It’s all things art today on the Blue Dot. FIrst, HC Arts Board President Amanda Ramos provides us with an update on Harrison County Arts and more specifically, their upcoming fundraiser on Saturday, June 7th.

After that we talk to Carrie Johns, “Southern Indiana’s Muralist.” If you live in Corydon or frequent downtown New Albany, you have definitely seen her beautiful work. She gives us some insights on why murals are so important for communities.

THINGS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

Harrison County Arts - Third Annual Sustainable Fashion Show

Carrie Johns Art on Instagram

Gray and Leah are flying solo while Elmer works on the mural down on the Indian Creek Trail. Before diving into our discoveries, we briefly touch on an important change to Indiana Law regarding public meetings.

This is a great discussion on various topics…stay tuned for some hot takes!

THINGS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

Past Lives

After Yang

All We Imagine As Light

Forgotten Love

The Eight Mountains

Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell

I’m Still Here

All of Us Strangers

Fleabag Season 2

Harrison County Arts - Third Annual Sustainable Fashion Show

This episode is dedicated to Janelle Amy, former director of Main Street Corydon. Her work at Main Street is to be celebrated — her impact on the downtown has been so impressive. Janelle reminisces about her time with the organization and gives us a preview of what is next for her. Thank you again Janelle for all your hard work!

THINGS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

Main Street Corydon

Santa’s chair debacle

Leah is back on this episode for another discussion of what we’re reading, watching, listening to, and thinking about. We loved this conversation which delves into the big questions like what makes us human? Are humans good? Do we have souls? You know, just some light banter for you!

THINGS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman

The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami

The Ideological Brain: The Radical Science of Flexible Thinking by Leor Zwigrod

Black Mirror on Netflix, Episode One “Common People”

Human-Kind or Human Evil with Rutger Bregman - What Now? with Trevor Noah

Raising Hare: A Memoir by Chloe Dalton

The Best of Everything by Rona Jaffe

The Road to the City by Natalia Ginzberg

The Seth Material by Jane Roberts

Local coaches Brian and Marcee LaHue are here again, and this time we're tackling health and wellness, specifically focusing on changes our local schools could make to better support student well-being.

We hope this episode inspires our community to think outside the box and to consider little changes that could result in major transformation.

Also, IMPORTANT: We need shout-outs! Please send us who you think is doing awesome stuff here in Harrison County!

Click here to submit your shout-out.

THINGS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity by Peter Attia

The Good Life: Lessons from the World's Longest Scientific Study of Happiness by Robert Waldinger

Revamped high school diploma approved after ‘messy’ process via WFYI

The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Johnathan Haidt

Leah Porter is back for our first Discovery Dialogues episode of 2025! This episode is jammed packed with thoughts on television, podcasts, parades, kids and phones, and giant pumpkins!

Before diving in, Andrew Reich joins Gray for a quick explanation of an upcoming public hearing by Harrison County Planning Commission. The Planning commission has proposed a six month moratorium on zoning designations of R2 and R3, high density housing.

Also, IMPORTANT: We need shout-outs! Please send us who you think is doing awesome stuff here in Harrison County!

Click here to submit your shout-out.

THINGS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

The White Lotus on HBO

Adolescence on Netflix

Radio Lab: Growth

One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El-Akkad

The Treehorn Trilogy by Florence Parry Heide, illustrated by Edward Gorey

The work of Peter Brown

Eloise by Kay Thompson, illustrated by Hilary Knight

After our winter hiatus, we are back! In this episode, Elmer and Gray give some personal updates, briefly address the political landscape of 2025, and outline the season ahead.

In season five, we plan to ask every guest the same three questions:

Why do you choose to live in Harrison County?
What do you want more of in Harrison County?
What is something that recently brought you joy?

To kick it off, we answer these questiona ourselves in this episode!

Thanks to all of you for sticking with us through the break — we are so happy to be back!

THINGS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

Waymo — self-driving robo taxis in Phoenix

A Democrat Who Is Thinking Differently: Jake Auchincloss on The Ezra Klein Show

RIP… D.E.I. with Ruha Benjamin | What Now? with Trevor Noah Podcast

The White Lotus on HBO

Studio Ghibli

Would you like us to give a shout out to someone awesome in our community? This season we want to publicly acknowledge the people and places that YOU think deserve it.

To submit a shout-out, click here and fill out the form and listen up for it on an upcoming episode!

Glynn Ayers and Regina Gresham join us for our season four finale, a discussion inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s speech at Glendale College in 1967.

Our goal for this podcast episode is to bring together voices from Corydon’s BIPOC and Queer communities to share personal stories and experiences. The goal is to help people in town see the rich diversity we have here and understand both the unique challenges and meaningful moments that come with being a minority in a small, rural place like Corydon.

THINGS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

Light Up Corydon

Harrison County Arts

Corydon Presbyterian Church