Don Barrett (aka DBs travels)'s photos

When I was a student at Indiana University in the early 1980’s, one of most vocal and key people in gay student activism was a guy from French Lick, a town I’d never heard of. It turned out that this rural town in southern Indiana had a long history as a resort area due to hot springs. Pictured here is the West Baden Springs Hotel in West Baden Springs. The hotel opened in 1902, is six floors with, originally, roughly 500 rooms, and an atrium with what was once the largest dome in the U.S. Though it attracted wealthy patrons in its early years, it suffered with the Great Depression and the original owners donated it to the Jesuits. From 1934 to 1964 it operated as a Jesuit seminary, but then had a spotty history with various efforts at restoration until being bought by the nearby French Lick Resort Casino and reopening in 2006. The structure is a registered National Historic Landmark. Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Baden_Springs_Hotel

I began to think of the memorial’s condition as sort of sad, given its fairly heroic message, but also seemingly fitting given the long history of the thankless work given by women to establishing culture and society.

The memorial wall is substantial in size (roughly 5’ high), but clearly not tended at all, with nothing nearby to provide any explanation.

Almost hidden in the forest is this memorial. I happened to know about it from a Flickr picture I came across in the past, but there was no mention of the memorial on the trail into the park or in literature about Paoli. When I first started hiking into the forest, I passed a woman and we chatted, but she didn’t know the location of the memorial. When I had hiked the road/trail to its end, I saw two more trails leading off into dense woods, but nothing indicating which trail to take or how much further to go. Exasperated, I was heading out when there was a couple walking towards me (I had seen no one else in the forest) and I asked them if they knew anything about the wall. They were very helpful, pointing me to the right trail and giving me a general estimate of how far to go. The woods were so dense that I didn’t see any hint of the wall for quite some time, but began to see it above the trail (this picture)

Just a little over a mile from the center of Paoli, there’s a turnoff from US 150 for Pioneer Mothers' Memorial Forest, with a parking lot right at the turnoff. There isn’t much in the way of signage, but there’s an interesting monument almost buried in the forest (later pictures). Information on the forest is very scant – it does not that this is 88 acres of untouched forest, much like what it would have been like before Europeans invaded the area. What I could not find, though, was any information on why it is called “Pioneer Mother's Memorial Forest” – I like how the name conveys a commitment to the roles of mothers in the settling of the area, but I couldn’t find anything giving that as a reason. Pictured here is a road that stretches roughly a mile into a parking area at the base of a hill. The road is no longer open to vehicles, just to pedestrians, and the parking area is behind me. Source: www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/hoosier/recreation/outdoorlearning/recarea/?recid=41586&actid=119

Just south of the courthouse in Paoli, the Gospel Street iron truss bridge, originally build in 1880 by the Cleveland Bridge and Iron Co. (See the Bridgehunter page) The story behind why it looks ‘new’ is fascinating, with some interesting twists. In 2015 the bridge was destroyed by what many describe (and it seems accurate) idiot truck driver who tried to drive a way too big semi truck across the bridge (see the ‘destruction’ link). Thankfully there was a push to rebuild the bridge and the trucking company’s insurance paid a good portion of the reconstruction. When the bridge was rededicated (see the ‘rebuild’ link), the rebuilt bridge was named for a Jewish immigrant who had moved to Paoli just after WWI and had left a significant amount of money to Paoli for philanthropic services. Sources: Destruction: blog.jimgrey.net/2015/12/28/1880-paoli-bridge-destroyed Rebuild: www.indianalandmarks.org/2018/01/damaged-paoli-bridge-reopens Bridgehunter: bridgehunter.com/in/orange/5900102

Orange County Courthouse in the center of Paoli, IN. Per the Wikipedia page, this is the second oldest courthouse in Indiana that has been continuously used, it was completed in 1850. Central Paoli fit with what I was seeing in the rest of the state – the buildings around the historic center were filled with small businesses and restaurants and looked to be doing financially fairly well. Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_County,_Indiana

A sign of the times .. this major economic engine for the area is currently closed due to concerns about the virus Heading south of Bloomington, I did some meandering along the way. I’d taken a diversion into Bedford (about 25 miles south of Bloomington) and happened to come across a sign indicating a major factory. Exploring around a little, I found it to be a GM Powertrain plant. Per their website, the plant opened in 1942, employs 933 people, and “is one of the leading aluminum die casting facilities in the world and produces transmission casings, converter housings, heads, and small gas engine blocks that are used in Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac vehicles.” In all the years I lived in Bloomington, I never realized such a large manufacturing facility was just south of town. The link with the picture gives a sense of the size of the facility. Source: media.gm.com/media/us/en/gm/company_info/facilities/powertrain/bedford.html

I shouldn’t have been surprised, but was…. A sign indicating that if you owned a ‘foreign’ car, you have to park more distant, an agreement made with the United Automobile Workers Union (UAW). I can understand that the union that builds the cars wants to reinforce buying union-built American cars, but this still seemed odd to me. What if you’re a local, got a new job at the factory, drove an old Honda (that’s probably American (but not union) made), and can’t afford a new car? Are you somehow shamed into separate parking?

Cute ad, but considering the donuts, a recycled cop car probably isn’t ‘gluten free’ :)

A surprisingly ugly building for IU, the Musical Arts Center which opened in 1972 and is very appropriately considered to be an example of Brutalist architecture. Despite the horrors of the exterior (or maybe because of them), it has a very spacious auditorium, with excellent acoustics and a large back stage. It was here that I discovered opera, a taste I never expected. I enjoyed the opera itself, but I expect part of what was special was the whole event of an entire evening with breaks every hour or so where you go out in the lobby, have a drink, and chat with people – a community experience. When I lived in SF I continued going to the opera because the SF opera sold very affordable tickets for standing room, which was fine with me. Elsewhere it has been too expensive, though I’ve been to the opera in Europe where it’s more affordable. …. Using this to wrap up my thoughts on the years in Bloomington, it really was a remarkable time. While the intellectual development through the school and fellow students was important, I think that there was more value in finding the various channels available for being free and open about my politics and sexuality in an environment that was generally much more conservative and considered by many to be unwelcoming. The connection to IU has been a good reminder in recent years to not be as judging as many are of life in the ‘fly over’ states.

The Jacobs School of Music at IU. When I applied to IU, I had no idea that it had a highly-respected, world renown school of music, which meant very high quality performances at very affordable prices. I basically discovered opera there --more on that with the next picture. The building here was surprisingly difficult to identify, but I believe it to be Merrill Hall which was dedicated in 1937. Despite that it was built during the Depression and the New Deal, I can find no reference that New Deal funds were used in its construction.

What was always to me one of most impressive pieces of academic architecture at IU, the main entrance at Memorial Hall (not the same as Memorial Union). Memorial Hall opened in 1924 as a women’s dormitory (I didn’t know that) but for many years was used as offices and classroom space and has now returned to being a residence hall. It’s directly across from ISR (earlier picture), and if my memory is correct, I attended Women’s Studies (now Gender Studies) events in this building when I was there in the 1980’s.

Quite a bit of construction at IU occurred in the 1930’s with New Deal funding, including six complete (and large) buildings, and quite a bit of the landscaping, including this prominently marked wall.

Bikes are supposed to be on the bike trail that runs along the left side of the picture, and not on the golf cart trails. Even if riding them was permitted, considering the risk of getting hit by a golf ball on those trails, I wouldn’t ride them when anyone is playing golf! But, with the golfers gone, the trails are wonderful to explore. Admittedly, manicured grass in the desert is not exactly in line with my feelings about environmental responsibility – but I’m letting that go with this chance to explore!

Something many of us are quite happy about – golfing has been banned, so all sorts of people are exploring the golf course area. In the shade here is one man asleep and another playing with his dog.

Wonderful day for ‘isolation’ … from a bike path 2 miles from my house. On the right side of the picture is Demuth Park, the concrete ribbon is a bike path that was paved last year, and the left side of the picture is Tahquitz Creek Golf. Our SiP (Shelter in Place) allows walking and biking, and is okay with people being out in very small groups (mostly 2) as long as they keep 6’ distance. Earlier last week there were some problems with people playing games (e.g., soccer, baseball), so the city closed all organized activities and people seem to be obeying it – this is about how busy the park has been lately.

Something to break the dismal Coronavirus drumbeat... Very popular in the Palm Springs area are large, metal, brightly-colored representations of animals (mostly pets). Many of the sculptures (possibly all) are by Karen and Tony Barone (link below). When I first saw these sculptures around the Palm Springs Animal Shelter, I thought them interesting. But, like one local leader said when some new ones were proposed for a fire station – there’s too many. Home of the cat and dog…. Source: baroneart.com/sculpture-tour