Bachelor Nation is the love–hate cultural bubble comprising the fans, podcasts, blogs, and adjacent programming of reality shows The Bachelor and The Bachelorette. This spring, real-life drama involving racism, sexism, inclusivity, and diversity have taken center stage. Jennifer Piurek explains it all in this article for her LP column Love to See It. Click here to read Jennifer’s column.
Duane Busick’s oral history of the Soup Bowl Benefit, in words and video, gives a behind-the-scenes look at the event that has raised $1.5 million for the Hoosier Hills Food Bank since 1994. This year, the 27th Soup Bowl includes actual soup bowls and a livestream music show. Click here for Duane’s oral history and to learn about this year’s event.
How does pop culture help us express what it is to be human? Jennifer Piurek will explore this and other themes in her Limestone Post column, “Love to See It” — her take on why trends, words, and various art forms help us “both navigate the world and care about life experiences different from our own.” Click here to read Jennifer’s first column!
As we look forward to 2021, it might serve us well to remember how our community responded with remarkable resilience and resolve to the challenges we faced — and continue to face — in this exceptionally challenging year. Limestone Post’s talented and dependable contributors kept us informed on many of the important topics of the time. Click here to read about LP’s Top Stories of 2020.
Abattoir Gallery, at 4th and Rogers streets in Bloomington, will exhibit across mediums while maintaining a safe space for LGBTQ+, Black, and brown people, says its lead curator, Gnat Bowden. Writer Ian Carstens attended the soft opening and says Abattoir “is an open door to the streets of Bloomington to challenge its anti-Black, anti-LGTBQ+ realities.” Click here to read about Abattoir Gallery.
Although Limestone Post Magazine launched in 2015, this month we’re celebrating our one-year anniversary as a nonprofit! What a year. Despite the challenges, we’ve continued publishing important stories and have made progress in other significant ways. We’re carrying that momentum into 2021 with renewed hope and enthusiasm. Click here to read about Limestone Post’s past, present, and future.
“IU 2020” is a documentary series that began in 2016 and follows 12 Indiana University students during the entirety of their undergraduate careers. Jennifer Piurek, director of communications and special projects at IU’s Office of the Provost, wrote about the students and the project — and the free screening on December 8. Click here to learn about “IU 2020.”
The annual “Sense of Place” project by students at The Academy of Science and Entrepreneurship shows “a sliver of each student’s identity,” writes student Richelle Elkes. But each student’s video, she adds, “gives the viewer a greater understanding of the young people in the community and how their values affect the community of Bloomington.”
Click here to read about the project and watch their videos.
‘Paper Pavilions’ is a group exhibition of Midwestern artists, showing virtually and physically at the 411 Gallery in Columbus, Indiana. Curated by Sean Starowitz, the City of Bloomington’s assistant director for the arts, the exhibition allows artists to set the tone for the future of public art. Click here to read a review from writer and photographer Ian Carstens.
Krista Detor and Dave Weber’s artist retreat, The Hundredth Hill, has served since August as a theater residency for a troupe of recent graduates from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Not only has the group created two productions but they will also perform them for live audiences — an all but unheard-of feat in theater during the pandemic. Click here for the story.
Before becoming a local political powerhouse in Bloomington, Charlotte Zietlow and her husband, Paul, spent a year in Czechoslovakia as part of an educational exchange program. She says in her new memoir, “Minister’s Daughter: One Life, Many Lives,” with Michael G. Glab, that the experience proved American democracy was worth fighting for. Click here to read an excerpt from the book.
Art galleries are adapting to ever-changing conditions during the pandemic. Photographer Paige Strobel visited several local galleries to find out how they are welcoming visitors — in-person, online, or both. “While the world looks different and extra precautions are in place,” she writes, “one can still experience the incredible artists and artistry this town offers.” Click here for Paige’s story and photos.
