Big Talk – WFHB

She’s the queen of events in Bloomington and south central Indiana. Kel McBride has been hatching quirky and crazy event ideas for years, organizing like-minded characters, and staging extravaganzas that draw hundreds and, occasionally, thousands. The wizard behind Eroticon, the Bleeding Heartland Rollergirls, Krampus, and many others, McBride’s Ms. Lake Lemon pageant pits gowned, muck-booted women of a certain age against each other in a contest of strength, resilience, and badassed-ness.

Hosts Michael Glab and Tristra Newyear chat with Bloomington’s most fascinating people.

Grief and healing are important themes in her work. When Katina Bitsicas’s father was dying of cancer, she recorded his feelings and impressions. Then after he died, she created a liquid light image of the type of cancer cells that ran through his body. Bitsicas also has compiled a book, Luci: The Girl with Four Hearts, about a young woman who underwent three separate heart transplants by the age of 32. Bitsicas is an associate professor in IU’s Media School.

Hosts Michael Glab and Tristra Newyear chat with Bloomington’s most fascinating people.

Her boss at a previous job inspired her to get involved with Court Appointed Special Advocates as a volunteer. Now, Tia Arthur is Monroe County CASA’s executive director. CASA, a nationwide network of nonprofit organizations, provides help, comfort, and guidance for kids involved in court custody proceedings. Judges depend on CASA’s reports and advice before making custody decisions.

Hosts Michael Glab and Tristra Newyear chat with Bloomington’s most fascinating people.

The historian and author has devoted five years of his life to studying and writing about what he characterizes as this country’s first major foreign policy initiative. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark led some 40 people in an exploratory mission, hoping to find a water route from the Mississippi to the Pacific Northwest. They failed in that quest but did make contact with great indigenous nations and visited bustling trade centers. Fehrman’s new book, This Vast Enterprise, looks at the expedition through the eyes of a number of participants.

Hosts Michael Glab and Tristra Newyear chat with Bloomington’s most fascinating people.

Born and raised in the middle of Siberia, Daryana Antipova comes from a singing family. Her family band, Vedan Kolod, has played throughout Russia and the rest of Europe. She co-founded an influential Russian folk music organization and is the author of three published young adult novels. Antipova was bound and determined to come to the United States and spent years and plenty of money trying to do so before finally settling in Bloomington.

Hosts Michael Glab and Tristra Newyear chat with Bloomington’s most fascinating people.

She’s appeared before audiences since she was three years old, when she dashed onstage, unbidden, during a Shakespeare production in Leningrad. Kate Weber arrived in Bloomington from Russia and other outposts, including a 15-year stretch in New York City theater. She, her husband Jeremy Weber, and Konnor Graber have co-founded Eclipse Theater Productions here. Kate is directing a production of “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead” at the Constellation Playhouse. The show closes this weekend.

Hosts Michael Glab and Tristra Newyear chat with Bloomington’s most fascinating people.

Was it just luck that his given name is a mash-up of two Bloomington streets? Woodlawn is becoming this town’s Matt Groening, taking real people — politicians, sports stars, entertainers, and more — and fictionalizing their foibles. He’s the editor-in -chief of the local satiric website, Limestone Ledger, and has been lovingly skewering people, places, and events around these parts since 2023.

Hosts Michael Glab and Tristra Newyear chat with Bloomington’s most fascinating people.

Author Julia Karr has been presenting a series of writers workshops at the Owen County Public Library in Spencer, Indiana. Karr wrote the XVI trilogy, dystopian fantasy novels set around the year 2150. These young adult books portray a world where teenaged girls are told their only worth is as sex objects. One girl attempts to undermine that message. Karr offers exercises, tips, and guidance for both brand new and experienced writers.

Hosts Michael Glab and Tristra Newyear chat with Bloomington’s most fascinating people.

Science isn’t just for scientists. That’s what Erika Biga Lee realized during a scientific conference some 20 years ago. The IU Luddy School senior lecturer on computer technology with interests in journalism and education learned about Cafe Scientifique at the conference and decided to bring the informal, public discussion of scientific matters to Bloomington. Europe’s Cafe Scientifique morphed into the US’s network of Science Cafes in cities from coast to coast. Biga Lee claims Bloomington’s version is the second oldest in the country.

Hosts Michael Glab and Tristra Newyear chat with Bloomington’s most fascinating people.

Like many creative folks in recent years, LuAnne Holladay felt a need for comfort and relief from the unending stream of disturbing world and national news. She hoped to create a simple, collaborative project that would allow people to create, to breathe. She came up with “Give Your Word,” a crowdsourced, ephemeral accordion book on which people riff and draw on a series of single words. The idea for the book came together during Holladay’s participation in a “9×9” daylong retreat at The Hundredth Hill.

This episode aired Thursday, February 19, 2026.

Hosts Michael Glab and Tristra Newyear chat with Bloomington’s most fascinating people.