by Andrea Neal Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, John Burroughs. To this list of famous American naturalists, add the name Gene Stratton-Porter of Indiana. Decades before the modern environmental movement began, Stratton-Porter warned against human activities that could lead to climate change. Also a best-selling fiction author, Stratton-Porter brought the beauty of the earth to the masses through her nature books, photographs, essays and poems. Barbara Olenyik Morrow, in her biography of Nature’s Storyteller, observed…

For the use of the membership only. The most heartfelt arguments of those who favor larger government contend that otherwise life would be unsafe. Those arguments have been spectacularly successful, but are they based on truth? Food purity has been the pluperfect example since Upton Sinclair wrote “The Jungle,” a novel based on the Chicago packing industry. But why would people dependent on the business of selling us food want to make us sick on…

by Bruce Ippel, M.D. It is called an obesity “epidemic.” Now an epidemic in my profession is something that sneaks up when you’re unprepared, when you’re minding your own business — and wreaks havoc. So obesity is no more a human epidemic than cars are an automotive epidemic. We did it on purpose. Famine and thinness have been the usual human experience since time began. If your tribe wasn’t able to find enough food or didn’t…

by Shelby Lamm The conventional graduation ceremonies occurring across Indiana offer an opportunity to recognize an unconventional one. A Columbia City high school this year is graduating five seniors from a student body of 38 — students nobody else could manage, one at a time, without much pomp or ceremony, at about half the cost of a public school. TROY Center, an independent school founded in 1997, boasts a student body on whom the education…

by Cecil Bohanon, Ph.D. On June 6, I harvested a bushel basket of spinach and mustard greens planted in early April. Most of the crop was washed, chopped, placed in 10 half-pint Ball jars, and processed for an hour in a pressure canner yielding about two kilograms of cooked greens for future consumption. The rest of the crop went to a spinach salad my wife and I had with dinner. Economists teach about the benefits…

For the use of the membership only (609 words) Have you ever wanted to run for office? Ever wanted to convince a friend to run for office? Let’s conduct a reality check to test the political waters: Are you running against an incumbent especially liked by old Republican regulars? Are you going door-to-door rather than relying on big-media advertising buys? Have you refused an invitation to participate in a rigged debate sponsored by a local…

by Andy Horning Nearly all of what we call “issues” — the unraveling economy, a ridiculous healthcare system, rising prices, even militarized police and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria — are just symptoms and side effects of a much worse problem. It makes all our talk of ideology, libertarian versus authoritarian, or even “left” versus “right,” whatever those mean anymore, not just irrelevant but a costly distraction. The problem is corruption; we have…

by Andrea Neal Study a map from the late 19th century and it’s easy to see how Indiana became known as the Crossroads of America. Like spokes on a bicycle wheel, railroad lines extended from Indianapolis in 12 directions. Tracks crossed the state from Lake Michigan to the Ohio River, Terre Haute to Richmond and everywhere in between. “By 1880, the steam railroad had triumphed over all other forms of transportation in Indiana,” said the…

by Stephen M. King, Ph.D. The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community (LGBT) and its supporters are looking with anticipation to the Supreme Court’s expected favorable ruling on the constitutionality of same-sex marriage sometime in late June. Previous court rulings have danced around the issue of the constitutionality of same-sex marriage. The upcoming ruling is expected to address it directly. U.S. society and culture are more favorably disposed toward acceptance of same-sex marriage and the…

“Be thankful we’re not getting all the government we’re paying for.” — Will Rogers MEMBERS OF THE COFFEE GROUP are discouraged by the announcement that their senator will retire after only a single undistinguished term. The members, several of whom worked hard on this guy’s earlier campaigns, are searching for a better way to manage political succession. They all agree that the system is broken. We don’t have public servants who are provided pensions but…