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TABLE OF CONTENTS
28 Dear Dolly
ON THE COVER:
The romantic story behind the WWI letters found in an attic wall in Jasper. Story by Jenna Fagan
FEATURES
40
DEPARTMENTS
Corn-fed comedy
Find out who’s funny, what’s funny and where to go to laugh in 812’s guide. Story by Sarah Whaley and Madison Borgmann
22
Indiana down under
Recently discovered caves reveal the secret world beneath our feet. Story by Danielle Castonzo and Camille Sarabia
34
Lake Monroe turns 50
Our largest body of water brings in wildlife and tourists. Story by Jordan Canary and Sydney Spaulding
12
In harmony
17
Find your inner artisan
Meet author Phil Gulley, one of Indiana’s premier storytellers. Story by Suzanne Grossman
Local artisans share their passion for traditional arts and tell you how to get started. Story by Bonnie Mailey
46
Finding sanctuary
Rescued animals find a new home with a Salem couple. Story by Jessica Campbell and Annie Quigley
52
Rediscovering Lick Creek
A forgotten African American settlement is rediscovered. Story by Daion Morton
GET OUT OF TOWN
7 The rootsy side of Indiana WHAT I’VE LEARNED
9 Traci Falbo, ultrarunner TASTE OF SOUTHERN INDIANA
11 A Presidents Day pastry THE 812 LIST
54 Is Lincoln ours? On the cover: Photos and letters courtesy of Lucinda Rudolph. WWI boots, cap, helmet, ID tags, pen and ink bottle courtesy of the Monroe County History Center, 202 E. 6th St., Bloomington, monroehistory.org. /Photo by Echo Lu with Emily Feng assisting.
3 WINTER/ SPRING 2015
812 MAGAZINE STAFF
NOTE FROM THE EDITOR I’ve lived in and loved Southern Indiana as long as I can remember. From the forested parks to the architecture of my hometown of Columbus, I’ve reveled in the natural and man-made beauty that surrounds us. And the people here are one-of-a-kind: hospitable Hoosiers who are quick to share a recipe, a story or a laugh. I thought I knew everything there was to know about the 812 region. But we dove deep for this Winter/Spring 2015 issue—even exploring the caves underground—to discover what makes Southern Indiana special. We uncovered the history behind 100-year-old love letters found in an attic wall in Jasper, learned how to shape clay into bowls with local artisans and volunteered in the mud at an animal
sanctuary. We laughed with our region’s funniest folks and with Phil Gulley at his family farm. We even flew a reporter to California and back to unravel the mysteries of one of Indiana’s first African American settlements. So join 812 as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Lake Monroe and the diversity of our region’s arts, recreation and people. Whether you’ve played here since childhood or are a newly minted Hoosier, 812 delivers everything from blood-pumping caving adventures to a restful day weaving rags into rugs.
812:
THE MAGAZINE OF SOUTHERN INDIANA
SPECIAL THANKS
812 appreciates the help of Steve Layton, Steve Raymer, Allen Major, Scott Myrick, Malinda Aston, Susan Elkins, Laura Pence and Roger Hartwell in producing this magazine.
Winter/Spring 2015 Volume 5, Number 1 812 was conceived, reported, written, photographed, edited and designed by students in J481 Creating an Indiana Magazine at the Media School at Indiana University. Contents may not be reproduced without the written consent of the school. You can also find exclusive online stories at our website, 812magazine.com. If you’re interested in advertising in 812, or if you’d like copies to distribute at your place of business, please contact ads@idsnews.com.
4 WINTER/ SPRING 2015
FOLLOW US: @812Magazine
NANCY COMISKEY Instructor
A journalism lecturer, Nancy continues to learn about life in Southern Indiana thanks to her curious, talented and inspiring students.
812 MAGAZINE STAFF
SARAH WHALEY Editor
In her free time, Sarah twists herself up in aerial silks, but laughing with Mat AlanoMartin helped her realize loosening up is healthy, too.
SUZANNE GROSSMAN Managing Editor
Suzanne has always been interested in both writing and religion, but author Phil Gulley showed her how to blend the two.
MADISON BORGMANN
BONNIE MAILEY
A major in informatics and journalism, Madison isn’t sure about the future, but she knows she’ll never put “comedian” on her tax form.
Bonnie says she lacks artistic talent but chose to write about traditional arts. She hopes to develop a hobby like those of the artisans she met.
Art Director
Art Director
JENNA FAGAN
DAION MORTON
JESSICA CAMPBELL
DANIELLE CASTONZO
A romantic at heart, Jenna feels privileged to hear Clement and Mary’s timeless Jasper love story.
Stories his grandfather told about history sparked Daion’s desire to uncover the story of the African American settlement at Lick Creek.
Although Jessica can often be found suntanning on Lake Michigan, she replaced sand with mud to spend time with rescued pigs near Salem.
A journalism and sociology major, Danielle crawled through Binkley cave to write her story.
JORDAN CANARY
ANNIE QUIGLEY
SYDNEY SPAULDING
CAMILLE SARABIA
A journalism major with an apparel merchandising minor, Sydney loved exploring Lake Monroe and learning about the wildlife.
Camille slowed down to enjoy the underground wonders of Southern Indiana in her story about the state’s caves.
Departments Editor
Social Media Editor
After five interviews and about 3,000 words, Jordan Canary, a journalism and marketing major, still can’t accept that Lake Monroe is Monroe Lake.
Multimedia Reporter
Social Media Editor
Annie has interviewed senators, authors and city-council hopefuls, but she finally felt at home interviewing rescued goats and pigs.
Online Editor
Staff Writer
Online Editor
Staff Writer
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GET OUT OF TOWN
The Carolina Chocolate Drops, an old-time Americana string band, performed on the RiverRoots stage in 2010 and went on to win a Grammy the following year. /Photo courtesy of Jake Stuart of Blackmore Imaging
The rootsy side of Indiana Madison’s RiverRoots Festival celebrates its 10th anniversary
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By Bonnie Mailey
n the third weekend of May every year, over 5,000 people pack Bicentennial Park in Madison looking for great Americana music, delicious brews and handmade crafts. This year, May 15-16 marks RiverRoots Music and Folk Arts Festival’s 10th an-
The folk.
Friday evening and all-day Saturday, bands alternate from stage to stage. Event coordinator Greg Ziesemer and his team seek up-and-coming bands. “We like to change it up as much as possible so we don’t miss out on something special,” he said. In honor of the festival’s 10th anniversary, the RiverRoots Music Series was born this year. Every month through March will feature RiverRoots alumni or a band that’s being considered for the stage this year. “We want to make it a year-round celebration,” Ziesemer says. Some bands that Ziesemer and his team are considering are Hurray for the Riff Raff, Shakey Graves and Paper Bird. The finalized set list will be online in January. But the music isn’t limited to the stage. The Jam Tent will be open throughout the weekend, so bring your acoustic instruments and join in the music.
VIP passes guarantee premium seating adjacent to the stages. Tickets go on sale Feb. 1. Admission for adults is $20 before May
niversary. The festival has grown into a seasonal highlight. Last year, more than 6,500 people came for a weekend packed with 14 bands on two stages and left with catchy tunes in their heads, full stomachs and handmade crafts.
The food.
In the past, “great eats and cool treats” from Taco Lassi, Cafe de Wheels and Hard Ice Cream kept fans satisfied. Ziesemer says they plan to “increase quality and quantity of food vendors” this year. Since the festival falls on American Craft Beer Week, amateur brewers can compete in a Craft Brewing Contest. If you’re not into beer-making, area brewers will be there to quench your thirst.
The fun.
The Flying Houndz Frisbee team will perform, local artists will demonstrate and sell their homemade crafts, and “plein air” painters will capture the event live on canvas. Canadian National Poetry Slam Champion Ian French (also known as IF) may perform on the second stage or in the Jam Tent at the festival as well.
1 and $30 at the gate, but kids 12 and under are free. For more information, visit Riverroots.org or the festival’s Facebook page.
7 WINTER/ SPRING 2015
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WHAT I’VE LEARNED
Traci Falbo, ultrarunner
A Charlestown mom snags a world record for running 242 indoor miles in just two days. By Danielle Castonzo
W
hen Traci Falbo, 42, is not driving her two kids to high school, working as a physical therapist or hanging out with her husband, she’s running—up to 90 miles a week. This Charlestown resident recently won a world record for running 242 indoor track miles in 48 hours. Traci is an ultrarunner, meaning she runs distances longer than a marathon (26.2 miles). She has run 94 marathons and over 20 ultras, but this was her first 48-hour race. She shared what running has taught her with 812.
YOU MUST PACE YOURSELF.
It’s easy to go out too hard when you’re racing on your own. It’s best to go in even paces. I’ve never been very good at short distances. The longer I go, the more competitive I seem to get. I’ve been blessed with muscles that can go forever.
YOU CAN’T LET NEGATIVE THOUGHTS STOP YOU. Fill your head with something else. I’ve counted to 100 and started over, I’ve thought of mantras, I’ve listened to music. I listen to stuff that gets you going for some reason or another. In ultra, especially, you have a ton of time to think you can’t. It’s a matter of being stubborn.
YOU HAVE TO GET CREATIVE WITH YOUR TIME. Sometimes I would run up to 90 miles a week, and that’s a ton of time. So you have to be creative about it. I’d take my kids to practice and run when they were at practice, drive home and run some more.
FEAR IS THE ONLY THING IN YOUR WAY. Dreams are possible. I accomplished my top dream after I set the record, but had I not accomplished it, I would still be glad I went for it. It’s sad if people want things in life and never go for it. We learn the most from our failures. So go for it. Otherwise, what’s the point?
Traci ran the 24-hour World Championship in the Netherlands in 2013. She came in 39th and led the women’s USA team to win the title. /Photo courtesy of Traci Falbo
YOU NEED A STRONG SUPPORT SYSTEM. My worst moment during my 48-hour race was after I lay down for the last time. I was glad I’d slept, but I freaked out because I’d lost all that time. I knew I’d have to run a good pace, and if I had problems there was no way I would get the time I needed. That’s where my husband and my friends came in and said great things to pick me up. For a while, you really wonder if you can finish. But after I got up, I ran 12-minute miles for the last 14 hours of the race.
ANYONE CAN RUN A MARATHON. I’ve seen overweight people do it, people who are two-packs-a-day smokers do it. I’ve seen disabled people do it, blind men do it. If you really want to do something, there’s no excuse to say you can’t.
TRACI’S PLAYLIST How does Traci stay motivated for 48 hours of running? Here are a few of the songs that keep her pumped up.
“The Climb” Miley Cyrus
“Anything“ Katy Perry
“Step by Step” Whitney Houston
“You Shook Me All Night Long” AC/DC
“Never Say Never” Justin Bieber
9 WINTER/ SPRING 2015
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TASTE OF SOUTHERN INDIANA
Owner Clem Schmidt and his daughter Cindy Todd laugh as they use metal scrapers to cut the thing-a-ling dough into small rhombus shapes. /Photos by Sarah Whaley
Presidents Day pastry One mom-and-pop bakery, one weekend, 10.6 million calories. By Suzanne Grossman
E
very winter, people line up outside Schmidt Bakery in the Indiana cold waiting for one hot-and-ugly treat: the cherry-thing-a-ling. The fruit fritter with its secret cherry glaze is only sold during Presidents Day weekend at the Batesville bakery in honor of George Washington’s fabled cherry tree. And it sells big. Last year, the owners made and sold 32,000 thing-a-lings in three days. That’s equivalent to approximately 10.6 million calories. This year, Clem and Bertie Schmidt, 72 and 67 respectively, say they hope to top 40,000. Occasionally, people say the thing-alings look like chicken wings, but don’t let the looks fool you. The ugliness is key to the taste. “Well, my daughters say the uglier they are, the better they taste,” Clem says. “The cherries burn black when you fry them, but they’re still sweet.” Thirty-eight years ago, Schmidt decided to create thing-a-lings after seeing an ad
for donut mix. The first year, they sold 140 dozen. After publicity from The Cincinnati Enquirer and area TV stations, the number jumped to 1,500 dozen. Clem says one TV reporter happened upon the thing-a-lings one day and bought some to take back to the station. But before she could feature them on air, her husband ate them all. She broadcast the story anyway. To be sure they have enough thing-alings to keep customers happy, Clem and the other bakers make them all night and into the afternoon the next day. The bakery buys cherries months in advance to get better prices and then freezes them. Last year, they went through 2,100 pounds of cherries and 1,900 pounds of shortening. “We fry them all day long so people get them when they’re hot,” Bertie says. About 25 friends and family members come in to help. Clem and Bertie’s daughters show up, including their oldest, Kim, who flies in from California for the weekend. The grandkids join in, too, rolling out dough and scattering cherries.
Customer Sally Raver loves the taste and the hype of the thing-alings. She sends a box to her daughter in Iowa every year and freezes two or three dozen herself. “They still taste good after even six months,” she says. Mark your calendars: Chicken wing or cherry-thing-a-ling? This year’s cherry-thinga-ling extravaganza is February 13-16 from 4 a.m. to 5 p.m. Expect to pay $1.20 for each fritter, and don’t forget to ask for a tour of how they’re made. If you miss the thing-a-lings, stop by any day Monday through Saturday for their fresh donuts, homemade bread and award-winning brownies. Go to 812magazine.com to watch WINTER/ a video on how the Schmidts make SPRING their cherry-thing-a lings. 2015
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12 WINTER/ SPRING 2015
harmony In
Drawing from his friends and neighbors, author and Quaker pastor Phil Gulley may be the region’s premier storyteller. By Suzanne Grossman
P
hil Gulley hopped on his bike in Plainfield and started racing 100 miles down highway 37 towards Paoli. It was the Fourth of July weekend in 1981, and temperatures were up to 98 degrees. All he had with him was one change of clothes. A few weeks earlier, Phil, then 21, had caught a glimpse of Joan Apple from his apartment window. She was carrying a baseball mitt, he remembers, which sparked his interest. He rushed down to introduce himself. He quickly discovered she had a steady boyfriend, but he played it cool, telling her he just wanted to be friends while she was in town for a summer internship. And friends they became. They shared their unwritten biographies. She told him what it was like to grow up on a farm in Orange County. “Joan was both easy to talk to and easy to be silent with,” Phil says. One day, Joan mentioned she was bringing her boyfriend home to meet her mother, and Phil saw his chance slipping away. So he made a plan. Even though he had a car, he decided that biking to Paoli would make it seem less obvious he was interrupting the boyfriend’s visit on purpose. He was just enjoying a day ride. Luckily, Phil knew a Quaker pastor he could stay with in Paoli. When he got there he called Joan to tell her he just happened to be in town and wondered if she’d like to grab dinner. Of course, she was having dinner with her boyfriend and her mother, but she drove into town and picked him up. As the car turned down windy back roads, Phil saw vast expanses of green pasture to the left and giant overhanging trees to the right. Amazingly, the plan worked. Joan broke up with her boyfriend the next day, and Phil asked her on a real date. She said yes. Today, Phil and Joan are married, and that Orange County farm has become their family’s much-loved second home. It’s where he finds inspiration for his popular eight-book series about life in the fictional Indiana town of Harmony. It’s the place where he finds the rest that gives him energy to write and lead his Fairfield Friends Meeting in Camby, southwest of Indianapolis. The rest many of us find in a quiet Hoosier night.
“Love, even that love which is imagined, is sometimes all we have to get us through.” -Home to Harmony Phil preaches at a Fairfield Friends Meeting service in Camby. Many Sundays, his wife, Joan, can be found playing piano. Phil sings louder than anyone else in the congregation. /Photo by Suzanne Grossman
13 WINTER/ SPRING 2015
Phil looks out over the Orange County farm on a quiet weekend afternoon. Later, he and his wife, Joan, searched for a cave their sons told them about. /Photos by Suzanne Grossman
After her mother’s death, Joan and Phil purchased the land with her brothers and sister. Their extended family gathers at the farm twice a year, in summer and at Christmas.
“There’s danger in thinking joy is a location. If we can’t find joy where we are, we probably won’t find it anywhere.” -Home to Harmony
P
hil never planned on being a writer. He wasn’t an English major and didn’t study creative writing. But he is, by all accounts, a natural storyteller. His 19 books of fiction and nonfiction, published by Random House, HarperOne and others, have sold over a million copies worldwide. Of his first Harmony book, Publisher’s Weekly said, “Occasionally, a simple book feels like home, and its characters become cherished friends. These vignettes will doubtless become favorites . . . for new readers who will respond to the Garrison Keillor-style humor and pathos of fictional Harmony, Ind.” Phil also writes a humor column for Indianapolis Monthly, contributes to The Saturday Evening Post and Salon and makes regular Facebook posts that draw 150 to 200 comments from his more than 5,000 friends. “I think one of the things that draws people to Philip Gulley and his work is that it has this deep down sense of kindness to it,” singer/songwriter Carrie Newcomer says.
N 14 WINTER/ SPRING 2015
ow, Phil writes a book a year and travels across the country on speaking tours. “It’s one thing to read Phil Gulley’s stories on a page, I’ve done it and enjoy it,” says Indiana author Scott Russell Sanders. “But to hear Phil deliver a story is a delight.” The trips take Phil away from Joan and their sons, but they give him the chance to see new places and reconnect with his friends. His writing isn’t fast, but it’s steady. Every day, without fail, he sits down and writes.
Winter is his heaviest writing season, and he either works at the farmhouse or in his home office in Danville. He’s a morning writer and will only pound out 500 words in the three to four hours he writes. But this steady pace is enough to meet his book-a-year quota. His next nonfiction book will be titled Awakened Soul, about the people Phil sees to be fully alive, fully engaged and fully happy. Phil believes his grandmother was one of these people. “Incidentally, I don’t think these people are rare,” Phil says. “I think they’re unknown. But I think these people are gifts from God, and what they do is point the way for the rest of us.” In his Harmony series, the main character, Sam Gardner, is a lot like Phil. He lives in a small town in Indiana and is the pastor of a Quaker meeting. According to Phil, Sam is a bit more neurotic and anxious, but he says that’s because being a pastor is all Sam has. Phil has his writing to fall back on. Occasionally, those in Phil’s life think they are characters in his books. “I’ve had people, especially with someone in the book who is more virtuous, assume that I was writing about them,” Phil says. “And I just tell them, ‘Yes, that was you.’”
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n a recent Sunday morning at the Fairfield Friends Meeting, Phil opens his sermon laughing about a story from his childhood. He had unplugged the meat freezer for an entire week while the family went on vacation causing it to spoil. Other than his kind eyes and wide, dimpled smile, Phil’s laugh
Phil Gulley relaxes for a photo used on his book tours and book jackets. Fall and spring are his heaviest travel months, and his favorite state to visit is New York. /Photo courtesy of Phil Gulley
characterizes him the most. It’s unapologetically loud, but slightly raspy, and he’s often already laughing when he shakes your hand to greet you. As friendly as he is, though, Phil has a fiery side. He doesn’t shy away from sharing his opinions—on televangelists, mixed-breed dogs and logging. As he drives past cut-down and dead trees near the farm, Phil says, “Thank you, Mike Pence.” At the Fairfield Friends meeting, he dives into gay marriage despite his congregation’s division on the issue. Sometimes his fieriness gets him into trouble. Once, it threatened to end his career.
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hil grew up as a Roman Catholic. Like many children, he found religion boring and still believes religion doesn’t answer questions young children have. At 16, he started hanging around the Quaker youth group, mostly because he liked the kids. He didn’t really become interested in religion or spirituality until 21, when a drunk driver killed his best friend, Tim Hadley. When the acci-
Porches like the one at their farm helped inspire Phil’s first book of stories, Front Porch Tales, in 1997. /Photo by Suzanne Grossman
dent happened, Phil had only been attending his Quaker meeting about three weeks. “The people from my new meeting came to the funeral home,” Phil says. “To see me and sit with me, and I was just so touched that they would do that.” Not all Quakers were equally attached to Phil. He first stepped on toes when he announced to his meeting he was going to become a Quaker pastor. What he didn’t know was Friends shouldn’t say they are going to be a Quaker pastor. Instead, the congregation approaches an individual they think is suited to the role. But he persevered and enrolled at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis. Standing in a line at the bookstore one day, he met fellow student Jim Mulholland. They found that not only were they both pursuing their masters in divinity, but they both were cheap, Jim says. The two became friends and sometimes camped in Morgan-Monroe State Forest, and as they sat around the campfire under the Indiana night sky, they talked about whether they really believed in heaven or hell. Those conversations would later show up in their books of theology. Phil’s beliefs continued to evolve as he became a pastor at Irvington Friends in Indianapolis. Late one night in 1992, he got a phone call everyone dreads. His younger brother was in the hospital in Columbus, Ohio, after a suicide attempt. Phil drove to see him and asked what was wrong. His brother tearfully came out to Phil as gay and said he was afraid his family would reject
him. That moment, Phil says, changed his mind about LGBT equality. Phil says his inclusive theology is also an outgrowth of Hoosier hospitality, a tradition of being polite and welcoming to strangers. “I support marriage equality because I believe in not only our constitutional promise of equality, but I believe in the Hoosier principle of hospitality,” Phil says. “So, by golly, everybody’s welcome, and I’m going to make everyone feel at home.” A few years later, Phil’s church newsletters caught the attention of radio commentator Paul Harvey Jr., whose program reached 24 million listeners. One of his listeners happened to be a publisher who called Phil to discuss a book. In 1997, Multnomah Books published Front Porch Tales, a collection of Phil’s stories. Soon after, he teamed up with his former classmate Jim to publish two books of progressive theology, If Grace Is True and If God Is Love. As they worked together, Jim began to notice he had started referring to Christians as “they” and “them,” no longer as “we” and “us.” He gave up his pastorate in 2008 and now blogs at “Leaving Your Religion.” When Jim told Phil of his change of heart, he says Phil hardly batted an eye. “I don’t pick my friends based on religion,” Phil says. Phil then began publishing the novels in
his Harmony series and working on a third book of theology, If the Church Were Christian, which further challenged traditional beliefs. Phil was always bucking the system here and there, but it was his questioning whether Christ was divine that caused some Quakers to have enough of him. In 2003, at a regional Quaker conference, a few attendees called for him to lose his pastor title. Unlike most religions, Quakers don’t have defining creeds, and they don’t vote on issues. Instead, a clerk is chosen who is said to have the gift of discernment. As Friends
My life is a train of unfinished tracks, one railcar after another of half-finished efforts, with no caboose in sight. -A column for The Saturday Evening Post discuss and debate issues, the clerk tries to hear God’s will. These debates came up at the conference for eight years, but the clerk never thought it was God’s will to defrock Phil. Finally, his opponents gave up. Phil says he felt angry and disheartened at first. “Now it’s a gift,” he he says. “It proved to me I have a lot of friends and support from wonderful people.”
15 WINTER/ SPRING 2015
Phil says the farm is his cutoff from TV, cell reception and sometimes even his writing. “All day, only six or seven cars would have driven by,” Phil says. “The -A column for The Huffington Post stars at night are incredible. The animals, the birds, the wildlife. It’s so peaceful.” Much of Phil’s writing and theology is hil and Joan spend most of their time in influenced by the peacefulness of Southern Danville to be close to their Quaker commuIndiana. He says the farm and people here nity and Joan’s job as a school librarian. For keep his head in a small place. “I don’t write the past 32 years, though, they’ve been going about city life—I write about small towns,” down to the farm that’s been in Joan’s family he says. “The farm lets me keep a foot in since 1843. Her grandfather built the small rural Indiana.” two-bedroom, no-electricity house in 1913, It all comes back to writing about what and it’s been renovated several times since. you know. Indianapolis Monthly deputy When Joan’s mother, Ruby, passed away editor Daniel Comiskey loves working with in 2009 at the age of 91, she was buried Phil. “He’s a Midwestern man, and it comes in a nearby graveyard where almost every through loud and clear in his writing,” gravestone bears the Apple family name. Daniel says. “If you grew up in the suburbs As the funeral procession drove by the old or rural Indiana, you know these folks he’s house, Joan realized she wanted to keep it in writing about.” the family. Her three brothers and one sister agreed, and they bought the farm together, with Joan and Phil buying and fixing up the hil still doesn’t feel the need to change house. The whole family gathers there twice or convert people from their beliefs. When a year, once for Christmas and once in the he started out as a pastor, his goal was to get summer.
“I fall squarely in the nice camp of Christianity. Be nice to people. Be pleasant. What the heck, let’s go out on a limb and do unto others as we would have them do unto us.”
P
P
people into heaven. Now, he believes there are multiple ways to God. “My goal in being a pastor can be explained by the definition of love,” Phil says. “To love is to be committed to the beloved’s growth and wholeness and well-being. I am a pastor because it affords me the opportunity to help people grow, be well and experience wholeness.” Sometimes Phil’s beliefs are challenged even at home. Quakers are known as pacifists, so when Phil’s son Sam wanted to join the army after high school, Phil did his best to persuade him to not enlist. One day they had a conversation. “Dad, if we lived in Syria, and soldiers were killing our family, wouldn’t you want someone to come help?” Sam asked. Phil answered he would. “I’m that person. That’s my job in life,” Sam said. “Okay, then you make it your job to help, not hurt,” Phil said. Sam became a medic and is currently attached to the Army Rangers. Though he’s still in the States, he’ll go wherever they go. Phil’s other son, Spencer, married last year, and he and his wife had their first child, Madeline Grace, in December, making Phil and Joan grandparents. Phil looks forward to “being kept young” by the little tyke. In a few months he’ll likely be rocking her to sleep on the front porch of the farmhouse where two previous generations were rocked. One thing is for sure: Phil will be laughing.
Things you may not know about Phil Gulley Greatest accomplishment: His marriage.
Advice for living simpler:
Don’t get divorced because it leads to great complexity in life.
Biggest mistake:
Once in Wisconsin on a book tour, Phil used the women’s restroom by accident and was washing his hands when a few older ladies walked in.
Favorite artist:
Bruce Springsteen. Of all his songs, Phil likes “Promiseland” the best. “It just works for me on so many levels,” he says.
Most admired author:
E.B. White. He has a stack of his books on his bed’s headboard at the farm.
16 WINTER/ SPRING 2015
Epitaph will read:
Just a dad and a husband.
Laughter plays a role in both Phil’s sermons and his storytelling. He often makes jokes about himself and is the first to laugh. /Photo courtesy of Phil Gulley
artisan Find your inner
These masters of the traditional arts show how you can make creativity part of your everyday life
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By Bonnie Mailey et’s go back to when you were 5 years old. Every moment was a chance to create. The Lego pieces of your spaceship drew some colorful words when your mother stepped on them. Blankets became the wall to a fort. You glued sticks together for picture frames and packed snow to make weapons, snowmen and sledding ramps. When did making things stop being a part of who we are? Today, we don’t often solve problems with our own two hands. “We used to live in a society where everyone made,” says Jon Kay, director of Traditional Arts Indiana. Yet in the past 100 years or so, we’ve stepped into the role of consumer. But it’s not too late to reverse that trend. Southern Indiana has long been known for its self-sufficiency, and once-utilitarian skills have become traditional arts. Learning to make something beautiful can be an escape from a stressful day. It can be three hours of “me” time. It can be your legacy— something to share with friends and family. Sure, you could make money, but you don’t have to. “Art isn’t about the product,” Jon says. “It’s the process.” Imagine stepping back at the end of that process, holding a candle or scarf or bowl in your hands and saying, “I made this.” It’s divine, Jon says. “You’ve brought something into existence that did not exist before.” You can begin by learning enough from a pro to experiment on your own, getting some one-on-one coaching or taking a class. To find my own “inner artisan,” I learned candle-making tips from a Franklin craftsman, wove a rag rug in a studio outside Columbus and tried my hand at shaping a cereal bowl at Seymour’s Southern Indiana Center of the Arts. I never considered myself an “artsy” person, but I’m on an art WINTER/ kick now. SPRING You can do the same. Here’s how. 2015
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Potter Betty Johnson shapes an inkwell with clay. /Photo by Sarah Whaley
Mold your ‘scents’ of creativity Dan Catlin Middle Davids Artisan Candles 152 E. Jefferson St., Franklin (317) 738-3886 http://www.middledavids.com
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ive-year-old Zoe Catlin gazes at her dad as he grabs pot after pot of wax. The kitchen fills with the scent of pumpkin as Dan Catlin feels a tug on his jeans. “Daddy, I want a candy-corn candle.” “Maybe next year, honey.” Zoe puts her foot down. “It has to be orange on the bottom, yellow in the middle and white on the top, just like the candy. And it has to smell like it, too.” Who knew a 5-year-old would invent that fall’s top seller? Since then, Dan’s other Dan Catlin adds cumaru to create a leather-like smell—perfect for an office, he says. /Photo by Sarah Whaley
daughters, Bethany and Charissa, have created their own candy cane and Celticinspired candles. All three are on the Top 10 candle list. “The best ideas come from the craziest of places,” Dan says. If three little girls can do it, you can, too. While Dan doesn’t teach formal classes on candle-making, he’s happy to share some tips. All you need are the basics, which is how Dan got started. Dan’s dad, David, was a broke seminary student when he started making candles as presents for his family. They were an immediate hit, and it became a regular father-son activity. For Dan, cold-weather days meant bringing out the boiler and smashing paraffin wax with a ball-peen hammer, dancing around the room with his dad as they created new scents and types of candles. Today, Dan practices his craft on rows of steel tables in the workroom of his shop in Franklin. “I always tell people candlemaking is a lot like cooking,” he says. All you need is wax, a wick and something to hold the candle in. But since candles are often meant to complement a beach theme in the bathroom or be pops of crimson in a kitchen, fragrance and color are critical. “There’s a whole lot of chemistry involved,” Dan says, “but I only pretend to know it.” It’s all about testing and retesting
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It’s all about testing and retesting. That’s what separates the hobbyist from the professional.
—that’s what separates the hobbyist from the professional. Here are his tips.
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FIRST, THE WAX. Wax is the base—the fuel. Middle Davids uses soy wax that’s cleaner, renewable, sustainable and from locally grown beans. TIP: When melting wax, you live by the thermometer. Soy wax’s melting point ranges from 120-180 degrees, and you need to make sure it cools enough before you pour it into the container. Otherwise, you’ll get “snowflaking” or bubbles in the wax that will crackle and pop as the candle burns. You can find soy wax flakes at just about any craft store in your area.
THEN THE WICK. While you could hold a match up to the side of a candle, it would drip all over your hands…but never light. An all-cotton wick pulls wax up to the flame, where it mixes with air. Dan uses what he calls a wickimajig to set the wicks. It’s a long wooden box with metal pegs sticking out of nine sections. The wickimajig holds the wicks upside down so that he can dab hot glue on the end and put the jar over it, creating a strong bond without burning his fingers with the 200-degree glue. TIP: Don’t use wicks with a metal center. The metal may be sturdier for placement in the container, but the fumes aren’t great for the environment. You’re also going to want to use a thicker wick for a “thicker” scent— and this takes quite a bit of trial and error. If it’s too smoky, you used too big of a wick. CHOOSE A CONTAINER. Back in the day, stores used to buy back glass soda bottles for 10 cents. Similarly, Dan gives customers store credit when they bring in used candle jars. “Yeah, we’re tree huggers,” he says. TIP: You can use anything to contain your candle, but Dan recommends glass or metal because they’re the sturdiest materials to hold the wax. FINISH WITH COLOR AND SCENT. This is where the testing and retesting comes in. Dan gets little tester bottles of fragrances from his supplier and mixes them with the soy wax to see if they’re up to par. You can’t just stick your nose in the bottle and take a whiff—sometimes the reaction with the fragrance and the wax ends up smelling a whole lot like wet dog rather than the pine tree scent you were expecting. Although his shelves hold 50 to 60 scents, Dan has tested over 200. Fragrances typically come in .5 fluid ounce bottles. TIP FOR FRAGRANCE: In order for the fragrance to mix thoroughly with the wax, the wax needs to be heated to about 185 degrees. Some fragrances won’t work with soy wax, or won’t smell the same as they did in the bottle. TIP FOR COLOR: Make sure the color of the candle is associated with the scent—the brain processes it faster.
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andle-making, like any skill, takes some time, but in learning about the process you begin to appreciate the art. So give it a try. Or stop by Dan’s shop and pick up one of his ready-made creations, which range in price from $12-20.
Weave trash into treasure Chris Gustin Homestead Weaving Studio, LLC 6285 S. Hamilton Creek Road, Columbus (812) 988-8622 http://www.homesteadweaver.com
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tep on treadle one. The heddles hanging from harnesses one and three shoot up, and the warp threads lock into place. Slide the shuttle through the shed to the selvage on the other side, making a thumbprint in the weft. Beat the threads into place and step on treadle six. Now really beat it this time. Confused yet? Don’t be fooled by all the jargon— weaving can be simple. Before you know it, you’ll be speaking the language fluently. But warning: Weaving can be addictive. Chris Gustin, 66, lives in an idyllic farmhouse hidden in the woods outside Columbus. The queen of the hill is her studio—a quaint wood building with a multicolored picket fence and lawn ornaments speckling the grass. Inside,16 looms are scattered around along with 6,000 pounds of fabric, yarn and thread. Chris tells me she has 10 more looms in her house. “I know all of their names, too,” she says with a chuckle. Chris started with a simple potholder loom when she was 5. Using loops of fabric from the local store, she weaved so many potholders she sold them door-to-door in her neighborhood. That passion was rekindled in her junior year of college when she saw a sign for a weaving class. “This is my weaving class,” Chris says as she sweeps her arm across the studio, where cones of yarn spill off the shelves, and piles of fabric and rugs line the edges of the room. She designed her studio after her college classroom. After working for a few years as editors and photographers in Colorado, she and her husband, Bob, moved to Columbus in 1974. Chris started weaving rugs with shirts she found at a thrift shop. Since then, her weaving materials have expanded to socks, upholstery selvage and even bubble wrap and paper. “If I see something that could have another life, then I want to give
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Chris Gustin has 26 looms and over 6,000 pounds of fabric, enough to last the rest of her weaving career. Her cat Pike often snoozes on the warp. /Photos by Sarah Whaley
it another life,” she says. If you want to move beyond potholders, try out Chris’ looms at one of her day-long weaving classes on her studio porch from April to early November. She takes four students at a time from 10 a.m. to 4 or 5 p.m., and you walk away with a rug. You can hop on different types of looms and create rugs to last a lifetime. But don’t expect to be perfect. “Some people won’t allow themselves to fail,” Chris says. There are going to be some air pockets in the first two rows, but that’s life. Once you get the hang of it, the thread will become tighter, you’ll change sheds more quickly and you’ll play the loom like a piano. Classes might include teenage daugh-
‘If I see something that could have another life, then I want to give it another life.’
You may remember the most basic loom— used to make potholders—from childhood.
ters and moms, students on an annual “weaving camp” or weeklong girlfriend getaways. If you’re serious about weaving, you can find good deals on looms on Chris’ website. As far as weaving material goes, check your Goodwill pile: stained jeans, old socks— anything that will hold up in the wash. Even bubble wrap.
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Shape the way you see clay Betty Johnson
Southern Indiana Center for the Arts 2001 N. Ewing St. , Seymour (812) 522-2278 www.soinart.com
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hen Betty Johnson drove up the gravel driveway to the Southern Indiana Center for the Arts in 2005, she panicked. She sat with her hand on the door handle, saying to herself, “Why am I here? I should just go home.” After a phone call with a friend, she mustered the courage to walk up to the door and take a class. “I’d never had a passion,” Betty says. “But when my hands hit that clay, it was like something from my head to my heart kind of exploded.” She wanted to be at the wheel every day, with clay caked in every crease of her hands and buried under her fingernails. Over the past nine years, Betty has evolved from amateur potter to teacher in the open studios at SICA every Saturday. From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., she helps kids 13 and younger make face masks and castles and bowls, if their arms are long enough to reach the wheel. Hand-building is the easiest form of pottery and suitable for kids who aren’t big enough to try the wheel. “It’s like making cookies,” Betty says. The kids roll the “dough” on the table and sculpt their piece entirely by hand. The shelves of the barn are filled with castles and masks waiting to be claimed.
It took just minutes for Betty Johnson to transform a small ball of clay into an inkwell for a colleague. /Photo by Sarah Whaley
From 1 to 4 in the afternoon, aspiring artists 14 and older have a turn at the five wheels that line the wall of the Don Hill Arts Barn. Using the wheel is more elegant, but more complicated and unpredictable. You have to sit at the wheel without a preconceived notion of what’s going to come out, Betty says. But the process isn’t over when the pot comes off the wheel. DRYING. A piece sits on the shelves for two to three weeks until fully dry. It’s at its most fragile state, called greenware. BISQUE FIRING. The piece is put in the kiln at 1,800 degrees. The clay is still very porous after firing. GLAZING. This is what makes a piece shine. Low-fire glazes are often used for kids because what you see in the bottle is what you get when the piece comes
out of the kiln. With high-fire glazes, the color in the bottle can look vastly different from the end product, so you have to know what the glazes do. It’s all trial and error, and you’ll find some beautiful combinations along the way. “It’s like a box of chocolates on Christmas morning,” Betty says. HIGH FIRING. In one of the barn’s three kilns, the piece is fired at 2,455 degrees. If you try to speed up the process by firing a piece before it’s fully dry, the clay can explode, taking out other pieces in the kiln as well, what Betty calls a “claytastrophe.” After a day and a half in the fire, the piece is finished. Saturday classes at SICA are $16 per class for members and $20 per class for non-members. You’ll need at least two visits: one to throw your piece and one about three weeks later to glaze it.
Finding my own inner artisan
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did my fair share of pottery back in third grade. My lumpy, multicolored dinosaur paperweight still gathers dust in the back of my parents’ closet shelves. But Betty helped me branch out. She says the hardest part of using the wheel is getting your ball of clay centered. So I smacked my snowball-sized chunk down on the middle of the bat (my canvas, if you will). I pressed the pedal down, and we were off. I doused my hands in water to reduce the friction between my hands and the clay. When the clay gets warm, you have to step back and re-wet your hands. Next comes compressing and opening. Betty told me to squeeze the clay from the outside and feel the air pockets pop. Then
open it up. As I pressed my thumbs down, it was surprisingly easy to make that lump of clay begin to look like something I could eat cereal out of. Over and over, I pressed my thumbs down and dragged my fingers up the side of the clay. After a while, we turned the wheel down from a clothes-dryer pace to a carousel ride. I took a tiny sponge and dragged it along the inside edge of the clay, opening it up just enough more. And the bowl looked “professional.” After just 10 minutes on the wheel, I produced something I could be proud of.
I wouldn’t say I’m addicted, but something about watching a piece take form makes you feel powerful. Focusing on the clay let me put aside the stress of school and life and be fully present in shaping that cereal bowl. I can’t wait to go back to glaze it—and maybe make some presents.
812-339-3647 www.invisiblefence.com scindiana@invisiblefence.com
A celebration of Southern Indiana. Catch the next issue in stands May, 2015.
For inquiries about advertising in future editions of 812 magazine, contact IU Student Media at 812-855-0763 or email advertise@idsnews.com.
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Indiana down under Explore miles of caves hidden beneath our feet By Danielle Castonzo and Camille Sarabia
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THEY’RE DARK AND DAMP, a dungeon of rock formations lurking beneath the hills and forests of Southern Indiana. These mysterious and largely unexplored tunnels are home to Ice Age bones, dazzling geode formations, underground rivers and strange animals. Thanks to the shallow inland sea that covered the region for millions of years, we have more than 3,400 caves here, about a fifth of all the known caves in the United States.
23 Two 812 reporters got a tour of Binkley Cave, guided by some of the cavers who first explored it. /Photo by Dave Everton
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Tim Pride crawls through a hole into the upper level leading toward the connection. /Photo by Dave Everton
DISCOVERED IN THE 1930s, Binkley Cave in Corydon is now the largest cave in Indiana and the eighth longest in the United States. Still not fully explored, Binkley is home to the most active cave exploration in the region. This summer, the public portion, now called Indiana Caverns, will celebrate its first anniversary of being open for tours. Explorers have surveyed 41.734 miles of Binkley so far and expect to find up to 100 miles. With the help of dye and air tests, they know more is out there; it’s just a matter of time. If the new miles of caves live up to expectations, Indiana may soon have the largest privately owned cave in the country. Join us as we crawl into the dark and seemingly limitless Indiana Caverns for the first time. Discover the still air, the winding tunnels and the story of the team who put Indiana caving on the map. Come along as we uncover the secrets of what lies beneath our feet. YOU’RE CRAWLING
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wire fence, a piece of sheet metal, two tires and a can of Mountain Dew. The cave smells stale, with the occasional hint of cigarette smoke from your companions. If not for you and your headlamps, it would be completely dark, completely silent. This narrow tunnel is one of many entrances into Binkley Cave, site of the biggest caving project in Indiana and possibly in the United States. It’s one of the few places with uncharted territory still to discover. Every weekend, a core group of explorers finds something: a new lead, a new tunnel, a new crack that could open into an entirely new passage. Every time, it’s a new adventure.
on the way the air moved in the cave, he knew that large passages lay ahead, that there was more to Binkley than met the eye. He decided to map and develop the cave. By 2008, after exploring and surveying the cave for almost 40 years, Roberson and his team had found just over 22 miles. It seemed they had hit a stopping point. They had no idea how much more Binkley was keeping from them. They had no idea how much was left to find.
WE ARRIVE AT 10:30 on a Saturday morning and meet our tour guides for breakfast at Frederick’s Cafe, the cavers’ go-to diner. Explorers meet here every weekend before they venture underground. If you’re a regular at Frederick’s, you don’t even have to order. They bring out your breakfast without asking. Our guide, Dave Everton, looks at us through his narrowrimmed glasses and smiles. He’s wearing a Tools of the Trade shirt featuring an electric guitar, camouflage pants and flip-flops. We laugh nervously and squeeze into the booth across from him. You can’t tell from appearances alone, but we are eating breakfast with the caving celebrities of Southern Indiana. They are the big guns, a robust group of men, and one woman, who know Binkley Cave better than anyone in the world. Dave has been involved with the Binkley project since 2009, when he started taking photographs for owner Gary Roberson’s book Fifty Years Under the Sinkhole
“Sometimes [the cave] lets you solve part of the puzzle, and sometimes it doesn’t give up its secrets so easily.”
limb over limb, dodging rocks and sliding through mud, an elaborate game of “follow the leader.” When it gets too narrow, you lie on your belly, pushing yourself through with your forearms and knees. The rock beneath you is cool and slick, slightly slimy. Your breath is visible in the darkness, like breathing on a winter day, illuminating the stillness of the air. As you navigate the winding passageway, tiny stones dig into your palms and kneecaps. You pass an uprooted barbed-
GARY ROBERSON OWNS
Indiana Caverns, the “show cave” portion of Binkley. Although not the first to enter Binkley Cave, he was one of the first to see its potential. He’s been exploring Binkley since 1967, when he started going on weekend adventures with friends from the Purdue Caving Club. Even then, based
Your caver’s checklist You’re excited to discover this underground world through your own eyes, but what should you bring? Here’s what Chris Parks recommends packing for a safe and enjoyable caving experience.
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2 3 Plain. He’s been exploring Binkley almost every weekend for five years now, along with several other core members who started exploring Binkley and fell in love. Everton introduces the group, going name by name down the table. Among these cavers are Laura Demerest and Tim Pride, who’ve been part of the Binkley team for years and discovered a new river system in the cave last summer. Today, Dave is introducing our group of caving newbies to his underground world. There’s us, Jose Aponte, an ex-military veteran and photography student, and Braden Catt, a master’s student researching the Ice Age’s influence on Indiana caves. “Let’s go,” Dave says.
BINKLEY IS NOT a friendly
cave. It can be wet, muddy and incredibly narrow. In some portions, surveyors wade through underground rivers in their wetsuits, submerged up to their chins, tilting their faces toward the ceiling to breathe out of the two or three inches of air space available. Surveying is a slow process, particularly in Binkley, where the passages intertwine at random intervals like “a bowl of spaghetti,” Dave says. They dip back and forth with no regard for the explorers with their hardhats trying to map out what goes where. Cavers are never quite sure what they’ll find. Sometimes it’s a hole in the wall, leading down a passage. Sometimes the cave dead ends with a big pile of rocks that needs to be broken away with bare hands. There are still many leads in the cave waiting to be followed, many tunnels and cracks marked for further exploration. “The cave is like a big puzzle,” Dave
says. “Sometimes it lets you solve part of the puzzle, and sometimes it doesn’t give up its secrets so easily.”
FIVE MINUTES DOWN the road
from Frederick’s, we pull into a small farm on the side of the road. Chickens and a couple of cats wander along rows of corn. We put on our old shoes, zip up our jackets, pack AAA batteries and napkins in our pockets and charge our flashlights, preparing physically and mentally for the journey ahead. Dave emerges wearing an old light blue “Welcome to Indiana” tourist shirt with holes in the center, loose khaki pants, elbow pads, a helmet with two headlamps attached and dark rubber boots reaching just below his knees. We follow him behind the house, into the corn. We push aside dead corn stalks and dodge thorny branches. “This reminds me of the rice fields in Afghanistan,” says Jose, the veteran. The cave entrance is a five-foot opening at the bottom of a hill of rocks and tree branches, a small open mouth in the earth. We scramble gracelessly down the hill and sit quietly for a minute. “If you haven’t turned on your lights, now would be a good time,” Dave says cheerfully. “Who wants to go first?”
IN FEBRUARY OF 2012, everything changed for Binkley. Two individual caves, Blowing Hole and Binkley, became one. Together, the expanded caves stretched 34 miles. One cave portion was close enough to the surface to allow easy access, and Indiana Caverns opened to the public in June 2013.
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Three sources of light.
At least one should be a headlamp, and the others should be flashlights with extra batteries.
Water.
Be sure to bring enough.
Sturdy shoes.
Old gym shoes will do, but hiking boots or other shoes with lug soles do the job best.
Synthetic clothing,
especially if you know the cave is wet or damp.
Trash bags
if you’re worried about getting wet or damp. “We bring a heavy-duty trash bag, a poor man’s raincoat, and poke a hole through it for your head.”
A map of the cave.
Don’t be solely reliant on maps because they can be hard to understand. When moving through the cave, occasionally look back. Caves look different from opposite directions.
A bag for belongings
that you can tie around your boot when you’re crawling and don’t have a free hand.
A sturdy helmet.
Even a biking helmet will do.
Food.
“Bring foods that you can snack on, ones that won’t make you use the restroom.”
At least four people. It’s the perfect number. If someone gets hurt, it allows one person to stay behind and let the other two leave for help. No one is left alone.
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The two authors, in the center, pose alongside a calcite formation. /Photo by Jose Aponte
This formerly wild portion of the cave now features a metal ramp, spiral staircase and even a boat ride. But Indiana Caverns’ main feature is Big Bone Mountain, a precarious pile of rocks stacked on top of one another like an extreme game of Jenga, reaching about 70 feet in the air. “We had to be really careful when we climbed that,” says Tim Pride, one of the cavers who discovered this room. The cavern itself is the size of an auditorium, lit with dim yellow lights that illuminate rock formations and Ice Age fossils of black bears and smaller mammals that once hibernated there. From the ramp, you can see several passages marked off for further exploration and small tunnels where past explorers hit a dead end on the first or second try. In recent years, cave exploration has declined in Indiana. In the 1970s, Indiana caves were largely uncharted territory, but now many of the easy openings and passages have been mapped. The discoveries left to make will require time, grit and experience. The volunteers’ reward is finding passages no one else has seen. “Cave exploring is one of the last frontiers where anyone can truly explore something that hasn’t been found by mankind,” Dave says. “Where else can you go where no
one else has ever been?” This summer, for example, members of the core group found a new river system. The team divided into two groups and followed the river, at some points 20 feet wide. Eventually, they hit stopping points where there wasn’t enough airspace to safely continue. At age 58, Roberson no longer goes on the all-day surveying trips. But he’s always there waiting in his lawnchair by the exit, even if it’s 2 or 3 a.m. “I couldn’t sleep anyhow,” Roberson says. “I wanted to know what they found.”
of your surroundings.” We crawl in slowly, cautiously. Our bodies adjust quickly to the rocky terrain, damp walls, low ceilings and the 52 degree air. The tunnel narrows quickly and within five minutes, even we – the shortest in the cave by at least eight inches – have to crouch to a crawl. We forgot to bring knee pads, so our knees burn from the sharp rocks. Dave moves through the cave effortlessly, propelling himself forward on his belly like a snake. Despite being the oldest and the biggest in the cave, he can out-crawl anyone in our ragtag group. He dips in and out of sight as we cautiously navigate the passage far behind. The silence is broken only by Dave’s ongoing narrative about the cave, Jose’s huffs and the occasional drop of water falling from the ceiling. It’s a world unlike anything we’ve seen.
Tiny drops of water dot the ceiling, shimmering like jewels.
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WE NOW BEGIN our exploration and Dave is “volunteered” to enter the cave first. He ducks into the darkness confidently and quickly as we follow his lead. Jose jokes about not fitting in the tiny opening as he follows behind us. “Remember, head protection. No sudden movements,” Dave warns. “Be aware
IT WAS JUST LUCK that we have any caves in Indiana. When the glaciers passed through Indiana in the last Ice Age, they bulldozed away the exposed limestone in the northern part of the state. But south of Bloomington a stretch of surface limestone survives and continues into Kentucky and Tennessee to form the
cave-rich terrain we know today. All Indiana caves are formed from limestone. Water dissolves into limestone instead of just running over it. Imagine a small stream running over a sheet of limestone. The water trickles into the large cracks in the stone, and those cracks get bigger and bigger with time. Pretty soon, the entire stream disappears underground, forming that first passage. The stream continues to enlarge the cave, carving out winding tunnels for future cavers to find. Many parts of Binkley still have water running through them, meaning that it’s still growing, slowly but surely. Fifty years ago, people thought caves could only form in places where water was actively draining from hillsides and other inclines. No one thought it was possible for a large cave to form below the flat land of the Mitchell sinkhole plain, where Binkley and other major caves in Indiana were later discovered.
FORTY MINUTES in and we have
only a foot of space between the ceiling and the ground to move through. Dave cracks jokes in the front while Jose pants behind us. The tunnel opens up into a room the size of a small bathroom. In front of us the tunnel plunges into darkness, a 20-foot drop Dave says leads to more passages. We peer into the black hole, questioning how adventurous we really are. “So you want to try to . . . not fall in it,” Dave says, starting to maneuver around the circumference of the drop-off, holding on to sturdy rocks. We follow, climbing from rock to rock like uncoordinated monkeys. We move to the opposite side of the hole and into the biggest room we’ve seen today. A calcium deposit drips down the wall before us like thick wet icicles. Tiny drops of water dot the ceiling, shimmering like jewels in our headlights. For a moment, we are in awe. “It’s a different world,” Dave says. Jose snaps some photos of us, the “cave models.” We stand on either side of the waterfall and look at the camera. A few flashes of light later, and it’s official: We have proof that we made it. The crawl back is easier, faster. Our movements are almost mechanical now. We’ve graduated from novices to, well, more experienced novices. We’re more confident in how to move our bodies and how to navigate back to the sun. As we squeeze through the last portion, we see the sun shining through the small mouth we crawled into two hours ago. The air is crisp and fresh, and the colors are brilliant after all the gray. We had only ventured 600 feet deep into a cave that stretches more than 40 miles, a cave in which explorers have spent 24 consecutive hours. As we stand above ground for the first time in two hours, we look at each other and grin. We did it.
Caving lingo Bacon: a thin layer of calcite with light and dark bands, giving the formation a bacon-like appearance
Bathtubs: a stream passage where the water is close to the ceiling Calcite: calcium carbonate, the principal mineral found in limestone, that forms stalactites, stalagmites and flowstone
Caver: someone who enters a cave for scientific or non-recreational reasons and who may rescue spelunkers
Karst: the landscape in a cave caused by the dissipation of rocks—includes sinkholes, streams, springs or cave entrances
Lead: an unexplored passage in a cave Sinkhole plain: a nearly flat area where most of the relief is due to a sinkhole, which can be a few centimeters or kilometers across
Spelunker: an inexperienced person exploring a cave for sport Twilight zone: the dimly lit portion of a cave that doesn’t receive direct sunlight
Wild cave: a cave in its natural state, where paths or lights making it usable for the public haven’t been installed
In memory of Tim McLain, 1964-2013, a veteran caver and friend As told by Chris Parks, Indiana University Caving Club faculty adviser and Binkley team member. Cavers get close to each other. There’s a familiarity, something that you sense. After you’ve done something as physical as caving together, have gone through narrow passages, had someone pull you through an area that your mind told your body that you wouldn’t be able to squeeze through, there’s an instant connection. You depend on each other. I never had an anxious moment in my caving experiences until Tim had a heart attack last fall in the middle of our trip into Binkley. We were thinking, “Can we save him? What can we do?” Soon, the frantic motions of CPR ceased, and our questions changed. It became: What do we do? We realized he was gone. Dave Everton led our group out
of the cave. I stayed behind with Laura Demeresk. We sat. We continued CPR. But we knew there wasn’t a point. We weren’t doing CPR for Tim anymore. We were doing it for his family. We were doing it for us. I reached the cave’s entrance 12 hours after I had gone in. It was freezing outside. I was cold, tired, miserable and upset, but I wasn’t alone. There were more than 50 people there: our friends, fellow cavers, a few ambulances and police. They were all there to help us out, to support us. That day is still a part of me, and it’s still part of the Binkley group. At the end, amidst the emotional and physical exhaustion, I was touched. Our community was there. Our family was there. Tim was one of our own, and everyone knew it.
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Dear Dolly The moving love story behind a packet of WWI letters found in an attic wall. By Jenna Fagan
uly 9, 1918—In a crowded army tent, a private trades his muddy drill boots for a few sheets of Knights of Columbus letterhead. He knows his evenings here at basic training in West Point, Kentucky, are numbered. His unit commander and officers will ship out to the Great War overseas any moment. Within a week, he and the other artillery soldiers will follow. His dog tags hang from his barracks bag, reminding him that his time is drawing closer every day. War is coming, whether he’s ready or not. On the crumpled letterhead, right below the words “War Activities,” he makes the only vow he knows he can keep to the love he left behind. “As long as I have a chance to live Dolly, I will hang on and fight, for your sake … to come back to you.” When 22-year-old Clement Berger penned those words to his 18-year-old sweetheart, Mary Borho, he had no idea if he would see his “Dolly” or their Jasper hometown again. He knew many of his fellow recruits, men he trained side-by-side with at West Point, would never come back from the conflict overseas. His heartfelt promise to “fight to the last” is just one of many passionate phrases in his three surviving World War I letters, found preserved in Jasper homeowner Phil Mathies’ attic wall last April. Romantic, poignant and at times wryly humorous, Clement’s words give us a window into early 20th century Jasper, a small German-American town caught up in the conflict of World War I, both overseas and on the home front.
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asper in the early 1900s was a quiet agricultural community where everyone knew everyone. Paved streets branched out from the courthouse square, and neighborhood stores ran on credit. Letters were delivered without addresses, because the mailman knew where the recipients lived. The Jasper Herald cost $1 for a one-year subscription. People here prized “honesty, sincerity, truth and thrift,” according to author E.O. Wilson’s poem celebrating Dubois County’s centennial in The Herald. Promises were sacred. On the south lawn of the imposing St. Joseph’s Catholic Church stood a simple cross, placed there in 1848 by early German settlers, whose descendants would dominate Dubois County. Mass here was said in German instead of Latin, and children studied German in school. Distinctively German names like Gutzweiler, Stenftenagel and Heichelbeck were commonplace. Mary Hayes, the president of the Dubois County Historical Society, says Jasper was so predominantly German-American that immigrants settling there initially experienced little of the persecution they might have elsewhere in Indiana—or that they would face in coming years.
It was into this slice of small-town America that Clement Berger was born on July 5, 1898. He was a first-generation American: His father, Andrew J. Berger, emigrated from Wagshurst, Germany, when he was just 16. His parents brought baby Clement home to a little apartment above Berger’s Grocery, their family-run store. Like many Hoosiers at the time, he attended school only through eighth grade and graduated with a “common school education.” He started helping his parents in the store fulltime, often delivering grocery orders in the family’s red delivery truck. Clement’s life changed forever one afternoon when he stopped by a local restaurant, and a young brunette named Mary Borho brought him his dinner. Clement took one look at her and “that was that,” says the couple’s granddaughter, Lucinda Rudolph. Mary was also descended from German immigrants. Her family came to America from Durbach, Germany, when her father was 5. Mary had been working since she was 12 and had to drop out of seventh grade to help support her five siblings. She had already held several jobs, including ironing for a wealthy Jasper family, before she started waitressing.
LEFT: Clement as a soldier. BELOW Granddaughter Lucinda Rudolph holds one of Clement’s letters. /Photo by Jenna Fagan ABOVE RIGHT: American troops march in Jasper. BELOW RIGHT: Jasper holds a homecoming parade. /Photos courtesy of Lucinda Rudolph
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Courtship was changing across the United States around the time that Clement and Mary began seeing each other. Instead of chaperoned courting on the family porch or in the parlor, couples started going on unsupervised dates to movie theaters or dance halls like Jasper’s own Kunkel’s Hall. Clement and Mary often drove out to the countryside for picnics with a group of friends, Lucinda says. “In all the pictures, Mary has this big frilly garden hat on.” The couple didn’t let a five-year age gap stand in the way of falling in love. They balanced each other; each had something the other needed, Lucinda says. Besides, as Clement reminded Mary in his letters, “On your birthday I am only 4 years and 4 months older.” Soon, Clement became “Clemmie” and Mary became “Dolly,” “Sweetheart” and “Dearest Darling.” hile Clement and Mary were falling in love in Jasper, Europe was falling apart. The conflict overseas awakened the traditionally isolationist
Hoosiers to world affairs. Once Germany began attacking American ships, “Europe’s war” became “our war.” When the United States officially joined the war on April 6, 1917, Indiana Governor James P. Goodrich assured President Woodrow Wilson that “Hoosiers were behind him.” Indiana’s citizens rallied to support the war effort. Farmers planted more corn and wheat. Families tended backyard war gardens. But Indiana gave more than just crops to the war effort; it sacrificed its lifeblood as well. The state sent more than 130,000 troops overseas, including Private Clement Berger. When he left for training, Clement’s enlistment papers listed his basic information: age, 22; occupation, clerk; eyes, gray; hair, brown. They didn’t say anything about his family, Berger’s Grocery or the hometown streets he had to leave behind. And they definitely didn’t tell of his Dolly, who started praying Hail Marys as soon as her intended left Jasper. With his May 28, 1918, induction into the U.S. Army Artillery, he stopped being “Clemmie” and started answering to a new name: Soldier 2899627.
he war raging in Europe was not the only conflict facing Clement in 1918. As a member of a German-American community like Jasper, Clement faced strife on the home front as well. “It’s fair to say that Hoosiers, like a lot of Americans, were conflicted during WWI,” says Indiana University history professor Eric Sandweiss. “There were certainly a lot of first- or second-generation Germans in this state. Through most of the 20th century, more Americans had German ancestry than any other nationality, and many of them did not wish to see their new country go to war with their old one.” Extensive media coverage of German aggression and the occupation of Belgium helped turn Hoosiers against the European nation. “American propaganda helped to drive home the idea that the ‘Huns’ were not the friendly people who ran the grocery down the street, but an inhuman race bent on world domination,” Sandweiss says. Suddenly, German-Americans in communities like Jasper had to decide where their loyalties would lie: with America, their new home, or with Germany, which many still considered “the Fatherland.” This choice sometimes proved dangerous. Those who seemed disloyal to America were occasionally attacked or had their homes and businesses broken into. The Jasper Herald reported that when local Lutheran minister Rev. Dagefoerde was charged with being “pro-German,” he received a coil of rope and a note saying if he didn’t leave before 6 o’clock the next day “it would be used on him and used damned quick.” How did Dagefoerde earn his “pro-German” label? He didn’t campaign for the Liberty Loan drive, the Red Cross or the YMCA. He admitted that he hadn’t offered prayers for “the boys over there” because “he was not certain which side was right,” The Herald wrote. In an effort to prove their loyalty to the United States, the German-Americans of Jasper Anglicized their names and tried to hide their German customs. Dubois County historian Arthur Nordhoff says the German language stopped being taught in schools and disappeared from Mass at St. Joseph’s. In his recorded memoirs, Jasper resident Wilfrid Vollmer Worland recalled that “Vater unser der du bist in Himinel” became “Our Father Who art in Heaven” as a result of WWI. ven though both Clement and Mary were of German descent, Clement didn’t struggle to pick a side in WWI. His loyalty belonged to the United States. “That was his duty,” his granddaughter
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Mary and Clement pose on the Berger’s Grocery delivery truck. They raised their two children in an apartment above the store. /Photo courtesy of Lucinda Rudolph
his longing for her. “Dolly I am here for duty only now and nothing else and if I will not come back for a few years . . . or if I never will come back I shall die with your memory, for you have followed me for this long… Dolly you are closer than ever to me, for every day, I long for you more and more.” Even as he traveled, first from Jasper to West Point, then overseas to France, Clement’s heart remained home in Jasper.
Lucinda says, “to protect this country.” She believes Clement, like many children of German immigrants, had an easier time accepting America as their country than their parents did. “This being a new generation, this was their homeland,” she says. For many German immigrants, coming here was a new start. America meant opportunity, she says, and her grandfather embraced it whole-heartedly. For Clement, fighting for the United States against Germany meant not only fighting for duty, but also defending the home of the woman he loved. He wrote Mary that he was willing to sacrifice his life defending “mine and your country ‘across the waters’” so that they might share a brighter future together in Jasper. Still, homesickness plagued him. “Oh Dolly I would give my months wages only to see you again,” he writes in his July 9, 1918, letter. On another occasion, he writes of
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In Fairview Cemetery in Jasper, Clement and Mary are buried together with their son, Robert, who fought in World War II. /Photo by Jenna Fagan
y the time Germany and the Allies signed the Treaty of Versailles in June 1919, the Great War had claimed the lives of 37 million worldwide. The United States suffered 350,000 casualties, 3,000 of whom came from Indiana. Thirty-three men from Dubois County never got the chance to come home. Soldier 2899627 got lucky. He lived to return to his Dolly and “dear old Jasper” once again. Ironically, it may have been typhoid fever, a scourge of the trenches, that saved him. While in France, Clement contracted typhoid and was sent home on Feb. 4, 1919. He was then honorably discharged on Feb. 20. About a year later, he and Mary married in St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, the same church where Clement had been baptized. He inherited Berger’s Grocery from his father, and the couple settled into their new life together. hen Phil Mathies and his family found the love letters in their wall last spring, they never expected a nationwide reaction. They were simply trying
to build a new upstairs bathroom. While the contractor was rewiring their storage room, he pulled out Clement’s yellowed and crumpled sheets of paper. The story of the letters’ discovery made news across the country. Clement and Mary’s love story re-emerged in media from San Francisco to Washington, D.C. That coverage also helped reunite the letters with the couple’s family, who shared the Mathies family’s surprise. “It’s just your family, you know,” Lucinda says. “You might think it’s interesting, but you don’t think that everybody else would.” Through the correspondence, Clement and Mary’s descendants caught a glimpse of their relatives as young lovers. “You don’t picture your grandparents like that,” Lucinda says. Still, she was happy to travel back in time and experience Clement and Mary’s love story through her grandfather’s 100-year-old letters. s the years passed for Clement and Mary, WWI faded into the background of their lives. Their family expanded to include two children, Robert and Ruth, and they raised them in Clement’s boyhood home above their grocery store. Robert went on to fight in World War II and later became a professional violinist who performed at a French Lick hotel, though he continued living in Jasper and working in the grocery store. Ruth married, moved to Louisville and became a mother to five children. Clement and Mary ran Berger’s Grocery like peanut butter and jelly: Each played the role that suited his or her personality best. Clement was the social one, Lucinda says. He worked at the front of the store, managing the counter and cash register. Lucinda’s brother Marty Priest recalls his grandfather chatting and laughing with his
“Dolly you are closer than ever to me, for every day, I long for you more and more.” customers. “I remember him sitting behind the counter, checking people out, the old guys coming in, buying their twisted tobacco, talking,” he says. Clement’s position at the front of the store also helped him satisfy his sweet tooth, as the counter was conveniently positioned near the desserts. “He was up there by the candy, and he always ate the candy or the ice cream,” Lucinda says. Mary was shy and more reserved around customers. She worked primarily in the back: stocking products, keeping the books and handling merchandise orders. Despite her backstage role, Mary was hardly a wallflower. Lucinda remembers that her grandmother gave orders, both in the store and with her family. “She was a ‘take-charge’ kind of person … same as my mother and myself,” she says. Mary valued close family ties, says the couple’s niece, Nancy Teder. “She was like a second mother to me.” Mary encouraged all the children to help out in the store. She’d teach them to line up the canned goods so the names were fully visible. “She’d always say that ‘you can’t just have the RN in CORN showing,’” Nancy says. “To this day I still have to have my cans in my own pantry lined up so I can see the labels.” Clement didn’t speak of his time at war—not to Mary, not to his children, not even to his children’s children. Mary didn’t press him. “She just let him be home,” Lucinda says. The only acknowledged reminder of Clement’s WWI service sat on the mantle of the couple’s vacation home on the Whitewater River. “When I was a kid, we had two WWI artillery shells that had been fired, one on each side of their fireplace,” Marty says. The shells book-ended a picture of George Washington. He remembers because as children, “our punishment was to go sit in the room with George when we were bad.” Marty recalls Clement and Mary speaking German to their peers, but they never taught him the language. Perhaps the war tainted the older generation’s desire to share their native language, or perhaps
Mary and Clement celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. They had “a solid foundation of love,” recalls their granddaughter. /Photo courtesy of Lucinda Rudolph
they had other, less controversial reasons. “They always spoke German when they didn’t want us to hear something,” Marty says. he discovery of Clement’s letters last April raised the question of how they ended up in Phil Mathies’ attic wall at 210 Fourth St. in Jasper. No one knows for sure, but the couple’s niece Nancy has a theory. She wonders if the letters were purposefully left behind in the wall, as the couple had originally lived in that house before moving above the grocery store. She’s heard it was a tradition for newlyweds, she explains. “When they got married, they used to hide something of meaning to them, and when they left the house, they would leave it behind, to have good memories or to have luck and health in life.” Grandson Marty was astonished at Clement’s romantic words. “I never envisioned my grandparents writing such big love letters,” he says. “They lived in a German community, so they weren’t really outwardly expressive. They weren’t always talking about love. You were just supposed to know.”
Lucinda has an easier time reconciling the passion in Clement’s letters with the relationship she witnessed growing up. Her grandparent’s romance may not have been silver-screen showy, she says, but “they definitely had a solid foundation of love.” It was a love as real and unyielding as their weathered wood dining room table, which still sits in Lucinda’s house today. Clement and Mary supported each other all their lives. When Clement suffered a stroke that left him paralyzed, Mary cared for him until his death a year later, on July 15, 1972. Mary followed her husband 20 years later. “He was her life,” Lucinda remembers. “They were each other’s lives.” oday WWI Soldier 2899627 lies with his lifetime love under one headstone in Fairview Cemetery, watched over by the grand church steeple he used to pass each day. His rest is peaceful, for he kept his long-ago vow. He fought. He survived. And he returned home to his Dolly once more. “Remember, where ever I am I am yours, and yours until my last.” Signed, “Clemmie.”
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LAKE MONROE TURNS
The state’s largest and most important body of water attracts wildlife, nature-lovers and boaters from across the country. By Jordan Canary and Sydney Spaulding
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THE NORTH FORK OF SALT CREEK IS QUIET.
Water flows calmly down a wide, winding stream. The forest is hushed, filled only with the chirping of a few birds. A lone car sits alongside the narrow gravel road that runs along the creek. Steven Higgs, founder of Natural Bloomington and an environmental journalist, author and photographer, points at something out of sight. “There’s a wildlife refuge at the end of the road,” Higgs says. “But I doubt we’ll see many cars passing through this early in the morning.” Salt Creek’s north fork is just one of three that come together to form Lake Monroe, a 10,750-acre reservoir —about the size of 10 football fields—that stretches over Brown and Monroe counties. The manmade lake first opened in 1965, after four years of damming and construction. Today, it’s home to over 300 bird species, 30 species of fish and a variety of woodland animals and wildlife. And it’s now celebrating its 50th birthday. The 23,952-acre property is Indiana’s largest tourist attraction, with 320 electric and nonelectric campsites, nine boat ramps, eight State Recreation Areas, four marinas, three beaches and the Fourwinds Resort. Join 812 as we tell you the ins and outs of boating on the lake, where to catch the best fish and how to find the lake’s hidden gems. We spoke with wildlife specialists, naturalists and environmental experts to find what Lake Monroe has to offer on and off the shore. So come on in—the water’s fine. IN 1960, THE LAKE MONROE AREA WAS AN UPLAND-FOREST CREEK valley. The oaks, hickories and maples had returned after heavy farming and logging in the early 20th century wiped out nearly all the trees from Bloomington to the Ohio River. With no forest, animals such as deer, turkey and grouse abandoned the region. It wasn’t until the formation of the Civilian Conversation Corps in 1933 that the area began to revive. “The CCC put workers on the ground who reintroduced the forest and built the shelters and trails we use in our parks today,” Higgs says. “Once the trees came back, the wildlife had to be reintroduced.” As the region returned to its woodland glory, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers launched a statewide flood-control plan for areas with natural lakes and creeks. Jim Roach, Monroe Lake property manager, says the lake’s primary purpose was flood control. Construction on the lake began in 1961. Several small towns, such as Paynetown, Elkinsville and Fairfax, had to be evacuated because they were in the floodplain. “It was very controversial at the time—the government kicking you out of your house to build a lake for people to swim and fish,” Higgs says. The lake is owned by the Corps of Engineers and managed by the Indiana Depart-
ment of Natural Resources. Its 441-squaremile watershed (the surrounding area of land from where all water drains and collects into the lake) is diverse in geography and landscape, consisting of forest, deep lake and wetlands. According to Higgs’ upcoming book, A Guide to Natural Areas in Southern Indiana, 90 percent of the lake’s watershed is forest, where woodland birds, white-tailed deer, wild turkeys, snakes, rabbits, raccoons and foxes call home. Lake Monroe’s deepest point measures approximately 59 feet. The deep lake area is home to 30 species of fish, including bluegill, catfish and largemouth bass. The watershed east of the Highway 446 causeway is mostly made up of wetlands and marshes. That range of ecosystems has led to the successful reintroduction of many species, including bald eagles and river otters. “It is a very diverse ecosystem from one end of the lake to the other,” Higgs says. “No place else in Southern Indiana compares to the biodiversity of Lake Monroe.” And it’s an important source of drinking water. The Monroe Water Treatment Plant pumps an average of 15 million gallons per day, providing drinking water to five counties. A proposal a couple of years ago to route water from Lake Monroe to the south side of Indianapolis was shot down.
LEFT: The North Fork Waterfowl Resting Area is home to a wide variety of plants and wildlife. ABOVE: The American Woodcock’s vivid display during the spring mating season is a spectacle at the Fairfax SRA. BELOW: Patches of browneyed Susans bloom at Stillwater Marsh. /Photos courtesy of Steven Higgs and Marty Jones
But Roach says there’s no way of knowing what’s in store for Lake Monroe’s next 50 years. “I can’t say what happens 20 years from now. Never say never.” LAKE MONROE IS MORE THAN A FLOOD CONTROL SYSTEM—it’s a major economic and recreational source for Southern Indiana. It’s the second largest financial contributor to Monroe County and draws an estimated 1.5 million visitors annually. Roach says the summer months, ranging from Memorial Day to Labor Day, are the busiest times of year. Lake Monroe has three beaches, located in the Fairfax and Paynetown State Recreational Areas and in the Hoosier National Forest’s Hardin Ridge complex. Although beaches don’t officially open until Memorial Day, they’re unguarded. Roach says some visitors are back in the water by early May. Each of the eight SRAs has a boat ramp and public restroom, while some offer additional outdoor opportunities. Fairfax, Paynetown and Cutright are the busiest and account for 1.2 million of the lake’s visitors. The lake is known for its abundance of water activities, including swimming, fishing and boating. Roach says close to 2,500 boats are moored on the reservoir.
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TAKE A HIKE
Several hiking trails weave through the forest and along the edge of Lake Monroe. Trails from Hardin Ridge, the Charles Deam Wilderness and the Hoosier National Forest create a series of overlaps. Paynetown and Fairfax trails are generally moderate in length and difficulty, ranging from .5 to 1.75 miles. Other trails are more of an adventure. Natural Bloomington founder Steven Higgs shares three of his favorites. WALDRIP TRAIL Length: Less than one mile. Difficulty: Easy. Located: Take the 446 causeway and take the first right toward Maumee Scout Reservation. CROOKED CREEK RAMP TRAIL Length: 1 – 1.5 miles. Difficulty: Easy. Located: At the Crooked Creek SRA in Brown County. Take Highway 446 and turn onto T.C. Steele Road. Follow it all the way to the end, where it turns into a U. Trail begins near the boat ramp.
The Waldrip Trail is an easy but fun hike, and an 1870s homesite sits at the top. /Photo courtesy of Steven Higgs
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“We have flown over the lake on a Fourth of July weekend and counted the number of boats. It’s easy for that number to get up into the 3,000 to 4,000s,” he says. “Once the water temperature gets to the 80-degree range, it’s comfortable enough to swim. Fishermen come early, but the recreational boater, inner tuber, water skier and floater like the water to be warmer.” The 446 causeway splits the lake into two manageable sides to please every type of visitor. The east side is strictly an idle zone, meaning boats cannot go over 5 mph. The west side is open water, and speed is unlimited. Wave runners and powerboats can race as fast as their engines can take them. Rita Flynn, facility manager of the Lake Monroe Sailing Association, says she prefers the more peaceful east side. “I like kayaking—it’s something fun, something small,” she says. “I like to go past Cutright and Pine Grove and North Fork.”
Other small sections of Lake Monroe, including a few on the west side, are also idle-only areas. Flynn says weekdays before 5 p.m. are the best time to go out on the lake because there is less traffic. However, boating on Lake Monroe isn’t free. “To some, spending $15,000 on a boat isn’t expensive,” Flynn says. “If someone wants to get into it, even at the $5,000 to $6,000 range, they could. It’s not for people on a budget.” If you don’t own a boat, three boat rental companies and marinas offer hourly, daily and three-day rentals. Jenny Shedd and her husband, Rick, have owned Lake Monroe Boat Rental at Paynetown for 23 years. Shedd says their establishment offers just about everything aside from houseboats and sailboats. “We have double-decker boats with slides, 24- to 28-foot pontoons, floaters, jet skis, paddleboats and kayaks,” she says. “The small paddling crafts have really taken off. The double-deckers are really popular for ball teams, families and cheerleading
HICKORY RIDGE TRAIL Length: 48.7 miles. Difficulty: Ranges from moderate to difficult . Located: Off Highway 446, turn east onto Highway 58. Proceed 6.5 miles to Norman to the only stop sign in town, turn left. Proceed another .3 miles and turn left onto 1250 W at brown forest-service sign and continue 2.2 miles to the Hickory Ridge Trailhead, on the left.
squads because they accommodate 24 people.” Prices range from $48 for an all-day paddleboat to $600 for three days with a 24-foot pontoon. Additional boat rental companies include Lake Monroe Marina located in Cutright and the Fourwinds Resort and Marina in Fairfax. But not all of Lake Monroe’s fun happens on the water. Interpretative Naturalist Jill Vance says the property offers a whole range of recreational opportunities. “It’s a 20,000-acre property, but 10,000 of those acres are land,” Vance says. “So that’s part of my job—to get people into the woods and field to explore the flora and geology.” Vance leads hikes and plans community activities throughout the year. Events scheduled for spring 2015 include the Feb. 18 Nesting Box Workshop, the Woodcock Walk on March 11, the Brown County Wildflower Foray on April 24-25 and a May 2 bicycling tour of the area’s geology and limestone.
ASIDE FROM THE RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES AT LAKE MONROE, one of its biggest attractions is the wildlife. The lake’s diverse habitats provide a home for resident and migratory species of mammals, insects, amphibians, reptiles and birds. Monitoring the behaviors and challenges of these species is part of wildlife management planning, says Rex Watters, a DNR wildlife specialist. “The opportunity to help wildlife like the bald eagle, waterfowl, deer, rattlesnake and otters coexist with the resources and the people who use these resources is the challenge, but also the reward that gives this job its appeal.” DNR has reintroduced several species to the Lake Monroe area in recent years, including bald eagles, river otters, turkey and white-tailed deer. Eagles had been gone for nearly a century when the DNR released 73 birds in the 1980s. Thanks to their efforts, there are now more than 100 active eagle nests in the state and 14 around Lake Monroe. River otters released in the 1990s have thrived. “These otters did marvels when being reintroduced,” says Scott Johnson, nongame mammal biologist. “We were probably one of the last states to reintroduce them, but they’ve done great.” Both bald eagles and river otters have since been taken off the endangered species list. Lake Monroe is also home to nearly 300 different species of birds, making it the birding capital of Indiana. To better appreciate the diverse species, naturalist David Rupp established IndiGO Birding Nature Tours, LLC. Rupp leads customized tours for school and church groups. The Sassafras Audubon Society does bird counts three to four times a year to track the birds that make the lake their home. For reptile and amphibian fans, Lake Monroe is home to species of frogs, turtles, snakes and lizards. Visitors should keep an eye out for the wood frog species. It’s the earliest breeding frog and can be heard calling in February. A chorus of these frogs can sound like a group of ducks quacking. “They have a physiological mechanism that allows them to be out so soon,” herpetologist Sarabeth Klueh-Mundy says. “They are able to survive the freezing of their body tissues and fluids.” Other frog species that can be heard and seen around the lake include the cricket frog, chorus frog, spring peepers, gray tree frogs, bullfrogs and southern leopard frog. The painted turtle and the red-eared slider turtle are commonly seen in and around the lake. You might also spot an Eastern box turtle, a protected species. It’s
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illegal to take one of these turtles from the wild. Among the most common nonvenomous snakes is the northern water snake. Other species include the eastern garter snake, western ribbon snake, gray rat snake, milk snake and the ring-necked snake. All these are nonvenomous, but that doesn’t mean you’re in the clear. Two venomous snakes are the timber rattlesnake and the copperhead. Along with wildlife, a collection of diverse plant life surrounds the massive body of water. You can find both native and introduced trees, wildflowers, vines, shrubs, grasses and ferns. Some blooming flowers to look out for this spring are Philadelphia fleabane, Virginia bluebell, large-flowered bellwort, cleft phlox, Star-of-Bethlehem and wild ginger.
WHITE-TAILED DEER This species lives in the area’s woodland forest. Deer-hunting season brings 50,000 hunters to the area between Oct. 1 and Jan. 5.
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BALD EAGLES Today there are more than 100 bald eagle nests in Indiana, and 14 of those nests can be found near Lake Monroe.
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WILD TURKEYS Wild turkeys were reintroduced after the CCC restored woodlands in 1933. They now reside in the area’s woodlands.
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VIRGINIA BLUEBELLS This flower is a white-blooming form of the bell-shaped, typically sky-blue wildflower.
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WHAT’S IN A NAME?
812 SETS THE RECORD STRAIGHT: IS IT LAKE MONROE OR MONROE LAKE?
Even in late fall, you’ll find plenty of boats at the Moore’s Creek SRA and boat ramp. /Photo by Sydney Spaulding
Lake Monroe, as it’s most often called by locals, is actually the unofficial name for Indiana’s largest body of water. The area was originally designated Monroe Reservoir by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers because it’s a manmade resource. But that name didn’t stick around long. “Through the Division of State Parks, the Department of Natural Resources decided as a group to call it Monroe Lake,” says Jim Roach, property manager. Roach says the DNR has no control over individuals with private campgrounds, businesses or websites who refer to it as Lake Monroe. Although the DNR recommends using the official name, we went with what locals know and love: Lake Monroe.
LAKE MONROE’S THREE HIDDEN GEMS
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According to naturalist Jill Vance, some of the lake’s most memorable experiences happen away from the shoreline. She shares three of Lake Monroe’s hidden gems and a plant and animal you won’t want to miss.
out during March and will dance around for you. They’re the most adorable, weird-looking, fascinating bird. And you really only get a twoweek window to see them.”
time you’ll see the white blooming form of the bluebells. They peak midto late-April.”
WOODCOCK WALK
THE BIG OAK
Her favorite animal: The woodcock, a small, brown wading bird with a stocky body and long, slender bill. “They’re the cutest birds,” she says. “They hide away most of the year, but they come
Her favorite plant: Virginia Bluebells, a white-blooming form of the bellshaped, typically sky-blue wildflower. “They’re an early-spring ephemeral, and they grow along the streambed of the Salt Creek SRA. Spring is the only
Location: Drive 10 minutes east of Bloomington on Highway 46 and turn south on Friendship Road. Follow it until it dead ends at a fork, where both branches lead to small parking areas. “The Stillwater marsh area during migration season in the fall or spring is amazing. We manage that area as seasonal wetlands and flood it during the winter months right in time for the migrating waterfowl. You can view the birds from the overlook. During the summer months, that area is open for hiking.”
Location: Within the Fairfax SRA, off South Fairfax Road. Meeting times and location may vary. “Our property is a mosaic of walking views. Two-thirds of the Fairfax peninsula is not developed, so if you want to see wildlife, that’s the place to go. It’s where the woodcocks display in the spring. On a March night, right before sunset, the woodcocks take to the air, circling and calling out to each other. It is a beautiful experience.”
Location: Fairfax SRA, off the Big Oak Trail, one of the Fourwinds Resort hiking trails. “Located in the Fairfax SRA is an old, white oak tree. Most of lake’s forested property was logged in the early 1900s, but this one tree made it. It’s about 250 to 300 years old. It has a designated trail in Fairfax, called ‘Big Oak Trail,’ and it’s marked on the map. People often take pictures with it. “
STILLWATER-NORTH FORK WATERFOWL RESTING AREA
North Fork Waterfowl Resting Area. /Photo courtesy of Steven Higgs
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39 WINTER/ SPRING 2015
CORN-FED
COMEDY 812’s guide to what’s funny, who’s funny and how you can be funny, too By Sarah Whaley and Madison Borgmann
WHO’S FUNNY?
LIVING ON LAUGHS Why Bloomington-based comedian Mat Alano-Martin can’t get enough of the stage.
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urrounded by rolling hills, swaying corn and weather that switches three times a week sits a stage. A stage that’s drawing America’s funniest folks from the “Bob & Tom Show” to “Saturday Night Live” and launching the careers of local comedians like Ben Moore and Mat Alano-Martin. The Comedy Attic in Bloomington is only six years old, but is already reputed as a “destination spot” and an “A room” among the biggest comics, managers and agents in the business. Then there’s the Peabody Award-winning NBC comedy “Parks and Recreation,” which takes place in Pawnee, likely based on a small Southern Indiana town. And during the first weekend of June, the Limestone Comedy Festival will kick off its third summer, pulling over 500 submissions from across the country of comedians vying for 40 spots alongside the season’s hottest headliners. Chicago and the coasts may set the example in side-splitting comedy, but we’re literally and figuratively at the heart of it all. Southern Indiana isn’t just starting in on the laughs either—it’s building off a history that can be traced back to Vincennes’ Red Skelton, the iconic entertainer who traveled from vaudeville to national radio broadcasts to a 20-year TV show. And last September, actor Kevin Kline noted that the Brown County Playhouse in Nashville is where he first learned he could be funny. So pull up a chair—but hold off on the rotten tomatoes— as 812 discovers what it takes to make a living on laughs, uncovers the secrets to amusement and invites you to try your own corn-fed comedy. TOP: The Comedy Attic hosted Mat Alano-Martin’s CD release show in October. Mat began his career and recorded his first comedy album here. /Photo by Madison Borgmann OPPOSITE: Mat performs onstage at the Comedy Club on State in Madison, Wisconsin. /Photo courtesy of Mat Alano-Martin
ot everyone who does comedy is a comedian. But his tax returns say he’s a comedian, so for Mat Alano-Martin, it must be true. “Of every 100 people that try comedy, only two or three get asked to do it where you get paid,” says Jared Thompson, owner of The Comedy Attic. In Bloomington, Mat is one of those few. For most of his life, Mat, now 41, pursued music. He played in punk bands, folk bands and funk bands, but after a while it got old. One night while playing another show at The Bishop, Mat put down his guitar and went home to be with his family. That week he did his first open mic set at The Comedy Attic. Music wasn’t challenging Mat anymore, but comedy terrified him. The first show he saw at The Comedy Attic convinced him he could get up onstage. He saw local comics performing in the finals of a contest and thought they were good, but not unreachable. If he’d seen a top comic perform, he says, he wouldn’t have done comedy. Last October, Mat released his first comedy album, “Profiled as Such.” To celebrate, he performed at The Comedy Attic, flanked by pumpkins carved with his face and his name. When Mat hit the stage, the tables were packed. He was so overwhelmed by support from friends, he forgot to do a few jokes he planned on telling. Mat’s album is a compilation of the last five years of his work. According to Jared, creating a comedy album after six years is surprising. It takes most comics 10 years to build a reputation that sells albums, if they ever do. But Mat’s journey hasn’t been a cakewalk. In the first six months after deciding to pursue comedy with the blessing of his then-fiancée, Danise, Mat quit twice. What he thought was great material earned him zero laughs. “You get over that stuff,” Mat says. “Your skin gets thicker, and you get better.” Jared saw potential in Mat and moved him up from a host to a feature who gets a longer set, and Mat started taking shows on the road. Now he’s a full-time professional road comic, which means he’s in a different town almost every week, Thursday through Saturday. It’s hard, and he misses his wife and their two dogs, Schickele and Raylan. He says most comics believe they’re paid for the time they’re in hotels away from everyone they know. Mat doesn’t need payment for being onstage. Being there is reward enough. His 30 minutes to an hour onstage compose a small percentage of the hours he puts in. Mat has to book shows, make travel plans and maintain his presence as an entertainer. “As a comedian, you’re not only the CEO and the janitor, but you’re also the IT guy and the product you’re selling,” he says. In addition, Mat now plans the Limestone Comedy Festival he co-founded with Jared and teaches a stand-up comedy class at Ivy Tech in Bloomington. While traveling, he constantly formulates new material and punches it into a running note on his phone. Mat pulls material mostly from his life. When you see him perform, you can expect 85 percent truth and
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WHO’S FUNNY?
HOOSIER HOOT Our iconic comedian, Red Skelton.
Mat AlanoMartin shares his favorite jokes outside Scholars Inn Bakehouse in Bloomington. /Photo by Sarah Whaley
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15 percent exaggeration. He’s not a cramit-down-your-throat comedian but does include issues he’s passionate about, like race and gender equality. Above all, Mat pays respect to where he’s from. He grew up in a trailer park in Borden in Clark County and doesn’t appreciate the toothless, meth-head stereotypes sometimes perpetuated by other comedians. One of his favorite jokes is about Halloween: “Halloween is the best holiday ever. For two reasons. Halloween is the only day of the year where a child can escape their circumstances through the power of their imagination, and everybody plays along because it’s Halloween. It’s very empowering for a child. Reason No. 2: Halloween is the only holiday where it does not matter how much money your family has. As long as you know where the families with money live, that’s all you need.” As a boy, Mat was hammy and could’ve done comedy sooner. He’d repeat Bill Cosby’s famous Noah routine, pretend to be Roseanne Roseannadanna from “Weekend Update” and sneak out of the bedroom late at night to watch “Saturday Night Live” as his parents slept on the couch in front of the TV. Now Mat performs alongside SNL comedians like Tim Meadows. Meadows starred on Mat’s podcast “Strangers on This Road” during a week in Louisville. Mat has also performed on the “Bob & Tom Show” and the FOX TV show “Laughs.” Being a road comic is a weird, nomadic lifestyle, Mat says. He performs everywhere from bars to comedy clubs to Meadowood Retirement Community. Mat says he doesn’t think he’ll know he’s “made it” until other people tell him he has. The challenge of doing new things in comedy, both creatively and on the business side, is what keeps him motivated as he waits for opportunities to do more national television and radio. For now, he’ll put in the hours he needs to book shows, travel and keep his website up to date. All Mat wants to do, he says, is perform live onstage, find his true comedic voice and make people laugh.
Comedian Red Skelton’s 50-year reign paved the way for entertainers after him and brought comedic significance to Indiana. For 70 years, Skelton performed across the country, entertaining three generations of Americans. Skelton was born in Vincennes on July 18, 1913, shortly after the death of his circus-clown father. He was raised by his mother, who cleaned at a vaudeville theater to support her family. The carrot-topped boy’s real name was Richard Bernard, but his friends soon renamed him Red. Red sold newspapers outside the Pantheon theater to help his family, says Anne Pratt, the director of marketing at the Red Skelton Museum in Vincennes. While outside, he caught the eye of popular comedian Ed Wynn, who offered the eager redhead a free ticket to the show. “That was really the turning point for Red, when he fell in love with show business,” Pratt says. Skelton left home at 13 or 14 with a traveling show and began creating the characters that would make his career: Clem Kadiddlehopper, the country bumpkin clown; Freddie the Freeloader, the hobo on the city street corner; Gertrude and Heathcliffe, two crosseyed seagulls. Skelton’s appearances on “The Fleishmann’s Yeast Hour” led to his own radio show. However, Skelton was drawn to the new medium of television, and “The Red Skelton Show” premiered on Sept. 30, 1951. After three years, the show moved to CBS and ran for 60 minutes, leading to the show’s new name, “The Red Skelton Hour.” Skelton’s small-town American humor set him apart from many comedians of his time. Pratt says his Hoosier roots made him accessible. “Every person who comes into the museum talks about what a great guy Red was,” she says. “He never turned away anyone who wanted an autograph.” If Red was headlining a big show in Las Vegas and got word that someone from Indiana Red Skelton. /Photo courtesy of Creative Commons
RED SKELTON MUSEUM OF AMERICAN COMEDY
Location: 20 Red Skelton Blvd., Vincennes. Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. and Sunday noon-5 p.m. Closed Mondays. Admission: Adults, $8; seniors, $7; students, $5
was in the audience, he would bring that person on stage. During his career, Skelton performed in 43 films, and his TV show on CBS placed among the Top 10 shows in the country eight times. Although falling ratings ended his television career, he continued performing. In 1991, Skelton referred to his character Clem Kadiddlehopper as a “citizen of his Vincennes birthplace.” Skelton died in 1997. Now the Red Skelton Museum pays tribute to him as an entertainer. “We want to preserve his legacy for those who watched him on television, but also pass it on to future generations,” Pratt says.
LAUGH HOUSES
WHERE TO LAUGH
Places where you can split your sides year-round. Hoosier Hub: The Comedy Attic 123 S. Walnut St., Bloomington Show times: 8 p.m. Thursday, 8 and 10:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Open Mic Nights 8 p.m. Wednesday Tickets: $5-20
ABOVE: Jared Thompson makes the first announcement at the 2014 Limestone Comedy Festival. BELOW: Patton Oswalt performs at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater. /Photos courtesy of Mat Alano-Martin
3RD ANNUAL LIMESTONE COMEDY FESTIVAL Southern Indiana’s up-and-coming celebration of laughter. On June 4-6, nine headliners and 40 up-and-coming road comics will pour into Bloomington to play to lifelong comedy enthusiasts and curious newcomers. The three days of the Limestone Comedy Festival will be a whirlwind of comedians, mics and laughter across five or six stages. Between shows, comedians can mix and build both friendships and business connections. And at night, when everyone’s sides are aching from laughter, they’ll retire to nearby hotels. The spirit of Limestone is The Comedy Attic on a grander scale. Even though the main stage, the Buskirk-Chumley Theater, holds four times as many seats, Jared Thompson, owner of The Comedy Attic, wants to make sure the audience and comedians maintain the respect he demands at his venue. Jared and comedian Mat AlanoMartin co-founded the festival, now in its third year. Every year, they spend over nine months planning for three days of fun. Last year, 999 people attended. The name Limestone is, of course, a nod to Southern Indiana, but the comedians and audience come from all over the country. Mat and Jared have booked nine headliners and will release the names as a “leak of the week” starting Jan. 1. Last year’s headliners included Patton Oswalt, Jimmy Pardo, The Legendary Emo Philips and Bloomington’s own Ben Moore. Forty other comics, chosen by a panel of judges, performed alongside the headliners. Submission spots are competitive because comedians can
IF YOU PLAN ON ATTENDING
Date: June 4 – 6 in Bloomington Website: http://limestonefest.com Cost: $75 for a basic badge that gets you into every headliner performance and after parties. Other badges and individual event tickets available. build relationships with headliners and learn from them, an access Jared says is rare at other comedy festivals. Mat says that Limestone now competes with festivals in Portland, Oregon, and Los Angeles in size. Comics are treated with respect and get into every show free. A frequent performer at Comedy Attic open mic nights, Mitchell Potts was thrilled to work Limestone last summer, watching comedians he admires and being a part of the crowds. He says he can’t remember a better weekend. “Comedy can be this draining, soul-destroying thing sometimes because you do so many shows in bars and terrible open mics where crowds don’t care about you, comedy or the show in general,” Mitchell says. “So it was absolutely fantastic to see shows at Limestone where the crowds care about comedians and comedy.”
Hailed as one of the top 10 comedy clubs by USA Today and more recently by Travel and Leisure, The Comedy Attic is Southern Indiana’s humor hot spot. If you want to try your hand at stand-up, The Comedy Attic’s open mic nights are the place to do it. Local comedians get five minutes of fame and never leave the stage without applause. Jared has worked hard to make The Comedy Attic one of the most respectful, and therefore respected, venues. “We don’t really care about making money,” Jared says. “Which is bad for a business model, but it’s good for the shows.”
On the River: Main Street Comedy Pub 217 Main St., Evansville Show times: 8 and 10:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday; Open Mic Nights 8 p.m. Thursday and Sunday Tickets: $10-15 Located in the historic Downtown Main Street District of Evansville, the Main Street Comedy Pub boasts an almost-view of the Ohio River and hosts stand-up comics two nights a week. It’s the only comedy club in the Evansville area. Owner Matthew Rideout says his club is one of the only small privately owned rooms left for comedy. It can seat 72, and the small, intimate atmosphere gives comedians a chance to be more involved with the crowd.
Something Different: Brown County Playhouse 70 S. Van Buren St., Nashville Show times: Depends on show and season Tickets: $15-25 Brown County Playhouse’s first production was “The Old Soak,” by Don Marquis, a comedy about a drunk. Although the playhouse is now a 425-seat venue that hosts a diverse range of events, ticketing and marketing director Suzannah Zody says they’ve stayed true to their roots, hosting stand-up comedians, comedic plays, humorous dramas and farces. If you want to watch the wit unfold in a series of acts, be sure to check out this Nashville gem. “We have found that comedy sells very well with the tourist and local audience at the Brown County Playhouse, but we also like to present challenging and thoughtful work,” artistic director Ian McCabe says. “The audience leaves the theater not only entertained, but affected.”
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WHAT’S FUNNY
WHAT’S HUMOR? START INVESTING. Nick always enters a scene with the same goal in mind, to get the audience invested. “My favorite sound that the audience makes isn’t when they laugh, but when you hear the whole front row go ‘Awwww.’” The emotional investment makes the audience vulnerable. “When you sense they care about the person you’re playing or the person you’re being mean to, you want to twist the knife a little bit and just kind of see how far you can go to get an emotional reaction out of them.”
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STEPS TO IMPROV COMEDY
How these university students practice being funny on their feet. Founded in 1994 by Indiana University alumni Derek Miller, Full Frontal Comedy celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, making it IU’s longest-running comedy troupe. The team embodies “Chicago-style” improvisation with their own games thrown in for audience involvement. Senior member Nick Haddad, who has been performing with FFC since his sophomore year, shared with 812 some insider tricks for being successful at improv and why he doesn’t want it to be compared with stand-up comedy. STOP TALKING. Despite popular belief, the best character in an improv scene isn’t the person who has the most funny lines. “The first word of improv is unspoken,” Nick says. Before going on stage, the troupe always groups up and repeats their motto: “Slow down, shut the f@#$ up and be awesome.” According to Nick, “If you’re out there talking the entire time, you are kind of steamrolling the scene.”
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STOP THINKING. In improv, adaptability is essential. “If you’re up there thinking, ‘What am I gonna say next, what am I gonna say next,’ then you’re going to miss it. In the time it takes for you to think of a response to something that happened, the scene could already be miles past that,” Nick says.
START MESHING. Each year, FFC holds a two-day audition to find new members. Prior experience isn’t required, but current members look for stage presence, ability to perform a character and personality. “The people you improvise with are like your second family,” Nick says. In order to understand what direction someone on stage is going to take a scene, each member has to understand the troupe’s group mind. Nick chooses new members on how well they “mesh,” he says. “You can teach someone the fundamentals or the basics, but you can’t really teach someone to be a nice person.” STOP COMPARING. Performing in a few stand-up open mic events himself, Nick understands the difference between improv and stand-up. “When you go see a stand-up comic, it’s going to seem all natural. They’ve practiced that story over and over and over again to get it down perfectly.” It’s possible to perform onstage for an improv troupe without any material in mind. “You don’t know what you’re going to say, and a lot of times, if you try to come out with an idea or a premise, that could cause you to mess up,” he says. Visit 812magazine.com for more video tips from Nick Haddad. ABOVE: Michael Haluska, left, plays a bartender in an FFC skit with Nick Haddad in December. RIGHT: Matthew Bloom of FFC sings about hamburgers. /Photos by Sarah Whaley
MOIRA MARSH TAKES COMEDY SERIOUSLY 812 sat down with Indiana University’s folklore librarian to talk about her studies in what’s funny.
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n hour-and-a-half into our interview about what’s funny, Moira Marsh and I both seem to have more questions than answers. The basics have been settled. Almost. 1. Amusement is a better word than humor. Amusement seems to happen naturally. But it’s not a reflex. 2. Jokes that are racist or obscene are “off the table.” Unless they’re told the right way. Or to the right audience. 3. Wrapping someone’s office chair in aluminum foil is offensive. But tin-foiling everything down to individual paper clips is hilarious. What? It turns out there’s no straightforward answer to what’s funny. Funny is something you decide for yourself. However, there do seem to be universal concepts of amusement. For instance, tin-foiling someone’s office. The more effort a prankster puts in, the more likely a prank will be found funny. As a folklorist, Moira’s job is to study how amusement works in specific settings. Her personal interest lies in practical jokes and relationships. This summer, Utah State University Press will publish her book, Practically Joking. She says amusement is
TOP: Folklorist Moira Marsh studies amusement and practical jokes such as tin-foiling someone’s office— or coffee mug. /Photo by Sarah Whaley
OTHER THEORIES OF AMUSEMENT Superiority theory: We are amused because we see ourselves as better or more intelligent than the subjects of the joke. Inferiority theory: We are amused because we recognize our own failings and inadequacies in the subjects of the joke. Play theory: We are amused because the element of play in the joke is understood, and therefore we don’t take it seriously. Relief theory: We are amused because we find release from excess tension in the conclusion of a joke.
important to our social and psychological health. Shared jokes build solidarity. Taking others’ perspectives can be pleasurable. And someone’s favorite joke may be the key to his or her personality. That’s why Moira wouldn’t share hers. Moira believes the “benign-violation theory” of amusement is most accurate. We think something is funny when it violates a rule or norm but doesn’t offend us. If Moira told me her favorite joke, she’d be taking a risk. If I didn’t find it funny, she’d have gone too far. Maybe I wouldn’t laugh. Or perhaps I would, precisely because I shouldn’t. Amusement is funny that way. Look for Practically Joking this summer to learn about Moira’s take on amusement and get some ideas for future April Fools.
SO YOU THINK YOU’RE FUNNY 3 ARE YOU FUNNY?
After reading about these Southern Indiana comics, maybe you think you’ve got what it takes. We collected tips from our interviews to create a list of five steps to get you started. As Red Skelton would say, “Goodnight and may God bless” as you pursue your own corn-fed comedy career.
AN IDEA BOOK. Write down anything that comes to mind. Mat Alano-Martin says sometimes jokes will come to you fully formed, and sometimes you’ll have an idea you need to work on for a while. Carry a small journal with you or keep a note open on your phone so you don’t forget what you found funny.
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AN INSPIRATION. Find people you think are funny and watch them or listen to them. A lot. Browse YouTube, follow podcasts and attend open mic nights. Jared Thompson says if you know what’s funny, then everything that comes after can be learned. The No. 1 trick for being a successful comedian is to watch comedy. A CHARACTER. Your character doesn’t have to be someone crazy. Your character could be yourself. But if you want to act like someone else, the stage is a good place to do it. Audiences crave variety, and in comedy even awkwardness can be an asset.
A YOUTUBE CHANNEL OR PODCAST. Choose what makes you most comfortable. Do you like being in front of a camera or would you prefer for your audience to just hear your voice? By building a brand for yourself online, you can develop a fan base and work on your material. GUTS. Not everyone will think you’re funny all the time. You’ll flop every once in awhile. If you’re serious about comedy, just keep trying. Keep going to open mic nights or try out for an improv troupe if that’s your thing. Nick Haddad says practice helps you work all the weird stuff out.
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UPLANDS PEAK FARM
Finding Sanctuar y A Salem couple opens the doors of the first Hoosier rescue shelter committed to saving farm animals. By Annie Quigley and Jessica Campbell
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ucy, a piglet only a few weeks old, tumbles off a transport truck onto a treacherous Illinois highway. A family stops alongside the road after spotting the pint-sized pink hitchhiker, and saves her from the speeding traffic. Though the fall bruises and scares her, it helps Lucy evade a more frightening fate. Three months later, we cruise down Highway 37 and the country roads outside of Salem. We pull into the yard of Uplands PEAK (People, Earth and Animals in Kinship) Farm Sanctuary. There we meet Lucy. Waddling around the fields, she is one of six pigs relaxing in the fall sun and welcoming newcomers like ourselves to their farmland home. Mark and Michelle Pruitt, ages 51 and 40, founded the state’s first sanctuary to rescue and care for farm animals in October 2013. Uplands PEAK Farm Sanctuary is a nonprofit organization that is now home to six pigs and two goats, as well as the Pruitts and their five companion animals—three cats and two dogs. Still working through the obstacles of starting a small business, the Pruitts have received support from groups in Indiana and outside advocates. In turn, they’ve opened their gates to the community to offer experiences such as volunteering, farm animal education programs and events to raise awareness of factory farming.
Volunteer Kristen Lund bonds with Lucy, one of the six members of Uplands PEAK. Lund has visited the farm twice to help the Pruitts work on various tasks. /Photo by Jessica Campbell
Eric Lund and Brandi spend time together during the volunteer day in October. The Pruitts plan these days several times a year so people can come and help and experience the animals. /Photo by Jessica Campbell.
Gene Baur, who founded the first farm animal sanctuary in 1986 and continues to encourage sanctuary start-ups, says farm sanctuaries are a response to factory farming. The number of farm animals slaughtered has dropped 5 to 10 percent in the last 10 years. “People are changing,” he says. “They are eating less meat, doing meatless Mondays and becoming more plantbased. Farm sanctuaries help people take the steps towards a change.” [ P I G
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H O O F ]
There is no strict schedule to a day on the farm, except feeding times. At 7 a.m. the humans rise, drink coffee with their usual breakfast of oatmeal and then feed the cats and dogs. The farm animals are eagerly waiting at the gate at 8:30 a.m. for breakfast. During the day, Mark tackles tasks like refurbishing the shed or barn, and Michelle settles in for a day of computer work as she plans events, applies for grants and keeps up PEAK’s social media. At 4:30 p.m., dinner is served to the four-legged occupants, and Mark and Michelle continue working into the night, checking in on the animals one last time around 8 p.m. The Pruitts parent the animals 24/7,
working around their individual feeding and health needs. Mark knows their personalities and their bowel movements, the best indicators of health. “They are like children,” he says, “except they are 500 pounds.” [ P I G
H O O F ]
Three years ago, Michelle sat in her living room watching a YouTube video on veganism. The same day, she became vegan cold turkey. Mark followed soon after. The two, who are a Match.com, self-proclaimed “online dating success story,” were drawn together by a mutual desire for a non-corporate life. The idea of a farm sanctuary seemed a promising way to build an experiential community. So, PEAK was born. The name Uplands PEAK represents both the Hoosier Uplands area and the Pruitts’ message and values. “Our primary mission is to rescue and rehabilitate animals,” Mark says. That mission is not easily accomplished. But the Pruitts blindly threw themselves into the venture of starting the first and only farm sanctuary in Indiana and one of eight in the Midwest. “I wouldn’t in a million years have imagined that I would be doing this,” Mark says, laughing out loud, arching his eyebrows at Michelle while waiting for
her answer. “Same for me,” she responds, nodding. “I mean I have always loved animals, like a lot of people, but never made the connection with animals that you eat. Once we went vegan, we just wanted to do all that we could for them.” This mindset is not lost throughout Indiana. Volunteers from Indianapolis, Louisville and Bloomington flocked to the sanctuary even before animals were there. On average, the Pruitts received 10 to 20 volunteers during a volunteer day. “We knew we had something and knew people were really invested in getting this place up and running,” Michelle says. In their first six months at the farm, they acquired six rescued pigs and two goats, more than enough for the beginnings of a small family. All eight animals at PEAK have come from neglectful, abusive or harmful situations. “As soon as you say you are starting a sanctuary, you get contacted about every animal you can possibly imagine,” Michelle says. Sometimes people call them with a pot-bellied pig or an unwanted rooster from a backyard-chicken start-up. Since these animals aren’t in danger, just inconvenient, they don’t fit the farm’s mission, but the Pruitts offer to help relocate them. As of yet, they haven’t had an emergency where they
had to immediately rescue an animal. When a new animal arrives, they take care of medical issues such as check-ups and spay and neuter services. In some cases animals require more attention, such as Erica the pig when she underwent several surgeries at Purdue University because local veterinarians did not have the resources to perform them. [ P I G
H O O F ]
The 20 acres of land and one large grasshopper-green barn that used to store old cars needed more than a few touchups since the purchase. So, the Pruitts plan volunteer days, encouraging people to spend a day working on the farm. We’re here today to volunteer, so we sign in and check the day’s to-do list: clean out the barn, scoop poop and pick up walnuts. It’s flannel-shirt weather. Mark, in jeans, a long-sleeve shirt and boots that possibly used to be a hunter green color, leads us to the main task of the day—cleaning out and restocking the barn. We’re volunteering alongside other animal-lovers, aspiring vegans and a young girl who just wanted to pull the pigs’ tails. In 2013, Mark and Michelle painted, gutted and divided the barn into two compartments, transforming the bigger side into the animals’ stalls. The smaller side was still occupied by the previous owners’ goods. We spend the morning transitioning out rickety shelves and old two-byfours, re-flooring the ground with sand and opening up the barn to store farm machinery during winter. We work for two hours and then pull out lunch while Mark throws uncracked walnuts to the eager pigs. The Pruitts fundraise through planned events a couple times a year, including PEAKsgiving, an all-vegan cookout and bonfire. For these gatherings, the Pruitts offer guests a chance to stay the night in the bed and breakfast, a room within their house with its own bathroom and entrance. Both the humans and the animals at the farm welcome general visit days, where interested helpers can call ahead and spend a day on the farm; the only rule is no animal products can be brought to the property. Kristen Lund, a first-year doctoral student at the University of Evansville, is visiting the farm for the second time. She remarks on the growth of Lucy, comparing her to a photo she took with the pig months before. “I think it’s awesome having the sanctuary right in the middle of farm
William and Twiggy are the only goats on the farm. William came to Uplands after being in an unhappy situation in a Louisville backyard. /Photo by Jessica Campbell Mark Pruitt spends the day cleaning out and refurbishing the barn to hold new farm equipment. He and his wife, Michelle, work fulltime on the farm as co-owners and founders. / Photo by Jessica Campbell
country,” Kristen says, trying again to pose with the sniffing pig. “It’s a great way to spend time with animals that you don’t typically see.” [ P I G
H O O F ]
Over the last year, the Pruitts have learned the ins and outs of farming life. They overcame obstacles of the animals and farm equipment, battled the unexpected winter and established an online presence. The winter of 2014 is one that no Hoosier will ever forget. The constant below-freezing temperatures hit Indiana hard, and PEAK got the worst of it, complete with lows of minus 10 degrees. That winter, the Pruitts focused all their energy on keeping the animals safe
and warm. Thick snow froze and covered the farmlands. There was a constant struggle to ensure the animals were clean while keeping the water and hoses from freezing. Nevertheless, the Pruitts made it through the rough winter with five healthy pigs. Mark acknowledges the hardest part of running the sanctuary, at least at the beginning, was that neither he nor Michelle had any experience with farm animals or knew anyone who had ever lived or worked on a farm. For hands-on training, Michelle attended a seven-week internship in the spring of 2013 at the Woodstock Farm Sanctuary in New York, and Mark tagged along to learn about fencing and animal care. Now, the hardest part is keeping up
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UPLANDS BY THE NUMBERS A lot of logistics go into the daily running of Uplands Farm Sanctuary. Here is a breakdown of some of the numbers.
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GOATS
6
PIGS
20
24
400
500
Uplands is home to two goats, William and Twiggy. Each goat was rescued and brought to PEAK in 2014.
Lucy, Andy, Annie, Brandi, Isaac and Erica all found a home at Uplands. All six pigs roam the sanctuary.
The sanctuary itself sits on 20 acres of land and houses one large grasshopper green barn for the animals.
The Pruits are always on call for the animals. Mark even knows their bowel-movement schedule.
Every month, the Pruitts spend 400 dollars on feed for the animals. Grants and donations help pay for the food.
Each pig at Uplands weighs around 500 pounds. That’s quite a large child to take care of every day.
with the monetary requirements of eight animals and the farm in general. An anonymous offer of $15,000 in matching funds by opening day kickstarted the fundraising. In 2014, a $5,000 grant from the Humane Society of the United States helped with expanding and readying the farm for animal upkeep. All the money collected through events, donations and fundraisers goes directly to the animals and “behind-the-scenes” costs like $3,500 yearly for insurance, $400 a month for animal feed and a couple hundred dollars a month for utilities. Erin Huang, director of the Indiana Humane Society, says the farm is well thought of in the animal welfare community. “Organizations formed for the purpose of rescuing animals certainly have a noble goal,” Huang says. Gene Baur says a number of “momand-pop” sanctuaries have been popping up all over the country. A vegan animal-rights activist, Baur is now the president of Farm Sanctuary, the world’s largest farm animal rescue and protection organization. He is encouraged by the growing interest in the cause. “The most important thing is getting the word out,” says Baur, who travels the world speaking about the practices of factory farms. “We are getting people to see that they are farm animals and not commodities.” The Pruitts have taken Baur’s message to heart. While Baur, the Pruitts and other animal rights activists see many problems in today’s farming culture, many in Indiana pride themselves on their commitment to responsible farming. The Certified Livestock Producer Program, a relatively new program from the Indiana State Department of Agriculture, seeks to train and reward outstanding farm management practices.
ACRES
HOURS
DOLLARS
POUNDS
Mark pets William, one of the goats at Uplands farm. /Photo by Jessica Campbell
The program stems from consumers’ desire to know how their food is produced and provides resources to help farmers share this information with the public. Those certified must go above and beyond industry standards in all aspects, including animal care. [ P I G
H O O F ]
During a break in our farm chores, Mark talks about the farm’s role in the community. In modern farming, he says, it has become more rare to see animals outdoors. On our drive to PEAK that day, we passed many family-owned farms. “You passed long barns, right?” Mark asks. Those small barns hold about 20,000 chickens each, he says. “I bet you didn’t see any did you?” Being able to see, touch and experience farm animals draws people to PEAK, he says. Recently, while giving a presentation to a group of students at Indiana University, Mark asked his signature question: “How many of you have ever
actually touched a live farm animal?” Even in a group of vegans and animal rights activists, only two people raised their hands. Mark believes the experience of being in close proximity to free farm animals will change hearts and minds. This afternoon, as if to illustrate Mark’s point, Erica the pig gets a scratch behind her ear and collapses onto her back, rolling over for a belly rub. Michelle runs up the slight hill toward the fence, arguing with William the goat as he attempts to jump over it. The goats head butt and fight each other for food, sleep 18 hours a day and lovingly nudge every visiting human who comes near enough for a pet. “We want people to come out and experience the animals,” Mark says. “That’s how change happens.” “From that connection,” Michelle adds. Mark believes it becomes more difficult to eat animal products when you come face to face with what will be on the plate, knowing it has eyes and
Lucy the pig pokes her snout through the fence. “They are like children,” Mark says, “except they are 500 pounds.” /Photo by Jessica Campbell
breathes. “She,” Michelle corrects. “Let’s leave out ‘it.’” Although most of their neighbors are traditional farmers, the Pruitts chose Salem for its location in the crossroads of Southern Indiana. They have room to expand the farm, creating more space for chickens, sheep and cows. And it’s only a 45-minute drive from their home in Louisville, an hour-and-a-half from Bloomington and two hours from Indianapolis. “We wanted to be somewhere that was an accessible day trip for people, because visiting and volunteering is obviously the backbone of our existence,” Michelle says. To the Pruitts, the farm is not an advocacy mission, but a chance to teach their neighbors about the vegan lifestyle through education and experience. “We are not marching down the streets of Salem with signs saying, ‘Throw out your meat!’” Mark says. Animals are their own best advocates, Marks says as we pile our tools back into the shed and head back to the house. “They are going to convince people more than I ever will,” Michelle says. “And that’s just really the opportunity that we try to give them.”
MEET THE UPLANDS ANIMALS It took us a tank of gas and a map to get to Uplands PEAK Farm Sanctuary; it took the animals a little bit more.
ANDY & ANNIE
Young pigs Andy and Annie spent the first two months of their lives waiting for an illegal home-slaughter in a backyard. The two pigs escaped to find themselves running around the streets outside of Minneapolis. Animal control officials, not knowing how to handle the farm animals, sent them to Chicken Run Rescue. After staying with a foster couple, the pigs were placed in small dog carriers and sent on their way. The siblings finally arrived at their new home, becoming PEAK’s first residents.
BRANDI, ISAAC & ERICA
Brandi, Isaac and Erica, sibling pigs from Albany, New York, lived in a small barn holding well over the maximum number of animals. The pigs rarely saw daylight. By the time the police arrived to seize the animals, 50 were already dead. Brandi, Isaac and Erica were kept by Woodstock, the New York sanctuary where Michelle Pruitt interned for almost two months. Woodstock called to ask if the Pruitts would be able to take in the three
until the neglect case was resolved. Now, they roam the sprawling lands of PEAK.
WILLIAM
William, a 2-year-old pigmy-mix goat, was tethered in a backyard in Louisville. He wasn’t a victim of abuse, but goats are pack animals and need company. They’re also prey for other animals, and a backyard didn’t allow much room to move about. Family members of William’s owner eventually called animal control and asked for the young goat to be taken somewhere new. The Pruitts took in William this past May.
TWIGGY
Early in the summer of 2014, a local townsman discovered a barn near Salem with five goats and six horses. The goats had been nailed in the unkempt, dirty stall for a year. After a search and seizure, two goats, Twiggy and Luke, were found underweight, losing hair and dirty. The horses went to a horse rescue, but Twiggy and Luke were brought to PEAK. Luke, who was older, died shortly after arrival, but Twiggy is happily staying there. The court case is not yet resolved, but for now, Twiggy is comfortable as a new member of the family.
51 WINTER/ SPRING 2015
In a video documentary, an 812 writer tells the story of a 19th Century African American settlement that quietly disappeared.
REDISCOVERING
LICK CREEK
I
By Daion Morton first learned about Lick Creek in a conversation with my grandfather about the history of African Americans in Indiana. I had heard of other communities here, such as Lyles Station and Roberts Settlement, but not Lick Creek in Orange County. My search for more information led me to Angela Doyle, an archaeologist at the Hoosier National Forest. And there began a journey that took me to Paoli and Bedford and Indiananpolis and then all the way to Vallejo, California. At the end of the Revolutionary War, many African American soldiers gained their freedom. As racial violence and oppression grew in the South, they moved to the North in hopes of a better future. In the 1810s, one of these groups traveled from North Carolina to Indiana. When they arrived, they founded a small community near Paoli known as Lick Creek. The land was heavily forested and difficult to farm, but they stayed. They lived among a group of Quakers, who were abolitionists and believed in treating African Americans as equal citizens. The pioneers bought land from the Quakers and exchanged crops and animals with them. They worked as farmers, builders and teachers. Elias Roberts, a prominent figure in Lick Creek, ran a school from his home, and settlers gathered at an African Methodist Episcopal Church they built in the town. It was a community like no other during its time. Black and white settlers lived together in an integrated community. By 1860, state documents showed that 260 African Americans were listed as living in Lick Creek. But they still faced challenges. Laws restricted African Americans from exercising the same rights as white Hoosiers. They weren’t allowed to vote, serve on a jury, testify or attend public schools. Still, they managed to hold their community together for nearly 50 years. In 1862, some settlers began leaving, and the once thriving community began to vanish. Today, all that remains is a small cemetery. Researchers and descendants have different theories as to what happened to the settlement and why their story was seldom told.
To find out more, visit 812magazine.com to watch “Rediscovering Lick Creek.” LEFT: The Lick Creek site has undergone excavation in recent years. /Photos by Daion Morton and courtesy of Hoosier National Forest.
1812 Quakers settle in Orange County.
1816 Indiana becomes a state.
1850 The “Great Compromise” and Fugitive Slave Law pass
1851 New Indiana Constitution prohibits blacks from settling in state.
1861-1865 The American Civil War is waged. 1863 Pres. Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation
1935 Site of community bought by government.
1817 First African American landowners arrive in Lick Creek.
1860 Lick Creek population hits highest point. 1862 A large number of residents leave Lick Creek 1890 Only one African American farmer is left in Lick Creek. 1902 Last African American resident sells Lick Creek land.
PRESENT Lick Creek is now part of the Hoosier National Forest.
TOP: Descendant Donna Griffin shows 812 reporter Daion Morton the article that sparked her interest in Lick Creek. /Photo courtesy of the Griffin family INSERT: An article that ran in The Herald-Times about the mystery of the Lick Creek community. /Photo by Daion Morton
53 WINTER/ SPRING 2015
THE 812 LIST
Is Lincoln ours? 812’s reasons why we can claim Honest Abe. Story and illustration by Sarah Whaley
A
pril 15 marks the 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s death, and while Illinois has long held claim to the famed president, Southern Indiana deserves its due. Kendell Thompson, superintendent of Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial, and William Bartelt, author of There I Grew Up: Remembering Abraham Lincoln’s Indiana Youth, give us eight reasons Illinois ought to share Abe. “When Lincoln left Indiana, he arrived in Illinois fully formed,” Thompson says. “His character, his affections and his moral compass were developed from his experience in Southern Indiana.”
HERE ABE GREW UP.
The Lincoln family crossed the Ohio River from Kentucky in the winter of 1816 as Indiana gained statehood. Abe grew up with the state, spending 14 formative years of his life, from age 7 to 21, in Spencer County.
HERE ABE LEARNED TO LOVE EDUCATION.
In log-cabin schoolhouses Abe learned to love reading, writing and arithmetic. “It was here he realized he had a gift with words,” Bartelt says. Eventually this gift would lead to one of the bestknown speeches in American history, his Gettysburg Address.
HERE ABE READ THE GREAT AMERICAN DOCUMENTS FOR THE FIRST TIME.
Abe read the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution in The Revised Laws of Indiana (1824). The copy that sparked his appreciation for government is kept at the Lilly Library at Indiana University.
HERE ABE TOOK A TRIP THAT CHANGED HIS VIEWS ON SLAVERY.
In 1828, Abe left for New Orleans on a flatboat with Allen Gentry, son of a local general store owner. On their way to take produce to market they witnessed a slave auction that influenced Abe’s antislavery views.
HERE ABE ASPIRED TO BE AN INVENTOR.
Abe remains the only U.S. president to hold a patent. On May 22, 1849, Abe received Patent No. 6469 for “Buoying Vessels Over Shoals.” His inspiration came from working on the Ohio River as a teenager and watching boats struggle to navigate shallows.
HERE ABE WON HIS FIRST COURT CASE.
As a teenager, Abe worked on the Ohio River and often ferried passengers to passing steamboats. The Dill brothers, who owned a ferry company that took passengers across the Ohio, sued Abe. He defended himself in court in Rockport and won on the premise he was only taking passengers halfway across the river.
HERE ABE FELT THE FRAGILITY OF LIFE. Abe’s mother and sister, Nancy Hanks Lincoln and Sarah Lincoln Grigsby, both died in Spencer County. When Abe was president, he used his familiarity with grief to write a moving letter to young Fanny McCullough: “The memory of your dear Father, instead of an agony, will yet be a sad sweet feeling in your heart, of a purer and holier sort than you have known before.”
HERE ABE WOULD REMEMBER.
In his 1860 autobiography, Abe wrote of Southern Indiana: “It was a wild region, with many bears and other wild animals, still in the woods. There I grew up.” More telling, though, was one of his poems published anonymously in Whig on May 5, 1847: “My childhood’s home I see again, / And sadden with the view; / And still, as memory crowds my brain, / There’s pleasure in it too.”
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55 WINTER/ SPRING 2015
FEBRUARY
George Frideric Handel
6, 7, 13, 14
ALCINA ALCINA NEW PRODUCTION
DUETS
RUBIES
WINTER/ SPRING 2015
FLUTE
APRIL
56
MAGIC
10, 11, 17, 18
the
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
MARCH
SWAN LAKE (ACT II)
27, 28
SPRING BALLET
FEBRUARY MARCH
Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein II
1, 6, 7
NEW PRODUCTION
PACIFIC
27, 28
SOUTH
music.indiana.edu/operaballet