaser; 8pm
◗ The Player’s Pub — Sheila Stephen; 8pm
◗ The Palace Theatre — Cowboy Sweethearts; 8pm
◗ Comedy Attic — Jeremy Essig; 8 & 10:30pm
◗ Max’s Place — Glenn Furr Agency; 9pm — Perfunctory This Band; 11pm
◗ Bear’s Place — Cooked Books, Crys, Kam Kama; 9pm
◗ The Bluebird — The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band; 9pm
◗ The Bishop — Soul in the Hole with the Vallures; 10pm
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