Indianapolis Blog

We're looking for passionate and enthusiastic individual to be the Guide to the Indianapolis, IN site on About.com!

What sort of information do we want the new Guide to provide?
Well, we're looking for someone to be the source of information for residents, particularly newcomers. This means creating things like:

• Neighborhood profiles
• Walking tours
• Bar and restaurant reviews
• Profiles of places of culture like museums and theaters
• Information on local government and civic services

What sort of person are we looking for to be the new Guide to Indianapolis, IN?
Our ideal candidate:

• Someone with experience writing about the area, either in print, online, or in a blog.
• A local resident who lives within fifty miles of the city and can keep their ear on the pulse of events for people of all ages and backgrounds.

If this sounds like you, and you've got excellent writing skills and the desire to reach and teach a broad audience through your writing, why not go over to our application site to learn more about our hiring program and submit an application?

A record number of students are expected to attend the first day of spring semester classes Monday at Ivy Tech Community College. The 23-campus system has enrolled 79,366 students statewide this semester, up more than 10 percent over the first day of classes last spring, the college said in a statement.

Ivy Tech is the country's largest statewide community college system. And it remains affordable. Students can earn an associate's degree for less than $6,000.

Logo: Courtesy of Ivy Tech

The Colts' season and their run in the RCA Dome ended in disappointment Sunday, with a narrow loss to the San Diego Chargers. Will the game also be the last for Coach Tony Dungy? Dungy plans to decide in the next week whether he will return for a seventh season with the Colts. His family already has moved back to Tampa, their former home. Do you think he'll return?

Are you ready for some football? The Indianapolis Colts take on the San Diego Chargers at the RCA Dome at 1 p.m. Sunday for the right to play in the AFC championship. The winner takes on either the New England Patriots or the Jacksonville Jaguars. The game will be broadcast on WISH-8 and WFNI 1070-AM. Besides the game, there are several storylines here: Unless both Jacksonville and Indianapolis win, the game will be the last in the RCA Dome. The new Lucas Oil Stadium is on target to open later this year. There's also some speculation that this could be the last for Coach Tony Dungy, who led the Colts to their Super Bowl victory last year. The Indianapolis Star has a complete game preview here.

Photo: Jonathan Daniel / Getty Images

An Indianapolis museum that briefly showcased superhero memorabilia and a replica Batmobile has closed. The American Super Heroes Museum was the brainchild of local collector Dane Nash, who owns one of the nation's largest superhero collections. His treasures include costumes worn by every actor who has ever played Superman on TV or in the movies, along with posters and signed memorabilia. His museum, which opened in March 2007, also featured replicas of the 1989 Michael Keaton Batmobile and the 1986 Adam West Batboat. The museum's off-the-beaten-path location near Union Station likely played a role in its demise.

Photo ©Cory Schouten, Licensed to About.com

Critics of newly elected Mayor Greg Ballard have quickly found a home on the Web. A new blog dubbed Accidental Mayor has attracted a fervent following with critical posts about Ballard, who pulled off a shocking upset of incumbent mayor Bart Peterson in November. The blog is written by local Democratic pundit Jennifer Wagner and named for a phrase WISH-TV political reporter Jim Shella used on election night. For a link to the blog and more on Indy's growing blogosphere, check out the Top Blogs in Indianapolis.

Photo: Bill Truslow / Getty Images

The new provost of Ivy Tech, Indiana's community-college giant, plans to hire about 200 new full-time professors after he takes over the role in March. Ivy Tech, the nation's largest statewide community college system, has 23 campuses and more than 110,000 students in Indiana. The college hopes to add new professors to raise the proportion of classes taught by full-timers to 50 percent. The new provost, Donald S. Doucette, previously was a a vice chancellor at Metropolitan Community College in Kansas City. Ivy Tech just announced the appointment.

This weekend, check out a "whimsical collection of physical comedy and dance" at the Indiana Repertory Theatre. The Dance Kaleidoscope show features three dances set to Mozart, Gilbert & Sullivan and Bach. The dances, Merry Mozart, G&S.com and In The Moog, comprise one of only five shows this season for the hometown contemporary dance company. Funny Feet runs through Sunday, Jan. 6. Tickets range from $34 to $36 for adults. Student tickets are $15. Shows are 8 p.m. Friday, 8 p.m. Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Saturday. For more information, check here.

Photo: Courtesy of Dance Kaleidoscope

An annual study of the nation's most literate cities placed Indianapolis in the middle of the pack, at 29th. The study, from Central Connecticut State University, placed the Circle City just after Charlotte, N.C., Baltimore and New York City. The study focused on "key indicators" of a literate population, including newspaper circulation, number of bookstores and educational attainment. The most literate of 69 cities considered was Minneapolis and the least literate was Stockton, Calif.

The Indianapolis Colts will play their last regular season game ever at the RCA Dome this weekend. And at 1 p.m. on Jan. 13, the team could play its last playoff game in the 57,980-seat stadium (The Colts has a first-round bye and don't yet know their first playoff opponent). The new Lucas Oil Stadium now casts a shadow over the former Hoosier Dome, which opened in 1984. Downtown was languishing before the arena began to rise, and city leaders took a big risk building the stadium without a tenant. Then the Colts agreed to move from Baltimore, providing the catalyst for a major revitalization of downtown.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons