Change Just Over The Horizon?

I have been trying not to be distracted by politics; almost an impossibility. Worse is being distracted by digestive problems. I collected the following since roughly last Friday up to today. I meant to write more, but I needed what energy I had for my fiction.

Even so, it appears that Trumpism and its incipient fascism has come up against the fact you can fool all the people only part of the time.

It may be that I will finally get confirmation that Indiana wants change, what it lacks is a focus and faith to initiate that change. 

 Republican cash advantage showing up with late spending in Indiana legislative races (Indiana Capital Chronicle)

Rep. Ilhan Omar fires back after Trump accuses her of using an alias

“Whenever the news turns bad, this creep reaches for one name: mine,” Omar said in response to the president’s social media post. “So let’s make it crystal clear. My name has always been Ilhan Omar. Maybe you should focus on what your VP’s real name is,” Omar said on social media Friday.

“Any other implication is a flat-out lie,” Jackie Rogers, spokesperson for the congresswoman, told the Minnesota Star Tribune on Friday.

Blatant political attack showing the Trump people's inability to make a blatant political attack work.

Rep. Ilhan Omar clarifies full name after federal raid, alias allegation (FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul)

FOX 9 also found her junior-year school picture from Edison High School in Minneapolis. The yearbook listed the 17-year-old as "Ilhan Omar."  

Americans' income hits record, with wide gaps mirroring Indiana disparities (Axios Indianapolis)

Inflation under Trump is only about half the rate under Biden. Voters are still just as mad. But corruption is up. I have one quibble with the article. Counting from when, everything else I have read is that inflation is about the same as when Biden lost the election.

Speaking of corruption, read Taxation And Representation (Sheila Kennedy).

Holiness and Hedonism: On the Contradictory Duality of American Power (Literary Hub) a reminder of our good, ugly, and bad history.

 

 

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Vacating?

 Three days of gastritis dominating my days. No writing today, other than catching up on this blog. A run to the grocery. MNaybe get my voting done. It could be a full afternoon. The morning has been pretty empty: some reading, a trip to the convenience store, a lot of wishing the pain would subside. Insomnia again has left me listless.

Do I need a vacation?

 

Readings from yesterday:

The Mystery of What Befell in the Ditch by Thure Erik Lund review – is this the greatest living Norwegian writer? (The Guardian): not sure if this could be done in America but damn what if it could?

 When will we see the movie version: Gilgamesh by Simon Armitage review – an ancient epic is brilliantly translated for our times?

How many people read Sherlock Holmes nowadays? Stephen Fry: ‘Sherlock Holmes altered the course of my whole life’   (The Guardian).

So, KFC is a sign of the apopoclypse? Why the Broiler Chicken Is the True Symbol of the Anthropocener ( Literary Hub)

Not sure I should follow broiler chickens with Warm front and 70s for Halloween: How rare is that in Indiana? but why not?

Monday:

It took all day to write 8 pages & 2293 words. I have got to leave the green curry alone as well as the red. Add to this laziness that has overtaken me these past few months.

All together 72 pages. Taking a break tomorrow. Too tired to work on it now and need to do some other things.

Mostly, I kept trying to catch up on the sleep I did not have the night before.  I went to the convenience store.

Sunday:

Liturgy followed by a day of unsettled digestion. A little writing done, some emails deleted, and not much else.  

 Saturday:

Some writing done, a trip to the Farmer's Market, a convenience store trip, passed on going further from home. 

“A Heart’s Judgment Judged” rejected 

Thank you for submitting your writing to Passager. We are sorry that your work was not selected for publication this year. This reading period we received thousands of pieces and we loved far more submissions than we are able to publish. 

The editors must agree on all acceptances unanimously. Sometimes our decisions are based on how the issue is coming together, or what we published most recently, and not a reflection on the quality of your work.

Best of luck with your writing—we always hope you keep us in mind.

Sincerely,

Rosanne Singer, Mary Azrael, Johnny Sweeney

Passager Editors

And another rejected:

At this time, the editors at Gordon Square Review have chosen not to publish "After Making Landfall" in the next available issue of Gordon Square Review. 

While "After Making Landfall" was not selected for publication, please know that the editors carefully considered your piece. 

With gratitude,

Katie Strine

Gordon Square Review 

Friday was the group class. I still need to write up my notes. Two rejections arrived. I binge-watched Lupin on Netflix. Great show, and it looks like there will be more. Omar Sy! And a rejection:

Thank you so much for submitting to the 2026 Boudin Novelette Chapbook Contest. We received an exciting and overwhelming amount of submissions. The finalists are currently under consideration with our final judge, Robert Olen Butler. We enjoyed Plain Tales From The Flatlands a great deal, but I'm sorry to report that it did not make it to our semi-final round.

We're honored that you chose to submit it to us. We have no doubt you'll find the perfect home for this piece, and hope you'll consider submitting other work to our bi-monthly online journal.  

Best,

Vallie Lynn Watson, Editor, Boudin 

Dusti RW Levy, Managing Editor, Boudin Chapbook Contest

Stephanie Smith, Managing Editor, Boudin Chapbook Contest

‘Fjord’ Review - by Sonny Bunch (The Bulwark ). This will probably not come to Muncie, but I would make sure to see it if I could. The review had me thinking of Ibsen's An Enemy of the People.

New study traces van Gogh's famed 'Starry Night' to an actual night sky from 1889

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Mired and Tired Of It

Up and down, down and up, getting nothing accomplished except my dishes and a lunch. 

 Trump Goes Crazy Online After Judge Hammers Him on Golf Course  (The New Republic)

Trump’s posting may have already landed him in trouble. At a hearing Monday, the preservation group mounting the legal challenge against Trump’s federal takeover of the course introduced the president’s own Truth Social post as evidence that the government plans to proceed with renovations “IMMEDIATELY!”

 

Trump tried to throw a ‘lunatic’ judge off his DC golf course case. Here’s what happened next (The Independent).

  Reyes hauled government officials back to her courtroom Monday to keep pressing them for information about who, exactly, was responsible for greenlighting the tree removal and other plans for the park.

“There is no universe in which all of this just coincidentally happened at the same time,” she said Monday. “There just isn’t.”

The judge said she didn’t know who to believe: the Justice Department and top parks officials, or the president of the United States.

“Do I believe the president of the United States, or do I believe you?” she said. “What do I do if I believe President Trump that there is an imminent closure?”

Reyes also wanted to know if any government lawyers wanted to come forward to say they agreed with Woodward’s attempts to knock her off the case. She later withdrew her request, saying that “we all have better things to spend our time on.”

Woodward told her the initial request was “inappropriate” and instructed Justice Department attorneys to ignore it.

“I’m the one who’s going to say how we move today,” Reyes fired back. “Not you.”

At the end of Monday’s seven-hour hearing, the judge said her family members have texted her “freaking out” over reporting that her office has received death threats because of the case.

“A federal judge is getting death threats over a golf course,” she said. “I really don’t think that’s what the founders envisioned.”

Trump Warns America Will Burn if Republicans Lose This Election  (The New Republic)

Trump is only in Kansas because the Republican Party is polling historically low, putting normally safe candidates in jeopardy thanks to his own bad economic policies and an ill-advised war he started. Republican Senator Roger Marshall was expected to coast to victory in the state, but is now polling neck and neck with Democratic pastor Adam Hamilton.

Trump’s fearmongering over the invented specter of riots is a desperate effort that isn’t likely to sway any voters on the fence, who can plainly see skyrocketing fuel prices and inflation with their own eyes. Besides, if Republicans lose big, which side of the American political divide, based on recent history, is more likely to violently protest?

An Encouraging Direction (Sheila Kennedy)

But even assuming that those Democrats succeed at the polls, even recognizing that most of them are both competent and well-intentioned, there are systemic barriers that will prevent them from making the sorts of changes that most Americans want to see. I have frequently posted about those systemic flaws: gerrymandering, the filibuster, the Electoral College, the incredibly damaging Citizens United decision that has allowed people with money to dominate the voices of the electorate in general…There are others.

Even assuming an election result that a majority of us will applaud, the challenge facing newly-elected lawmakers will be to resist a return to a very flawed status quo. So I was gratified to come across a Vox article describing a “radical” Democratic plan to “change America” by addressing those systemic flaws.

Is ferment in Indiana’s 5th District a harbinger of a Democratic midterm wave?

No surprise, then, that when I started paying attention to the race, the 5th District contest continued to languish in the leading handicappers’ Safe Republican categories. In recent days, the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter and Inside Elections have moved the seat to Likely Republican; Sabato’s Crystal Ball still has it at Safe Republican. None of the three has it in a genuinely competitive category.

They may be right that there’s nothing to see here. Still, there have been signs of greater-than-expected ferment.

In the May 2026 primary, Spartz’s opponent, veteran Scott A. King, took 40% of the vote in a two-way race; King narrowly won the votes from Delaware County (Muncie) outright. That’s after a campaign when King was essentially an unknown and had few resources to work with.

In the general election, an internal poll from Democratic challenger, former state Sen. J.D. Ford, found Spartz with just a two-point lead. Spartz’s recent email communications have taken a more aggressive tone than one might expect from someone running a shoo-in race, including complaints about allegedly stolen yard signs and AI-generated attack ads against her. She’s even asked Ford for a debate, so far unsuccessfully — an unusual dynamic for a safe incumbent.

As a Devout Christian, I Believe Everyone Should Be Free to Practice My Religion (McSweeney’s Internet Tendency)

Trump only knows how to buy, not persuade: Farmers to get one-time payments from $8 billion program, Trump says: What to know 

 What I meant to do this morning I did not do. I am running down to the convenience store and then try to accomplish something before I meet CC tonight.

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Getting Caught Up With Monday and the PO Visits

Well, a less rocky start to my day than has been the rule this week. I accomplished what I meant to do on Monday; so now I caught up myself to two days ago.

Not a thing done for Stew apart from having it too much on my mind. No, I decided to expand on one of my planned submissions. I was in the middle of that when the PO made a visit. Actually, I got two for the price of one. The old one showed up again. I think this is the third straight time for a fellow who had to take on new work. The new one made a remark about me having been a bit of a smart ass, so is the pairing because they think the older one intimidates me? After all that was his MO. 

I did get clarification that they do have my mental health records. It turns out what they are looking for is whether I remain suicidal. The new guy says he reads the blog, I thought it was clear I was long past suicidal. And that makes me wonder if I am being understood. I had to explain that they were 17 years late worrying about me and suicide, that not being good at killing myself was taken as a sign to give it up. I guess I am also curious if they ever wondered why I didn't try to off myself in prison. Muncie can be grim, Indiana dull, but I would think if I had continued with suicidal thoughts it would be done at Fort Dix FCI. 

And we had a discussion about masturbation. They seemed incredulous that I saw no point in even attempting. I felt afterward I had disappointed someone's prurient interest. Perhaps I should give it a try for the PO's benefit? Too much work. 

I did get a compliment from the new guy on my writing. 

Got them on the road to a hopefully more reqarding experience and finished revising the story. 

 I talked to KH and am still waiting for his verdict on Stew's second and third chapters. That took me up to the time I needed to take CC to her probation meeting.

 

Ukraine Can Turn Imminent Peril to Its Advantage (Foreign Affairs) 

 Rebecca Solnit’s (Mis)Adventures in the Manosphere (The Nation) (Paywall)

Usually treated as mysterious or somehow authentically arising from the grass roots, what came to be known as “the manosphere” was to a large degree a racket run on Internet platforms that let lies, hate, and manipulation proliferate because they were profitable. It has become a miasma that engulfs everyone from the titans of Silicon Valley to teenage boys recruited for the right by those titans’ platforms. The manosphere is a shared set of references and perspectives that began on the Internet and ended up as real-life consequences shaped by the beliefs and values slurped up online. The much-discussed crisis of masculinity is in no small part a product of the exploitation of masculinity as identity politics and marketing schemes (and the most harmful identity politics in the United States have been all along the nexus of whiteness and maleness). Its many facets are often treated separately, but they are all connected. 

America Is Making Its Own Problems Worse  by Mark Hertling 

It’s understandable, in a somewhat self-interested way, why a president would want to lower domestic energy prices before an election (though the president’s diesel deal, even if it goes through, is unlikely to have much effect on prices because the total volume being traded is about one day’s worth of American diesel consumption). But denying an aggressor the resources it needs to keep fighting is also important. Why would the United States provide Russia with an economic lifeline while simultaneously expecting Ukraine to follow American instructions about where, when, and how to fight its war of self-defense?

***

One more time for those in the back: The United States has extraordinary capabilities to strike targets almost anywhere, but destroying a target and achieving a strategic objective are not the same thing. Iran has repeatedly demonstrated its ability to retaliate through missiles, drones, regional partners, cyber operations, and attacks against maritime commerce.

Military commanders are taught to examine the second- and third-order effects of their decisions before executing any action. Political leaders should be expected to do the same, especially when the consequences could include more American casualties, an expanding regional conflict, continued damage to the global economy, and a weakened American position in other parts of the world against more formidable threats.

***

Deterrence requires military capability and credible diplomatic engagements. It also requires strong alliances that convince potential aggressors the costs of an attack will outweigh any possible gains. That applies across the globe: the Middle East, Europe, and the Indo-Pacific region. When American officials undermine trust with allies, they risk weakening an essential component of our national security: trust.

***

Beijing is observing how American forces respond to Iranian missiles and drones, how rapidly precision weapons are expended, how effectively allied defenses operate, and how long industry takes to replace sophisticated munitions. Chinese military planners can also assess the difficulty of maintaining forces across several regions simultaneously. It would be surprising if the People’s Liberation Army weren’t already incorporating these observations into assessments of a potential confrontation with the United States. China continues modernizing its conventional forces, expanding its nuclear arsenal, and developing capabilities designed to complicate American operations in the Western Pacific.

 

The one rock and roll story that has sucked me in over the decades until I think it is an essential story that is not told wellenough or wide enough: Bob Dylan and Jorma Kaukonen on the tragedy of Mike Bloomfield (GuitarPlayer).

Why are the blues the lingua franca of guitarists everywhere? Why is the 1959 sunburst Les Paul one of the most coveted axes in the universe?

The answer to both questions has a lot to do with guitarist Mike Bloomfield. Though he is often overshadowed by Eric Clapton, Peter Green and other electric blues guitarists who emerged in the mid-1960s, Bloomfield set the pace for the disruptive fervor of that period’s youth revolution with his deep-fried mix of Chicago blues and freak-out frenzy.

The steely urgency of his guitar solos energized the music of groundbreaking artists, including Bob Dylan, Muddy Waters, Janis Joplin, Al Kooper and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Dylan himself once called Bloomfield “the best guitar player I ever heard.” Many would agree.

 

They’re Coming For The Libraries (Sheila Kennedy)

 

When the Book Wasn’t Better or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Adaptation (Uncanny Magazine)

 At its best, adaptation is the artistic world in conversation with itself. Its creators are in dialogue across mediums, recognizing quality and being inspired to represent it in their art form. Even so, there will always be some anxiety around a beloved story making the jump into the mainstream, but there can also be joy in finally sharing in the thrill of collective experience with a wider audience. Future adaptations may fall short, but they can still enrich the story in the process by sending you back to the novel, and through comparison highlight all the things you didn’t realize you cherished until you were faced with their absence.

 

History of Native Americans in Indiana  (Mirror Indy)

Other names remain throughout the state. Cities like Shipshewana and Kewanna are named after Potawatomi chiefs. In Indianapolis, the White River’s name comes from a translation of the Miami word “waapikaminki,” which means “on the white water.” The Monon Trail is named after the Monon Railroad, which derived its name from the Potawatomi word meaning “swift running.”

But for Miami tribal historic preservation officer George Strack, naming places for Native Americans isn’t the same as respecting them.

Strack is a member of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma, descendents of the Native Americans that were forced out of the state. The Miami Tribe owns 45 acres of land outside Fort Wayne where members can reconnect with their history, language and culture.

“It was really hard to grow up with that identity. There were times that people would make fun of that and do the ‘woo woo woo’ sound with their hand over their mouths. It really affected me, you know. And I think it affected all of us from a Native background.”

As we mark the United States’ 250th anniversary, very few Native Americans live in Indiana, which actually translates to “Land of the Indians.”  

*** 

Today, only two federally recognized groups of Native Americans have land in Indiana — the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi and the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma.

The Pokagon Band was named after its leader, Chief Leopold Pokagon. Pokagon convinced the U.S. to allow them to stay in southwestern Michigan, a portion of their homeland. According to the band, they earned the right to remain there in part because they had demonstrated a strong attachment to Catholicism. 

After decades of trying to get their federal recognition restored by the Congress, they finally succeeded in 1994. In 2016, the band received 166 acres of their land in South Bend back, which they used to create 44 homes for their members and a casino.  

The Miami Tribe are the descendants of the Miami that were removed to Kansas. After a few decades there, the Miami were moved to Oklahoma in the 1870s.

 

Submissions

Exposition Review - The Ride Back 

Massachusetts Review , Variant Literature- The First Day of Feeling Free

 Indy removes dam on White River, benefitting fish and other wildlife 

 

Colette’s “Mitsou”:  Part Play, Part Epistolary Novel (Thornfield Hall) because I read Colette in prison and got my eyes opened to what can be done with the novel; even if the writer is French.

Republican Tries to Get Journalist Arrested After Disastrous Debate (The New Republic) is just another tale of the clown car.

 VOTER GUIDE: Court of Appeals and Tax Court judges are on the ballot for retention (THE INDIANA CITIZEN). I always vote against just to keep these people on their toes.

 I ran CC to Walmart and then back to where she is staying. The same melodrama that she is too old for. We are supposed to talk tomorrow.

A cold dinner, I cleaned out tabs and did a couple of submissions noted above. Now, I am too tired for more writing. Mabye a little Netflix.

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Reminder: Indiana Voting

Just in case anyone reading this actually lives in Indiana:

1-minute voter guide: Indiana's 5th Congressional District (Axios Indianapolis)

You’re not crazy. Voting in Indiana is intimidating. (Indiana Capital Chronicle )

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Bits and Pieces from Last Week

 A little late and from an unexpected source, I found support for my idea that the MPAA and the RIAA should be asking why porn survived into the digital age. That was something that I put out in 2010. The answer given in How porn shapes your phone habits, even if you don’t watch it (London Times) to my question is prosaic: 

The content was just bait to keep us scrolling and watching, while the traces of our most private desires were harvested and commodified.

More troubling now is this:

...Among the earliest people to craft online personas and compete for algorithmic visibility were so-called cam models: sex workers who already in the mid-Nineties began to vie for attention by selling the kind of parasocial intimacy that would later become a cornerstone of the creator economy. Viewers paid for nudity and sex, yes, but also for a sense of human contact. Influencers play with the same dynamic, offering carefully constructed fantasies in exchange for attention and, increasingly, money....

My reaction was it was a freak show, not reality, another thing to traverse while sight-seeing. But then I was never interested in the subject matter. Guess I was lucky, it may have been another in my group sessions went back to it. Leaving me wondering why. There really is nothing spectacular about looking at/watching naked people. I am left to the conclusion that I am missing the point, that I am out of touch.

Impossibility Is a Myth ( The Fence) some true white-collar crime for you art lovers.

Mike Ditka, the quintessential Chicago Bear and a Pro Football Hall of Famer, dies at 86 - law school made me a Bears fan. I have to admit not thinking of Ditka for many years now.

Who Put Bella In the Witch Elm? (Atlas Obscura) something weird to throw a curve in the works.

Because archeology fascinates me still: Ancient Wells, a Persian Trade Jar, and a Mysterious Structure Rewrite the Story of Tamil Nadu’s Sunken City and A 3,500-Year-Old Egyptian Dog Had a Unique Name, an Unusual Coat, and a Rare Hieroglyph ( Arkeonews).

Indiana interstate highway construction costs soar amid inflation, state's own ambitions (Indiana Capital Chronicle) brings me back to a 20 year old question: why not light rail?

 Is it nap time?

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What I Agree About Originalism & What I Disagree With Judicial Review

 I have put my research project into Indiana's Bill of Rights on hold as I await feedback. One issue that arose is originalism. As I see matters, Indiana has silently adopted the United States Supreme Court's theory on originalism. What is the problem with originalism? Selecting the source for the original meaning determines the outcome. It does not mean that the court has roamed through the whole of the historical record. In Indiana, the court went looking for abortion in The Debates of the 1851 Convention. A legislative subject not one for constitutional debate. I argue what should have been looked for was the meaning of liberty and the pursuit of happiness; the words that were actually debated as being rights.

 But this paragraph from Brian Fitzpatrick's Originalism: What it is, what it isn’t and why it’s the most democratic option for the Supreme Court from The Conversation, I do agree with.

Originalists think the Constitution can be changed only by the American people through the amendment process. Conversely, living constitutionalists believe it can be changed by judges through reinterpretation of the existing document. 

It is also disingenuous at both the federal level and in Indiana. At the federal level, the amendment process is so arduous that it is easier to pack the court with ideological judges. When the Indiana Supreme Court suggested abortion should be put to the people as a constitutional amendment, it ignored the amendment process needed the cooperation of the very legislature that passed the abortion ban.

Cute. Not to be taken as a cure-all.

Now, about judicial review, the power of a court to determine a law unconstituional. I have a problem with Who Is Supreme, the People or the Court? (Los Angeles Review of Books). Maybe two. The first issue is the focus on the federal level. 

Just as the folk story of Brown is simple enough to state, so too is the basic thesis of Supremacy. Bowie and Renan take on the Supreme Court’s power of judicial review, meaning the court’s power to decline to enforce federal laws. Bowie and Renan contend that judicial review, so defined, is fundamentally inconsistent with the republican, democratic foundation of the Constitution, and also that, in practice, judicial review has been weaponized for antidemocratic, illiberal ends. Indeed, judicial review has consistently been opposed on those grounds by abolitionists, labor organizers, and other progressive groups. It would be impossible to recount the entirety of the story that Supremacy covers, so I will merely highlight some of its key claims (while begging readers to get the book as soon as they can.) 

The states might have given a different answer - the amendment process is easier at the state level and there are states still electing their appellate court judges. An Indiana Supreme Court case held that judicial review was meant to protect citizens rights against a despotic legislature. That opinion emphasized the final judges of natural rights were the people. 

However, I cannot argue with this. 

Would a ban on judicial review—or even targeted restrictions on judicial review—fix everything at the Supreme Court? No, and I don’t take Supremacy to suggest otherwise. For one thing, I’d bet almost anything that this Supreme Court, which is full of judicial supremacists, including Chief Justice John Roberts, would invalidate any federal law that attempted to limit the court’s power.

And yet, Bowie and Renan make a powerful argument against judicial review. Don’t let this review displace your own review—you should dig into their case.

 

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Indiana Secretary of State Debate; Trump I s Corruption; Donald J. Trump Making Us A Laughingstock; Let's Live In Carmel!

 Sharp divides in Indiana secretary of state debate over noncitizen vote, spending audit (Indiana Capital Chronicle)

Okay, foreigners cannot vote. In Indiana, there are people from the precinct who can challenge voters; the voter registration office requires driver's licenses; the ID needs to come out when voting; and so I just do not see why the Republican candidate is retailing MAGA scare tactics. Unless he thinks we are as dumb as MAGA politicians seem do do.

Kimberly Guilfoyle’s Demand for Cash Off the Books Exposed - drain the swamp? No way. Where else could people like this breed?

If Trump Steals an Election, Here’s What to Do (The New Republic)

Naked Trump Statute Goes on Display in European Parliament (The New Republic)

Carmel, Indiana, ranked by WalletHub as third best small city to live in    

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Yesterday I visted Metamora and Oldenburg

I went south again yesterday with CC. I am sooooo regretting it. But I can say it was useful for research. I have forgotten so much over the years, mostly that things are further apart  or closer than I remember.

We left close to 11 AM. Down Indiana 3 again to Rushville. By the time we got there, we were hungry. We stopped at Rosita's Pancake House; CC wanted breakfast. She got chicken fried steak with eggs and hash browns. I got the cheddar cheese burger and onion rings. We were both surprised at how good the food was. If you are in Rushville, give Rosita's a shot.

We went down US 52. Far less traffic than there had been on Indiana 3 any time on Monday. 

 More wooded than I recall, but when I had been down this road before it always in the late Spring. More flatness, too, nearer to the State Road 3 intersection. Then it stwisting and an incline into the Whitewater River valley. I noticed newer, more expensive, even stylish homes along 52.

One trip south, I am thinking 1972 or 1973, Mom stopped the car and watched hang gliders launching off this hill. It now has a cross and some other building atop it, and a gated entrance. I did not take the time to read the sign. I assume it belongs to the church across the highway.

 

By the time we got to Metamora, lunch had its usual effect on CC, and she began dozing off.

 I expected nothing from Metamora, this being a Wednesday, and the town met my expectations.

No, the surprise was the canal being dry.  The big flood shut down the inlet for watering the canal and it is now dry.

 Then we went to Oldenburg. We stopped to check out the convent.

 The last is of the old church next to the convent. I do not know if I captured the sheer size of the convent. There might be more nuns than townspeople.

 

CC  asked what people did for fun down there and we decided not much. We were ready to get home. We did that a little after 5 PM. Since then I have been pretty much crippled. Great scenery, though. 

Although I made one more run to the grocery while I have a car, with every step pain radiated from my knees. I hope to be able to walk tomorrow.

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Indiana Politics - There's An Election Coming

 I assume since no one ever comments to these posts that they are not read. It's better than admitting this blog and its posts suck! This post feels especially useless. If anyone is reading me, I doubt they are from Indiana.

But I cannot help myself.

See, I am utterly opposed to changing Indiana's Bill of Rights on bail. First, it is unnecessary. What no one will mention is that if a judge and a prosecutor want someone to stay in jail before trial, then they will stay there. The bail could be cash only. Try to raise even a $10,000 bond if it is in cash. As Right to bail: Amendment asks voters to rewrite pretrial detention rules (Indiana Capital Chronicle) points out the stats do not show any need for this change. Please vote against this.

This feels like it ought to be more isgnificant: Former GOP lieutenant governor endorses Ballard in secretary of state race  (Indiana Capital Chronicle). Could this a reaction to Trump's gerrymandering stunt?

 I did post another article on this but when it comes to Rokita, once is not enough:  Indiana AG Todd Rokita sues disciplinary officials, alleging retaliation over political speech  (Indiana Capital Chronicle).

Finally, Indiana Voters - all the info you require for voting in Indiana.

Ah, well, maybe this will make it all feel better:

 

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Yesterday I Went To Versailles

After liturgy yesterday, I decided on a road trip to Versailles. It was as much a research trip as a get away. I also intended to get in some fishing. That was the only failure of the day, the fishing. I left about 10 AM and returned after 6:30 pm. I was asleep by 8:30, my right foot went numb on the way back, and the rest of me had achieved a state of uncomfortable numbness by the time I got into the apartment.

I went down Indiana 3 to New Castle and then to Rushville. All territory I included in “Road Tripping”. I managed no photos until I stopped in Spiceland for a break and a Coke.

 

The intersection of Indiana 3 and US 40 (The Old National Road), and a bit of Dunreith.

My memories got a serious jogging after I left US 40 for Rushville. It is neither as flat or as straight as I recalled.

 I did not recall the big Diamond factory as I came into Rushville. The second factory looks different but I recall its position. Rushville's commercial park seems ambitious, if empty.

 

 

The fast food places and chain stores all seem to be on the north side. There is also the county hospital. 

After that, there is what might appear as Hoosier quaintness. It makes me think there was money here and might still be. 

 

Call me very surprised at finding a Japanese restaurant in Rushville.

Below this area begins what would be the town center - the city government offices, small shops, the county courthouse - if it were not so close to what is the south side of the city.

 This is where I got out of the car and took a short tour. Where I parked was in the block north of the intersection between US 52, State Road 3, and State Road Indiana 44. US 52 goes northwest to Indianapolis and southeast to Cincinatti. 44 goes east to Connersville and west to Shelbyville. The view from that corner:

 The castle-looking building is the Rush County courthouse. Lots of semi-trucks passed me heading south and north.

You can see the streets are empty. The antique shops were closed, but not the Radio Shack.

What makes Rushville historically significant, its most famous citizen:

 

I thought to eat at the restaurant that had been south of the courthouse on 3 next to the Flatrock River. Only the restaurant was now a park. I decided on eating at Greensburg. A quick bite.

What I think is the coolest shot I took all of yesterday.

 The road started to roll more, its straightness relaxed. I stopped only for this bit of strangeness.

 I tried snapping shots of Greensburg as I came into the city. These are of the area just south of Interstate 74. 

 I was looking for US 421. It was not to be seen. A frisson of anxiety as both road and scenery were unfamiliar. I assumed I was to the east of the courthouse area. That assumption was wrong, I was to the north. Not much activity around the courthouse square as lunch time approached, but the tree remains in the courthouse tower.

 Two things I did not capture with photos were another Japanese restaurant (is this because of the Honda plant in Greensburg?) and the Sinclair gas station (that came out too blurry). Sinclair is a brand I have seen since I was a little kid; my mother had a cousin working for them back then, so the name stuck in my brain. 

Heading southeast on 421 out of Greensburg:

 Only there was a detour that took me east to Batesville. Lot of cool stuff there, and I really regretted losing the battery before I ran into the town later from the east. The town seems growing, I saw plenty of new and rather attractive homes going up (probably expensive homes, too).

 Time forbid more shots. I left Batesville on State Road 229. This is the kind of winding road where you pay attention to the asphalt and obey the speed limits.

 Eventually, I got through to Osgood and back on 421. That was after Napoleon where I should have taken photos.

 I wound up eating at the Osgood Grub Company on my way back home. It is in the same location as a place where we ate during our family trips to Versailles. Definitely not the same menu, which is ala carte and a bit stiff, but their ribeye sandwhich was fantastic and I almost ordered a second.

The Tyson Methodist Church and the Tyson High School remain the same. I forgot how big the school is. I think my mother's mother graduated from Vesailles High School which was replaced by Tryson's school.

 My oldest sister might be surprised how Versailles now has a CVS, not quite as much Brigadoon as it was when we were little.

 

 Two places to eat and drink, but I got a photo of only one.

 They now have a government annex on the north side of the old courthouse that I could not get in one shot (new = 2012), and I swear the courthouse is now bricks instead of white wood.

 The jail looked the same:

 As did the cemetery:

 Where I found a new mystery. I was unable to find the graves for my mother's mother, her sister Betty or her other sister Mary Ellen. Somehow, I lost my grandmother and two aunts, and an uncle. Finding out more is the job for today.

I spent most of my time in Versailles at the local historical society. 

 

The fellow manning the place was helpful, but the books were more helpful. I solved a couple of mysteries - I held the wedding certificate of my mother's mother's parents' wedding certificate. I found an entry for the guardianship for my mother's mother's father; he got to Ripley County through his mother's family. My mother's father was living in Anderson when he married my grandmother in 1919.

But the camera's battery died in the cemetery. Time had run out for fishing. I left the historical society at 3:30. I came back on 421, taking the detour at Osgood (after that amazing ribeye standwich) to Indiana 129 to 44 into Batesville, and from there I chose Interstate 74 to State Road 3. This was 3:44 pm. Then it was a straight drive back home. It was almost 3 hours after I left Batesville.

I was surprised to see more Beau Bayh signs in Ripley county than in Delaware.   

And it has taken me about almost that same amount of time to get this post written along with attendant emails.

sch