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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. Read More »
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.
Yaël Ksander brings us a review of Bloomington-based author Ian Woollen’s fifth novel, Sister City (Coffeetown Press, 2020).
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.
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.
Inner States intern Kaity Radde brings us a story about the challenges and payoffs of living a life of voluntary poverty and radical hospitality.
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.
Yaël Ksander reviews Nancy Hiller's Shop Tails: The Animals Who Help Us Make Things Work
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.
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.