(bright music) >> Dustin: The best way that I describe playing Dungeons and Dragons is like, you're all sitting around a campfire, telling a communal ghost story, right, and there's one person that's in charge of the story, but then everyone's adding into it.

We didn't wanna just do a podcast.

We wanted to look like a production that you would see in a full studio and we've worked really, really hard to do that.

(bright music continues) >> Javier: And with the fighting-game scene growing with the eSports scene growing around it, I think it's going to really lead to a re-imagining of what these things can be.

>> Jack: The work of Project Neighbors is really important at Valpo because lower-income families are priced out of the area.

>> Paul: We basically can build for about 60% of what the market would charge.

This duplex will rent for a little more than half price of market, and volunteers make that happen.

>> Host: You really focus on mixology here.

So talk to me about what it is that makes your spirits and your distillery unique.

>> Drew: We're shooting for flavors.

Our rye whiskey is 100 proof.

That's where the flavor is.

That's where the richness comes from.

That's where you get the wow factor on your tongue.

>> Narrator: Centier Bank is proud to serve hometown community banking across Indiana for over 128 years.

Indiana's largest private family owned bank has been not for sale and promises to keep it that way for years to come.

(bright jingle) >> Speaker: Doing as much as you can, as quickly as you can is important to me.

Life is short, and the earlier we get started helping our community, the better off our community will be.

(upbeat music) >> Instructor: I have a very strong connection to other students.

Everyone makes an effort to help each other.

I'll remember the feeling of being here, the feeling that I was a part of a family.

(upbeat music continues) >> Narrator 2: Ivy Tech offers more than 70 programs with locations in Michigan City, LaPorte and Valparaiso.

New classes start every few weeks.

Ivy Tech, higher education at the speed of life.

To get started, visit ivytech.edu.

>> Narrator: Family, home, work, self, of all the things you take care of, make sure you are near the top of the list.

NorthShore Health Centers offers many services to keep you balanced and healthy.

So take a moment, self-assess and put yourself first.

From medical to dental, vision, chiropractic and mental health, NorthShore will help get you centered.

You help keep your world running, so make sure to take care of yourself.

NorthShore Health Centers, building a healthy community, one patient at a time.

>> Narrator 3: Additional support for Lakeshore Public Media and local programming is made possible by viewers like you.

Thank you.

(relaxing music) (dramatic music) >> Roll Seekers and The Legend of Nabell is a group of actual role players and we started in September of 2020.

So we've been playing now, going on four years.

In that time we've got about 75 episodes currently that you can watch on all of our social media channels.

The original Roll Seekers is made up of Allison Richie, Trevor Spiegel, Jamie Spiegel, Kevin Wesley, and Eli Cardin.

Those are the ones that have been playing since the beginning.

And we just actually got Martin B Nicki.

He's a Valparaiso English professor and he just joined us.

Yeah, we've got a really good cohort that has been playing together for a long time.

The best way that I describe playing Dungeons and Dragons is like, you're all sitting around a campfire, telling a communal ghost story, right?

And there's one person that's in charge of the story, but then everyone's adding into it.

I think what's really exciting about that is that when we're remembering these stories, you know, like they are just as real as if we were there.

It's in our memories, right?

It's not just like, "Remember that one time we rolled some dice and we fought some monsters on a piece of paper?"

It's, "Remember that one time we fought an ogre together?"

Roll Seekers is a completely original story and everything that you see during the game is improvised.

The Legend of Nabell is actually a world that I've been developing since I was in fifth grade.

It's completely original.

So we've built the mythos, the gods, like we want to be very high fantasy, but we also wanna tell human stories.

So we focus a lot on character and we focus a lot on the stories those characters tell.

The live stream started, I have a background in production, it's what I went to school for, and so we were playing anyways.

We were playing almost every weekend and one day, we were actually out on my patio and I said, "What if we decided to stream this?"

And so we were having a group of about 14 people at that time and about half of them were like, "I'm not interested."

Another half were like, "Let's rock and roll," and so we decided to give it a try.

When we got started, we had black curtains up and we had one mic in the center and we had three cameras.

That's basically what we were doing.

We were running everything out of a computer and everything was super taxing.

It was not an easy journey.

So we were basically learning how to become a production studio, and it was basically two people doing it.

We had bought the basement.

It was a clean canvas.

And so we actually developed the studio, the set, everything we built around the fact that we knew that we were doing this show.

So now instead of black curtains, you see stone and dungeons and we have characters and we have a full resin dragon chair and sponsors with game screens and custom made equipment.

And so, you know, I think the biggest thing is that you start small and keep growing.

If you watch our show now from episode one, you'll see that growth.

But we didn't wanna just do a podcast, but we wanted to look like a production that you would see in a full studio, maybe out in California.

And we worked really, really hard to do that.

They're out very intact.

>> Hey, I'll take it.

(laughs) (people cheering) I'll take it.

(laughs) >> We did it.

>> Distracted him.

>> So as the blades go through, you see Malil is running up and just like, basically I want you to imagine missile bombardment of magical history.

At the end of the day, if we're trying to find our true north, if we're really boiling it all down, we wanna tell stories.

And so sometimes, you know, we get excited.

We just got into the Gen Con Film festival, we've got a lot of followers on TikTok.

We're getting excited, but we always come back to, are we telling the story we wanna tell?

And I think that that's the most important thing.

(inspiring music) I mean, it's really great to be able to do this with friends and family.

I mean even our friends, they're family, right?

Like we are one unit.

We are the Roll Seekers.

(inspiring music continues) (bright techno music) >> Came to the US when I was 10 years old.

It was back in 2007. and there was nothing like what I used to have in Mexico.

And while they weren't like the most sophisticated, how the recent gaming eSport center is, it was definitely like a big room, bunch of screens, bunch of chairs, all the consoles you could think of at the time and you would just pay the equivalent of a dollar for an hour back then and just spent time playing games.

There was one next to my elementary school and I remember just hanging out there a lot of time after school and I would just invite a couple of my friends, be like, "Hey, let's go hang out."

And when I came out here to the US, it was something that I missed dearly because I was just stuck at home.

It wasn't until I started going out to tournaments and seeing the other venues that were available and having those experiences that I was able to understand what I was missing all that time.

And it was like that third space, that place to go hang out and just be comfortable in, not care about being judged in any kind of way.

Aside that, just being able to have that sense of community helps a lot in just making things a lot more enjoyable.

While there are people who like prefer the online scene of things, I encourage them to come out here or come to your locals, support 'em, check 'em out.

You'll find a friendly atmosphere most of the time when people who are just willing to help and teach and just hang out, even if it's not just competition or, you know, the most intense matches, you'll find a lot of enjoyment just out of coming out and hang out with people who like the things you like.

(bright techno music continues) There's no like, one fighting game that's like universally easy to get into, even though like a lot of the newer generations are trying to do that.

It doesn't really matter too much.

It's just, what do you wanna put your time into?

And it should be something that you like.

For me, it was Tekken.

Something about the way it moves, something about like, me already having played a lot of it as a kid, the older titles, just made it click a lot easier for me.

But for some people, it's been Street Fighter.

For some people, that's been really weird, niche games that like came out in the 90s and nobody remembers.

Whatever you like, that should be what you get into.

I think it really comes down to that aspect of it being a individual competition or like a sport where, as opposed to where like in a more classic sense, soccer or football or something like that, you need a whole team to play.

In fighting games, it's just you.

It's just you and the skill sets that you accumulate, the knowledge that you get and be able to face off against somebody who's also been putting in that time or has different skill sets or whatever.

It's really fun to be able to just have that back and forth.

Kind of more like kind of like tennis where you're able to just find somebody of your level or keep finding better people and you just see that improvement within yourself instead of having to like rely on a whole group or something like that.

(upbeat music) I mean, I really do just think that fighting game tournaments or these locals, whether they feature multiple games, whether they focus on one game, whether it's just casual events, I think they are something important.

It's something that I'm glad I've been able to start and maintain for over a year now and that people have shown interest in coming out to.

But I think these things are important just for us to continue growing these third spaces that we desperately need.

It shouldn't just be you go home and you go to work and like, that's it.

There should be places where you can hang out and have fun that's not just your usual A to Bs.

And with the fighting game scene growing, with the eSports scene growing around it, I think it's going to really lead to a re-imagining of what these things can be and how serious it can be taken outside of that.

It just really encapsulates the energy and the vibes, the atmosphere that I missed from being able to hang out at arcades or being able to go to the game launches that I used to, back in Mexico.

It was just a lot more wholesome or like, social experience.

Even if you weren't talking to people, you were in a space where you were not worried about being judged for playing video games or for taking them seriously or for having like a lot of knowledge in them.

You were just accepted and it was wonderful and I'm glad that I've been able to create that kind of space for a community here.

(upbeat music continues) (tender music) >> Paul: Project Neighbors was born in the late 1960s when a former Valparaiso University football coach by the name of Walt Reiner was teaching an urban studies class in Chicago where suburban kids would go for a semester to learn about life in the city.

He was in conversation with a church secretary who had assisted in the programming of this educational effort.

She said, "I sure wish I could move to a nice little town like Valpo where my kids would be safe."

She had six children.

She was a single mom, lived in Cabrini Green.

He said, "You'd be crazy to move to Valparaiso," because at the time, there was only one African American in Valpo.

and that was a VU prof who I happened to know 'cause I was a student at the time.

And the only housing he could secure was to live in an abandoned sorority house that the university owned.

Well, Walt put together a group of colleagues who pooled their resources and after not being able to rent or purchase a house, he happened to own an empty lot next to his own residence and they built Barbara Cotton and her six children a house to live in.

Race is a central theme of the Project Neighbor's mission.

Barbara's extended family and friends all wanted to move after she did.

After seven or eight families had moved here, all African Americans, the organization diversified and basically asked, they were all single moms, "What else do you need?"

And they said, "Well, we need daycare so we can get jobs and we need help with healthcare."

Out of that grew something, called the Hilltop Neighborhood House, which is a state of the art daycare center that runs a very robust scholarship program and an organization called HealthLink, which is now one of the largest community health centers in the state of Indiana.

All of it grew out of that expression of need, some 25 years ago.

(tender music) >> I've been here in Valpo probably 30 years, but if you look around, you don't see anybody building affordable houses.

So this really fills the niche, I believe >> Jack: The work of Project Neighbors is really important in Valpo because lower income families are priced out of the area if it weren't for homes and low rent units so that they can afford to live here and find and fill a very important part of the job market.

>> Paul: We basically can build for about 60% of what the market would charge.

This duplex will rent for a little more than half price of market and volunteers make that happen.

>> I would encourage anyone with even those skills to come here because you've learned a whole lot to start doing your own projects on your own because you have confidence.

I know I've gained a lot by working side by side with those experienced contractors and builders.

>> John: Well it fills the calendar.

It gives you something to do.

I still like building.

I always liked constructing.

So it's something constrictive to do.

And being a volunteer, you come out, you could come out one day a week, two days, five days a week, whatever you want.

(tender music) >> Paul: I'm 73 years old.

I was a school teacher for 10 years.

I ran a construction company for 25 years.

When I retired, I found a big hole in my life.

So I can work at this every day of the week instead of just weekends.

My motivation is that it's meaningful work.

It's work with a purpose.

We enrich the culture because we allow people of all stripes to live in town and to live in town in very safe and comfortable housing.

That's a benefit.

We get to know what the real world is like.

It's a way of creating community, a sense of belonging, a sense of purpose, and I'm privileged to be the one to make that possible for people.

(tender music continues) >> Host: As someone from the region, I'm proud of 18th Street Brewery for their top-notch beer, not to mention their outstanding menu.

Wow.

I am really into that burger.

Anyway, they recently launched 18th Street Distillery, bringing the cachet of their brand to quality spirits and the craft of making cocktails.

I'm gonna get another one.

The awesome thing is that they also do special events here.

The cool thing is that sometimes you get to drink drinks outta these fun little glasses.

These are cool.

We're gonna show you how to make a drink mixed in something just like this.

Do you care if I start juggling like, a (indistinct) cocktail?

>> Ooh, not bad.

>> I need glasses.

That's what I need.

I need to be like.

>> Maybe we should practice with empty bottles, first.

>> That's probably a good idea.

(relaxing music) This is Raven.

She's one of the mixologists here.

She's kind enough to put up with me and show me how to make a fun tiki themed cocktail.

So Raven, you're kind of a booze expert here, right?

>> Yeah, I think so.

>> But you're not just a booze expert.

You're one of the distillers.

>> Yeah.

>> And you come up with the recipes here.

>> Mhm.

>> So what are we making today?

>> So this is one of our bestselling cocktails kind of amped up to be highlighted for our tiki night.

So this is called Radiant Summer.

>> Radiant Summer.

>> Radiant Summer, yes.

>> Will you show me how to make it?

>> For sure.

>> Okay.

>> Going into our shaker here, no ice in it.

That dilutes your cocktails.

We don't like that.

>> Host: Really?

>> Raven: So if you are shaking, you are gonna have a lot more contact with your liquor, with the ice.

>> Okay.

>> So it's watering it down a little bit.

If you are stirring, you're kind of just lightly introducing the aspect of water to it.

>> So James Bond is drinking less potent alcohol if he's shaking it and not stirring it.

>> Yes.

>> Host: Interesting.

>> Yes.

>> I did not know that.

>> You learn something new every day.

>> Okay, so let's go back to this.

So we're not diluting with ice yet.

>> We just put two ounces of our white rum in it.

>> Okay.

>> Next, we're gonna go in with some citrus.

So we're gonna do a half ounce of fresh squeezed lime juice, 0.5 of lemon juice also.

After that, I'm gonna ask you to scoop just a little bit of ice in there and you get to shake this up for me.

>> Host: All right, tiny scoop.

Done.

>> Perfect.

>> All right.

I get to shake it?

>> Yeah, so you're gonna close that up.

>> Okay.

>> Raven: This is a boozy cocktail.

You're gonna want your ice to go, there you go, back and forth completely.

>> It's like a shake weight.

>> Yeah.

>> Ooh, this is getting cold down here.

>> Yeah, so that's how you know the outside of your shaker is actually gonna start to get a little bit icy.

That's how you know you're doing a good job.

>> Okay.

>> Raven: All right.

>> Host: So what's next?

>> Raven: So with this one, we're gonna pour this directly into the glass that we wanna serve it in.

>> Host: Okay.

>> Raven: And then we're gonna top this off with some more ice because we've got a lot of room in here still.

This is a big cocktail.

>> Host: So before you filled that with ice though, that was probably about a third fill, correct?

>> Yep.

>> Okay.

>> So we're probably about right here, now.

So our next here, we're gonna add in 0.75 ounces of our cherry grenadine into here.

So lastly, we're gonna introduce some juice, so for some fun little flair.

>> I was gonna say, 'cause this is not just like, a drink drink.

This is something to look at too, correct?

>> Yes.

Yeah.

So to amp it up for our tiki night, we are introducing a little bit of dry ice here.

>> Host: Ooh!

So wait, what causes the fog?

So you have dry ice with regular ice.

What causes the fog?

>> Raven: It is the reaction with the liquids.

Would you like to dry?

>> Host: I would love to.

This is one of the coolest drinks I have ever seen.

Ooh, and it's chilly too.

>> Yes.

The dry ice is really, really, really, really cold.

>> Now this is really good 'cause I'm not tasting a lot of the alcohol in here.

It's definitely in here, but it's got a really, really good balance.

To me, it's a good summer drink.

It's a good date night kind of drink.

In here, I'm tasting some of the cherry.

There's definitely that citrus, orange and lime flavor that's in here.

>> Are we doing this?

(chuckles) That is good.

>> Host: That is so good.

(upbeat music) In addition to having a serious mind for business, 18th Street founder and president, Drew Fox, had a definite vision for the customer experience with the distillery.

>> You know, as an adult, you know, I want an adult beverage.

I might not necessarily want to be in a brew pub, you know, where there's kids running around, or I wanted to take my wife or girlfriend out, boyfriend, whatever then and have a place where it's completely different from that.

A little bit more intimate, you can kind of whisper in someone's ear, and that's why we did it.

We really wanted this to be a showpiece in Northwest Indiana where people can come and get away and really have that moment with their significant other and saying, "Hey, we love what's happening on that side of things, but we also want that date night out and come in and show and, you know, have amazing cocktails on a good vibe."

>> The cool thing about this side to me is you walk in and it's got this really cool old school vibe to it.

You walk in, you've got this stained glass that's on the door, you walk in here, it's the music that's in here.

It's got this "Great Gatsby" almost feel to it.

Was that intentional in the design to give it that look?

>> We didn't wanna go too full upscale where it felt stuffy.

We really wanted to just be really just kind of laid back.

Here, you can wear whatever you want and still have an elegant feel and feel comfortable, not feel like, oh my God, this is too rich for my blood.

>> Host: The thing about what I love here is that you don't have to go in Chicago to do this.

This is right here in Northwest Indiana.

You get an upper scale atmosphere, but still casual at the same time, where you don't have to travel 20 miles into the city.

It's literally right in your backyard here in Hammond.

>> Right, you know, I'd rather have the consumer who lives in Indiana spend their dollars in Indiana and keep it home so we can grow our business base, grow our staffing, et cetera.

But it's always in the forefront of our minds when we build projects like this.

>> Host: You really focus on mixology here.

So talk to me about what it is that makes your spirits and your distillery unique.

>> Drew: I think the big thing that makes us unique is, we're shooting for flavors.

>> Oh, that's perfect.

>> Our rye whiskey's 100 proof rye whiskey and most small distilleries, it's either 80 or 90 proof and 100 proof for us is where all the flavor is.

And we have a lot of high proof spirits here.

But I think that, you know, I don't think, I know, that's where the flavor is.

That's where the richness comes from.

That's where you get the wow factor on your tongue.

You don't even have to say wow.

It's already in your, you know, cerebral cortex.

You're like, "Wow, that's an amazing cocktail."

>> I wanna thank Drew.

I wanna thank Raven here at 18th Street Brewery.

If you're looking for the perfect date night, this is where it's at.

>> Cheers.

(upbeat music) >> Narrator: Centier Bank is proud to serve hometown community banking across Indiana.

For over 128 years, Indiana's largest private family owned bank has been not for sale and promises to keep it that way for years to come.

(bright jingle) >> Doing as much as you can, as quickly as you can is important to me.

>> Speaker: Life is short and the earlier we get started helping our community, the better off our community will be.

>> Almost every single professor I've had, I'm on a first name basis.

By building that relationship with faculty, I was able to get involved with research.

It's one thing to read about an idea in a book versus physically doing it and seeing the results.

(upbeat music) >> Narrator 2: Ivy Tech offers more than 70 programs with locations in Michigan City, LaPorte and Valparaiso.

New classes start every few weeks.

Ivy Tech, higher education at the speed of life.

To get started, visit ivytech.edu.

The Crossroads Chamber is transforming Northwest Indiana's business landscape, one connection at a time.

Experience the power of networking within our diverse community and forge lasting relationships that can drive your business forward.

>> Narrator: Family, home, work, self, of all the things you take care of, make sure you are near the top of the list.

NorthShore Health Centers offers many services to keep you balanced and healthy.

So take a moment, self-assess and put yourself first from medical to dental, vision, chiropractic and mental health.

NorthShore will help get you centered.

You help keep your world running, so make sure to take care of yourself.

NorthShore Health Centers, building a healthy community, one patient at a time.

>> Narrator 3: Additional support for Lakeshore public media and local programming is made possible by viewers like you.

Thank you.

(bright music) (upbeat music) (bright jingle)