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Show DAILY UTAH CHRONICLE 10 Wednesday, March 16, 2011 Forum to discuss disability and music Jared Price STAFF WRITER The School of Music and the disabilities studies program will hold a forum this week examining the complex relationships between music and disability in our society. The forum is titled "Understanding Disability Through Music" and will host three distinguished contributors who excel in the fields of both music and disability studies. The event will feature Joseph Straus, professor of music at the City University of New York Graduate Center; Stefan Honisch, acclaimed pianist from the University of British Columbia; and Alex Lubet, professor of music at the University of Minnesota. The forum will offer a wide variety of events such as panel discussions, lectures and musical performances to shed light on the relationship between disabilities and music. "The history of disability and the history of music are more intertwined than people realize," said Bruce Quaglia, professor of music and a member of the advisory and programming committees for the disability studies program. Quaglia has long been studying the correlation between disability and music and is teaching a special topics class on the subject. Disabilities are important to study because they can affect us personally at any point in our lives, Quaglia said. He explained that this is a significant reason for the anxiety surrounding open conversation of disabilities. "Any of us who live long enough are going to have experiences of disability," Quaglia said. Quaglia explained that music is a common thread throughout humanity, and that viewing dis- ability through the familiar lens of music makes people more willing to be open about their attitudes and look past the cultural stigma attached to the subject. "Disability is really a ubiquitous part of the human condition, but it's one that we're just not generally comfortable thinking about," Quaglia said. Thinking about music and disability in relation to one another not only helps us broaden our understanding of disability, but also helps to clarify the understanding of our relationships to music and to the people who make it, Quaglia said. In our society, musicality is perceived as an exceptional talent, Quaglia said. When viewed next to the historically negative connotations attached to disability, interesting juxtapositions are formed that give us insight into our societal attitudes toward what we construct as ability. Examining these social constructions is one of the aims of the disability studies program, Quaglia said. To illustrate this point, he used the example of someone in a wheelchair. "To be in a wheelchair is not the disability—the disability is the social barriers that may or may not exist that prevent that person from participating in things like employment, education, independent living, and so forth," Quaglia said. These social barriers are what the disability studies program is seeking to break down by holding such forums. Cathy Chambless, coordinator of the disabilities studies program, said that these social constructs are detrimental to society and inhibit the ability of disabled people to contribute their talents. "There's so much discrimination, and our society loses the contribution of so many people because we marginalize them based on their appearance or a deviation from the norm," Chambless said. "It really helps us to see how our society in some ways is dysfunctional and could really learn a lot by being more accepting and inclusive." Chambless said she hopes that those in attendance will take something from the forum and become "agents of change" to shift society's views away from the mentality of segregation. "Unless the 8o percent of people that don't have disabilities get it, and understand how we can make our society more accessible, we're always going to have this segregation." Chambless said. The forum starts today and will culminate with a musical performance by composer David Snedegar at 3:3o p.m. Friday. j.price@chronicle.utah.edu OATMEAL continued from Page 4 cocaine and a full-sized poster about the torments of printers. Although the book can easily be mistaken for a children's picture book because of its bright and colorful animations, it hosts myriad vulgarities that would likely get any other style of comedian in trouble. They are used to hilarious effect in the vein of Happy Tree Friends cartoons, showing happy and simplistic characters letting out creative strings of swear words and exhibiting violence and adult situations. The book is a hilarious collection for those who can't get enough of the free content on its source website. The Oatmeal has established itself as one of the best online comics around, showing no signs of fading anytime soon, and can now be praised as one of the most entertaining books of the year. d.richey@ chronicle.utah.edu PHOTOS BY MAOMI BLACKBURN/The Daily Utah Chronicle The bulk section at the new Whole Foods location offers choices to customers. WHOLE FOODS continued from Page 4 an overwhelming number of options— cheese from California and Utah, and European countries such as France and Spain. What makes all these departments brilliant is that each is run by an expert who can answer questions about the products and offer cooking advice. This is invaluable to college students who would like to try their hand at cooking but don't have a clue how. For those not motivated to cook, they also offer plenty of pre-cooked options. For picky shoppers, the fish and meat have a grading system, describing the practices or standards of how the fish or meats were harvested. After getting past all these excellent departments, we get to what I'd like to describe as the food court. It has an Asian food section that includes sushi, and an East Asian market customized bowls are availible. There is also a sandwich building station, a burrito station and a pizzeria. All the cooks there are professional and passionate about what they do. They also are enthusiastic about using good ingredients, which results in high-quality food that rivals restaurants. Lastly, there is the coffee station and gelato-serving area. In between these sections lie aisles and aisles of various products. On Tuesdays, the beauty product section offers a 15 percent discount on all supplements and body care products. What is clear in all of this is that the Whole Foods Market at Trolley Square is no ordinary supermarket. Whole Foods offers products that can cater to practically any diet and lifestyle. There will be those that argue against some of the prices—rightfully so at times— that might make it difficult to make this a daily practice for students, but there are offerings for everyone that can be afforded in moderation. It truly is a food paradise. m.allam@chronicle.utah.edu .dailyutahchronicle.co Sign up now SAVE A LIFE Blood-plasma donations provide: Tiailypeal ► • Therapeutic treatments to countless number of children and adults • Critical care for burns, shock and other life threatening conditions • Innovative lafe-saving products and services since 1940 • Biomat USA, Inc. 0,0t GRIFOLS * ".■ 00, Earn up to $200 SLC 1: 606 West North Temple I 801-531-1279 per month! 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