Q: If your patients were to take only one piece of advice to heart, what would you want it to be? A: Talk to your kids about health consequences.

“ER DOCTORS don’t see people on their best days. In fact, we often see them on one of their worst days. We joke that the famous last words before someone ends up here are, ‘Hey, watch this!’ Humans are an impulsive breed every now and then. It’s something that I can’t really fault people for. But sometimes taking a few seconds to think about the consequences can help prevent a fair amount of injuries and even sometimes some illnesses. For example, maybe the cinnamon challenge isn’t the best idea for your lungs, or vaping isn’t as harmless as you think. And jumping off a second story to impress someone is likely not going to go well in the long run.”

— Tyler Stepsis, M.D.

Medical director of emergency medicine with Eskenazi Health

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Q: If your patients were to take only one piece of advice to heart, what would you want it to be? A: Do not skip your annual exam.

“EVEN IF you don’t have symptoms, it’s important to check in regularly. It’s getting a baseline of where your body is at from the perspective of your vital signs, basic screening, and blood work. I think for a lot of people, there’s this sense that if you go to the doctor, you’re going to walk away with a medication. But if you’re proactive with it, you can often prevent the need for medication by correcting something. When your car’s check engine light comes on, you get the engine checked. Let’s try to fix it before there’s a problem and something needs to be repaired. It’s the same with your health. My goal is to avoid medication if possible. The sooner we recognize an issue, the sooner we can address it and make lifestyle modifications, ideally to correct it. The definition of ‘doctor’ in Latin is ‘teacher.’ So our job isn’t to make you do anything. Our job is to help guide you and teach you. So my message to patients is to take control of your own health. Recognize when something’s going on with your body, know when to seek help, and come to us.”

— Greg Specht, D.O.

Family medicine doctor with Franciscan Physician Network

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LIGHT IS the stuff of life. Without it, as Lord Byron describes in his poem “Darkness,” “men [forget] their passions in the dread.” Indeed.

Daylight saving time ends November 3. Once the reality of rising and eating dinner in the dark sets in, you may fall back with the clocks: right into a funk. Seasonal affective disorder, or SAD—social withdrawal, feeling hopeless, sluggishness, carb cravings, and oversleeping—affects millions, most in the northern half of the country. The dearth of daylight is primarily to blame, but the corresponding decrease in vitamin D also plays a part.

It’s been shown that a 15–20 minute walk each day can boost mood. And sun exposure is the natural way to increase vitamin D levels. But with Indy winters so short on walkable days, that’s cold comfort.

The National Institute of Mental Health reports that light therapy can help. In fact, Purdue University has set up a light therapy space for students, where they sit near a light box that mimics sunlight at 10,000 lux. Purdue suggests starting at 10–15 minutes, ideally in the morning, and working up to longer sessions if needed.

Light therapy boxes are sold without a prescription, but can SAD really be treated that easily? “Not necessarily,” says Vanessa Enos, a licensed medical health counselor at Community Fairbanks Behavioral Health. “SAD is actually depression with a seasonal pattern.” And depression can result from factors not easily identified.

If you’ve had the winter blues for two or more consecutive years, Enos strongly suggests talking to a mental health care provider to assess your condition and develop a comprehensive treatment program, which light therapy may be part of, along with talk therapy or medication. Activities that bring you joy are key, says Enos. Most of all, she urges, take your feelings seriously. “Don’t suffer alone! Ask for help.”

The post Body + Soul: A Dark Cloud appeared first on Indianapolis Monthly.

WHEN YOU hear the word “sauna,” your mind likely wanders to group spaces full of strangers in close proximity as they awkwardly try to relax. Perspire Sauna Studio in Clay Terrace is changing that concept with private infrared sauna suites equipped to allow guests to stream their favorite series or listen to music. Franchise owner Louise Hughes was inspired to open Perspire after using an infrared sauna while training for a marathon. Infrared saunas aren’t as hot as traditional saunas, which heat the air. Instead, invisible lightwaves gently warm you. “I thought, Wow, this is pretty cool,” Hughes recalls. “But I wish the feeling that you get … matched the environment.” Perspire is open daily from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. to accommodate busy schedules.

14400 Clay Terrace Blvd., Carmel, 463-223-9661

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WHEN INDIANAPOLIS Motor Speedway co-founder James Allison began building his brick, arts and crafts–style mansion on Cold Spring Road in 1911, he was one of a few members of the city’s elite putting down opulent roots on what would become known as Millionaires’ Row. His stately masterpiece included a silver globe chandelier imported from Germany; intricate wood- and stonework carved by European artisans; an indoor aviary with white Italian marble walls and floors, a pond, and a stained-glass skylight; an indoor pool; a music room with a two-story pipe organ; a telephone intercom system; and an elevator. Perhaps the most intriguing space is the small, surprisingly whimsical basement room where the windows are made of the bottoms of glass bottles and the walls and ceiling are covered with a gilt, hand-painted mural depicting Allison and two other co-founders of the IMS, Carl Fisher and Frank Wheeler, as young, 16th-century pheasant hunters. It was here that Allison and his friends frequently gathered to play cards, pouring themselves drinks from a liquor cabinet complete with an icebox located behind a pair of Gothic wooden doors. Allison died in 1928, and the estate was sold to the Sisters of St. Francis in 1936, who started Marian University. The home now serves as the office of the president. The adjacent formal garden and the Marian EcoLab, which contains ruins of the Allison estate and a neighboring estate, were originally designed by Danish landscape architect Jens Jensen.

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FOR THE FIRST TIME since its construction in 1954, the home of the late architect J. Parke Randall has new owners. A time capsule of midcentury design, its fabulous features were perfectly preserved. Sitting on nearly an acre, the wooded lot is decidedly serene. When a house this unique hits the market, interest is likely to explode into fierce competition.

It did: Nearly 350 appointments were booked in eight days. Among the eager were Tommy Reddicks and Jess Monk. They were relaxing after dinner one Thursday evening when Reddicks saw the listing on Facebook. He recalls showing it to Monk, exclaiming, “Wow. This looks cool!” Even though they weren’t house hunting, nor did they have any plans to move, it took only a quick glance through the photos for Monk to start to fall in love. They toured it that Saturday and were both “enamored” within minutes. “It felt like home the moment we were in it, and that was exciting,” Monk says.

With the couple in agreement that it felt like it was meant to be, a rather big problem stood in the way: They didn’t have mortgage pre-approval, and the deadline for offers was five days away. Amazingly, they made it just in time, submitting at 4:58 p.m. for a 5:00 p.m. cutoff. Though not the highest above the $275,000 asking price, their offer was otherwise robust, with inclusions like appraisal gap coverage and an escalation clause. The phone call informing them that they got the house was a “magical moment,” Monk recalls.

A testament to Randall’s impeccable design, the home is still in good shape. “The detail and strength of the structure is amazing,” Reddicks observes. “They don’t build houses like this anymore.” While mechanical updates are needed, the pair is enthusiastically embracing the home’s restoration.

They plan to make use of every inch of the home’s 4,400 square feet. What was once the drafting room will become a throwback arcade, to the delight of Monk’s son, Drew. The darkroom (where Randall developed his famous photo of the 1960 Indy 500 scaffold disaster) will become fromager Reddicks’ “cheese cave.” Other updates include replacing the floors, fresh paint throughout, and adding several amazing vintage 1950s appliances in the kitchen. Their long-term goal? Listing the home on the National Register of Historic Places to give it the recognition it rightfully deserves.

ADDRESS
5350 Cheviot Pl.
PRICE
$351,500

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THOUGH ONLY 4 square miles, Key West is renowned—thanks partly to Jimmy Buffett and his Margaritaville—for its laid-back, carefree escapes. The Gulf-front Hyatt Centric Key West Resort & Spa sits just off the famed Duval Street in Old Town, an ideal spot for touring on foot. The resort rents both bikes and golf carts if you want to venture farther than your trotters can carry you. Perhaps Key West’s best-known establishment, Sloppy Joe’s Bar, is a five-minute walk away at Duval and Greene streets. That intersection has transformed since Ernest Hemingway was among its rakish regulars, but much about the establishment would be familiar to him. The ceiling fans still hum knowingly; the bell at the long, curved bar is still rung at a big tip; and the jalousie doors continue to swing open to a lively, offbeat crowd. About 15 minutes farther is Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park. The pre–Civil War fort sits alongside a beach popular for swimming and snorkeling. A champagne sunset cruise, jet ski and parasailing tours, and fishing charters leave right from the Hyatt’s dock. Join the latter, and your catch will be prepared at elegant on-site restaurant Four Flamingos. With Richard Blais, the first winner of Bravo’s Top Chef: All-Stars, at the helm, the menu is inventive, from crabmeat White Lasagna to the Island Espresso cocktail with a coconut-bubble dome. After dinner, grab a Centric Aperol Spritz at the Blue Mojito Pool Bar & Grill, newly renovated in Mediterranean chic, and sip it on the swing at the end of the pier as the sun sets.

IF YOU GO
⦁ POSE The buoy at the southernmost point in the continental U.S. (South and Whitehead streets) sits 90 miles from Cuba. The line moves fast as visitors take each other’s photo in turns.
⦁ LEARN Guided tours of the Hemingway Home & Museum include the writing studio of the larger-than-life novelist and the lush grounds, home to dozens of polydactyl cats.
⦁ STROLL Marvel at tropical flowers, waterfalls, rosy flamingos, and 50 species of butterflies at The Key West Butterfly & Nature Conservatory.

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JACKSON LAUX—aka Jackson Farmer—isn’t your typical TikTok star. On an app famous for dancing and makeup tutorials, the 9-year-old entertains some 900,000 followers on a channel called Just a Jackson Thing, comprised mostly of videos in which he shows off agricultural vehicles and his toy collection and opines about the splendors of farm life. He and his parents, Jessica and Joe Laux, live surrounded by land his uncles and grandfather work in the microscopic Northern Indiana town of South Whitley. His fame came out of nowhere after he was a bit player in a video his cousin made in November 2023. For reasons only the algorithm understands, the video promptly blew up.

“We talked to Jackson about whether he wanted to keep doing it, and he did,” Jessica says. “It just went on from there.” Dressed in his standard jeans, farm shirt, and red trucker cap, Jackson has an authoritative, grandfatherly tone in his videos, incongruous with someone barely old enough to drive a riding mower, let alone the hulking combines he moons over. It’s that wise-beyond-his-years vibe that anchors bemused parents are willing, for now, to let his fame play out. It’s so far earned him a spot on Today, a meet-and-greet at the Indiana State Fair, and, perhaps inevitably, interest from agricultural outfits like Stine Seed Company, which flew Jackson to its Iowa headquarters via private jet. “We don’t really have any future plans for it,” Jessica says. “It’s him having fun. We’re blown away by the love that he’s been shown. We just hope it continues to be a positive place for him to share and teach others about farming.”

Indianapolis Monthly staffers are among Jackson’s fans, and we couldn’t wait to chat with the pint-sized sodbuster.

What do you want your followers to learn about country life and farming?

I hope that they enjoy the videos, first off. In some of the comments people have left, they said it cheers up their day. So besides teaching people about farm life, that’s the other thing I try to do. I want them to like what I do, and I want to like doing what I do.

Do you get recognized a lot?

When I was at the Indiana State Fair, I was riding on the Skyride and got recognized by a guy in another chair going in the opposite direction. We live in a small town, but the other day I walked into a Dollar General and was recognized by another kid. I also got recognized while I was in a women’s clothing store with my mama. But it’s not a usual thing.

Why do you think you’ve gotten so popular?

I really don’t know. I’m just going to go with it.

When did you realize tractors were your thing?

They’ve just been a part of my life from the very beginning. I think I always kind of loved them.

So do you work on the farm equipment yourself?

I’m getting there. I haven’t torn a complete motor down, but I’ve torn a weed eater motor down.

We have to assume you plan to be a farmer one day … ?

Yeah. I’m already trying to get started at this moment in time. I’m trying right now to save up for the right equipment. Maybe a combine, but that’s going to be a little hard to come by. They can cost a lot, but one for my size would probably be around $2,500.

How long do you think you’ll stay on TikTok?

Probably until I’m in my teens. After that, I just want to be a full-time farmer and live my life out in the country.

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FIND YOUR OWN Great Pumpkin at Dougherty Orchards in Cambridge City, family-run since 1883. Besides gourds galore, you can take home treats even Linus didn’t imagine: any of 33 types of apples, as well as pears, honey, and apple cider doughnuts. Consider a stop in their winery for a glass of apple vino.

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CONSIDERED BY MANY to be the go-to luxury shopping destination for the entire state of Indiana, The Fashion Mall at Keystone is being transformed. Saks Fifth Avenue closed its doors for good in July, with Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group set to break ground on a mixed-use addition in the space where the luxury retailer had operated for 21 years—second only to Nordstrom in square footage—early next year. (In case you were wondering, ease of parking and shopping during the impending holiday season won’t be affected by these plans.) It’ll be fully completed by the end of 2026. Asked about the overall financial investment in the mall, Simon’s president of development Mark Silvestri would only say “tens of millions of dollars.”

Some shoppers were no doubt stunned at Saks’ seemingly sudden departure. But it turns out that behind the scenes, it was far from abrupt. Silvestri says Saks’ lease “was coming to an end, with no further term, so we’ve known about it for a while.” That’s how Simon was able to almost simultaneously announce the departure and the plans for the new addition, which will cover 170,000 square feet in and around the southeast end of the mall.

“The reason Saks left had nothing to do with the performance of the mall. Actually, it was so good that Saks couldn’t afford to stay,” says John S. Talbott, a senior lecturer of marketing at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business. “That space is so much more valuable to Simon without Saks. If Saks could pay the $500-a-square-foot to be there, I’m sure they would have.”

Talbott has firsthand experience with Simon. He spent 36 years in retail, including four years as CEO of a Western lifestyles store “on the other side of the table negotiating with them.” He knew Saks “faced headwinds or a challenging business model.”

According to Retail Brew, which covers the retail industry, Saks had apparently struggled with liquidity, with many vendors accusing the chain of not paying them on time or at all. In April, however, Saks “landed up to $60 million in incremental liquidity” from a lender to help pay those debts.

So, well before the store locked up and left, Simon was finalizing plans for the addition. There was no shortage of hopeful new tenants, which is not surprising. Silvestri says the property ranks among the top 50 of its 90-plus U.S. malls when it comes to productivity. “Especially given that Indiana is a modest-size market,” he says, “it’s a super strong property for us.” The Fashion Mall’s occupancy hovers around 97 percent, housing 60-plus brands unique to Indiana or only available in that location. It doesn’t hurt that those include the most sought-after luxury labels. Think Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Tory Burch, and Tiffany & Co., with a David Yurman jewelry store soon joining the mix.

Although West Elm recently departed The Fashion Mall for Nora Plaza, other in-demand retailers arrived, including trendy activewear boutiques Alo and Vuori, Gorjana with its California-cool jewelry, and Aritzia, a Canadian retailer selling “luxury lifestyle apparel” that’s soaring in popularity. Even Daniel’s Vineyard of McCordsville is getting in on the action, launching a pop-up across from Levi’s where they hold wine tastings Fridays through Sundays, with the space serving as an art gallery during the rest of the week.

Silvestri says Simon’s second-quarter earnings this year were record-setting, “the highest-net operating income ever.” At a time when malls seem all but doomed to obsolescence in an online-shopping world, our very own Fashion Mall is, in a word, “over-performing.” Silvestri says that to be able to do that, “you have to have great real estate, and it has to be well-located.” The Fashion Mall nails it on both counts.

But Talbott insists there’s more to it than that. He says Simon, which is the largest mall owner in the United States, is usually a step ahead of the curve. In this case, they’re leading the way in what Talbott calls experience centers. “They bring together these mixed-use communities, almost, which is at the forefront of what shoppers, and people in general, now want in their lives.” Those include not just the right mix of stores but also new dining and entertainment options—which is what we’re getting in this next iteration of the mall.

Silvestri says Simon will keep a third of the Saks building because it’s “cost-effective, has good bones, and we can utilize that.” The rest, the exterior not attached to the mall, will be demolished. Plans for the site include a standalone home furnishings store, a handful of new retailers, some sit-down and quick-serve dining, an outdoor plaza with green space, and, at the eastern end, up to 100,000 square feet of upscale office space with possibly as many as four large tenants. “We’ve heard from brokers and others that there’s a real need for this, so we think it’s something that will enhance the property,” Silvestri says.

Talbott calls that a smart move. “Say there’s a Merrill Lynch office in one of those spaces,” he explains. “Maybe while one member of the household meets with a financial advisor, another one goes shopping. Then those financial advisors need to eat, so they meet clients at a nice restaurant there. Those people not only pay rent, but they patronize the facilities at the retail center.”

Also in the works? An entertainment venue, which Silvestri declined to specifically identify as of press time. But he did provide a clue, noting that while the entity will be new to Indianapolis, it is already successful elsewhere. So it may be worth noting that in June 2024, Simon announced a partnership with Camp, which bills itself as a “family experience company.” A news release describes it as “part toy store, part activity destination, all good vibes” and further says it “delivers immersive fun for the whole family.” There are currently three Camp locations at Simon malls in Philadelphia, Houston, and Burlington, Vermont. The press release also noted, “This expansion initiative reinforces Camp’s and Simon’s commitment to bringing delightful experiences and exclusive retail offerings to families across the country.”

Again, there’s no confirmation that a Camp location is coming to The Fashion Mall, but that certainly seems to be a logical possibility, since those appear to be both popular and profitable for the Simon malls that have already landed one. Also, it fits the “shop, dine, play” evolution of “experience centers.” A second possible contender is a chain of venues represented at a half dozen Simon Malls, Round1—a group of sprawling amusement facilities aimed at pleasing just about every member of the family with arcade games, billiards, karaoke, pingpong, darts, trampolining, roller skating, children’s play zones, and more.

We also know housing and hotels are big parts of Simon’s portfolio, with some connected to malls. In May 2024, the company announced plans for a “luxury lifestyle mixed-use development” at San Diego’s Fashion Valley mall. A news release at the time promised the addition will be “a vibrant, diverse and exclusive residential enclave … mere steps away from their favorite Fashion Valley boutiques.”

Although Simon hasn’t yet gone that route in Indiana, the plans underway in San Diego may foretell things to come. After all, it’s hard not to notice the Sheraton Hotel and connected 12-story apartment tower, called Vitra, on the north side of The Fashion Mall. While neither is owned by Simon, a skybridge conveniently links them to the mall. The new attractions ahead will only enhance the appeal of these locations and lure more residents and travelers to stroll over to spend their money.

One might wonder what, if anything, The Fashion Mall’s follow-up act could possibly be after all of this. When asked if there will still be space to expand again down the line, Silvestri acknowledges, “There are always ways to do that. You could go vertical or do parking garages. But not now.”

Those nostalgic for their high school days when they kicked around the mall for hours with friends, browsing and sipping an Orange Julius, may get to relive their youth. At least a little, anyway. Dana Olsen, who worked in the corporate office of Bloomingdale’s in New York City before joining Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business where she teaches retail marketing, agrees that retailers must learn to adapt to survive. “I believe [Simon] is doing what they need to do, which is transitioning malls. They’re listening to the customer.” She pauses, then adds, “It’s kind of getting back to what malls were when people would spend all day there.”

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