Students in Rachel Bahr’s English 11 class at Bloomington’s Academy of Science and Entrepreneurship share their annual “Sense of Place” project with Limestone Post! While their unique “places” are as varied as a horse stable, a limestone mill, Dunn Meadow, Community Kitchen, and Monroe Lake, their videos teach us what we share as a community. Click here to learn about the project and watch their videos!
What happens when local news coverage disappears? Limestone Post asked journalist Steve Hinnefeld to look at the daily news landscape in Bloomington. He interviewed people at several local news outlets and filed this report. The landscape has changed recently in subtle and dramatic ways — some for the better, some not so much. Click here to read about who’s reporting B-town’s daily news.
In this inaugural edition of The Limestone Reader Book Review, Yaël Ksander looks at Ian Woollen’s fifth novel, Sister City, which she calls a “wickedly whimsical satire” that connects fictional “sister cities” in Indiana and Mexico. Yaël says Woollen, who lives in Bloomington, writes in the tradition of John Irving and Kurt Vonnegut. Click here to read the inaugural Limestone Reader Book Review.
The pandemic has affected writers and literary arts organizations in unique ways in the past 19 months, says writer Hiromi Yoshida. Several writers and organization leaders told Yoshida how they continue to work through the changes — and take their writing and organizations in new directions. The results, she writes, are inspirational and uplifting. Click here to read their stories.
The Writers Guild Spoken Word Series on November 3 features Ryser Scholarship winners Hanh Tam Bui and Juliana Crespo, plus Ryser Scholarship founder Shayne Laughter and singer-songwriter Sarah Cassidy — all from Bloomington. The Ryser Scholarship is named after Joan Ryser, who taught literature and creative writing for 44 years at Bloomington High School South. Click here to read the article by Hiromi Yoshida.
The drug naloxone can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose, potentially saving a person’s life. In collaboration with IU and other groups, Monroe and several other Indiana counties are creating a network of “citizen responders” who are trained in the Opioid Rapid Response System to administer naloxone when emergency medical services cannot respond quickly enough. Click here to read about ORRS and naloxone.
Before volunteering for a local environmental group, Sean Chung was unaware of the problems invasive plants were causing here in Monroe County and “every single community in the U.S.” For this article, he interviewed people working to “contain the invasion” and prevent the kind of “ecological collapse” that invasives can cause. Click here to read the article.
Held on the first Friday of each month, Gallery Walk is an iconic, one-of-a-kind event in Bloomington — a chance for friends and family to meet downtown, take in some of the area’s best art, and enjoy one of the most vibrant cultural hubs in the Midwest. Talking with the artists in any of the 12 galleries, no one walks away from Gallery Walk without exploring what’s fresh and new in the local art scene. Click here to read about all the galleries in Gallery Walk.
For more than two decades, the opioid epidemic has raged on in small rural towns and in the suburbs. But what happens when the opioid epidemic collides with the COVID pandemic? Rebecca Hill writes about these “waves” of crises in Bloomington and other southern Indiana communities, and how people are weathering it. Click here to read the story.
Angel Mounds, outside of Evansville, was a bustling trading hub for Native American people prior to European colonization. Historian Laura Martinez writes about the recent repatriation of the remains of 700 individuals that were excavated from the site in the 1900s — and how, even at sacred places like Angel Mounds, the spiritual practices of Native Americans are still violated. Click here to read about Angel Mounds.
During National Hispanic American Heritage Month, the Writers Guild at Bloomington will celebrate the unique contributions of Hispanic Americans with a virtual edition of its First Wednesdays Spoken Word Series. The October 6 livestream will feature three women writers: Shana Ritter, Zilia C. Balkansky-Sellés, and Rosebud Ben-Oni. Click here to read more about them and how to attend the performance.
All of us need a fun break, especially after 14 months of unprecedented isolation, and what’s a better getaway than a good road trip? Writer Diane Walker takes us to waterfalls, small towns, and several fun, affordable, and unusual sites on these “road trips of distinction” — all within a two-hour drive of Bloomington. Click here to join the ride!
In 1803, James Audubon tracked birds by tying thread around their legs. Researchers around the world now use technology such as satellite telemetry to understand how migration affects these “sentinels” of our ecosystem. With a reported 30 percent of bird species lost since the 1970s, writes Rebecca Hill, the information gathered is more important than ever. Click here to read the article.
How can the culture, heritage, and history of Bloomington and Monroe County possibly be portrayed in all its diversity and richness? Through paintings, illustrations, photography, poetry, and in-depth stories. Limestone Post’s A Sense of Place includes the work of dozens of local writers, photographers, painters, poets, and other artists. Click here to get a glimpse inside.
For Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in May, the Writers Guild at Bloomington is featuring four Asian American performers for the virtual edition of its First Wednesdays Spoken Word Series on May 5. Writer Hiromi Yoshida wrote a preview of the event for LP. “To be Asian, however American, is dangerous in this volatile post-Trump era,” Hiromi writes. Click here for Hiromi’s article.
Bachelor Nation is the love–hate cultural bubble comprising the fans, podcasts, blogs, and adjacent programming of reality shows The Bachelor and The Bachelorette. This spring, real-life drama involving racism, sexism, inclusivity, and diversity have taken center stage. Jennifer Piurek explains it all in this article for her LP column Love to See It. Click here to read Jennifer’s column.