[Announcer] Support for Pop of Culture comes from Stallings Wealth Management. Daniel Stallings Financial Advisor. Securities and Advisory Services offered through Cetera Advisors, LLC. Member FINRA/SIPC, a broker/dealer and registered investment advisor. Cetera is under separate ownership from any other named entity. [Kara DuQuette] This week on Pop of Culture, we learn about micro loans for local artists. [Braden Richards] And I think one of the biggest things was the boost of confidence I got from, like, Oh, the community wants me to do this. You know, I got votes, and I was Yeah, there's Sa support there. [Jen Blackmer] We'll get a peek at a paper mache memoir, [Kara] And we'll head to the top of a mountain. Well, not us. A writer we talk to, will. [Jen] That's all coming up. [Luke Jones] Support for Pop of Culture comes from Stallings Wealth Management and from you. You may have heard about large gifts to NPR. Those donations are important, but they don't bring back the funding to IPR. Your support pays for the programs you rely on, especially local programs like this one, and the people like me who create them. Pop of Culture exists for you and because of you. Give today at indianapublicradio.org. [Jen] From Indiana Public Radio, this is Pop of Culture. I'm Jen Blackmer. [Michelle Kinsey] I'm Michelle Kinsey. [Kara] And I'm Kara DuQuette. Ann Johnson is best known as the creator of FB Fogg, a local business with international sales. Later this hour, she returns to the program to talk about her new memoir. But first, [Michelle] In the Pop of Culture studios to talk about the Vore Arts Fund is Graham Watson and Braden Robinson. Welcome to both of you. [Graham] Hi. Thanks for having us on. [Braden] I'm glad to be here. [Michelle] So glad you are here. Let's talk about the creation of the Vore Arts Fund, and I feel it's only right to start with the person kind of behind the fund. Graham as president and founder of the Arts Fund, tell us how this came about in honor of a very special person in town. [Graham] Yeah, well, originally, this started around, I think 2004 was the prototype of this thing. It came from there were a series of fundraiser concerts to support the MuncieScene.com, which is now MuncieEvents.com. And they raised too much money. And I had a few different ideas, but what I landed on was, what if instead of giving this out to some artistic cause or community project like a grant. What if this was set up as a pool for a revolving loan fund? The real philosophy of it being, Hey, here we have half a grand. We know that people in the community need money. Sometimes just need some money fronted upfront to pay for the initial expenses of whatever it is that they're trying to do. And they can't get traditional loans or they don't want to expose themselves to that kind of risk, and a lot of these people are not eligible for traditional kinds of grants. So the idea was, this is money that we could afford to lose. And we know that all the people taking a risk with their own rent money, hoping that their show goes well or their painting sells or they can sell their album or something, they can't risk their rent money on the chance that their project isn't successful. So the idea was gamble with our money instead of your own. If your project is successful, then go ahead and pay that loan back so we can pass it on to another artist. If your project is not successful, cool. We're happy to have supported you. You are under no obligation to pay us back. And then because I was running all of this when I was a freshman at Ball State, I started getting overwhelmed with all the overhead for it, and I put it on a brief pause for like 15 years. And it happens. It started getting to me that it was a good idea. It was pretty easy to run, and there really wasn't anything else in the community meeting these same needs. Yeah. So it seemed very much worth it to resurrect this and do it properly, like, you know, with an actual 501-C3 and all that, not just, like, out of the personal bank account of a college freshman. So, shortly before the pandemic, I started putting together plans for doing this properly and getting grant money to start it off. And at around that time, a friend of mine, Phil Vore sadly passed away of a heart attack. And he was someone that I had served on a couple of local boards of directors in the arts community. He and I were part of the resurrection of the Full Circle Arts Co Op, which was the nonprofit behind Doc's Music Hall, which previously known as the Creative Opportunity Center. And he was like me, one of the founding directors of the Muncie Arts and Culture Council. So when I was struggling to find a name for this new arts fund, and he passed away, it seemed like Vore Arts Fund just had a great ring to it. Yeah. So yeah, I named it in his honor. [Michelle] Oh, I love that. Could you, for those listening who may not have known the powerful force he was in the arts for several years, kind of describe him as a person for people. [Graham] Wow. He left a lot of glitter. [laughter] [Michelle] Wherever he went that's so true. [Graham] He was very whimsical, but also extremely serious about things that he took seriously. Like, if we would be in a board meeting talking about, like, something that he thought was not really helping the community, he would snap us back into attention and be like, Hey, if we went out on the street and asked a random working artist, Hey, are you glad that this group exists in Muncie? Are you glad that they're doing what they're doing? Would they know who we are? Would they know what our value is to the community? And he'd always be pushing us to actually make a difference in the lives of the people who need resources like this. [Michelle] What would you hope he would think about or say about the Vore Arts fund today and what it is for the community? [Graham] I think he would really appreciate how kind of, iconoclastic it is. They're very traditional models for how arts funding tends to work with, lot of requirements of, like, Hey, you have to qualify. You have to be connected, or you have to be doing something that is recognized as, like, the kinds of art that this group supports. It's usually a lot more discerning and competitive. And we're deliberately taking the opposite approach of, like, I don't even want to get into the debate of what is art? Do crafts count? I want to leave it pretty wide open, kind of experimentally to see how the community uses this fund. And we also set it up, and I think Phil would really appreciate this instead of doing the kind of traditional thing of concentrating all the decision making power in a small, well connected board that maybe steers things in the direction of their friends and the kinds of art that they like. Our board it's written in our bylaws. We are to take a really light touch on all that stuff, just determine whether or not the applications are legally permissible. And then the public votes on who actually gets funding in every funding cycle. And I think that he would like that that's a safeguard that we put in place to keep this resource from being steered in directions that don't really serve the community at large. Corruptions a heavy word, but that kind of stuff does happen sometimes. [Michelle] Yeah. So, Braden, you are, as we just mentioned, you are a recipient of money from the Vore Arts Fund. Talk a little bit about how you found out about the Vore Arts Fund, and what made you want to give this a shot and apply. [Braden] Um, so I started to vend with Muncie Makers Market on first Thursdays. And it was an inspiration from the Internet. I saw people cutting rocks open, and I'm like, I could do that. I got a saw l and got some geodes that are really easy to find around here. So I got that and set up a little card table with only a saw and a couple rocks and did really well my first weekend. And eventually, met up with Janessa who does art, jewelry. Yeah, the beadwork, um and she had some rocks she wanted me to cut for her for projects. Oh, wow. So we got together at a lunch at The Cup, and Moth Danner joined us, and she recommended me to apply. We should point out that Moth Danner is the creator and founder of the Muncie Makers Market. Mm hmm. And, like, we weren't even done talking, and I had already applied. Yeah, so I got on that real quick and thankfully won and been very grateful for all of the support from the Vore Arts Fund. Being able to be a part of the Makerspace over at MadJax is a big deal, too. That got me and a lot of other connections through that. I think I won. It was a split with somebody else, correct? [Graham] I think so. Yeah. I mean, the votes turned out. [Braden] Right. So I got, like, the $500 thing, and I think I bought a $900 saw with some of that money so I could expand my capabilities since that moment. And I think one of the biggest things was the boost of confidence I got from, like, Oh, the community wants me to do this. You know, I got votes, and I was. There's some support there, so that confidence gave me the push I needed to just do the thing, right? Yeah. So I want to hear a little bit more about how you started with geodes and then your work has kind of expanded with the help of the Vore Arts Fund. Talk a little bit more about what that work is. If I come and see your work, what am I going to see on the table when I come and see you at a festival or a show? [Braden] So, I do a lot mainly jewelry anymore. So, like, I hand cut and polish cabochons from different stones, and then wire wrap or otherwise, turn those cabochons into jewelry. Okay, you mentioned cabochon. Could you tell us what that is? Yeah, so cabochons are stone cut with a flat back and a domed front in any shape. They're really popular in, like, bezel set jewelry. I drill holes in the cabochons now to do like little pinch bail necklaces. And one of the big things I have on my table. It's a big draw is, like, the geodes, so I stuck with that. I bring my saw with me and I have a battery box, and I cut geodes open live at events. And the biggest thing is, like, turning a rock I find in the river into a beautiful piece of jewelry, somebody who will love forever. [Michelle] Oh nice. Yeah. Yeah. So, where do you see the Vore Arts Fund five, ten years from now, what do you hope happens with this fund as we move through time? [Graham] I love that you ask that question, Michelle. Because I think that this is a demonstration of a different, man, I feel full of myself when I use the word paradigm, but this, to me, feels like a demonstration of a new paradigm of local arts funding for small to medium sized communities like these, because we're we looked around and we couldn't find any evidence of anyone doing anything quite like this. This is a way to take relatively small amounts of money and have an outsized effect on a community that supports the economy, supports culture. You know, a lot of the social dimension of a community rests on the back of the arts events that people can go to organizations that serve as social hubs. There are all these ripple effects to this. And I would like other communities to see that this is an option for supporting their communities. And the system that I developed on the website, the website runs most of this program automatically. I am by trade, a software engineer, so I always want to build robots to do my work for me. And other communities that want to try this out can just use the platform that we've developed or could just steal the idea and do it in their own way. But I'd like to see this idea grow and help a lot more people. [Michelle] Mm hmm. Oh, that's wonderful. I'm curious, Braden, as we close this out, how many other artists friends have you told about the Vore Arts Fund? [Braden] So, I vend with the Makers Market every month. So I get to talk to a lot of different artists. And then we've even talked about signing my daughter up for it because we have a little project. We want to start with her. We want to make little slime things with, like, the charms and stuff. You just little secret. Yeah, yeah. So working at Kats Crystals and Curiosities with my fiance, I've talked to a lot of different artists, and we also do consignment for those artists, so I get to talk to a lot of different artists about this wonderful program. [Michelle] Nice. In case you didn't make that connection, Kat is his fiance. [laughter] ?? Well, I appreciate both of you coming into the Pop of Culture studios to talk about this fun and talk about appreciating our local artists. Thank you everybody. Thank you. ?? [Kara] It's Pop of Culture. I'm Kara DuQuette. [Jen] And I'm Jen Blackmer. This week's Beautiful Thing takes us to the West Coast and then to the top of a mountain in Vietnam. [Mary] Hi. I'm Mary Lane Potter, and I am in Seattle. From my desk, I'm looking to the East, and I see the range of the Cascade Mountains which have some snow on them. [Jen] Wow. That seems like a great place to be writing. Mary, we're pleased that you'll be sharing your Beautiful Thing with us today. Your piece is entitled. [Mary] On Sam Mountain. At the peak, 932 feet above the Mekong floodplain, beyond the Holy caves and the Cham, Buddhist, Hindu and Mother-Goddess temples that litter the twisting Pilgrim Road. A mother and father are teaching their young son how to pray. They buy a dull brown tennis ball of a bird from an old woman trolling the site with a cage woven of twigs. Standing before a simple ancestor shrine, the father cups the bird in his hands as the mother's hands show how to receive the offering, close around it, shelter it softly, so. Then release. In the boys hands, the bird flutters. He startles, laughs, then turns solemn, steadies his gaze, and begins to chant. His teachers watch, transfixed as his hands float up, open, and the bird flies free, higher and higher above the green, green weave of rice patties stretching across peoples and borders far below. While other tourists photograph the vistas or drink beer under rough palm thatching, I buy a bird. Careful disease a woman calls. Can't free every prisoner, a man chirps. I, a child schooled in prayers and purity, a woman bent on escape yet at home in cages, know this well. But in my hands, a tiny body quivers. Heart beating, feathers fluffing, feet scratching, warmth spreading. In my skin, I am learning to hold life without suffocating, without squandering. So. With my body, I'm discovering how to fly free, how to trace an unseen path of meeting, how to join Heaven and Earth. [Jen] Thank you, Mary. What a beautiful essay. What inspired this piece for you? [Mary] What happens to me... for me, writing is about questions or things that trouble your heart or your mind. And I write to kind of discover, like, why has this been troubling me for so long? Why does this keep recurring, you know, in my thoughts in my heart my emotions. And so this particular I actually saw witnessed this scene. And what troubled me about it as it were afterwards is, you know, we all have these moments in life where we experience these wonderful moments where experiencing we experience ourselves expanding and at the same time feeling at one, at peace fused with an incredible joy. And those experiences are so deep and so rich. That they're not easily articulated. So that scene kept coming back to me in my mind, and I kept wondering, why was that moment so you could say transcendent or why was it so a depth moment for me? And why does it keep returning to me? And it was for that reason. And so then I thought, I need to write about this. I need to write. Not for an answer, but for a response, you know, to discover, you know, what was going on in that moment that I felt so deeply, deeply good. Absolutely. I was drafting it, you know, the different details that surfaced for me. They brought in, they wove together all these different parts of my life. You know, I was a theology professor, I had a PhD, you know, in theology. I love nature. I love children. I'm a big advocate of religious diversity. You know, all these things in my life came together, and they wove themselves together. And then when I read the piece back, I thought, that was a moment of wholeness that I experienced then, but I didn't realize it until I had written [Jen} Absolutely, yes. And that exploration using the words in the language. And in this case, I think the rhythms and the beautiful imagery that you have here to sort of fix it so you can think about it, right? And I find that all the time in my own work that it's the act of working and the process and the writing itself that allows you access to these bigger things in life and these things that are affecting you that you really don't know what or how to articulate it until you do that deeper thinking afterwards. [Mary] That's part of the beauty of not only I love it for fiction, but that's one of the things that I discovered late about creative nonfiction, you know? If you know where a piece you're writing is going, whether it's nonfiction, creative nonfiction, fiction, I always say, then I'm in trouble, because [laughter] then I'm not discovering, you know, what is there in that moment in the hands when everything is moving, you know? The big gesture of letting go is very, very important. But it's that moment, and that's where, you know, for me, a lot of the writing happens is just staying a moment, being present to that moment. Yeah. [Jen] And you mentioned earlier the joy of creative non fiction as a genre, if you will, or as a way of writing, a method of storytelling. Talk to me a little bit more about that. But beyond this, sort of capturing moments. I mean, what are some of the other reasons why this type of nonfiction appeals to you? [Mary] I never thought I would write creative, you know, nonfiction. Yeah. I just never thought about it. I love structure. I love form. I love playing with form, but I always wanted to be a poet. Mm hmm. The problem is, I have a prosaic mind. And the second problem is, I think in books. You know, I really do. It's like I think of something, and I want to, like, uncover, you know, the dimensions and all the depth of it. And so I do. I think in books. So I came to the micro essay, really just to start playing with the form to say, Could I write, you know, in a more compressed form. And in this kind of compressed form, every word counts. It does in all writing, of course. But you cannot waste one syllable in this kind of writing. And I found that liberating to me as a person who thought in books and, you know, I had this prosaic mind. So that means I really have to concentrate and turn that kaleidoscope of details so it really has a very clear, at the same time, deep and, you know, translucent image going or feel to it. So, I found it really exciting because I got to use some of my interest in poetry. I read a lot of poetry. I got to put that together with my prosaic mind. No, I found it worked. [Jen} Sort of like sort of like it was created for you, right? [Mary] Yeah, it was. It's like, thank you to the form, you know? And I don't do it all the time. I mean, I still like to write booklink things. Yeah, I write longer essays. But this is just so much fun. And the nice thing, though, about it is a form which it's a discipline that, you know, evokes creativity, but there can be like each one of these micro essays can have such a different structure within that compressed form. That's what I like. [Jen] Yeah, absolutely. And longtime listeners will know exactly what you're talking about. I mean, each one of these things is different and unique and very specific of real human experience that we have the joy of sharing with our listeners. Mary Lane Potter, thank you so much for joining us on Pop of Culture today with myour Beautiful Thing entitled On Sam Mountain. [Mary] Thank you so much for the invitation and opportunity. Have to talk with you. [Jen] Of course. This story comes from IPRs collaboration with Riverteeth, Beautiful Things, a weekly magazine of micro essays. More at riverteethjournal.com. ?? ?? [Kara] You know our next guest as the founder and owner of FB Fogg, a small business known around the world for their paper mache collections. We've spoken with Ann Johnson before, but now she has a new memoir. She sat down with Michelle Kinsey. [Michelle] Ann Johnson has lived an extraordinary creative life as an artist, entrepreneur, founder of FB Fogg, and now an author. Today, she is here about that last one. She has a new memoir out now called Finding Fogg. Welcome, Ann. Thank you so much. You know, you have spent decades telling stories through visual art. When was the moment that it hit you that you were that you felt, I want to put this down in book form? [Ann] Well, actually, it wasn't me who said that. I had a former student who was talking with me one day about my life and asking questions about it and how it came out in my paintings and so forth. And I said, Oh, well, and I started telling her about my life. And she said, You've got to write this. And I No, no, no, no, no. I'm an artist. I'm not an author. And she said, Come on. We're going to Best Buy. And off we went to Best Buy, bought a computer. She taught me patiently, and I have to say so patiently, how to use that computer so that I could write a manuscript. So I used it as a tool like I would use a paintbrush, and I painted my life. And when I finished it, I thought, Wow. This was kind of fun. It was such a cathartic experience. Yeah. And I remembered many things that I had totally forgotten. However, I had written it backward. I had started with the lint. Yes. And fog. And I put my childhood at the end of the story, and a very good friend of mine, Adam Wire in Indianapolis, who is an editor, read my manuscript and said, Wow, this is worth telling, but you've got it wrong. And I said, What do you mean? And he said, your childhood belongs in the front. [Michelle] Absolutely. It's part of your journey, right? And I think people like to read and experience the journey from childhood to artist because they can oftentimes see themselves in that journey, right? [Ann] That's exactly it. [Michelle]The title Finding Fogg, I'm curious why you chose that. Is it about how you found Fogg? Are you still finding fogg? Tell us a little bit about the title of your memoir. [Ann] Of course, my company was called FB Fogg. Yes. And that, you know, became a nomenclature, just as much as Ann Johnson was a name for me. But I do think that knowing that I needed to support myself, I never meant to start out with lint, like the refuge of society as an art piece to work with. And at that time, people weren't recycling very much. But when I looked at all that beautiful white lint, I thought, This is a natural. So I began to work with it. And in a sense, I was trying to make handmade paper, and I was a long way away. Other words, Lint is not a cotton linter. But the thing about it was that that got me started on my artistic journey. And so, of course, Finding Fogg became a natural title for my memoir, because of all the things that were momentous in my life, it was finding that direction with Fogg and learning how to be as an artist, a business person. Yes. That was far from my a sense of being absolutely. And yeah, that journey was so valuable to me. And that's where many of the people many of my friends in Muncie, many of my friends the world over, took a walk with me. In other words, that was timely. Sorry, little there. But it gave them the idea that I had had a direction, not the foggiest, actually, but a direction of where I could go with my art and how a young person can take the smallest thing and make an idea of it. And turn it over to the world, and it's amazing what happens. It's just an amazing journey to me, and I wanted people to know how amazing that journey was. [Michelle] Absolutely. You've been a part of Muncie's creative community for many years. How did the community shape your work and your life and what is reflected now in this memoir? [Ann] Well, as I've always said, and I think you've heard me say this to you many times. But Muncie is right on the way to everywhere. Strangely enough, when I started doing art fairs at different places, I realized that I would either go east, west, north or south, not doing them in Muncie necessarily, but you're never an artist in your own backyard. The thing about it is, you have to get the product out. And so I treated my artwork like a product, and I began doing it all over the United States and discovered that we were right on the way to every place. It was a perfect place to live. And, of course, here you have the support of home and friends and everyone that thinks you're wonderful. So when you go out, you're ready for any criticism you get. [Michelle] As you were writing this book, Ann, and maybe you didn't realize it until it was completed. But what did writing this book teach you about yourself that you didn't know before? [Ann] One that I wasn't an author, that I really was a painter. [Michelle] Come on. [Ann] But the other thing that it taught me about myself is that one, I had had such a wonderful life. And, you know, you don't really think about all the great experiences that have happened to you until you start to put them down on paper, and then you realize, thank you, thank you, thank you. If my memoir does anything for anybody, I hope that it makes people realize there's so much more than skin and hair. They are all levels of wonderful stories, and they have a story to tell. You know, when they say to me, Oh, my kids wouldn't even read it. I said, It's not for your kids. Your kids lived it. They don't have to read it. Yeah. It's all these people out here that are walking with you through life, doing the same things, and they want to know how to put this together. And hopefully my memoir will do that for them. [Michelle] Yes, absolutely. Were there stories or memories that you felt you needed to put in this book that were difficult to revisit? [Ann] Definitely. Yeah. There were many things that had happened in my life, things that were I wish I could have told all happy and sweet stories. It's not life. It's not life. No, unfortunately. And I realized that. And so in writing the bittersweet, for a while, it was very funny. I cried. I literally cried when I wrote those things. And then I thought, No, that was good to get them out to say them. [Michelle] You know, I mean, I think there is something to be said for getting your memories, your own memoirs, so to speak, down on paper, because it's important to see, you know, what were the building blocks of your life. [Ann] Exactly. And, you know, some of those blocks are really hard for you to get over. But in doing that, Uh, whether you cry or laugh at yourself, it doesn't matter. It really makes it all come back around, and you think of those things as learning experiences often? Yes. We become so much wiser when we're 88. [laughter] [Michelle] We don't want to give too much away about the book, but what is something that readers might be surprised to learn about you after reading the book? [Ann] Well, I think one of the things that many people didn't know. And when I did the book signing at E.B. Ball the other night, I read to them the chapter on my grandfather, who was a judge in the Nuremberg trials. I don't think many people realized that I was a ward of my grandparents and raised by them on a strawberry farm in Northern Indiana. So that was kind of an interesting thing, and I was able to join him in Germany and live there as an expatriate for two years. That's something that really got me into the mode of travel and knowing how we were all the same the world over. And it was important to be aware of people in many different countries. So that was easy for me, too, when I was asked as Fogg, to go abroad and work with people in foreign countries. Wow. By the American Craft Council, I thought, What a natural. Yes. I love to do that. That's from a very early age that I had been trained in that. [Michelle] When people look back on your career, what do you hope they'll say about the impact you've had? I hope they will say that I was a teacher, that I was a good teacher, that I really enjoyed sharing with them and that they really learned something of value from me, you know, of all the things I have done in my life, whether it's been fog or whether it's been a painting or helping in the community, I felt that my natural inclination was toward painting and teaching that painting. And, you know, that has been the joy of my life. I am so rewarded when a student says to me, Ah, I loved being in your class. [Michelle] Yeah, let's be clear that you are still doing that. You are still teaching. [Ann] They're gonna carry me out feet first. I swear. And I'll have a paintbrush in my hand. [Michelle] I love that. Well, thank you so much and for joining us on Pop of Culture and sharing a little more about your new memoir out now called Finding Fogg. [Ann] I thank you. [Jen] Now it's time for What are you working on? [Kara] This week, we'll keep the writing theme going. Here's our interview with J. R. Jamison from last March. [J.R.] Thank you for having me. It feels really odd to be on the side of the mic, but I'm really excited to be in conversation with you. [Kara] Oh, I'm so glad you are. Um, many of us listening today are likely familiar with your first book, Hillbilly Queer, a memoir that was released in 2021. Mm hmm. And if you're not familiar with it, consider giving it a read. I really enjoyed the book, and in my opinion, it showed a lot of undergirding of love and different experiences and paths and I don't know, growing through openness, and I think that's poignant right now. [J.R.] Thank you. Yeah. I mean, I'm amazed how the message has continued into 2025. I just told someone the other day, I'm really tired of talking about Hillbilly Queer. I mean, I still do, right? Because the message is important. But it is I'm amazed by how that message has continued. And I think it just speaks to where we are as a country, too, and the whole idea of art reflecting what's happening in the world. That's really what the book is in many ways. [Kara] It's so true. And we have a question for you. Yeah. Our WAYWO, what are you working on? Are there books on the horizon? [J.R.} There are. You know, after I finished Hillbilly Queer, I had to think about, what am I going to write next? Because that's always the question that's asked of every writer and author after something comes out, you kind of want to have that moment where you're just sitting there and happy with what's been put out into the world, and also kind of just taking a break and a breath. But you don't get to do that, and people want to know what's next. And so I had to think long and hard about what that was. And for me as a writer, it's always about why and how. So for me, I'm always like, What do I care about at this particular moment in time? Why do I care so much about this thing that it's keeping me up and I can't stop thinking about it? And how am I going to get other people to care about this, too? And I do that through writing, right? And that's the joy of storytelling. So for Hillbilly Queer, for instance, that What Why and How was where we were in the nation in the world and still kind of are. And what did that look like through the lens of a story with my own father who was on a different side of politics than I was, right? And if we were trapped in a car taking a road trip, what does that look like? But after all of that, I had to say, What is my next, what, why and how? And I think so much about queer youth and what they're facing right now in the world, always have, right, quite frankly. But really, right now, youth being under fire, their parents being under fire. And I started to think, how do I lean into my background of young adult literature and work on a YA novel? So I did spend a couple of years writing that YA novel. It's about a boy in Indiana who is 17 and is sent away to essentially conversion therapy. He meets a teenage girl while he's there, who is there for all the same reasons, and they hatch a plan to escape, and it's about making one's own way in the world. It's about making their way from Indiana to New York where they find home among Chinatown's gay community. And it's a story of resilience, and it was a story that I felt was important to write at that time. So I did write that book, and we're in the submission process right now. But one of my Beta readers during that process had a question for me that I was like, Hmm, that's an interesting question. She said, Why did he leave Indiana to find comfort and safety? And of course, I could answer that in multiple different ways, right? Like, I don't feel like this is always a safe and welcoming place for LGBTQ people. But at the same time, it's also where I've made my home. So I pondered on that, in my book that I'm writing right now that's currently being drafted in its first draft form, is about a queer person who chooses to stay in Indiana despite it all. [Kara] Okay. I think it's so important to write literature with these themes at this time when there are so many people in the LGBTQIA+ community, especially our T friends who are just feeling, um, you know, unbelievable amount of disrespect and being turned away. Yeah. So now, as you continue to write, does it feel different to you to write non fiction as your first book was and move into these fictional realms? [J.R.] A little bit. So my background actually was in fiction. I have an undergraduate degree in creative writing, and I focused mainly on fiction and poetry. I got away from that over time. But after Hillbilly Queer and Hillbilly Queer coming out, and I started thinking about what's next, and I started thinking about where we were in the world, which was in the middle of a global pandemic. And what did I want? I wanted to escape in some ways, right, even though I'm writing about real things in some ways that are happening in the world. I wanted to do that through a fictional life story that I was creating, a world that I create to tell that what, why and how. So really didn't feel odd to move back into fiction, even though I had moved away from it so many years before. Well, can you tell us a little bit more about the characters that you were talking about that escaped this conversion therapy? Yeah, so the main character is Ray, and he is a 17-year-old in Indiana, who loves Nirvana. Sorry, Nirvana [laughter] is a little sheepish, isn't very worldly, comes from a small town. He gets the courage to come out to his parents, his mom, who says, We need to tell your dad, and his dad is not so accepting of his coming out. And the mom also is a little sheepish, and she takes the dad's advice that he needs to be sent away to be fixed. He's the main character. When he gets to Warmouth Academy, which is where they're sent for conversion therapy, he meets Brooke, and Brooke is a little more rough and tumble, comes from a steel town, a bit worldly, has hopped trains in the past, to go see shows down in Indianapolis. And she brings out really courage in him to find his own voice and find his own path, and ultimately the courage to escape the reality that they're in, to live their life by their own terms, even if that meant leaving Indiana. [Kara] Well, I'm looking very forward to this book coming out. Is there some place that we can find what you've done and be on the lookout for your book when it comes out? [J.R.] Yeah, the best place to find anything I'm working on, if it's any of my writing, speaking engagements. Any of that is jrjamison.com. [Kara] Excellent. And also, you can hear J. R. every week on The Facing Project. He's the host, and it airs on Indiana Public Radio, Saturdays and Sundays. Yeah, Saturdays at one, Sundays at seven or get it anytime on the Pod. [Kara] Nice. Yeah. Well, thank you so much for talking. [J.R.] Yeah, thank you. This has been so much fun. [Jen] Are you ready, Kara? [Kara] Let's do it. [Jen] It's time for the arts calendar. We will start with some in-house promotion. It's going to be a beautiful day in the neighborhood on Saturday, June 6. Ball State PBS invites you to Be My Neighbor Day at Canan Commons. A map will lead children through the streets of a very special neighborhood where they will meet people from community centers, arts organizations, charity groups, and more. At each booth, kids will be able to participate in fun activities, and parents and caregivers will discover ways to give back. Oh, and meet Daniel Tiger, star of Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood on PBS KIDS. This family event is open to the public from 1:00 to 4:00 P.M. More info is at ballstatepbs.org. Later in the afternoon on Saturday June 6, grab your boarding pass and join IPR at We Fly Fest on the campus of Ball State. This event connects Ball State with the community and will feature live music, booths from all areas within the university, lawn games, food trucks, and activities for the whole family. Us. Yes. Pop of Culture team will be there. If you're already in the neighborhood at Be My Neighbor Day, make a connecting flight with free community bus stops looping from Canan Commons to the Brown Family Amphitheater on Ball States campus. Did we say that there are vouchers for ice cream for the first 500 passengers? [Jen] You did not say that, but it's important. All flight details at bsu.edu/weflyfest. [Jen] Summer Concert season is here, and Yorktown summer series is already underway. Friday, June 5, Chameleon Brothers and Bella Robbins will perform, starting at 7:30 P.M. All Yorktown summer concerts are open to the public. [Kara] Nice. Musical summer. Mm hmm. A different type of concert will be on the Yorktown Civic Green on Tuesday, June 9. America's hometown band, led by Larry McWilliams, will perform Jazz'n on Down the Road, starting at 7:00 P.M. That evening. [Jen] If you're not a fan of the warmer weather, Oh, come on, man. Summer just got here, right? Frozen. The Disney musical opens June 5 on Muncie Civic Theater's main stage. This magical musical adaptation will melt even the iciest of hearts and will breeze through until they have to let it go June 28. [Kara] I guess we'll allow that kind of frozen. June is also Pride Month. There are dozens of events throughout the month. Thursday, June 11 is Pride Night at the Indianapolis Indians. And the next weekend, June 13 and 14th is the Indy Pride Festival. Some other celebrations come later this year. Fort Wayne's Pride Fest will be at the end of July, and Muncie's Pride is set for September. [Jen] The Delaware County Fairgrounds are open to the public for the Country Flea Market, June 6th through 8th from 8:00 to 4:00 p.m. And if you have an event summer or frozen, let us know about it, indianapublicadio.org /contact and click Pop of Culture. ?? ?? [Luke] Support for Pop of culture comes from Stallings Wealth Management and from you. You may have heard about large gifts to NPR. Those donations are important, but they don't bring back the funding to IPR. Your support pays for the programs you rely on, especially local programs like this one, and the people like me who create them. Top of culture exists for you and because of you. Give today at indianapublicadio.org. [Jen] And that's our show. Our fact checker and ethics curator is Stephanie Wiechmann. This week was produced by Luke Jones, who is working on having a memoir worthy summer. It's called Mostly Ice Cream. We had production assistance from Andrew Montavon and Stephanie Wiechmann. [Kara] Our show was hosted by me, Kara DuQuette [Jen] and me, Jen Blackmer. Pop of Culture is a production from IPR on the campus of Ball State University. [Braden] I was whatever was in the fridge, easy. No, my fiance is, though, so, you know, I'm an opportunistic eater. Yeah. [laughter] Are we Oh, there's a button. Do you hold the cough button? The cough button does not work. Oh. I'm pressing it, and nothing's coughing. [laughter] Got to have that looked at. [laughter] We're in trouble. I think God. [laughter]