Can you believe it? We’ve been sharing arts and culture content with you for a full year now. More than 50 writers and artists have told us about Indy’s music scene, food offerings, places to be and people to know. Together we lived, we laughed and we loved.
While planning for 2025, I wondered what stories our readers enjoyed the most, you know, so we can do more of that. Turns out you really like food stories. Here are the top 5 most read stories:
I also asked some of my work pals to tell me what their favorite stories were this year. So without further ado, in no particular order, these are our favorite stories that we published this year:
Local artist Machaila Gray created interactive baseball cards that depict Crush Holloway, Dick Redding and Oscar Charleston. View the story to flip the cards over and read about each player.
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Ebony Chappel, who writes “City Chatter” for our newsletter and is also Free Press Indiana’s market director, said that her favorite story was the Oscar Robertson story, also known as the story of Indy’s Black baseball players.
The story is special as we commissioned artist Machaila Gray to create baseball cards to accompany Breanna Cooper’s reporting.
The story Mirror Indy’s art director Jenna Watson couldn’t stop thinking about was the solar eclipse wedding story, in which Hails Sherwood and their fiance, Carey, became the Sherwoods beneath the view of a total solar eclipse.
Walter Ruby (left) and Sabeeha Rehman on stage during the event “We Refuse to Be Enemies” on Feb. 13, 2024, at JCC Indianapolis.
” data-medium-file=”https://i0.wp.com/mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/we-refuse-to-be-enemies_01-scaled.jpg?fit=300%2C198&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://i0.wp.com/mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/we-refuse-to-be-enemies_01-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C516&ssl=1″ src=”https://i0.wp.com/mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/we-refuse-to-be-enemies_01.jpg?resize=780%2C516&ssl=1″ alt=”Sabeeha Rehman (left) and Walter Ruby on stage during the event “We Refuse to Be Enemies” on Feb. 13, 2024, at JCC Indianapolis.” class=”wp-image-13410″ srcset=”https://i0.wp.com/mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/we-refuse-to-be-enemies_01-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C677&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/we-refuse-to-be-enemies_01-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C198&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/we-refuse-to-be-enemies_01-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C508&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/we-refuse-to-be-enemies_01-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1015&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/we-refuse-to-be-enemies_01-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1354&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/we-refuse-to-be-enemies_01-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C793&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/we-refuse-to-be-enemies_01-scaled.jpg?resize=1568%2C1036&ssl=1 1568w, https://i0.wp.com/mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/we-refuse-to-be-enemies_01-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C264&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/we-refuse-to-be-enemies_01-scaled.jpg?resize=706%2C467&ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/we-refuse-to-be-enemies_01-scaled.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/we-refuse-to-be-enemies_01-1024×677.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w” sizes=”(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px”>
Ariana Beedie, our community journalism director and Play List “Time Machine” host, loved the first collab story Mirror Indy’s Documenters did with us at arts and culture. We reported on the event “We Refuse To Be Enemies,” a conversation between Muslim-American interfaith activist Sabeeha Rehman and Muslim-Jewish relations activist Walter Ruby at the JCC Indianapolis.
Ariana is also a fan of Mirror Indy’s westside reporter, Enrique Saenz — her favorite westside story is the photo essay of people watching movies at the Tibbs Drive-In.
Frank Palumbo looks at letters that Japanese high school students sent to Ray Bradbury discussing his work, “Dandelion Wine,” Aug. 28, 2024.
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Frank Palumbo looks at letters that Japanese high school students sent to Bradbury discussing his work, “Dandelion Wine.”
” data-medium-file=”https://i0.wp.com/mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Bradbury6-scaled.jpg?fit=300%2C198&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://i0.wp.com/mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Bradbury6-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C516&ssl=1″ src=”https://i0.wp.com/mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Bradbury6.jpg?resize=780%2C516&ssl=1″ alt class=”wp-image-33579″ srcset=”https://i0.wp.com/mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Bradbury6-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C677&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Bradbury6-scaled.jpg?resize=300%2C198&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Bradbury6-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C508&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Bradbury6-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1015&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Bradbury6-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1354&ssl=1 2048w, https://i0.wp.com/mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Bradbury6-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C793&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Bradbury6-scaled.jpg?resize=1568%2C1036&ssl=1 1568w, https://i0.wp.com/mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Bradbury6-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1322&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Bradbury6-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C264&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Bradbury6-scaled.jpg?resize=706%2C467&ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Bradbury6-scaled.jpg?w=2340&ssl=1 2340w, https://i0.wp.com/mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Bradbury6-1024×677.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w” sizes=”(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px”>
Sophie Young, Mirror Indy’s service reporter, is also a fan of Enrique’s reporting. She chose his Ray Bradbury Museum story as her favorite, as well as food reporter Lavanya Narayanan’s Hindu Temple Fest story and historian Nicole Martinez Le-Grand’s “hot tamale” craze story, which ends in a stabbing incident.
Mesgana Weiss, Mirror Indy’s social media strategist, has a soft spot for “How to Fail” (I do too!), a story that had everything. It had womp-womp trumpet sounds by musician Clockwork Janz, GIFs of things falling apart by artist Jannell Summers and interviews with experts, including a Buddhist monk.
Jacqueline Bell, 74, paints a project for a color and design class Thursday, March 7, 2024, at Ivy Tech in Indianapolis. Bell signed up for the class after her brother reminded her that she enjoyed art as a young child.
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Jacqueline Bell, 74, paints a project for a color and design class.
” data-medium-file=”https://i0.wp.com/mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/senior-scholars-ivy-tech_JRW001.jpg?fit=300%2C200&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://i0.wp.com/mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/senior-scholars-ivy-tech_JRW001.jpg?fit=780%2C519&ssl=1″ src=”https://i0.wp.com/mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/senior-scholars-ivy-tech_JRW001.jpg?resize=780%2C519&ssl=1″ alt class=”wp-image-15013″ srcset=”https://i0.wp.com/mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/senior-scholars-ivy-tech_JRW001.jpg?resize=1024%2C682&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/senior-scholars-ivy-tech_JRW001.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/senior-scholars-ivy-tech_JRW001.jpg?resize=768%2C511&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/senior-scholars-ivy-tech_JRW001.jpg?resize=1536%2C1023&ssl=1 1536w, https://i0.wp.com/mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/senior-scholars-ivy-tech_JRW001.jpg?resize=1200%2C799&ssl=1 1200w, https://i0.wp.com/mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/senior-scholars-ivy-tech_JRW001.jpg?resize=1568%2C1044&ssl=1 1568w, https://i0.wp.com/mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/senior-scholars-ivy-tech_JRW001.jpg?resize=400%2C266&ssl=1 400w, https://i0.wp.com/mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/senior-scholars-ivy-tech_JRW001.jpg?resize=706%2C470&ssl=1 706w, https://i0.wp.com/mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/senior-scholars-ivy-tech_JRW001.jpg?w=2000&ssl=1 2000w, https://i0.wp.com/mirrorindy.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/senior-scholars-ivy-tech_JRW001-1024×682.jpg?w=370&ssl=1 370w” sizes=”(max-width: 780px) 100vw, 780px”>
Web producer Gwen Ragno felt inspired by Mirror Indy’s higher education reporter Claire Rafford’s story about Senior Scholars, a program at Ivy Tech where retirees 60 and older are taking art classes for free.
She also loved music journalist Seth Johnson’s round up of Indy’s concert photographers.
Graffiti on the side of Family Dollar in Irvington on May 10, 2024. The face-like depiction has been left by an anonymous artist in multiple locations around the east-side neighborhood.
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It’s perhaps no surprise that Amanda Kingsbury, Mirror Indy’s managing editor of innovation (and editor of this newsletter), who is an Irvingtonian, chose the story “Irvington graffiti artist spray-painting red and blue faces remains a mystery” as her favorite.
Another favorite of hers (and mine) is our interview with Jean Claude Lofenia and Saw Kennedy, two refugee artists and curators, that we published in French, Burmese and English.
What are your favorite Mirror Indy arts and culture stories? Send me an email at [email protected] and let me know so that we can do more of what you like in 2025.
