Longform

We asked 200 residents from all walks of life a series of questions about Indianapolis’s track record. Although they shared plenty of frustrations, there’s a lot to celebrate.

Baggott’s early years were marked by the kind of pain, frustration, and failure that would wreck anyone not equipped with his tenacious belief that better things are around the corner.

Ten years after Indiana University professor Adrian Matejka’s poems first appeared in Poetry magazine, he takes the helm as the historic publication’s first Black editor. Here, he talks about growing up poor on the east side, his love of Star Trek, and what makes poetry relevant in the internet age.

Meet the band of devoted home bakers who keep the Indiana State Fair in blue-ribbon desserts.

The blinds were drawn. A feeling of certainty fell peacefully over the room, and with it, relief. Karen leaned over the bed, over Bethany and Susan, and began to pray. All three of them so close together, waiting.

An active, fresh-air vacation isn’t just for the athletic among us. The right outdoorsy trips can thrill anyone.

Hoosier astronauts describe the thrill of liftoff, the horror of mistakes, and that view.

If Ram had a signature T-shirt, it might read, “I won a silver at the Rio Olympics, I’m ranked in the top 20 … and all Indianapolis ever gave me was this lousy magazine story.”

“I am tired of being the girl cooking,” Rogers says. “I want to be the girl having the party. That was a goal: To get to that next level where someone else would cook for me. What would that feel like? I am still working on that part.”

I USED TO SEE HIM on family visits to my grandparents’ house in Mooresville: an angular kid in a turquoise tank top, peering from...