Like the ancient goddesses for which it is named, The Muse Project offers inspiration to those who heed its words. The project’s founder, Jodi Pope Johnson, says today, more than ever, she feels there is a need to share messages of hope and healing.
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Bloomington has a way of keeping a hold on its residents, even those who have left. In fact, the phenomenon of leaving and returning to Bloomington is so common that it has its own name: the Bloomerang Effect.
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Indiana has had four official state flowers. Our current state flower, the peony, is from China and was adopted in 1957.
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The Flying Paws Agility Club agility course, set up inside a refurbished horse barn, offers dogs (and their people) a big space to run, fetch, and show off their skills.
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When Christi Pike, 57, woke up with a headache on December 21, 2018, she asked her husband, Jim, to take her to Urgent Care so she wouldn’t be sick over the holidays.
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In the summer of 2018, nurses at the IU Health Bloomington Hospital Hospice House rolled a patient outside in his hospital bed. A horse that had been a part of his family for years awaited him, brought to the facility in a trailer. Nurses put feed in the patient’s hand, allowing the horse and his dying owner to connect one final time.
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Jordy the CASA dog is something of a local celebrity. When the golden retriever celebrated his fifth birthday in October, it was a press-worthy event. But Jordy spends most days out of the spotlight, doing vital work at the Monroe County Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) office, 201 N. Morton St.
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Community Action Agencies (CAAs) are sometimes considered the best-kept secrets of the nonprofit sector, says Jessie Yeary, director of communications and development at the South Central Community Action Program (SCCAP). She hopes to change that. “I don’t really like that phrase because we don’t want to be a secret,” she says.
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Old rose varieties, such as alba, gallica, and damask, had wonderfully fragrant blooms but, sadly, bloomed only once. Thanks to David Austin (1926–2018) we have 230 modern hybrid roses that offer intoxicating, old-fashioned rose fragrances and that bloom repeatedly.
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After working other people’s farms for a dozen years, Grant Pershing, 44, was ready to start farming for himself. Unfortunately, finding a bank that was willing to loan him the money wasn’t so easy. “I was a pretty poor risk, so I could either find a dilapidated house with enough land or a nice house with no land,” Pershing says. “When it came down to buying something, it just wasn’t going to happen.”
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The coming year is full of significant milestones for Shalom Community Center, a resource agency for those experiencing extreme poverty and homelessness, and for its executive director, Forrest Gilmore. Gilmore started as assistant director of Shalom in January 2010. A year later, on April 1, 2011—“Make of that what you will,” he says with a laugh—Gilmore was named executive director.
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Although you could splurge on red roses when decorating for the holidays, there are other, less expensive, natural alternatives. The early Romans decorated with holly for the winter solstice. Holly, along with ivy and mistletoe, was a traditional Christmas decoration in England, and early American settlers also preferred to use objects from nature to decorate for the holidays.
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The spring and summer months are when gardens are the most colorful, but it is easy to make our fall and winter gardens interesting as well. Shrubs are especially helpful as they are easy to care for once established, and come in a variety of colors, textures, and sizes.
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When Linda Gause, co-owner of Vance Music Center, joined a Monroe County homemakers club in the mid-1990s, she didn’t know it would lead to global adventure.
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After years of planning, Bloomington Cohousing, Indiana’s first cohousing community, is finally becoming a reality. The brainchild of lifelong friends Janet Greenblatt and Marion Sinclair, the intentional community near the Southeast YMCA will feature 26 privately owned homes, a common building, community gardens, and other shared amenities, all designed to reduce homeowners’ environmental footprints and expand their sense of community.
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Making live theater more accessible is often on the minds of the folks at Cardinal Stage. One example is Cardinal’s Community Ticket Initiative, which allows people to see theater performances free of charge. Another way Cardinal is making theater more accessible is with sensory-friendly performances of their Cardinal for Kids productions during the 2019–20 season.
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At 200 years old, Indiana University has quite a few local legends, including ghostly yarns like the one about a grumpy child apparition in the Indiana Memorial Union Tudor Room, said to be connected to a painting of a little boy holding a pumpkin. Rumor has it the spirit creates a fuss when the chairs and tables in the room are moved out of place. Indulging in such stories is part of the fun when the IU Folklore and Ethnomusicology Department holds its annual Ghost Walk.
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If you are looking for more natives to plant this fall in a shade garden, consider our native North American foamflower.
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Nate Johnson admired the energy-efficient home his friends David and Carol Gulyas designed and built in Bloomington’s Near West Side neighborhood, so much so that he asked David to help him build a similar one.
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Even as America struggles with national immigration policy and animosity toward immigrants runs high in some places, two young social entrepreneurs from Indiana University have developed a novel way to make Bloomington a welcoming place for immigrants who choose to settle here.
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For some Hoosiers, navigating the process of registering and voting can be daunting, especially during an election year made even more complicated by a global pandemic.
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Mayor John Hamilton has appointed Scott Robinson director of the City of Bloomington Department of Planning and Transportation.
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The City of Bloomington Commission on the Status of Children and Youth (CSCY) invites high school-aged students to participate in the third annual Teen Roundtable.
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The League of Women Voters of Bloomington-Monroe County and the South Central Indiana Chapter of the Citizens’ Climate Lobby will hold a nonpartisan virtual forum on climate change Thursday, October 8, from 6:30–8 p.m.
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On Monday, September 28, the Monroe County Public Library will begin inviting in-person visitors to both branches in a limited capacity.
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For the past 14 years, we have been publishing Bloom, a free, bimonthly cultural and lifestyle magazine serving Bloomington, Indiana, and surrounding communities. We have four missions: to support local businesses, local charities, local arts, and diversity. We are an integral part of the fabric of this community.
Like so many small businesses (4 employees), we are facing huge challenges in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. We hope to be able to continue producing the magazine and our website, magbloom.com, but we need your help.
