Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2020 i Indianapolis Monthly

For most Hoosiers I know, there’s a third rail of politics: politics. I’m not sure if it’s our Midwestern niceness, penchant for deference, or mind-your-own-business-ness, but I hear from a lot of you who have at least some level of discomfort with discussing the Xs and Os of statecraft in polite company. Whether you like it or not, though, staying abreast of the issues and engaging in public discourse about them is part of our civic duty. And if you haven’t noticed, Indiana, which has produced or shaped its fair share of iconic political figures throughout history, has found itself in the national spotlight on a regular basis over the last several years. We live in interesting times and on fertile ground. That’s one of the many reasons we’re fortunate…

A LITTLE PRACTICAL magic helped when Early Kind owner Andi Mc-Cleary began seeking more space for her bewitching online store. Aft er she put her wishes out into the universe for a venue to host a month-long popup shop, a regular customer of hers at Black Circle Brewing Co. caught wind and proposed a more permanent location for her spooky shop. On the corner of 46th Street and Norwaldo Avenue, by LOOM—the new Black Circle production facility and coworking space—a small retail spot was available. Soon, Early Kind opened its weathered cream-and-black brick-and-mortar (you’ll spot it by the large eye painted over the window). The sales floor is open and airy, making it easy to navigate raw-edged crystal jewelry; rune stones, which, like nearby tarot cards, are used to predict…

THE TURF Boone County TREAT For decades, Titus Bakery (1) has been mixing, kneading, frying, and icing some of Indiana’s most tantalizing yeast circles. There’s also a deli and something called “donut pudding.” (Whatever it is, it’s awardwinning.) We recommend the Peanut Butt er Fluff Long John for its taste and the Dirty Nut Stick for its name. 820 W. South St., 765-482-1740, titusbakery.com PLAY Under one name or another, Lebanon’s low-key game store has been around for 28 years. These days, Friendly City Games (2) specializes in tabletop, dice, role-playing, and board genres and stays open late on Wednesday Game Nights. 118 N. Lebanon St., 765-482-1299, friendlycitygames.com SHOP Three lifelong friends joined forces to purchase Saint Adrian Meats & Sausage (3). It’s a literal farm-to-table operation, as the trio…

If you’ve ever tried to carve emotion into a pumpkin, you’ll appreciate the artful achievement on display at Louisville’s JACK O’LANTERN SPECTACULAR. Drive through Iroquois Park to ogle thousands of cartoony frightful faces glowing a kaleidoscope of colors. Some of the 5,000 pumpkins are elaborately carved portraits of newsy figures, movie scenes, and cultural images—all of them scary-good handiwork. $35 per car, jackolanternlouisville.com…

Nola Seafood Boil At this hands-on tribute to the New Orleans culinary tradition that is equal parts dining and social event, seafood is brought to the table in double plastic bags along with bibs, gloves, and metal crackers for opening the crab legs. Drop your spent shells in the supplied metal bucket and wash up at the sink conveniently located at the back of the dining room when you’re done stuffing your face. 11135 Pendleton Pike, 317-826-7282, nolaseafoodboil.com Exotic on the Run The Exotic Platters at this westside boiled-or-fried seafood house are stocked with exceptionally plump and fresh seafood, including split lobster tails, fully loaded crab-leg clusters, and shrimp fat in their shells, plus the standard add-ins of corn on the cob, red potatoes, boiled eggs, and hunks of fried…

TWO CHICKS DISTRICT CO. (1531 S. East St., 317-426-3652, twochicksdistrictco.com)…

BOB ROSS might have called it a happy accident. The itinerant painting instructor was making his way across the country in the early 1980s, looking for a place to film his work, when he walked into Muncie’s public television station. Ross asked to speak with the general manager and surveyed the surroundings. If the make-do studios of WIPB dismayed him, he never let on. Perhaps the cozy charm of the structure—a historic home repurposed for educational broadcasting—was exactly what he was looking for. Or maybe he was simply grateful to find someone who would help him get the word out about his anyone-can-do-it art classes. Whatever brought Ross to Muncie, it was a lucky stop. From 1983 to 1994, WIPB filmed almost all 403 episodes of The Joy of Painting,…

Here at the Hickory Hall Polo Club in Whitestown, polo players atop thoroughbreds thwack a ball around a 300-yard-long, 160-yardwide stretch of carefully groomed green grass. The sun dips in the August sky. Alongside the field, families and couples and college friends and real-estate agents who have rented out box seats for clients swill rosé and nosh on trays of cheeses and meats. This is the only outdoor polo club in the entire state of Indiana, one of just 250-some clubs nationwide. Around the world, the sport has long been the province of the wealthy, white, and privileged. They don’t call it the “sport of kings” for nothing. ¶ Survey the territory here, though, and a more nuanced scene unfolds. The grounds are not only peopled by the hoity toity,…

“I’m prepared to drink my own pee after watching Bear Grylls do it on TV.”—MEGAN FERNANDEZ, DIRECTOR OF EDITORIAL OPERATIONS “Shimmying up the closest tree in a blind panic. I won the tree-shimmying contest at summer camp, and I could do it again.”—KELLY KENDALL, MANAGING EDITOR “I am a tentassembly savant.”—JULIA SPALDING, DINING EDITOR “Even without GPS, I can usually find my way without getting hopelessly lost.”—ANDREA RATCLIFF, SPECIAL SECTIONS DIRECTOR “I once went two days without drinking a beer.”—DANIEL COMISKEY, DEPUTY EDITOR…

Voting In Indiana PAN-WHA? Indiana is just one of six states that refused to allow a pandemic to be one of the reasons voters can vote by mail next month—a factor that could disenfranchise an untold number of Hoosiers during the general election. IT’LL BE FINE, SAYS HOLCOMB Republican Governor Eric Holcomb, backed by his party, has frequently downplayed the risk of voting in person in next month’s election, even as he has curtailed other public activities amid the coronavirus outbreak. “Folks need to understand that it is safe to vote,” Holcomb said earlier this year. “Indiana will have a safe and secure and healthy, in-person election on November 3.” THE DISSENT IS REAL Indiana Vote By Mail Inc., Common Cause Indiana, the League of Women Voters, Vote Safe Indiana,…

YOU’RE KIND OF A VETERAN OF THE CITY’S STYLE SCENE. I’ve been involved for a while, whether it’s modeling or styling for runway shows and photoshoots. WHAT WAS ONE OF YOUR FAVORITE JOBS? I did hair for the first annual Indiana Fashion Week last year, which was such a cool event. WHERE DO YOU DRAW INSPIRATION FOR YOUR LOOK? I change my style often, usually depending on my hair, so currently I’ve been wearing more clean and simple lines. I love [fashion icon] Iris Apfel, which may be where my nickname “nana” came from. WELL, WITH SUPERB COATS LIKE THIS ONE, I SEE THAT. I picked it up at Broad Ripple Vintage about six years ago, and wore it out that night to a bar. My friend told me I…

WHAT IF THE nail salon could come to you? That’s the concept Lindsay Wainscott used to build NEAT Mobile Nail Salon, an extension of her private SoBro studio, where she has built a reputation for intricate modern-art designs. Before COVID-19, NEAT was busy with wedding parties, baby showers, and pop-up events that sold out within hours. Since reopening, she says, the business has been “overwhelmed” with inquiries for both travel and studio appointments for private groups of friends—women looking for a safer way to get a manicure and pedicure. The mobile salon comes to your house and goes inside (following the Indiana Board of Cosmetology requirements for safety) to provide a spa manicure, gel manicure, dry pedicure, or simple polish change. Book at least five services total and get ready…

POSTER Commemorates Dixon’s 2012 Russia gig with Mike Clark and Jerry Z—24 cities in 26 days, part of the “Russia reset” cultural exchange organized by the Obama and Medvedev administrations. “Being a musician has taken me around the world,” Dixon says. “I haven’t been to Antarctica or the North Pole, but pretty much everywhere else.” ALBUM Guitarist Charlie Hunter produced the Rob Dixon Trio’s latest release, Coast to Crossroads, in Brooklyn last year. The Los Angeles Times reviewed it in its “Overrated/Underrated” column, deeming it “underrated.” Dixon likes to point out that Paul McCartney was cited in the story’s “overrated” section, regarding the renewal of Carpool Karaoke. LAPTOP Hunter got Dixon to start using a MacBook Pro during quarantine to make Instagram Live videos together. He has been helping legendary…

Prep Talk ABOUT FOUR years ago, around the time that Aric Geesaman’s third child was due to be born, the amateur bladesmith with a background in biological sciences decided to turn his garage-studio hobby into a full-time gig. His reasons for diving headfirst into his handcraft ed-knife business, Ash Blaeds, was partly practical, as he and his wife calculated the prohibitive cost of day care for their growing family. But forging high-carbon steel into beautiful instruments of slicing and dicing also has sentimental value for the McCordsville maker, who uses found wood from Indy Urban Hardwood to sculpt the polished handles favored by some of Indy’s top chefs. “Growing up, my family liked to go camping and fishing, and those were times when I realized the importance of always having…

BECAUSE SO FEW BLACK VOTERS ARE REPUBLICAN, YOUR JOB SEEMS LIKE A TOUGH ONE. WHAT INTERESTED YOU ABOUT THIS POSITION? What interested me was a candid conversation I had with Indiana Republican Party chairman Kyle Hupfer about the work he had been doing in communities of color. He was very clear to me that he didn’t want to build any type of transactional relationship, because that’s what had been done in the past. I didn’t want to lead communities of color into a party by saying, “Vote for me and I’ll do this for you.” I wanted authentic relationships, and I wanted the Republican Party to be a palatable decision for them. It was a risky job to take. The community could have rejected me because a lot of times,…

A SET OF fantasy treehouses in Kentucky’s Red River Gorge elevates the glamping concept—literally, by placing three domed tents in the trees connected by suspension bridges, and stylistically, by decorating each hideaway like a boho studio apartment. You’ll rough it at first, schlepping your bags up 83 steps to reach the first deck, then more stairs and at least one swaying walkway to your dome on its own platform deck. But you won’t want to take a breather—you’ll want to keep climbing. Test each bridge, see each view, crawl out onto the canopy net, a massive forest hammock made of countless bungee cords. At night, lights outline the bridges and spiral up tree trunks, and the whole place twinkles in the dark. Each dome has hardwood flooring, a queen bed,…

NEAR THE Wisconsin-Michigan border, this small family resort harks back to a time when the Badger State was full of them. Situated on 15 wooded acres that come to a point on North Twin Lake, Coadys’ hosts a handful of yurts and safari tents that feel luxurious in the rugged surroundings despite their sparse furnishings. Inside, you’ll find just a queen-size bed and a woodsy chair or futon. But the tea lights give the quarters a romantic air, and most of your time will be spent on the platform seating area outside, anyway. Coadys’ is far enough away from big-city light pollution that the Milky Way explodes with color in the night sky, and stargazing is a favorite pastime here. The resort owns a small private beach, where guests are…

DOWNTOWN INCLUDES Fletcher Place, Fountain Square, Mass Ave, Mile Square Bazbeaux PIZZA As some of Indy’s most celebrated restaurateurs open pie places all over town, we haven’t forgotten where we first found artichoke hearts and goat cheese on our ’za. Bazbeaux has changed little since 1986, when it opened in Broad Ripple, and it hasn’t really needed to. Flat crust baked crunchy. Toppings you won’t find at Domino’s, like pine nuts and prosciutto. And the cheese—mounds of mozzarella blended with provolone and pecorino. 333 Massachusetts Ave., 317-636-7662, bazbeaux.com Beholder CONTEMPORARY A former car-repair shop just outside Woodruff Place sets the stage for daring performance art that has featured pig-skin noodles, and granita-topped uni designed to melt on the tongue, as well as buttermilk fried chicken with wildflower honey. The laborintensive…

Linda Vaccariello • Whenever freelance writer Linda Vaccariello brought up Bob Ross in the course of reporting her story on him this month (p. 57), the reaction was always the same. “People love the guy,” she says. “And many have no idea he filmed The Joy of Painting in Muncie.” That includes young people, who have discovered the painter. “The man died 25 years ago,” she says, “but his show’s a huge hit on Twitch.” Julian Jones • As a child, freelance photographer Julian Jones often heard his father playing ’40s jazz records. That period is the subject of his fashion photo essay this month (p. 80). “In the 1940s, women’s clothing in the African-American community was all about creating an hourglass silhouette with masculine details,” he says. “Looking back…

Skip the dinky ones—10 acres minimum. With four elaborate mazes covering 9 miles of paths, Exploration Acres in Lafayette is the granddaddy of Indiana field puzzles, voted best in the country by USA Today. It has a help line to call if you get lost. And emergency exits. Designate a navigator. If you use a provided map, turn it whenever you round a corner. No map? Always go left. If you hit a dead end, backtrack and go right. It gets hot during the day without shade, and you might walk several miles. Take water. Expect a lot of pop-outs and chasers at Hanna Haunted Acres. Go soon—most mazes opened in September, and the corn gets trampled. Might as well try the pumpkin cannon while you’re there.…

Nasreen Khan On a piece of plywood, a Black woman exhales these words: “I have come to see you write your will to live.” The declaration, penned by local poet Manon Voice, curls around the moon. “I wanted to express the idea of Black female breath being snuffed out on a regular basis,” Khan says. The former English teacher hopes she can one day be taken seriously for work other than what she calls “ethnic art.” “The only work I can get paid for right now is about performing race for white audiences,” she says. Mike “Kwazar” Martin A 38-year-old former tattoo artist, Martin freehanded his large portrait of George Floyd’s face on Mass Ave in about three hours. He grew up in what he calls a “rough neighborhood” at…

Amy Kressel, MD, infectious-disease specialist at Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital “We’re concerned that people might not come in for the vaccine because they are afraid. Influenza season ended abruptly after COVID-19 came in, and we don’t know what will happen if both viruses are circulating. Influenza and COVID-19 look a lot alike. If someone comes in with symptoms, we would test for both. That will put a strain on testing. We already have long waits for COVID-19 results. Imagine if we’re testing for both. All Eskenazi health centers have the vaccine. Anyone over 6 months should get it.” Kressel is among the Castle Connolly Medical Ltd. Top Doctors. For the full list, go to IndianapolisMonthly.com.…

Revisit The requisite autumn trip to Brown County will be a little more enticing this year with the gourmet reboot of Nashville stalwart Big Woods as The Original. The former smokehouse-and-pizza menu morphed into a slate of handcrafted dishes with regional flair, like braised short-rib meatloaf topped with smoked-tomato gravy and Tabasco fried onions; wild-mushroom strudel; and a hunk of sweet, sticky cornbread that is really just a conveyance for smoked corn butter and peppery buckwheat honey. The tiny timber-framed restaurant gained zero square footage, with the same rustic stick chairs and patio tables perfect for microbrew-sipping on a crisp day. Except now, the Quaff On! brand’s Six Foot Blonde ale and Busted Knuckle porter are joined by cocktails, some with locally made spirits from sibling Hard Truth Distilling Co.…

WITH ITS clubby neon Día de los Muertos motif, La Una Cantina is the $2 shot of fun that downtown Bloomington needs seven blocks from the hallowed limestone perimeter of Indiana University. A funky, freaky mash-up of murals and mirrors, skulls and backlit tequila bottles, Mexican folk art and banana-leaf wallpaper run through an Urban Outfitters focus group, this place grabs you by the collar and puts you under its youthful spell. You get flashes of spring break, a healthy dose of queso, and a refresher course in being carded, all in one big, busy room lit with strings of bare bulbs and big-screen TVs. It’s the kind of place where every day feels like Taco Tuesday in Margaritaville. Or, at least, that’s one way of seeing it. Another way…

I WAS CLEANING UP my office recently and happened upon a notepad listing every funeral I’ve ever done. I conducted my first funeral at the age of 22, for my landlord’s dog, Laddie. My landlord was a mortician who had spent decades burying his friends in the small town where we lived, but was too grief-stricken to inter his own dog, so prevailed upon me to dig its grave in his garden. Then he asked me, rather shyly, if I might say a few words. I had never liked the dog, who had bitt en me twice in the short years of our association. But I spoke of the dog’s nobility as if he were Rin Tin Tin, and I mentioned how the world would be a sadder place with…

Train Cabooses Wildlife Prairie Park $115 to $120 per night Located outside Peoria, Illinois, this 1,800-acre zoological park hosts some 60 species, including wolves, black bears, and bison. You can ogle the critters at your leisure by staying in one of several bright-red train cabooses parked at the edge of the (fenced) bison and elk range. Each sleeps four to five, and includes a full bathroom and kitchenette. wildlifeprairiepark.org Hobbit Houses Rocky Comfort Cabins $189 per night This Makanda, Illinois, resort off ers two “Hobbit houses” built into the sides of hills, with round front doors, grass-covered roofs, and Middle Earth–themed decor. The resort sits in the middle of Illinois’s wine country, and there’s a winery within walking distance. The houses are huge with Tolkien fans, so make your reservations…

WHEN GORDON LIGHTFOOT sang that Lake Michigan’s “islands and bays are for sportsmen,” he was no doubt referring to Beaver Island, Michigan, the largest of the former. Located 32 miles off the coast of Charlevoix, a posh boater’s haven, the 58-square-mile enclave is home to dense pine and cedar forests, more than 700 acres of public nature preserve, seven inland lakes, and about 550 of your new best friends. The island’s year-round residents, many of whom are descended from a group of 19th-century Irish sett lers, are so friendly that it’s easy to fantasize about buying some land and joining their ranks. Just ask Brian Vaeth and Maria Dal Pra, who did just that when they opened Beaver Island Retreat in 2019. Looking to escape their daily corporate grind in…

(1) Be fast, especially if water is limited. Master what’s called the Navy shower: Quickly douse yourself, then turn off the water while lathering up your hair and entire body. Rinse off, and you’re done. (2) If there’s no drain, make sure you use an environmentally friendly body cleaner like Sea to Summit Wilderness Wash (available at REI) so you’re not damaging any nearby plants. (3) Consider showering less. Your twice-a-day habit may not be practical in the woods.…

YOU WILL KNOW that you’ve arrived at The Eco Camp, a delightfully crunchy, solarpowered tent city in Northern Ohio, when you spot owner Alex Wrege zooming toward you on his mini Segway—dressed in a Hawaiian-print shirt and cargo pants, sipping his latte from a pint glass. Without even dismounting, he will show you around the grounds, which consist of a handful of Lotus Belle outback tents that look like giant canvas Hershey Kisses, a couple of group shelters filled with comfy wicker furniture and rainy-day accoutrements (books, USB chargers, a tambourine), and a community fire ring where visitors can soak up the woodsy charm of this barracks tucked between an RV park and a horse farm. Wrege, a German expat who left his job teaching English-as-secondlanguage courses to run The…

VINTAGE: 1990–1994 Resides in Muncie’s Minnetrista Cultural Center OF THE TENS of thousands of paintings Bob Ross created during his improbable rise to fame, this is one of the few that hung in his home. Unlike the hastily prepared canvases on his show The Joy of Painting—filmed in Muncie (see p. 57)—Mountain Paradise contains delicate details and a varnished finish that suggest Ross did this for himself. When the artist died, his widow donated it to Minnetrista. Like the man’s hypnotic TV presence, a landscape that appears effortless actually required a lot of talent. “Bob’s work was sometimes criticized as ‘kitsch art,’ but he taught people the basics: color, composition, brush technique,” says Jessica Jenkins, vice president of the museum. “In that sense, it’s absolutely legitimate art.”…