In first grade, Ambria Ollie's teacher pointed out to her parents that she had naturally turned out feet and suggested they enroll her in a ballet class. Ollie said she hated the class at first, but her parents encouraged her to stick with it for at least a year.
Tiara Thomas started teaching herself how to play guitar at the age of 12. She took her guitar with her to school, telling her classmates she would win a Grammy one day before she knew how to play the instrument. At the 63rd annual Grammy Awards earlier this year, Thomas proved her 12-year-old self and her classmates right.
Tired of dressing in his regular sweatpants and a T-shirt, Jessie Creselious was searching for a new pair of vintage-style boots when he stumbled upon an ad for an event hosted by Circle City Aerodrome, a nonprofit organization for Indianapolis and Hoosier steampunk enthusiasts to “berth their airships.”
Ashley C. Ford was nearly 10 years old when she felt it might be true she had an inclination toward writing. Ford was sitting in her third grade classroom during poetry week, and there were two new movies on Ford’s mind that she was “obsessed” with, both starring Leonardo DiCaprio: “Titanic” and “Romeo + Juliet.”
7:59 a.m.: With 92 passengers aboard, American Airlines Flight 11 takes off from Logan International Airport in Boston en route to Los Angeles.
Tom Gubbins woke up earlier than usual that Tuesday morning. It was before 9 a.m., and his radio was on and set to his typical station, one that would normally play “The Bob & Tom Show.” But, instead of the satirical humor he was used to listening to while getting ready, Gubbins heard announcements from CNN Radio, a station he didn’t know existed.
![The work of 38 Black visual artists will flood the walls of the former warehouse of Stutz Business Center in downtown Indianapolis. “We're bringing some new life into the space and transforming a room [by] bringing a lot of creativity to it on the walls, the floors and with the visual art itself,” Mali Simone Jeffers said. Ellen Neiers, Photo Provided](https://snworksceo.imgix.net/bsd/810a038d-ff60-476d-81ed-02bf65659621.sized-1000x1000.png?w=800)
After a racially discriminative job listing for a new creative director for gallery exhibition “DRIP: Indy’s #BlackLivesMatter Street Mural” was posted last February, Mali Simone Jeffers and Alan Bacon decided to pull out of being guest curators for the exhibit.
When Brock Spahr stepped onto Ball State’s campus as a freshman in 2019, he carried his passion for cross country running with him. Now, as a junior, Spahr belongs to a community of runners with Ball State’s Run Club — an organization that allows people of all paces and abilities to get together and run.
When Erica Markley’s 9-year-old daughter was born, she knew she didn’t want to expose her child to harmful petroleum byproducts from store-brand soaps that could damage her sensitive skin.
For more than 100 years, Ball canning jars were manufactured in Muncie and plant workers developed many memories working for the Ball Brothers Corporation and cementing Muncie’s history as a manufacturing city. The Minnetrista “Jarring Our Memories” exhibit aims to highlight and share those memories with the local community.
Cindie Hudson, Kokomo, Indiana resident and owner of two therapy dogs — Harlee and Seger — has recently published a book called “Yellow Dog.” “Yellow Dog” is about Hudson’s family trip that she took to Sanibel Island on the southwest coast of Florida.
Justin Shupe, Ball State senior business administration and risk management major, was with two friends when the idea to travel by boat from Indiana to Florida was born.
With shirts, socks and even breath mints made in Bob Ross’ likeness, his calm demeanor and positive outlook appear to have captivated people nearly 26 years after his death. From 1983 to 1994—the run time of his show, “The Joy of Painting”— Ross became a household name. Then, a few years ago, his name resurfaced and became more iconic in popular culture.
For Robert La France, director of the David Owsley Museum of Art (DOMA), pop art represents hope during difficult times. The exhibition “POP Power from Warhol to Koons: Masterworks from the collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and his Family Foundation” is a show La France thought could bring some joy to people as they feel safer visiting museums during the COVID-19 pandemic.
When Cheryl LeBlanc was 9 years old, she came across a Lady Slipper orchid in her backyard. Right before her eyes, this orchid sparked a life-long passion for nature she would later incorporate in both her personal and work life.
As the 2021 school year comes to a close, soon-to-be graduates may feel their time at Ball State is ending too fast.
Sunlight beams through the wide glass windows onto masked customers waiting to have their hair washed and styled at various hair salons in Muncie. Stylists, muffled by masks, talk with clients about families and long days at work while dryers blow and water pours into shampooing basins.
To unwind for the evening, Hannah Moody, circulation department manager at Kennedy Library, opens her copy of “The Ballad of Black Tom” to her favorite bookmark with blood-red lettering, which reads “Papercuts: an Adult Horror Book Club.”
When Stacy Steggs was about 8 years old, her grandmother was her first student she taught sign language to.
As Erica Forstater, the assistant for the Dr. Joe & Alice Rinard Orchid Greenhouse, walks to the “Cool House” section in the back, she searches for Pleurothallis orchids, which have tiny blooms often smaller than her fingernail.
