Table of contents — 4 —
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Letter from the editor
Amarillo’s deadly past
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— 14 —
An Amarillo haunting
The truth behind crime fascination
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— 16 —
Necropolis: A history of Amarllo’s oldest cemetery
Herring Hotel: a historical treasure
PHOTOGRAPH BY BETHANY FOX
— 18 — The truth behind Sixth Street
“An it harm none, do what ye will”: Discovering Wiccan culture
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— 28 —
Cheryl Cruz: Babies by day, demons by night
Rationalizing phobias
— 24 — Makeup pushes boundaries on reality
PHOTOGRAPH BY ZACHARY QUIROS
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— 30 — Uncommon art attracts tourists to Amarillo
COVER PHOTOGRAPH BY JESSIKA FULTON
Letterfrom the Editor W
elcome! I wanted to be the first to introduce you to this semester’s Current. As a staff, we worked endlessly to ensure you, the reader, had an interesting magazine in front of you. Now this magazine is no ordinary publication. It features the weird, unusual and kind of strange. You’ll find this theme flowing throughout the publication. Along the way, you’ll read about a cemetery that is a final resting place that is rich in history, however, it may also be known for its friends that lurk in the dark. If that itself did not reel you in, then keep flipping through to a photographer who does it all. Known to take photos of babies by day and bloody demons by night. But the fun doesn’t stop there, you’ll find out how Amaillo is home to unusual art such as a random pair of legs in the middle of a field or a weird ramp made of dirt. Those are just some of the few oddities hidden in this gem. Now I would like to thank a few people who truly made this publication possible. Firstly the Student Media staff who went the extra mile to dig up the secrets and write the marvelous pieces you’re about to read. Another shout out to the photographers who drove through the whole city to get these beautiful, yet spooky, photos that help illustrate each story. And thank you to the magazine staff members who worked night and day to layout the spreads you are about to view. The magazine would not have been an easy project without them. Next I would like to thank Jill Gibson and Maddisun Fowler for their generosity and encouragement throughout this process. They work so hard year round to ensure their staff is well taken care of while also producing outstanding publications. None of this would’ve been possible without their dedication to their students and their work. Lastly, I would like to thank Brady Hochstein and Tony Freeman from Cenveo who took the time to meet with us and plan out The Current. They were the men who pushed us towards the right direction and beautifully printed our hard work. But also thank you, the reader. Without you, this publication would not exist. So thank you for your continuous support and love for everything we do. I hope this publication changes your outlook on Amarillo and its hidden treasures. Stay safe and happy reading. Your friend,
Jessika Fulton The Fall 2020 Current Editor
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Staff&Contributors Caylee Hanna
Brandon Belflower
Caylee Hanna is a mass media major who wants to pursue a career in journalism and video production. In her spare time, Caylee likes to hang out with her friends and family, as well as crochet. She has always been fascinated by true crime documentaries and watching videos on YouTube about murder mysteries, so she was ecstatic to work on this magazine.
Who is Brandon Eugene Belflower? He’s a loving and devoted father of two spawn, Lily and Ben. Married 11 years to his extremely beautiful wife, Danielle, Mr. Belflower is getting his associates degree in photography because of his passion for nature and the majestic universe we live in. He’s a mini-Thor looking, biggobearded, flowing haired weirdo. If you want creative art, he’s your guy.
Shawn McCrea
Zachary Quros
Assistant Editor
Photographer
Design Manager
Photographer
Shawn McCrea is a photography major who is OK with long moments of uncomfortable silence. Shawn has their crosshairs trained on global domination, but with a Ph.D in procrastination, they’ll maybe get around to it tomorrow. They live a “never trust the living”-inspired life, which lead them to collaborating on this issue of The Current.
Zachary Quiros is a photographer and enjoys the beauty of the always-changing natural environment. He likes being outside and when he captures a photograph of the landscape, he feels he is a part of that landscape. When he shows his photographs for others to view, he hopes they see the beauty that was captured as if they were there when he took those photos.
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Amarillo urban legends Paranormal activity lurking in Yellow City
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By BETHANY FOX & RILEY MORPHIS
marillo is home to murder, mystery and suposedly a few ghostly friends. While some people think these stories are just urban legends, others claim the paranormal activity in Amarillo is real and that it is noteworthy. One of the most distinguishable buildings downtown was built by Lee Bivins, a successful rancher, who built his home on Polk Street in 1905. He was a prominent leader who helped pioneer oil and gas in Amarillo. Bivins was also a prominent civic leader, serving as mayor for four terms until his death in 1929. After his passing, Mrs. Bivins continued to live in their home but eventually entrusted the home to the city. The Bivins Home now serves as office spaces for the Amarillo Convention and Visitors Bureau, Amarillo Chamber of Commerce and the Center City of Amarillo. Strange occurrences are frequently reported inside of the Bivins Home. Braley Hand has spent almost 15 years in the Bivins Home. Her mother started working in the building when Hand was only 13-years-old, and now Hand works there as the tourism manager for Amarillo Convention and Visitors Bureau. “I remember once hearing the custodian say, ‘Hello, Mrs. Bivins, I’m just here to clean.’ I
thought it was weird, but I later learned that every night he would come in, greet Mrs. Bivins and then promptly turn his hearing aids off,” Hand said. “Apparently, while he thought the ghosts were friendly, he did not appreciate the random static and conversations he would hear when he was the only person in the building.” While Hand has heard numerous stories, she has also personally experienced some out-of-theordinary events. When she was younger, she was working down in the basement when she thought she saw something out of the corner of her eye. She bravely continued to work until she saw a soda can rolling back and forth on the ground. “I started gathering my things up, and as I was standing up and looking directly at the shelf the Coke can was launched in the air and hit a table resting in the middle of the room,” Hand said. She ran up the stairs and told her mother that the basement was haunted, and her mother laughed at her and said, “I know, that’s why I sent you down there.” Hand says the house still experiences many random phenomenons. Computers randomly turn off with no explanation, door knobs turn in empty rooms and dark figures commonly appear in the hallways. Another location, with a devious history is Summit Elementary (pictured right). Located on the — 6 —
north side of town, off of Ninth Street, the school sits abandoned and run-down. From 1927 to 1972, the 45 years that the school was open, there are stories of a racially-motivated janitor who killed four African American students and put their bodies in the boiler room. “When he realized what he’d had done, he committed suicide by jumping off of the smoke stack,” Jamie Beckham-George, a local business owner who offers haunted tours around Amarillo, said. There are many legends that say Summit Elementary is haunted by the janitor and the children he killed. Beckham-George said equipment on the playground often moves by itself and once a year you can see the ghost of the janitor jumping off the smoke stack. An Amarillo College graduate who wished to remain anonymous said that she and a friend once found their way into Summit Elementary. She described the inside as a building that was frozen in time. She and her friend walked into the old auditorium and were admiring the beautiful wood stage when they suddenly began to hear chanting and mumbling. Soon after the chanting started, a large group of people appeared. Panicked, they ran into a storage closet to hide. The group of people began searching the building. They stepped into the storage closet but left after saying, “No idiot would
PHOTOGRAPH BY JESSIKA FULTON
hide in a storage closet.” As soon as the path was clear, they raced out of the school. The group of people were members of the church congregation who own the property. Another haunting in Amarillo is located on Crockett Street. Bubbles is a professional psychic who lived in Amarillo for 45 years, before moving out-of-town. She has experience with hunting spirits and has specifically encountered the ghost of Crockett Street. “While I was being trained by another psychic, she had me go into an attic of a residence on Crockett Street,” Bubbles said. “I had a young reporter from the Amarillo Globe News with me and we had the most horrifying experience. The reporter was attacked by the spirit. He was thrown into the air.” Since Bubbles has been in the business for a long time, she now prefers to be prepared when it comes to hunting spirits. “When I do ghost hunts, I bring a large number of people because I want to have all the bases cov-
ered,” Bubbles said. “I always bring a psychologist, a nurse or physician, a fireman, a plumber and a police officer.” The haunting on Crockett Street includes three blocks, and the spirit will go from house-to-house. Bubbles did not want to give a specific location because she does not want people to vandalize the properties and pester the residents. “He is a Native American Indian, who does not like men but warms up to women,” Bubbles said. “My teacher believed he was a Comanche Indian whose bones were buried under one of the houses.” Bubbles encourages readers to be careful when dealing with ghosts. While there are there are friendly spirits, there are also cruel ghosts. “There is not enough reverence for these spirits and it’s not just a Halloween subject,” Bubbles said. “I hate to encourage people to go ghost hunting if they are just thrill seeking because they can get themselves in trouble.”
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Necropolis
a bri e f h i st o ry o f Amarillo’s oldest cemetery
STORY & PHOTOGRAPHY BY LAUREN EBBEN
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he grave marker stands, tall and proud, just outside the shadow of an old tree. Wrapped in a single string of garland, it represents the first in a line of gravesites near the beginning of Section 36 in Llano Cemetery. Etched in the weathered stone, amidst carvings of flowers and bundles of wheat, is a name — Mrs. Lillian F. Morrow. Died in 1888, Morrow lays claim to the earliest known burial in Amarillo, Texas. It’s her death at the age of 24 that laid the foundation for a piece of the city’s history that continues on to this day. Between the many large trees providing shade in
the summer months, the still water of the duck pond and the overall quiet in the air, it is no wonder why many people claim this cemetery as their final resting place. “It’s kind of like an oasis in the city,” Joe Alonzo, chief operating officer at Llano, said. But unlike most oases, this one comes with more than a few guests and quite a lot of history. Three years after Morrow’s death, the 20-acre piece of land she was buried on, which belonged to townsfolk T.B. and Hattie Clisbee, was bought by Potter County. At first called Amarillo Cemetery, it wasn’t until 1901, when the Llano Cemetery Association was established, that the place was christened with the name known today. As Amarillo continued to grow, the cemetery did — 8 —
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too. The small plot quickly began filling up, leaving the city with a problem. In response, on Nov. 10 1921, Judge James Nathan Browning, president of the founding board of the Non-profit Llano Cemetery Association, signed a charter for the cemetery. According to Llano’s records, Browning died that same evening. Two days later, Browning was buried in Llano and the Texas Legislature approved the charter. With more land, construction began on several buildings, including a number of family mausoleums and several other structures. When the nation plunged into economic decline during the Great Depression, the cemetery was able to make more improvements and other additions using funding from New Deal programs and community support. Starting in 1933, a massive landscaping project went underway, irrigation was added and an administration building was constructed. Since its beginning, Llano has always been significant, from its establishment as a non-profit, to its claim as the first cemetery in Texas to be registered as a historic district, listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The cemetery continues to serve families throughout Amarillo. For Alonzo, who first began working at the cemetery in 1970 as a summer job while in high school at Caprock, it’s more than a job now. “You look at death from a different angle, especially when you start to wait on a family and that family depends on you,” Alonzo said. “This job has taught me to be more humble and to be more empathetic to others, especially as a teenager.”
Bev Krom, the office manager at Llano, has been with the cemetery for almost nine years, but has another decade of experience working in funeral homes. She said working in this industry has also helped her understand death and how to help people through it. “You have to be alongside families as they are experiencing this loss,” Krom said, “You have to be understanding of what they are going through and be ready for them when they walk through the door.” There are over 50,000 gravesites at Llano, each one telling a different story. From veterans who fought in the American Civil War to prominent members and leaders in the community, history lives on, etched forever in stone, in the names of those who have died. “If you walked across one of those gravesites and you could visit with that person, what would they say?” Alonzo wondered. “Would they talk about what they saw? Would they talk about what is happening in today’s world? … What do those headstones want to say to you?” In a video released in 2007 detailing the history and importance of the Llano to the community, Lueise Tyson, a Historic Preservation volunteer at the time, said she always got a “sense of reverence” when she strolled through the cemetery. “I recognize so many names on the headstones and it makes me remember so much of our past,” she said. “I just want the recognition for Llano being such a special place in the special place it occupies in many people’s hearts because it is the resting place for their families and loved ones.”
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Amarillo’s deadly past
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BY BETHANY FOX
marillo is known for many things, such as a row of Cadillacs planted in the ground, a 72 ounce steak and a facility that disassembles nuclear weapons. This friendly city sits in the center of the Texas Panhandle, with a population of around 200,000. Shockingly, it is also home to a handful of notorious murders, but this fact is not openly discussed within the tight-knit community. Starting back in 1949, Tex Thornton was killed by two hitchhikers by the names of Evald and Diana Johnson. According to reports, Thornton was a prominent and successful oil-field firefighter and an expert in explosives. He was traveling back from a business trip in New Mexico when he picked up a husband and wife who were hitchhiking. By the end of the day, they arrived in Amarillo and all three of them stayed at the Park Plaza Motel in a two-bedroom room. The next morning, Thornton was found lying dead and naked in his room. Thornton was caught sleeping with Mrs. Johnson, and Mr. Johnson beat him to death. The husband and wife duo were never charged for the murder of Thornton, but were charged for stealing his car and transporting it over state lines. “Obviously that would still be grounds for imprisonment in today’s era; howev-
er, in that day and age it was illegal for a woman to have an affair,” Jamie Beckham-George, a community enthusiast, said. “A man was well within his rights to take matters in his own hand.” Another murder in 1979, Sarah Lawrence, a wife and mother was viciously killed and raped in her own home. Soon after, and in a similar way, Sherry Welch was found dead at a furniture store where she worked. These deaths caused a great deal of fear in Amarillo. “We were still such a small town, people were so trusting, and you trusted your neighbors and you believed they were who they said they were, and this was the first case that changed that,” said Amy Presley, a crime buff and the program director for FM90. Jay Kelly Pinkerton was charged for both murders at age 17. “People had a really tough time believing such a young kid who lived in a nice middle to upper class neighborhood could do something like that,” Presley said. “The crimes were just so brutal it was difficult for people to wrap their heads around it,” she said In 1986, Pinkerton was executed by lethal injection and was one of the youngest criminals to be put on death row, at age 24. In 1981, following Pinkerton’s murders, another 17-year-old, Johnny Frank Garrett was charged for the murder of a nun. Garrett lived across the street from Saint — 12 —
Francis Convent in Amarillo. Garrett allegedly broke in through a window of the convent on Halloween night and then raped and murdered Sister Tadea Benz, who was 76-years-old. Garrett was charged with the murder and he was executed in 1992. The case of Johnny Frank Garrett is controversial. There are many who say he was falsely accused of murder and unfairly tried in the Amarillo courtroom. His low IQ and harmless nature are why some people say he wasn’t capable of murder. There was also a lack of substanial evidence tying Garrett to the murder. Before Garrett was executed, he wrote a letter to everyone who put him on death row, cursing them and every person in their bloodline. “Everyone who brought him to trial, the district attorney, lawyers and anyone against him,” Presley said. “He denounced everyone and put a curse on them, and after he was executed they all died of horrific deaths.” After Garrett was executed, DNA evidence from the nun led to a different killer, Leoncio Perez Rueda. “He admitted to it after a DNA sample led police to him,” Beckham-George said. Rueda was already in prison for carrying out a similar crime. He had committed an almost identical murder within the same time frame and on the same side of town as the convent.
PHOTOGRAPH BY BETHANY FOX
PHOTOGRAPH BY ZACHARY QUROS
While evidence pointed to Sister Benz’s actual killer, Garrett’s name still has not been cleared. “It would be political suicide to admit they executed the wrong man,” said Jesse Quackenbush, a local attorney who has spent many years trying to prove Garrett’s innocence. Garrett’s story has since been turned into a documentary by Quackenbush called “The Last Word,” and then later into a horror film called “Johnny Frank Garrett’s Last Word.” In another notable case, in December 1997, a rivalry between jocks and punks ended in the death of 19-year-old Brian Deneke. Dustin Camp, a 17-year-old from Tascosa High School, deliberately ran over Deneke in a parking lot off Western Street. Camp continued to drive away from the scene with two panicked friends in the car, while Deneke lay helplessly on the ground. Presley was in high school at this time and lived down the street from Deneke. “Back in the 90s, Amarillo was so divided and if you wore all black, if you had any sort of crazy colors in your hair, if you had your chains or did anything like that you were — 13 —
against everything that everybody stood for,” Presley said. “You were really seen as an enemy to people or a satan worshiper.” During the trial, Camp was charged with manslaughter and was placed on probation. “It was a true test of class in this city, and if you had money you could make it go away,” Presley said. Camp eventually spent time in jail, due to violating his probation. In 2017, this case was turned into a movie called “Bomb City.” Presley attended the premiere at the Amarillo Globe News Center. “It was nice to see wealthy people, and lower income people, and the punks, and cattlemen come together to watch this film,” Presley said. “It was important because that wouldn’t have happened back in the 90s.” Different theories and speculation are expected, but without knowing all the details it can be difficult to be conclusive on complex cases such as these. “There’s always some sort of doubt that lingers within a murder trial. Unless you see somebody there with a loaded gun or the knife in their hands, it’s hard,” Presley said.
PHOTOGRAPH BY SHAWN McCREA — 14 —
Truth behind crime fascination T
BY ALISSA SPANGLER
rue crime series have swept the nation, creating millions of Americans who spend hours watching, listening and researching true crime stories. While this morbid interest is creepy, most of the people who are obsessed with these stories are not psychopaths. These people have come to be known as the “True Crime Community.” “These are stories that bring a little fear, but it’s not too close to home so we can watch from the outside,”Beth Rodriguez, a psychology professor, said “They usually almost always end, and people are always looking for a resolution to a problem or a story. We like to know why people do what they do. ” There is not a one size fits all answer to why people enjoy crime stories, but there are some popular theories out there explaining why. Some people feel as though if they watch true crime stories then they can be prepared for an unfortunate event. “I enjoy these stories because I feel like I am preparing myself in case anything ever happens to me,” said Claudia Faust, a fan of true crime stories. “For example, I never get in my car without
looking under it first. There are so many things I think I’ve learned by bad things happening to other people.” Another reason is that they want to feel involved in the story line, without actually having to experience an incident. “We can feel scared and sad without ever going through the event,” said Rodriguez. “Our emotions are there for a reason and we want to feel.” The concept of people having an obsession with twisted stories is far from new. In the era of ancient Greece, the “tragedy” genre came about in plays and audiences absolutely loved them. Greek philosopher Aristotle claimed that the reason the audiences loved these plays so much is because humans all have a dark side, and by watching these events unfold without actually living them we are scratching an itch. According to Oxford University, the classic answer is “no one really dies; we are free to enjoy watching potentially horrible events controlled and disposed in majestic sequence by art.” “I can be driving in the middle of the night and be scared, but still be listening to my true crime podcast,” said Faust. “I think part of me is just super thankful that it is not me living — 15 —
through the situation.” Other people have admitted that studying these stories has made them more aware as an individual. “I didn’t realize how scared I was of these types of situations until I had children,” said Brandy Michelle, a mother who enjoys true crime. “For some reason though I am still fascinated by them. It’s like a train wreck... you can’t look away.” There have been hundreds of studies done across the nation that say woman are more likely to be the audience, especially when women are the victims in the story. For the most part, women have said they like trying to figure out the mannerisms and common factors between serial killers. “Sometimes I find myself looking for signs in random people that I see in the Walmart parking lot, but then I immediately feel bad for assuming they could be a murderer,” said Savannah Gordon, a pre- nursing major. Experts say for the most part, if people spend countless hours studying true crime stories, they are probably not weird, just curious. It is important however that these crimes are not normalized and people do not become desensitized to traumatic incidents.
Abandoned hotel: Amarillo’s historical treasure
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BY JESSIKA FULTON & CAYLEE HANNA
he Herring Hotel has been an Amarillo treasure since the 1920s. Originally built as one of the three oil-boom era hotels, it is currently the only one left standing. It was the largest of the three and home to the famous Old Tascosa Room, the spot in which the cattle and oil barons gathered to discuss business matters and relax. This room also contained western fresco paintings by an American western artist and curator of the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, Harold Dow Bugbee . “It is said some of the biggest business deals in America at the time were made in the Old Tascosa Room,” Brady Hochstein, strategic salesman at Cenveo, said. The Herring Hotel was originally built in 1926 by Cornelius Taylor Herring, a pioneer cattleman, oilman and banker, at the cost of $1 million. The hotel was then converted into office spaces in the 1970s before shortly being abandoned. As of 2006, the hotel was put on the most endangered property list by Preservation Texas. With the Herring Hotel being built in the 1920s, the architecture was exquisitely designed and creatively displayed. “There is a beautiful early century Italian fountain in the middle of the lobby with eye-catching colonial style pillars that extend to the second floor,” Hochstein said. “Another really neat aspect is the ballroom lo-
cated on the top floor. The ceiling is two stories high with incredible architecture.” Although the hotel is currently abandoned in downtown Amarillo with visitors every so often, its stories and legacies still live on. “There is a curious story about the hotel in a book titled, “On the Shoulders of Giants (Amarillo)” by Jim Matthews. In one of the chapters, a story is told about the gentleman that built the hotel, Colonel C.T. Herring. At the time labor was in short supply because of an oil boom in the area of Borger, TX,” Hochstein said. “In light of this, Herring would sit across from the build site with a double-barrel shotgun in his Model A on Third Street. He is quoted saying, ‘I’ll shoot the first so-an-so that walks off this job.’” Mike Haynes, a retired Amarillo College professor, took a tour of the old hotel in September of 2017 led by Michael Grauer, a former staff member of the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum. Haynes said that the most enjoyable moment of his tour was learning about the Old Tascosa Room and the memories it holds. “It apparently was the place to go up until the time the hotel closed. My parents, Johnny and Joyce Haynes, went to the club at least once with friends, and they said it was a fun place and often had a band playing either country or ‘big band’ music,” Haynes said. However, the Old Tascosa room is not what it once was, as it once suffered a terrible flood, thus destroying all of Bugbee murals except one, leav— 16 —
ing an imprint of horses on the concrete walls. “Our Herring suffered from a major flood that badly damaged the basement, including the beautiful murals, and its lack of care and funding over the past 50 years or so has left it in rough shape. It’s still a beautiful sight to see, though, and it isn’t hard to imagine how incredible it could be again,” Jacqueline S. Llewellyn, an AC speech instructor who has toured the hotel, said. Haynes said that the hotel is in poor condition and he would like to see the hotel be rennovated. “I really wish the Herring could be restored. It is close to the Civic Center, Hodgetown and all the other downtown redevelopment that’s going on, and it would be nice for it to be part of it,” Haynes said. The Herring Hotel is also known for its almost identical and still-functioning twin that was built in Kansas City. “A lot of the old buildings in downtown Amarillo are similar to or exactly like old buildings in Kansas City. That’s because Amarillo and Kansas City both were big cattle towns 100 years ago, and there were a lot of business connections between the two cities,” Haynes said. Llewelyn said that she is glad that the hotel is still a historic sight for people to see, but she is heartbroken that the building is run down. “I imagine the Herring Hotel was incredible. It’s hard to see a place so run down when you know it was once as glamorous as it gets. It’s a bit heartbreaking, but it’s still amazing to see what remains and imagine how it must have been in its full glory,” Llewelyn said.
PHOTOGRAPH BY JESSIKA FULTON — 17 —
PHOTOGRAPHY BY JESSIKA FULTON — 18 —
The truth behind Sixth Street Historic Route 66 is home to more than just antiques
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PHOTOGRAPHY BY JESSIKA FULTON
O
BY CAYLEE HANNA
ne of the famous locations in Amarillo is the historic district located on Sixth Street that is home to many local stores, restaurants and service stations. The street began as a road that was designed for a highway, but later became a hot spot for businesses. “They actually laid the highway through here in 1925,” Chip Hunt, owner of Sixth Street antique mall, said. “The developer for this area of Route 66 knew it was coming this way and built the road to the then specifications for a highway. Then all they had to do was tie in and
pick up at the other end.” “At the time the highway was finished and commissioned, Amarillo was considered the midpoint of the highway and the only city it went through besides Chicago and Los Angeles,” she said. “Around the early 50s, Eighth Avenue, known as Amarillo Boulevard, was expanded into the first loop around the city and then called Route 66 and this area became Route 66 business.” Some people often connect historical sites with allegations of hauntings happening at the locations. Several shop owners on Sixth Street believe that they have seen and heard about hauntings that occur — 20 —
in the stores, while other store owners believe that the things that happen are coincidences or that they occur because of the settling of the buildings. “These old buildings on Sixth Street have lots of character,” Mark Rowh, former Amarillo College professor and owner of Time Passages on Sixth, said. “There are many subtle noises due to settling, even after all of the years. My building was built in the 1920s. As far as my store goes, the alarm system seems to frequently and falsely alert us in the middle of the night. Perhaps it is a price tag moving when the air conditioning comes on, or the reflection of car lights in mirrors when they pass by, or who knows.”
Hunt said that she has experienced paranormal activity in her store and that the ghosts do not harm anyone or damage her property. “My building tends to be very active,” Hunt said. “On the east side of the building there is an occasional poltergeist that likes to take things off the shelves and put them on the floor. He is very respectful not to damage anything just wants me to know he is around. For example, he took a metal candle holder from the back of a shelf full of glass and put it upright on the floor, if it had fallen off it would have taken out several pieces of glass.” Hunt said that paranormal investigators came to her store and saw the spirit of her father staring at her.
“There were some local ghost hunters that came in one time and told me of a man spirit with a pipe looking over the mezzanine rail that was watching me,” she said. “I informed them he was attached to me and that he’s my father.” Tracy Barnett, an AC photography professor and owner of Portraits by Tracy, said that she has seen ghostly apparitions at The Nat, an antique and collectables store on Sixth Street. “I haven’t seen anything on the street, but one time I was at The Nat with some friends 13 or so years ago before all the antique vendors and we were having a birthday party for someone. I noticed two people upstairs in kind of long dress— 21 —
es and I asked my friend who they were and she replied, ‘there is no one upstairs,’” Barnett said. Hunt said that she has been around spirits for a while and that she doesn’t believe that The Nat is haunted. “I’m not sure The Nat’s ghost stories are not made up,” Hunt said. “I have been able to feel spirits since I was three and have never felt anything there.” Barnett said that although she doesn’t pay attention to the alleged hauntings that occur on Sixth Street, she is happy that the ghosts aren’t harming anyone.“I don’t worry too much about the hauntings. I’m just glad the ghosts I think I saw were friendly,” Barnett said.
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PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHERYL CRUZ
Cheryl Cruz:
Babies by day, demons by night
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BY CAILEY DINGA
heryl Cruz was at a loss when she was fired from her job she had been at for over 10 years. She couldn’t decide if she should start looking for another job or return to school. That’s when she decided to look into Amarillo College’s photography classes. Cruz attended Amarillo College for over three years. She completed her basics and took every photography course she could. Cheryl was a great student. She was a little stubborn at first but I think she is very talented,” Tracy Barnett,
“
an AC photography professor and professional photographer, said. During her photography classes, Cruz realized that she didn’t want to be a family photographer or to be like every other photographer in Amarillo. Throughout her photography classes Cruz reached out to her friend Lindesy Gannaway, who was at the time Cruz’s children’s step-mother, to do modeling. Cruz knew Lindsey had been interested in modeling, so it was the perfect opportunity for the both of them. “I was nervous in the beginning but Cheryl always made me feel completely confident and relaxed in front of the camera,” Gannaway said. From there, Cruz and Gannaway be-
came a team. Most of their photos were horror-inspired. “Cruz was also able to capture the softer side of me beautifully, which shows how versatile she is as a photographer. And that is rare,” Gannaway said. Cruz takes horror and unique photos but she is also known for her newborn and real estate photography skills. “The most rewarding part of my job is if it’s the unique stuff then it’s rewarding to be original and give someone something cool. If it’s newborns, it is to pause time for those amazing parents to cherish for life. If it’s real estate, then when the house sells,” Cruz said. Outside of photography, Cruz is a mother
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of two and a wife. If she isn’t in the studio, she is on the baseball field with her family. The thing Cruz is most proud of in life is her kids. “They are amazing big creatures that have turned out awesome,” Cruz said. Her biggest influences are her grandfather because he has been there for everything, her kids because they push her to do better and her husband because he never lets her give up. Cruz’s advice for anyone would be to do “anything in life you can do. Will you have people tell you that you can’t? Of course you will, but thinking negative never does anything positive for you. Smile at everyone, be friendly and love one another.”
PHOTOGRAPH BY JESSIKA FULTON
Makeup pushes boundaries on reality
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BY FLOREYA QUINTERO
akeup is something that is often used to enhance or alter the appearance of an individual. Makeup can break the rules of self expression in ways other things such as fashion or music can’t, as it can completely transform an individual into seeming like someone else. Whether it’s for an everyday face look, a glamorous Hollywood look, a spooky gruesome look or a face-altering look, makeup can be used for an infinite amount of purposes. Though it’s used most commonly by people in everyday life, makeup can also be used in film, theatre, special effects and in many other industries. — 24 —
Lynsie Ramos, an Amarillo College alumni, dabbles in makeup. Wanting to make herself look different from her peers, she found inspiration from YouTube videos. She became “addicted” to buying product after product, until she realized it was too much for her. “Now that I’m in my mid-thirties, I don’t feel as worried about what I look like to other people,” Ramos said. “So when I do apply makeup, it’s to make myself look different and feel good.” Ramos also said that makeup is also a non-permanent choice for men or women to enhance or change their appearance. Though some individuals can become dependent on it, it’s their choice as it doesn’t bring harm to those around them.
Makeup also plays a heavy role in theatre. Makeup can transform a character on stage and have the audience perceive them in an intended way. “Makeup is just one of the many aspects in creating a character on stage,” Monty B. Downs, a theatre professor at AC, said. “Some actors feel that this is the ‘icing on the cake’ for his or her character since it is usually added toward the end of the rehearsal period.” Downs said that while some shows have makeup artists to help the actors or actresses do their makeup, the majority of time an actor or an actress will do their own makeup, even on Broadway. “Others feel they can help an audience understand the character by adding touches in the makeup to give clues,” Downs said. “A dear friend of mine, the late Todd Roberson, made his character in ‘1776’ have very ‘hawkish’ features because he felt his character was always waiting and watching for his opportunity to attack his opponents.” Another industry that relies on the wonders of makeup is the special effects makeup, which uses makeup or prosthetics to create special effects for camera, film or theatre. “Special effects makeup really allows me to stretch my creative muscles and get my hands dirty,” Kim Wood, a local makeup artist in Amarillo, said. “I get to create anything my mind can dream up. I enjoy how freeing it is compared to beauty makeup, which can be repetitive and limiting.” “I think the thing that draws people to makeup is the confidence it brings them,” Wood said. “Getting in front of a camera is scary for nearly everyone, even experienced actors. They have the assurance that they will look their absolute best when they have their best feature spotlighted. For character makeup, it’s very important that the actor feel their role and makeup really helps them step into that. I can see a physical change in how a person carries themselves when they feel good about the makeup they are wearing.” Makeup is a significant game-changer for those who are looking to change their appearance in whatever form or way they choose. There are no rules.
PHOTOGRAPH BY CAYLEE HANNA — 25 —
“An it harm none, do what ye will” Discovering Wiccan culture
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BY ADELINE HARRIS
he annual colorful shift of red, orange and yellow leaves falling from trees is a signal not only to bust the sweaters out of storage or to get ready for the tsunami wave of pumpkin spice-flavored goods, but for cackling witches on brooms, stirring bubbling cauldrons and the stereotypes that have stemmed from a druid, nature-based neo-Pagan religion known as Wicca. During the 16th century, witch hunts took place throughout Europe and followed the pilgrim migration to North America. It was during this time when the word ‘wicca’ evolved into ‘witch,’ leading the two names to receive a bad reputation. Many believed that Wicca was connected to Satanism and ‘devil-worshipping’ which was the root of the accusations against those, often women, who were on trial for witchcraft during the 16th and 17th centuries. “Wicca is beautiful and fascinating, but it must be respected just like any culture or reli-
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gion,” Lora Nova, a yoga instructor, said. “I, myself, do not practice witchcraft, but I do study and practice plant medicine and natural healing. The plant and medicine aspect of Wicca has been very beneficial to my health and it shows daily.” There is much more to Wicca than just natural healings and medicine, Wicca can be used religiously and spiritually by many people. “Wicca is a nature religion, which means it utilizes nature in its practices and worship,” Emma Funk, student at Narapo College, said. “Wicca is less of an organized religion and more of a spiritually oriented way of life. Wiccans believe themselves to be a positive force against the destruction that threatens the world.” Another component Wiccans focus on is the sun and moon, which symbolize important figures in Wicca. “We have rituals and celebrations following the cycles of the sun and moon,” Trish Keck, a pottery artist, said. “We have eight Sabbats during the year, the equinoxes and solstices symbolize the life of the God. We honor the sun because of the life and light it gives. Then we have the full moon, Esbat, which symbolizes our Goddess. We honor the moon because of the powers and magic within. Together the sun and moon create balance.” As majestic and harmless as Wicca seems, it still receives the negative perception that it is tied to something ‘evil.’ “The Wiccan culture became more popular because witchcraft became more prevalent in pop culture, like through movies, T.V. shows, music videos etc.,” Pat Keck, a pottery artist, said. “I believe the entertainment industry has made Wicca so taboo that it has completely skewed the general perception of Wicca culture, which leads people to be very misinformed.” Oct. 31 marks the start of the darker winter months, it’s a reason for celebration because, like the rotating phases of the sun and moon, the warm spring season will be just around the corner.
PHOTOGRAPH BY BRANDON BELFLOWER — 27 —
Rationalizing phobias Affects of irrational fears on the human mind BY BRIDGET ULLOA
Sometimes in the middle of the night, when the wind blows a little bit harder and the floors creak a little bit louder, panic can creep into your thoughts and spark the idea that something or someone is nearby. Irrational fears can cause people to feel scared without reason. Such fears can even become so serious that it can get in the way of everyday life. “A fear becomes irrational based on the level of distress it causes you and the likelihood of the event to occur,” said Amber White, the Counseling Center coordinator at Amarillo College. “The level of anxiety caused by the fear doesn’t match with the consequences of facing the fear; however, this doesn’t make it any less real.” Often people who experience irrational fears face ridiculule from friends and family members. “Even though it may sound irrational to us, to them it feels like a real thing,” Dr. Deborah J. Harding, a psychology professor said. Almost anything can lead to an irrational fear – from being scared of heights because you think you might fall, to being scared of using an elevator because you fear it may stop working and plummet to the ground. This irrational fear may build the point where a person may stop taking the elevator all together. Beth Rodriguez, a psychology professor, said that once an irrational fear starts changing how people manage their day-to-day lives, that fear becomes a phobia. “A phobia is the irrational fear of a specific thing,”
Rodriguez said. “The irrational fear becomes a phobia when it starts to interfere with everyday living.” The causes of irrational fears and phobias vary from person-to-person. Just as everyone has different fears and things they worry about, people also have different triggers in their brains that perceive fear differently from the person next to them. “There’s a place in your brain called the amygdala and it’s where we feel fear and anger. And kids who grow up around a lot of stress, abuse or dysfunction or maybe a child who has too much expected from them, may have a greater amount of anxiety and have a higher trigger to their stress response and to their fear response,” Harding said. “So we know some of it can be from what happens to a kid growing up but we also know that it runs in families and that it is probably due to a more sensitive mechanism in the brain. So some people are much more prone to anxiety than other people.” Having an irrational fear can impact a person dramatically. “Maybe your heart rate picks up or you breathe rapidly. Perhaps your fear causes you to change your route on the way to work to avoid driving over a bridge,” White said, “Maybe you had to turn down a job because the office was located on the 30th floor of an office building. The affects can range from bothersome all the way to truly debilitating.” White said that fears and phobias can take over a person’s mind and consume much of their everyday life. What for some may be just a windy night and the sounds of a house settling, can be the beginning of a downward spiral for others.
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PHOTOGRAPH BY JESSIKA FULTON — 29 —
PHOTOGRAPH BY BRANDON BELFLOWER — 30 —
Uncommon art attracts tourists to Amarillo P
BY MELISSA SANDOVAL
ublic art for many can serve as a distraction and can make people’s day-to-day lives a little bit more exciting. It’s open to anyone in the community to come and see and it’s a way to interact with something curious and even beautiful. In a way, it also offers a way to become a part of the art itself. “Public art kind of helps tell the stories of your community,” said Shawn Kennedy, a Caprock highschool art teacher. “What your city is about what it’s people are about, it helps construct that narrative and so it’s a great way to kind of get that out there and show your city and what you think is important and what stories need to be told.” “I think it makes the city more interesting,” said Jon Revett, an associate professor of painting and drawing at West Texas A&M University. “For instance, the sign project which isn’t as popular as it used to be still makes Amarillo a unique place because people would drive around and see these strange signs all over the place and although there aren’t as many as there were originally it still makes it just a little bit more fun.” A popular form of public art in Amarillo is the Cadillac Ranch, located on Interstate 40 west of
Amarillo. “Cadillac Ranch is tremendously popular especially to tourists,” said Kennedy. “It does bring people off the highway to stop in your city. Now there are more ways to sort of maximize that and give more people reasons to stay and maybe investigate some other cool things that are here in Amarillo, but any time that you can get people to interact with art and become a part of it and play with it you get a lot more investment from the viewer.” “They did a survey a couple of years ago where it was estimated that over a million people got out of their cars and walked to the Cadillac Ranch a year,” Revett said. The Amarillo Ramp is another public art project in Amarillo although is better known globally than locally. It’s about 15 miles northwest of Amarillo and was created by Robert Smithson, who actually died while making the sculpture. “I’ve lectured internationally about this sculpture and it’s a famous work of earth art or land art,” said Revett. “It’s one of the more rare ones, like you actually have to know people to get to it. You can’t just go and see it. You have to get a tour.” “Lightnin’ McDuff is perhaps most famous for his sculpture Ozymandias,” said Steven Cost, — 31 —
an artist and art professor at Amarillo College. “The statue was commissioned by the late Stanley Marsh 3 and can be found in a pasture between Randall High School and I-27 on the south side of Amarillo.” “At first it looks like the ruins of a huge human image sculpture, with only two massive legs on a pedestal. It’s based on Percy Shelley’s poem of the same name,” said Cost. “Remember that this oddball sculpture is not serious, but conceived from the beginning as an inside joke on an unsuspecting public. Meant from the beginning to seem like a ruin from an ancient time that could only have been in Europe and not in the Texas Panhandle.” The Ozmandius sculpture has been the victim of frequent grafitti and painting, including the addition of gym socks. “I don’t think vandalism is good if it’s not intentional,” said Revett. “But for things like Cadillac Ranch and Ozymandias it’s obviously part of the aesthetic. The Art Institute at Cadillac Ranch really likes it. They think it’s fine. They think it’s interesting because it changes so much.” “No one takes the statue Ozymandias for granted. It demands our attention and wonder. Particularly our laughs. And the legend lives on,” said Cost.