Sophia Craiutu is a senior at Bloomington High School North, and although she’s too young to vote in this year’s election, she’s helping her fellow students engage in the democratic process. She finds that all the more important in a state that ranked 46th in voter turnout in 2020.
Read Steve Hinnefeld’s story, which first appeared in The Indiana Citizen.
Bloomington high school student Hazel Hammerstein founded the nonprofit Indiana Prevention Project to spread the message about the dangers of drug use. She and numerous supporters are running the Paint the State mural contest. Registration ends on August 30. Read about Hazel’s project, as well as the contest rules and timeline in this article by Hiromi Yoshida.
Matt Brookshire, Megan Snook, and Jeff Danielson are Monroe County–based photographers who have different techniques, motivations, and subjects for their art. They have also led interesting lives outside of photography. Erin Hollinden talked with all of them, and they shared some of their work with Limestone Post. Click here for their stories and photographs.
The Lilly Endowment Community Scholarship Program encourages young Hoosier scholars to “engage with each other and with state leaders to improve the quality of life in Indiana.” Among the ten high school seniors named finalists in Monroe County, two will receive four-year college tuition. Laurie D. Borman spoke with several of the inspiring students. Click here to meet the finalists for the Lilly Endowment Scholarship.
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.
Bloomington is one of four cities in the U.S. to launch Rise to Run, a new grassroots movement that encourages and trains high school- and college-aged women to run for office. Writer Allison Yates talks to local co-coordinators Regina Moore and Rachel Guglielmo about their program. Click here to read the full story.
Using a Rolleiflex 3.5 F camera, photographer Justin Banks shoots street scenes of Bloomington and processes the film in his kitchen. While his work is in the vein of Vivian Maier, who captured Chicago in the 1950s on the same kind of camera, Banks’ photography is classic, contemporary Bloomington. Click here to view our photo gallery.
