Bees are pollinators, you know. We aim to feed your mind, or at least give it something to chew on, through commentary serious and sly, and reportage from and about our hive in Bloomington, Indiana. — Mike Leonard
IU’s sledgehammer approach to changing core values of the university is broader, deeper, and more impactful than many realize. Yet. By Mike Leonard Much of what is happening at IU is being carried out in the darkness behind the Sample Gates entryway of the Bloomington flagship campus. Photo by Mike Leonard “What the hell is…
Keep readingYou probably never knew what a cool birthday this is. It isn’t every kid who grows up in a place where his whole hometown throws a festival on his birthday. I grew up straddling U.S. 40, the Old National Road, in Greenfield, Indiana, and my October 7 birthday fell on the same day and month…
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Singer/songwriter John Hartford made up that line, and you can drop it if you like at this year’s Bloomington Blues & Boogie Woogie Piano Festival. By Mike Leonard Hartford’s little ditty paid homage to the playful double-entendre tunes of jazz and blues and whatever your wink-wink interpretation such references suggested. They all meant ‘having a…
Keep readingFour years after his last live gig, longtime Bloomington resident opens a mammoth new tour at the IU Auditorium Mellencamp shows no signs of slowing down at age 71. Courtesy Photo. In the four years since John Mellencamp took on concert tours across the U.S. and beyond, his fans got more than a little nostalgic…
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It could be the success of small market teams, or Lindsay Lohan, or Crest toothpaste, or jobs for IU graduates. So the phone pings and like the Pavlovian dog I’ve become, I drool, grope for the phone, and see a message from Heavy Ed. “How ‘bout them Bengals.” I write back. “WTF you aren’t a…
Keep readingHeavy Ed takes stock of Hoosier pols I noticed Heavy Ed sitting on a bench and apparently reading something on his phone as I rode my bike down the B-Line through Switchyard Park. I pulled up and stopped. “Nice park, huh?” I asked. “Yeah, it is,” Ed said, putting the phone down. “Everybody bitches about…
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A well-respected environmental activist calls BS on a Forest Service plan to “restore” (read: log) a place it calls Buffalo Springs, a made-up name for a place locals call home. By Andy Mahler There is something that doesn’t sit right about the Forest Service’s plan to punch logging roads into the heart of the hardwood…
Keep readingWhen they say it’s not about the money, it’s about the money By James Alexander Thom A note from the editor: Some background on “The Endangered Forest”: The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture is moving forward with a massive plan to “improve” the Hoosier National Forest near Bloomington through means including logging, prescribed fires, applying herbicides…
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The B-Town Bee