IndyJohn

We're doing a reading series with local writers and Indiana Humanities, and recording them for radio. The next one is Saturday at 1 PM if you'd like to join us on WQRT.org. We are promoting the arts in our community and helping lift up the work of these writers.

For decades, college was one of the safest bets in American life. You worked hard, you earned a degree, and odds were good your life would be better than your parents’. That assumption is wobbling now — and it’s worth asking why, and what we do next. www.forbes.com/sites/jamiem...

Cathy Day wrote this advice for students... "College is not some identity store...You must do the leg work to figure out what’s really you. The degree doesn’t turn you into whatever you’d like to be. You find it from the inside out, not from the outside in..." www.chronicle.com/newsletter/t...

Public confidence in higher education has slipped—and our challenge now is to make it more valuable and inclusive. #HigherEd #FutureOfWork #Opportunity #Leadership www.forbes.com/sites/jamiem...

Enjoying the Broadway Fountain and Lanier Mansion on a weekday walkabout in Madison, Ind., on the Ohio River.

Amid the growing influence of artificial intelligence, basic reading and math skills are needed for a widening range of jobs, Lumina Foundation's Jamie Merisotis says. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/25/u...

This is an amazing project about HBCUs, not only for the compelling subject manner, but for the terrific craft involved in putting this together. www.prnewswire.com/news-release...

Jamie Merisotis says technology--including artificial intelligence--must serve humanity, not the other way around. youtu.be/uGhsyMtUwEI www.forbes.com/sites/jamiem...

Pope Leo XIV warns that artificial intelligence represents a new industrial revolution, one that must be guided by social justice to protect human dignity. Do you think AI developers will take social concerns into account? www.forbes.com/sites/jamiem...

It's happening H/t Bruin 1231

Washington Monthly is out with its highly regarded annual ranking of colleges--in terms of financial outcomes, cost and other metrics. washingtonmonthly.com/2025-college... Their methodology is transparent and they get big credit for pulling together great information. @washingtonmonthly.com

Some schools are rethinking what “value” means. A new wave of Opportunity Colleges, including Ball State University and Central Michigan University, are measuring success in access, upward mobility, and community connection. @ballstate.bsky.social www.forbes.com/sites/jamiem...

Larry Summers: "This is way beyond anything Nixon ever did ... this is the stuff of democracies giving way to authoritarianism. Firing statisticians goes with threatening the heads of newspapers, launching assaults on universities, launching assaults on law firms. This is really scary stuff."

Less news at a moment of more deepfakes and misinformation feels like a recipe for disaster. But we face other more tangible impacts. Taxpayers are slated to save an average of $1.60 per person per year from these cuts, but their costs will increase in other ways... www.vogue.com/article/what...

Our radio show / podcast from the "Real Life, Revised" show of stories and poems with Butler MFA writers hits the air this Saturday, July 26, on WQRT-FM 99.1 in Indy, and they've also posted the show here. Huge thanks to Big Car Collaborative and all the writers! www.mixcloud.com/WQRT_Indiana...

AP photographer Bob Daugherty covered nine presidents, 22 political conventions, the Watergate hearings, the Paris Peace Talks over the Vietnam War, the Gulf War and presidential trips overseas. Here is the story and some of his historic photos. apnews.com/article/bob-...

On the mountain in Tennessee... They had to take a tree down, so everybody pitched in to help cut it up.

Called my senators urging them to preserve funding for public radio and television -- stations helping strengthen their communities with local news and programming unavailable elsewhere, including educational material for children. This link makes it easy to help: protectmypublicmedia.org

Tina and the ice cream truck

Took a little detour and ended up in Alexandria, Indiana, home of the world's largest ball of paint. If you're into gospel music, this is also the home of Bill Gaither. For lunch, there is The Curve restaurant. Rebecca, who's in charge around here, says try the lasagna. It's on special. 

My classroom in the clouds this morning.

A friend of mine, an experienced competitive cyclist, was seriously injured this week when he was struck by a car running a red light. I had just heard about it and was driving back from lunch when I got an idea what bike riders face today... youtu.be/opXcxNF7-Nc?...

Our New York daughter is in town and is more of a Pilates person than I am, so I tease her sometimes about coming out to walk. We're in a string of 95° days, so I don't blame her for staying inside.

When suggesting we might get pizza for the #Thunder - #Pacers game tonight, I used a subtle approach… suno.com/song/f5a6654...

Enjoying the state park on my Indy staycation this week… #indiana #walking #outdoors

Hi there.

In case you can't make it to the theater…

We'll miss the comics when they're gone-some of them, anyway.

First flight lesson in a sailplane today. Great thermals and a patient instructor made for an amazing day : ) soarindy.org

Took my 360 camera for a motorcycle ride today and instead of editing the video myself, let the machine do it. Don't agree with all the choices, but it's fascinating to see how far the tech has come in just a couple years.

Love the sound of the birds just outside our front door

Taught English and social studies classes today as a substitute. Thoughtful eighth graders working on presentations about civil rights. Another class worked on advice they would have for younger kids. "Treat people nice," one boy said. "You don't know what they're going through."

Programs like this are in danger because of anti-DEI efforts. I am told it will help if these people get some likes on this video. beckman.illinois.edu youtu.be/O-RA9aRk7M0?...

My local Fox station asked me to come on to talk about the effect of cutting funding for public media. I tried to find somebody more qualified, but it's a sensitive topic for the stations. Did the best I could : )

The American people should know the facts about what the Trump administration is doing with our money. I laid them out in our @democrats-appropriations.house.gov hearing today.

I'm a candidate for the board in our neighborhood association and thought the campaign could use a headshot. Just can't decide between today's pic and the only slightly touched-up version from AI.

Take a walk with the King of Dads www.facebook.com/share/r/1Fer...

A #Michigan lawmaker's hard-hitting response three years ago has resurfaced as she launches a campaign for the U.S. Senate. "People who are different are not the reason that our roads are in bad shape after decades of disinvestment or that health care costs are too high..." MORE: