Chris: Sally hold on, I got a call (phone ringing)

Chris: Chris Waters.

John: Hey, how's it going man?

Chris: Good John, how are you?

J: I'm good, are we going to do this meet in the middle thing? I think it's technically public property, right, because it's on the creek?

C: Technically public property located perhaps behind the largest house in Indianapolis.

J: I'll also bring Eugenia Price's Beauty from Ashes if you bring a little, uh, a snack.

C: Do you think Jimmy John's will deliver if we give 'em the coordinates?

J: (laughter)

(00:25) C: Alright, thank goodness I wore my Speedo today since we're going on the creek. Time to go swimmin'.

(00:33) J: Good morning Hank, it's Tuesday. It's actually Saturday but it will be Tuesday in the fullness of time. So Sarah's new show with PBS, The Art Assignment, just premiered. What she does is she goes around the country visiting with working artists, we get to see some of their work, some art historical context for it and then they give us an art assignment.

J: I have to pick a friend and then meet that person at the exact geographical midpoint between the two of us. Now many of you will be wondering: How is this art? Well, you should watch the first episode of The Art Assignment. So anyway my best friend Chris and I chose each other and now we have to make our way here by 2 o'clock.

C: It is 1:03 PM. Is art just some guy going on a hike with his dog to arbitrarily meet a friend that he set up an appointment with three hours ago? There's a certain excitement to it, nervousness about it.

J: Not going to lie, I'm pretty nervous right now. Hank, one of the things this assignment makes me think about is public and private space. Like on this side of the fence, those trees belong to someone. But on this side of the fence the trees belong to everyone. That's odd. Ok we have reached Williams Creek.

C: Leaving the road. There's trusty Mya.

J: The craziest thing about this is that I'm right in the middle of the city of Indianapolis, a city of one million people, and, like, it's just forest. Ah, this is intense. I'm gonna have to get down on my hands and knees.

C: Not an easy hike. I've been on my hands and knees trying to get through this.

J: Ok, here we go. Hoo, down into the creek. (heavy breathing)

C: Okay, comin' up on the last spot

J: Honestly if I didn't have to meet Chris at this point I would give up because the brush is so thick. I don't want him sitting there, you know, worrying about me or whatever. Wow, look at this, this is so beautiful. Wow. Yeah, that's not something I would have seen today. I just heard a noise. Hup, oh I see him, I see him!

C: Some call him Jeremiah Johnson, some call him Davy Crockett, but what he is is a frontiersman. And I think he's wearing his fancy Amsterdam jacket. Like a spry jungle cat springing in to the spring snow. Sic 'im, Mya.

J: (breathing heavily) Oh, hey, Chris.

C: Hey, John.

J: How's it goin'?

C: Fancy seeing you here

J: Good to see ya. Come in for the real stuff. I'm so beat up, man. 

C: (chuckles)

J: Ahh.

C: Let me just look, let's look at that outfit. Let's look at-

J: Oh, my whole idea was to go as someone who's really super professional, you know? Who has a... Like maybe a businessman who just got lost in the woods.

(02:51) J: Ahh, it's just so beautiful, man.

C: Yeah.

J: It's such a cool thing that we wouldn't have done today.

C: No.

J: You know? Like there's no way we would have ever done this.

C: No.

J: Thanks for bringing the Jimmy John's.

C: Jimmy John's.

J: So I brought you a book actually, that I thought you might enjoy. It's called, uh, Beauty from Ashes. It's by a wo- a writer named Eugenia Price, you ever heard of her?

C: No, I thought it was going to be an unnecessary plug for The Fault in Our Stars.

J: No, no. It's just Beauty from Ashes.

C: Oh, it sounds like a good book.

J: And it is a good book!

C: It did make me think that this is how people traveled-

J: Mhm.

C:-200 years ago.

J: And agreeing to meet at a certain time and not having any way to contact each other if they can't, you know?

C: I did feel like a kid again, though.

(03:30) J: Yeah. I haven't felt that kind of sense of adventure since I was a kid. It's fun.

C: You need to get out more.

J: Well, I don't know. The internet's its own kind of adventure. So we've met in the middle, we've had our lunch and now we're gonna walk out together, isn't that romantic?

C: It was a delicious Jimmy Johns lunch sandwich-

J: Oh, yeah. Thank you to Jimmy Johns.

C: Thank you to Jimmy Johns and thank you to John for bringing the, uh, wonderful novel that we shared.

(03:50) J: Hank, don't forget to be awesome, I'll see you on Friday.

C: Are you gonna post this as your video for Tuesday?

J: Yeah.