Frank McKinney Jr.

full name: Frank Edward McKinney, Jr.

born 3 November 1938 in Indianapolis, Ind.

son of Frank Edward McKinney (Wikipedia entry)

died 11 September 1992 in a mid-air collision between two (small) aircraft. McKinney was traveling to Columbus, Ohio, with three other Indianapolis civic leaders (a, b and c), who were also killed along with the pilots of both aircraft

first wife: Katherine Berry (div. 1987)
second wife: Marianne Williams

Father of Frank McKinney 3rd and five other children: Martie, Marlen, Madeleine, Robert and Heather.

Olympic swimming champion (backstroke) in 1956 and 1960

Succeeded his father, Frank McKinney, as president of American Fletcher National Bank, which was bought by Bank One in 1986; chairman of Bank One Indiana and president of its Ohio-based parent company, Banc One.

New York Times obituary

Wikipedia entry

Frank McKinney

http://www.frank-mckinney.com/

(more to come)

this page is about Frank McKinney, the son of Frank McKinney Jr.

John Mellencamp

Born and grew up in Seymour, Ind.

Official website.

(more to come)

Paul Samuelson

Economist Paul Samuelson, who won a Nobel prize for his effort to bring mathematical analysis into economics, helped shape tax policy in the Kennedy administration and wrote a textbook read by millions of college students, died Sunday [13 December 2009]. He was 94. See: Associated Press article in Indianapolis Business Journal.

Samuelson was born in Gary, Ind., in 1915.

See also: Wikipedia.

Pete Dye

(more to come)

full name: Paul Dye

Born in Urbana, Ohio.
Son of: Paul and Elizabeth Dye.

This golf course designer moved to Indianapolis (from Ohio) in 1950.

Official site

Married: 1950

Wife: Alice Holliday O'Neal (born in Indianapolis in 1927)

Elder son: Perry O'Neal Dye

Younger son: Paul Burke(P.B.) Dye, born in 1955.

Perry Dye Courses Designed with Pete Dye

Dan Quayle

J. Danforth Quayle
Sarah Palin = Dan Quayle

more to come

Wendell Willkie

see: Wikipedia (photo also from Wikipedia)

full name: Lewis Wendell Willkie

born: Elwood, Indiana, 18 February 1892
son of: Herman Willkie, an immigrant from Aschersleben, Germany, and Henrietta Trisch

married in 1919; wife: Edith Wilk,a librarian from Rushville, Indiana
son: Philip

died: New York, New York, 8 October 1944

defeated in 1940 presidential race by Franklin Delano Roosevelt

reportedly had an affair with Madame Chiang Kai-shek:
"According to Gardner Cowles, publisher of the Des Moines Register, Willkie's visit to the Republic of China led to a bizarre consequence: Soong May-ling, wife of Chiang Kai-shek, the hugely ambitious co-ruler and First Lady of China, developed the idea that she could seduce and marry Willkie, use China's wealth to help him become president in 1944, and thus become the most powerful woman in the world. Cowles claimed that the affair was consummated in China, and that on a visit to the U.S. a few months later, she told him "If Wendell could be elected, then he and I would rule the world. I would rule the Orient and Wendell would rule the western world." He pointedly did not dismiss the possibility that Willkie, had he been nominated, might have accepted her highly improbable offer on some level."[http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/11-4-2003-47260.asp]

Madame Chiang Kai-shek

maiden name: Soong May-ling

born: 1898 in Shanghai, China
died: 2003 (at the age of 106)

Wife of leader of Nationalist Chinese Government

Reputed mistress of Wendell Willkie, the Indiana native who was defeated in the 1940 presidential race by Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

see: The Last Empress by Hannah Pakula (Simon & Schuster, 2009).

James Baskett

born: 16 February 1904; died: 9 July 1948

Buried in section 37 of Crown Hill Cemetery, Indianapolis

This Indianapolis native starred as Uncle Remus in the 1946 Disney classic film, "Song of the South" (he also voiced Brer Fox).

He also appeared in these films:
Harlem is Heaven
Straight to Heaven
Revenge of the Zombies

He also played lawyer Gabby Gibson on the "Amos 'n' Andy" radio show from 1944-48.

Entry in Wikipedia.

Nobel Laureates

A total of eight Nobel Laureates are affiliated with Indiana University: six as researchers prior to, during, or after they received the Nobel Prize and one as a part-time student at a regional campus. Of the Nobel Laureates, five were in the life sciences, two in physics, reports I.U.

The most recent is:
Elinor Ostrom
Arthur F. Bentley Professor of Political Science, IU Bloomington (current)
Awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences 2009
See: this


Riccardo Giacconi
Fulbright Fellow in the Department of Physics at IU in 1958 and 1959
Awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 2002

Ferid Murad
Attended classes during the summer at Indiana University, between 1954 and 1957
Awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1998


Renato Dulbecco
Faculty member at Indiana University from 1946-49
Awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1975

Salvador E. Luria
Instructor, Assistant Professor, and Associate Professor of Bacteriology at Indiana University from 1943-1950
Awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1969

J. Hans D. Jensen
Visiting Professor at Indiana University in 1953
Awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 1963

James D. Watson
Graduate student at IU 1947-1950; Ph.D. in Zoology at Indiana University in 1950
Awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology 1962

Hermann Joseph Muller
Faculty member at Indiana University (Zoology Department) from 1945-1964
Awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1946

Elinor Ostrom

Ostrom Wins Nobel Prize in Economics

Indiana University professor Elinor Ostrom has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, an achievement that honors a lifetime of groundbreaking research, teaching, and scholarship.

She is the first woman to win the prize in economics, which has been awarded since 1969. She shares the award with Oliver Williamson, Edgar F. Kaiser Professor Emeritus of Business, Economics, and Law at the University of California, Berkeley.

Ostrom was recognized by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for her analysis of economic governance, especially the commons.

John Wooden

(draft)
legendary UCLA basketball coach
born 14 October 1910 in (rural) Martinsville, Ind.
died 4 June 2010

From The Indianapolis Star
Published 13 October 2009
ref: http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009910130340

HALL, Ind. -- John Wooden turns 99 Wednesday [14 October 2009]. He is a legend living out his days in his adopted clamorous land of southern California, still a high bar no basketball coach can even dream of reaching.

Here, at a sleepy crossroads with no stoplights and no businesses, where the only sounds on a Sunday were birds and a lawn mower, seemed the spot to mark the occasion.
Advertisement

John Wooden's birthplace.

No signs. No plaques. The only place the name "Wooden" can still be found are pictures of old Sunday school classes on the wall of Mt. Pleasant Christian Church.

I came across Denzil Hurt, a retired farmer and Hall lifer, watching a NASCAR race in his barn. Sure, Hurt said, his father and uncle knew little John Wooden. They shot baskets with him on a farm outside of town, before Wooden's family moved down the road to another town when he was 8.

Wooden's a pretty famous native son, wouldn't you think Hall might have something to let passersby know?

"Who in the (heck) is going to drive to Hall," Hurt asked, "to see a John Wooden sign?"

Wooden's name has come to mind lately while watching the depressing mess playing out in Tallahassee, Fla., with Florida State football coach Bobby Bowden.

Wooden retired at 64 with his 10th national championship in 12 years at UCLA. Heaven knows how long he could have won, but he settled into autumn as a basketball statesman and UCLA courtside spectator.

No board of trustee member ever went public to complain about Wooden staying too long. He left them only wanting more.

Who in Hall would understand that? The only sign of public commerce is the Hall Grocery and Post Office, but the paint is badly peeling, the windows dark, the doors locked. The last carton of milk was sold years ago.

Nearby lives Bill McCarns, who used to own the store. He was sitting with family and friends, watching NASCAR. Care to guess the most popular sport in John Wooden's hometown?

"You're in redneck country," Amanda Traut was saying. She also had a question. "Who's John Wooden?"

McCarns grimaced.

"C'mon. He went from here to California, won I don't know how many championships. He never got the recognition around here that Bobby Knight got, and Wooden deserves it."

Indiana University, where Knight built his own kingdom, is maybe an hour south. Still, wouldn't people in Hall know John Wooden?
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"The old timers? Every one of them," McCarns said. "This is a laid back place. The people know whose car goes by, if they live a mile away.

"We used to have a mortuary, a gas station, a bank, a pool hall. They're all gone now. The store closed 13 years ago. We tried it for 10 years and just couldn't make it. The most people that ever was in the store at one time was the day they opened the lottery."

Wooden became a civic treasure amid the millions of Los Angeles. The population of Hall?

McCarns simply counted households. It didn't take long.

Hurt doesn't have a lot of inside information on little John Wooden. "If I wanted to know about him, everyone here's dead and gone," he said.

But he remembers watching UCLA games, right? "Not any more than I had to. To me, basketball is Indiana."

The issue was where, exactly, Wooden was born. From which location did Hall send Westwood its wizard?

Hurt, McCarns and the others pondered that a spell. "It was just the other side of the stop sign."

Wherever it was, the structure is long gone. What remains is a sliver of wood on a white barn outside of town, painted over many times, that once served as a backboard for the town boys.

"Every time Wooden's name came up," Hurt said, "my dad said he played basketball right here."

Soybean fields surround the barn. Off in the distance, trucks roll across the Midwest on Interstate 70. John Wooden turns 99 Wednesday and the game still speaks his name in almost hushed reverence. It all started here.

---
Wooden dies at age 99: http://sports.espn.go.com/los-angeles/news/story?id=5253601

---
John Wooden: What the legendary coach got wrong about basketball --
http://www.slate.com/toolbar.aspx?action=print&id=2256117

Max Ehrmann

1872-1945
Poet from Terre Haute, Ind.
author of "Desiderata"
of German descent

Madame de Staël

(Anne Louise Germaine de Staël-Holstein: 22 April 1766 – 14 July 1817; photo is from Wikipedia)

An Indiana connection to this French-speaking author of Swiss origin? Bien sûr!

The Madame de Staël Collection resides at Butler University, Indianapolis.

”The more I see of men the more I like dogs,” is one of Madame de Staël’s oftquoted epigrams. During her lifetime, Staël’s words were powerful enough to have her banned from her home country. Napoleon was so upset by her praise for German culture in De l’Allemagne that in 1810 he exiled Staël from France."

The collection, donated by Esther A. Renfrew Paddock, contains materials by and about Madame de Staël. Some items are in French. Materials are cataloged in the library’s on-line catalog and may be found by searching on the following form of Staël’s name as both author and subject: Staël, Madame de (Anne-Louise-Germaine), 1766-1817.

Dante

(Durante degli Alighieri (May/June c.1265 – September 14, 1321), commonly known as Dante)

An Indiana connection? Of course!

One of the most complete collection of Dante's work (3,000+ volumes) is found in the Zahm Dante Collection at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend.

"Purchased for the most part by John A. Zahm, C.S.C., in 1902 from the Italian Dantophile Giulio Acquaticci, the 15th- and 16th-century imprints form the heart of the Dante collection, which totals nearly 3,000 volumes. Rare editions and critical studies ranging from the Renaissance to the present include eight incunabula and almost every edition published in the 16th century."

In addition, "The William & Katherine Devers Program in Dante Studies at the University of Notre Dame supports rare book acquisitions in the John A. Zahm, C.S.C., Dante Collection, as well as teaching and research about Dante across the Arts & Letters curriculum, in particular in the Medieval and Italian Studies areas, through the sponsorship of conferences, fellowships, lecture series, seminars, and visiting professorships."

Lotus Dickey

Lotus Dickey (1911-1989)

The folk singer, songwriter, and musician from rural Orange County, Indiana, wrote tunes and songs that drew from his family and community, as well as from country singers and fiddlers he heard on the radio. Each year, the Lotus World Music and Arts Festival in Bloomington honors Lotus Dickey's memory.

(more to come)

Kurt Vonnegut

born in Indianapolis

books:
"Cat's Cradle"
etc.

more to come

Greg Kinnear

Gregory Kinnear

Logansport, Ind., native.

Gregory Kinnear was born in Logansport, Indiana, the son of Suzanne, a homemaker, and Edward Kinnear, a career diplomat who worked for the U.S. State Department.

Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside

According to the Indiana Historical Marker (ID# : 81.1963.1) located at Main & Union Streets, NW lawn, Courthouse Square, Liberty. (Union County, Indiana) and erected in 1963, Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside (1824-1881) was:

Born in Liberty, Indiana, Ambrose E. Burnside invented the breech-loading rifle in 1856. Commanded a brigade at First Bull Run and the Army of the Potomac at Fredericksburg. He was commander of the Army of Ohio when Morgan's Raiders were captured.

Schuyler Colfax

According to Indiana Historical Marker (ID# : 71.1966.2) located at Colfax & Taylor Streets, South Bend. (St. Joseph County, Indiana) erected in 1966:

Prominent newspaperman and political leader; member of Congress, 1855-1869; Speaker, House of Representatives, 1863-1869; and Vice-President of the United States, 1869-1873.

Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle

According to the Indiana Historical Marker (ID# : 75.2000.1) erected South of US 30 on CR 50 E/ N. Range Road, 0.6 mile east of the La Porte & Starke county line & Kankakee River; Turkey Foot Conservation Area parking lot, Davis Station, Hamlet area. (Starke County, Indiana) in 2000:

Side one:

Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, born Rouen, France 1643; died 1687. Emigrated 1666 to New France (near present Montreal, Quebec, Canada). Led explorations 1679-1682 in search of trade, expanded empire for France, and mouth of Mississippi River. On April 9, 1682 claimed entire Mississippi River basin for France, naming it Louisiana.

Side two:

In 1679, La Salle and his men came to present Indiana traveling on St. Joseph and Kankakee rivers. They canoed down the meandering Kankakee River through vast marsh-swamp-dune ecosystems--which covered over 625 square miles and teemed with game including fish, waterfowl, and mammals. Kankakee River forms part of northern and northwestern boundary of Starke County.

Edwin Way Teale

According to Indiana State Historical Marker (ID#: 64.2009.1) at 285 East U.S. Highway 20, Chesterton, IN (Porter County) erected in 2009:

Side One

Born 1899 in Illinois, Teale became an influential naturalist, author, and photographer[ who won 1966 Pulitzer Prize for his book Wandering Through Winter. Teale wrote that boyhood summers and holidays spent near here at his grandparents’ farm inspired his interest in nature. Teale moved to New York City; employed by Popular Science Monthly 1928-1941.



Side Two

Teale published his first critically acclaimed book, Grassroot Jungles, in 1937. In 1943, he published Dune Boy, recollections of time spent exploring the dunes and woodlands in this area. During his life, he wrote, edited, and contributed to over 30 books, which educated Americans about nature’s importance and beauty. He died in Connecticut in 1980.

Howard W. Hawks

Howard W. Hawks was (according to his historical marker, erected at 301 South Fifth Street at Jefferson, SW corner, Goshen. (Elkhart County, Indiana) in 1998 (ID# : 20.1998.1):

Born 1896 in house on this site into locally prominent family. Moved with parents to Neenah, Wisconsin 1899 and to Pasadena, California 1906. Hawks - director, producer, screenwriter - is recognized as one of Hollywood's greatest filmmakers. His more than forty-six movies include fine examples of traditional film genres, both comedy and drama. Died 1977.

John Wooden

Legendary UCLA basketball coach "Johnny" Wooden is from Martinsville

(more to come)

"Where were you on July 20, 1969?"

Everybody knows that the first man on the moon -- Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Amstrong, is an alumnus of Purdue University in West Lafayette, right? It's been 40 years since he climbed out of the lunar excursion module ("The Eagle has landed.")on 20 July 1969. He put one foot onto the surface of the Moon and said, simply: "It's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

Among the items left behind (on purpose) is a memorial for the three American astronauts and two Soviet cosmonauts who had lost their lives in earlier space exploration. One of the Americans was another Hoosier: Virgil "Gus" Grissom, who (with the two other astronauts from Apollo 1) died in a fire aboard the spacecraft's command module during a training exercise on 27 January 1967.

Purdue, of course, remembers. According to the Purdue news bureau, mementos, artifacts and personal papers from Neil Armstrong, Eugene Cernan and other Purdue astronaut alumni will be on display through 30 October 2009 as the university celebrates its rich space heritage and the 40th anniversary of the historic first walk on the moon.

Purdue Libraries' Archives and Special Collections will present the exhibit, titled "Purdue's Place in Space: From the Midwest to the Moon." The exhibit, which is free and open to the public, will be on display in the new Virginia Kelly Karnes Archives & Special Collections Research Center on the fourth floor of the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Education Library in Stewart Center on the West Lafayette campus.

By the way, that weird numbered item in the photo is a slide rule -- dating from the days before calculators took over computations.

See also: this (on Mashable).

In addition, parts of the spacecraft were made at the Allison plant in Indianapolis (now part of Rolls Royce).

Booth Tarkington

Full name: Newton Booth Tarkington

Indianapolis

"Magnificent Ambersons" set in Woodruff Place neighborhood of Indianapolis

(more to come)

Benjamin Harrison

President Benjamin Harrison Memorial Home, Indianapolis

(more to come)

William Henry Harrison

Grouseland, Vincennes, Indiana

"Old Tippecanoe"

(more to come)

May Aufderheide

Full name: May Frances Aufderheide

born: 21 May 1888 in Indianapolis, Indiana
father: J. H. Aufderheide
husband: Thomas M. Kaufman

died: 1 September 1972 in Pasadena, California; buried in Mountain View Mausoleum, Altadena, California

composer of ragtime music, including "Blue Ribbon Rag"

References:
Wikipedia

Julia Niebergall

Full name: Julia Lee Niebergall

born in 1886 in Indianapolis, Indiana

died in 1968 in Indianapolis, Indiana

pianist and composer of "Hoosier Rag"

Albert Von Tilzer

Original name: Albert Gumm (a shortened form of Gumbinski, Guminski, Gummblinsky, Gumbinsky, or...)

Born: 29 March 1878 in Indianapolis, Indiana
Parents: mother's maiden name was Tilzer

Died: 1 October 1956 in Los Angeles, California

Songwriter: most notably, "Take Me Out To The Ball Game"

References:
Wikipedia
Parlorsongs.com

Theodore Dreiser

Full name: Theodore Herman Albert Dreiser

born: 27 August 1871 in Terre Haute, Indiana
parents: Sarah and John Paul Dreiser
older brother: composer Paul Dresser

author of (among others) "Sister Carrie"

died 28 December 1945

References:
International Theodore Dreiser Society
Dreiser on the Web
Wikipedia

Paul Dresser

Original name: Johann Paul Dreiser Jr.

born 24 May 1857 in Terre Haute, Indiana
parents: Sarah and John Paul Dreiser
Younger brother: author Theodore Dreiser

died 30 January 1906 in New York City; buried in Saint Boniface Cemetery, Chicago

Composed Indiana's state song: "On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away".

References:
Wikipedia
"On the Banks of the Wabash"

Hoagy Carmichael

Full name: Hoagland Howard Carmichael

born: 22 November 1899 in Bloomington, Indiana

died: 27 December 1981 in Rancho Mirage, California; buried in Rose Hill Cemetery, Bloomington


References:
"Official" website
Hoagy Carmichael Collection
Wikipedia

Cole Porter

Full name: Cole Albert Porter

Born in Peru, Indiana, on 9 June 1891

Died 15 October 1964 in Santa Monica, California, and is buried in Peru's Mount Hope Cemetery

The Cole Porter Festival is held each year on the weekend nearest 9 June in Peru.

References:
Wikipedia
The Cole Porter Birthplace
Cole Porter Archive
Cole Porter Resource Site

Mrs. James Ward Thorne

A native of Vincennes, Indiana; born Narcissa Hoffman Niblack in 1882; married at age nineteen the son of the co-founder of Montgomery Ward & Co.; died in 1966.

She was responsible for the 68 miniature rooms on display since 1954 in the Art Institute of Chicago, and several in the Indianapolis Children's Museum and other places; set the standard of 1-inch/1-foot for miniature rooms. Pictured is one of her rooms, at left, modeled from the Entrance Hall (1835-1845) of The Hermitage, near Nashville, Tennessee.

Although she lived in a country estate at 600 South Ridge Road, Lake Forest, Ill., she had an apartment and studio on Oak Street in Chicago, where she employed craftsmen to produce the rooms, including Eugene Kupjack, between 1932 and 1940.

Biographical notes:
Father (?): Mason Jenks Niblack (1857-1926), Indiana State Representative 1897-1901, 1915
Uncle: Rear Admiral Albert Parker Niblack

Sources:
Thorne Miniature Rooms, Art Institute of Chicago
Lake Forest Library, 1995
Chicago Postcard Museum
The Dolls House Emporium

Norman Norell

The fashion designer was from Indiana.

(more to come)

Halston

Roy Halston Frowick grew up in Evansville, Ind.

(more later)

Bill Blass

The fashion designer was born in Fort Wayne, Ind.


(more to come)

John Birch Society

Founded in Indianapolis.

(more to come)

Mike Tyson

Committed rape in Indianapolis, was tried and sentenced in Indianapolis, and served his jail time in Plainfield.

(more to come)

Jane Pauley

Started in television at Indianapolis' WISH-TV 8.

Osama Bin Ladin

Yes, Mr. Bin Ladin visited Indiana, according to Steve Coll in The New Yorker:

"The question of whether Osama bin Laden has ever visited the United States, a subject on which I have expended an unhealthy amount of energy in the course of various journalistic and biographical research, has now seemingly been settled. Osama was here for two weeks in 1979, it seems, and he visited Indiana and Los Angeles, among other places."

David Letterman

From Indianapolis

Michael Jackson

Of course, Michael Jackson was born in Gary, Indiana!
He was born 29 August 1958 to Joe Jackson, a steelworker, and his wife, Katherine.
He died 25 June 2009 in Los Angeles, California.

Various links about his death:

The World Mourns Michael Jackson

Tricky Steps From Boy to Superstar

The Passing of a Pop Icon - Video Library - The New York Times

His Moves Expressed as Much as His Music

A Sequined Glove That Mesmerized the World

Remembering Michael Jackson: The Thrill That Was "Thriller"

The M.J. Comeback We’ll Never See

Slate on Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson: Beyond Music

Michael Jackson (CNN)

Michael Jackson (Salon)

Jackson Reaction

Jackson Crossover

Michael Jackson

Jackson (Huffington Post)

Demerol Shot Caused Death (TMZ)

Jackson (Huffington Post)

Remembering Jackson (Daily Beast)

Capriole Farms

Scroll down to highlighted paragraph

National Harbor, Md. (June 18, 2009) – Visit Old Hickory Steakhouse at Gaylord National Resort and spend an hour with the Capital Region’s only full-time Maitre d’Fromage, and you’ll soon realize you’re not speaking with an amateur. An expert on the complexities of fine cheese – its flavors, textures, heritages, aging processes and wine mates – Carolyn Stromberg offers for her guests’ enjoyment an ever-changing variety of more than two dozen artisanal cheeses, painstakingly nurtured in the restaurant’s own cheese cave.

But, as fine-tuned as her cheese pedigree is, Stromberg doesn’t intimidate. Instead, she’s often described as being “as approachable as her cheeses; and as lovely as the care put into making them.”
Her biggest passion is sharing her knowledge and enthusiasm. So for those times opportunities to experiment or entertain at home, she offers her tips for assembling the perfect summer cheese plate:

• If you plan to serve wine with your cheese, you should select the wine first, then the cheeses. For summer, lighter wines are de rigeur: Sauvignon blanc or a sparkling wine are perfect. For example, a rich and creamy triple-crème like Brillat-Savarin will pair perfectly with a light and sparkly dry champagne. Or, try pairing one wine with five cheeses, or five wines and five cheeses.
  

• Goat and young sheep milk cheeses are at their peak in the summer. Select a soft goat cheese such as Valençay from the Loire Valley, which has an ashed rind; a young goat’s milk cheese; or a blend of goat, sheep and cow milk like La Tur.

• A bleu cheese can also be a great choice, as some bleus lean toward flavors that are bright, clean and citrusy. Stromberg is fond of Black River Blue from Wisconsin.

• Aged cheeses are refreshing in summertime as well. Try Garrotxa, from the Basque region of Spain. An aged goat’s milk cheese, its flavor is mellow, nutty and approachable. Another is Pecorino Ginepro, an aged sheep’s milk cheese from Italy with bright, tangy flavors that is soaked in crushed juniper berries and balsamic vinegar.

• Ask the cheesemonger at your cheese shop, farmer’s market, or web vendor for their personal recommendations. Be sure to sample first if you can, and as Stromberg says, “Eat what you like!”

• Stromberg also suggests you try a themed cheese plate. For example, you can select five types of goat cheese; samplings from different regions of France; or nouveau artisanal offerings of creative domestic cheeses rubbed with spices or herbs, such as coffee or lavender.

• Serve your soft cheese selections with a plain baguette or wafer-thin plain crackers. Fruit – green apples, grapes, cherries or plums – and nuts – Spanish marcona almonds, pecans or candied walnuts – are excellent accompaniments as well.

• If serving a rustic, informal cheese board from which guests serve themselves, each cheese should be served with its own knife to avoid mixing the flavors. If presenting a more traditional, formal cheese plate to each guest, place the mildest cheese at the six o’clock position (closest to the bottom center) on the serving plate. Moving clockwise, the cheeses should progress from mildest to strongest.

• Don’t forget to give the cheese time to come to room temperature before serving. Soft cheeses should be removed from the refrigerator half an hour before serving; hard cheeses an hour.

Have fun exploring – and be sure to visit Stromber at Old Hickory Steakhouse to report back on your summer cheese plate!

About Maitre d’Fromage Carolyn Stromberg
Carolyn Stromberg is passionate about cheese – so passionate, she has made it her life’s work. The only dedicated Maitre d’Fromage in the Washington, D.C. region, she satisfies guests at the Old Hickory Steakhouse at Gaylord National Resort nightly with a hand-selected variety of cheeses from her collection housed in the restaurant’s cheese cave.
Raised in Buffalo, New York, Carolyn has lived in the Washington, D.C. region for more than 10 years, since graduating from George Washington University. She developed her affinity for fine cuisine early and began writing about it just out of college. Her fascination with cheese developed while she was working with the cheese program at Palena restaurant alongside former White House executive sous chef Frank A. Ruta. There she met Sue Conley, owner of the famed California-based cheese-maker Cowgirl Creamery, and soon went to work for Conley at the company’s Washington, D.C. store.

Carolyn works closely with her purveyors to ensure that she has on hand the “best of seasonal cheeses, and a selection of different textures and flavors from a variety of countries,” including cheese from Meadow Creek Dairy, a family-run farm in Galax, Virginia. Her presentation is personalized as well; every night she carefully arranges twenty or more varieties on a custom-made cheese trolley for the perusal of her patrons. After her entertaining and educational presentation, guests make their selections for either their starter course or grand finale.

Carolyn’s all-time favorite cheese is Sofia, a soft, bright goat’s milk cheese dusted in ash made by Capriole Farms in Indiana.

# # #

About Gaylord National Resort
Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center opened April 25, 2008 along the banks of the Potomac River, less than eight miles south of the nation’s capital, in National Harbor, Md., a new 300-acre waterfront destination. The Gaylord National Resort is the largest combined hotel and convention center on the Eastern Seaboard, offering 2,000 guest rooms, including 110 lavish suites; more than 470,000 square feet of convention, meeting, exhibit and pre-function space; acclaimed restaurants; Relâche™ Spa; Pose Ultra Lounge; and a soaring 18-story, glass-covered atrium. For more information, visit www.gaylordnational.com.

John Muir

John Muir was born in Dunbar, Scotland, on 21 April 1838.
He died 24 December 1914 in California.

Indianapolis Connection: Muir settled in Indianapolis at the age of 28. From April 1866 to March 1867 he worked for carriage wheel manufacturer Osgood and Smith first as a sawyer and later as foreman.

After an industrial accident injured an eye, he resigned his job and moved to Wisconsin.

In August 1867 he began his famous thousand-mile walk to the Gulf of Mexico and later settled in California where he worked to preserve natural resources.

(more to come)

Amelia Earhart

"In the fall of 1935, Amelia joined the faculty of Purdue University, serving as a counselor in the study of careers for women and an adviser in aeronautics. In July 1936, Amelia acquired a new Lockheed Electra airplane she called her “Flying Laboratory.” It was purchased with funds from the Purdue Research Foundation. With her new airplane, Amelia began seriously planning a world flight at the equator."

source: here.

Ku Klux Klan

D. C. Stephenson: here.

John Dillinger

John Dillinger (22 June 1903–22 July 1934) was a bank robber in the midwestern United States during the early 1930s.

He was born (and is buried) in Indianapolis.

Newest movie about his exploits is Public Enemies, out in 2009 and starring Johnny Depp as Dillinger. See this review in Slate.

Check out this post by Indy blogger Ruth Holladay about the whereabouts of, ahem, Dillinger's penis (or at least the photo of it).

And, the Indiana State Library, 315 West Ohio Street, Indianapolis, has a Dillinger exhibit on display 15 July through 31 December 2009. The exhibit includes artifacts, photographs and documents to give visitors a look into the life of John Dillinger and what factors led this ordinary Hoosier farm boy towards a life of crime.

Capt. Chesley Sullenberger

Chesley Sullenberger, a pilot for US Airways since 1980, received a master's degree from Purdue University in 1973.

He's best known these days as the pilot of an Airbus A320 on US Airways Flight 1549, a commercial passenger flight from New York's LaGuardia Airport to Charlotte, NC, that on 15 January 2009 successfully made an emergency landing in the Hudson River adjacent to Manhattan. All 155 occupants were safely evacuated.

Supreme Court Delays Sale of Chrysler to Fiat

The New York Times reports: The Supreme Court agreed Monday afternoon [8 June 2009]to delay the sale of most of Chrysler's assets to Fiat pending further consideration of an appeal by three Indiana state funds and several consumer groups, in a move that injects a new element of uncertainty over the carmaker’s fate.

Read it all here.