Seeking Survivors: On Writing About the Indiana State Fair Stage Collapse
I had been going back to the night of August 13, 2011, time and time again, in quick succession. And I was shaken.
I recently visited the office of a former employer to retrieve some photos of the 1987 Pan American Games for our coverage in the August issue of Indianapolis Monthly. When I looked at the slides, I recognized the handwriting identifying each image—it was mine. I can remember writing those IDs, and with that realization, a slew of memories came flooding through the streams in my mind like new water through a dry riverbed. But what struck me the most wasn’t the memories—it was the fact it has been 25 years since we were there.
I believe in the power of small, incremental change, but I’m really inspired by big, bold, visionary change. This is a really exciting time to be here. I feel good about our direction, but from here, things could either be okay or they could be kind of fantastic. To keep doing what we’re doing only gets us so far. What’s missing is a world-class public-transit system.
The movies in this year’s Indy Film Fest that have Indiana connections are as diverse as the rest of the entries in the lineup: A love story about a girl and the search for just the right chair, Crush by Rebecca Pugh (co-directed with Jen West); a thriller about a home invasion gone wrong, Home Security from Kate Chaplin; and a road trip movie about old friends, Billi & Theodore by Ronald Short. These are just three of the films in the Hoosier Lens category in the festival’s ninth year.
Fresh off of his latest good fortune—a four-year, $22-million pact with the Indianapolis Colts—Andrew Luck appeared again downtown, this time among the throngs at a Monday night showing of The Dark Knight Rises at the Indiana State Museum’s IMAX Theater. The Stanford-educated shoulders on which the city’s football hopes now hang sported a gray Nike T-shirt, and Luck was also in athletic shorts and sandals, low-key attire for Peyton Manning’s heir.
The ninth Indy Film Fest, also known as the Indianapolis International Film Festival, started on a high note with a successful opening night, July 19, and continues through July 29. The movies vary in length, genre, and origin. Films in the first weekend represented filmmakers as far-flung as the Philippines, Iran, Italy, and South Africa, not to mention a number of films from the United States, some with connections to Indiana.
Starved for a little culture, or perhaps a little starlight? This weekend, there is ample opportunity to satisfy your need for both. After a year-long hiatus, Heartland Actors Repertory Theatre’s Shakespeare on the Canal has happily returned to White River State Park. This season’s play—Othello—is the fourth that HART has staged (for free) i
Honestly, I didn’t pay that much attention while reading Slaughterhouse-Five in high school English class. Even though it was short compared to other required books—I’m looking at you, Crime and Punishment—I didn’t fully understand the themes. So when assigned to check out a public media event for a new exhibit fashioned by Ball State University students for the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library, I was a bit apprehensive. My Vonnegut knowledge was slim. Yes, I knew that he was from Indiana and that I should be proud of that. I also knew that he had one heck of a mustache. And that’s about it. So when I walked into the KVML yesterday, I was a clean slate personified, although my soul felt dirty for the Slaughterhouse-Five crime.
The Circle City IN Pride Festival saw a spike in attendance in 2012, both in terms of volunteer manpower and goers at every one of a week’s worth of events from June 2 through 9. Here, Stephanie Swanson, 2012 Indy Pride chair, shares her thoughts on the successes, shortcomings, and opportunities that Indy Pride, Inc., and the Indianapolis LGBT community have both now and moving forward.
Tens of thousands came out for the annual Circle City IN Pride Festival on June 9, and the organizers’ final numbers are in. Per Indy Pride’s own by-the-numbers Facebook post on June 26 and Stephanie Swanson, chair of Circle City IN Pride, here are some figures from that Saturday festival and the week of events leading up to it:
