The 812 - Steve Volan / Plateia Media

Latest Episodes:

155 [S3E02]: James Sanders, Chair of the Commission on the Status of Black Males Jan 22, 2025

Show notes

We've had a number of guests who represent city commissions on this show. Today, our subject is the Commission on the Status of Black Males, a very busy board that hosts events at least six times a year, including their Outstanding Leaders of Tomorrow awards, their "Barbershop" health initiative, and the Million Father March at the beginning of each school year. Our guest is its chair, James Sanders. He's an award winner himself: for his involvement with the Commission, he won the 2024 Be More Phenomenal Award, presented to outstanding leadership through board, commission, or committee involvement by the City of Bloomington's Volunteer Network.

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154 [S3E01]: Carrie Albright, Chair, Bloomington Environmental Commission Jan 20, 2025

Show notes

Our first guest of the new year and the third season of The 812 is Carrie Albright, chair of the Bloomington Environmental Commission, one of the city's oldest. She talks about the work they do advocating for the city to balance urban growth with environmental preservation. They address everything from water quality and biodiversity to newer challenges like light pollution. And we talk about the popular annual Eco-Heroes art contest that they oversee.

Our website is new and improving! It's undergone a slight revamp -- our Contact Us form finally works now! -- and we've started a new series of pages on our website called Collections, in which we put together a bunch of previous episodes that have a common theme. Our first collection brings together the interviews we did in 2024 with all nine Bloomington city councilmembers. There's no better introduction to the current city council than through our website. All that's fodder for our new weekly newsletter, along with previews of upcoming shows and whatever else we can manage to get in there. If you're a fan of the show, drop us your email and we'll keep you up to date.

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Season 3 starts Monday, January 20! Jan 13, 2025

Show notes

The 812 is back with a new season of interviews with the people that make your community go 'round! New episodes drop beginning Monday, January 20. We're looking forward to an interesting crop of new episodes, and other innovations to be announced soon. See you next Monday!

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153 [S2E56]: State Senator Shelli Yoder (D.40) Previews the 2025 Legislative Session Dec 20, 2024

Show notes

Shelli Yoder is the dynamic state senator from District 40, representing Bloomington. She explains the statehouse for us, then talks about 2025 and what treats the statehouse might have in store: the $1 billion budget miscalculation; birth control, IVF, and abortion; a farm bill she's sponsoring; and, for localities like Bloomington, topics like annexation and universal school vouchers.
This is our last episode of Season 2, and of 2024. We'll be back with another season of shows beginning in mid-January.

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152 [S2E55]: Lilliana Young pf the City/County Human Rights Commission, on the Municipal Equality Index Dec 18, 2024

Show notes

It's our penultimate show of our season 2, which began in August, and of the year 2024. Today we meet Lilliana Young, a member of the Bloomington/Monroe County Human Rights Commission, to talk about Bloomington's performance on the Municipal Equality Index. That's the Human Rights Campaign's annual report on how cities across the nation are doing by the LGBTQ+ population. This is the tenth consecutive year that Bloomington has achieved a perfect score on that Index, and we dig into why. We also talk with her about the Sisterhood of Bloomington, an alliance of trans women that she helped found and leads; she's styled herself the "matriarch" of the social and activist group. We talk about how they get by and the ceremony they conducted on November 20, the Transgender Day of Remembrance, on the steps of City Hall.

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151 [S2E54]: Animal Care in Bloomington with Virgil Sauder, Director of the City Animal Shelter Dec 16, 2024

Show notes

Director of Animal Care and Control for the City of Bloomington, Virgil Sauder tells us all about how the city, Monroe County and town of Ellettsville collaborate to manage domesticated pets in the area. He clears up some myths about how the city animal shelter works, and talks about what he's seen come through their doors in his almost 20 years of service.

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150 [S2E53]: Paying Tribute to Cheryl Munson, a Pillar of the Community Dec 13, 2024

Show notes

Today we're remembering Monroe County Councilmember Cheryl Munson. A professor emerita in the IU Dept of Anthropology, she volunteered throughout the community, and also served in local politics, first on the township level, then as an at large member of the County Council.

In the interview we recorded with her in June, she describes herself and the Council, and we talk about the issues of the day: the question of the county jail, county employee salaries, and how she was looking forward to a fourth term to address issues like these. And we get a look into her life as an archaeologist. There was plenty more to explore, and we were looking forward to having her back. We send our condolences to Pat, her husband of 57 years, and their family.

Since it's all we can do, today we pay tribute to Cheryl Munson by remembering her in her prime. Please enjoy this encore presentation of The 812.

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149 [S2E52]: Marsha Lovejoy of I Support the Girls Dec 11, 2024

Show notes

Our guest today is the director of the Bloomington affiliate of I Support the Girls. It's a nonprofit organization that started in the District of Columbia to get donations of old bras and unused feminine hygiene products to women in the local homeless shelter. It's now a global organization aimed at "supporting girls, women and folx in need with products to support and maintain their dignity."
Marsha Lovejoy founded the local affiliate, and for her work in March was named Woman of the Year by the Bloomington Commission on the Status of Women. We ask how she got started supporting I Support the Girls, how the organization works, and how it's going. She also tells us what it's like to win that prestigious award and attend the Women's History Luncheon that fills the local convention center every year.
We also note and lament the passing of Monroe County Councilmember Cheryl Munson, who died yesterday at 80. We'll devote our Friday episode to a remembrance of her, and revisit the interview she gave us in June.

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148 [S2E51]: David Henry, Incoming County Councilmember (At Large) Dec 09, 2024

Show notes

David Henry was first on in February, in his role as chair of the Monroe County Democratic Party, to explain the complicated caucus process that elevated Courtney Daily to the District 5 Bloomington City Council seat. Now he appears as an elected official in his own right, having won an at-large seat on the Monroe County Council. On January 1, when he takes the seat of friend-of-the-show Geoff McKim, a four-term councilmember who's retiring, Henry will be the only rookie on the council. We ask him about a wide range of topics, including county employee salaries, emergency management, and public health administration. And he gives us his general take on the difference between city and county councils, and the fiscal task that's the primary work of a county council.

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147 [S2E50]: Sculptor Adam Nahas on the Rise and Fall of Artisan Alley Dec 06, 2024

Show notes

Adam Nahas of Cyclops Studios, a sculptor, was also the founder and executive director of the former Artisan Alley, an artist's cooperative and nonprofit incubator from its founding in 2011 until 2023. It folded earlier this year. During its existence, Artisan Alley provided a community for artists, offering affordable studio space, and evolved to meet the needs of local artists through various programs and initiatives. The city arts director helped them rent space at what would become Switchyard Park, which allowed them to expand and offer more resources like gallery space, a tool share, and classroom space. It even incubated other nonprofits, art-related and not. The life cycle of an arts collective on today's episode.
Later in the show, a Last Pitch on the city council's controversial proposal to double its own salaries.

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