Day one
6 a.m. I’m up early to meet my mentor and friend, Ali, at Gaia Cafe and Botanicals. Once a week, we chat before work. I get a tea and take the lid off, breathing in the fragrant steam.
9:30 a.m. Mirror Indy’s innovation team, which I love being a part of, is interviewing a job candidate at the Amp at 16 Tech. We pull some food court tables together and try to let them in on how fun it is to be in an environment as creative as ours.
2 p.m. I’m interviewing Nichelle M. Hayes for a story about how to research your family’s history and genealogy. She tells me some fascinating facts from her decades of research, like the time she found an old newspaper article that reported six of her family members had eaten poisoned ham at City Market.
6:15 p.m. I’m in Irvington for the first time. That sounds crazy, I know, but I’ve only been living in Indy for six months. I’m at Strange Bird, the hybrid ramen place and tiki bar, which is pleasantly weird. The pork belly ramen rocks, by the way.
Day two
9 a.m. I join our biweekly news meeting, hoping I don’t look too much like I rolled out of bed five minutes earlier (even though I did). Working from home on Mondays and Fridays means no commute, and I’m grateful for it.
10:45 a.m. I’m writing notes on my genealogy story. Emails are popping up every few minutes with old family photos from Nichelle.
Two experts shared their tips with me for the story, and both talked about interviewing family members while you still have the chance. It makes me think of a book I just checked out from the Brownsburg Public Library. It’s called “The Collected Regrets of Clover,” and the main character is a death doula, someone who sits by the bedsides of dying people, comforting them and documenting their last words.
8 p.m. I got free last-minute tickets to see Lake Street Dive at the Everwise Amphitheater at White River State Park, thanks to my coworker Peter Hanscom. I couldn’t find anyone else to take the second ticket, so I’m enjoying a solo adventure.
I stopped by Five Below to get a picnic blanket, so I’m soaking up the golden hour on my new lemon-y blanket while people-watching. I can’t see the artists from here, but I let the music drift over me.
Day three
10 a.m. I woke up at 6-something but decided to stay in bed. Saturdays are my day dedicated to rest, and I love it.
10:59 a.m. The parking lot for the B&O Trailhead in Brownsburg is full, so I park at the garden center across the street. I’m looking at the hydrangeas while waiting to meet a new friend for a walk. Since moving to Indy in January, I’ve had pretty good luck finding pickleball partners and walking buddies through Facebook groups, like Let’s Be Friends Indy and BFF Indy.
1:02 p.m. I visited a new church last week, and they have the sweetest welcoming ritual. The pastor’s wife visits my apartment to bring me homemade banana bread, and she gives me a hug even though I’m sweaty from my 3-mile walk.
1:30 p.m. My mom is spending the day with my step-brother’s daughters and took them to visit my grandma. She sends me a video of my grandma playing her out-of-tune piano with my niece. I tear up a bit, watching my grandma, who has dementia, remember a song she used to play with me.
7:38 p.m. The world is feeling crazy, so I decide to get Taco Bell and sit on my balcony, listening to kids playing outside.
Day four
11:50 a.m. I share a row with a little boy and his grandma at church. He wiggles and scribbles on his grandma’s bulletin most of the time but pipes up with a quiet, “Amen.” His grandma and I make eye contact over his head and smile.
4 p.m. I finish, “The Collected Regrets of Clover,” which turned out to be just OK. If you can get over the main character’s habit of lying and snooping, the idea of embracing the inevitability of death is interesting.
8:30 p.m. Mirror Indy public health reporter Mary Claire Molloy suggested a new TV show, “My Lady Jane,” when we hung out last week. I’m already done with the first season. Shapeshifting and a period drama and a strong female lead? It’s so fun.
Day five
1 p.m. I finish my hot one-hour walk around Haughville for my first history tour, Sampson Levingston’s Haughville Walk & Talk. Sampson held up signs with old photos of buildings as we stood in front of what they had become. On 10th Street, a business corridor no longer existed. The old IPS School 52 was now an IMPD location.
4:15 p.m. I have two stories running tomorrow, one on IndyGo looking for transit ambassadors and the first in a series of stories explaining how to apply for financial aid at each of Indy’s hospital chains. I’m finishing up last-minute edits.
Day six
9:05 a.m. I finally remember to bring Enrique, Mirror Indy’s westside reporter, the baggie of jibbitz I promised his 7-year-old. Jibbitz, as silly as it may sound, is the word for croc charms. And yes, jibbitz is both the plural and the singular form of the word.
I got a 100 pack in high school, and this was the last of them.
1:46 p.m. Today marks six months since I joined Mirror Indy. I post a thread on X to commemorate the occasion with my six favorite stories so far. I don’t think I use the thread function right, though.
6:00 p.m. I’m at the City-County Building for an Animal Care Services Advisory Board meeting. I’m here reporting for two stories. The first will be about Indianapolis Animal Care Services, and the second will be about how to attend a public meeting.
For the second story, I’ll interview two of Mirror Indy’s documenters, citizens who are trained and paid to take notes at public meetings.
9:14 p.m. I call my long-distance boyfriend, Gabe, for our weekly FaceTime. This week, it’s a debrief on his first two days playing College Football 25. He’s already won a national championship with our alma mater, Kent State University. Go Flashes!
Day seven
1 p.m. I’m on a float in the White River with three boys and a guide from the Friends of White River. I’m spending the day with Bus Camp, a summer camp that introduces kids to the bus system by taking mass transit around the city. Children also learn about nature and the climate.
These kids are really good at identifying trees based on their leaves. When they point out a sycamore, one camper asks another “How do you know it’s a sycamore?”
“Because it’s sick!”
Duh. Why didn’t I think of that?
Culture Journal is a series that shares a week in the cultural lives of Indy residents. If you are interested in submitting a journal, email arts and culture editor Jennifer Delgadillo at jennifer.delgadillo@mirrorindy.org and tell us about yourself.
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