A Saints Victory is a Win for One Indy Company

According to the Indianapolis Business Journal, the Saints’ victory in yesterday's Super Bowl will do a lot more for the bottom line of the sports licensed division of Adidas Group than a Colts win would have.

Pre-game orders for Saints apparel, in the event that they won the game, were quadruple those for the Colts, according to Joe Cripe, vice president of operations for the sports licensed division, which is based in Indianapolis. According to the IBJ, Cripe expects to be producing Saints gear nonstop at least until Friday, with rotating 12-hour shifts at the Indianapolis plant.

Valentine's Day at the Ballet

Well, it's on the two days BEFORE Valentine's Day, but Friday or Saturday are better for a night on the town than Sunday anyway. The Indiana Ballet Company presents "From Shakespeare with Love" at 7:30 p.m. Friday (12 February) and at 2 and again at 7:30 p.m. Saturday (13 February) in the auditorium at the Athenaeum, 401 East Michigan Street, Indianapolis.

This original creation by the Indiana Ballet Company's Artistic Director, Alyona Yakovleva, reaches through history to weave together a timeless connection and expression of love through the universal language of dance. It includes diverse choreographic styles, periods and musical selections along with readings from Shakespeare.

For ticket and show information, go online or call 317:228-1917.

Two Authors Head to University of Indianapolis

The Kellogg Writers Series at the University of Indianapolis welcome two authors to campus this month. Organized by the university’s English department, the series will feature young-adult novelist John Green (pictured, left) on 8 February and fiction writer Doug Crandell (pictured, right) on 10 February. Each appearance begins at 7:30 p.m. in Good Hall on the UIndy campus, 1400 East Hanna Avenue, Indianapolis, and admission is free.

Green’s first novel, Looking for Alaska (2005), won the Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in Young Adult literature, was a finalist for the L.A. Times Book Prize and has been translated into 13 languages. His second novel, An Abundance of Katherines (2006), was a Michael L. Printz Honor Book and also a finalist for the L.A. Times Book Prize. His latest novel, Paper Town (2008), was on the New York Times bestseller list for children's books and, in 2009, won the Edgar Award for best young adult novel.

Crandell has authored five books including The Flawless Skin of Ugly People. His short stories and essays have been anthologized in Mother Knows: 24 Tales of Motherhood; Stories From the Blue Moon Café: An Anthology of Southern Writers, and When I Was a Loser: True Stories of Barely Surviving High School. His new novel, The Peculiar Boars of Malloy, will be published this spring.

For more information, contact Elizabeth Weber, 317:788-3373.

Morris-Butler House Tours Resume

The Morris-Butler House, an 1865 Victorian landmark at 1204 North Park Avenue, Indianapolis, offers tours focused on architecture, decorative arts and family life in the Victorian era. From the dramatic formal parlor to the private living quarters for family and servants, you'll learn how an upper-middle-class family and their staff lived in the second half of the nineteenth century.

Rare furnishings, including an ingenious Wooton desk, fill rooms adorned with stenciled ceilings and elaborate wallpaper and plasterwork. In addition to its large permanent display of nineteenth-century art, the Morris-Butler House collection contains sculptures, paintings and lithographs from all over the world.

The home is owned and operated by Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana. Open February through mid-December (closed January and holidays). Tours ($5) begin promptly on the hour.

The Morris-Butler House, a brick Second-Empire residence in the Old Northside neighborhood, takes its name from the two families who once lived there. In 1864, John Morris, the son of an Indianapolis settler, commissioned the construction of this house on land he bought from Ovid Butler, the founder of Butler University.

Morris was one of the first downtown residents to move to the new suburb north of downtown, but he was certainly not the last. What we now call the Old Northside quickly became the most fashionable place to live in Indianapolis. The Morris family occupied the house from 1865 to 1878, when they moved to Woodruff Place.

Noble Butler, a renowned bankruptcy lawyer, moved into the house three years later with his wife and seven young children. Members of the Butler family occupied the house until Florence Butler, Noble’s youngest daughter, died January 7, 1957.

Science Education in the Modern World; Why and How

Dr. Carl Weiman (pictured), the 2001 Nobel Prize Laureate in Physics, will speak at Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis on 11 March as part of the Center for Teaching and Learning's Winter Lecture series. This lecture series honors nationally recognized scholars who have made a contribution to their discipline as well as teaching and learning within their discipline.

Dr. Wieman will talk of how, guided by experimental tests of theory and practice, science has advanced rapidly in the past 500 years. Guided primarily by tradition and dogma, science education meanwhile has remained largely medieval. Research on how people learn is now revealing how many teachers badly misinterpret what students are thinking and learning in traditional science classes and from exams. However, research is also providing insights on how to do much better. The combination of this research with modern information technology is setting the stage for a new approach that can provide the relevant and effective science education for all students is needed for the 21st century. Wieman will discuss the needs of science education in the modern world for all citizens, and describe what research is telling us about how the brain learns, the failures of traditional teaching practices to meet today's educational needs, and teaching practices that have been shown to be much more effective.

This event is free and open to the public, but registration is possible. The event on 11 March in CE 450, Campus Center, IUPUI, will begin with a reception from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. followed by the lecture from 5:30 to 7 p.m.

Music for All National Festival to be in Indy

The Music for All National Festival will be held in Indianapolis 4-6 March. It includes the Bands of America National Concert Band Festival, National Percussion Festival and the Middle School National Music Festival. The Festival also features concerts by the Honor Band of America, the Honor Orchestra of America and the Jazz Band of America.

Concert venues include Hilbert Circle Theatre (Honor Orchestra of America), Clowes Memorial Hall (National Concert Band Festival and Honor Band of America) and The Warren Performing Arts Center (Sandy Feldstein National Percussion Festival and Middle School National Music Festival).

For more information, go online.

Art Park Opens in June at IMA

The Indianapolis Museum of Art is set to open one of the largest museum art parks in the country, reports Inside INdiana Business. A grand opening for 100 Acres: The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park will be held 20 June. The park, located on land adjacent to the museum, will feature eight inaugural work by international artists, followed by the ongoing commission of temporary, site-responsive artworks. To date, IMA has raised $23.6 million toward the Park’s campaign goal of $25 million.