On Nice Work, we take a second look at how we remember with poet Daniel Lassell and his new book of poetry, “Frame inside a Frame.” We go contra dancing with the Bloomington Old Time Music and Dance Group, paint a picture of artists Jack Owens, and preview an upcoming experimental music event called Overtuned Fest. 

The directors of a new documentary, WTO/99, on how they laid out a chronology of the events. Producer Mary Forrest asks an important question about love. It's time to start thinking about summer (arts!) camp. And Alex Chambers reviews Constellation’s new show, Séance: The Board Awakens. 

On Friday November 7, 2025, six student producers descended on a beloved local restaurant, mics in hand, to record a day in the life of the place. The fact that the Runcible Spoon would be celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2026 hadn’t occurred to the students in Alex Chambers’ podcasting class, but it was the locally beloved nature of the restaurant that brought them there. 

Over the course of twelve hours, from the morning shift until closing, they talked with the workers, the owners, and the customers. They heard teary goodbyes, near-death experiences, jokes, and the history and lore of the Spoon itself. In a project inspired by This American Life’s classic 24 Hours at the Golden Apple and Brave Little State’s Twelve hours at the Richmond park and ride, we bring you a day in the life of the Runcible Spoon. 

This story was produced by the students in Alex Chambers Fall 2025 Advanced Audio Storytelling class: Lily Marks, Owen Koehler, Ben Burns, Audrey Ouillette, Clara Licklider, and Joe Ringer. Thanks to Regan O’Neill, co-owner of the Runcible Spoon, for helping to coordinate this and welcoming us in, and thanks to everyone who shared their stories. 

University Collections at Indiana University started back in 2018. Then President Michael McRobbie wanted to bring what turned out to be hundreds of disparate collections of objects, document, artwork, sculpture and more, under one umbrella. It's a vast and varied collection of collections, and there is a dedicated gallery space, spaces actually, to exhibit pieces from not only the collection but pieces from all over the world. 

In a new and recurring segment called, check ‘em out, if you want, hosts Kayte Young, Alex Chambers, and Tyler Lake recommend some things for you to check out, if you want. 

This installment features Alex telling us about The Secret Commonwealth, book two in Philip Pullman’s three book series collectively called The Book of Dust.  

Kayte buys into the hype around the AMC series Mad Men. A slick and thoughtful serial about ad execs on Madison Avenue in the 60’s. It examines masculine fragility in ways that feel just as relevant now as they did back in 2007 when it debuted.  

Tyler goes rummaging through the Army Surplus store to find a recent series of the podcast Articles of Interest. In the series called “Gear,” host Avery Trufelman goes back to the 19th century to look at the long and interwoven relationship between outdoor outfitters and the United States military that is still as strong (and now more breathable!) as ever.  

This week on Nice Work, Bloomington journalist and author Steve Higgs tells the story of environmental activist Andy Mahler’s extraordinary life. We spin a yarn about White Violet Center for Eco-Justice in Terra Haute, and we hear from Gabriel Jenks and the New Music Ensemble. 

We celebrate two key figures from Indiana: screenwriter Angelo Pizzo, whose latest film is his most personal yet, and AIDS activist Ryan White, who will be memorialized by a new statue by sculptor Melanie Cooper Pennington.

When I invited Antonia Matthew for an interview on our show, she agreed but insisted that there were other local writers who were more deserving of the attention. Over the next couple of weeks, I received several messages from her with suggestions of writers we should interview. I was grateful and we’ll follow up on that, but I also think it says something about our guest today. 

Tonia is originally from England, and she was a young child during World War II. She’s lived in Bloomington since 1968. She’s been involved in many artistic groups and organizations in Bloomington, including: Five Women Poets, Writers’ Guild at Bloomington, Aquarius Books for a Feminist Future, The Venue Fine Arts and Gifts Ekphrasis Readings, Women Writing for (a) Change and Puck Players Puppet Theatre. She wrote an audio play called Homefront, based on her experiences as a young child growing up in England during World War II, which Richard Fish helped to produce and distribute to WFHB and other stations, including stations in England, where it was produced with British actors.  

Tonia talks with Kayte Young about her writing life and her role in Bloomington’s art scene. 

Weird Academia

Fans of the Weird Studies podcast co-hosted by IU professor Phil Ford rejoice! Phil and co-host J.F. Martel will descend on the Buskirk-Chumley Theater on January 29th, and they are bringing a host of intellectuals, creators, and thinkers along with them.  Weird Academia, started out as a night of conversation about the unexplained, the occult, and the mystic arts is now a festival of sorts. Alongside the evening of discussion about all things strange, there will be a screening of the colossally weird film Altered States, followed by a live recording of an episode of Weird Studies that will take place on January 28th at the IU Cinema. To kick it all off will be an exhibition of photographer  

The People’s Yarn 

Mary Ramsey didn’t know a thing about yarn or knitting when she moved to Bloomington, about 15 years ago. She also didn’t know very many people, so a coworker at her temp job invited her to a knit group, and she had a great time. She learned to knit, then she learned to dye yarn, and she started selling it online and at conventions. As much as she liked the yarn, the people have always been her favorite part. So when she opened Rebel Purl, a yarn shop on Bloomington’s west side, she made sure that community events were a central part of the business. 

The eye-catching red abstract sculpture by artists Alexander Calder on the IU campus gets a brand-new coat of paint. We head downtown to experience authentic movement and the ideas behind a public performance called Ordinary Pilgrimage. Poet Divya Victor spins poetry out of the “noise” of official documents, and some Rubik's cubes get solved. 

We hear from a style icon about vintage style vs vintage values. The director of our local library reflects on libraries as public trusts. And the head of curatorial services at IU’s special collections library describes the similarities between a library and a seance.

Scholar and curator Faye Gleisser’s book Risk Work: Making Art and Guerrilla Tactics in Punitive America, 1967-1987 won the 2025 Charles C. Eldredge Prize from the Smithsonian American Art Museum. The award recognizes outstanding scholarship in the field of American art, and the 2025 committee called Gleisser’s work “gamechanging.” Risk Work is about artists in the 1960s, ‘70s, and ‘80s, who started using new tactics in response to changes in policing. Rather than creating art that would end up in museums, they showed up in public spaces. A group called Asco staged a photo of a gang war victim. Pope.L started crawling across and along city streets. Gleisser argues that these artists show us how policing and surveillance were intensifying through that period, and that art history and the history of policing and surveillance are not as distinct as we might think. 

 Alex Chambers talks with Gleisser about her book, and about how art has always been used to enforce power relations as much as to challenge them. 

And we check in at the Buskirk Chumley Theatre and learn about local heavy metal band, Wind. 

This week Nice Work teams up with Bloomington’s own Busman’s Holiday to create something special. A variety show type special, featuring interviews with local artists and writers, a bit of comedy and some top tips for festive snacks. All that and a lot of great music from Busman's Holiday.