Ep. 25 - Anna Darling - Fox 59 Report and Wife of the Host
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Intro
It is not an exaggeration to say that Anna Darling, for many years of my life, was my only friend (at least within a reasonable distance). I don’t mean this in a sad way, but rather the situations we existed in made it difficult for me to make anything beyond acquaintances. So that is to say, at various points in my life and even still as I have existed in community, Anna Darling has always been a piece of that community.
One of my favorite memories is from 2020. In West Lafayette, IN, waking up each morning in March and April (just after the COVID lockdown began) to tend to my Animal Crossing village, with Anna there to watch. Weirdly, caring for that virtual town was also laying the foundation for what is a much longer journey together from Indiana to Arkansas and back again. And like in any relationship, there have been struggles to deal with, but if you can get through COVID, long distance, multiple moves, 8 months of unemployment, among other things, I imagine that there is little that can sway whatever bond was partially formed on my little Animal Crossing island.
As always, I am thankful for Anna, and doubly thankful that she accepted my invitation to join me on the podcast. I hope you enjoy listening.
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Important links and mentions
Production learnings from the episode
Robert Jordan is not Arthur Jordan. Just to be clear. Robert Jordan is a renowned fantasy writer who is well-liked. Arthur Jordan is the deposed racist guy who has had his name removed from many places around IUB’s campus. Apologies for this minor mistake in the pod 😂.
Also, I think the audio on this podcast is quite good. It’s always the photography that falls short. The lighting is a bit flat, and I think the blinds behind us offer a weird glare. As I think further about this, I really wonder what the best way to get truly good-looking video is, or if it’s even possible within the context of how I record. Always on the mind.
Writing heading
No real thoughts to share this week. Brain empty.
But hey if you’re interested, there is a Safe Streets Protest happening on Nov. 23rd. Check it out.
Third Space Indy is supported by City Rising
Episode Summary
Discovering Community Through Nature with Anna Darling
In this episode of Third Space Indy, host Michael Zarick sits down with his wife, Anna Darling, a Fox 59 reporter, to reflect on their shared experiences in various communities from West Lafayette to Fayetteville and back to Indianapolis. They discuss the significance of nature as a third space, recount vibrant memories of college dorm life, and the transition into adulthood, making friends in new cities. Anna shares her favorite third spaces, including the parks and local businesses in each city, and reflects on cherished memories of camping with her family. The episode highlights the importance of human connection and discovering community wherever you are.
00:00 Finding Peace in Nature
01:38 Introduction to Third Space Indy
02:14 Meet Anna Darling
04:28 College Memories and Community
14:53 Life in West Lafayette
21:06 Moving to Fayetteville, Arkansas
31:47 Discovering City Park
32:25 Exploring the Monon Trail
33:38 Moving Back to Indianapolis
34:06 Perceptions of Indianapolis
35:55 Rediscovering Local Areas
38:09 The Charm of Garfield Park
42:12 The Power of Third Spaces
46:34 Reflecting on Family Camping
48:51 Nostalgia for Old Malls
51:45 Closing Thoughts and Questions
Episode Transcript
Anna Darling
===
Anna Darling: [00:00:00] I think there's great people who are making the outdoors and making that the place where people can connect and learn about their community and like find peace. a few months ago when everything was popping off in the news in like the worst ways, I remember talking with my therapist about.
It's like I sit on scroll on my phone and it's just like death, destruction, chaos back to back. And then I like look out my window and the sun is shining and like the squirrels are running around and the wind is blowing and it's like, it's the juxtaposition of like, the world looks like it's burning, but then you look out your window and it's just a beautiful day.
And I think, there's power in going out and touching grass and hugging the tree and, using that to help recenter yourself in this kind of chaotic world. It's free to go and walk around your neighborhood. And there's so much beauty that you can look back on and, and feel happiness from. And so I think third spaces to me are, is the outdoors. And [00:01:00] because that's a place where anybody can come and meet and we can do free yoga in the, in the park with Tony.
We can go on walks with friends, we can debate porches. Like, I don't know. I feel like that's the theme throughout my life has been nature and the power of the outdoors.
Anna Darling: Mic check. 1, 2, 3.
Michael Zarick: You don't need to do that. We're past that. Mic
Anna Darling: check. Mic check. Mic check.
Michael Zarick: Hello, uh, my name is Michael Zarick and this is Third Space Indy. Today's guest is somebody very special to me. If you don't know her name has come up. Maybe not her name, but certainly her title has come up in every episode of the podcast. So far.
Anna Darling: Current wife,
Michael Zarick: my current wife, Anna Darling, the light of my life. We've been married [00:02:00] for, oh, a little over a year. We've been dating for much longer and still friends for
Anna Darling: much longer,
Michael Zarick: friends for
Anna Darling: even
Michael Zarick: longer, 10 years, more than since 2014, where we met in Bloomington. The reason Anna Darling is coming on, she did not ask, I asked her is because this is the 25th episode of Third Space Indy.
25th of fifth official episode. There's two bonus snaps. There's twos bonus episodes. That's true. Uh. And there will likely be more bonus episodes as I satiate my craving for content, my own personal craving.
Anna Darling: Welcome to my world.
Michael Zarick: Anna is a Fox 59 reporter, which we will not be discussing today, and for the most part, uh, but more importantly, Anna is my wife, my best friend, and somebody who is, uh, I pull along and tell the names of random people until she, the only reason Anna knows any of the people on this podcast is because they're on the podcast and she [00:03:00] is the most valiant listener other than my mother.
Anna Darling: Yeah, I listen to every episode on Mondays, usually when it drops, and I know like all the people and like the backstories of how you met the people and like the funny interactions you have. And I hear about all the woes of your, uh, technical difficulties first. You know, it's, it's quite the rollercoaster.
Michael Zarick: , And to the point of Anna being, uh, a news person, this, this more than any other activity in my life, this has given me a sincere, respect for the people in the news. First of all, they're on that grind. My job on this podcast, it's much easier than the people who are out there day to day reporting.
Anna Darling: It's a lot of hard work, for sure.
Michael Zarick: Yeah.
Anna Darling: Yeah. And then when you also inevitably hit, forget to press record or forget to turn on your mic, or, you know, I've been there and I, I, I can relate.
Michael Zarick: Yeah.
Anna Darling: I feel your struggle.
Michael Zarick: It's a cyclical [00:04:00] relationship we have here. Um, but anyways, Anna, uh, said that she had a specific topic in mind that she wanted to discuss on the podcast.
Unless that, unless you've gone back on that, in which case we can just talk.
Anna Darling: You told me to not, you told me this was your podcast and that you would ask the questions. So I, I ceased planning, so
Michael Zarick: Perfect. Okay. In that case, I do have some ideas of what we'll talk about. Um, so I'd like to talk about Indianapolis community in the context of our 10 years knowing each other.
Anna Darling: Okay.
Michael Zarick: Is that, yeah. Is that so? Yeah. When we first met, we were at Indianapolis Bloomington. Um,
Anna Darling: IU Bloomington.
Michael Zarick: What the fuck am I saying? Are you Bloomington
Anna Darling: In Bloomington?
Michael Zarick: Bloomington, Indiana.
Anna Darling: Indiana University,
Michael Zarick: home of Indiana University. Not Indiana [00:05:00] State or the University of Indiana. Neither of those other things.
We lived in a dorm called Forest and I lived on the eighth floor, which was all male. Anna lived on the ninth floor, which was all female. Mm-hmm. And, uh, because we had to enforce gender roles, our individual RAs, uh
Anna Darling: they scheduled a speed friending event
Michael Zarick: Yeah.
Anna Darling: For our floors.
Michael Zarick: Yeah.
I don't wanna talk too much. You should speak.
Anna Darling: And we did not meet in the speed friending, but yeah. My friend on my floor did meet with you and afterwards she said when it was all done, she said, Anna, meet Michael. And I just remember you were really tall and I was like, hi. And you were like, Hey. And that's, that's kind of how we first met.
And then our floors would just hang out all the time, which was fun. And then later when I joined my sorority, you were already friends with the girl who I would become best friends with. Kirsten.
Michael Zarick: Yeah.
Anna Darling: So it just kind of [00:06:00] all,
Michael Zarick: You stole friends from me.
Anna Darling: Yeah. We just,
Michael Zarick: that's what I heard.
Anna Darling: I mean, shout out Kirsten.
She's my girl. So yeah. I mean, we just had friends in common and our floors would hang out and I would just like see you around and you were always so like friendly and like not, I don't know, I was always so comfortable around you. 'cause boys were always weird. I don't know.
Michael Zarick: Yeah. Well I'm glad I give off a comforting aura.
Yes.
Anna Darling: I was always very comfortable and happy being your friend.
Michael Zarick: so the reason I wanted to start at the very beginning is because when you think about community spaces. Not only are college campuses such excellent, um, conduits mm-hmm. For human connection. They are specifically in many cases built to foster that type of thing.
But on a more pointed level, like dormitories, the, the, [00:07:00] the authoritarian demands of a university to force freshmen to live in a dormitory Yeah. Is actually like a perfect way to like force you to meet people and make friends.
Anna Darling: Yes. It's very pivotal. Very pivotal. Yeah. And especially you're in a whole new environment with all these new people.
I had a random roommate, so I didn't even know the, the person I was like moving into with Uhhuh and, and uh, the people on the floor. You have no idea. I mean, all the other floors on forest were co-ed. Our floors were the only ones who were single gendered, which was interesting. I don't know. I feel like it was,
Michael Zarick: honestly, as somebody who went to an all male high school,
Anna Darling: you were already,
Michael Zarick: I was already, I was already fine.
But also like, I, I don't know what it would be like to live on a coed floor. It probably wasn't that much different. Yeah. But I really enjoyed the, the, it was like being in a fraternity. Mm-hmm. Despite never joining one.
Anna Darling: It felt like a fraternity going down to that floor. It
Michael Zarick: smelled a little
Anna Darling: bit, the smells, the vibes, but, but all the guys on floor [00:08:00] eight, I liked them all.
They were all pretty good.
Michael Zarick: And also like, I felt like there was a, a, a level of like comradery of like being the all boys floor. Mm-hmm. They're all the all male floor where it's just like,
Anna Darling: yeah.
Michael Zarick: Yeah. Where men, and can I say this on the podcast, I was the first guy to have a girl spend the night. We didn't do, did you know that?
Anna Darling: What?
Michael Zarick: You didn't know that?
Anna Darling: No.
Michael Zarick: Am I allowed to tell, tell you this?
Anna Darling: We're learning new things on this podcast.
Michael Zarick: I, I garnered respect from. The other men on the floor by having, I, there was no activity beyond this girl spending the night in our
Anna Darling: room. But you, you were,
Michael Zarick: you were the first one, but all these guys were like, what the fuck Michael was?
Anna Darling: So, but see, you were always like that feeling I had. You were just like that, like women, you were friendly and welcoming and not creepy, not pressury. Just like, I just want, you're like, I just wanna be friends with you. And like that was something, a lot of those boys that were on your [00:09:00] floor probably had not mastered yet.
Michael Zarick: Yeah. Um,
Anna Darling: if they do it all, who knows, but yeah. I'm not surprised to hear that.
Okay. So we were, had you had a question and a point about college dorms Yes. And college experiences. Uhhuh. I I have a thought
Michael Zarick: please.
Anna Darling: So a little bit about me. 'cause I, I grew up in Brownsburg, but when I say Brownsburg, I say, I mean the cornfields of Brownsburg. So, you know, I literally, it took me 20 minutes to drive anywhere, to go to school, to go to the grocery store.
So I didn't have like a neighborhood to run around in. I didn't have like third spaces and community gatherings. Places were just not super accessible to me growing up in like, my childhood unless like my parents took me to town or something like that. Mm-hmm. Or when I got, became able to drive, like I could go places then obviously.
Going to iu. It was my first time really being in that kind of environment where, like, I lived on campus, there was coffee shops nearby, there was restaurants nearby, there was [00:10:00] events happening on campus. There was, I could take the bus. That was my first time really taking public transportation. Um, having to figure out like where my classes were and like navigate campus.
Like that was my true kind of first time. I think discovering third spaces and what, like a different type of lifestyle could look like besides like what I grew up with. Mm-hmm.
Michael Zarick: Because you literally grew up in a cornfield.
Anna Darling: Literal cornfields. Yeah, literal cornfields. There's no sidewalks. There's, you know, where my parents live, it's like middle of nowhere.
the street is busy. It's not safe to like really go out there on like, like we have to walk on like the other back roads to just like walk.
Michael Zarick: It's hardly safe in the daylight, let alone in the nighttime.
Anna Darling: Yeah. So, but I mean. My backyard was my third space. You know, that was my, the place where I went and like had fun and that was my creative outlet.
And because I did, I couldn't go anywhere else. Yeah. So I just played in the backyard and had so much fun running around in the corn fields.
Michael Zarick: What about college was [00:11:00] like, when, when you think about, um, the friends you've made mm-hmm. Like what do you think was so appealing about college? Because I think a lot of people who go to a college, especially like IU, have that yearning, especially right when you leave.
Like we saw with, um, your old coworker, Evan, who went to IU also. Mm-hmm. Like there, we as people who are a few years removed, like. We're like, oh, this guy needs to move on. But it's like there's a reason you have that yearning, right? When you
Anna Darling: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: When you leave college. Like, what do you think about college?
Anna Darling: No, I
Michael Zarick: was like, IU for you.
Anna Darling: I was heartbroken. Hi Mommy Cat podcast debut. This is our cat mama.
I was devastated to leave IU. I was one of those people who was like, I am so happy here. Um, I think it's just places like I, because of the accessibility of like, everything and all your friends are right there and you all meet up and then, you know, I, I joined a sorority at IU and that's how I like found my community and my like small group of [00:12:00] people because a school like IU is very overwhelming.
It's huge. And it's like going from like a small, like, I mean, I had to like, what, 800 people in my graduating class, so I didn't go to like a small school by any means. Mm-hmm. But like, those are kids that I knew since I was in preschool. And so then it's like, okay, this is your first time getting out there, making new friends on your own, finding yourself and finding like, okay, like, yeah, I did marching band in color guard in high school and I like rode horses in high school, but like, I can't do that here.
So what are my new interests? And like, how am I gonna find my new peak group of people? Mm-hmm. And so then it's like, okay, for me that was Greek life and joining a sorority, a lot of people have, you know, it has, it has its connotations, whatever. But um, I lived in an, I was in an unhoused sorority, so I did not live in a house.
So that also kind of forced me to have to like make friends within my sorority.
Michael Zarick: Just for anybody who [00:13:00] doesn't know unhoused sorority does not mean. It just means your sorority did not have a dedicated
Anna Darling: Yes.
Michael Zarick: Living space.
Anna Darling: Exactly. Like we didn't have like a big Srat mansion on North Jordan, which it's now Eagleson Avenue now.
Yeah. Whatever it is.
Michael Zarick: Rest in peace. Robert Jordan.
Anna Darling: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: Not really.
Anna Darling: Not really. But um, so, you know, you had to really even go even harder to find friends within that and you know, that's when I found the bike team and doing little 500 and my interest there. And so, I don't know. I think it's um, just like college is just so much about your, like you're on your own and you've gotta really take ownership of that.
And I think and finding those cool coffee shops. And then when you turn 21, like finding the bar that you like to go to, that fits your friend vibe. And then
Michael Zarick: what's your bar, Anna
Anna Darling: Upstairs.
Michael Zarick: No hesitation.
Anna Darling: Upstairs was
Michael Zarick: always place. Well we have to clarify that. We liked Upstairs. Before it. Before. Before
Anna Darling: it was cool.
Michael Zarick: And now it is cool.
Anna Darling: 100%.
Michael Zarick: And that's. We sound so lame saying that, but literally
Anna Darling: we were there when [00:14:00] underwear was still stapled to the steel, to the ceiling. So
Michael Zarick: I forgot about
Anna Darling: that. And so yeah, it's a whole different vibe there now and a better vibe. It's even better now that than,
Michael Zarick: yeah, honestly, now that's like legitimized.
It is actually better.
Anna Darling: It's, it's amazing. And they still don't charge cover, so God bless Upstairs. I don't know if they still do free popcorn anymore, but, but I think college is just so formative. It's your first time out there on your own. And a place like Bloomington where there's great restaurants, the campus is just beautiful.
There's so many clubs and activities and ways to get involved. Bloomington is just a beautiful area. Like you can go hiking, you can go to Brown County, like there's just great areas near nearby. It, it's just the perfect, perfect location. So
Michael Zarick: There are other perfect locations, but I use the perfect, it's,
Anna Darling: it's very special there for sure.
Michael Zarick: Um, okay, so then. After college you moved to West Lafayette, Indiana.
Anna Darling: Yes.
Michael Zarick: We're gonna do the whole progression.
Anna Darling: We're gonna go through the whole [00:15:00] life.
Michael Zarick: We're going the whole life.
Anna Darling: Yes.
Michael Zarick: We moved to West Lafayette, Indiana. And actually I think it's interesting to think about West Lafayette in the context of community because, uh, at least West Lafayette, by our perception, we were straight out of college.
Mm-hmm. So it, I didn't live with you the first six months, but when I moved in with you in 2019, uh, you were in a weird point where it was the, the population of West Lafayette was too young for you to hang out with. 'cause they're all still in college and you don't like, and I did not
Anna Darling: wanna hang out with Purdue students.
Michael Zarick: You don't go hang out with Purdue students as an IU person.
Anna Darling: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: But also the adult population was sort of family focused. Mm-hmm. People who were, let's say 35 and up.
Anna Darling: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: With at least one child.
Anna Darling: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: So that's also isolating. So. As somebody fresh out of college, your main friend group was your coworkers mm-hmm.
Who were also fresh out of college. So can you tell me a little bit about that, sort [00:16:00] of how you found community at work in a weird way?
Anna Darling: Yeah. Um, working in news, it's a very, like trauma bonding experience. Uh, you know, it's, it's really tough right out of the gate, nothing as much as you can try with college and other pre experiences, it's nothing really prepares you for entering that, that field and the pressure and the deadlines and the expectations and then everything else.
So it's a very overwhelming experience, kind of. And then you're in like a tiny town and it's like, okay, where do you find news? What's going on in West Lafayette? What's happening? And like, you know, we, you do find it, there is stuff happening up there and, uh, shout out to. Lafayette, I, you know, you shout them, you know, it was, it was rough going to Purdue land.
But, you know, I'm very grateful for that experience there. Um, but I think the friends that I made who came in kind of the same time as me, we were all kind of in the same boat. None of us were from there. We were all trying to figure out this job together. And [00:17:00] I think it's just a very pivotal experience that we could, like, lean on each other and, you know, laugh about the experiences together.
I mean, you've, you've sat through many of our conversations and things where we talk about, oh, this, this happened with this Vosa. No, that live shot went down and the vo and, you know, you, you just know the lingo and the nitty gritty of what happened of, of your day and just how crazy it can be. So I think that's where, um, I was just really blessed to have really great friends that I met and I'm still friends with today.
So shout out to Micah and Marvin
Michael Zarick: Literally, literally world travelers.
Anna Darling: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: All of you
Anna Darling: love them. Yeah. But it was definitely hard like finding. Like it's in college, it's all set up for you. It's all right there.
Michael Zarick: Mm-hmm.
Anna Darling: And then when you become an adult, whether you move to Chicago right out of college or you move to West Lafayette, Indiana, it's so hard to like make that transition to then it's like, okay, where do I find it's not all set up for me now?
Like how do I find my people and how do I find community? And that's where I think a, [00:18:00] a lot of that fear and anxiety of leaving college and entering the adult world on top of, okay, now you got bills, now you got student loans, now you gotta do all this stuff. Or, you know, it's, it's overwhelming and I think scary.
Michael Zarick: Yeah. And I also think that like, even for me who didn't have like work friends, 'cause I worked at like a restaurant. Um, but like I was, I don't know if you remember this, but I slowly was. Uh, creeping my way into becoming friends with the local librarian. Do you remember that?
Anna Darling: No.
Michael Zarick: Um, 'cause I was really interested in Dungeons and Dragons.
Mm-hmm. And I had just ended my tenure as a camp counselor.
Anna Darling: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: And so I was trying to become friends with the local librarian to run This is ringing a bell. A youth dungeon and dragons like after school thing, but then COVID hit. Yeah. And that
Anna Darling: like, and then
Michael Zarick: shut down all of that.
Anna Darling: See, I always, I think about that, like what would've our West Lafayette experience been like had the pandemic not hit because, you know, that was a [00:19:00] huge, huge thing.
Like whatever access to third spaces we did have was just immediately cut off. Mm-hmm. And, you know, I at least had work and my friends through work and who were your friends as well. But like, I think about you and I'm like, you, you really did not have much of like a friend group there. And like I, I
Michael Zarick: played a lot of World Warcraft during a lot of World Warcraft and Rocket League during COVID.
Anna Darling: Yeah. That was tough. For sure.
Michael Zarick: Um, yeah. I think the idea of, oh, COVID, unfortunately, in a very negative sense is a deep hindrance to people's ability to associate with each other. Yeah. And I think we're still, we don't even understand the fallout of that yet.
Anna Darling: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: But in the context of our lives, like it completely shut down any, like, it actually like reinforced our, our direct relationship, you and I.
Anna Darling: Mm-hmm.
Michael Zarick: Because we were [00:20:00] forced to spend all the time
Anna Darling: together. We made it, we, I remember joking, it's like, if we can make it through this, like we're, we're golden.
Michael Zarick: But I have like no West Lafayette friends.
Anna Darling: No,
Michael Zarick: no. No. Like real human contact from that time. No other than you and our cat.
Anna Darling: Our cat. And going to Sushi Don and getting our favorite spicy tuna with lemon roll and going to Happy Hollow Park and sitting outside and eating our sushi.
That was a good, that's a good memory.
Michael Zarick: Oh, shout out to Happy Hollow Park. The only beautiful part of
Anna Darling: Yeah,
Michael Zarick: West Lafayette,
Anna Darling: that, that was my third space that that park like kept me sane. 'cause I would just go on walks like all the time and it was beautiful and that was like the only safe thing to do.
Michael Zarick: Mm-hmm.
Anna Darling: But yeah, shout out to that park.
Michael Zarick: Okay, the next thing we did in 2021 is that 2021. 2021. Oh my God. Our lives are so weird. Uh,
Anna Darling: woo.
Michael Zarick: We're not doing this.
Anna Darling: Pig [00:21:00] Sooey. Razorbacks. I will not be partaking in that.
You were such a fan.
Michael Zarick: I just, okay, so in 2021, just Anna previewed it, if you're a sports fan, uh, we moved to Fayetteville, Arkansas, and when you hear Arkansas as the place you're gonna move.
I wonder if you, the listener, get a little bit of ick, because
Anna Darling: what do you think
Michael Zarick: internally? We got, we got ick.
Anna Darling: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: I think both of us had a level of ick.
Anna Darling: I think it's just a question mark. I was like, where is Arkansas? That's also true. I had no frame of reference. I'd never like you hear about like the Little Rock five in history class, but like, that was like, that's it.
Michael Zarick: Yeah.
Anna Darling: No, nothing. I had no idea.
Michael Zarick: Honestly, I didn't even know the Clintons were, were from before
Anna Darling: then. Oh, yeah, yeah. Bill Clinton, there's a, there was a contestant on The Bachelor who was from Arkansas and she
Michael Zarick: had, and that, and that guy from, um, Love Is Blind. [00:22:00]
Anna Darling: Oh my gosh. Yeah. Yeah. But that she had like such a twangy accent, and I remember she was like a rice farmer or whatever, so I knew that there was like rice in Arkansas, but we never, that was like, that's a whole different part of the state.
We never even like saw rice farms, but whatever.
Michael Zarick: I never went to Little Rock and I never want
Anna Darling: go. No, I, I, I am good as well.
Michael Zarick: But where we live, which was the region called Northwest Arkansas, this is the people outside of Northwest Arkansas. Call it the Land of Milk and Honey, because that's where the Walton family has laid their roots.
Anna Darling: Tyson,
Michael Zarick: um, Tyson Chicken and that shipping company. JB Hunt. JB Hunt, the shipping company.
Anna Darling: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: And whatever they do, uh, all a mystery to me. Yay. Corporate overlords.
Anna Darling: Mm-hmm.
Michael Zarick: Um, but because of that, there is this sort of. Uh, I mean, Land of Milk and Honey is not too far off. It's a lovely part of the country and part of the state, especially.
Like, we actually, as soon as I looked up like an image of Fayetteville, I was like, oh, this looks really [00:23:00] nice.
Anna Darling: It looks, it looks pretty. It's like Ozark Mountains are right there. You're like, wow. It looks kind of scenic. It's like a cute college town. Fayetteville reminded me a lot of Bloomington, you know, in terms of its vibe,
Michael Zarick: Uhhuh.
So in the context, again, a context of our lives. Um, the community that we found in Fayetteville was sort of odd. Like it became like, I, there was a pizza shop that opened called Pizzeria Ruby. Always shout out Pizzeria Ruby. God
Anna Darling: bless Pizzeria Ruby.
Michael Zarick: I wish they could open a franchise here. Uh, maybe the best pizza in the country.
I'll say it.
Anna Darling: I best pasta.
Michael Zarick: Oh, their
Anna Darling: pasta. Oh my
Michael Zarick: Lord.
Anna Darling: The
Michael Zarick: tansu in the middle of Arkansas. A a large Bostonian man opened a pizza shop. Um. And I would go there regularly and became friends with, uh, the manager and some of the employees and like by extension became friends with them. So I would hang out with them outside.
And then you would do that. And then also you had a couple [00:24:00] of work friends that became, as always, a couple of work friends that sort of became regular recurring characters.
Anna Darling: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: Um,
Anna Darling: well it helped that, 'cause the apartment complex we lived in had housed, like other employees lived at this apartment complex.
Oh,
Michael Zarick: that's, that's true.
Anna Darling: So it was kind of Collegey esque a little bit where it was like, okay, like, you know, Haley was having a wine night or we were having New Year's Eve party at Will and Jens, and then it's like pool party day. So it was, it was, or game nights. We did game nights a lot. So it was, um, and we were all, again, not from Northwest Arkansas, we were all a bunch of transplants.
We were all a bunch of people who were like, we're in Arkansas, let's hang out and have fun. And so it was really. That was a fun way of kind of doing the adulting of making friends, and that was really awesome.
Michael Zarick: Mm-hmm. I would also say that's where, for me, my love of like, like small business, like not small businesses, but small business [00:25:00] owners came from.
Yeah. Because like, that's when we became friends with Whitney, who's the candle shop lady shop that, that's
Anna Darling: when we started going to farmer's markets. The,
Michael Zarick: the shout
Anna Darling: out to the Fayetteville Farmer's Market.
Michael Zarick: Uhhuh. And like I would, I frequented a coffee shop and became friends with the owner and a lot of the employees there.
So like the, because of the, the, and I didn't have the words the, the way I do now, the words to put to like why that was so much more meaningful to me than, than other sort of connections to businesses.
Anna Darling: Northwest Arkansas is truly like a small business like heaven, I feel. Mm-hmm. Like we. Never ate at a chain restaurant except for, what was that one, like Mexican restaurant that was kind of nearby our apartment.
Michael Zarick: Well, yeah, I go to Whataburger.
Anna Darling: Oh, well, Whataburger. Okay. Whatever. That's, that's a different, that's a different vibe. I'm like, I just like the, the small business restaurants, the coffee shops. You became friends with the, the coffee shop guy [00:26:00] down the
Michael Zarick: Yeah, it was Tommy.
Anna Darling: Tommy, yeah. Like, I don't know, it, it was just, that was a very eye-opening 'cause of experience 'cause of just like the diversity of like good, good local restaurants.
Mm-hmm. Like we had multiple bangers and you could have different types of, of cuisine that it's like you wouldn't expect in northwest Arkansas, but it was really good local food. Mm-hmm. this is the time where I feel like I also really started to develop a, an understanding of what, without, again, without the terminology, but like an understanding of like what a good, like community town looks like.
Mm-hmm.
Michael Zarick: Because there's a, a giant path similar to the Monon here in Indianapolis, but it's called the, the
Anna Darling: Razorback
Michael Zarick: Green Razorback Greenway. Everything is
Anna Darling: Woo Pig Sooey
Michael Zarick: woo pig sui down in Arkansas. Um, but a totally like interconnected system of [00:27:00] bike pads. Mm-hmm. Which also exists on an old train line. Yeah. Rest in peace.
Um, actually rest in peace in this case. , And also just like this understanding that what makes a place special is the people that live there, not the Walmarts Yeah. Or that type of thing. It's like the people of Fayetteville make Fayetteville interesting and that's why
Anna Darling: mm-hmm.
Michael Zarick: Frankly, Bentonville was less interesting to me.
Yeah. 'cause of the people of Fayetteville were, were more of, I, I I. It's not just like
Anna Darling: salt of the earth a little down. Yeah.
Michael Zarick: Well, it's more like they fit my interests more. Yeah. Like people who live in Bentonville fit their interests and That's cool. Yeah.
Anna Darling: It was very interesting the different like personalities of the towns in fa in northwest Arkansas, and you could kind of, you could go to Bentonville and get that like kind of upscale, trendy, like.
The, the bars there were really cool. I loved going up there for like, the bars and things, and of course for Crystal [00:28:00] Bridges, shout out to Crystal Bridges as a beautiful art free art museum. That was amazing. But then, like, Fayetteville just felt a little like Homeier and a little like, they had, um, George's Majestic, uh, lounge.
The Lounge, which was the, like
Michael Zarick: the, I never went there. You went there.
Anna Darling: It was, it was this like music bar that had been there for like decades and it just had that kind of like, lived in feel and like they were all about the local bands and things like that. So it just had a little bit more of like an older feel just 'cause I think Fayetteville had, like ex was a bigger town that existed more and just had kind of a deeper history compared to Bentonville, where Bentonville is more built up and things like that.
Yeah, because of the Waltons. Yeah. But you could go and get your different vibes in different places. Then you go to Springdale and you, that's where all the, you know, great Mexican food was. That's where 'cause of the Hispanic population there working for Tyson, like you. Uh, Marshallese people there. Like there was a lot more, I feel like some good diversity there.
So it was, it was just a really cool, really cool [00:29:00] place.
Michael Zarick: Just imagine in, in your mind right now, listener that, uh, Broad Ripple has mountains and that's kind of what Fayetteville feels, Fayetteville feels like. Like yeah, like if you imagine what Broadville Village, Broad Ripple Avenue is like, just imagine half a mile north or I guess in, in Fayetteville's case, like half a mile East, um, well actually all around, all in every direction.
There's just like random mountains in that.
Anna Darling: Yeah. Well, and um, going back to like your point about the Razorback Greenway, 'cause I think one of your guests, every time guests ask a question on your podcast, I always think like, what would I answer? Like, what would my answer be? And I think you asked, or somebody asked, I can't remember.
Like, what is a third space like somewhere else that you wish Indianapolis had, or do you remember that question?
Michael Zarick: Oh, that was a long time ago, but
Anna Darling: yeah. Yeah. And I thought about that a lot, and then I was like, oh my gosh. Because I was like, okay, like the Razorback Greenway, we have the Monon on, but like, what made the Razorback Greenway like [00:30:00] so much better in my, in my brain?
And I think it's because of like the utilization of the Greenway, like doing like the square, like they did an event called Square to Square, where like everybody would start up in Bentonville and then you'd ride your bikes down to Fayetteville and then in the, in the fall. And then in the spring they'd flip it and you'd go from Fayetteville up to mm-hmm.
Bentonville. And like that forced people to like get on the Greenway and like explore and like connect to different towns that you don't really necessarily go to. Like I would ride the green, we'd ride the Greenway to, to Fayetteville back and forth all the time. But without that event, we maybe wouldn't have gone all the way up to Bentonville and done that.
And then I think. Here in Broad Ripple, we do a really good job on the Monon of building up business around the, the Monon. 'cause you know, you can walk on the Monon here and you can go to Renee's and get your big fat juicy cinnamon roll. And then you can, uh, it goes right by the Broad Ripple Avenue, so you can like, go to the bars or whatever, I think.
And there's a bike [00:31:00] shop here that is accessible. But when I remember when we rode our bikes from downtown to Broad Ripple, I feel like there wasn't, it was just like a bike path.
Michael Zarick: Yeah. There's a lack of things between,
Anna Darling: there's lack of things.
Michael Zarick: Like, there's a lack of things between like, well there's reasons for that, but between like 38th and 16th
Anna Darling: basically.
Yeah. And I can't really speak for like North, like going up towards like Hamilton County 'cause I haven't, you know, gone up there. But, um, I just feel like on the Razorback Greenway, they did a great job of like, there was like restaurants, like we had, um, oh my gosh,
Michael Zarick: Nomad.
Anna Darling: Well,
what
Michael Zarick: do you
Anna Darling: the, you got the dispar me the big, there was the lumber yard that got turned into the big outdoor Oh, the
Michael Zarick: park Green?
No, park.
Anna Darling: City. Park. City Park. Oh my gosh. Like that is a business that was like designed to like be on a bike path where like people are riding their bike. It, it was this old lumber yard that they then [00:32:00] renovated into this, um, like restaurant, this huge outdoor, it's all the seating is outdoors. You order from the table and they bring you out, like burgers and things like that.
And they had fire pits and they had cornhole and they had lawn games and kids were running around and dogs were there. And it was just like, that's like, I'm like, I want that here. Which I think we do kind of have. I think, uh, the barbecue restaurant on the Monon, I think there are places like that that we just have not quite explored yet, but I feel like I want more of that.
Michael Zarick: Mm-hmm.
Anna Darling: On the Monon,
Michael Zarick: the Clubhouse is trying,
Anna Darling: the clubhouse is a great example. I think that's, I think Broad Ripple does, does what I want for the Monon really well. But I think when, when we did that, that bike ride, I was like, there's nothing to stop and do between downtown and Broad Ripple. And also when I think about having accessible bike, um, shops and things like that for when you get a flat tire, it's like if I get a flat tire when we just started in Indianapolis, [00:33:00] downtown, you know, I'm, I'm sure there's bike shops nearby.
I'm not sure. I haven't Googled that, but there are
Michael Zarick: not that
Anna Darling: many I think.
Michael Zarick: Especially on the path where
Anna Darling: you
Michael Zarick: would have a bike. Yeah.
Anna Darling: But I think the Razorback Green Way and just because I think cycling culture is just so big there. They think about those things and they, they kind of act accordingly. And so, but I think that would be, I would love to see the Monon become more like the Razorback Green way and like connecting people and becoming like a giant, just like third space path, you know?
Michael Zarick: Hmm. Uh,
Anna Darling: mommy cat,
Michael Zarick: the cat is back. So then from Fayetteville, we moved to Indianapolis back
Anna Darling: here,
Michael Zarick: Indiana last year, back home
Anna Darling: again.
Michael Zarick: We are now, uh, a little over a year in. Yeah, we moved. I Well you moved at the beginning of October. I moved at the end. What is this cat doing? What a demon. Um, [00:34:00] just
Anna Darling: see her on the
Michael Zarick: Yeah.
I'm a little video monitor.
Anna Darling: Highly recommend you watch this if you can. It's just funny watching
Michael Zarick: it. Um.
What is your opinion of Indianapolis as a say, a city or a community compared to, especially now that we are in the present?
Anna Darling: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: This is where we presently are like compared to where we, especially again as somebody who grew up here but not
Anna Darling: Yeah,
Michael Zarick: exactly. Grew up here.
Anna Darling: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: Like what is your perception of Indianapolis in terms of like as a community
Anna Darling: student? Yeah. I think I am learning a lot and overcoming my own kind of like perceived ness about Indianapolis living here and especially through the podcast and like all the exploring that we do because of the people you meet and like the places we get to go.
And because you're just an adventurous person in general, you really, you know, encourage me in that way. You know, I [00:35:00] definitely had like views of Indianapolis and you know, you hear, you know, the news here focuses a lot on the crime and you hear a lot about things and, and, you know, driving on the highway through kind of like those neighborhoods, you know, kind of like around the children's museum area.
you know, you see kind of like the rundown houses and you're like, I don't know, I just had like a, my own kind of ignorant kind of views of what Indianapolis was and things like that. And so it's been really cool coming back. Oh my gosh,
Michael Zarick: she just climbed into the suitcase. What did she do? I don't know if she can get out of there.
That's okay. She
Anna Darling: goes, we'll figure it out. She'll figure it out. yeah, I just had my perceived connotations of, of. Indianapolis. But I was excited to move back and excited to move to Broad Ripple. And I've definitely, I've gone places [00:36:00] since we've moved back that I've never been, hung hanging out in Fountain Square.
Riding the red line I think has been like, I mean, I know you're the biggest Red Line proponent here, and as an extension I have become a big fan of it. And, you know, I very much enjoy that connectedness and that ability to like, go to different places and experience different parts of the city very easily.
Um, and yeah, again, it's like you, you learn about the people and then you go to the restaurants and you go to the parks and you find your own community here again. Um, that's completely different than the one that I had growing up. Um, and it is a very different, different vibe and I think it's definitely, Indianapolis has changed a lot since.
We moved out.
Michael Zarick: So you said like you have gone places you've never gone before. Mm-hmm. Are there places that you previously knew of that you have gone recently that are like, Ooh, I never, like I've always wondered about this place, or, I've always heard about it and never [00:37:00] really knew.
Um,
Anna Darling: I would
Michael Zarick: just say, 'cause there's also the, sorry to interrupt. No, you, there's also the. Uh, idea of what is new or what has changed.
Anna Darling: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: Because there is a literal 10 year gap of you.
Anna Darling: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: Not living,
Anna Darling: I mean, 15 if we're
Michael Zarick: Yeah,
Anna Darling: we were really doing the math. Yeah. But, um, I mean like the whole like Fountain Square and like Garfield Park area never went growing up.
Literally never. Absolutely. Like I was my mom and dad, like my mom went to North Central. My dad went to Pike. We've always been kind of like a West side family. So like, you know, I'm more familiar with that side of town, so like the eastern side and like southeastern side of town. I definitely did not spend any time in really growing up.
And so like, I remember my cousin got married in Fountain Square when I was a senior in high school, and that was like my first time like seeing the fountain and I was like, oh, this is pretty cool. And that was kind of around the time when it was all starting to [00:38:00] like. Change mm-hmm. And things like that.
So I, uh, so I remember being there for that moment. And then, so it's really cool coming back and seeing how it's evolved even further. And then, um, yeah, going to Garfield Park, that is, that's what I want Broad Ripple Park to be. Hmm. Like I, that Garfield Park has such a, like a home feeling vibe. Like the homes are all around it.
Like, and I, you know, I love history. I love old things.
Michael Zarick: There are homes around Broad Ripple Park
Anna Darling: There are, well, it's a little bit more naturey, but I just, my point is I love history. I like, I get sad when things that are old get torn down or get changed, even though sometimes it is for the better. But, um, you know, going to Garfield Park, it's like, that feels like that park is, that's how it's been.
Like, I don't know. It just, it feels authentic and I, you see people. At the tennis courts and you see the farmer's market and it's beautiful [00:39:00] in that cute little library down there. And the conservatory. Like, I love seeing the postcards of like, from like the 19 teens of like, this is what this area, like they have the little Garfield Park Conservatory postcards.
And I'm like, I feel connected to that because it's like, that's what it looked like. This is what it looked like back then. And it still looks like that now. And I think that's really powerful. And um, and there I went with Ethan to that. There was a, like a, a music festival that they had there with, they had art vendors and, you know, it was just lively and it's, and it's just like right in that neighborhood and it's like the heartbeat of that neighborhood.
And I think it's, I'm, I've, I was telling my mom about it and she was like, she was like, I never went to Garfield Park growing up. So it's like my, like, you know, she never even went. So it's like, why would she have like, thought to take like her kids there? So it's kinda like. Kind of breaking a generational like cycle of like, and in [00:40:00] exploring the city and going places that you've never really gone to.
But I think they do such a great job in Garfield Park and in those cute little shops right there on Shelby Street. Shout out to the Indy Type shop and to the pen and pink. Mm-hmm. I love that bookstore that I could sit and talk with her all day about female literature, and I'm just, I love her. So, you know, they, they have great, you know, um, restaurants and shops that are very genuine to that area as well.
And so, yeah, I just think that's a part of town that I'm, I've very much enjoyed going to and all because the red line takes you right there.
Michael Zarick: Literally. Literally.
Anna Darling: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: I've never driven to Garfield Park.
Anna Darling: That would be such a haul. That would be far from, from Broad Ripple especially. I mean, everything's far from Broad Ripple because we have no direct access to the highway, so.
Michael Zarick: In my ideal world, no one has direct access to the highway, but don't get me started. Anyways. [00:41:00] Anna, it's time for the canned questions.
Anna Darling: Let's go.
Michael Zarick: We're, this has been a fun adventure to reflect a little bit. Um, thank you for sharing.
Anna Darling: You're welcome.
Michael Zarick: Mark Latta and cityrising.org have sponsored the podcast.
It's so funny.
Anna Darling: Ooh, shout out Mark.
Michael Zarick: Yeah, Mark, you still haven't met him?
Anna Darling: I still haven't.
Michael Zarick: Uh, you've met like a lot of,
Anna Darling: I've met a lot of the people, but not, not Mark.
Michael Zarick: Um, Mark owns a social impact studio called City Rising, and I wrote down a new tagline for it. It's from the website. City Rising is a social impact studio that leads and supports innovative projects that strengthen, celebrate and repair people in places.
If you are a people and or an organization and you are interested in sort of improving your lived environment, your neighborhood. You're whatever, and you are interested in doing that, centered on people, then I think Mark Latta would be a [00:42:00] great partner for you. Reach out to me or go to cityrising.org and get connected.
Uh, dang. I'm getting way, way better at that. Mark has sponsored a question. Uh, Anna, what is a third space to you? You've heard, you've heard me give the spiel so many
times.
Yes.
According to the guy who wrote the book. Third, you know, whatever.
You gotta remember the name of the guy that wrote the book.
Anna Darling: I don't remember his name.
If I, um, uh, so I think I might kind of frame it as like what has been like the universal third space for me in my life. And I feel like just the outdoors and nature have always been like my third space. 'cause I think about. I was a kid and I could only play out in the backyard. 'cause that was the only place I could go to like have fun when I got home from school.
So like my backyard,
Michael Zarick: hashtag cornfield,
Anna Darling: hashtag cornfield. Loved it. But I had so much fun. I had a great time [00:43:00] imagining my own worlds back there. And then it's like, okay, my family, we'd go camping all the time. And the Indiana, shout out to the Indiana State parks because we have fantastic parks and they're wonderful and they're beautiful and accessible.
Only about $7 to get in when you're an Indiana state, um, resident. So, you know, that's where my family, we spent all of our, a lot of our vacations and family time was camping and then, going to college and biking around Bloomington, you know, that's where I spent my time because I could just be outside.
And then, coming here and going on walks on Happy Hollow Park, Razorback Greenway, Monon on trail, like walking around our neighborhood. I just feel like. There's so much that you can like learn about your community by just walking around and like looking at the homes and seeing like, oh, that, that new statue is going up in Broad Ripple now.
Oh my God. Like that's
Michael Zarick: this very day of recording. I posted a photo on the Instagram story, the, I don't wanna call it [00:44:00] horrifying 'cause we were just talking about how it actually is not that bad looking when you look at it, but
Anna Darling: yeah,
Michael Zarick: the Scary New Metal Man is on going out the corner of college and
Broad Ripple Avenue
Anna Darling: but's, like when you go on a walk you can stop and look at it and like take a photo.
I don't know. And I think, and then learning on your podcast like the We Walk Indy and the, um, I think there's great people who are making the outdoors and making that the place where people can connect and like learn about their community and like find peace. I, um, you know, a few months ago when everything was kind of popping off in the news in like the worst ways, you know, I remember talking with my therapist about.
It's like I sit on scroll on my phone and it's just like death, destruction, chaos back to back. And then I like look out my window and like the sun is shining and like the squirrels are running around and the wind is blowing and it's like, it's the juxtaposition of like, the world looks like it's burning, but then you look out your window and it's just a beautiful day.
And I think, um, there's power in going out and [00:45:00] touching grass and hugging the tree and, you know, using that to help kind of recenter yourself in this kind of chaotic world. It's free to go and walk around your neighborhood. And there's so much beauty that you can, you know, you can take a, like I take photos of, I took some photos of some pretty trees on the Mona and on my walk this afternoon and, you know, and, and that's just like a, a memory that I can look out when it's gloomy and gross in the next few months and.
And look back on and, and feel happiness from. And so I think third spaces to me are, is the outdoors. And because that's a place where anybody can come and meet and we can do free yoga in the, in the park with Tony.
Michael Zarick: Shout to Tony.
Anna Darling: We can go on walks with friends, we can debate porches. Like, I don't know. I feel like that's the theme throughout my life has been nature and the power of the outdoors.
Michael Zarick: And if you're lucky and if you're [00:46:00] lucky, you get visited by a trail cat.
Anna Darling: Exactly.
Michael Zarick: You have not been lucky.
Anna Darling: You, you, unless I stealing all of my trail cat energy. But I'm so glad for you that you get to see all the cats. Shout out Mommy cat.
Michael Zarick: Yeah, this cat is the So I get the trail cats, you get the cat we live with.
Anna Darling: That's
Michael Zarick: the real truth. Unless you're not home, in which case she bothers me. Yeah. Like today when you went to the gym, she bothers me. My boss really likes Mommy Catt. She's like, oh, a cat meow. Just like that.
Anna Darling: Everyone loves mommy Cat. She's, she wins over everybody.
Michael Zarick: But
can you talk a little bit more about, um, spending time with your family while camping?
Anna Darling: Mm-hmm.
Michael Zarick: Like, why is that so important to you?
Anna Darling: Um, because I think it's like we're all, we have to be there, you know? Mm-hmm. We're all packed up. The food's there. You're driving to that place and then you're in the woods and it's like, so you're kind of like forced to all be there. But, you [00:47:00] know, I have a lot of fun memories of camping, of like, again, like being like, okay, bye mom and dad.
We're gonna go ride on our bikes and run around and like, make friends with like, I, I remember like getting like the addresses of like girls I would meet on the playground and I could, that the friends I would meet in that like week of camping and we'd, we'd be like, we're like, oh, we're gonna write to each other.
And of course we never really did. Yeah. But you know, I think there's, like, you make, it's like a, you really have community and comradery when you're camping because it's like everybody's out there and you see people's decorations and people are displaying their college flags and you smell all the food when you wake up in the morning and it's just a very kind of communal feeling.
And then when you're with your family and then you're sitting by the campfire and you finally get to actually like talk and you. Generally don't have cell service, so the phones aren't there. And you bring a book and you do a puzzle and it, it's just much more grounding. And I don't know, I feel like we always just really enjoyed it.
Mm-hmm. And again, Indiana state parks are beautiful and [00:48:00] accessible.
Michael Zarick: Mm-hmm.
Anna Darling: So,
Michael Zarick: yeah. I've never really talked about like summer camp on this podcast. Yeah. But that's a whole other thing is like,
Anna Darling: that's a whole other,
Michael Zarick: like a traditional go to live in a cabin for a week summer camp. And the summer camp you do with your family is like, that's like a totally different and wonderful experience.
Anna Darling: Yeah. same, same but different. Same, you know?
Michael Zarick: Yeah. Well different, uh, different group of people.
Anna Darling: Yes. Different vibes.
Michael Zarick: Uh, next question. What is a third space that used to exist that no longer exists that you miss?
Anna Darling: I've been,
Michael Zarick: I know you've been a while, you have a lot of answers
Anna Darling: to this. I, I really,
Michael Zarick: this was the original theme that you wanted to run with.
Anna Darling: Yeah. This was the question that I've said you should ask people.
Michael Zarick: Well, this is an Ed Fja question that we've Yes, I've absorbed.
Anna Darling: And then I was like, you should ask everybody that. 'cause I think it's a really good question.
Michael Zarick: It's actually always ends up being good.
Anna Darling: Um, I'm gonna shout out the malls that used to exist here in Indianapolis, Lafayette Square Mall and Circle Center.
I have very [00:49:00] vivid memory memories of going to Lafayette Square Mall with my mom and throwing coins in the fountain and everything there. And then going to Circle Center. Oh my gosh. Like getting to go downtown. The, like, I, I always loved the movie Eloise when I was a kid. Like the idea of being just like a little girl and like a big city and like, there's lights shopping.
Oh, it's a great one. We should watch it. But, um, it's just basically like the story of this girl who lives in a hotel in New York City and she like, you know,
Michael Zarick: oh, like Home Alone 2,
Anna Darling: kind of. But, you know, she, she just, she runs the place and like, she, they. Go on a carriage ride and go Christmas shopping. And I don't know, I just, so just like the, I like for me, my little cornfield self, cornfield girl getting to go downtown, go see the, the big cities, the skyscrapers.
And back then they did have horse drawn carriages downtown. They don't have them anymore, thankfully, because they're problematic. But I [00:50:00] loved seeing the horses on the trail and the, you know, downtown and going shopping and seeing the people there and the clothes and the mannequins. I don't know, it was just all very glamorous and um, I loved it and it was a very special place, especially during the holidays and going like around Christmas time.
And so, and moving back when I walked through Circle Center for the first time, and it's just a complete ghost town. It's heartbreaking.
Michael Zarick: It was like with me, right? Yeah. For the trailer.
Anna Darling: Uh, no, that was, um, oh, I was waiting to have lunch with somebody downtown. I was trying to kill some time and I was like, oh, Circle Center's right there.
Lemme go. Walk around. It's, it's heartbreaking how it's, it's a shell, it's a complete shell. And like, I'm like, oh, all these. I can still see the shops that were in those spots and the, the, um, kiosks at the middle that I, I don't, it's just Circle Center Mall was a very just like formative thing for me [00:51:00] growing up.
And it was always very special to get to go down there and, and experience people and experience the bustling city vibe. Mm-hmm. And you know, it was so different and so glamorous and I always really loved it. Um, I know there's great plans, I think in store for Circle Center and I think it will become something much better.
You know, I think there's like housing and more, a different, whole different vibe that's planned there. I'm not sure the details, but, um, I'm excited to see what it hopefully becomes and hopefully brings more, more life downtown, because that was a place I really missed.
Michael Zarick: Hashtag make Monument Circle a Chris
Anna Darling: Cringle.
Chris. Yeah.
Michael Zarick: Cringle Cr Ice. Ice. Christmas Market. Chris.
Anna Darling: Yeah, Chris Kindle. Mark.
Michael Zarick: We can't call it that
Anna Darling: because that's, yeah, that's Carmel.
Michael Zarick: Yeah. Whatever.
Anna Darling: But yeah, make it a Christmas market.
Michael Zarick: Uh, Anna the most avid Third Space Indy. Listener. Other than my mother, actually. Maybe more than my mother. I don't know.
My mom's, she listens to every episode, but slowly.
Anna Darling: Yeah,
Michael Zarick: but that's okay. My previous guest, you already [00:52:00] know this 'cause you cheated.
Anna Darling: It's 'cause I'm an avid listener.
Michael Zarick: Cheater, Nora Elder asks, are you an animal, mineral, or vegetable? May I add an addendum here? You cannot answer Cat.
Anna Darling: Okay. See, I was gonna say the animal one is, that's like a deep seated conundrum in my life because I'm a horse girl, but I'm also a cat girl.
Michael Zarick: Those are like the two,
Anna Darling: the most problematic ones. Very strong female stereotypes right there. So I, I've thought deeply about am I cat or am my horse? And I, what about
Michael Zarick: neither.
Anna Darling: See, but like I am
Michael Zarick: What calls do you,
Anna Darling: I mean, maybe squirrel right now.
Michael Zarick: Yeah.
Anna Darling: Just because
Michael Zarick: they, but that's why it's animal mineral or vegetable.
You can only pick one. And Except even though I did
Anna Darling: not. Yeah, you did all of them.
Michael Zarick: I did all of them. But it's my show.
Anna Darling: Yeah. I don't know. I mean, for vegetable, I think I would, I would go with corn, which is really funny [00:53:00] because it's, I grew up around corn. I have, I love eating corn. I love summertime.
Shout out to Maloney corn. Maloney farms out in Brownsburg. That's where we get our family's corn and it slaps.
Michael Zarick: I'm gonna ask a really stupid question.
Anna Darling: Okay.
Michael Zarick: Is corn a vegetable?
Anna Darling: I think it is.
Michael Zarick: Or is it a grain?
Anna Darling: I mean, I think when
Michael Zarick: it grows on grass,
Anna Darling: I think when you take corn kernels, that's a grain. But I think corn on the co, I don't know.
That's a, that's a, I could Google
it.
Michael Zarick: I'm not trying to be pedantic here.
Anna Darling: I can Google it.
Michael Zarick: I just, I genuinely don't know.
Anna Darling: Yeah, that's a great question. I think it is. I, I was thinking tomato before because I also love tomatoes, but that's a fruit. So it is corn, a vegetable? Yes. Yes. Oh, it can be considered both a vegetable and a grain depending on how it's used.
Michael Zarick: Mm-hmm.
Anna Darling: And botanically, it is a fruit.
Michael Zarick: That makes sense. Well, I think a lot of a vegetable is just a, a, um, [00:54:00] a legal designation.
Anna Darling: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: Whereas fruit is actually like a thing,
Anna Darling: an actual thing.
Michael Zarick: I'm pretty sure that's like how it rolls.
Anna Darling: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: Um, Do you have any mineral?
Anna Darling: I had to like, I I
Michael Zarick: You don't know any minerals?
Anna Darling: I'm not really, I know
Michael Zarick: lead
Anna Darling: calcium.
No, I dunno.
Michael Zarick: What are, what are horseshoes made out of? I,
Anna Darling: I metal like a metal of some kind. What kind of
Michael Zarick: horse girl are you?
Anna Darling: I'm not a farrier. I don't do, I don't do the feet,
Michael Zarick: Is there anything else you wanna talk about?
Anna Darling: I'll just, I'll hop out, I'll give this
Michael Zarick: Get on your high Horse
Anna Darling: ha Horse by Musgraves a great song.
Maybe that'll be my walkout song.
Michael Zarick: That's really the, and I asked you what your walkout song would be like more than two months ago.
Anna Darling: You know how much music overwhelms me and stresses me out. I'll just say how proud I am of you.
Michael Zarick: Ooh. And
Anna Darling: doing this podcast, like,
Michael Zarick: shout out to Patrick [00:55:00] Armstrong. Who do you want to give your flowers?
Or
Anna Darling: your flowers? Yeah. I'm gonna give my bouquet of flowers to you.
Michael Zarick: There's a bouquet of flowers over there you can
Anna Darling: handle.
Yeah, I do have, I have a lot of plants in here too. you know, I'm always, I, I try to say this as much as I can. So thankful for you for coming with me on all of these places that we've gone.
'cause it's generally been for my career move that we've moved to West Lafayette to Fayetteville, back to Indianapolis. Yeah.
Michael Zarick: Let's make it very clear. I didn't move here by choice.
Anna Darling: I, I asked you, I said, Hey, do you wanna go back? And you said, yeah. Um, so I'm very grateful for you for doing that. I'm grateful for you for, uh, just being with me through all the chaos that has been, you know, the ups and downs of my career.
Mm-hmm. And then, um, you know how brave you were when you got laid off. I think I've said this to you before where I'm like, I, I don't think I could be, I mean, maybe necessity breeds conviction, but you know, you got out there and you met people and you, I don't [00:56:00] know, it was just, you were so extroverted in a way that I'd never seen More than
Michael Zarick: normal.
What do you mean?
Anna Darling: But you, but I mean, like,
Michael Zarick: Well, I, I just think that I don't agree with you that I'm, I think it's a return to a younger Michael.
Anna Darling: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: Because when I worked at summer camp, I was like,
Anna Darling: you were the king.
Michael Zarick: Freakishly annoying. But like, in a way, I think people are respected.
Anna Darling: Yeah. That's different.
Which I think
Michael Zarick: is not,
Anna Darling: but again, that. Summer camp is a very like, niche and bubble place where it's like, that's encouraged and you thrive there, but like out in the real world it's so hard to like do that and then to, you know, start this podcast from the ground up and seeing the following you've gotten and just seeing how passionate you are about it and how you've lit up.
Like I think back to those West Lafayette Michael, and that was sad. Michael vibes. That was a sad time,
Michael Zarick: dark times
Anna Darling: and like thinking about that to now and how like happy you are and like seeing you do [00:57:00] something that like, it's so brave and so like out there and so much hard work. Like you just start killing it and I'm, I'm proud of you.
Michael Zarick: Well, thank you.
Anna Darling: Yeah. That
Michael Zarick: was very kind.
Anna Darling: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: I don't know how to accept compliments
Anna Darling: and I'm, it was really nice of thankful that you were having me on.
Michael Zarick: Of course. No. Yeah. I wanna make it very clear. This was not under duress was not forced to have you on.
Anna Darling: No.
Michael Zarick: Um. Maybe you will be the ever, the ever constant question.
Who is the recurring guest on Third Space Indy? Maybe.
Anna Darling: Maybe it'll be me.
Michael Zarick: Maybe it'll be Anna. Maybe it'll be Patrick.
Maybe it'll be Ed Fujawa. Maybe it'll be nobody.
Anna Darling: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: What does it take to be a recurring guest?
Anna Darling: I don't know. Maybe we'll just have
Michael Zarick: a, the true, honestly, the only recurring guest we've had is Adam Henze.
'cause he is been on technically two episodes. Shout out to
Adam Hensey. Yeah. Indy type shop.
Anna Darling: can I ask a question to the next guest per your podcast?
Michael Zarick: I was literally gonna skip past that, but that's so funny. I'm so glad you're [00:58:00] reminded me. Anna, what, what question do you like to ask you?
How long have you had this cooking? That's, I'm gonna ask that before you,
Anna Darling: uh, a while. Well, 'cause it's like, you gotta think like, I hear everybody else's questions and then I'm like, I like evaluate the ones that I had in my brain. Like whatever. So I have two questions.
Michael Zarick: Um,
Anna Darling: it's kind of
Michael Zarick: two questions.
Anna Darling: Yeah.
First, where is your favorite Asian food in the city? Because I love Asian cuisine. I'm looking for ramen. I'm looking for sushi. I'm looking for Chinese. I'm looking for Vietnamese. What's, what's your favorite?
Michael Zarick: Asia's a large continent.
Anna Darling: Yeah, there's a
Michael Zarick: lot. Are you including India in there too?
Anna Darling: Uh, yeah, sure.
We could put India in there. Okay. I mean, just
Michael Zarick: like Eastern Russia.
Anna Darling: No.
Michael Zarick: Okay. What is your favorite Indian food?
Anna Darling: No, Asian food.
Michael Zarick: Sorry. Asian food. What is your favorite?
Anna Darling: He never listens to me.
And then the question that [00:59:00] I asked, um, Chef Tyler at his,
Michael Zarick: I don't remember a question you asked Chef Tyler.
Anna Darling: I asked him, how have you seen Indianapolis evolve in the past 10 years, and where do you see it going in the next 10 years? You know,
Michael Zarick: you're lucky that I know the next person has been here, at least for 10 years.
10
Anna Darling: years, okay. It could be, you know, or from the time that they arrived, you know, whatever, however the question fits them.
Michael Zarick: The two questions. What is your favorite Asian food in Indianapolis? Yes. The next question is how have you seen Indianapolis evolve over the past 10 years?
Who said you could get two questions?
Anna Darling: Me,
Michael Zarick: wife, privilege.
Anna Darling: Other people have asked two questions.
Michael Zarick: I mean, kind of.
I don't know how to end the podcast. Thanks so much for, well, actually, Anna, do you want people to find you?
Anna Darling: Sure you can follow me. Uh, my professional page is at Anna Darling tv on Instagram and Twitter and Facebook.
I'm not super active on Twitter or [01:00:00] Facebook, but I do like to. Pop around on Instagram.
Michael Zarick: Uh, all right. Thank you Anna for joining me.
Anna Darling: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: On the podcast.
Anna Darling: Love you.
Michael Zarick: Did you have fun?
Anna Darling: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: I love you too.
Anna Darling: this wasn't so, wasn't so scary.
Michael Zarick: I don't think it was scary.
Anna Darling: No.
Michael Zarick: Did I say it was scary at the beginning? No. Oh, you were saying that for yourself?
Anna Darling: Yeah.
Michael Zarick: Thank you so much for listening or watching this episode of Third Space Indy Third Space Indy is brought to you by cityrising.org to. Also the intro music is done by the local artist, Jennasen.
Thank you Jennasen for sharing your music with me and the people. Thank you so much. You can follow Third Space Indy at Third Space Indy on Instagram or by going to Thursday Indy.com, where I write a weekly blog that I release every Monday at varying times.
I used to say the morning, but sometimes it's in the afternoon. One time it was in the evening. That's okay. Thank you so much for watching. I hope to share the next one with you. Have a great rest of the day.
Anna Darling: Bye.
Michael Zarick: Mommy Cat, goodbye. Mommy cat, goodbye.
Anna Darling: [01:01:00] Say goodbye to to your fans.