Inner States

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.