Inner States

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.