IndyJohn
indyjohn.bsky.social
IndyJohn
@indyjohn.bsky.social
Former AP, IndyStar, a few other places.
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.
December 24, 2025 at 12:22 AM
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...
www.forbes.com
December 22, 2025 at 7:57 PM
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...
Why Students Shouldn’t Think of Their Majors as an Identity
Colleges need to help students do the leg work to figure out who they really are.
www.chronicle.com
October 16, 2025 at 2:46 PM
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...
Rebuilding Trust In Higher Ed Through Value And Purpose
Americans still believe in the power of education—but they want proof that it delivers real value. Here's how we can make the system better for everyone.
www.forbes.com
October 15, 2025 at 5:03 PM
Enjoying the Broadway Fountain and Lanier Mansion on a weekday walkabout in Madison, Ind., on the Ohio River.
October 2, 2025 at 10:14 PM
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...
What Declines in Reading and Math Mean for the U.S. Work Force
www.nytimes.com
September 25, 2025 at 8:13 PM
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...
New PBS documentary highlights enduring legacy and evolving future of HBCUs
/PRNewswire/ -- A new documentary, Opportunity, Access & Uplift: The Evolving Legacy of HBCUs, hosted by journalist Brandis Griffith Friedman, is now airing...
www.prnewswire.com
September 18, 2025 at 1:53 PM
Jamie Merisotis says technology--including artificial intelligence--must serve humanity, not the other way around.

youtu.be/uGhsyMtUwEI

www.forbes.com/sites/jamiem...
Democracy vs. technocracy: Why AI needs a moral operating system
YouTube video by Lumina Foundation
youtu.be
September 11, 2025 at 1:41 AM
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...
Democracy Vs. Technocracy: Why AI Needs A Moral Operating System
Pope Leo XIV warns that artificial intelligence represents a new industrial revolution, one that must be guided by social justice to protect human dignity.
www.forbes.com
September 10, 2025 at 1:07 PM
Was driving by CVS and decided to get my flu shot.

Hey, they said, as long as you're here, why don't we do Covid?

And while we're at it, how about RSV and DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis). ...
September 3, 2025 at 12:44 AM
It's happening
H/t Bruin 1231
August 26, 2025 at 4:49 PM
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
2025 Best Colleges for Your Tuition (and Tax) Dollars
We rank schools on their contribution to the public good in four categories: access, affordability, outcomes, and promoting public service.
washingtonmonthly.com
August 25, 2025 at 1:00 PM
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...
Degrees Of Opportunity: Rethinking Value In Higher Ed
Colleges are sharpening their focus on the value of degrees. And they're getting help from rankings of “Opportunity Colleges” that create real pathways to good jobs.
www.forbes.com
August 13, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Reposted by IndyJohn
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."
August 3, 2025 at 3:16 PM
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...
What We’d Lose Without Public Radio
www.vogue.com
August 4, 2025 at 1:58 PM
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...
INDY LIVE: "Real Life, Revised"
This edition of Indy Live, our occasional series of community arts events, features "Real Life, Revised," a show of stories and poems performed at Dream Palace Books & Coffee on July 13 by members of ...
www.mixcloud.com
July 23, 2025 at 8:20 PM
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-...
Award-winning AP photographer Bob Daugherty captured history with speed and persistence
Robert A. Daugherty, who made photos of nine presidents and countless other news and sporting events in a 43-year career with The Associated Press, has died. He was 86.
apnews.com
July 23, 2025 at 1:43 PM
On the mountain in Tennessee... They had to take a tree down, so everybody pitched in to help cut it up.
July 21, 2025 at 5:27 PM
Good to catch up after a busy weekend: In Evansville, Ind., on Friday and Saturday for an incredibly beautiful wedding. Up at 5:30 on Sunday for glider practice in Alexandria, including a simulated tow-rope break and emergency landing....
July 15, 2025 at 10:08 PM
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
Protect My Public Media
Take a stand for the local stations and programs you love.
protectmypublicmedia.org
July 15, 2025 at 2:24 AM
Tina and the ice cream truck
July 14, 2025 at 9:18 PM
Discovering the charm of Riverside Drive near the Ohio River as we stroll through downtown Evansville today. Each of the historic homes has its own character, from ornate porches to sprawling lawns. It's great to be back in the city where we spent a couple of years with the AP as a correspondent.
July 12, 2025 at 2:25 PM
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. 
July 9, 2025 at 3:51 AM
My classroom in the clouds this morning.
June 29, 2025 at 5:51 PM
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?...
Cycling safety 
YouTube video by John Strauss
youtu.be
June 27, 2025 at 10:54 PM