Writing, Religion and Justice, Bloomington's Troubles

Yeah, grab bag for you. 

 Not much yesterday. CC had stayed over, slept for a good part of the morning. I got through email and put together "One Dead Blonde" for entry into two contests. I took the car out for cleaning - part of my way of thanking J for its use. Then I spent time trying to help CC get her storage bin problems sorted out. The storage bin company has the most impossible website. After she left, I napped. 

 MW sent me http://www.heartlandchurch.tv/. The music set me off. Sorry, it is a prejudice of mine. I also mistook the church which produced the thing for another, which has been associated with Christian nationalism. Mistaken memories and bias set me off on the wrong foot.

The movie that follows is about Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I would have liked the movie better without the editorials interrupting it. Then, too, I read Bonhoeffer's Ethics at Fort Dix.  I got through about all but 20 minutes of the movie - I know what happens to Bonhoeffer, and it is depressing. What I forgot to mention to MW was that I liked Bonhoeffer's ethics - both as Christian ethics in the face of injustice and as ethics in themselves. 

However, her email sent me off to see what Orthodox Christianity has that is similar. I failed to do so.

 

This video hit me on how well it describes me back before 2010 - fragmented. There is also some good sense in it about how to deal with anxiety and turmoil, even if you do not subscribe to Orthodox Christianity.

 Before all that, I got my novel excerpts out. Uncharted Mag (More details here: https://www.unchartedmag.com/) and The Masters Review received "One Dead Blonde" for their respective novel excerpt contests.

Now for this morning! I got caught up on the news. A blog post done. Received my instructions on where to pick up Jerry. I think I will make this into more of a road trip.

King Arthur has always interested me. One of my missing books is an Arthurian encyclopedia. Eleanor Janega On The Dark Origins Of King Arthur is running in the background. It is an entertaining overview of the legend.

 One political thing: Private businesses will bolster Bloomington after IU cuts, economic experts say has me wondering how much of this revenge on Monroe County leaning Democratic.

 The current average weekly wage in Monroe County sits at about $1,121, according to data collected by the federal government in August.  
 
Wages in the U.S grew 3.7 percent in 2025, and Indiana wages increased by 5.6 percent, Powell said. Meanwhile, wages in Bloomington fell by 6.2 percent. 
 
“In terms of our employment, while it grew in the state and nation, it fell almost 2 percent,” Powell said. “This is in one year.” 
 
Powell said the reasons lie with one of the largest employers in the region: IU. The university makes up about 20 percent of the region’s employment. External forces in the U.S. such as cuts to research funding and skepticism of higher education have come to bear at IU and forced retrenchment, Powell said.  
 
Leaders at IU are working through policy and industry changes, but the university will probably continue to pull back in 2026. 

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