Celebrating Life in Bloomington
December 2021/January 2022
First The
Getting to Know
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IU President
Pamela Whitten Bloomington’s
COMMUNITY
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Andrew Davis is how men used to shop. Before there was buy 1 get 5 free, before the large chains, before the internet, there was the specialty store. This is where you got advice from someone who knew your name, who could properly fit you in style, who treated customers as friends, and who understood that quality is economy. We’ve passionately continued this tradition of service—one reason we have been chosen as the best men’s store around. Stop in and experience Andrew Davis.
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KIRKWOOD ON THE SQUARE
101 W. Kirkwood, Bloomington 812.323.7730
Bloom
December21/January22 Vol.16 No.6
features 70 Bloomington’s Latino Community Proud, Compassionate, Hard-Working
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Monroe County’s growing Latino community is well represented in business, on campus, in government, and in the service sector. Here we present the stories of the people and organizations who make up this diverse demographic of the Bloomington community. By Carmen Siering, photography by Martin Boling and Jim Krause
82 Getting to Know IU’s 19th President
82
First The
Bloomington's Latino Community
A Conversation with Dr. Pamela Whitten
For the first time in more than 200 years, Indiana University has a woman president. Dr. Pamela Whitten took over the job in July with a “students first” mantra. What’s she like? How’s she doing? Read on. Interview by Malcolm Abrams and Sophie Bird, photography by Rodney Margison
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December 2021/January 2022
IU PRESIDENT PAMELA WHITTEN
Celebrating Life in Bloomington
Getting to Know
...
IU President
Pamela Whitten Bloomington’s
COMMUNITY
magbloom.com
Indiana University President Dr. Pamela Whitten. Photo by Rodney Margison
departments 6
The Hubris of Aaron Rodgers
8
Contributors
9
Letters
10 Up Front 12 Our Town
The new president and CEO of Bloomington Health Foundation, the co-founder and executive director of Pigasus Pictures, and Monroe County’s coroner are Bloomingtonians worth knowing.
16 Arts/Entertainment
Indiana University’s recently renovated, 88,000-pound grand carillon has a new home on campus; and singer/songwriter Carrie Newcomer has recorded her 19th album.
30 Home/Family
Abilities Choir, which gave one client his dream of becoming a choir director.
Editor’s Message
Translating early 20th century postcards written in Yiddish has given a local family a deeper look into the lives of their ancestors prior to the Holocaust; and learn about the LifeDesigns All
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34 Health/Fitness
A new yoga studio has opened on the downtown Square with 13 instructors; and cancer patients and their loved ones have a new support resource on the city’s west side.
36 Food/Drink
There’s a 10-acre, IU-owned farm on the outskirts of town that supplies produce, flowers, and educational opportunities to the university; and learn about the new, third-generation owners of a popular Nashville, Indiana, nut shop.
42 Science/Education
Meet the new principal at Bloomington High School North; and a biology lab at IU is doing important research about how environmental changes are affecting bird migration.
46 Community
Perhaps you’ve seen the painted pianos popping up around town—learn about the project that’s putting them there; and Bloomington is about to become home for recently evacuated Afghan refugees.
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Opens December 5, 2021
editor’s message
The Hubris of Aaron Rodgers I have loved sports all my life, both playing and watching. And over the years I have rooted for several athletes whom I have admired not just for their prowess, but also for special qualities they exhibited. As an adolescent, I idolized Frank Mahovlich, a star hockey player for my hometown Toronto Maple Leafs, and Willie Mays, arguably the greatest baseball player of all time. A little later, when I was 14, I fell under the spell of Muhammad Ali (then still Cassius Clay). All three proved to be admirable human beings. Mahovlich served for years in the Canadian Senate. Mays has led an exemplary life and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. As a civil rights activist and humanitarian, Muhammad Ali became one of the seminal figures of the 20th century. (I heartily recommend a visit to the Muhammed Ali Museum in Louisville.) Until recently, I believed Aaron Rodgers might belong with that group. I can be silly about sports sometimes. I not only followed Rodgers’ mercurial career as quarterback of the Green Bay Packers, but I also followed his love life as reported on the internet; visited his Malibu home online; enjoyed his laid-back, irreverent personality on ubiquitous TV commercials; noted his support of charities; and applauded his win on Celebrity Jeopardy! and two-week stint hosting the show. Here was a guy on top of his game who was modest, personable, engaged, empathetic, and intelligent. Or so I thought. Then he lied about being vaccinated. In doing so, he endangered his teammates and others with whom he came in
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contact and set a horrible example for his millions of fans, many of whom are kids. In August, when asked by a reporter if he had been vaccinated, Rodgers responded that he had been “immunized.” In later interviews after contracting COVID-19, he admitted that instead of receiving the COVID-19 vaccine— which would truly have made him immunized—he had been taking ivermectin, an antiparasitic drug used on animals, and hydroxychloroquine, a favorite Trump drug roundly disproven effective on the virus. He also mentioned that he was taking medical advice from, among others, Joe Rogan—a comedian, podcaster, and conspiracy spreader. How anyone so smart could be so stupid is beyond me. It takes a ship full of arrogance to believe one could find a cocktail to prevent COVID-19 on the internet more effective than the vaccine developed by the world’s top infectious disease scientists. How will all this play out? Will Rodgers lose his lucrative endorsements? Will he be shunned by teammates and other athletes? Will it affect his mental health and playing performance? Actually, I don’t care. He has done significant damage to the drive to get people vaccinated, to save lives, and to revitalize our economy. I wish him luck, but that’s all. As for me, I’m keeping my eye out for a new sports hero who is not a narcissist and who possesses good judgement, compassion, and concern for the wellbeing of his fellow humans. Malcolm Abrams editor@magbloom.com
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contributors
Bloom
December21January22 Vol.16 No.6 Carmen Siering WRITER: BLOOMINGTON’S LATINO COMMUNITY Carmen is an independent writer and editor who has been contributing to Bloom since 2010. She was honored to serve as Bloom’s managing editor, then executive editor, from July 2015 to November 2019. Many of her stories focus on the people who make up our diverse community. As she worked on this story, she was overwhelmed by the willingness of those she contacted to talk openly about their experiences. She extends her sincere thanks to everyone involved.
Martin Boling PHOTOGRAPHER: BLOOMINGTON’S LATINO COMMUNITY For Martin, a Bloom assignment is not about taking some pictures of folks in our town and moving on to the next assignment; his goal is to capture the unguarded essence of the people we know or would like to know. When he’s not busy shooting photos for Bloom or taking pictures of clients, Martin loves doing vintage/retro portraiture. See his portfolio at martinboling.com
Jim Krause PHOTOGRAPHER: BLOOMINGTON’S LATINO Jim is a photographer and documentary producer, and an instructor for The Media School at Indiana University. Jim teaches video production, animation, and TV studio production. When not working, he enjoys running, hiking, paddling, and sailing. He composes music and plays guitar in a duo with his wife, Anne, a cellist.
COMMUNITY
Sophie Bird INTERVIEWER: GETTING TO KNOW IU’S 19TH PRESIDENT Sophie began her Bloom career as a high school intern and is now the deputy editor. She writes, edits, and manages the magazine’s online presence. She previously worked as social media & outreach manager for the Indiana Environmental Reporter. Her writing has appeared in Kiwanis Magazine, Millennial Magazine, 812: The Magazine of Southern Indiana, and Dublin, Ireland’s Council Journal.
Rodney Margison PHOTOGRAPHER: GETTING TO KNOW IU’S 19TH PRESIDENT Bloom’s managing editor, Rodney had a successful career as a newspaper photojournalist and reporter before changing directions to concentrate on editorial, commercial, and fine art portraiture, with an emphasis on fashion and glamour.
8 Bloom | December 2021/January 2022 | magbloom.com
Editor & Publisher Malcolm Abrams Managing Editor Rodney Margison
Associate Publisher Cassaundra Huskey
Deputy Editor Sophie Bird
Design Director Stephanie Reeves (Spectrum Creative Group) Office Manager Rhonda Michael Writers
Jack Baker Barb Berggoetz Megan Betz Paul Bickley Susan M. Brackney Craig Coley Olivia Dorfman Peter Dorfman Julie Gray Janet Mandelstam Linda Margison
Michelle Mastro Rosie Piga Pizzo Scott Russell Sanders Lee Ann Sandweiss Kristen Senz Carmen Siering Greg Siering Carol Anne Smock Tracy Z. Turner Douglas Wissing
Illustrators Joe Lee
Mike Cagle Photographers Martin Boling Haley Brown Jenn Hamm James Kellar Jim Krause
Kendall Reeves Jeff Richardson Mike Waddell Lisa Walker
About Bloom Magazine
Bloom is an independent, free magazine whose target audience is Bloomington’s adult population and visitors to the area. Published bimonthly, 12,000 copies are available at more than 200 local retail businesses, hotels, and community centers. For a complete list, visit magbloom.com/get-a-copy. If you would like a subscription to the magazine for yourself or as a gift for someone else, a subscription order card can be found between Pages 32 and 33 in this issue, or you may subscribe online at magbloom.com/subscribe.
Bloom Magazine is published six times a year by Bloomington Magazine, Inc., P.O. Box 1204, Bloomington, IN 47402. Street address: 414 W. 6th St., Bloomington, IN 47404 Tel: 812.323.8959 Fax: 812.323.8965. The contents of this publication may not be reproduced either in whole or in part without the written consent of the publisher. Bloom Magazine assumes no responsibility for unsolicited materials. Subscription: $23.95 per year.
is vaccinated. If someone you love dies of COVID-19, you, too, might want to scream, “WTF!” —the editor
letters Thank you for your letters. Your opinions are important to us. We read them all and print as many as possible. We reserve the right to edit letters for inappropriate content and length. Please be sure to include your name and address. Send your comments to: editor@magbloom.com or Editor, Bloom Magazine, P.O. Box 1204, Bloomington, IN 47402
ridicule or use peer pressure to change them either. And, I certainly won’t infer that they are “stupid.” My advice, be a super-spreader of love and freedom! L.E. FOX
It’s simple L.E., do what you want with your body as long as it doesn’t harm or kill your fellow citizens. Being unvaccinated does that. And because it can harm and kill people, it is everyone’s business. We will not be safe again and our economy will not fully recover until the overwhelming majority of the population
I am the Monroe County Civic Theater publicity board of director of the oldest community theater in Bloomington, Indiana. I was disappointed when I read your article of all the theaters in Bloomington beginning their live performances. Why was the Monroe County Civic Theater skipped in this article? We performed Shakespeare in the Park, our 35th one we perform yearly LIVE last month. We were the first Bloomington theater group—which is all volunteer to perform LIVE. You may visit mcct.org to view and listen to our plays, podcasts, films. MARYANN IARIA
Sorry, Maryann, but I never hear or see anything about your group. Please put Bloom on your mailing list. —the editor The recent Jacobs School cover story was fantastic! I learned so much. MIKE MCAFEE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR VISIT BLOOMINGTON
Your recent article regarding COVID-19 [Editor’s Message, August/September 2021] was a hostile attack on people that haven’t been vaccinated! It was rife with name calling, labeling, and even foul language. You said, “… makes me want to scream, WTF?” You also mention “crackpot politicians and fear-mongering right-wing media?” And the unvaccinated: “Or are they just stupid?” Charming Malcolm! Does the credo of “my body, my choice” sound familiar? Or, does that usual pro-choice line only go with your narrative of choice that day? Are you aware that the majority of unvaccinated people are of African American and Hispanic heritage? [Not true.] It is not your conjured image of some right-wing “fear mongerer.” And no, I do not think they are “just stupid.” For whatever reason, they have chosen not to get vaccinated. It could be risk factors or any number of reasons. All of which are none of your business or ours. I personally am vaccinated, as the rest of my family is, as well. I am pro vaccine, at least at this juncture. But, that is my choice, and I am not about to chastise or rebuke others for their choice. I will not magbloom.com | December 2021/January 2022 | Bloom 9
up front
Edited by Rodney Margison
Recalling Colin Powell’s Visit to Bloomington
Former Ivy Tech–Bloomington Chancellor John Whikehart and Gen. Colin Powell. Courtesy photo
Former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell died October 18 due to COVID-19 complications. At the time of his death he had been undergoing treatment for a rare form of blood cancer that compromised his immune system. He was 84. A four-star general in the U.S. Army, Powell served as National Security Advisor from 1987–1989, was Joint Chiefs chair from 1989–1993, and was appointed by President George W. Bush to be the nation’s first African American Secretary of State from 2001–2005. He was the recipient of two Presidential Medals of Freedom. Powell delivered the keynote address at Ivy Tech Community College–Bloomington’s 2014 O’Bannon Institute for Community Service. Former Ivy Tech–Bloomington Chancellor John Whikehart says of Powell: “I was struck by how warm and kind General Powell was to all whom he met during his visit and was impressed that in his speech he directly addressed his role in the Iraq invasion. Although he spoke of being misled, he took personal responsibility and expressed regrets for his part in it. That’s a rare admission from leaders in today’s political environment.”
IU’s Katy Börner receives $1.5 million NIH Research Award
Katy Börner. Photo by Jim Krause
Katy Börner, distinguished professor of engineering and information science at the Indiana University Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering, has received a $1.5 million award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to continue her research with the Human BioMolecular Atlas Program Consortium, an NIH effort to map the human body at a single-cell resolution. The award will fund research in machine learning and data visualization and significantly scale up existing user interfaces for human tissue data registration and exploration. It will also expand research by Luddy associate professor Paul Macklin on PhysiCell, a large-scale, 3-D simulation designed to model how cells grow, divide, interact, and die. Börner was the subject of a June/July 2018 Bloom story about the “sentient sculpture” in IU’s Luddy Hall that she co-created.
Stone Belt CEO To Retire in April
Leslie Green. Photo by Rodney Margison
Stone Belt CEO Leslie Green announced that she will retire in April after more than 42 years with the organization. “Leaving Stone Belt fills me with many ambivalent feelings,” she says. “I love what I do and I couldn’t have had a better career. But I have some pursuits that I want to achieve while I still can. I will always care deeply for Stone Belt and the people that comprise it.” A succession committee is working with an outside consultant to help recruit and select Green’s replacement, with an announcement expected in early 2022. Since June 2018, clients of Stone Belt, which provides services to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, have provided magazine distribution for Bloom. In December 2019, Green was the first recipient of the Bloom Community Award for her support of local charities.
IU Environmental Resilience Institute Honored by IDEM
(l-r) Julia Wickard with IDEM, Dr. Gabriel Filippelli with IU’s Environmental Resilience Institute, and Bob Lugar with IDEM. Photo courtesy of IDEM
The Indiana University Environmental Resilience Institute (ERI) was awarded one of eight 2021 Governor’s Awards for Environmental Excellence by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM). ERI was honored for its “Local Government Implementation Portfolio,” an interactive resource that provides outreach, education, tools, training, research, and support for local governments, connecting local officials to information on climate change implications, funding opportunities, and community projects. “These award winners are paving for other organizations to learn how to increase environmental protection efforts in the state,” says IDEM Commissioner Bruno Pigott.
Suffragette Exhibit Earns Award for Monroe History Center
(l-r) Collections Manager Hilary Fleck and Education Manager Andrea Hadsell. Courtesy photo
The Monroe County History Center was presented a 2021 Award of Excellence from the American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) for its “Votes for Women: The Women’s Suffrage Movement in Monroe County” exhibit. It was one of 38 AASLH Leadership in History Awards given to honor people, projects, exhibits, and publications that encourage standards of excellence in the collection, preservation, and interpretation of state and local history. The exhibit, curated by the history center’s collections manager, Hilary Fleck, ran from mid-January 2020 through December 2020. Its goal was to use individual stories and perspectives to make the community’s past tangible and communicate the importance of civic engagement. Programming, designed by Education Manager Andrea Hadsell, gave participants a hands-on approach to learning about suffrage history both virtually and in person.
10 Bloom | December 2021/January 2022 | magbloom.com
Photo ©The Trustees of Indiana University
For Our Community. Forever. The Community Foundation brings together people and resources to make a difference in Monroe County. At the heart of everything we do is a vision to fuel innovation and create lasting impact so that our community thrives — now and in the future. We believe that the greatest change happens when people come together in partnership, collaboration, and generosity. Whether it’s through convening community dialogue, grantmaking to address pressing needs, or helping donors achieve their philanthropic goals, we are eager and ready to work together to make great things happen in Bloomington and Monroe County. Join us at www.CFBMC.org. POWERED BY GIVING
“In our town, we like to know the facts about everybody.” —Thornton Wilder, Our Town
Joani Stalcup
Monroe County Coroner Joani Stalcup is now serving her second four-year term as Monroe County Coroner. by Craig Coley Photo by Martin Boling Joani Stalcup was an emergency medical technician in Owen County in 2004 when the newly elected coroner asked Coroners and their deputies handle deaths that are her to become one of his deputies. He said it wasn’t much more unexplained or caused by accident, homicide, suicide, or difficult than ambulance duty. “Little did I know what I was drug overdose. When necessary, they arrange for forensic getting into,” says Stalcup, 50, who is now serving her second work such as blood tests or autopsies. Stalcup’s first solo four-year term as Monroe County coroner. run as deputy coroner was a car accident that killed the driver and three young-adult passengers, two of them brothers and all of them about the same age as Stalcup’s oldest son. “I saw my son’s face in every one of those kids that were in that car,” Stalcup says. After transporting the bodies from the scene, Stalcup visited the families of the deceased—another part of the coroner’s job. “I’ll never forget telling that mom she lost two sons. That was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do.” But it was also what made her feel called to the work. “I want to be there for these people. I want them to be treated the way I would want to be treated if somebody had to give me the worst news I’m ever going to hear.” Stalcup grew up in southern Monroe County and has two grown sons and three grandchildren. She married Mike Stalcup this May and lives in Ellettsville. After serving as Monroe County’s chief deputy coroner for five years, she was first elected coroner in 2016. It is a part-time position that pays the same whether the office handles 130 cases, as it did in 2009, or 274, as it did last year. Stalcup says the increase is due to more drug overdoses and fewer doctors agreeing to sign death certificates, requiring the coroner to do so. Because her position is part-time, she has maintained fulltime jobs, currently at Centerstone behavioral health center. She is considering a run for sheriff in 2024. People ask how she does a job that involves so much death and grief. “I have like a metal file cabinet in my brain, and all of these things get filed and locked away, and I don’t get back in that cabinet unless I have to. Nobody could ever do this job if they didn’t learn how to do that.”
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Michelle Gilchrist
Bloomington Health Foundation President On paper, it might look like Gilchrist is used to living in cities much larger than Bloomington, but the truth is slightly different. “I did work in Dallas, but I lived in DeSoto, Texas—population 40,000,” she says with a laugh. “And I say I lived in Memphis, but it was really in a much smaller community of about 60,000. I never actually lived in the main cities, I just lived near them. So, Bloomington is my cup of tea. It has everything I need.” There are other reasons her new city appeals to her, as well. “We have shared expectations,” she says. “We want good schools. We vote and have a voice. When you are in a smaller community like Bloomington, people—no matter where they are on the socioeconomic line—all want it to be better. I love that shared interest in meaningful, societal change, and I’m excited to be a small contributor to that.” Michelle Gilchrist moved here in September to become the new president of Bloomington Health Foundation. Photo by Martin Boling
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by Carmen Siering Bloomington Health Foundation President Michelle Gilchrist says her first few weeks on the job were spent meeting people and learning about the health care issues facing the community. It’s something she had been looking forward to since she read the job description. “As I was completing my doctorate, I learned that when we look at health care, health disparities occur because there is no collaboration,” Gilchrist says. “When I read the job description, I realized [this job] was very much about wanting to improve health equity and health care access, to improve health determinants, and to work with community health care partners in a collaborative space. That really attracted me.” Gilchrist, 51, moved here in September from Memphis, Tennessee, where she spent five years as the CEO for the National Foundation for Transplants. She’s also worked as a major gifts officer and senior director of major gifts at the University of Tennessee Science Center and in leadership roles at Community Health Charities in North Central Texas and United Way of the Mid-South in Memphis. She and her husband, Chester, have three grown daughters— Eriel, 29, Amber, 23, and Alexis, 20. They met as Marines at Camp Pendleton in California. Gilchrist earned a bachelor’s degree in organizational leadership and an executive master’s in business administration at the University of Memphis. She’s currently finishing a doctoral program in health care administration from the University of Alabama, Birmingham. magbloom.com | December 2021/January 2022 | Bloom 13
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John Armstrong
the community has embraced us,” he says. “If you commit to a community, the community will commit to you.” From contributions of vehicles for The Good Catholic— John forgot to budget for transportation—to corporate support for the Bloomington Academy of Film and Theatre, Bloomington has stepped up to support Armstrong’s visions of filmmaking and educating the next generation of actors, directors, and producers. Now married to Bloomington High School South Counselor Lacey Grant and a proud stepdad to two young boys, Armstrong says his return to Bloomington feels right. “I love to be of service. I love to help people. I love to create opportunities. I’m a Hoosier through and through.”
Filmmaker
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John Armstrong is co-founder and chief operating officer of Pigasus Pictures. He is wearing a Pigasus T-shirt. Photo by Martin Boling
by Greg Siering Growing up in Brownsburg, Indiana, John Armstrong loved music and musical theater but never imagined he could grow up to do them as a job—at least not here in the Midwest. After a winding path that led him to a career as a film producer, Armstrong is dedicated to making sure that other Indiana kids can realize their dreams. Most people know Armstrong, 43, through his work with Pigasus Pictures, which produced the 2017 film The Good Catholic in Bloomington, or from his acting in the 2019 Cardinal Stage performance of Rounding Third. His connection to the town goes back much further than that, however, with multiple stops here over the years. Armstrong originally came to Bloomington as an Indiana University student in 1996. After struggling as an admittedly aimless student, he got a nudge from his voice coach and switched his major to vocal performance, later
moving to musical theater under mentor George Pinney. “Theater and musical theater and the performing arts, I think, saved my life,” he says. “I don’t know that I would have finished college, and God knows where I would have been after that.” After graduating from IU, Armstrong headed to New York City for a career with musical theater productions that included Seussical, Into the Woods, Hello Dolly, and more. Over the years, he moved between the Midwest and the East Coast, driven by career opportunities and family changes, including a divorce and time spent raising his son as a single father. In 2014, he reconnected with fellow Hoosier Zach Spicer, who invited him to help produce The Good Catholic. Despite not knowing how to produce a movie, John signed on and headed back to Bloomington. Armstrong sees his filmmaking work as a homecoming, noting that this is an ideal place to produce independent films. “The reason it’s been successful is because
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arts/entertainment
IU’s New 88,000-Pound Carillon The Ultimate Heavy Metal Music by Paul Bickley For 47 years, Indiana University’s Metz Carillon rang from the campus’ highest point, near the intersection of North Jordan Avenue and East 17th Street. Built in 1970 for IU’s sesquicentennial and named after Arthur R. Metz, a 1909 IU alumnus, Chicago surgeon, and IU benefactor, the deteriorated 91-foot, 61bell tower sounded its swan song in 2017. But IU would soon hear the familiar sound again. On January 20, 2020, the $7 million Arthur R. Metz Bicentennial Grand Carillon, funded by the Metz Foundation and private donors, debuted at its home in the Jesse H. and Beulah Chanley Cox Arboretum.
The largest of the carillon’s bronze bells weighs 12,000 pounds. Photos courtesy of IU Communications
Students pass by the grand carillon in the arboretum on East 10th Street.
The original bells were refurbished and four new ones were added, extending the instrument’s range enough to earn it grand status. (There are 27 grand carillons worldwide.) The bronze bells range in mouth diameter from 6 inches to 7 feet. The
largest weighs 12,000 pounds; all 65 weigh a combined 88,000 pounds. The new 128-foot tower features six vertical Indiana limestone piers surrounding a glass-enclosed spiral staircase leading to a playing cabin and microclassroom 51 feet above ground. In the cabin, carillonneurs sit at a console and push wooden batons (“keys”) with their hands and feet. The batons are connected to bell clappers. “All you need to play the carillon is a desire to perform for the public —people can hear you for miles around—and a fearlessness of heights and stairs,” says Lynnli Wang, an IU Jacobs School of Music graduate student of organ performance and associate instructor of carillon. Wang appeared on national TV playing the Metz Grand during March Madness in 2021.
16 Bloom | December 2021/January 2022 | magbloom.com
In response to receiving the new instrument, the Jacobs School’s organ department developed an academic carillon program of four courses and added Wang’s position. “The teaching position ensures that the art of playing the world’s largest instrument doesn’t die on our watch,” says Janette Fishell, Jacobs School professor and chair of the organ department. The program hosts guest-artist weekends featuring masterclasses and performances by world-renowned carillonneurs, and its students and guests perform recitals on most Saturdays from noon to 12:45 p.m. Says Fishell, “We invite you to experience the Metz firsthand—bring your coffee, a blanket, and your dog almost any Saturday to see what heavy metal music is really all about.” Learn more at magbloom.com/carillon.
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Thomas DeCarlo
An Indie Film–Style Animator by Greg Siering Thomas DeCarlo knows what he wants to see in an animated film—sci-fi and fantasy stories with adult characters who tackle complex social issues, but something that is still is enjoyable for the whole family. Not seeing what he wanted from big studios like Disney and Pixar, he decided to make those films himself. DeCarlo, 38, began his work in film with live action, but he started to develop an interest in animation because of its potential for the kinds of stories he wanted to tell. “I struggled with what you can actually accomplish on set with few people and resources,” he says, “And that’s when I started considering animation as a place where it would all be virtual. I could build literally whatever I wanted.” And given his love of science fiction, animation could provide him with easier and more affordable options for his stories. Since his college education in filmmaking at Denison University didn’t include opportunities to study animation, DeCarlo decided to teach himself the craft. He spent a decade learning computer animation through experimentation, leading to his first animated short, The Encounter, a story about a
Thomas DeCarlo hopes to involve Indiana artists in the making of his feature-length animated film. Photo by Jim Krause
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Join us for a healthier tomorrow at bloomhf.org. 18 Bloom | December 2021/January 2022 | magbloom.com
dedicated but hapless alien hunter who finally gets to meet an extraterrestrial. The 2018 film took two years to complete, in part because he was still teaching himself animation techniques along the way. The Encounter won awards at film festivals across the country, and DeCarlo is currently adapting it to a full-length feature film. Moving from a solo effort to an eventual team of 12 artists is a big shift in his workstyle, but it’s still a tiny team compared to the big animation studios. “I describe us as indie filmmaking–style meets computer animation,” he says. DeCarlo is working to involve Indiana artists in his film, in part because he wants to resist the brain drain and keep Indiana talent in the state. He says, “I have no interest in going out to the industry in LA. I want to be here, and that means having to help build an industry here, where people can have full-time careers.” DeCarlo’s new movie is scheduled for a 2023 release date, and in the meantime, he mirrors his characters by looking to the stars while he keeps his feet planted firmly on the midwestern earth.
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Glenn Close Visits Her Costumes At IU’s Eskenazi Museum of Art Award-winning actress Glenn Close said she was flooded with memories as she walked through an exhibition at the Indiana University Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art showcasing costumes from some of her most notable roles, including the nurse’s uniform she wore in her very first film in 1982, The World According to Garp. “The Art of the Character” features just a small portion of the more than 800 costumes that Close donated to IU’s Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture + Design. She visited the exhibition, part of Award-winning actress Glenn Close visited her costumes for the first time on October 21. Photos by Chris Meyer, IU Communications
Glenn Close donated more than 800 costumes to the Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture + Design.
the school’s Sage Collection, for the first time during a trip to the IU campus on October 21. “Hopefully [the costumes] will be here as a resource for many, many years to come,” Close says. “And it’s a living collection in
that I’m still working, and whatever job I have, even if it’s an old baggy T-shirt and jeans from Hillbilly Elegy, there will be a representation of it here at IU.” —Barbara Brosher, IU Communications
Book your event: events.thefar.org | 812.336.0006 Image by Wandering Heart Photography
magbloom.com | December 2021/January 2022 | Bloom 19
Brown County Playhouse Coming Back with More “Oomph” Amanda Webb didn’t have to think twice about her biggest challenge since becoming executive director of the Brown County Playhouse— keeping the historic Nashville, Indiana, theater afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic. “It’s opening up and some people want to come out, but we’re still struggling,” says Webb, who took over running the 428-seat theater in midAugust. “We need to make money, but we Amanda Webb became executive director of the 428-seat need our patrons to be theater in August. Photo by Rodney Margison safe, too.” Webb, 46, a Nashville resident with her husband, Brian, for 22 years, says the theater requires patrons to wear masks, does deep cleaning, and uses an air system that rotates air every five minutes. After closing for months due to the pandemic, the playhouse is now offering concerts, live theater, and special events. Still, Webb says, too many seats remain empty. Webb is used to challenges. She says her diverse experiences and deep connections in Brown County and with the national music industry will help her run the nonprofit theater. Her previous endeavors include managing The Amanda Webb Band, homeschooling her five sons, teaching voice and piano lessons, managing rental properties with her husband, bookkeeping and accounting, and performing at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where she studied voice. As director of the 72-year-old theater, Webb is developing plans to cultivate more patrons, raise $50,000 in donations for a movie projector, create stronger connections with schools and the broader community, and develop a more interactive theater experience, including singalongs and costumed events for kids. Webb wants to turn movies into community mixers, focusing on issues that bring together different types of people, like the LGBTQ+ community and refugees. In early December, the Playhouse will premiere a free documentary, The Addict’s Wake, about Brown County drug addiction. “My vision is to see [the theater] come back with a little bit more oomph and power,” Webb explains. “It’s about the experience—it’s not just about the show. When you come to a theater, it’s not just about sitting in your seat and absorbing the movie or play.” Learn more at browncountyplayhouse.org. —Barb Berggoetz 20 Bloom | December 2021/January 2022 | magbloom.com
Singer Marshella Griffin-Larry Success in London and LA, Still a Bloomington Townie by Lee Ann Sandweiss Marshella Griffin-Larry describes herself as an “Indiana girl in a California world.” Although the actress, model, singer-songwriter, and businesswoman has spent nearly 20 years in Los Angeles, she still proudly calls herself a Bloomington townie. Griffin-Larry, 47, graduated in 1992 from Bloomington High School South before attending Indiana University as a general studies major. “My parents had my siblings [sister and brother] and me involved in the arts from a young age, so I didn’t feel I needed to study them in college,” she explains, adding that she was “a total band geek,” sang in her church choir, and started acting and modeling at age 11, doing so steadily throughout her teen and college years. In 1995, an internship with the Agency for Instructional Technology turned full-time, prompting Griffin-Larry to take a break from her studies and travel the world as an associate producer of educational materials. She eventually returned to IU, finished her degree, and did a stint hosting the IU Update during televised Hoosiers men’s basketball games before moving to LA in 2005. Four years ago, a routine mammogram led to a diagnosis of stage 3 breast cancer, which prompted GriffinLarry into launching chemoswagg.com, an online resource for others undergoing cancer treatment. “When I started chemo, I was so sick—and looked how I felt. I still wanted to feel and look like myself, so I started putting on my bright red lipstick and creating cute outfits,” she recalls. “It made me feel better mentally, and I got so many compliments from others in treatment that I decided to create a business to help others.” Griffin-Larry credits the care she received from her then-boyfriend (now her husband), Lance Larry, and her family for her new lease on life. Not only did
she become an advocate for the charity Stand Up to Cancer, but she also found the courage to write and record her first album, Moodz. Released in September 2021, the album spent three weeks at No. 1 on the UK’s Global Soul Chart. “I am truly blessed and so happy that I pushed past my fear,” says GriffinLarry. “I encourage everyone to go after their dreams, no matter your age and circumstance. It’s never too late to pursue your passions and become everything that God intended you to be.” Griffin-Larry is the younger sister of Bloomington Deputy Mayor Don Griffin. For more information, visit marshellamuzic.com and chemoswagg.com.
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Marshella Griffin-Larry moved to LA in 2005 but still considers herself a townie. Courtesy photo
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magbloom.com | December 2021/January 2022 | Bloom 21
arts/entertainment
Dylan Quackenbush Clay Artist & Groundskeeper by Barb Berggoetz Brown County, Indiana, potter Dylan Quackenbush says working with three-dimensional objects and transforming clay into functional art pieces matches his personality and fosters his creativity. “With pottery, as soon as you throw something on the wheel, you have some kind of result,” says Quackenbush, 27. “I like the step-by-step process where you can manipulate your work in separate ways.”
(this page) Examples of the artist’s work. Courtesy photos (opposite page) artist Dylan Quackenbush. Photo by Rodney Margison
22 Bloom | December 2021/January 2022 | magbloom.com
He’s drawn to earth tones, and makes mugs, plates, bowls, and vases using his handmade, brick, gas-fired kiln, with a 7-foot arch and 15-foot chimney. He also creates pottery depicting what he calls “grotesque” images portraying drug addiction—a problem he feels needs more attention. Quackenbush was influenced by his grandmother —a teacher and painter— to become an artist. In college, he switched his focus from painting after being captivated by a ceramics class. He graduated in 2017 with a B.F.A. from the Indiana University Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture + Design.
Modern follows a group of Amish teenagers on their Rumspringa, a period when Amish teens are given greater personal freedom ending with a choice: be baptized into the church or leave forever. As they all move in together only a few miles away from their small community, they face the struggle for love, tradition, family and faith—and who they’ll soon become. After two artist residencies in Iowa, Quackenbush moved back to Brown County in 2019. There, the owner of a 150-acre farm allowed him to convert a horse barn into a studio in exchange for Quackenbush working as a groundskeeper and tending animals. His work is on display and available to buy at the Hoosier Art Gallery in Nashville, Indiana, and can be viewed on Instagram @artandpottery_by_quack.
*From the composer of two of BPP’s biggest hit musicals of all time: TOAST & ISLAND SONG. SEE IT LIVE
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magbloom.com | December 2021/January 2022 | Bloom 23
Young, Old, Novice, Amateur There’s an Orchestra for You! by Julie Gray Whether you’re 8 or 80 years old, there are two new ways for you to make music in Bloomington. Bridges Musical Arts Youth Organization offers kids the chance to play in orchestral and chamber music ensembles, while New Horizons Bloomington offers adult beginners the same opportunity. “We want to be a bridge connecting students from public, private, charter, and home schools, as well as from Bloomington and surrounding communities,” says Sarah Strickland, Bridges’ orchestral coordinator and conductor. This fall, the first group of 16 kids worked on pieces by a contemporary blind composer from Colombia and a 19th-century formerly enslaved person, among others. “That’s
another of our aims,” she says. “We want to offer diversity, rather than relying exclusively on the traditional repertoire by long-dead, white, male composers.” Strickland, who taught her first student at age 14, offers private and group piano, violin, and viola lessons through her Strickland Suzuki Strings studio. “Bridges just makes my heart so happy,” she says. She and Bridges Program Director Maggie Olivo are working closely with accomplished adult volunteer musical coaches, who often play side by side with the young orchestra members to help them learn their parts.
735 s. college bloomington 812.323.7232 leanong.com 24 Bloom | December 2021/January 2022 | magbloom.com
New Horizons practices weekly at Bell Trace Senior Living Community. Courtesy photo
Strickland is also collaborating on the New Horizons adult orchestra with Andrea Kleesattel, a former member of orchestras in Lexington, Kentucky; Madison, Wisconsin; and Japan. Since September, the orchestra has been meeting weekly in a large space at Bell Trace Senior Living Community. The 21 students range in age from their 30s to their 70s, and while some have musical experience, many are brand new to their instruments. No Bell Trace residents have joined yet, but Kleesattel hopes that will change. “We’d really like to make the program accessible to older adults,” she says. Students were allowed to pick their instrument (violin, viola, cello, or bass) and, providentially, the result yielded a balanced ensemble. “Everyone is moving along so well,” Kleesattel says. “It’s been really wonderful for me as a teacher to see. The students are quite motivated.” While the more experienced players were able to start rehearsing pieces right away, the beginners have been quickly able to play alongside them. As Kleesattel points out, “Bass lines have only three notes and beginners can play rounds.” Learn more at mayomusic.org and magbloom.com/new-horizons.
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B-Town’s Carrie Newcomer Records Her 19th Album
Carrie Newcomer wrote many of the songs on Until Now in COVID-19 isolation. Photo by Elle Hodge
by Kristen Senz We’re all a work in progress—as we evolve, staying connected to our surroundings and the people we reach for in the toughest moments can help us weather one transition after another. These are the ideas that local singer-songwriter Carrie Newcomer says she sought to capture on her new album, Until Now. “I think the COVID experience, for a lot of us, brought things closer to home, quite literally, and it became important to really settle into and become more aware of what’s right here in our daily experience,” says Newcomer. “To appreciate what’s extraordinary in an ordinary day, and to honor that.” The album—as well as the companion poetry book—delves into feelings of loss and confusion in what Newcomer calls a time of “great unraveling.” But it also
exudes hope and lightheartedness, she explains, as evidenced by the song “My Dog,” about finding renewed closeness with her pet. The deeply personal lyrics combine with Until Now’s pared-down
instrumentation to reveal a new level of vulnerability, Newcomer says. “I think it’s one of the best things I’ve ever done, which is a really nice thing to be able to say at this point in a career,” she says. Many of the songs on Until Now were written while Newcomer was in COVID-19 isolation at her Bloomington home in 2020 and reflect her own exploration of the creative process, and reconnecting with nature and those closest to her. “After a month, I’d been home longer in a stretch than I’d been home in a stretch in 25 years,” she says. Published by her own imprint, Available Light Publishing, the poetry book gave a home to writing that didn’t evolve into lyrics. “I do a lot of writing that isn’t music just yet,” Newcomer says. “Sometimes, the poems were meant to be poems, and that’s what they are, and sometimes they were poems on the way to a song.” Newcomer is a native of Elkhart, Indiana, once home to dozens of musical instrument factories. She first picked up a guitar at age 12. Until Now is Newcomer’s 19th studio album. It was recorded at Bloomington’s Airtime Studios. Learn more at carrienewcomer.com.
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magbloom.com | December 2021/January 2022 | Bloom 25
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Fans and performers fill the intersection of Washington Street and East Kirkwood during the 28th annual Lotus World Music & Arts Festival. Photo by Jim Krause
The 28th annual Lotus World Music & Arts Festival welcomed an estimated 5,400 attendees to downtown Bloomington from September 23–26 to hear music from 14 countries. The festival was held virtually in 2020 due to pandemic safety concerns. “The atmosphere was incredibly joyful and celebratory this year,” says Executive Director Tamara Loewenthal. “It felt to me like the early Lotus Festivals before we started taking the festival for granted. People were so excited to have the live music back.” Throughout 2020, Lotus presented pre-recorded short sets from international artists, as well as livestreams and outdoor concerts from local musicians. “Our ability to pivot to virtual programming was really important in keeping our audience engaged and continuing to give artists a platform or stage where they could present their music,” explains Loewenthal. The return this year to an in-person festival featured two tents on 4th and 6th streets, as well as several indoor venues, including the Buskirk-Chumley Theater. Masks and proof of vaccination or a recent negative COVID-19 test were required for admission to all indoor venues. Loewenthal says the audience responded very positively to the restrictions. “Across the board, they were grateful for our efforts to keep everyone safe.” According to Loewenthal, several artists made big impacts on the audience this year. “Martha Redbone (Native American) and Maria de Barros (Cape Verde) were two artists who had us in the palm of their hands,” she says. Learn more at lotusfest.org. —Sophie Bird 26 Bloom | December 2021/January 2022 | magbloom.com
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FAR Center Art Workshops For Kids and Grown-Ups Too A photography instructor, Mottinger leads the FAR Photo Review, a free monthly Zoom workshop that invites photographers of all levels to share and receive feedback on their work. The casual, pop-in atmosphere of the virtual meetup facilitates open discussion and often provides participants with inspiration for future work, she says. After-school art classes and photo workshops for kids, as well as a Spanish music and language class for toddlers, were recent features of the Pictura Kids workshop series. Some of the workshops are organized by FAR, while others are driven by local instructors, with FAR providing the space and assisting with program marketing. Ultimately, the FAR Center aims to be a community resource geared toward making the arts more accessible and inclusive, Mottinger says. She hopes to build out the workshop calendar even more next year and is open to workshop ideas from local arts educators. The Pictura Gallery is free and open to the public Tuesday through Saturday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mottinger encourages people to stop in and check it out. “We may look fancy,” she says, “but we don’t want that to deter people from coming in and being in this space.” Visit thefar.org —Kristen Senz
(top) Participants pose and show off their photo book creations at the Pictura Kids: Photo Book workshop in the Pictura Gallery; (above) participants created their own designs at the Vinyl Decal workshop. Courtesy photos
“Spaces make things happen.” That’s a common refrain at the FAR Center for Contemporary Arts, where an expanding lineup of workshops is opening up a variety of art forms to aspiring artists of all ages. Making use of its modern, versatile space at the corner of its namesake intersection, Fourth and Rogers streets, the FAR Center started offering more workshops this fall, setting in motion a pre-pandemic plan to connect the community with new learning opportunities and talented local instructors, says Chaz Mottinger, FAR’s community engagement coordinator and workshop lead. Recent workshops have lead participants on explorations of watercolors, photography, calligraphy, movement, and more. “It’s really nice to learn and spend time in such an inspiring space,” Mottinger says. Some workshops, including those connected with current exhibits, take place in the Pictura Gallery. Others happen in the FAR library or the larger theater space, with glass garage doors that open for added ventilation.
Giving thanks this holiday season to our clients, employees, business partners & community; we value you all greatly!
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magbloom.com | December 2021/January 2022 | Bloom 29
home/family
Old Family Postcards Tell Poignant Stories
by Susan M. Brackney The framed images hung on her grandmother’s wall for as long as Rachel Betzen could remember. “She had these collages of old postcards,” Betzen says. Created between 1907 and the 1930s, the “real photo” postcards featured relatives’ portraits—and, as Betzen would soon discover, much more. To scan and enlarge the photos for her grandmother’s tired eyes, Betzen disassembled the collages. “I bought a special tool to detach the photos, and I see writing on the back,” she explains. “And I’m like, ‘What language is this?’” It wasYiddish. Betzen had the circa-World War I postcards translated and compiled their images and messages into a 30 Bloom | December 2021/January 2022 | magbloom.com
(top, left) Rachel Betzen with the book Found in Translation, which she created for her grandmother. Photos by Kirsten Q. Siemering (above) Marsha Herman-Betzen holds an old family photo. Photo by Martin Boling (left) Betzen shows her grandmother the postcard translations for the first time. Courtesy photo (opposite page) Betzen holding one of the pre-Holocaust postcards.
hardback book—Found in Translation—as a gift for her grandmother. Recalls Marsha Herman-Betzen, Rachel’s mother, “I’ll never forget the tears of joy my 86-year-old mother had when she saw it.” Sadly, many of the pictured family members wouldn’t survive the coming Holocaust. “My grandfather was one of 12 children, and only three got out,” Herman-Betzen notes. “And his mother and father didn’t get out. And the rest of the kids didn’t.” Betzen adds, “I think the postcards were a way for somebody to say, ‘I’m here. I exist. Remember me.’ That’s a really powerful thing that people were able to do for the first time.” Advances in photography and changes at the U.S. Postal Service fueled the real photo postcard boom. By 1907, you could have your photo taken and printed as a mailable postcard. As a result, myriad real photo postcards remain tucked inside albums and attics worldwide. “People see them as, ‘Oh, here’s a photo of my great grandfather,’” Betzen says. “They don’t realize that there’s a message from their great grandfather on the back.” But that’s about to change. What began eight years ago as Found in Translation has morphed into something bigger—the Yiddish Postcard Project. “After I saw the Yiddish on the back of our postcards I thought, ‘Wow. If my family has this, other families do, too,’” Betzen says. Now, she’s gathering others’ real photo postcards to create a digital, searchable archive—and to help preserve the Yiddish language. “When these postcards are evaluated together, they’ll inform us about life and Jewish culture during the early part of the last century in ways previously unknown,” she explains. Visit yiddishpostcardproject.org.
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magbloom.com | December 2021/January 2022 | Bloom 31
NASHVILLE’S
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The LifeDesigns All Abilities Choir performs at Salt Creek Golf Retreat in Nashville, Indiana. Photo by Martin Boling
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32 Bloom | December 2021/January 2022 | magbloom.com
LifeDesigns client Jake May, a lifelong singer, wanted to be a choir director, so about 2 1/2 years ago he approached Kristen King, LifeDesign’s community engagement coordinator and asked, “Why can’t we start a choir here?” The answer: “We can.” From May’s suggestion, the All Abilities Choir was formed, with about 30 people attending the first meeting. Most of the members are clients of LifeDesigns, but family members, Indiana University music students, and community volunteers have also lent their voices to the choir. “You don’t have to have a disability to participate,” King says. “You just have to want to sing.” May, 27, serves as co-director of the All Abilities Choir, along with Aaron Smith, 28, also a client at LifeDesigns. “We knew from the beginning that we wanted the choir to be community based,” King says. May leads the choir, and Smith is his backup and the facilitator who prints out the lyrics and takes attendance at practice. “It’s a lot of fun,” May says. For Smith, the best part of the choir is “being with friends.” Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the choir met bi-weekly in person. It has continued to rehearse virtually. Smith and May say the highlight for them was singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” at an IU women’s basketball game in January 2020. The performance had special meaning for May. “I graduated on that court [from Bloomington High School South],” he says. The choir has performed at games for local high schools, at the kickoff of a United Way of Monroe County campaign, and at LifeDesigns events. Its usual repertoire favors country music and songs like “Stand By Me” and Lonestar’s “Amazed.” “And we both really love Elvis,” says May. LifeDesigns serves 300–350 clients in eight counties, offering support services, residential services, and employment services. It helps clients identify their dreams—like being a choir director— and set achievable goals to reach them. The All Abilities Choir, King says, is a way to make the community more inclusive. When will it perform again? “Any time we can get a gig.” —Janet Mandelstam
Monstera Living ‘Design–Decorate–Declutter’
The Monstera team—(l-r) Waverly Miller, Andrea Connolly, and Olivia Hall—in the dining room they designed at Amethyst House. Photo by Martin Boling
and is recognizable for its massive, beautiful leaves,” Hall shares. “Hoosiers might not be as familiar with it, but it has leaves of distinctive design.” Monstera Living’s slogan is “Design–Decorate– Declutter.” The company, which has a staff of seven, customizes its services based on client needs to create a more appealing and functional living or working space. Connolly and Hall are also committed to giving back to the Bloomington community by providing “extreme makeovers” to nonprofit organizations, such as Amethyst House, a Bloomington-based agency that provides residential and outpatient services for people with drug and alcohol addiction. Working with grant money, donations, and a lot of creativity, Monstera Living has redone the kitchen, dining room, and offices, with the goal of renovating the whole house. “Every year we want to do something that is from our heart,” says Connolly. “But basically, we are a one-stop shop for anyone who wants to add new life to their space.” For more information, visit monsteraliving.com. —Lee Ann Sandweiss
It takes confidence and a leap of faith to launch a new business in the midst of a pandemic, but Andrea Connolly and Olivia Hall say they had an abundance of both when they started Monstera Living, a redecorating, staging, and downsizing business, in September 2020. Connolly and Hall became fast friends while working at French Lick Resorts, where Hall was the lead artist and muralist and Connolly worked in restaurant management. The two had kicked around the idea of one day combining their complementary skill sets and starting a business together. “As soon as we started talking, it all started to click,” says Hall, 51, a native of Windsor, Ontario, Canada. “We had vision boards with quotes, photos, even a dollar bill,” adds Connolly, 54, who hails from northwest Indiana. “Design would be a component of the business, but also other things that we felt people needed during the pandemic. We were confident that it would work itself out.” The partners got their idea for the business’ name while Connolly was visiting Hall in Hawaii, where she lived for a time. “Monstera deliciosa is a species of tropical plant which grows abundantly in Hawaii magbloom.com | December 2021/January 2022 | Bloom 33
health/fitness
Cancer Support Community To Open Bloomington Branch by Susan M. Brackney Cancer patients and their loved ones can expect a warm-and-homey vibe— and a plethora of free services—when they step inside the new Bloomingtonbased Cancer Support Community South Central Indiana (CSCSCI). With plans to open sometime in December at 1719 W. 3rd St., the subsidiary of the Indianapolis-based Cancer Support Community Central Indiana (CSCCI) will afford oncology patients in Monroe and 10 surrounding counties a muchneeded boost. “We have a service or program for just about anyone impacted by cancer,” CSCSCI President and CEO Eric Richards explains. “As an example, if
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someone has a mobility issue as a result of a cancer surgery or treatment, our trained massage therapists or yoga instructors may be able to assist with therapies needed to get things back on track. Or, if a caregiver really needs to talk with others experiencing what they are, they can access our friends and family support group.” CSCSCI’s Bloomington spot has just over 3,000 square feet of space and is situated about a mile east of Interstate 69. “It was important that we found a location that was not only accessible to those living in and near Bloomington, but also for those who live in places like Bedford and Paoli,” Richards notes. “We will emulate our home office
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in Indianapolis and, when people enter, they will enter a comfortable, non-clinical atmosphere with warm tones, comfortable furniture like you’d find at home, and spaces for massage therapy, support groups, reiki, yoga, and more.” Originally founded as The Wellness Community–Central Indiana in 1995, CSCCI has traditionally served Marion and nearby counties. The Bloomington expansion is the result of a $260,000 Bloomington Health Foundation grant. “Without a doubt, [they have] been instrumental in us being in Bloomington and in the south-central region,” Richards says. “There is absolutely no way we’d be where we are—or headed in the direction we are—otherwise. Specifically, funds from Hoosiers Outrun Cancer have made this a reality.” (In fact, as part of its Bloomington Health Foundation agreement, CSCSCI will now manage and implement the popular fundraiser, which will help support the program moving forward.) As for other essential partnerships? Richards names Indiana University Health. “We appreciate their being such an incredible referral source so that folks know we’re here to help,” he says. Want to support CSCSCI or need a little help yourself ? Visit cancersupportscin.org for details.
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Bloomington Yoga Collective A New Downtown Studio
Bloomington Yoga Collective co-owners Eryn Blair (center, left) and Sam Eibling (center, right) relax with students at their downtown studio. Photo by Martin Boling
by Kristen Senz At least two local yoga studios closed during the pandemic, even as surging stress made finding a place to reflect and recalibrate increasingly important, says Samantha “Sam” Eibling. That’s why she and Eryn Blair created the Bloomington Yoga Collective (BYC), a downtown space where local yoga instructors and practitioners can connect with each other and themselves. “For us, this is a passion project and a way to support our community and our instructors,” says Eibling, who also co-owns downtown kitchen supply store Goods for Cooks with her husband and brother. Located on the first floor of the Wicks Building on the north side of the downtown Square, the BYC studio is heated to 85°F—a temperature somewhere between a Bikram or “hot yoga” studio and a standard studio. But it is intended to be figuratively warm as well, say Eibling and Blair, accommodating a variety of people and styles of yoga practice, without pretense or judgement. To emphasize yoga’s contemplative and introspective aspects, Eibling and Blair chose minimalistic décor for the 1,375-square-foot studio space and opted to forgo mirrors. “We just hope you can feel better, mentally and physically, when you walk
out of this space,” says Eibling, who began practicing yoga in 2003. Thirteen instructors, including Eibling and Blair, currently offer yoga classes at BYC.
“We have a 40-year age range in our teachers,” says Blair, who also teaches yoga and modern dance at Indiana University. “Instead of a traditional bio, we asked each of our instructors to provide a personal mission statement” for BYC’s website, Blair notes, to help students select classes. Due to the ongoing pandemic, attendance at in-person classes requires proof of vaccination, and students are allowed to remove face coverings only while at their mats. Additionally, classes are currently capped at 50% capacity, and many have virtual participation options. In addition to yoga classes, Eibling and Blair plan to schedule regular talks and workshops in the studio space. The first event will feature author, brain researcher, and stroke survivor Jill Bolte Taylor, who will present a free talk at 3 p.m. Sunday, December 5, based on her new book, Whole Brain Living. Nikki Meyers, founder of Yoga of 12-Step Recovery, will also participate. “Our hope is to truly be a community space,” says Eibling. For more information about classes and events, visit bloomingtonyogaco.com.
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This was our second time using Kristi to sell, and it was another completely smooth and stress-free process! Kristi’s team handled everything for us. She had offers on the table within the first week of showings and ended up getting us over 110% of the recent appraised value. We cannot recommend Kristi more highly! - Seller, Bloomington
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magbloom.com | December 2021/January 2022 | Bloom 35
food/drink
The IU Campus Farm Food for Thought by Janet Mandelstam Life has slowed down at the 10-acre Indiana University Campus Farm. The winter fields and fruit trees are dormant, but there is still work to do. “We have some produce in greenhouses, there’s maintenance, and we will be ordering seeds and planning for the next growing season,” says the aptly named James Farmer, director of the farm. The land produces crops like tomatoes, lettuce, squash, carrots, and onions, as well as flowers. “But,” says Farmer, “what we produce most is knowledge.” The farm is an outdoor classroom for students, faculty, and the community. The research conducted there “fulfills the mission of a university,” says Farmer. Current research includes studying varieties of organic mulch and exploring ways to extend the growing season. Before joining the IU faculty, Farmer was adviser to the student farm at Earlham College. “I thought, ‘Why shouldn’t students at IU have the same opportunity?’” So he co-founded the farm in 2017. Two words that pepper his conversation are sustainability and
(top) Farm Manager Erin Carman-Sweeney arranges a bouquet made with blooms from this year’s flower harvest; (above) greenhouses at the farm protect produce during the colder months. Photos by Jenn Hamm
SATURDAY, JAN 22 Community Chili Cook-Off Entertainment Some Like It Hot Chili Eating Contest The Mill (642 N Madison St)
a Freezefest event benefiting United Way Tickets & info at monroeunitedway.org (812) 334-8370 36 Bloom | December 2021/January 2022 | magbloom.com
regeneration. “We grow organically, use-appropriate fertilizers, and try to minimize waste,” he explains. That philosophy meshes with the background of Erin CarmanSweeney, the farm’s first and only manager, who grew up on a small organic farm in southern Illinois. “Pre-pandemic we did outreach to young people and IU students, bringing them to the farm” where Farmer led classes on soil health and how to regenerate the soil. Much of the farm’s bounty is shared with local food banks. “It is in our mission to support emergency food relief,” Farmer says. Also on the receiving end is David Tallent, IU’s executive chef. Thanks in part to the farm, Tallent says, “the percentage of locally sourced food served on campus has increased from 1–2% in 2015 to 15% by 2020.” Food picked in the morning can be on a dinner plate on campus that night. “The farm also grows food specifically for us,” says Tallent, who recently requested fennel. Additional produce is sold at a seasonal weekly farm stand. The farmland on Pete Ellis Drive is leased from Bloomington Restoration Incorporated. Community volunteers are welcome. “They can get their hands dirty planting or staff the farm stand or help with social media,” says Farmer. Visit iufarm.indiana.edu.
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For charter requests, please contact our service providers: BMG Jet Center: (888) 457-3787 Cook Aviation: (800) 880-3499
From Monroe County Airport in Bloomington to your Favorite Holiday Destinations l l l l
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magbloom.com | December 2021/January 2022 | Bloom 37
APPED Into Bloomington by Greg Siering
Pilsner: Enjoy the Taste of Brewing History The pilsner beer style was born in Plzeň, Bohemia (now the Czech Republic), when the residents became fed up with the poorquality ale they were drinking and brought in a Bavarian brewer, Josef Groll, with a simple directive: Brew us better beer. In 1842, Groll combined bottom-fermenting lager yeast, lightly kilned malts, and spicy Saaz hops to produce a golden, crisp, hoppy lager that would take Europe by storm. Pilsners are moderate in alcohol content— typically 4.5–5.5% alcohol by volume (ABV)— use lightly kilned malts that lead to a pale golden color and slightly bready flavor, and German noble hops that are herbal, flowery, and sometimes spicy. They are crisp, wellcarbonated, and have a relatively dry finish. The primogenitor of this style is Pilsner Urquell, which is brewed with the same recipe and techniques Groll introduced almost 180 years ago. It pours an exceptionally clear golden-straw color, with a thick white head that lasts. The aroma is a combination of grainy maltiness and slightly herbal and spicy hops. The taste includes some breadiness, but it is dominated by spicy and floral hops, and a bitterness that catches me at the sides of my tongue and lingers throughout the drink. The hops and malt balance well through the crisp, fairly dry finish—a delightful sensory experience. You can pick up this beer at Kroger or try a bottle at The Tap downtown. The German variation of this style—often known as a “German pils”—is similar to its Czech siblings, with some subtle differences in body, dryness, and hop character. One of the better German pils you will find in town is Bitburger, first brewed in 1883. This beer is also a bright golden color, with strong carbonation and very small bubbles, which accentuate the hop flavor and add to the crisp 38 Bloom | December 2021/January 2022 | magbloom.com
Photo by Rodney Margison
body. I think this beer has a bit more malt presence, slightly less aggressive hopping, and a better balance. This pils is easy to drink, but every sip carries delightfully complex aromas and flavors. Find it at Big Red Liquors, The Tap, and the Irish Lion. German immigrants brought pilsners to America, where brewers incorporated locally available corn into their recipes, along with American hop varieties. Bloomington’s Upland Brewing Company offers a taste of this “preProhibition pilsner” in its Champagne Velvet, a recreation of the original 1908 recipe. The beer carries a pilsner’s signature pale gold color, but the aroma is slightly sweeter due to the corn, with floral overtones and hints of white wine. The flavor follows in kind, with subdued malt and hop flavors—well-balanced but less expressive than the European pilsners. Despite its sweetness, this beer finishes fairly dry, with the grain flavors lingering more than the hops. This is a good beer for easy drinking, with more character than mass-produced American light lagers, but not as much complexity as its German and Czech cousins. The next time a craft beer fan scoffs at pale lagers, remind them of their roots, buy them a classic pilsner, and enjoy the taste of brewing history. Prost!
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Jack and Jill Nut Shop A New Generation Takes Over
THANK YOU, IU Past-President Dr. Michael McRobbie We are forever grateful for your bold leadership and 14 years of incredible accomplishments. Wishing you and Laurie all the best in the years ahead. WELCOME, New IU President Dr. Pamela Whitten Congratulations and our good wishes as you take the helm of our great university. You have our support for the challenges ahead.
INSPIRING LEADERSHIP AT INDIANA UNIVERSITY (l-r) Ronnie Lewis and Kamady Lewis took over the business from Kamady’s father, Marc Rudd. Photo by Rodney Margison
by Rodney Margison When Kamady Lewis tells people that she left her career in broadcast journalism to run her family’s small business in Brown County, Indiana, some people think she’s nuts. In a way, she is. Lewis, 35, and her husband, Ronnie, 39, recently became the owners of the Jack and Jill Nut Shop in Nashville, which sells a variety of freshly roasted nuts, a few candies and chocolates, and some nut-related novelties at 78 S. Van Buren St. They took over the business from Lewis’ father, Marc Rudd, who retired earlier this year. Lewis’ grandfather, Leslie Rudd, founded the Nut Shop in 1967, and—around 20 years later—Marc found himself in charge when Leslie died unexpectedly. “He’s been in there seven days a week, 10 to 12 hours a day, for 35 or 40 years since,” says Lewis. Now 72, Marc was ready to “pass the torch.” Lewis grew up among the town’s shops and tourists, graduating from Brown County High School in 2005. She earned a bachelor’s in sports communication from Indiana University in 2009, and after stints in Las Vegas, San Diego, and Ottumwa, Iowa, met Ronnie while working as a TV sports reporter in Shreveport, Louisiana. They moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 2016 and were married in March 2018. Their son, Reagan, was born in September 2019. They left Grand Rapids in August 2020 amidst fallout from the pandemic, and moved to Cleveland, where they stayed for a year. “I love news,” Lewis says. “I love sports. But my priorities just completely changed. I was sick of being five hours from my parents. I want Reagan to be close to them. I want him to have that same, safe, smalltown feel I remember growing up.” So far, the move home is working out. Lewis says business at the Nut Shop has been good, and they don’t plan on changing a thing. Visit jackandjillnutshop.com for more information.
2906 BUICK-CADILLAC BLVD 812-339-2227 VISIT US ONLINE AT CURRYAUTOCENTER.COM
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magbloom.com | December 2021/January 2022 | Bloom 39
bloomington &
by Jack Baker
It’s Good to Celebrate Again With Friends, Food and Wine We require celebration in our lives—a lunch or an evening out with friends, a movie at a theater, a live theatrical production, or live music of any sort. But as of late, there has been little to celebrate. The news is almost always bad, and we are largely constrained to our homes. Life has been depressing and soul defeating for nearly two years now. It’s time to begin, with care, to celebrate the good things in our lives. Take for example a birthday party we held this past June for our dear friend Keith
FRESH
Romaine. On a beautiful summer evening the guests dribbled in to his backyard in typical fashion, some early, some late. With COVID still lurking, we hadn’t seen one another in quite a while. On this occasion, all had been vaccinated and could safely meet up to renew relationships. There was no requirement or rule for wine but everyone brought something to share: cabernet sauvignon from California; malbec from Argentina; sauvignon blanc from New
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bloomingfoods.coop 40 Bloom | December 2021/January 2022 | magbloom.com
Zealand; vermentino from Sardinia; and rosé from Southern France. My old friend Kent, and his wife, Lee—down from Wisconsin—brought a jeroboam of aged Rhone he had been saving for such an occasion. Of course, I had to eye and taste everything for my own edification (or nosiness, take your pick), but it mattered little what anyone brought. Eventually, the group wandered in from the outdoors and settled in for a meal in famiglia, Italian for “family style,” around the
Celebrating with wine and friends. Photo by iStock. com/petrenkod
large table in Keith’s kitchen. His homemade sourdough bread was passed with the salads, one garnished with pansies, lilies, roses, and nasturtiums; the other with caramelized walnuts, strawberries, and spinach. As we waited for the primis, Italian for the “first courses,” more wine was poured and toasts were made to Keith’s birthday. A platter of roasted beet and goat cheese ravioli with hazelnut cream sauce began the rounds, then caramelized grapes and Italian sausage on polenta. At one point during the feeding frenzy, my wife, Jan, called everyone to attention and announced a special treat for our birthday boy. She had helped arrange for opera singer Amanda Biggs to perform. As we sat in quiet awe, Amanda’s voice floated over the hushed room with “Pace, Pace Mio Dio” from Giuseppe Verdi’s La Forza del Destino (The Power of Fate). Her second aria, “Un bel de Vedremo” from Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, brought some to tears. Wine, food, music, and conversation were the ingredients that made the evening. They let us throw off, at least temporarily, our worries and constraints, and gave us an opportunity to reconnect, share, and celebrate with good friends. And I will drink to that.
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science/education
Matt Stark: New Principal at Bloomington High School North by Tracy Zollinger Turner Over his nearly 30-year career as an educator, Matt Stark has often been asked what he teaches. “The right answer to that question is ‘kids,’” he says. “My dream is to do my best to stand in what I love to call ‘reflected light.’ If I can find ways to support a student or staff member and help them get their dream … then I get to live in that reflected light of seeing them achieve.” Stark became Bloomington High School North’s new principal this year after a long legacy as principal at Brown County High School in Nashville, Indiana, where he began his first job as a social studies teacher in 1992. When Stark was asked if he’d like to try school administration, he had been teaching in classrooms for a decade. “I had always been an advocate that my students needed to take chances and try new things, so I got to put my money where my mouth is.” As a high school student in Fort Wayne, Stark planned to attend Purdue University and become an aeronautical engineer. Then an
Matt Stark served as principal of Brown County High School for more than 13 of the last 20 years before starting at Bloomington High School North in July 2021. Photo by Rodney Margison
opportunity to teach a class in business basics to eighth graders during his senior year led him in a different direction. At Purdue, he switched to history and social studies education. “I remember distinctly realizing that I knew that I have to do this for the rest of my life,” he says. “I have found the thing I love.” Stark and his wife, Cindy—a master teacher and instructional coach at Brown County Middle School—married in 2018 and have a blended family of six children, ages 20 to 25. Stark has lived in Bloomington for most of the past 20 years, so the opportunity to lead a high school with three times as many students in a community he was already part of held new, exciting challenges. But there has been the added challenge of coming into the school after the big pivot to online learning last year due to COVID-19. Many sophomores had not set foot in the high school building before this year, while freshmen had missed half of their middle school experience—important times for kids, developmentally. “I don’t think we have a great appreciation for how hard this has been,” Stark says. “The idea that we can muscle through it and toughen up, I think, is unfortunate. We’ve been owning the fact that we have been through trauma and saying so.”
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42 Bloom | December 2021/January 2022 | magbloom.com
25% of Eastern Birds Are Gone IU’s Ketterson Lab Explores Why
(l-r) Ellen Ketterson with Sarah Wanamaker, Ketterson Lab manager and research associate. Photo by Jim Krause
by Susan M. Brackney Remember birds? Our skies once teemed with them. And now? “About 25% of the birds in eastern North America are, in a sense, missing,” says Indiana University Distinguished Professor of Biology Ellen Ketterson. A 2019 study in Science magazine states that North America has lost 2.9 billion breeding birds since 1970. “I recall birds that were more abundant in the sky when I was first starting to be a scientist, compared to how they are now,” Ketterson, 79, says. Habitat loss, pesticide use, light pollution, and more have devastated chimney swifts, kestrels, red-winged blackbirds, and countless others. “If you weren’t there 50 years ago, 40 years ago, or even 30 years ago, this just looks normal,” Ketterson says. “But it’s not normal.” The IU Ketterson Lab has explored whether and how environmental changes affect bird migration. Cues like day length and temperature can influence bird behavior and physiology. These in turn, may impact the timing of bird reproduction. Just why does it matter? “Birds represent so much more biodiversity,” Ketterson explains. “When they’re declining, they’re really representing a
decline in so much of the wildlife and plants that make up the natural world.” She continues, “This isn’t just about making predictions about environmental change. We need solutions. That involves bringing the science to people and having people buy in or not buy in.” And so, Ketterson recently added a robust public outreach component to her work. In part, she credits Bloomington Montessori School teachers and community science enthusiasts Sam and Eve Cusack. “They’ve started, in collaboration with WonderLab [Museum of Science, Health and Technology] and our group, a [youth] camp called Feathers to Flight,” Ketterson says. Together with the Cusacks and IU’s Environmental Resilience
Institute, Ketterson also oversees the local Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survival (MAPS) program. Participants capture, band, and release area birds as part of a national data-gathering community science project. And Ketterson will co-direct the forthcoming Midwest Center for Birds and Biodiversity, a cross-departmental initiative affiliated with IU’s College of Arts and Sciences. “We need social science as well in this conservation effort,” she says. That could mean including people with expertise in geography, communications, sociology, and beyond. “Then there’s implementation,” she adds. “You take the knowledge that you have— and a potential solution—and take it to the world.”
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Common Investment Mistakes and How to Avoid Them Dr. Scott Smart, Ph.D. professor at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business Investment Committee Advisor for Hurlow Wealth Management Group
Webinar 01/25/2022 / 12-1 p.m. EST To Register RSVP@hurlowwealth.com Webinar Details hurlowwealth.com/events P R E S E N T E D BY
Indianapolis & Bloomington 812-333-4726 hurlowwealth.com
magbloom.com | December 2021/January 2022 | Bloom 43
HELP PEOPLE GET HO E FOR THE HOL There's no place like home for the holidays. Because of people like you, Beacon helped house or prevent homelessness for more than 650 adults and children last year, more than any other nonprofit in Monroe County.
This holiday season give the gift of a home.
www.beaconinc.org
Citizen Scientist
by Susan M. Brackney
What Color Is That Squirrel? Set out even one bird feeder and you’re likely to attract a scurry of squirrels, their cheeks ballooning with seedy plunder. Fortunately, their presence can help you become a citizen scientist. Researchers are collecting data on squirrels to better understand the evolutionary effects of climate change, urbanization, and more—and you can help. SquirrelMapper is a citizen science project co-hosted on inaturalist.org and zooniverse.org. Participants snap and submit eastern gray squirrel photos and sort thousands of images by squirrel coat color. “Multiple people will view the same picture of a squirrel and determine ... whether it’s black, gray, or some other color,” explains SquirrelMapper’s Bradley Cosentino, the Department of Biology chair at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. SquirrelFinder—another SquirrelMapper component—encourages users to identify gray and black squirrels in different habitat types as quickly as they can. Black Squirrels? Turns out, some eastern gray squirrels look nearly black. Historically, “black morph” or “melanic” squirrels were common. “They were one of the prevailing color morphs, but that changed in the last 200 years,” Cosentino says. “We hypothesize that the kind of forests we have in our landscape are categorically different than the kind of forests that were here before European colonists.” While forests of yore were packed with oldgrowth trees, today’s woodlands are thinner and brighter. That means black squirrels used to blend in better. But now? “People detect black squirrels faster in the younger, regrown forests,” Costentino explains. As such, researchers are exploring the notion that predation on black squirrels living in rural woodlands is higher than it once was.
44 Bloom | December 2021/January 2022 | magbloom.com
A red squirrel lounges on the Indiana University campus. Courtesy photo
“And now, urban areas are sort of refuges for the black morph,” he adds. City streets may be kinder to black morphs, too. “People detect black morphs faster on road surfaces than gray morphs,” he says. “The black morphs stand out more. So, does that extra second or two give a driver more time to slow down and stop before they hit those squirrels?” Project Squirrel Ohio-based Steve Sullivan is director of Miami University’s Hefner Museum of Natural History. He also oversees Project Squirrel. The ongoing initiative began collecting citizen scientist observations of red fox squirrels and eastern gray squirrels in the mid-1990s. “We see that, in dense urban areas— especially within the natural range of gray squirrels and fox squirrels—it’s possible for them to identify city boundaries,” Sullivan says. “They’re not consciously saying, ‘Oh, here’s one city and there’s the next,’ but they’re responding to [urban] management practices.” He continues, “I suspect it has to do with waste management and leash laws—both regarding cats and dogs. But we also correlate that kind of differentiation with things like street lighting.” You can provide your own Project Squirrel observations at magbloom.com/squirrel.
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Be independent. Shine your light. See you at Morgenstern’s.
Jólabókaflóð (YO-la-bok-a-flothe) n. the Icelandic tradition of giving books on Christmas Eve and retreating to your separate couches to read and sip hot chocolate.
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magbloom.com | December 2021/January 2022 | Bloom 45
community
B-Town to Welcome Afghan Evacuees In Their Most Desperate Time of Need by Craig Coley For nine days in early September, Elizabeth Cullen Dunn distributed toothpaste, towels, diapers, and shampoo to Afghan refugees evacuated from Kabul to Camp Atterbury, the National Guard training post north of Columbus, Indiana. “They were traumatized, jet-lagged, and exhausted with every fiber of their being,” says Dunn, who is director of the Bloomington Refugee Support Network. Some of these same people may resettle in Bloomington soon, and the community will have opportunities to help them acclimate. The State Department designated Bloomington as a resettlement site in September. Exodus Refugee Immigration, a nonprofit organization based in Indianapolis, will open a sub-office here to oversee activities. Cole Varga, Exodus’ executive director, says Bloomington could welcome anywhere from 30 to 200 evacuees in the coming year. Varga’s immediate goals are to hire a director for Bloomington operations, find a space to work, and raise a lot of
Arriving refugees from Kabul, Afghanistan, board a bus at Dulles International Airport in Virginia to be taken to a refugee processing center nearby. Photo by Ken Cedeno/Sipa USA (Sipa via AP images)
cash. Varga says the government funds resettlement at $2,275 per person, about $1,000 of which goes to Exodus’ administrative costs. That leaves a family of three, for example, with $3,825 to start a new life in a new country. “It’s not a lot of money, and it goes fast,” Varga says. Exodus Bloomington has a Facebook page where people can learn about ways to support the effort. As evacuees arrive— probably in the next two months—donations of specific items will be solicited. Dunn, who also serves on Exodus’ board of directors, says the best way to help is by donating money. “When Exodus has money, they can buy exactly what people need, and that’s so much easier than trying to piece it together from donated stuff,” Dunn says. “You get really targeted help at exactly the moment people need it.” Faith communities, service organizations, and others will be sought to form welcome teams to support resettling people for one year. While Exodus takes charge of the big challenges like finding an apartment and a job, the welcome team will be trained by Exodus to assist with daily life. “If you move to a foreign 46 Bloom | December 2021/January 2022 | magbloom.com
country, you have no idea how anything works,” Dunn says. “So you need someone to show you how to go to the post office, how to get your cell phone set up, where you get school supplies. All that day-today-living stuff the welcome team helps with for a year. They’re friends, mostly.” Right now, evacuees at Camp Atterbury and seven other sites across the country are undergoing medical and security screening checks. Bloomington could receive evacuees from any of the eight sites. Almost half of the population at Camp Atterbury is younger than 18, and Dunn expects to see many families with young children moving here. Varga says the evacuees will have work permits, and Dunn says the male heads of household will generally speak English. “These are highly skilled people coming into a labor shortage,” Dunn says. “I talked to one man who asked me how he could recertify as a prosthodontist, because that was his original training.” Varga says he has had good conversations with Bloomington officials and is excited to have the Bloomington community as an ally in Exodus’ resettlement efforts. “One of the best things that we do as a country is welcome people in their absolute most desperate time of need,” Varga says. Visit exodusrefugee.org or bloomingtonrefugees.org for more information. Learn how to help by finding @ExodusRefugeeBloomington on Facebook.
@lorenwoodbuilders
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The sign outside Camp Atterbury, where Afghan evacuees sought refuge this autumn. Courtesy photo
magbloom.com | December 2021/January 2022 | Bloom 47
L. Jon Wertheim: From BHSN to 60 Minutes & Sports Illustrated by Carmen Siering While he hasn’t lived in Bloomington since leaving for college in 1989, L. Jon Wertheim says he feels an attachment to his hometown, a place where he saw a lot of examples of success. “When I was in high school, Indiana University won the national championship [in 1987], Bob Knight was the Olympic coach [in 1984],” Wertheim says. “Everyone loved the movie Hoosiers, and Hoosiers was written by Angelo Pizzo, who lived down on South High Street. It didn’t seem like you were from a small town with an 812 area code. It felt like you were living in a city where there was all this possibility.” Wertheim, 51, is executive editor of Sports Illustrated, a contributing correspondent to 60 Minutes, and an
analyst for Tennis Channel during its coverage of the Grand Slam tournaments. He’s also written 10 books. His latest, Glory Days: The Summer of 1984 and the 90 Days That Changed Sports and Culture Forever (Mariner), was released in June. Wertheim, a graduate of Bloomington High School North, says he doesn’t consider himself an athlete, but he played sports growing up—mostly tennis and basketball. “My parents were academics. They weren’t sportsy, and they weren’t from Indiana,” he says. “But I picked up really early that sports was a language you had to speak in southern Indiana.” He was also a voracious reader and a writer. As a teenager, he was the Bloomington North editor for a now-defunct Herald-Telephone high school insert, but it
L. Jon Wertheim grew up in Bloomington and is now executive editor of Sports Illustrated. Courtesy photo
Insurance · Employee Benefits · Retirement Services
took him awhile to realize he could make a career out of telling people’s stories. After graduating from Yale University with a bachelor’s degree in history, he took a gap year to work for the Portland Trail Blazers’ magazine, calling the experience one of the greatest years of his life. “But whether it was because of guilt or it was just the path of least resistance, I went to law school,” he says. He never practiced law. Instead, he took a summer internship with Sports Illustrated before his final year of law school at the University of Pennsylvania. The magazine offered to pay for his last year if he agreed to come on board as a legal expert. He’s been there since 1997. Wertheim lives in New York City with his wife, Ellie. They have a son, age 20, and a daughter, age 18, both away at college. “We’re a month into the empty nest,” he says. “We’re just getting used to that.”
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48 Bloom | December 2021/January 2022 | magbloom.com
A Family Holiday Musical
MUSIC BY
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DEC 21 - JAN 2
at the Buskirk-Chumley �eater
PAY WHAT YOU WILL ON MOST TICKETS cardinalstage.org // (812) 336-9300
Bloomington: Dog-Friendliest Town in the Entire Universe!
Illustration by Mike Cagle
by Sophie Bird & Canine Correspondent Yogurt Abrams
Bloomington is a dog’s town, and our love for our four-legged family members is reflected in the myriad of local organizations, businesses, and services that help them lead their happiest lives. From puppy play dates to a transport service that picks your dog up for day care, we’ve sniffed out a list of offerings for your favorite canine.
Mad 4 My Dog
Switchyard Dog Park
The Dog House
4235 W. Ind. 46 mad4mydog.com
1601 S. Rogers St.
1999 S. Yost Ave. trydoghouse.com
Mad 4 My Dog, which expanded in 2020 to include a larger selection of dog food and toys, offers full-service grooming, an array of training classes, and regular play dates where dogs can socialize with other pups, make friends, and expend extra energy. All play dates and classes are supervised by experienced trainers who seek to help owners communicate with their dogs lovingly and effectively.
Bloomington’s newest dog park, Switchyard Dog Park, provides seven acres of puppy fun right in the heart of Bloomington. Dogs can enjoy some time off leash in either the small dog or large dog areas, so long as they are spayed or neutered, at least four months old, and up to date on their shots. The park offers a small agility course and seating for humans. Switchyard Dog Park is open daily from 5 a.m.–11 p.m.
The Dog House offers boarding and doggie day care services for pups of all sizes—and will even pick up and drop off your dog at home through their pet transport service. While at The Dog House, pups enjoy a cage-free environment and have the option of exploring the doggie swimming pool in warmer months. The company’s pet supply store offers same-day delivery for orders placed before 2 p.m.
BloomingPaws
Whitehall Animal Country Club
Bone Appetit
3409 S. Walnut bloomingpaws.net
8251 W. State Rd. 48 waccinfo.com
211 S. Van Buren St., Nashville barkinggood.com
BloomingPaws, located across the street from the Bloomington Animal Shelter on the city’s south side, bills itself as a provider of one-stop pet care. The organization offers a full-service veterinary clinic, a day care with indoor and outdoor play areas and a doggie splash pool, boarding services that include your choice of pet apartment or suite, and grooming that features optional spa treatments for dogs (and other furry friends).
Whitehall Animal Country Club has been providing dog grooming and boarding services in Bloomington since 2000. Boarded canine guests receive ample affection throughout the day, have access to a constant supply of fresh water, are provided with their usual brand of dog food, and listen to Canine Lullabies at night. And for pups that are prone to trouble, humans can rest assured: Whitehall guests are monitored 24/7 using a closed-circuit television system.
Bone Appetit dog bakery in Nashville, Indiana, specializes in all-natural dog treats and offers more than 20 different flavors that meet various dietary restrictions. Specialty treats celebrate birthdays and adoption days, holidays, and the seasons. Treats can be purchased online or in-store—but pups who attend Bone Appetit “in person” get a free snack.
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Applied Canine Behaviors 1491 E. Sample Road appliedcaninebehaviors.com Applied Canine Behaviors offers boarding services and training classes, including both private and group training sessions. In-kennel training sessions are also offered, during which the dog trains on a more structured training schedule while being boarded. Training includes puppy packages, behavior modification packages, and a limited time “Back on Track” package to help ease dogs and their humans back into a sense of normalcy following the pandemic. Boarded pups enjoy a country setting on four fenced-in acres and are exercised off leash four times daily.
fine contemporary jewelry shop conveniently online
Ferguson Dog Park 4300 N. Stone Mill Road bloomington.in.gov/dogpark With a total of 18.7 fenced-in acres on Bloomington’s north side, Ferguson Dog Park provides plenty of room for pups to run, play, and socialize. With an area for large dogs and one for small dogs, canine friends can pick on someone their own size while humans look on from one of the shaded seating areas. Drinking fountains and wash stations are open in the warmer months. Be sure to check out the Ferguson Dog Park location on Facebook to learn about upcoming play groups and other special events. The park is available from 5 a.m.–11 p.m. Wednesday–Monday and Tuesday from noon–11 p.m., free of charge.
812.336.3100 205 N. College Ave. Bloomington, IN 47404 www.argentum-jewelry.com
Bloomington Pet Pals bloomingtonpetpals.com Bloomington Pet Pals provides in-home pet sitting services with personalized care for your pets while you’re away. The sitters will take care of the basics until you return, and will also see to special needs like medications. Each visit from Bloomington Pet Pals includes fresh food and water, exercise, clean-up of any messes, cuddling and lap time, and any other home maintenance tasks like watering plants, gathering up mail, or adjusting blinds and lights.
Emerald Isle Canine 3332 N. Windcrest Dr. emeraldislecanine.com Emerald Isle Canine offers Day School training classes where your four-legged family members can be trained 2–3 times per day while you’re at work. Pups work on commands like “heel,” “sit,” and “down,” and are then given the opportunity to go on a walk and play with other dogs before resting until the next training session. For dogs—or humans—that are a little nervous about being away from home, the Home School option allows a trainer to come to your home and train your dog for about an hour each workday. Emerald Isle Canine trainers also offer pet-sitting services that range from drop-in visits to overnight stays, and can take your dog on walks, hikes, or park visits while you’re unable to do so.
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‘Charlie Bird Loves Bloomington,’ And so Does Artist Winnie King
(left) Charlie Bird Loves Bloomington book cover. Courtesy image (right) Winnie King. Photo by Lisa Walker
by Paul Bickley “I’ve come a long, long way from crumpled-up, notebook-paper comics doodled in the back of an elementary school classroom,” says Bloomington artist Winnie King, 23, who was recently commissioned to illustrate the children’s book Charlie Bird Loves Bloomington, a fundraising project for the health care of Charlie, Bloomington’s resident macaw. King has also created promotional comics for Blu Boy Chocolate Café and Cakery; logo and poster designs for a local roller derby league; T-shirt designs, postcards, and activity-book illustrations for Bloomington’s Krampus Night Christmas event; and illustrated portraits. Describing herself as an “artist and graphic designer who specializes in comics,” King cites the comic strip Garfield as a major early influence. Her own work, however, is far less traditional. She’s at work on a comic book series called The Mind Twins, about identical twin superheroes who are both openly autistic. “The twins exhibit many quirks and behaviors that may come off as odd,” she says, “but they aren’t ashamed of their diagnoses—in fact, being autistic plays a large part in how their psychic powers work.” For three years, King, who was diagnosed with autism and ADHD at age 13 and is a member of the LGBTQ+ community, has also been writing and illustrating Candi and Macaroon, a comic strip about two women sharing a happy life. “My identity paired with my disability made it hard to feel content in knowing that I was different from other people,” King explains. “I want my readers to see people being openly different and being happy.” The Ivy Tech Community College–Bloomington fine arts student would like to publish her work someday. “I would also like to continue finding ways to lend my art to Bloomington,” she says. “I love this town dearly, and I want to make it prettier any way I can.” Visit Winnie King Comics on Facebook. Charlie Bird Loves Bloomington is available at Morgenstern’s and The Book Corner.
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MEMORIALIZE Your Loved One in
Bloom A tribute in Bloom Magazine is a way to forever commemorate your loved one’s legacy. FEATURES
v A full-page In Memoriam in full color on beautiful, high-quality paper. v Up to four photographs of your loved one and family. v Professionally written and edited text. v A digital file that is yours to keep. v A tribute that is ideal for framing to display or gift. v Two months on local newsstands. v Featured on our website, magbloom.com, and easily linked to your social media. v 12 copies of the magazine to send to family and friends.
Bloom Magazine is available at over 200 retail businesses and other outlets in Bloomington, as well as select locations in Brown County, Ellettsville, Spencer, and Martinsville. Bloom has a readership of approximately 30,000.
FOR MORE INFORMATION AND PRICING, CONTACT
Cassaundra Huskey 812-323-8959 ext. 2 or cassaundra@magbloom.com.
The B-Town Piano Project Fun with Art and Music by Julie Gray You may have spotted exuberantly decorated pianos popping up around town—at Artisan Alley, Soma Coffee House and Juice Bar on East 3rd Street, and the Village Pub, to name a few places. Chandler Bridges, Jr., an assistant professor of audio engineering and sound production at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, is the impresario behind the movement he’s calling the B-Town Piano Project. Bridges, who has been playing the piano since age 4, has two motivations. “Most people have some sort of tune in their heart,” he says. “They might know Heart and Soul or Chopsticks. I want them to be able to sit down at a piano and have the fun of sharing music with others and expressing themselves.”
He’s equally moved by the plight of piano owners who want to find a new home for an instrument they no longer play. “People love their pianos,” Bridges says. “I had one retired lady who’d had her piano since she was in third grade. She just wanted to see her piano get used.” Pianos are heavy and expensive to move, however, which is how Bridges can help. “I’ve got friends, ramps, and dollies,” he explains. His team transports neglected but
(above) A B-Town Piano Project piano painted by Bloomington High School South students, stationed outside Soma at 1400 E. 3rd St.; (right) project founder Chandler Bridges Jr. with the piano decorated by Bloomington High School North students; (opposite page, l-r) Alessio Marekese and Alesandro Previtero enjoy the piano located outside Nourish at 217 W. 6th St. Photos by Jenn Hamm
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still playable pianos to local artists who decorate them. They then place the pianos around town. The transformed pianos are visually as well as aurally tempting, Bridges says. For instance, a group of Bloomington High School South students painted an oceanic piano with fish swimming on its sides and an octopus perched next to the keyboard. Bridges got his idea from public piano projects in New York City and Florence, Alabama. “Bloomington seemed like the perfect spot for a similar project,” he says. “I told myself that I had to see what I could do here.”
So far, he hasn’t formally incorporated as a nonprofit organization. He’s been paying for any expenses himself and has relied on enthusiastic volunteers, including Artisan Alley Executive Director Adam Nahas. Nevertheless, given the size of the instruments he’s working with, he says he does sometimes ruefully wonder, “Why didn’t I do something with piccolos?” To find out more, visit btownpianos.com or follow the project on Instagram at @btownpianos.
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SpruceforUp
Spring COMING IN THE
F E BRUARY / MARC H ISSUE OF BLOOM MAGAZINE
ALL ADS HALF PRICE Discounted advertising section for home-related businesses. Contact CASSAUNDRA HUSKEY for more information, 812-323-8959 ext. 2 or cassaundra@magbloom.com. DEADLINE TO SIGN UP JANUARY 3.
Father and Son Team Launch Health Products for Gamers
(l-r) Murtagh and Jeff Thinnes launched SummaForte in 2020. Photo by Martin Boling
by Tracy Zollinger Turner A deeply competitive and spectator-driven world has developed within video game culture over the past two decades. More and more gamers are making a living playing professionally in tournaments or on teams, garnering corporate sponsorships and millions of followers through live streaming on YouTube and Twitch. According to Murtagh Thinnes, a former business consultant at Ernst & Young who grew up with a passion for gaming, the industry is now “starting a lot of conversations around physical health, mental health. And there’s a major unmet need around healthy performance products.” Murtagh and his father, Jeff—an experienced consultant who founded his own international firm (JTI, Inc.) over 20 years ago—also felt that the market for CBD/cannabidiol products has enormous growth potential. “Our early research indicated that the CBD market is going to grow from $5 billion to somewhere around $70 billion in the next few years,” says Jeff. That’s why they launched SummaForte in 2020. Believing that “a truly science-driven, high-quality brand” of CBD could be successful, the father-son team sought scientific counsel to find quality and ethical sources for its SummaForte products. The first two—SummaTape and SummaMix—were specifically designed to serve the niche community of professional eSports athletes. SummaTape is a therapeutic kinesiology tape designed to relieve repetitive stress injuries with a transdermal dose of CBD. SummaMix is CBD in a powdered form with spearmint grown in Indiana and lutein derived from marigolds in India that are meant to combat the eye and cognitive strain that accompanies hours and hours of computer screen time. So far, things have been going well for the duo, both graduates of Indiana University. They have garnered extensive investments through the IU Angel Network—including $35,000 in their early “friends and family” round of funding, then about $460,000 in a more recent “seed round.” The products are currently available online at summaforte.com.
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Look GOOD
FeelGOOD
A guide to navigating local health care, wellness, and beauty solutions. BY
Linda Margison /
PHOTOGRAPHY BY
Martin Boling
Hickory Audiology Hear Well to Live Well
WE LISTEN… YOU HEAR. Professional hearing healthcare provided by your Bloomington Audiologists ELIZABETH THOMPSON AUD LISA GOERNER AUD, CCC-A
L O C AT E D AT :
533 S LANDMARK AVE, SUITE B IN BLOOMINGTON S C H E D U L E YO U R A P P O I N T M E N T !
812-668-2056
HICKORYAUDIOLOGY.COM
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Dr. Elizabeth Thompson opened Hickory Audiology because she has a desire for people to live their best life—and that starts with good hearing health. She explains how, in the early years of hearing loss, people frequently ask others to repeat themselves; at some point, they stop asking, go along with the crowd, and laugh when everyone else laughs. “Part of living your best life is hearing well and engaging in the conversation, being part of the joke and hearing the stories that your grandkids are telling,” Thompson says. “Hearing health gives you confidence in your ability to communicate with people.” During initial visits, Thompson and Dr. Lisa Goerner conduct hearing tests to evaluate where hearing is at that moment. They then discuss a client’s hearing challenges and how they want it to be. For instance, Thompson will ask if the person likes to go to concerts, attend plays, or talk with friends and families. “We find out what sounds are most important to them,” she says, adding that those answers help tailor appropriate treatment options. Thompson says evidence connects hearing loss and dementia, with hearing loss being the number one modifiable risk factor for dementia. By addressing hearing, a person can make a positive change in overall health. “Being able to communicate with those around you and being part of the conversation helps you live a better life,” she adds. “To hear is to understand, to understand is to perceive, an to perceive is to be present.” Visit hickoryaudiology.com.
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116 w 6th st, bloomington
www.royalehairparlor.com
Evergreen Village Affordable Assisted Living Having welcomed its first residents in 2018, Evergreen Village at Bloomington offers affordable options for all-inclusive assisted living. The three-story, 115-apartment community for people age 62 and older serves up to 183 seniors, providing food, utilities, nursing care, and shuttle services to doctors’ appointments, activities, and community outings for one price, either privately paid or through Medicaid’s assisted living waiver. “The affordable financial piece is something that hasn’t been in the Bloomington market, so seniors had to stay home or with family members or bring services into their apartment,” says administrator Josh Dodds. “That works for some people, but there’s a point when it doesn’t anymore. We don’t charge people for needing something a little extra one or two times a month. It’s the same rate regardless of how many times you push your call light.” Residents at Evergreen Village live in private apartments with a kitchenette, spacious bathroom, and emergency alert system. They have access to around-the-clock personal assistance and help with medications from the certified nursing staff, as well as housekeeping, laundry, restaurant-style dining, barber and beauty shops, and social and recreational activities. They can also be part of the community’s decision-making process by participating on the resident and food councils. “This allows people to continue to have more control over their lives,” Dodds says. “We offer the security of knowing someone is available, but also give residents the independence to do as they please and come and go as they please.” For more information or to schedule a tour, call Lisa Payton at 812-336-2718. magbloom.com | December 2021/January 2022 | Bloom 59
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Monroe Hospital Patient-Focused, Professional Care Is the Best Care If not for Monroe Hospital’s Dr. Matthew Parmenter, 38-year-old Erica Garrett says she would be learning to stand as an amputee rather than going on short walks, up and down stairs, and living her best life. Garrett first met Parmenter, a podiatric surgeon boardcertified in reconstructive lower leg and foot surgery, wound care, and hyperbaric medicine, after she sustained second- and thirddegree burns on her feet during a family trip in Michigan. “When I got to Monroe Hospital, I was greeted by wonderful doctors and nurses, and they sent me to meet Dr. Parmenter. He healed my wounds and helped my feet get better,” Garrett says. Flash forward four years to Garrett having a severe leg infection after a kidney transplant. Doctors at a larger hospital told her that the only option was to have her left leg amputated below the knee, but she insisted on being sent to Dr. Parmenter. “If he decided that it needed to be amputated, then I would allow him to do it, because he’s the only doctor I trust—he has my best interests at heart.” But Parmenter didn’t amputate her leg—he knew there was a better option. “She said she felt better receiving our care because we saved her in the past,” recalls Parmenter. He arranged to have her transferred to Monroe Hospital, where he and his entire team saved her leg through a combination of antibiotic implants, hyperbaric medicine, xenografts with antibiotics and stem cells, and a healthy dose of personal care. 60 Bloom | December 2021/January 2022 | magbloom.com
“It’s our goal to salvage more extremities—because it affects the whole family and we do a good job here,” he says. “It isn’t always a big corporate hospital that gives you the best care.” Having her ability to walk restored, Garrett agrees with that. “I can enjoy time with my family, spend time with my animals—I have two dogs—and just enjoy daily life, things that we all take for granted that I cherish now,” she says. “I wouldn’t be able to do this if I had my foot amputated like the other doctors told me.” The experience helped her build lasting relationships with her providers. “Dr. Parmenter’s an excellent guy,” Garrett says. “I not only consider him as my doctor, but he’s also my friend—I consider him family as well.” Visit monroehospital.com.
(l-r) Innell Garrett, Erica Garrett, LaRone Garrett, Xenobia Garrett, and Avaughn Garrett. Photo by Anna Powell Denton
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Monroe County YMCA A Healthy Safe Haven to Escape Stress and Chaos Focusing on the health of a person’s spirit, mind, and body has become even more important during the COVID-19 pandemic, says Jason Winkle, YMCA of Monroe County CEO. “The chaos, the stress, the anxiety, the alienation, the polarization that has accompanied this pandemic—it’s overwhelming to people,” he says, explaining that a June 2020 survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 31% of respondents had experienced symptoms of anxiety and depression and 13% had started using or increased their use of substances to cope. “We are in a time where stress and anxiety are real,” Winkle adds. “We’re all searching to find a safe haven and escape from that anxiety and chaos. That’s what our staff is trying to create for people—a safe haven, a place where you can come and let the stresses of life go to the wayside.” Winkle says research points to an undeniable connection between the mind and the body. “Our physical health impacts our mental health, our mental health impacts our physical health,” he says. “When you’re healthy you’re happier, more generous, more grateful.” Winkle acknowledges that simply walking into the YMCA for the first time can cause its own anxiety. That’s why a wellness coach will walk new members around, show and demonstrate equipment, explain rules of the organization and how to navigate the building, and answer questions about personal training and group exercise classes. The fitness professional will also 62 Bloom | December 2021/January 2022 | magbloom.com
(l-r) Ivan Martindale, Kellie Thurman, and Marta Hamilton work up a sweat during a TRX circuit training class instructed by Kristy Nicola (standing) at the Northwest Y. Photo by Martin Boling
introduce them to other members, which Winkle says is one of the most important aspects of the YMCA. “Our members are a really important part of making people feel welcome,” he says, explaining that members look out for one another and check in when someone is absent. “Members come here not only for the fitness and wellness, but for the community and for their friendships. It’s important to get people plugged in with other folks and build those relationships. Our staff is critical in making those connections.” With two indoor facilities, the Y helps members of all ages focus on their mental and physical fitness even when winter weather doesn’t cooperate. “We serve an entire lifespan of needs,” Winkle says. “The Y is so important because it builds community by really supporting and focusing on healthy living, youth development, and social responsibility.” Visit monroecountyymca.org.
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Vibrant Life Healthy Sex Life, Healthy You Imagine forgetting to water a houseplant that eventually shrivels and loses its luxurious texture. If someone comes along with a big drink of water, that plant rejuvenates. That’s how Dr. Clark Brittain, with Vibrant Life, explains what happens when a menopausal woman goes without proper hormones. “All of a sudden you get rejuvenated with the proper dose of hormones and all of those tissues come to life again,” he says. Brittain explains that patients receiving hormone pellet treatment often remark that their friends notice how good they look. “They have a bounce in their step and a better outlook and they feel better with better mental focus and energy,” he says, adding that targeting intimate health issues positively impacts many other areas. “A healthy sex life boosts your immune system, lowers your risk for cardiac disease, resurrects and maintains relationships, keeps your entire body healthy, and, when you think about it, you even burn up some calories when you’re having sex—so there’s an athletic component to it.” Using bio-identical hormone pellets, soundwave therapy, platelet-rich plasma infusions, and other treatments, Vibrant Life addresses erectile dysfunction and erection duration, size, and sensitivity, as well as women’s menopausal symptoms like intercourse pain, improving orgasms, function of the vagina, and more. “In relationships where one person is interested and the other isn’t, we can improve that,” Brittain says. “Patients come in and say, ‘You saved my marriage.’ It’s really important to keep that spark going to keep the relationship solid.” For information, visit drbrittain.com.
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hŎǛĩ æŻƿƢ rŻƪƷ ßŎĚƢþűƷ hŎŁĩԀ SűƷŎůþƷĩ NĩþŦƷʼn ֒ NŻƢůŻűĩ ¦ĩƟŦþěĩůĩűƷ ŻƪůĩƷŎě hþƪĩƢ ƪĩƢǛŎěĩƪ ֒ hþƪĩƢ NþŎƢ ¦ĩůŻǛþŦ
'Ƣ ƢŎƷƷþŎűԄěŻů ҉҂҃Ԅ҄҄҂ԄҊ҂҇ҁ
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O N E C O M M U N I T Y.
One Decision. You’ve made many decisions in life. As your resource partner, we’re here to answer your questions and assist you with a smooth transition.
812-332-2355 www.BellTrace.com
Take our free assessment at cardon.us/bloom
INDEPENDENT LIVING ∙ ASSISTED LIVING ∙ REHABILITATION ∙ LONG TERM CARE
Bell Trace ‘Feeling Good Means Feeling Connected’ During the COVID-19 pandemic, Bell Trace Senior Living community has continued to provide a variety of activities and programs—like exercise classes, Tai Chi, art, social hour, movies, lectures, laughter yoga, balance class, and line dancing—to help residents feel connected, stay active, and remain social. “The more people engage, the better they feel,” says Barbara Carroll, director of residential marketing. “Living in a senior community can have a positive impact on a person’s ability to socialize and engage. That’s especially important when COVID-19 has impacted how people engage with their churches, families, and other groups that were a constant in their lives before the pandemic.” Carroll says residents normally enjoy attending performances, lectures, and sporting events at Indiana University, as part of their active lifestyle, but participating in the community in that way changed during the pandemic. Carroll says the challenge was finding a way to continue helping residents stay engaged, while also being safe. “It was impossible to replace the joy and excitement of attending a live event,” she says. “However, modern technology allowed us to visit museums and zoos all around the world via Zoom and to see classic performances on YouTube. We got to cheer on our favorite teams as we watched tournament games from years gone by.” Carroll adds that the same technology has helped residents stay connected to family and friends, which is important to
maintaining good spirits. Using Zoom and FaceTime is a new experience for many of Bell Trace’s residents, but they have adapted and been able to continue being a part of the outside world while staying safe at home. The staff, armed with iPads, made this possible by spending lots of time with residents to help them connect with family members all over the world. The same technology and techniques have been used for medical appointments. Carroll says connecting to virtual experiences online, participating in exercise groups and mall walking, and learning new things can also help people stay active and engaged. “Feeling good means feeling connected,” she says. “Looking forward to activities can make all of us feel happy.” To learn more, visit belltrace.com.
Residents of Bell Trace Senior Living community take part in an exercise class. Photo by Martin Boling
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SMALL BUSINESS
Spotlights
Ed Schwartzman.
Gables Bagels
Ed Schwartzman, Owner As a 60-year-old Jewish man born and raised in Queens, a borough of New York City, Ed Schwartzman says bagels are in his
blood. He remembers waking up Sunday mornings to the sound of a bagel bag being rustled after his dad had stopped at Slim’s Bagels in their neighborhood and brought home a bag stuffed with warm bagels. “He would scream out, ‘Bagels!’ and I would come running down like a Doberman smelling cheese,” Schwartzman says. “Those bagels were fresh from the oven—you would hear the bag, and he would open the bag, and the smell would just permeate through the whole house. It was heaven.” Schwartzman’s first job was baking bagels in that same neighborhood shop, which had the perk of allowing him to “shove as many bagels in your gourd as possible,” he says. “When you’re 16 and burn calories for a living, it wasn’t unusual for me to eat three or four bagels, literally, with eight ounces of cream cheese.” But then, “life takes you here and there like a leaf,” and Schwartzman landed in Bloomington, bought BuffaLouie’s restaurant, and conceded that he would have to live life without exceptional bagels. That is, until a restaurateur in Ohio wanted him to open a bagel franchise here. While the product
Global Gifts
Dave Debikey, Manager
Global Gifts. Courtesy photo
As a nonprofit, fair-trade organization, Global Gifts, 122 N. Walnut, provides opportunities for marginalized communities in India, Nepal, Kenya, Ghana, Peru, Ecuador, Guatemala, Thailand, Vietnam, and other countries that would otherwise be unable to access the marketplace. “We provide that opportunity by paying fair prices, ensuring families can afford to send their kids to school, have access to clean water and medical care, and have their basic needs met,” says manager Dave Debikey. That has been especially difficult because of the pandemic. Although fair-
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BY
Linda Margison PHOTOGRAPHY BY
Martin Boling
didn’t meet Schwartzman’s standards, the experience sent him on a quest to bring New York bagels to the Midwest. His search steered him to a bakery that makes bagels, flash freezes them, and ships to sellers around the world. With a simple business plan—no storefront, online orders only, no cash— Schwartzman opened Gables Bagels. Every other day he receives 10 to 15 cases of authentic New York bagels, which he keeps frozen at BuffaLouie’s and sells by the dozen either frozen or freshly baked. “Bagels are kind of like chicken wings— they’re okay to eat by yourself, but, to me, it’s a group food,” Schwartzman explains. “My family and friends, at the temple—it always meant I was with people eating bagels.” Adding to the plain and strawberry, Gables Bagels has hired a sous chef to make fresh spreads—cream cheese and chives, lox, and cinnamon raisin. “You put the cinnamon raisin spread on a plain bagel, and you’re gonna want to be alone for a few minutes,” he says. “Now I’ve got killer bagels, killer spreads.” Even though he admits it sounds hokey, Schwartzman says Gables Bagels is a labor of love. “It’s something that was my first job and it’s part of my childhood,” he says. “I feel like Johnny Appleseed turning people on to New York bagels.” Visit gablesbagels.com.
trade importers continued to buy product, artisans have had to find ways to work around extended lockdown periods and curfews, says Debikey. “It’s been a huge challenge, but it’s something that is part of what we’ve all been doing.” While Global Gifts continues to require masks and has limited capacity requirements for the holidays, Debikey encourages patrons to plan ahead, shop early, and to use online shopping if possible. “We have really worked through and improved our website and how it functions so people can shop online,” he says, adding that shoppers can choose to pick up curbside. “We provide a space where people can come in and feel good about the items they are purchasing, knowing that they are ethically sourced and that they are supporting families.” For more information, visit globalgiftsft.com.
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Kelly Jennings and Amanda Hyde, Co-Owners
(l-r) Kelly Jennings and Amanda Hyde.
By making a move that doubled their retail area, MIRTH is providing a more comfortable and open environment for customers to peruse their collection of products that had been overflowing its smaller shop space. “This has really allowed us to spread out the merchandise, and we’ve brought in much more,” says Amanda Hyde, who co-owns MIRTH with Kelly Jennings. The extra space has allowed Hyde and Jennings to expand their footwear collection and add lifestyle and home
Rebel Purl
Mary Ramsey, Owner
Mary Ramsey.
When Mary Ramsey first moved to Bloomington from Seattle, Washington, 11 years ago, a girl she worked with invited her to a knitting group. When she said she didn’t knit, the girl told her, “Oh, that’s fine. They’re cool people.” Ramsey felt an instant connection with the welcoming fiber community, and soon learned she could never stop playing with yarn. “I was like, ‘I gotta learn how to do this,’” Ramsey recalls. “So I got a library book and learned how to knit.” As her love for yarn crafts grew, Ramsey began dyeing yarn and selling it
Juniper Gallery
Jaime Sweany, Owner
Juniper Gallery. Courtesy photo
Sweany says much has transpired since she lived in Owen County 25 years ago. She owned and operated two successful Bloomington businesses— Wild Birds Unlimited and Wandering Turtle Art Gallery—and Spencer has transformed its previously shuttered downtown storefronts into colorful, renovated shops and eateries, bustling with energy and life. In 2018, impressed by Spencer’s rebirth and potential, Sweany says she turned to Owen County to combine her passions for art and nature into a worldclass gallery and creative hub. Juniper Art Gallery features artwork by the Midwest’s
décor products like blankets and candles. They also have an additional fitting room and are situated on the street front where people can walk in. “It’s just good all the way around,” Jennings says. “We’re very thankful for the customer base that has helped us grow, but we’re also not afraid to make big decisions or take the leap,” Hyde adds. “The theme we’ve had since the beginning is to not be afraid to take the next step. We moved to a location twice as big during a pandemic, and that comes with a lot of expenses. Some might think it’s risky, but for us, we knew that we needed to expand in order for our business to grow. We had to take that step.” For more information, visit MIRTH at 101 W. Kirkwood, Suite 117, or mirthmarket.com.
from an online shop. After three years, she decided that she really wanted to create a gathering space similar to her first encounter with knitting, so she found affordable space to rent and opened the brick-and-mortar Rebel Purl. Besides her own dyed yarn, stitch markers, and tools, Ramsey provides a venue for local artisans to sell and display their products, including Evie’s Craft Room, Indigo Guinea Fibers, JC Llamas and Alpacas, Fairywood Fiber, Studio Knitboop, and more. She also offers beginning and advanced classes taught by her and outside teachers. “I want Rebel Purl to be a good community for other people—somewhere they can go and be comfortable,” she says. For information, visit 303 S. Hickory Drive or rebelpurl.com.
finest regional artists in the Paul & Margaret Sweany Legacy Room, and visitors enjoy a nature-themed artisan gift shop and monthly art and music events. “Spencer has a friendly, small-town feel, with the oldest state park in Indiana nearby and the meandering White River at the end of Main Street,” Sweany says. “It is gratifying to help Spencer become a destination for art and shopping. With Indiana University and Bloomington only 20 minutes away, and McCormick’s Creek two miles from the Square, a drive to Spencer is a perfect daytrip.” In addition to Juniper Art Gallery, attractions include Owen Valley Winery, Tivoli Theater, Relics, Unraveled Quilt Store, Dragonfly Gallery, Spencer Pride, Main Street Coffee, Jit’s Thai Bistro, and the Civilian Brewing Corps. Hours vary by season. Visit juniperartgallery.com.
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Spencer Celebrate the Holidays in
I N D I A N A
Juniper Art Gallery 46 E. Market St. Spencer, IN 47460 JuniperArtGallery.com 812-714-8038 OPEN TUES-SUN, OCTOBER & NOVEMBER / OPEN DAILY IN DECEMBER (THROUGH CHRISTMAS!)
Civilian Brewing Corps 14 N. Washington St. Spencer, IN 47460 CivilianBrewingCorps.com 812-652-5072 WED-SUN 11-9
Main Street Coffee 1 N. Main St. Spencer, IN 47460 812-714-8155 TUES-FRI 7-3, SAT 8-3 CLOSED SUN-MON
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Juniper’s artisan shop offers artsy, handmade, local, regional, and international fair-trade gifts, including jewelry, ceramics, glass, apparel, homeware, notecards, books by Indiana authors, children’s gifts, nature-themed products, and much more. There are two designated art gallery rooms. Most notably, the Paul and Margaret Sweany Legacy Room features artwork by 32 of the Midwest’s finest regional artists. Please note: Juniper follows CDC guidelines regarding facemasks.
Civilian Brewing Corps is Spencer’s destination for great beer, amazing food, and good company. We are a family-friendly brewery, restaurant, and local gathering spot for lunch and dinner. Check in for daily food specials, rotating beers on tap, and unique craft sodas. We hope to see you soon!
Established in 2014, family owned and operated, Main Street Coffee + Kitchen invites you to our cozy space for an eclectic menu and handcrafted espresso drinks. Join us for breakfast, lunch, or coffee with friends. Come in a stranger and leave feeling like family.
Come celebrate holiday festivities in a charming atmosphere where the wonder of the season fills the air. Find unique gifts, local eats and drinks, and lively entertainment in Spencer and Owen County.
DK Sweets 127 S. Main St. Spencer, IN 47460 DiamondKSweets.com 812-821-6566 MON-FRI 11-4, SAT 10-3 HOLIDAY HOURS THROUGH DEC. 23RD ONLY MON-FRI 10-5, SAT 10-4
Sweet Owen Convention & Visitors Bureau 54 E. Market St. Spencer, IN 47460 SweetOwenCVB.org 812-714-8110
Spencer’s one-stop confection destination for sweet-tooth cravings and delicious gift-giving needs. Featuring our popular Fudge O’ Bits®, plus specialty gourmet pretzels, brittles, caramels, toffees, and more; all made onsite at our Spencer factory. Also offering 100+ different bulk candies, gummies, and novelty items, perfect for stocking stuffers. Last-minute gift exchange? Something for that hardto-buy-for person? We have gifts! Family owned and operated, helping you make sweet memories.
Visit Sweet Owen County—rich history, rural charm, natural beauty Home to Indiana’s first state park— McCormick’s Creek • Find that special Christmas gift in our local shops. • Contact us for information about shopping, dining, and attractions, or pick up a variety of brochures and maps at the visitors center. • Spencer Christmas at the Square—Sat. Dec. 4 • Gosport Holiday Festival—Sat. Dec. 11
VISIT OUR WEBSITE FOR A GUIDE TO SHOPS, RESTAURANTS, EVENTS, AND MORE.
Unraveled Quilt Store 381 Fletcher Ave. Spencer, IN 47460 812-821-0309 TUES BY APPT. ONLY WED-FRI 10 A.M.–5 P.M. SAT 10 A.M.–2 P.M.
Located in Spencer, Indiana, Unraveled Quilt Store draws quilters from all around the state and across the country. Named one of the Top 10 Quilt Shops in the Better Homes & Gardens Quilt Sampler magazine’s Spring 2021 issue, we offer a wide variety of fabrics. We have something for everyone. We have a beautiful classroom available to rent on a daily basis for quilters to hide away with their friends. We also offer Longarm Services.
In 2020, there were 6,358 people in Monroe County who identified as “Latino,” a general term used to describe those with roots in Central or South America, Mexico, or countries in the Caribbean. Photos by Jim Krause and Martin Boling
Bloomington’s
COMMUNITY PROUD, COMPASSIONATE, HARD-WORKING
By Carmen Siering Photography by Martin Boling & Jim Krause
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Casillas explains that the 1970 census used the term “Hispanic” for the first time, “but some people didn’t like that because it connects us to Spain and colonization.” Latino became the preferred moniker for many, but not all. “The person who matters is the one in front of you,” Casillas says. “Let them tell you about themselves. What do they say? ‘I’m Mexican’? Then that’s what matters. ‘I’m from Chicago’? Then that’s what matters. They’ll tell you what they want you to know.”
Lillian Casillas has been director of La Casa/Latino Cultural Center at Indiana University for 27 years. Photo by Martin Boling
As one person interviewed for this story explained, “If you’ve met one Latino ... you’ve met one Latino.” That’s because to say someone is Hispanic or Latino tells little except that their family originates from
Latinos in Monroe County
The number of people identifying as Latino has steadily increased in Monroe County over the years. In 2020, the county’s 6,358 Latinos made up 3.7% of the county population, up from 2.9% (4,029) in 2010. Yllari Briceño is an interpreter, translator, and filmmaker from Peru. That’s where she met her husband, Michael Montesano, an American citizen. In 2013, they
a Spanish-speaking country. “Latino” is an umbrella term, a convenient way of categorizing people with roots in Central or South America, Mexico, or Caribbean countries. However, that’s where generalizations end. A Latino person may or may not speak Spanish and may or may not have been born outside the United States. In fact, not all Latino people use the word “Latino” at all. “What we call ourselves is very personal,” says Lillian Casillas, director of La Casa/Latino Cultural Center at Indiana University.
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Interpreter, translator, and filmmaker Yllari Briceño produced the documentary Somos Tus Vecinos (We Are Your Neighbors), which features 18 members of the Bloomington Latino community. Photo by Martin Boling
BLOOMINGTON’S LATINO COMMUNITY
moved to the United States when Montesano was accepted into a graduate program at IU. In 2018, Briceño approached Josefa Madrigal, coordinator for the City of Bloomington Community and Family Resources Department’s Latino Outreach program, with the idea of making a documentary featuring local Latinos. That film, Somos Tus Vecinos (We Are Your Neighbors), is available on the Latino Outreach website and on YouTube. It features 18 members of the Bloomington Latino community discussing their experiences immigrating to and living in the United States. Casillas was part of the documentary and sums up the way many feel about claiming the Latino label, saying, “I personally consider myself Mexican, but in the U.S., especially in Bloomington, because there is a small community, I consider myself Latina. In that way, I feel part of a bigger group.” Those interviewed for the documentary make it clear they are proud of being Latino while holding on to the culture of their home countries. Being born in this country is not an impediment to that sense of cultural identity. Bloomington Police Department (BPD) Officer Gabriela Esquivel was born in Chicago and lived there until she joined the Marine Corps in 2014. She moved to Bloomington in 2019 when she was hired by the BPD. She speaks Spanish and English and serves as a translator for the department. Her identity is very much tied to her parents’ country of origin. “My mom was born in Mexico and my dad’s parents were born in Mexico,” she says. “I wouldn’t just call myself American; I am Mexican American. We identify more with our Mexican culture. We’re very proud of our roots. Just because I was born in the United States doesn’t mean my culture isn’t from elsewhere.”
Coming Together
The Latino Community Organizes
According to the IU La Casa/Latino Cultural Center records, “In 1971, the Indiana Daily Student put out a call for assistance in forming an office that would address the needs of a growing Latino student body.” In 1973, the IU Office of Latino Affairs was created and its director, Horatio Lewis, helped to establish the La Casa/Latino Cultural Center, a student support center offering tutoring and counseling services. “It was the direct result of student activism,” Casillas says. “Students were seeking a voice within the university
through ethnic studies and through student centers. This was happening across the country, and we were no different. They were looking for someone who would advocate for them as part of the Latino community.” And for nearly 20 years, it was the only resource for the Bloomington Latino community.
Officer Gabriela Esquivel of the Bloomington Police Department serves as a translator for the department. Photo by Martin Boling
Casillas grew up in northwestern Indiana. She came to Bloomington in 1985 as an undergraduate, part of the Groups Scholars Program. After graduating in 1989 with a bachelor’s degree in Spanish, she received a teaching certificate and planned to move to Arizona to teach. Then the director’s position opened at La Casa. “I thought, ‘Let’s try it for a year,’” she recalls. “A lot of what I do here is teaching. It’s advocating, education, and working with my community, but also the community at large. It’s everything I love. I’ve been here now a total of 27 years.” As the Latino community within Bloomington grew, it became clear that support was needed for non-university affiliated Spanish speakers. In the mid-1990s, the City of Bloomington Community and Family Resources Department established the Latino Outreach program. “When it started, newcomers weren’t really connected, and language was an issue,” says Beverly CalenderAnderson, director of the Community and Family Resources Department. “La Casa may have been the only place in the community where they could find help locating resources.” Yet, by 1999, despite efforts from the City, Casillas noticed increasing numbers of Latinos from off campus seeking assistance from La Casa. A group of concerned university and community women organized to discuss how they might help the growing Latino population in Bloomington.
“When we first started, it was women helping women,” Casillas says. “There were a couple of faculty, some grad students, and community women. We realized we were all helping people in the community and realized we should organize ourselves.” To coordinate their efforts, the group formed La Central Latina. And working with other agencies, they soon recognized the need for a Latino community center, which led eventually to the creation of El Centro Comunal Latino, a space within the Monroe County Public Library. There, Latinos had a place to meet to discuss challenges facing their community, a space for events, and a place where those new to the community could secure reliable information about health, safety, and work-related issues. Because of their overlapping missions and goals, in 2003, La Central Latina merged with and took the name of El Centro Comunal Latino. Today, El Centro Comunal Latino, La Casa/Latino Cultural Center at IU, and Latino Outreach at City Hall form the foundation of support for Bloomington’s Latino community.
Helping Newbies
El Centro Comunal Latino & HealthNet Bloomington
El Centro Comunal Latino is often the first stop for Latinos new to Bloomington. Located in Room 200 of the public library, 303 E. Kirkwood, El Centro offers a variety of resources, from health education and youth tutoring to document translation and interpretation. But its most significant efforts may be in direct services, including orienting Latino immigrants to their rights and responsibilities in the United States. Maritza Alvarez is El Centro’s director and health coordinator. “It’s confusing for people who have just arrived,” Alvarez says. “Listening is important. We need to ask, ‘What do you need the most? Where do you want to put your time?’ It’s a lot of cultural work.” Briceño, the documentary filmmaker, understands how it feels to have to navigate the systems of a new country. When she and her husband moved to the
Originally formed in Costa Rica by David Dávila González in 2011, Matixando is now Bloomington-based and performs throughout the area, around the U.S., and in Central America and Mexico. Photo by Katie Beck
United States from Peru in 2013, they first moved to New Jersey, where her husband’s family lives. “At the beginning it was kind of a cultural shock,” she says. “I could speak English, but I had never lived in an English-speaking country.” After four months, the couple moved to Bloomington so her husband could begin his graduate studies. Soon after they arrived, Briceño became pregnant. “When I was pregnant, we didn’t know about insurance, so we were paying out of pocket, until we just couldn’t pay any more,” she says. “There were a few months when I couldn’t see a doctor. Then I found Volunteers in Medicine [now HealthNet Bloomington Health Center].” Through the clinic, she was able to finish her prenatal appointments. Back when HealthNet Bloomington was Volunteers in Medicine (VIM), Shelley Sallee was its clinic manager. She still is. She’s been with the organization since 2008, and explains that years ago, VIM received funding from the Monroe County Health Department to pay for the services of nurse midwives to see prenatal patients at the clinic. “There is Emergency Medicaid for patients who don’t qualify for any other kind of health care or can’t afford health care and are at an income level of extreme poverty,” Sallee explains. “A part of that is for women who are pregnant and don’t qualify for insurance. Emergency Medicaid will pay for delivery of the baby, but not for prenatal care. At the clinic, we were concerned about that, so we reached out to the health department. And we continue to get funding for prenatal care today.” Sallee says that Indianapolis-based HealthNet is very supportive of the programs VIM had in place before becoming part of its network.
BLOOMINGTON’S LATINO COMMUNITY
In addition to OB-GYN services, the clinic offers pediatrics, family practice, behavioral health services, and dental care. “The patients like it,” Sallee says. “They can come in for their health care, their children’s health care, their parents’ health care. All in one place.” The clinic has access to interpreters via a phone line, but Sallee says there are several staff members who speak Spanish—including doctors and a nurse, a social worker, and a dental assistant. Sallee is proud of the way Bloomington organizations work together to ensure patients continue to get help after they leave the clinic. “We know we aren’t alone in this,” she says. “We reach out to people. When we have patients we know are connected to El Centro, we get their permission in writing to reach out to El Centro so we can work with them. We have a great community that cares about making sure everyone gets care.” Maritza Alvarez, El Centro’s director, is also its health coordinator. She arrived in New York from the Dominican Republic in 1989. An accountant in her home country, she couldn’t work here because of the language barrier, so she went to school to learn English, then started on the path to a new career. “When I was an accountant, there was a voice telling me I was wasting my time,” she says. “I always wanted to learn about the human body, but I didn’t know what it took to become a nurse. When I came to the U.S., I was a home
IU Health–Bloomington was represented at Bloomington’s 2021 Fiesta del Otoño, a celebration of Latin American culture held at Bryan Park in September. Photo by Jim Krause
health aide, a CNA [certified nursing assistant], an LPN [licensed practical nurse], then an RN [registered nurse].” Through El Centro, Alvarez offers health education programs to the Latino community. “Latinos have a high incidence of diabetes type 2. One out of two of us,” she says. “So, I organize talks. I find out what they know about diabetes, and I give them educational information. We talk about walking. We walk a lot in our home countries, but we lose that when we come here and get a car. We talk about how to eat, how much to eat. We talk about how to make meal plans.”
Hard Times in the Pandemic
Like many organizations, El Centro’s focus shifted during the pandemic. Jane Walter, an ally to the Latino community, served as El Centro’s director for five years. Her term ended in June 2020. Now she’s a member of its board and continues to oversee fundraising efforts started during the pandemic shutdown. “With the pandemic, our population was wiped out,” she says. “The people working in restaurants, hotels, child care, in-home elderly care, those were the people who were hit particularly hard. When you have people who are low income and lose their jobs, the impact is huge.” From April 2020 through mid-August 2021, El Centro raised $121,600 through COVID-relief grants and $55,600 through donations. Sources of funding included United Way of Monroe County COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund Phases 1 through 5, a City of Bloomington Jack Hopkins Social Services grant, significant donations from local religious organizations, and a GoFundMe page set up by Indiana University professor of history Ellen Wu, a member of the Bloomington Immigration Task Force. Individual donations included $10,000 from a single couple and the donation of stimulus checks from multiple individuals. “This outpouring was unbelievably great,” Walter says. “We could see an ocean of need and we were going to drown in it.”
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1973 IU Office of Latino Affairs is created and remains open until 1999.
La Casa/Latino Cultural Center opens. Its name is often shortened to La Casa or the IU Latino Cultural Center.
Mid-1990s
1999
Latino Outreach program is established by the City of Bloomington Community and Family Resources Department.
IU Latino Studies Program opens under the direction of Dr. Jorge Chapa.
people, we were all talking to each other. In the pandemic you just saw people helping people.”
The City Pitches In
Jane Walter served as director at El Centro for five years. Photo by Martin Boling
El Centro offered up to $500 per month to each household—families without access to the unemployment benefits and stimulus checks many Americans were receiving at that time. In addition to money, El Centro was doing what it had always done—helping members of the Latino community find resources at existing Bloomington organizations set up to help in times of need. “There’s more to it than rent,” Walter says. “We were trying to connect them with other groups like the Salvation Army, which continued to see people inside their building throughout the pandemic. St. Paul Catholic Church has a fund for parishioners. I go to that church, so I asked about it. Everyone was trying to be there for
One of the people helping Walter coordinate the collection and distribution of the pandemic funds was Josefa Madrigal. She and her eight full-time staff members at the City’s Latino Outreach program work to connect Spanish- and English-speaking Latinos to community resources, offering help finding legal assistance, educational opportunities, seasonal tax help, translation services, and health care. The office organizes the annual City celebration of National Latinx/Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15–October 15) and produces ¡Hola, Bloomington!, a Spanish-language radio program. Madrigal is also the staff liaison to the City’s Commission on Hispanic and Latino Affairs, which was created by ordinance in 2007 and consists of nine people appointed by either the mayor or common council. “They identify the issues that are impacting the Latino and Hispanic community, with a focus on health, public safety, education, and cultural awareness,” Madrigal says. Indiana State Police Captain Ruben Marté, 59, has been a commission member for eight years. Born in the Dominican Republic, Marté says he came to the United
LATINO RESOURCES IN BLOOMINGTON La Casa/Latino Cultural Center at Indiana University
Somos Tus Vecinos (We Are Your Neighbors)
lacasa.indiana.edu
bloomington.in.gov/latino/somos-tus-vecinos
City of Bloomington Community and Family Resources Department’s Latino Outreach Program
El Centro Comunal Latino
bloomington.in.gov/latino
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elcentrocomunal.com
BLOOMINGTON’S LATINO COMMUNITY
1999–2001 La Central Latina is formed by Bloomington residents to help those in need of non-university community resources.
2003 El Centro Comunal Latino is created, providing a physical space for “all Spanish-speaking people and other Latinos” to go for resources and to meet.
States at such a young age he doesn’t remember doing so. He grew up in the South Bronx and moved to Bloomington nearly 30 years ago.
Addressing Policing Concerns
Commission members work together to problem solve. Marté says he had to do that when setting up meetings for different community groups to discuss their concerns with local law enforcement officials. The meetings were held at City Hall prior to the COVID-19 outbreak. “When we met with the police and the Black community, it was elbow to elbow,” he says. “But then, with the Latino community, there were only two families.” Shelley Sallee, the HealthNet Bloomington clinic manager, is also on the commission. Marté says the two brainstormed and decided that Latino community members might feel more comfortable if the policing meetings were held at the clinic. “Then it was elbow to elbow, but that was because Shelley was involved and they trust her,” Marté says. “And when I spoke to them, I wasn’t in uniform. I was in plain clothes.” A second meeting was held at the clinic, this time with
2007
La Central Latina and El Centro Comunal Latino merge their identities and boards, keeping the name El Centro Comunal Latino.
City of Bloomington Commission on Hispanic and Latino Affairs is created by ordinance.
BPD Chief Michael Diekhoff, Monroe County Sheriff Brad Swain, and representatives from the Indiana University Police Department all in attendance. Everyone was in uniform. Marté represented the Indiana State Police. “I wanted them to see the different uniforms, and I wanted them to know we aren’t Immigration, we aren’t ICE [Immigration, Control, and Enforcement],” he says. “Depending on where you are, that might be the case. But it’s not the case here.”
Indiana State Police Captain Ruben Marté moved to Bloomington nearly 30 years ago. Photo by Martin Boling
HealthNet Bloomington Health Center
¡Hola, Bloomington!
indyhealthnet.org/Bloomington-Health-Center
wfhb.org/category/public-affairs/holabloomington
City of Bloomington Commission on Hispanic and Latino Affairs
La Escuelita Para Todos (Little School for All) facebook.com/escuelitaparatodos
bloomington.in.gov/boards/hispanic-latino-affairs
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Bloomington Police Department Chief Michael Diekhoff. Photo by Martin Boling
BPD Chief Michael Diekhoff echoes Marté, saying his department is here to protect people—all people— in the event of a crime. “We’re here to serve and to help everyone,” Diekhoff says. “The federal government and Immigration don’t have access to our records. We don’t run checks on people.” Diekhoff said an unfortunate truth is that undocumented immigrants are sometimes targeted for criminal acts. “We’re aware of that,” he says. “And we’re aware they’re afraid to report it for fear of being deported. We want them to report it so they can navigate the services they need. That’s our concern, not their immigration status.”
‘ ¡ Hola, Bloomington!’ On the Air
Another way the City’s Latino Outreach program works to keep tabs on the concerns of the Latino community is through the Spanish-language radio program ¡Hola, Bloomington! Airing on WFHB-FM every Friday from 6 to 7 p.m., ¡Hola, Bloomington! features news, entertainment, and public opinion, and frequently has a guest who speaks on a topic of interest submitted by listeners. Past shows have featured discussions about health care, personal finances,
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and other common concerns, as well as conversations with local artists and City officials. “¡Hola, Bloomington! is steered by volunteers,” Madrigal says. “Some of them have been there for 10 years. The guests don’t have to be Latino, though many are.” The show isn’t just for adults. Madrigal has worked to create a space for young people on the program. She uses her own life as an example of why she feels this is important. “I grew up speaking Spanish,” she says. “But I remember when I was at IU, I was speaking Spanish with my friends and a woman said to me, ‘Speak English. This is America.’” That harsh comment stuck with her. She doesn’t want today’s teenagers to feel any shame associated with their culture. “I want the teenagers to be proud of who they are, no matter what language they speak,” she says.
Dual language immersion programs
Born in Chicago, Madrigal moved to Bloomington to attend IU in 2001. She attended the IU Police Academy— graduating in 2006—and worked for the Indiana University Police Department. She graduated from IU in 2008, then served as a patrol officer with the BPD before taking a position as a domestic violence assistant in Indianapolis. Three years later, she took a similar position with the Monroe County Prosecutor’s Office. She started in her current position as staff liaison to the City’s Commission on Hispanic and Latino Affairs in 2016. “I grew up speaking Spanish at home, but my children didn’t,” Madrigal says. “I was a single mom with my first son, and it was a lot—being in the police academy, going to school. My son had a speech impediment and I got frustrated, so we stuck to English. That was my fault. With the second child, I’m doing better.” When the opportunity presented itself, she and her husband, Nick Luce, enrolled their younger son in one of the Monroe County Community School Corporation’s (MCCSC) Spanish-English dual language immersion programs.
BLOOMINGTON’S LATINO COMMUNITY
“When he started in the dual language program, he became more comfortable with the language,” she says. “Before, he wouldn’t speak Spanish at home. Now he has friends who speak Spanish with him, and friends who practice their English with him.” Two MCCSC elementary schools offer dual language immersion programs—Summit Elementary and Clear Creek Elementary. The programs began with the 2017–18 school year and are funded through grants from the Indiana Department of Education. The program has grown with the students and is now offered in grades K–5. As the students move forward, so will the program, until it is offered all the way through high school. Students are taught to the same state educational standards, but half of their day is spent learning in Spanish and half in English. The program helps Spanish-speaking students hold on to their heritage language because it is an additive bilingual program, says Eve Robertson, principal at Clear Creek. “Oftentimes, an educational program will have an emphasis on teaching students English,” Robertson says. “But in an immersion program, half of their day is spent in their original language, and they learn English better because we are building on the foundation of their Spanish. If they are learning half the day in Spanish, they can continue their academic growth.” Before the pandemic, El Centro offered La Escuelita Para Todos, the Little School for All, which was held each Saturday. The school offered a dual language program of
Daniel Soto teaches Spanish to (l-r) Cesar and Sebastian Isidro at La Escuelita Para Todos, the Little School for All. Soto established the school where children learn Spanish while their Spanish-speaking parents learn English. Photo by Mike Waddell
sorts—while the children learned Spanish, their Spanishspeaking parents learned English. Established by Daniel Soto, La Escuelita shut down during the pandemic, but Soto hopes to have it up and running again in 2022. El Centro has also joined forces with La Casa to offer tutoring to young Latino students. IU students serve as mentors, offering the younger children a vision of themselves on campus in the future, Casillas says. The program started up again for the 2021–22 school year. “You have Latino [IU] students on a campus that is predominately white, and the K–12 students are in a predominately white school,” she says. “They are sharing an experience. They can talk about it, and it helps to validate their experience: ‘This isn’t just a Latina student tutoring me, it’s someone who understands and legitimizes my experience.’” For older MCCSC students, Bloomington High School North has Amigos Club. Elizabeth Sweeney, an English teacher and the club sponsor, says Amigos Club is a mix of Spanish and English speakers, and meetings are bilingual. Everyone is encouraged to speak in whatever language is more comfortable Eve Robertson (center) meets with students (l-r) Nina Ruz, Maddilyn Vanmeter, and Trevor for them. Hammock. Robertson is principal at Clear Creek Elementary, which hosts a dual language immersion program. Photo by Martin Boling
“It’s a space designed for them, and it promotes unity,” Sweeney says. “We’ve seen a shift in the Latino population in the last four or five years, from a population that was primarily from Mexico and Central America to one from Venezuela and Columbia. Still, they have a shared language and some commonalities and a support system. Even though they are different, the more support we can create for them, the more empowered they can feel in claiming this community for themselves.”
A Bloomington Latino community
Soto, the founder of La Escuelita Para Todos, has lived and worked in Bloomington for decades, and knows the importance of creating community. Originally from Costa Rica, Soto moved to the U.S. in 1978 for graduate school. After a short stay in New York City, he moved to Bloomington in 1982. Now retired, he worked for International Services at IU and Latino Outreach. He’s well known among local Latinos for his emphasis on volunteerism and community building.
Esther Fuentes is banking center manager and assistant vice president at Old National Bank. She has served on the board of El Centro since 2010. Photo by Rodney Margison
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Performers on stage at Fiesta del Otoño in Bryan Park. Photo by Jim Krause
Soto’s father worked for the diplomatic service in Costa Rica. His family was in Chile at the time of the 1973 coup, then escaped to Argentina, eventually returning to Costa Rica. “But I wasn’t the same person I was before,” Soto says. “I needed to help other people. A lot of the refugees from Chile would come to the embassy. That’s how my volunteering started, how I became a volunteer with Amnesty International. And when I came to the United States, it was my natural way of doing things. I had to help.” Teaching other Latinos to help is something Soto has had to do as well. “I have asked some immigrants about helping someone and they say, ‘I don’t know how,’” Soto says. “And I say, we have to learn.” Maritza Alvarez, El Centro’s director, explains that both volunteering and accepting help from nonprofit organizations is unheard of in many Latin American countries. “We don’t have free things like that in our countries,” she says. “If you had a problem and you were my neighbor, I would help you. You don’t go to public places. Latinos are very hard working.” That work ethic is something that was instilled in Esther Fuentes, banking center manager and assistant vice president at Old National Bank. Her parents divorced when she was 2, and Fuentes lived in her home country of Nicaragua until she came to live with her mother in the United States when she was a teenager in 1992. She’s lived in Bloomington since 2010 and served on El Centro’s boards since then. “I was brought up working,” Fuentes says. “Whether it was in the house or at the market to bring in some money. It is something we all do there to help the family. When I came here, I moved up in my profession due to that hard work ethic.” When she started in banking, she began as a teller and decided she would be a manager within three years. It took
BLOOMINGTON’S LATINO COMMUNITY
her three and a half. She’s been in management for 18 years, and feels her job supports other Latinos. “The Latino community trusts someone who speaks their same language,” she says. “They can see the sense of care.”
Spanish at Church
Sergo Lema would agree with Fuentes. As the Iglesia Hispania pastor at Sherwood Oaks Christian Church, 2700 E. Rogers Road, Lema ministers to the spiritual needs of the Spanish-speaking members of the church. Lema immigrated to the United States from Bolivia in 2016, moving to Texas with his wife, Sarah Carrasco, to finish his theological studies. The couple, who have two sons ages 6 and 4, moved to Bloomington in May 2019.
‘You’re welcome here’
As more Latinos move to Bloomington, there will be more opportunities to make them feel welcome. In just the few years he’s been here, Lema has seen signs of that happening. “The first time I went to the mall, just two years ago, everything was in English,” he says. “Then the pandemic shut everything down. When we went back, my son said to me, ‘Dad, they’re speaking Spanish [over the sound system].’ And I realized they were trying to make us feel at home in this place. That helped me to start looking for that in other places. And I’ve seen it.” He says he has noticed more signs in both English and Spanish, and other instances of people trying to break through the language barrier. “Sometimes people will try to speak Spanish to make me feel better in a restaurant,” he says. “I can speak English, but for the families who only speak Spanish, it is a very good way of saying, ‘You’re welcome here.’”
*
LATINO POPULATION IN THE U.S.
(l-r) Sergo Lema, the Iglesia Hispania pastor at Sherwood Oaks Christian Church, and sons Josue, 6, and Bejamin, 4. Photo by Martin Boling
Lema says Sherwood Oaks draws a lot of Latino families to its Spanish-language services. “Probably every Sunday we have 50 or 60 people,” he says. “During the week, maybe 80 or 90 people in Bible studies and groups, meetings and lunches.” During the Spanish-language Sunday service, the children are sent to the larger, English-language children’s ministry. Lema says he isn’t worried about the children losing their connection to the Spanish language at church—they are exposed to it by default. “You know, there is a difference between when the English service ends and the Spanish service ends,” Lema says with a laugh. “We have like an hour and half for chatting. We start talking with everyone!”
Before 1980, there were only limited attempts by the United States government to collect data on the country’s Hispanic population, which was relatively small before the passage of the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act. The 1970 census sampled a small portion of Americans, asking if they were of Mexican, Cuban, Central or South American, or other Spanish origin. The 1980 census asked all Americans the same question. The 2000 census added the word “Latino.” It’s important to note that the Hispanic/Latino category is described on census forms as an origin, not a race, because Hispanic people can be of any race. According to the 2020 census, the Latino population in the United States grew by 23% in the last decade. There are 62.1 million Latinos in the United States, making up 18.7% of the total population, up from 16.4% in 2010. Latinos accounted for just over half of the country’s growth since 2010.
Dr. Pamela Whitten waves to onlookers while leaving the IU Auditorium after being inaugurated as Indiana University’s first woman president. Photo by James Brosher/IU Communications
Getting to Know IU’s 19th President A CONVERSATION WITH
DR . PAMEL A
WHITTEN
Interview by Malcolm Abrams and Sophie Bird / Photography by Rodney Margison
S
he is Indiana University’s first woman president in 201 years, but that’s not all that makes Dr. Pamela Whitten different. When asked how she would like to be addressed, she simply replied, “Call me Pam.” As the Bloom editorial staff drove to meet President Whitten at Bryan Hall, we saw her walking alone along East 4th Street, noticeable in her bright red blazer. She had a takeout cup from Soma in hand, which she later told us contained a chai tea latte. Soma is located several blocks away from Bryan Hall—the Indiana Avenue Starbucks is closer—but President Whitten prefers local.
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I
U’s 19th president is out there—mixing it up with students, faculty, and regular Bloomingtonians. She is friendly, unpretentious, and seems to easily engage with everyone. Walking with her near the Sample Gates, we noticed that students waved to her as she passed. Two students stayed to watch our outdoor photo shoot and hung around to chat with her. “We just wanted to meet Pam,” they told us. President Whitten is a private person. She is reticent to talk about family or her adolescent years, but the details she was willing to provide indicate a close-knit family with her children and grandchildren, husband, and siblings. “Putting students first” is her mantra, an objective any university president might expound. But President Whitten is all about the students— interacting with them, listening to them, sharing their concerns. And as friendly and warm as she was during her October 18 interview with Editor Malcolm Abrams and Deputy Editor Sophie Bird, it was during those moments with students that she really connected. We hope this question-andanswer interview will help you get to know the 19th president of Indiana University a little better. Dr. Pamela Whitten.
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A C ONVER SATION WIT H DR . PAM EL A W HI T T EN
ABRAMS: What’s your impression of Bloomington so far?
PRESIDENT WHITTEN: It’s fantastic. It’s so funny because I get asked all the time, “What do you think about Bloomington? How do you like living here?” And I always just want to say to the person, “You live here, how can you even ask that question?” Right? I mean, I think it’s the best college town in America.
ABRAMS: There’s so much curiosity in the community about you, because in 201 years there have only been 19 IU presidents—and you’re the first woman. But there’s so little information that’s been published about you. So, here goes. Let’s start at the beginning—where were you born?
PRESIDENT WHITTEN: Tallahassee, Florida. But I didn’t live there very long.
ABRAMS: Where did you grow up?
what initially was the public sector, and then when we moved to Rhode Island, he was the executive director of a nonprofit organization that did work to try to figure out how you maximize use of public resources to optimize outcomes. He did all kinds of projects for many, many years. Obviously, he’s been retired for a while now.
ABRAMS: What kind of kid were you? Were you a cheerleader, were you a science nerd, somewhere in between? I know you’re interested in athletics. Were you an athlete?
PRESIDENT WHITTEN: I grew up in a time when if women or girls weren’t elite athletes you just didn’t really play sports. There wasn’t that much opportunity. So, no, I wasn’t an elite athlete at all. But I’ve always liked playing pickup games and running and all those kinds of things.
ABRAMS: What were your interests as a kid, as a teenager?
PRESIDENT WHITTEN: You know, it was really a mix of places. When I was very young, I lived in the Midwest, then I lived in Tennessee until high school, and then when I was 14 my parents moved to New England and I went to high school in Rhode Island. And then I went back down to Tulane to go to college and began the great adventure.
ABRAMS: What did your parents do? PRESIDENT WHITTEN: My mom was a stay-at-home mom, and my dad, it’s hard to explain what he did. He did work in
President Whitten chats with two students who wanted to meet her after Bloom’s outdoor photo shoot on campus.
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PRESIDENT WHITTEN: A little bit. They all have similar lives and lifestyles. They all went on to do wonderful things in their careers and, like me, all got married and stayed married forever and had kids. We’re still all very close.
ABRAMS: How long have you been married?
PRESIDENT WHITTEN: Thirty-six years. Since 1985. I was 21. We got married in Rhode Island a week after we graduated from college.
ABRAMS: Your husband, Jason, I’ve heard him described as an IT entrepreneur. President Whitten attends a performance at IU’s Musical Arts Center with her husband, Jason. Photo courtesy of IU Communications
PRESIDENT WHITTEN:
PRESIDENT WHITTEN:
He’s a software developer. And he works primarily on a consulting basis.
I was already watching a lot of sports as a kid. I’ve loved college sports forever, ever since I was a very little girl. I was into school—I was a pretty good student. I had a very healthy social life in high school, as well. I would say I was just kind of a runof-the-mill kid.
ABRAMS: Do you have siblings?
PRESIDENT WHITTEN: I do. I have a sister, who’s about 15 months older than me, and I have a twin brother. We are fraternal twins. Growing up, I can’t tell you how many people have asked us—they still do—“Are you and your brother identical twins?” and I’m just like, “Nope, we’re not.” And then I have a little brother also.
ABRAMS: Are they scattered around the country?
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ABRAMS: In everything that I’ve read about you, you point out three major areas that you are concerned about: putting students first, research and discovery, and improving the lives of people throughout Indiana.
PRESIDENT WHITTEN: Thank you for knowing that. Those are the three core missions that we have as an institution, so moving forward, I think we want to stay focused on accomplishing them, and obviously there is a lot of interplay and overlap between the three.
ABRAMS: Sophie, who graduated from The Media School in 2019, will ask you some questions later about the student experience. I’m interested in the idea of expanding the economy in Bloomington, Monroe County, and beyond. Can you elaborate?
A C ONVER SATION WIT H DR . PAM EL A W HI T T EN
PRESIDENT WHITTEN:
ABRAMS:
That means a couple things to me. It means being cognizant of preparing tomorrow’s workforce for all the different things that a local community in the state of Indiana needs. And sometimes that’s a direct profession or skill set for today, but just as much it’s about being thoughtful about the careers or jobs that our graduates will have in 10 or 20 years. We all know in the last decade or two we’ve seen people graduate, and then five years later there’s jobs we never heard of before that exist. So, we have to think about how you prepare people to pivot to those kinds of changing professions and careers. It also includes doing what we can to enhance Indiana as a place for business and industry to come. A large part, of course, is the attraction of a well-qualified workforce to bring people to the state. It also has to do with the quality of life and opportunities in the state. We want to be a partner to business and industry and state government in helping to pull industry and advance the economy in the state.
Research and discovery. Your previous university, Kennesaw, is an R2 research institution. IU is an R1. Are you up to date yet on what they’re doing here, and do you know what the priorities are?
PRESIDENT WHITTEN: Yes, of course. And you have to remember, for many years I worked at Michigan State, so I’m used to very large R1 institutions. And then I was a provost at the University of Georgia, also an R1. I went to Kennesaw State as we became an R2, growing the research mission there. Like the other universities that I’ve been at, as an R1 we are big and we are complicated and have all kinds of research going on and multiple facets, so part of the challenge is getting your arms around what’s a priority—or, strategically, how do you move forward? And I think that some of the work that needs to be happening right now is,
University Grand Marshal Brian Horne places the Jewel of Office of Indiana University on President Whitten during her November 4 inauguration ceremony. Photo by James Brosher/IU Communications
President Whitten high-fives members of the IUPUI community in the school’s Campus Center during an inauguration celebration in Indianapolis on November 5. Photo by James Brosher/IU Communications
A C ONVER SATION WIT H DR . PAM EL A W HI T T EN
“What are going to be the strategic priority areas or themes for the institution?” Right now, we’re great at a lot of things. It’s everything from just straightup bench research that eventually ends up being a compound in medicine down the road, all the way to actual intervention where we go and we work within communities and government offices and schools and health facilities. All the way to what I don’t think gets enough attention, which is creative discovery, and that’s part of our scholarship. We’re fantastic in humanities and arts and music and dance. And that’s a form of research as well, it just tends to be called scholarship. IU is a fascinating place because we do all of those things. And certainly not to exclude the amazing work that goes on in our med school. I don’t know if you follow any of that, but if you haven’t gone to look at what’s going on— particularly in Alzheimer’s disease research at the IU School of Medicine—it’s amazing, among the best in the country.
ABRAMS: Your predecessor’s spouse, Laurie McRobbie, was out working in the community quite a lot. It’s the first time we’ve had a first gentleman in the university’s 201 years. Is your husband, Jason, going to be involved in the community? Is he going to be involved working with you?
need to hang on my side. And he doesn’t, so he’s gotten to know lots of folks. He’s jumped into some community activities. I know he plays soccer that’s local in town. He loves to play soccer. He’s definitely engaged. He’s actually working over at The Mill.
ABRAMS: I had heard that he might stay part of the time in Indianapolis and that you were both going to live here and there.
PRESIDENT WHITTEN: We do. I mean, he, fortunately, has a job where he can work from anywhere. But we’re certainly in Bloomington a lot and he went and checked out The Mill and thinks it’s a great facility. He’s going to make that one of the places where he actually goes to work. And for a lot of reasons—certainly he wants to support The Mill because the principle, we think, is fantastic for the area. But he also thinks it’s just a great place to go meet, work, and be with likeminded people. He’s the perfect spouse for someone in my career field because all he needs is a laptop.
PRESIDENT WHITTEN: Absolutely, absolutely. Now I will say, and in the contemporary age of presidents—particularly with a female president—I think we’ll see more people like Jason. I mean, my husband works full time outside the university. I think that’s a little different, perhaps, than it’s been in the past. He has a very demanding schedule of his own. But he’s already engaged in the community. You’ll see him at lots of events, and he is thoroughly enjoying getting to know people in the community. It was funny, at a recent football game I was in the large president’s box when several times people said to me, “Is your husband here?” I said, “Of course he’s here,” and they asked, “Where is he?” I explained that he’s talking to people somewhere. He doesn’t
President Whitten’s husband, Jason, is a software developer who works remotely at The Mill’s coworking facilities when he’s in Bloomington. Photo by Rodney Margison
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ABRAMS (JOKING): He could work right over there. [Points to a small table in the corner of President Whitten’s office.]
PRESIDENT WHITTEN (WITH A LAUGH): He could, but that would be irritating for him. I meet with a lot of people.
ABRAMS: Tell us just a little about your kids—how old they are, what they’re doing, where they are.
PRESIDENT WHITTEN: We have three. My oldest lives in Lexington, Kentucky, and she is married and has two kids, so we have grandchildren. Today, one is 6. Yay, happy birthday, Viv. And then her little brother’s 3. Gosh, my daughter, years ago, went off to college to University of Kentucky and went to graduate school there and never left. Got married, loves Lexington, has great career field of her own.
My middle child is in Nashville, Tennessee. She’s 29 and just got married before the pandemic, and she and her husband work in Nashville. My youngest is a son, 24, and he is in Georgia. I’m secretly hoping to get him up to Indiana. He went to a small school in Pennsylvania, and then he was one of those kids who, during the pandemic his last year of college, came back, stayed with us, did it online. Missed the graduation. Honestly, it bothered me a lot more than it did him. So, he’s good. I would love to get him to Indiana, but he’s happy where he is, so we’ll see.
ABRAMS: At the University of Georgia, you helped found the Women’s Leadership Initiative. Speak a little bit about that, and are you planning on doing something similar here?
PRESIDENT WHITTEN: I was the provost at UGA [University of Georgia] and one of the things that was evident was that we needed to figure out what kind of professional development we could do to really entice more women to join the pipeline of administration, and to prepare them for it. We created the Women’s Leadership Initiative for that reason. It was a very competitive program. There would be a cohort every year that spent a lot of time together and a lot of time getting to see the inside of a big university and how it works. And it was fantastic and many of them went on to jump into administration in bigger ways and so it was very successful there. To determine if we need to implement something similar at IU, I need to understand what is currently happening. But certainly, in principle, we want to make sure we have amazing, robust programs, both for women and for underrepresented populations, so that we are preparing folks to step in and replace leadership as needed.
ABRAMS: Telemedicine. That’s one of your big interests.
PRESIDENT WHITTEN: President Whittten listens to a question from Bloom Editor Malcolm Abrams during the interview.
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It was a big part of my life. I was a very active researcher in the field of telemedicine.
President Whitten and Joe Bonanno, dean of the IU School of Optometry, talk with students during a visit to the school. Photo by Chris Meyer/IU Communications
ABRAMS: Is that going to carry over here do you think?
PRESIDENT WHITTEN: I hope so. I’m trying to persuade the med school to let me jump on a project. It’s funny. I did research in telemedicine for many, many years, from the early 90s on, when there wasn’t very much going on, and did a lot of work with big research teams and got a lot of external funding to test efficacy and outcomes, and it just took a pandemic for it to become ubiquitous.
ABRAMS: When you talk about telemedicine, are you primarily talking about doctors interacting with patients over the internet?
PRESIDENT WHITTEN: That’s a typical understanding. But it goes beyond that. Teleradiology has been around for years, but there are fields like dermatology and others
where it doesn’t have to be in real time. It can be asynchronous. You can send a physical history and images and someone can diagnose that way. So, we stereotypically think of it as being something in real time where there’s a provider to a patient. It doesn’t just have to be a physician. It’s counselors and nurse practitioners and all kinds of folks. They often have medical peripheral devices so they can gather data in real time. But it really can be both—it can be asynchronous or synchronous. That’s probably more than you want to know.
BIRD: I’m interested in hearing about the ways in which you feel IU could expand access to mental health services for students.
PRESIDENT WHITTEN: Thank you for asking that. So, when I first came here, truly my first weeks, the first thing I did was attempt to gather information about what we do, and not just in Bloomington but across all of our campuses. And what resources are strong and where are there gaps magbloom.com | December 2021/January 2022 | Bloom 91
President Whitten meets with members of the IU Latinx Student Council at La Casa/Latino Cultural Center in October. Photo by James Brosher/IU Communications
and what needs fixed. And it became evident that there are two things: One is that there are a lot of wonderful services here, but often people don’t know about them, so we have communication challenges. But the other is that it’s a new day after the pandemic and we need to be much more thoughtful and intentional about meeting students where they need to be met to take care of things. So, we have a new chief health officer, Aaron Carroll, who basically oversees all things related to health. Brand new position just created. Reports directly to me.
ABRAMS: Did you create that position?
PRESIDENT WHITTEN: It was created as I was coming in and I approved it. Dr. Carroll is working on multiple projects, but one of the first big ones I gave to him was to take on mental health—behavioral health—services for
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students. He is in the process right now of doing a lot of work, figuring out all the things that we do, figuring out what’s done well, where the gaps are, and then he and his team are going to be making a list of recommendations to me that’s due in January to figure out what else we need to be doing.
BIRD: And do you see that intersecting with your interest in telemedicine, to make mental health services more accessible to students?
PRESIDENT WHITTEN: Absolutely. One of the things that we learned during the pandemic is there are many, many things that people were very happy to come back to and do in person, but we also know that there’s a lot of things that people are more accepting of or even comfortable with doing virtually. It’s about figuring out that sweet spot.
A C ONVER SATION WIT H DR . PAM EL A W HI T T EN
BIRD:
PRESIDENT WHITTEN:
How does IU plan to continue supporting neurodivergent students so that they can be as successful as possible? Students who have autism or ADHD or other learning differences that might make it difficult for them to succeed in a traditional college environment.
There are certainly some issues that are similar if you look at culture and issues related to climate, and if you look at issues related to opportunities. I think feeling appreciated and having a sense of belonging would apply universally no matter what your role at the university. But there are also differences, too. From the perspective of faculty, we need to ensure that we create the mechanisms for them to be successful. And we know that there are unique challenges sometimes for underrepresented faculty members that we really need to get in front of. From the perspective of students, they have a very different viewpoint. Often, you’re talking about their experience in the classroom, or experience with opportunities, and with other students. I think there are similar issues and I think there are unique issues based on everyone’s position.
PRESIDENT WHITTEN: I’ve toured and met with the Office of Disability Services and I’m aware that there are a number of services available, but I’m not in a position to speak to them specifically yet.
BIRD: Can you tell us a little bit about your commitment to diversity on the IU campus?
PRESIDENT WHITTEN: Issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion [DEI] have been very important to me for a very long time at all the institutions that I’ve worked at, and so at IU I will say that I think there has been the right intent for a while. People are very vested, and so it’s nice to come into an institution where this is such a value to so many people. Now it’s rolling up your sleeves and doing the hard work and figuring out how you can actually make a difference. You might have read that a couple of weeks ago, I announced a new $30 million investment. It’s a presidential diversity hiring initiative, and it is directed at bringing in underrepresented people for faculty positions. It’s for over seven years, and it’s in any field, at any campus. It was very intentional to help us transition from having the value to committing the resources.
BIRD: Your predecessor, Michael McRobbie, was very invested in international relationships, is that something that you plan to continue putting a lot of resources into?
BIRD: Do you feel like there’s a significant difference in the way that faculty members need assistance in the DEI realm versus students?
President Whitten helps students with their belongings on IU move-in day in August. Photo by Chris Meyer/IU Communications
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BIRD: What are some areas that you feel the university could improve on to create a better environment for students?
PRESIDENT WHITTEN:
President Whitten.
PRESIDENT WHITTEN Sure. One of the strengths of IU is the role we play on the global stage, and we see that locally in the institution with just phenomenal programs, for example, in foreign languages. I don’t know if any university teaches more than we do, but they certainly don’t do it as well as we do.
ABRAMS: IU teaches more than 80 languages. I think that’s the most of any university.
PRESIDENT WHITTEN: Most recently, in Afghanistan, we were called to help with some things. [Part of the involvement was assisting with arriving refugees at Camp Atterbury, including with translators. Also, IU supplied research for Homeland Security.] And so that will continue, certainly, and that transcends to many areas. Whether it’s the direct areas like the Hamilton Lugar School [of Global and International Studies] or even indirect, like the Kelley School [of Business] and other areas. We have to have those kinds of global interconnections. 94 Bloom | December 2021/January 2022 | magbloom.com
I think there are a couple of areas. I think that there’s movement to be made in traditional metrics of success—retention, and graduation rates. Not a big movement—we’re very good—but I certainly think there’s opportunity. I think there’s movement to be made in helping decrease student debt when students graduate. Again, we’ve made some great strides in the last three years, but I think there’s more real estate and I think we need to take very seriously the cost of college and what a big impact it has on so many families. I think there’s room to navigate on the qualitative side in the experience that we create for students, making sure that that we create an experience that’s unique enough so that when our students go to interview for jobs or internships or graduate school, everybody will know, “Oh you’re an IU student and you’ve had some experiences that set you apart and really reflect the values of the institution and the region.”
BIRD: How do you plan to encourage students to get additional learning experience outside the classroom and to really stress that that’s an important part of being an IU student?
PRESIDENT WHITTEN: Well, much of what we need to do is expand the work that we do as a university with the private sector, in the public sector, and other spaces so that there are more formal opportunities and partnerships and pipelines for students. And we also need to facilitate the matchmaking part of this, so that organizations know how to find students and students know how to find the organizations.
BIRD: Are you planning to increase access to jobs for IU students after graduation? I feel like that’s a very similar sort of matchmaking process.
PRESIDENT WHITTEN:
ABRAMS:
Yes, I think so and I think there’s also room to look at improving it university wide. I think at this point, it’s fairly decentralized across the institution, and we need to look at how we make sure that every student, no matter what they’re majoring in, has access to opportunities to be partnered with a great job opportunity.
Is there anything that you would like to share that we haven’t touched on?
BIRD: So how does IU plan to support cost-conscious students as the cost of living in Bloomington continues to rise? I know that’s been a big subject over the last couple of years, especially with a lot of the new apartment buildings going up. With scholarships or other opportunities?
PRESIDENT WHITTEN: Well, that’s part of what I referenced earlier. We’ve got to be focused on the cost of college, which is not just tuition and fees, it’s also the living expenses associated with going to college. We’ve got to think about the whole cost of the attendance package.
PRESIDENT WHITTEN: I will share with you—and I’ve shared this story with other folks as well—that when we lived in Michigan, we used to vacation in Brown County [Indiana]. We rented places and we’d go hiking and we’d come into Bloomington to go to dinner. We would walk the campus because I’m one of those people who loves college campuses. It always struck us just what an amazingly beautiful campus this is. So, as the years went on and we lived in Michigan, we lived in Georgia, and we traveled, and people would say, “What do you think is the most beautiful campus?” Because we’ve been on a lot. My husband would always say, “Well, IU in Bloomington.” And so we think it’s such a funny karma thing that we ended up here, because this campus always stood out to us. It’s just so striking and it’s a wonderful place.
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President Whitten (bottom right) practices with the IU Marching Hundred on move-in day in August. Photo by Chris Meyer/IU Communications
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