In the early 1990s, people disappeared in Indianapolis. The people who disappeared had several similar aspects to their lives. They were male. They were relatively young. They were gay or believed to be gay. People with the same characteristics had disappeared on or near I-70 between Indianapolis and Columbus, Ohio. 

   Eventually, police were led to believe that the founder of the Indianapolis store chain Sav-A-Lot, Herbert Baumeister, was involved in the disappearances.…

   Spring was fresh and everything was alive.

   The ants had wakened from their months of slumber. Immediately they began to work. They scurried about. They grabbed pieces of food. Some pieces they ate. The rest were carried down the hole at the top of their hill, to the chambers beneath the ground.

   A few yards away, a grasshopper flitted about. He made merry with a fiddle. He entertained his friends. He and his companions seemed amused by the labors of the ants.

  …

   I have written this week about writing. Then Lynn Swayze Wilson blogs yesterday about the subject ad sort of caught me flat-footed, or flat-handed, or something. What she wrote is really good. I will not try to one-up her, because I do not believe it would be possible. Go to the "blogs" on the Civil Discourse Now website and read her blog "On Being a Writer." It is very well done.

   We will stream "live" today from the Indiana Writers' Center, 812 East 67th Street, from 11 am to 1…

   The Indiana Writers Center is located at 812 East 67th Street in Broad Ripple. The building is located a short distance behind the Art Center. The lane to reach it is between the apartments on the corner of 67th and College and the Art Center. Guest panelist Barbara Shoup is the author of seven novels, including "Night Watch," "Wish You Were Here," "Stranded in Harmony," "Faithful Women," "Vermeer's Daughter," "Everything You Want," and "An American Tune. She co-authored "Novel Ideas:…

   Saturday's Show will stream live from the Indiana Writers Center, 812 East 67th Street, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Guest panelists will include Barbara Shoup of the Writers Center, who has published seven novels and has taught creative writing, and Lynn Swayze Wilson, who is involved in the process of getting a novel published.

   My first experience with publishing had a few "ups." What now is called a "launch party," but we called a "signing party," went well. I hired a local…

   I take a break from this week's series about how the internet has affected writing and publishing to comment on Senate Bill 621, a legislative effort that largely would remove "checks and balances"---important concepts to the Framers of the United States Constitution as well as every civics textbook, American history lesson, college intro to poly sci courses, etc.---from the operations of the Mayor of the City of Indianapolis.

   Why would Republican Mayor Greg Ballard, who seems…

   We shall podcast/live-stream from the Indiana Writers Center on Saturday, April 13, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.  Our guest panelists will be Barbara Shoup of the Indiana Writers Center and Lynn Swayze Wilson, a local writer. Barbara has published seven novels and has taught creating writing. Lynn has written a great deal, but has yet to achieve publication.

    I understand how difficult it can be to get published. I will pick up where I left off yesterday.

   I had sent out 186…

   On Saturday, April 13, "Civil Discourse Now" will stream live from the Indiana Writers Center, 812 East 67^th Street. Our guest panelists will be Barbara Shoup of the Indiana Writers Center, and Lynn Swayze Wilson and writer and blogger.  The focal topic of The Show will be how the internet has affected writing and publishing.

   My major at DePauw ended up as political science. However, my last year of school I had decided I wanted to write. I began to write in a…

   Today at 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. we shall stream "live" from the main library downtown. Ask at the Information Desk where we are. Our guest panelists will be Sheila Suess Kennedy and Karen Celestino-Horseman. Our topic will be Jurisprudential philosophy and the Constitution. (The phrase "jurisdictional philosophy" is redundant. "Jurisprudence" is the philosophy of law.)

   How does one go about construing the Constitution? All of our participants on The Show today are lawyers. The…

   We shall stream "live" from Big Hat Books on Saturday, April 6, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. as we discuss jurisprudence and the Constitution with guest panelists Sheila Suess Kennedy and Karen Celestino-Horseman.

   Paul Ogden and I have traded shots this week on the topic. The discussion should prove to be fun and enlightening. I even will bring a copy of the Constitution along so Paul can point out to me where he finds some of the concepts---such as "originalism"---that he…

   Next Saturday, April 6, it will be our pleasure to host Sheila Suess Kennedy and Karen Celestino-Horseman on "Civil Discourse Now" to discuss jurisprudence and the Constitution. We will stream "live" from our old stomping grounds, Big Hat Books, on Cornell Avenue in Broad Ripple

  Paul Ogden has written a charming item on his blog, ogdenonpolitics.com titled: "Federalism and Constitutional Jurisprudence: Where Mark Small Goes Wrong." Paul errs as many times about personal past…

   We will stream "live" from Indianapolis Metropolitan Airport, the Tom O'Brien hangar, at 11 a.m. to discuss baseball with panelists George Wilson and Pat McCarthy. Paul Ogden will be there, if he can figure out how to use a map; rather, if the map by which he views the world includes such features as said airport, Marion County, or even the State of Indiana.

   For the past several weeks we have received a call on The Show from a young woman who travels around the country. First she traveled by van. Her van broke down. Since then she has traveled by thumb a/k/a hitch hiked. "Happy Nomad Girl" is on Facebook. She relates her adventures and experiences mid-way through the program. So far she has called in from San Francisco, Chicago, and I-57 on the way to Mississippi. Tomorrow we will find out where next she has reached on her journey.

  …

   Our first day of orientation of law school, in August, 1986, Paul Ogden, who was the president of the Student Bar Association, spoke to our class and welcomed us to the Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis. He seemed like a nice enough person.

   Later in the year, Paul talked me into taking the job of editor of the school's newspaper, "Dictum." Whatever ulterior motives he had in that move never were revealed. The hours I spent on the journalistic endeavor played a part,…

   "Civil Discourse Now" will stream "live" today at 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. Our guest panelists are Marilene Isaacs (who also has been gracious enough to allow us to stream The Show from her house), Bryan Lilienkamp, who is a progressive political activist and volunteer who also is a Democratic precinct committeeperson and holds a bachelors degree in IT from Excelsior College, and Len Farber who is a contributing editor to the blog Indy Vanguard. Len also is a Democratic Party Ward Chair, Vice…

   A person who frequently posts to this blog, and who has been a guest on "Civil Discourse Now," Nicolas Martin, noted yesterday something to the effect that negative responses to politicians is nothing new. Nic quoted H.L. Mencken on the point. I would add another, poet e.e. Cummings, whose poem read: "A politician/is an arse upon which/everything has sat except a man." I think I got that right. Seriously, it was off the top of my head.

   The anger to which I referred yesterday is…

   On an evening during mid-terms at DePauw, shortly after the movie "Network" premiered, someone got the idea to throw open a window and shout what became fictional newsman Howard Beale's famous rant. "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!" People around campus threw open their windows, much as New York City dwellers were depicted in the movie, and joined the rant. That all was quite humorous for college students.

   We are 37 years past that time. People seem even…

   A "short" sale occurs when someone bets a specific stock or generally the market will drop in value. Perhaps the most famous practitioner of the short sale was Jesse Livermore. When the market crashed in 1929, he had sold short. He made millions, while other, less-inspired traders, leapt to their deaths from office windows overlooking Wall Street.

   At the end of the afternoon, when various news programs report the day's trading, rare is a camera shot of the trading floors. In…

   The president of the National Rifle Association yesterday stated the NRA has chosen the vehicle by which it will advance its political agenda. That "vehicle" is the Republican Party.

   For years members of each party have crawled over each other to seek NRA support. NRA support means money, as in $$$$. Members of the House of Representatives, who are in a constant fund-raising mode (one estimate is that 25% of a member's time is spent in fund-raising endeavors), take money when…