Dear Indy,
Losing a driver’s license can be crippling. How do you get to work? How do you take your kids anywhere?
Our Peter Blanchard checked out a workshop this week where nearly a thousand folks from Indianapolis learned how to get theirs reinstated, often lost from the mere inability to pay a speeding ticket.
Here’s how his story started:
For Lykisha Hardiman, it would mean everything to be able to drive again.
A 35-year-old single mom with two children, Hardiman lost her driving privileges some years ago after being unable to pay fines and court fees for a speeding ticket.
As a home health aide, Hardiman relies on ridesharing services like Uber and Lyft to get to her clients, which cuts into her monthly income. Her mother, Barbara Hardiman, lives nearby and watches her 9-year-old and 13-year-old girls while their mom is at work. The youngest is only interested in swimming — “She thinks she’s a mermaid” — but the oldest will start working soon, and she’ll need reliable transportation, too.
Hardiman and her kids had planned to tag along with family members to visit a water park in Wisconsin this summer, but their family members don’t have room for the three of them in their vehicles. She hasn’t had the heart yet to tell her kids that the trip won’t be happening for them.
“That’s just like the hardest thing,” Hardiman says. “Your kids wanna do something, but you know you ain’t got your license. So you gotta either wait till somebody else is ready to do it, or it’s just — I hate it. I want my license real bad. If I can get my license, that would be the best thing that could happen. I won’t even ask for nothing else.”
Hardiman was one of hundreds of Marion County residents to attend a Marion County Prosecutor’s Office Second Chance Workshop this week to begin the process of getting their license reinstated or seeking expungement of a legal conviction.
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In other news
- Here are 12 concert photographers to follow this summer. Check here to find out the favorite acts they’ve covered and their tips for taking great concert pics.
- As part of its growing number of offerings for nontraditional students, Butler University is launching an online bachelor’s degree for people who went to college but did not graduate.
- Soul Food Sundays are free monthly events on the east side that pay tribute to weekly family dinners. “You would see that a lot on Sundays,” said Kendra Nowell, CEO of Community Alliance of the Far Eastside. “And so we really wanted to touch the souls of the residents of the Far Eastside.” This summer’s first event is set for June 23. Get the details here.
Today’s weather from WTHR
It’s going to be a hot and steamy one today as highs skyrocket into the mid 90s. Expect a few more clouds to bubble up in the afternoon.
—Matt Standridge, WTHR meteorologist
What’s going on around the city
- Today: Head over to Monument Circle from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. for a free cyanotype workshop with Aurora PhotoCenter. The workshop is part of Big Car’s SPARK on the Circle pop-up park.
- Tonight: Arte Mexicano en Indiana, the Indiana Undocumented Youth Alliance and artist Gloria Martinez Granados invite Indy’s immigrants to share their experiences with the immigration system for a community art project. The free workshop will be 6-8 p.m. at the Indianapolis Liberation Center, 1800 N. Meridian St. Suite 305 and is presented by Herron School of Art and Design.
- Sunday, June 23: Vinyl enthusiasts are invited to Timeless Classics, a genre-bending celebration of Black Music at Turntable, 6281 N. College Ave. Starting at 3 p.m., expect live sets from DJs, a vinyl swap and other fun activities. This event is 21+ and tickets are $10.
— Jennifer Delgadillo, arts and culture editor
Looking for other things to do? Check out Mirror Indy’s events calendar.
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What else we’re reading today
- Chalkbeat Indiana: Thousands of Indiana students have worked with artificial intelligence in their schools, and more than half of teachers rate the experience as positive.
- WFYI: Nearly 1 in 5 Indiana students don’t attend their home school district, according to an analysis by WFYI, up from 1 in 13 a decade ago. Here’s what it means.
Reflections
I experience Indianapolis differently now that I have children. In my first 20 years here, I would have told you all about weekends and weeknights biking on the city’s extensive trail system to get to the best breweries.
But now we drive to places like the Children’s Museum. On Wednesday, my wife, Stephanie, and I took our 8-month-old daughter, Riley, and soon-to-be-3-year-old, Lucy, there, and Lucy’s eyes lit up with joy for a few hours. She fished in Greece, gawked at dinosaurs and Transformers, rode the carousel and drove in the race car.
Lucy ran happily from room to room and, of course, most loved digging in the sand, drawing, building with blocks and banging on the drums up in the fourth-floor playground. Oddly enough, when we told her we were going to the Children’s Museum the first time she said, “The Drums!” We had no idea what she meant until we got to the fourth-floor drum room. Toddlers must have a secret code where they tell each other about the museum’s drums at her day care.
So, on these hot summer days, we’ll definitely be heading back soon to bang the drums loudly.
Chris
P.S. I’ll also be writing Monday’s newsletter, but my partner in journalism, Ryan Martin, will be back to head up Tuesday’s edition. If you liked something about today’s newsletter, or didn’t, let me know at Chris.Sikich@mirrorindy.org. It helps us serve you better.
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