New issue of The Ryder
Here’s your personal copy of the new issue of The Ryder
Unlike other publications that feature year-end reviews before January 1st, at The Ryder it’s a tradition not to start production on our annual retrospective until after the dawning of the New Year. We do this in part so some on our masthead can enjoy the holidays, but also so we can shoehorn in considerations of late-breaking events that happen right up to the moment the departing year gives up the ghost.
Late-breaking events in 2020 once again validated our quirk – we’d have been heartbroken if we couldn’t have had John Bob Slone weigh in on the December 30th passing of Gilligan’s Island icon Dawn Wells as he does on page 56 of this issue. Then, just as our production cycle was closing, January 6th happened.
Like many the world over, the extended Ryder family struggled to process what it saw. As we prepare to publish, we have no idea what’s going to unfold in Washington, DC, between now and the Joe Biden inauguration on January 20th. And, in this, we know we’re not alone, either. But that’s kind the de facto theme of this issue: interconnectedness.
Bloomington isn’t Brigadoon. Geographically, psychologically, financially, artistically, politically, despite our “blue island” status, we are part of larger wholes: the region, the state, the nation, the world, the environment; formal and informal professional and social networks. So we asked not just some of our usual Bloomington contributors to weigh in with considerations, but folks from outside Bloomington as well. The New York Times’ John Schwartz, playwright Richard Byrne, jack-of-all-tradesman Kent Jenkins Jr, Aussie reporter Ross Coulthart, editor Jeff Sartain and, via Jason Vest, honorary Bloomingtonian James McMurtry all answered the call. And, in considering both immediate past and immediate future of living in a one-party state, ace Indiana political reporter Brian Howey reminds that possibly the only thing more divisive than a literal wall is a shrewdly-drawn electoral district line.
These days of course, you don’t have to live a world away to feel like you’ve living in an unfamiliar land. And if you should go somewhere foreign, you might find that in some respects it’s not that different from home, as perpetual wanderlusters Mason Cassady and John Linnemeier share in this issue through two very different experiences: In Mason’s case, braving the threat of guns and dogs while roaming through the backroads of southern Indiana, armed with nothing but a US Census Bureau clipboard; and in John’s case, discovering a better angel of human nature alive in spirit on a remote Atlantic island.
From her perch in Madison, Indiana, author, Hanover College professor and former Bloomingtonian Robyn Ryle considers best reads of 2020 through an engagingly idiosyncratic lens, while closer to home our own Joan Hawkins locates her Best in Film 2020 list in the midst of quiet revolution of pandemic-bound US audiences against the provincialism not of Americans, but of American film distributors. Our own Brian Stout kicks off a diverse set of 2020’s musical standouts, with help from some of the best on-air personalities of WFHB. And in additional to asking local sci-fi/fantasy sage Dan Melnick to share his 2020 TV favorites, we also opened up considerations of memorable TV moments to the growing Ryder family.
Someone once said, “Don’t look back.” Bob Dylan? Satchel Paige? Maybe both of them. This isn’t the first time we’ve ignored sound advice from our elders. Actually, that’s our job. We hope you have as much fun reading this issue as we did putting it together.
The Ryder is distributed free and costs are normally covered by advertising, but not during the pandemic. This issue of The Ryder is funded in part by a Recover Forward grant from the Bloomington Urban Enterprise Association, The grant covers some of our expenses, but not all.
As you flip through this issue of the magazine (118 pages this month!) if you should see a story that you like, or if you would just want to support local, independent journalism, please consider making a donation.