January 13, 2023
If My Hands Could Look Like Hers
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.
December 30, 2022
A Graphic Novel about the Medicalization of Death and Dying
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.
December 2, 2022
Who Makes Decisions At Work
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.
November 25, 2022
Replay: Rock Opera and Other Border Crossings
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.
November 11, 2022
Replay: Love and Citizenship in the Heartland
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.
October 28, 2022
Replay: Two Rivers, One Watershed
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.
October 21, 2022
Ross Gay on Inciting Joy
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.
October 14, 2022
Who to Remember and How (Updated)
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.
October 7, 2022
Felt Thoughts, TaB, and more
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.
September 23, 2022
Replay: Loving Movies Beyond All Reason
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.
September 16, 2022
Comics and the Moral Arc of the Universe
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.
September 9, 2022
Replay: Henry and Alice
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.
September 2, 2022
Special Effects, Black Cinema, and a Touch of Nostalgia
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.
August 26, 2022
Replay: Southern Rock, Midwestern Soul
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.
August 12, 2022
Replay: Joyce Jeffries and the Cutters
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.
August 5, 2022
The Prison They Didn't Build
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.
