Steve Connelly’s life reads much like a novel.
The Indiana State University English professor rides unicycles for fun, and once was scouted as a shortstop by Major League Baseball.
He’s been among the vanguard of Pop Culture studies, trading letters with Kurt Vonnegut Jr. and famous cartoonists.
He withstood the glare of racist Southerners just after the Civil Rights Movement, travelling to New Orleans with his friend, Terre Haute’s Olympic gold medalist and long jump champ Greg Bell.
He’s been a strong promoter of the legacy of Eugene Debs, a Hoosier politician …

My childhood memories are often anchored to holiday celebrations. Christmas is the biggie, of course, but the hoopla of Easter comes in at a strong second place. There’s the brand new outfit, complete with ridiculous bonnet that will never be worn again. And there is the novelty of coloring Easter eggs. But for foodies like me, that stuff has always taken a back seat to the real treasure of Easter: the big basket of candy. Like Diana Ross, I didn’t need no cure for that sweet Easter hangover, and the …

Findings from the National Gardening Association’s new survey, “The Impact of Home and Community Gardening in America,” indicate that food gardening in the United States is on the rise.
Seven million more households grew their own fruits, vegetables or herbs in 2009 than in 2008, constituting a 19-percent increase, according to the survey. The reasons range from increasing recognition that homegrown produce is often higher quality and therefore tastes better, to cost savings. On average, the survey reports, a well-maintained food garden yields a $500 return, when considering a typical gardener’s …

In a cozy home a stone’s throw from Sarah Scott Middle School there lives a woman who carries within her a sizeable chunk of Wabash Valley history. Though she would be the first to say her life is rather unremarkable, it is hard to take her at her word. Not knowing how much she has witnessed as a lifetime Hautean. Not knowing the things that I know about her.
For the record, coming into this interview, here is what I know: I know that her name is Claudia Fitzsimmons Fulwiler. …

Craig Stauffer does not care a lick about chess.
At least that’s what he’d like people to believe.
But for anyone who knows Stauffer, for anyone who’s ever stepped foot in his home situated a few quiet blocks away from Woodrow Wilson Junior High School, this statement is patently false. After all, chess and jazz and cigars and even fine wines (and all of their respective trappings) are ubiquitous in his home. A few of his favorite albums are artfully displayed on his living room walls, while others are meticulously …

Chrome sparkles in the sunlight, perfect candy colored paint and custom upholstery beckon car show attendees to take a closer look. Signs instruct the uninformed to look, but “please don’t touch.” Their owners have just spent a lot of time polishing and dusting, and those fancy paint jobs cost a lot of money. Oldies music blares from the mobile DJ trailer nearby, and car owners sit in lawn chairs behind their vehicles collecting compliments from admirers. A low slung, deep purple early 1950s vintage Mercury lounges in the sunshine of …

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, a lot of guys are feverishly making plans … for their Super Bowl parties. Indeed, February may not be that far down the road, but Valentine’s Day is likely the furthest thing from the male mind until approximately Feb. 13. Guys, I realize that it’s probably unrealistic to expect you to be planning your Valentine’s Day festivities this far in advance. But what if I told you that by putting just a little forethought into the holiday plan, you could both impress your lady and get more bang for your buck? Sound interesting? Well then, welcome to The Hautean Guy’s Guide to Rockin’ Valentine’s Day Out Loud: 2010 Edition.

When they walked through the then-new Honey Creek Mall, gawky teens with painted faces, they were like nothing Terre Haute had ever seen, a rag-tag coalition of kids whose support for their favorite band became the first draft of the KISS Army.
“We were like Wayne and Garth, from ‘Wayne’s World.’ We were all nerds, and I’m not ashamed to say that,” Bill Starkey laughs, remembering the days before KISS was a household name, let alone inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Now in their 50s, Starkey and …

Forget the pipers piping and drummers drumming. During the 2009 holiday season, music’s top sellers are artists who might make you believe it’s the 1960s all over again, courtesy new technology.
Still, in a tough economy, local musicians hope they don’t get lost in the mix.

“This is the Christmas tree emporium of the entire Midwest,” announces the tree lot proprietor in the movie A Christmas Story. Leading the Parker family around his collection of pre-cut trees, he grabs a nearby pine, “Now you ain’t gonna find no better tree, than this here tree. This here tree is built to last. Ain’t no needles fallin’ off this tree” he proclaims as the tree leaves a wreath’s worth of needles on the ground. Discarding that one, he moves on to another, exclaiming, “Now, this here is a …