Contributors
Nikki Livingston is a storyteller at Indiana University, who works with partners in various fields across the university to advance IU’s reputation through storytelling. Some of the topics she has covered include arts and humanities, science and technology, global issues, law, policy, and education.
Laurie D. Borman is a central Indiana writer and editor. A former travel magazine editor and past president of the Society of American Travel Writers, she also taught magazine reporting at Indiana University. She grew up in northern Indiana and moved from Chicago back to Indiana for the hills, hiking, and culture.
Carol Johnson is the editor of
Southern Indiana Business Report (
SIBR), an online magazine with in-depth coverage of business and economic development activities within the Radius region of southern Indiana, which comprises Crawford, Daviess, Dubois, Greene, Lawrence, Martin, Orange, and Washington counties.
SIBR is based in Lawrence County and be found at
SouthernIndianaBusinessReport.com.
Steve Hinnefeld identifies as a journalist, even though he left the daily news grind years ago. He has been a reporter at
The Herald-Times, a media relations specialist at Indiana University, and a journalism instructor in the IU Media School. He writes about education at
inschoolmatters.wordpress.com. He and his wife, Theresa Malone, live in a 125-year-old house in Bloomington. He enjoys reading, hiking, birding, and spending time with his four grandkids. Allegedly retired, he finds himself as busy as ever.
Hiromi Yoshida is a freelance writer and editor, who has also contributed to Bloom Magazine, The Ryder, The Bloomingtonian, and Video Librarian. She serves as a poetry reader for Flying Island Journal, and as a literary arts representative for the Arts Alliance of Greater Bloomington, while teaching for the Indiana Writers Center, and coordinating the Last Sunday Poetry reading series for the Writers Guild at Bloomington. Her poems have been included in the INverse Poetry Archive, and nominated for a Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and other awards. She is the author of Joyce & Jung and five poetry chapbooks.
Rebecca Hill is a freelance writer who writes on science and technology, education, health, and science ed issues. She has been published in numerous national and online publications, including OZY magazine, Purdue University’s Envision magazine, Robotic Business Review, and other publications. She is a graduate of Purdue University and holds a J.D. from Valparaiso University School of Law and a master’s in Library and Information Sciences from IUPUI. She is currently a member of the Purdue University Dean’s Council for Libraries, the League of Women Voters Bloomington Monroe County, the Limestone Media Board, the Association of Health Care Journalists, and the National Association of Science Writers.
Benedict Jones is a photographer based in Bloomington, Indiana. He works to provide others a unique perspective by the virtue of having to use a wheelchair each day. He enjoys capturing live events & music for South by Southwest, sports, travel, and journalistic moments on both digital and film. Follow his work on Instagram
@bennynovaphoto .
Haley Miller is a senior at Indiana University studying journalism and international studies. She works as a team leader at the Arnolt Center for Investigative Journalism, a nonprofit investigative newsroom at Indiana University. She has contributed to Current, a weekly newspaper serving Greater Indianapolis, and the Indiana Daily Student. In her spare time, Haley enjoys sitting down with a book and a coffee at Morgenstern’s Bookstore.
Brookelyn Lambright is a junior at Indiana University, studying journalism and American studies. Her work has been published with WFHB and the Arnolt Center for Investigative Journalism. She is the creator and host of History Unbound, a monthly radio program with WFHB that explores the history and culture of the United States. In her free time, Brookelyn can be found with her dog Hazel at Lake Monroe.
Karl Templeton is a junior at Indiana University, studying journalism. Originally from Central Indiana, Templeton has contributed to media outlets such as the Arnolt Center for Investigative Journalism, WFIU, WIUX, and WFHB. Outside of reporting, Karl enjoys a good cup of coffee, live music, and skipping rocks at the creek.
Brenna Polovina is an Indiana University junior studying journalism with a news reporting and editing concentration. She has lived all over Northwest Indiana, graduated from Lake Central High School, and currently pursues reporting through court and crime coverage in Indiana’s Lake and Monroe counties. At IU, Brenna works as a reporter at the Arnolt Center for Investigative Journalism and the Indiana Daily Student.
The nonprofit, nonpartisan Michael I. Arnolt Center for Investigative Journalism at Indiana University conducts multimedia investigative reporting on issues of importance to the residents of Indiana, including matters that reach beyond the state’s borders. The Center is “fully free and independent with respect to journalistic and editorial decisions. Journalistic decisions, based on the principles of Freedom of the Press, shall rest with the director of the Center.” Kathleen M. Johnston is the director of the Center, which is based at the IU Media School.
Christina Avery is a journalist and fourth-year student at Indiana University–Bloomington. She is an enterprise and news reporter at the Indiana Daily Student, where she writes stories about social issues, government, and Bloomington culture. She is also a writing intern at IU Corps and an investigative intern at the Arnolt Center for Investigative Journalism. She previously reported for the News and Tribune and freelanced for Chalkbeat Indiana and the Herald-Times.
Anne Kibbler retired in 2022 as director of communications and media relations in IU’s Media School after more than 30 years in news and communications, including 10 years as a reporter at The Herald-Times and five years as editor of Indiana Environmental Reporter. She is the part-time assistant editor of Limestone Post.
Megan Snook was born on the plains of southwestern Kansas. She received her first camera on her fifth birthday, and has been making photographs ever since. Raised in a military family, she traveled extensively during her youth. Having lived all over America and Africa, Megan became inspired to document the complexities of the human experience at an early age. As a result, she began her documentary photography career at the age of seventeen. Megan studied journalism and anthropology at Indiana University. She currently operates wet plate collodion photography studios in both Bloomington, Indiana, and Evergreen, Colorado.
Michael G. Glab has been an independent writer since 1983 when he wrote his first article for the
Chicago Reader about professional wrestlers. His in-depth personality profiles became a staple in the
Reader over the next two decades. Today, he hosts a WFHB radio interview feature called
“Big Talk” and is the brain behind the blog,
The Electron Pencil.
WFIU’s David Brent Johnson has described Big Mike as “a hip town crier” who writes “in a colorful, intelligent working class vernacular.”
As part of Monroe County Community School Corporation’s
Academy of Science and Entrepreneurship — a New Technology High School — the English 11 class explores and studies literature and composition using multiple pathways as a way to enrich their knowledge and apply their learning in a variety of situations.
Olivia Bianco is a photographer and multimedia journalist. She is a recent graduate of Indiana University from the Media School where she earned her degree in journalism with a concentration in broadcast journalism. You can currently catch her on air on B97 (WBWB–96.7FM) during weeknights from 7 p.m. to midnight. In her free time, Olivia likes to watch movies and wakeboard.
Lynae co-founded Limestone Post in the summer of 2015 and served for years as Editorial Director, working with all contributors and managing the editorial content for the site. A Bloomington native, Lynae graduated from Indiana University’s School of Journalism in 2012. She started her editing career at Bloom Magazine as a high school intern and, over the course of almost eight years, advanced to the position of Associate Editor. Lynae currently lives in Athens, Georgia, with her wife and daughter and works for Global Online Academy, a nonprofit organization that reimagines learning to empower students and educators to thrive in a globally networked society.
Joselyn (Josie) Leimbach is a Senior Lecturer with the Institute for Women’s Studies at the University of Georgia Athens (UGA). She was instrumental in establishing the LGBTQ certificate at UGA, receiving the 2021 Founder’s Award for service to the LGBT Community at UGA from UGA’s LGBT Resource Center. She earned her Ph.D. in Gender Studies from Indiana University in 2014. Josie is published in numerous anthologies. She currently lives with her wife and daughter in Athens, Georgia.
Dason Anderson is a writer from southern Indiana. He's a big fan of Lord of the Rings and the Sunday comics section. “Life’s a garden. Dig it.”
Steven Higgs is a Bloomington-based journalist, photographer, and author. His resume includes stints as Herald-Times staff writer, Bloomington Independent columnist, and Bloomington Alternative editor and publisher. He has written three books for IU Press: Eternal Vigilance: Nine Tales of Environmental Heroism in Indiana (1996); A Guide to Natural Areas of Southern Indiana (2016); and A Guide to Natural Areas of Northern Indiana (2019). He also taught journalism at IU–Bloomington for 27 years. | Photo by Jaime Sweany
Erin Hollinden is a freelance writer, gardener, world traveler, musician, food banker, fundraiser, poet, concerned citizen, and lover of limestone country. She lives in the Hoosier National Forest in southern Monroe County. Her writing has appeared in
NUVO,
The Ryder,
Bloom Magazine,
Songlines, and several Indiana newspapers. Contributor photo by Odette Scott
Mark Stosberg is a software engineer and spatial analyst. He grew up on a wooded farm in Kentucky but didn't appreciate the value of open spaces until he left home. Now, long runs provide a grounding counterbalance to his screen time. He writes about mapping, technology, and plant-powered adventures at
mark.stosberg.com.
Anna Powell Denton is a photographer and filmmaker in Bloomington, Indiana. Her work spans the genres of portraiture, lifestyle, and music with an emphasis on color and detail. She enjoys collaborating, problem solving, and creating cohesive sets of stills and motion to tell a story.
Laura Lasuertmer is a writer, a mother, and a co-founder of Common Home Farm, an interfaith farming community located 10 miles north of Bloomington on land that was the hunting grounds of the Miami and Shawnee people. Off the farm, she facilitates creative writing circles for people of all genders with Women Writing for (a) Change. Find out more by visiting
commonhomefarm.org or emailing
[email protected].
Krista Detor is an award-winning musician, composer, and writer. She has been recognized by the Indiana Legislature for Contributions to the Arts, as well as featured on the award-winning Wilderness Plots for PBS National. Her work as a musician and writer has taken her across the globe. During the 2020 pandemic, she collaborated at her artist retreat with NYU graduates to stage the only live traditional theatre experience anywhere in the country, for which she was featured in Forbes magazine. The artist retreat, The Hundredth Hill, is her response to a world in need of imaginative solutions to deep social and environmental crises. She and her husband, Technical Director David Weber, work to foster the artistic visions of cross-genre and generational artists by providing them space and resources so they might creatively facilitate human ingenuity, understanding, and sustainability.
Christine Brackenhoff is a public health nurse specializing in reproductive care. She is also the music director at WFHB Community Radio, where she primarily focuses on music curation, promotion, and live performances. In a past role as a music publicist, she wrote press releases and conducted outreach regarding new music and live events. In addition to healthcare and music, Christine is also keenly interested in our local comedy scene. | Photo by Anna Powell Denton
Beth Edwards (1978-2023) was a writer and producer for the
Indiana Environmental Reporter from its founding in 2018 until its closure in 2023. Edwards’s work won more than a dozen state and national awards, including first place for environmental reporting in contests for the Indiana Pro Chapter, Society for Professional Journalists; the Woman’s Press Club of Indiana; and the National Federation of Press Women. Her documentary about coal ash, “In the Water,” was screened at the Indy Film Fest, at the Lulea International Film Festival in Sweden, and on WFYI public television.
IER was an independent reporting organization supported by The Media School at Indiana University and IU’s Environmental Resilience Institute.
IER stories will be available on the
IER website until April 2024, and thereafter in the
Media School Archive.
Ellen Wu, Ph.D., is associate professor of history and director of the Asian American Studies program at Indiana University–Bloomington. Her research, teaching, and writing interests focus on race, immigration, and U.S.–Asia/Pacific relations. Since 2015, she has served on the Indiana Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Indianapolis is her hometown.
After public schooling in California, Jim received an A.B. at the University of California-Berkeley. Following army service, he earned a Ph.D. at the University of Michigan and joined the Indiana University psychology department. For decades Jim earned his living as an experimental psychologist, using inferential statistics to help decide whether there was any significant difference between the behavior of the experimental group and that of the control group. Examples include
Behavioral Economics, by James Allison (Praeger, 1983), and “Response-Disequilibrium Therapy: Clinical Case Studies,” by Richard M. McFall, James Allison, Richard J. Viken, and William Timberlake (Clinical Psychological Science, 2019). With his wife, Tomi, he co-wrote
The Accidental Mayor, which describes her experience as Bloomington mayor from 1983 to 1995. Jim retired from IU as Professor Emeritus in 1992.
Eastina Marian Boimadi Taylor, from Freetown, Sierra Leone, has more than nine years’ experience working in mainstream media and media development. At
BBC Media Action-Sierra Leone, Eastina produces and presents radio programs on youth issues and reducing the malaria rate in Sierra Leone. She is also the founder and coordinator of the
Shaping Young Minds Initiative Academy, which focuses on changing the mindset of youth and positioning them to pursue leadership positions. Since completing the Mandela Washington Fellowship at Indiana University in July 2018, Eastina has returned to Sierra Leone to put what she learned into practice.
Jeremy Hogan is an award-winning photographer based in Bloomington, Indiana. Born and raised in California, he began freelancing for newspapers while still in high school. He is a 1997 graduate of the photojournalism program at San Jose State University and has a bachelor’s degree in journalism. He worked for The Herald-Times newspaper in Bloomington until January 2019. His freelance work is represented by Polaris Images for still photography, and he’s a contributing filmmaker to Getty Images. Among many other projects, Jeremy is currently making a documentary film about Vietnam veterans from his father’s combat unit during the war.
Elijah Pouges is a writer, musician, and journalism student at Indiana University. Elijah’s interests include the interactions of sound and film on perception; media theory; and hip-hop and material culture. If Elijah’s not hunched over a computer incessantly writing, you can find him hunched over a computer working on beats.
Sarah Stonbely, Ph.D., is the director at the State of Local News Project at Northwestern University. Sarah received her doctorate in political communication, media sociology, and journalism studies from New York University in 2015. Recent prior positions include research director at the Center for Cooperative Media and research associate on the News Measures Research Project, as well as postdoc at George Washington University in the School of Media + Public Affairs. Sarah’s expertise is in journalism culture and practice, local news ecosystems, media policy, and research methodology.
Garrett is a portrait and documentary photographer based in Bloomington, originally from rural northeastern Indiana. Her personal work focuses on LGBTQ+ people and life in the midwest; she uses both film and digital mediums to document light and scene. Professionally, she specializes in portraiture, event, and wedding photography. Garrett is available for commissions and bookings in the Midwest and beyond.
Jim Krause is a video producer, photographer, writer, and Senior Lecturer in the Media School at Indiana University. He has produced TV shows and documentaries and is a musician and composer, with two CDs of guitar compositions, Madeleine Bay and Crossing the Inland Sea. He loves adventuring and traveling through the wilderness by foot, kayak, and sailboat.
Diane is a lawyer and heads a legal aid organization in Bloomington called
District 10 Pro Bono Project. She has a B.A. in Journalism from Indiana University, and a minor in Business. Diane grew up on a dairy farm in central Indiana and can still identify several different kinds of cows.
Professor of History, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | Rosalyn is an award-winning Indigenous writer, environmental historian, and ethnobotanist. She is the author of Invisible Reality: Storytellers, Storytakers and the Supernatural World of the Blackfeet. She is an enrolled member of the Blackfeet Tribe and Métis.
Keri Jean Miksza was born and raised in New Jersey and is also a “Bloomerang-er.” She spent two decades as a shepherd on university-level marketing textbooks, working closely with authors from start to finish. She now does the same with beautiful homes, working for Susan Yeley Homes in Bloomington. She has two amazing kids and an equally amazing spouse. In her spare time she is an advocate for public education with the Indiana Coalition for Public Education–Monroe County. She firmly believes that public education is a cornerstone of democracy, and that the care and education of all of our community’s children is an investment that produces amazing results.
Francis Shok Mweze is a Congolese graphic designer and photographer. He is the founder and creative director of
Sighted Design. He completed a Civic Leadership program for the
Mandela Washington Fellowship at Indiana University Bloomington and fell in love with the city. Living for and with his passion is his advocacy, since he has a degree in finances and banking but he is a visual artist. For more of his work follow
@sightedesign and
@bukavuexplorer.
Shannon Livengood is a lifelong storyteller with a history in magazine reporting and photojournalism. She earned her B.A. in Journalism from Indiana University in 2021 and has since lived and worked in Bloomington, exploring local food, arts, and culture. In her free time, she enjoys practicing the arts and staying active by hiking.
The Indiana Environmental Reporter was an independent, nonprofit, award-winning news outlet created in 2018 to fill gaps in environmental reporting throughout Indiana, as well as to focus on strategies for citizens to prepare for, adapt to, and respond to the impact of environmental change. With sound science as its base, it presented environmental issues in a nonpolitical way and sought to make science and environmental information available to all Hoosiers. It published more than 1,000 articles, covering environmental topics in 88 of Indiana’s 92 counties. The organization ceased operation in June 2023, but all of its articles will be available on the website indianaenvironmentalreporter.org until April 2024.
Dr. Melissa Cyders earned her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Kentucky in 2009 under the mentorship of Dr. Greg Smith. She is currently a Professor of Psychology at IUPUI in the Clinical Psychology graduate program. Her research concerns impulsivity and neurocognitive underpinnings, in particular focusing on alcohol and substance use disorders. She is most well known for her contributions to the UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Model and her work with integrating emotions and impulsive action. She uses a wide range of methods and procedures in her research, from brain imaging, to laboratory-based oral and intravenous alcohol administration, to longitudinal survey designs.
Melissa S. Fry is Director of the Applied Research and Education Center and the Office of Community Engagement and she teaches Sociology at Indiana University Southeast. Before coming to IU Southeast, Melissa worked in sustainable community economic development and policy advocacy in Eastern Kentucky. She engages communities in applied research to support effective organizations and resilient communities. Her research on poverty, early childhood education and care, youth development, homelessness, substance use disorder prevention and response, and regional strengths and needs builds public dialogue and decision-making rooted in current academic research and local data.
Josephine McRobbie is a freelance writer, audio producer, and cultural documentarian born in Australia and now based in Durham, North Carolina. She holds degrees in Journalism, Library Science, and Ethnomusicology from Indiana University. Over the years she has worked at a variety of arts and history-focused organizations, including Traditional Arts Indiana, the Southern Historical Collection, and the IU Libraries Moving Image Archive. She can often be found teaching yoga, enjoying trail runs, and writing and recording music.
Jami Scholl is a native of Bloomington. She can be described as a Bloomerang, having lived on the East Coast twice, the West Coast thrice, and next to a river in Minneapolis. She holds degrees in Visual Communication Design, Creative Writing, and Cultural Anthropology, plus certificates in Permaculture and Screenwriting, and is a certified Health & Wellness coach with a specialization in Lifestyle Medicine. She has taught garden classes, given many presentations about gardening and permaculture, and was active in the early stages of the urban agriculture movement in Bloomington, including being a founding board member of the Bloomington Community Orchard and the Bloomington Food Policy Council. Jami enjoys blending her passions for the environment, health and wellness, gardening and design through her writing, photography, illustrations, and in other creative pursuits.
Emily Williams was born and raised in central Indiana. She received a BA in Art History and a BA in Arts Management from University of North Texas. Emily is currently in Bloomington pursuing a master’s degree in Arts Administration from Indiana University. Find her at the Eskenazi Museum of Art or the McCalla galleries. Emily’s loves in life include her family, friends, puppy, a good book, and a great museum.
Angela Hawkins is a Midwesterner, but her pace of life is like a New Yorker. She credits Indiana University with teaching her the skills needed to create quality stories. She visualizes her stories as though they were on a movie storyboard. Before sitting down to write any story, she finds an interesting element. Once she locates this element, she writes using this as the focal point. She enjoys leaving readers in awe after learning something new about the subject(s). No matter where the subject comes from, she believes discovery of an interesting element in a subject’s life deserves a story.
Laura Martinez is a citizen of the Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas and is a third generation member of the American Indian Movement. Laura moved to Bloomington in 2001 to attend Indiana University and has both a B.A. and an M.A. in history. A lifelong David Bowie fan, Laura plays roller derby under the name Diamond Dog and has identical twin sons. Laura also has a TikTok channel,
diamond_dog74, teaching about Native American history.
Sheila Suess Kennedy is Emerita Professor of Law and Public Policy at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis. Until her retirement in December 2020, she was a Faculty Fellow with both the Center for Religion and American Culture and the Tobias Center for Leadership Excellence, an adjunct professor of political science, and founder of the Center for Civic Literacy at IUPUI. In 1980, she was the Republican candidate for Indiana’s then 11th Congressional District seat. She served as Executive Director of the Indiana Affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union. She is the author of nine books, which can be found on her website,
sheilakennedy.net. She has been a columnist for the
Indianapolis Star, Inequality.org,
The Indiana Word, and the
Indianapolis Business Journal. Professor Kennedy blogs daily at
sheilakennedy.net and is a frequent contributor to other blogs and periodicals. Sheila and her husband Bob have five grown children and four perfect grandchildren.
Scott J. Shackelford is a professor at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business, where he teaches cybersecurity law and policy, sustainability, and international business law. He is Executive Director of the Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research at Indiana University.
Yaël Ksander has worked as a radio producer, speechwriter, and drawing instructor; translated at the Seoul Olympics; and catered both of her own weddings. High points along the way include having met her heroes Todd Rundgren, Leo Steinberg, and Lynda Barry. A Washington, D.C., native, Yaël studied languages, literature, and art history at the University of Virginia (B.A.) and Columbia University (M.A., M.Phil.) before pursuing an M.F.A. in painting in Bloomington, where she ended up raising two magnificent children.
Ruthie Cohen moved from New Jersey to Bloomington in November 2011. Every day she marvels at her good fortune to be living in this gem of a town. When she is not devising recipes in her kitchen and feeding her friends, Ruthie practices and teaches yoga at Ekah and Bloomington Yoga Collective.
Julia Vaughn is the Executive Director of Common Cause Indiana. Common Cause is a nonpartisan, grassroots organization dedicated to upholding the core values of American democracy. The Washington, D.C.-based group was founded in 1970 and works to create open, honest, and accountable government that serves the public interest; promotes equal rights, opportunity, and representation for all; and empowers all people to make their voices heard in the political process.
Marjorie Hershey is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Indiana University. Her research and teaching interests focus on political parties, campaigns, and elections. Her research examines the characteristics of party activists, media coverage of political campaigns, and the commonalities among lobbying, framing, persuasion, and the creation of organizational histories by advocacy groups. She has received 17 teaching awards from such wide-ranging groups as the IU College of Arts and Sciences, the IU Student Alumni Council, and The American Political Science Association. She was also the 2019 Sylvia E. Bowman teaching award winner. Marjorie is extensively involved in community service, including volunteer work with the Hoosier Hills Food Bank and the Foster Closet of Monroe County.
Dam Hee Kim is an Assistant Professor of Communication at the University of Arizona. Her research focuses on the social, political and economic implications of individuals’ engagement with news and entertainment content in the evolving media environment.
Anjana Susarla is the Omura Saxena Professor in Responsible AI in the Department of Accounting and Information Systems at the Eli Broad College of Business at Michigan State University. Her research interests include social media analytics and the economics of artificial intelligence.
Christian Bowden is a multidisciplinary artist & illustrator based in Bloomington, Indiana. He works in digital art, painting, and sculpture. He aspires to make work that is life-affirming and draws inspiration from everything from the everyday ordinary to mindfulness, poetry, philosophy, and pop culture. (www.christianbowden.com)
Debora (Ralf) Shaw is the spokesperson for the League of Women Voters–Bloomington Monroe County and co-chair of the League’s Voter Service Committee. She is a retired IU faculty member; before moving to Bloomington, she worked for the Indiana State Library and the University of Illinois. The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan, grassroots organization that works to protect and expand voting rights and ensure everyone is represented in our democracy.
Amanda Borschel-Dan is
The Times of Israel’s Deputy Editor. She attended Indiana University in the 1990s and was a work-study student and major in the Jewish Studies program, which at the time was led by Professor Alvin Rosenfeld. Amanda lives near Jerusalem.
Kathi is the author of 25 books and more than 600 articles, and writes often on science and policy issues. In addition to her journalism career, Kathi is an alumna of Harvard Law School and has spent 15 years practicing law. She is a member of the Society of Environmental Journalists and the National Association of Science Writers.
Kathryn is an adjunct professor at the University of Canberra, Charles Darwin University, and Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education. She is also an Honorary Principal Fellow at The University of Melbourne. Kathryn has been a research director and a professor of education, specializing in school education policies. She held two senior leadership roles at the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) and was the ACER Team Leader of the Evaluation of the Principal Preparation Program based in Indonesia. In 2017, Kathryn was made an honorary Life Member of the Australian Curriculum Studies Association (ACSA). She is a dementia advocate for Dementia Australia, and in that role serves on the Dementia Australia Research Foundation. She lives in Melbourne, Australia.
Rev. Forrest Gilmore is a Unitarian Universalist minister and the executive director of the
Shalom Community Center, a resource center in Bloomington for people experiencing extreme poverty.
Jennifer Piurek is director of communications and special projects at Indiana University’s Office of the Provost. She earned her master’s degree in journalism from IU in 2000 and then planted roots in Bloomington, where she is happily raising her family, doing yoga, and reading as many books as possible.
Eszi is a longtime writer and has worked at several Bloomington nonprofits. They currently work at Catholic Charities Bloomington, writing grants and providing case management. Eszi earned their bachelor’s degree from Indiana University, and, after a time away, ended up returning here along with their daughter. When not at work, they spend a good deal of time reading and writing poetry, as well as painting. | Photo by Anna Powell Denton
Ian Carstens is a filmmaker/curator from the Mississippi River Valley in eastern Iowa. With a BA in Art Theory and Criticism from Luther College, he is the lead curator/filmmaker for
GlassBreakfast.com, a project he started in 2018. Ian has worked for more than eight years in academic libraries, has held multimedia positions in both higher education and art-house cinemas, has taught integrated art curriculum, and has held a diversity of roles in the nonprofit sector. He currently lives and works in southern Indiana.
M.J. Bower is a Speech Language Pathologist who enjoys empowering people through improved communication skills. Originally from Maine, she settled in Bloomington after living in Connecticut, Colorado, and Illinois. Her pastimes include travel, photography, kitchen chemistry, and exploring the world around her. She and her husband live with their four children in a home that has inspired her love/hate relationship with home remodeling. M.J. is the founder of
The Bloomington Townie and
The Townie Travels, social media accounts where locals share insight into Bloomington and beyond.
Paige Strobel is a Bloomington native who, after studying at Auburn University in Alabama, worked in Chicago as a nurse in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. Chicago and her nursing profession fostered personal growth, development, and a love for the art of storytelling. With this newfound insight and passion, she is returning to her roots in Bloomington to pursue photojournalism. Paige loves to seek new adventures and dreams of living in a flat in Vienna with floor-to-ceiling windows above a patisserie.
Grayson is an Indianapolis native with a penchant for adventure to foreign lands, testing the limits of the human body, and enjoying wonderful moments in the company of good friends. He has an English degree from DePauw University and has worked as a research guinea pig, a cupcake truck driver, an ESL teacher, a Christmas tree salesman, and a writer (among other things). On any given day, he is likely indulging in very positive, life-affirming philosophies, as well as creating his own.
Jared Posey was born and raised in Elwood, Indiana, and graduated from Purdue University. He’s interested in mindfulness, the food movement, conscious parenting, and connecting kids to nature. Jared created and ran an alumni interview series between Elwood High School and the Elwood Call-Leader. He has written for
TAKE ROOT magazine and self-published a book called
Will Work for Food: A Book of Inspiration, Poems, and Edible Action.
Harriet Castrataro grew up loving words. Her mother wrote plays, and her grandmother wrote poems and stories. She has worked at the
Lilly Library, taught English composition by correspondence, and advised hundreds of Indiana University health students. She is now retired, living with her husband James in Bloomington, Indiana. Her current passions are cooking, taking IU classes in food, music and art, and, of course, writing.
After public schooling in California, Tomi received an A.B. at Occidental College, Jim at University of California–Berkeley. Following army service, Jim earned a Ph.D. at the University of Michigan, joined the Indiana University psychology department, wrote
Behavioral Economics (1983), and retired as Professor Emeritus in 1992. Tomi was a probation officer in Fresno and San Bernardino Counties and served five years on Bloomington’s City Council, then as Mayor from 1983-1995. They described her mayoral experience in
The Accidental Mayor (2015). Her honors include the Russell Lloyd Award, Sagamore of the Wabash, Murat Mayor of the Year, National Social Workers Citizen of the Year, Lifetime Achievement (Women's History Month) and President, Indiana Association of Cities and Towns.
Stella H. is an attorney for The Nature Conservancy who lives in Harbert, Michigan, with her husband and two young children. That’s one thing they might say about Stella someday, but for now, she’s an 11-year-old 5th-grader at Childs Elementary in Bloomington. Stella is passionate about art, science, basketball (the Hoosiers), travel, and attacking her little brother with pillows.
Hayley Miller is a marketing rep by day, but an aspiring freelance writer by night. She says, “Writing is the perfect way to get out into the community and explore topics with which I am completely unfamiliar.” Besides writing, her passions include true crime, hiking, advocacy for women, and her dog. She hopes to cover at least a few of those topics in upcoming projects.
Nicole McPheeters is an Indiana University graduate with a degree in journalism and gender, specializing in photojournalism. She recently spent a month abroad to report on the HIV/AIDS crisis in Kampala, Uganda. Nicole’s work in Uganda focused on cross-generational relationships, sex work, transgender living, living positively, and sanitation efforts for young women.
Matt Flaherty holds degrees in civil and environmental engineering (University of Illinois, '07) and law (Indiana University, '10). Following his graduation from IU's Maurer School of Law, he practiced patent law with the Chicago law firm Winston & Strawn LLP. For the last several years, Matt has pursued an entrepreneurial career in the outdoor and trail running industry — as a professional runner, a freelance writer, and a run-coaching small business owner. Last year, he returned to IU's SPEA program to pursue a dual master's degree program in environmental science and public affairs. At SPEA, Matt is studying energy and climate issues. He hopes to synthesize his past engineering and law experience, as well as his passion for the outdoors, in a career in energy and environmental policy. He is currently a junior associate with the non-governmental organization,
International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development, where he is working on sustainable energy and climate change matters within the global trade framework.
Paul Bean is a 2017 graduate of Indiana University, where he studied U.S. history and English. Writing is his passion, and he hopes to one day do it full time. When not writing or working, he reads voraciously and has the not-so-bad habit of buying more books than he’s capable of reading. Paul has traveled all over the United States, visited ten national parks, and driven thousands of miles. Bloomington is his home for now, but he has dreams of moving abroad and jump-starting his writing career.
Patti Danner relocated to Greene County, Indiana, from Seattle, Washington, in 2001, after meeting a gorgeous Hoosier on eBay. They married on Halloween 2004 and reside in Linton with two cats. She has been writing professionally since January 2016 as a staff writer for the
Greene County Daily World. She loves to tackle a good feature and has been known to include as many puns in a story as she thinks she can get away with. Her hobbies include abstract drawing with brightly colored markers, starting home improvement projects she sometimes doesn’t finish, and complaining about the Midwestern weather.
Troy Maynard is a giant viking, foodie, geeky gamer, father of three, and master of none. Between taking frequent pictures of meals and occasional pillaging (alleged), he writes his thoughts on life from his Mead Hall in the rolling hills of southern Indiana. Ransacking passing ships doesn't pay the bills, so he also works in the software industry, where he gets to use his tantrum-management skills on a daily basis. You can read more of his stories and thoughts on parenting at his blog,
VeryVocalViking.com, and in his new book,
How to Raise Viking Children and Other Tales of Woe.
John Mikulenka was 12 years old when cousin Ann Barlow gave him an antiwar poster for Christmas. His father, who worked for the U.S. Army at Fort Benjamin Harrison, immediately kicked Ann out of the house, thereby guaranteeing his son’s enduring fascination with her.
A former scholar in Renaissance literature and drama, Jennifer Pacenza has had an enduring love for all types of theater and performance. After coming from Texas to Bloomington in 2009, she was inspired by the wealth of performance talent, organizations, and venues found here. She has been writing about theater for the Limestone Post since January of 2017. When not immersed in the world of theater and performance, Jennifer works in communications at Indiana University and enjoys reading comic books, painting miniatures, and playing fantasy RPGs with her husband and son.
Ann Georgescu has a passion for making unusual connections. She has spent three decades exploring the world through journalism, commercial art, yoga, and hairdressing. From these endeavors, Ann has learned about truth, creativity, practice, and beauty. She has also found them all to be perfect ways to collect stories. Utilizing the tools from her experiences, Ann has a feel for the unusual angle in everyday events and loves to share her impressions through written and visual storytelling.
Amanda Boyer, a Bloomington transplant (Indiana native), moved here for undergrad in 2010 and made one of the easiest decisions to return after graduate school in 2016. In May of 2018, she decided she wanted nothing more than to continue her work as a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, but on her own terms, and
Wholehearted Nutrition was born. When she’s not helping people with their relationship with food and body, you can probably find her in or near a kitchen, spending time with her husband and corgi, or lost in a good book.
C. D. Culper was born in southern Indiana and loves to spend his time writing bios in third person. After receiving his degree in education from Indiana University in 2008, he joined Americorps. Since then he has been an advocate for nonprofits and community education in Colorado, Tennessee, and now in his home state. He is passionate about making a lasting connection with readers, and he believes every person has an opportunity to grow and thrive as they discover their passions through the never-ending, formative years of our lives.
Amelia Brown graduated from Indiana University in 2012 with a bachelor's degree in apparel merchandising and minors in business and creative writing. Her writing has been featured on
Introvert, Dear numerous times for her articles focusing on being introverted and, more specifically, being an INFJ personality type. If she isn't at home hanging out with her beloved cat, Meg, then you can usually spot her at a coffee shop with a book in her hand.
Michelle Gottschlich is a poet, freelance writer, and a first year MFA candidate in creative writing at the University of Virginia. She earned a BA in English from Indiana University. Her debut book Void Sets (2015) and chapbook How to Keep Full in February (2016) were published under Monster House Press (Bloomington). Michelle lived and worked in Bloomington for nine years, until August of 2018.
Samuel Welsch Sveen is a Bloomington transplant via New York, born and raised in South Dakota. With a B.A. in English from Cornell University, Sveen oversaw an NYC art-news website as editor-in-chief and has written for several publications. He first connected with the culture and community of Bloomington through Uel Zing Coffee, his former venture. Sveen now spends his time freelance writing, riding motorcycles, and being a dad. His family lives happily near the park with a fresh daughter, dog Hildegaard, and a collection of yellow vintage mopeds.
Rob Stone is a grandfather, gardener, and doctor. He lives in the woods north of Bloomington with his wife, Karen Green Stone. Born and raised in Evansville, Indiana, he graduated from Dartmouth College and the University of Colorado Medical School. He has long been a passionate advocate for universal health care and is the director of Hoosiers for a Commonsense Health Plan and on the Board of Advisors for
Physicians for a National Health Program. He used to do his doctoring in the ER in Bloomington but since 2011 has practiced hospice and palliative care.
Alexandria Hollett is a doctoral candidate at Indiana University within the departments of
Curriculum and Instruction and
Gender Studies. Formerly a public school teacher and union delegate in Chicago, Alexandria is a Faculty Fellow at IU and a recipient of the Alan Wardell Award for Queer Advocacy in Education. As a community organizer, she has helped plan and implement a diverse array of justice initiatives, workshops, and events on a variety of topics. In 2016, she helped create Inaugurate the Revolution, a day of community action, solidarity, and resistance to the then-incoming federal administration. In addition to her studies and activisms, she is also a spoken word poet and drag performer at
The Back Door.
Sean M. Starowitz is an artist/community member whose work focuses on issues and challenges within our built environment. He is a 2010 graduate of the Interdisciplinary Arts program at the Kansas City Art Institute. From 2010 to 2015, he was the
artist-in-residence at the Farm To Market Bread Company in Kansas City, Missouri. Sean currently lives and works in southern Indiana as the assistant director of the arts for the City of Bloomington and teaches at Indiana University. When he’s not in the studio, teaching, or in City Hall, he enjoys reading, running, and cycling.
Jennifer Richler is a native Canadian who moved to Bloomington in 2008. She received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology but decided a few years ago to leave academia behind to become a freelance writer. She writes about a wide range of topics, from child development to disabilities to Israeli society. Check out her writing on
her website and follow her on Twitter
@jrichler.
Rachel Glago is a Bloomington transplant originally from Sonoma, California. She’s a graduate of the University of California, Santa Barbara where she earned degrees in theater and communication, and the IU Kelley School of Business where she earned her MBA and MS in Marketing. She’s spent several years working for arts organizations in various creative industries, ranging from visual arts to music and performance art to creative and editorial writing. Currently, she is the Projects Coordinator at
Secretly Group and Executive Director at
MidWay Music Speaks.
Duane Busick is a
video storyteller. A three-time recipient of Individual Artist Grants from the Indiana Arts Commission, Duane’s projects often use oral history interviews to tell the institutional history of community events and to pay homage to the persons who helped build and sustain the events. In 2014, Duane began a continuing video storytelling project profiling the buskers at the Bloomington Community Farmers’ Market. In 2016, he became an official “Ambassador” for BUSK, an advocacy movement for buskers that encourages governments worldwide to embrace this form of free public art in our public spaces. Contributor photo by Garet Cobb.
Jonah Chester is a senior at Indiana University, majoring in journalism and criminal justice. He has been a Hoosier his whole life, having been born and raised in Trafalgar and then moving to Bloomington for school. He has formerly written for the
Indiana Daily Student. His favorite stories to work on are pieces about crime in Indiana, including everything from drug trafficking to the prison system. When not writing true tales of crime and intrigue, he can be found trying out new and unusual cooking recipes on his friends and family.
Sara Sheikh spent her first 19 years in Fort Wayne, Indiana, before moving to Bloomington in 1995 to attend Indiana University, where she graduated from the Kelley School of Business with a degree in marketing. She has worked with many local companies to develop creative, communications, and other marketing tools and strategies. Sara enjoys connecting with family and friends over nature, music, and more.
Erin Martoglio is an attorney at Freitag & Martoglio, LLC in Bloomington. When not practicing law she enjoys running, gardening, cooking, and writing.
Claude Cookman enjoyed a professional career of more than 18 years in journalism, primarily as a picture editor. In the early 1970s, he earned an MS from the Columbia School of Journalism, specializing in magazine writing. In the early 1990s, he earned an MFA in art history and a Ph.D. in the history of photography, both from Princeton University. For more than 24 years he taught visual communications at
Indiana University, where he is now a professor emeritus. He’s authored four books and numerous articles. He is most proud of serving on the board of the
Kinsey Institute, including two years as chair. He enjoys cooking, drawing, and reading world literature. He hopes to return in his next incarnation as a pastry chef.
Jim Manion has been writing about music since 1973 for such Bloomington publications as
Primo Times,
The Ryder, and
The Bloomington Independent, as well as for
No Depression and
Paste magazines. In 2021 he retired as the music director of
WFHB, a position he held since the community radio station launched in 1993.”
Megan Betz is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Geography at Indiana University. Her research focuses on local food and the community that gathers around it. With a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a master’s degree in sustainability and sustainable development, Megan merges her interests into storytelling that centers on food and community. When she’s not writing, she’s gardening with her daughter.
Mark Blaney is a Bloomington artist. He says, "Painting and sculpting help with seeing closely into the world around me. I simply get pleasure from the many forms lit by the sun. The movement and interactions among people, plants, animals, and weather are reason enough to make symbols. Working in two- and three-dimensional media helps me hold onto thoughts for a while and to share them. The variations and descriptive qualities of line and color hold my interest and every new painting is a chance at working and playing in form and color. The trading of time between sculpture and painting strengthens both efforts."
Allison graduated from Indiana University in 2014 with degrees in International Studies, Spanish, and Near Eastern Languages and Cultures. Since then, she's worked and traveled in Europe, Asia, and Australia. She writes about travel, social justice, and community in the U.S. Midwest, Ibiza, and Latin America. Follow her on
Instagram.
Jenny Elig is a writer, editor, erstwhile bass player, and forever cat enthusiast. She is licensed, by the state of Indiana, to cut and color hair. In her spare time, she knits dolls of pop culture icons such as Big Freedia. You can follow her on Instagram
@catonaunicorn.
Adam Reynolds is a documentary photographer who grew up in Bloomington and now calls Indianapolis home. He is a photographic educator with an MFA from Indiana University. His first photo book,
Architecture of an Existential Threat, was published in the summer of 2017. His work can be seen at
adamreynoldsphotography.com, or follow him on Instagram at
@apreynol13. Contributor photo by Mike Tittel
Benjamin Beane graduated from Indiana University in 2015 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. While he hopes someday to write a horror screenplay, he is happy writing freelance articles. He’s excited for the road ahead and always searching for new experiences and opportunities. Benjamin spends most of his free time playing recreational sports, watching movies, or enjoying a nice hike.
A beekeeper since 2003, Susan M. Brackney is a freelance writer and the author of four nonfiction titles, including
Plan Bee: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the Hardest-Working Creatures on the Planet. Brackney specializes in organic gardening, beekeeping, green living, and nature. Her work has appeared in
The New York Times,
Boys’ Life Magazine,
Organic Gardening,
Hobby Farms, and
Indianapolis Monthly Magazine, among others.
When she's not writing, Brackney tends her small greenhouse and gardens. “I'm gradually eliminating my lawn. It's good for bees, but, also, I'm lazy! Mowing's just always seemed Sisyphean to me,” she says.
Luke Wood currently works as a research associate and policy analyst at the
Indiana School of Global International Studies. He has taught courses on West European politics, comparative foreign policy, and social science research design at the Indiana University
Department of Political Science and
Institute for European Studies. His research interests include mass and elite political psychology and the foreign and domestic policies of advanced industrialized democracies in the North Atlantic region with a specialization in the politics of the Federal Republic of Germany. Luke served as a commissioner for Hispanic and Latino affairs at the City of Bloomington from 2013 to 2014. He has published research articles in
Perspectives on Europe and German Politics & Society and is a regular contributor of essays and book reviews to the
Journal of European Political Science, the
Journal of Common Market Studies, and
Humanities and Social Sciences Online. His most recent article, “Multilateralism,” is forthcoming in the
SAGE Handbook of Political Behavior.
Seth Teeters is a Bloomington-based photographer and videographer who does everything from wedding photos and family portraits to aerial videos. Seth owns an insured and FAA-certified drone service company that provides commercial services from video production and photography to drone-based surveying, mapping, and industrial inspections. To see more aerial views from around central and southern Indiana, like his
Facebook page.
Sierra Vandervort is a freelance journalist and author and is currently finishing her degree in journalism and music at Indiana University. She has experience in online and print media, but her focus is magazine and feature writing. Sierra loves adventuring, reading, writing, and discovering new, independent art and music. She's also strangely obsessed with Spider-Man and is always dancing — even though she says she's terrible at it.
April makes a living as a seasonal bat biologist. When she isn’t chasing bats, she’s based out of Bloomington, Indiana, where she can be found pursuing good food and good times with her partner and their menagerie of animals. (Pictured with Pacho.)
Devta Kidd is a collector of experiences. She came to Bloomington in 2000 by way of Tennessee, New Mexico, and California. She earned a master’s degree in Positive Organization Development and Change from Case Western University and welcomes the opportunity to “geek out” with anyone about culture development, communication theory, and spirituality. She is currently the managing director of GroupMind Collaborative Software for Monarch Media, Inc. Contributor image by Phil Jackson.
Doug Storm produces and hosts, and often edits and mixes, WFHB’s
Interchange, an interview program which airs Tuesdays at 5:30 p.m. He works for Project MUSE. His friend Jennifer Fulford published a book of his poems
The Gulf of Folly (Black Bomb Books, 2016). If you’re attentive, you can discover who reviewed it under the name “Camus.” And Doug confesses to stealing from Ross Lockridge Jr. for a poem in Gulf,
“Let No One Be Called.” (Exciting Bonus! There’s a link to Storm reading the poem also. Huzzah!)
Brian Hartz is a freelance writer and editor living in St. Petersburg, Florida. He was born and raised in northeast Indiana and lived in Bloomington, on and off, for about eight years prior to relocating to the Sunshine State in 2013. He earned a master’s degree in journalism from the Indiana University School of Journalism and is a regular contributor to the
Indiana University Alumni Magazine, the
Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center in Indianapolis, and
Southern Boating magazine in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Brian has also worked at magazines and newspapers in New Zealand and Canada.
Lindsay Welsch Sveen earned her English Ph.D. in May of 2015 and is a Visiting Lecturer at Indiana University. She loves music, baking, and, most of all, knitting. She lives on the Near West Side with her husband, Sam, and their dog, Ula.
Miller Susens is a junior studying music education at the Indiana University
Jacobs School of Music. A Dallas native, she focused in string chamber music and teaching while in high school. Other than music, Miller enjoys celebrating birthdays, animal socks, authentic Mexican cuisine, and road trips. She is also a contributing writer to the
Odyssey Online and
WeAreIU.com.
Mark Anthony Kathurima of
MarkOneStudios is an internationally traveled, award-winning wedding and portrait photographer, who started his photographic journey shooting people on film. He has photographed all manner of subjects, from fashion to commercial work for architects and designers. Mark’s current business focus is to get back to his roots, photographing people as well as weddings and events, but he loves to travel and still shoots a wide variety of subjects for his other photographic pursuits and interests.
Sarah Gordon came to Bloomington in 2007 to go to graduate school at Indiana University after having spent the previous decade hopping between Canada, England, Japan, and the Pacific Northwest. She finished her Ph.D. in
folklore in 2014 and decided to stick around, working for IU and writing freelance. She's been a staff blogger for
Indiana Public Media's Earth Eats and has published short fiction in
The Ryder. She has a few academic publications out there, too, if you really want to find them.
Natasha Komoda is an editorial and commercial photographer based in Bloomington. She is devoted to portraying her subjects with complete authenticity and presenting to the viewer the unique essence that lies beyond physical appearance. Natasha is also the founder of
Femmeography, a photographic service that uses the art of portraiture to heal body image negativity. Natasha puts a lot of heart and compassion into her work and cherishes every person she has the opportunity to photograph. View more of Natasha's work at
www.natashakomoda.com.
Michael Waterford was born and raised in Bloomington. He spends his time traveling and writing. Between expeditions he manages his team of explorers, the
The Mountain Folk, and works to create the greatest outdoor adventures around. His travels have taken him around the world twice, down the length of the Mississippi River, across deserts, over mountain ranges, and to six continents. “Travel and exploration is the great educator and equalizer,” he says. “It’s best that we try to utilize it.”
Born in 1960, Richard Koenig received his BFA from Pratt Institute. In 1998 he received his MFA from Indiana University and began teaching photography courses at Kalamazoo College, Michigan.
His work,
Photographic Prevarications, was shown in six one-person exhibits in as many years (2007 to 2012). In the summer of 2010, he began working on a long-term documentary project called
Contemporary Views Along the First Transcontinental Railroad.
These bodies of work can be seen
here. Richard is also working on several “memoir” projects where the mining of negatives, made in Bloomington, Indiana, and Brooklyn, New York, will be utilized.
Samantha Eibling is an E-RYT 200, RYT 500 certified yoga teacher and blogger passionate about helping students cultivate deeper awareness and connection to their bodies, minds, and spirit. She utilizes humor, personal experiences, social issues, and a healthy dose of humility to impart the wisdom of yoga into her teaching style. Sam encourages students of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities to trust their instincts and personal journeys as they discover the practices of yoga and meditation. She offers individual sessions, workshops, trainings, mentoring, and custom classes at
www.SamanthaEiblingYoga.com and at her home studio,
Vibe Yoga.
Christopher Green is a filmmaker, engineer, and co-founder of
Rogue Ruckus, which provides video production and marketing services to businesses, organizations, and artists looking to make a ruckus. He was born in Ontario, Canada, attended school in Ohio, and currently resides in Bloomington.
Paulina Guerrero moved to Bloomington in 2011 to go to graduate school for
folklore. She hails from Washington, D.C., and is still an East Coaster at heart. She has a secret past life crashing on NYC couches and creating raucous street theater. Although she misses being close to the ocean, she is quietly becoming more infatuated with the Midwest day by day.
Andrew is a recent graduate of Indiana University with a bachelor’s degree in history. He enjoys reading nonfiction, spending time with animals, and eating food. Born in Bloomington, he grew up in Virginia before returning for college. Currently, he works at the
Exotic Feline Rescue Center in Center Point, Indiana.
An informatics and media major at Indiana University, Miles Reiter is a part-time videographer and photographer. He has built up a small following on YouTube, posting videos ranging in style and topic from consumer electronics reviews to vlogs to cinematic nature videos. When he's not working on a new video, Miles tends to be studiously keeping up to date on the latest products and trends in the tech world. Miles' YouTube content can be found at
YouTube.com/MilesReiter.
Penina Gal is an illustrator, cartoonist, painter, and a graduate of
The Center for Cartoon Studies (yes, it's real). Penina currently lives in Providence, Rhode Island, after a delightful stint in Bloomington, and has had comics and illustrations published in
Cicada Magazine,
Narratively, and
Seven Days, among others, and a prize-winning comic published by
Paper Rocket Minicomics. More art, comics, and things can be found at
penina.net and
housebat.studio.
Chris Sims is a comic writer and artist from Columbus, Indiana. As a recent M.A. graduate, he spends much of his time writing articles and graphic novels.
Ben Meraz is an advertising and editorial
photographer currently based out of Bloomington after recently relocating from southern California. He loves to tell visual stories and work with brands to create compelling visuals for powerful campaign imagery. When he’s not behind a camera you can find him with a good cup of coffee, exploring the outdoors, and with his wife and boys. Connect on Instagram
@benmeraz.
Matthew Fowler works as a research associate and instructor and is a doctoral candidate in
political science at Indiana University and a scholar of race and public opinion in American politics. He is currently examining the relationship between competition, white group consciousness, and racial attitudes. His work has appeared in
PS: Political Science and Politics and the
American Review of Politics.
Jen Hockney Bratton started her career in television, working on everything from local PBS productions to the Kentucky Derby. When the Internet came calling, she went to work for Oprah Winfrey as a content producer for
Oprah.com. One move to Bloomington and two kids later, Jen followed another passion and now teaches fitness classes at
Bloomington Body Bar. She loves to write, read, spend time with her husband and daughters, and cheer on the Hoosiers.
Zak Szymanski was a full-time journalist in New York and San Francisco for several years. He freelances for various publications and occasionally teaches writing at Indiana University. He makes his living as a real estate agent as a broker associate at
RE/MAX Realty Professionals in Bloomington.
Far from the wilds of Montana, where she grew up, Jonna Mary Yost has found herself living a Midwest life. Her passion for connecting through nature and energy is realized through her instruction of yoga classes at
Know Yoga Know Peace as well as her continual outdoor adventuring. Jonna seeks to pull from the backwoods of Indiana what she found in her home state and impart that mana to those she encounters.
Before going into photography, Nathan Clark studied biotechnology at Ivy Tech Community College in his hometown of South Bend and worked briefly as an emergency medical technician. He practiced his craft while living in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and moved to Bloomington in fall 2013. Nathan spends many late nights at Lake Monroe capturing images of the Milky Way. His long-exposure photography focuses on the outdoors, geology, and conservation.
Daniel Bingham is a software engineer, permaculturist, and community organizer. He grew up in Bloomington and graduated from Bloomington High School South. He left to attend Skidmore College in upstate New York, graduating with a BA in physics and computer science. After spending a semester teaching science in Thailand, he returned to settle in the Waterman neighborhood on Bloomington's west side. He has worked for a variety of software companies and spends his free time writing, gardening, and organizing around cooperatives and sustainability.
Wes Martin is a writer, photographer, and journalist from Bloomington. He's previously worked with the NPR affiliate KUT in Austin, WFIU/WTIU in Bloomington, and was the Assistant News Director at WFHB. Wes enjoys stories that explain systems and both real and social infrastructure.
Justin Banks has lived in Bloomington since 1995. He discovered photography while attending Bloomington High School South (photojournalism class, photography class, and Gothic Yearbook staff 1997-2000). He has been a street photographer since 2012.
Will Reed and his wife, Theresa, are missionaries, most recently in Mundri, South Sudan, with
“Serge: Grace at the Fray.” Born and raised in Bloomington, Will graduated from Bloomington High School South in 2002 and Indiana University in 2007. Will and Theresa have been married for seven years, spending three of them in Africa. They both enjoy good books, long hikes, and IU basketball. You can follow their journey more closely on their personal blog,
www.willandtheresareed.blogspot.com.
Trent Deckard is a part-time videographer. He has established a name for himself on YouTube by filming and editing content under the name Interesting Ted. Trent loves to travel and has been on multiple cross-country road trips. When he is not creating video content, Trent finds himself spending most of his time enjoying nature and working with electronics. His YouTube channel is best known for his urban exploration, his 5.5k mile road trip across the United States, and a robot, heavily influenced by the TV show
Battle Bots, dubbed Rex. Interesting Ted can be found at
YouTube.com/InterestingTed.
Dave Torneo is a founding editor of
Ledge Mule Press, and coordinator of the Ledge Mule Press Poetry Project Reading Series. Dave has interviewed such notable poets as Leslie Marie Aguilar and Adrian Matejka. His poems have been published in several small journals, including
Another Chicago Magazine, ART/LIFE,
The Café Review, Big Scream, and
Mudfish. Dave has been a Bloomington resident since 1996.
J.D. Gray is a Bloomington native. After graduating from Bloomington High School South, he attended Butler University and received his degree in English Literature and Digital Media Production. While in Indianapolis, J.D. worked at
WFYI Public Media and with
Know No Stranger, which is a collective of artists that create and perform multimedia shows. He is always looking forward to his first cup of coffee the next morning.
McKee Woods is a writer currently living and working in Bloomington, Indiana. Since graduating from the Indiana University School of Journalism, McKee has gone on to write and edit for titles like
Glamour,
Women’s Wear Daily,
New York Magazine,
Rolling Stone,
The Atlantic,
Paper, and others. In addition to freelance work, McKee is writing a fictional memoir, as well as a screenplay based loosely on their experiences working in the fashion industry.
Before conjuring up her '70s summer, Eryn Wisler was a regular, happily married mom of two. She grew up in San Diego but chose Bloomington to be her home and has loved every minute. Little things like dystopian young adult novels, bold red wine, and British crime dramas make her happy. You can follow her on Twitter
@erynann and on her blog
www.sprinkledpepper.com.
A senior on the
Indiana University football team, Nick Mangieri (#56) is a two-time Academic All-Big Ten selection, majoring in business management. The native of Peoria, Illinois, started every game last year at bandit — a roving linebacker position — finishing the season with 37 tackles and 2 sacks. Back at defensive end this year (where he started as a sophomore), Mangieri is listed at 6-5, 270 pounds, and says he’s ready to lead a restructured defense that has struggled with injuries, inexperience, and coaching changes in the past few years.
From 2016 to 2019, Anne Laker served as director of communications & administration at the Indiana Forest Alliance, where she managed IFA’s brand and messaging, inspiring Hoosiers to engage in the movement to preserve Indiana’s forests. Before joining IFA, she earned a B.A. in Humanities from Loyola University Chicago and an M.A. in English from IUPUI and worked for the nonprofit cultural sector as a project manager and writer. She hosts a movie review radio show on the Indianapolis station WQRT 99.1. She enjoys canoeing, hiking, and stargazing. Anne says: “We have so much to learn from nature's inherent engineering and all its poetry.”
