Circle City

Q: Think you could still squeeze into that old Batman costume? A: I’m wearing it now.

“I called my tights my python pants, because they nearly strangled me to death,” says Ward.

The geographic features revealed on the Indiana trails highlighted in this issue were surprising—from the prehistoric bog by the dunes to a sandstone canyon—making hiking and biking them all the more entertaining.

“I have a tree that drops what a friend says are persimmons, but the fruit doesn’t look like the grocery-store variety. What gives?”

In 30 years, Indy has shared as many good times—and bad—with our Colts as Baltimore ever did. We’ve laughed. We’ve cried. Most of all, though, we’ve cheered.

“This is probably the mecca for people-watching in Indianapolis,” says Scott Pallikan, an IFD Station 32 fireman. “You’re going to see pretty much everything the city has to offer.”

Fans of the bivalve can celebrate the return of the “r” months while perched at the raw bar inside Craig Baker’s new house of surf and turf.

Via @RbtKing: “If Scotland goes independent I’m going to have to find a kilt to wear to work tomorrow.”

“I was like, ‘Hey, do NOT kick it to him,” Colts defender Robert Mathis recalls. “‘Kick it to him, and I’m going to fight you.’”

Says Gulley, “A decade ago, I created the little town of Harmony, Indiana, filled it with Quakers, and sent them a pastor named Sam Gardner to see what would happen. The series of novels had a good run, but I wanted to dabble in theology and pursued that genre of writing for a while. I missed Sam and the Harmony crowd, though, and decided to see what they had been up to in the intervening years.”

Nearly six years into teaching his “Boundaries of Science” class, trouble found Eric Hedin, thanks in part to an anonymous informant whose identity and motivations remain a mystery. What happened next threatened to embarrass his employer, Ball State, which formed a special committee to investigate the class’s subject matter.

Says Jeffers, “I’m trying to move us past sprinkling people of color into a photo to really being more inclusive and having events that are relevant to more than one type of people.”

One summer, George Srour’s internship took him to Uganda. Now he leads a globally focused nonprofit organization and has Bill Clinton’s attention.

Jaguars and Land Rovers get free valet parking. Thank Tom Wood. Also: Book early for Michael Feinstein or Tony Bennett.

Former Butler University president Dr. Bobby Fong died on Sept. 8 at age 64. In tribute, here is our 2006 City Guide story about Dr. Fong making his home in Indy for 10 years during his Butler tenure.