Big Talk

As a young child, Steve Scott became an aficionado of martial arts when Bruce Lee appeared on TV as The Green Hornet’s sidekick. His family travelled the world because his father was a US Marine Corps general, the experiences broadening his horizons. Later, when he served his own stint in the Marines, he viewed a variety of martial arts demonstrations …

A former CIA operative whose task was to find and flip Soviet diplomats, Coyle came back to Indiana to teach international affairs and history of espionage courses at Indiana University, his alma mater. Now retired, he writes spy novels and enjoys taking naps almost as much as telling tales about his days as a secret agent. Part 1 of this …

He spent more than thirty years as a field officer for the Central Intelligence Agency. Now he writes spy novels as a retired Indiana University professor of practice. Gene Coyle lived an exciting — and occasionally dangerous — life as a CIA spy, residing in Lisbon, Athens, Moscow, and other exotic locales. He and his wife, also a retired CIA …

Brown County State Park has at least 28 miles of pristine biking trails with more added each year. The International Mountain Biking Association has granted the park’s trails its Epic status. With the pandemic forcing people outdoors for socialization and entertainment, bike industry sales figures have skyrocketed. Danielle and Kate Nolan opened their full-service shop, Brown County Bikes, in downtown …

Public health expert and equitable health care advocate Faiz Kidwai chats with host Alex Ashkin. Now a psychiatric resident at the State University of New York (SUNY) Hospital, Kidwai has seen firsthand how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the psychological health of those who’ve contracted the virus and those who haven’t. This week Kidwai also talks about the inequities dark-skinned …

He arrived in Bloomington from Pakistan as a young child with his family. As he grew up and attended Indiana University for his undergraduate degree, he felt himself the beneficiary of kindness and largesse from many people here. Faiz Kidwai eventually became a medical doctor and now believes he must repay the good others have done for him by advocating …

After a long career behind the keyboard and specializing in travel writing Laurie Borman heard Indiana University’s Jim Madison talk about his book, The Ku Klux Klan in the Heartland. She was so fascinated by the subject of hate that she switched writing gears and began to pen a long piece on the connections between white supremacists, religious nationalists, and …

It took her a while as she tried out first one then anther field of studies through her undergraduate and graduate school years, but Angela Babb eventually realized she felt most passionate about how food is produced and distributed throughout both our nation and our world. In the wake of the controversy surrounding Bloomington’s city-sponsored farmers market, Babb has become …

The Lively Death Lady, Kel McBride, counsels people who otherwise wouldn’t think about their inevitable demises to plan their exits from this life. McBride has made a name for herself in this town as a founder of the Bleeding Heartland Roller Girls, the driving force behind ten years of Eroticon events, and as the head wrangler of Bloomington’s celebrated Krampus …

Sex educator and advocate, roller derby queen, and certified death planner, Kel McBride has made an indelible mark on Bloomington. She and Pizza X’s Jeff Mease have conjured a fun weekend for COVID-19 shut-ins beginning tomorrow. Their X-Hunt, “Bloomington’s quirky scavenger hunt” to benefit the Hoosier Hills Food Bank, kicks off Friday, February 26th, at 10am and runs clear through …