On Friday November 7, 2025, six student producers descended on a beloved local restaurant, mics in hand, to record a day in the life of the place. The fact that the Runcible Spoon would be celebrating its 50thanniversary in 2026 hadn’t occurred to the students in Alex Chambers’ podcasting class, but it was the locally beloved nature of the restaurant that brought them there. Over the course of twelve hours, from the morning shift until closing, they talked with the workers, the owners, and the customers. They heard teary goodbyes, near-death experiences, jokes, and the history and lore of the Spoon itself. In a project inspired by This American Life’s classic 24 Hours at the Golden Apple and Brave Little State’s Twelve hours at the Richmond park and ride, we bring you a day in the life of the Runcible Spoon.
This story was produced by the students in Alex Chambers Fall 2025 Advanced Audio Storytelling class: Lily Marks, Owen Koehler, Ben Burns, Audrey Ouillette, Clara Licklider, and Joe Ringer. Thanks to Regan O’Neill, co-owner of the Runcible Spoon, for helping to coordinate this and welcoming us in, and thanks to everyone who shared their stories.
McCalla brings new life to an old schoolhouse
University Collections at Indiana University started back in 2018. Then President Michael McRobbie wanted to bring what turned out to be hundreds of disparate collections of objects, document, artwork, sculpture and more, under one umbrella. It's a vast and varied collection of collections, and there is a dedicated gallery space, spaces actually, to exhibit pieces from not only the collection but pieces from all over the world.
McCalla is an old school house on 10th Street. Inside along with some offices there are galleries, a screening room, and event spaces. The galleries can be as eclectic as University Collections itself. You can find sports memorabilia, movie props, early film equipment, mystical photos captured during séances, student work, faculty work, guitars; the list grows constantly. And it grows quickly; they move pretty fast over at McCalla, so there is frequently something new to see. If you want to see what’s up at McCalla now, the address is 525 East 9th Street in Bloomington, and the gallery spaces are open from 11am to 4pm, Tuesday through Friday.
Check 'em out, if you want
In a new and recurring segment called, check ‘em out, if you want, hosts Kayte Young, Alex Chambers, and Tyler Lake recommend some things for you to check out, if you want. This installment features Alex telling us about The Rose Field, Book Three in Philip Pullman’s trilogy called The Book of Dust.
Kayte buys into the hype around the AMC series Mad Men. A slick and thoughtful serial about ad execs on Madison Avenue in the 60’s. It examines masculine fragility in ways that feel just as relevant now as they did back in 2007 when it debuted.
Tyler goes rummaging through the Army Surplus store to find a recent series of the podcast Articles of Interest. In the series called “Gear,” host Avery Trufelman goes back to the 19th century to look at the long and inter woven relationship between outdoor outfitters and the United States military that is still as strong (and now more breathable!) as ever.
CREDITS
This episode was produced and edited by Kayte Young. We get production help from Danny William, Holly Wilkerson, Karl Templeton, Leo Paes, Jillian Blackburn and Jonah Ballard.
Our theme music was composed and performed by Alan Davis. Additional music from Universal Production Music. The executive producer is Eric Bolstridge.