Inner States: Recent Episodes
Indiana Public Media
Inner States is a weekly podcast and public radio show about art, culture, and how it all feels, in Southern Indiana and beyond.
First, a conversation with artist Honey Hodges about collages, immigrating to the U.S., and the opportunity to care for someone who has always taken care of you. Then, naturalist Jim Eagleman reminds us why we should go outside in the winter, and at night.
This episode is called "Joyce Jeffries and the Cutters." But that’s not quite accurate, because those cutters don’t actually exist. I don’t mean the Cutters cycling team. They definitely exist, even if they were born from a fiction. But the actual cutters - the people who’ve worked in the quarries and stone mills of South-Central Indiana for a century and a half - I was chatting with some of them on a forum recently, and apparently they don’t call themselves cutters.
The folks on the forum said they were known as stoneys. And they figured the reason it was changed to “cutters” in the movie was that in 1978, calling them stoneys would have gotten them confused with stoners, and that would have made it hard to focus on the plot.
An industry veteran pointed out there are a lot more specific descriptions of who they are: stone carvers, stone cutters, planermen, gang sawyers, draftsman, estimators, secretaries, supervisors. “All,” he wrote, “with high skills doing their part to build spectacular limestone creations!”
This week we hear about the limestone workers of South-Central Indiana. Joyce Jeffries, who grew up and worked among them her whole life, tells us the stories. We also tour the Bybee Stone Mill with Dorian Bybee and his wife, Jeeyea Kim.
Music
Our theme song is by Amy Oelsner and Justin Vollmar. We have additional music from the artists at Universal Production Music and Airport People.
Comedian Mohanad Elshieky came to Bloomington for the Limestone Comedy Festival in early June. He talks with producer Avi Forrest about why, after something bad happens, it’s important to wait before talking about it onstage, and how he tries to avoid being pigeon-holed as a comedian.
After that, we have a short throwback to an earlier episode.
Then, a man calls Kayte, whose cat has been missing for months, to tell her he’s captured a cat in a cage, and he thinks it’s hers. But the last time he called, the cat Kayte saw nearby was only posing as Rita. Will this one be an imposter too? We conclude this episode with the conclusion to The Third Time Rita Left.
An Indiana author writes a novel set in Indiana, and it wins a National Book Award. WFIU’s Violet Baron talks with Tess Gunty about why it was important to set her novel in her home state. Then, Austin Davis brings us poems about people living without housing, from WFIU’s Poets Weave. And in Chapter 3 of The Third Time Rita Left, Kayte and Carl get invited to exhume a dead cat, and in the midst of everyone leaving work to look for Rita, we ask what work is really for, anyway.
Psychology professor and comedian EJ Masicampo wasn’t expecting his divorce, but he’s pretty happy with how it turned out. He and his ex are colleagues, and sometimes they end up the only two people at the departmental coffee hour – and it’s still a good time. This week, EJ talks about divorce, and the connections between psychology and comedy. Then we have some rebel girl poems from Rachel Ronquillo Gray. And Chapter 2 of our missing cat story, in which Kayte encounters strangers in parking lots at 5am who are also searching for her cat.
If your cat escaped on the way to the vet, how long would you go out morning and night to search? Weeks? Months? Years? In the first part of our 4-part saga of a missing cat, Kayte loses Rita, and, in the midst of her panic, decides to foster a monarch chrysalis.
In which Kayte reflects on race and gender in searching for a cat, and has to determine if the man with the horse has seen Rita, or just another imposter.
In which Kayte and Carl get invited to exhume a dead cat, and in the midst of everyone leaving work to look for Rita, we ask what work is really for, anyway.
In which Kayte encounters strangers in parking lots at 5:00 am who are also searching for her cat. And an abandoned, child-sized mannequin suggests not all has been laid to rest.
The Funny Times is a newspaper full of comics. It’s about forty years old, and it’s all in print. The newspaper is in print, but until about a year ago, so were all their files. They lived in one well-protected filing cabinet. So when it was time to pass the reins to a new generation, who lived in Bloomington, Indiana, rather than Cleveland, one of the co-founders suggested they print out the cartoons that came in by email and send them by overnight courier to Bloomington.
Luckily, the new editor came up with an innovation: a “digital” filing cabinet.
This week, the Funny Times’ new publishers and editor talk about why the paper continues to thrive as so many newspapers fold, the kind of comfort you can get from political cartoons, and more.
Then, a story that started in the fall of 2016. My friend and colleague, Kayte Young, host of WFIU’s Earth Eats, was taking her cat Rita to the vet, and Rita escaped. What followed, in the months Kayte and her husband and friends and community spent searching, had more twists and turns than I could have imagined. So many, that, as I put the story together, it turned into a four-chapter saga. This week, The Third Time Rita Left Chapter 1: Losing Rita, in which Kayte decides, in the midst of an emergency, to foster a monarch chrysalis.
Malcolm Mobutu Smith on comic books, collecting, and the exhibit he just put together based on that collection. Then, Bill Carroll uses the quantitative skills he developed as a chemist to analyze the billboard charts of the 1960s and 70s.
Ross Gay and I talk about his new book, Inciting Joy, about masculinity and grief, teaching and survival, and how joy and sorrow are completely, inevitably, intertwined.
Diana Hong practiced for 13 years to become a professional golfer. But at the last minute, she became a stand-up comedian instead. This week, stories about people who almost achieve their dreams, and then hook left.
This week on Inner States, a postcard from Paoli, Indiana, where a tomato products warehouse has been transformed into a community space and enhanced the already existing magical realism of the town.
Scholar and writer Ava Tomasula y Garcia tells the story of the Calumet Region, how the gas boom started with a bang, brought major industry and new racial dynamics, and why “the Rust Belt” is a bit of a misnomer.
Historian Emiliano Aguilar on Latinx politics in East Chicago, how political representation isn’t necessarily a panacea for historic discrimination, and why we should keep paying attention to local politics. Plus, a guilty pleasure.
This week, Jack Lindner on why we should watch old movies on film, and Alicia Kozma on how to approach movies that have outdated attitudes about social issues.
There's a meadow in eastern Kentucky where people sometimes hunt mushrooms, get married, attend a music festival. Something that's not happening? There's no prison getting built. This week, Judah Schept tells us why that prison was a close call.
Parapraxis is a new magazine that examines the psychic mechanisms of our social lives. This week, a conversation with its founding editor, Hannah Zeavin, about the magazine, gender panics, fears of discussing whiteness in a psychoanalytic context, and more.
Leah Johnson writes romance novels. But not THAT kind. She writes award-winning YA books for queer Black kids and others. We talked about drag shows, making a living as a writer, book bans, and more.
This week on Inner States, episodes 4 and 5 of How to Survive the Future, a podcast about today, from the perspective of tomorrow.
This week, producer Avraham Forrest finds Welcome to Night Vale co-creator Jeffrey Cranor in a radio, and ascends to another plane of existence. But first, they discuss the making of one of the most popular fiction podcasts ever.
Hector wants to run the best wastewater treatment plant in the country. He seems to be inspiring the people he works with in that direction, too. Then, whether we should feel guilty about guilty pleasures.
This week, the first two episodes of How to Survive the Future, a podcast about today, from the perspective of tomorrow. But first, a frog in a bedroom leads to a bit of climate panic.
Two stories about people using art to remember the past and, ideally, change something in the present.
What it took to turn Anne Frank’s diary into a mainstage opera; a new album from Witness Protection; and mysterious music coming into the radio station
Philosopher Susan Neiman on why the left should be wary of wokeness, how Germany’s reckoning with its past has become more complicated, and why the differences between two European philosophers - Immanuel Kant and Michel Foucault – matter for politics today.
Todd Burkhardt is a veteran, and he’s started asking other veterans to do needle felting with him. And drawing. And making masks. This week, what happens when vets do art.
Sam’s day job involves removing invasive plants and restoring native ones. Fire is one of the ways he does that. He’s a lifelong hunter, too - that’s what got him into landscape restoration. This week, a walk in the woods with Sam Shoaf.
We think of the foster care system as being about care. Micol Seigel says within the system people do care for each other. But it’s primarily about policing.
It’s a mixtape! Five songs (okay, stories), by five different producers. Three are about being behind the scenes. One’s about your dad retiring. And an investigation into love.
Jack was studying vocal performance when he met Seigen at the local Zen center. They became good friends. They took walks, stopping to look at every tree. Then Seigen asked Jack to drive him to an execution.
Abra Bush, the new dean of the Jacobs School of Music, says conservatories are going to have to go beyond the Western canon to stay relevant to up-and-coming musicians in the twenty-first century.
Malcolm Mobutu Smith on comic books, collecting, and the exhibit he just put together based on that collection. Then, Bill Carroll uses the quantitative skills he developed as a chemist to analyze the billboard charts of the 1960s and 70s.
Writer and teacher Michael Martone on fiction without narrative, teaching without grades, and writing about Indiana beyond corn, basketball, and sugar cream pie.
First, a conversation with artist Honey Hodges about collages, immigrating to the U.S., and the opportunity to care for someone who has always taken care of you. Then, naturalist Jim Eagleman reminds us why we should go outside in the winter, and at night.
Three stories. One about the challenges of accessing books in prison. One about how overlooking a neighborhood’s history has affected the place. One about a comic book artist who has yet to experience writers’ block.
The graphic novel Headland is about a woman in a hospital, the wilderness she visits in her mind, and the tortoise she meets there. It’s also about the medicalization of death and dying. This week, we talk with the author, Kate Schneider. Plus, Midwestern Movies, with Alicia Kozma.
A conversation with novelist Jacinda Townsend about her new novel, which tackles the subject of motherhood from two perspectives on different sides of the world.
Scholar and writer Ava Tomasula y Garcia tells the story of the Calumet Region, how the gas boom started with a bang, brought major industry and new racial dynamics, and why “the Rust Belt” is a bit of a misnomer.
In 1980, the Indonesian fiction writer Budi Darma published a book of short stories called People from Bloomington. The English translation came out this month. This week on Inner States, translator Tiffany Tsao on Indonesian literature, Budi Darma, and Twitter.
In 1980, the Indonesian fiction writer Budi Darma published a book of short stories called People from Bloomington. The English translation came out this month. This week on Inner States, translator Tiffany Tsao on Indonesian literature, Budi Darma, and Twitter.
A lot of people who’ve quit jobs lately thought they were sticking it to the man. But their employers - and coworkers - apparently didn’t realize. This week, anthropologist Ilana Gershon on power in the workplace and what it means for democracy. Plus, a conversation with singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams.
Graham Reynolds has composed for film, ballet, theater. He also leads a band that puts on great live concerts. And he wrote a rock opera about Pancho Villa. This week, we talk about all that with Graham. Plus, poet Ross Gay, delighted.
It was a summer day when Nancy and Kim found out they could get married. They both had other plans for lunch, so they waited till 3. Stories of love and citizenship, this week on Inner States.
Historian Emiliano Aguilar on Latinx politics in East Chicago, how political representation isn’t necessarily a panacea for historic discrimination, and why we should keep paying attention to local politics.
Indiana doesn’t touch the Mississippi River, but it’s still bound up with it. This week, we talk with Monique Verdin, Liz Brownlee, and others, about those connections. Plus, a review of Ian Woollen’s Sister City.
Ross Gay’s new book of essays, Inciting Joy, comes out this week. On this episode, we talk about his new book, about masculinity and grief, teaching and survival, and how joy and sorrow are completely, inevitably, intertwined.
A walk among memorials and public art pieces in the fall of 2021. We talk with creators, participants, and passers-by about the meaning of public art, about Native presence in a state named for Indians, about immigration, Christopher Columbus, Columbus, Indiana, who we choose to remember, and how.
Fiber artist Fafnir Adamites about textiles, repetitive processes, and making space for intergenerational trauma. The closing of a TaB. And producer Anna Grimes’ grandmother’s memory.
This week on Inner States, episodes 4 and 5 of How to Survive the Future, a podcast about today, from the perspective of tomorrow.
The work of women in film has been overlooked since the beginning of movies. Alicia Kozma, incoming director of the IU Cinema, is working to change that.
Even after doing the March Trilogy with Congressman John Lewis, artist Nate Powell thought social progress was inevitable. Then came the 2016 election. His new book of graphic essays reckons with what that meant as a parent and citizen.
Henry Gray has been alive for a century. This week, he reflects on the 70 years he had with his wife, Alice, on growing up in Indiana, and on getting old. And Kaity Radde visits the Bloomington Catholic Worker.
Film scholar Julie Turnock explains how a style developed by 1970s auteurs has shaped special effects in today’s blockbusters. And Maya Cade, creator of the Black Film Archive, on how The Wiz helped get her through the pandemic.
Music critic Stephen Deusner talks about the book he wrote about the Drive-By Truckers, the South, the masculinity of Jimmy Carter, and more. Plus, a review of a local band that made President Obama’s best-of list.
Two stories this week: A walk through McCormick’s Creek State Park in the spring of 2045 or so, and a mystery that takes place in a bell tower.
Limestone work used to be quite dangerous. Joyce Jeffries remembers workers, including her grandfather, dying or getting injured. It’s gotten safer though. This week, Joyce, and others, on limestone.
There's a meadow in eastern Kentucky where people sometimes hunt mushrooms, get married, attend a music festival. Something that's not happening? There's no prison getting built. This week, Judah Schept tells us why that prison was a close call.
When he was young, Monroe Anderson had a plan. He was going to be the next James Baldwin. Then he got a taste of journalism, and the ink was in his blood.
This week, the first two episodes of How to Survive the Future, a podcast about today, from the perspective of tomorrow. But first, a frog in a bedroom leads to a bit of climate panic.
This week on Inner States, we talk with artist Ileana Haberman about embroidery, queerness, and mental health. Plus, IU Cinema Director Alicia Kozma on drive-in movie theaters.
Poet Ross Gay on witnessing, gratitude, reading very long poems out loud, and a particular layup from the 1980 NBA finals.
Sam’s day job involves removing invasive plants and restoring native ones. Fire is one of the ways he does that. He’s a lifelong hunter, too - that’s what got him into landscape restoration. This week, a walk in the woods with Sam Shoaf.
When Diane Kondrat was an aspiring actor, she didn't dream of a life in regional theater. But between working with prisoners, starting a theater company, and the teachers and collaborators she's met, it worked out pretty well.
Writer and teacher Michael Martone on fiction without narrative, teaching without grades, and writing about Indiana beyond corn, basketball, and sugar cream pie.
Jack was studying vocal performance when he met Seigen at the local Zen center. They became good friends. They took walks, stopping to look at every tree. Then Seigen asked Jack to drive him to an execution.
Sociologist stef shuster talks about how doctors’ relationships to uncertainty affects their interactions with patients who don’t fit their expectations, and other research from their book, Trans Medicine.
This week, Inner States is a festival of festivals. We hear about upcoming festivals in Bloomington: Granfalloon and Bloomington Early Music. We talk about why festivals matter. We get advice on preparing for festivals. And more.
Three stories. One about the challenges of accessing books in prison. One about how overlooking a neighborhood’s history has affected the place. One about a comic book artist who has yet to experience writers’ block.
A conversation with novelist Jacinda Townsend about her new novel, which tackles the subject of motherhood from two perspectives on different sides of the world.
In 1980, the Indonesian fiction writer Budi Darma published a book of short stories called People from Bloomington. The English translation came out this month. This week on Inner States, translator Tiffany Tsao on Indonesian literature, Budi Darma, and Twitter.
The graphic novel Headland is about a woman in a hospital, the wilderness she visits in her mind, and the tortoise she meets there. It’s also about the medicalization of death and dying. This week, we talk with the author, Kate Schneider. Plus, Midwestern Movies, with Alicia Kozma.
Graham Reynolds has composed for film, ballet, theater. He also leads a band that puts on great live concerts. And he wrote a rock opera about Pancho Villa. This week, we talk about all that with Graham. Plus, poet Ross Gay, delighted.
A lot of people who’ve quit jobs lately thought they were sticking it to the man. But their employers - and coworkers - apparently didn’t realize. This week, anthropologist Ilana Gershon on power in the workplace and what it means for democracy. Plus, a conversation with singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams.
Yaël Ksander talks with singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams about the twists and turns of her career, the cost of sticking to your guns artistically, her evolving relationship with the dark side, and … men.
Indiana doesn’t touch the Mississippi River, but it’s still bound up with it. This week, we talk with Monique Verdin, Liz Brownlee, and others, about those connections. Plus, a review of Ian Woollen’s Sister City.
Yaël Ksander brings us a review of Bloomington-based author Ian Woollen’s fifth novel, Sister City (Coffeetown Press, 2020).
For Spring Pledge Drive, we’re dusting off some old favorites from the Inner States files.
A while back, political scientist Christopher DeSante tried to convince his fellow grad students to watch Dave Chappelle instead of reading for their qualifying exams. It didn’t work. This week on Inner States, we talk about the politics of humor.
Henry Gray is about to turn 100. This week, he reflects on the 70 years he had with his wife, Alice, on growing up in Indiana, and on getting old. And Kaity Radde visits the Bloomington Catholic Worker.
A conversation with fiber artist Fafnir Adamites about textiles in political movements, and making space for intergenerational trauma. Also, a review of two debut novels by women.
This week on Inner States, music critic Stephen Deusner talks about the book he wrote about the Drive-By Truckers, the South, and more. Plus, a review of a local band that made President Obama’s best-of list.
This week, artist Ileana Haberman talks about embroidery, queerness, and mental health. Plus, a review of Nancy Hiller’s book Shop Tails: The Animals Who Help Us Make Things Work.
Yaël Ksander reviews Nancy Hiller's Shop Tails: The Animals Who Help Us Make Things Work
It was a summer day when Nancy and Kim found out they could get married. They both had other plans for lunch, so they waited till 3. Stories of love and citizenship, this week on Inner States.
Limestone work used to be quite dangerous. Joyce Jeffries remembers workers, including her grandfather, dying or getting injured. It’s gotten safer though. This week, Joyce, and others, on limestone.
When he was young, Monroe Anderson had a plan. He was going to be the next James Baldwin. Then he got a taste of journalism, and the ink was in his blood.
A walk among memorials and public art pieces last fall. We talk with creators, participants, and passers-by about the meaning of public art, about Native presence in a state named for Indians, about immigration, Christopher Columbus, Columbus, Indiana, who we choose to remember, and how.
The work of women in film has been overlooked since the beginning of movies. Alicia Kozma, incoming director of the IU Cinema, is working to change that.
Actress Diane Kondrat did not dream of a life in regional theater. That’s what she’s had, though, and it’s brought unexpected challenges and pleasures.