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Front porches in Bloomington began to flourish in the early 1900s, when bungalows became the most common type of house being built. As writer Harriet Castrataro observes, front porches create a liminal space between two worlds — where the private and public come together. Bloomington’s front porches
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The term “building community” is rarely taken literally, but a fledgling project in town is doing just that. The Bloomington Cohousing Project is planning a collaborative housing community on the south side of Bloomington, where homeowners will live in individual houses but share other common amenit
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More than thirty years ago, artist Edwin Fulwider wrote a memoir about growing up in Bloomington in the early 1900s. The memoir portrays a “rich landscape of local art, life, and history” of a bygone era, writes Michelle Gottschlich. Fulwider’s perspective is especially insightful because he grew up
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Southern Indiana has a long tradition of utopian communities, also known as communes. A few of the ones formed in the 1960s and ’70s — places like May Creek Farm and Needmore — have had to “bend with the times” to survive, says writer John Mikulenka in this detailed and expansive feature. But as the
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Last year, a local housing program for people with substance use disorder was created by Marilyn Burrus and Brandon Drake. Writer Ann Georgescu talks with Drake about the program, Courage to Change, and helping people all along the spectrum of recovery. “It is our job to stop the chaos,” Drake says.
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Some folks just won’t stay down. Peggy is one of them. Through an abusive past — and a challenging present — Peggy persists. In Big Mike’s B-town, Michael G. Glab talks to someone who has experienced homelessness for almost two years. Although life always seems to knock her down, “I get back on my f
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In part 2 of "Paths of Homelessness," TJ Jaeger looks at the stigma dumped on the less fortunate people who experience homelessness. While they sometimes commit “nuisance crimes,” they don’t deserve being verbally and physically harassed, demonized, and treated as second-class humans, say the people
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It's your first day of experiencing homelessness. What do you do? What are your options? Where will you sleep tonight? In the first of this two-part series, writer TJ Jaeger looks at the difficult circumstances people face — and choices they have to make — when they find themselves living on the str
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Bloomington’s downtown landscape has changed dramatically in the past decade — influenced more by college students who desire modern amenities than by longtime residents who want to preserve their hometown. Writer Sarah Gordon considers how the conflicting goals of property development and historic
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In Trent Deckard’s second neighborhood tour for Limestone Post, he shows us the tight-knit community of McDoel Gardens. Since the 1800s, the historic Bloomington neighborhood has been diverse and vibrant. Today, it’s home to some of Bloomington’s most vigorous startups and nonprofits, classic bungal
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Ruthie Cohen says volunteering at Habitat for Humanity is both humbling and empowering. But her biggest contribution isn’t hanging doors or framing sheds — although she has learned such skills (more or less). Rather, the skill she brings to the worksite has helped her find a home among her fellow vo
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In this Limestone Post series, local videographer Trent Deckard takes us on three-minute tours of neighborhoods in Bloomington and surrounding communities. Deckard’s first visit is to Maple Heights, a discrete neighborhood on the north side of downtown Bloomington. After talking to some of the “genu